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Q. Is a marketing plan the same as an advertising plan?
A. No. Advertising is just one component of a broad marketing plan. Think of a marketing plan as an umbrella, under which the following components reside: sales strategy, public relations, community involvement, customer service, pricing, distribution, media planning, budgeting, strategic Internet and social media planning, networking, and advertising. Marketing should be planned annually and reviewed quarterly.
Q. What’s the difference between advertising and public relations?
A. You pay for advertising and pray for positive publicity. A well-executed public relations event and the publicity it generates has at least 10 times the credibility of advertising. Positive publicity can result from the publication of an article you’ve written, or when information you give to a publication’s editor leads to a featured article about you. You also can sponsor a community event and contact the local media for coverage, and/or contact local media outlets and offer to be the expert, go-to company when they want to tackle pest-related issues.
Q. My company gets many helpful Internet leads, but our lead-to-closure rate is less than 45 percent. Evening and weekend lead-to-close rates are particularly problematic. Any ideas?
A. According to research sponsored by InsideSales.com, the odds of converting a lead within the first five minutes of receipt are 100 times higher than the rate of returned calls as little as 30 minutes later. In other words, the early bird gets the sale.
You can reach Harvey Goldglantz, president of Pest Control Marketing Co. and author of Marketing Matters, at hgpcmcinc@aol.com. His book, Marketing Matters, is available from the PMP bookstore.