Is your marketing limited to Yellow Pages ads? If so, this article is for you.
If you think the website you created using a Microsoft Word template is good
enough, you might want to continue reading. If you’re struggling to implement a
marketing campaign that is sustainable and productive, take a closer look at
Krutman Point of Sale Solutions. The VAR’s owner, Thomas Krutman, recently
overhauled his marketing program by hiring a consultant, redesigning his
website, implementing a marketing automation system, and embracing online
advertising. Sound like a lot? Don’t worry. Krutman’s efforts can be boiled down
to five steps, the combination of which led to 25% revenue growth in
2008.

Step 1: Hire A Marketing Consultant Who Knows
POS
The first step of Krutman’s marketing renaissance was to admit
that he wasn’t a marketing expert. In June 2006, the VAR hired marketing firm
Marketing Operation Partners (MO Partners). “Many business owners are used to
building their business on their own and don’t think to hire outside people to
help them,” says Krutman. “However, my background is in electronics and
programming. I’m not a marketing expert. It doesn’t make sense for me to waste
time doing something that someone else can do better.” For that reason, Krutman
elected to have MO Partners perform a website redesign, create case studies and
special downloads for the VAR’s website, run customer surveys, and create
marketing letters and email blasts the VAR could use in the future. The
consultant then helped Krutman create a multipronged marketing plan that
included everything from ongoing website enhancements and telemarketing to email
blasts and online advertising. The first-year work performed by the marketing
firm cost Krutman $10,000.

Step 2: Market To POS Prospects With
Frequency & Variety
To help Krutman with ongoing marketing
campaigns, MO Partners recommended, installed, and configured (all of which were
included in the initial $10,000 investment) Mastermind Activator for the VAR.
The program runs with Krutman’s Act! customer relationship management (CRM)
software. “The goal was to implement a marketing plan that was as automated as
possible,” explains Krutman. “Activator hooked into our existing CRM database
and is able to automatically carry out marketing tasks or remind us of what we
need to do.” Specifically, first thing each morning, Krutman opens the Activator
program and clicks a ‘follow-up’ button. The program then works through the
VAR’s prospect database (which includes existing customers) and completes any
actions Krutman scheduled in advance. For instance, a list of letters (the ones
MO Partners helped to create) might be auto-populated and sent to the printer.
Targeted email blasts might be sent out automatically. If Krutman needs to call
customers, the program sends reminders to his email. Also, the program has a
trickler system whereby it can take large numbers of prospects and split the
marketing actions into multiple days. That is, rather than send hundreds of
mailers in one day, they can be spread out over a week. In essence, the system
performs drip marketing (hitting prospects with marketing collateral
consistently, via different methods) while spreading out the work so as not to
overburden Krutman or his employees on any given day.

In tracking the
success of his various marketing methods (more on tracking later), Krutman has
found drip marketing to his current customers to be very lucrative. Indeed, all
of the VAR’s customers get letters in the mail once a month publicizing new
services or products the VAR offers. Customers also receive email with similar
information. For example, Krutman has recently sent letters regarding the
addition of video surveillance products to his line card, information on
maintenance contracts, and price comparisons between his supply prices and those
of other suppliers in the market. Additionally, Krutman uses telemarketing to
spread marketing messages to existing customers. The VAR recently called all of
its Keystroke POS customers to tell them about a new plug-in that was available.
The result of marketing to existing customers has been compelling. In fact,
Krutman estimates that 20% of his revenue comes from sales to existing
customers.

As another benefit, Krutman says that even if existing
customers don’t need your products or services, there’s a chance that being top
of mind will help land a sale. For instance, the VAR can point to a recent sale
he landed thanks to an inactive customer. By receiving the customer marketing
collateral, the customer kept Krutman top of mind and recommended the VAR to a
friend when that friend had a need. “One letter sent to a customer to whom I
hadn’t sold anything in five years turned into $30,000 in new business,” says
Krutman.

Step 3: Ensure Your Web Presence Touts Your POS Prowess

As mentioned, the goal of implementing Activator was to automate as
much of Krutman’s marketing process as possible. Therefore, once the program was
implemented, the VAR shifted focus to its Web initiative, where it spends most
of its time (and money) today. Krutman says that the problem with his old
website — a problem many other VARs share — is that while the site looked good,
it didn’t do a good enough job of telling the VAR’s story. That is, it didn’t
showcase what Krutman is good at and why partnering with Krutman is a good
business decision. “MO Partners initially focused on a website redesign and
helped us create information for just one facet of our business [the retail
market],” says Krutman. “From there, we’ve been adding new information each
month on such things as our quick service products, video surveillance, and
electronic deli scale offering.” In addition, MO Partners helped Krutman create
case studies and a special downloadable report/white paper on the value of POS
systems. Initially, Krutman was spending approximately $3,500 a month on its
website enhancements. Today, the VAR spends approximately $1,500 a month making
additions.

Step 4: Generate POS Leads Using Google
AdWords
While having a proper website has proven to be beneficial,
the improvements would be worthless without visitation by potential customers.
Therefore, another part of Krutman’s marketing campaign is investing in Google
AdWords to help drive traffic to his site. The service, available from online
search engine Google, includes the ability to pay for advertisements to appear
when people are searching using keywords that match your predefined keywords.
According to Google, approximately 80% of U.S. Web surfers use Google to browse
the Internet. However, the California VAR wasn’t interested in paying for ads to
appear to someone searching for a POS reseller in Florida. Therefore, Krutman
chose to use Google AdWords specifically with local and regional targeting. The
VAR spends approximately $900 a month on Google AdWords and another $300 a month
on similar Yahoo! advertising. According to Krutman, the key to seeing a return
on such investments is to make adjustments. “You can’t change an ad one day and
check at the end of week to see how it went,” explains Krutman. “Sometimes you
need to let these things run for a couple months to collect enough information
to make good decisions.” Krutman has used a variety of different ads depending
on the situation and market after which he’s going. For instance, the VAR had a
campaign aimed at customers who didn’t want to tinker with setting up a system
on their own. When prospects performed a search for retail POS in northern
California, Krutman was running an ad with messaging to the effect of ‘Tired of
reading the manual? Give Krutman a call.’ As the economy sours, Krutman says
that he now believes people might be interested in bundled starter systems.
“What worked at the beginning of the year might not work at the end of the
year,” he says. “Right now, everyone wants to save money, so we’re pitching
low-cost bundles.” So far, the move is paying off. For instance, Krutman has one
customer who was enticed by the entry-level advertising and ultimately was
upsold for a couple thousand dollars more.

Step 5: Track Your POS
Marketing Success (And Failure)
While incoming sales from marketing
are great, they aren’t always consistent. “When it comes to the payback from
marketing, it’s a work in progress,” explains Krutman. “We look every month, see
what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments. Successful marketing is a
moving target.” Currently, the VAR breaks marketing leads down into 10 different
categories (e.g. existing customers, Google AdWords, cold calls, etc.) to track
which methods are working. That is, he calculates the cost, in marketing
dollars, of each lead. At one point, Krutman found that he was spending more
money trying to generate leads in the Los Angeles area than he was receiving in
sales from the area. Therefore, he decided to turn off marketing campaigns for
Los Angeles. It was also the monitoring of lead sources which led Krutman to
realize he should spend more money marketing to his existing
customers.

Regardless of the decisions you face, Krutman cautions against
making rash decisions. “It’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t see
immediate results,” he says. “You send out a letter or email blast and it seems
like nothing happens. Some VARs stop because they think they’re throwing money
away, but you need to continue with the system.” In fact, Krutman says that it
might take as long as six months to see a return on any marketing, so don’t get
discouraged and give up on your marketing. Alternatively, you also can’t be
inactive. “You can’t just put up a website, run a GoogleAd word campaign, and
sit back and wait for the leads to pour in,” Krutman says. Finding the right
balance between patience and aggressiveness is where every VAR is on his own.
Indeed, Krutman has no voodoo-magic method for knowing what marketing approaches
and target markets will and won’t be successful. Nevertheless, by rebuilding his
marketing plan to include the aforementioned Web enhancements and drip marketing
campaigns, Krutman is growing while other VARs are fighting to survive.

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