Colorado Springs Marketing - Integrated Marketing Experts - Bellandi Group

Colorado Springs Marketing Experts

Bellandi Group — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:58:39 +0000

Bellandi Group, a fully-integrated Colorado Springs Marketing agency, was founded in 2002 by seasoned marketing executives with over 100 years of collective experience in managing sales and marketing programs for companies worldwide.

If you are looking for a Colorado Springs marketing firm that delivers results, give us a call. We know that from the smallest startup to the largest corporation, companies have to be smart about their marketing budget. We believe that the personalized attention we give to each client sets us apart from other Colorado Springs marketing firms. You will never be lost in the crowd or become just an account number.

Can you afford marketing? Can you afford not to?

Jeanne Davant — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:02:55 +0000

One of the first things we see when companies are trying to save money is that they scale down their marketing efforts.

At The Bellandi Group, we understand how tempting it is to cut back on advertising and promotions when times are tough. But consider this: Well-spent marketing dollars pay off by pulling in new customers and encouraging former clients to return.

The key phrase here is “well-spent.” You need to deploy your marketing funds differently in a down economy than you did before. And there are many low-cost and free options to get your name, products and services out there to the public.

Here’s one great way that doesn’t cost you a dime: Highlight an innovative product or service, or even a community service you or your employees perform, in a media release. This can be a very effective way to assure that potential customers remember you when they’re in the market for your product or service.

But you have to do it the right way. Tailor your release to the publications and Web sites you send it to. Make sure your customers read these publications or visit these Web sites. For best results, don’t sell too hard. Spotlight a new product or service, or talk about ways in which you are involved in your community.

Our writers at The Bellandi Group know how to help you reach your customers through all kinds of outlets, from newspapers to social media. We’d love to help you find creative strategies to get your message out, get the most return for your marketing dollars and bring in more bucks.

–Jeanne Davant, The Content Queen

Email Prospecting without Spamming

Ami Heath — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:15:42 +0000

While most marketing experts would advise against email prospecting programs and consider them spam, Bellandi Group has carefully crafted email prospecting programs that help small companies with no opt-in list and little budget to run expensive opt-in email acquisition programs.

Spam law does not state you cannot send an unsolicited commercial email in the U.S., but it does states that, if you do, it must conform to a number of criteria, such as identifying an accurate source, giving them an opt-out method, taking action within 10 days of an opt-out and not using deceptive titles.

Bellandi Group has found that if a company has a very relevant product, is highly ethical and professional and conducts itself in a humble and non-aggressive manner, prospect email programs can be very effective.

Bellandi Group has extensive experience in:

Helping clients find good email lists
Working with the right set of servers, ISP and email platforms
Creating domains and emails that do not risk their corporate domain
Doing initial permission testing to minimize the risk of spam or abuse complaints and getting rid of potentially hostile recepients
Developing compelling email messaging and testing strategies
Creating world-class graphic html emails

For those of you that already have a good list or just need us to do installed base email marketing, we can also easily address these needs.

Quick Facts About Search Engine Optimization

Greg Walthour — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:11:13 +0000

Looking for Colorado Springs SEO solutions? Since 2002, Bellandi Group has excelled in search engine optimization & organic internet marketing worldwide. We offer companies, of any size, consulting services that will help move their website to the top search engines. Phone books, magazines, newspapers and even television are now the dinosaurs of the marketing world. Consumers of all ages are now turned to the internet for almost all good and services they are seeking. In fact, there are over 11 billion web searches each month in Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing) and AOL.

It’s a fact: 82% of web surfers will click on the organic search results and only 18% percent will click on the pay per click adds. Studies have shown that the website in the #1 position (organically) will attract 41% of web traffic, while the website in the #2 position will attract 9% of web traffic to that page. If there is a difference of 400% + between the #1 and #2 ranked sites in the search engines, imagine the difference between #1 and #17!

Organic search engine placement has many benefits. As mentioned above, the organic listing generates more traffic, but that’s just the beginning! When you score in the organic search results, clicks are free forever. If you are looking for a long-term game plan to dominate your market place, organic SEO is definitely the way to go.

If you are ready to leap frog your competitors and dominate the search engines, give us a call! We offer free consultations and we are happy to chat with you via phone or in person.

What is Reputation Marketing

Tom McClintock — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:08:03 +0000

The rapidly changing face of social media – blogs, Twitter, wikis and other interactive media – has completely reshaped branding. Any message an organization puts out can now be picked up and re-shaped – occasionally to even greater impact than the original message – by consumers or even competitors active on social media platforms:

Monitoring online conversations about your company, your brand and your products is no longer a luxury. Companies can no longer hope to lob a message across high walls hoping that it reaches some part of the audience and not have a channel to get feedback on it. Edelman researchers note that “Sixty percent (60%) of our respondents said they need to hear information about a company three to five times before they believe it.” Elsewhere, the same report notes that only 29% of respondents worldwide view information as credible when coming from a CEO; in the U.S., that number hits a six-year low of 17% among 35-to-64 year olds.

Where do consumers turn to find the outside voices that are actively shaping opinion of your products? They turn to social media platforms throughout the internet. “Companies will be well served by moving from a mind-set of control to one of contribution.…companies should inform…the conversations among the new influencers—always under way on blogs, in discussion forums and bulletin boards. Every company can be a media company by creating easily accessed, substantive online content that can be improved by the public.” (Edelman Trust Barometer 2009 Executive Summary)

In this environment, monitoring online conversations about your company, your brand and your products is no longer a luxury. In today’s market, it’s a necessity. Bellandi Group can help you make sense of the wide array of online conversations that have the potential to impact your bottom line significantly.

We actively track consumer sentiment across not only the blogosphere and throughout the social media arena, but on almost all websites as well. In fact, we cover 90% of the entire Internet, excluding private email by using a platform called ReputationConnect. It can help you pro-actively manage your company’s reputation while at the same time helping you to build customer profiles and refine your marketing messages. ReputationConnect does this by:

Your Mentions graphic
Identifying consumers who are already talking online about your organization or products
Discovering competitive threats and expanding competitive intelligence
Providing easily sliced and diced, real-time data essential to creating relevant marketing messages
Alerting you to fraudulent claims about your company
Identifying customer service issues before they become widespread
Helping you to engage opinion-makers directly

Track, Analyze, Act
ReputationConnect Connects You With Your Audience

Expert Recommendations and Analysis: Once you have solid data in your hands, you need to decide how to act on it. Bellandi Group can help you create an Engagement Plan to reach out to those who have questions or need assistance, and especially influencers who guide public opinion. We will consult with you to develop, customize and implement responses to online mentions–yielding positive feedback.

McKinsey & Co. states: “Two-thirds of all economic activity in the U.S. is influenced by shared opinions about a product, brand or service.” Start tracking the “shared opinions” that will shape the future of your company. Bellandi Group can help you get started today. You’ll only pay for the services you use, and Bellandi Group’s team will become an extension of your own staff–but only when you need us.

How to Do Media Training

Laura Ettinger — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:05:44 +0000

Your company is ready for prime time. The product launch is poised to change the world.

Now, who goes in front of the camera to talk about it?

Are you ready?

The Bellandi Group Public Relations experts know the media – heck, some of us have been the media. We can coach any spokesperson to ensure a successful interview, whether for television, print or via web-enabled communications.

From complete media training programs designed to bring a full corporate leadership team ready for their close up on FOX Business News, to one-on-one coaching before a local radio show interview, no client of the Bellandi Group will be alone when a reporter asks a question.

Media training for Crisis Communication is also available. When it seems like the world is against you, turn to experts who can coach you through it.

Media Training is crucial in this world of 24/7 media. If your company deals with the public, talk to the Bellandi Group about how to communicate with them via general news outlets, in your own words, with your own mug in front of the camera.

You can do it, and improve your company’s reputation, brand and bottom-line. Go for it. We can’t wait to help you.

How to Get Started Planning Your Event

Sunny Smaldino — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:03:35 +0000

From gigantic trade show exhibits to local product launches, marketing events bring us together in an environment that allows us to learn new things, make new friends, see new products, discover new customers, find fresh leads – and if they are done right, come away feeling good about the brands being promoted.

This takes skill.

The Bellandi Group includes event planning and execution experts who can bring your event hopes and dreams to reality.

Talk to us about:

Conference Management (User conferences, VAR/reseller gatherings, Organizational/Industry Trade events, Education/Seminar programs, Professional Association training, etc.)
Special Events (Corporate announcements, receptions, launch parties, demonstration presentations, etc.)
Group Incentive Travel
Hotel & Venue-Research & Negotiations
Registration and Database Management
Air Transportation Services
Vendor Sourcing, Contracting and Administration
Full-Service Event Management
On-Site Logistics Management
Budget Planning and Control
Brand Strategy & Integration
Content Development
Sales Meetings
Annual Meetings
Business Meetings
Meeting Planning Services
Product Launches
Press Events/Road Shows
Keynote Presentations
Award Shows
Holiday Events
Online Events
Staging/AV

If your event is part of an integrated marketing strategy, the Bellandi Group can ensure that everything involved in pulling off the program successfully is also tied into the overall goals of your marketing plan.

But whether your event needs are singular or involve a Gantt chart to manage, we can put it together for you.

Go to Testimonials to see some of the work from the Bellandi Group, and the raving fans we boast.

Creating Compelling Brochures

Jil Goebel — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:59:32 +0000

There is no longer any such thing as a “general” brochure.

Printed collateral has to be targeted nowadays. Whether your prospective customer is a mother visiting a mall, an executive wandering through an industry trade show, or a COO who needs “leave behind” material, that person is sophisticated and savvy and not interested in keeping material that isn’t relevant and specific to them.

And let’s not forget that in the 21st century, most brochures are also posted on websites for downloading, so they have to be easily readable online.

With this in mind, the advertising specialists, graphic designers and strategic consultants at The Bellandi Group are ready to turn your copy, logo and art into the right piece for your specific need.

Brochures are a tried-and-true tool in your marketing mix that allows your message and more in-depth information to go home with your prospective customers. Have them available at:

Community Events
Trade Shows
As sales materials
As part of donor or sponsor awareness
As pieces in “goody bags”
As online material designed to catch the eye

Make sure your brochure is exactly what you need. Talk to the experts at the Bellandi Group and to our raving fans.

Creating a World-Class Channel Marketing Strategy

Murray — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:53:37 +0000

Channel Marketing Strategy & Planning

If you are not selling directly to your customer¸ you are engaging in Channel Marketing – dependent on someone else, a reseller or VAR or retail outlet, to get it right for you.

If this is the case, here are some questions that must be asked:

Who is selling your product or service?
Is it the right outlet?
Are they reaching out to the right prospects to sell your product most efficiently?
Are the sales people trained well on all the aspects of your product or service?
Are you getting the most “bang-for-the-buck” from your channel strategy?
Do you have the right channel mix for your market and customer base?
Are the appropriate metrics and incentives in place to maximize sales & profitability?
Do your channel metrics clearly show program efficiencies as well as opportunities?
Does your channel management structure minimize channel conflict while maximizing collaboration?
How do you find more Channel partners to sell for you?
How do you make sure they are a good fit?
What kinds of partnerships or bundles would be appropriate for what you’re offering?
Do you need to create a User’s Conference to bring your resellers or other Channel partners together to train them or show them new upgrades?
How often should you reach out to your resellers? What kinds of communication do they need?
Should you provide a special website portal for your Channel partners? If so, what should it contain/offer?
At what point do you reach past your resellers and engage the customers directly? If ever?
How do you get your message out, and your company name in the press when the customers think of the resellers as the providers of the product or service?

Well, that’s a lot of issues and questions. If you don’t have 100% confidence in these areas, Bellandi Group can help…by either evaluating specific pieces of your channel structure or analyzing your entire program, then developing a strategic plan for you that will maximize your channel sales & profitability.

The Bellandi Group has answers and solutions for all of the above. Call us and let our expertise in channel marketing be your guide.

Websites That Yield Real Business Results

dbellandi — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:39:53 +0000

If you want a website today that gets real results for your business, you need to look beyond pretty html graphics and self-centered babbling about your company. You need to look at the following:

Set it up to make it easy to add content regularly, especially blogs, social media, etc. For today’s world, this means a CMS (Content Management System). There are many choices here depending on size, need for customization and integration, etc. However, the prices for CMS sites are lower than ever now and by implementing one, you can easily log into your site and add content daily – critical.
Get a good designer involved. Does not have to be expensive, but someone who understands how to make your site stand above the norm, set you up with the right palettes, fonts and layout and can add a little flash or moving parts on your site for interest. Static, badly designed sites only say that you don’t care about your company.
Start by involving an SEO specialist right from the beginning. Prices for SEO have come way down and most SEO consultants would rather start at the very beginning and let you amortize the SEO cost over a year, than get pulled in downstream and have to redo the site for optimum traffic. Typically SEO guys will help you get your H1, H2, H3 and H4 tags right, your keywords selected, your megatags and keyword density set up and a backlinking strategy in place. These are just the basics.
Social media guys should come not too long after the SEO guys. They too are offering great prices and amortizing their costs over longer periods. I like bringing them in at the very beginning and having them brainstorm with the SEO guy even if I don’t start them on the project till later. Getting facebook and twitter set up early pay big dividends in addition to talking about blogging services and getting an early benchmark on the site using a reputation management tool for later comparison.
Content, content, content. This is where most fail. It starts with having the right positioning, followed by the right messaging strategy and platform, followed by the right content on the site. There are few people in any company that like to write and even fewer that want to take the time to do it. Deciding early on a content development roadmap is key and who will do the writing. Some customers just need help getting a plan in place, others need help doing the writing.
Topics for the advanced – In addition, more advanced websites put in place traffic and lead scoring systems, integration with CRM and strategies to capture traffic with forms and offers.

Websites can make companies a lot of money but it doesn’t come without addressing the issues above. Let us know if we can help.