Effective Marketing and Media Strategies During COVID-19 - Live Webinar (5-21-20)

Alright, we're going to give it one more minute for everybody to come on in. And Doug and John, are you both able to hear me?

Yep, you're coming through very clear.

Fantastic.

Yes, great.

All right, well, welcome everyone to SureFront's weekly webinar series at 11 AM Pacific. I'm your host, Dylan Lowe, the Director of Marketing at SureFront. And for those of you who are new to this webinar series and are not familiar with us, SureFront is an all-in-one app built for showrooms and sales reps with a patented immersive collaboration technology. And what that means is it allows you to do a variety of things, from create virtual showrooms and showcase your product lines to your customers anywhere at any time, which we're actually going to talk about later towards the middle of this webinar. Very important right now because It's almost impossible to meet with your buyers right now. It also allows you to collaborate and chat with retailers on quotations, buying programs, and purchase orders without ever leaving the app, and even work with your suppliers and factories on product development at the same time. So we hold these webinars every Thursday, again at 11 AM Pacific, to provide valuable information mainly to our supplier community to help them get through this crisis. Today we're discussing the new marketing trends that have occurred because of COVID-19 and how you can adapt to them to help your business get through this trying time. We're also going to have a Q&A at the end, so please start asking any questions now that you may have or throughout the webinar in that Q&A icon at the bottom of your screen, not the chat icon, but the Q&A icon. So you can go ahead and start asking them. I'll start looking at those, combing through those, and getting those ready towards the end of this as we go through it. And our panelists today are Doug Heckman, who is the Director of Product at SureFront, who will be discussing SureFront towards the middle of the webinar, and John Elisco, who has over 25 years of ad industry experience and has helped launch, I think, over 300 new products, services, and companies. So we're very excited to have him here today. I know he has a fantastic presentation that can help a lot of you out there. So thank you very much, John, and at this point I will hand it over to you.

Okay, thanks so much, Dylan. And I'm going to share my screen now and make sure everyone can see this. All right. And full screen mode. Okay, Dylan, is that full screen? All right, so if everyone—

a blank screen right now. Doug, what do you see?

Yeah, it looks like it's still trying to initialize the full screen mode on my end. Yeah.

Okay, it says, uh, bring your window to the front.

You want to take it off and do it one more time and then make sure you select on Screen 1 when you do it.

Perfect.

Yes.

Okay, great. Who knows, I even rehearsed that and practiced that and it didn't work out. But thank you, Dylan. So I'll just jump right in. And what we're going to share with you today are some effective marketing and media strategies during this difficult time. And the presentation is, is basically taken into 3 different categories: why you should advertise now, some of the most effective media to use today, and also what you can do either on a shoestring budget or a large budget, any kind of budget, to take advantage of some of the opportunities that are there. So, uh, probably comes as no surprise to anyone that someone that works in advertising like me is recommending that you should advertise. There are a couple of well-known adages, and they, they're on screen. One is, when times are good, you should advertise, and when times are bad, you must advertise. And the second is really more of a mindset that viewing advertising is an investment and not just an expense. So that's something that we believe, and For anyone that's cynical, you might think, well, of course you believe that. But one of the reasons we believe it is because we know that it's true, and research shows that. So here you'll see that, uh, the research that's been done since before World War II up until now, uh, shows that companies that increase ad spending during down markets recover 3 times faster. Than others that don't. B2B companies that maintain or increase their spending during a recession have higher growth during that time and for 3 years after. And one of the things that probably relates to a lot of people here is that because in B2B your sales cycle is longer, any brand building that you do now will pay off in the recovery in their longer after. So those are some research-backed reasons why you should advertise now. Then there are a couple of others that are, that are really important. One is that, and it's counterintuitive, but media costs are actually reduced. It's a buyer's market because there's, while the demand or while the viewership is increased, the advertising is actually dropping so that the costs are better. And we can talk about that a little bit more. There's also a lot less competition. People are not advertising now, and when other brands are not advertising, there's a lot less clutter. And this gives you an opportunity to increase your share of voice and ultimately your, your market share. So, uh, one of the things that's just starting to to come out is some of the research that's happening almost in real time. So this is an example of a Shanghai cosmetic brand that closed half of its stores in China because of COVID And they repositioned, they repurposed their marketing budget and moved it from more of the traditional and invested heavily in live streaming. And so after an initial drop of 90% in sales, they've since rebounded and increased sales 45% by staying engaged with their, their customers. And that's also a major reason to, to continue to advertise during this time. Advertising really is about relationships. It's about building relationships with your existing customers, developing new relationships with prospective customers. And a lot of times people think about this as more of a business-to-consumer kind of approach, but it's equally as important in business-to-business. It can't replace those valuable in-person meetings that you have, but it can fill the gaps. And what it does like any healthy relationship, it, it lets your customers know that you're still paying attention to them, that they are still important. It demonstrates that they can still trust you by the ways that you're coming to them with new information. It demonstrates your commitment, respect, and really good communication that's going back and forth. So it's very important that this continue. And one of the things that we know when brands stop advertising or decrease their, their advertising, a lot of things happen from a perception standpoint and loyalty standpoint. People start asking about brands, can I count on them? Uh, worry, are they going to be out of business? And if they start thinking about that, you know, then they start questioning, is something fundamentally wrong with this brand that maybe they might not come out of it. And it's the old out of sight, consumers become disengaged, customers do. And they start thinking things like, maybe I should switch now. I've got to look out for myself. So for the brands that aren't top of mind, they're getting replaced. And another part of it is that any momentum, any brand equity that you've built to this point, is much more difficult and more expensive to regain after you stop advertising. You just fall to the wayside. So those are some of the reasons why you should continue to advertise. And here's some of the things that are the right mix of advertising for you. Well, pre-COVID, We know that digital, for the first time ever, recently eclipsed television. And you look at the, the ad spend, so much in search and social, video display, and others. And we see some of the traditional media tailing off. So this is pre-COVID, and what, what does it look like now, now that we're in things? Well, A lot of the fundamental things have not changed, but some of the traditional media has really taken quite a beating. Um, and the ones that are really, uh, losing out now are billboards, anything that's out of home, radio, and newspapers. So when we look at that, some of the reasons that are driving that— when people are not going to work They're not commuting, so there's no drive time. There's no morning drive, afternoon drive. These are key times for advertisers and especially radio where you're trapped in your car, even with satellite. So listening to radio is decreased. With no one on the road or very few people on the road, viewership of billboards has gone down. So those are going down. And also with newspapers, which are continuing to contract, and the more community publications. So one of the big shifts is things that, that some advertisers count on— radio, billboards decreasing, and newspapers also decreasing. So what are some of the effective things that, that are happening? I think it's no surprise to anyone that the digital is very important. Is user— usership and being online is increasing. But I think one of the surprises, at least to us, is TV. And we're seeing quite a few of our regional clients returning to TV right now because the costs are so good and people are trapped at home. So this is a bit of a surprise from the TV standpoint. And 38% increase in broadcast TV and 37% increase in streaming TV. So we're using television right now in healthcare and also in things like recruitment, which is kind of non-traditional and unexpected. A lot of that is going into the streaming. From a digital standpoint, we're seeing a lot of increase in gaming and apps and also more advertising going into— I don't know if anyone's playing Animal Crossing, but Denny's has just launched an ad campaign inside of the game. So we're seeing a lot more of that and then short entertainment videos. So really, an ideal campaign in today's market would be heavy digital, cable streaming if that's where your audience is, so, uh, in-game ads, of course. Those are very important elements of it. So knowing that, what can you do, uh, if you don't have the big budget, if you're one of the brands that that is either, you know, decreasing your budget, what are some things that you can do? Well, the other reasons it's very important is you've got to continue to build and strengthen your current relationships and new relationships. So how do you do that? Well, you have to continue to differentiate yourself, be relevant, provide value, and respond. Quickly. And a big part of that is staying top of mind with your customers. And Doug is going to talk a little bit about how to do that with Shorefront.

Yes, uh, thank you, John. I appreciate you giving that, um, overview. And I'd like to talk a little bit about how Shorefront can help you achieve some of the things that John was just mentioning. Between moving quickly and staying top of mind for your customers, but not just doing that, but also adding additional value, showing them that you're here throughout this crisis, they can count on your brand, and they can trust you to provide value to them in ways that they're looking for now that they're not going to be necessarily able to come visit your showroom in person. So what we're looking at here is a digital catalog that you can make in SureFront, and to one of John's points on his last slide, where this provides value to your team is being able to enable you to move quickly. When you put your styles in here, it's very quick for you and your team to quickly find the styles that you're looking for using search or sort or filter, or this really nice option, um, that we have in here, like tagging, so that you can kind of cut across more product hierarchy type stuff where you can drill down, maybe find your new summer styles that you want to put in front of your customers, quickly select all of them, And now, since your customer is unable to meet you in your physical showroom, you can stay top of mind by quickly finding these products and creating a digital showroom for them with this showcase tool. One of the really nice options in here is even if your customer hasn't yet signed up for Shorefront, all you have to do is enter in their email like you normally do. Let me enter in one for today. And then they'll be able to take the products that you're sending them, and it's going to drop them right into the platform. So let me show you that in just a second. As soon as you, as soon as you have selected these styles and shared it with your customer It's going to provide your customer an email, so it encounters your customer right where they're expecting to be encountered, helping you stay top of mind. And it's going to give a preview of all of these styles, which is a really great, nice elevated experience for them above something that your competitors might be using, like an Excel-based line sheet. And then all they have to do is click on this email, and I'm going to open it here in an incognito session. And when they open that email, it's going to drop them directly into the Shorefront platform, where now they have a nice elevated differentiated experience with your brand to be able to see, you know, high-resolution images, to be able to like and heart their favorites, and then to be able to select styles that they want more information on and quickly request a quotation from you. When they do that, one of the other nice options in SureFront, when they request that quotation, is this quotation tool that again helps differentiate your brand. You're able to use real-time chat to be able to respond to any of your customer requests and move more quickly than your competitors otherwise would be. You're also able to drill down into more specific product details to respond to any of the incoming requests or questions that your customer might have. And give them a really elevated, better than a line sheet type experience to interact with your brand. And I know that John's gonna dive into this in just a little bit, but as we're dealing with constrained budgets, and you might be looking at how can I make my dollars go furthest, Shorefront right now is happy to offer a 3-month free trial. You don't have to enter a credit card or anything. All you do is sign up and you can start putting your products in Shorefront. To help differentiate your brand and help you stay top of mind with your customers. So with that, let me kick it back over to John so we can dive into some more of those shupleng budget type strategies.

And thank you, Doug. Also, we will be sending out a follow-up email to everybody after this today with that signup link. So that 3-month free trial is offered to anybody that attends these webinars. So We'll make sure to send that link to everybody that attended today. So thank you very much. Thank you, John.

Okay, I'm going to switch back. All right. Thanks, Doug. So it's important to stay in front of your customers and stay top of mind. So what are some of the ways that we can do this? And this is a pretty simple strategy, but it's, it's a very powerful one. And essentially what it is, is that if you solidify your brand's position internally and then relaunch a product, a service, or your brand using free digital media, public and community relations. So that is one thing that you can do very affordably that can have major impact and results. And why is that? Is because— oh, I'm sorry— is because you're providing something that is new and relevant and of interest to your customers. So that's really one of the powerful things of doing this. So when we mention about in turn solidifying your brand position. These are just basically— there's, there's 9 here, there might be 12 positions, but anytime you think of any brand, whether it's yours or anywhere in the world, they typically fall in one of these 9 categories. So that's one of the things you have to do is go back and say, all right, are we really locked down on what our brand is and how we are different from our competitors? And when you look at that, then you go and make sure that that position is something that's meaningful, relevant, true, something that you can support, and is also desirable. So as this, uh, circle chart shows, your capabilities, what your customer needs, your offerings, and you want to get into that, that sweet spot. So that's your positioning. Then Repackage and relaunch. So are there any new products or services that, that you have in your pipeline? If there are, now is the time to launch them. If you have nothing new, then we recommend you look at what you have, repackage it, and relaunch it. So what existing product or service do you have that you can redefine and reintroduce to people. And so once you find that, that product or service, or maybe it's your entire brand, how do you then relaunch it? And these are items. So social video, this could be as simple as introducing, uh, the product or service with iPhone photos, uh, writing a blog, which we know is great for search engine optimization. Talking about the product or service, sending out emails to all of your contacts and contacts and prospects. Another free way of doing things, starting a podcast, which you can do so affordably these days, and then sending that content out, conducting a webinar like today's webinar, and then looking at ways that you can partner either in your community or partner with other related businesses and maybe do some cooperative advertising where you put your, your funds together so you can make your message go even further. And then also media relations. This is from any time that you have something new, featured stories that you can pitch to media, whether it's local, regional, or national, and try to get some mentions in there. So see, these are some totally free other than time investment things that you can do to promote any kind of relaunch of a product or service. And also—

I'm sorry, I was just going to say, John, there's also another one I've heard suppliers doing where they are doing Facebook Live events. I mean, we're doing this on Facebook Live as well right now on our Facebook page at SureFront. But I know that some suppliers are, you know, getting a hold of, you know, a buyer here and there and they say, I want to, you know, see a video on that right now. And they'll, you know, do a little Facebook Live event, you know, kind of demonstration, almost like a virtual trade show, almost in that way.

Yeah, that's a fantastic suggestion. And so as one example of a company that's doing it, this. Now they're doing it obviously on a much larger scale, but it's the same idea. So Domino's Pizza, you know, they deliver, and in mid-March they introduced a new service, and in air quotes, "contact delivery" or "contactless delivery," and it is different. There's custom drop-offs, there's a pizza pedestal, but basically they're adapting what they currently do and putting a new spin on it. And they're promoting the value and the safety. So this is like this new thing from Domino's. They've also launched some new community relation efforts, which is Feeding the Need with 10 million free pizza slices and a pizza giveaway. So they've always been a charitable company, but this is adapted to, to the market today. And the results are pretty amazing. So this is from April from CNBC News. Their same-store sales have increased by about 7%, and this is with their new service and their new dedication to the community.

So very quick question, from like a, like a PR standpoint, if I, uh, and those Domino's commercials are great, if I'm, you know, more of a smaller supplier and I'm in apparel or a hard good like jewelry or home goods and I want to repackage and launch those. I know it's a tough question, but how do I repackage, say, my jewelry line that I already have during this time?

Right. Well, I think one of the things, and it really depends on what that actual product is, but so for example, You would look at, look at what is happening in daily life. So right now there are a lot of people wearing masks. So for example, you know, the problem with masks are where do you put them when you go home? What do you do with them? So say that you are an apparel and you have jackets with large pockets on them. That you could repackage as, you know, mask pockets. So this is something that people can put their pockets in, so it's related to now. If you have scarves, you know, there's a lot of different kinds of scarves or accessories that could actually hold your mask. So those might not be the best examples, but it shows you the kind of thinking that you would do. So How do you use that apparel or how do you use that bracelet to tie in with what's happening today? And then you rename it.

And another good point too is that, you know, what people are buying right now is totally different when they were buying before, but they're still buying. So they're buying more of, you know, those must-haves, need-to-haves, rather than, you know, like-to-haves. So instead of buying, you know, a brand new dress that you can wear out on a nice evening out at a restaurant, restaurant, which people are not doing, you know, they're going to be buying maybe more athletic wear or, you know, home, you know, so people that still sell, you know, home goods or jewelry or clothing, I think are still fine as long as they, to your advice, repackage and launch under the assumption that, you know, hey, what looks good for a webinar when I'm, you know, talking to a prospective client or, you know, what is comfortable? Am I wearing, you know, PJs on the bottom and something nice on the top when I'm on a webinar, which I may or may not be doing right now? So, you know, I mean, I think rethinking of those things and how, you know, repackaging, relaunching it, I think that makes sense. I think even most of our suppliers probably have those goods already, but it's just a matter of reposition those as we're all living at home right now rather than what's a nice night out at a restaurant.

Right. And then renaming them. But those are all terrific examples. And, you know, for, you know, one of the last trends was people being very environmental. So, for example, when vegan shoes came out, you know, whatever that is, but, you know, how they were made and those kinds of things. So it's really, it is repackaging, and part of that packaging is naming it. So So whatever that item is, if you find a compelling descriptor that you put in front of it, it's almost like a math problem. So what is that description that goes right in front of it? Then it becomes something, it becomes something else. So for like loungewear, you know, so how do you do that? And that's part of what we do. So that is a really quick overview of what the media landscape is like today. How to take advantage of that and one time-proven strategy of repackaging and relaunching that will be effective in today's market.

That's great. Thank you so much, John. Really appreciate that. I know I have a lot of questions. We have some questions coming in already. So we're going to start a Q&A session shortly. So any questions that you have, please put those in the Q&A button for anybody who's joining late. I mentioned that in the beginning. We have both a chat button and a Q&A button, so just throw those questions in the Q&A button. Also, to your point, John, and to the point that I made before about, you know, a virtual trade show or advertising yourself on Facebook Live, SureFront's gonna be having our own virtual trade show around July or August, which we'll be announcing. So, you know, if any suppliers on here have any questions about that or suggestions about that as well, you can email me in the email that's in the original invitation for this webinar. Dylan@surefront.com, D-Y-L-A-N. Also, to Doug's point, and thank you very much, Doug, for that demonstration, that was great. SureFront has an extremely useful tool with our virtual showrooms and ability to showcase your products virtually. So I'll be sending an email today with a signup link for all of our webinar attendees only, and we're giving away 3 months of the SureFront software so you can have your own virtual showroom. Very, very useful. Great way to communicate to your prospective buyers and retailers. One question that I had, John, was, you know, going back before, when you say that companies that increase ad spending recover 3 times faster, I'm curious, in that study, did they increase, you know, their spending by 2x, 4x? Can you get a, you know, a little more, give a little more information on that one?

Yeah, that's a good question. We were wondering that too. Unfortunately, the study doesn't get into the very specific amounts or percentages of what that is. So it's pretty broad and general.

But I guess maybe the point is, you know, try to lean into this rather than, you know, solely, you know, reacting and being on the defense. You know, maybe get on the offensive a little bit. And advertise. Also, in the "Why Advertise Now?" slide, you talk about reduced media costs. Do you have any numbers on how costs have come down in a variety of marketing segments? So maybe how costs have come down in digital marketing, which I know that, you know, for our audience purposes and probably the— some of the next questions I'll ask are all going to be about digital marketing since I don't think our been advertised so much on TV, though that's good to know, but probably more digitally.

Yeah, and you know what, it's surprisingly— and again, it's counterintuitive— the costs in traditional media and in digital media have gone down. And the interesting thing is, um, traffic is up and advertising is down. And so for For example, we've seen that studies that show about 69, 70-some percent of brands are decreasing their advertising. Big advertisers on sites like Facebook were travel, the film industry. You guys are out of LA. They were taking up roughly 30% of the advertising on Facebook. Film and travel. So they've obviously totally stopped spending, and so the revenue is down. And so to be competitive, uh, they— the, the sites are lowering their rates. So pre-COVID, um, the cost per click for Facebook dropped from around— this is national average across different industries— from 64 cents to 32 cents. So I mean, it's half.

A lot, yeah.

Um, and Google is also losing a lot of their money because so much of it is from small business, and small business is getting affected. So, um, digital and traditional viewership, eyeballs are way up, advertising is way down. Because of that, the advertising costs across the board are dropping.

Great. And with that, we got a question in that was, what are the main digital platforms for B2B advertising to retailers? This attendee said not Google, it's too broad and expensive. You mentioned Facebook, which I think is a great one. What other ways do you think there are to— for a supplier to advertise to a retailer?

Oh, that's a great question. One of the first things is, what are the trade publications? And what's their digital offering, what do they have to meet them specifically in B2B. That's the first place that I would look.

Great. Also maybe, you know, Instagram. Not sure if that's the best way to reach retailers, but I know at least, you know, that advertises, you know, niche products to a broad audience. That might be another way.

So these— yeah, so I mean, when you're in a very specific B2B marketing. So, you know, you're in that industry, you'll definitely reach them through consumer sites, but you want to get even more targeted. So that's, that's why a lot of times you still look at those, those very specific trade, trade sites.

Great. And, you know, since, since people are spending more time at home, there's another question. Are there websites— and to our original point— are there websites that would not normally advertise on that they should try out now?

You know, that's a really good question. It's very interesting. A couple of things are happening. Internet usage is up 70% according to some studies, so that's huge. That's a huge amount. But at the same time, people are also looking for comfort and they're going to a lot of— they're just spending more time on some of the sites that they're comfortable with like Facebook to connect. So it really goes to your audience. If they're there, they're there now. If they were there before, they're there now. So some new sites that might pop up on the consumer side of it are things like Nextdoor. Sites that people are connecting on. So from a business-to-business standpoint, I'm not really sure, but from a consumer standpoint, there are other sites. But it's always good to test, especially with costs being so low as they are right now. So it's kind of a wishy-washy answer, but— No, that's fine.

And I mean, also, you know, Facebook's targeting is, is so good and so specific that if I'm a supplier at the Dallas market I can probably target retailers that have visited the Dallas Market Facebook page or website and target directly to them while they are on Facebook. So it's also a solid B2B platform. And to your point, the cost per click going down from $0.64 to $0.32, cut in half. Maybe you weren't putting some ad dollars on there before, but it might be a good idea to throw up a couple hundred bucks. During this time to anybody that's visited the, you know, Vegas marketplace or the Dallas marketplace or, you know, New York. Another question I think is more from a PR standpoint, which is, they asked, what's the best way to explain to clients while you'll not be visiting them in person? If the country is opening up, it would seem we could have personal visits. We want to explore safer options, but want to have an understandable, friendly way to communicate to retailers that we might not be visiting them.

Okay, so telling them why you're not coming in person. And I think, you know, for anything is just to express your concerns, to be direct with it and let them know why. And I think that would work out well.

Okay, and Doug, this is, this is for you. For SureFront, do we need to be an entire brand for the SureFront trial, or can we be an independent contractor?

Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. You're absolutely able to sign up as an independent contractor. All you got to do is put your products on the platform and showcase like we went through to your customer contacts. There's no requirements about minimum level of business or the brand ownership, if you're responsible for selling those items, that this is totally available to you. And I did just want to piggyback maybe off the question that you asked right before about communicating to your customers maybe why you're not doing in-person visits. We have had some previous webinars kind of focused on the change in even, you know, B2B customer behavior going forward. And I don't think that it's going to be, you know, within your customers' expectations that you are going to be coming into their offices I think that protocol is going to be looking a lot different. They're probably not going to be flying across country wearing a mask the whole time to come to your showroom. So I think you may be surprised that their expectations might be that we're shifting our business to be more remote working rather than being in person. Great.

Awesome. And then, John, here's another question. What are some key— I don't know if you have these offhand. If not, we can always, you know, include these as answers later. In our follow-up emails, but what are some key B2B cost metrics to budget per B2B customer or retailers? So say the annual sales is $100,000 with a 50% margin. Do you have any, you know, key B2B cost metrics on that?

No, and that's something that I could get to you, but I think one of the things that really feeds into that You know, some industries have that certain percent of sales that should go to marketing. It really depends on your brand. How mature is your brand? Is it new? So those things come into play as well. But I could— I'll check more into that, Dylan, see what I can say.

Yeah, I got it. Perfect. And when you talked about before about solidifying your brand's position internally, can you talk a little more about that and maybe some more examples of that?

Yeah, and I guess what we meant by that is, is, you know, we meet with a lot of companies, and this might not be the case for anyone in this webinar, but not every brand or every company has a really strong position and one that they can articulate. And they— and so if you don't, I mean, if you can't say our position— not a theme, not like, you know, "Just do it." That comes out of that. But if they can't articulate what makes them different in a way that's meaningful, relevant, and different from the competition and desirable, then you have a kind of— you don't really have a strong position, and you need to go back to that. So for example, Shorefront, I would say right off the bat, you're in a leadership position. You've got this go-to platform that's like for your industry. So that right there, I'm guessing, is your position. Um, and so there are a lot of different kinds of positions that are out there and we shared 9 of them. So that's a lot of words to say, in our experience, most companies that we deal with from small to midsize, sometimes even large, don't really have a strong position and, uh, and have never spent that time on that.

Got it. Great. Well, John, I really, really appreciate it. And, you know, to, uh, everyone out there, we do this every Thursday, 11 AM. We're doing another one next week that's going to be about PPP loans, so we'll send out, uh, an email about that tomorrow morning. Uh, later today we're going to be sending again the email on how to sign up for SureFront for this 3-week trial, which is exclusive to webinar attendees only. So, you know, take advantage of that. Doug, thank you so much for your time. John, thank you so much for your time. That was a great presentation, and everybody stay safe out there. Thank you.