We’ve received a number of enquiries about the proposed dates for the next LAM Plan Local Marketing Uni intensive one day public training sessions.

Well not only are we able to announce the dates but we are very excited to also let you know that we have added some new “Low Cost Marketing” content to the 2011 workshops. For the course objectives check out the Local Marketing Uni page.

The public local marketing course dates are as follows;

Wednesday 16th November 2011 Melbourne

Wednesday 23rd November 2011 Brisbane

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Sydney

Tuesday 6th December, 2011 Perth

Thursday 8th December, 2011 Adelaide

Please note that LAM Plan intends to also run Corporate training sessions (ie in-house workshops specifically for an individual company or franchise) in different states to coincide with these dates. This means that if you would like to book a private session the day before or after the proposed dates above please feel free to lock your preferred time in now.

Duration: 1 day
Times: 0900 AM – 5PM. Lunch 12-1 PM.
Venue: You supply a suitable training room or attend one of our public training courses that will have a number of companies from various industries in attendance.
Catering: Coffee, tea, water and a light lunch will be provided

Australian based Corporate/Franchise Training Course Cost: $3000 including GST per course for up to 6 people (at your premises) $500 including GST for each additional person. Early bird rates until November 9th, 2011 LAM Plan is offering 30% discount.

For US, Canada, South East Asia and New Zealand courses please contact Greg Mullane on +61 417 060 833 or 0417 060 833 for further details and pricing.

Public training course cost: $795 including GST per person (at a centrally located city training facility). Early Bird rates until November 9th, 2011 LAM Plan is offering 30% discount for groups of two or more. Contact Greg Mullane on +61 417 060 833 or 0417 060 833 for details.

Maximum number per course: 12 students

Email enquiries: gmullane@lamplan.com.au

Telephone enquiries and bookings: +61 417 060 833 or 0417 060 833

Remember how Charles Darwin put together a theory about the evolution of the species? He hypothesised that species that adapted to their environment would pass their genes on to a new generation thereby ensuring only the strongest survived. Those who couldn’t keep up would perish.

Not surprisingly the same can be said of your company’s Local Marketing activities. Simply put, you should cull campaigns that don’t work and replicate those that provide for the best return on investment. Of course, this implies that a formal review of each campaign is important. In the absence of a campaign assessment, companies tend to repeat activities that fail to produce consistent results.

You should cancel any advertising or promotions, above or below the line, which clearly don’t work. If you believe that your PR company is not pulling its weight, address the situation or move on.

The same can be said of sponsorship activities. By all means ensure that you keep repeating your sponsorship support for those that produce a reasonable return on investment, but call a meeting with those that have not delivered results and spell out to them in clear terms what is required of the relationship to see if things can be changed to achieve your goals. If the situation can’t be salvaged, don’t renew the relationship.

If certain events haven’t delivered the kind of results that you have expected, it’s best to review the situation with the organisers and determine whether you can salvage better results in the future or pull out altogether.

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is just as appropriate when it comes to local area marketing activities as it was to explaining the survival of the species. Your concentrated efforts to produce a return on investment are important to ensure that your business continues to be profitable and involved in successful activities. Constant review of activities, replication of winning campaigns and culling of non productive ones will ensure that your business prospers into the future.

For more Local Marketing ideas why not purchase a copy of “Local Marketing Secrets Cracked!” today at;

www.tinyurl.com/2949v6l

Best regards,
Greg Mullane

I’m pleased to announce that here at LAM Plan we’ve just put the finishing touches on a new half day training course designed to really get your sales team or B2B Marketing into top gear!

As with all of LAM Plan material the course is designed to encourage new initiatives to create locally grown leads and sales – this time through creative use of the social media networking tool LinkedIn.

Specifically the course will cover the following topics;

1. Traditional Prospecting v LinkedIn Networking
2. Existing Connections: Contact v Prospect Ratios
3. Profile Completion Secrets
4. How to turbo charge your Contact numbers
5. Flexing your Expertise Muscle across Groups
6. Free Event Promotion
7. Advertising fun at $10 per day
8. Power Prospecting with Advance Searches
9. How to expand your offline eMail, Prospect and Database Listings
10. The 15 minute LinkedIn daily checkup

If you are interested in obtaining further information about the course please do not hesitate to contact Greg Mullane on 0417 060 833 or submit a course enquiry form.

I was recently asked by a client what were the most common mistakes made by small businesses when it comes to local marketing.

Having dealt with many large and small franchise groups in addition to major corporations with regional marketing teams and other entities with independent businesses like licensed stores, dealers, mortgage advisors and financial planners I think I was well placed to respond to this question.

It didn’t take me long to answer.

In fact, I don’t recall drawing too much of a breath before pointing out the following common Local Marketing errors amongst small businesses…

Firstly, Local Marketing – what Local Marketing? Mistake number one is that all too frequently there are very few active attempts by small business owners to undertake Local Marketing activities. Sad but true.

Then there is the ad hoc approach to Local Marketing which is sporadic and happens in an almost binary fashion – on, off, on, off, more off than on! Yes at least there is some activity but it is undertaken with little regard to who, what, why, when, where and how and most importantly – did it make any money?

A third mistake is that small businesses tend to undertake the same Local Marketing activities that they always have. Let’s face it they become very comfortable. After all the results were great in the past and any downward spiral can be quickly explained away by changes in the market place and increased competition. Indeed!

Another common Local Marketing error is that no formal campaign review is conducted to determine whether activities were successful, can be altered to win new business or dropped altogether. Reviews are seen as tedious, time consuming and cumbersome. But do they have to be?

The next error can be explained in two words: finger pointing. Local Marketing is seen to be the domain of someone else. Maybe it’s the franchisor’s responsibility or the supplier’s duty to do all the work so that the small business owner can just respond to well qualified leads. So we have a situation where both parties look at one another and throw their hands in the air and ask themselves the question “why aren’t they doing more to support me?”

Finally, and perhaps the most common Local Marketing mistake is that there is no systematic approach, framework or principles to guide the small business person in what to do. Too often the small business person is highly skilled in their industry or service but lacks Local Marketing training, knowledge and direction.

Ok, after all that what was the response by the client who asked the question?

“Hmmm, yep, you’re right all those factors apply to our group – you better come and see us.”

And that I did.

As you can imagine, there is some light at the end of the tunnel and thankfully the errors outlined above do not have to be repeated for years to come.

All the best,
Greg

We’ve received a number of enquiries about the proposed dates for the next LAM Plan Local Marketing Uni intensive one day public training sessions.

Well not only are we able to announce the dates but we are very excited to also let you know that we have added some new “Low Cost Marketing” content to the 2011 workshops. For the course objectives check out the Local Marketing Uni page.

The dates that have now been finalised are as follows;

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Brisbane

Wednesday 15th February 2011 Sydney

Tuesday 22nd February 2011 Melbourne

Tuesday 1st March, 2011 Perth

Thursday 3rd March, 2011 Adelaide

Please note that LAM Plan intends to also run Corporate training sessions in different states to coincide with these dates so feel free to lock preferred dates in now.

Duration: 1 day
Times: 0900 AM – 5PM. Lunch 12-1 PM.
Venue: You supply a suitable training room or attend one of our public training courses that will have a number of companies in attendance.
Catering: Coffee, tea, water and a light lunch will be provided

Corporate Training Course Cost: $3000 including GST per course for up to 6 people (at your premises) $300 including GST for each additional person

Public training course cost: $795 including GST per person (at a centrally located city training facility). Until January 14th, 2011 LAM Plan is offering 30% discount for groups of two or more. Contact Greg Mullane on +61 417 060 833 or 0417 060 833 for details. 

Maximum number per course: 12 students

Email enquiries: gmullane@lamplan.com.au

Telephone enquiries and bookings: +61 417 060 833 or 0417 060 833

Well it’s almost THAT time of the year when we all sit back and say “Wow, where did the last twelve months go?”

I often think about how the modern world moves so quickly and how easily we can communicate with each other across the globe through the Internet, Social Media and tools like Skype. Imagine for a moment your grandparents world with none of these available. Who did they turn to when they had a burning question that needed answering? Certainly not Google!

Speed of communication does come at a price. Today the business world moves just as fast. People are working longer hours and taking less breaks and even less time to acknowledge and reward themselves for all that they have achieved.

I love Xmas and New Year. Not only because it’s a sensational time to catch up with friends and family but it’s an opportunity to STOP and smell the roses. It’s a time of year that you can draw a line underneath all of your achievements over the past twelve months and say to yourself “Wow, did I really do all that?”

For me, publishing a much needed niche Local Marketing book, developing and delivering training sessions and keynote speeches to very receptive and appreciative audiences, building strong relationships with people (no not clients, suspects or prospects: people!) and most importantly actually changing and positively impacting other people’s lives were my own personal highlights this year.

So my last piece of advice for the year would be to take some time out and grab hold of an old fashion pen and a piece of paper. Leave the office and shout yourself a cup of coffee and find a quiet table to write down everything that you’ve been proud of this year (regardless whether it’s work related or not). Give yourself permission to congratulate yourself because you deserve it!

The other thing I love about Xmas is giving presents.

I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve had a 92 page workbook sitting on my hard drive that I’ve been meaning to release as a product in its own right but haven’t got around to it yet. Yes I know, the universe rewards activity and in this case I haven’t acted. I’m going to fix this situation up in the new year and put a price tag of $97 on the workbook so it’s an affordable option for small businesses.

The thing is this. It’s Xmas and I’ve set aside 50 copies to give away for free and I’d like you to have a copy.

All you need to do is to drop me an email at gmullane@lamplan.com.au before 25th December 2010 with the word “Workbook” in the subject field, your name and company details in the body of the message and I will send it to you personally. Nb I will not use an auto-responder – this is a xmas gift so you will get a personal message from me. Because of this, there may be some delay in responding to you (I don’t do emails 24/7!).

Take care and have a great Xmas and New Year!

All the best,
Greg

It’s time once again to sit back, relax, kick off your shoes and share a few minutes learning a little bit more about one of LAM Plan’s favourite topics – Local Marketing.

In this podcast, Search Tempo’s John Hacking interviews LAM Plan’s Greg Mullane who shares some tips about unlocking the DNA of your local area, how to get access to other people’s people and other people’s money and some common mistakes companies make with local marketing.

Greg also outlines his ten top tips on how to put some spark into your business’s local marketing plans.

Local marketing guru Greg Mullane has helped numerous businesses attract new clients through his street-wise, local marketing strategies.

“I’ve watched businesses thrashing the same outdated local marketing tactics that continually fail to produce massive outcomes. I’m passionate about the enormous potential of local businesses to deploy high impact, laser focused local marketing strategies to drive an avalanche of new leads and sales and this was my inspiration to write “Local Marketing Secrets Cracked!” Mullane said.

The book reveals everything a small business owner, franchisor, franchisee or a regional manager of a major corporation needs to know about developing marketing campaigns that will generate leads and sales in the confines of their local territory.

It divulges how to align your strategy with the local area by unlocking its DNA, the importance of identifying peaks and troughs in demand and the tricks behind spending your local marketing budget wisely. Recognising not all businesses have wads of cash to throw at local marketing, the book also discusses the powerful exploitation of other people’s people and other people’s money for mutual gain.

“I’m a firm believer in the old adages “the universe rewards activity” and that “the skill to do
comes of doing”. It’s not enough to just read “Local Marketing Secrets Cracked!” Your business
needs to take action to get results. If you follow the principles in my book and take action, you have
enormous potential to produce a king-tide torrent of fresh local leads and clients direct to your
door.”

“Local Marketing Secrets Cracked!” is available for order at any Angus & Robertson store, Australia wide or online at www.tinyurl.com/2949v6l

Click on the “Sponsorship Secrets” banner to the right of this post to download a free sample of the book’s content.

Shhh…. don’t tell a soul because I really haven’t launched this book yet but I can tell regular readers of this column that the long awaited “Local Marketing Secrets Cracked!” is now available for purchase at the following Bookpal link;

www.tinyurl.com/2949v6l

It will take another 4 to 6 weeks for the book to be listed on amazon.com and the media and associated launch should take place by mid-August (to coincide with the recently announced training sessions) but you can purchase your own copy today at the above link.

If you would like to get a taste of what you can expect in the book you can download a free section of it at this link;

www.lamplan.com.au/free-report/

Amongst many other Local Marketing hints, tips and tricks the book discloses;

• How to unlock the complex DNA of your local territory by analysing 25 key elements that can be exploited to generate fresh leads and new sales
• 35 features that determine when, and when not to, spend your local marketing dollars
• 7 common local marketing budget errors and how to turn them into massive opportunities
• 11 sources of other people’s people and other people’s money, 9 reasons why entities would allow you access to them and 19 ways they could help your local marketing efforts at no cost to your business
• A 5 step process to access other people’s people and other people’s money
• A comprehensive listing of above-below-through and across-the line marketing tactics
• The correct approach to local sponsorships that maximises your return on investment
• A local internet marketing strategy underpinned by 3 key reasons why people use the web
• The 2 fundamental tools that outrageously successful local marketing plans can’t be without

Purchasers of the book will also have exclusive access to an online library of cutting edge local marketing resources including templates that you can steal, edit and instigate today!

I really hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I had so much fun in putting it together.

Best regards,

Greg Mullane

We’ve received a number of enquiries about the proposed dates for the LAM Plan Local Marketing Uni intensive one day public training sessions. For the course objectives check out the Local Marketing Uni page. The dates have now been finalised as follows;

Tuesday 17th August 2010 Sydney

Wednesday 18th August 2010 Revesby

Tuesday 24th August, 2010 Melbourne

Tuesday 31st August, 2010 Brisbane

Please note that LAM Plan intends to also run Corporate training sessions to coincide with these dates so feel free to lock preferred dates in now.

Duration: 1 day
Times: 0900 AM – 5PM. Lunch 12-1 PM.
Venue: You supply a suitable training room or attend one of our public training courses that will have a number of companies in attendance.
Catering: Coffee, tea, water and a light lunch will be provided

Corporate Training Course Cost: $3000 plus GST per course for up to 6 people (at your premises)
Public training course cost: $795 including GST per person (at a centrally located city training facility). For a limited time LAM Plan is offering 30% off for group discounts of two or more. Contact Greg Mullane on +61 417 060 833 or 0417 060 833 for details. 

Maximum number per course: 12 students

Email enquiries: gmullane@lamplan.com.au

Telephone enquiries and bookings: +61 417 060 833 or 0417 060 833