Issue #213 | Nov. 5, 2009 | by Andy Kowl

How's business?

Isn't that what we all really want to know? We hear that a lot from people who assume we talk to lots of companies and have some sense of the market. They are not wrong; but at best we have anecdotal information.

Months ago the market for RFID tags and RFID technology went from "stalled" and has by now sped up to "slow." From horrible to hopeful. At least that is the sense we get talking to industry members.

Companies are doing business, many may feel not enough business or not enough growth; but there is life out there. And more deals are in the works.

Of course, this past year's economy was timed perfectly with the inevitable shake-out that all new business sectors go through at some point.

As dust settles, market positions will too
There will never be a time when it's more important to give confidence to buyers that your technology, and your brand, is here to stay. Any sophomore marketing student will tell you now is the classic time to get your company name out in the marketplace.

If buyers smell weakness, and have any reason to "feel" that your products or services may stop being available to help them, there is no sales pitch in the world that can overcome that. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Savings borne of marketing silence might be far more costly than any advertising investment you can make – especially now, as brands and solution providers are still jockeying for market share.

At least this year companies are talking about investing in marketing again. Needless to say, that is heartening to us here at RFID Switchboard.

But it is tougher than ever to decide how to spend those funds that are so hard to come by. Those of us left in the "RFID media" know that most budgets start where spending for RFID Journal's Live show leaves off.

Then waddya do?!

Is social networking the free lunch of marketing?
Social networking must be the answer, right? Everybody says it is.

Now I ain't saying it's not, and I find Linked-In quite helpful at times, so I do see the value. Yet it is obvious there are more people chasing those much-hyped benefits than there social networkers cashing in.

You may be on Facebook; but looking at the Linked In RFID groups, of which there are dozens, is more indicative of B2B social networking. You can see so many of the discussions are stillborn, especially those that sound like the poster took a course in How to Use Social Networking Effectively, not to mention the relentless "discussion"-starters (social spammers)...

If you think social networking is the same as keeping your brand in front of buyers, keep dreaming. Like all networking, the more you do, the better the results. It is rarely a quick process, however in the long run, with a dedicated effort, networking can be powerful.

In the pre-Crash days, "long run" and "dedicated effort" were not high on the wish-lists of many marketers.

Before the world economy took a time out, there was no shortage of pressure on advertising buyers to spend money only where it would produce business. "Lead gen! Lead gen!" The search ad-weaned marketers came up with the conclusion that the way advertising works is that you spend money and directly generate sales.

Wishful thinking. The biggest advertisers in the world don't spend a dime on direct-sales advertising. If Toyota, Citibank, Budweiser, Tide or Burger King had to justify each spot ad with cases of product sold, they wouldn't advertise.

Marketing in 2010 – keeping it real
RFID advertising buyers were being put in the same position as the farmer's daughter in the Rumplestiltskin story. If they could not spin marketing investments into quick profits, the heat was on.

So now, Class, in a market where the hottest prospects in your pipeline are mired in molasses; having learned that quick, guaranteed profit was a fool's errand in the days your boss still believed there were "quick hits" just the other side of the hill, where the grass is greener; how the heck can you be expected to spend those marketing dollars in a way that makes sense?

With a limited budget, what markets do you ignore? What continents do you skip? We get more requests for information from buyers in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America than we do from Europe and Asia. Can you afford to skip the business in these other regions? How about the end-users in your verticals? You can't ignore the VARs that actually sell all the product.

Yikes! Nobody can afford all that, right?

I hope you were not expecting some big revelation here: The Answer. That is the point. I can share some guidance, however. What is called The Advertisers' Lament is still the truth in sheep's clothing. This was best described in a real-world way when many years ago my brother, who owns a small business in New York, said, "I keep trying advertising in different places and various marketing programs. Sometimes I'm not sure if one works better than the other. What I am sure is that the more I try, the more my business grows."

If you have read this far, I must mention that this year at RFID Switchboard and our IT Sales Network are offering a menu, where you get to pick which options you want. Big publicity? Product promotion? eBlasts? It's your call. Send me a note and I'll hook you up – andy (at) rfidsb.com. Also contact me if you would like a copy of our power point presentation Advertising Fairy Tales.