In a recent post , we discussed how the downturn in the American economy was leading to a substantive downturn in the $175 Billion corporate meetings market. 

Driven by companies slashing their conference, event and major meetings budget.  Such budgets incur not only event equipment rental and event hire costs, but also travel, accommodation/venue costs.

Surveys indicate that over 60% of all companies intend to reduce their spending on meetings next year.   See earlier  post in this blog – titled Why tough times should benefit the hire and rental industry

One factor that is concerning is why!  Many companies recognize the importance of holding client and staff events and meetings.  However in the current climate, many shareholders and Government Agencies providing stimulus funds perceive such events and meetings as lavish junkets.  Companies and Corporations are “sheepish” about defending the business value, hence opt to cancel them.

Now a coalition of event and meet industry- including event rental and event hire companies, as well as planners and organizers are fighting back.  They have formed a coalition to lobby the USA Government about the benefits of events and meetings to the USA economy and USA Corporate Health.

The “Keep America Meeting“ campaign provides on line information about the business value of the industry.  Furthermore it includes an online petition to be presented to politicians.

This initiative of the event industry is welcomed, and should be seen as a role model for other event and meeting industries is similarly effected countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.

Making Life Ezy suppliers of the most innovative event and party rental software welcome the coalitions initiative.

About Us

HireEzy is the complete business management solution for hire and rental companies. Not only does it include digital marketing, web integration it also includes social media marketing tool integration. For more information email us sales@makinglifeezy.com.au

An independent report from a USA consulting company has now valdiated that statement.

Extract From Constuction Hire: AN INDEPENDENT research report by Tech-Clarity has found that hire equipment owners and dealers need to have centralised, efficient software systems if they are to be competitive in the market.

Tech-Clarity’s report shows businesses that integrate service requirements into their managing software are more effective than those that don’t. read more go click here

About Us

HireEzy is the complete business management solution for hire and rental companies. Not only does it include digital marketing, web integration it also includes social media marketing tool integration. For more information email us sales@makinglifeezy.com.au

Reduce Operating Costs by 30% – we have clients who have reduced operating costs and in some
cases doubled revenue by using HireEzy.

Option for a Fully Integrated Web Site – in which you can update and control the web content from
HireEzy with two simple clicks.

Protect your Cash by renting HireEzy – a small installation fee is charged to install HireEzy on your
premises.

The SMALLEST to LARGEST companies use HireEzy because of its affordability and scalability.
WHY CAN WE DELIVER SUCH PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS!

Natural Business Flow that cuts costs: HireEzy is a complete hire business management solution, designed to follow the natural flow of your business.

The natural flow starts with creating and managing market leads and ends with banking the cash. This is an extremely important difference and one that makes us the emerging market leader. Why have separate un-related systems and processes for marketing, for your web site and for brochure production, for hire operations, for servicing, for delivery and for accounting, when HireEzy provides one complete solution. Even the simple things save time and dollars like one click conversion of quotes to invoices that also updates the accounts with a new Account Receivable transaction.

Marketing- Lead Generation

Differentiate yourself as a leading professional company with the most incredible in-built Entertainment
Agents and/ Entertainment Manager marketing tools.  Full range of in-built easy to use digital marketing tools.

• Control your web content yourself, updating news, events etc (option)
• Inbuilt SMS functions
• Promotion Cataloguing system for products
• Produce High Quality Marketing Documents
• Produce your own full color Product Catalogues and full color marketing PDF’s
• Produce your own Fliers and E-mailers

Full Agent Marketing Relationship Management System

A specially adapted customer relationship management system for the Hire and Rental
Companies.

• Contact Details, Contact history,
• Standing Pricing Agreements/ Discounts/ Financial and Contract history

Event or Project Planning

Plan and manage events for your clients with the inbuilt event and project planning tools.

• Project manage events professionally.
• Reduce project risk.
• Full visual graphic reporting.
• Even includes sub-contractor management.

Bookings/ Inquiries and Availability

Manage Bookings professionally with the World’s most powerful booking management system. Respond quickly and easily to sales inquiries with accurate and timely information:

• Email or print off quickly tailored high graphic quality product information and pricing specific to their inquiry.
• Check availabilities, reserve bookings by status and confirm bookings.
• Track Bookings with Daily, Monthly, Weekly views.  Bookings are color coded depending on their status.
• One click conversion of quotes to invoices.
• Send reminder SMS to clients, a method shown to reduce no shows by as much as 25%.

Inventory and Logistics Management

Manage your inventory and logistics with a completely integrated business solution.

• Schedule and record stock maintenance.
• Improve inventory utilization.
• Produce pick lists for warehouse staff.
• Produce detailed delivery and collection schedules with route planning and directions through Google Maps; or tasking instructions such as set up, on-site inspections or disassembly.

Accounting and Contracts

A fully integrated accounting package that is driven by your bookings.
For example creating an invoice automatically generates an Account Receivable transaction, it also includes:

• General Ledger and Profit & Loss,
• Cash book accounting,
• Central Contracts store,
• Easily manage and calculate complex financial payments/ splits/ commissions

Collaboration and Workflow

Clients have stated that they have been able to cut as much as 30% of their operating time and costs by the use of through the in-built workflow tools. A major fallacy is that your whole system must be web based in order to collaborate with partners. Not only is this not true it is in fact a major business risk to you. As a number of recent clients have stated when the internet went down, we could not trade, we could not access our own information – we were completely at a loss.

MLE eliminates this business risk, but also provides you with the tools to collaborate effectively with your partners.

Other

• All you data is stored on your site, we do offer back up data services.
• Eliminate the business risk of not being able to trade or conduct business when the internet is down.
• Set staff access level s to data or functions by role or by person.
• Comprehensive range of management reports

Have a problem, then click live help and we can help you!

Works on Apple Macintosh or Windows based systems

Interested?  Then book an obligation free on-line demonstration, go to www.makinglifeezy.com.au

The target segment to consider focusing your attention on is families in the mortgage belt or suburbs. There are three key factors that drive this analysis:

Vulnerability to Unemployment Risks

The OECD has forecast that the most vulnerable labour groups are the oldest, youngest and unskilled. As a generalisation the mortage belt is generally made up of middle aged couples with either technical, trade or professional skills. Hence based on the most recent OECD forecasts, these are the least likely to face unemployment risks.

Interest Rates

Interest rates for mortgages across the board have fallen sharply over the last year. Some estimates show that this has meant that mortgage belt families have been able to free up a few hundred dollars per month. This saving to them is also being complimented by tax cuts in a number of countries.

Trend Towards Home Based Entertainment

There is a societal trend towards home based entertaining, rather than off premise entertainment. This trend has been accelerated by the recent global financial crisis.The home entertainment market is a target segment for party hire and rental companies. Another factor influencing the trend towards home entertainment.  Whilst interest rates are coming down, so are house prices.  So the overall sense of perceived wealth is declining, therefore home entertainment is seen as a low cost alternative to socialising.

A final point consideration in the potential growth of the home entertainment market is time.  During the boom years, perceived wealth amongst home owners increased rapidly but at the cost of perceived time to spend with family and friends.  Despite the increasing prosperity people seemed to work longer hours, unable to “find” the time to spend with family and friends.  As we move into new economic conditions, how people make and spend their time will be worth watching.  It may well create a new market opportunity for hire and rental companies.

Taking advantage of this segment is discussed in more detail in an earlier post Party Hire and Rental Companies could benefit from downturn.

About Us

HireEzy is the complete business management solution for hire and rental companies. Not only does it include digital marketing, web integration it also includes social media marketing tool integration.

How to Use Social Media Tools

Marketing Problem

Hire Rental Advertising Considerations
Why Traditional Marketing Fails
Yellow Pages Versus SEO

Creating a Digital Marketing Platform

Creating a Digital Marketing Foundation
Hire Rental Web Lead Statistics

Marketing via Twitter

How Rental Hire Company can use Twitter
Business Reason to Use Twitter

Marketing via Facebook

Using Facebook for Business
They worried about Social Media in the 1930′s

Marketing via YouTube

How Rental and Hire Companies can use YouTube
Big List on How to Use Social Media

Marketing via WordPress

Why Blogs are Effective for Small Business
Why Small Businesses Should blog

Many small businesses talk about branding!   But what do they really mean by branding?

Brand

A brand is a collection of your symbols, images and even customer experiences. Consider the MacDonalds bill board advertisements:

A simple billboard with the Mac Donalds logo and the words “Loving It”

The advertising says nothing about price, products or locations, rather as a billboard advertisement in it own right it is really serving as a prompt to your memory.

Why Brand and is it Worth It?

Major Corporations have invested heavily in branding over many decades, for a number of reasons such as ability to charge a higher price, that it will carry them through tough times or that it makes customers more loyal.  But is this true?

Brand Translates to a Price Premium?

Brand marketing has really been the foray of the major corporations. In some ways brand marketing was meant to translate to customers being prepared to pay a price premium. But consider this:

Would you pay a 20 to 30% price premium to buy a known brand plasma TV from a reputable well known branded store? Or would you buy an unknown brand from another store who offered roughly the same specifications and warranty, for 20-30%?

Despite what most people say face to face, the reality is most people will buy the second one.

The real truth is that the power of brands has been declining for some time as has the ability to charge a price premium without significantly losing sales or market share.  For more inforomation one good book to read is The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.

Brands as Insurance in Tough Times?

Previously Corporations traditionally invested heavily in their brands, as a form of insurance to carry them through when tough times, what the Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila, called mis-steps. [1]  However as Nokia also found out, it is insurance than no longer guarantees results.  Nokia estimated brand value in 2002, was $30bn, next year (2003) failed to produced want customers wanted and so Nokia lost $6bn in brand equity. [2]

Brands Build Customer Loyalty

Building brands meant focusing on building customer loyalty. However Jean-Noel Kapferer, Professor of Marketing at HEC Paris, Graduate School of Management makes the point that marketers have sort the holy grail of customer loyalty by restricting their choices [3].  The problem is customers are no longer loyal.

customers .. more fickle than ever, established brands are vulnerable and new ones have a real chance of succeeding….. Consumers are continually looking for a better deal, opening the doors for companies to introduce a raft of new products.

Brand as an Asset

Yes if you were bigger, then the power of your brand can add to the intangible asset value  of your company. That is the premium a company is prepare to pay above you actual earning multiple. However intangible asset values have received some short to medium term collateral damage from the Global Economic Crisis.   The effect of this collateral damage will be to contribute to a further short to medium term erosion of the power of brands.

So Where to Focus your Brand Marketing Efforts

There is one discrete little phrase in the opening definition of a brand used in this post “customer experiences”.  For small businesses this is the real key – for this is where sales leads come from through satisfied customers word of mouth.  Sales leads are the life blood of small business and primary purpose of small business marketing.

Keeping Your Promise

I have heard it said (not sure by who) that “your brand is your promise kept”.

For Small business I think this is the best way to look at a brand.  For example if your differentiation in the market is your service, rather than the products you offer, then your promise (brand) is going to built around your service offering.  You want your customers to experience that service positively and then have them share through word of mouth their endorsement or validation of your promise.

Such positive word of mouth in small communities or within industry sectors spreads.  Especially so these days with Social Media.  The converse holds true as well, dont keep you promise and you can guarantee the word will spread.

So therefore in terms of brand marketing, the real expenditure should be on your systems, processes and people to make sure that they all assist in ensuring that they deliver the brand promise that you have made.   Hence the question becomes only one that you can answer – should your priority of expenditure be in to high end brand logo’s, brand advertising  or in to your people, processes and systems needed tosupport your promise?   Only you and your resource capacity can answer that question.

Consider Social Media as Your Major Marketing Channel

Social Media has been said to be the great brand leveller.  Why because traditional media advertising effectiveness was directly related to how big your marketing budget.  Social media is not the case, marketing effectiveness on Social media is dependent not on your budget (well not to a great degree) but more on how well you engage with your customers/ prospects.

Brands have a disadvantage on Social Media of their own creation.  Brands have put their brand value on balance sheets – its an asset.  Brands perceive Social Media as a risk, they are cautious – have a need to “control” the marketing.  The problem is social media is not controllable by the brands it is controlled by the consumer.

There is only one way to control your brand on Social Media

Consistently deliver your promise – each and everytime.

Where to Focus Your Brand Marketing

It is simple deliver what you say you are going to do!  To this make sure that your people, your business processes and systems enable you to deliver the promise.  If you are an equipment rental or hire company then our business software certainly will help.

If you do this then people will spread the word as they have always done.  Given the growth of Social Media “the word” can now be spread faster and wider than ever before – both good and bad!

References

[1]Surowiecki, J. The Decline of Brands, published in www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/brands_pr.html

James Surowiecki is the author of “The Wisdom of Crowds”