Merlin Blog

International Oil and Natural Gas Industry Ambassadors

Mon, 10 May 2010 10:19:00 -0600

Merlin Edge is almost like a UN of industrial marketing and investor relations agencies. You might hear French, Mandarin, German, Spanish, Ukrainian and West African languages spoken around Merlin's office. What we're best known for in the business community, however, is our people's fluency in the deep lexicon of oil and natural gas right across its value chain.

Our ability to speak the language was a major part of us being named the Official Creative Agency of the Global Petroleum Show 2010. All of us at Merlin are excited to be part of it.

What does hydrocarbon fluency mean to your business? If you want to tell us about the "exciting new play" your company is active in, we'll know you don't mean an off-Broadway musical. If you're "targeting the blue sky", we'll know you aren't contemplating a holiday and that Bluesky is one word. You won't need to explain the difference between open-hole and cemented/perfed fracturing.

We've been working with service & supply companies operating around the world for over 17 years, and we're looking forward to helping new clients stand out at the Global Petroleum Show 2010, which takes place June 8-10, 2010 at Stampede Park right here in sunny Calgary, Alberta, Canada. You can register to attend the show by clicking here.

Off the top of my head, if you're attending the Show, you'll need a booth (one or two stories - we've designed both), an invitation to get people to your booth, marketing collateral for prospects to read on the plane home - and most importantly - an overarching tradeshow strategy that all of the tactical elements support.

Philosopher-general Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War that, "...a strategy without tactics is the slowest way to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." We understand the difference. Whatever business you're in, we want to help you accomplish your goals at the Global Petroleum Show - and we'll help you implement your strategy by developing the most effective marketing tactics.

You won't find an agency in Western Canada with as much experience in energy service and supply marketing. Merlin Edge's portfolio covers virtually the entire hydrocarbon value chain from seismic and drilling, through production and processing, to downstream transportation, plus oilfield waste disposal and environmental services.

If you're exhibiting at Global Petroleum Show 2010, you should speak with Jeff Robinson, Merlin Edge's Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing. He can be reached at jrobinson@merlinedge.com or 403-237-7684.

Welcome to Marketing Utopia

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:19:00 -0700

Plan Ahead for Success at Your Next Tradeshow

Tradeshow halls are neatly portioned slices of marketing heaven. Floating between the tradeshow's padded booth-dividers, under the harsh glare of fluorescent lights, buyers and sellers are happier to meet one another than at almost any other time. At the right show, buyers are presented with a veritable buffet of vendor solutions to their business problems while vendors can make a month's worth of sales calls in a single day.

Tradeshows are a rare opportunity where you can have your customers' undivided attention. Customers don't have any paperwork to deal with. There aren't any calls on the other line. They're not running late for a meeting. Customers are taking time out of their busy schedule to attend - just like you - and they're at the show to find solutions to whatever business problem was worth the trip. With a little preparation before hand, you'll improve your odds of providing the winning solution.

Here's what you should do to prepare before the show, so you can make the most of your and your company's time at the show:

WHY ARE YOU GOING? SET CLEAR OBJECTIVES.

Seriously, why are you going? Assuming your plan to attend a tradeshow isn't a clever ploy to score a trip to Vegas on the company dime, you must have a good business reason to tell the boss. Writing down exactly why you're going and what you're going to achieve provides direction for your whole team. Setting clear objectives for your sales team ensures everyone knows what's expected of them individually and as a group. Your goals should go beyond seeing a return on investment into the big picture goals that will have a measurable impact on your business.

These are all examples of solid goals for your next tradeshow:

Meet your buyers face-to-face
Introduce new products to a target market
Gather leads for post-show follow-up
Obtain feedback on a new product
Launch new brand campaign
Demonstrate you're able to solve a problem facing your target audience

CREATE YOUR PROSPECT A-LIST

Tradeshow time is short. You need to decide what businesses or people are on your prospect A-list before the show to make the best use of your time. The easiest way to create your A-list is to profile your best existing customers by type of business, business needs or challenges, questions they ask, and what it took to close the sale with them and look for other companies that fit your description.

AVOID THE "UUUMMMMM...." PREPARE ANSWERS TO TOUGH QUESTIONS

It's easy to promote the great features and benefits of your products and services. It's much harder and almost more important to overcome your customers' perceptions about why they should not choose your business.

Ask yourself honestly - why would customers choose my competitors? If you know why you wouldn't get the job in advance, you'll be able to come up with crisp answers for your sales team to overcome those objections with confidence. Preparing answers to the hard questions before hand ensures your sales people aren't caught off guard.

GET ON THE MUST-SEE LIST

Many companies decide which booths to visit before the big event. Getting on your prospect's must-see list isn't easy - but it's a must. A little creativity will help. Postcards frequently wind up in the recycle bin. Cookies or other treats usually end up in the staff kitchen. Avoid sending something that falls into the "trash and trinkets" category of tradeshow giveaways. Instead, send an invitation that will brighten your prospect's day - something they'll be glad they received.

Promoting giveaways or contests at your booth on your invitation will also help to drive traffic your way. Again, with your giveaway or contest creativity is key - you don't want to be one of a hundred companies giving away an iPod. Make your brand stand out by giving away something clever your customers will play with or a draw prize they'll dream about.

WHAT WILL YOUR BRAND WEAR?

The people managing your booth or walking the show must reflect your brand. Is your brand a suit and tie sort of a business, or more of a khakis and golf shirt company? What would it say? Consistency is key. You need to script the answers to the key questions about your company. It's also a good idea to figure out what you want your sales team to say within the first 30 seconds of meeting a potential customer. That way your prospective customer will learn all of the key points about your company even if the meeting is short.

SO YOU'VE GOT A BUNCH OF LEADS, NOW WHAT?

You had a great show. You met a lot of great leads. Your fish bowl is overflowing with business cards. Now is not the time to figure out how to follow up. You need to have a follow-up plan in place well in advance. Putting your follow-up strategy down on paper before the show helps to ensure clear accountability and smooth implementation after the show. The fewer snags in your follow up program, the more meetings you'll be able to set up.

Develop a matrix like the one shown below, outlining your follow-up tactics, responsibilities and deadlines.

*Contact*	*Method*	*Objective*	*Timing*	*Responsibility*	*Result*
Post-show	Letter	Thank prospects for visiting booth	7 days post show	Key contact
Sales Contact	Telephone	Set up meeting	14 days post show	Sales rep
Meeting	Personal visit	Needs analysis	15-28 days post show	Sales rep
Meeting with Technical staff	Personal visit	Present customized plan for target customer	30-40 days post show	Technical staff and Key personnel
Present proposal	Personal visit	Obtain buy-in from key decision makers	45-50 days post show	Key personnel
Review and complete sale	Personal visit	Sign agreement	45-60 days post show

We hope you found these tradeshow preparation tips helpful. If you have any questions about any aspect of tradeshow marketing, Jeff Robinson knows his way around an auditorium better than most. He can be reached at jrobinson@merlinedge.com. Good luck at your next tradeshow!

Liftoff

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:00:00 -0700

Merlin Launches New Website and Blog

3...2...1...LIFTOFF! Right now corks are popping and champagne is flowing at Merlin HQ as our new website streaks into cyberspace. Our programming team's mouths are agape in stupefied awe. Your writer's eyes are glinting with pride. The lump in our web designer's throat has rendered him speechless. It's a beautiful sight.

Well...actually we're much too busy with client work to celebrate our website's launch with the fanfare I described – but we're glad you're here to see the results! Have a look around. Everything you might want to know about our values, our key people and our services is available. Enjoy!

But right now you're on Merlin's new blog, so let's talk about blogging. Merlin's blog will feature discussions on marketing and investor relations trends, industry insight, news on the latest breakthroughs in online communications and big events at Merlin. We're planning to blog about twice per month.

The growing popularity of corporate blogs is a major online trend.

Here are five reasons why your business should consider committing the time, effort and resources to launch a blog:

Help your customers

After-sales service cements customer relationships. You want your customers and clients to get the most from your products. Providing user tips on how to maximize the reliability or longevity of your products will help to ensure your customers are satisfied with their purchase and continue to do business with you.

This can become a really useful tool. You can inform customers about upgrades or warranty issues, share other customers' experiences on optimization and application, and inform customers about accessories or maintenance and care products and services. This can cover anything from hardcore physical iron out in the field to intangibles like HR software.

Establish your people as experts

You want customers to rely on your business for advice in all of its areas of expertise. Blogs give your business the space to introduce and promote people who are experts in various aspects of your business. As an added benefit, getting different people to contribute to your blog will help to keep its content fresh, and minimize the disruption to any single employee's work.

Introduce new products or services

When you want to tell the world about your latest offering, start with your blog. It's a very inexpensive way to promote your products to a highly targeted audience. Your blog provides you with a communication vehicle to convey the features and benefits of your new product or service without the space limitations of print advertisements. You also have the option of incorporating multi-media features, such as animations or videos of your products in action.

Start a dialogue with your customers

One of the great benefits of using blogs and other online media is the instant feedback. You can ask your customers to rate your posting or leave comments, and it's really easy for them to do so. You may find that your customers are more likely to provide candid feedback on your blog than they are to do so in person. Knowing what's on the minds of your customers helps you to better meet their needs.

While allowing comments may raise some concerns about privacy, defamation or other legal issues, comments can be vetted/moderated, or people can be required to provide their real names and e-mail addresses as a condition of signing in, which encourages people to remain polite and within the bounds of good taste.

Engage your employees

Private employee blogs, usually as part of an employee intranet, are a great forum for your people to communicate with one another. It's important for your employees to know what's happening at your company beyond their own areas of responsibilities. Blogging about your company's big wins, for example, will remind your employees that they're on a winning team.

We hope you enjoyed our first blog entry. Don't forget to subscribe to our RSS feed, so every time Merlin's blog is updated you'll be among the first to know.