We all would like to formulaically know how many visitors to our website it will take to convert the right number of leads to generate that incremental increase in revenue. Up to now, that has been difficult, but with HubSpot’s automated and highly analytical marketing tools, it gets a lot easier.

Mike Volpe, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of HubSpot, shared his process for calculating just this, using an example revenue goal of $500,000. He worked with his sales team to set up a Marketing Service Level Agreement (SLA) – agreeing that marketing would do their part in the form of visitors and leads to support this sales goal.

Now the calculating begins. First, he determines the average revenue per customer (ASP). In Mike’s example, it was $10,000/customer. From here, he then calculated his average lead-to-customer conversion rate – 2% in this example. Using this rate, he then divided his $500K revenue goal by the $10,000 ASP, and got the answer of 50 customers. Just 50 customers – that’s all he needs. That should be SO doable. But wait…how do we get those customers? That’s where marketing comes in.

So how many leads does Mike and his team need to get 50 customers? To arrive at this, he divided 50 customers by .02 (lead-to-customer conversion rate), to get the result of 2500 leads. So Mike needs 2500 leads in order to generate $500,000 in incremental new revenue.

But wait – where do we get those leads? More calculating…Mike then looked at his visitor to lead conversion rate, which in his example was 3%. So dividing 2500 leads by .03, he knows he needs over 83,000 visitors to the website. Not so easy, eh? Well, at least he knows what is expected of his team to achieve the SLA they made with sales.

This was the tip of the iceberg at this session – Mike went on to calculate conversion rates of different types of content (e.g., those who download white papers have a lower conversion rate than those who download a demo or request a consultation). Based on what actions a lead takes on the website, he then, in his HubSpot lead tools, can define which lead is a “marketing qualified lead” (MQL) versus a lead that needs more nurturing in the marketing funnel. Those leads designated MQL automatically get flagged in the CRM system so sales is alerted and can efficiently focus on those higher quality leads.

Related blog posts:

Need Leads? Tips for a Winning Landing Page

HubSpot Certifies TREW Marketing for Integrated Marketing Platform

Looking for additional insight? Check out our guide: Smart Marketing for Engineers

Remember when you were young, and there was that kid who spent more time dissing you or others than making something of themselves? Maybe you wanted to let them have it, but you knew (or maybe your parents gave you some advice) that it was best to take the high road and focus on your strengths and success.

There is some wisdom in this childhood scenario for grownups running businesses, product lines, and service areas, who are competing for awareness, customers, and marketshare. In every market, every town, every application space, you are going to face competition. And that’s a good thing – for companies and consumers. But maybe you are considering making a move to directly market against your competitor. Is this a good idea? The answer is, maybe, but be careful.

Let’s look at a a recent example to help illustrate some upsides and downsides for consideration: Microsoft’s recent ad campaign against Google in the mainstream business press. Here is one of their ads:

Microsoft ad, Text to the right

What I like about this ad:

1. They effectively create fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about breaches in personal security if you use Google’s products: “…the way they are doing it is making it harder for you to maintain control of your personal information.”

2. They were timely. The ads hit just as Google announced it was trimming down its privacy policy and sent a letter to the U.S. Congress

3. The tone is serious, professional, and clear: you can’t trust Google, and we’re doing it better.

4. The ad is designed to catch my eye and call out the controversy, and it did: I immediately saw it was a Microsoft ad directed at Google and I wanted to know more; it’s easy to read, my eyes are drawn to the product boxes, and I got the message – FUD about Google.

Three things I don’t like in the ad:

1. The language they used in certain areas. They took several “below-the-belt” jabs that I don’t think were needed, such as “Google is getting ready to make some unpopular changes to their most popular products” or “…Those changes, cloaked in language like ‘transparency,’…are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search…”. I know they’re trying to create FUD, but I believe they could have gotten the point across without taking these direct jabs. Because they did, they lost a little of my respect along the way. It seems some in the media – who influence the market and their customers’ perceptions – agreed:

In a later ad, they modified their tone and I liked it a lot more: “If you’re not comfortable with the potential of private email content or information in your private documents being used to serve you ads, we’d encourage you to explore our award-winning alternative: Hotmail and Office 365.”

2. Giving airplay to Google. As with any direct campaign against a competitor, you are growing their awareness with your dollars. Thanks to Microsoft, I became much more aware of Google’s security policies, and certainly was not going to trust Microsoft’s word alone. So they caused me to study Google even more by raising the issue. In the end, by creating this fear with users, Google may have gotten more traffic from this campaign than Microsoft.

3. There was no credible call-to-action to drive me to learn more about Microsoft’s presumed “more secure” approach. They were clearly just exploiting their competitor’s weakness, but didn’t have any technical, researched, or third-party information (white paper, webpage, etc) that I could visit to learn more. They just pointed me to microsoft.com and touted their competitive products. Lame!

So, was it effective? Were readers inspired to check out Microsoft’s products? Did the gains of directly exploiting Google’s weakness outweigh the costs of all those ads in very expensive outlets and potential harm to Microsoft’s brand?

Maybe, maybe not. I’m sure the product teams at Microsoft would justify it, but as a consumer, it didn’t inspire me to buy Microsoft, although I will say today, between this campaign and all the mainstream media coverage on the topic, I am more weary of Google than I used to be.

Instead of taking this risky, expensive approach, consider instead some alternatives as you plan your competitive attack:

1. Increase investment in search marketingaround keywords where you directly compete. Place ads, create landing pages, and generate targeted content that drives clicks and organic search to your site vs. your competitors.

2. Don’t call your competitor by name. Rather, generalize with “other + your category”, such as “other service providers”, “other test integrators”, “alternative IT consultants.” You can also indirectly refer to your competitors by using their branded colors. This is a less direct way of calling out your competitors, while still getting the message across.

3. Create comparison tables of specs with your company name in one column, and “competitor 1″, “competitor 2″, etc in follow-on columns. As long as you can back up your data if someone asks, and you are accurate in your depiction, you can communicate your point without giving a nod to competitors by name.

4. Start a FUD campaign around your competitors’ weaknesses by focusing on your strengths. For example, for an enterprise software integrator, a campaign could be “Five Questions You Should Ask When Selecting an ERP Integrator”. Create a white paper, short video or webcast, and push out via social media and your blog to educate the market in a sound, professional manner what they need to consider.

5. Devise a geographic attack. As a challenger with less resources than the market leader, you will not be able to go head-to-head matching the leader’s products, advertising, and price promotions. Instead, be more strategic than your opponent and identify shifts in regional market segments that cause gaps to develop, then swiftly fill those gaps before your competitors do.

6. No matter what, do NOT compete on price. It diminishes your value, lowers margin, and is hard to get the market to move away from once you’ve started

To end on a light-hearted note, here’s the very funny, albeit very risky General Motors TV commercial that ran during the 2012 Superbowl touting Chevy vs. Ford trucks.

http://youtu.be/XxFYYP8040A

Do you like the Microsoft ad? The Chevy commercial? Have you tried some of the suggested alternative tactics? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below. In the meantime, here are a few additional resources to check out for more on this and related subjects:

Allocate Google Pay Per Click Budgets for Maximum ROI

5 Steps to Writing Effective White Papers

Looking for additional insight? Check out our guide: Smart Marketing for Engineers

TREW Marketing Senior Account Manager (Sr. AM)

We are seeking an experienced marketing professional to join our growing agency focused in the B2B science, engineering and technology markets. The Sr. AM will be responsible for leading the development of marketing strategy and plans, and working with a team of specialists to implement diverse marketing activities such as web design and development, direct marketing, search and online advertising, and PR planning.  The ideal candidate will also assist in new business development.

In this role, the Sr. AM will work closely with TREW Principals to:

• Ensure services are delivered based on TREW/client agreements
• Define the most effective marketing strategy that meets our clients’ and TREW’s business goals
• Develop integrated marketing plans
• Identify and manage resources needed to accomplish plans
• Oversee and contribute to team implementation of marketing activities
• Monitor and report results
• Analyze effectiveness to optimize future activities
• Mentor, grow, and provide feedback to team members
• Build trusting relationships with clients, turning them into our biggest fans
• Contribute to TREW’s success through a smart, collaborate, and measured approach

You will work hands-on in the following areas:

• Serve as the primary client-facing lead on multiple TREW client accounts
• Ensure clear communication between the client and TREW team/leadership, utilizing tools such as project plans, status reports, and editorial calendars, as well as leading project/status meetings
• Develop and/or edit marketing content
• Create and deliver presentations
• Serve as a resource to other team members when needed
• Attend and contribute to internal TREW team meetings
• Write posts and contribute ideas to the TREW Spotlight blog

Ideal candidates will have demonstrated:

• Excellent communication skills (presentation and written)
• Experience leading projects in a variety of marketing media areas; leading and working with both creative/design and business professionals
• Ability to combine marketing activities to meet goals
• Very strong initiative and resourcefulness
• Comfortable and effective speaking up and sharing opinions with clients, TREW team
• Past work in B2B technology, particularly scientific and engineering markets
• Experience managing others, including hiring, setting goals, performance managing, etc
• Past marketing agency experience
• Share a passion for living the TREW values of collaboration, trust, and integrity

Requirements include:

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, or related field
• 8-10 years marketing communications experience, including as a senior member of a marketing team
• Demonstrated successful marketing project and team management
• Mobile phone

Based in Austin, TX, this is a full-time position requiring home office capabilities.  Compensation is commensurate with experience, and a monthly stipend is offered for health insurance. Most team and client meetings are held in the Austin Metro area as needed – travel is expected to be minimal, with 1-3 trips/year in the U.S.

Interested and qualified candidates should email resume and cover letter to info@trewmarketing.com.

While there continues to be a shift in marketing dollars to “new media” in the digital realm, where impressions, clickthroughs, and other metrics are easily tracked, there is still a place for traditional print advertising. But it has to pass the 2-second test – the time a reader will give to your ad before turning the page!

Here are a few tips to make your print ad dollars really count, and increase your chance that readers won’t turn the page after 2 seconds. I’ll reference a recent ad we did for client Geotest to illustrate the points.

Geotest print ad for semiconductor test.

One message…say it and show it

With this ad, the key message was “semiconductor test”, and we said that nearly 10 different ways, such as “SoC”, “digital I/O with per-pin PMU”, and “digital and mixed-signal test”

• This message represents 41% of all the words in the entire ad (32 words out of 78 total).

• We visually communicate this message through a large, eye-catching, colorful feature image of packaged ICs sitting atop a diced wafer.

One message - digital test - spoken through images, nearly half of ad copy.

Headlines – where it all stops or starts

Ad research, and common sense, tells us that headlines – in ads, articles, billboards, you name it – are what our eyes go to first. People spend about 2 seconds to decide if they’ll read more or move on, and that decision is almost solely based on their interest from reading the headline

• You only have 2 seconds – so keep headlines very short and interesting
• There is no silver bullet to the perfect headline. It can be creative. Straightforward. A play on words. One word. A spec. The key is to know your readership in the magazine where your ad will be placed, know the specific key and 2nd tier messaging of the ad, and then tailor the headline to best engage that readership to communicate that message.
• In this ad, the headline communicates credibility – adoption of “Big Industry” – and a key product benefit – the small size of the module, “Small Footprint”.
• It also communicates a product, via the model number, “GX5295″, another key message that a new product was being announced.

Short, compelling headlines - key to passing the 2-second test.

Clean, consistent branding

I often find myself looking at ads and trying to figure out who the actual company is who is spending this money trying to get my attention. If I have to look more than 1-2 seconds to find the advertising company, the money is totally wasted.

• As shown below, cleanly and clearly present the company logo, easy to find and read contact information, and ensure the ad is consistent with other company offline and online marketing.
• Make sure to have a relevant, targeted call-to-action with the company URL or customized landing page to direct readers to take the next step.

Stay on-message, prioritize with cues

The total word count in this ad, from headline to call-to-action (CTA), is 78 words. Total.

• Readers of this ad can learn every important message with 30 words total – headline and sub-heads, and treated copy in bullets.
• This copy is prioritized for readers through font treatment – bold, blue, all caps – to bring emphasis to words.

Creatively communicate 2nd tier messages

One of the biggest mistakes in advertising is trying to communicate too much. For every word or message you ad, you dilute the other words or messages that much more. Prioritze your messages – know what the most important message is and lead with that visually and in copy. Then, identify your 2^nd tier messages and find creative ways to communicate those.

• In this ad, one 2nd tier message is the industries the new product is ideally suited for. To keep the word count low, subtle icons were used to visually communicate this aspect of the product.
• Another 2nd tier message was the announcement of a new product – the GX5295 – for digital test. This was done both in the headline, subhead and also in the smaller feature image of the module.

You’re on a plane trying to finish up a presentation or a document for a potential customer and you’ve got great ideas, but they’re not coming together into a cohesive piece of information.

Here are some common editing questions and answers to make your content look and sound clear and professional:

My content is full of industry-related, technical acronyms, and it looks confusing. When do I need to define an acronym and when can I use the abbreviation?

General rules say that an acronym or abbreviation should be defined on first reference, unless that definition reduces clarity of the subject. When you’re writing industry-specific content to a targeted audience, you can leave those acronyms undefined in headlines, captions, and bulleted lists, but define them on first reference in your body text.

Your readers will scan through your titles or headlines, captions, and bulleted lists, and if the information is what they think they are looking for, they’ll get the full information (including definitions) in the overview.

It is also likely that if someone has a question about an acronym that is included in a bulleted list, they will look into the further details on the page to read about where the features are explained.

We offer products that have technical specifications. How do we display these specifications in a bulleted list?

Bulleted lists are great for product or service specifications as they give your reader an indication that you are providing specific details. Here are five tips to remember when you’re creating a bulleted list:

1. Maintain parallel sentence structure.

Each of your bullet points should begin with the same type of phrase. They could all start with verbs (“Maintain parallel sentence structure” “Keep bullets brief”) or with adjectives (“150x improvement” “Easy-to-use interface”)

2. Keep bullet statements brief.

Strive to make your bulleted statements less than one line of text. The points are meant to be brief.

3. Use numerals for all numbers, acronyms for phrases that have them, and abbreviations for measurements.

In bulleted lists, don’t spell out numbers, unnecessarily long phrases, or measurements. This will help keep technical bullets brief.

4. Capitalize the first letter of each bullet statement.

Capitalization will help you maintain consistency across all bulleted lists. Capitalizing the first letter of all bulleted phrases will also avoid the inconsistency you would encounter if you started some bullets with a proper (capitalized) product name and the rest of the bullets with a lowercase letter.

5. Omit the period at the end of each statement.

Leaving out the period at the end of each bulleted statement will help you keep statements brief. Without a period, you’re less inclined to ramble your bullet statement into a long, full sentence.

I need to communicate the value that we provide in a specific service. How do I organize and communicate my thoughts?

Use the tactic that journalists are taught to use on you in the professional media. Clearly tell your audience:

• Who receives the service
• What is included in the service
• When the service would take place
• Where the service would take place
• Why they need your service
• How they get or arrange for the service
• Any other relevant information about the service

Where do I look for more editing rules?

AP Style and Chicago Style are the most credible U.S. sources for editing and style.  These style handbooks are valuable for general grammar and style rules and guidelines.

After that, Wikipedia is a great resource for anyone creating content. Because Wikipedia is edited by the masses, it provides some of the most accurate definitions for technical terms, and provides insight into acronyms and measurements.

Lastly and most importantly, you’re going to want your own Corporate Style Guide to ensure that the look and feel of your company is consistent across all platforms and messages. To learn more on this topic, read “Part 1: Four Reasons Your Content Needs a Corporate Style Guide.”

Here is an excerpt:

“The goal of editing content (link to content page on trew website) is to increase clarity. Corporations and organizations looking to further their business and their brand rely on Corporate Style Guides to provide valuable, clear content to their specific, targeted audiences. There are four benefits to editing with a Corporate Style Guide…”

The goal of editing content is to increase clarity. Corporations and organizations looking to further their business and their brand rely on Corporate Style Guides to provide valuable, clear content to their specific, targeted audiences.

There are four benefits to editing with a Corporate Style Guide:

1. You can keep your customers engaged.

More content on the Web means that the clarity of your content is more imperative now than ever.

If your text is garbled and difficult to get through, you will lose your potential customer within seconds to a competitor’s information. Clearly written content allows your customer to glide through your information, pinpointing what they need, and having a positive experience with your organization and your brand.

2. You can save time by reusing your own content.

As your company grows, you’ll begin to see the value and efficiency of reusing content.

You may have a press release written about a product and then six months later you need a bulleted list of features to put on that product’s landing page. If you have a Corporate Style Guide and your press release is edited to that style guide, you easily can drag-and-drop the features list from your press release to your new Web page, without having to re-work the content. There will be no question if the wording or branding of the older content matches the new one, because they are both edited with the same Corporate Style Guide.

3. You can have your messages published by third-party outlets.

Just as you can reuse your content, a reporter can use it too. Informative, well-written content is often the basis for journalists’ articles.

Because there is so much information on the Web, reporters and journalists are able to pick up your content, and if it’s well written, use your information in a story. That story then is published on their news outlet, and you just reached a new segment of potential customers. If your content is poorly written and confusing, it’s easy for the journalist to pass over your company and move on to include a competitor in their piece.  If you represent yourself well in the content that you create, your carefully crafted messages can be repurposed to new audiences.

4. You can improve branding and awareness.

When your information is well edited and adheres to a Corporate Style Guide, it is easy to create different pieces of content that sound to your customers like they’re all coming from one voice. This helps your customers recognize your organization and your products or services.

In absence of a Corporate Style Guide, your messages or voice are likely often inconsistent. As a result, each time a potential customer sees your content it’s like they are seeing a new company, or that the messages of your company don’t add up. The customer won’t feel like they know what to expect if they come to you for business.

However, with a Corporate Style Guide in place and adhered to, when a customer sees a press release on your product, then later an ad for a new line of products, and even later an article about your company that all have the same tone, look, and feel, they easily recognize that each piece of content is for your company, and those reminders help the customer continue to build a positive image of your company in their minds.

Here’s an excerpt of what’s to come in Part 2: Practical Editing Q&A from the Field:

You’re on a plane trying to finish up a presentation or a document for a potential customer and you’ve got great ideas, but they’re not coming together into a cohesive piece of information.

Here are some common editing questions and answers to make your content look and sound clear and professional…

With TREW Marketing’s full-service approach over these past years, we have a number of examples of our work, results and client testimonials.

Client projects include websites, from full-on, comprehensive site redesigns to smaller, targeted microsites. We develop content across all media from print and web to flash and video. We spend a great deal of time helping customers with their messaging and positioning, at a company level and/or for key products and services (we call this our “brain work”) to short, hard-hitting ad, email and call-to-action headlines. We also have a strong focus in search marketing, both with pay-per-click as well as SEO (aka, natural search).

And clients are sharing their comments on the results and experiences with TREW:

And we are proud to not only execute on projects, but deliver results. Here are some highlights from those we work with in test and measurement:

Hot off the press - bustec.com website redesign, messaging, content development done by TREW Marketing.

Back-to-school microsite targeting controls professors in N. America.

Interior page of microsite where professors could find labs, curriculum based on engineering discipline.

2. Search engine marketing – driving 800% growth in clicks to drive traffic

3. Marketing strategy – helping companies evolve their marketing from activity-based “putting out fires” to strategic planning…you can actually make your marketing dollars go much furhter this way, you know!

Example of marketing strategy work TREW does with clients.

4. “Brain” messaging and positioning – finding the most succinct, differentiated word-set to tell your company, products and services story

(view the full flash video here)

Product-level positioning for interactive kiosk software.

Company-level positioning for TREW client Starmount Systems.

Company identity, including logo and mark, as well as mission statement and tagline created for TREW client Alfamation.

5. Flash design – video to illustrate important product feature of interchangeability between VXI and LXI

Visit bustec.com/products to watch the flash interchangeability video.

6. Content development – content is king, for keeping your site fresh, providing means to gather leads, and building credibility with technical audiences

Examples of product flyers for various TREW clients in bioprocess, high-speed vibration and video test applications.

You can view more project examples and details results in a short slide presentation or visit our website to read our case studies.

For many small-to-medium sized B2B organizations we work with, we recommend a very targeted PR effort that maximizes limited resources through consistent product and company news, ideally on a bi-monthly to quarterly basis to start.

When we lead PR efforts for our clients, we remind them of two myths and follow ten rules to make sure outreach is done effectively and is a win-win-win…for our client, for the editor, and for TREW’s long-term relationship with both!

Houston Chronicle coverage of TREW client TAMEST K-12 STEM Education report.

2 Myths

1. PR is “free” – on the contrary, PR is probably one of the most expensive types of marketing there is. Why? It takes time, patience and a consistent drumbeat over months and years to achieve lasting, impactful coverage. While advertising has hard costs – you place an ad, pay your bill, and poof, your company is in print or on a website – for PR, you can pitch many times before you finally achieve coverage. There are no guarantees, but either way, you have spent your time and resources.

1. PR drives sales – have you ever thought to yourself “My product was covered in the press, but my sales not rising, so PR does not work.”  Well, let me ask you, when was the last time you read an small blurb, or better yet a page-long article, about a product you hadn’t heard of before and then got your credit card out and bought it? Likely, the answer is not very often, if never. Getting coverage should be the first “touch” in a series of touches that are needed to drive someone to give their name as a lead, much less place an order. PR is just the first step, and it requires consistent coverage over time combined with other types of marketing to see the collective payoff in leads and sales.

Quote from MoviMED product launch coverage, led by TREW.

10 Tips

1. EDITORS and reporters have very little time, and very little patience. They also receive, on average, over 200 releases a day from companies all over the world. CONCLUSION: They will probably not read your release.
2. EDITORS are very specialized, and they change their specialty quite often. CONCLUSION: Make sure that each editor receives the information that relates to his/her specialty.
3. EDITORS, REPORTERS AND THE PRESS IN GENERAL know their jobs. They do not need to submit their stories to you, they do not need your help in writing them and they will not give you a preview of the story. CONCLUSION: Either take over the publication, or don’t ask to help.
4. EDITORS are human AND always on deadline. They have a need to get their job done quickly and efficiently. CONCLUSION: The quicker you meet their needs, the quicker you get into print. Ensure that you know those needs before you meet (e.g., what’s the best/worst day to contact them), and make sure that you can meet them.
5. EDITORS are not interested in advertising. CONCLUSION: Do not mention advertising to editors.
6. STORIES are whatever the editor chooses to make out of your information. CONCLUSION: Once the story is written, there is no call back, no complaining and no post editorializing. The only exception is if there is a factual inaccuracy, which may warrant a followup and correction. Otherwise, it’s done.
7. STORIES can be placed into very simple categories, but the editor does the placing. CONCLUSION: Determine what type of story you are presenting, and accept that the editor will do the categorizing.
8. STORIES are, by order of interest- fast-breaking disasters, slow-breaking disasters, people of importance doing important things, new break-through products in new categories, older products doing new things, new versions of old products. [Then there are] the trash news stories that will only be placed by being a nuisance. These include: strategic alliances between two unimportant companies, me-too stories, design wins, personnel changes (unless the president shoots a VP), following major trend, obscure technical factoids, etc. CONCLUSION: Be realistic when pitching coverage, and place your story in its true category.  If you don’t, the editor will.
9. STORIES become obsolete the moment they appear anywhere. CONCLUSION: For maximum effect, do not leak your story to a favorite editor, keep it for a complete roll out.
10. OFF THE RECORD never is. CONCLUSION: Don’t ask, and never, ever assume.

To read more about our work in PR, read the TAMEST or MoviMED case studies. To read more about PR and securing coverage for your product or company, visit our blog post  TREW Top 9 List to Increase Your Product Launch Coverage.

There was plenty of TREW spirit to be found this holiday season, as many on the team shared their time and treasure with others in their communities. The diversity of giving is a wonderful illustration of the wide variety of interests, skills and talents on the TREW team.

Here are a few great examples of the TREW spirit in 2010:

For Christmas, Irene and her family crocheted and knitted hats for our overseas soldiers in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force through The Ships Project. Since 2001, the Ships Project has been sending handmade hats, slippers and cool-ties to U.S. military personnel deployed overseas. Many of these brave men and women didn’t get to spend Christmas with their families, and Irene and her family wanted to remind them that there are Americans at home thinking of them and thankful for their brave efforts. Here’s a great pic of Irene and family modeling their wonderful gifts:

Irene and her family modeling their crocheted and knitted clothing for our US military.

Morgan’s family has a tradition of giving, and 2010 was her turn to plan out their family holiday service. Morgan is famous for her cooking, so it was not surprising to learn her and her family volunteered for opportunities that involved cooking so that other people could enjoy sharing a meal together with friends and family. Before Christmas, they made Christmas dinners for a few families around Austin, to be delivered alongside friends who had picked up Christmas presents for those families. They then brought this spirit to their family visit to Arizona where, on Christmas day, they spent the afternoon prepping a meal to serve at the local shelter for 60 women and children. I was humbled that the women there were eager to invite us into their circles of friends to eat with them, and to help them package up the leftovers from the meal to give to friends of theirs who were on the streets, waiting for a bed to free up in the shelter.

Morgan and her 10-month-old daughter heading out to deliver meals in Austin.

TREW principals, Rebecca and Wendy, also found opportunities to involve their kids in the spirit of giving. In addition to participating in the giving tree at Church, the Covey children saved part of their allowance to give to charity. They learned a lot about different causes, and had a difficult time choosing which ones were “most worthy” as they all are, of course! In the end, elder Grayson chose to support the Red Cross and their work to provide disaster relief while younger sister Lauren, inspired by learning about Helen Keller at school, wanted to give to children with disabilities and chose to support Any Baby Can.

The Geiers participated in Austin nonprofit LifeWork’s Project Holiday Help program and adopted a wonderful family of 5 lively boys ages 12 to 3 months and their mother. Our favorite part of this effort is working together as a family to plan, organize, wrap, deliver, and assemble the many gifts for our Austin neighbors, and ultimately bring happiness and holiday cheer to another much less fortunate family. In the end, we always find we’re the ones who received the gifts – of giving to others. Here are a few pics from the day:

Geier and Garcia boys work together to carry in new twin beds.

The Garcia and Geier families share the holidays together.

Just as Irene applied her sewing skills and Morgan found ways to share her gift of cooking, Denise is a fluent spanish speaker and is able to assist healthcare professionals at Austin’s People’s Volunteer Healthcare Clinic, a medical safety net for Austinites who are low-income and uninsured. Every Monday night throughout the year, she volunteers as a Spanish interpreter for doctors, nurses, and nutritionists. Many of the patients are just learning about their condition and are scared and worried, and Denise enjoys helping them feel more comfortable, and making sure they know that someone is always there to translate and explain everything the doctors are saying.

We are so lucky to have such a talented, giving team. It makes TREW much more than a marketing firm, but a family! Happy new year to all!

Since the founding of TREW Marketing, our focus has been on serving engineering and scientific organizations with smart, collaborative, and measured marketing services. While serving this uniquely defined niche, we offer a broad array of marketing services.

#1 – Exceeding expectations: To start, how about some data?

43% 3.9x 156%

Q: What do 43%, 3.9x and 156% all have in common?

A: They are all results that exceeded expectations for our clients in 2010:

• 43% = Open rate for trade show followup compared to industry standard of 15-18%

Alfamation’s email marketing response rate was 2.6 times greater than industry average.

The Alfa team taking care of customers and visitors to the booth during NIWeek 2010.

And no matter the project, our customers want to see results up and to the right. In 2010, we did just that:

• Exceeding expectations on individual activities, which led to…
• Customers growing their business with TREW, which led to…
• TREW growing as a team and company

• 3.9x = How many dollars over goal quoted for back-to-school campaign targeting control engineering professors as result of specialized microsite and database marketing efforts

• 156% = Growth in web traffic to Wineman Technologies’ website following our work on the company’s website redesign and search-engine-marketing campaign. In addition to quantitative traffic growth, we heard about a recent success story that speaks to the quality of traffic from this web and search marketing investment:

“One of our recent web leads went from new prospect to booking a PO for $250k within 3 weeks! Thanks TREW Marketing for driving qualified visitors to our website through search marketing.” – Darryn La Zar, VP of Sales and Marketing, Wineman Technologies

The Wineman team gave TREW Crew members Wendy and Irene a tour around company headquarters, including R&D and manufacturing.