Month: November 2017

At the moment we are focusing on the process of marketing, and looking at managing it for sustainable long term gain rather than short term wins. This is often at odds with the thinking re marketing within SMEs where the focus tends to be on the more short term priorities:

• Leads and short term business development
• Analytics and measurement
• Brand, and tone of voice in communications

Since the 80’s I have worked in marketing in both the corporate and SME world, through the birth and growth of the digital marketing age, and in my experience: Corporates and well funded startups (successful ones at least) focus on building the brand whilst SMEs tend to focus on generating leads and short term business development. In reality this is not too surprising as traditionally, building the brand has been an expensive process that is beyond the resources of smaller companies, whilst through taking the short term approach most SMEs are able to build a moderately successful and profitable business (up to a point). However I would suggest that to see real success & growth companies need to look longer term and think more about building the brand. And this, I believe is where the real potential of digital marketing lies for SMEs.

Marketing tends to be sold on short term gains

Look at how digital marketing is sold and it’s all about the short term:

• Search Engine Optimisation
• Google/Social Media Advertising
• Website Conversion Optimisation
• Optimisation of the sales funnel

These are all “magic wands” that are sold by web marketers, and they are relatively easy to sell as they seem to offer highly measurable, short term benefits. However in my experience, they invariably disappoint! Now don’t get me wrong, they are all potentially vital elements of successful marketing programmes, but my suggestion is that by focusing on them as the ultimate goal you are focusing on the wrong thing.

The value of a brand

Lets face it, all really successful companies have one thing in common. They have a strong brand, and marketing is focused on maintaining & developing that brand. By telling their story in a way that is relevant and attractive to their target market, people buy from them and assuming their business model is sound, sales & profitability tend to follow. Within this context the elements described above become tools in the process of building a brand an a planned & measured way. But the ultimate goal is the development of the brand, not the optimisation of individual metrics.

That’s fine but is it relevannt to SMEs

“That’s great in the resource rich corporate world” I hear you say, “But how does that relate to me?” I would suggest that through digital marketing, every micro and SME business now has the potential to build a brand. But by focusing on the short rather than long term they are missing out on this opportunity. Let’a look at the process of building a brand. I would argue it is a simple 4 step process:

1. Understand what your business is about, and the value that you offer
2. Understand your market and how they will perceive this value
3. Use this to build your brand story
4. Engage with your market to tell your story using the tools offered by the digital age

Ok, this might be like saying becoming a millionaire is easy 2 step process:

1. Invent something that earns you £10 per unit, and that no one else has thought of
2. Persuade 100,000 people to buy one each

It’s easy to say, but slightly more difficult to bring to reality! But unlike becoming an instant millionaire, developing a strong brand is well within the capacity of most business owners, Ultimately maybe even delivering the million! It does require a significant shift in mind set and the willingness and resources to commit to investing  in marketing. However the digital marketing tools now available mean that investment need not be substantial. Furthermore the investmentis not always purely financial, and in my experience is well within the reach of most micro and SME businesses.

We can Help

BSA Marketing are specialists in supporting businesses through this process. Helping them to build their brand through the use of digital marketing. In this recent post, I look at how taking this approach is starting to pay dividends for one organisation we work with. A story that’s hopefully familiar to others with whom we work. Feel free to post you experiences as comments on this blog. If this has inspired you to rethink you marketing and want to explore the possibilities, for your business, we would love to talk to you.

We often express the view that there is “No magic wand” for marketing, and my favorite cartoon is still: So I thought the time was right to bang that drum again. Whatever cliche you use to describe it, marketing is a ….

• Process not an event
• Marathon not a sprint
• Strategic process not a quick fix

The fact is that good marketing takes time and to be successful, needs to be applied consistently against the backdrop of a solid vision. As a case study on this, I would like to talk about another organisation in which I am involved with objectives totally separate from my “day job” at BSA Marketing. The organisation is “The Glossopdale Trust”. Incorporated in June 2012 the Glossopdale Trust works in and around Glossop (my home town) with the objecting of developing the music and arts scene within the town as a catalyst to economic development. This is a project that has been going for around 5 years. It has a clear vision:

"To support the economic development of Glossop through the promotion of music and the arts"

It also has a clear 2 stream strategy:

1. Long Term – To create a focal point for the Glossop arts/music scene in the form of an Arts Hub owned & run by the community
2. Short Term – To build capacity and develop the the scene through an annual community music festival

Over the past few years, we have used different approaches to the marketing of this initiative, underpinned by a consistent use of website, email & social media. Furethermore we maintain a consistent approach to measuring progress including:

• Traffic to the website – www.whatsoninglossop.com
• Photos from the events
• Press coverage about the events & the campaign to open a venue
• Review of social media activity

Through the long term monitoring of these metrics, we can assess the movement towrds the overriding Goals.

So How are we doing?

Web Traffic

Whilst looking for increasing web traffic over the short term can be challenging and inconclusive, looking at the statistics over the longer term using 2015 as a base, we can see a growth in traffic and the quality of visits year on year:

Photographic Evidence

Comparing photos from the event in 2011 and the 2017 Festival It is clear to see the development in what we are doing.

Press coverage

With little or no press coverage in the early days, 2017 saw two front pages, and numerous other coverage in local press. A couple of examples are given below: https://glossopchronicle.com/2017/04/summer-festival-fun-coming-to-glossop/ https://glossopchronicle.com/2017/08/bank-holiday-music-festival-coming-to-glossop/

The Broader Picture

That all suggests that the short term strategy is working, but what about the impact on the long term objectives? Again indications are that the activity to date is positively impacting the project. 2017 has seen increased commitment to the project by the local council, including their direct support for the festivals and into a bid to the HLF (Heritage Lottery Fund) for significant development funds. Whilst on first application this bid has been unsuccessful, the feedback was that they festivals & development of the market were key positives in the eyes of the HLF. Further suggesting that the adopted strategies & marketing tactics are paying dividends.

So what does this tell us

Looking in the short term at any individual marketing initiative, it is difficult to tell exactly what is being effective. But look at the long term evidence and it is clear that the project is going in the right direction. We are making progress towards achieving the goals set out.

It is the combination of a clear vision and a consistent strategy for delivering this vision that is the key to success, rather than focus on short term marketing metrics.

However monitoring these short term metrics (delivered through tools like Google Analytics) is key to ensuring that you are on the right track. The issue arises when these optimising these metrics in the short term become the ultimate goal rather than a tool for monitoring progress towards longer term objectives & strategies.

I have written a few times about the death of selling and how people don’t want to be sold to anymore, they want to buy, but only when they are good and ready. But does this mean we should just sit waiting for the phone to ring? I think not. Although most of us don’t like pushy salespeople, we don’t like to be sold to, we DO like to be acknowledged and respected. Now here’s an opportunity! Let’s have a look at a couple ways we can ‘sell without selling’

1. Make the first move – engage with your prospects.

One of the issues with the passive sales approach is a lack of control. If we are simply waiting for a customer to turn up and buy, what do we do if they don’t? If you are targeting a niche market where there is a clear and natural fit between your business & the products/services you offer and a potential customer, why not make the first move and let them know you are around and open for business? As an example, we have a client who offers specialist process engineering services. Amongst other things, these services have a particular ‘fit’ with manufacturers of specialist process equipment, particularly when it comes to servicing and maintaining that equipment. Rather than simply advertising their services and waiting for people to respond, they are being proactive. Because of the niche nature of their target customers, relevant companies and individuals can often be found through a combination of desk research, social media (particularly LinkedIn). At this point, they could start a ‘normal’ sales approach with letters, telephone calls etc.  The risk in doing this is that you invest too much in any given prospect ending up with a pushy sales approach.

A neat alternative

Our client is avoiding this by taking a more relaxed line based on a well-defined process:

1. An initial e-mail making introductions, explaining their proposition and inviting a response.
2. A follow-up email referencing the initial e-mail and again inviting a response.
3. A final e-mail acknowledging (and respecting) the lack of response and inviting a process of ‘keeping in touch’ via e-newsletter.

With modern e-mailing systems, it is also possible to monitor whether your email has been opened, clicked etc. so technical feedback can be a good indicator of whether/where your approach is gaining traction. The beauty of this approach is that you always get an outcome. Either you get a response from which you can qualify the opportunity, or you don’t get a response but, by researching your target contacts appropriately, you can find relevant database contacts (with due deference to B2B Data Protection rules, of course) The other benefit is that you don’t up with a list of contacts that are all ‘loose ends’. Once you send the final e-mail the contact should disappear from your target list (though stay on your e-newsletter circulation list). You keep your target list fresh and short! It is true that the vast majority of your targets will fall off the end of your process but in a niche B2B market where long-term trading relationships are often the norm, you don’t need many wins to have real success.

2. The power of Customer Service

Last Monday did not start well. I came down to find my car was dead! As an automatic hybrid, this was not good. No lights, no nothing. I had no choice but to call the recovery team and get the train into the office. The only problem was I really needed a car for the day. I called the garage where my car was being taken to ask about a courtesy car but they had nothing. I saw the cost of a hire car looming. Then I remembered that, as a relatively new vehicle (a Mitsubishi), my car was covered by Mitsubishi Assistance Package. Not expecting much, what did I have to lose by calling them? Now I must admit the initial experience wasn’t great. I was on hold for over 15 minutes but once the call was answered, what a transformation…. I needed a hire car? No Problem. Leave it with us. I did….

Sometimes Customer Service really is ‘service’

Literally 10 minutes later I received a call from our local car hire depot. It took five minutes to go through their terms and conditions and they said they would be with me inside an hour. Within 90 minutes of my call to MAP I had a shiny new hire car in the carpark. Even better, when my own car was repaired, I simply drove to the garage and left the hire car there. My Customer Service from Mitsubishi was exemplary (bar the 15 minute wait on the initial phone call!) OK, Mitsubishi is a big company and arguably they should offer good service but how many times do we hear of the appalling experience of customers with big companies? Clearly, there is a lesson for all of us.  I was treated as an individual who needed help – and they helped. OK, they had the systems and procedures in place to do just that but isn’t that the point of good processes? Simply listening and acknowledging is a great start. If a customer in need called you, could you step up to the mark? Here at BSA, I know we can but it does make you think!  …and hats off to Mitsubishi

The corporate Christmas Card has declined or even died out for many businesses but we all still want to take the opportunity to say, ‘Happy Christmas’ and ‘Thank you’ to our customers and clients. Simply sending e-cards is increasing in popularity but a lot of people (me included!) think this is a bit of a cheap cop-out. Not really the right impression!

Get Charitable

Some people note on their e-card that rather than spending money on cards, they are donating the money to charity. While this is certainly a better option, it doesn’t really involve much engagement and (as everyone who knows me will acknowledge!) I believe that engagement should be at the heart of marketing, and let’s face it, even at Christmas, we are still in business and marketing is still important!

Get Interactive

How about this idea to really tick the Christmas marketing boxes – The Charity Vote: Rather than just make a charitable donation, invite your customers and contacts to help you decide which charity. Here’s the plan:

• Pick 3 Charities
• Set up your e-card with ‘clickable’ links to vote for each charity (maybe use their logos?)
• Invite your customers receiving the e-card to ‘click’ their preferred charity
• Track the clicks and keep score
• Make your donation to each charity in proportion to the votes cast

Setting this up does require a bit of web-coding but if you need any help, I’m sure whoever looks after your website will be able to assist.

Make the most of the opportunity

Once you have set up the charity voting links, you can add your own seasonal messages, and maybe details of your Christmas office hours etc. Even better, in the New Year, you have another chance to engage with your contacts by thanking them for taking part and letting them know the results.

Christmas Greetings + Charitable Donations + Customer Engagement…

…A great Christmas marketing combination!