cost effective marketing ann goodwin, fcim, dipm, chartered marketer
TRANSCRIPT
Cost effective marketing
Ann Goodwin, FCIM, DipM, Chartered Marketer
What is marketing?
• Not simply another word for selling!• “The aim of marketing is to make selling
superflous” Peter Drucker• B2B communications – Need to let clients know:
• You exist• What you are offering to do for them• Who else you have done it for• What makes you different from or better than other
solutions• Keep reminding them
• CIM
What is marketing?
“The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.”
Chartered Institute of Marketing definition
http://www.cim.co.uk/resources/understandingmarket/definitionmkting.aspx
Develop your strategy• Develop answers to 4 key strategic questions:– Where are you now?– Where do you want to be?– How might you get there?– How will you ensure arrival?
• Why develop a marketing strategy?
Know your market place• Check the health of your business from marketing
perspective– Look for opportunities to maximise– Threats to minimise
• Conduct a marketing audit– Understand your target audience and what is
important to them• Don’t just assume
– Consider the DMU• Decision making unit• Understand the purchasing criteria
• Ask questions– Who, what where, when, how:
Understand your business • Customers
• What would be good questions to ask customers?
• Competitors• What questions would you like to know about your competition?
• Where did your business come from?• Conduct a SWOT, PEST• What business are you in?
– Revlon– Xerox– Parker
• 7 Ps– Products, Price, People, Physical Evidence, Place, Processes,
Promotion
Product or market focused?• Are you really customer focused?– Do you give the customer what they want and
value• Not what you think they want
• But I offer a service so I must be market focused?– Do you sell existing services to potential clients
• Rather than think about developing those services to meet clients’ continually changing needs
Where do you want to be?• Set SMART objectives
–Specific
– Measurable
– Achievable
– Relevant
– Timely
• Identify your planning gap
The Planning Gap
Planning gap• Say £100k• How could this be achieved
– 10 orders of £10k– 100 orders of £1k each
• What do I need to achieve 10 orders?– Say proposals have 1 in 4 success ratio
• On average for every 4 quotes I write 1 get one order– If I speak to 10 people I get 4 enquiries and opportunities to
quote– To speak to 10 people I need to make 80-100 spin dials = 8
hours activity– To get 10 orders I need to make 1000 spin dials = 80 hours
• Is this feasible?– Do we know who to contact?
• What can I do to improve my performance?
STP• Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning• What are the segments in your market?• Establish your positioning– What are you?– Who are your competitors?– Why will prospects want you?
• Develop a sales proposition– The best proposition does do not shout
• Heard and believed, but rarely noticed– Good sales propositions
• Quietly and skilfully slipped into a conversation or a written document
• USP – what you can offer that no-one else can– If not unique then make it meaningful!
Who wants you? Finding your target audience • Vertical markets
– Who would want a niche product, a complementary range of services?
• Horizontal markets – Which wide groups of users would want your product &
service?
• Clients, middlemen and decision-making– What will they be looking for?
• Geographical limits– What is reasonable for you and your clients?
• Demographic targeting– Consider business sectors, geography
• Identify Company names, Job title and roles, Individual names
• Psychographic targeting– Finding clients who you know need your services
• To solve a problem they have
Features and benefits• Features tell, benefits sell:
– Different target groups : different messages– Relevant and meaningful
• F.A.B– Features, Advantages, Benefits– SO WHAT!!!!!
• Be passionate– About your clients and your service
• Sales letters, brochures & credentials presentations often start with:– We have been established for ten years– We deliver HR policies on Maternity, Sickness, Welfare– We have an office in Nottingham– We employ 5 people
• Stop the urine disease!– We, we, we, we, we– Talk about you, you, you
Benefits• We have been established for ten years – so that you can be confident that we are an experienced,
commercially viable company which knows what it is doing and will not fold in the middle of a project
• We deliver HR policies on Maternity, Sickness, Welfare – so that you can benefit from our expertise in that area
and save yourself time• We have an office in Nottingham – so that you can rely on us to be with you quickly should a
problem occur• We employ 5 people –– so that you can relax, we are small enough to care, but
large enough to ensure you have the necessary resources for your project
• Customers only buy services to solve problems – the benefits you offer must directly address their needs.
Benefit or positive words
15
What are the F.A.B factors of your business?
Plan your 7 Ps• Use marketing mix to gain competitive advantage
– Product (service)• What niche product or service can you deliver specific to that
sector– Price
• Introduce a low cost product or service that can be sold next to the premium
– People• Who will sell, customer service support
– Processes• Streamline, be more customer focused, cross selling
– Place• Online, at client’s premises
– Physical Evidence• Consistency, recognition
– Promotion
Promotion• Tactics to get you noticed– Advertising– PR– Direct marketing– Web marketing– Selling
• Apply some professional PR and marketing skills
• No approach will obtain business– It’s up to you to convert
Advertising• 50% works– If you are lucky
• Great for brand awareness• Generally not specific enough for small
businesses• Pay per click– Cost effective tool
Media relations• Cost effective promotional tool– Free publicity– Radio, Newspapers, trade magazines
• Identify and research publications– Educate yourself about the media– Identify individuals and feature opportunities
• Start an ideas book– Engage with friends and family– Look for ‘hooks” to create publicity
• What best publicity stunts do you remember?– How could you adopt that for your business?
• Gauge the types of stories that are hot– Tie your business in with news, issue a statement on a situation
• Send letters to editors about industry or local issues
• Think of a way to present the story with a fresh angle
• Natural PR opportunities– New product launch, Opening new premises, be
different, introduce new or improved– Celebrate anniversaries, 10 years old, 1000th customer– Announce a new member of your team– Sponsor local sports team or art exhibition– Announce publicity you have had– Hold a competition– Present an award– Stage a special event, debate, or a demonstration
Attracting media coverage
• Offer a series of articles - Be the expert• Radio phone in• Product placement on TV programmes• Solve a problem, Create a problem
• Do something in a different way– Be anti-corporate
• Attempt to set or beat a record• Commission a survey – serious or frivolous• Work with charities and develop community
involvement programme– Donate products to charity events
• Team up with suppliers/customers joint publicity• Become a figurehead in an organisation
– so that its publicity brings you publicity
PR ideas to attract
• Develop the story– Compelling headline
• Avoid clever titles– they can look amateurish
• Use AIDA approach
– Attention• Have a strong introduction, powerful first paragraph to grab
attention
– Create interest• Move quickly to subject matter to develop interest
– Arouse desire• Let the reader get to know a bit more about the subject
– Action• Confirm how the reader can find out more or react to the news
Preparing a press release
• Self contained paragraphs– Decreasing order of importance – A paragraph can be used as a filler if it still makes sense
• Use a quote – highly effective• Don't be patronising, long winded abusive, too woolly• Keep it short and simple
– No more than 2-3 pages double spaced typing
• Only use acronyms after the letters have been explained in full
• Think about what kind of story the publication is looking for– Does this release deliver?– Adopt the right tone, relevant to the publication– Consider tailoring the story with different angles for different
publications
Develop press release content
• Use photographs in your promotional
material
• Interesting and relevant picture will increase
chances of publication
• Helps to attract attention
• Use a professional photographer if possible
• Use a caption
Photographs
Wider PR activities• Cross promotion opportunities with partners– Joint newsletters
• Join professional associations– Offer support speaking, writing articles
• Networking– Develop strong elevator pitch– Listening skills, develop relationships and trust– Follow up as relevant
• Strong business card– USP– Photo
Word of mouth
• Referrals & recommendations– Current and past clients– Other professionals– Ask for recommendations
• Networking– Not just passing out business cards– Get out and about– Go to client sector events
• Communicate directly with your customer• Develop a CRM system
– Identify personal details • Refer to later, e.g., a birthday
– Confirm the market segment• Tailor communication to relevant people
• Circulate relevant marketing communications material– Press releases– Emails– Post cards– Case studies
• Follow up with telephone call
Direct Marketing
Marketing communications• Be interesting and relevant
– F.A.B and AIDA, You - not we, we, we!• Sales letters
– Personal, Relevant, Outward-facing, Polite• Mailers & profiles
– Short profiles can be mailed • Encapsulate information without expensive brochures
– Inventive invitations and unusual greeting cards– Clear objectives – what exactly are you trying to achieve?– Be attractive, visible and memorable – Consistent– Clear response mechanism
• Brochures– Clear information, readers will be interested in– What you do, results you have help clients achieve, how you do it, for
whom you do it– Efficiency and productivity gains– Client quotes – Be distinctive, memorable and consistent– Use minimum text, illustrations and good quality photographs
Testimonials• Ask clients to provide them– Use as case studies on your website– Create a blog around a case study– Have a short sentence to pick out salient points– Use in proposals
• Seek to have 5 quotable quotes from clients• Third party credibility
• Ask clients for referrals– Set up a process to encourage them
• Website– Build content around F.A.B– Build content for search engines
• Key words, title tags, image descriptions
– Content is King– Use photographs and videos
• Launch informative blog on your website– Offer free information
– Arrange for an interview with interesting or unique personality
• Online advertising– Adwords, Facebook, Trade forums
Web Marketing
• Use social media– Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, You Tube etc– Link to your blog– Position yourself as an expert and trusted source
• Forums– Monitor trade and consumer forums – Post responses
• Permission based emails– Relevant information
• Use Google analytics– Understand traffic– Adjust tactics, strengthen call to action
Web Marketing
Getting the business• Credentials presentation• Preparation
– Be clear why are you doing this presentation – What do you expect to get out of it– Be recipient focused– Telephone confirmation – get more facts– Use examples to support your claims– Listen & learn– Leave document summarising your presentation– Follow up with letter– If not successful ask why?
• If successful – ask Why?• Proposals
– Written to stand alone– Written to reflect your professionalism
• Accurate, comprehensive, well structured, well written
– Terms of business
Selling
Success
= Activity x Skill x Attitude
Review your performance | Be honest | Seek to improve
• Is the plan working?
• Measure effectiveness
– Observation, experience and feedback• People and attitudes change
• Customer complaints, ideas, suggestions
– Analysis of your communication efforts• Level of enquiries• Web traffic• Newspaper cuttings
Monitor and evaluate
Resources• Database– Online, cloud systems now available– Mailing, competitors, proposals, presentations
• Sources of information– Use public data to help in your audit
• People – Consider external support - how much can you
realistically do yourself? • Money matters– Power of marketing lies in the brain and not in the
wallet– Imagination, consistency and persistence – more
useful than cheque book– Set targets in terms of fee income or gross profit– Promotion v production –Opportunity cost?
Summary• Marketing is an investment
– Not an expense• Develop a marketing plan
– Devote enough time and energy to implement plan• Be persistent• Get creative
– Local publicity stunts– Market promotions– Boring, inappropriate, irrelevant, bad releases and communication will
not be noticed• When you gain a client – KEEP THEM
– Keep in touch• Be positive
– Don’t buy into the negative, doom & gloom• Adopt your own proactive infra-red system
Your Proactive Infra Red for Marketing
Be ahead of your competition
Thank youAny questions?
Twitter:@anngoodwin@winmarketing
LinkedIn:anngoodwin