Shere Marketing Blog

Increasing Sales using B2B Social Media

24 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT

“69% of B2B buyers use social networks …for business networking and development" (KnowledgeStorm)

In most B2B sales ‘The Relationship’ is a key contributor to the buyer’s decision. Social Media is all about relationships.

Here’s how to use Social Media to generate sales...

Put your ear to the ground: In the online world this means using tools such as Hoote Suite and Tweet Deck to pick up chatter relating to your market sector - problems you can solve / products and services you can supply. For example; if a complaint is voiced on Twitter about a competitor or their product – get in fast with advice and insight (but dont "sell"). If someone is seeking a recommendation of a supplier, offer a link to a resource that presents useful information (directly promoting is a no-no in Social Media). ...If you read a complaint about your business – get in even faster to solve it!
Engage: Only 13% of people who consume content on social networks join one - and 60% will just gather information, never adding their own input ([Universal McCann/]). This offers a huge opportunity to influence opinion for the few that do engage.
Lead mining: Participating on social forums and using sites like LinkedIn is a great prospecting technique. See who is talking about your area of expertise and might be good potential contacts. Then learn everything you can about them: what are they interested in? what is their role? …This will provide valuable insight from which you can create customised offers that speak directly to their interests.
Make sales: 71% of business people are using online media in some form to acquire new customers ([McKinsey/]). How? Through integration of your communications channels. Social Media integrated with your PR, Blog(s) and email marketing increases marketing ROI by driving more interested prospects to your website - and to direct contact.

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To discuss Social Media services: Click to request a call.

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Transactional Marketing

11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Do your outgoing emails, invoices and general communications contain subtle selling messages?

Did you know that email messages related to purchase or request for information are excluded from the legal opt-out and opt-in requirements?

Examples of transactional messages include order receipts, periodic account status updates, warranty information, safety or security information for purchased products, change notifications, subscription or membership information and product update/ upgrade information.

Based on a ‘MarketingSherpa’ report, transaction confirmations and account status emails are viewed most positively by customers, scoring 4.2 out of a possible 5.0.

Campaign statistics support these findings with average open rates of transactional email messages above 70% and click rates above 50% when the message includes a redeemable discount offer.

The most obvious use of transactional messages is to offer other, hopefully relevant, products to your customers.

While cross or up selling products may seem like an obvious thing to do, many companies are not yet doing this.

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To discuss Transactional Marketing: Click to request a call.

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10 keys to add Brand Value

04 Nov 2009 12:00:00 GMT

A brand is: ‘the lasting impression and the value of the total customer experience’.
It is not just the logo and packaging.
The product or service must consistently meet or exceed the selling proposition – or the brand will gradually die.A brand exists in the mind of its customer, not in its owner. Therefore customer perceptions must be known and are what really matters.
For a brand to become strong it must be: Distinctive from the competition - Motivating to customers- Enduring in its “fit” to the market.
Strong brands are assets that create wealth for their owners because customers will choose them over competing products and services – and pay a premium price for them.
Loyal customers are usually advocates of a brand they trust.
The brand owner should carry forward the brand proposition in every contact with the customer.
The communications and identity of the brand must stay ‘current’, through a carefully considered gradual evolution of its elements – proposition, logo, strapline, colours etc.
Business and marketing objectives must drive the branding process - not product design, technical development or sales.
Long-term rigorous Brand Management is the single most important investment any organisation can make to increase the value of its brand assets.

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To discuss branding: Click to request a call.

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Business Planning when times are tough

20 Sep 2011 12:00:00 GMT

Here are ten tips to help you through tough times:

Follow the money. Act fast to focus on the profitable customers. Find more of them, through targeted business development actions. What is their profile? Where are they? How do you target them?
Lock customers into longer contracts. Use concessions to encourage them. Reward (renewed) loyalty.
Maintain market share. The businesses that came out strongest from the last recession were the ones which increased their marketing. More than 20 studies, dating as far back as the 1920s, show that brands with sustained promotional expenditure through recessions have a competitive advantage by stealing share from brands which reduce their budgets. It also demonstrates that the sales impact of budget cuts is long-lasting. A brand that stops promoting for one year will take three to four years to return to a level of sales had its budget been maintained. And even halving budgets for one year requires two further years to recover fully.
Insist on measuring ROI from marketing. Examine every aspect of your marketing and make sure it is achieving SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, and Time-bound).
Understand customers. There could not be a more vital issue. Find that edge through constant research and discussion with your customers.
Offer guarantees and fixed-price deals. Do everything you can to make buying from you a safer decision than your competitor.
Be prepared. Every business owner we have spoken to who experienced the downturn of the early 90’s said they are already looking at cost base, credit terms and cash position.
But only cut back on the right things – not the easy things. It is all too easy to hold back on expenditure such as technology upgrades or marketing. But your operational efficiency and new business pipeline are mission-critical – especially in a downturn. Don’t put off the hard decisions on head count and accommodation costs.
Gift-Horses can be dangerous. Firms in financial difficulty often switch supplier – so be cautious of easily-won big orders from new customers. Run credit checks!
Acquire the struggling. Tough times always offer opportunities to cheaply grab customers and grow market share through acquisition of a competitor.

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To discuss Business Planning services: Click to request a call.

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Business Presentations

01 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Business presentations are far more successful if the audience is required to interact with the presentation.

No matter how great your marketing and direct selling, if you are not involving your audience then your level of success will be less than it could be.

People are naturally less able to absorb (and therefore be influenced by) information when they are not required to participate in the learning process

Can you remember anything much from those boring lectures at school?

Research has shown that people retain, on average,

18% of what they hear,
32% of what they see,
over 50% of what they see and hear,
but over 75% of what they also interact with!

In marketing materials, use devices such as stickers that have to be peeled from mailers or coupons from adverts.

For your next presentation, prepare a set of handouts that you give out one at a time to the audience (even if you are presenting to just one person), or a series of questions, on a sheet, that require tick-box answers.

Watch the response and level of interest increase dramatically.

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Need to discuss a business presentation? Click to request a call.

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Optimise Online

10 Jun 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Steps ONE, TWO & THREE: Optimisation, Optimisation, Optimisation.

Steps FOUR – TEN: …but best done After Optimisation!

Keyword Analysis (what are real people really searching for?)
Competitive Analysis (what words and phrases are they using?)
Content Enhancement (match your web site to the market – and beat the competition)
Code Enhancement (get technical - for best results)
Link Enhancement (relevant links in and out of your website are critical)Pay-per-Click Advertising (PPC) – enables you to achieve top positions, for relevant keyword phrases, in the majority of the leading search engines.
Web Page and Directory Submission – the quickest and most cost effective means of gaining qualified incoming hits to your web site.
Trusted Feeds – designed primarily for catalogue sites or those with thousands of product pages and/or dynamic content.
Conversion Optimisation – ensures that your web site is not only getting more qualified traffic but also that it is converting at the best possible levels.
Contextual Marketing – enables marketers to present potential clients with advertisements relevant to the ‘context’ of the page they are looking at.
Affiliate Marketing – where a company places a banner or links on a number of web sites (affiliates) and in return pays the Affiliate for the traffic when visitors click through the Affiliate site.

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To discuss optimisation: Click to request a call.

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Stamp the mark of success onto your business identity

04 Jun 2009 12:00:00 GMT

The occasion of a business anniversary, in itself, is usually of little interest to anyone outside your organisation. What you do to mark an anniversary will determine whether it is ‘blah-blah’ or not. If you can turn your longevity into a positive part of your Identity then you have truly maximised its potential.

We use the word ‘mark’ to suggest a brand. To get mileage from an anniversary you must apply the principles of branding.

The first time you publicise an anniversary it must be a significant one.

Create an Anniversary Symbol featuring the date your business was founded and you’re key proposition or ‘strapline’. Also incorporate other elements of your Corporate Identity into the symbol such as colours, shape and principal typeface. But we recommend that you do not feature the number of years since your foundation.

Print sheets of peel-off stamps of the Anniversary Symbol and apply to all marketing material. Overprint a batch of letterhead and envelopes with the Anniversary Symbol and feature it on your Web Site Home Page. Make a big fuss about this special year by arranging a gift to send to customers that has the standard branding of the gift substituted by your Anniversary Symbol. Introduce an anniversary “offer” as a call-to-action on the gift.

The Anniversary Symbol features the year of your foundation - but not the number of years in business. It is a mark of longevity and success. Continue to feature it on all your marketing materials into the future.

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To discuss branding: Click to request a call.

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Exhibitions

03 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT

These tactics will work – try them:

Before an event, email and also mail the people who have pre-registered to attend. Keep the message very short. Use one key phrase as the headline. It must have impact and be memorable. In doing this you place a residual memory of your organisation in the mind of the recipient. On your stand, use the same key phrase as a big headline, easily visible from a distance. Anyone who received your letter and/or email who passes the stand will believe they know your organisation (even if they don’t remember how) and feel compelled to stop.

Consider running a Seminar or Presentation at the event. Either as a planned part of the programme or on your stand. Giving talks suggest authority. This elevates your organisation above other exhibitors. Your stand becomes one that attendees will notice. And guarantees a higher % will stop to find out more.

The golden rule of display stand effectiveness is clarity of message. But to increase interest even further, use the graphics to ask a big question. Make the question provocative. On the stand, fill a leaflet dispenser marked “The Answer”. You will be amazed how many people will just have to take one.

Always use a "hook" to draw people to the stand. Most of us are resistant to being sold. But once engaged in the process can become interested in the product or service. The hook works best when it appeals to our sense of fun or if there is something of personal gain to be had. Think: leisure, fun, free or far-out!

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To discuss exhibitions: Click to request a call.

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Writing great emails

20 Sep 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Having your ‘call-to-action’ at the top of the email will achieve better results.

Make it punchy - short statements work best - use lists and bullet points.

Use colour to break up areas and help readers scan for important information.

Engage effectively with your readers by writing as you would if the email were a short personal letter.

Ensure that the copy focuses on just one main issue of interest to your target audience.

Personalise beyond 'Dear First name' by including something that is relevant to the recipient such as a date they last ordered or the name of their account manager as the sign off.

Newsletters work best when they are instantly recognisable and the reader is getting what he expects, so create a smart template then stick with it.

Make offers realistic - the reader will be more convinced and value it higher.

Repeat any offer a second time at the bottom.

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To discuss email marketing: Click to request a call.

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Get your web pages found � and read

14 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Writing for the web is different. Readers scan-read web pages. Search engines index the words. Therefore what you write must deliver your information in a punchy way, using as few words as possible. And it must contain the words that match the searches real people are using to find your type of product or service.

For easy reading, sentences should be between 15-20 words. Paragraphs, 40-70 words. Keep line length to 15 words maximum. Use cross-heads to break text. Writing for a reader who scans, rather than reads, wins more than 30% improvement in click-through.

Headings are the most important piece of content you will write. Readers judge content by them and they are used as Metadata (what the search engines use on the search results page). Keep headings to eight words or less. Cut out as many adjectives and prepositions as possible (and, the, a, of). Be clear and precise. Avoid being too clever.

Brainstorm the terms a potential customer might use when searching for a web site with your content. Use the technical tools available to evaluate your ideas. Increasingly, people are searching with two or more words. So use key phrases rather than individual words. Don't have more than three key phrases in any one piece of content.

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To discuss web copy services: Click to request a call.

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Twitter Stalking or Intelligence Gathering?

28 Oct 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Deciding who to follow on Twitter

ID chosen. Tick. Profile set up. Tick. Now what? You have got this great Twitter profile, you might even have customised the page a little, chosen your own background, and added a photo (hopefully). Now what?

You’ve got tonnes of stuff you want to say, but you are all alone with no followers. We’ve all been there. It can seem quite daunting deciding who to follow....

Bid Winners

05 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT

When bidding for a project, do you act like a winner?

These are the common thoughts of bid losers:

Our team knows we can't expect to win then all, but we always put in a good effort.
Our bids are focused on the practicalities of doing the work (we cannot know the prospect's strategic objectives so this is the sensible way to do it).
Our documentation contains our standard information and of course could always be improved a little if we had more time.
We respond to most opportunities because it is a numbers game.
We never examine successful bids because it is always down to who we knew or the price.
We don't have the time to investigate lost bids.
The competition will lose money on most of the opportunities we don't win - either that, or they had an established relationship with the prospect.

This is what bid winners do:

Ruthlessly prioritise opportunities (never waste time on prospects we have little chance of winning).
Research the prospect.
Align bid to prospect's strategy and objectives.
Demonstrate 'cultural fit' by matching personnel and approach to the prospect.
Make visually attractive and appealing documentation.
Have a 'we will win this' attitude in the team.
Hold enquiries into lost business and hold people to account.
Drive continuous change and improvement into bidding process.

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To discuss Winning Bids: Click to request a call.

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Are you the Twitter company you keep?

27 Oct 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Twitter Follower or Twitter Leader?

We’ve all heard the saying “You may know a man by the company he keeps”. Not only is the same true on Twitter, but ignore it at your peril.

Generally (as in life there are exceptions to the rule), if you have more followers than you are following you look like a leader, someone who is popular, someone who has something useful to say, therefore you look like someone who others should follow. People with positive follower to following ratios generally tweet useful insightful relevant snippets regularly. They don’t just talk about themselves and they don’t try to sell something to you all the time. They are the one’s everyone ...

Brand Development

02 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Ask what a brand is and you will get as many different answers as the number of people you ask.

The original definition of course is:
A mark made by burning with a hot iron (branding iron) to designate ownership (e.g. of cattle).
Over time, brands became associated with the quality of the cattle and the value of the cattle reflected this.

Life has moved on.

The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as:
"A name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors."
But this is incomplete. It does not explain how a strong brand can become more valuable than an otherwise equivalent product or service.

Walter Landor, a leading light in the marketing world says:
"Simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality."Yes, a brand is a promise of value and the symbol or logo identifies the brand - but the brand can have value in its self – beyond the product or service.

David Aaker, a leader in brand thinking gives a definition of brand equity as:
"A set of assets (or liabilities) linked to a brand's name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service…”In this definition we see that a brand has value but is not always an asset, it can become a liability as well.

We define a brand simply as:
“The lasting impression and the value of the total customer experience.”

The route to a brand that has positive value must be through a holistic approach – by building quality into how you define your product or service and the customer experience.

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To discuss branding: Click to request a call.

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Your logo is NOT your brand!

29 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT

WHAT IS A BRAND?

Ask what a brand is and you will get as many different answers as the number of people you ask.

The original definition of course is:
A mark made by burning with a hot iron (branding iron) to designate ownership (e.g. of cattle).
Over time, brands became associated with the quality of the cattle and the value of the cattle reflected this.

Life has moved on.

The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as:
"A name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors."
But this is incomplete. It does not explain how a strong brand can become more valuable than an otherwise equivalent product or service.

Walter Landor, a leading light in the marketing world says...

Manage Business Uncertainty

09 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Make a New Year’s resolution – to manage uncertainty

Here we stand once again at the beginning of a new year. What will it have in store?

12 months ago no-one could foresee all that 2011 would bring. Some events were expected: the royal wedding; the rugby world cup. Others, if not expected, might reasonably have been foreseeable to some extent: bailouts of the weaker Eurozone economies; the spread of Tunisian unrest across the Arab world. And of course many were neither expected nor foreseen: the Japanese tsunami; the death of Osama bin Laden; riots in Britain; Manchester United being trounced 6-1 at home by Manchester City…

Businesses face similar uncertainties in 2012. Much of what will happen to them this year will be unexpected, and some will be unforeseeable. But there are two key steps you can take to manage the impact of uncertainty on your business and even turn it to your advantage:

Social Media is not free!

27 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT

SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT FREE!

Another point I’ve been thinking about after reading the “B2B Barometer” reports produced by the Institute of Direct Marketing and the Association of B2B Agencies. They noted that 86% of ‘client-side’ respondents expect their spending on social media to increase during the next 12 months.

Well that does not surprise me in the least! One of social media’s big hooks for businesses facing the prospect of a recession was that it was supposed to be ‘free’. That wasn’t strictly true. It was only free in the same way that a PR campaign is ‘free’. You might not have to pay a title to print your content but the costs of researching, developing, producing and distributing that content all have to be met. It can be a time-consuming task that requires a specialist skill set. Social media is exactly the same. Looks like businesses have just woken up to the fact that sometimes you have to pay to get lucky. No intentional reference to Wayne Rooney intended!

Online Marketing

01 Oct 2011 12:00:00 GMT

The secret of Online Marketing?

INTEGRATE EVERYTHING. Why? – because online, joined up means you are truly creating a web of interaction - and: “the whole… really is, …greater than the sum of the parts”.

Attracting real potential customers to your website - to understand more about your proposition, or to contact you, is the goal. Therefore your website is the ‘Mother Ship’. For it to function to maximum effectiveness it must be both technically attractive to the [search engines!] and also give the [individuals!] in your target markets who reach it, exactly what they are looking for.

The search engines evaluate how relevant to a given search each page of your website is (based on complex scoring systems). To appear at the top of search results requires keyword analysis and correct implementation of: the website meta content: the website structure: what you say on every page: how many relevant inbound links, directory listings, blog entries, social media buzz, media articles there are.

An individual arriving at your website within 4 seconds will decide if they stay to find out more, or seek their answer elsewhere.

So here, in a step-by-step 10 point prioritised list, is how to integrate your online marketing:

Use website analytics each month to review where the traffic is coming from. Then see where the visitors go within your website. Then keep tweaking and updating your content with the goal of channelling the visitor to the response outcome you want.
Optimise your website code and content – for the human visitor AND the search engines.
Gain inbound links from as many relevant websites as possible - linking is highly valued by the search engines and is also a prime way to lead people to your website. This must be an ongoing process as links go stale quickly – and there are always more you can get.
Distribute as much PR online as possible, all with links to your website.
Engage in business networking on the social websites. These are increasingly becoming popular for business connections. Monitor and contribute to the key industry online forums.
Send HTML and text emails to your customers and prospects, containing links to further resources within your website - and always include a call to action for further information.
INTEGRATE EVERYTHING by using content with embedded cross-linking throughout.
Pay for premium listings with the top business directories – these are really important for search ranking and are used by searchers seeking specific products and services.
Pay for banner adverts in your target markets’ leading online media – this is great awareness advertising and will bring qualified visitors to your website.
Register your organisation on every free relevant directory and portal website you can find.

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To discuss Online Marketing: Click to request a call.

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PowerPoint presentations

23 Aug 2009 12:00:00 GMT

One of the most damaging habits of PowerPoint users is to simply read the visual presentation to the audience. Not only is this redundant but it makes even the most visually appealing presentation boring. PowerPoint works best with spoken remarks that add to what's on the screen.

When presenting give the audience a chance to read and digest it, then follow up with remarks that broaden and amplify what's on the screen. Never talk on top of your slides.

PowerPoint's extensive functionality may be its own worst enemy. If you make your presentation too eye catching the audience will not hear what you are saying. Remember - your slides should support the spoken presentation - not dominate it.

Ideally, use no more than five words per line and five lines per slide.

The most effective presentations don't overwhelm viewers with numbers - leave them for handouts distributed at the end.

Let the screen go blank on occasion. Not only can that give your audience a visual break, it also focuses attention on you and jolts the audience’s attention level up a notch.

Don't limit your presentation to what PowerPoint offers. Use outside images and graphics for variety and visual appeal, including video.

Ask your audience to hold questions until the end. Questions are an excellent indicator that people are engaged by your subject matter and presentation skills but always take the shine off the total presentation.

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To discuss presentations: Click to request a call.

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Smartphones - seriously good for marketing

22 Jun 2011 12:00:00 GMT

There are now over 11 million Smartphone users in the UK and according to Google, 74% of these make a purchase as a result of using their phone to review marketing information. And research by Deloitte reveals that 88% of those who look for local information on their Smartphone take action within a day.

The key thing about Smartphones as a marketing tool is the ability for marketers to get intimate with the consumer. We can engage with the individual, and by using softer messages we can seduce, simply because the Smartphone user is already in the palm of our hand – literally!

The Smartphone is usually the primary source of information and entertainment for the user. They are absorbed by it for hours every day reviewing trends and topics of interest. Therefore search, context advertising and product association are the best ways to reach them. Straight display type ads are too brusque. Be more subtle and generous for greater success. The research shows that the most popular ways to encourage Smartphone users to respond is through ads offering bargains, free apps or games.

The Smartphone is very different to other media because rather than being a casual observer, flicking through a magazine, opening a mail piece, half hearing a radio advert or glancing at a sales brochure, the Smartphone user actually craves the content their Smartphone delivers. So when the advertiser’s message is blended with this content, it goes straight into the consciousness, deeper and more persuasively than ever before.

For many their Smartphone has become their drug of choice. They cannot go more than a few minutes without a fix. And the shards of information delivered are tiny moments of satisfaction embedded in the brain, creating interest, desire, perceived need.

And we all know what this is: The Sales Process.

What's there to Tweet about?

13 Jun 2010 12:00:00 GMT

TWITER FOR B2B MARKETING

Now that you have established that you want to say something – what can you say?

Everyone likes to be thanked, right?
Include the “@” symbol before the Twitter name, e.g. Thanks @sheremarketing for attending our webinar on “How to Tweet for Business”. You can strengthen a relationship, show others you have a relationship with this person and promote something that your business offers at the same time.

Here are several other ways to...

Is B2B Social Media in decline?

20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT

IS B2B SOCIAL MEDIA IN DECLINE?

Last week saw the publication of the latest in a series of “B2B Barometer” reports produced by the Institute of Direct Marketing and the Association of B2B Agencies. Most of the trends uncovered were pretty typical of the logical, recession-driven activity we’ve come to expect: reduced outlay on advertising, more focus on brand development and a shift towards tactics that are proven to be cost-effective and easily measurable, i.e. online and database driven marketing.

Far more interesting was what the report had to say concerning attitudes towards social media....

Segment your markets and your business

16 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Your markets contain a variety of different types of customer located in different places, behaving in different ways. Some of these customer groups are much more valuable to your business than others. But how can you be certain which are most important to your future success? Better Market Segmentation can provide the answer.

Your business has finite resources. These should be totally focused on carrying out those activities where you are better placed than your competitors to provide what your customers really want. But how do you know that you are doing this? Business Segmentation will point the way.

Market Segmentation

Think about all the dimensions along which your customers may differ, especially those which will make them more or less attractive to you.
Common segmentation approaches include by demographics, product(s) purchased or geographic location, but there are often more subtle and insightful alternatives, perhaps by customer needs, buying behaviours or business model. And is your segmentation detailed enough to separate the best customers from the rest?
Recognising the different P&L performance of different segments, and understanding the underlying reasons for this, can transform the way you manage your business by helping you identify in detail areas of value creation and destruction, and by flagging up things you do well – and not so well.

Business Segmentation

Most businesses use this approach to measure and compare internal performance – e.g. of different sales teams, or call centres, or production facilities.
You can and should go further and apply it more broadly to the activities that take place in the end-to-end process of producing and delivering your products or services – the “value chain”.
First identify and map out these activities, right from sourcing materials and services, all the way through to maintaining after-sales relationships. Then ask: what do the revenues and costs of each stage in the chain look like? Which of them add the most value for your customers? Which of them do you do better than your competitors? Are there any which would be better outsourced to cheaper/more expert providers – or brought in house to increase your degree of control?

Measure the ROI of your Marketing

17 May 2009 12:00:00 GMT

= Measure the ROI of your Marketing - Top Tip No5

[Many company leaders remain sceptical of the Return On Investment (ROI) from marketing - and with good reason. !]

Recent research of B2B marketers found:
- Only 58% work from a marketing plan with predetermined, measurable goals.
- Only 22% measure ROI for most of their marketing communications and 8% confess to measuring none at all.
- 44% couldn't define "good" marketing ROI.
- Just 6% do before-and-after research.

ROI is difficult to measure. To do it you must have a ‘without fail’ accounting process and formal annual review on all marketing activity. Clear and agreed metrics are vital. Benchmark where you are now then set realistic objectives and methods of tracking:

Specific measurements - percentage of increase - how many - how much.
Determination of change - awareness – attitudes – propensity to purchase.
Perceptions - subjective, but if agreed are a valid measurement, to be agreed by consensus and recorded.
Prevention – the ‘what if we hadn’t’ factor, reviewed retrospectively.

Research need not be cumbersome or expensive to conduct. Key criteria can be researched quickly, doubling as customer service initiative. Establishing a culture of tracking, measurement and evaluation is tougher, but the rewards are organisational accountability for marketing effectiveness.

Good marketing continues to build growth and sales whether it is measured or not. However, only through accountability can value for money be measured.

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Click to request free ROI chart.

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Press releases must always be newsworthy

22 Mar 2010 12:00:00 GMT

WHAT IS NEWS?

“Dog bites man” is not news……… “Man bites dog” is!

Press releases must always be newsworthy, so create material which is: New, Relevant to the audience, Surprising, Controversial, Amusing.

Good press releases answer Who?, What?, Why?, Where?, When?, How?
...but the most important question remains: So what?

Journalists expect to see the following elements in your press release...

Research Measure Manage

21 Oct 2011 12:00:00 GMT

If you can't measure it - you can't manage it. Organisations go in the direction of what they measure... So what are YOU measuring?

The three types of measures required to ensure short and long term success are:

Things that make your organisation better to do business with. These are the outcomes and benefits for your customers. To be able to measure here you need to be 100% clear about what customers really value (not necessarily what you believe they value).
Transactional. Visible measures that are crucial to the running of your business i.e. cash flow, the time it takes to deliver or support what you do, staff turnover.
Measures that give your organisation stronger relationships, with staff, customers, the community and other stakeholders. These include the success of your organisational values or of environmental and community based initiatives.

Get the measurements right and you will experience the following:

Customers that are committed to you as a supplier - and become advocates of yours
Staff who are more productive
Staff who are fully engaged with your organisation
Staff who enjoy their work more
Overall, a more sustainable business

Businesses follow their measure - that is why they have them - so it's vital to measure what makes an organisation better - not just busier.

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To discuss research: Click to request a call.

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Measure the ROI of your Marketing

07 Apr 2010 12:00:00 GMT

CAN'T MEASURE ROI? YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Recent research of B2B marketers found:

Only 58% work from a marketing plan with predetermined, measurable goals.
Only 22% measure ROI for most of their marketing communications and 8% confess to measuring none at all.
44% couldn't define "good" marketing ROI.
Just 6% do before-and-after research.

ROI is difficult to measure. To do it you must have a ‘without fail’ accounting process and formal annual review on all marketing activity. Clear and agreed metrics are vital.

Benchmark these things to set realistic objectives and methods of tracking...

Research Measure Manage

29 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT

IF YOU CAN'T MEASURE IT - YOU CAN'T MANAGE IT

1. Things that make your organisation better to do business with. These are the outcomes and benefits for your customers. To be able to measure here you need to be 100% clear about what customers really value (not necessarily what you believe they value).

2. Transactional. Visible measures that are crucial to the running of your business i.e. cash flow, the time it takes to deliver or support what you do, staff turnover.

3. Measures that give your organisation stronger relationships, with staff, customers, the community and other stakeholders. These include the success of your organisational values or of environmental and community based initiatives.

Get the measurements right and you will experience the following...

The Secret of Online Marketing?

10 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT

INTEGRATE EVERYTHING to OPTIMISE EVERYTHING!

Why? – because online, joined up means you are truly creating a web of interaction - and: “the whole… really is, …greater than the sum of the parts”.

The search engines evaluate how relevant to a given search each page of your website is (based on complex scoring systems). To appear at the top of search results requires Search Engine Optimisation (keyword analysis and correct implementation of: the website meta content: the website structure: what you say on every page: how many relevant inbound links, directory listings, blog entries, social media buzz, media articles there are).

An individual arriving at your website within 4 seconds will decide if they stay to find out more, or seek their answer elsewhere.

What next? Here is a step-by-step 10 point prioritised list...

10 ways to increase your followers on Twitter

28 Jan 2011 12:00:00 GMT

10 ways to increase your followers on Twitter

No one wants to have no Twitter followers, but how do you grow your followers? Here are some simple techniques to increase your followers on Twitter.

Add a photo to your profile.
Add a bio – include buzz words which will attract the right type of followers. What are you interested in?
Tweet – if you don’t tweet anything – no one can find you! Use Hashtags # to make it easier for people to find your tweets.
Tweet regularly (in less than 127 characters makes it easier for other people to retweet your tweets) – think of at least 3 things you can tweet about each day. Be careful not to appear spammy only tweet relevant interesting content that is the key.
Re-tweet other people’s tweets. They are more likely to follow you.
Create Twitter lists – if you look organised and are a font of knowledge or information, people will follow you.
Get listed – think of a reason why people should list you. Your job, hobby, what sort of list should you be on? Is this clear from your bio? Your tweets?
Have you integrated your social media profiles? Do your Facebook or LinkedIn friends know you are also on Twitter? Let them know.
Add your Twitter ID or a link to your Twitter profile to your email signature, and your website.
Be interesting, original and consistent. Don’t start and stop tweeting.

Do you have any other ways to increase your followers on Twitter?

10 ways to find people to follow on Twitter

25 Jan 2011 12:00:00 GMT

10 ways to find people to follow on Twitter

You need to grow your Twitter circle by following people, letting people know you are in the neighbourhood, but how do you do this? Here 10 ways to find people on Twitter.

To find which of your friends/contacts are already using Twitter, upload your contacts from email address books (Yahoo, Hotmail & Messenger, Gmail, AOL supported).
Upload your contacts from LinkedIn
Find Twitter lists to follow using Twitter Directories, E.g. TweetDeck Directory http://www.tweetdeck.com/directory/, and Listorious http://listorious.com
Using “Who to Follow” navigation – view suggestions.
Using “Who to Follow” navigation - browse interests.
Using “Who to Follow” navigation - find users by name.
Use Search field to find out who is tweeting about the topics you are interested in, or what your target followers will be interested in.
Search Google site:twitter.com/*/YOUR TAG – Eg. Site.twitter.com/*/sports
Use Justtweetit or Wefollow.
View the following/follower lists of the Twitter accounts you are following to see who they are following/who is following them.

Do you have any other ways to find people on Twitter?

Anyone following you?

10 Jul 2010 12:00:00 GMT

HOW TO BUILD A TWITTER FOLLOWING

You could try following hundreds of thousands of Twitter users and hope some of those automatically follow back. You’d obviously want to delete the ones who don’t follow you back! But I doubt very much whether this group of followers will actually pay any attention to what you are tweeting?

If you have tried to use Twitter for business and have found establishing your existing Twitter presence an uphill struggle, or if you are thinking about how best to tackle your entry into using Twitter for business here are some thoughts...

Editorial Writing

14 Mar 2010 12:00:00 GMT

“Dog bites man” is not news……… “Man bites dog” is!

Press releases must always be newsworthy, so create material which is:

New
Relevant to the audience
Surprising
Controversial
Amusing

Good press releases answer Who?, What?, Why?, Where?, When?, How?
...but the most important question remains: So what?

Journalists expect to see certain elements in your press release:

Date of issue
Heading - use 'News ' or 'Media Information' - don't let them think it's a business letter
Headline - must be clear and unambiguous if a journalist is to read your first paragraph
Subheadings - unnecessary and unlikely to be used
Figures - spell out numbers from one to nine, and afterwards written as numbers. However, use numbers for dates, addresses, prices, specifications etc

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To discuss PR or writing services: Click to request a call.

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5 Tips to Get More From Your Press Releases

11 Nov 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Technological advances have had a big impact on how stories are issued to the press, but people often fail to take advantage of the latest developments when it comes to creating their release and exploiting alternative methods to get it noticed.

Here are 5 tips for sprucing up your press releases and leveraging some of what modern technology has to offer...

Gap Logo Incident is a 'Watershed Moment' for Social Media

25 Oct 2010 12:00:00 GMT

BRANDING MISTAKE!

It’s now a couple of weeks since the events that folks at Gap HQ will probably remember forever as ‘The Logo Incident’. In case you missed it, here’s a brief synopsis.

Gap, the clothing retail giant, decided to shake up their stagnant sales by shaking off their reputation as a purveyor of bland wardrobe staples for supersized, middle-income Americans. Their solution was to launch a new logo that would spearhead the metamorphosis of their brand into something ‘more contemporary and current’, which is retail-speak for saying that they were going after a younger market. Unfortunately the key issues of branding were simply not followed.

Gap’s online followers were less than impressed with the new logo and made their opinions known by flooding the company’s Facebook profile with negative feedback. After a week of squirm-inducing commentary from Gap’s North American President (in which she pretended to be delighted that the logo was receiving so much attention whilst conveniently ignoring the fact that it was uniformly negative) the announcement came: the old logo was coming back. Victory to the loud minority!

The cynic in me wonders...

Email Marketing

14 Jul 2009 12:00:00 GMT

65% of future email marketing expenditures will be used to increase customer retention, rather than to acquire new customers. (Forrester Research).

Always use permission based marketing techniques... It’s the Law. Not doing so can lead to a Customer Service nightmare. And you could have your contract terminated by your ISP. Always use an easy “unsubscribe” option and honour requests.

Never harvest email addresses... Harvesting can generate huge email prospect databases at extremely low cost – but the ROI is negative. Harvested lists typically generate click through rates of less than 0.01%

Avoid the use of “must fill” fields... This results in garbage collection – a database filled with micky@mouse.com

Always send a confirmation autoresponder... Confirmation autoreply improves database quality – and quality outweighs quantity.

Opt-in Confirmation: Do nothing – emails will not be received.
Opt-out Confirmation: Do nothing – emails are received.

Never falsify the sender or subject line information... Tease copy is fine but never use tactics intended to mislead.

Track, measure and measure again... Email marketing without tracking, measurement and continuous evolution, based on analysis of the programme, cannot deliver maximal ROI.

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To discuss email marketing: Click to request a call.

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Do all your outgoing communications promote your brand?

07 Jan 2010 12:00:00 GMT

EVERY INTERACTION WITH YOUR AUDIENCES IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONVEY YOUR BRAND PROPOSITION

Based on a 2003 report by ‘MarketingSherpa’, transaction confirmations and account status emails are viewed most positively by customers, scoring 4.2 out of a possible 5.0.

Campaign statistics support these findings with average open rates of transactional email messages above 70% and click rates above 50% when the message includes a redeemable discount offer.

The most obvious use of transactional messages is to offer other, hopefully relevant, products to your customers.

Examples of transactional messages include...

Writing email copy is different.

23 Feb 2010 12:00:00 GMT

SIMMER IT DOWN - THEN SIMMER AGAIN

Having your ‘call-to-action’ at the top of the email will achieve better results. Add hyperlinks within the body to take people into your website and to respond.

Here are 7 things to do to make your emails more effective...

History will show that the financial crisis saved our planet.

05 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT

WILL THE BANKING CRISIS TEACH US ANYTHING?

Business will never be quite the same again, and a whole generation's attitude to wasteful consumption will be changed as a consequence.

Businesses drive consumption. And businesses are being forced to change what they produce. Just like the US auto industry, as one example, businesses are finding that they can only move forward if they change what they produce. Many companies must now comply with government criteria to qualify for bail-out money, or to win new work. Others are finding that they have to prove their sustainability credentials just to have a chance of qualifying for their next contract. This criteria, on which the choice of supplier is based, will increasingly be designed to mirror public opinion and therefore be grounded in sustainability.

This will change behaviour - not through choice, but to survive.

And it has only just begun...

Making Business Presentations more successful

15 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT

BUSINESS PRESENTATIONS NEED NOT BE BORING!

No matter how great your marketing and direct selling, if you are not involving your audience then your level of success will be less than it could be.

People are naturally less able to absorb (and therefore be influenced by) information when they are not required to participate in the learning process

Can you remember anything much from those boring lectures at school?

Research has shown that people retain, on average, 18% of what they hear, 32% of what they see, over 50% of what they see and hear, but over 75% of what they also interact with!

So to improve the effectiveness of your handouts at exhibitions and your presentations you need to...

B2B Email Marketing

25 Aug 2010 12:00:00 GMT

TIPS FOR SUCCESS IN B2B EMAIL MARKETING

Despite all the buzz about social media, email marketing is still very relevant for B2B marketing. To achieve the best results, here are my top 5 tips for B2B email marketing...

Sales Letters

13 Apr 2009 12:00:00 GMT

If you believe the gurus, your sales letters must have a bold headline, sub-heads in the copy and, of course, a P.S. But did you know that this “accepted wisdom” has been developed through experience in consumer marketing? B2B is very different.

Here follows 5 tips for writing effective letters to the business audience:

Long Vs Short – in consumer mailings long letters usually pull a higher response. This is not necessarily the case in B2B. Content is key. Set a single clear objective for the letter, write it, then edit so that there is not a single wasted word. The letter is now the correct length for your proposition.
Formal or Friendly – either works, but avoid the classic hard sell approach. In business, we are far less tolerant of being sold to.
Be single-minded – avoid the temptation to communicate more than one key proposition, no matter how many good things you have to say. Business people tend to speed-read letters and become instantly frustrated by a confusing message.
Keep it simple – never forget that you know far more about your product or service than your audience. Just because it is a business proposition don’t use jargon and too much technical detail. Focus on clear benefits and use language that will be easily understood.
Testing-Testing – always run tests before the full mailing. Create three ways of explaining the three top arguments you find most effective in your sales process. Mail these to the prospects in your database that have a name beginning A, B and C. Measure the response, then roll-out the most successful letter to the rest of the database.

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To discuss sales letters: Click to request a call.

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Newsletter Development

11 Mar 2009 12:00:00 GMT

In recent research, over 90% of senior personnel said they read supplier’s newsletters. Create a good newsletter and it will be read. Produce a bad one and it will damage your credibility.

The 5 most common mistakes made in the production of newsletters are:

It isn't published according to the intended schedule.
The content is too you-focused rather than being market-focused.
Headlines aren't descriptive or catchy.
Layout is poor, with too many type styles, fonts and inconsistent column widths.
Photos or other graphics are not used enough and are not captioned.

The guiding principal for a promotional newsletter has to be: “what’s-in-it-for-me?” The recipient must find it instantly interesting, or it goes in the bin.

Your goal is to build awareness and maintain mind-share among clients and prospects. Demonstrate your expertise through client stories. Promote your full range of services indirectly and describe them in terms of benefit, rather than as a blatant sales pitch.

Avoid an overly ambitious newsletter campaign that requires more time and money than you can comfortable invest. A single-page, two-sided newsletter that appears every other month is preferable to a four-page version every quarter. Choose the least number of pages that offers you the space necessary to "tease" readers into contacting you for more information. Commit to simplicity and efficiency.

Invest time creating a template containing a column arrangement that builds white space into each page. Use consistent styles for headlines, subheads and body copy so you can work as efficiently as possible preparing each issue.

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To discuss your newsletter: Click to request a call.

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