It’s likely that you are familiar with most of the ‘traditional’ marketing practices; direct mail, email marketing, advertising, telesales, pr etc – however, for a few years now, given the opportunities the internet provides, the term ‘new marketing’ has been bandied around.   If we think of traditional marketing as ‘push’ marketing – mediums we use to push our messages onto others ‘interupting’ them, then the new marketing relates to ‘pull’ marketing – marketing activities we do which ‘attract’, as a magnet would, interested parties, at their own accord, to view our wares.

Pull activities include; blogging, social media networks (think Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, Bizzbug, Ning, Xing, My Space) actively participating in forums; (http://www.UKbusinessforum.co.uk, socialmediatoday, ukbusinesslabs, womensmarketingforum), making your information more widely available via resources such as Digg, Blogburst and others – effectively, sharing your knowledge, know-how, experiences, advice, contacts, news, views and opinions to build interest in who you are, what your business is about, what you do – with the hope that users grow to follow what you say and  are encouraged to buy and refer – effectively, building ‘positive share of mind’ – in an online and hopefully viral way!

Social Media activity is not a direct sell – it’s a bit of a slow burner – and in just the same way as we practice traditional marketing, it’s not something that you do in isolation.  For maximum impact, it’s wise to work the social media mediums in an integrated way.

Here’s our my 5 tips for getting started and integrating just some of  what’s available:  (Believe me, if you stretch yourself too far, it becomes a full time job just trying to keep on top of it all).

1. Create a blog. A blog is a great way to share what you do and what you provide with others – and it’s an opportunity to build your brand by being open and getting your ‘business’s personality’ across.  With blogging you have to keep at it – posting articles ideally 2 or 3 times a week.  Attach your blog to your website – and it’s a great way to constantly refresh your site.  Positive for users and search engines.   WordPress www.wordpress.com is a user friendly blog resource and you can get started pretty quickly.  See my 20 tips for successful blog writing post for more info on blogging!
2. Join Twitter. Yes we agree, initially it seems strange – but once you get into it, you’ll start to connect with likeminded people.  Again, it takes a while.  Set up an account, share news about your business and your life (a delicate balance as you don’t want to come across as a hard sell) – and see what happens.  www.twitter.com – why not also promote links to your latest blog posts via this media too.
3. Digg. If you are creating articles for your blog on a regular basis – you can register with Digg and post your articles there too.  You only post a link to your article – and so there’s no duplicate content issue – and who knows, dependent upon what you’re reporting on, you may hit the jackpot and get to their front page where millions of users will see it!  www.digg.com
4. Forums. Get involved with relevant forums.  The www.UKbusinessforums.co.uk covers a range of topics and is well subscribed.  People often post requests for help on business projects, printers, designers etc – and so as well as getting and giving advice, you may also pick up some new business.  Why not also promote links to your latest blog post here too.
5. Social Networks.  More and more businesses are using Facebook and YouTube to promote their businesses – and there are other useful online resources such as LinkedIn (helping to find business contacts, projects and seek referral) and www.bizzbug.com – a useful and powerful ‘intranet’ style collaboration resource.  Take a look at what other businesses are doing on these sites – and consider what would work for you.

So get started and become a social ‘media’ ite today!

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Best wishes

Michelle

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

Okay, so perhaps it’s not the direct blame of the marketers, but can someone tell me what actually drives the ridiculously long lead times for seasonal/event promotions.

Last August, Christmas promotions started in anger – and in late December the supermarkets started stocking their Valentine’s cards – and in January out came the Easter condiments and such like.

It’s all so obvious and smacks of desperation.  Do retailers consider that we are all inept timekeepers and therefore, we are unable to purchase goods we require at the time we require them?  Are their efforts ineffectual with most purchases being made in a more timelier fashion?  I’m not sure.  I come from a world where the logic dictates supply the demand and so I am assuming the demand is there.  Or is it?  Does anyone know or has it become the ‘way things are organised’.  If the latter, it doesn’t make it right.

I have to say, the amount of people that I hear remarking upon these promotional timings such as “blimey can you believe they’ve got Easter eggs on display and it’s only January’ and”Oh look they’ve got Christmas cards and Valentine’s cards on the same rack! – ridiculous!”  - and various others, always veer on the eyeball rolling negative – so what do retailers and the marketers behind these promotions think they are achieving – are these methods that initially seem so desperate and despairing, actually paying off?

I remember as a little girl it was exciting to see the shops adorned with their Christmas decorations – but that’s because it was actually just a few weeks before Christmas.

Personally, and perhaps I’m officially becoming a ‘grumpy old woman’ – it bugs me -targeted marketing it isn’t – as it’s always just a few months too early.  I’m all for being prepared – but some of the lead times are erring on the ridiculous and make me, as a consumer, feel as if the retailers consider me an incompetent who must be reminded that these events are coming up (often far into the future).   It’s like off line ‘spamming’ – yes, it’s officially, ‘offline spamming’!  Stuff I don’t need being rammed down my throat at every aisle change.

I’d love to find some stats to tell me that this method works wonders – and has proved to me a marvellous practice for marketers and retailers – but when I speak to people, no one seems positive about it.  My gut instinct tells me that no one is probably measuring the impact, the habit is set and it will continue…but if there are measurements and logic – then lead the way…

Michelle Carvill is owner and Marketing Director at Carvill Creative – a graphic design and marketing services agency based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.  The agency covers all aspects of graphic design and marketing – covering social media marketing and website planning and website design.

It is a rare occasion indeed for me to grab the tv all to myself for one whole evening.  No laptop on my lap – instead, glass of wine, roaring fire (well it was -3 outside) and cuddled up on the sofa – husband out (freezing) at the golf range, children snoring happily.  8pm is usually still pretty manic for me – but on this occasion, all was calm.  So I took the opportunity to see what was on the movie channel.  PS: I love you – (that’s not me being overly friendly) it was the movie…  I had heard much about this from fellow girlfriends who had weeped gratuitously at the cinema – and so I thought I’d see what all the hype was about.

Well, re the movie, I liked it more than I thought I would.  But more importantly, it fuelled a passion for exploring Ireland.  I have already started researching options for camping, holiday cottages - and, what’s key here’ is the fact that I’m sure I was not alone in my new found drive to visit Ireland.

I’m not sure when the film was first released in the US – but I suspect that Ireland, and County Wicklow in particular, saw some pretty heavy footfall pretty shortly afterwards.

What a powerful medium film is - it enthused the personality of Ireland – or what people ‘think’ to expect from Ireland; the guiness, the pubs, the singing, the music, the people and the natural organic beauty of all things Irish.

The scale of a setting evoking the personality of a place or brand – is so much more powerful than product placement – which personally I feel makes a brand appear to be trying too hard.

I suppose this reminded me of the whole essense and background of corporate video (which whilst a hit in the 80s early 90′s was mainly only accessible for large corps).  Corporate video is on the increase again that’s for sure - hardly surprising with channels such as youtube and myspace – readily available for businesses to place ‘video’ – it’s now accessible to the masses.

I think as marketers we can take lessons from PS: I love you.  There wasn’t anyone selling anything – it was a film which for 50% of the time was set in Ireland.  Clever – the way it evoked that ‘I must go to Ireland it’s so amazing’ quality.  So, what’s important is not so much the ‘products’ that you sell and the overt message - but capturing the essence of your business’s personality – getting clients / customers to provide insight, how it’s changing their lives, businesses etc.  People do business with people they like.  Simple I know but a tricky thing to communicate to a mass audience – but with technology enabling a more ‘conversational marketing’ position, definitely worth thinking about…

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Ask yourself, who’s in charge of Marketing?

Set the scene, you’re in pain – you’ve just cracked a tooth.  Nerves exposed, the pain isn’t subsiding -in fact, it’s getting worse.  You call your dentist – you’re just able, semi-coherently, to explain that you need an emergency appointment, things need sorting out immediately – you can’t wait!  But unfortunately, your dentist can’t help, he’s tied up for the entire day – but hey, wait a minute, he has a suggestion – his receptionist has some spare time on her hands, perhaps she can help you out – whilst she’s not a qualified dentist, she’s good with people – perhaps she can manage the challenge! 

 Ouch!

 It just wouldn’t happen would it…?  Would it?  However, in my experience of practising as a Marketing Consultant  I often find that ‘unqualified’ people are put in charge of marketing – in fact, I find it incredible the amount of people I meet who are ‘in marketing’ – and yet have no formal qualification, training or grounding in marketing.  Extraordinary.  

If, as a business, you are really serious about the strategic direction, growth and reputation of your business – ask yourself who is in charge of ‘marketing’. 

Often, a Director or Partner is nominated as the ‘Marketer’ – because they have a great personality, or they are good at networking – and whilst this may help, it’s not great grounding is it!  Again, I would rather the professional dentist pull or fill my teeth than their receptionist – regardless of how ‘friendly’ she is.

Marketing, as I see it – is the lifeblood of any business - in fact, if you look at most of the activities within your business – pretty much all of them involve communicating and providing service to clients – and effectively in it’s broadest term – that’s marketing.

Of course, for many businesses, large and small, budget restrictions do not enable practices to employ Professional Senior Marketers.  And in many cases the MD plays the role of Marketing Director for a while and then brings in a junior marketer (hopefully with some marketing qualification or experience).

This is a positive step – provided that the MD plays the role of ‘Strategic Marketer’ – pulling The Marketing Plan together to align and deliver on the strategic goals and objectives of the business, providing direction and support to the junior – measuring and monitoring activity on a regular ongoing basis – ensuring actions are actioned and progress is being made.  If Marketing doesn’t get senior attention – it tends to fall by the wayside – and a lot of great intention leads to ‘ad hoc’ activities and not much else.

Marketing deserves to be given serious time and attention – key business owners need to get involved, and Marketing should play a significant part on the agenda at Board Meetings. 

Another solution for businesses not wanting to commit to employing a senior marketer is to employ the services of an independent Marketing Consultant – working with someone who effectively Project Manages the marketing activities – creating and managing the Marketing Plan, meeting with the Directors on a regular basis to keep them updated and receiving regular input – working alongside key members within the business to get the job done!  Properly….

This type of Marketing support can prove very cost effective for businesses - as it provides the business with the ability to tap into real marketing expertise, guidance, experience and  knowledge – without having to employ another professional – and it frees up the Directors to focus on what they do best!

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The 80/20 rule states that 80% of a business’s profits come from just 20% of the customer base. 

However, finding that 20% of ‘good’ customers is not a simple task.  It’s good customer service to react and respond to all customer needs – and going back to the 80/20 split, 80% of business resource is spent focusing attention on 20% of customers.

Unfortunately, the 20% that consume our resources are usually what the business would consider its worst, not best customers – those customers that complain more, and are typically more demanding to work with – those that ‘make the most noise’!  However, unfortunately, this sector are not necessarily the most financially rewarding.

 So how do you find out which clients are returning the best profits and those which are exhausting your resources – and does it matter?

Understanding your customer base and how they impact your business is crucial for the following reasons:

1. If you are looking to grow your business – the additional resources being expending on demanding yet under profit producing customers could potentially be far better used elsewhere.
2. A higher level of service could be offered to existing, more profitable customers.
3. Expenditure could be utilised to attract more clients of the type you want through targeted marketing activities.
4. Maintaining the same level of service to the existing customers, but cutting costs (by axing the disproportionately expensive clients) to improve profit margins

And last but by no means least….

5)   Improving Staff Morale – demanding customers tend to be those who complain more, and are usually more demanding to work with, they have the potential to be awkward and often do not value what you do highly enough.  Working with them is often a chore, not a pleasure.

Finding the Good Guys

So how do you define a ‘good’ customer?  As stated earlier, the Pareto Principle (the name for the 80/20 model) states that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers.  And therefore, that 20% of your client base are the ‘good’ customers.  Now it may not be exactly 80/20 – in some cases it could be 90/10 and in others 60/40 – but there’s definitely a case for doing some analysis and identifying which customers make up your ‘good’ client segment.

 In fact, through customer analysis, if you make a list of all your existing and potential customers, broken down into categories based on turnover alone chances are you’ll have 3 categories:

1. A small number of high volume customers.
2. A large number of medium volume customers.
3. An even larger number of low volume customers

 However, turnover alone doesn’t really help – so to really understand your customer base, I suggest it’s as simple as A B C D!

 Client Classifications

 Analyse your customers to see which category they fall into:

 A client’s are wonderful;

•  They value your work
• Pay on time
• Don’t argue about fees / prices
• Want a quality service
• Introduce other good customers
• They buy often
• Are friendly and your team enjoy working with them
• They have potential for growth

 B client’s are similar to A’s but are missing one of the above characteristics.

 C client’s are OK to work with, they pay their fees, but are not especially profitable and will not grow as sources of revenue.

 D client’s are those customers who are late payers, argue about fees, are overly demanding of the businesses resources but won’t pay for true value of the effort expended on them, unpleasant to work with, etc.

 A’s are the cream, B’s and C’s are the bread and butter, D’s are the thorns.

 The Practical Application

Dependent upon the size of your customer base – categorising your customers could take some time.  But it’s time well spent.  As a business owner you really should know which of your customers are the most profitable and indeed which are draining your resources.

So here’s how to go about it:

1. Arrange a meeting room and set aside time to run a ‘customers classification workshop’ with your team.  Explain the above classifications and ask your team to individually classify each customer into its appropriate category.  Try to keep them focused and not use the time as a general moaning session, their constructive input is vital.
2. Make sure there is firm agreement on the D’s
3. Discuss how the business should treat it’s A clients, B clients and C clients differently.  As a group the team may want to offer different levels of service to each.  Examples you may use in this discussion may include: Airlines – who offer First Class, Business Class, Economy Class, and the internet providers – Gold, Silver and Bronze service levels.
4. Next discuss how to deal with the D’s.  This is often a fun exercise however there are some especially powerful tactics;
   1. Increase your prices to these customers.  In the service sector, doubling or trebling your prices will either drive them away, or the extra fees will move the client up to a C category.  Either way, you win.
   2. If relevant, sell these customers to a competitor.  Explain that you are focusing on a different sector in the market and these clients do not match your target market. A very good way to generate revenue / lump sum.

What next…

Now you’ve classified your customers – you now have a profile of the A’s and B’s.  Ask these customers for testimonials and plan your marketing resources to attract more of the type of customers that you want.  Create a Client Selection Criteria – to that when you engage with new clients, ensure you don’t go picking up any more draining D’s….

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Does your CV sell who you really are?

During this ‘economic’ crunch – if you are looking for a new job, a new contract or a new position – then don’t forget that your CV is a crucial marketing resource.

Whilst I don’t promote myself as an ‘expert’ in CV writing – I do understand the merits of getting key points across in a concise way.  And the principles of ‘engaging the user’, whether in the 8 seconds we’ve got on a web page, or the 2 seconds we’ve got when someone looks at their pile of mail, or a subject header in an email – still apply when creating your CV.

In fact, with CV’s, the rule is ’30 seconds’.  In the first 30 seconds of reading your CV, the reader will have already made up their mind about you. 

So – what to do to ensure that you’ve engaged them enough to read more about you – and engage them to make sure that they select you for interview!

1) Be sure to include your name, status and current contact details at the top of the CV.  Keep it simple and not too much information – name, address, date of birth (not mandatory), email, telephone and mobile. 

2) My advice is then to create a short synopsis of who you are.  In this short paragraph (try and keep to no more than 4 lines), you want to get across your experience in a concise way eg: ‘marketing expert with over 15 years hands-on marketing and management experience within the blue chip arena’.  This short sentence tells the reader that you’re trained, qualified, have significant experience and the type of arena you’ve been used to working in.  If you’ve got qualifications or are fluent in a certain technology – if it’s relevant and something that can differentiate you – then get it out and up front. 

3) I would further suggest that you then include a section called something like:  Key Activities/Achievements.  A bullet point style list of say 6-8 items, which selects key roles/objectives/positions from within your experience portfolio – really highlighting what you’ve done to date.    Eg:  Responsible for a Global Marketing Team of 25 managing a marketing budget of circa £3M.

4) You then want to run through your Experience Summary putting your most recent positions first.  Be sure to include more info in your more recent positions – and less in those that are years in the past.  The reader is interested in what you can do now.   

5) What’s usually lacking in a CV in the experience summary section is ‘achievements’.   So, rather than simply providing the reader with a list of ‘positions’ you’ve undertaken in the past – be sure to include any achievements.  For example:  If you are going to write:  Created an intranet solutions for XYZ Company – then be sure to tell the reader what that meant to the company.  So trying that sentence again:  Created an intranet solution for XZY company which enabled them to connect globally with key suppliers, internal managers and team, differentiating them from competitors and ultimately making the business 40% more productive.    See the difference. 

6) Use positive ‘action’ words such as;  controlled, responsible for, initiated, implemented, supervised, led, contributed, managed.  Don’t overdo it of course, but using these words encourages you to focus on the differences you made.

7) Where possible use numbers to demonstrate your level of responsibility.   For example;  marketing manager responsible for a team of 12.  Marketing manager responsible for a budget of £4M.    8) Similarly, use numbers to demonstrate the impact you made to a business;  eg:  contributed to sales growth of 30%,  improved conversion rate from 20 to 70%,  implemented an HR appraisal scheme which reduced staff turnover by 15%. 

9) Don’t be bashful – think about your achievements and how best you can get them across.  Keep it concise and simple.   

10) On to concise – it’s a MUST that your CV should be no more than 2 pages.  There’s an art to saying as much as you can in few words.  But believe me, it’s necessary with a CV.  Be sure you have cut out any ‘waffle’ – and that you are only focusing on what the reader is going to be interested in.  Go through your CV with the ‘so what’ – viewpoint.  If it’s not that important – then take it out.  You’ve got to be ruthless and targeted!
And if you do feel that you need to add more detail, create a supporting document.  Many consultants have in place what’s called a ‘Statement of Qualification’.  This is a document, which can be tailored to each specific project / position –generally includes more detail.    In fact, I suggest that you also get ‘testimonials’ from; past employers, team members or clients – so that the reader can quickly see how you come highly recommended from others…

Good luck…

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