10 Marketing Tips for 2008

Whilst reading the marketing press recently I’ve come across a number of articles and books which all seem to focus on one theme – things you wished you’d know 10 years ago!

So I’ve decided to compile my own list of 10 marketing tips based on my experiences over the last 20 years in marketing. I hope you may find them useful in planning for your next 12 months.

1. Make friends and keep in touch
Almost too simple to be true maybe. But business is all about making connections, and to a degree marketing is about maximising those connections. Yet, how many times have you put in all the hard work (bought a list of prospects, met prospective business contacts at networking events, fulfilled your first order with a client) only to fall down at the next stage by not keeping in touch.

Simple techniques are normally the best: a newsletter, regular email or diarised follow-up.

Don’t fall down at the first hurdle – commit to follow-up and keeping in touch.

2. Keep staff and customers informed
You’d be surprised what people are interested in and what will cause them to spread the word about your business. But one thing is for sure – if you keep them in the dark they won’t have anything to go on and in a worse case scenario will feel hard done by (think how your sales staff would feel if you neglected to mention to them an advert you were placing in the local paper or how a customer would feel if you failed to mention to them a change of key personnel in your organisation meaning that their usual contact was no longer available to them).

Think on a regular basis about what’s changed in your business and decide how to communicate these changes to staff and customers.

3. Recruit people who share and reflect your company values
The most common cause for complain amongst my small business clients is that they find it hard to recruit people who are right for their business. Often it’s because they are clear in their own mind how they want things doing but they fail to articulate this to staff as they expand.

In a small business, where potentially every member of staff is client facing and has some kind of marketing role, it is essential that staff are trained to deliver the standards of service that you want to be know for. When recruiting it’s often more important to look for attitude than aptitude – someone who is keen, sees things from the customer point of view and realises that a satisfied customer is likely to come back and recommend others to you can be trained to use your IT, learn about your product and even have their core skills improved. But someone with the ‘wrong attitude’ could be a liability when marketing your business.

Recruit customer champions, people you’ll be proud to carry your company name.

4. Understand the business case for each marketing decision
This is especially true in relation to pricing and new product development decisions. Unfortunately, although an absolutely critical point it is one which some businesses shy away from, putting it in the ‘all too difficult’ category.

By working through a business case I don’t mean getting out the test books or going to see your accountant or bank manager. I mean simply thinking about the decision in the round – thinking about the impact on your customers, your market share, your competitors, your brand image, as well as of course turnover and profit. Going through a few simple ‘what if’ scenarios is always a good idea. For example of it’s price that’s under consideration and you are thinking of rising prices by 10% ask yourselves a few simple questions:

What if we loose customers because of this?
What if competitors drop their prices?
How do we explain or justify the price rise? Or perhaps a better question – why should clients pay us more, what can we offer that’s worth the increase?
How are we going to communicate the change – to staff and customers and does anyone else need to know?

Think through the consequences of any marketing actions.

5. Decide how you will measure effectiveness
Perhaps the most crucial thing here is to decide this up front. Regular readers of the E-bulletin will have heard me in the past bemoan people who say – ‘Advertising doesn’t work for us at all’ and when tackled on how they’ve drawn that conclusion can’t actually tell you how many enquiries an advert generated or whether an uplift in sales occurred during or after an advertising campaign.

In my book every business should be able to tell you exactly where their business comes from – and it’s as simple as asking each time you make a sale and recording that information.

Set some simple measures and keep a record.

(Read more in Don't waste time and money on advertising).

6. Listen to customers
This is one I’ve learnt myself over the years both in large organisation, where the process of listening to customers’ needs and wants has to be formalised through client surveys, and in smaller organisations where simply monitoring phone calls and email correspondence can elicit immense amounts of useful customer information.

With a number of my clients for example I ask to receive a copy of all the email enquiries that they get via their websites. Not only is this a hassle free approach (it can be automated at source) but it also provides a useful insight, firstly into how many enquiries they are receiving and the subject matter, but also in understanding the terminology used by customers, which can often be quite different to the words used by the company. Getting a better understanding of how your clients think and what they are interested in can only help you in your marketing efforts.

You should also invite feedback from customers – and don’t get too upset about the negative feedback, after all those who let you know they are unhappy in some way are doing you a favour and giving you an opportunity to improve. The customers you should worry about are the one’s who don’t like what you’ve done, don’t tell you and walk away, never to return. Most worryingly of course they are also likely to tell others of their dissatisfaction too.

Set up methods of collecting feedback. Include a feedback form when you send out a product, send clients a survey to complete once a year, add a note to your email footer inviting clients to tell you if there’s anything you could do better.

7. Get the basics right before trying fancy promotional tactics
Where I’ve seem marketing efforts fall flat on their face more often than not it’s been because a company has focused on the whistles and bells before getting the basics right.

In simple terms before you worry about special offers, adding new services or product lines or trying complex new pricing structures make sure you have a good product being sold at a fair price and that you offer a good standard of general service – in terms of answering customer queries, making it easy for customers to pay, have accurate information available and a professional image. If you are failing in any of these areas there’s really no point in considering promotional tactics.

Get the basics right and build from there.

8. Treat suppliers as if they were customers
I realise this one might cause a few raised eyebrows but bear with me. Firstly many of your suppliers will be a crucial link in the chain between you and your clients. If you are furniture manufacturer and your timber supplier lets you down or sends you shoddy goods it could be your customer that suffers. If you are a law firm and your stationery supplier is late with deliveries or reproduces your logo poorly you may be delayed in sending out important client information or create an unprofessional impression.

Developing a partnership with suppliers whereby you pay them on time, communicate clearly your requirements and agree with them certain service standards is one approach to delivering better standards to your clients.

Treating your suppliers well means you are more likely to receive referrals from them and you can enhance the overall reputation of your business, critical factors in marketing your business. Of course, suppliers who persistently let you down need to be changed.

Develop good business relationships with suppliers for everyone’s benefit.

9. Learn about new media and use it
Ten years ago the internet was just emerging as a route to market, now just about every business worth it’s salt has a web presence. Surprisingly few small businesses however are really using the internet and email to it’s full potential.

Are you taking orders on-line for example? Do you allow clients to pay online? Does your website allow clients to provide feedback on your service and products? Do you keep existing customers up to date with new product information, price changes and special offers via email updates?

Don’t bury your head in the sand regarding the internet and it’s possibilities for your business. Everyone’s using it now and potentially it’s acheaper route to market and advertising medium than traditional advertising methods. One of my clients has reduced both their cost per lead and cost per sale by over 200% by using the internet effectively.

Use the internet to promote your business and to service clients.

10. Take More Risks
As long as you make them calculated risks, why not? Pretty much every successful business has taken risks at some point. Whether it’s deciding to launch a brand new product, taking on a new member of staff or trying a new approach to promotion, pricing or sales being different can help you stand out. With careful planning and consideration of the ‘what if’ scenarios, innovation and new ideas don’t have to be a danger.
Take a risk and stand out from the crowd.

Article written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant working with professional practices, small businesses and public sector bodies to develop effective marketing plans which achieve their business objectives.

As a marketing coach Teresa works with new marketing managers and small business owners to enhance their marketing performance.

Contact Teresa on 01789 740396 or by email