Paul Blomfield - Paul Blomfield Consulting  :  Melanie Beattie - Ernst & Young  :  Loren Stangl - Massey University

 

---

10 Best Marketing Tips

From Paul Blomfield


Who Am I?

The ‘who am I?’ of marketing has never been more important- here we are in a recession and people/companies are taking extreme care with their disposable income. It is not that they’re not spending, but they’re buying carefully – for purpose, for pleasure, for necessity – don’t get the offer wrong, don’t be vague nor send mixed messages. Here are three pointers!

1. Be a Customer! Look at yourself and your name/brand/product through a consumer/customer’s eyes. Go on a fact finding mission about yourself - check that your marketing messages are coherent and representative of your offering. Go to the stores, watch the buyers - do you own product sampling in public places or trade shows. Search online for references about yourself – did you generate them and are you in control of them? Feel the energy (or not) – then refine, refine, refine until all the touch points of your brand are the same clear powerful message.

2. Reward your customer. Are your products delivering on all the important areas to the consumer? This is where it is important to know what your customer is seeking and making sure you deliver their expectations – with excellence. Don’t waste a single customer through failure to deliver on the promises of your marketing. Is the quality up to expectation, is it fashionable/desirable – does it offer value? Will your product become a favourite item in their home; their office, their fridge? Yes? Well done. I want to trust you – don’t yell at me - just promise me what you know you can deliver and reward my loyalty. A gift with purchase? Yes, thankyou!

3. Show your values. Is your company 3-Dimensional? Or do you simply appear as a logo on a shelf. In the modern world, you can not afford to be one dimensional – the media wants to talk to a person, not a logo – flesh and blood, not charts of graphics. Consumers are looking for clues as to whether you support their values in so many ways; that could mean adopting eco labelling, carbon zero certification, not-testing-on-animals, or getting back to nature. If your company were a human, would I like her? Would I respect her? Partner with someone I already know and trust to get your values known – or an entity devoted to a cause. Wear your heart on your sleeve and invite consumer comments and feedback – the conversation will be worthwhile for you and your brand.

Who Are You?

Know who you’re marketing to. Let’s get past demographics of age/race/income and let’s find out what they like and how they spend and where.

4. Research, Research, Research! Keep asking your customers what they like and what they don’t. This is more difficult through traditional media, but online it can be much more easily done. Ask them through online opt-in surveys, through facebook fan sites, through in-product questionnaires. You need to know as much as you can about them to really be able to read their feelings, follow their trends and meet their needs. Learn and earn.

5. Take your customer to the movies! Well in theory anyway. A lot can be discovered about a customer by what values they identify with, what movies they watch and where they go for lunch. But in real terms this means creating consumer marketing activities in the places you want your brand to be seen, involving the people you’d like to have as consumers. Trial some innovative product sampling, in new ways and new places and measure the results.

6. Built an Effective Network: Join a charity, utilise a social network - be energetic outside the workplace! In the past few years the social media and on-line marketing world has exploded. Facebook has become the best way to promote an event and to engender feedback from the marketplace. Twitters and blogs have changed the market still further. In all these cases though, the effectiveness of the communications relies on the quality of the network – it takes times (wastes time?) but the result is a community of friends and fans. Worth building.

What Do You Need to Know?

Advertising and marketing communication works much better when you have identified ‘who I am’ are and who you’re talking to. Now you can talk directly with your customers in a comfortable way, through channels they prefer.

7. Refocus Your Advertising. If ever there was a time to advertise, it is now, but not necessarily in the ways of the past. Traditional media is being hammered by declining readership and advertising sales. That means there are deals out there of all kinds. So try something different – you now know who your customer is, so do a deal with magazines (or websites) that reflect your values and target market. Ask them for the opportunity to tell their story or feature a product also – they may be prepared to give you an editorial space. Ask them also about product giveaways, reader promotions or subscription promotions to get more of your products into the hands of your target customers. View advertising as a partnership – if the publisher/website doesn’t treat you that way, just move on – the options are yours.

8. Be PR-able. We’ve all seen the remarkable success that Annah Stretton has become – from Morrinsville to the world. That is at one end of the fashion scale and at the other is Francis Hooper from WORLD, who seemingly does not advertise anywhere, yet is constantly referred to in media throughout the country. Both these businesses achieve more value in PR than they could ever spend in advertising – their visibility magnifies the company and its messages, making them look bigger than they may really be and embedding their brands soundly on the minds of consumers. It is money and energy well spent. Go for it.

9. Be Social: Beware the social media boom and the potential impact on traditional marketing and media! Already blogs have added a capricious rogue element to media – people prepared to praise you or criticise you as hard as they like and as often as they like. With the rise of user generated content you need everyone to be talking about you – positively. To be successful you need to have so many touch points for your brand. Are you on Youtube?

Finally

One last thing to make up the 10.

10. Measure. Obviously in this market, sales growth is the most desirable measurement for any marketing action, but it is important to try to measure other actions – watch the traffic on your website, the number of responses to your online or reader subscription competition, the number of mentions of your brand or your self in newspapers, websites and online. Watch the patterns and watch for spikes of interest. You’ll miss it if you aren’t looking. Watch for signs of your own success.

---

Exceptional Enterprise

from Melanie Beattie - Ernst & Young
Download PDF

---

10 Tips for Going International

Loren Stangl - Massey University
#1 Know Thyself

•SWOT
Internally: What are your core strengths/weaknesses?
Externally: What are the opportunities/threats?
Differentiation: What makes you special? What needs do you satisfy? Are these attributes/needs location specific or global?

•Targets
Growth: What do you want to achieve?
Market: Who will be interested in your offering? Why?

•Costs
Financial: Do you have the development funds? www.escalator.co.nz
Personal: Are you ready to grow bigger?

•Boundaries
How committed are you? How committed is your team?
Can you move out of your comfort zone?
5 C’s not 3B’s: Deloitte 5 C’s (clarity, capability, connections, commitment & cash).

#2 Lie the Ego Down

•Hobby or Business?
Are you doing what you want? Production Orientation
Are you doing what your customers want? Marketing Orientation

•Ask for Help
You don’t know everything

• Be a Moving Target
Exposure of your products may be risky
Keep ahead of customers and competitors

#3 Do Your Homework

•What is Your Offering?
Will it appeal to your target market as is? Will you need to adapt it?
What is your brand identity? How does it translate? Are there cultural connotations?
How are you positioning yourself?

•Who are the Players?
Big customers? Direct competition? Indirect Competition? Distributors/Agents? What other lines to they carry? Is direct selling an option?

•What Price?
Local prices? Total costs? (freight, documentation, duties?) Can you compete? Can your distributors? Their customers?

•What are the Risks? Rewards?
Cultural diversity? Financial credibility? Political Instability? Questionable integrity?

•What are the Rules
Ignorance is no excuse. FAQ: www.customs.govt.nz/exports/default

#4 Not a DYI Project

•Don’t Re-invent the Wheel
NZ wants you to succeed. NZTE is an invaluable guide. www.nzte.govt.nz, www.projectlink.govt.nz, www.icn.govt.nz, www.exportnewzealand.org.nz
Industry associations: www.business.govt.nz, www.marketnewzealand.com, www.nzchambers.co.nz
Plus heaps of other sources from other SME sites.

•Team up!
You don’t know everything

•Be a Moving Target
Build and USE your networks. Establish credibility. Develop strategic alliances

#5 Stay Focused

•Do One Thing Very Well

•Define a Specific Target Market

#6 Have a Flexible Plan

•Feasible Targets
Cash flow, cash flow, cash flow
Have a Plan B. Can you afford to fail? Can you afford to succeed???

•Baby Steps
Start slow, then grow

#7 Show & Tell

•Make a Statement
Don’t sell yourself cheap
First impressions are critical
Promote yourself continuously

•WOM
“Be interesting or do interesting things” Brent Smart, BBDO Colenso, 2009
Use technology wisely.

•Consciously Build a Network
Understand “the strength of weak-ties” Mark Granovetter, John Hopkins University, 1973
Visit and consider exhibiting at trade fairs
Ask for and use referrals

#8 Be a Sponge

•Absorb Everything
Diversity of knowledge is key source of innovation
Absorptive capacity helps develop dynamic capabilities

•Learn
Raise your bar higher each time
Manage tacit knowledge for competitive advantage
Embrace learning as core to your organisational culture


#9 Think Yes

•Mental Hurdles
Understand and overcome psychic distance
Rise above the Tall Poppy Syndrome
Pitch it well. Pitch it to solve customer needs

#10 Learn to Say No

•Manage Your Growth
Don’t get locked into unlimited exclusivity
Pick your partners carefully
Avoid “gushers” by realistically knowing your capabilities

•Protect Yourself
Payment: Negotiate secure payment options
Copyrights/IP/Domain names: Speak with a professions for advise
Reputation: Keep your promises