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May's Quick Marketing Tips

25.05.10

May’s Quick Marketing Tips

1. Register at seomoz.org and start using their free SEO tools to get on top of your websites search engine optimization. There are a whole host of different tools available to check back links, keyword analysis tools and page rank trackers to name a few.
2. Another website top tip is to make the time to read Steve Krug’s ‘Don’t Make me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.’ It comes highly recommended and gets you to think about your site from a different perspective.
3. Start using a CRM. It is amazing how many businesses we meet that do not have any means of organising their data, monitoring the success of campaigns they undertake or keeping on top of future call backs to possible leads. 'They are so expensive' is a common reason given for this. Well with Sugar CRM Open Edition, this is no longer a valid excuse, because it is free! Take a look at it and see what you think.

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Outsourced marketing: pitfalls to avoid

25.05.10

Outsourced marketing: how to make it work

We believe that in order for an outsourced marketing relationship to be effective for our clients, it needs to be just that, a relationship. An outsourced marketing company needs to understand your business, get a clear understanding of your objectives, your values, ethos, business practices and how you like to work.

Without this understanding, an outsourced marketing company will never become a genuine extension of your team. 

Below are 3 things to avoid if you do decide to outsource your marketing.

Potential pitfall number 1

When outsourcing your marketing, always be prepared to invest your time to properly communicate the information above to your marketing partner. Many businesses are looking for a magic bullet that will solve their marketing problems immediately and are keen to delegate responsibility for it immediately. It is important that you make the time to ensure your marketing company knows and understands your business, not just what you do. Without this understanding you might not get the results you want.

Potential pitfall number 2

Communication is key. When discussing the arrangements for reporting back progress, make sure you agree specific times and dates for communication and stick to them. Experience has shown us that without specific times scheduled into the diary, they tend to slip. It is vital that they don’t. They are important opportunities for you to be informed of what is happening, why and how it is going. Likewise, for the marketing company, these are important opportunities to get your feedback and ensure you are happy with what they are doing.

Potential pitfall number 3

Morale, motivation and enthusiasm. Most businesses recognise the importance of keeping their employees and teams motivated. It is important that they don’t forget about their outsourced marketing team. There is nothing more demoralising for a marketing company when they do their best for a client and start achieving success, only for the business they are working for to hamper progress. Not attending appointments generated, not supplying information that was promised, not signing-off artwork when requested, not answering relevant questions, the list is endless. Believe it or not, any good marketing company cares about doing a good job for their clients; they want their clients to be successful. When it appears like their client doesn’t care, they start to wonder why they should. The net result is an ineffective relationship that will end swiftly, with neither party happy.

Avoid making these mistakes and your business will benefit from a highly motivated, experienced and skilled team of marketers, devoted to helping you achieve your business objectives, leaving you and your team to focus on what you do best.

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Top 3 branding tips (May)

06.05.10

1. Talk to your existing clients and target audience members and discover what they look for in a business they work with? See if any common factors crop up, what values do they see as important? Consider aligning your brand with these.

2. Look at your competitors. What positions do they occupy in the marketplace? Try mapping on to a graph the various positions held in the market by your competitors, against two key categories i.e. price vs. product variety or age appealing to vs. innovative services / products.

You will quickly see if there are any gaps in the marketplace for a new brand. But be careful to look at why that gap exists, you may find there is a very good reason why no businesses operate there.

3. Be consistent. Once you have defined your brand values, what you stand for and how you will conduct business, make sure you communicate them consistently, across every aspect of your business. It is counterproductive to have a great website that presents you as a luxury brand, then send a poor quality home printed brochure to a potential client. Likewise make sure your marketing mix aligns with your brand values. If you have an innovative brand, make sure that is communicated through your marketing material. Be consistent with your logo, your corporate colours. It should all serve to build a clear identity of what your business looks like and what it stands for. If you send mixed messages, the customer will be unsure as to what they are getting and is likely to become insecure with you offering.

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