Marketing 0-60 tips

Marketing Tip 1.

‘Think deeply about who you are, what you do, your target audience and your competition, this should set the tone for all creative and marketing outputs from here on in.’

Who are you, no really, who is your company? Who are the employees, what do you stand for and why? Is it value, is it expertise, style or cool. What are the pillars that underline your company and how do you operate? Why does this matter? Well it matters because you are unique, your business is different to anyone else’s and as such your marketing should shout this from the rooftops, ‘we are different to everyone else!’ Your USP is your ally, use it. You don’t want to look like the competition, another ‘me too!’. You need to establish what your real values are before you can provide any marketing. Who are your customers, who would be your ideal customer? Again, nothing goes out until you are sure of it all and more.

Marketing Tip 2.

‘Don’t go to market without developing your brand, positioning and ID thoroughly.’

Like number one, we should take all this fantastic in depth understanding of your business and develop a brand to fully represent it. All this beautiful, unique information about your business is invaluable and you can use it to discover your true position in the market place. Once you understand who you are and what you do, it feeds the development of how you are seen by your customers commercially and visually. It should represent the value you put on your product or service, your tone of voice, it should be effective and appeal to your target audience. Your difference will provide a memory, it will define you.

Marketing Tip 3.

‘What has worked best for you in past could work for you in the future, furthermore, plan your strategy now, not when you need it.’

The most important part of this tip is the timing. I’m not just talking about more complex tactical strategies, I am talking about a more basic perspective. Don’t wait for the quiet times, don’t be satisfied with what you have got. Plan for it now, don’t wait for the recession. Maybe you know when the quiet times will come, diversify, consider them early on and don’t keep making the same old mistakes, look back to look forward.

Marketing Tip 4

‘Be sure you make a plan, stick to it, update it and make a note of what works and what doesn’t.’

I know this sounds a little like tip 3 but I believe it requires some more detailed analysis. Its about being consistent but remaining flexible and open to change. When you have developed this well thought out plan, don’t just stop if it doesn’t work, keep going, it may be a question of campaign length for it to work i.e. one newspaper ad may not get you anywhere, a six-month campaign will bring much better results.

Alternatively

You may need to develop the strategy, continue to update the plan, tweak the outputs and your proposition. Everything we do in life usually involves an update and I don’t just mean the apps on your smartphone, although this is a pretty good example. Most software application business’ have a team of people continually improving the functionality of its product. It might mean smoothing the edge of a button or providing a different outcome for a certain logical process, but the development plan is the same as in marketing. Most of all, its goal is to appeal to and delight more and more users based on the target market. Like in marketing its designed to work, but it can always work a little better. Better marketing means better clients.

Continue to update and develop the marketing output to achieve the desired results. Stick to this plan going forward and update it constantly to move one step closer to your goal. Refine your sales, lose the customers you don’t want and keep the kind of clients you value most. Improve your ‘value proposition’ to potential customers and get the ones you want. Your marketing can do this for you, if you stick to, analyse and update your plan.

Marketing Tip 5.

‘What do your customers actually ‘want’ from you. Analyse deeply, what do you ‘really’ look like?’

Improve your credibility, your customer, your visibility. A potential customer will judge you harshly and it will only take them a few seconds to do so. Your window of opportunity is short and so this is the reason why I recommend you take your marketing seriously. You hold the answers and you are great at what you do, but are you really a marketing professional? If you are honest with yourself and believe me, you must be brutally honest, you will get results.

If you are serious about your business, you should be able to ask yourself some really challenging questions. For example, is your business card rubbish? Do you look too cheap? Is your website old fashioned, does it look a bit dated? is the logo a slightly different style in several different examples of your marketing? does your business look like it has any credibility?

BE HONEST. Your business is your livelihood, why would you not take it seriously right?

BE HONEST with yourself, don’t ask friends and family, they are more likely to tell you how great you are!

Find a real marketing professional or agency who will challenge you, but don’t be offended. They won’t hold any emotional attachment, they will view you impartially, just like a potential customer or client. Just because Sarah in accounts is great at adding lovely visual filters to her holiday snaps, does not mean she can run your marketing. So many small businesses make this mistake, indeed external agencies can refresh what can usually bog down internal marketing departments.

Your customers can discount your offering in a millisecond and will judge you instantly. They are fickle, they are dazzled, they need reassurance and they will judge a book by its cover. Your marketing isn’t just informational, it should be transformational. Make sure your cover is good and make sure you can live up to it or else you will ultimately fail. So unless you are incredibly fortunate, make your own luck.

Analyse your business in depth either at the beginning or during a business refresh, or what we call in the trade, re-positioning your business. It will help you to understand your brand, positioning and business identity. Ultimately it will define the image you can live up to, keep it consistent in your marketing and honest in your approach. Your customers will look to you for honest answers. The truth is in you, you just need to know where and how to apply it.

Marketing Tip 6.

‘What is your value proposition, has it changed? does it need to be improved? new products? different customers? Re-position yourself.’

Your value proposition represents the value upon which both you and your customers place on your products or services therefore it is a massive consideration in your marketing strategy. This strategy can be adjusted to suit either you or them. It can be improved through effective marketing and associated outputs, so that you can to convey the correct messaging. Re-position, refresh or adjust your marketing to achieve this.

Marketing Tip 7.

‘Have sales leads dropped off? Find out what’s changed, don’t stick your head in the sand, assess your marketing, assess your brand.’

If you are behind on the monthly or quarterly sales budget or you don’t have enough leads to close, maybe your not hitting the required turnover, don’t stick your head in the sand and plough on regardless. Look at the potency of your marketing, is it providing any leads for your sales team? Try something different in your campaign, maybe ask for outside help, assess how your brand is perceived. Nothing will change unless you do something differently.

Marketing Tip 8.

‘Your campaign should be fit for purpose, its unique to your business, why throw money away on ‘off the shelf’ and templated marketing outputs. Look before you leap, get some advice.’

Quite often, business people are dazzled by the bright flashing lights and a ‘same as’ mentality form of marketing that bares no relationship with their brand, target audience or tone of their business. Don’t go to straight to designers or digital agencies who will throw ‘off the shelf’ solutions at you because they know it looks good. It may look good but its not necessarily fit for purpose. Don’t forget to do your pre-marketing first.

Rather than jump to the output, follow this simple principle. Discover who you are, what you do, your competition and your customers before you choose the correct output. What are the results you want? The right output will produce the most effective results. Maybe talk to a marketing professional, you will be ‘delighted’ with the result and so will your customers. A true marketing agency doesn’t just want to sell you something, they want you to sell yourself! It’s their reputation at stake too, they will want you to get it right.

Marketing Tip 9.

‘Has your business changed? New products? Different customers? New Trends in the market? Re-position your brand, refresh your visibility.’

Like number 6, this involves some of the same themes but from a different perspective. Over the years, your business will change. Essentially you produce new products, the customer demographic will change and the world remains an ever-changing place. Some businesses ignore all of these changes around them. They forget to refresh the brand they created 20 years ago. Either that or they are to proud or stubborn to change what they created. They don’t realise, this is what is strangling their business. Do you want to look dated? Is your logo a circle but now you sell squares? Have you seen how cool it is to grow a beard nowadays? I’m sure Gillette is now marketing for grooming and trimming products as well as clean shaving ones. Coca-Cola continues to refresh, excuse the pun.

Marketing Tip 10.

‘Letter heads, business cards, email headers, invoices, receipts, anything with your name on it is marketing, it’s time to evaluate all of this, clean it up keep it consistent.’

I’m sure you’ve seen this behaviour, maybe your business is one of the culprits. I suggest you take control sooner rather than later. How many times do you see a slightly different logo, colour, style or visual, throughout several marketing outputs from one business. Everything you produce is an opportunity to project your brand so don’t waste the opportunity. Don’t confuse the message with mixed and inconsistent marketing. Be thorough, check and change everything if necessary. Pull it all back together and drive it out as one. Stationary, websites, social media, business cards, packaging, invoices, emails, flyers, vehicle livery and advertising. All of it counts as marketing, use it intelligently. 

Marketing Tip 11.

‘All marketing should be fit for purpose, you probably don’t employ a cheer-leading team for some respected accountants, or can you in the right circumstance?’

All marketing outputs need to look first at who is going to buy. The key is to research your buyer thoroughly. Your buyer will be super critical of anything that is on offer, even if they come to this criticism subconsciously. Glamour and dance may not be correct for the accountancy firm, but it may be suitable for other products.

Wait a second though, consider this. What about if the Cheer-leaders wore a business suit. They all wear the same suit and use calculators in stead of pom poms. This could create a conversation. It could pose some great photo opportunities and a real talking point. Ok so why the sports venue? This relates to your product or service too. Example – ticket prices at some premiership football games indicate a ‘wealthy customer’ demographic and it might be ideal for an accountancy product. This is a really blunt example and is not tested, but I think you get the jist. Think deeply and then drill down much further than that to find your buyer and attract them.

Marketing Tip 12.

‘If you are struggling to create your marketing, share the brief, empower your staff & colleagues, the ideas and buy in will pay dividends when you create as a team.’

When you ask your team for ideas, research, opinions and creative input based upon your own brief and vision, it can provide a wealth of ideas and brain power you probably didn’t realise was at your disposal.

It will allow you to delegate, grow trust, empower, increase communication, provide self-worth and break up the monotony. Allow your staff to buy into the process, believe in the brand and have a say in the business’ development. Enable them to share in its success, but remember reward and recognition is also a really important factor. Even the empowerment of staff, team spirit and business culture should be part of your brand development.

Marketing Tip 13.

‘Your brand identity should resemble your business in every way whilst defining your position above and apart from the competition.’

Your staff as mentioned before, is part of your brand, but don't stop there. Your brand is the universal transmission of your core values, products or services and how they should be viewed. Remember you should be truthful in your brief, extol your virtues whilst making a concerted effort, then maybe develop what could be lacking.

Who are you, what do you do, what is your position in the market, who are the competition, who are the customers. The business stands for something, what is it? How are you different? What is unique about you and your process? Really what do your customers want? Get this out there and this following point is really important. Keep it consistent across all of your marketing platforms, otherwise you lose some credibility and easy recognition.

Marketing Tip 14.

‘Encourage satisfied and delighted customers to share their experience with your business… testimonials are priceless marketing outputs.’

This one needs no explanation as I am sure you know it already. This is a reminder, so don’t forget to ask for customer testimonials, references, reviews, likes and even shares. Don’t forget to transmit these in the most effective places.

Stay in control of the output but if you cannot, make sure your customer services are able to deal with it publicly and alongside the review.

Example – you’ve got a ‘Faulty Towers Experience Comedy Hotel’, the customers will expect you brand to be rude. Imagine Basil Faulty replying to a complaint on Trip Advisor!!!

If you’re not John Cleese’ alter ego, make sure you are on the side of the customer at all times, it’s difficult to remove something from review boards. Marketing agencies can also help with your ‘reputation management’ if you’re in real difficulty.

Marketing Tip 15.

‘Marketing a is not just a pretty logo, your favourite colours, and a ‘buy here’ sticker on it. Create and apply it intelligently but consistently with your brand.’

So many start up business’ and even established ones, think that your brand is your logo! NO!

They think that putting a logo on a promotional item is branding! NO!

Marketing should encompass, as described in our other tips above, everything about you.

Your logo is not just an i.d.

It should not be your favourite colour unless it needs to be, and it should not be the coolest shape you can find, unless this has some significance.

Your opinion and vision needs to have some substance, so you should answer why it needs to be ‘that’, as well as what ‘that’ should be. It should represent your brief, your vision, your products and service.

A logo should be memorable, be different from the competition, draw the right responses and if it shows all of these things then ‘who cares if YOU like it!’. The logo is for your clients, it represents your business, it is fit for purpose and it will attract the right responses. If these responses are recognition, emotion and resulting sales, you know it has been created correctly. It takes a lot of work and professional expertise to get it right the first time.

Successful marketing is not just a pretty logo so please remember, the logo comes last, it’s not the first thing you consider. No matter how tempting and fun this stage of the process can be, make sure you design the logo once you have already written a detailed marketing brief.

Marketing Tip 16.

‘Target your marketing properly, audience, demographic, location, who are they, why would they use you? Customer perspectives & buyer personas’

First of all, there is no point in providing some marketing, without first referring to your brand. Look at your value proposition and your target audience. This should all be included in your marketing brief. Posting a business ad in the local paper is great, but only as long as ‘that’ is the right audience. B2B or B2C may require a completely different media transmission, it depends upon your business! Find the correct medium before you push the output.

Who are your customers, create a buyer persona, draw out a mood board for that persona. Write your content in relation to your brand and in reference to that persona. It needs to appeal to that potential customer whilst at the same time representing your brand.

In relation to location, here is a very simple and broad example. There is also no point advertising in a national publication, if your service only extends regionally in and around Birmingham. This applies to all of your marketing. Follow your brief and use your research. If you haven’t done this yet, maybe you had better start developing the brief and your brand before you do anything!

Marketing Tip 17.

‘Inbound marketing is complex, find your customers, understand the buying journey, plan your content, identify, educate, convert, point then close.’

Inbound marketing isn’t just somebody calling you, it’s about attracting that potential customer in the first place. Inbound is not that new, but it has evolved over the last few years. You’ve seen the blogs and the articles, the digital and email marketing. Nowadays it involves creating content throughout your marketing that will scoop up potential customers, dependent upon what stage of the buying journey they are on.

Here are some examples of the stages.

• They are identifying a problem or need. Identify
• They are attracted by appealing, personal content. Engage
• The buyer is researching solutions, educating themselves. Educate
• Looking for a provider, making a buying decision. Convert Lead/Offer/Close

Each separate piece of content, should address each stage of the buyer’s journey to engage with the individual. The content should appeal to the buying persona you are aiming at. Further more, people can sniff a sales pitch from a mile away nowadays. They almost need to be ‘asking for it’ before you dive in with the offer. You just need to lead them along their journey, or collect them from someone else’s inbound strategy! Remember you cannot close a deal nowadays with just one piece of content, unless you are extremely talented.

If you link a series of outputs to identify needs, attract, educate, solve and then pitch to your target, this will appear less like the beginning of a pitch. ‘The Close’ is then up to you and remember you are closing all along the journey’s cycle. Your potential buyer can make a purchasing decision at any instant, they could jump a stage, you cant be 100% certain. Make sure you always offer a way to learn more, keep them in the loop, don’t let anyone steal them from ‘your inbound strategy’.

Marketing Tip 18.

‘Business Samaritans. Often in business, your time is spent fighting fires, don’t do this with your marketing! Hire an agency or professional to help.’

So your in a crisis and you need to bring in some work, maybe you need to sell more products or just get the message out! You’ve got several different channels to market and it’s all becoming too much, your approach is fragmented, unplanned, inconsistent and dare I say it, ‘out of control’. You need some help.

Marketing is not just about creating pretty pictures and slogans. Agencies can help in many more ways than that. For example, a good agency can provide a brief to give structure and consistency to the list below.

Help With

• Customer service messaging, scripting, structure and reputation management
• PR and editorial to make your message clearer, more consistent
• Provide a framework and easy ways to connect, converse and delight new and existing customers
• Write effective content for ads, brochures, catalogues, social media and blogs
• Create intelligent responsive websites to do the job for you
• Brand development or a business refresh will give you the control back

An agency should advise if you are wasting your money on something that is inappropriate, not effective, or unfit for purpose. Marketing professionals must ask the right questions, challenge and do what is best for your business and for your customers. It will give your marketing structure, and will relieve the pressure, creating opportunities for you to sell in a measurable way. Ring the business Samaritans now, give us a call.

Marketing Tip 19.

‘Drive traffic to your blog through social media, even try blogging the old way, post to a magazine or newspaper, don’t forget the mention!’

Find the correct and appropriate place to contribute some work and then get on with it! Your local newspaper, business networking group, a magazine or a council publication.

Help other members, advise, take questions and answer them, because your good at what you do right? Let people know and do it in public.

It will boost your credibility amongst piers, local groups and regional business forums. If you don’t ask, you don’t get because that’s what your mum said right? Right. Don’t forget to mention your business or website though, if only as a ‘by line’ sub text. No good being a celebrity who works for free, if nobody knows what you do for a living!

Marketing Tip 20.

‘Marketing is also important when receiving calls. Your answer phone message, on hold and greeting should also match your brand, values and tone.’

There is a wider reason for this tip. I’m not just advising you to change your voice mail message. I want you to be aware that everything connected to your business communications and marketing, should be dictated and controlled by your brand, values and tone (tone of voice- written and vocal). Maybe not ‘ring tone’, but funnily enough we’ve got one customer called ‘King of the Road’ and guess what his ringtone is!?

Your customers need to identify with your brand and remember it. You want them to remember you, maybe refer you and ultimately be your marketing department.

Finally, if your brand was not developed correctly or needs to be changed because your business has, maybe you should act now. Change your voicemail, but more importantly, refresh your brand and its subsequent marketing outputs.

Marketing Tip 21.

‘According to a Content Marketing Institute survey, 80% of decision-makers like to get information through a mix of articles, compared to an ad.’

By following a solid inbound strategy, you can provide some great marketing, without actually appearing to market directly to a decision maker or buyer. Like we have mentioned before, you should provide different styles of content that appeal to buyers at different stages of their buying journey. Be sure to link to the next stage of your content too, move them along.

Sneaking in calls to action, developing landing pages to capture data and leads, then closing the deal is a whole different topic. Think carefully about how it all links in. You need to consider all of this when formulating your social media, blog and other media content. The information you publish will engage your decision maker, draw them in.

Marketing Tip 22.

‘Make sure you personalise your social media marketing, people talk to people.’

So your now ready to write some content for a decision maker. Great marketing will keep the conversation personal, one to one. You should address their needs and avoid it becoming too ‘dry’.

Speak to them as they would wish to be spoken to and keep the tone appropriate. Furthermore your potential buyer is your audience so keep them entertained. Keep the tone befitting their buyer persona and drive them politely to other areas of interest. If you are lucky enough to have made it into a ‘chat situation’, listen to them and relate back to them personally. Listen and summarize before you begin throwing solutions into their lap.

Marketing Tip 23.

‘Facebook is great for business’, start-ups and those who wish to grow, remember to keep the tone fun, visual and a lead to your website.’

Like I say, Facebook is great for business and it’s fun, but not fun for all business. For example you can’t keep on posting fun pics of your LAST‘job well done’ if you’re a Funeral Director. So, if you are Smith & Son FD’s you can still have a page, but keep it appropriate. It’s good that you have a business page, but set it up correctly and consistently with your business branding. There are different ways people can interact with you so provide the settings to suit.

The next part is important. Loads of people say, oh I only need a Facebook page. This is ok if you have a waiting list and your diary is stacked for the next 5 years. If you are not this fortunate, you must also have a website. Facebook and any other platform for that matter, is your ‘social’ platform, it can pull people in, it can give you visibility. Your website is the thing that will showcase your real expertise, professionalism and products. It is your website that develops your credibility. If you don’t have a link to your website from your social, you’ve missed a massive opportunity.

A website will launch you far beyond just being another home-based Facebook business.

Marketing Tip 24.

‘Your marketing isn’t just informational, it should be transformational, think about a great leader, why are you more inclined to follow them?’

Great marketing should be transformational. It should transform a simple instruction into something greater than that. Great marketing shouldn’t just tell you to buy something, it needs to identify your needs, engage with you and then make you ‘want to buy’ something. As I mentioned in the Tip itself, think of it as a great leader.

Winston Churchill was famously not the greatest politician ever, but he was the right guy, at the right time. He didn’t simply ask a nation to work harder during war time. Churchill instilled the notion of victory, of national pride and of strength, if we all work together for one common goal. He said it from the heart, he was personal and he was convincing.

The same can be said of most great leaders, they transform a simple request into a fabulous and consistent vision, with benefits for us all. This is the same when you consider great marketing, it transforms our understanding.

Marketing Tip 25.

‘Twitter is great for certain business’, it isn’t just about ‘follower’ numbers, it’s a tool to update your customers not just a megaphone!’

We would say that Twitter is a great marketing tool, anyone can use it for free and it levels the playing field when used correctly. You can stay in front of your followers, just like the biggest corporations! Twitter suits some businesses better than others. For example, if you have a captive audience, it’s great for sending out dates, new products, deadlines, news and special offers to those who follow you specifically. They will do this because they want to stay in touch, they want to follow you. It can cater for industry and sector specific followers, you can really pin point and transmit your specialism.

However, your Tweet is more of a communication tool, not a simple platform for advertising. The tone must remain as a communication, there are subtle differences in your delivery. Twitter is not just a megaphone, it’s a little more refined than its simplicity would suggest.

Unfortunately, there is the temptation to follow, just to be followed back. This means quite often many are following each other but nobody is listening. Your follower numbers are important, but they are only important if they are listening and not just checking out the competition. They need to be the right audience too, so target them correctly with your hashtag keyword and demographics.

Don’t just follow everybody, follow to be noticed and interact with those twitter accounts. Like everything you do, it must be appropriate for your business. Study others, great marketing is happening on Twitter every second of the day.

Marketing Tip 26.

‘Email marketing is not dead, it has become an excepted way for the ‘right audience’ to receive marketing from you.’

There are 4.3 billion accounts out there and growing, 95% of consumers use email and 71% of them prefer email as a form of contact from you. It can be tailored, to suit different sections of your market, the communication can be highly personal. Really great marketing emails can nurture leads with the right email, at the right time to attract, convert, close and delight customers. You can segment your customer profiles and have several campaigns running at once.

If you have worked hard to create a large email database, use it intelligently, you shouldn’t just keep on throwing offers at people, engage with them, provide them with a great story. Email marketing is not dead, far from it, it’s a thriving activity.

Marketing Tip 27.

‘Live feeds and video strategy have now become the norm… graphics are great but see how film can capture attention.’

The stats thrown around regarding the effectiveness of video marketing is absolutely true. You can do so much with it. The ‘lazy browser’ will digest a video at ease and if done professionally, you can project your brand on many different levels. You can provide a wow factor, credibility, entertainment, humour and expertise. Engage with your customers before the killer close, only be careful it doesn’t backfire.

Make sure it’s not a poorly lit room, poor resolution or a bad script. Remember your business credibility is at stake. A good video can be easily shared, liked and commented on, so remember to use it wisely and in line with your brand messaging. A great video can be great marketing, so get it right.

Marketing Tis 28.

‘Linkedin is fantastic for networking, referring and providing expertise, it’s professional, but people still buy from people!‘

Is it true that 80% of B2B leads come from Linkedin? It seems so according to some sources, but you can see how big a thing it has become. It is the very essence of business networking and in today’s inbound fashion for sales, it looks like it’s the way to go. Demonstrate your skills and expertise on a daily basis, floating past others feeds with comments, posts and articles. You can refer industry friends and colleagues and network with others. Drill down into the lists and find the person you need to talk to, without a gatekeeper.

It’s an amazing tool, but you have to keep an air of professionalism. It isn’t Facebook, but it has been described as Facebook for business. Maybe this is not a fair label, but it’s true that the successful posts are the ones that provide a personal insight to problems and solutions. People are still buying from people, so it’s fair to say you can push the stuffy boundaries of business with some great social marketing on Linkedin.

Marketing Tip 29.

‘Make sure you have a website! or freshen it up, update the content, is it representative? potential clients need reassurance, it’s your credibility at stake.’

I have heard on quite a few occasions, ‘no we don’t need a website, it’s all word of mouth!’, or ‘I’ve already got a website, it doesn’t need updating’. Just imagine what you might be missing out on. If you have a business, quite often potential customers will check you out online.

Like we have mentioned before, people are fickle, they will walk away if they cannot find you or something is not quite right. You’re an expert and/or your product is the best, so great marketing is a great website. We can talk about everything that makes a great website later, but if you remember one thing remember this. The website must be produced from a brief that fits your brand like a glove and when it does, it will provide you with much more than you had expected.

Marketing Tip 30.

‘Check your SEO and get a professional audit completed ASAP, if your website doesn’t perform, don’t just sit there, do it now. Implement the findings.’

There are many SEO or ‘search engine optimisation’ businesses out there and many of them promise you the earth. Be careful who you choose to go with, make sure they can provide a realistic assessment of your website and the SEO development. Most will provide an audit or report for your site and recommendations on how it can be improved.

A word of warning, if the SEO provider does not understand you, your business, your position in the market, your competition and your customers fully, they will remain incapable of providing an effective service. The SEO audit will provide you with some direction but only if you know what the SEO audit needs to look for. The marketing assessment needs to happen first. This would be some great marketing that feeds some logical information into your SEO campaign. Check your SEO now, but have a marketing agency provide the intelligent assessment first and if that agency can also provide the SEO, then this makes a lot more sense. 

Marketing Tip 31.

‘If you’re not sure of the results in your SEO audit, have a professional look into how it can be changed, updated or even managed for you.’

There is so much to think about when you look at your SEO. Not only that, SEO guidelines are changing like the wind! Once the audit is complete, talk to somebody who knows what they are doing. An SEO expert or marketing agency will be able to translate the data into real changes for your site.

The Expert should be able to change content, titles and pictures. He or she can change the flow of your website to enable faster and more efficient navigation, both for your customers and the robots that crawl through it.

Just be careful of ineffective SEO businesses that do little to nothing for your money. It’s also likely that you will need to update your SEO regularly, so look for someone who can provide a cost-effective SEO management package.

Marketing Tip 32.

‘Social media likes and shares can really get around a target audience like wildfire, use it wisely, make sure it fits your business.’

It goes without saying, so this is a reminder, you must not let social media success go to you head. We all know that social media is a powerful tool and a successful post can provide massive visibility. Consider these posts very carefully, write guidelines for yourself or staff that post them, create your brief.

Posts need to be fit for each individual platform and most importantly, keep them politically correct at all times. An over edgy post could make or BREAK your business. Think about your business, consider your competition, think about the platform and really take care of your target audience.

Marketing Tip 33.

‘Now you’ve successfully developed some marketing for your target audience, learn more about re-marketing, to continue the customer conversation.’

Now the brief has been completed, you have produced your marketing and transmitted this to your target audience. What is it you need to do now? Re-marketing is a way to keep your business in view, re-market to your customers, educate, solve and continue the conversation.

There are many ways to do this, far too many to list here, but it is very important. You need to capitalise on all the hard work you have already completed.

For example delight your customers with follow up emails and a phone call, maybe a gift, keep it personal and light. The more you do this, the more your customers will become your marketers, recommending your business to friends and associates. This is definitely one of our marketing top tips, develop it over time.

Marketing Tip 34.

‘Digital marketing, keep adding something new, try different visuals, change one thing at a time, test and analyse.’

Don’t be afraid to try something new, follow your brief but try a different image or visual in your digital marketing. This could make a huge difference to the interaction of your customers. If you have a website, a blog or a social media post that does well, try to improve it.

Don’t change the whole page, change one thing at a time so you can measure the results. Change or replace the previous item, maybe even put it back to the way it was. Remember that SEO takes time, so measure these changes over relevant periods of time for the type of digital marketing it represents.

For example, some of this digital marketing does not require SEO, so measure these over a different period of time or alternatively a different effective metric. Challenge yourself and challenge your team to measure its success, don’t just fire out posts willy nilly!

Marketing Tip 35.

‘Detach yourself emotionally from favourite colours, business names and your opinion, your vision may not be shared by your customers, research and follow your brief.’

This has been mentioned before but it cannot be said enough. Your opinion is not always right. It is your target audience we are marketing to not yourself, not your family and not your friends. Your colleagues and associated circle will be nothing but complimentary to you, it may not prove to be the truth.

Put a bunch of strangers in a room with your marketing and like a family of hungry lions, they will tear it apart before your eyes and ears. It’s worth asking them the questions, without you bearing down on them.

Market research can be invaluable, even if it’s a straw poll. You may not need to spend a fortune on it if your clever in your processes. What do they think of the advert, compared to another? Do they like the colour, the logo, will they remember it? Your brand needs to fit your business and your products, it needs to resonate with your customers and not your ‘personal’ mood board.

Marketing Tip 36.

‘’To be or not to be, that is the question’ rise above your competitors. Hamlet had his eye on the competition, have you?’

Do you want to be the same as your competition, or do you want to rise above them. Be different and beat them into submission. Hamlet knew that his step father was a real threat when vying for his mother’s affections. He kept his eye on the competition, then took steps to defeat them.

This is a little extreme I know, but your marketing can be your weapon, it can be developed secretly to disrupt the competition. The message here is not to be complacent in your approach, refresh your marketing, employ some professionals to provide your strategy.

Marketing Tip 37.

‘Why would someone actually buy from you, your brand needs to represent this from all touchpoints?’

I know I keep approaching this from a different angle, but branding is a complicated thing. I will say once again, your branding represents several things over many touch points. It is not just your logo printed on a mug, why would someone actually buy from you, be honest with yourself.

Everything about your brand and its end product should be amplified. This can be done through your logo, visuals, stationary, livery, signage, customer service, sales and more. The experience needs to be remembered positively, even if it was a serious customer service issue. It is how you react to these issues that remain the memorable experience. If your customers remember you, what you stand for and how you treated them, it will be easier for them to recommend you. Ask your customers about everything, then take steps to improve it, your touch points are your marketing too.

Marketing Tip 38.

‘Your sales team can give you valuable insights to your business’ marketing and vice versa, get them to work together more closely, it will surprise you.’

Now I’ve worked in large businesses and I’ve heard salespeople gossiping. ‘What on earth is the marketing department doing, this is ridiculous?!!!’ I’ve also heard the marketing department saying, ‘why on earth aren’t the salespeople converting all those great leads we are providing for them, they must be rubbish at closing!!!?’

The answers to these questions are simple. THEY ARE NOT WORKING TOGETHER. The new buzzword is SMARKETING, where two departments can discuss why and how they are doing something. Maybe the leads are providing the wrong kind of client, or they are not engaged with the marketing enough to buy yet. Maybe the sales team don’t understand the marketing messages in order to use them effectively for closure. If sales and marketing agree to communicate, and to target each other’s needs to hit mutual targets, the whole process will become much more successful. A ‘smarketing’ SLA or ‘service level agreement’ can really make a difference. Put both teams in a room together, but don’t forget to provide relaxed lighting and joss sticks!

Marketing Tip 39.

‘Marketing – Identify a problem to ATTRACT, identify several solutions to EDUCATE, uncover a PRODUCT to convert, only then, sell to CLOSE’

Its best to explain this through 3 simple steps based around inbound marketing. The sales person need to refresh these before they close in the 4th step.

• Attract customers first by identifying problems, issues, needs, do not sell yet
• Identify solutions to problems, keep it light, give choices, educate the potential customer
• Uncover products that fill the need, solve the issue or the problem
• Once you have converted this interested party to a lead, it needs to be qualified by the sales team. If it is a bad lead it goes back into the marketing loop. If it is good, the sales person must cover the steps above once again, listen, summarize, educate, listen again, summarize, test interest, provide solution, uncover product, test interest once again, then close.

Marketing Tip 40.

‘Anticipate changes in the market, drive the band wagon, how does this apply to your business? Think about it.’

Make sure you position your listening posts out there in the field. Listen to the markets and what your customers are saying. Keep an eye out on the media, print, radio and TV. Note down trends, mark sections in magazines and articles, read blogs and daily marketing trends. Look at how others digest marketing. Follow or get ahead of the competition, start your own band wagon and get ahead of the pioneers, get to the greenest pitch first. If you can’t get ahead, follow quickly, it should enable you to grab your share of the market before the stragglers pick up the tidbits. If your there first, there will be nothing left for the others. Corner the market, corner the competition, drive the market with some creative but logical anticipation. You could follow your own path with some disruptive marketing, however, this is a whole different conversation.

Marketing Tip 41.

‘Influencer Marketing PRO, it can be a great way to reach your target audience, choose your influencer wisely!’

I will explain influence marketing quickly before we start. In its most modern form, it takes the shape of popular vloggers, bloggers and celebrities promoting your products for you. In the past it looked like Frank Sinatra promoting cigarettes or Formula 1 drivers wearing watches and baseball caps! We have all seen Formula 1 drivers scratching their noses or wiggling an ear, to show of a Rolex or a Breitling.

It’s a powerful way of messaging your brand, so choose your influencer to suit your product. You can choose one with millions of followers, or one with fewer but with more relevance to your product. Each is good but make sure it suits your brand and your target audience first. There are systems out there to help you find, contact and manage this process, take some advice for one that will suit.

Marketing Tip 42. (no image – see 41. and read 43.)

‘Influencer Marketing CON, it can be an easy way to lose control of your brand, be careful with whom you associate your business!’

Your brand is important, we know this. We also know that because of all the hard work put into developing your brand, you now have all the tools to use its messaging consistently. It gives you the control over your messaging and visibility. Now also given the fact you are considering influencer marketing, you are potentially giving that control away to a certain extent.

Can you pass on the brief to the influencer? In most cases yes, but this needs to be transmitted in detail and in some cases where the influencer is really popular, busy and has many people knocking on the door, this communication can be lost in translation.

There is something else to consider, you need to study track record, personal opinions and possible downfalls for each influencer. Unless they are squeaky clean make sure they are not going to ruin their own and in turn, your reputation by doing something stupid either now or in the future. We have all seen scandals associated with popular people, be careful of your brand, you are its guardian, not them.

Marketing Tip 43.

‘Don’t forget to include relevant visuals in your content, people are much more likely to engage with the piece.’

I don’t have to spend much time on this subject, you need visuals, pictures and video. You need to make your visuals relevant to your content and if you can, make them thought provoking. The aesthetic also allows a greater understanding for the ideas you are hoping to promote. The greater the impact, the more ‘memory’ it will provide.

Use your own content whenever you can, keep it professional. Be careful when copying them from the web, so try and use royalty free picture sites and paid for ones for the best images. There are loads out there! Try Pexels for some images. When your looking for, or producing the right visual, original is best!

Marketing Tip 44.

‘Make sure your website is device responsive, people check you out on mobile quickly first, then research via desktop later. Stay on the research shortlist.’

The world is still a busy place, many would say that its becoming busier with all the time saving gadgets and apps out there to enable more productivity. Arguably one of the greatest catalysts for this development is mobile communication technology, pads tablets and phones. People use them to research work, products and places. It’s a quick and easy way of producing a shortlist to study later whilst you are on the move. They are the visual forum for consideration, so once the quick information has been digested, many people use a larger device later to make their decisions.

If your website is not device responsive and difficult to read or scroll through, you are cut from the list instantly, your credibility is ruined and you’re out of the game. You consider yourself professional, make sure you are found that way. Don’t skimp on the detail or investment in development.

Marketing Tip 45.

‘Marketing reminder, you’ve forgotten to listen to your customers, they are the ones with most of the answers.’

Sales and marketing have come a long way. The days of not letting someone leave the room until you have a signature on the page are long gone. Yes, you did have to listen to the customer to close the doors of the sale, listen and consider the objections to close them down. But this was when you were at the decision stage. Nowadays you need to understand your target audience in more detail and before you’ve even met them. Indeed, the way retail is going for example, one day you are never going to meet your customers face to face again! It’s an idea you get some of them in a room every now and again.

If your marketing has not considered your target audience, what they think and how they remember you, it’s time to pack up and go home. Your marketing is not all about what you think the customer needs, it’s also about what your customers think they need. It is how you are perceived, it’s you adapting to the market and how you refresh and develop your marketing. Listen to your customers, have your staff take notes, take it seriously, action it. If you haven’t done it for a while, if you’ve forgotten them, plan to do it asap.

Marketing Tip 46.

‘Blogging is an amazing tool, keep it entertaining, educational and not too salesy. You can spark a conversation so prove your knowledge.’

Blogging is an amazing tool, but don’t forget, nobody will care for your blog if all you do is talk sales, products and offers. People want to be entertained, they want to be educated. Your good at what you do, let people know how you do it, who you work with, your highs and lows, fun and success. You can diarise, you can compare, give advice and invite questions.

Once people trust you, they will consider your product, service or offers. Product comparisons are good, and you can slip your product in. People look for this type of comparison stuff, but be careful in your tone. Nobody minds the referral to your business at the end of your blog. We all know you are in business, we just don’t want it shoved down our throats. Blogging keeps your site fresh, it helps with SEO and Google loves fresh, well written and relevant material to crawl and index.

Marketing Tip 47.

‘Hire a small marketing agency, make sure they are qualified, provide in house services and have years of experience, don’t believe the hype from the ‘gurus’!!!’

The marketing environment is littered with bedroom marketers armed with nothing, but some design software and a box set of ‘The Apprentice’.

Beware… although many of them are in fact quite talented, they lack the qualifications and business experience to really get things right for you. It’s not hard to produce a pretty picture. Often businesses consider a young marketing employee to run the marketing. This does not guarantee success. If this costs you up to ￡16000 per year, minimum, then why don’t you hire a small professional agency on a retainer? You will get a full department, fully qualified and experienced for probably much less per year than hiring a full time, inexperienced employee.

Get your marketing right, it’s your livelihood. Either pay for an experienced and possibly expensive employee, who has a great track record, or hire an agency to do it for you. Being good at IT, adept at photo filters and being able to use an office printer is no qualification for marketing.

Marketing Tip 48.

‘Where are your customers, where do you want them to be? Think about this when developing your comms, ads and SEO.’

Don’t forget where you are!? I know this sounds obvious but you can get loads of visitors to your website, and yet they are no good if they are half way across the world and you’re a ‘dog groomer’ in Grimsby.

Lots of businesses forget to provide SEO for their location, or prescribe their ideal regional customer. There are many ways to provide local SEO and other marketing outputs for your business website or location. Providing good direction throughout your site and in your blog can do this for you as long as it stays relevant and within your well written content.

Of course, we would like to provide marketing consultations, advice and service for businesses in the UK and in the West Midlands region. In fact, our marketing service is great for local business based in Burntwood, Cannock, Stafford, Lichfield and Burton. We are part of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, Chase Division. These key words are now in context and relevant to this blog and this marketing tip. You can provide an article for each area, based on your service and your customers testimonials, there are so many ways in which to do it. See what we did there?

Marketing Tip 49.

‘Offer delightful service, added value, offer incentives to support your brand, loyalty programs can take many different forms. How can you make an impact?’

This comes into your 3 stage marketing strategy, pre-marketing, marketing and re-marketing. This one comes under re-marketing. Re-marketing tactics will include some aspects mentioned in this tip, delightful service, added value, incentive and loyalty schemes, free gifts and even excellent dispute resolution.

Amazon excepts all returns, in fact they have cornered the market in it, it’s this delightful service that makes people come back for more and more every time, they recommend, they refer. This is one of the most powerful ways to re-market your business, through word of mouth. How can you make an impact on your customers, what can you give back? Look at every detail of your service and make strides to improve each incrementally, until your service really delights. This is great marketing.

Marketing Tip 50.

‘People love to like, share, repost and retweet pictures they are in! What are you waiting for?’

So if this is the case, how can you get your customers to post pictures of themselves on social media. At your event, holding your product, wearing your gear? People love to do this especially if it’s a competition, or with a celeb, or doing something funny. Think outside of the box, or have a creative team provide this for you. Share, promote, like, follow, name and make it fun!

Marketing Basics 51.

‘Create a relevant, useful and entertaining survey, use this to convert your visitor into a lead.’

Marketing and sales 101, identify a problem, need or relevant subject of interest. Then you can provide a questionnaire or survey to draw the participant in. Keep it entertaining if you can and provide a solution at the end, you can use the solution or answer for lead generation, i.e. get your answer here, just leave your name and email! It could lead them to the correct product or service and a call to action for a call back or email communication.

Marketing Basics 52.

‘Once your pre-marketing is complete, only then should you consider your marketing output.’

Don’t make the same old mistake as the rest! Loads of businesses have an idea, then jump straight into the marketing! They send some copy, say something like ‘make it look fun’, and leave it to the printer. Maybe they receive a great looking visual from a website designer that has no relevance to their company and then agree to a website that they think looks cool! NOOOoooooo!

Do you homework first, your pre-marketing. Who are you, what do you do, what is your position in the marketing place and how does this look, what do you need the marketing to achieve and for whom? Like we have said before, it not about what you like, it is about what will work, its about what your target audience will find most appealing. Don’t forget to stay ‘on brand’!

Marketing Basics 53.

‘Most popular marketing mistake. Accepting a quote for a website without a thorough marketing consultation, is like buying a car without knowing the make, model or specification. The examples may look like a Ferrari but the user journey is like riding in a Reliant Robin!’

We just mentioned something similar in the previous tip, how often have you been approached by a web developer who says they can provide you with a really ‘sexy’ website! They show you a few example pages and hey presto, your impressed! Where do you sign right? WRONG.

These websites are presented and then quite often, ‘paid for’ with little to no consideration for your business marketing. Sticking your logo on it doesn’t quite cut the mustard (we will cover your logo later). Given that this website is potentially going to be your most important marketing tool, don’t you think you need to ask an actual consultative marketing agency to do this for you. It may be a little more expensive, but its your credibility and livelihood, right? RIGHT. Besides, sexy may not be right for your business, it needs to be appropriate and in line with your brand! Have you positioned your brand yet?

Marketing Basics 54.

‘If an SEO business guarantees page 1 of google, run a mile or alternatively ask some really ‘searching’ questions. Be realistic.’

Now if you are lucky enough to be the only person in the world able to provide that one service or product everybody needs, SEO is simple. Chances are, you are not. As a result it then becomes more and more difficult to vie for that search engine real estate. Lets be sensible, we are talking Google real estate, although other great search engine examples are available.

I’m not saying SEO businesses are all rubbish, there are some superb examples out there but you’ve got to put this note on top of your shopping list for suppliers. ‘Be careful if someone guarantees page one and even more so if they guarantee no. 1 ranking for your business’. It can be easy to guarantee page one and top ranking for your ‘business name’, because if your pre-marketing is correct, nobody else has the same name! However, if everyone knew your business name, maybe you wouldn’t need SEO in the first place!

Paid ads can be guaranteed top also, if you outbid everyone else, but this can become expensive. What is your cost per lead, what should it be? What can you afford. There is something else really important to consider…what’s the point of being top and your site has hundreds, thousands, even millions of visitors, if nobody stays very long or the user journey is poor. More importantly if the website doesn’t provide the impetus for someone to get in touch, then the SEO is redundant! Think differently, or ask an agency to go through the whole site, before you spend money on SEO.

Marketing Basics 55.

‘Your brand is not just a logo! A re-brand is not a just a new design! The logo comes last in the development…’

I’ve said it before, so I will say it again, your brand is not just a logo. Branding is not just a promo pen with your name on it. A re-brand is not just a redesign. Once the consultative research is done, the pre-marketing is complete and the hard work positioning every part your strategy is founded, only then do you use this data, reports, info, key messaging and tone to provide a brief. This brief can be used by your designer to translate your business into a logo. I know its exciting and creative times when starting up a business but be patient, the benefits are amazing and you’ll feel much better about it later.

Your logo comes last in the branding process. If you didn’t do all of this in the first place, you may need to re-brand!

Marketing Tips 56.

‘Email newsletters are a great way personalise your business, tell customers about your staff, projects, successes, benefits and special offers. People buy from people.’

This is such a great way to engage with your customers. Don’t just keep throwing products and prices at people, tell them about your staff, team building activities and successful individuals. Tell people how well qualified they are, what great service they have supplied and what their day consists of. Give them some character, some personality and most importantly, make them real. People buy from people and not just the brand, make the people part of your brand. Your brand can then successfully market the benefits of your offer around this personal touch. A ‘Special Offer’ isn’t always about the price!

Marketing Tips 57.

‘Tell people about your customers, be proud of your service, their benefit is yours.’

You can talk about your customers too! Its brilliant to advertise some super testimonials for great products, great experiences and great customer service. Even if someone has a bad experience, tell people how you put it right, people also want to know what happens if things go wrong, because inevitably they do! Tell people how your excellent customer service resolved an issue quickly and with a positive outcome. Shed a positive light on everybody and everything, customers, competition winners, brand champions, all food for marketing thought and for potential new customers. These customers will remain loyal, because you proved you can deliver. The benefits you have given your customers will benefit you in kind, don’t be afraid to ask for a report, a write up or a testimonial. Good service = Generous Customers, their benefit is yours.

Marketing Tips 58.

‘Keep control of your marketing. A full-service agency can be one of the best ways to do this, it saves time, money and rules out any breakdowns in communication.’

Put your hands up if your guilty of any of these below!

• You pay monthly to a social media company to put out a daily/weekly post
• Your cousin has done your website on the cheap…
• You always find the cheapest printing service on the market and get ‘free design’ wherever possible
• You react when its quiet and don’t plan whilst its busy
• Another separate business manages your SEO, but your still not getting any leads from your website?
• You pay your marketing manager just over a minimum wage per year to manage all of this, but they are not really qualified in any marketing methods, convention, strategy and intelligent creative design, they don’t understand SEO or how to build a website properly, but hey its not costing you much and they are young and creative?

Typically this approach does not work! You can see why you end up with multiple, inconsistent and frankly poor marketing outputs that remain reactive and not proactively planned. If you employ a marketing agency, you get a whole professional, experienced and talented marketing department for much less than a salary, with everything above created, launched and printed inclusive! Consistent, continuous, creative, intelligent, on time and on brand! Don’t make these mistakes, its not as expensive as you think!!!

Marketing Tips 59.

‘Be aware of conceptual marketers, creative ‘gurus’ and overblown promises, if it sounds too good to be true, it often is.’

The market is flooded with bedroom marketers who do nothing more than shout about their own creativity louder than anyone else. Just because they are bouncy and fun, does not mean they are creative, realistic, considered, effective marketers. Don’t be fooled by the following statements.

• Influential Marketer
• Creative Ninja
• Marketing Guru
• Marketing Entrepreneur
• Master of Marketing

Look for case studies, qualifications, an office, signs of success? We are not just talking about a Maserati in the car park! I’m not saying all of these people aren’t the real deal, but just be careful, they cannot all be the worlds greatest marketer, can they?

Marketing Tips 60.

‘Your marketing strategy, campaign and tactics are now working! Doh! you’ve forgotten your lead capture and the sales process is leaking. Don’t forget to consider this in your initial plan.’

We have seen loads of instances where ‘marketing paradise’ has been reached. Your SEO is amazing attracting loads of Website visits, your phones are ringing off the hook with inbound sales inquiries and your flyers have brought people in off the street to talk to you. Hang on, something is wrong, you’ve only got one sales person to convert the sales, your website cannot capture data and your CRM is only a spreadsheet and that won’t really automate your vast database of new client sales leads!?

Marketing can and should also provide the link between successful marketing and your sales department. It should look at how you will convert the leads it produces, otherwise the marketing is pointless. On the other hand, some businesses start with the sales people first, but give them no tools to market with, so your sales become an uphill struggle with no marketing.

Marketing should create the opportunities to sell, give your salespeople the tools to convert and then enable a feed back into a marketing funnel, once the sale is lost or complete. Make sure you consider this from the very beginning. Ask your marketing department or agency to look into this before you embark on any strategy or campaign. Sales and marketing should work together, make sure each infrastructure is solid enough to support the other and vice versa, communication between the two is vital.

For Support with your marketing, just send me a direct message and we can work from there. Yours sincerely, Richard Brooks

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