We like to think that we are important to our customers and that they lie awake at night wondering if we will write or call them during the next day – but sadly this isn’t the case.  They probably can live without a call from a recruitment company asking if they have any vacancies at the moment and they probably have enough letters landing in their reception area to notice if your brochure is there or not.

But the ultimate indignity is when you phone up an old, existing  client and they ask you ‘Where are your from again?’ How could they possibly forget that that you actually dealt with them before and that you are the company that has helped them find at least some of their colleagues that are sitting near them in the office.

One way to minimise that chances of this form happening is to keep a regular e-mail campaign going.  For most, a monthly newsletter is frequent enough, but be clear about what the point of the campaign is. You are not necessarily going to generate a flood of enquiries (although you might).   The real reason is to keep you name, your company, your logo and your services in the mind of your customers and your prospects.

A decent regular newsletter is probably the quickest and cheapest form of marketing that you can produce.  Your list should be built up from opt in subscribers, along with people you meet at networking events and your customers base.  This data combined with time this will turn into a very powerful tool through which you can promote:

• New services
• Open evenings and events
• Testimonials
• Case studies
• Twitter or blog developments
• Great new candidates

In fact building up an e-mail list of existing and future customers and sending out a regular e-mail to them is probably the most cost effective and indeed effect ways of stopping the response “you are from where?” over time.

Action points

1.    Start collecting together business cards
2.    Create a sign up form on your website
3.    Work out a simple newsletter with sections that you can write about each month
4.    Make a start this week.

Alastair Campbell runs the Marketing Mentor programme which offers a free one day marketing seminar followed by a free 17 month marketing support package for recruitment company owners or their senior staff. Visit www.themarketingmentor.co.uk to find out more.

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/brands/top-10-mistakes-marketers-make-when-rebranding-%E2%C2%80%C2%93-and-how-to-avoid-them/3014666.article

In my experience it can pay huge dividends but it’s easy to underestimate the time and effort that may be involved.

Hothorpe Hall

The latest Marketing Mentor seminar took place yesterday and thanks to everybody who came along.  Here is a selection for feedback from this seminar:

“A great venue and very positive event”

“So many ideas that I can personalise to my business.  I’m really excired about finding my niche and deciding the new branding for my business”

“A fascinating introduction to marketing that has focused my thoughts and enable me to start with a proper marketing plan”

“Lots we can do and lots that we can do better – powerful information”

“The seminar has helped me re-focus on my business and look at how to grow, especially in niche areas”

“An Inspiring day that makes me want to take action now”

The next marketing Mentor event takes place in September but places are limited so apply now to make sure that you receive your funding.  The Marketing Mentor 1 day marketing seminar is the start of a 18 month programme that comes with 100% funding from Train to Gain.

Call 01858 44 55 43 or e-mail alastair@idealmarketingcompany.com

Alastair Campbell

What can you achieve in a 1 hour free marketing consultation?  In some ways, not a lot, but it others you might be surprised.  I arranged one of my free 1 hour consultations this week with Russell Davis from London – this was his feedback.

“Hi Alastair. Thank you so much for your time on Wednesday.  I sent an email to the head teacher of a local high school with some suggested assembly and teacher training topics (catchy headline and bullet points – thanks for the tip about titles).  I got a response today asking me to go in and meet with the senior team to take further!  Thank you for your advice, questions and nudging.  I got so much from that short time.  It has helped my take my marketing to the next level, even things I have been doing for some time such as blogging – I now blog with keywords in mind instead of just seeing it as new content for the site”.

Marketing Seminar Top Tips

1. It is wise to know your market and competitors – find out who they are and what they do

2. Have a plan and direction in which you would like your company to grow

3. Develop insight on your existing and future customers

4. Match your marketing and media to your target audience

5. Reduce wastage on all marketing expenditure: e.g., is national advertising the right place to reach your customers? Could they be targeted more carefully?

Alastair Campbell runs the Marketing Mentor programme which offers a free one day marketing seminar followed by a free 17 month marketing support package for company owners or their senior staff. Visit www.themarketingmentor.co.uk to or call 01858 44 55 43 to find out more.

Marketing Seminar Ideas

A common question I am asked at my marketing seminars is ‘what should I concentrate on to get the best results from my marketing?’ Unfortunately the answer isn’t quite that straightforward and varies from company to company. However, I have recently devised a simple four part process that helps almost any organisation.

Imagine four squares on a piece of paper.  Each quarter has a heading as follows:

Attractors     Convertors        Retainers        Intensifiers

Attractors.  These are activities that you carry out to win the attention of new clients. This is all about stopping passing trade, making people pick up the phone or e-mail you via your website.  Activities in this area include PR, direct mail, optimising your website or making outbound phone calls.

Convertors.  These are activities that help you convert as many of the enquiries as possible.  They are all about dealing with enquiries quickly and efficiently and can include producing testimonials, writing case studies, getting your branding right and generally making a good enough impression to build confidence in a prospect to the point where they will buy from you.

Retainers.  The easiest way to build a business is by keeping as many of your existing profitable customers as possible.  The main way to do this is by making sure that you deliver your promises (and more).  This area also includes the concept of innovation and maintaining contact with customers to make it clear just how much you value their business.

Intensifiers.  You have a good relationship with your client – now let’s take it to the next level.  Can you spread the number of contacts you have in that business who can use your services?  Do any of the directors work for other companies or could recommend you to other companies?  Could you work on joint ventures together?  These and other ideas are all about making your businesses inseparable to prevent a competitor from edging you out.

The question to ask yourself is – where are you spending all your marketing effort, time and money at the moment?  If it’s not spread through all four sections, the chances are you could be missing out on the real potential of your business.

Alastair Campbell runs the Marketing Mentor programme which offers a free one day marketing seminar followed by a free 17 month marketing support package for company owners or their senior staff. Visit www.themarketingmentor.co.uk to or call 01858 44 55 43 to find out more.

Marketing Seminar sponsored by Barclays Bank

Free marketing seminar for Leicestershire businesses organised by Barclays Bank

Local businesses are invited to a free marketing seminar to be held in Leicester city centre next month (March). The event will feature a talk by Leicestershire based marketing consultant Alastair Campbell of The Ideal Marketing Company and is sponsored by Barclays Bank which has 13 branches in the Leicester area.

The event is being held on Wednesday March 24th from12.00 pm to 2.00 pm at Mem-Saab Indian restaurant and champagne bar in Highcross Street in the city centre. Alastair will be giving a talk which focuses on the 4 critical marketing activities to grow a business and increase profits.

Monica Mendez, Area Manager for Barclays Business Banking Team in Leicestershire feels that the event is one not to be missed. “Marketing is one of the areas that many business owners forget as often they are so involved in the actual day to day ‘running’ of the business,” she comments. “Alastair will be discussing some simple strategies that businesses can apply, that might just help drive more customers through the door. This event will also provide an opportunity for networking – another invaluable and cost effective way of introducing new business.”

Alastair Campbell is Managing Director of The Ideal Marketing Company and gives talks on low cost marketing solutions for SMEs across the UK. He also runs the Marketing Mentor Programme, a fully funded 18 month support and training course designed for small businesses.

Businesses from across Leicestershire and the surrounding area that are interested in attending should call Pragnesh Sadadiwala from Barclays Bank on 0116 206 2184 or email pragnesh.sadadiwala@barclays.com to reserve a free place for this free marketing seminar in Leicester.

Free Marketing Seminar in Lutterworth

Free Marketing Seminar at The Greyhound Hotel, Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

How to Grow & Protect Your Business in 2010

Tuesday 16th February 5.30pm – 7.30pm at the Greyhound Inn, Lutterworth

With the start of the New Year, you may be wondering about what 2010 holds in store for your business.  Would you like it to great off to a great start? You are invited to a seminar and networking event which offers practical ideas on how to grow & protect your business during the year ahead and beyond.

Part 1 – What are the best ways to grow your business?  The first part of the session covers low cost marketing ideas on the 4 key areas of business growth.  Attracting more leads, converting more prospects into customers, selling additional services to existing customers and keeping customers for longer.

Part 2 – How do you protect the business that you have grown? It’s all too easy to let the wealth and value slip away or to expose yourself to unnecessary risks.  The second part of the seminar looks at how to protect yourself financially and how to use your business to build yourself a financial fortress.

The seminar starts at 5.30pm with presentations commencing by 6pm.  The event is free of charge and you are invited to attend and bring up to 3 people with you. We are anticipating a good level of attendance so PLEASE reserve your place in advance.

To reserve you place please call 01858 44 55 43  e-mail seminar@idealmarketingcompany.com

Tough times ahead?

Who can help in a turnaround?

In a turnaround, businesses often need help from people who are familiar with this type of crisis situation and who possess the specific experience and skills needed. But there are differing types of help available so it is worth understanding who’s who in the world of CROs, IPs, IMs and other professionals you may encounter, some of whom work within your business and some of whom work simply as advisors.

A Chief Restructuring Officer or CRO, is a turnaround professional that management hire on a temporary basis to provide support and assistance.

A CRO’s job is firstly to help the business analyse its position, providing an experienced eye to look over how deep the crisis is, assess the options and make an informed judgement as to whether the business is salvageable.

CROs then move on to help to drive through the actions needed to deal with the situation, acting as a crisis manager to handle issues with the urgency, independence and sometimes ruthlessness required. CROs therefore need to be people who can cope with the challenges and difficulties that this implies in a professional way.

The CRO also brings to the business a body of specialist knowledge of relevant commercial and insolvency issues such as redundancy processes and wrongful trading, so helping to manage these risks.

A CRO brings their experience of dealing with not only a business in crisis, bit also their experience in keeping financial stakeholders such as banks on board supporting the turnaround. A CRO has the ability to talk to the bank and insolvency advisers their own language, so giving the business the best chance that it will receive funders’ support through its difficulties.

The help provided by a CRO is generally therefore extremely ‘hands on’ in nature. The contrast here is with the professional advisers such as the insolvency practitioner or the lawyer who, however close the relationship, do remain outside the business. The CRO sits on your side of the table at meetings and actively works on behalf of your business, often becoming part of your business by taking on the role and responsibilities of becoming a director to take charge and drive through change for the time needed to make the plan happen.

The Institute for Turnaround provides formal accreditation of UK turnaround professionals, and such they may also be a member of the US based Turnaround Management Association. They often work alone but increasingly are operating as teams, often in conjunction with or organised through the firms who are also involved in supplying in specialists on a temporary basis known as interim managers to deal with particular functional aspects of the business (such as a temporary finance or production director) as may be required to turn the business’ performance around.

But there are many other resources available that a business can need apart from CROs. As a turnaround affects all areas of the business, so the business tends to need assistance from a broad range of specialists.

Business owners should always take formal insolvency advice from either lawyers or an insolvency practitioner (or ‘IP’) if the business is in severe difficulty to see whether they are safe to continue trading the business. An IP will be able to advise on use of any of the business rescue procedures under the Insolvency Act such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement; will be able to help the directors in assessing the business’s position. They will also often have a strong working relationship with the bank and so may be able to to help gain bank support for a turnaround, as well as introducing or working with a turnaround professional.

Often there is a need to raise new or replacement finance to provide funds to deal with the initial crisis or to support the subsequent recovery and regrowth of the business. These funds will come from specialist asset financiers either directly or more usually through a broker who knows the market and is used to placing such business.

Legal advice is almost always required and the business will need a recovery specialist as a lead advisor who can call upon expertise within his or her firm across a wide range of areas such as insolvency and debt collection in the early stages; through key issues for restructuring a business such as employment and redundancy, as well as contractual disputes such as problem contracts; right through to corporate finance specialists if there is a need to raise new equity or arrange a sale of the business.

Interim Managers are often used as a flexible resource to meet the changing needs of a business during the different phases of a turnaround. A typical case might require significant assistance from an interim financial controller on tightening up management of its cash to survive an initial crisis. Then the business might need an operations specialist to address manufacturing issues, before then bringing in a marketing expert to provide a boost to regrowing sales, while the whole strategy is overseen by the CRO.

Mark Blayney has 20 years experience in business rescues, is an IfT member and is the author of Turning a Business Around  visit www.markblayney.co.uk for more ideas.

Marketing Seminar

Thanks to all the small business owners and marketing managers who attended my latest marketing seminar at Hothorpe Hall.  Judging from your feedbackforms and the e-mails I’ve since received you got a lot out the day.

Hear what one of the delegates had to say about yesterday’s event by clicking on these links:

Marketing Mentor Feedback

Marketing Mentor Feedback- part 2