Ideal Marketing Company Blog

penny wise - pound foolish?

Marketing ways out of recession

I read a YouGov survey recently which showed that small businesses plan to increase their marketing budgets over the next 12 months inspite of the current economic climate.

Marketing is important for SMEs in UK as in a survey of nearly 1,000 small business owners found that 38% plan to invest more in marketing.

SME’s can be shielded from recession by reducing external costs and consolidating suppliers. Further protection can be given by bringing in-house traditionally outsourced speciality tasks, such as production of marketing materials.

The survey by YouGov reveals that only 40% respondents will bring professional quality marketing material production in-house and only a quarter said they’d be unlikely to do so.

“The survey results highlight how businesses are looking to reduce external costs through bringing printing requirements in-house, with the ability to produce professional quality print material themselves, rather than through an external supplier,” said Officejet Brand Manager, HP UK, Beth de Avila.

The survey also reveals that 79% of those businesses that advertise rely on printed and online advertising as their primary means.

Added to the information given by the same survey 40% used print as their primary form of advertising and 7% were with event based advertising.

“These results highlight how UK business owners are not panicking in their attitudes to marketing during the current economic downturn, and are budgeting for the long term as well as the short,” added de Avila.
“Previous recessions have shown that those businesses that market themselves well during fallow periods are significantly better positioned when the good times return.”

It also showed that 13% respondents spend more than 80% of the company’s marketing budget on print advertising and 27% spent more than half.

The research was conducted by YouGov and surveyed 943 micro, small and medium sized business owners from 10th – 12th June 2009.

Sales Growth

Direct Marketing simulates Sales: Survey

With majority of recipients making a purchase, Direct Marketing remains one of the best ways of generating sales as figures suggest.

Almost three-quarters of people who received direct mail advertising from a business responded while the success rate for television was ten per cent lower according to ExactTarget’s 2009 Channel Preference Study.
Print media channels such as direct mail is more popular among younger people.

Robert Keitch, chief of membership and brand at the Direct Marketing Association, told the website: “Direct mail has long been the most effective of all direct marketing channels, which explains why the medium still accounts for 25 per cent of all direct marketing spend.”

Also the consumers are more likely to respond to direct mail promotions.

PMDG Marketing Communications is launching a direct mailing campaign to encourage more Mexicans to cross the border to shop in Texas, according to Business Wire.

I still think that direct marketing is the most effective of all marketing channels and is still popular among the youth. This survey shows further proof that it still works for improving sales.

Marketing Seminar Southampton

Marketing Seminar – Southampton

Thanks to everybody who came to my marketing seminars in Southampton this morning as part of the Venue Master annual event held in Southampton over a 3 day period.  Hope you found the marketing ideas useful and will take back a few ideas to help attract more new business leads.  Hope the rest of the event goes well and that you enjoy the keynote speech on Friday from Ruth Badger in the morning.  It was a lovely venue and it’s always a pleasure to speak to such a lovely audiance. I really enjoyed running thismarketing seminar in Southampton.

Marketing seminar - goal setting

Marketing seminars – When I run one of my marketing seminars I often start with some thoughts of goal setting.  Here are a few through from a seminar I held earlier this year you might find of interest.

Don’t be a clown this Summer

Who wants to act like or be thought of as a clown in their business or personal lives? Yet if you are not clear on what you decide to do with your life, it is all too easy to slip up, look ridiculous or end up having others laugh at your best endeavours.

Clowns date back many centuries and have a noble and important role in society – but you don’t want to be thought of as a clown. We all want our projects to be taken seriously and our efforts to be respected. If we go on a journey, we want to travel at speed and arrive in style – not blunder around with our vehicle falling apart. The purpose of a clown is to make people laugh and engender sympathy – and these are two feelings that you certainly don’t want to provoke in others.

Goal setting is the fastest way to achieve what you want in life, and for many people it has enabled them to become successful beyond what they ever thought possible. From Olympic medallists and successful business owners, to teachers and university graduates, goal setting allows us to work steadily towards what we want in life – once we are sure what it is that we want. By working on areas such as health, wealth and wisdom, goal setting allows us to achieve more than by any other method. Hundreds of books have been written on the subject, but the term CLOWN can help us all in both setting and achieving the goals that we want in life.

Here is a simple five point guide to setting goals for yourself and to stop clowning around with your life.

C is for Clear. There is no point in setting fuzzy, unclear goals which are hard to follow. Any goal you set for yourself should be very easy to follow and you should be clear in your own mind exactly what it is you want to do. Lack of clarity is one of the number one reasons why goals fail, so make your goals simple to follow. For example:

‘I will work harder in my job’ is far too vague. Better to set the goal ‘I will work an extra hour each day and make at least 10 appointments every week’. It is much easier to measure a goal if you are clear about what it actually is.

L is for Long Term. Whilst you might set yourself goals for today or this month, it is far better if these goals are part of a long term picture. Losing 2 lbs in weight this week is fine, but if your longer term, big picture goal is to lose 2 stone before your holiday in July, it is easier to motivate yourself. By all means, set goals to have £2,000 in your savings account, but a goal to have enough money to retire by the time you are 50 – and then work backwards – is far more motivating.

O is for Own. Your goals must be your own. If you are trying to achieve a goal for somebody else, it is actually their goal that you are working on. Goals should always be things that you decide and that you believe in. Let other people set goals for themselves, you need to believe and conceive your goals if you want to achieve them.

W is for Written Down. There is an expression that the cheapest pencil can survive the greatest mind. In order for you to remember and be inspired by your goals, it makes sense to always, always write them down so that you can revive them on a regular basis. There is no point in having great ideas if you can’t remember what they are, so always write down your goals and refer to them every day.

N is for Noteworthy. Your goals should inspire you to do greater things to challenge and excite you. If there is nothing exceptional or exciting about your goals, then the chances are that you won’t achieve them because you won’t be moved and inspired by them. Create big goals that will get you out of bed in the morning and make you want to put in the effort to make them happen.

Follow the CLOWN way to set goals that are:

Clear – clarity is always vital to successful goals

Long term – think big dreams to get yourself inspired

Own – if they are not your ideas you are actually working on somebody else’s goals

Written – if it’s not written down you can (and will) forget it

Noteworthy – make your goals exciting and inspiring to get you motivated.

Getting your goals right is no laughing matter. Use these simple ideas and you will generate the success you want in your life – not the laughter of the crowd.

Working Breakfast members

The networking group I attend every Thursday – called Working Breakfast at the Regency Hotel in Leicester  – has asked it’s member to come up with some practical tips on how the beat the ecconomic downturn.  It’s aimed at small business owners.

The result is an 80 point tips booklet that you can have for free if you call me on 01858 44 55 43 or you can download it at www.workingbreakfast.com  I think that it contains some really good ideas and I’ve been very surprised at how well it’s been received – however numbers are limited to get hold of your copy today before they run out.

Also if you want to ever visit Working Breakfast to see if it’s for you please do so – just let me know in advance and I will bring you along as a guest – which means you get a free breakfast the first time you attend!

Marketing Mentor Seminar

Just come back from running a 1 day seminar at Hothope Hall which I host every other month as part of the Marketing Mentor programme.  The group were very inspiring and a real pleasure to talk to.  It’s important to talk to ‘real’ business people regulalry to see how far away from reality the media portrail the business world is.  A very positive ‘can do’ meeting with a number of people who are certainly going to have a great year in 2009.   It’s not all doom and gloom and this group will prove it in 2009.

So, to get you going, here are a few questions you might want to think about when you are planning what to do in 2009.  What would you like to achieve? What would you like to earn? Where would you like to visit? Who would you like to meet? What would you like to read?  What is your favourite thing? What car would you like to drive? What would you like to learn? What would you like to weigh? How far would you like to run? What could you do better? What would you like to do differently? What is holding you back? What would you like to do less of?  What would you like to remember as your high spot? What friends would you like to spend time with? Who would you like to visit? How would you like to be remembered?

Spend a quiet hour or two and think through what goals you would like to set for yourself.  Start with the 7 categories first (or as many categories as you feel fit your life) and then start asking yourself questions.  The ones that I have listed are just the start.

Write them all down on a sheet of paper. Write down anything that comes into your head.  Some of it may be fanciful, some of it ridiculous. At this stage it doesn’t matter, just write all your goals down. Now make a selection of all the things you have written down, I’d suggest a maximum of about 10, but it’s really up to you.

When you have written them all down, see if there are any obvious conflicts (it would be difficult to become the world’s pork pie eating champion and lose 3 stones in weight).

If two goals do conflict, decide which one is most important to you.  This is also a good time to see if your goals are well balanced.  If your goals are all to do with money and you have none connected to your family or your health, then in a few years time the chances are you will end up rich, divorced and ill.

Once you’re happy with your goals and their balance, put an ETA (Estimated Time of Achievement) on them.  Some you will be able to achieve by the end of February, some may take months or years.  Put an estimated date on each so that you have something specific to aim for.

Then write down each one and phrase it in a way similar to this:  ‘by February 28^th I will have visited the gym 25 times.’  

Say what the specific action is and identify when you are going to do it by.  Most important of all, write it down, keep it with you and look at it every day.  The best time is first thing in the morning and last thing before you go to bed – the list will help to keep you on track. Once you have accomplished one of your goals, put a tick beside it and have a celebration.  The bigger the goal reached, the bigger the celebration. Then decide on a new goal in its place and repeat the process. 

Goal setting is just one of the many areas that I cover in my marketing seminars – call or e-mail to find out more.

Direct mail summary

Keep it focused. Don’t try to cover too many points in your letter.  Focus on one central benefit and perhaps a secondary one. You don’t want to confuse your audience with too many things to think about. 

Think like the customer / prospect.  Forget about your company as such and think about what you can do to help people and their businesses. 

Don’t get bitter, get better.  Even following all of these rules, you can’t guarantee that everything will go right every time.  And even a great response can probably be bettered. Take time to reflect on what could be done better and how you can improve each aspect to fine tune your letters and generate a more fruitful result next time.

Other Direct Mail letter ideas that work well

Create interest by being topical.  By using a headline from a newspaper (quoting the publication and date) you can show just how up to date your product or offer is. It also makes it clear that your message is based on ‘facts’ rather than being made up by you to sell things. 

It takes seven meaningful points of contact to make the average sale, yet most people give up on direct mail after one letter.  Better to create a list of 100 companies that you REALLY want to work with and mail them regularly than to mail a hundred different companies every week.

As part of your regular mailing campaign, send cuttings (about you or relevant stories) to your contact to show that you understand the industry and how it works. Mixed in with regular direct mail letters, this can be very effective.

Timing is (almost everything). The day your letter arrives has an effect, as does the time of year you send it.  Send your letter so that it arrives on a Tuesday.  For other matters think about the time of year that people are most likely to reply.  For example, when mailing schools, September seems to be the best month.

Stamp rather than frank.  It looks less industrial and is almost always more cost effective.

Follow up with e-mail or a phone call.  This area is covered later in the series, but a good direct mail letter that is followed up by phone within a week of being sent out will generate a far higher response rate for you. 

3D Mailers and novelties can work IF they are very carefully targeted; the more personal or suited to the contact the better.  For example, a personalised calendar can work well and even if it is expensive, it can prove to be a good investment in the long term if you bear in mind the lifetime value of a customer.

Qualify your data.  It’s a pain, but worth calling people on a mailing list prior to writing to them.  Make sure that the name you have is up to date and is the right person to contact otherwise you might as well save your stamp.  Writing to somebody who isn’t there anymore or isn’t in a position to buy from you is rarely going to end well. 

Test, test and test again.  If you think you have a good product and there is a market for it, then direct mail should work for you – it’s just a question of finding the key to unlocking the door, so keep testing out different headlines, offers, lists etc.  You’ll find one that works for you in the end – it might just take a few attempts to get it right. Remember that when you are testing, check out one thing at a time.
This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

The format

There are many different ideas about how long a direct mail letter should be.  One school of thought says that the more you tell, the more you sell. Whilst I understand this point, I haven’t found it to be true. However, the most effective length and style of direct mail letter I have worked on is no longer than a single sheet of A4.

The mailer is divided into a single page letter, (on headed paper) a response form that can be posted or faxed, plus a further letter or sheet with quotes from satisfied customers.  This three part mailer generates a higher response rate than any other and has more words and certainly more substance to it than a single page.  Test it out for yourself and see which variation works best for you.

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.