Total Marketing Solutions

You may be one of the lucky companies at the moment who is asking themselves “What should I do with my marketing spend in 2010?” Many companies have battened down the hatches in the mistaken view that doing nothing will somehow stand them in good stead for when the British recession is finally over.
So what to do with your marketing spend next year, no matter how limited? Should you ditch more traditional marketing methods and tactics and focus on digital? Is it really cheaper and the only way ahead?

As strategic marketing consultants, we’re not only seeing a large number of our clients with reduced marketing spend for next year but with a renewed desire to really make every penny count. That’s the beauty of digital marketing – it’s highly traceable and transparent. But does that mean that more traditional marketing has no place? Some would argue that digital isn’t that new either – we’re all blogging, broadcasting emails and podcasting every day anyway. Digital is such a huge medium, which is still developing, it’s hard to generalise anymore. Also the cost associated with going to market with digital varies so much, even more so than traditional marketing methods - and in many cases can actually be more expensive.

The key focus for getting the most out of your carefully guarded marketing budget has to be integration – choosing the best online and offline marketing for your particular requirement at any given moment. Measuring the success of each will then always remain crucial, without resorting to just bean counting the number of clicks you’ve got to your website.

Marketing is too varied and too complicated to generalise down to simply “Should I go digital or traditional,” and going for the cheapest option has never been the strategic choice of a winner anyway. What works for one company, or indeed product, will not necessarily work for another. With the vast choice of channels we now have on offer, the real skill is in using the appropriate channel at the appropriate time. In short, staying very well informed is the only way forward. This is how we work as strategic marketing consultants – we aim to find the best solution, be it the development and implementation of a traditional direct mail campaign or an internet marketing strategy, ideally combining the best that both have to offer to achieve the very best results for our clients.

It’s always interesting and enlightening to work with clients who have a strong, well thought-through and well-articulated sales proposition - those who have thought through their product offering and value proposition carefully, who have a profound understanding of what their customers want and who know what their competitors are up to. Unfortunately our experience of working as marketing strategy consultants shows us that these companies are the exception rather than the rule.

Now more than ever it’s absolutely imperative that, before embarking on any kind of marketing or business development activity, companies have a clear idea of how they are going to successfully compete. As marketing consultants we often encounter companies who have decided on a new website for example, without really thinking about the bigger picture - i.e. what is the target audience for that website or what the key selling messages are that they want the website to convey. It is critical to clearly understand your sales proposition before deciding on which direction to take to promote your business. Developing a compelling proposition to take to market revolves around answering three simple questions:-

1. What business problem are you looking to solve?
2. Why should your prospective clients choose you above your competitors?
3. Can you deliver on your promises?

But be warned: an overly simple answer to any of these questions will not be compelling enough to convince new companies, previously unaware of your existence, to start doing business with you.

In our experience, to build a strong case you need to be able to demonstrate the Return on Investment (ROI) and value added that you can deliver for your potential customers. In other words, clearly demonstrate what extra your customers could gain from paying for your product or services. Demonstrating ROI isn’t rocket science, but it can be a grey area where many companies fail to identify the real benefits that they deliver to their customers. The key is to get your potential customers to focus on the return bit of the equation, rather than the initial investment of buying from you. And with more and more companies having to justify every last penny spent at the moment, you need to be able to demonstrate the strength of your own proposition before chasing down the all too rare new business development opportunities.

More than ever, companies are coming under pressure to negotiate on price, to give the best deal possible, a “credit crunch special.” There are numerous tried and tested strategies for dealing with the all-too common obstacle of price, with the general consensus being to steer your potential customer away from price towards a discussion about value. But here’s the rub: it’s a lot more difficult than it sounds.

As strategic marketing consultants, we find that a many companies struggle to correctly identify a value proposition which will be sufficiently appealing to their buyer. What your customers value and what they are actually prepared to pay for it are often different. The question is: how to bridge this gap. We help our own customers to correctly identify just what their customers consider to be value for money by carrying out detailed research amongst their key targets. Only with an understanding of what it important to the end customer can you really start to create a valid value proposition which will be credible and resonate amongst your target market. Time spent on developing a credible proposition will save time further down the line and hopefully avoid any protracted discussions around price. What’s more, it’s same to assume that most customers already believe they are purchasing something of value and are willing to pay for something as a “fair equivalent” for their money. But what they are really looking for is “value-added”, in other words “good value”.

Whatever the price point you set, your customers need to believe that that what they are buying is actually worth more to them than what they are paying. In other words, when you come to define - or indeed, redefine - your value proposition, try to find things you can offer to add exclusive yet highly relevant value - all included in your very reasonable price! Once you have done this, you need to make sure you communicate these elements to your customers to further reinforce your value proposition.

By taking  the time to think about just what your customers value and how you can build that into your proposition, you can protect your pricing, stave of competitors and keep your customers coming back for more!

Your marketing activities are no doubt already strategically aligned with your overall company objectives, but you can do even more to ensure that all your future marketing spend really is aimed at working more strategically for you.

Use marketing to ensure you effectively communicate your value proposition to your customers.

It’s one thing to recognise the tougher times you are operating in. It’s quite another to look at repositioning your product and service offering accordingly to drive sales.  As marketing strategy consultants, we are encouraging our customers to challenge what they do and to think strategically for both the short and the long-term. Now might be the time to look at allocating extra training and resources for your sales team to fully understand how to more persuasively explain how your solutions can help your potential customers. Now’s the time to help your customers to fight their corner. Today’s challenge is not necessarily about convincing buyers to sign on the dotted line. It’s more about helping your customers get the relevant approval to go ahead with buying your products or services.

This means making sure you can clearly demonstrate results by developing or enhancing any ROI tools you have that can demonstrate the value of investing in your products and services to your customer.

It means developing strong testimonials  and references to demonstrate a sound reason to buy. It means making it as easy as possible for your customers to buy from you. Now really is the time to balance a strategic marketing approach with a shorter-term tactical approach to generating sales.

By strengthening your relationship with existing customers, keeping up to date with any changes in the marketplace and constantly re-evaluating marketing strategies, marketing can become even more effective in the continued tough times ahead.

It might seem like a big ask, but now is the time to perk up and start to think about all the good things you could be doing to improve your market share and to drive sales - even in a downturn.

When everyone else is cutting budgets and panicking, marketing needs to act quickly to ensure future growth is achievable. Easier said than done, but as marketing strategy consultants, we are encouraging our clients to take a closer look at how they spend their business development and marketing budgets and to think about how they might do things differently.

For example, try focussing spend on tangible demand generation rather than brand-building. An overhaul of your approach to new business development will reap more measurable rewards at the moment rather than a corporate ad in an industry glossy. Or perhaps try focussing your sales efforts on individual accounts, particularly where your competitors may be weakening their grasp as they start to suffer from the effects of the recession.

If that’s too parochial, try just focussing on smaller market segments to achieve real market penetration.

As far as any weakening competitors are concerned, there may even be some who right now could be open to a merger or even acquisition. It’s a bold move but one that could pay real dividends when the market improves.

In terms of cost-free marketing activity, nothing can beat face-to-face contact with the senior people at your key customers. Whilst is does require time on your part, the value of sitting down with your key customers for a meaningful discussion on how you can work through the turbulent times together is immeasurable. Especially if your competitors are also doing their jobs and keeping an eye on any possible new business opportunities. You can use these interactions not just to build or shore up relationships, but also to glean valuable market information. And as the old saying goes, information is power.

Now really is the time to make sure that every last penny spent on marketing is well spent and is either increasing or shoring up your market share. That means choosing your marketing tactics carefully and measuring its effectiveness every step of the way.

When your hard-earned enquiry does come in, you obviously respond quickly with exactly the information your prospective customer needs to make the right decision. But despite your compelling argument, your proposal is rejected.

But why? Have you ever wondered? Have you ever asked? If not, you’re missing out on an opportunity to learn some valuable insights in how to move your business forward. But how do you go about asking? Many people find this is an uncomfortable situation to approach. It’s actually quite easy, if you handle it professionally.

Create a Form

Create a short form or questionnaire that lists a few questions you’d like the answers to. You may want to ask:

• if the proposal itself was clear
• whether all the information the prospect needed to make a decision was included
• did the proposal offer value for money
• whether your proposed product/service solution fitted their needs
• if any element was missing from your proposal

Resist he temptation to ask to see the winning proposal or ask which company won. These questions are too probing and could make your prospect feel uncomfortable.

Ask Permission

Ask your prospects for permission to send the questionnaire. This will give them the opportunity to refuse if they don’t care to participate.

Send the Form

Email works best in these situations – it gives your prospect time to think about the answers and what information to provide. Be prepared for some to head straight for the dustbin – but by keeping it short and by thanking them in advance for their insight and help in improving how you do business, you can minimize the temptation to bin your form.

While follow-up is usually a good thing, in this case it’s not advisable. If the prospect is too busy or simply changed his/her mind about responding, let it go.

Take time to learn from the feedback

When you get your responses, review them carefully. Don’t make radical adjustments based on one or two pieces of feedback. Instead, wait until you’ve collected several forms then look for trends. If you see that most prospects are making reference to the same things, you’ll know it’s time to make some changes.

We generally find that, as Strategic Marketing Consultants, by asking a few simple questions, you can find out an enormous amount of information that can help to turn losing proposals into winning ones - increasing your ROI from your marketing investment. While no one will win every project they bid on, with some “inside information” direct from your prospects, you’ll have a much better shot at creating winning in the future and  making sure that all your marketing activity generates as much value for money as possible.

With so many articles out there focussing on the doom and gloom of the current economic situation, it was refreshing to come across this article by John Quelch on the Harvard Business publishing site. He’s a welcome positive voice in encouraging businesses to start to plan for a brighter future, when it arrives. If you’re surviving the downturn and have made the necessary adjustments - possibly downsizing, definitely shedding unprofitable customers and almost certainly deleting poor selling products from your portfolio - then now if the time to plan ahead. In his article, John recommends a number of key strategies, which we - as Marketing Consultants - find echo the advice we are giving many of our customers.  He talks about the importance of customer focused marketing - focussing on high-potential customers and taking the time to fully appreciate how the downturn might have changed your relationship with your customers and how they want to buy from you in the future. If you feel like grasping hold of a bit of optimism then take a look at his article - it might just put a spring in your step!

Talking to many customers and by just simply looking around at what is going on in the market, it is clear that marketing budgets are under pressure as businesses look to control their costs. Whilst this is a perfectly sensible thing to do, the challenge is make sure that a rational approach to cost management is adopted and this is as true with marketing budgets as it is elsewhere within the organisation. The risk is that many companies simply adopt a ’slash and burn’ approach to cutting their marketing spend and accordingly take investment away from activity that is actually delivering a positive impact on revenues and profitability.

Whilst it may be wise to look to control costs, it is even more wise to do this in a ’scientific’ way and make sure that you keep spending on those areas of marketing activity that are giving you a return on investment.

Organisations that do this will achieve their objective of reducing marketing spend and at the same time reduce the risk of creating a self-inflicted down-turn in sales performance.

Of course a necessity for adopting such a rational approach to controlling costs is actually knowing the return on investment being delivered by the different marketing activities an organisation undertakes. This is particularly true with online marketing activity as this activity is generally very measurable and transparent.

Unfortunately we still find that many organisations do not actively measure the performance of all of their online marketing activity.  As digital marketing strategy consultants, we believe that, if they do not already do so, now is the time that organisations should be auditing their digital marketing activity to ensure they understand what is delivering the biggest impact and that they get the maximum possible return on their investment.

The following slides will walk you through how we approach this task on behalf of our clients…

Reading round on the subject of marketing strategy occasionally I come across an something that really resonates with my own experience as a marketing consultant, this article on the excellent ‘Go-To-Marketing Strategies’ website is an example of this - Strategy Distraction - a Sales & Marketing Epidemic.

In the article the author talks about how often even large orangisations, having spent the time developing a coherent marketing strategy, allow themselves to be distracted and blown off course by one set of ‘bad numbers’ or by the latest ‘fad’ that the boss has bought into. I’m not arguing that any marketing strategy needs to be set in stone, there has to flexibility and the ability to adapt to major changes in market conditions but it is basic best practice to develop a plan, get commitment to that plan and then work the plan.

As somebody once said…. “I didn’t plan to fail but I did fail to plan”

As you will see this article also lays out a fairly basic guide on how you might go about doing this.

All in all some very useful stuff and very much aligned to our own thinking & experience!