Total Marketing Solutions

Following on from the last blog, it occurred to me that perhaps - whilst it might be a case of STBO for many - with many SME’s still lacking any kind of sustainability strategy, it might be worth looking more closely at the reasons why we as Marketing Consultants are keen to ensure that sustainability is at the forefront of the work we do with our clients.  So why should we really care if our products are sustainable or not? Grab that cup of fairtrade coffee again and chew on this:

• The world’s population has doubled in the last 50 years.
• UN forecasts show a further explosion of 3.3 billion to 2050 - 90% of which will be in the developing world.  
• The predicted resulting growth in consumption of energy and natural resources is already ringing alarm bells. 
• The globalisation juggernaut is still gathering speed - creating a greater North-South divide, destroying habitats and species diversity, whilst CO2 emissions have doubled over the last 50 years.

Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom. Consumers are realising that their current levels of consumption are having a negative impact on the planet and are looking to change their buying behaviours to reflect a more responsible approach to being a consumer in the 21st century. Businesses are now also realising that reacting to this shift in consumer demand not only represents an opportunity to do the right thing but also is evolving into a real chance to develop their own competitive advantage.  This advantage could be down to successfully differentiating a product due to its sound environmental or social performance. Alternatively, it could be down to any cost savings due to a reduction in materials or energy usage. Either way, it’s a win-win situation that is too good to ignore. Understanding your customers’ potential appetite for sustainable products is key to deciding how to shape your strategy.

So where to start? Mentioning the Marketing Mix may warrant another slurp of that strong coffee to stave off the inevitable yawn, but it really is a good starting point. As Marketing Consultants, it still plays a valuable role in defining our customers current strategic position, particularly regarding sustainability. A quick skip through the 7P’s in the Mix can bring some real insight:

1. Product/Service - how sustainable is your product or service? What are the real social and environmental aspects of making, using and disposing of your product?
2. Price - What is the true cost of the product? Perhaps those costs are only really apparent at the end of it’s Product Life Cycle when it has to be disposed of.
3. Place (or distribution) - can your distribution channels be streamlined to reduce their impact on the environment?
4. Promotion - a tough one, but is your current product promotion encouraging excessive promotion? (Just upgraded your perfectly functioning mobile for a slicker model anyone?) Are any sustainability claims accurate, because if they are not, a bumpy ride ahead can almost be guaranteed. The aware consumer will not tolerate tokenism and any bogus claims will be quickly found out and fired right back at you.
5. Your people - are they treated fairly, paid a living wage? (That’s a good one to ask when you buy your £2 T-shirt.)
6. Company processes - do current processes actively encourage the enhancement of natural and human resources?
7. Physicals (lorries to livery) - are there processes in place to reduce excess usage and sustainable sourcing? 

This sounds like a lot, but many SME’s are now grappling with these issues as a basis for developing their sustainability strategy. They are not only starting to sleep more soundly at night but they will also start to see the improvements in their bottom line. 

Viral marketing’s ability to generate cost-effective word of mouse is undisputed. What does remain in dispute, however, is just how ethical it all is. Where do marketers now stand on viral marketing now that it has had time to evolve and develop over the past view years? When it all first started, a few companies tried their hand at incentivising a few influential bloggers who really should get out more. In many cases the plan backfired when the “independent” opinions were found to be anything but and the ensuing negative publicity undid all their good work.

Today, the ethical debate still rages. No longer the sole domain of big brands and big budgets, viral marketing has become a cost-effective means of marketing communication for an increasing number of SME’s too. But the question remains: how do we as marketing consultants and also as consumers ourselves feel about the whole spectrum of viral marketing? That spectrum ranges from total deception - i.e. sneaking into online forums to talk up the latest gizmo and infiltrating chatrooms - to full transparency via branded advertainment, which leaves no-one in the dark as to who is behind it all. The only clear issue is that, ironically, the more transparent you are, the less effective the impact of any viral marketing activity. So what to do?  

The whole area of word of mouse is now so vast that to attempt to enforce some ethical standards would be nigh on impossible, but there are a couple of things to bear in mind if one were to go down this route:

1. Any content to be used for word of mouse should have the legs to stand on its own, even if everyone knew it was destined specifically for viral marketing.
2. Make sure anything you submit is of interest and/or helpful to the online community you are targeting.  Nowadays, it’s not so much cloak and dagger and mouse and content. 
3. As everyone is becoming increasingly sophisticated in their use of social media marketing, the messages need to be relevant, creative and transparently invisible.

 Who said it was going to be easy? 

Not many people would argue with the fact that businesses have literally driven the transformation of the modern world. From the original Bell telephone, which eventually led to the electronic information age, the list of consumer goods that have appeared in an evolutionary eye blink is endless. And it’s only getting faster. Disney produces a new product every five minutes whilst Sony launches three new products per hour. Seventy percent of Hewlett-Packard’s revenue comes from products that didn’t exist a year ago. This constant rush to market has dramatically improved and transformed human life — not only doubling our life expectancy and improving the quality of living but expanding our horizons too.

At the same time, the rush to capture more market share, propelled by the profit motive, has caused untold damage to this planet. The momentum of the corporate juggernaut is so powerful that trying to alter its course might seems almost impossible. “We are not just marching toward disaster,” says noted business consultant and author Ichak Adizes, “we are sprinting toward it.”

However, an increased awareness of the importance of sustainability is creating a new consciousness – and not just amongst the large global corporations. Companies of all sizes are now recognizing that as their customers’ views towards sustainability are growing, they now need to respond to these changes in order to have any stake in the future. And marketing stands to be at the forefront again – but this time as a force for good. As Marketing Consultants to SME’s we are now seeing an increasing number of clients seeking to build sustainability into their business.

Marketers are at the frontline in their relationship with customers and it is customers who are now driving the demand for companies to be more accountable. Britons spent nearly £26 billion on ethical goods in 2004, up 15% on 2003 – far more than a passing fad. It is marketers now who can take their unique customer insight to the rest of their company. They can have a direct impact on processing, packaging, and distribution whilst communicating their new approaches to sustainability to both the customer and the rest of the company.

Marketers now have the opportunity to lead creative responses and to encourage different, more sustainable responses. For those of you already doing the basics, how about:

• Implementing a sustainable sourcing policy – only buy from suppliers who operate sustainably.

• Introducing flexible working patterns at times outside of the rush hours to reduce idling traffic pollution and encourage working from home for some of week if possible.

• Looking at your packaging – are there any ways it could be reduced or degradable materials substituted? 

• Looking at your supply chain – could you source more locally if possible?

More radically perhaps, look at re-engineering your products and services to extend their product life cycle or remove any built-in redundancy. (How many of us have recently thrown away a perfectly good mobile phone to replace it with a fancier version?) Any step away from this current “disposable society” has to be a step in the right direction and the time for marketing to lead irresponsible and unsustainable consumer demand is probably over!

The business case for businesses to implement any steps towards sustainability is strong indeed and something which we, as Marketing Consultants, are keen to encourage wherever possible. There is real competitive advantage to be found in communicating sustainability credentials. By switching to sustainable suppliers, you are more likely to receive reciprocal business from like-minded organizations.

However, beware! In communicating your company’s green credentials you run the risk of “greenwash” – using a statement of ethical intent as a means of gaining competitive advantage, rather than demonstrating any real commitment to the cause. Only by ensuring that any move towards sustainability is real and not simply added on in an attempt to lure ethically-minded customers can you avoid an unpleasant attack of “greenwash.”

If you are serious about generating cost savings and creating competitive advantage, whilst adding to your reputation, take a long, hard look at how to adopt a more sustainable approach to doing business. It’s one of the few win-win situations out there any more and a real opportunity for marketing to shape the future.

Recent news articles have signalled some bad news for Google. The company, whose good-guy image and motto of “Don’t be evil” have helped it to survive previous bad news stories, such as the ongoing concerns over the length of its cookie to the furore over its censorship of results for Chinese users. And it’s likely that the news that Google is planning its first job losses will fall into this category, particularly as they’re a result of its acquisition of DoubleClick.

However the news that will give Google most cause for concern is that the rapid growth in advertising clicks has faltered. The Guardian reports that January 2008 saw zero growth in paid clicks, while February saw just a 3% rise. This contrasts with monthly increases of between 25% and 40% in 2007.

So what’s behind this? Are Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisers spending less or are users becoming more choosy about what they click on? My feeling is that it’s a mix of the two. Advertisers are now better at tracking results, and are acutely aware of the difference between traffic and sales. The days of generating traffic for traffic’s sake are gone. And users are aware that some paid adverts can find them just what they’re looking for – but some advertisers try to hijack traffic to sites that are light in content, perhaps in the hope of earning commission as an affiliate, which can result in a poor experience for the user.

I don’t believe that Google’s dominance is under threat, for now. As an online marketing consultant I know of PPC advertisers who spend significant sums with Google AdWords but don’t bother with Yahoo/Overture or MSN as they don’t deliver volume. As long as Google dominates search traffic, it will dominate the PPC market.

And what does this mean for SMEs? Not too much, for now. Consider your Pay Per Click campaign like any form of marketing. Keep a close eye on it and track your results. And if it’s not working to target, cut it out.

We all like to think that we are behaving responsibly and doing our bit to save the environment, but just how green are the various marketing activities you are currently undertaking? Have you ever carried out a thorough audit of their environmental impact with a view to adapting or changing the way you market your business? Well if you haven’t, you are not alone. According to Envirowise, the Governement body established to encourage businesses to improve their green credentials, 44% of leading UK companies are not taking any steps whatsoever towards embedding sustainability in their strategies. This despite the various carrots - free advice, incentives and proven improved commercial performance - that abound. As the drive to combat climate change becomes increasingly influential, those organisations lacking robust environmental credentials risk losing out to their more switched-on competitors. As legislation starts to be introduced to force us to be fully accountable for the way our businesses impact on the environment, those organisations not already ahead of the game will waste valuable time, resources and money playing catch-up whilst their competitors focus on increasing their market share. Put simply, the future health of your business is inextricably linked to the health of our planet. But where to start? As marketing consultants,  we have worked with a number of companies as part of their overall strategy development who have successfully introduced initiatives to combat their environmental impact. One of our clients, Pepper, a Plymouth-based printing company, were one of the first businesses in the South West of England to gain the BS8555, the new standard for environmental management systems. Not only have they reduced their carbon footprint in what is traditionally a very “ungreen” industry, they have also saved costs and increased efficiency.  Take a look at the Pepper website for more information on how they went about achieving green status.You could start the ball rolling by completing the Envirowise questionnaire, which will not only pinpoint where you are now but guide you towards the next steps. Not only does it make sense from an environmental perspective, but there are real, tangible benefits to adopting a green approach to how you do business. If that isn’t enough of a carrot, then you could always wait for the very big stick which is coming along!  

Every man, woman and their dog now has a website covering the whole spectrum of the good, bad, ugly and downright awful. But it’s fair to say that even some of the most beautifully designed, graphically pleasing sites may not be doing their job, which is not only to communicate with visitors to the site but to help get them there in the first place. If a website has not been fully optimised - i.e. is not exploiting every opportunity to be noticed by the spiders from Google, Yahoo, MSN, Mars and so on who crawl over websites gathering relevant information for the searcher - then it it doesn’t matter how lovely it looks, it is failing you and probably losing your company lots of opportunities for business.The good news is that to change things is neither impossible nor necessarily costly and can represent a real business development opportunity for SME’s who may have limited marketing budgets available.As marketing consultants we frequently look at overhauling a company’s website as a part of developing their wider marketing strategy. We find that our customers are often very pleased to see quick and significant improvements in traffic to their sites through even the most basic search engine optimisation (SEO). But just how easy is it to optimise a site for search engines? Here are some simple ideas that we believe work:

1. Make sure all copy is not only customer friendly but also “search engine friendly” - use your keywords (the main search terms used by potential customers) wherever you can, as long as the text still makes sense!
2. Make sure you have a site map - web crawlers can’t jump but love crawling from page to page via a site map. Take this a stage further and get yourself a Google Site Map, an XML thingy that is much loved by far and away the most important search engine. Note: if you Google the phrase ‘Google Sitemap’ you will find some ‘free’ software that will create your sitemap for you.
3. Keywords should be used in the title tags and meta tags on all your key pages - the snappier the better. Web crawlers don’t dawdle.
4. Take care with images - most web crawlers can’t read text contained in an image so make sure all images have an “alt attribute” - a text description so they do not remain invisible to the short-sighted crawler.
5. Get your finger out! Keeping your website up to date with blogs and news items will ensure web crawlers notice your site more easily.

For more hints and tips on Search Engine Optimisation, visit our Resources page. Whilst it will require time and effort to optimimise your site, it can pay real dividends quickly and effectively. A fully optimised site, even if it has been touched by the ugly stick, will prove far more effective than the airbrushed beauty. Whoever said looks aren’t everything certainly had a point!

Once upon a time the Chartered Institute of Marketing was perceived by many as the stamping ground of big brands only, with equally big marketing budgets to spend on expensive and high profile marketing activities. But the times, they are a-changing. As the number of small and medium-sized businesses and their importance to the ecomony continues to grow, particularly in the South West of England, the CIM is also growing in a whole new direction.

The recently established Small Business Group within the CIM now has a clear remit to become the ‘marketing champion’ for small businesses across the United Kingdom.  Through this group, the CIM and its members across the country are now focussing on establishing links with local Chambers of Commerce and other business support agencies and organisations to provide this burgeoning number of SME’s with access to the CIM’s expertise across a whole range of marketing issues. 

A number of targetted workshops and seminars will enable small businesses to access this expertise first hand whilst a specially-created Marketing Toolkit provides in-depth information on a wide number of marketing topics all of which are totally focused on the needs of SMEs. These include advice on how to create a website, how to analyse business sales and how to grow through existing and new customers.

Not before time, it looks like marketing consultants - like TMS - who work with SMEs everyday will now have the backing and resources of the CIM to support them in providing high quality and effective marketing help and advice. Time will tell, of course, but feedback from the pilot programme in Northamptonshire has been very positive. It will be up to the CIM members to ensure that their advice is focussed, relevant and practical, but this could be the start of a beautiful friendship where all sides benefit. The CIM gains increased credibility and member numbers whilst small businesses become better equipped to take their products and services to market both profitably and effectively.

Trying to grow your business in a tougher climate is obviously far more challenging than in times of economic stability or growth, but it can be done. Our experience as marketing consultants has shown us that many businesses decide to stop most or all of their marketing activities when times get tough. However, you may discover that, as your competition reins in its marketing activity, you have the opportunity to take a greater share of your target market. Then, when the economy rebounds and the tide rises, you (and your competitors) will also rise. However, the big difference is that you now have a bigger boat than you did before - i.e. a greater share of the market.History shows that companies who continued to invest in their business, including marketing, in tougher times, not only emerged more quickly than their competitors, but were tougher and stronger for it.

Whilst it has been relative plain sailing for a number of years now, many companies may not be prepared for the choppier waters ahead and could easily make the mistake of not only having to resort to a life raft, but potentially sinking! 

Profitability is more important than ever

Profitability is obviously always a concern. When there is an economic downturn, you have to be extremely aware of your profit margins. When margins are too low, businesses struggle to a greater degree. But when margins are healthy - even with lower revenue - you still have the means to promote your company in an effective manner. Your competition, however, is forced to market less and will be left wondering how you continue to grow and increase your market share.

Start low-cost, high-return marketing

There are a number of marketing tactics that cost little more than time, so they are perfect for businesses to employ during the slow times -as long they meet two criteria. Firstly, they must fit your overall strategy. Secondly, you must be able to implement them consistently.

Several of these tactics are web-based, such as ensuring your website is fully optimised – in other words, working as hard as it can for you to continue to attract new customers. If your website is already working well for you, look at beginning a blog or consistently adding to your current one. Keep your site fresh by frequently posting news relevant to your existing and potential customers. A well-established site, regularly updated, scores higher on google rankings than others with stale content.

Another opportunity is email marketing – developing and implementing an e-communications plan is a highly targeted, cost-effective way to communicate on a regular basis with your customer base. By staying top-of-mind and showing how you offer them value, your prospects are going to contact you when they have the need that you can meet. The real beauty of this, however, is that it is completely measurable. When marketing budgets are under increasing scrutiny, ensuring full traceability of any activity is absolutely key to maximizing impact whilst minimizing unsuccessful activity.

And whilst continuously testing and evaluating the effectiveness of any marketing activity is always good practice, this becomes even more crucial when the going gets tough.Yes, if the pundits are correct, tougher times are ahead and there may even be a recession. However, by carefully managing the effect any downturn might have on your business, as opposed to just reacting to it, you give yourself the opportunity to not only survive a recession, but thrive during and after it. Happy sailing!

Many small business owners that we talk to will happily admit that they get most of their best new enquiries by word of mouth or recommendations from people they know but then the same small business owners do absolutely nothing proactively about trying to maximise the opportunities that could come their way through this route.

Why is this?

The answer for many British business people may well be that world famous British sense of reserve….. “One doesn’t just ask for something, does one?”

Given that most small business owners are very much entrepreneurial in almost everything else they do, there is something strangely contradictory about a reluctance to ask for help from people who are, because they have first-hand experience of working with you, unusually well-placed to understand how you may be able to help other companies or organisations that they know.

The evidence suggests that time spent working with your existing network of contacts to get more referrals is time well spent indeed. We are not talking about that dreaded word ‘networking’ here, it is about using the network we already have to maximum effect.

Letting your existing clients and contacts know that you welcome referrals is a good start but too many companies fail to do even this simple thing. Based on our experience, we have pulled together a few hints and tips to help you generate more referrals for your business. We hope that you will find it useful. hints-tips-for-using-your-network-to-get-referrals.pdf

To see some more of our Hints and Tips for successful marketing, please visit the resources section on our website: www.totalmarketingsolutions.co.uk

When I sat down to write this article I had an alternative title in mind - are B2B trade shows dead? Perhaps I should have stuck with this idea but on reflection I decided that I might be leading the direction of the debate a bit too much if I did.

The evidence base before us at Total Marketing Solutions is gathering to the point that it is almost overwhelming - unless B2B Trade Show organisers start to be be more innovative about how they package up exhibitions to be attractive to both exhibitors and visitors then their future role in the marketing mix for most SMEs will become increasing questionable.

 This evidence comes from the experiences of a number of our clients who have recently attended trade shows in very different industries and from our own experience of exhibiting recently at the leading trade show in the South West. Without exception the one word that continually crops up when discussing the performance of these various exhibitions is “disappointing”.

When you think about it, in a world with limited time and available information, the role that B2B exhibitions have traditionally played is to facilitate a simple and easy way for customers to find new suppliers and for suppliers to showcase their wares. Well the Internet now does this with brass knobs on and you don’t have to take a day or days out of the office to do it. Anybody with a web browser can find more suppliers for most products or services than they can possible need and any company can now build a website to promote themselves to whole world. The only obvious benefits left for a trade show is that you can ‘touch and feel’ the product and that you can ‘network’ with the industry.

On its own I do not believe that this is enough for many people which is probably why trade show attendances appear to generally falling from year to year. I do believe that B2B exhibitions have a role to play and accordingly a future if their organisers can find new and innovative ways to add value for the show for both Exhibitors and visitors. For me it is all about creating an ‘experience’ - something that you can’t get sitting in front of a computer. It needs to go right through from the quality of the catering to thinking about what exhibitors and visitors want in the way of facilities to meet and discuss their needs in a conducive environment. It also needs to involve far more collaboration between the organisers and the exhibitors to ensure the success of the show - too often contact all but ceases once a ’sale’ has been made. We all need to make money but too often this appears to be the primary purpose of exhibition organisers rather than ensuring that their exhibitors get a return on their investment