Marketing For Entrepreneurs

#3 - Top reasons why small businesses fail to punch above their weight - Part 3

2011-12-01T12:26:00.000Z

Here is the third reason why small businesses fail to punch above their weight. They listen to too many friends and family members with an opinion.

Everyone has an opinion and when it comes to something as interesting as a friend or family member’s business, it is pretty exciting to be asked for your opinion. However, these people have a very skewed vantage point. Firstly they only want the best for you and will therefore often not give you the honest advice. Secondly, they may not be your target audience and therefore if they don’t like the advert, strap line, offer etc, it is irrelevant.

The only people who it is important that it appeals to are your prospects and your customers (and of course the regulatory bodies within your sector!)

Where ever possible ask your customers themselves. They would be the best source of all genuine feedback – whether you like what they say is another issue entirely!

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles

#2 - Top reasons why small businesses fail to punch above their weight - Part 2

2011-11-30T12:30:00.000Z

Here is the second key reason why a small business fails to punch above their weight is that the Business phone is not answered or goes to an answer machine.

Statistics show that 80% of callers will not leave an answerphone message. If this is the case, why would you use the biggest sales prevention device on your juicy new prospects?

In this digital age any phone can be forwarded to another phone which can be answered appropriately. However even when phones are forwarded, often a message such as “This call is being diverted. Please hold the line whilst we try to connect you…” is played! If there is one sure fire way to tell everyone who calls you that you’re a small business, that is it!

Others forward to their mobile and then answer hello whilst in the middle of the supermarket, windy street or on the motorway. Either way, kerbam – we all instantly know how big your company is.

Really! When you have the option to divert your phone to a virtual office or telephone answering service, from as little as £25 per month, probably as much as you spend on your speciality coffees a month (and I know how much that can be as a self confessed coffee addict!), why would you not invest it in keeping your customers?

Image courtesy of Digitalart

Top reasons why small businesses fail to punch above their weight

2011-11-28T14:21:00.000Z

Top reasons why small businesses fail to punch above their weight

In my day to day work, I come across too many small business owners who are so completely immersed in running their business and actually doing the work they generate, that they forget to look at their business from their customers point of view and are surprised when a prospect or potential supplier asks them a question about how big their company is, how many employees they have and how successful they are.

They actually forget that this information is important to both their prospects and suppliers to make a decision, and they also forget that when they’re talking to someone they can easily create confusion.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to cover some of the top reasons why small businesses fail to punch above their weight.

The first mistake is using a Mobile number as their business number .

This is an instant give away that there is only one person who is in this business. Plus with no landline, it gives the impression that you’re either not serious about the business or that you may disappear next week.

With technological advances there is no reason for even the most mobile business owner to just use a mobile number. VOIP (Voice over IP or internet phones now allow you to choose a phone number in the area you want. Some of my clients use professional VOIP companies, others use Skype.

Other companies use a virtual office to answer all their calls and publish the phone number that the virtual office allocate to them. This would seem like a good idea at first, however as you don't own the number, you would be tied to that virtual office indefinately, so make sure that they're going to do an excellent job for you before you commit yourself and your business to a receptionist that you can never sack!

So if you're using your mobile number as your business number, there are plenty of options for you to consider. There is no excuse!

When things go bump in your business - here's how you can reduce the emotional impact on you

2011-08-01T07:35:00.000+01:00

We all have bumps in our business journeys where we suffer losses and disappointments along our way. Indeed, on an almost daily basis, we hear about companies that are having a very bumpy ride in this economic climate.

As you can imagine I was really interested when I found out about a psychological technique that will help you pick yourself up if you do hear some bad news and help stop you worrying about it every moment of the day. Want to know more? So did I...

Research by Xiuping Li shows that through the process of writing down the specific issue creating the negative emotion on a piece of paper and then, very importantly, sealing the paper in an envelope, will help you reduce the impact of the negative emotions after hearing the news.

Try it and let me know what you think...

To read more about this research click here

When YOU are your business

2011-07-20T14:30:00.000+01:00

I was reading a couple of interesting books over the holidays about becoming a person of influence & about marketing in the fast moving world of technology. All very interesting but not a huge amount of new stuff apart from one thing when you look at the two books together. Becoming an expert in your micro-niche and growing the micro-niches to grow your business!

Essentially this is what Richard Branson does with looking at a product/service where he believes he can deliver a better value for money proposition than is currently available. He looks to own a micro-niche.
When an entrepreneur looks to start a business, the do what they are good at or in the field of where they have experience, which is a great place to start. Unfortunately this creates a challenge in itself. Whereas Richard Branson has the resources to employ/partners with experts and is able to gain credibility under the Virgin brand, many of us don't. It is just down to us!

So many knowledge based businesses are completely dependent upon the expert (s) - often the founder member (s). They are the people who have dared to explore and try new things within their sector; often achieving great results, but the business still depends on them as they're the one with the experience, knowledge and thought process behind the delivery. Sound familiar?

The downside of this is that you are naturally stuck. Stuck in the limits of your own capacity and time constraints and with the best thoughts of delegation, it is really down to you.

If this is the case for you, then you need to look at this issue slightly differently. You are not going to dominate a whole sector - there is afterall only one of you. But you can dominate a micro-niche.

Essentially YOU are the brand and YOU need to build credibility within a small target group of companies which is big enough to support your growth ambitions, but will allow you to generate a big name for yourself in that smaller pond (the niche).

You may have already started this and have become well known in your business sector, but almost certainly you’ll have not taken the second step which is to develop systems to systemise that knowledge dispersion so it is not entirely dependent upon you in thefuture. This can be through online webinars, e-learning programmes, publishing a book, running seminars, online communities etc. With e-commerce, the opportunities are now boundless.

But where does the growth come from? Well, once you have saturated your micro-niche, you can start developing related micro-niches delivering through either partnerships or building on the expertise of your own team to deliver.

Inspired? Now you can get planning as I've been doing all last week!

The risk of standing still in business

2011-02-06T20:20:00.000Z

I understand that this economic climate is tough for a lot of businesses. I see evidence of it everyday, but I also think there are many business owners who are scared to take that leap of faith to take their business to the next level.

Indeed, this was me for a while. I was happy and content with the level of business that I had and to be honest there was no need for me to change things. However there was this nagging at the back of my mind about what I could do if I would only just do it. I have the same question for those of you who are stuck in a rut.

If like many you are terrified of Social Media, you firstly don't know what to write and secondly, there is always the fear that you will spend time on a strategy that will in the end generate zero return and that has turned out to be a fad. Others are dismissive about marketing as a whole, especially advertising as it hasn't worked for them in the past. But the past is the past and my question is a little more fundamental than that.

What is the risk of standing still?

I was talking to a company last month who were best of breed but who had not embraced change to the extent that they needed to within their sector. The effects have been catastrophic and they need to move fast to gain any foothold back into their market.

What are you doing to ensure you stay one step ahead in the game of business? How can you stand out from the crowd and ensure that you are recognised for what you do and that you do it well?

I feel some homework coming on for you. Any questions, feel free to call, email or send a smoke signal...

Do your customers love you or are they just a number on your balance sheet?

2011-01-20T21:32:00.000Z

I was running a seminar with CAFRE as a part of the Farm Diversification Challenge last night and I was reminded how essential it is that we understand our customers before we start dreaming up our next project or product.

History is littered with classic cases of inventors getting it horribly wrong. Even for some of the most successful products it has taken a long time to catch on - How long did it take Amazon to move into profit? Other businesses and products remain relegated to the fad market, no matter how many times yo-yo's come back, they're never going to stay popular enough for you to base your business on becauce they simply don't keep us amused enough and we don't buy enough of them.

I then got thinking about i phone apps. How many of us download an app that looks good but actually it amuses us no longer than 5 minutes and then is either deleted or forgotten. Are we becoming more demanding in what we want for our entertainment buck or are we so spoilt for choice that we automatically look for something better?

Brands are now understanding more than ever that they have to know their customer and engage with them, which is why so many people queued to buy the iphone 4 even when they clearly knew there were issues with it.

My question to you is - How well do you know your customers and their needs and wants? Are they always looking for the next best thing and are you providing it? Finally, ask yourself, if your product was flawed and both you and your prospects knew it - how many of them would queue up to buy it, never the less?

There are lessons for us all to learn by going back to basics, no matter how long we've been in business, so today may be the best day to re-introduce yourself to your customers...

How many steps will I have to climb or will it be more like cliff jumping?

2011-01-05T10:02:00.000Z

Having decided that I'm going to take the plunge with some new projects, now the grizzly task of deciding which one goes first and working out the steps to get there. This is a real risk v reward task which I'm not perfectly attuned to. I much prefer the suck it an see version, but that often leaves me with more egg on my face so I'll do the planning this time!

The first question I need to ask myself ( and you need to ask yourself) is what am I prepared to do to get this project under way?

What are the steps?
How many are there of them?
How long will it take?
Where am I now?
...and very importantly what will I get from it at the end?

In my case, the steps aren't too many as the product exists, but it is a crowded market place which will be difficult to stand out in and there are many specialists in the area (Any ideas what it is yet?) However, there are many pluses. I already use the product, I know it works, I know there is huge growth in the market and most importantly of all - It's not what you have - it's how you do it! (Keep it clean now please guys!)

Stage one passed with a tick and it blasts out the other projects! By the way the first person to guess what the project is gets it free for a year (now if that isn't a clue, I don't know what is!)

So what step are you on and how feasible is it for you to do it. Don't forget you must not take your eye off your main revenue earning ball - This is a project...so far....

Buckle up - we're on for the ride of our lives through 2011!

2011-01-04T13:19:00.000Z

At last 2010 has gone and we have a fresh start with 2011. Phew! We can start to think again about what we wish to achieve with our clean slate this year and forget the misery of the news, snow & general doom & gloom from last year.

The big question is - what do you want to achieve this year? Is it the same old goals, rehashed to suit the economy or do you have a real burning desire?

Mine this year is to do something different. I love what I do, but I have had a nagging feeling about a few projects that I haven't explored and now is the time. The big question I've been asking myself and now I ask you is "How brave are you going to be this year?"

I was reading a great article on Risk and the consequences of playing it too safe. I'm going to put a few projects into action which are risky but not all eggs in one basket risky...what about you? I want to know what you're going to do this year to make this the year a defining year for you.

I'll be sharing my projects' ups and downs with you, but more importantly I'll be taking you through the challenges day by day that you should be setting yourself. So buckle up, it may be a bumpy ride through 2011, but it certainly won't be boring!

Why it’s time to incorporate social media into your marketing strategy

2010-10-19T23:06:00.000+01:00

As the hype continues to grow around business social networking platforms, we can all get carried away with it. Whilst it is important to grow and maintain your social platform, we all must remember it shouldn’t be used as a substitute to traditional marketing techniques. In fact it should work alongside them, complimenting them.

Statistics show that approximately 78% of people trust peer recommendations, were only 14% trust advertising. Social media therefore has a crucial role in marketing, as it incorporates and relies on both consumer testimonials and interaction. However social media platforms can be time consuming as a page can take weeks, if not months, to gather momentum.

When planning to incorporate your social media platform with your marketing strategy, you should consider the following points:

Start with the end goal in mind – When deciding to implement social media into you MUST determine your marketing strategy objectives before you start. These can range from creating brand awareness to CRM. You must develop strategies and implement them to reach your end organisational goal.
Target Market? – Having determined your organisational goals. The next step is to determine your target market. Through establishing the best marketing tools you can utilise to reach them, (whether that is through one technique or a combination,) which incorporates social media can give organisations the power to reach a specific niche market.
Social Media in the marketing mix – Having reached your target market via social networking sites, the big challenge is to develop techniques to establish and maintain relationships with your audience that reflect your offline marketing efforts.

At Haybury Marketing, as we specialise in measurable, accountable marketing for small businesses, we strongly suggest that you consider incorporating social media into your marketing strategy NOW!

Where many users focus on broadcasting their messages to anyone and everyone, we believe that it’s essential that you develop strategies to create authenticity, engagement and consistency on your social media platforms. After all, anyone can broadcast a message, but the real art to social media is being social and building relationships that will eventually be strong enough to develop into personal and business relationships offline.

If you need some advice on Social Media or have already created your facebook or LinkedIn page and are not getting anything from it, then give us a call on 08450 757 756 or leave us a message on Facebook , LinkedIn or Twitter using #haybury

The Truth Behind Email Marketing

2010-06-24T15:13:00.001+01:00

As we approach summer and the sun has come out at last, it's easier to be more positive about the business climate. I certainly sense a renewed vigour and optimism in the small business community.

Many of us are taking the time to look at the future instead of just focusing on the here and now - literally in survival mode. I'm constantly asked about the real value of email marketing. There are so many pluses and minuses on how to successfully use email and which technology to use that I've put together a guide on successful emailing which is my gift to you.

Where email marketing scores well for a small business is:

1) It's very cheap to send emails.

2) The software available is fantastic to measure and track all activity the email generates.

Indeed you can track and measure who opened the email, when and what they clicked on both within the email, what articles they read and who went onto the website.

The most sophisticated Software now allows you to link with your google analytics so for the first time you can see what specific effect your email campaign has had in driving people to the site and what they did when they were there.

3) It's instant - You can agree the content and send it out immediately (Beware - this can be a really bad thing too if a campaign is ill thought out!)

4) The best email solutions now ask you to check the email against a spam filter so you stand the best (although not guaranteed) chance of getting your email to the recipient.

Where email falls down is that:

1) The content rather than the software is sub-standard. Uninvited, boring and irrelevant content which does not interest or add value to the reader is purely spam!

2) Email marketing is unfortunately badly abused which means that most people don't take notice of emails from a sender they don't know.

3) It is therefore hard to build trust or credibility with one email - your one chance before they unsubscribe!

4) It can be easy to misinterpret a message through just words.

5) Most businesses don't have an ethical data capture strategy within their business. They ignore all the customers and prospects who really want to hear from them and simply use out-of-date database that they have managed to get from somewhere.

How you can get your copy of the Golden Rules to Email Marketing

Personally, I see email marketing as a gift to small businesses. We can seriously punch above our weight and present our best image directly to our customer, but we need to think seriously about what we say, how we say it and when we send it.

I have developed some golden rules that I get all my clients to follow that help you achieve results through your email marketing. If you would like to receive a PDF of the Golden Rules to Email Marketing, simply click here and drop me a line with your details. No catches - just my gift to you on a lovely summers day.

Until then...Happy emailing

Best wishes
Nicki

www.hayburymarketing.com
www.nickibury.com
www.easyemailer.co.uk

What the TWITTER is all the fuss about?

2010-02-04T10:40:00.005Z

These days you can't move for people talking about twitter, linkedIn, facebook, blogs and email marketing. Everybody's having a go...

Celebrities tweet about their every movement, lobbyists leak info about and draw attention to suppressed official documents and people involve complete strangers in their lives. If you're not involved yet, that's fine, but there is a new world of two-way engagement emerging which you need to embrace now before you get left too far behind – especially if you have an important message.

Although it was not hugely scientific, our research into this subject indicates that the number 1 reason why organisations don't take the plunge is Fear. This was closely followed by a perceived 'lack of time' (although we believe this is also related to the lack of belief by business owners that you really can get a solid return on investment from the activity.)

Here are 5 reasons why you need to get emarketing today

1) The world is moving online - Magazines, newspapers, music, radio podcasts and TV included. Consider your own behaviour, when you look for information where do you look? I bet you automatically "google it" - your customers are exactly the same! If we googled your core business subject today - where would you come in the ranking list and what other references would there be to drive people to your doorstep rather than other causes and third sector organisations?

2) There are billions of websites so if you want yours to be found, then you need to draw people to it. Google's algorithm is complex and a closely guarded secret, however we do know that links back to your site from blogs and other respected sites will boost your google rankings.

3) Your customers & supporters will choose how they want to connect with you. We sent an invitation to users via twitter and some people chose to come back to us via facebook. It's their choice! They choose how they interact with us, so as organizations, we need to make it easy for them to communicate and engage with us how they want to.

4) Your customers are busy people. They don't have the time to research and read up on what you are doing so they stick with what they know - which is what they have experienced to date and what they have heard from you. By communicating with them directly by email, you have massive potential to get a clear and relevant message to them at the push of a button.

5) The majority of decision makers google looking for information about you other than your official website. It is now more essential than ever that you actively manage your ‘online reputation’, even as a social economy organisation. It is your responsibility to watch and monitor what people are saying about you and to actively manage it in order to ensure that you are making the right impression.

The world of communication is changing, along with how we interact with our fiends, colleagues, businesses and organisations. We are far more curious about who we are engaged with, especially now we have access to a lot of information about them at our fingertips.

Employers google prospective employees as a standard measure now. Just by looking at their online interactions, they can get a measure of their prospective employee before they even meet them. The same is true of people looking to engage with your organisation and unfortunately, just being silent and with nothing to say is not good enough. That speaks volumes in itself!

Whilst the actual applications Twittter, Facebook, bebo, MySpace, LinkedIn etc. along with email marketing & blogging software will evolve over time, the one thing that is here to stay is our thirst for knowledge about who we are dealing with and the wish to interact with them on our terms. Indeed the need to interact with brands and organisations will only grow as the technology evolves to allow us to get more involved. If there is ever a simple message, it is that now is the time to dip your toe into the water and get involved!

The 7 Critical Factors to Successful Email Marketing

2009-06-04T14:57:00.008+01:00

Email marketing is the new rage, but how do you make an impact when everyone else is using it too? The answer lies not in how often you email your prospects, but in what you email them.

Statistics show that email traffic has increased by over 75% since November 2008. This means that people's inboxes are filling up very quickly and they are now very quick to unsubscribe if they are unsure about how relevant it is to them.

Too many of us focus on getting our hands on cheap email software, without thinking about the longer term consequences of your email. There are many critical factors to consider which will either make your email marketing a success or a bad smell in the Ethernet.

Using our new Email Marketing Service, you will have access to professional online email marketing software with some of the most advanced opening information and statistics you have ever seen. Nicki Bury from Haybury said "As marketing coaches we work with a wide range of email marketing packages. Some are easy to use but you have no idea what is happening behind the scenes - only that you see an increased amount of enquiries or visits to your website. But what happens if you see no change - How do you learn from that?

The key factors to a successful email marketing strategy are:

1) Define your objectives.

What do you want to happen? How will you know whether the email was a success and how can you measure it?

2) Build your database carefully

SPAM, SPAM and more SPAM. Like junk mail, spam is simply an email that appears in the inbox of someone who doesn’t want it. The issue is not so much the physical action of the email arriving in the inbox, but the damage it does to your reputation in the mind of the person who receives it.

Will the reader be interested in what you have to offer? If not, there is the possibility that you and your brand are now considered a spammer and that your prospects now feel differently about working with your business. This is why statistics are so important. Monitoring the openings and unsubscribe statistics can give you useful clues to understand this.

3) Think about your initial impact

Too many companies just SELL, SELL, SELL in emails. They are complete strangers to us but they think it is OK to just open their bag of wares to us as a street trader would. Remember, just as when you meet someone face to face either at a meeting or at a networking event, you need to build rapport and trust with them first. Email is no different!

4) Think about your message

If you receive an email from a particular company on a regular basis, take a moment to consider your expectations before you open the message (assuming you get that far). Do you expect it to contain a relevant article of interest? Will it be something that you can use immediately? Will you be directed to somewhere useful for you to read someone else’s work?

Now more than ever there is a need to add value to your client/prospect relationship, which helps to build trust. Emails that usually contain useful information which will help readers are more likely to open be opened, along with emails that contain genuine good value-for-money offers on products that the readers need. However, if it is always sell, sell, sell – then your subscribers will quickly switch off and unsubscribe.

5) Think about your calls to action

Another common mistake that email marketers make is to have TOO FEW calls to action or none at all. Don’t give your readers the job of trying to find you and also take into account that many readers now read emails on mobile devices. If you make them scroll to the bottom just to respond, they may well give up before they get there!

6) Stay legal

There are laws covering the use of email marketing and many organisations completely ignore this (including some very surprising ones such as local council communications!) The main laws cover the requirement to display your company or trading name and contact details on the email and always include the option to unsubscribe at any point.

So having given you some interesting information, here is our call to action. If you are considering email marketing or are already emailing prospects and you are not getting the response you were expecting, then call us on 08450 757 756 or email info@hayburymarketing.com.

We’ll happily meet you for a no-obligation coffee, to look at a few ways on how you can achieve the results you are looking for.

P.S. I forgot to mention point number 7 which is two way communication – always ask for feedback – so we’d be delighted to hear your comments to this article.

P.P.S. Isn’t it funny how everyone always reads PS’s…

The Importance of TRUST in Online Buyer Behaviour

2009-05-25T11:01:00.006+01:00

Our buyer behaviour has changed significantly over the last decade. We no longer just look for one source of information to make decisions about what we buy. Instead, we research it ...or as many of us now-a-days, refer to it as "googling" it!

Googling is just one of the tests or filters that we use when deciding whether the product or service that we are considering is best for us and at the price we are happy to pay. We also look for feedback from many other sources.

Recent research shows that when looking for information about a product or service, 71% of us look for information on a search engine, 67% of us still look for personal recommendations, 56% of us look at price comparison sites (and I expect this figure will have significantly increased in the recent economic climate); 47% of us look at customer opinion on the seller's site or benchmarking sites (such as trip advisor) and finally, 57% of us simply place our trust in a well known brand or retailer.

That's a lot of research that we now do before we even step a virtual foot onto your website!

You may think that if you market off line to build your brand that your prospect will be loyal when they visit your site. Unfortunately this is not even true. In 2007, a survey showed that after their online research activity, over 47% of people looking for a large electrical item selected a different solution to the one they had originally intended to buy.

The same was true of financial services products where 39% of people in the same survey reported that they had also changed products.

So what is the magic ingredient that are people looking for?

The main key is trust. Yes, good old fashioned trust.

The questions they are consciously and subconsciously asking themselves are: Do they like you?(your site, your reputation) and Will you be fair with them (Are you charging them a fair price? Will you look after them if they have an issue?) Will you entice them to come back? Will they be hounded by you after the sale?

If this is not something you have thought about, here are a few questions to consider:

When was the last time you communicated with your customers past and present to find out what their needs and wants are?
How do you know whether you are doing a good job?
Do you know what your reputation is?
Do you know what your customers are saying about you?
Do you know how to find out?

The answers to these questions alone could provide some major clues on how to build your "trust" reputation to keep your customers loyal and build relationships with new customers.

Nicki Bury - Haybury Marketing - Marketing for Profit, Knowledge for Life. www.hayburymarketing.com

Recession Busting Marketing - Did I mention the R word?

2009-04-05T20:53:00.001+01:00

Every day we hear about the state of our economy and we increasingly hear about job losses and businesses going to the wall. If you listened to this then it is easy to convince yourself that your organisation may go the same way.

Indeed you may be tempted to cut your marketing spend, which has been the trend in previous downturns, but is exactly what you should not do. Instead you need to be smart with your marketing money to get ahead. If you think about any recession in history there are always winners, and they are the ones who invest wisely…

Keep your customers close…

To end up on the winning side, you need to start looking at your organisation from a different angle – From your customer’s perspective.

To recruit a new customer is six times more expensive than keeping an existing one, so you need to keep your customers close…how?

Answer - the simple art of two way communication. This is the key to building strong relationships with your clients. Whether it is over the phone, ezines or newsletters where you add value to your relationship (not simply selling to them), or face to face; this two way communication is a vital ingredient to building a lasting relationship.

Ask yourself whether you know what your customers’ think of you? Most organisations don’t know and assume that silent customers are happy customers. Most also assume that their customers know about their whole product/service range and finally, they assume that customers will be back. Of course none of this is true. Many will simply walk away in silence and you’ll never know.

By communicating you’ll learn so much about what you are doing right and also what business you are missing out on. For instance, do you cater for your customers’ needs and/or wants? Are you missing out on vital sales because your customers want something that you have failed to recognise or more often that they did not know you provided the product/service?

For most businesses, marketing is now about keeping their current customers on-board, supplying them with as many of their needs and wants as possible and at a price that is a win-win for both parties.

Your challenge, if you wish to accept it over the next 100 days, is to ask your customers for feedback. One way to do this is to agree that one morning a week you will call 10 of your customers before 10am. Ask them how they are, what they are doing and what their challenges are. Just listen – You will be amazed by what they tell you that will help you in your business and possibly inspire you to look at other opportunities.

The challenge is yours – over to you…

Haybury Marketing are specialists in coaching small and medium sized business organisations in accountable, measurable marketing techniques. To find out more call 08450 757 756, email info@hayburymarketing.com or visit www.hayburymarketing.com for free marketing hints and tips.

Social Networking - Is it really for small businesses?

2009-01-09T18:02:00.000Z

Recently I have been talking to a number of my clients about social networking and without fail they have been extremely cautious about "on-line" part of this. There is a genuine fear amongst many small business owners about exposing themselves on-line for the world to see - a fear that they will be somehow rediculed.

A website is seen as safe, because it is a "known quantity" mainly because a web company has generally held them by the hand. However anything vaguelly viral, social or blog orientated is seen to be dangerous.

I'll place a small bet with you today. In 5 years time, blogging, social networking and viral marketing will be the norm. Already email marketing is seen to be a standard small business tool and people are less scared about "spamming" their prospects as they become more accustomed to it.

Such is the pace of technical change that before long the sophisticated tools to communicate with millions will be in the hands of business owners who will see this as the norm. The question is simply how long it will take?

Nicki Bury ...www.hayburymarketing.com

Here’s why your Satisfied Customers may not be Loyal customers

2008-12-07T19:33:00.000Z

We all work towards the goal of having satisfied customers but will these customers stay loyal to you? Shockingly the answer is probably no. Here’s why…

One of the main issues is around the fuzziness of the word "satisfaction." The measurement and strength of conviction will vary from customer to customer or even across departments and branches of the same company to be a meaningful benchmark. One experience which satisfies one customer might be meaningless to another.

Furthermore, some experts question whether you can measure levels of satisfaction and what they actually mean. Nick Wreden from FusionBrand asks “Does "somewhat satisfied" mean that we do a superlative job in most categories but a poor job in others, or does it mean that our performance is adequate in all areas? What does "90 percent of customers are satisfied" mean? That 10 percent of customers are impossible to please or that operations are not firing on all cylinders?”

The second issue relates to the methods used in the measurement of satisfaction. Think back to the last research survey you took part in. Online/postal response surveys usually have very low response rates and also have the major issue of self-selecting respondents. In other words, the only people who respond are people who have something to say, either good or bad. Either way, the response is often not representative of your overall client base and therefore cannot be a representative voice of your client base. Equally, if you are asking your customers face to face, the polite factor will come into play. Most customers will not say anything to your face which could be construed as either unconstructive or negative.

The final issue with customer satisfaction concerns the concept of value for money. Your customer is satisfied because they received what they perceived as good value for the price they paid but what is that price? What is good value for one person is an expensive experience for another dependent on a wide range of factors including their beliefs, other experiences good and bad, their levels of finance, their lifestyle, their ambitions and often the level of understanding of the product/service to name just a few factors.
"Even if your customers rate you with the highest level of “satisfaction”, they do not stay loyal to you."
You are probably asking yourself whether this is true for you, so look at your own organisation. Just ask yourself whether your satisfied customers are 100% loyal. According to the Harvard Business Review, between 65 - 85 % of customers that chose a new supplier said that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their former supplier. So even if your customers rate you with the highest level of “satisfaction”, they do not stay loyal to you. So what can you do?

This is the million dollar question and it all comes down to knowing and understanding your customer. This is the fundamental principle behind all good marketing practice…what does your customer need and what do they want?

If you satisfy the need, you will by definition have “satisfied customers” but they are not “wowed customers”. They have received the product/service that they needed and more importantly, that they expected. But is that enough for them to consider it good value for money?

The bottom line is that your customers expected you to deliver a good product, which was fit for purpose, on time and at the correct price. This is how they are judging whether you are “satisfactory” but with this level of expected service you have not emotionally exceeded their expectations. To do this you need a wow factor which satisfies some of your customers’ wants. This is not a case of reducing queue lengths at the supermarket checkouts, which is expected. It is about providing individual rewards for loyal behaviour such as personalised loyalty card bonuses.

The message is simple. If you understand what your customers both Need and Want, you can look at adding in the important loyalty generating wow factor. By creating an emotional wow concept of “value for money” on top of the solid, reliable and expected base of a “satisfactory” product/service level you will keep your customers coming back time and time again.

Nicki Bury from Haybury Marketing is a specialist in educating small and medium sized businesses and organisations in accountable, measurable marketing techniques. For further information call 08450 757 756, email info@hayburymarketing.com or visit www.hayburymarketing.com for free marketing hints and tips.

Writing an effective Yellow or Golden Pages advert

2008-10-14T22:24:00.000+01:00

Now I am not going on a rant here, but it constantly astounds me how many small companies waste so much money on poor advertising. I see adverts in magazines which are clearly just there because there was a good deal and with little thought put into what the magazine's readership may want.

This is especially true for Yellow Pages and Golden Pages. You can spot a small business at 100 paces in these publications, because they all follow the standard template. This template places the company logo at the top of the ad. And this is despite the fact that every creative advertiser knows that to create a successful ad, the logo and the call to action should be positioned at the bottom. Why should this be true for all other forms of advertising apart from yellow and golden pages?

Now I am not cynical, but could it be that this is a great formula for the good sales people of these publications to encourage you to buy bigger, colour and white knockout to differentiate yourself?

Of course there is another way. Savvy marketing people like me simply give you a new combination that follows the tried and trusted AIDA:

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

Using this formula, you use a catchy headline at the top of the advert to attract attention. Afterall the people are on the page because they need your services.

To really stand out on the page, simply use reverse block. White or yellow text on a black background really stands out!

Now add in up to 5 key points and perhaps an offer. To add an offer will make you very different. When was the last time you saw an offer in Yellow or Golden pages?

Finish the ad with your logo and contact details at the bottom. Just using this template, you will definately stand out from the crowd. Simple, cost effective and far cheaper than increasing your ad or going full colour!

For more simple and cost effective ways to differentiate yourself, stand out from the crowd and to make your marketing money go further, call us on 08450 757 756.

How to get the best from your designer

2008-08-01T14:18:00.000+01:00

How many times do I hear about designers creating something beautiful, but not what the client was either expecting or wanting. Unfortunately, too many. This is unfortunately when the communication battle is not between men and women, but between business owner and designer. As business owners we know what we are saying don't we?, but somehow the meaning of the words change between leaving our mouths and what the designer hears.

This is why I have asked a designer to tell us where we go wrong from his point of view. Norman Boyd from DB Design has a simple, no nonsense philosophy that gives small business clients practical design solutions that they can use. Here's are Norman's top 10 tips.

10 TIPS FOR BRIEFING YOUR DESIGNER

Whether just starting out in business or already established, chances are that you'll use the services of a designer more than once in your Company's life. The costs involved may vary, but good design is an investment which will benefit your business and increase sales.

The designer must understand your Company's objectives in order to display them effectively to your target market and this understanding depends largely the brief. While a good designer will ask the right questions before putting pencil to paper (or hand to mouse), it pays to keep a few things in mind during your meetings:

1. Know what you want to convey. i.e. What is the objective of the work to be produced.

2. Who is your target market? What age are they? What salary scale are they on? Are they likely to be male or female? What else do they buy? (What are your competitors doing?)

3. Know your maximum spend. Talk to the designer early about this and they'll discuss what can be achieved within your budget.

4. Do you have existing company literature that you think is relevant? Are there any corporate guidelines relating to logos or use of colours and text?

5. You've employed a professional designer, so let them design. Voice your opinions or concerns (you are paying after all), but do listen to their advice. The spot varnish you saw on a brochure last week may have cost three times your budget. Designers know from experience what does and doesn't work in terms of cost, colour, design and the printing process. Similarly, you know your own industry, so make sure the designer is aware of exactly how you want your product or service presented in the market. They're designing for your business, not their portfolio.

6. Show the designer other work you like, but don't ask him to copy it.

7. Make sure the brief comes from the decision maker. Only one or two people should explain the brief. Too many opinions contradict each other and confuse the brief (and the designer).

8. Explain deadlines clearly and stay in touch.

9. Ask direct questions about anything you don't understand. The 'blue sky thinking' and 'run it up the flagpole and see who salutes' contingent are happily a dying breed, but you should seek clarification on any terms with which you are unfamiliar.

10. Write everything down. After the meeting, re-type and email the brief along with any additional information. The designer should be making notes as well, but it's always best for both parties to be working to an identical brief.

You are the customer. The designer will want you to be delighted with the service they've supplied and good communication throughout the process is by far the biggest element in achieving this result.

Norman Boyd is the founder of DB Design & Promotion, a design agency founded in 2005 who's philosophy is simple.No jargon. No nonsense. www.dbdap.com

Here’s why customer relationships are critical to your success

2008-07-01T16:41:00.000+01:00

IMAGINE selling your product/service to one person at a time and that this person only buys from you once in their life time… This is the hardest form of marketing there is - FULL STOP!

Let me explain…

Put simply you work hard to build the relationship and the trust with the customer as they buy your product/service and then they walk away never to be seen again. This means that you spend your life recruiting more and more customers. How much easier would it be if your customers came back to you time and time again, bringing with them their friends, family and colleagues?

You may think this is what is happening at the moment in your organisation, but when was the last time you looked to see how many of your customers are actually repeat customers? How many are leaving you to spend their money else where? And why? These are questions that as Haybury Marketing Coaches we have to ask our clients all the time.

In a world which is becoming increasingly smaller through enhanced communication and the internet, we have choice! Long gone are the days when you have a captive audience. Now you need to work at building relationships with your customers to bring them back! You cannot rely on treating your customers with indifference and expecting them to come back. Our customer service expectations have gone up and we all expect more these days. Consider the following statistics:

“65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers, and it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one satisfied.” – Gartner

“A mere 5% reduction in customer defections increases organisations profits by 25% to 85%.” - Harvard University

So how do you bring your customers back?

On average, most retailers experience a staggering 15% to 65% customer attrition within a 12-month period. Losing customers on this scale has a negative impact on business, since the cost of acquiring customers is 10 times the cost of keeping them. Rescuing defected customers costs 100 times more than keeping existing customers.

Ever wondered why loyalty cards are so prevalent? Could it be that they work? Many coffee shops have a loyalty scheme of some sort; most websites ask for your email address and permission to contact you about offers and news. Even dentists are becoming commercial and wanting to talk to you. They all simply want to build a relationship with you, to stop you walking away and spending your money elsewhere.

So what can you do within your organisation to retain customers? Here are 4 points for you to consider:

1. Firstly become proactive about retention activities rather than reactive about regaining lost customers. Think about how you can invite people back in rather than having to find them once they have gone.

2. Communicate new opportunities or product offers to customers in a timely manner. Beware not to send them too much too often otherwise they may feel hunted!

3. Continuously provide customers with reasons to come back to you such as news about new product ranges or fresh initiatives within your organisation.

4. Consistently provide a high quality service where ever the customer comes into contact with your business. From the front desk service levels, accounts and payments through to complaints and/or queries, ask yourself what impression the customer is left with and how do they feel about coming back to you again?

If you follow these simple guidelines and you consistently measure how often your customers come back to you to ensure that you are on the right track, then you will begin to see the fruits of your marketing dedication when your customer base blossoms over the next year.