Small Business, Smart Marketing

Small Business, Smart Marketing

First of all, happy Arthur’s Day! What great marketing by the team at Diageo. Not only does it get our attention, but inside three years it's almost a national holiday. As marketing campaigns go, that's pretty smart. Anyway, on this day of celebrating our national drink, I thought my latest pearls of marketing wisdom should be at least alcohol inspired. I dropped by my local wine shop last Saturday evening (Red Island Wine Company, Skerries, Dublin), a great little spot run by Dougie, a guy who really knows his stuff. We got chatting about how he could market himself as effectively as possible on a marketing budget that is but a miniature fracture of our friends at Diageo. That got me thinking; the digital age, information age, connected age – whatever you want to call it – is the best time ever to market a small, local business such as this. Here’s how you can do it.

1. E-mail and SMS – Your customers do not want to be interrupted anymore with meaningless communications that are not relevant to them. Why not take a note of their favourite purchases (in this case their favourite type of wine) and, run a weekly promotion featuring a different type each week aimed at different groups of customer who you think would be interested, using past purchases as a guide. That way, the messages your customers receive, through e-mail or mobile text message, from you will be highly relevant and your promotion will stand a very good chance of being successful. You will need to update and manage a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system to help you with this, but there are many such systems on the market at low cost.

2.  Loyalty Program – Too many organisations make the mistake of putting too much effort into finding new customers and not enough effort into keeping the ones they already have. Why shouldn’t you reward loyalty? After all, finding new customers all the time is expensive business, while it’s far cheaper to hold onto existing ones. Loyalty programs work. A simple stamped card system can work well, where after a certain number of purchases you give a reward. This encourages your customers to come back to you again, and again, and again....

3. Social Media – The only cost associated with engaging with customers through social media is your time, the rest is free. Now, what other marketing channel can deliver such low cost, or should I say no cost access? Very soon Facebook will reach the 1 billion user mark, making it by far the largest social media platform on the plant. In Ireland, almost 2 million people are on Facebook, sharing their life’s experiences. Your customers are there waiting to connect and engage. It is a great way to develop meaningful relationships. So, what are you waiting for?

4. Search Advertising – If you place an advertisement in a local newspaper (which perhaps you do from time to time), you pay for every advertisement that goes to print, regardless of the results. With PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising you only pay for what you get. You have the choice to pay per impression (each time your advertisement is seen) or by click (each time a person actually clicks on your advertisement). PPC advertising on Google or Facebook can deliver great results, if executed well. In this way you are putting your message right in front of your target audience at exactly the time they are looking for it, meaning your investment (which will be much lower than traditional advertising) is highly likely to deliver a return.

5. Blog – If your shop offers the best product or service in your local area, why not give yourself some thought leadership and become a perceived expert by creating a blog? Write and post a weekly article for your local audience on whatever it is they are interested in. Websites like Wordpress and Blogger provide free blog platforms that make it easy for anyone to publish. If you sell high quality wine, write about wine. If food is your passion, write about that. Whatever it is that you do that your customers are interested in, share your knowledge. In this way you are connecting and engaging with your target audience in yet another meaningful way. You will give your customer more reason to come back to you and they will appreciate the fact that you are giving them more added value.

6. Collaborate – It makes perfect sense to forge relationships and strategic partnerships with other non-competing small local businesses who are trying to achieve the same goals. How can you help each other? Is there a local sports club that would be grateful of some sponsorship support for an arranged fundraiser? Is there a local community event that you could get involved in to help get you noticed and show you are interested? And remember, when you do get involved in such events, make sure you talk about it and make people aware of your involvement. There is little point in doing it if you don’t maximise its impact.

There is obviously a lot more you can do, but this should be enough to get you started. If I can help you in anyway, e-mail or connect with me. Oh, and by the way, whether it’s a toast to Arthur or to the gods of Bordeaux, remember to drink responsibly.

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The 10 Commandments of Relationship Marketing

This week the Irish Direct Marketing Association holds its Customer Loyalty and Retention Conference. If you haven’t already bought your ticket you probably should consider it (http://idmaloyalty.eventbrite.co.uk/). Loyalty really is a hot topic. If it’s not in your organisation you should ask why.

It still amazes me why so many companies invest huge resources into finding new customers while, at the same time, neglecting the customers they already have. In truth, the average organisation loses about 20% of their customers every year. The other fact is, retaining profitable customers is far less costly than finding new ones. It is claimed by Reichheld and Sasser that a 5% improvement in customer retention can result in an increase in profitability of between 25% and 85%, depending on the industry.

If you develop unbreakable customer relationships, you will decrease your costs and increase your profits. If that wasn’t a good enough reason to adopt a relationship marketing strategy maybe these other nuggets might convince you. Loyal customers give free advertising through positive word of mouth. They tend to buy more products from you over time. Your competitors are less likely to steal them from you as strong relationships are hard to break and even harder to copy. Increased customer retention and loyalty makes the employees’ job easier and more satisfying, usually resulting in fewer employees leaving. Convinced yet?

Why do Customers Leave?

In his book “World Class Selling”, Jim Holden believes that these are the reasons why customers defect.

1.         The customer dies.                                                                                          1%

2.         The customer moves.                                                                                      3%

3.         A friend of the customer becomes a competitor.                                             5%

4.         The competition converts the customer to become their supporter.                9%

5.         The customer becomes dissatisfied.                                                                14%

6.         The customer believes that the company doesn’t care.                                   68%

Agreed, there is not much you can do about point number one, all of us will suffer this fate one day. However, the interesting point here is that most of the time, in fact over 80% of the time, customers leave because they become dissatisfied or feel the company no longer cares about them, not because of some extraordinary effort from a competitor.

Customers deserve to be listened to, helped, and rewarded. I heard it said once that it takes 6 months to win a new customer and just 6 seconds to lose one. Whether or not you agree with the timings of this statement, there is no doubt the sentiments are true. So, the starting point of it all is providing an excellent service that not just satisfies but delights your customers.

After that, the sole purpose of your marketing strategy needs to be to develop strong customer relationships, unbreakable bonds that provide, not just a functional, but an emotional connection. When your customers are emotionally connected to your brand they are loyal. This is the holy grail. But how can you do it? 

Obey the 10 Commandments of Relationship Marketing

1.    Get intimate - You must aim to understand your customers intimately if you are going to provide them with what they want and engage with them in a manner that is meaningful to them. This principle is universal, no matter what the nature of the relationship is. Intimacy in a business relationship, leads to customer satisfaction, loyalty and profitability.

2.    Get personal. No really personal - Generic, one-size-fits-all communications do not work. Mass marketing without some sort of personlisation doesn’t work either. You need to speak to your customers in a language that’s personal to them. This is particularly true in direct marketing by mail, in printed or electronic form. You must use your customer’s name and you must tailor your communications in such a way that it means something to them. You will not get to develop a strong relationship if you don’t show a personal interest in your customers.

3.    Communications should be dialogue, not monologue - The modern savvy consumer does not want publicity or spin pushed on them. Neither do they want one-way communications interrupting them. They want to get involved and be heard. They want a mechanism to respond to brands. They want engagement. This is partly why the online social media world has been such a marketing and PR revolution, it is like word-of-mouth on speed. Make sure that all your marketing communications allow for two-way engagement, not one-way propaganda.

4.    Share common interests and experiences - Think about your personal life. Who do you want to share time with? Who do you find yourself drawn to socialise with? It tends to be people you share common interests and experiences with. When it comes to your customers, you must do the same if you are to be real friends with them. Know what it is they like doing and get involved. If you are to elevate your relationship with them to an emotional level you have to make their engagement with your brand about much more than functionality. You have to make your brand really relevant to them and their lives. If they are into sport, talk about sport. If they are concert-goers share this experience. It is up to you to find out how to do this but do it you must.

5.    Regularly keep in touch - Ok, so don’t stalk them. Don’t be in their face so much that they feel they may require a barring order. But do stay in touch regularly. And use all the array of marketing tools at your disposal to do so.

6.    Be spontaneous - When you expect something, you take it for granted. It’s human nature. When you are spontaneous you surprise people in a positive way. Try it. It has a striking effect. It’s like buying your wife flowers on Valentine’s Day, it’s expected (although, speaking from personal experience, I wouldn’t suggest that you don’t). But buy her flowers on any other ordinary day and you make a big deposit into your relationship bank account. Do this with your customers. Thank them for their business when they least expect it. Not only will this make them feel loyal to the brand but it will also make them talk about their positive experience.

7.  Be innovative - More than ever there is a real need to be innovative when it comes to our marketing efforts. Think about it. Who of us sits down to watch the advertisements on TV any more? I rarely do. Digital TV has made our viewing habits much more on-demand. If you have relied heavily on TV advertising to promote your brand in the past, you really should also look to integrate your marketing efforts with other more innovative techniques. Engaging and highly targeted direct mailings are required. Clever online engagement. Smart social media content. Viral marketing. Guerilla marketing. It’s time to think outside the box people.

8.    Have continuity with your brand messages - When someone hears or sees a brand for the first time, they are highly likely to forget it. If they are reminded about the message many times over, their chance of retention of the brand and it’s message greatly improves. You can have different sub-messages within a communication’s campaign. You can speak to individual customer’s with messages tailored specifically to them. But you must do so in a consistant manner that holds true to your brand values. You must have a core belief and hold true to it.

9.   Welcome complaints - What? Welcome complaints? (I bet you’re convinced I'm smoking some good stuff now. Stick with me.) Think about this; the average person tells nine or ten people about a bad experience they have had with a brand or supplier. Most unsatisfied customers don’t complain to their supplier, they just switch to a competitor. Is that what you would prefer? That they don’t bother you with problems but just go elsewhere queitly? Of course not. You want them to let you know when you let them down or don’t quite get it right. They are giving you a chance to fix it. Research shows that customers who complain, and have their greivance dealt with in a satisfactory manner, go on to be even more loyal after the event. Complaining customers are your real friends. You must let them know that they can talk to you when they are not happy and that you will fix it for them.

10.  Make sure your customers feel like VIPs - Your customers pay your salary. They pay all our salaries. Without them you don’t have a business. So treat them like the VIPs they are. Make sure they know how important they are to you through your all your communications with them. Above all thank them for choosing to do business with you.

Marketing is no longer a function, but a way of doing business. Developing unbreakable customer relationships that leads to customer loyalty, should be the purpose of everyone’s existence, from the receptionist right up to the CEO. If you want to positively affect your bottom-line, this bottom-line is simple: Develop strong relationships. That’s what leads to loyalty.

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One Dimensional Marketing is Extinct

So, should you forget about all you have ever known about marketing? Well, let’s examine how the Godfather of marketing defined marketing and see if the definition still holds true. Kotler defines marketing as “the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential. It pinpoints which segments the company is capable of serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate products and services.” Who am I to disagree? If I was to be so bold as to simplify this definition a little, I would say that marketing is about finding out what customers want and giving it to them at a profit.

Do these definitions still hold true in this “digital age”? Well firstly, what about finding out what customers want, is that still important? You better believe it. You have to research to be sure what your customers want. If you get it wrong, all subsequent efforts will fail. Then comes creating solutions that add value, is this still relevant? Absolutely, prospects will not buy if you don’t manage to do this. What about targeting, segmenting and positioning your brand, do these things still have their place in today's marketing world? Of course they do, as does communicating effectively and developing long term relationships. All of these principles are the foundations of a sound marketing strategy. These principles are universal. They are not time specific. They will not go out of date.

If The Principles Are the Same, What Has Changed?

So if marketing’s fundamental principles remain the same, what has changed? In a word: digital. The digital world has exploded marketing into many fragmented parts and given us almost endless channels for communicating with the world around us. It’s not as simple now as it was before, when we engaged only in traditional media like TV, radio, print, or outdoor to relay our message, they are only one part of the marketing jigsaw. Now there are so many more touch points for communicating with our customers and, more importantly, developing relationships with them. 

Is Traditional Media Still Relevant?

Digital and social media has become an absolute must, and I will discuss this in detail in future posts. However, it must be said that traditional media still has its place in modern marketing. Once people still watch TV, listen to the radio, and read the newspaper they are still relevant marketing channels. Okay, their habits are changing in their consumption of traditional media and we need to adapt. For instance, because of the pressure put on the 30 second advert, sponsorship of specific TV shows has seen massive growth. Out of the massive audience that tuned into watch The X-Factor, many might have fast-forwarded the advert breaks, but none missed the start of the show and were therefore exposed to the fact that Dominos pizza was the sponsor. According to Publicis Media (http://publicismedia.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/the-x-factor-sponsorship/), 74.6% of all individuals saw the Domino’s sponsorship stings of ‘The X Factor’ at least once from August to December 2011, with an average of 438,200 tuning in to watch each programme in 2011 (Ireland’s TV3 audience figures). This was a worthwhile exercise for Domino. Littlewoods (sponsor the 2012 show) will be hoping for similar results.

Integrate Or Die

Smart marketing, in other words marketing for the current and next generation, has become has now become built around one new principle: smart integration. Integrating marketing communications has always been important, in other words having all your marketing messages speak with the one voice and in a consistent manner. But in the days of yesteryear, it was much easier to do it than it is today. Now, if you want to be ultimately successful, you have to be able to integrate traditional media with digital media. If you can’t you’re dead, it's as simple as that. Just like the dinosaurs, one dimensional marketing is extinct. Here are some examples of smart marketing integration. 

As Ireland's national broadcaster, RTÉ should be best placed to dismiss the online revolution and rely solely on traditional media. They could argue they don't need to engage in social or digital communications because of their stronghold and share of voice with traditional media on a national level. However, after recognising declining audience numbers on their traditional channels, and the rise of digital media, they decided to integrate a digital strategy. Now RTÉ.ie is the number 1 website in Ireland. Even the national broadcaster has recognised the need for smart integration.

Trivago is now the world’s number 1 hotel search and price comparison website. Every month, 15 million users trust trivago as their starting point for travel research. Trivago helps users find their ideal hotel and book it for the lowest possible rate. With Trivago being an online company, you would be forgiven to suggest that their marketing activities are online too. Well they are, but not exclusively. In an effort to create awareness of the launch of their Irish website (trivago.ie), their marketing campaign includes traditional media, like TV, radio and print. They would not get the traction they need from exclusively marketing online. Successful integration is giving them better and quicker results.

Similar to Trivago, DoneDeal.ie is an online company, offering anyone the opportunity to advertise the sale of whatever they want on their website. Yet, their marketing activities are not confined to the space they are in online, they integrate very successfully with traditional media for maximum impact. Their sponsorship of the traffic news on Today FM is an example of their integration efforts.

So, integration has become more difficult but of utmost importance. Smart marketers, who are in touch with the modern marketing world, are using an array of communication tools to engage with their audiences. A marketing strategy that does not include for traditional and digital media is not fit for purpose and those trying to implement such a strategy are not long for this world. Don't be a dinosaur. Integrate.

Hi, I'm Gavin Fox.

For those of you who know me, thanks for tuning in. For those of you who don’t, thanks for being inquisitive. As you can see I have decided to start writing a blog. Not just for the craic (that’s an Irish term for fun by the way!), but because I’m passionate about the subject of marketing and I believe I have something of interest to say. Obviously the subject matter will be marketing and, in particular, the monumental changes that are taking place in the marketing world. “What do you know about marketing?” I hear you say. Well, besides having extensive experience developing marketing campaigns for businesses, I have a degree on the subject, I have written a book as well as several articles about it, and I lecture on the subject. Of course, credentials mean nothing, common sense means everything. You can decide if I speak common sense on marketing.

The Rules are Changing

To begin with, I firmly believe we are living in the greatest time of change the commercial world has ever seen. An exciting time when the rules of business are changing, and at a pace that we are struggling to keep up with. The marketing textbooks for the new world that is evolving before our eyes have not yet been written. Marketing is changing forever and, without a shadow of a doubt, the online world is playing a pivotal role. Did you know; to reach 50 million users it took print 100 years, radio 38 years and TV 13 years. By comparison, Facebook hit 100 million users in less than 9 months. The digital revolution has blown up the marketing world and traditional media has been left reeling.

Has TiVo Killed the 30 Second TV ad?

You see, marketing used to be about interrupting people. Interrupting them with one way messages, whether or not they actually wanted to see or hear those messages was irrelevant (most of the time those messages were, in fact, unwanted). Now, we don’t let ourselves be interrupted by most traditional media. We simply record our favourite TV shows and watch them when it’s convenient to us, not the TV networks, fast-forwarding the ad breaks as we please. Now, when we want to find out about a product or brand, we don’t merely have to rely on advertised messages, we Google it. We ask others about their experience with it, usually online. We join a conversation on Facebook and Twitter. This confirms the first fundamental change; marketing is no longer monologue, it is dialogue.

84% Act Upon Word of Mouth

People have more control of the message than ever before. Social media has injected speed into word of mouth. Instead of marketing messages being one-to-many (through traditional media), they are now many-to-many (through social media). This can add the snowball effect to your marketing campaigns and give them a speed like never before. If people are speaking positively about you, they are acting like your very own volunteer marketing army. They are your most effective sales people. According to research by Nielsen, 84% of consumers would act upon a word of mouth recommendation. However, just the same is true of those speaking about you in a negative light. People base their buying decisions on what they hear. It’s true, that’s always been the case, but never on the same scale as in today’s world. Social media has given word of mouth a channel, the biggest channel on the planet, the world-wide-web. Even the greatest of the traditional media’s combined can’t compete.

Forget All You Have Ever Known About Marketing?

So, should you forget about all you have ever known about marketing? Should we assume that traditional media is dead, or dying, and throw all our marketing eggs into the digital basket? And, if digital marketing is all it’s cracked up to be, how should we approach it? How can we keep up with it? Well, these are the kind of discussions I intend to have here. And I do mean discussions – dialogue, not monologue. Feel free to get involved. I will be interested in hearing your thoughts. I hope you are interested in hearing mine.

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