If your company was a colour, what would it be?

This is the question posed to one of the guest speakers at the local Chamber networking breakfast I attended last week and it reminded me of a subject I posted at the beginning of the year.

The post was prompted by Pantone's prediction for the colour of the year, which was chosen for it's ability to  'transport us to an exciting tropical paradise, while offering a sense of protection and healing in stressful times'.  Inspired by water and sky, Turquoise is believed to be a protective talisman, a colour of faith and truth.

Colours play a big part in how we are portrayed by sending a specific message to the people who view them. According to various research studies, it might be wise to consider the psychology of colour when designing not only your marketing materials, but also your brand itself.

Red - danger, excitement, passion, speed, strength - stimulates to action
Blue - trust and reliability - apparently the most popular colour used for branding
Green - nature, fresh, cool, growth, abundance - represents firmness and serenity
Purple -  royal, spiritual, dignified - the colour of wealth
White -  pure, clean, youthful - gives an impression of professionalism
Black - sophisticated, elegant, mysterious - used a lot in photography collateral
Silver prestige, cold, scientific - think expensive cars!

So, what colour is your company?

Online Marketing – making sure it’s a two-way communication

Internet savvy business owners are communicating with their customers in a very different way, utilising a myriad of different forums such as Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare. Email Marketing still plays a very important role in any marketing strategy and works well for those businesses who rely on this form of communication to relay information, offers and events - but it has to be a two-way street!
Most email marketing software allows you to see if people are reading and clicking your links, but how do you know if your readers are truly engaged?   
There’s a number of things you can do to make sure your customers have a reason to respond.    

• Ensure your content is related to your audience.

• Target the right people and be genuine – make them feel you have their interests in mind.
• Raise questions – ask a question at the end of each article to get them thinking to propel a response.
• Make sure to include a link to make it easy for your customer to respond.
• Use Q & A – add a ‘question-of-the-week’ where you publish answers to questions you’ve been asked by your customers. If readers see others asking and getting a response, they’ll be more likely to ask their own.
• If you’re using Social Media resources such as Facebook LinkedIn and Twitter, include links to your profile and ask people to join in the conversation there.
• Ask for feedback – a simple survey link perhaps or an email link, this makes sure you know what your customers expect and want.
• Make sure you respond to any comments or feedback in a timely manner – even a simple ‘Thank You’ within 48 hours – taking longer could result in a lost opportunity.

What other things do you do in your newsletters to get your readers to respond?

Are Sales and Marketing the same thing?

For me the answer is very simple – No! 

You’d be surprised how many business owners believe the two are identical and continue to combine both as a job function and wonder why they constantly fail to achieve their targets.

When measuring the success of your sales and marketing people, their KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) are very different.  Marketing KPI’s should be all about the number of leads generated.   Sales KPI’s are all about conversion rates.  There’s not a huge amount of difference between the words, but the skills required for each activity are very different.

Marketing
This is the management and administration of the four ‘P’s (Price, Place, Product & Promotion).  Marketing should provide the answers to these questions

How much do we sell it for?
Where and to whom do we sell it?
What is it that we sell?
How do we get people to know about it?

Marketing is very much a support function and prepares for a future sale and creates awareness for the brand itself.  It’s all about generating leads to your business through analysis, planning and promotional activity, be it word of mouth, advertising, social media, online activity – basically anything that looks to attract a customer or client to your business. This could be a one-minute cycle or a one-year cycle, the conclusion is the same – to show the customer how your product or service actually fits their needs.

Sales
Once the lead has been generated the Sales team take over by focusing on converting the potential customer into a paying one.  The function of the Sales department is to generate revenue, not create awareness. 

A Sales person will understand the inner workings of converting the lead and generating a sale and are great one-on-one communicators with good negotiating, analytical and customer service skills .   It’s all about conversion, not lead generation.

Sales and Marketing are vastly different functions that require substantially different personalities, skills, and experience.

So, the next time you put the two words together to describe a job function, have another think.  Do you need a Sales person or a Marketing person? You’ll be hard pushed to find one person who will be able to fulfill both roles, effectively and efficiently.

How green is your Paper?

During 2009, sustainability became more significant following the effects of the global economic downturn and whilst the paper industry is still viewed by some as innately unsustainable, this misconception is constantly being challenged.

In September 2009, a UK initiative by the print and paper industry named Two Sides was launched.  It’s objective is to challenge perceptions surrounding the production and use of paper and also support its continued presence in the future media mix.

The initiative is intended to alert people to the fact that, as well as being a powerful eco-friendly media, paper is also one of the few sustainable industries.  For instance, did you know that more trees are planted every year than are cut down?  And, more importantly, producing and reading a traditional newspaper consumes 20% less energy than firing up your computer and reading online for more than 30 minutes.

Together with initiatives such as Two Sides, other organisations, such as the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) are dedicated to promoting responsible management of the world’s forests.  Founded in 1993, the FSC offers a solution which certifies that any paper products used by businesses come from well managed sources and provide a guarantee of the sustainability of the resources that led to their production.

Looking ahead, it is clear that these guarantees are becoming more crucial within the print and paper industries and that only those committed in the long term to sustainability, can truly prosper during the next 12 months.

Best way to increase sales. . . . talk to your existing customers!

Sounds like a pretty obvious thing to do, but it seems that when it comes to generating sales, companies seem intent on finding new customers rather than keeping in touch with the ones they already have!

The people who have bought your product, or used your service may well buy from you again - they might even spread the word - if only they remembered you!

I know this is yet another task to add to your ever expanding list of things to do, but it's really good for business to remind customers you still exist!

You might do this by sending a simple 'catch-up' email - put a recurring note on your calendar tool to remind you and remember to include a link to your LinkedIn profile or Twitter feed.

You could send them a newsletter - be careful not to just use this as a selling tool though! The whole point of sending out a newsletter is to be friendly and convey interesting content, something they will be interested in - perhaps something connected with your business and theirs - latest industry news, hints and tips, competitions, blogs & forum links etc.

You could invite them to be your guest at a networking event or just meet for a quick coffee. Whatever you decide to do, it needs to be on a regular bases - keeps you top of mind when they need a company like yours.

Have you called any existing customers today?

Are TV advertisers switching to Social Media platforms to promote their products?

I was reminded over the weekend of my early career in marketing, when I was part of the lucrative agency world of advertising.

Channel 4 re-ran their Top 100 greatest TV ads show, featuring the winners of a poll conducted with Channel 4 viewers and Sunday Times readers. It was first aired in 2000 and Saturday night’s programme bolted on a selection of ‘The greatest ads of the 21st Century” in an attempt to bring it up to date.

Apparently, according to Channel 4, by the age of 35, the average person has seen 150,000 TV commercials – about 75,000 minutes (or two months of your life), just watching TV commercials! I fear that this figure might have diminished somewhat, in this age of internet and multi-channel media.

TV advertising is still very costly and remains one of the more expensive advertising platforms, while social media advertising could potentially be free or at least more affordable. Could social media be deemed as more effective than TV, as people spend more and more time online and seem to find social media content far more engaging? Or, do consumers think that brands appearing on TV are more credible – if they can afford to advertise on TV they must be pretty confident their products are good?

I think it’s fair to say that it must come down to content and targeting. I mean, not everyone is online, are they? Some housewives, young children and some of the older generation don’t use the Internet as often as they watch TV, so brands targeting them are likely to be more effective on the box.

But, with the threat of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, having a more targeted approach to advertising and more accurate performance measurement, can TV continue to compete? 

By the way, for those who don’t remember, the No 1 ‘greatest TV ad’ according to the poll, was the Guinness ‘Horses & Surfers’ commercial, which cost a small fortune and took London agency Abbot Mead Vickers nine days in Hawaii to make – nice work if you can get it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcdDg30VBgo

Using Print to get the right Marketing Mix

I’ve been working recently with a commercial printer, helping them to figure out how to keep their presses constantly busy during this period of recession and, whilst companies are tightening their financial belts, it seems they are turning more and more to e-marketing and social media to create awareness and promote sales.

It has to be said, that despite the advance in technology and the growth in all things web, printed collateral still has it’s place in your promotional planning, and depending on the market you operate within, some industries rely on printed words and images more than others.

Look at the retail sector, they still rely on this tangible form of marketing to promote their products but manage to balance this with advertising across electronic channels such as email, sponsored links, banner adverts, social networks and so on.

Getting the right marketing mix is critical. Whilst social networking and online channels are a hot topic at the moment, traditional print and mail channels are still driving people to make a web purchase. A digital presence on its own is still not enough to encourage sales.

Let’s face it, there’s nothing better than flicking through a brochure or retail catalogue with your feet up and a cup of tea, when you’re planning your next online shopping trip!