marketing articles

Not just a ‘me too’

This week in my local free newspaper, 3 leaflets fell out, all advertising supermarkets. At first, I thought they were just duplicate copies – then I realised they were 3 different brands.  But they all had exactly the same format – an A4 double page spread, plastered with £1 offers and ‘buy one, get one free’ deals. Do they all use the same printers?? How are we supposed to differentiate when they’re all offering the same thing? It’s really important not to be a ‘me too’ and find a way to make what YOU offer more appealing.

The social media minefield

Many people now use social media, not just to keep up with their friends and family, but for business too. Some people only use it for business, preferring not to chit-chat about more personal things.

But the whole point of social media is that it’s social. It’s no good just blasting out information about your business in the hope that someone might take an interest. Your messages need to be interesting to those looking at them, and in the appropriate tone.

Get your priorities right

It’s all too easy to think ‘Right, we need to do some marketing’ and dive right into advertising in the local paper, or producing some leaflets, or setting up a facebook page.

But how will you know if it’s the right thing to do? You could just be wasting your time and money.

Customer service (part 2)

Recently, I wrote about the lacklustre service we experienced from a furniture retailer. This retailer has continued to be very un-customer focused and there are lessons to be learned for all businesses, so take heed!  (Here’s a link to the original article)

So to pick up the story … Firstly, we were told delivery would be ‘about 6 weeks’ – this was in early October. We didn’t have anyone coming to stay for Christmas, we had no particular deadline, so that was fine. We were happy to put it to the backs of our minds and just wait.

Around the 15th December (10 weeks later), we had a call to tell us the table was ready for collection from the warehouse, 20 miles away, Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm. I don’t know about you, but for me, the lead up to any major holiday is frantic, busy and stressful with many clients having urgent deadlines. Last Christmas was no exception and taking half a day to go and collect a table was not an option or a priority. We were also leaving for Cornwall on 21st, so we had no choice but to leave the table in the warehouse.

Lesson 1 – communicate with your customers. If your promised delivery date moves for any reason, let them know. Don’t just leave them wondering.

In the first week of January, they phoned to say ‘your table’s still here – you can collect it Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm’. I told them I was aware of that, but for 2 working people, that’s not very convenient.

Lesson 2 – Think like a customer. Those collection times from a warehouse 20 miles from your home are not very user-friendly. They suit the retailer, not the customer. A weekend or a late night collection would be much more customer-friendly, even if it was just once a month.

Ultimately, Mr B managed to leave work early and collect it today! Almost 4 months after we ordered it. He had a last minute opportunity to go, which meant that he didn’t  have the invoice with him. This apparently was a problem for the warehouse guys, until Mr B got a little bit shirty and asked how many rectangular oak tables they had awaiting collection, and could they not get the details from the office or computer system? Ultimately they tracked it down and it was all loaded into the car. But then they pointed out there was money owing, as we’d only paid a deposit. ‘No problem’ replied Mr B, pulling out his credit card. But no, the warehouse couldn’t take payment. It had to be done at the showroom (a couple of miles away).

Lesson 3 – Don’t make it difficult to pay. If the majority of customers have an outstanding balance to pay on collection, surely the warehouse could be set up to receive outstanding balances?

This whole experience has made me wonder about this company’s cash flow. Because of their poor communication and inflexible collection facilities, they have had to wait an extra month to receive our outstanding balance. Surely that can’t be good for business.

Lesson 4 – Don’t jeopardise your cashflow through shoddy procedures. If the service or product delivery and payment systems are efficient, you will benefit.

We won’t be buying any more furniture from this retailer, or recommending them. What a different story that could have been if they had thought like a customer instead of putting their operational requirements first.

Corporate Social Responsibility – is it for you?

Many large businesses now have a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy. But is it appropriate for small businesses? I think it is.

Cynics might say it’s just another public relations gimmick designed to make the business look ‘worthy’.

But my take on it is that it’s another way to help a business clearly define its values and objectives. 

A pleasure doing business with you … or is it?

A few weeks ago, having been deliberating for some years, we decided to invest in a new kitchen table. The delay in buying was due to several factors, such as having to consider the impact of crayons, pencils and glitter on a new table, and general disagreement to the shape, size and functionality, not to mention the cost. My view is that most of the time there are 4 of us, so there’s no need to have a table that seats 10. Mr B’s view is that when we have friends over, it’s nice to be able to sit everyone at the same table (including children).  I like square edges, Mr B likes oval or round tables … and don’t even get me started on the materials – wood, plastic, glass, veneer, dark, light and so on.

Finally, we decided to tackle the buying decision head on and go and get a table. Hurrah! 

A week in the life of a Marketing Consultant

People often ask me what I actually ‘do’ as a marketing consultant, and although I can tell you that I help people promote their businesses, it still leaves the question … “but how?”
It does vary, depending on the business so I thought I’d give you an insight into what I’ve been up to in the last week or so.

Why is consistency important?

I’m amazed at how many small businesses I come across who don’t pay attention to their professional image. There is at least one company I know that use one version of their logo on their shop front, a slight variation of this on their vans, and a completely different style in their printed promotions. Their reason for doing this? The fact that the sign-writer created the shop front logo – and the person who put the ad in the magazine designed it for them, and they didn’t know which font it was.

Why does it matter?

Annoy your customers at your peril!

One of my current bugbears is confusing pricing. When I look at prices for something, I want to know exactly what I’m getting, and how much it’s going to cost. I don’t want to have to get my calculator out to work out how it compares to something else. An example of this is the supermarkets. They often display an item next to two similar items. One might be priced per 100g. Another might be priced by exact weight e.g. 175g. Another might be ‘buy one, get one free’ – the end result is absolute confusion unless you are prepared to stand for several minutes working out the unit cost. Do this more than 3 times, and you’re extending the length of your shopping trip considerably!

Adwords as a lead generation tool

I’m often asked by small businesses if I know where they can buy a mailing list so they can try and generate some leads. My feeling is that this is a bit like throwing jelly at a wall and hoping some of it might stick. It’s so unlikely that anyone is a) going to open an unsolicited email and b)respond favourably if they do, that I would say ‘save your money and spend it on something more effective’.