Category Archives for "Marketing"

0 What Are the Causes of Your Customers Problem?

The causes of your customers problem may not always be what you or your customer expects them to be.  If you can name causes your customer has not considered, they are likely to be impressed.  Do this as part of your marketing and they are more likely to sign up.  Do this when they are a client and delight them with a new insight into their business.

This is the final question in the Problem Element of the Circuit Questionnaire.  Follow the link to the page, which gathers together all the posts in this sequence.

Why Finding the Causes of your Customers Problem is Important

So, what exactly is a cause?  In this sense, a cause is some circumstance responsible for the problem the customer experiences.  The biggest difficulty everyone experiences, is identifying the cause of a problem they face.

Indeed, it is often true identifying the cause is 90% of the solution to a problem.  Once there is clarity about the cause, the solution to the problem can be obvious.  So, it is worth spending time digging into the problem, really understanding what it is.

If the problem is not understood, it is easy to waste a lot of time dealing with the effects of the problem.  This is sometimes described as a sticking plaster approach to a problem.  Dealing with effects can be costly and the costs become regular because the underlying cause is not identified.

Whilst it is true in theory, dealing with the cause of a problem will result in improved performance; the cause can be a daunting prospect or integral to a lot of other issues, beneficial to some extent.  So, solving the immediate problem may generate further problems down the road.

Stimulating New Ideas Through New Causes

So, let’s try to be positive and approach this as an exercise in stimulating new ideas.   A client is likely to seek help because they are stuck.  They have tried everything and the problem will not go away.  Usually this is because the problem is deeply entrenched in organisational culture.  If there is no organisation, it is likely to be some psychological reason for the business owner.

Ask the owner to describe the problem.  Try to draw a diagram together and then interrogate it.  Try to understand how the client and their organisation understands the problem.  Ask questions like:

Note you are working together to build a picture of the problem.  There is nothing judgemental in any of this and you are not seeking a solution or the cause at this stage.

Once you have the facts before you, you can begin to explore causes.  What would happen if you changed this?  You are trying to find the cause, not a solution.  Causes can be deeply bound up in organisational culture and this can be notoriously difficult to change because so much of it is habit.

Aim to Stimulate New Ideas

Let’s try an easy problem: “my website doesn’t work”.  In real life, the problem is likely to be more specific but this is just an illustration.  If there is a technical solution, this is easy to resolve but what happens if technically the website works?

Does the customer understand how it works?  Again easy to resolve if the answer is “no”.   But if “yes”, what next?  What if the reason it doesn’t work is elsewhere?  Maybe the website does not meet the organisation’s needs?  Why would that be?  Perhaps it does meet their needs but no-one will take responsibility for it.  Why would that be?

You can see the question moves from technical solutions to deeper questions about organisational culture.  If you are usually approached by clients with intractable problems, then you are more likely to encounter this type of market, at its wits end, unable to find a rational solution because they have lost sight of the cause of the problem.

The Root Cause

Most problems that are not straightforward, cannot be resolved by reference to an instruction book.  What might start as an apparently simple problem may be the gateway to far greater issues.

Finding the root cause may be painful but it can lead to the rapid resolution of a problem and possibly several other apparently unconnected problems.  If something is having a negative effect in one area, the chances are it will in others.  This is one reason so many website designers disappoint, because they are not aware of the reasons why their work so often does not seem successful.  An online solution may be capable of great things but not if the organisation deploying it is not.

If the client trusts you and you can find the space to dig into the problem, it is usually possible to find the root cause.  Once your client sees and understands the root cause, then perhaps you will together find a way to tackle it.  They may need support while they do this, from someone who is not embedded in organisational culture.  If you can’t help them, help them find someone who can.

Can you tell a story of the unearthing of a root cause?

0 How to Build Support (Even When it’s Christmas)

A brief note today to announce that as usual, I shall be resting this blog over the holidays.  I’m planning to restart on Monday 9 January 2017, a break of 3 weeks.  It is possible I shall need a longer break while I build support and if so I’ll let you know what is happening.

The reason I’m not 100% certain is that I am planning a number of projects to increase support for my work promoting the local economy and the role of coaches in supporting change.  I may decide to take another week or two to bed down these new initiatives.  Here’s a sample of what I have planned.  There are a few other things in the pipeline that I am not ready to announce just yet.

Facebook Live

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my plan to promote my work by integrating online and offline marketing.  At the time I had just started using Facebook Live and was on day 2!

Today is day 16 and I think I’ve improved my approach.  I’ve found I’m better if I stand to deliver the talk.  I usually plan what I am going to say the previous day and then rehearse just before I go online.  You can find the Facebook Live posts on my Community Web Consultant Facebook page.  You may have to scroll a long way down the page to find them all.  They are all numbered to help you follow the sequence.

A few problems I have not yet resolved include:

1. I’m aiming for 1-2 minutes and so far I’ve been going on for too long.
2. I cannot find a time of day when I can regularly post.  There are advantages to doing this if you can because some people may be present to watch you live.  I’m not sure what the advantages of performing with a live audience are but there you go!
3. I have not so far been able to find a way to link to individual posts, which means it will be difficult to get access to them in the future.
4. People are visiting these posts and some of them are watching them.  I do need to remind people they are there though.

I’ve pinned a Facebook Live video at the top of my Facebook page, where I interviewed several people about the proposal to sell Sheffield’s Central Library to a 5-star hotel.  This is one example of how Facebook Live can be used.  I’m planning to complete the current sequence of posts at day 30.  After that I want to explore possibilities for using Facebook Live at events.  I shall also use it to promote events before they happen.

I’m sure there are many other ways to use this new tool and once I complete the current sequence, I shall post about how to use it for marketing.

Webinars

I held my first Webinar on Wednesday 14 December.  You can find the replay of “It’s Where Your Feet Are“, so please go over and watch it there.  There is a comments facility below the video and I shall respond to all relevant comments as soon as I see them.

Three people watched the video live and as far as I know they appreciated it.  I felt my planning and rehearsals paid off and the words seemed to flow.  I need to find time to watch it myself and see how I come over.

The next webinar is on Wednesday 4 January and you can sign up for “A Brief History of Social Enterprise” by following the link.  If you signed up for the first, there’s no need to sign up again!  The third in this series will be on 18 January.

I have exciting plans for webinars following these three.  I see these first three as opportunities to set out my manifesto and to become used to the system.  Once I feel confident in the approach, I’m planning to branch out in an entirely new direction, so stay tuned to find out what happens next!

Business Success Summit

Finally, for those of you who live close enough to Sheffield, I am part of a team planning a live event.  It will be a day event on Saturday 11 February 2017.  I can’t say much about it at this stage.  Make a note of the date in your diary and I shall put a link here as soon as I can.

I’m hoping to encourage coaches and consultants to attend this event but it is for any local business in the region.  We’re aiming for 200 people to attend the event and so, if we get it right, it will be huge.

0 Making and Testing Assumptions

Remember the problem in the circuit questionnaire is your clients’ problem.  Your clients make assumptions about it and so shall you!

Your Clients’ Assumptions

Expect your clients to be familiar with the problem and so likely to make assumptions about it.  You will have critical distance and so may be able to help the client name the assumptions they make.

Your clients pay you to challenge their assumptions.  Your role is not to change their mind but to suggest alternative approaches to their problem.  Their task is to consider your questions and consider changing their understanding of their problem in the light of them.

Don’t forget, 90% of problem solving is identifying the right problem.  Once you know what the problem is, you and your client are much more likely to find a solution that works.

Your Assumptions

Your problem is you promote your business as a solution to a particular type of problem.  Then you attract clients who believe they have the same problem.  What happens if you take them on and then discover their problem is an entirely different one?

This is one reason to be familiar with alternative solutions.  Focus on getting the problem clear.  When you have done this, you have completed most of the work.  It is even possible with new clarity, the client will find their own solution.  “Oh, now I see I’ve been approaching this entirely the wrong way!”

So, remember you are a guide.  Of course you need some knowledge of the problem but don’t assume your approach is always the best.  You may need to make a referral but the chances are with clarity about the nature of the problem, you can together adapt your solution to solve the problem.

Don’t underestimate your client.  The chances are they are capable of finding their own solution but in a challenging situation, need support.  They may believe there is a lot at stake and so seek reassurance their approach is the right one.  They want a second opinion; reassurance they have not missed some vital clue.

How to Test Assumptions

This is one reason being stuck can be a good place.  Nothing works.  Your client came to you because they had tried everything they know.  You have gone over their reasoning and suggested a few things.  They try them and they don’t work.

Maybe there’s an assumption you’re both making.  You have two pairs of eyes on the problem.  Go over everything in detail.  Is this true?  What assumptions are we making here?  What other perspectives could we view this from?

Every time you comb over the information, you see more detail.  You both need to allow your subconscious minds to work on it.  Once you’re familiar, take a break.  Sleep on it or go for a walk.

Then return to your data and look for inspiration.  Answers rarely arrive fully worked out.  You might have a small clue that draws your attention to some aspect of the problem.  Trust your instincts, review that area.  An insight from one of you may trigger an idea in the other.

Note the key to this is familiarity with the problem.  So, keep returning to it and with each failure, remember you are learning more.

Finally, use contacts to challenge your assumptions.  If you have a personal coach, they may be able to help.  If not, sharing the problem with others may help (but remember confidentiality).  A last resort may be seeking a specialist.  But most problems can be resolved with application, don’t assume a specialist will have any more luck with the problem.

Your client should be the number 1 expert and with your support, most times they will find a solution.

Are you aware of examples where clarifying the problem has led to a solution?

0 Seeking and Using Alternative Solutions

Most problems have more than one solution.  You can offer several solutions to a problem or you may have a single approach that works for some clients and not others.  Either way it helps to show you are aware of alternative solutions.  And what do you do when nothing works?

This question is step 2 of the Awareness Ladder and here it is important to show prospects you are aware of alternative solutions.  In your publicity, you can discuss alternatives and use them to move your prospects to consideration of your solution, step 3.  For certain prospects, your solution will be the best.

How to Explain Alternative Solutions

There are several ways you can move someone from alternatives to considering your solution.

How Well Known are the Alternative Solutions?

If you are scraping around, seeking arcane approaches to your prospects’ problem, just possibly you don’t need to fill a lot of space explaining about the alternatives.

If there are alternatives, your prospects need to know why they should consider your solution.  For example, many organisations seeking a website will consider a website designer.  Very often they know little about website design and choose perhaps the cheapest.

They need to know the risks when making that choice.  They may be lucky but often a £500 website is a waste of money.  Indeed larger sums of money can be wasted because the prospect is not aware of likely pitfalls or other options.

You could ask and answer questions your prospects are likely to ask or have not thought of asking.  This is an educational approach, you are not simply debunking alternative solutions but helping the prospect understand what they really need.

Some solutions, perhaps including yours, may not be well-known and raise issues  your prospects have not considered.

On Being Stuck

Sometimes no approach, including your own, will work.  Being stuck is not a bad place to be but it needs patience on your part and your client’s.  Maybe you have overlooked some issue that negates your approach. Or maybe you are on the verge of a new insight!

So, your client has tried everything, including your suggestions.  You’ve reviewed everything they tried and as far as you can see they have tried everything with diligence.

The most important thing is patience.  You have two brains working on the problem and one of you is likely to have an insight.

But perhaps not today.  You may need to take a break and allow your subconscious to work on the problem.  Take a break but keep in touch.  If you have a germ of an idea (once referred to as a maggot!) share it!  Communicate insights, however trivial they may seem to be.  You don’t know what might trigger a breakthrough in your mind or the other person’s.

So, celebrate being stuck!  Welcome the opportunity to venture into unexplored territory.

Have you a story of being stuck and making a breakthrough?

1 Building an Integrated Online and Offline Marketing Campaign

I’m planning something big to take place in February.  The challenge is how to market it and this post is the first of a few that will explain what I’m doing.  The campaign will integrate online and offline marketing and this post explains what I started on 1 December 2016.

You will note I haven’t explained what I’m planning for February and I’m not going to – just yet!  If you start early enough, a little mystery or intrigue helps your campaign.  I’m hoping you will hop on board, follow what I’m doing and pass on the message to anyone you know who may be interested.

There will be plenty to take part in online, even if you are too far away from Sheffield to take part in the live event in February.  My consultancy offer is available to all coaches, consultants and local businesses, wherever they are based.  At the same time, I’m working with others to promote best practice locally.

Facebook Live

First, I’m doing a series of 30 daily Facebook Live broadcasts.  You can see all of them on my Community Web Consultant Facebook page as they appear.  I shall add a 1 to 2 minute video, daily.  I’ll probably break over Christmas but the idea is to build a presence or following, engaging in debating local economics.

You can take part in the debate by commenting on my Facebook Live videos.  Each day I shall share one simple idea and together these posts will seed a powerful online conversation.  I have the 30 days mapped out but will respond to comments either direct or in one of my videos.  I can be diverted to explore relevant themes, which may mean I extend the series – we shall see how we go.

One of the issues I’ve had planning this is, the time of day to record the videos.  It is possible to view them live.  To do this it is ideal to have a regular time.  My problem is I cannot find a time when I can absolutely guarantee I can post every single day.  I may be able to find such a time as I get into the series.  However, I’m not too worried as I suspect the recordings for most people will be more accessible than the live performance.

These posts will be an opportunity to promote other activities.  So, I may encourage people to like my Facebook page or visit this blog or attend my series of Webinars.

Webinar Series

I’m planning a series of three webinars, opportunities to explore some of the themes in the Facebook Live series in more depth.  I’m aiming for 1 – 2 minute soundbites through Facebook Live and so the Webinars will be about 20 minutes, including and followed by comments and questions.

I’ll record each webinar on YouTube and it will available as a replay.  You will be able to comment and ask questions on the replay too.

The first webinar is “It’s Where Your Feet Are: How Businesses Benefit from Supporting the Local Economy”.  One thing I’ve noticed is we often discuss how businesses can support community but rarely ask how businesses themselves benefit from their commitment to their locality.

The benefits have to be mutual.  A business that went out of business because it supports its community would be neither use nor ornament.  When the benefits are mutual is an opportunity for sustainable local regeneration that includes local businesses as well as the amenities that make it possible for everyone to take part in their neighbourhood.

I have lots of plans for webinars following these first three about the local economy.  Stay with me as this is likely to become very interesting.

I’ve found an approach to webinars that is cost-free and you will see it does not involve a commercial webinar host. It is hosted on my website.  I shall write about this in more detail once I’ve tested this method.  But if you’re interested in trying this approach yourself, it is worth considering and I’m happy to answer your questions.

Conclusion

You will note I have said little today about offline marketing.  The mysterious event in February is an offline event.  And there will be offline aspects to the marketing as well.  I shall review how I’m approaching that in a few weeks’ time.

Have you used the methods I’ve described here?  What other online approaches do you use to promote events?

0 Are Your Prospects Aware of Their Problem?

Your business provides solutions to a problem your prospects share.  But are your prospects aware of their problem?  This is step zero on the awareness ladder.

What makes Your Prospects Aware of their Problem?

If you refer to my post about the awareness ladder, you will see step 1 is where the customer knows they have a problem but don’t know if there are solutions.

So, let’s think about weight.  I was once overweight.  Indeed, I was surprised to discover the medical profession categorised me as obese.  I had a mental image of obesity and I was not by that standard obese.

I sort of knew I was overweight and I was aware of lack of fitness and that I was generally not healthy.  But none of this was enough to lead me to seek a solution at step 1 of the awareness ladder.  Most of the time, apart from a few crises, I didn’t think about my weight.

So, consider some of your prospects will have some awareness of their problem but they are not actively seeking a solution.  This could be because they know they have a problem but they simply don’t rate it as important.

Contrast that with someone who has a cancerous tumour.  They may be unaware they have the problem.  There may be certain signs that should lead them to seek help but they are not aware of their tumour and so not likely ask for the tests that are available.

It is similar for website issues.  Some website owners know there is a problem but are not seeking solutions.  They know they exist but the problem is not so pressing that they need to do the research.

Other website owners may not be aware of what their website should be doing.  Consequently, they’re not seeking a solution because they’ve never thought their site could do more.

We can see there are at least two types of problem unawareness: deliberate and unconscious.

How Do You Increase Awareness of the Problem?

I have offered a couple of examples of problems that are real although people are not always aware of them.  They may be aware of a few symptoms but they are not themselves pressing and so they ignore them.  Or perhaps they are simply unaware the problem exists at all.

The obvious solution is education.  It is a major issue in health services.  The health issues associated with overweight are well-known but there are many people who do not believe they are so overweight they need to take action.

They need to understand what is overweight and the likely outcomes of ignoring the issue.

Now I’m someone who is generally aware of health issues and yet for many years I did not know my weight was a problem.  It was only when my doctor diagnosed Type II diabetes, I became aware of my problem and started to seek solutions.  It was actually the diagnosis that led me to taking the problem seriously.

These days I see people every day who are overweight and yet many people are like I was, unaware they have a problem.  They could all wait until they get an adverse diagnosis.  But perhaps it would be better for them and the health services if they could learn about weight and its effects.

This educational challenge is a marketing and sales challenge.  You are trying to persuade people to change their behaviour.

The challenge is the same in all areas.  A website that does not do anything is a problem.  Granted, it may not be a pressing problem.  Many organisations get by with a rubbish website but my guess is it’s usually a sign of more deep-seated organisational issues.  Are they selling?  If they’re doing very well by other means, the website issues may not seem important.

But how can an organisation find out what potential it has to improve its marketing and sales?  Many people simply do not know what options are available.  Online technologies have improved significantly in recent years, so fast that most people are not aware of what is within their reach.

Marketing is education.

Through learning, people take part in the market and in society.  Note education does not necessarily lead to sales.  It may help someone move from not knowing they have a problem to acknowledging their problem but they still need to decide they’re going to tackle the problem and find the right solution.

If you educate your audience and offer your solution, some people will walk away and find an alternative and that’s fine.  Businesses need to understand one purpose of their marketing is their contribution to the community.  If an organisation learns about marketing from me and puts what they learn into practice, it is a part of the contribution I make to the community.

Those marketing support for people who need to lose weight are presumably delighted for those who lose weight, following their marketing but through alternative devices.

How do you educate your prospects?

0 Marketing Meetings

Last Friday, I described three types of meetings and suggested marketing meetings is the most challenging aspect of organising meetings.  This is particularly true for one-off public meetings; other meetings are not so desperate for the public to attend, although what I say here can apply to them.

A Simple Model

A public meeting or event is successful to the extent it attracts people to attend.

Imagine three concentric circles.  The innermost circle represents the event itself.  This might be a speech, an agenda, guiding people to plan something, a film, a play – just about anything people might attend and take part in.  This is equivalent to a product or service.

The second circle represents packaging for the event.  How will you describe the event to its market?  How will you describe it on a website or in a handout?  How successful is the packaging at making conversions?  The packaging is equivalent to conversion on a website.

The outermost circle represents the marketing of the event.  How are you actually going to get the packaging into peoples’ hands?  This activity is equivalent to generating traffic to a website.

Being a Producer

When you organise an event you are a producer, someone who creates something that was not in the public domain before.  It is worth remembering this because it is like being a ringmaster, someone who creates a show, builds the excitement and makes it into something many people are reluctant to miss.

This means if you are serious about your event, you cannot afford to be complacent.  You need to take every possible step to draw peoples’ attention to the event, package the event so that on closer scrutiny it is irresistible and design the event itself so that it exceeds expectations.

Preparing the meeting

Usually, though we get it wrong and need to upend our expectations.

Allocating time to the 3 activities

Your priority is getting people to the meeting and so you need to devote most of your time to marketing.  Your offer needs to be irresistible and so your packaging needs a great deal of time devoted to it.  Least crucial is the meeting itself.

It is tempting to devote a lot of time to the meeting at the expense of the marketing.  This is not to say the meeting should be substandard but it is to say, if you devote most of your time to preparing the meeting and no-one shows up, you have wasted your time!

Prepare your marketing first!

This may seem bizarre but most people go about organising meetings the wrong way round.  Don’t start with the meeting content.  It is often the easiest and most fun to prepare and so tempting to do it first.  Don’t.

Instead, start with the packaging.  What are you planning to deliver at this event?  What are the benefits for those who attend?  This may be in effect a plan for the meeting.

Now make a start on the marketing.  If people are not interested, you have saved a lot of time preparing for a meeting that isn’t going to happen.  If your marketing does cause people to respond, then you have a great incentive to complete meeting preparation.

Social Media campaigns

Finally, you need to use social media and smartphones.  This may go against the grain for oldies like myself.  However, many people cannot be reached effectively by any other route.  But note I’m not saying don’t use other routes, just make sure you use social media.

Not so long ago we communicated events through leaflets and posters, perhaps supported by occasional radio or TV interviews.  Now people mostly hear about things through emails, websites and social media.  Use these media because otherwise you will go unheard.

Have you any tips for meeting promotion in the social media age?

0 Sensitive and Embarrassing Problems

Don’t be fooled by this title, almost any problem can be sensitive or embarrassing.  This is not restricted to intimate health issues or severe emotional problems. Perhaps it is best to start by asking what it is that makes for sensitive and embarrassing problems.

When are Problems Sensitive or Embarrassing?

Some things are likely to be sensitive or embarrassing and you must assume they are until you know otherwise.  There is variation in how people feel about these things but it is their perception that matters and when they first approach you, assume it is sensitive.

Obviously Sensitive and Embarrassing Problems

I’m Type 2 Diabetic and I don’t hide it because I want people to know about the condition and how to avoid it.  I am healthier than I’ve ever been because good health is how to resist a condition that can have a devastating impact in later life.

I am not sensitive about diabetes or embarrassed about it.  Yes, I allowed my health to decline to the point where I developed the condition.  It was not a deliberate choice; I was not aware of how unhealthy I was.

Whilst I believe it is important to be open about this and help people make lifestyles choices that will not lead to the condition, I appreciate some people will not feel the same way.  If I were offering consultancy for lifestyle and diabetes, I would assume this came under the heading of sensitive or embarrassing, even though I don’t find it so.

Potentially Sensitive or Embarrassing Problems

So, let’s take a look at a service that is not normally seen to be sensitive or embarrassing, website design.

The first thing is to note most professionals offer a confidential service.  You work on the assumption your prospect or client is not ready to go public.  If they are it is their decision, not yours.

You see, website design can be sensitive or embarrassing.  I look at dozens of websites and most of them are poorly designed.  This is true of businesses and organisations that have a good reputation or a proven track record.  They may have traffic because of their reputation but it is unlikely their website convert.

Let’s say your prospect has spent a lot of money on a website that does not convert.  This could be sensitive and maybe embarrassing for the person involved.  Note too we may not be talking about a lot of money.  A £20K website should convert.  A web designer charging that amount who does not know how to design a site that converts is dishonest.

A web designer who charges £500 may have some technical expertise but no real understanding of how websites work.  If a small organisation has a £1000 marketing budget, £500 is affordable, a massive outlay for the organisation and 99% of the time a complete waste of money.

So, it is bizarrely at this low-end of the market where you’ll find most defensiveness.  They will furiously throw back at you not only the money spent but also the hours of work the site has involved, the endless arguments about content and on and on …

What to do About Sensitive and Embarrassing Problems

I’m not saying embarrassment over a website is anywhere near as serious as health issues, family breakdown or many of the obviously potentially embarrassing situations.  However, there are always some issues to consider.

Confidentiality

First be clear about confidentiality and stick with it.  Ask permission to make anything public about your prospects and clients.

Sensitivity for the Client

Second do find out how sensitive the problem is for the prospect or client.  Whilst they will control their own publicity, you need to know the limits they work to.  You may sometimes need to challenge these limits but to do that you need to know their view.

I’ve indicated some websites are sensitive and equally some things you would think would be 100% confidential are a part of the story your prospect or client wants to get out there.  I heard a story recently from someone with terminal cancer who wanted to talk pubicly about his incontinence because it was a part of the message he wanted to get across.  If you were providing a service to this client, you need to hear what he is saying and not assume he’s typical of people in this situation.

Appropriate Tools

Third, consider the best tools to work with a client who has this problem.  In some circumstances online meetings might be better than face-to-face meetings, for example.

Your Embarrassment

Fourth, face up to your own sensitivity or embarrassment.  It is possible you’ll be more embarrassed by someone’s problem than they are.  You really must listen carefully to what they say and not allow your feelings to get in the way of your listening.  The fact that you would not make it public, does not mean it is a bad idea.  Always remember it is not your problem, unless you make it into your problem.

Equally, you might not feel at all embarrassed by something that is a real challenge for your client.  For example, someone may be very embarrassed by mice infesting their house.  You might not be too bothered by that problem because you’ve never had it, know how to get rid of it or don’t see it as much of a problem.

But you do need to be careful.  If you are a mouse exterminator, you get in and do the job.  A customer with high anxiety will simply be more pleased to see you.

But what if you are coaching someone who is experiencing stress and freaking out about the mice?  It may be important to deal with the mice (call in the exterminator) but their response to the mice may be the client’s problem.  Don’t assume the problem is the first thing that comes to light.

Do you have examples of problems you thought would be embarrassing and weren’t or were more embarrassing than you first thought?

0 Meetings and How to Make Them Work

Let’s face it, meetings are a headache.  You put hours of effort into preparing for a meeting and then no-one turns up!  It’s even worse if you charge a fee for food, venue or content.

We always forget marketing a meeting is perhaps the most important aspect of preparation.  If you have 100 hours to prepare a meeting, you might be better off spending all the time marketing it.  Any other preparation you do, will not bring any more people along.  Granted it might be a rubbish meeting and no-one might ever trust you again but at least you got them to turn up!

Obviously, you need to prepare and market, so my purpose here is to underline how important it is to give time to promoting the meeting.

Before I do that, let’s be clear about what we’re talking about.

Types of Meeting

There are three types of meeting and it is well to be aware of which type your meeting is.

Private Meetings

These meetings are always by invitation and they usually have a purpose, often in the form of an agenda.  Usually, these are the easiest to organise and need minimal marketing.  Most likely, the date and time is agreed at an earlier meeting or through some sort of arrangement between the members.  An online meeting scheduling assistant can be helpful, eg Doodle Poll is free and an easy way to agree dates for a meeting.  It takes out a lot of the effort formerly done by overworked secretaries.

Once scheduled these meetings sit in diaries until the time of the meeting and most people turn up!  If they don’t, they usually send apologies.    This is just as true for the largest committees as it is for a one to one over a coffee.  These meetings imply personal promises to attend and so people usually make an effort to tell the organiser should they be unable to attend.

I used to organise 24 hour committee meetings at a conference centre.  We set the dates for 2 – 3 meetings per year, each year in advance.  People travelled from all over the country. My job was to prepare the agenda and make sure everyone prepared their reports in time.  We did this confident people would attend.

Regular Public Meetings

These meetings have something in common with both Public (below) and Private meetings.  Examples might be church services or meetings of societies, including political parties.  Usually, there is some pattern to the meetings, eg every Sunday at 10.30am or 7.30pm on the third Thursday of the month.

The attenders are usually on a mailing list, they have the usual date pencilled in their diaries and they do not usually offer apologies.  The organisers can be confident enough people will turn up and so can focus on organising the meeting.  There’s no need to spend a lot of time scheduling or marketing these meetings.

However, over the long haul, attendance can drop off.  Sometimes this can be countered by refreshing the approach to the meeting.  However, a good idea can grow stale; a generation or two later, when not so many people are interested, a meeting will have to close.  Is it worth marketing at this point in the life-cycle of a regular meeting?  Usually, the idea itself is stale and no longer addresses the need it first addressed.

However, many regular meetings have a winning formula and keep going for many years.  Some religious meetings continue for hundreds of years.  The formula may be modified over the generations but the meeting is manifestly the same body of people, united by their story of how their ancestors brought them all together.

Public Meetings

Usually, these are one-off meetings designed to bring new people into contact with the organisers.  There will be very few reliable attenders and people attend to be informed, entertained and educated in some way.

Anyone who has experience organising this type of meeting will testify to the difficulty of persuading people to turn up.

If you don’t charge (or charge at the door), you are likely to get a large number of expressions of interest and fewer people actually turning up.  This need not be a major disaster these days, when you can collect expressions of interest online.  This will build your email list of interested people, who you can contact in the future.  People don’t turn up for various reasons and so the chances are those who don’t are not all time wasters.

If you charge for the meeting, the chances are a higher proportion of the people who pay in advance will actually turn up.  This helps with catering, something it is usually unwise to leave to chance.

I’ll leave this topic here for this week.  Next Friday I’ll say more about how to market public meetings.

Please comment and share your experience of organising meetings and the problems you have met.

0 Markets for Your Offer or Proposition

Does every business have a single market?  It might be better to say each marketing campaign has a single market and a business can run several campaigns for several markets.  So, it is worth giving some thought to the markets for your offer or proposition.

Identify Your Markets

Some businesses say their services are for everyone and this can be a problem.  How can you market to everyone?  You need to address your market, so they know you are speaking to them.  What can you possibly say that everyone would hear?

Some businesses mean, when they say they are for everyone, they don’t discriminate on grounds of demographics.  Estate agents for example presumably don’t expect more of their customers to be men or women, they are looking for people who want to buy or sell a house.  Many of us occasionally need their services but most of the time we don’t.

This is a useful albeit basic way of looking at a particular market and I’m sure estate agents segment their market into several more detailed groups.  And they will approach them in different ways.

How Do I Approach it?

My business offers local marketing consultancy to local business, community and voluntary groups.  This is a large market, especially as I offer my services to anyone anywhere in the country.  So, how do I segment my market?

I have two major divisions in my market, (1) local businesses and (2) community and voluntary organisations.  Each of these can be further subdivided, so for local businesses, perhaps (1.1) traders, (1.2) coaches, (1.3) self-employed and so on.

I could then take perhaps 1.2 and further subdivide them (1.2.1) life coaches, (1.2.2) career coaches and so on.

I can subdivide further but let’s say I chose life coaches. This is where I might introduce demographics.  As I build an idea of what a member of this particular market is like, I may find this is a career where many practitioners are women and so my marketing might show that.

Maybe I build an avatar who is a woman and a life coach.  Would this rule out working with male life coaches?  No it would not.  Your knowledge of the market and the way you picture each market is behind the scenes.  It helps you personalise your marketing.  What I say may be addressed to a female avatar but is likely to appeal to all life coaches.

How to Approach Multiple Markets

So, you have identified several markets, now what do you do?

If you are a small concern, choose one as a focus for your marketing.  Choose one likely to be responsive.  If you do this well, your offer will be clearer and you may be approached by others who don’t fit that market.

But your aim is to reach that particular market and that may be the best point of concentration for you.  If you choose to market to more than one small market you are likely to find capacity becomes an issue.

Each market needs to be addressed individually and whilst this is possible, it can become a lot of work.  Bear in mind most campaigns don’t work, so you may be better off focusing on one or very few markets likely to respond positively to your message.

Of course, you need to know about your wider market to find smaller markets likely to be more responsive.  You may find if you begin with a larger market, you get interest from a small section and you can focus your marketing on that section, as you develop your business.

The Pareto Principle might help you with this.  It says, 80% of your business is through 20% of your customers.  There’s a lot more to it but it means whilst you may have a large potential market, the chances are a small corner of it will deliver most of your business.  Find that corner and use your marketing to address them.

Have you found a corner of a larger market that responds positively to your offer?  How did you find them and how do you approach them?