Category Archives for "Marketing"

0 Unique Causes Products and Services

Causes

Causes are not usually unique in the same way as products or services. Usually, a cause presents itself to people who promote it. People rarely choose a cause because it is unique.  Just as a cause will present itself and demand a response, so will a unique product or service.

Unique causes are a headache because they may not have a market. Where a cause is unpopular, the challenge is to find supporters. They may not be aware of the cause or even hostile to it.

An unpopular cause will need promotion to find its market. You don’t choose the cause because it is unpopular but identify the need and seek to make it popular.  In this sense a unique cause can be more difficult to market than a unique product or service.

Products and Services

With products and services, the usual route is to find something that’s potentially popular and market it. There are a number of commodity-types that sell well, eg money, health, sex, sport; but it is harder to be unique with these. You’ll notice the environment is not in this list, so perhaps something that benefits the environment needs additional attributes from the more popular categories. Solar panels may for some people be popular because they are good for the environment but they also save money on fuel bills. It can be argued protecting the environment is good for health, although this is a more general advantage and less likely to impact on the life of any particular person.

The main advantage of a unique offer, is it is a clear signal to your particular market that your offer is for them. People need to know you are speaking to them because what you are offering is for them.

You may be willing to sell to anybody but in reality most people are not interested. Be clear how your offer is unique and people to whom it appeals are more likely to listen.

Competition and Collaboration

Your competitors will be helpful here. Those who sell something similar may have found your market and so you may be able to find a similar group for your offer or adjust your offer to something different for the same group.

Competitors will also give you some idea of where there is a market. Your offer may be unique but if it does not have a market, you have a problem; either your market does not exist or else you have not found your market. It is not always easy to know whether a new idea has a market.

Some people argue it is better to compete in established markets and sometimes this is true. Competitors may be aware their market is bigger than they can manage and if so, there may be opportunities for collaboration. If you have something that might appeal to a competitor’s market, it may be possible to collaborate.

Collaboration is another topic but it is important to remember businesses generally help each other out. Cut-throat competition is a media myth. Often new businesses who have not discovered the myth, come across as dubious sales people. If you have a unique idea, your task is to market it and part of that is finding the help you need to turn it into something people want to buy.

This post is one of series about the products, services and causes element of the circuit questionnaire.

0 Formats of Products Services and Causes

Whilst the formats of your products services and causes might seem obvious, it is always worth consideration. So, what is a format?

If you’re selling a course, you have various options. You can

People who make one purchase are likely to make repeated purchases and the same applies in principle to causes. However, people complain about pushy causes and so it is better to aim to build relationships, so customers can choose to stay in contact. Building an online relationship is a real possibility, with no equivalent before the Internet.

Someone who donates should choose their degree of future involvement. An occasional email update is maybe all they need. Others may seek active engagement and so it is worth having options for them.  You might not call them customers but the same ethical issues apply as for business customers; they need to be able to unsubscribe from your lists, for example.

How do your formats of products services and causes influence the way you manage your offers?

0 Delivery of Products Services and Causes

This is my first post about the second element in the circuit questionnaire, Products and Services.  This element’s first question asks whether you deliver products or services or combine both. I would add causes to the mix. Many organisations combine two or all three of products services and causes. So you need to understand what they are and how they combine.

Products

A product is a thing you purchase. It might be a consumer product such as a car or a television set or something more ephemeral like food or soap.

Two Types of Product

Material products, manufactured or crafted by hand, were the foundation of the industrial revolution. The digital revolution has modified them in significant ways.

The second type is digital products, such as applications or online courses. These did not exist a few years ago and for some people have become a significant source of income. Their big advantage is they can be downloaded once created at any time and in any part of the world. However, it is not as straightforward as that because they still need marketing, which is usually the hardest part of selling a product.

Products with Services

Products often combine with services. Walk into most department stores and you almost always thread your way through a maze of make-up counters. Here is a product with a closely related service. Do you buy the product with the service as a bonus, buy the service with the product as a bonus or buy a package that includes both?

Products with Causes

Products combine with causes too. Solar panels are a product but also a cause. Some governments encourage renewable energy and so offer incentives to invest in solar power. Other governments withdraw these incentives.

Services

A service is work done for you in exchange for payment. There are two kinds of service.

The first is a task performed for you. Hairdressers or cleaners are examples.

The other type of service is coaching or consultancy. This can deliver a completed task (expert consultancy) or help with a task (coaching or non-directive consultancy). These services do not always need the physical presence of the service deliverer and so can be delivered online.

Services with Products

Someone might visit your home to help apply make-up and sell you make-up as well as the service. Equipment may come with a service that helps you install and maintain it. Sometimes this service is an essential part of the package.

Services with Causes

Plenty of consultancy/coaching businesses offer support to people who want to be more effective campaigners, for example health or spirituality consultancies are usually inspired by a cause. Sometimes the cause is so integral to their offer, they may not even think of it as a cause.

Causes

Causes are offers that aim to change the world in some way. The invitation is to join the cause; it may include payment for a product or service but may not involve a financial exchange of any type. A financial exchange may be a donation, where you receive little in return beyond an acknowledgement.

Causes with Products

The cause may be peripheral, for example where someone sells make-up that is not tested on animals; they choose how much prominence they give to this and can make it a major selling point. Another example is solar panels sold to cut the customer’s carbon footprint. There are other reasons to buy solar panels but climate change is a major incentive for some customers.

Causes with Services

Combined with services, a cause may be a primary incentive: “I’ll show you how to apply the best make-up not tested on animals”, may appeal to people concerned about animal testing. The person offering this service could be forceful, lecturing customers on the ethics of animal testing and encouraging them to sign up to the cause. Others may simply state in the small print they use make-up not tested on animals.

Why are Causes Important?

Causes are more important than some marketers realise. Whilst some businesses may be cautious promoting a cause because it might put off some customers, the fact is causes permeate the marketplace.

With climate change, for example, the market is very lucrative, especially with government incentives. Solar panels, insulation, efficient boilers and other appliances, electric cars, bicycles; the list is likely to be very long.

Political campaigners soon realise they can sell products and services for their campaign to be successful. The money might go directly to the cause or a small business might fund its owner to devote time to promoting their cause as well as their product or service.

However, some businesses start solely to generate income. Purists might argue this is the usual reason for starting a business and a cause will only get in the way. However, many business-owners have ethical values. Someone selling make-up may soon realise there are several associated causes, for example what does “natural” mean? The Body Shop certainly turned natural make-up into a cause and in the early days recycled its bottles. (Maybe it still does but these days it does not make such a big thing of it.)

Many businesses discover an ethical dimension and embrace it. It makes sense to share your customers’ values; listen to their concerns and try to meet them. You might be a cynical manipulative capitalist but people find embracing a cause is natural and increases their offer’s credibility.

It becomes more complex where large corporations take on causes and impose their values on their workers. But for most small businesses the cause makes complete sense as a part of their offer.

0 Your Unique Perspective

In this final post about the branding element of the circuit questionnaire, I shall summarise what I understand about branding in a local economy context, with reference to my business.

My Unique Perspective

My plan is to offer a community development approach to online work. This is particularly for businesses or community organisations with a role in their local economy.  My focus is on the human issues facing organisations working online. This has become possible in recent years because the technical side of website design has become much easier. It is no longer about implementing complex technical procedures. It is about knowing which ones to carry out and how to use them effectively. The skills are about handling human relationships, organisation theory, understanding the local economy, writing copy and not so much about programming machines.

My perspective is from years of working locally and experience of the conflict endemic in organisations. The same conflicts apply when working online. Ignoring conflict and focusing solely on the technical side of things may result in a website. It will not do its job if the organisation is not able to support the website.

I still find conflict difficult and frankly do not believe anyone who claims otherwise. It is often easier to see clearly what is happening in organisations where there is no emotional investment. We often find, when we are close to an organisation, emotions get in the way of clear analysis. I have seen people driven to nervous breakdowns by conflict. Under these circumstances it is impossible to play a constructive role.

My story on my website is an example of the experience many people have and need to deal with when they are in the thick of it or recovering confidence following it.  It shows the outcomes of conflict are rarely victory or defeat and the emotional aftermath can last for years.

Organisational Perspectives

However, this is not the only issue organisations face when working online. Where there is emotional investment in a particular approach, people need support questioning whether their approach is still best. Their approach may consume much time and effort. It can be difficult to tear it down and start over. The demands of running a modern website and social media might uncover policy limitations. Online work opens up new possibilities, not visible to an organisation too closely identified with past policy.

Of course this can be threatening and so conversations about changes to an organisation’s approach need to take place in a safe space. Non-directive consultancy can provide that space not only because it is confidential but also control is firmly in the hands of the consultor.

Once the consultor has decided a new course of action they will need help to implement it, eg getting support for the new actions from the rest of the organisation. Perhaps the new course of action will have implications for online work and at that stage it may be possible to work together with a consultant on online and in-person solutions.

So, that is my unique perspective. What’s yours?

0 Brand Names in the Local Economy

Like many people I am sceptical about brand names. To my mind, the associations are with big corporations that use brand names as a substitute for personal, reliable service.

Of course, there is no reason local personal service has to be more reliable than established brands. A large corporation can afford to employ staff to handle complaints. A small local business may lack capacity to handle complaints.

I recently had a dispute with an established company. They made a mistake by ignoring my instructions; instructions they had requested. I complained and they offered to pay to recover from their mistake. I engaged a local service to attempt to set things right and the established company paid up promptly to cover the costs. As it happened the recovery process simply demonstrated their error was not recoverable but they did not haggle over the payment.

They could afford to be generous once they established they were at fault. They misinformed me from the start. In the shop, they told me I had a choice but their servicing department did not in fact respond to customer instructions. They need to decide whether they respond to customer instructions and if they do not make sure their workers understand their policy.  They believe they misinformed me in the shop, whilst my view is what they said in the shop made sense and they need  to review their policy.

You will note I have not mentioned the brand. Suffice it to say it is well-known and as their response to my complaint was positive I’m not going to denounce them, even though I do not agree with their policy. Their brand name is valuable to them and they ultimately act to protect it and the £200 they spent helping me recover from their error was presumably worth it. If I ever recommend their services to anyone I will also suggest they take certain precautions.

Brand Names and Local Businesses

So, does branding have any relevance to local businesses? Here are a few thoughts.

The corporations view brand names as their intellectual property. Brand names can be bought and sold. The biggest companies may own many brand names and if a local business is especially successful it might sell its name to a bigger company.

I use two terms that might in time become brand names. “Community Web Consultant” and “Community Development Online”. It is also possible my name might become associated with my services and so become a brand name.  It is hard to see how I can decide if or when any of these will happen.  The best I can do is recognise when it is happening.

Between them my two potential brand names convey something of what I offer, although not the entire story. I use a niche statement on my site for a clearer explanation of what I offer.

It is difficult to see how someone can know what to expect from my services solely from my brand names. Established brands might have names that do not give anything away about their products. Most people have an idea what Kelloggs or Adidas sell, even though these brand names do not give anything away!

My brand names will most likely be close enough to my activities in the foreseeable future. If I wake up one morning with a new idea that’s completely different to what I’m doing now, then I’m likely to find a new brand name!

Overall I’m not convinced brand names are all that important for small enterprises. They need to be used in the context of an overall marketing campaign.

Examples from the Voluntary Sector

Voluntary sector organisations have brand names; they are not restricted to commercial concerns.  A good name is a valuable asset for many large charities, for example.  Many actually seek better branding by changing their names, for example the Council for Voluntary Services changed its name to Voluntary Action a couple of decades ago.  The new name is easier to remember and so the change was probably worth any loss of recognition at the time of the change.

One final example is a well-established local voluntary sector organisation, based in Sheffield although its reach is global. Its name is its brand and those who know it generally hold the organisation in great affection. Its name is a very positive asset.

However its marketing is very poor, it lacks an effective marketing strategy and uses old technologies, poorly executed. I am confident that when it closes, as it will if it continues on its current course, its name will still be held in great affection.

Brand names can be helpful as a part of a marketing strategy but on their own they are not the be all and end all of marketing.

This is part of a sequence building upon the circuit questionnaire, the element about branding.

4 Setting a Goal

The key to marketing is being clear about what you offer. Why? Because if you’re not clear, how are you going to communicate with your customers?  Your potential customers, supporters or members will respond to a clear message.  So, setting a goal can help you convey exactly what you are offering visitors to your business and / or website.

From time to time you will have marketing campaigns and so you need to be clear about your goals.  This applies equally to marketing products or services for sale and to marketing a cause.

Your goal isn’t always to sell as many widgets as possible in the shortest possible time. You need to be clear about the following, when setting a goal:

Some Possible Goals

One approach is to interview potential clients and find out what products or services they need. So, here are some possible goals you may set as a result. Do note you will set different goals from time to time, as circumstances develop:

I’m sure you can add to this list. The main thing is to work on one goal at a time or at least, if you have several goals, make sure you don’t put them all on your home page!  Website visitors respond to clear messages and clear requests.

This post is part of a series based on the circuit questionnaire, the branding element.

0 Using Your Niche Statement

A client, a voluntary organisation, raised a concern about marketing during their session this week.  Having a clear niche statement about what you are about, a proposition or elevator pitch, doesn’t it conceal information from prospective members or supporters?  I suppose the fear is without the detail, inquirers might feel they have somehow been fooled.

Obviously, it depends on how you handle things.  Marketing is not a value free activity and can be used for dishonest purposes.  The best marketing, however, is educational.  If you are seeking allies or genuinely want to offer help with a particular problem, then you need to set out your stall.  Those who use it to exploit make it more difficult for everybody.

Take the analogy of a shop front. You might have a window display with a written statement to encourage people to enter your shop. Once inside maybe 20 out of every 100 will make a purchase.  I haven’t chosen 20 for any particular reason.  It may be many more in some shops and a lot less when considering, for example, visitors to websites.

Shop Window

These 20 would not have entered the shop had they not seen what’s in the window. They don’t see everything you offer just enough to engage their interest.  You need the other 80 visitors because you don’t know which of the 100 will make a purchase until they enter the shop.

Of the 80, some

Your Website

The same dynamic applies online. Your website home page or social media presence act as a shop front. Other pages on the website explain and educate and make offers. Online the numbers may be somewhat more adverse. Maybe only a few percent will make a purchase or sign up to your email list. These conversions are what you want to increase. Those who sign up are equivalent to those visitors who make a later purchase or refer friends to your shop.

The aim online is to engage interest through your home page or social media, for example, and then draw those who are interested into your site where you can provide more information.  This extra information is important. This morning I looked at a site where I am likely to make a purchase.  I have so far not used their offer because their site lacks the detailed information I need to decide.

It is not easy to provide all the information visitors needs a format that is accessible and usable.  It’s best to make a start and then gradually make improvements as you receive feedback or gain fresh insights.  But you won’t get feedback until people visit your site and so there is no need to fear attracting them with clear statements about what your site is about.  Those who are interested will visit and some of them may stick around.

2 The Value Triangle

I’m not going to draw a value triangle because (a) everyone knows what a triangle looks like, and (b) I don’t find it particularly helpful. The value triangle is the forced compromise many businesses have to make between three aspects of their business:

Your customer can have any two but not all three. So, sacrifice any one and this is what you get:

The point is, as a customer you can’t expect to optimise all three. If you want something of high quality and fast, expect to pay for it. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money you must sacrifice either speed or quality.

For the business owner, the challenge is to work out what their customers want. My own business provides a non-directive consultancy or coaching service. My aim is a high quality service and I expect to deliver over 3 – 6 months or longer. This may seem slow but it is right for a consultancy service. My prices are relatively low when compared with Done for You website design and offers a service that integrates online and in-person activity, which many website designers do not offer. It is certainly cheaper than employing a worker to build and maintain a website, so long as there is someone who can dedicate the time to work with me. The client who wants a high quality website tomorrow will need a Done for You service. I offer a slower more considered and eventually more effective route to being effective online.

Cost is a real pitfall for many businesses. There is a tendency to under price offers. Think it through this way, are you going to sacrifice speed or quality? If you offer a service at a low price you will need more clients to break even. This will mean you will have less time to focus on your clients and so compromise quality. Or else if quality is essential you will need to extend your contracts over a longer time.

The first thing is to explore how your service compares with others. What alternatives might your clients be looking at and how are they priced? If you can cut the time you spend on each client without compromising quality or add to your basic offer in a way that enhances quality this may enable you to adjust your price. You will normally be aiming for the highest possible price your customers will accept that enables you to provide the highest quality service.

Some business activities have various options. For example, a cupcake business may offer celebration cakes at a premium price. Something really special for a special event. This would be high-priced, for example the business I heard of recently where the owner breaks even on 6 wedding cakes a year.

Another cupcake business might produce large numbers of cheap and cheerful cupcakes that are low-cost, quick to make and tasty. So long as it’s a good product, it should be easy to sell a lot and break even on the cheaper end of the market.

The first business offers high quality at a high price. Don’t expect to order a wedding cake anything other than months in advance. The other offers something over the counter at low-cost. Their quality may actually be fine but not wedding cake standard!

If you get a chance to interview potential clients, it may be worth asking which two out of the three, they would choose first and second. They can rank them in order of importance and then discuss, the implications of discarding their third choice. Sometimes customers will be more flexible when they understand this basic dynamic.

This post is part of a sequence based on the circuit questionnaire, the branding element.

0 Partners and Allies

Successful local businesses network. Some are natural networks of suppliers, for example. Other networks succeed because local businesses promote each other.

Sometimes businesses collaborate and form partnerships. These might be temporary, perhaps for a particular project, eg where a particularly challenging client needs co-ordinated support from more than one business. Or businesses might market a particular service jointly. Sometimes two or more local businesses form a partnership business and work together for the long haul.

Other partnerships resource businesses in a local area. So, for example, a group of otherwise unrelated traders might hire, refurbish and manage a building together.

Despite media rhetoric, businesses rarely compete. Most understand their success depends upon the success of others. Building relationships often unearths new possibilities for collaboration.

There are aggressive people who get their kicks from competition with others. They may claim to be successful but upon analysis their business will depend on others in dozens of ways. The competitive mindset is rarely effective, particularly into the long-term. People need to know, like and trust the people they do business with and fear does not help!

The idea of the niche might help us understand partners and allies. It comes from biology and shows how organisms adapt to their environment. What do you need to be successful in your niche?

All these require you to pay attention to other businesses in your locality. Asking for help, listening to potential customers or other traders who will help you find your niche. You may know what you want to do, eg cupcakes, but you need to know how your place sets the agenda. If people want celebration cakes, you may need to adjust your activities. The person who makes 6 wedding cakes a year, however, will have plenty of time to do other things. They have a niche where they can make a living through relatively little effort. The customer is not interested in how much time it takes to make and ice a cake – they care about the contribution the cake makes to their wedding.

Your place sets your agenda; an agenda dominated by its local businesses. So, your business relationships, your partners and allies, are not an afterthought, they are at the core of any local businesses’ practice.

This post is a part of the series based on the circuit questionnaire, the element about branding.

0 Authority

It is difficult to sell your offer if you are not known, liked and trusted. All three are essential for online authority. It is essential to tell your site visitors about yourself and provide evidence in support of your claims.

In real life, you meet with prospective clients and answer their questions. They can see and hear you. They make up their minds from what you say and how you say it; body language and other visible cues.

This is not so easy online because you are dependent solely upon your content. You can use video and this may provide some visible cues people need to decide but it is still nothing like personal encounter.

It is hard to avoid concluding online marketing is more difficult than face-to-face marketing. For larger investments, your aim is to move prospective clients from your website to a face-to-face, phone or Skype meeting. The last two are perhaps not as good as face-to-face meetings but if you are selling something people want and they cannot find anything similar closer to where they are, they do work.

So, the question is how to marshal evidence on your website that will encourage visitors to explore your offer further or for low-priced products make a first purchase.

Is your site full of useful, reliable information? People impressed by your knowledge may give your offer a try.

Closely related to this is generosity, where you provide useful information free of charge. If you can show you are the hub of an online community that exchanges ideas, so much the better. This can be difficult if you are starting out but established organisations can encourage their members to contribute to their sites. A blog can have several authors who should respond to comments on their articles. A strong community of authors and plenty of comments can do more to contribute to site authority than just about anything else.

If this does not work for you, for example if you don’t have time to blog, it is inappropriate or you are not established, what can you do?

Sources of Authority

Here are examples of things you can include on your site to increase authority. Be aware, it is better to integrate these items into your pages and not relegate them to their own page. However, if someone does want to know more about you it can be helpful to have an about page with detailed information in one place.

Authority on Your Website

You don’t want pages of tedious material. You need somewhere (and a Linked-In profile is ideal) where you can marshal this material and clear links to it on your site. Some visitors who are really interested will seek out this information, so it needs to be available.

Where you can, integrate testimonials into your copy. Mostly people need to know they are there and scan them. If someone is really interested, they will read them.

For organisations with history, the challenge is how to convey your authority on your website. If you are starting out, it will take time to grow authority but persevere; small incremental improvements can lead to a more convincing website over time.

If you are clear about what you want to convey, you can adjust some of the above items to meet your needs. For example, you can ask clients to write testimonials to a template that asks them about aspects of your work where you need evidence.

This post is a part of the series based on the circuit questionnaire, the first element about branding.