Category Archives for "Marketing"

Market Together for Mutual Support

Sharing specialist skills becomes possible as trust develops between businesses.  They may meet specifically for mutual support or else they may have a common interest, such as sharing a building.  This post takes this further and suggests possibilities for closer collaboration.

Giving and Receiving Mutual Support

I almost left the word “mutual” out of the title of this post because it is possible for support to be one way.  A carer offers support and may receive little in return.  A business-owner might offer support to another business out of friendship or to a relative and not seek anything in return.

There’s no problem with one-way support but it is not the topic of this post.  Mutual support is the point, the goal, of collaboration.  The idea is all businesses that engage in collaborative marketing benefit from their work together.  There is no guarantee of success, of course but the aim is to find opportunities for mutual benefit.

Imagine a group of businesses have worked together for a period.  They have viewed each other’s marketing campaigns and provided feedback.  They have exchanged specialist skills and assisted each other with aspects of their marketing campaigns.  Now they are ready to launch.  Are there possibilities for mutual support?

This will depend on the nature of the group.  Similar businesses may have a lot to offer each other but may compete for similar markets.  Very different businesses may not compete but their markets may not be relevant for all the businesses present.

How Support Works

Ask each other: how can you help get my message out?  Pool ideas in a positive way.  You are seeking win-win strategies.  Here are a few possibilities:

Isolation and Collaboration

In-depth exploration of mutual approaches to marketing can be rewarding.  Marketing a business is always hard work and made harder by the isolation many business owners experience.  Collaboration helps find support short of employing staff.  Even with staff, collaboration with other businesses is still valuable.

Marketing is always risky but there are steps you can take to reduce risk and use time and money effectively.  A lot depends on being able to identify opportunities and move swiftly to take advantage of them.  This becomes easier if you have done the foundational work on your business.  Paradoxically, to increase speed of business growth you need to slow down your marketing.  Next time: the power of slow marketing!

In these posts and emails I am forging a new approach to marketing.  Please comment and let me know what you think, whether you agree or disagree.

To make sure you see everything, complete the form below to go on my mailing list.  You’ll get notice of future blog posts and receive my Thursday emails.

Do You Care for Your Target Market?

In this final post of what has been a very long sequence exploring the circuit questionnaire, I shall tackle perhaps the most important question: how do you care for your target market?

In a sequence running alongside this one, I argue the need for re-enchantment of marketing.  It is through our enthusiasm, our passion, for our offer, our market and the wider transformation that results from our work, we contribute something positive.  Follow the sequence on my new website, Market Together.

Marketing is an opportunity to be creative with our offer and the skills we bring to bring a real difference to prospects and other listeners alike.  It is ultimately a spiritual discipline, contemplating the world we encounter and intervening to meet the needs we find there.

In a world obsessed with finance and the decline of capitalism, we witness the decline of care for others.  This is clearly true for caring for those who are disadvantaged but erosion of care affects everyone.  Without care we lose the essential ties of community and everyone suffers.

Care for Your Target Market

You can show care for your target market before, during and after you spend time with your client.  At all times, they are your first concern.  If there is a bond between you, the chances are your client will respond positively to your guidance and achieve what you promised when you made your offer.

Before the Deal

It is important to show not only you understand their problem but have some sense of how it feels.  You share in their experience to some degree.  This does not mean you must experience exactly what they experience but you show you understand and empathise with what they are going through.

This can be done through marketing; using stories and testimonials to convey your experience of the problem.

During the Deal

First, you are there to listen.  This is your prime objective.  Most people don’t have an opportunity to be heard in the working life and simply need space to think things through.  Your role is to structure that space and make sure your client keeps moving forward.  What moving forwards entails will depend on your offer and their needs.

It is also a good idea to over-deliver.  I stipulate session length in my formal agreement and usually allow more time if necessary.  I can bring the session to an end on time if I need to but it helps to be flexible.  Also, offer unannounced bonuses.  These can be relevant to your offer, eg a book, or some gesture, perhaps lunch!

After the Deal

Follow up and show you are interested in the progress made.  I have had several coaches who have not got back in touch.  This damages them in three ways.  First, they cannot find out how effective their coaching has been months and possibly years afterwards.  This is valuable information lost to them.

I would be much more likely to buy again from a coach who is interested in me.  Some coaches come over as money-making businesses who just care about delivering their packages to as many people as they can.  If they have a great reputation, they can get away with this but for most coaches, probably not.

Finally, I am less likely to recommend a coach who I don’t believe really cares.  For most coaches, referrals are an essential means to find new clients.  Testimonials are likely to be more detailed and insightful and referrals more likely.

Conclusion

Does care for your clients have to be genuine?  Empathy can benefit your business and so perhaps it may seem it does not.  Make it seem genuine and you might get away with it.  I’m not convinced by this because your true feelings are likely to find expression however you attempt to disguise them.

There are things you can do to show you care.  It is always a good idea to make sure they are part of your routine.  Work out some way of showing you care, schedule it and use it!  This is not about some sentimental effusion of emotion.  It is about showing you share a concern and committed to helping; that you are reliable.

Your routine practice will ring true if you do really care.  Act as if you care and you will find in time you do.  The benefit of caring is mutual.  Why should it be any other way?

Please let me know if this is helpful and if there are any points I could expand upon.

Market Together to Share Specialist Skills

Last Wednesday, I opened the topic of collaborative marketing.   I explored feedback and suggested there is real value to your business when you offer feedback to other businesses and receive feedback from them.  As relationships deepen, it is possible to offer specialist skills.

Giving and Receiving Specialist Skills

It may be you would ordinarily charge for specialist skills.  But is it right to charge a group that offers support for your business in exchange for support for theirs?

The principle in such a group, is to offer specialist skills without charge.  By all means, if you commit a lot of time to helping someone, point out the costs in moving focus from your business to their’s.

The aim of collaboration is mutual benefit for all involved. The priority is to each person’s business first.  The ethic is one of self-interest.  I help you because in doing so, my business benefits.  Businesses work together for mutual benefit.

No-one needs to keep detailed records about what each person does for each other person.  However, there will from time to time be work that comes up that requires substantial commitment of time and resources.

So,  get agreement from collaborators about how to handle big jobs.  This can be by exchange of services, paying perhaps at a reduced rate for services or referral to someone outside the group.  There is probably no need to have hard and fast rules but it helps to know what the options are.

Why Specialisation Works

So, why does sharing specialist skills work?  This happens where trust grows in a group, so its members commit to supporting each other’s businesses.  These are informal arrangements that fall short of joint ventures.

Sharing skills requires a degree of trust.  People need to know they are not wasting time but also need to be confident they can leave you to prepare something to help their business.  As trust grows, it becomes possible to go further and provide increasing support for others.

In these posts and emails I am forging a new approach to marketing.  Please comment and let me know what you think, whether you agree or disagree.

To make sure you see everything, complete the form below to go on my mailing list.  You’ll get notice of future blog posts and receive my Thursday emails.

Third Party Influence on Buying Decisions

Perhaps one of the least anticipated issues you face when marketing is third-party influence on buying decisions.  I have been in this situation several times.  My prospect arrives at the point of sale and then announces they need their spouse, employer or committee chair to agree to the deal.

The problem is you are sending your prospect into a situation where they have to sell your offer to a third-party who has never met you.  Almost invariably, the answer is “no”.

Third Parties

The first question is: who are third parties?  These are people who have a veto over your prospect’s decision.  So, this would not include business owners, who recommend you or hold a grudge.  They exist and prospects may listen to them but they do not have a veto in the sense they can forbid a contract with you.

Broadly, there are two types of veto from third parties: domestic and business.

Domestic vetoes usually come from a spouse or partner.  These are perhaps the hardest people to persuade. If they are not involved in your prospect’s business, they base their decision on unrelated circumstances.   There may also be prejudice.  They may have no concept of commercial rates or not approve of coaching or consultancy for various reasons.  Actually it matters little whether their prejudices are well founded; the problem is you cannot reach them directly.

Remember too, if the prospect has doubts, they may consciously or unconsciously seek a veto from their spouse or partner.

Business vetoes come mainly through line managers.  These may be business owners, middle managers, committee chairs or even whole committees.  Chances of success are better here because it is possible they will see the value of your offer to their business and may have a budget for staff development.  With a culture of staff development, they may understand your offer’s relevance.

Prospects may play this card because they need a reason to delay their decision. So, be alert to the reason the prospect is seeks to postpone their decision.

What’s to be Done?

Try to get a decision at the meeting.  If the veto is really an issue, they may back out later but with a handshake and quick follow-up, with any luck the problem will come to nothing.  I have tried incentives for a quick decision coupled with a clear decision date.  I have not found this approach works particularly well.  Nothing beats a decision on the spot.

So, if the prospect volunteers information about a third-party veto, discuss how they intend to deal with it.

Sometimes it may be possible to meet the third-party.  This depends on what you sell.  If the third-party is in effect party to the deal, include them in the meeting and conversation.  So, if you are network marketing utilities, speak to both partners.  If you are selling something of benefit to a business, ask to meet with all the relevant people.

If you can’t meet the third-party, you will depend on the prospect to market your offer to them.  How can you help?  Can you speak to the third-party on the phone?  Are there documents, a story and/or a website that might help?  Agree a date to get back together and wait for the prospect to cancel!  Provide all the support you can manage and then write it off.  If by some miracle the deal comes through, the chances are the prospect really wants it and so makes sure they get the result.  So, make sure they do really want it.

Who Pays?

One final point for business third parties.  It is always possible the prospect could pay from their own money.  Many people say they don’t have the money. You are on far more certain ground discussing how they can pay than gambling on the whim of an unknown third-party.

At all times be professional and resourceful.  A prospect impressed by the way you handle this, is more likely to buy!

Please let me know if this is helpful and if there are any points I could expand upon.

Marketing Together Generates Feedback

So, you have three strategic objectives: your business purpose, financial purpose and lifestyle purpose.  These will set your feet on the right road, so now the question is whether you travel your road alone or with others.  To travel with others means you have opportunities to give and receive feedback.

Giving and Receiving Feedback

Most of the time, while I’m giving feedback on others’ websites or marketing, part of me is wondering why I don’t follow my advice!  It is always easier to see other people’s faults, far more clearly than your own.  So, giving feedback can sharpen your act!

Receiving feedback can be enlightening too but not always so much as giving feedback.  Mostly people give feedback by offering a solution.  Usually, you need to understand the problem and not be distracted by someone’s solution.

Say you get feedback about your website, like there are too many words or a heading is not legible.  Even something as simple as this demands an answer to the question: what exactly is the problem?  Try to steer the conversation towards defining the problem the reader perceives.  They may not understand something you’ve written, so find out exactly what they don’t understand.  What might initially appear to be too many words, may mean a search for the right words.

Once the problem is clear, you can move the discussion onto what solutions may be possible.  Note there are always several possible solutions and the first one you think of will not always be the best.

Remember it is your business and your decision.  Get the most from feedback by taking time to step back and understand the problem.

Why Feedback Works

You need to spend time understanding the feedback you receive.  Assuming your feedback is helpful, what accounts for its positive value?

So, you see feedback can be valuable whether it comes from someone who is new to your work or familiar with it.  It is up to you to listen carefully and engage with your critics.  Feedback done well builds trust and this may open up new possibilities for specialised support.

In these posts and emails I am forging a new approach to marketing.  Please comment and let me know what you think, whether you agree or disagree.

To make sure you see everything, complete the form below to go on my mailing list.  You’ll get notice of future blog posts and receive my Thursday emails.

Do Prospects Want to Implement Your Solution Themselves?

There are three possible answers to the question:  do prospects want to implement your solution themselves?  They do, they do not and they may need help.

Do-It-Yourself

The do-it-yourself option (DIY) may be the cheapest and it can be the most time-consuming for the client.  This option assumes they have a degree of prior knowledge or experience and so with instructions, they can work it out themselves.

So, take website design as an example.  The client knows how to build a website.  Their problem may be they are less sure about the design.  They can implement any design but need help to draw up their design.

They may need a few conversations but then they can get on with the job on their own.

Done-For-You

The done-for-you (DFY) option is usually most expensive and saves the client’s time.  There will be a higher expectation of quality.

For a website, the client provides information about what they want and the designer does the work.  To do a good job the designer needs high quality information from the client, while the client will typically want to spend as little time as possible on the website.

To get the best from a DFY offer, it is important the client takes responsibility for the work.  They need to provide clear instructions and be ready to discuss each iteration with the designer.  This is rarely an arm’s length arrangement.  DFY can save time so long as the client can spend some time on the work.

Done-With-You

The done-with-you option (DWY) is a half-way house between DIY and DFY.  The idea is the client will learn how to design a website by working alongside the designer.  This is the time the DFY option saves; the DFY client usually does not want to spend time learning how to design a website.

DWY is mid-way between DIY and DFY in price and likely to take up more time.  The money spent on this option may save money on future websites and will certainly mean the client knows how to maintain their site.

Both approaches have their limitations and sometimes limitations can be beneficial.  The link is to a post that explores these limitations in more detail.

Conclusion

There is no right or wrong decision here.  It depends on what the client thinks is most important.  DIY saves money and DFY saves time.  DWY enhances their skills and increases their understanding.

Please let me know if this is helpful and if there are any points I could expand upon.

Lifestyle Purpose and Your Work-Life Balance

For a super rocking fun time marketing plan you need three strategic objectives and this is the one almost everyone misses because they do not take it seriously!  You need a lifestyle purpose for your benefit and your business’s.

There is a story of a business man on holiday beside a great lake.  He finds a fisherman, dozing in the sun and they get into conversation.  “Why are you not out fishing?”, the business man asks.

“I’ve caught all I need to feed my family today.”

“So, why not carry on fishing?  You could sell the fish to buy an outboard motor for your boat and that would take you to other parts of the lake where there are more fish.  More profits would mean new, bigger and stronger nets.  With the additional money you could buy a second boat and pay people to fish with you.  In time you could have a fleet of fishing boats.”

“And what then?”

“Then, you could sit back and relax.”

“What do you think I’m doing right now?”

There is no doubt lifestyle choices make a big impact on your business.

Your Benefits

Most people have heard of work-life balance and it is important.  You have a young family and spend every hour God sends outside your house, marketing and delivering your business.  Fifteen years later, your business collapses through exhaustion and you return home to find a house full of moody Goths who have no idea who you are and a partner who has forgotten you exist.

Lifestyle benefit is for everyone, even those who live alone.  I value the freedom to live my life in the way I want to.  I walk for health and that means I walk every day.  Being free of having to go into work means I can do as I choose.  Some people have hobbies or sports they pursue and value opportunities to do so.

Your business needs to fund your work-life balance, that is the costs of non-essential business activities.  Your lifestyle purpose should inspire your financial purpose.  What do you need to fund your non-business activities?

Business Benefits

But your business benefits from your lifestyle purpose too.  If you are to come across as fresh, as someone who enjoys your work, you need to take lifestyle seriously.  The worst boss you ever have is likely to be you.  It does not have to be that way.  Everyone struggles with this but you can plan how to get to your chosen lifestyle.

But you also need space to review and reflect on your business.  Many people, especially coaches, get so caught up in their job, they forget their business.  How many people schedule in the time they need to take a step back and review their business?  You need to create space to do this, so that you’re not distracted by day-to-day demands from your clients, partners and others.

Finally …

So, there you have it.  You need business, financial and lifestyle aims for your marketing plan.  They’re related but you need to focus on all three if you are to do justice to your business.  This may seem daunting.  But don’t worry, you’re not alone.  There are many others in the same boat and this is why collaborative marketing is important and so my next topic.

In these posts and emails I am forging a new approach to marketing.  Please comment and let me know what you think, whether you agree or disagree.

To make sure you see everything, complete the form below to go on my mailing list.  You’ll get notice of future blog posts and receive my Thursday emails.

Making Assumptions about Your Market

Very few businesses have a complete picture of their market.  Your picture will develop, as you get to know your customers.  In the meantime, you will need to make assumptions about your market.

Whilst, you may have accurate data about some aspects of your market, you will have gaps in your perception.  You don’t always know where you make assumptions and so the check-list below might help.

Remember, making assumptions is not always a negative!  You will never know everything about your market and what is true today may not be true next year.  You need to make some assumptions to move forwards.  Knowing your assumptions is always an advantage.

Things to Consider

Do you make assumptions about the demography of your market?  Perhaps you don’t think it will appeal to people over or under a certain age, for example.

Testing Assumptions about Your Market

Ideally, you need to test assumptions quickly and cheaply.  This may be hard for the lone worker.  Are there efficient ways of testing assumptions?

Ultimately, you must launch and see who bites.  Your assumptions can obstruct a successful launch but you can never be 100% certain your offer will work for the people around you.

Also be aware you may find early interest that does not follow through to turn prospects into clients.  You may make assumptions that first attract and then repel prospects.  What do you assume they want, which might switch them off?

Please let me know if this is helpful and if there are any points I could expand upon.

Profit is Not Necessarily Your Financial Purpose

Last time I said for a super rocking fun time Marketing Plan, you need three strategic objectives, including your business purpose. Today I move onto your second objective, your financial purpose.

I’ve separated financial from business purpose.  If you want to make a lot of money, having a clear business purpose is essential.  Your business purpose generates enthusiasm, while your financial purpose is essential to drive your business purpose.

Usually at this point the marketing guru talks about “smashing it”, explaining how you should focus on some massive sum on the grounds that if you aim for the stars you should at least hit the moon!  I take the view every one of us wants to sit under our own fig tree.  We’re not all going to hit the stars or even the moon; there isn’t enough money in the world.  But there’s no reason we all cannot do better than break even and so achieve security for ourselves and our families.

So, not every business person is in the game for vast sums of money.  For many business people their business aim is most important but they still need a clear financial purpose.

Your Focus

The important thing to understand is your financial focus.  You need to get away from simple formulas where you aim to make so much money in a certain amount of time.  Your focus is more important.  Let me illustrate.

Imagine a coach who is starting out.  Their financial purpose is likely to be increased sales.  They need clients.  No clients and they don’t have a business.  They have no testimonials and no experience to show evidence of their skills.

However, this will not go on forever!  A successful coach will reach a point where their capacity is outgrown by numbers of clients.  Chances are this will happen before they meet their financial target.  So, another option is to change their focus to increased revenue.  One way to do this is to increase prices.  If the coach is established and has a lot of prospects, this can be effective.  Another approach may be to offer more products and services to existing clients.

The latter approach may be thwarted if new products and services also make claims on the coaches’ capacity.  So, another option may be to employ staff.  This means a coaching business with minimal costs will start to have significant costs.  At this point profit becomes more important.  You need to aim for maximising income while minimising costs.  You will have increased costs because you employ someone.  You need to plan to manage these costs whilst being a fair employer.

So, you see your financial focus can have profound implications for how you run your business.

There are other financial aims but hopefully, this illustrates the need to be clear about your financial focus.  If not, you will become stuck at some point in the growth of your business.

How Much?

You need some idea of the amount you need to be viable.  You can calculate a breakeven point by adding together your business costs and your living costs.  This will never be enough because you will have contingencies and so need to add an estimate of costs over and above everyday essentials.

At this point you can aim for the stars, if that is your wish.  You know the least you need to keep going and so you can dream of some bigger sum of money and aim for that.  This works for some people.

But many business people are not in business to make huge amounts of money.  They are in danger of underestimate their needs and under-achieving for their business in consequence.  After all higher income strongly implies greater impact on your business purpose.

But it is also easy to lose sight of your lifestyle purpose.  There will be costs attached to your lifestyle and so you need to consider what you need not only for your business but to fund the lifestyle you need to support your business.  More next time.

In these posts and emails I am forging a new approach to marketing.  Please comment and let me know what you think, whether you agree or disagree.

To make sure you see everything, complete the form below to go on my mailing list.  You’ll get notice of future blog posts and receive my Thursday emails.

How to Find Passionate Business Advocates

A knack that often eludes business owners, is to build a group of people who believe passionately in what they are doing.  These passionate business advocates are the key to making your business successful.

Why You Need Passionate Advocates

This follows on from the need to narrow your market.  A focused market, so that your natural market recognises you offer a solution to their problem, is essential.  If you believe everyone qualifies, you are actually confusing two things.

Positive and Negative Discrimination

Many people with a third-sector background are intent upon not being guilty of discrimination.  This is sometimes called political correctness.  The usage is often pejorative, used to disparage the motives of those who exercise it.  I prefer a more old-fashioned designation.  It is courtesy.  Perhaps this downplays its importance and that is what I want to do in the context of business.

Once you have identified your market, nothing else should stand in the way of finding those who are a part of it.  If you want to be prejudiced on grounds of race, sex, age, sexuality, etc, you will alienate some of your market.  If you attempt to exploit those in your market of whom you don’t approve, word will get out and the chances are you will lose business.

In business, you need to be discriminating in the sense you need to market in favour of those who are most likely to become your customers.  You cannot afford to allow other factors to get in the way.  This is one reason the marketplace is fundamentally egalitarian, a place where the community meets to do business of all types.

This is why immigration is such a difficult political issue.  It benefits many businesses but the unequal nature of the marketplace has led to stoking of prejudice against immigrants.  So, now we are leaving the EU because some people cannot stomach immigration and even the party that explicitly aims to bring down immigration has so far failed to the extent it also listens to business.

An Inclusive Marketplace

Businesses need an inclusive marketplace, where they can make exclusive offers.  This boils down to the need for traffic and conversion.  If you have excellent conversion, you need good traffic or no-one will see your offer and good traffic equates in part to an inclusive marketplace.  If conversion is poor, it doesn’t matter whether you have traffic because you won’t make any customers.

So, you need to be discriminatory in the sense you aim for a particular market and when you find them do not let prejudice get in the way, it is always a major disadvantage for business.

From Customer to Advocate

If someone is a passionate advocate they will help your business in several ways.  They will:

What Your Passionate Advocates Need

So, what do your customers need if they are to become passionate advocates?  The main thing they need is a referral system.  This is some clear means by which they can advocate your business and benefit from doing so.

Let’s assume they have tried you and like your approach.  They need help to advocate on your behalf.

Here are a few things to consider:

Every business is different but all benefit from seriously considering these issues.

Please let me know if this is helpful and if there are any points I could expand upon.