Marketing wisdom for SMEs

What they said

Great little bites of marketing insights

Quotes from the marketing greats

plus some hints & tips for

how to apply their thinking to your

business.

Bambi Gordonwww.thewoo.com.au

Marketing Bites from www.thewoo.com.au 2

Quotes on even numbered pages are attributed to the authors/experts/gurus.

The Woo content appears on right hand (odd numbered) pages.

Please feel free to share this book – as aslidedeck or PDF – as long as you don’t makeany changes to the content, nor sell it. Thanks.

Images throughout: DreamstimeImage Pg 8 & 9: Bambi Gordon


By sharing some great quotes about marketing –and then giving you my take on each one – I hope to inspire you to address the marketing basics in your business.

Please also visit www.thewoo.com.au for tools,resources and info about future “How to do marketing” programs.

http://www.thewoo.com.au/


“The great fallacy of marketing is that it can be delegated to a few people in your company and to inanimate objects, such as ads, brochures and web sites.

The most effective marketing is human to human; everything else is a compromise”

Steve Yastrow, : http://yastrow.com/

http://yastrow.com/

5

The aim of marketing is to ‘connect’. To build a bond.The function is to find the right messages to send to the right people viathe right channels. It is expressed via the communication between you and Your customers. It is not just your advertising. It is your invoice. It is everyphone call. Every email. It is your car (if you have yourbrand displayed). And every person in your organisation is responsible for its delivery. Every piece ofcommunication sends a message – intentionalor not.

Do your staff know that they are all marketing managers?

Marketing Bites from www.thewoo.com.au


"If you don't believe in your product, or if you're not consistent and regular in the way you promote it, the odds of succeeding go way down. The primary function of the marketing plan is to ensure that you have the resources and the wherewithal to do what it takes to make your product work."

Jay Levinson http://www.gmarketing.com/


No marketing? No business!

Marketing is frightening. When things are quiet we know we need to be doing it - but where is the cash flow coming from? When things are busy - who needs marketing . Right?

You do need to have an ongoing plan with an ongoing budget to support it. The plan needs to address existing customers and potential customers - finding the right, and consistent activity, to ensure the quantity and quality of both.

If you are not prepared to invest in marketing – you have a hobby or perhapsyou have just bought yourself a job.

But you certainly don’t have a business.


“When you (fail) to connect your brand

to your marketplace, you undervalue its

power”

Michel Hogan, Principal, Brandology and Brand Alignment Group

http://www.brandology.com.au/group/our_people.html


Where they have an itch, you should be there to scratch it

Your brand should be everywhere that your target market is – everytime they are looking for your type of product or service, wheneverthey are trying to fulfil an unfulfilled need.

This means placing your brand, strategically, with the right creative message,with the right frequency, in the right places.

Your aim should be to connect your brand to your customers. By being where theyare. Using tools that allow engagement. And connecting through satisfying theirneeds.

“Authenticity is extraordinarily important these days, precisely because so much of our communication is second-hand and is at a reserve or distance. That makes us crave the power, the intimacy of a direct conversation”

Nick Morgan www.publicwords.com

http://www.publicwords.com/


Marketing is all about people. Your business is all about people. And the

experiences that these people have. People buy from people who they trust.

And if you are going to get people to trust you, you need to do as you say you will do. Be authentic. Be sincere. Be open & transparent. BE REAL

12

“Just like every powerful tool, the impact comes from the

craftsman, not the tool”

Seth Godin. www.sethgodin.com


13

Start with Strategy...the tools will follow

Anyone can put an ad in the 'paper. Anyone can tweet. The difference is finding authentic and exciting ways to make that stuff really talk to your customers. And that stuff all comes down to strategy.

If you don't have a marketing strategy you may want to do a quick one page version:

Profile your target market - You are not targeting all people. In fact, though you may sell broadly you need to target very narrow. List everything you know about your ideal customer (gender, income, location, what they believe, what else they like, their values, life-stage.

Then list everything about your product (service) that appeals to that ideal customer (your brand)

The third point is to look at the market place and find the one clear point of difference that you have

Your strategy is, therefore, to Promote the Differences of your Product or Service to your Target market by Engaging them with your Brand. That strategy will now direct you as to which tools and how to use them.



“A brand is the DNA of an organisation, the code that determines how the product, service or team should act, look and evolve. The most powerful branding comes from within". Steven Overman, Jack Morton Worldwide.


Your brand isn't your logo. Just as your personality isn’t your smile.

It is how your customer experiences your businessand how that is then conveyed and reinforced through every touch point between you and your customer(which includes your logo, your business name, your returns policy, how your staff speak).

The most important thing about those touch points isThat every single one of them is consistent with every other. They are connected. They ring true. And theyhelp your ‘brand’ connect with your audience.

Jot down some of the key words that describe your brand - the personality that you want your business to have. For example professional, friendly, accessible, experienced, young, mature, etc. And then look at every touch point and ask “ Does this convey those key words? Does the way I answer the phone match that personality? How do my invoices rate? Is the language Iuse in my emails consistent with that brand style? “ It is a Touch Point Audit for your brand.


"A brand is a living entity – and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time,

Michael Eisner http://www.michaeleisner.com/

the product of a thousand small gestures."

http://www.michaeleisner.com/


What are the small gestures in your business that culminate in your brand? How you answer the

phone? The design of your product packaging? The language in your email?

When was the last time that you looked and listened to

each of the touch points between you and your customers

to check that they are all on track?

This doesn't have to be about budget - and getting in graphic designers, new uniforms, fresh

signage....What are the small gestures that you can control in your business today? A small

gesture that will thrill your client and tell them something meaningful about your brand?


“You now have to decide what 'image' you want for your brand.Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place."

David Ogilvy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogilvy


Who are you?The prom girl or jock?The chairman of the board? The hippie? The cool geek?

What is the image of your business?

How is that image conveyed?

And is that “person” someone that your customers can relate?

What can you do to make your brand as appealing as possible

to your target market?

I know that these are all clichés and typecasting – But just as we make instant judgements about

people from the way they dress, the language they use, the environment they are in, the job they do,

the car their drive, the suburb they live in – all based on gut feel, our emotions, values and upbringing - we

do the same when we come across a brand.


Peter F.Drucker http://www.druckerinstitute.com/

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well theproduct or service fits him and sells itself."

21

It’s not about you. It’s about the customer.

Whenever you talk about your business instead oftalking about your customer, you bore them.

The “Back story” of your business – it’s age, how it came about, how it has grown – can come later.

But the first stuff out of your mouth should be all about the Customer.

Everything you do is all about them: Their wants, their needs and their perceptions.

How do you discover their make-up, beliefs, values, and unfulfilled needs? You ask them – via surveys, face to face, observation, analysing data, researching the market and your competitors customers.

Then – when you ‘know’ them you ‘show’ them that you understand. You talk to them in their voice. Share their values. Be interested in what they are interested in. Prove that you get them by providing a product or service that FITS THEM.

That’s enough about me....So, what do you think about me?


http://www.thewoo.com.a/


"If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful" Jeff Bezos


Experience creates a story. Stories spread.

Stories spread on word of mouth (and mouse). Where they will go, no one will know.

"The electrician turned up on time, and took of his shoes which is a good sign....but his feet....” "I found this great web-site ...and it was delivered the next day”."I tried calling that new accountant.....”

What is the experience that you are giving every customer at ever touch point and how do you feel about them creating a spreadablestory around that experience?


“Social media allows us to behave in ways that We are hardwired for in the first place - as humans. We can get frank recommendations from other humans instead of from faceless companies.”

Francois Gossieaux, The Hyper-Social Organization: Eclipse Your Competition by Leveraging Social Media

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3196468.Francois_Gossieaux

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3196468.Francois_Gossieaux

http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/8002290



Sometimes when we are ‘talking’ as our business—we fall into business speak.

In this era of “permission” rather than interruption marketing; where both the consumer and the company have a voice, where word of mouth and personalrecommendations are so vitally important it is equally as important that you ‘speak’ as a person.

That includes having profiles of you and your team on your website. Using your own name in social media. Sharing the human face of your business.


“Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising."

Mark Twain


• the right channel (social media or print ads or sponsorship or all – That is the channels where your target market can see you; the ones they consume).

• with the right message (the message that conveys what you can ‘mean’ to your target market – a message that means something to them, that they see value in)

• in the right way (entertaining, educational, something that gets your target markets attention and cuts through all the clutter).

And then do it over and over and over and over and over again.

But what is the right way?


“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark.

You know what you are doing but nobody else does.”

Steuart Henderson Britt, MarketingManagement and Administrative Action

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1448642.Steuart_Henderson_Britt

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1448642.Steuart_Henderson_Britt




You have to tell people that you exist, what you can do for them, where they can find you.

That doesn’t need to be just via “advertising” that broadcasts a message in the hope that it will land on receptive people. Broadcast has its role—it can quickly help build awareness. And people need to be aware of you if they are ever going to engage. But after Awareness you want your potential customer to be interested, to desire your product/service and then to act.

That means creating compelling and appealing messages, and then engaging in conversations using the channels that your potential customers use.


“It’s never been easier for audiences to skip, filter, or avoid advertising, so the best ideas are the ones that respect that the audience needs to get something out of the work; it should inspire, satisfy, or motivate them. You can’t just bombard people with messages anymore.”

Ajaz Ahmed

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5804229.Ajaz_Ahmed





Are the messages that you are putting out there of interest to your customers—or stuff that you think is important?

Have you asked your existing customers what they love most about your business? Why they have chosen to be your customer?

You need to communicate the ‘benefit’ of doing business with you. “Benefit” is what your customers think is important (where-as “feature” is what you think is). Check your key messages—are they important to

your customers? Are they compelling and appealing? Do you share them in creative,

entertaining and engaging ways?

Or are you sharing content that is really easy to ignore.


“Spam is a waste of the receivers’ time, and, a waste of

the sender’s optimism.”

Mokokoma Mokhonoan

a, The Confessions of a Misfit


We know spam is wrong. Not just becausethere are rules against it. But becausesending folk stuff they don’t want is not a strategy.

Equally, hanging onto a big fat data-base ofnames and regularly emailing them without judiciously clearing out the list is also not a strategy.

You don’t want to chase the big numbers—the quantity—in place of focusing upon the right numbers—the quality. Make sure your data-base is quality. The kind of people who could become customers. And that means only ever having people who have truly opted-in (not just adding in the names of folk you know on Facebook, or who have emailed you).

Segment and analyse your data-base on a regular basis. And be grateful forunsubscribes! If they don’t want to be there you don’t want them.


Brian E. Boyd Sr., Social Media for the Executive

“Social media takes time and careful, strategic thought.

It doesn’t happen by accident.”

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7207526.Brian_E_Boyd_Sr_



All great marketing takes careful strategic thought.

Maybe it is because it is called ‘social’ media.Maybe because it is, on the surface, free. Whatever the reason a lot of people just dive in, start posting—with no clear objectives, little thought given to their brand, and use it as a ‘broadcast’ channel.

Effective use of social media starts with deciding which are the right channels to use—and those channels are the ones that your potential customers use. Then you need to decide on the key messages and calls to action that you want to use;the people who you want to engage with; and putting

out a variety of appealing content that builds your brand, your profile and your ‘community’.


“In marketing you must choose betweenboredom, shouting and seduction. Which do you want?” Roy H. Williams

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/roy_h_williams.html


Marketing is all about woo-ing customers.

Finding the perfect match.Working out what is important to them.Presenting the best of you – to attract them.Pleasing them. Repeatedly.And building a relationship.Romance.Seduction.The Woo.


“Marketing is NOT optional. It isn’t a silver bullet. It takes time

and it takes resources.But you won’t build

a sustainable business without it”

Bambi Gordon


The Woo The business of marketing your businessPO Box 392, Warrandyte, Vic, 3113T: 61 3 9844 4100M: 0418 47 97 [email protected]

http://www.thewoo.com.au/

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Marketing wisdom for SMEs