Hands up – who loves SPAM?
(and I don’t mean the canned cooked pork stuff you used to get at school)

The plethora of unsolicited emails and calls that we still get bombarded with on a daily basis.

Let’s face it, nobody does and yet it’s still cluttering our inboxes – unwanted offers and promotions – quite aggressive sometimes – for products and services that would never appeal to us.

As the quote says, spam exists because of bad targeting...

• not understanding or appreciating our target audience
• their personalities and characteristics,
• their roles and responsibilities and more importantly,
• their ‘pain points’ and how we can provide a solution for them.

It’s surprising how many businesses think they know their customers and yet, there’s very often a gap between the basics they already know and, the behaviours and preferences that are key to reaching their target market and selling to them.

Defining who your potential...

It's surprising how many businesses still use lots of different marketing tools, not knowing whether they're getting ROI or just wasting time and money.

We all desire the 'personal touch' and thanks to new technologies, marketing has become much more personal.

And, choosing the ‘right’ tools and channels will enhance communication and engagement.

Here are my 6 tips to consider when planning your marketing strategy:

1. What value does your product / service offer your customer? What type of content will help you educate this in your marketing?

2. What types of media does your target audience consume – videos, blogs, eBooks - the list could be endless so prioritise!

3. Do you have a specific budget – always best to agree this first before purchasing so you don't overspend.

4. Do you have a specific timescales in mind – some tools and channels can take longer to gather momentum and provide results.

5. Which channels are your competitors using - what type...

Managing social media… So, you’ve got your Facebook page and you’re desperately trying to be ‘Liked’. You’re tweeting for England while you’re LinkedIn profile is receiving invitations from people you’ve never met. But not to worry because you’ve got some great office ‘selfies’ in your Instagram account, not to mention your Google+ page and YouTube channel.

Sound familiar? Then you’re not alone.

I recently visited a new client to talk about managing social media marketing requirements. Within ten minutes of our introduction, they informed me that social media wasn’t for them. It didn’t ‘work’ and therefore there was no need pursuing that avenue any further. When I asked why, they proceeded to tell me about the numerous social networks they had subscribed to in order to ‘stay ahead of the game’ and the types of ‘content’ they had inflicted on their...

IT’S MY BIGGEST IRRITATION IN MARKETING...

...the amount of money some organisations spend on customer acquisition against the punitive amounts spent on customer retention.

In some cases customer acquisition can cost up to 3x more than customer retention... crazy!

‘Love thy Customer’ is the second business commandment after ‘Honour thy Cashflow’... Customers are the life-blood for any business. They know you, they know your business and hopefully they think you’re amazing and wouldn’t hesitate at spending more money to receive even more value from you.

They are also a valuable source for developing new products and services, researching your market and promoting your brand.

For further inspiration, please find below my top 8 ideas for ‘Loving thy Customer’

1. Send them a monthly newsletter / email
2. Interview them for a blog post
3. Offer them discount on a new product / service
4. Arrange a quarterly / annual review meeting
5. Invite them to an...

“Fail to plan… and you plan to fail…”

Look, I hate commercial clichés just as much as the next marketing professional (and you’ll never see one of those motivational posters emblazoned across our office walls).

Yet this phrase holds true time and time again. Success simply cannot be achieved without a strategy.

If you need to generate fresh leads and new customers for your company (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?), then you need to create a marketing strategy. No ifs, buts or exceptions. Moreover, you need the right strategy. A marketing strategy that provides rock steady focus and guides direction; that identifies your potential customers and how you can communicate with them – and because timing is absolutely crucial – you need a marketing strategy that will also tell you when to communicate and how often.

For the average SME the mere term ‘marketing strategy’ can loom large and seem an almost...