A significant chunk of the British economy is driven by consumer confidence.  When people feel happy, settled and confident, they spend money.  And that helps British (and other) businesses.  I’ve written plenty about the ‘science’ of understanding consumer confidence.  It can hinge on very simple, yet uncontrollable things, such as whether the sun in shining.

Business confidence is a slightly different animal.  And we sometimes forget that businesses are large spenders in our economy.  They create jobs, they buy products and services from other businesses and they have a large part to play in generating money.

Whether businessses spend money depends on things such as:

• Whether their customers are spending more or less
• Whether they think their customers will spend more or less in the future
• Whether they can borrow any money
• Whether they’re confident of the future
• Whether they can spot opportunities

I don’t need to tell you that funding is hard to come by for most businesses.  Which means they have to spend from their cashflow.  This is like you spending from your wages and not using your overdraft or credit card.  It limits how much you can do and how much you can grow or invest in the future.

And the perfect storm is that business owners have been reading negative news for the past three years.  Almost every ounce of positive energy has been tested and the European ‘crisis’ is exacerbating the problem.  Europe is a major trading area for British products.  If we can’t sell to Europe, some of our businesses can’t grow.  And if they can’t grow, they can’t spend.  And if they’re not growing, they’re not creating jobs.  As I said, the perfect storm.

But there is a HAPPY ENDING… There are many opportunities for marketers and businesses in the current economy.  As marketers we must understand what is happening and what is driving it, so we can spot those opportunities and help the businesses we work for.  As we improve our knowledge, we can better target customers who are spending and we can create better products and services for which there is a need.  Sales and Marketing have never been so necessary than right now…and we have a real part to play in the recovery.

In all seriousness, there’s a report out today from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) which claims bosses have an inflated opinion of their ability to manage their staff.  They claim this is undermining attempts to boost the country’s economic growth and that leadership and management capability is an Achilles heel for UK plc.  (See here for further details: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5haxiNm-wjKvLtXXalWMAVxRoielQ?docId=N0039981335945539958A)

The key leadership skill for me is communication.  And, as marketers, communication should be our strongest asset.  But often, we’re better at communicating with our external customers than our internal ones.  So I thought I should pose the question and ask you to consider your internal marketing strategy.

Internal marketing is marketing communication with people inside your organisation.  This definitely includes employees (especially front line staff who play a significant role in marketing), your management team and possibly your shareholders.

How often do you keep in touch with these groups of people?  If I asked them for the marketing goals and an elevator pitch about the business, could they tell me?  If not, you have some work to do.

Everyone inside your organisation is a potential marketing resource.  And you need to tap into that resource to give your company the best chance of growth. 

Managers may be (allegedly) undermining the economic recovery, but let’s make sure the next finger isn’t pointed at the marketers…

If your budgets have been cut, please don’t think that signals an end to your marketing campaigns – it simply signals a start to your creativity.  And it might force you back to basics.

There are many marketing tools you can use which are free or very cost-effective.  Here are our top seven, based on the methods we believe offer the best returns:

1. Follow-up.  I’m like a broken record with this point – but follow up is free.  It generates sales.  And most people never follow-up properly.
2. Keep in touch.  Yet another method which is free or cheap.  Keeping in touch with old customers can generate income very quickly – we just proved this with one client; selling a £250,000 property off an email newsletter (without so much as a viewing).  The newsletter cost us very little and generated a great return!
3. Positive Attitude.  This one definitely doesn’t have to cost you anything, but you’d be amazed at the difference it can make to your profits (or your wages, if you’re employed).  If you believe you will sell more products today, you will.  It’s a fact.
4. Referral Marketing.  Helping others promote your product, or offering affiliate schemes can be incredibly cost-effective and can generate amazing results – just look at the network marketing companies, Amazon’s affiliate scheme and others for some great examples of this marketing method.
5. Networking.  This can be a great marketing tool, if you set targets and know what you want to achieve.  Networking with the right people who offer complementary products to yours is the place to begin.
6. Up-selling and Cross-selling.  Offering customers additional products or upgrades at the point of sale can generate incredible sales.  It’s suggested that up to 30% of people will accept an upgrade at the point of sale – would you like to go large?  I certainly would!
7. PR.  If you have a story share it.  And use it in as many places as possible – your newsletters, your website, in the local press… The key is making sure you have something newsworthy and interesting.  (Tip – your customers don’t really care if one of your staff is pregnant or if you have a swanky new office.  They care what you can do for them, so keep on track.)

I’m sure there are more and I’d love to hear your thoughts.  I’ve deliberately left social media out, as everyone’s talking about it at the moment and I believe there are simpler methods that deliver better results right now for the time you need to invest.  Comments are welcome though if you disagree.

Happy marketing!

Of all the plans I’ve seen and created, my top tips would be to:

1. Keep the plan short (if it’s too long people won’t use it)
2. Ensure it’s measurable (so you can prove your worth)
3. Base it on fact (marketing plans and strategies are no place for guesswork)

So what to include?

• Your goals – what are you trying to achieve (over what period)
• Your target customers (with as much detail as possible)
• Your results so far (what you’ve achieved in what time scale)
• Your marketing methods of choice (4-6 methods you think will bring you the best results)
• Your expected results (based on your conversion rates above)

You can then judge whether your plans will achieve the goals you set out at the start.  If not, it’s back to the drawing board.

Good luck!

If you visit https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS#search.none you can have a look at the tool and discover what people really type into Google.

You can type different phrases into the box at the top of the page and then search on those phrases and see how many people use them.  Google will produce a report for you which gives you the data for your chosen keyphrases and they’ll also suggest other phrases you might want to consider.

The report will tell you how many people search on a given keyphrase each month globally and locally (UK).  And it will also tell you how many sites compete for that keyphrase – which is important data about your competitors and your chances of getting to the first page in Google for any given page.

Top Tip… If someone calls you and tells you they can get you to the top of Google for a given phrase, run it through this tool and see how many people are searching for that phrase.  If it’s a low number, then a monkey could probably get you to the top of Google for that phrase, but it still wouldn’t bring you very much traffic.  This is one of the latest marketing scams, but now you have the marketing knowledge, you can catch them out at their own game.

Have a play around and enjoy finding out what people really search on!

You don’t ask them any questions.  You might record their telephone number.  And, worst case scenario you lose the scrap of paper containing their details over the coming weeks.

Whatever the reason (or excuse) you don’t follow-up.

What if they haven’t received the brochure (trust me, it happens on a frighteningly regular basis)?  What if they’re interested and are waiting for you to call?

It isn’t the customers job to remember to do business with you – it’s your job

Most customers take on average seven points of contact before they buy.  And most sales people give up at 5 points.  What’s even more scary is the number of businesses who don’t follow-up at all – despite the fact that it’s free marketing!

So what is best practice with follow-ups and how can you really make the most of incoming enquiries?  Here are our top 5 tips (most of which are free or cheap to implement and could be done very quickly):

1. If a customer calls, have a script to follow and find out as much information as you can
2. Gain permission to follow that person up and ensure they received the information they wanted
3. Answer enquiries promptly – be available by phone and email and respond where possible within 24 hours
4. Record all the information you take in a database (ideally customer relationship management – CRM – software)
5. Diary a follow-up and stick to it (and then diary another)

If people take time out of their busy lives to enquire about your product, they’re paying you a huge compliment.  The least you can do is treat that compliment with respect and try to help the customer towards a solution.

Allotinabox have taken advantage of the trend and introduced ‘Grow Your Own’ boxes so city dwellers can join in.  For just £50 you receive seasonal boxes are filled with organic seeds and a kit for growing the vegetables which contains details of how and when to harvest them.  Visit http://www.allotinabox.com/grow-your-own/for more details.

The National Trust has taken things a step further, with the launch of MyFarm which aims to reconnect people with food.  Using crowd sourcing techniques, they’re recruiting 10,000 would-be farmers and giving them a say in the running of a 2500-acre farm in Cambridgeshire.  For just £30 a year, the group works together and votes on major decisions on the farm.  Have a look at http://www.my-farm.org.uk/ home for details.

It’s a trend that looks set to continue into 2012 – is there some way you can take advantage?

Sites such as Groupon and Living Social have sprung up seemingly overnight.  Voucher Codes offers discount codes for everyday items, such as shopping, meals out and clothes.  Martin Lewis’ money saving expert site is also full of discounts and deals – and they’re proving more popular than ever.

It’s very easy to think of joining the bandwagon and adding your deals to these sites, but how can you do so profitably?  Here are our top tips from our experience and that of our customers:

1. Ensure you’re making a profit.  The number of people we’ve met who have created deals that lose them money is frightening.  Deals are not about no profit.  They are about great deals that attract new customers and make you a good return.  Look at added-value, rather than discounts.  And if you can’t make money, don’t offer the deal.
2. Try to use a site that will help you reach new customers.  If you can attract new people to your business, it could be worth a reduction in profits on their first visit.
3. To achieve a long-term growth in business and profitability, you must keep a database of these new customers and then market to them directly.  With hotels and restaurants, you save approx. 20% commission if people book directly, so encourage as many as you can back to stay with direct offers.
4. Ask for reviews.  One hotel that we work with has been rushed off their feet with Groupon deals and it’s been really hard work.  But the reviews they’ve received on Trip Advisor (and the database they’ve built up) has been worth slightly lower profits on these first visits.
5. You must impress the people who use the vouchers.  If you’re happy to take a smaller profit margin on the first visit and see this as a marketing expense for finding new customers, you must generate a profit at a later date.  If they are impressed, they’re likely to return… and they might recommend you to friends as well.

To see what might be next for the Daily Deal sites, look at http://www.thinknear.com/main_pages/how_it_works

It’s all very exciting!

The ads will use a ‘sex sells’ strategy to see if advertising triggers primate responses in the monkeys.  They’re keeping it simple – a billboard shows a graphic shot of a female monkey – Well… if it works on humans!

Yale University research shows that monkeys understand money and behave in similar ways to humans when faced with decisions in games, so the results should be fascinating.  If you’re as fascinated as I was, you can read more at http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-06/28/advertising-campaign-aimed-at-monkeys

I don’t know about you, but it’s a rare day when I find a car salesman I like and really want to do business with – perhaps it’s no surprise he was so successful.

Apparently Joe sent cards every month to his customers with a simple ‘I Like You’ on the front and a relevant greeting inside.  His customers received twelve cards each year reminding them how much Joe liked them.  He had thousands of customers (making the postage costs significant,) but the resulting sales were more than worth the effort.

Joe is now a sales speaker and has his own website.  You can read his top tips at http://www.joegirard.com/13-Rules-To-Success.html.

Good luck putting them into practice.  They are very simple… and very effective.