Feb 23

DIY Marketing

By Laura Varey | Marketing Planning, Marketing Strategy, SMEs | No Comments

Marketing is a lot of work. If you’re a small to medium business owner with no marketing team, finding the time to do everything you should be doing to promote your business can be a challenge. Social media, content creation, landing pages, SEO, email marketing, and PR; the opportunities are endless. Whilst all the channels are extremely beneficial to your marketing, have you firstly come up with the objectives for carrying out these activities? Do you know and understand your customers and know how to communicate to them effectively? Thinking of all of this can add up to a lot of work.

That’s why it’s no wonder that 53% of companies outsource their marketing according to Harvard Business Review. Whilst no one knows your brand better than you, sometimes it takes an outsider to really understand your brand from a consumer/customers point of view.

If your thinking of outsourcing your marketing follow the below simple steps and put a value of your spending time against these. If you want your business to grow having the right team around you is of great importance:

Step 1 – Research & Planning

Take time to listen to your market (and keep listening)

Step 2 – Positioning and content approach

Put yourself where you want to be seen

Step 3 – Promotional Plan

Create a clear plan and apply it to boost your business.

Step 4 – Lead qualification & management

Quality leads are the lifeblood of your business, so be prepared to identify and nurture leads to convert them to customers

Step 5 – Technology

Make sure you have the expertise to target your brand and reach the right people

The key to all of this, is the remember that marketing should never sleep. It’s important to analyse the results, be prepared to regroup and realign your marketing strategy and most of all KEEP GOING. Roman wasn’t built in a day, and the marketing of your company isn’t either. It’s important to remain on point for your target audience whilst being authentic to your brand.

Jul 16

Attract your perfect client

By Laura Varey | Branding, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

Do You Struggle to Attract Your Perfect Client?

Have you ever worked with a dream client? One who you makes you think ‘I wish all of my clients were like you’. Well guess what? Not every client is of equal stature; some are painfully difficult to work with. Sometimes communication is non-existent/you spend days chasing them for important information, other times they just ‘don’t get it’ and on some occasions they’re just rude and obnoxious.

We all want to work with friendly, open minded people wherever possible, so how can you increase your chances of finding the perfect client and securing that all important sale or contract?

Sharing is caring

Forming long lasting, healthy business relationships in order to promote growth and prosperity is, ultimately, at the heart of every business. In order to gain the ‘perfect’ client time and time again, you need to understand what your business stands for. Once you’re clear about this, you will be able to attract the customers who are aligned with your brand’s ethos.

OK, let’s make this even simpler:

You need to reach out and let your brand’s beliefs, values and character shine through like a bright beacon, just as you would when making new friends.

Getting this right will equip you with the tools to attract the perfect client because they’ll be attracted to you too, after all, you both share the same beliefs and values – simple!

Strong character grabs attention

It’s important to gain authority within your sector; character and authority go hand in hand. You can promote a strong character by sticking to your belief and values. You’ll need to have integrity too – never falter on your values. This might all sound rather easy, but it does take time and dedication to build an unfalteringly good reputation. The results, however, will be worth tenfold.

Putting it into action

Firstly, review your business. What are its core beliefs and values? From here you can start to build the persona of your ideal client and understand who they are and what the best way to communicate with them is.

Ask yourself what tone your perfect client would be drawn to; loose and friendly or formal and professional? Think about the places they are likely to ‘hang out’; this could be Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest, for example. This will also tell you about the formats in which to produce your marketing content, i.e. blogs, articles, videos, photos, infographics etc.

Equipped with your strengthened set of beliefs and core values, you’ll be able to portray your personality across all of the marketing you produce and you’ll attract the perfect clients.

The missing piece of the jigsaw

Don’t worry if this all sounds a little daunting because we run brand review days for clients of all sizes with the aim of taking the stress away from analysing something so close to you. Oftentimes it becomes all too much to evaluate how your own business portrays itself.

Once your brand has been revised we can then build your Audience Personas. This includes researching photos of your perfect client and working through your biggest ‘pain point’ in order to work out the best way to communicate with them.

Equipped with the knowledge required to effectively connect with your perfect client, we can build a successful marketing campaign packed full of carefully created content in order to generate those all-important online conversations, which lead to positive sales.

For more information on attracting the perfect client, building successful marketing campaigns, plus much, much more, sign up to our newsletter at the bottom of our page, or give us a call on 01480 459087.

Jun 30

Content Marketing Strategy

By Laura Varey | Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

Content Flow Model

Building a successful marketing campaign is great fun and it can take your customers through a structured journey that ultimately leads to a sale of some kind. The flip side is that creating your content calendar takes a lot more than merely deciding what you’d like to talk about each month and putting pen to paper (or rather fingers to keyboard).

A successful marketing campaign needs to specifically target multiple audiences in order to broaden your customer base and ultimately build your profile. Creating a comprehensive Content Flow Model will enable you to tap into different audiences and markets by creating relatable content that they’ll find interesting.

You have multiple audiences

A great way to think of this is similar to how you would go about marketing a pair of headphones; runners will be interested to know how well they stay on your head whilst moving about, musicians will be interested to find out how well the speaker performs, and teenagers will be interested to find out if they’re waterproof, easy to pack into a backpack or if they’re endorsed by a celebrity. This is obviously highly stereotypical and a runner may also be interested in the performance of the speaker (for instance), but for the most part, each specific audience group will have certain criteria they are interested in.

Now, you could attempt to create each piece of marketing content into a ‘one size fits all’ where you endeavour to cram in as much information as possible in order to reach out to each audience group, but you’ll likely find that this will end up alienating your target market and very few people will actually relate to your content. Instead, the key is to segregate your audiences and target them individually.

Effectively target each audience

This is where the Content Flow Model comes into play. Once you’ve narrowed down your key target audiences and researched what they’re interested in, how they prefer to digest marketing content and their typical online habits, you’ll be able to map out how to effectively target each audience. From here, you can follow where each audience is within the ‘customer lifecycle’ in order to provide them with the next step in their journey to bring them one step closer to a sale.

Utilising a Content Flow Model also allows you to monitor the use of different media (blogs, articles, newsletters, infographics, etc.) at a glance so that you’re not relying heavily on one type of media, but instead making the most of each media’s individual merits and strengths.

Keep connected

A further (and very important) benefit of creating a Content Flow Model is keeping existing customers up-to-date and interested in your latest innovations. Whilst gaining new customers is imperative for growing your business, creating a loyal following and enjoying repeat custom can go a long way to boosting public perception of your business and growing its standing within your chosen market.

For more information on how a Content Flow Model could help your business thrive and break into new markets or attract new key demographics, click here to enquire how we can help or give us a call on 01480 459087 and talk to a member of our friendly team.

Apr 25

Digital Marketing Strategy

By Laura Varey | Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

5 Simple Steps To A Digital Marketing Strategy

The digital world can often seem scary, full of potholes to dodge and protocols to learn, but by following our 5 simple steps you’ll be on your way to a successful and profitable digital marketing strategy in no time!

Set a goal

What do you want to achieve? By setting ambitious, achievable and measurable goals, you’ll give the campaign momentum and inspire yourself and your team to smash through the targets you set.
Design a clear path for customers to follow

Take them on a journey of discovery and exploration. If customers can’t find what they were looking for, or don’t stumble upon something interesting and useful, the chances are they’ll find somewhere else to go instead. Just like a road network, the path you design for your customers to follow needs to be easy to understand; it needs to make navigation easy and ideally needs to throw in a few welcome surprises along the way. Not only does your path need to be super easy to follow, it also needs to be compelling, interesting and informative, otherwise your potential customers will likely take a wrong turn and take themselves to your competitor!
Drive traffic to your website

Your website is the hub of your online marketing strategy. Whilst social media sites are both a quick port of call for consumers to see what you’re up to and how you operate, they’re really only a precursor to a website visit. By driving traffic to your website from social media platforms, as well as SEO, and Google Ads, you’re not only opening up the library of media they can access (blog posts, articles, videos, photos, newsletter sign-ups), but you’ve already invited them along your path to purchase!
Create a compelling call to action

Get them excited about your business and give them a reason to find out more! If a business states ‘We’ve got a new sports drink.’ are you likely to instantly go and find out more? Probably not. But what if they said ‘We’ve already helped 1 million athletes improve their recovery times with our new thirst-quenching sports drink. Click here to find out how you could improve your recovery.’ – you’d probably be more intrigued, wouldn’t you?
Pop in an effective enquiry bait

Everyone loves a freebie, and by giving someone something that’s really helpful and useful it’ll add value to your paid-for services. Now remember, even though it’s free it still needs to contain lots of juicy, valuable information. Whilst testimonials are great, people don’t necessarily want to solely read about how you’ve helped others; they want step-by-step instructions for one of the exercises from your new video, a recipe from your new cookbook or a really cool alternative use for your new product. This is your time to be creative – let your imagination run wild!

So now you’ve got your 5 simple steps, it’s time to think about tone and content. These are both highly important when it comes to enticing people in, and plays a part in your overall marketing strategy.

Think logically about what content your target audience will be interested in and what tone they will associate with best; someone looking to buy flea treatment for their pet will likely be alienated by a host of medical mumbo-jumbo, and it’s implausible that a pharmaceutical company will instantly be compelled to buy from you simply because you’re offering free theme park tickets for the whole family.

Keep your content and tone relevant to your audience and you’ll find that your marketing efforts are far more effective.

For more information on creating your own digital marketing strategy, get in contact with us today, alternatively check out our FREE Bi Monthly Digital Marketing Seminars to learn more.

May 07

Customer Profiling - Transform your thinking

Customer profiling increases sales

By Laura Varey | Food for thought, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

Customer profiling may be a new term to you or you may have been utilising it for years, but either way, it is a powerful tool that many of us aren’t taking full advantage of. Customer profiling can increase sales, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty – all from changing your way of thinking when it comes to marketing! Sounds good, doesn’t it?

These days it can feel as though we are being bombarded with products, services and messages from companies across the globe on a daily basis. The things is, it’s far too easy for your business to get lost in all the ‘noise’ – this is where customer profiling can help you directly access the individuals that would actually be interested in your product or service, making you stand out from the crowd. It works by understanding who your customers are (both existing and potential), what they like and dislike, what they aspire to and what their spending habits are. The likelihood is that you may have various different customer profiles and that’s great! It means that you can direct your products or services to your audience in different ways and access a wider market.

Think of it this way; weedkiller isn’t exactly a ‘sexy’ product or one that you would often think of buying in your day-to-day life. A sunny, landscaped, weed free garden complete with BBQ and a glass of wine however, now that crosses a lot of people’s minds, especially on a wet Monday morning in a dreary office full of sniffling people! By tapping into how people think, what they aspire to and their habits you can successfully target your marketing campaign to offer the promise of a dream lifestyle, regardless of the reality. You may have already noticed that food producers picture slim people enjoying their indulgent treats, car companies picture their cars driving along sweeping alpine roads and Mediterranean coastlines and dating websites picture happy couples, madly in love on their way to the most romantic destinations this world has to offer.

Target your customers

Regardless of your sector, product, service, current customer base or target audience, customer profiling is a highly effective way of increasing turnover and reducing marketing costs by targeting your advertising to an audience that will listen, in a manner that will inspire them to buy from you and not your competitors.

What’s more, you can use this information to engage with your customers through social media in a way that appeals to them; whether that be competitions, free trials or just a good old natter! Successfully using customer profiling is a valuable tool that everyone should take advantage of in their business, it’s just that good! Here at Jigsaw Communications we can tailor marketing campaigns from conception right through to final customer interaction, both before and after purchasing, to ensure you really are making the most of your available resources and gaining and maintaining happy, loyal customers – ultimately the goal of any business! If we’ve whet your appetite and you want to know more, give us a call or drop us an email for a friendly, informal chat.

Sep 17

How to write a Marketing Strategy

By Laura Varey | Branding, Food for thought, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

Align your marketing strategy with your business strategy

Traditionally business and marketing strategies were seen as separate documents with some common features such as business goals and values. The business plan was organised around what products and services a company could offer its customers.

The strategic question that should drive business today is “What else can we do for our customers?” not “what else can we offer or make?” This shift at the centre of gravity demands a rethink of all strategy pillars within the business and especially how marketing plays a role.

Who are your customers? What are their needs and desires? Companies where everyone has a clear understanding of their customers always perform better and act in a more joined up way. It’s vital that marketing personal look at other departments and try to see how they can complement them.

Whether you are a sole trader, medium sized business or a larger organisation, it’s important that marketing is seen as an integral part of the team. If you are thinking strategic, you need to ensure that you have marketing represented in the meeting or the thought process.

So why is cross company like a rugby scrum? Unless you all push in the same direction to deliver what your customer wants, you will never win against your competition!

Here are some Dos and Don’ts to think about along the way:

Do identify the vocabulary used by different departments and ensure you are speaking the appropriate language.

Do work closely with the sales department – marketing is a service provision to the business it needs to help sales! Get them involved from the start and work as a team; and remember they are at the front line – they can get you vital market knowledge!

Do have ROI that you report back to the business so marketing is seen as an investment not as a expense.

Do be straight talking – don’t fall in the trap of being fluffy

Don’t forget – You can’t have a strong brand if you don’t have a strong business!

Jun 06

How important is a website in your marketing strategy?

By Laura Varey | Marketing Strategy, Websites | No Comments

Yes it really is!!!

In this age of web connectivity, an active online presence is as paramount to the success of your company and the management of your brand as any offline marketing campaign.

Not only that, but not having a website will simply hinder the growth of your business. Whether you operate in a B2B environment or sell consumer goods or service, the buying process often starts online, with a search for information followed by a purchase, and companies who don’t have an online presence are running the risk of being passed over.

An opportunity for low-cost customer and stakeholder engagement; exposure to a wider audience; a source of information: a business website will give you a platform from which to reach the world. Flexible, it can be changed promptly to reflect your latest products, services, and special offers, and in conjunction with an integrated online marketing strategy, will compound and complement traditional marketing methods.

We offer high-quality, bespoke yet affordable business websites tailored specifically to your needs and your budget.

With more than half of web searches being conducted from mobile devices, the need for companies to have a dedicated mobile business website is more relevant than ever, and we take pride in designing websites which will allow your customers to complete their transaction easily wherever they are.

May 04

PR is for life not just for Christmas

By Laura Varey | Marketing Strategy, Public Relations | No Comments

“Everything you do or say is public relations.” – Unknown

Reputation is what Public Relations is all about. It’s the result of what you do, what you say, and what others say about you. PR is used to gain trust from your employees, customers, investors and the public. As we all know reputations take a long time to build up and can be damaged in a flash! With the Public Relations landscape changing with the constant developments in digital marketing, its important to always have PR as part of your marketing plans. PR is for the life of your business not just for Christmas!

Public Relations can be used in various forms such as online viral campaigns, sponsorship and media relations. We understand that like social media; PR isn’t always about short terms fixes, it can be longer-term strategies such as brand building and working with communities. Public Relations can play an essential role to any business from creating high value products or services and protecting business in times of crisis.

We have the knowledge and understanding to help businesses benefit from public relations. We can help your business use Public Relations appropriately to gain trust and respect from your employees, local community, investors and more importantly your customers!.

We will work with you to produce PR programme that works alongside your other marketing communication plans. We will produce a PR plan that will maximize the coverage for your company on an ongoing basis. We will also ensure that your PR programme is fully integrated into digital marketing and social media as well as other conventional PR methods.

Mar 29

Exhibition strategy!?!

By Laura Varey | Exhibitions, Marketing Strategy | No Comments

Time to schedule your event!

An exhibition is an ideal way of promoting your business, new product or service and of course generating those all-important sales leads.

Before you sign on the dotted line, there are two steps you need to take. The first is setting measurable objectives, write down exactly what you want to achieve by attending the exhibition. This will not only give you a measurement of the success of the exhibition, but it also gives your staff working at the show a target to reach.

The next step is key; making sure you attend the right exhibition for you!!!

It’s easy to sign up for an exhibition because your competitors are there but make sure you investigate the opportunity on offer; are the organiser’s promoting the exhibition and if so ask to see their marketing plan! How many people attend and from which organisations/industries? These questions will help you identify if the exhibition is going to attract your potential customers.

Once you know where you are exhibiting, why your exhibiting and what you want to achieve, make sure that the stand is designed to meet these objectives. You should know what the key marketing message is that you are trying to get across so make sure your stand tells that story. A good stand design will help deliver your exhibition objectives.

Make sure you do not fall into the “one size fit’s all” category – a generic poster or pop up will not inspire people to come and talk to you. Be specific – make your offering relevant to the visitors at this particular exhibition. Don’t forget – the exhibition is your shop window! Make sure you don’t look like your penny pinching –what does that say about how you handle your customers?

Train, Train, Train – Eighty per cent of the success of your stand is down to your staff so train them before attending the exhibition. Make sure they are all in appropriate clothing – branded preferably as it shows you mean business!

Jan 21

Memory Palaces – every marketers target!

By Laura Varey | Branding, Direct Marketing, Email Marketing, Exhibitions, Food for thought, Marketing Strategy, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments

I don’t know about you, but I loved the latest series of Shelock from the BBC and was disappointed that is finished last week. The last episode with Sherlock going head to head quite literally against Charles Augustus Magnussen; memory palace to memory palace! It was a fantastic episode with many twists and turns so no wonder there is still such a buzz about it.

The memory palace has been playing on my mind this last week (no pun intended) – how powerful it is, and how as marketers we are trying to tap into the memory palace to influence both consumers and customers with strong logos, branding and corporate images. Using different tactics and ensuring each tactic has a consistent image and message to make sure that we are locked into the memory palace of our customers so we don’t get kicked aside by our competitors.

This has led me to think about the retail environment, how 70% of purchasing decisions are made in front of the fixture and that you have 3 seconds to influence the consumers mind to choose your product over your competitors. This is where the power of the memory palace really comes into play. It’s vital that your product / brand has been securely locked in before they even reach the store.

Knowing your customers

This links back to my blog last week, about knowing your customers, where they go and what they read. This enables you to ensure that all “touch points” that your customer goes through in their every day life has your product or brand there. If your marketing budget can not stretch to TV advertising, then think about page advertising, money off coupons or even advertise on the social media sites they visit. Do they fill their car with fuel at a local garage? Try sponsoring the fuel pumps with your logo. If their son or daughter play’s football or rugby for the local town team, have a advertising board there.

Knowing this level of detail of your customers takes time and commitment so don’t expect it to happen over night. If you consider that Coca-Cola have been in the market for 128 years, no wonder they are securely lodged in all our minds! The one thing they have done very successfully is made sure that the brand has remained the same and consistent over the years. They have even managed to become a tradition at Christmas, many of my friends saying “it’s not Christmas until I see the Coke Lorry advert” – Well done Coca-cola!!! The other thing they have managed successfully are any changes to the brand; they made changes as a evolution otn a revolution so consumers and customers do not have to replace the images in their memory palace.

I know what your thinking – Well that’s great Laura, but I can’t wait 128 years! That’s true for all of us, but let me ask you this…… Do you know how many more customers you need to remember your product in order for you to add an additional 10%, 15%, 20% to your profit or market share? You will be surprised at the difference that some small consistent messages or small changes to your marketing can make year on your to your business.

After all, you don’t want to end up coming back like Moriarty asking your customers – Did you miss me???

Sharing is caring…

Please don’t forget to share my blog with your friends and family, or share through the various social media links. I would love to hear your thoughts on my post, what are your thoughts on the memory palace? Do you think integrated marketing still has a place in this digital marketing age we are in?

I look forward to receiving your comments.
Laura

Category Archives: Marketing Strategy