by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Strategy, Training
We recently moved offices approximately 500m down the road to South Brisbane. It wasn’t a massive move but it did give us an opportunity to declutter ten years’ worth of nostalgia. Boy did we find some gold. My favourite was an old email that I had printed back in 2011 called ‘proofreading is a dying art’. Here are a couple of excerpts:
“Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says”
“Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures”
“Kids Make Nutritious Snacks”
“Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead”
You can see why I kept it right!
On a more serious side, it was an ideal time to reflect on the business. Where we’ve been, what we’ve seen, who we’ve connected with and where we are going.
During the 10 years there have been plenty of highs and lots of challenges. I often refer to it like raising a child. Just when you think you’ve cracked it something else happens and you go back to the drawing board…
So how are we fairing? Here’s my checklist:
- Highly creative team who are genuine and lovely to work with
- Happy clients (long term and new) who are genuine and lovely to work with
- Exciting projects
- Great networks and prospects
- Stunning brand refresh
- Growth plans
I think we are doing pretty damn good. Does that mean I get to put my feet up now. Hell no…
As Michael Bell quite rightly said, “Passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work.”
Sir Richard Branson once said, “Right now I’m just delighted to be alive and to have had a nice long bath.”
I’m still working on that last one.
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Content, Digital, Strategy
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
We’ve all experienced it. Being in the position of needing to engage a service provider but when browsing around, business offerings get a little confusing.
For example, moving apartments is on the horizon for me so I’ve started doing my research on bond cleaning. However, most businesses I’ve found say they offer the usual things – exceptional cleaning, top quality cleaners and we can get your bond back!
But what does that mean for me? Will the blinds be cleaned? Does that include carpet? Will the oven and dishwasher be cleaned out?
Marketing your business is about selling your business to potential customers. Confused service offerings lead to confused customers. That’s not ideal if, like any business owner, you want long-term success.
These days, usually the first point of contact is through business websites.
But customers will only contact a business if the communicated service offerings answer what they need (or at the very least, what they think they need).
If it leaves them scratching their heads they will move on to look at the competition instead.
That’s why it’s important to clearly define and communicate service offerings across all marketing collateral.
Because if the offer makes sense, more customers will walk through your door and you’ll get the chance to meet their needs.
Simple, right?
by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Strategy, Training
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
Traditional marketing has always and still does play a very big role in your overall brand and business success. The spotlight for years has been on digital marketing, with many not realising digital is just a part of their marketing strategy. Without wanting to make you cry I repeat – it’s just a part of the marketing puzzle. Digital should integrate with a traditional marketing strategy that’s already in place.
What typically happens is this. You get an idea, start your business, think of a name, create a logo then build a new website and think the job is done. Does that sound like you? Or you have a well-established brand and think, sales have dropped, I need to do what everyone else is doing – more digital marketing is required!
You must start with identifying or reidentifying your brand, your target market and finding out what keeps them awake at night before you start building a website or creating 5 new social media channels which consume your every waking hour.
Some tips to get your marketing foundations right:
- Create a written strategy – having a strategy on paper means you can share it with your team and it makes everyone accountable to actually execute what is required.
- Include both traditional and digital marketing elements in your plan – they should be treated as one channel and should integrate seamlessly with each other.
- Remember that marketing has internal and external elements – internal marketing to your team is just as important to external marketing to your customers (more on that in the next blog).
- Align your messaging offline and online – this comes back to your brand and ensuring the offline and online experience is one that makes sense to your customer, is consistent, fits your company brand and culture and is not a total miss match.
So, before you jump 4 steps ahead, start with building the right marketing foundations. And if you don’t know where to start, a marketing workshop might just be the answer to get the juices flowing.
by fmadmin | May 12, 2020 | Content, Strategy
By Kerri Eckart, CEO
How can you motivate your audience to do your marketing for you?
Online word of mouth is a great way to share your product or service across the world with minimal effort from you. The trick with word of mouth is how you get customers to talk about you.
People listen to other people more than they listen to a business, in fact people are 90% more likely to trust and buy a brand recommended by a friend*1. By encouraging people to recommend your brand or offering them an incentive they are more likely to share their purchase on their social media.
Companies like Dropbox and Raiz have cracked open the market using word of mouth with a few tweaks to the traditional strategy. Using a process of customer reward to incentivise people they encourage customers to share a customised link. Dropbox gives users extra data storage for every user that signs up using their personalised link. Similarly, Raiz gives a five dollar bonus to both invitee and recipient when the recipient signs up for a new account.
These ideas disguise your marketing as an opportunity to get extra benefits or rewards for not only you but also your invitees. Your audience is more likely to trust your company and signup hearing about your business from a trusted friend.
What we can gleam from these companies is that word of mouth marketing can be successful with the right incentives. What you offer customers must be valuable enough that they will feel happy to share their affiliation and enticing enough to make them want it. A few of the more popular examples of offerings are money/vouchers, free subscriptions, gifts or discounts. Small but free rewards are most successful because they offer instant recognition and allow compounding of many small rewards into one large one as they recommend your company to all their friends.
