FreeFormed Marketing Ideas

We've Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:42:00 +0000

Hello everyone - we've moved

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BANG! TV’S ‘MOST IRRITATING’ ADS.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:13:00 +0000

TAKEN FROM THE DERRY NEWS

BANG! TV’S ‘MOST IRRITATING’ ADS.

This month Marketing magazine published it’s annual survey of the ‘most-irritating’ ads on UK TV. A quick look at the top 20 reveals a wide range of products including, perhaps unsurprisingly, a host of household names like Halifax, PC World, Olay and Daz.

The winner, Injurylawyers4u, is not only unrepentant but in fact proud of its accomplishment. A director of the firm was quoted as saying, ‘another word for irritating is memorable’ and cited a drop in response rates earlier in the year when the ad was temporarily replaced.

So is he right, and, if so, what can small business advertisers learn from the ‘most-irritating’ adverts around?

Certainly consumers have no shortage of choice for most products and services and being bombarded by advertising has made most consumers pretty good at mentally screening out what doesn’t interest them. The effect is to turn most advertising into a depressingly ubiquitous background noise to daily life.

First and foremost then, an effective advert has to be able to cut through that noise and make an impression – even a negative one. Much more damaging and wasteful to a business is advertising that makes no impact – which is something that no one would accuse ‘Barry Scott’ and Cillit Bang of doing (sliding a disappointing one place to third in this year’s poll).

Perhaps one point to notice is that many of the companies listed are in industries with high levels of competition and little perceived differentiation between products. No less than 6 of the top 20 are financial service or insurance related – ranging from Shiela’s Wheels signing Aussies to Churchill’s nodding bulldog. Oh yes.

Of course, making an advertisement that stands out is only one step – it also needs to be effective. Indeed, a decent chunk of the top twenty ads named are designed to encourage direct response. Whether it be to sue the council for that broken paving stone, phone for a loan or compare car insurance deals online, they all want you to take action now. In other words, when you need someone to take action, you better make sure they hear you first.

Annoying ‘presenters’, silly taglines and soul destroying jingles aside – the one thing that tends to irritate more than anything else are ads that promote products that aren’t designed with you in mind. TV has long been the perceived preserve of mass market consumer brands and supermarket favourites. However, targeting niche audiences can also be highly lucrative.

For small businesses, niche means careful selection of the right media and ads that speak directly to your target market – without fear of irritating others. As the Phones4U (cue silly hand gesture and a well-deserved fifth place) marketing director said, ‘We are not in the business or trying to be all things to all men.’

More than anything though, it is repetition that leads to irritation. The highest (or should that be lowest) scoring ads on the irritation scale have all been around for ages. The same three ads made the top three last year and the signing bank staff from Halifax (13th) have been getting on our nerves for years.

A little ‘chicken and egg’ thinking later and to be irritating you need to be remembered and so to be remembered you need to repeat, repeat, repeat. After all, one annoying ad might be quickly forgotten, but if Nadine Baggot chimes on about pentapeptides one more time ….

[i]Mark Nagurski is a director of FreeForm Media, a Derry-based marketing company that works with small businesses nationwide. You can find out more online at www.freeformmedia.co.uk or by phoning on 02871 368 189.[/i]

Finding the right message

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:56:00 +0000

How many times have you seen a flashy ad on the TV that looks great, but you can’t for the life of you remember what is was for? Or even worse, a stylish ad that leaves you completely confused as to what it was all about?

Creativity, great design and stylish imagery can all be used to enhance a message but ultimately you need to communicate with your chosen audience. Content does matter – especially for small businesses on a restricted budget.

Of course that begs the question, “What should I say?”.

The first two steps in developing a practical marketing plan are defining what makes your business unique and identifying who your most likely customers are going to be. If you know what makes your business different from the rest – and how that will benefit your chosen target customers - your marketing message is simply a way of putting the two together.

For example, if you own a retail shop that sells gifts you may have decided that the unique lines you stock are what makes you unique as a business. You’ve also decided that difference will appeal most to people who are interested in great design or in giving the prefect present to someone who’s ‘difficult to buy for’. Combining those two points will create your basic marketing message, and, the more you know about your target customers the more specific you can be in addressing it to them.

In general your draft marketing message should follow a structure like: ‘Our Shop sells gifts … we are unique because … our most likely customers are … and you should use us because of the following unique benefits …’.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue so the next stage is to create simple taglines and descriptions that can be used across a variety of media – ads, flyers, websites etc… You’ll want a one-line phase, a 2-3 line phrase and a short paragraph.

One useful tool is often to draw comparisons, directly or indirectly, with the competition or the status quo – sometimes it’s easier to explain what you are not than what you are. Carlsberg’s series of ads that suggest they ‘Don’t do’ flatmates or holidays or nightclubs, helps reinforce the message of what they do do – beer. You can also use other businesses as a useful jumping off point – Starbucks could be pitched as the “McDonald’s of coffee’ for example.

Once you’ve written a few draft marketing messages, the next step is to test them out. Ask yourself and a few choice advisors some of the following questions:

• Who is this message aimed at? Describe them.
• Does it say why should they buy from me?
• Are those reasons unique to my business or could they easily apply to anyone?
• Does it address the reader or is it all about me? (using the words you and your are usually good signs)
• Is it clear and does it make sense?

If you can tick off those points you’ll likely have a simple and useful message that you can start applying to your marketing materials and business as a whole. Just remember, your marketing message is not just the words you use to describe yourself – everything from the design of your logo to the way you answer the phone should serve to reinforce the message.

Finding the right customer

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:15:00 +0000

Who are my most likely customers and what do they really want?

The fact is, you can’t market to everyone – it’s too expensive for one thing. But even if you had the budget of a Coca-Cola or Nike, trying to market to every woman and her dog wouldn’t be very smart either. A busload of middle-aged Japanese men could decide to make a detour to Derry to check out your fantastic new hair salon - but it’s not very likely.

The only way to make sure you get the best possible return from the marketing and advertising that you do is to decide who you should target and, in turn, what they really want from you. By being more specific with the people you market to (and therefore what you say to them) you save wasted expense and have a much stronger, better targeted, and more effective message.

The best place to start is with the question; why would someone buy from you? In answering that question, you have to focus on the things that make your business different from the rest – the things that make you unique. That list could include features like your location, the products you sell, the services you provide or even how you go about providing them.

The next step is to take that list and decide who is most likely to benefit from each of these unique points. For example, if the location of your corner shop makes you unique then the people most likely to benefit are those who live or work near by.

Once you start identifying how your uniqueness can benefit certain groups you can also start putting those groups into order – from most likely to least likely. As a beauty salon you might stock an exclusive range of hair care products that make you unique. Of course, you can sell these products to both men and women but you’ll be able to guess which of the two is more likely. Because you have limited resources in terms of money, time and (most importantly) customer attention, you need to prioritise.

Now you know who your most likely customers are, the next stage is to do some homework. To create a business that appeals to them directly and specifically, you’ll need to know what they really want when they buy products or services like yours.

Continuing the salon example, customers might be looking for a nice hairstyle or a new colour? But it could be they simply want to feel better coming out than they did going in. If that’s the case, you’re no longer selling a new hairstyle or even beauty – you’re selling a luxury experience.

Of course, there’re also a few practical points about your potential customers that you’ll want to know too. What newspaper do they read (helping you place your advertising)? What shops do they shop in (creating ideas for joint promotions)? Does price matter and if so, how much (helping you maximise your returns)? Do they use the Internet? Do they like getting text messages? Do the like special offers and promotions?

Anything you can find out about your potential customers can help make a difference, but you need to keep your focus on your most likely customers. An ad in the paper designed to appeal to young affluent women is not likely to appeal to middle-aged men in the same way.

Yes, that does mean that you’re not likely to attract as many middle-aged men but that’s a lot better than a more general, untargeted ad that attracts no one at all.

---
This article was originally published in the Derry News, August 30th, 2007

Why would someone buy from you?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:49:00 +0000

People do things for a reason. That reason might not always seem the most logical or vital but there’s always a reason. Figuring out the reasons a potential customer would buy from you is the first important step in creating a marketing plan for your business – and probably the most important question you can answer.

The easiest way to start is with the basics. Why would a customer buy at all?

A customer buys something because they want to fill a specific need or want. People buy food because they don’t want to be hungry, they buy accountancy services because they want their taxes filed and they hire a painter because they want their walls to look good.

Of course, most customers want more than just the basics. They need food to avoid going hungry but they’re also likely to want it to taste good. They may also want it to be healthy, or cheap, on convenient or to make an impression at a dinner party.

These are all specific reasons why someone would buy from a particular business. The problem is that everyone will say the same thing. Everybody offers ‘a great service at an affordable price’, every car insurance firm says they are the cheapest, every restaurant has great food and every taxi firm has a ‘fast and reliable service’.

When everybody says the same thing, customers simply ignore everyone. Then it’s down to who’s got the biggest budget.

So if you haven’t got fortunes to spend, need to say something different. In other words, you need to identify the benefits that you can offer that are unique to you. Here are a few examples:

• People will buy from a corner shop because it’s the closest shop to them, if they don’t live nearby they won’t. Their location and convenience make them unique.

• Fashion conscious shoppers will buy from a retail outlet because they are the only place that stocks a particular brand, people who aren’t into brands won’t care.

• A bar could attract a specific clientele because they’re the only place to have live bands on a Friday night, people who don’t like live music will go elsewhere.

Take away the unique points from any of these businesses and customers wouldn’t seek them out – there would be no reason to. Likewise, if what’s unique about you doesn’t interest your potential customers you’re no better off. A shop full of high fashion brands that nobody likes (or has even heard of) won’t succeed.

Bring that all together and you get a simple process:

1. Make a list of things customers want – i.e. reasons why they buy
2. Make a list of benefits you can offer
3. Rule out anything that the customer can get somewhere else just as easily – i.e. things that aren’t unique to you
4. Whatever’s left are the reasons customers will buy from you and the most effective marketing message you can use

Now that you’ve identified what makes you unique, the next step is to start figuring out the groups of potential customers that your ‘uniqueness’ is most likely to appeal to - and how you can build it all into a powerful and effective message.

A nice article ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:39:00 +0000

Just came across this nice little article by Jay Abraham on using marketing partnerships to grow your business - or as he calls them Host / Beneficiary arrangements.

Where to buy a chicken dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:12:00 +0000

Let’s say you really fancy a fried chicken dinner this evening.

You don’t feel like cooking, so you start to think about takeaways that might be able to satisfy your poultry loving hunger. Of course, there are dozens of places you could go that sell fried chicken, but chances are, there’s one fast food brand name that will certainly enter into your thoughts. After all, it’s right there in the three-letter acronym. Problem solved.

Fried chicken aside, focussing your business on providing a particular type of product or service is one of the most effective and practical ways to market your business. It comes down to the reasons why people buy – and why they don’t buy.

When people buy a product or service, they’re looking for a solution to a specific problem or to fill a specific desire or want. When I’m hungry I don’t just want to be full. I want the food to taste good and perhaps be healthy, or inexpensive or convenient – or all three. My wants are actually quite specific and I’m going to search for a solution that most closely fulfils my needs. If I’m looking for that healthy option, the takeaway up the road will not be my first port of call – no matter how delicious it may be. A shop that’s called Healthy Options would probably be more likely.

This is great news for small businesses. Since customers are looking to fill very particular needs it means there’s no need for you to try and be all things to all people – you can become a specialist. Simply put, customers have more choice and are more discerning, so for an increasing number of firms, attracting a large percentage of a small pie is more profitable - and more likely - than going head to head with the bigger players with bigger budgets.

To get a feel for the effectiveness of specialisation you can draw a comparison with magazine titles. If you were searching for information on interior design you might find it in a general lifestyle magazine but you’d be much more likely to pick up a copy of Interior Design Monthly.

You’d expect the editors of Interior Design Monthly to know something about interior design even before you open the cover or read a single line. By focusing your own business and marketing message, you can achieve the same immediate level of trust. In other words, you can become the most natural and obvious solution to potential customers’ needs - simply by saying that you are.

Obviously if Interior Design Monthly didn’t live up to your expectations you wouldn’t buy it again and likewise, delivering on this initial level of trust is vital to building a successful business. But, by setting your stall out as serving a particular set of needs (ex. those of would be interior designers) you immediately communicate that you understand their needs and imply that you’ve helped fill the needs of other people just like them.

That aside, the really good news for small businesses with small budgets is that focusing your message has a number of ‘knock on’ benefits as well:

• Targeting a smaller market can help keep your advertising and marketing costs low
• Your message becomes more effective
• You’re more likely to benefit from word-of-mouth
• A compact market is easier to tap into and may have more obviously routes in
• You can build a reputation as an expert within your chosen speciality – opening new doors and opportunities
• Focusing allows you to deliver a better, more tailored, service
• Your message is more credible – no one believes you can be a specialist or expert in everything. i.e. a student bar doesn’t easily double up as chic yuppie hang out.
• You stand out amongst the more general businesses and general marketing messages.

Of course, there are obvious exceptions that may come to mind. Your local supermarket for example. They might well sell insurance, credit cards and loans. However they first became the place to buy your groceries and then used that trust, brand loyalty and footfall to move into new areas. Having said that, these forays into new arenas are not always successful and many brands end up shelving new additions to ‘get back to their knitting’.

Regardless of how you go about it, marketing your business is about positioning yourself as a solution to specific customer needs. The more directly you address those needs the more effective your message will become. Decide what makes you unique and then find the customers who are most likely to respond. Focus.

After all, you wouldn’t want go to a seafood restaurant to buy that box of fried chicken.

Speed Networking

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:12:00 +0000

I'm a huge fan of networking and it's accounting for more and more of our business every month but last night I got my first taste of 'speed networking'.

As the name suggests, it works very much like speed dating and I'm sure one or two of you have some experience of it - networking or dating, whichever floats your boat.

Anyway, the evening proved rather effective and so I thought I'd share a few tips for making the most of this kind of event.

1. Arrive early - We landed about 20 minutes before the official start time and had a chance to network a little over coffees, it was an easy ice breaker as you could see that many of the attendees were a little anxious about the whole idea. By the time we bumped into each other in the event they were happy to see a 'familiar' face.

2. Practice your pitch - In this event we had just 1 minute to introduce ourselves and our business, an elevator pitch in miniature. Thankfully, we'd spent a few minutes rehearsing back in the office to make sure we knew what we wanted to say and hit all the key reasons to buy.

3. Listen first, talk second - this should always be the case but especially in this set up. Let your new friend tell you all about themselves first and you may immediately see ways you could help - or simply get a better feel for the type of person and/or business they are.

4. Get a preview - If possible, phone ahead and ask the organisers who'll be in attendance so that you can create a 'hit list' of people you'd like to meet.

5. Stay late - A 2 minute conversation is hardly enough time to even start doing business. As you go around, make a note of the people you like to speak to in more detail and make sure to find them after the formal networking is done - and the real networking can begin.

6. Make an impression - Big smile, firm handshake and lots of enthusiasm - you need to stand out.

7. Follow up - A quick email or phone call the next day helps keep you in people's minds and opens the door for future contact.

These kinds of events are great for two reasons. First off the formal aspect is a great ice breaker and secondly you get to meet an awful lot more people than at most events. Play your cards right and you can come away with a raft of follow up meetings with your ideal clientele - we managed 4, not bad for 90 minutes work.

Marketing Toolbox Item No. 1 : The Referral Card

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:07:00 +0000

OK, so what bits and pieces do you need to have in your 'marketing toolbox'?

A great one to start with is a simple referral card.

A referral card is simply a 'gift certificate' or 'discount voucher' (for want of a better phrase) that you can give to clients, customers, friends, family, suppliers - anybody you want. The idea is that they can pass them on to others who might be able to use your services or buy your product. Using referral cards with a small discount has a few effects:

1. It makes it easier to give and talk about
2. It gives you a chance to control the message
3. It makes it more likely to be used
4. It stands out compared to a business card or brochure

Here's a few ideas for using them:

1. Give a few to everyone you know and ask them to hand them out
2. Include them in your invoices (or with purchases / deliveries) as a thank you
3. Use them as a substitute for a flyer
4. Use them as a unique substitute for a business card
5. Put them with display materials at stands on in your premises
6. Give them to referral partners
7. Use them in direct mail

What should it look like?

1. Bright and eye-catching
2. Well branded
3. Offer big and bold
4. Leave room for the 'referrers' name so you can track where they come from and thank or reward those that do refer
5. Take a few lines to state your key points and the reason for the discount (giving a reason maintains value)
6. Bigger than a business card
7. Double sided

Anything else?

Yep, the best way to make sure they get passed along is to 'present' them to the person who'll be doing the referring - tell them what they are and the kind of people you're hoping they'll refer.

Tested: Customer service makes better business

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:52:00 +0000

A recent report in the Journal of Marketing has concluded that companies with consistently high customer service and satisfaction ratings outperform their competitors on the stock market.

Nice

Freebie: 19 page marketing ideas report

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Tue, 15 May 2007 09:31:00 +0000

We've just published a new 19 page marketing ideas report designed specifically for small businesses.

Crammed with 52 marketing ideas (i.e. one for each week of the year if you're so inclined) you can download it here when you grab our newsletter.

And it's already picking up the odd review - here

P.S. If you just want the report feel free to send me an email to justgivemethereportmark@freeformmedia.co.uk

Me and the Chamber

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Sun, 06 May 2007 13:08:00 +0000

I've toyed about with the Chamber of Commerce thing for a few years now. I was a member, let it lapse, went to a few free events ....

I'm a huge fan of networking and see it as a marketing fundamental but had always looked at our local Chamber as a bit staid and much more about big business than small.

Anyway, about 3 weeks ago I made a concious decision to actively 'rejoin' the Chamber, but this time with a plan. Here's what's happened since then:

1. Went to one event: contact the CoC office ahead to see who would be there and made a 'hit list' of people to meet and speak to. Decided not to go alone but double my efforts by bringing a new member of staff along for the ride. Result: We're pitching for a new client on Tuesday who owns multiple businesses and wants a complete revamp of their marketing. Also met the business development manager from a local paper - meeting in the week to discuss several features, a possible column and a number of reader offers and competitions on behalf of clients.

2. Noticed that a number of members had been profiled in the local paper. I decided to ask around and found out that the CoC had organised these profiles. Result: Our half page profile runs on Tuesday, at no cost to us

3. Arranged to meet with CoC key staff to introduce myself properly: a 15 minute meeting lead to proposed co-hosted marketing workshops and a monthly business drop in day. Meeting within the next few weeks to finalise the details.

It's often not the marketing idea itself (networking through the CoC) but the implementation (being more proactive and working to a plan) that gets results. I just wish I'd done this a few years ago.

Marketing Overthink - Your Worst Enemy

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:36:00 +0000

OK - so I'm probably more guilty of this than many business owners but 'marketing overthink' is a dangerous foe that must be defeated at all costs. Why? Because 'marketing overthink' leads to 'marketing inertia' which in turn leads to never doing the simple marketing that you need to do.

It's tempting to believe that, if only you could think of the perfect marketing strategy, then all your problems would be solved. As a result, small businesses often spend ages trying to come up with that perfect, creative, quirky answer - and that's marketing overthink.

In fact, marketing your business can be surprisingly simple - decide what makes you different (your message) decide who that will benefit the most (your target market) and then get to work telling your message to your targets (your methods).

Marketing inertia sets in when you complicate this process so much in your mind, that you end up not doing anything at all. The best marketing advice I've ever heard is to stop thinking and start doing.

So here's a simple process to get your marketing moving:

1. Define what makes you special
2. Define who can benefit from that and how
3. Create a compelling offer
4. Get started with some basics that get your message and offer to your prospects cost effectively - networking, mail, phone calls, doing sales calls, standing on the street corner shouting about what you do - whatever ....
5. Take a good look at the numbers and decide what's working and what isn't - improve where you can and drop the stuff that doesn't work to focus on what does
6. Use the contacts and customers you get to start generating referrals
7. Use the revenue you get to reinvest in improving and expanding the marketing you're doing
8. Put all this down into a straight forward process with targets to hit each week or month (i.e. I'm going to do 10 calls a day or go to 3 networking events each month) - keep doing this consisitently and don't fall into a stop/start approach
9. THEN start looking for little marketing experiments that you can try as an addition to your core, everday marketing - if they work you add them into your routine, if they don't you don't
10. Rinse and repeat

Doing something will always give you better results than thinking about it but never doing.

Two excellent book recommendations

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:39:00 +0000

Sorry for the lapse since my last post but things have been a little hectic around the FreeForm office over the last few weeks. Somehow though, I have managed to find a few minutes free to re-read two excellent books on marketing that I'd certainly suggest taking a look at.

The first is Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch. Billed as the "World's Most Practical Marketing Guide" it's filled with plenty of useful tips and ideas to help get your marketing moving on a budget. John's blog is also well worthwhile.

The second is the Highly Effective Marketing Plan by Peter Knight. Simple, direct and backed by loads of useful, REAL, examples, this is a great place to start planning your marketing - not least because it's quite similar to the processes we use at FreeForm.

Fusion Marketing on Entrepreneur.com

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:37:00 +0000

A nice article about fusion marketing techniques on Entrepreneur.com

Fusion marketing is simply a term used to describe businesses creating alliances, partnerships and informal agreements to collaborate in their marketing. It can mean something simple like having each others' business cards on display or something much more formal like joint product offerings, packaing your services with another's.

The article gives a few simple ideas and a step-by-step checklist for using fusion marketing relationships.

Certainly worth a read.

More meat in my stew please

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:23:00 +0000

By and large we Irish like our stew. Me, I love the stuff but have noticed that stew is becoming more and more potato and less and less meat. Until that is, I found a tiny little cafe (actually it has no seats so it's probably not a cafe) that does really meaty stew.

It's a five minute walk further down the road but even on a rainy day like today I'd rather make the trip than get a meatless stew from the place at the end of the road.

How much more meat could you add to your product?

Referral Programs Mean Business

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 10:49:00 +0000

If there is one thing you can do to create more business without spending any cash upfront then it has to be a referral program.

Hopefully you already generate business from referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations. That's brilliant. But a formal plan to help cultivate both the quality and quantity of referrals you receive can pay huge dividends.

Before you get started - or even if you already have - it's worth considering the types of referrals you want to receive - PASSIVE referrals and/or ACTIVE referrals.

PASSIVE REFERRALS come about when A asks B if they 'know a good place to get x'. This kind of referral is in response to an enquiry.

ex. Joe asks Bob if he knows a good accountant. Bob recommends speaking to you.

Or, Bob likes the look of Joe's sandwich and asks him where he got it.

The best way to generate passive referrals is to deliver a quality product and service. Of course, you can make it all the more likely by providing Bob and Joe with simple tools that make passing along your message all the easier (business cards, flyers etc...).

ACTIVE REFERRALS are slightly different. In this case Joe actively seeks out Bob to tell him about the great sandwich he had or Bob sends Joe an email about the new website he found. You can make this happen organically by providing a phenomenal product or service - compelling Bob and Joe to talk about it.

You can also make it much more likely by providing them with both the tools AND an incentive to talk. Active tools would include things like tell-a-friend buttons on your website, gift certificates designed to be given away or free samples to pass along.

The incentive can be anything from the sense of 'being in the know' and standing in the community that Bob will have (think Digg and del.icio.us), to financial rewards like competitions and discounts on future orders. To encourage someone to actively refer, they must believe that the information they are passing on will be of value to the person they speak to - you can help create that by rewarding both the 'referrer' and 'referred'.

Of course, every business should look to cultivate both passive and active referrals but it all starts with providing a genuinely great product and service. Fake word-of-mouth - i.e. that generated solely through incentives - has a funny way of coming back to haunt you.

99 Web Tools you can use to create buzz online

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:49:00 +0000

Great list of web resources from Ron at Buzzoodle

99 Web resources to promote your business and create some buzz

Where to put your good ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:29:00 +0000

2 simple 15 minute tips:

We all have ideas, some of us too many - you can't act on all of them immediately otherwise you'd never get anything done. So what do you do with good ideas and new contacts and how should you use them?

1. Start up a 'to contact' spreadsheet (call it something fun) and start adding in ALL the potential contacts you have that could be of help in ANY way. Run a separate page for specific businesses, organisations, media outlets etc... you'd love to work with or sell to. Fill it out as you go and find new ideas and opportunities. The goal is to move people from the 'love to' page onto the contact page and then from the contact page into actually working with them.

2. Start a 'great ideas' word doc and every time an idea pops into your head, type it in in one paragraph or less - review it every few weeks and pick out ideas to action, flesh them out and give them a try.

Between the two you'll start collecting dozens of ideas and contacts to follow up on when you're at a loss or need to push things along.

Better yet, start getting in the habit of contacting people and trying ideas when things are going well - you'll be more confident, have a great picture to paint and can negotiate from a position of strength.

Expectations: How a party lost a vote

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:44:00 +0000

Following quickly on from my last post, a short point about expectations.

Your marketing - for that read 'everything about your business' - forms an impression in people's minds, an expectation of a certain level of service, a price, a way of doing business. When the reality doesn't meet those expectations it 'jars' with people.

That can be a good or a bad thing.

Surprise people with better than expected service or a great price and it's a positive. Don't live up to the expectations and it's a negative. You wouldn't necessarily expect a mint on your pillow and fresh flowers in your room when you stay in a 1 Star 'hotel' and so would be presently surprised. If that's all you got in a 5 Star resort you'd be demanding to see the manager.

So what inspired this post?

It's local election time here and I today received a pile of leaflets from various candidates. I took no notice of any of them except the one from the Green Party - on what looks like crisp, new, tree-detroying, un-recycled paper.

Not good.

Small Business Owners: Don't send it out if it fails this test

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:17:00 +0000

I've a simple little test I do with client and in-house marketing materials - it's called the "meant for" test.

Take any letter, ad, logo, website, whatever and take a quick look - 5-10 seconds at most. Then ask the question, "Who's it meant for?" Man or woman? Young or old? Rich or poor? Student or professional?

If the answer doesn't match your target audience then you need to rethink it.

People are exposed to so many marketing messages every day that they've become extremely adept at filtering out what doesn't concern them - and quickly. You can also use the test to improve and more clearly target your audience

Let's take the headline to this post:

Small Business Owners: Don't send it out if it fails this test

How can we improve it? If I'm a business owner I'd say it was meant for me but if you were sending it out just in your home town, you could easily change it to:

Small Business Owners in MyTown: Don't send it out if it fails this test

And you can do the same with just about anything, from the look of your premises and the style of your business cards to the logo you use or the tone of your letters. If you can say who it's "meant for" with just a glance or by reading one line, it stands a much better chance of appealing to that market.

Instigator Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 16:09:00 +0000

There's an awful lot of blogs out there and while I'm pleased you're having a quick look at mine I also like to point out new ones I come across that are worth a visit.

On that point I'd certainly recommend Ben Yoskovitz' Instigator Blog.

Described as 'instigating discussion, ideas and better business' Ben's blog covers an eclectic range of business based topics and is all the more readable and interesting for it. Definitely worth a look.

Customer service - is it broken?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 15:01:00 +0000

I just finished an interesting post on Seth Godin's blog where he suggests a new approach to customer service.

Of course, I'm a big fan of good customer service - for me it's the fundamental that underlines word-of-mouth and referrals; more so than the product, price, whatever. But like so much of what I'd consider marketing (i.e. everything) being good isn't really good enough. It's phenomenal service that makes your business stand out - people already expect good.

So what does it take to provide phenomenal customer service?

Of course, we'd all like our problems dealt with on the spot but as Seth rightly suggests what's more important is that they actually get dealt with. I'm constantly amazed by how long it takes some companies to get back to me with quotes, or answers to questions or to reply to a problem - but much more frustrating is that even when they do come back they rarely deal with my concern or query the way I'd hope.

Simple tip: Fast is good but right is phenomenal.

What do YOU do?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:09:00 +0000

Here's a simple question; What do YOU do?

The question may be simple but what about the answer. When you meet someone for the first time, or need to describe your business in a signature line or tagline, you don't have the time to deliver a five minute explanation about the intricacies of your industry.

We've all heard about an elevator pitch but what about an elevator sentence? Can you describe your business in one sentence? If not, here's a useful exercise.

For your short explanation start by writing a paragraph that explains it all including the key ebenfit you offer
FreeForm provide marketing services including ...... to small businesses and startups in the UK, Ireland and beyond - helping them market themselves better. We specialise in low cost and no cost marketing ideas.... and you should use us because [benefit]....

Then edit that down to a sentence or two by picking out the fundamentals
FreeForm provide support and advice to small businesses to help them market better. You should use us because [benefit]....

Then edit those sentences down to one
We help small businesses market better without breaking the bank to do it.

Then, if need be down to a few keywords, plus a key benefit
Market better without breaking the bank.
Better marketing.
Better marketing on a budget.

You'll end up with a few descriptions that you can use in different circumstances, but more importantly, a clear picture of what you do and how to explain it.

Remind me who you are again

noreply@blogger.com (Mark at Really Practical Marketing) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:59:00 +0000

15 minute idea

We'd all like to think that our businesses are unforgetable but a quick run through your old emails will quickly remind you just how many people you don't remember. If you can forget them, they can forget you.

As part of your overall marketing strategy you should find ways to remind people who you are and what you do from time to time. Here's a couple fo quick ideas:

A newsletter
A personal email to see 'how things are going' with them
A comment on their blog or reply to a forum post
A handwritten note
A quick phone call

Trawl through your emails and other communications from the last year (or at least a few months) and find a dozen people you haven't spoken to in a while. They don't have to be clients or customers - they could be a reporter, a friend of a friend, someone who made an enquiry, whatever. Make it your goal to get in touch in the next 2 weeks.