The committee are doing an amazing job with the planning of the event and I am sure it is going to be a great day out!

Also thank you to local print maestro, John Anderson of Inspired Print for kindly organising the printing of the leaflets for us.

The Conference was excellent, hosted by the eBusiness Club in conjunction with Nottingham Trent University. It was slick and refreshingly informative, with presentations from both agencies and SME practictioners. The first couple of introductory sessions reinforced the pace of change and looked at the trends, presenting some interesting facts about mobile usage. But the statistic that really caught my eye…  22% of those that access the internet in UK via mobile devices DON’T have a desktop at all. This means over one fifth (and growing) do everything they do online via their phone or tablet. They don’t sit down at a desk with a ‘reserved chunk of time’ to buy, research or connect online. Instead they snatch smaller pockets of time while doing something else; waiting in a queue, travelling, having a haircut or watching TV. It is now a familar sight to see a huddle of men outside the ladies changing rooms all peering at their phones while waiting. This idea of ‘stolen’ moments to do things online really reinforced for me the need for businesses to step up to the mark as far as their mobile content goes.

The afternoon was all about mobile content. The wonderful world of QR codes and Apps. Aaaahh to App or not….. that was the big question for the rest of the day.  Rob Borley at Headscape ran through an interesting case study highlighting the pros and cons; basically demonstrating what a minefield it can be!  For me the verdict is still out on Apps (with lots of hard questions and research to do on a case by case basis before committing to any spend). But I did learn some cool stuff about mobile content. Fyi the two most useful things I learnt about creating mobile content that afternoon were:

1. Reviews are mobile content; woo hoo I say cos we all know how powerful reviews are at driving sales! This cemeted my belief that proactive review management should be a priority for every business.
2. Google Docs can be converted to mobile content (each doc has a unique URL so it can be linked to a QR code or hyperlink) this means if you don’t have mobile content you can use Google Docs for your PDFs, word documents etc to make them mobile.

To sum up don’t get taken by surprise like I did – the age of mobile content is here (and in case you’re wondering it’s important because it can drive sales). So SMEs make sure your website is up to the task.

Basically he explained it’s not a deal breaker but one of those many little niggles that differentiates users from having a ‘satisfactory ‘experience to one that delights them enough to become a loyal customer and brand champion.

But back to the fascinating dentist story …basically Paddi was frustrated. He felt undervalued because he realised that patients couldn’t know that his work was superior; after all who inspects their fillings or even knows what a good one looks like? So he took action and introduced numerous small touches that differentiated his business from the other dentists around. These small touches on their own weren’t particularly significant, but collectively they made a huge impact on the whole dental experience. He made it feel far superior to an ordinary dentist. Paddi used bone china to serve refreshments; offered freshly baked buns in a waiting area that looked like a chic coffee shop; he hung original art on the walls; he introduced a ‘stop’ button for patients; TVs on the ceiling; private waiting rooms for those that didn’t want to wait with others; a nurse that was the patient’s sole point of contact from making the booking, to welcoming them on arrival and then looking after them during their ‘stay’.

He also raised his prices significantly and naturally lost a whole bunch of price sensitive patients along the way, but he kept those that valued his superior services and were willing to pay for them. He could thus work less and earn more and he wasn’t a frustrated dentist anymore, that is before taking his new found business turnaround skills and selling them worldwide (including to the coach Clive Woodward).

I love this story as a Services Marketeer, because it beautifully encapsulates the idea of making the intangible tangible.  It also moves away from the idea of unique selling point and focuses on how to make your services stand out by getting the detail right. I believe it is worth spending time and energy thinking about how you can be great at all the ‘Non Critical Essentials’ that make up ‘the customer experience’. Because it is here that the battle for customer loyalty is lost or won.

But to successfully market your business digitally needs proactive campaign management – constantly testing and refining your effects. Whilst larger businesses may have the resource for this function for smaller businesses we are finding outsourcing is proving a viable alternative. So when it comes to digital marketing, we call in the experts at Conversationware.

Joining forces with Conversationware means we can now offer our clients a fully integrated web marketing service. Thus they can enjoy the benefits of our professionally built websites and effective digital marketing campaigns. We believe partnering is an excellent way to get the job done effectively. If you want to know more about the Pulling power of Digital Marketing call us on 01327 810003

Dr French's Graduation

His Research Implications: Being too market-oriented can be detrimental to profits. Instead need to aim for the optimal market orientation in their business environment. To maximise profits, firms need to focus their market-oriented activities on sustained competitive advantage, or re-focus from external market-led strategies to internal resource-based ones.

For more information about these findings call 01327 810003.

Also this year rather than send out Christmas cards we have made a donation to Advantage Africa. They are an inspirational charity, based in Olney, who work across Africa at a grassroots level to help disadvantaged people.

Fyi we will be shutting shop for a short break on Friday 23 December and re-open for business on Wednesday the  4th January 2012.

The report also reveals that 93% of adspend goes to PCs, while smartphones receive 5%, and tablets just 2%. I’d say good on yer to those 2% early adopters who are enjoying the higher click through (it’s nice to be a big fish in a small pond).
*Nma.co.uk, 14 October 2011

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