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Author: Paul Tagent
3 years old and still learning
The vast majority of the posts Bath Marketing Consultancy writes contain marketing tips, advice and help on how to achieve the best results from certain marketing initiatives. But before I go down that route, I think every now and again it does a business good to stop, take stock and reflect on things.
With this in mind, I launched Bath Marketing Consultancy exactly 3 years ago in ridiculously hard economic times, without any clients and without any real financial support to fall back on. Why? Well, to be honest, I really believed in what I wanted to launch and was fortunate to find that there was not only space for a full service pay as you go marketing company in and around Bath, but it seemed like one was actually needed.
Leaving a good, established “agency” in Bristol with a regular income + perks to venture into the unknown on my own was, in retrospect, complete madness (my wife and I also had 2 babies at the time to add even more pressure!), but, I think I would’ve continued kicking myself if I hadn’t at the very least given it a go.
So….what did I do? What advice can I impart to help people who might be in a similar position to mine back in 2009?
Well………one of the most important aspects of launching a new business is patience! Yes, always research your market and do the very best to start with at least one client, but patience is such an understated attribute when starting from scratch as nothing will happen overnight. In fact, nothing might happen for months. But stick with it and things will happen.
I was asked recently by a company I am involved with what I would do if I had my time again. I didn’t really have an answer. Yes, business is going well, but I have made some mistakes and yes, not every person I have worked with has walked away singing my praises, but, these negative aspects of running a business have actually given me the most to learn from. For those of you who follow Bath Marketing on Twitter or like Bath Marketing on Facebook, you will know that the recent events involving a small claims court vs a non paying client have been also hard, but again, I have learned a great deal…..and I won the case!
When it comes to the dreaded subject of marketing, please, please, please see it as in investment and not a cost. Do not try and pull in every favour from every person you know who “knows IT” to do your website and then screw a designer for every penny or design a logo yourself online. If you cannot afford to give your business a professional identity and a decent online shop window, then my advice would be to wait until you can. Yes, I would like to think that Bath Marketing Consultancy provides the best one stop shop for all SMEs, but there are plenty of (lesser!!) companies out there who could help you.
Once you have a logo, a website, business cards etc, go out and meet people. Share ideas. Swap stories and maybe even join a networking group. One of the worse things for a one man band is to sit staring at a computer screen for hours and hours doing nothing or sitting by a phone waiting for it to ring and networking allows you to at the very least, meet like minded people……….and possibly get work.
Yes, I have written many articles on marketing and what to expect and what to do, but ultimately, if you are an SME or someone just starting out, effective marketing could be decisive in whether you succeed or fail so don’t ignore it!
Paul Tagent, Bath Marketing Consultancy’s photostream
Some examples of our work.
More sales please or do I mean marketing?
The word “marketing” has had numerous definitions and interpretations over the years, but, in layman’s terms Bath Marketing Consultancy sees marketing as a process that identifies and fulfills a customer need and this is not to be confused with the word “sales!!”
Yes, selling plays a part in marketing, but making a sale does not fall under the heading of out and out marketing. Similarly, marketing is also not just getting a brochure done or a website designed and built. I see marketing therefore, as much more than just a singular initiative or selling; it is a never ending process that should sit at the heart of every business.
The process of marketing should involve all of the following:
- Understanding your market
- Building your brand
- Planning the business strategy
- Managing existing clients
- Internal marketing/communication
- Winning new business
…….and these elements combined in a well thought out and fully costed marketing (or business) plan will facilitate “sales.” One other important aspect of marketing is that it is not just a quick fix when times are slow. It is a long-term effort that, if committed to, will yield results for your business.
Why “do” marketing??
Recently I met a prospect who told me that their business had got on well enough without dedicated marketing and why did they need to look at marketing now? My answer was that, in my experience, no company can sustain growth without a dedicated marketing strategy and the correct marketing platforms. Yes, businesses and brand can be built on reputation and referrals, but these things are unlikely to go on forever. In addition, every market is full of competition in some shape or form and I would assume that competitors are targeting new clients as well as your own so even a direct mail piece included in an invoice that encourages a repeat purchase could be a very effective piece of marketing.
In sum, my definition of marketing at the start of this post maybe brief, but it must encompass initiatives like winning new business. One area I always advocate to my clients is that of discipline i.e. to facilitate successful marketing may require a change in discipline, but if a business remains focused on what it wants to achieve and employing the correct routes to get there, the rewards are there. For example, how much of a market share do you think your business has? Probably quite a small percentage right? Well, flip the coin over – how much is left for you to get??! How much difference would be made if your share increased by 1 or 2%? Well, marketing and the selling it will facilitate will get you there!
Rugby and Tweeting; an interesting mix!
Last weekend I had a weekend pass for my belated 40th birthday present from my wife and children which took the form of tickets for both days of Twickenham World 7s Rugby.
As an ex player and an avid rugby fan, I was very much looking forward to the weekend and, combine this with spending 3 nights at my Dad’s away from the interrupted sleep I get at home from my young family, the weekends appeal was even higher!
What I wasn’t expecting was an email the night before from the RFU promoting the use of Social Media over the weekend along with asking me to get involved with the key sponsors of the weekend – O2, HSBC and Marriott Hotels. Unsure of what to expect from the proposed hashtag (#7stakeover) and the Twitter account to follow (@Official_RFU), I set off to Twickenham.
Arriving at Twickenham early on Saturday morning to a carnival atmosphere, I decided to shoot a quick video on Social Cam of the drummers before I entered the actual Stadium which I then posted to my Facebook page and my Twitter account.
I then added the hashtag feed to my Tweet Deck account just to see what was trending (LMFAO was requested a lot!). Little did I know that Twickenham would boast over 103,000 people over the weekend and the social networks of Twitter and Facebook along with Social Cam etc were going wild. Thousands of people were Tweeting song requests which were broadcasted over the speaker system with the account holder credited. In addition, The Marriott Hotel were asking the crowd to “like” their Facebook page for the chance to win weekend breaks. The crowd could also “Tweet” pictures taken which, if selected, were posted onto the large screens at either end of the stadium.
Having “followed” the RFU Twitter account, I was also able to view scores in real time when I was in the car park having lunch so I didn’t miss a thing!
The final swansong was HSBC doing a 360 real time “Fan Cam” of the whole stadium and then allowing people to go in and tag themselves in the crowd, which I did – very impressive.
To me, the use of Social Media really impacted positively on the weekend and shows how, if embraced by organisations large or small, the likes of Twitter and Facebook can really play a huge part in enhancing customer experiences and promoting brands positively. By the end of the weekend, even my father who is 67 and a social media dinosaur, really understood how effective social media can be!
Social Media – do it now!
Following on from Bath Marketing Consultancy‘s last post on social media and effective SEO, I thought it would be helpful to elaborate on certain key points to try and demonstrate how effective these 2 initiatives can be for an organisation, especially those who operate as small to medium businesses.
One area I think is key is that social media is not a generation initiative. I have lost count of the number of clients I speak to who dismiss Twitter, Blogging and Facebook as things that “teenagers do.” Yes, teenagers do use Facebook and Twitter, but the fastest growing group of social media users are adults in their 40’s. Twitter has only been around for 6 years, but is already used by 200million people and over 1billion “Tweets” are posted each week. Similarly, Facebook is nearly at 1billion users so platforms like these cannot simply be ignored or dismissed.
The big question a business should ask itself is whether its target market are using Twitter etc. If so, and it is very likely that they are, why would you not want to interact with your target market on a free platform?!
Social media doesn’t have any geographic boundaries to it and allows organisations to create trust with their brand. It allows people within an organisation to develop relationships, share knowledge, interact and above all, meet new people.
Even the major brands and companies across the globe use Twitter. If you want to test this, put something negative about BT or Eon on Twitter and watch how quickly someone replies to your comment! Why do they do this? Well, the users of a product or service are who control marketing to a certain extent. Would you base your decision on where to go on holiday on the glossy brochure? Unlikely. More likely is a visit to Trip Advisor to see what other people thought about the hotel or the beach. People trust other people and if you came across a review from someone you know from a social media platform, you are even more likely yo believe them!
A very famous quote from E Qualman, Socialnomics, a while ago was “we dont have a choice of whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.”
Social Media and effective SEO
For the first time in ages, I finally took myself out of the office yesterday and attended a workshop in Ilminster entitled “Master class for business: Social Media & Effective SEO.” Despite the weather conditions and the early drive, Bath Marketing Consultancy, along with 139 other people, arrived ready to spend the day soaking up (!) information about SEO and Social Media.
What was my objective for the day?
Networking – to a certain extent, but more importantly, I wanted to further my knowledge in 2 key areas of marketing so that my business can continue to advise and add value to its clients’ marketing activity.
Was this achieved?
Well, in a word, yes. The speakers were all experts in their fields and, although time was limited, they all presented well and were very informative. In particular the workshops delivered by Garry Ennis of NS Design and Jim Hardcastle of Viper Marketing were not only thought provoking but really well delivered.
One of the key areas for me to research was confirming the potential value 
of the work I do for my clients by hearing the views of other people within the “marketing” industry. Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media are very complex marketing initiatives and are key influencers in raising brand awareness, establishing the credibility and authority of a brand and for developing online relationships. Not only that but, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook really do make a difference to search engine results. Yes, social media is a wide topic and can be daunting to the layman, but, if embraced and planned strategically, it can become a key driver in the area of new client acquisition.
I do recall one question from the audience yesterday which went something along the lines of “when do you know that you have done enough social media.” When answered, I certainly agreed with what was said, namely that you shouldn’t ever really just stop. One of the speakers admitted that direct, paying work as a result of the activity they do on Twitter has only just materialized after nearly 2 years. Is this a good ROI? Well, on paper, probably not. After all a business shouldn’t continue with something like advertising if it takes 2 years to yield, but I feel that direct business shouldn’t necessarily be the only objective of SEO and Social Media. Bath Marketing has made over 1250 connections through Twitter, found new suppliers and (hopefully!) established itself as a key player in what is a very populated field – that of online marketing.
As a result of the work BMC does, if anyone is using Google to source a marketing consultancy, BMC now appears top of the organic positions out of over 8 million search results and top or second for the term marketing consultant out of 114 million. Not bad for a business that is not 3 years old yet!
Bath Marketing would also like to say a special hello to some new Twitter followers. So welcome to you all!
I need to re brand
“I want to re brand my business” is a statement I have had thrown at me quite a lot recently by companies who contact Bath Marketing Consultancy.
“Why do you want to…?” is what I throw back……. 
Boredom not a reason for a re brand
The answer I generally receive is that “it is about time” or “I want a new logo” or maybe even “I am bored of the way my company looks.” In my opinion, none of these answers is a proper reason for a re brand and actually, explaining to people what a complete re brand involves i.e the work and the potential costs, timescales etc quite often leads to a swift change of mind by the person I am meeting!
What I want to get across is that, just changing your logo and/or you corporate literature and/or website does not classify a “re brand.” To me, an organisations’ brand goes far deeper than the way it presents itself or the colour of its logo. A brand is all about your personality as a business and is made up of a number of different elements which I have covered in a previous article. Establishing a brand can take decades and making changes to a brand is not something I would to do without some serious thought.
Yes, there are specialist brand agencies out there who will meet the brief of a re brand and charge you a small fortune, but the vast majority of the businesses Bath Marketing Consultancy works with are small to medium enterprises and this means that budgets are very rarely huge and therefore, spending money on “marketing” is a decision that the business owner will not take lightly. I more often than not advise organisations on modernising their look in line with recent upgrades in areas like fonts or a change in industry standard website settings; a sort of evolution rather than a revolution, but very rarely have I come across a business large or small that really needs to re brand.
Yes, I work with a number of start ups who come to me to come up with and launch their brand, which is a very different kettle of fish, but, if you are a business owner and think you need to “re brand” your business, don’t make knee-jerk decisions about your business and the way it looks and operates. Give real thought as to why you want to do it and what the potential outcome could be; talk to your existing customers……and maybe then bring in an expert in this area.
Bath Marketing Consultancy; the future is bright….and challenging.
In this Blog, Bath Marketing Consultancy has written over 200 marketing related articles. The vast majority of which are dedicated to providing marketing advice and help to the small to medium business. We have also shared our experiences, posted work we have done (and some rather dodgy video interviews of myself!) and given our professional opinions on campaigns, marketing initiatives & what to do in certain situations.
Over the last 3 years, Bath Marketing Consultancy has quickly established itself as one of the West Country’s leading marketing consultancy’s and, as we are full service and operate a “pay as you go system,” we have designed and delivered 30+ websites, numerous logo and advertisement designs, exhibition stands etc etc.
However, I now find myself in a unique situation with regards to the future due to increasing client and prospect demands.
As you may know from my Tweets, I have never been a fan of “sub branding” or diversifying from the key target markets of a business, but one area I am considering is whether to launch a dedicated comms company for the larger and possibly multi site client. Within Bath Marketing Consultancy there is a combined 40 years of experience in the sector which hugely benefits the smaller client as they can draw on this market experience, usually for a fraction of the cost of a larger more traditional “agency.” In addition, the service levels we offer and the single point of contact mean that we build strong and long lasting relationships with each of our clients.
Well, what if larger clients could access this type of experience via a different company that was still linked to the values and working ethos of Bath Marketing Consultancy? What if a national company could call on a pay as you go marketing consultancy offering really “heavy hitting” brand evaluation, design, copywriting, bespoke web solutions and national marketing? In effect, what if there was a different virtual account team made up of industry specialists, all of whom know each other from previous lives who could work together as and when needed to really push the marketing activity of the larger client?
Watch this space…………….
Bath Marketing Consultancy interview for 2012 Bath Life Awards
Is it obvious that my children had not slept well the night before?!
Also, how many pounds does the camera put on??!
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