Bath Marketing Consultancy

Social Media – do it now!

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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

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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

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“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……. Bored doesn't mean a re brand

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.

Paul TagentLeave a comment

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…………….

What is a marketing plan?

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Put simply, a marketing plan provides direction for your marketing activities and I feel that having one can make the difference between business success and failure. Marketing plans need not be long or cost a lot to put together and should detail what you want to accomplish with your marketing strategy and will therefore help you and your colleagues meet your objectives. They give focus to your business and help you stay on track.

Some have likened a marketing plan to placing a required destination on a road map and the journey to get there is the plan and this plan has detailed directions on how to get there in one piece, quickly and effectively.
But be realistic, within this “journey” as there may be a few bumps in the road, perhaps even a route diversion or two, or a stop for petrol, but if the marketing plan is carefully researched, thoughtfully considered and evaluated, it will help your organization reach its destination.

Anyway, I digress.

The SWOT analysis is probably the first step in putting together a marketing plan for your product/business. Within this SWOT you will be able to decipher where you stand currently, what your strengths and weaknesses are, what opportunities you see in terms of the size of the market etc as well as what threat your competitors pose.

Next, what is your brand? You should be able to answer this in 3 words. Your brand identity is a promise to your customers and this promise should stand for your professionalism, your USP and your reputation.
Once you have decided what your overall company destination is and gone through the process of defining your marketing objectives, what marketing tools would be the most suitable for achieving your goals – click here to see some of them you could use. Also, what have you tried to date? Have you tested using social media for example?

At this stage you are now able to move into the decision-making process for defining the actual tactics you will utilise……

What I will say is that, a marketing plan is not something to just pay lip service to or a box to tick in business. Without a coherent and well thought plan that you communicate internally, you really are missing a trick.
I have come across organisations who have said that they were too busy to do one or were doing well enough so didn’t want to commit time and resources to putting together a marketing plan only to regret it!

There is always the option of bringing in a marketing consultant to help you!

How much marketing consultancy do I need?

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This is another question I have been asked recently – “how much of your time do you think I need?”
The answer is, of course, a little like the question “how long is a piece of string??” as, from simply talking to someone over the phone (or via a DM from Twitter!), it is pretty much impossible to determine how much marketing consultancy “time” a company would need.

But……………what if you could bring in someone to go through your business from a marketing perspective to get your company back on the right track or to check that what you have done is correct? What if this person was totally impartial, independent and had nearly 2 decades of marketing experience? What if you could hire Bath Marketing Consultancy for a week’s worth of marketing consultancy for a heavily reduced set fee that included travel, expenses etc?

No need to clock watch!

Well, what I am seriously looking at is exactly this – a week’s worth of marketing consultancy where Paul Tagent would spend up to a week at a time with a single organisation at their offices doing a full marketing and brand audit and basically going through everything marketing related so that an actual, strategic, marketing plan could be constructed at the end of the week.

But that is not just it!

As Bath Marketing Consultancy is a full service marketing consultancy, we could also implement the plan for you (or parts of it if if you wish) for a reduced rate using your initial weeks consultancy payment to off set some of the actual marketing initiatives costs.
For example, if, as part of the weeks marketing consultancy, how the business markets itself online needs re considering to include social media etc, BMC could configure the social media accounts and then train you how to use them.

What do you think? Is this something you would consider? If so, please email me for prices or use the “share” button below.

The hardest marketing?

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I have been asked this recently, “what is the hardest marketing to use.” When I questioned as to what this particular prospect meant, he elaborated by saying that he meant that he had real trouble in using Social Media and “was it easy?”

I have written a similar post as a result of being asked about the “best marketing platform to use” but, when looking at Social Media, I think using it as part of your marketing strategy is essential. Not necessarily because it is a sure fast track to early retirement. No. It is because, when used properly, it really can allow you to network incredibly effectively without incurring the costs usually associated with networking. Don’t get me wrong, interacting with human beings around a fry up is a great way to meet new people, but platforms like Twitter allow even the shyest person to network.

If there are any problems with Social Media, they are usually down to small businesses jumping straight in with both feet without any real strategy as to their objectives. For example, apart from the networking side of Social Media, what else does it do? Well, for me, it has allowed me to demonstrate my knowledge of the sector I work in, find new associates to work with, make friends and……….really build my brand to a global audience. Not bad for a platform which is pretty much “free” to use!

Another platform which can be hard to justify using is advertising. Again, I have written a post dedicated to what I feel are the best ways to get the best from advertising which will help you, but the key thing is to decided what type of advertising you want to run – brand awareness or direct response. For either campaign type, provide enough information to the customer so that he/she can make a decision rather than trying to be clever with words and pretty pictures.

In sum. When it comes to marketing and what platforms/initiatives work best, it is all about doing what works for your business. Test everything and speak to people rather than just diving in! If need be, give me a shout and we can have a talk.

2012 – what marketing are you planning?

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Well, 2012 is now here and for most of us in business, it is back to work; back to the daily routine, back to the grindstone; back to the corporate treadmill.

However, don’t feel down or gloomy about being back at work or the year that lies ahead as a new year is actually a perfect opportunity to really go for it and make strides into building (or growing) a great business platform.

I am not a great one for making resolutions, but I stand by my suggestion that putting together an effective and cohesive marketing plan could make the difference to what you and your business achieves in 2012. So……..if you havent started thinking about this, do it now!

To get you thinking, I put together 30 questions to test your business and, although these were done a while ago, they are still very much worth looking at as they may well prompt you into thinking about things in a different way.

Already in 2012 the internet is awash with Blog sites making marketing predictions about which initiatives to employ. One of the best I have read places great emphasis on how to get the best from your website in terms of how to use title tags effectively. For those already baffled by the term title tags, title tags are the primary text that defines a web page. They are required for all HTML documents. Search engine bots use them to help identify the content of a page so begin the tag with the most valuable and relevant keyword phrase.

Continuing on from the trends from 2010/11, social media and the importance of unique, quality and relevant copy for your website have been highlighted as areas that will be key for successful online marketing and I am very much in agreement with this. I came across a website recently called Hub Spot Blog that gave a string of facts to do with social media and its power for marketing. See here.

But what about more traditional marketing avenues? Well, there will always be a place for traditional advertising, but bunging in ads willy nilly as a result of a sales call selling “last minute space” is not the way forward. Plan what you want to advertise i.e are you looking to make direct sales as a result of the ad or simply generate website traffic.

Email marketing is also an area where I see continued growth in 2012. Why? because email marketing is incredibly cost effective and can provide excellent stats as to actions made as a result.

One area I do think may well become important for the medium sized business is exhibitions and trade shows. They can be expensive, but done correctly and marketed for 2-3 months in advance using Twitter etc, prospects can turn up to meet you on the day who are very “warm.”

Watch this space I say and if you need to talk to someone about what you should do in 2012, get in touch with Bath Marketing Consultancy.

What a year – thanks to all

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Well, that is pretty much it for this year for Bath Marketing Consultancy. Work is far from over for us, but I hope that the posts I have written in 2011 have helped you with the way you not only look at marketing, but the tactics and initiatives you employed this year.

With regards to my business, 2011 has been a phenomenal year and below is a list of the new clients we have had the privilege to work with.

  1. A2B Rylands Removals (Dorset)
  2. Bath Teeth Whitening (Bath)
  3. PRPi Training (London, Hong Kong, New York)
  4. Perudo (Mells)
  5. Counter Tops (Bath)
  6. Minerva Report (Bath)
  7. Northgate Training (Bath)
  8. Crallans Solicitors (Bath/Bristol)
  9. Moore Scarrott (Taunton)
  10. 1st Recruitment (Jersey, Guernsey, Sydney)
  11. Restore Bath (Bath)
  12. Amesbury Physiotherapy (Wiltshire)
  13. 3D Media (Wiltshire)
  14. Mango Ink (Bristol)
  15. Heads Up (Bristol)
  16. Arks and Sparks (Bath)
  17. BMH Solicitors (Bristol)
  18. Ilton Estates(Taunton)
  19. Nynehead Developments (Somerset)
  20. Impronta Coaching (London)
  21. Castlemead Insurance (Bristol)
  22. Scott Bates & Coles (Devon)
  23. Stephen Graver Kitchens (Wiltshire)
  24. Red Back Design (Bath)
  25. OnTarget Writing (Somerset)
  26. Harmony Audio (Somerset)
  27. Grass Root Gifts (Bristol)
  28. Masterco Compact Tractors (Bridgwater)
  29. ICC Salcombe (Salcombe)
  30. Egremont Trust (Devon)
Growth

What we find encouraging is not only the number of new clients we have worked with, but the variety of industries and variety of marketing initiatives we have employed. The other element worth noting is that 90% of the businesses listed above are “local” to Bath Marketing Consultancy meaning we have not deviated from our initial offering when we opened in 2009 of providing a full service, pay as you go marketing service primarily to the local business community.

For 2012 we already have a number of projects scheduled to go live in January + we will know the decisions of 2 tender proposals so I don’t see Bath Marketing’s foot coming off the pedal anytime soon!
Anyway, here is wishing you a great Christmas and New Year………….. and let me know if you would like a professional company to take a look at the marketing for your business!