Marketing Matters

A single minded idea

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:42:00 GMT

By Laurren McAtamney

Kony 2012 has been tagged as the most successful viral idea since the term was invented in the last few years or so, recording a staggering 88 million views worldwide on their primary marketing tool, YouTube.

Whilst it was certainly a cause-based marketing campaign, whereby Kony found an emotionally alluring message that resonated with people to unscaleable heights world-wide, what contributed to the campaign’s success was its storytelling ability.

Kony had a simply story to share, an easy to understand plot, good guys and bad guys and our role as the audience was beautifully understood. Putting aside any feelings or opinions you may have about the cause, what we can learn or at least remind ourselves what to do is: keep it simple.

Creating simple content is what sells. To be heard in today’s cluttered market place, all you need is a single-minded idea with a clear request (or call to action in marketing speak).

Another example of a brand that does this well is McDonalds. When you see a billboard or a TV commercial, they aren’t trying to tell us the whole menu in one mouthful; instead they focus on a single menu item.

So, if you are going to stand out in the crowd and appeal to your target markets in your next campaign or marketing effort, think about sticking with a single-minded idea.

You need clarity about what you want to achieve. Be specific! Don’t try to be everything to everyone. This will dilute the impact of your message. Creative is not about squeezing as much information as you can into a flyer, ad or billboard. It’s about creating an angle that will absolutely capture the hearts and minds of your target market. Less is usually more and an emotional or rational connection with your market is the key.

Once you have your single-minded idea the rest will follow. The idea will then determine the headline, the imagery, the style of the creative and probably also the placement and execution. But how do you crack the idea? Most people don’t just come up with original and creative ideas at the click of a finger; there are tools and methods to create the single-minded idea. So that is the Why you need to a single-minded idea, but the How is the tough part. Stay tuned for the next edition where I talk about idea generation.

Laurren is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Laurren and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788.

Tips on planning and building an e-commerce business

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:44:00 GMT

By Laurren McAtamney

Last edition, I wrote about the growing popularity in the ‘brick and click’ option, where increasingly our favourite retailers are complementing their physical shop space with an online store, offering consumers the best of both worlds. So for those of you who can see beneficial synergies in adding online shopping into the mix or perhaps you are looking to start your own online business, I have pulled together some tips to you might find useful.

1. Research and plan!
You will hear me say it again and again, but it really is the most critical step in starting an online business. Once you have a clear understanding about the goods or services you would like to offer, find out who your competitors are and identify how you can make what you’re offering better or different.

2. Know who your customers are.
Knowing who is going to buy from you and why they’re purchasing can be the key to your success. Knowing this should also influence your website design ensuring it appeals to them and it’s easy for them to use.

3. Establish your identity.
The right domain name can make the difference between a memorable e-commerce identity and disappearing into cyber space. Your domain name should also be reflective of your brand. For example, at Chilli we have used chilligroup.com.au as opposed to a domain name that says what we do, i.e. marketing&design.com.au. This helps to build brand equity and will also increase your chances of actually securing the domain... many of those generic names are long gone.

4. Creating your website design, structure & e-commence platform.
This can be a little tricky, but with some expert advice you can get it right from the beginning. Working with a reputable web developer, you can identify what special features you need, the overall look and feel, what system to build in and selecting the best e-commerce platform for your business. Remember the three-click rule here: you want your customer to get to what they are looking for in three or less clicks - anymore and you have lost them for good.

5. Hosting.
Your web nerd (as we affectionately call our web developers at Chilli) can give you the right advice on this. Basically web hosting provides the infrastructure for your website to be available on the internet, very important stuff!

6. Content.
Content is king right? Right! Don’t write wafty paragraphs, keep it short, snappy and to the point. Tell them the benefits as opposed to features of your product. In can be a little tricky to distinguish but tell them how you are going to make them happier, sexier, wealthier etc by owning your product or using your service! Ongoing, make sure your copy is updated and you are providing them with a reason to return - consider the use of blogs, tips or educational articles. And be sure to ediit!

7. Revision, testing and rollout.
Make sure you proofread and iron out any technical problems before taking the site live. Click on every link, try every interactive feature etc

8. Ongoing maintenance.
This is certainly not a set and forget business just because it is online. You will need a sales and marketing plan in place if you are serious about running your own online business. You will need to set goals and the objectives and tactics you need to achieve those! You will need tools like a search engine optimisation and engagement strategies, and a plan in place to ensure your customers will become loyal purchasers keen to return to your site and keep that check-out ticking over!

Laurren is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Laurren and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788

Bricks & Mortar vs. Online Shopping

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:12:00 GMT

Does it have to be one or the other?

By Laurren McAtamney

Something I noticed during my recent shopping escapade (shhh don’t tell my partner!) was the number of flyers I received with my receipts, encouraging me to check out their fab new online stores where I can purchase all the same great products. Which lead me to ask the question: do you want me to shop in store or online?

It appears the competition between Australian retailers and online shopping giants has subsided, and our beloved retailers are now supporting their traditional bricks and mortar with virtual boutiques (where you can not only browse but now make purchases online), giving us the best of both worlds!

Arguably, both set ups have pros and cons for businesses. Online equates to fewer overheads and shop fit out costs, and enables shoppers to access and purchase their products 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In comparison, retail outlets reap the benefits of increased buyer confidence as it allows consumers to see, feel and touch the products before purchasing. It’s also worth mentioning the reassurance provided by the friendly (or perhaps better word is convincing) sales lady who can influence shoppers into buying even if it wasn’t their intention to purchase, and we all know what that is like!

But rather than opting for one or the other, it would appear our retailers are making use of the ‘brick and click’ option, where the shop space remains and they develop a e-commerce website to complement their retail space. This has them covered from all angles and is already popular with most of our favourites in clothing, retail, electronic and popular ‘big box’ stores.

But...before we all rush out and develop a whizz bang e-commerce website, businesses need to be sure that they are doing it for the right reasons and not just to keep up with trends. Here are a couple of pointers to consider before deciding your traditional retail business can benefit from the support of online trading:

• What are your market demographics? Do some research. Ask your customers if they are looking for a convenient shopping option and find out if they even shop online.
• Do you have a clear marketing strategy in place? Analyse and plan guys!
• Do you have the resources, both money and time, to invest in an e-commerce website that actually works? This means attracting traffic to your website, converting sales and ongoing website maintenance.
• Are your competitors online? If so, what does their website look like, does it work well or not, and why. Learn from your competition to identify what they’re doing that you can improve on, or identify what you can offer that’s different and sets you apart from them.

There are certainly huge benefits in adding online into the mix, so if you find your customers are looking for other ways to purchase your products and you have the time, resources and strategy in place, then you should absolutely start benefiting from both new and traditional business practices.

Stay tuned for part two of this article where we talk about how to plan for and develop an e-commerce site.

Laurren is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Laurren and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788

Marketing since the YouTube Revolution

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:32:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

Using ‘video’ in marketing has changed drastically thanks to massive technological advancements and innovation in the web. No longer is moving image the preserve of the TVC (television commercial) or clunky corporate videos that date terribly. It has become more accessible, affordable, dynamic and much more usable across different media. And this is great news for small to medium business.

Leading the charge for video accessibility is the one and only YouTube, the Google of its class (and yes Google does currently own YouTube!). Created back in 2005 it has truly revolutionised video sharing with recent figures suggesting 3,000,000,000 videos are being watched every day (including 1,000,000 on mobile devices) and 35 hours of video are uploaded onto YouTube every minute. Need some context? According to the VideoTrafficAcademy, more video is uploaded every 60 days than the main three US TV Networks have produced in 60 years. YouTube is the 3rd most visited website in the world and the 2nd most popular search engine!

But what does that all mean for us in the world of small to medium business? Certainly it gives us an avenue to host video but more importantly it has paved the way for people using internet video clips for mainstream information and entertainment. We all know attention spans are getting shorter and video has proven to be highly attractive to those younger generations who didn’t grow up searching for information in weighty sets of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

As a SME, what can we use video for? Now that we have more channels and opportunity to use our video we can typically generate better return on our investment in creating the video content in the first place. Think about...

TVCs
Video testimonials
Corporate DVD
Virtual tours
Product demo videos
Podcasts
Training / educational videos
Event footage
Media mentions (have you featured on a news item or a lifestyle TV show?)

Setting up a corporate branded YouTube channel is the first step. Uploading any video you already have (your TVCs etc) is the second step. Then over time you need to build a video library that you can start to embed into your website, link to in your electronic newsletters and email signatures as and when you want to use video in your campaigns to add an exciting dimension to print campaigns.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788.

Does sponsorship really work?

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:12:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

Any of us would have to be living under a rock to not see the impact of big budget sponsorship in the world of sport, entertainment, charity and business. The recent Rugby World Cup was green with Heineken, this year’s NRL final was the perfect opportunity to launch Telstra’s new look, Melbourne Cup is all about Myer fashion and Polo in the City is more about pearls than ponies thanks to Paspaley.

And it’s not just sport and sporting teams that attracts sponsorship. Almost every show on our commercial TV screens is ‘brought to you by someone or something’. Why would Flora pay the big bucks to be associated with The Biggest Loser and why would Coles want to ‘own’ Masterchef?

Big budget internationals don’t just take these sponsorship opportunities because they can afford to, they create these opportunities because they are looking for marketing initiatives over and above the typical advertising and public relations offerings.

So can sponsorship really work for us small guys too? The short answer is ‘maybe’ and the long answer is ‘absolutely, provided (as with any marketing initiative) that it is well planned and well executed’! Sponsorship provides a great means of broadening our competitive edge and growing our awareness but how do we get it right?

First and foremost we need to find something that is the right fit for us. The event, the team, the person or the organisation we select needs to match both our own brand values and our target markets. If the values are drastically different to our own it may damage our own brand by association. If their target markets are different to our own we have to question why we would spend time, energy and dollars wanting them to know about us.

Secondly, we need to negotiate clear and tangible benefits that suit us. For a start, think about….

• Visual branding with logos
• Sampling opportunities to get your product into new hands or in front of new eyes
• Networking or speaking engagements in front of target market clients
• ‘Access’ to relevant contact databases
• How to get media coverage in appropriate media
• Association with the strong aims and objectives of the partnering organisation / event

Thirdly, and finally, it is important to work at sponsorship opportunities to make them worthwhile! Keep on top of those hard-earned and hard-negotiated benefits. Don’t just assume that your sponsorship partner will deliver those benefits to you. Take charge and explore every chance to exploit every opportunity.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788.

Your marketing can bring you enquiries but can you convert them?

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:07:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

All businesses need new work coming through the door to run a sustainable business. All businesses have some form of natural attrition and need to ensure they can get fresh business from existing clients and/or new clients. The business owners who set goals and work hard to get new clients are typically the type of business owners we sit around the table with every day discussing marketing. Once in a while we get a client across the table from us that makes an interesting case study.

They usually come to us looking for more marketing wanting more enquiries and more people through the door. With a little further digging we can find that they don’t necessarily have a marketing problem, they have a conversion problem. What do we mean by a conversion problem? In simple terms it means they are not able to convert enquiries into sales.

Think about say a builder specialising in renovations. Let’s call him Bob. Bob comes to us and says he wants to grow his business. Sure we will partner with Bob to work through what his best options are to grow his business but importantly we need to understand his conversion rates. Let’s imagine that currently Bob gets the opportunity to quote on five new jobs a week. That is five new clients to meet, five new houses to go to and measure up, five new quotes to pull together and five follow ups to make. Some more marketing effort could easily increase this opportunity to quote. But there is little point doing this if Bob isn’t effectively converting those quotes into sales that will actually create revenue.

Instead of helping Bob with his website and his advertising we may need to help Bob with his quotes and his follow up processes. Is he demonstrating value in his quotes? Is he addressing all his customer’s needs and worries? Is he managing their expectations? Is he following up when he said he would? There are lots of aspects that affect Bob’s ability to close a sale.

Of course, quoting is natural and expected part of his industry but it is important to look at sales and conversion in conjunction with marketing to really drive a business forward. Otherwise Bob could end up busily quoting day after day in response to marketing efforts without getting a cent coming in to pay for it.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788

What’s in a name?

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:39:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

As some of you may know, Chilli has had a mini run on office babies with Baby Nelson and Baby Eastman both joining us this joyous year. Consequently, in the Chilli office we have some idea of parent’s difficulty in choosing a name for that darling bundle of delight that will be the perfect fit for Junior’s lifetime.

If you think choosing a name for a baby is tough, think about choosing a name for a business! With all the rebranding work we do, we frequently have to help our expectant business owners come up with the name that fits the bill. It must:

Last longer than a lifetime
Resonate perfectly with the current and future target markets
Be something that said market can pronounce and remember
Have the potential to go global (think big folks!)
Please all those stakeholders
Differentiate you from your rivals
And (far more tricky than all of the above) …it must have not already been snapped up by some smart fellow happy to sell you the business name registration and domain for a squillion dollars.

Suffice to say is a process. But it is a process that gets the brains working, the creative juices flowing and the wordsmiths among us salivating.

Perhaps you are looking at a new venture and you need a business or product name? Get your thinking caps on and then get your internet searches following quickly behind. Perhaps you need to change your business name. Perhaps you are planning your exit strategy and know that having your name in the business name is not the most saleable option. Perhaps you need to sharpen your pencil against some aggressive new competitors and substantially reinvent yourselves.

Whatever the reason for the new name don’t forget to bear in mind those above bullet points from a marketing perspective.

But to conclude…. don’t despair…. Even the strangest or least inspiring names can still make it big. A name is just one part of the big picture. Take a look at ‘MacDonald’s’ on paper… makes a great name for a Scottish clan but does it set the world alight as a global fast food joint? You wouldn’t have thought so. The name is just one component of a brand that has become something so much bigger. Nobody knew what ‘Google’ meant. Half the world says ‘Nike-y’ wrong. Strange names haven’t held back any of these guys.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788

Baffled by technical marketing wizardy?

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:37:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

Ever feel like you can't keep up? As soon as marketers and business owners get their heads around CMS, SEO and PPC something new comes along and baffles us all over again. I am lucky enough to work with plenty of smart, talented people who seem much more au fait with new technology than me (and yes they are younger than me). So I thought I should keep my ear to the ground with our Gen Yers and fill you in on a couple of the recent marketing related innovations that we are being asked about... Don't worry, I will keep it simple.

Smart phone compatibility
The stats out there in web world are suggesting that by 2013 (maybe sooner) websites will more often be accessed from a mobile device than an actual computer. By mobile device think smart phone or tablet (IPhones, Blackberries, IPads etc). Whilst that is all very exciting what does that mean for us marketers or business owners? What it means is that we need to make sure our business website is compatible with these devices. Try looking at your own website via your smart phone (or get your kids to try it if none of this makes any sense to you). Howe does it look? Is it still easy to navigate? Realistically, now we need to start thinking about smart phone templates for our sites to ensure the site suits all our users.

QR Codes
Have you seen those funny-looking square barcodey things around lately? Sure they have been around for years in Tokyo but they are just starting to appear here on the Sunshine Coast. What are they? Like barcodes they hold information but they hold information for phones instead of scanners. For example, you could include a QR code on an ad in a bus shelter so that when people ‘scan’ it with their smart phones it could take them straight through to your website… even better it could take them straight to a promotional landing page on your site. Check out Business Matters magazine who seem to be leading the QR charge on the Sunny Coast.

I could keep going for some time but I fear I may lose some of our readers. Suffice to say our Gen Yers have filled me in on Hootsuite, Four Square, Hashtags and much more. Still dazed and confused? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Take little steps and keep up as best you can. And don’t forget… technology is supposed to make our lives easier.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788

By the way… Outlook is not an email marketing system

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:56:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

Email newsletters are a popular marketing tool, particularly with small to medium business because they are so cost effective! Whilst they are not the perfect marketing tool they should absolutely be included in most businesses’ arsenal of marketing weaponry.

The biggest fundamental mistake we see people making (other than sending Edition 1 of “our monthly newsletter” and never sending Edition 2!) is that people are mistaking Microsoft Outlook for an Email Marketing System. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not disparaging Outlook. It is a great system for managing your one-on-one or small group emails. It is NOT, however, a bulk email distribution system. In fact, bulk emails via Outlook are a surefire way to get your business on the spam list!

There are plenty of cost effective web-based email systems out there that will manage your bulk emails much more efficiently, and more importantly, in line with legislation. So here is a quick rundown of what an Email Marketing System (such as Constant Contact or MailChimp) should do for you that Outlook just doesn’t do…

Manages the sending of your bulk emails to avoid spam filters. You hit send one once but it cleverly batches them up and sends them for you.
Forces you to include unsubscribe options, therefore ensuring you are legally compliant.
Handles your unsubscribes for you automatically, taking those ‘Do not mail’ recipients off your list and observing their wishes.
Looks the part by using designed html templates to catch the eye and display your brand more than a standard text email.
Helps you with your measurement and tracking, allowing you to report on opens, bounces, forwards, click throughs and all that powerful data that will help you make the right marketing decisions in the future.
Allows you to maintain your database in a series of segmented lists for specific marketing campaigns and activities.

Pretty impressive hey? And the beauty is that these systems are not expensive with ongoing costs of anything as low as $15 a month depending on your newsletter frequency or database size. It is absolutely worth setting up a robust email marketing system as your first step! Next step you just need to work out what to write, when to send it, who to send it to and how often, but that is a whole new column for another time ☺

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 07 5437 7788.

Learn lessons from those big brands

Wed, 11 May 2011 22:38:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

It is way too long since I have covered branding in this column! We talk to clients and prospective clients about branding all the time, every day in fact. We tend to use big, well known brands as examples simply because everyone in the room can relate to them. The frustration we face all too often is that small business owners say… “branding is different for those guys, they have millions of dollars”.

The reality is that the principles of branding are really no different whether you are a mum and dad business or a global conglomerate. Branding is entirely scalable!

Sure, the money you have to spend on your branding differs from Coca Cola, IBM and Microsoft (the current top three global brands, collectively totaling a staggering brand equity value of US$196,074,000,000), but that doesn’t make your brand any less important.

Your brand should help you drive your business. Small or large, a good brand should help you:

… Increase your market recognition and help you stand out from your rivals
… Increase the resale value of your business and help you with your recruitment
… Attract PR and other opportunities
… Potentially charge more for your products or services
… Turn your best clients into advocates

Remember that it is your brand personality that your customers relate to. Customers don’t emotionally connect with products or with businesses. Customers emotionally connect with people and personality traits. It’s your brand that gives your company a personality (along with your staff that ‘live and breathe’ your brand). Look after your brand and make it count!

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business through brand equity call 5437 7788.

How to set a marketing budget

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 22:22:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

Day in, day out we are asked how much is enough to spend on marketing? As you might expect this is a little bit like asking how long is a piece of string. Without wishing to avoid the question, any self respecting marketer would have to respond with ‘it depends’. It depends on the industry, it depends on the business but more importantly it depends on what the business is trying to achieve.

The textbooks used to say for a maintenance type marketing budget companies should spend between 4% and 7% of revenue. For a launch, a new business or one with aggressive growth plans this rose to between 8% and 12% of revenue. These all-purpose figures don’t take into account the competitive or geographic environment in which you operate or the profit margins you are able to achieve on your products and services. And quite honestly, for new businesses who are yet to start generating revenue, 12% of nothing doesn’t get anyone very far.

Here at Chilli we help clients who often have never set marketing budgets or have no clear idea about how much they have spent on marketing in the past. Consequently we have to create a lot of marketing budgets from the bottom up. Put quite simply, the process to develop a bottom up marketing budget is this…

• Set your goals and objectives for the year.
• Work out what activity you realistically need to do to reach these goals.
• Break this activity down into a task by task costed implementation plan across the year.
• Add up the costs and, voila, you have an annual marketing budget, broken down by task and by month.
• At this stage you may realise that your goals were too ambitious given the money in the coffers so typically you will revisit and play around with this budget.
• This budget now gives you a tool you can use in subsequent years to tweak for future planning.

Without bottom up budgeting, too often businesses have marketing budgets that bear no relevance to their marketing goals. It is all too easy to bandy around generalist benchmark figures but one size does not fit all for business.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788.

Understand who your customers really are

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:39:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

Without customers we wouldn’t have businesses. For most of us in business our customers reigns supreme and we spend our days attracting them, servicing them and trying to keep them. To do this we need to understand exactly who they are. Working with businesses we typically find there are several people to factor in along the rocky road to a buying decision…

The researcher – often the instigator, these guys are the ones trawling through and comparing the options (or not, if they have already made up their minds!?).
The influencer – this could be anyone, any trusted person who will offer an opinion, recommendation or other useful (or not so useful) thoughts.
The purchaser – these guys (actually, let me rephrase as this group is usually female!)… these gals hold the purse strings and enable the actual transaction.
The user – the ones that actually end up using the product or service.

These ‘fingers in the pie’ are relevant for both B2B and B2C situations. Take for example a relatively simple business decision. Let’s say an accountant’s office wants to get a coffee machine so they can make professional tasting coffee on premises for their very important clients. Ultimately the bosses who hold the purse strings will make the final call but it’s not the best use of their time to investigate the options, talk to coffee machines reps and compare the relative merits of leasing or purchasing and the ongoing cost of the beans! In this situation the office manager will get involved and no doubt everyone else in the office will have an opinion, as will the lady at the post office next door, the guy that delivers the milk and the friend at a barbecue over the weekend. And who is the user? The office junior, of course, who will be slaving over that coffee machine.

So who do we market to? It may be all of the above of and they may have very different motivations. It will depend on the specific market as to where the best opportunities are to influence the right people. Let’s take another example. Let’s say our client wants to sell iceboxes to blokes heading off up the beach to go fishing. Pretty simple hey… a few images of some bikini babes and a few beers with a robust looking icebox and a big fish and everyone’s a winner! Maybe not. It turns out that men don’t actually ‘buy’ iceboxes… wives buy iceboxes for their darling husbands, as gifts or as practical purchases. And what wife would want to think of hubby away on that fishing trip with notions of bikini babes and beer. Perhaps wives would respond better to marketing with a more family friendly approach. So let’s put food in the icebox, maybe a bottle of Chardy, pop a family size tent in the background, maybe even a happy kid / pet running around in the background… much more wife friendly!

It may require some research and thought to nail the best approach but don’t forget to think about who your customers really are! It makes all the difference in your marketing.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788.

Choosing your (marketing) bed fellows

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:37:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

As a company that partners with our clients for the long term we are often being asked how businesses should choose which consultants and companies they should work with.

Whether jumping into bed with a media partner or working on a long term relationship with a marketing consultant, business coach, accountant, solicitor and so on you need to be sure it’s going to work for you and for your business…

Is it a good fit? Do they share similar values to you? Your company brand, company values and staff ideals are fundamental to who you are and it is crucial to work with companies that are a good cultural fit. What is important to them needs to resonate with you. Think about what values you want to share… do you want the relationships and outcomes to be dynamic and progressive, do you want them to be conservative and safe, do you want them to be challenging and assertive…
Have you checked their credentials? We have all heard horror stories on Today Tonight or ACA of embellished CVs, fake testimonials, overpromises and worse. Luckily, in the real world (as opposed to TV Land) these instances are hopefully few and far between in our professional circles. Reputable companies will be happy to share their staff’s experience and let you meet the team or see examples of their work so you can be confident they are what they say they are. Go and physically visit them in their offices to get a feel and trust your instinct when you meet people – it’s usually right. And keep those credentials in context, people can be very well credentialed but check they have the experience and hands on skills to deliver what you need on a day to day basis.
Can they deliver? Do they have the skills, ideas, people power and the resources to do what you need them to do? Do they have strong specialist skills and a team big enough to cope with your demands? Do they have a proven track record in delivering results for clients? Ask those questions of your potential partners.

Choosing a good fit marketing partner is just like choosing the right mattress… you should be comfortable and able to sleep at night know you are in safe hands.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 5437 7788.

Marketing & consumer trends for 2011

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:44:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

It’s that time again to look forward to the year ahead and try to understand what is happening in our consumer’s world that will impact on how they interact with and buy from you.

An initial sweep of Google has brought up the following all-important consumer trends expected to boom across the world in 2011:

• Mini-pies will be replacing cupcakes as the sweet treat of choice (SIAL)
• Butt lifts and contouring surgery will take off thanks to big bottomed celebrities (ASAPS)
• Purple is the new black when it comes to home décor (Benjamin Moore) but jewellery will be going animal print (LeVian)
• London will be the tourist hotspot of the year with full credit given to Prince William and Ms Middleton (AAA)
• And Yoga Booty Ballet is on its way… don’t ask!

Now those are a bit of fun but the reality is that consumer habits and tastes do change and it is important to keep up with them! Our consumers are usually the life blood of our business and without servicing their needs and delivering on their expectations most businesses would struggle to survive.

And in all seriousness, the last few years have changed consumers in ways that relate to all industries and all businesses. Here are just some of the key behavioural changes that we started to see in 2010 that will carry over into 2011:

• Increased resilience and resourcefulness
Consumers have been forced to manage on lower budgets and look at other options… look around at the growing DIY trends, return to home cooking and veggie patches and a hunger for online learning of adaptable skills.
• Increased need for accountability
A touch of scepticism has led to consumers needing proof and demanding transparency, not just as added value or a point of difference but as standard. We don’t trust advertising, we don’t trust bank interest rates and we don’t trust commercial business!
• Increased ease of adopting new media
Consumers are continuing to swiftly and comfortably adopt new media and this trend won’t be going away anytime soon. Watch out for fast paced change in social media, mobile marketing, smart phone apps and no doubt many things later in the year we haven’t even heard of yet!

Whilst these are general trends they do ring true across many of the businesses and industries we work with. So make 2011 the year of ‘your customer’ and take whatever steps you need to make sure you are in tune with what your customers need and carry out your business and marketing accordingly.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 07 5437 7788.

Admit it. You haven't started working on your 2011 marketing plan as yet, have you?

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:43:00 GMT

By Carlee Driscoll

Sure, you've thought about it. Maybe started work on a rough outline. Maybe held a meeting or two with your team to discuss a few ideas - nothing strategic, just a few tactics to get things rolling. Right? Unfortunately, that's not really a marketing plan! Now is the time to be thinking strategically and then taking action. That's probably what your competitors are doing.

If you already have your 2011 plan built and ready for action, I commend you. Based on the businesses approaching us on a daily basis regarding 2011 planning, you early planners out there are in the minority. For the rest of you I'd like to offer up five quick tips to get you started:

1) START NOW! Don't wait until 2011 to get going.
Begin your planning with a full evaluation of your marketing activity. Sit down with your team and evaluate everything you've done in 2010. Make it thorough - look at your brochures, website and other branded collateral. Do they still work? Leave no stone unturned.

2) Stop wondering why what you've done in the past is not working now.
The economy has changed. Technology has changed. Customers have changed. The way people make decisions has changed. Everything has changed! Move on and stop lamenting why your old marketing methods aren't working. Instead, start fixing and planning for the future.

3) Use your data.
Effective marketing plans are driven by data. Use analysts' reports, industry associations, attend presentations and read industry articles. There’s no excuse for not using data to back up your decisions. If you don't have the time to find data, hire someone to help you with market research.

4) Work with the right people to help you plan.
You do not want to 'wing it'. The results of your 2011 marketing plan will only be as good as the planning and strategy you put in now. If you falter now, you can count on failing in execution and results. That spells a very bad 2011! Don't make this the area you skimp on.

5) Document the process.
If you do this the right way, you and your staff are going to enjoy it. That means you'll get to go through the process again in 6-12 months. Document everything! Trust me - you'll be very thankful you don't have to reinvent the wheel the next time around.

To wrap up, plan for business growth and start now. Remember, if you wait until next year to get started, it will be February before you get any action, then it will be March before you start to see the results. There goes the first quarter of 2011! Do something proactive today to start planning.

Carlee is the Strategic Marketing Planner for Chilli. If you’d like to see how Carlee and the Chilli team can help you grow your business call 07 5437 7788.