Make your Message Clear

One of the fundamental aspects of communication is not that you must clearly send the message, but that it must be clearly received as well. 

And yet, despite over a week of protesting, miles of press coverage and extensive discussions on the subject, a significant part of Great Britain is still wondering why on earth people are protesting in tents outside St Paul's Cathedral in London. 

They chose the site, apparently, becuase it was situated near to the London Stock Exchange.  Their protest is supposed to be part of an anti-capitalist protest. However their message has been completely lost in the melee, and it's all down to one fatal flaw in their communications plan: their choice of site. 

Media coverage has been singularly focussed on St Paul's Cathedral, it's requirement to close because of the protestors, the loss of its income in the period of closure, it's leadership (or lack thereof), and the confusion as to why the protestors are there in the first place. 

In fact, it is now unilaterally being referred to by the press as the "St Paul's Protest". As messages go, we could say this one has completely lost its way. 

The protestors should pack up, go home and think again if they want to get their message across without being subject to further ridicule and satire and remember: when you are trying to make a point, communicating clearly is essential. Otherwise it's just noise. 

QR Codes: The Next Big Thing?

Clients have been asking me about QR codes. They are the next big thing, or so I am led to believe.

As a marketer, we've always got two options when it comes to the next big thing: Ignore it until it becomes too big to ignore or jump right in, play with it, experiment with it and maybe get it right (or very badly wrong).

As a consumer, I've downloaded the QR app to my smartphone. And used it. Twice. The second time it just annoyed me as the QR code was just too small to snap.

You see, all these QR codes on posters are all very well but how many marketers are sticking them up there without really giving them much thought? Quite a lot I would say.

That's why there are QR codes appearing on billboards (really? seriously?) and in magazines (which I always read with my mobile phone in my hand, of course) and on business cards (because it wouldn't be the height of rudeness to zap someone's QR code while still talking to them face to face at an event).

In fact, I see the marketing industry making use of this brand new, exciting (and it is exciting) technology in a rather dull and everyday way. Trying to fit it into their existing media. Deploying very little imagination in the process. Very few are geniunely using this technology to combine customer's needs with their marketing objectives. In fact, I can think of only one campaign I've seen to date that actually achieves this dual purpose, and with sophisticated finesse.

Tesco. In Korea.

Their virtual subway store, aside from being genius in its simplicity, has truly put the use ofthe QR code at the heart of the campaign. The marketing part of the campaign is, quite simply, the delivery mechanism. The PR value generated is incredible. In fact it's almost the inverse of other marketers' approaches to using QR codes.

It's engaging, it's effective, it's interactive and, over and above everything else, it's useful. For both the business and the consumer.

So until we can do something useful and effective with a QR code for a client, we'll be resisting the urge to stick them on posters and business cards. Just because.

Is Groupon Past its Sell By Date?

One of the fastest growing tech companies in the history of the planet appears to have lost its shine.

Storming across the US and into Europe in recent years, Groupon arrived in a blaze of glory, a consumer champion promising the customer unbelievable discounts and, for the retailer, unrivalled access to bums on seats.

In the midst of a recession, businesses flocked in droves, discounting their products and services by as much as 80%. Customers followed suit, buying at alarming rates. These bargains were too good to miss.

But they have a fatal flaw in their business model and, I suspect, the cracks are beginning to show.

It's a simple crack, right at the core: No business can afford to discount by 80% permanently.

So in order to succeed and grow, Groupon needs an ever extending supply of businesses from which to draw and they are clearly running out. This much is evidenced by their repetition of deals of seemingly marginal interest. Do we really need another 60x80 canvas print, or an electronic cigarette lighter for £18.99? Hold me back.

Groupon may give businesses access to the discount seeking masses. But who really wants customers like that?

Sure, for a while you'll be really busy, and some will stay as customers for a longer term, but for the vast majority, it will be a one hit wonder.

In an earlier blog I wrote about how discounting can work for the business, as long as a strong degree of planning goes into the deal. And that still remains true.

However responsible and sustainable business is a two way street. It always has been.

If businesses are expected to provide a living wage, then consumers must be prepared to pay a realistic price. This is responsible behaviour for long term sustainability.

As a matter of principle, we are horrified by stories of sweatshop practices and the exploitation of children in the pursuit of even cheaper goods. Then on Saturday we shrug it off, march down to our local supermarket and spend a tenner on four T'shirts, which probably cost 25p to make.

Groupon's approach is pushing us in the same direction.

How long before these businesses, having cut their income by 80%, start struggling to survive?
How long before they start cutting back on staff?
How long before they shut their doors altogether?

Ultimately it's the consumer who pays for the cost of marketing in the price of the goods and services. Groupon has reversed that equation, and now it's the business. However 80% marketing costs is too great a burden for even the most successful of businesses to cope with. And it will be the consumer who pays the ultimate price with less market choice, higher unemployment and gross deflation.

So the next time you grab a bargain, give just a fleeting thought to how you would be affected if you had to give 80% of your income away and consider, even for a moment, that there may just be another way. And if you do go ahead and press the button, enjoy your experience of that business: it may well be your last.

Should Editorial Be Bought?

This week I heard about a change in policy at one of Britain's largest media houses: editorial can now only be about products and services offered by advertisers.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not naive. I'm aware that the brandishing of my marketing budgets has frequently led to coverage where there may previously not have been any. However, I am also aware that many, many businesses simply can't afford to advertise in major newspapers or glossy magazines, but who might be doing incredible, newsworthy things that deserve to be written and talked about.

So what does this all mean and why does it matter?

Well, advertising is a regulated industry. If someone presents something to you in an advert and you believe their claims to be incorrect or unfactual, you have a right to complain and a body to complain to.

Advertorials are up front about being paid for editorials and marked as such so you can decide for yourself if the information is biased or relevant.

However there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop a newspaper or a magazine creating a policy like the one I've mentioned above, passing off funded opinions as genuine editorial. This is the media equivalent of back room deals by governments. You, the consumer, the reader, have no idea it's gone on and the outcome is entirely outwith your control.

The net result will, in my opinion, be bad for business in the long term. Smaller, innovative companies who can't afford to advertise will not get the opportunities to be heard that they fully deserve, the customer and readers will not get the opportunity to decide for themselves.

Instead we will be spoon fed a smorgasbord of products and services that can afford to pay and, although they may not be the best, they will be the only ones we can read about.

Magazine and newspaper content will degrade, although perhaps not at first. Readership figures will move with them. And an industry, which has clearly lost its way in the dark, may have just put the final nail in its own coffin.

It may seem like good business sense to look after your paying customers (advertisers) but what about the hundreds of thousands of paying customers (readers) whose rights to unbiased editorial that they are clearly overlooking?  The people that, ultimately, matter most to the paying advertisers?

I'm afraid that while, as a marketer, I like to opportunity to negotiate coverage with publications in return for advertising pounds, as a PR I also like the fact that editorial is NOT something that can be bought.

It's the media equivalent of free speech and should always remain so.

Poor Service is Costing your Business Money

This week my husband made £500 by just complaining.

£500.

For those of you who know my husband, you'll know he's not the type to complain. He's pretty laid back and things that would irritate others casually pass him by.

So it had to be terrible service in order for him to make a stand. And make a stand he did.

Shockingly his net gains this week come from just TWO sources.

And I'd be exaggerating if I said that he made £500 in one week. The truth of the matter is he did it in a single day.

His benefactors? A national tyre fitting operation who managed to damage his car when it was last on their premises (then tried to cover it up) and a Scottish bank who last week decided to change their online banking system for businesses (seemingly without testing it first) wiping out significant swathes of data in the process and turning a 5 minute transaction into one that endured a nauseating 150 minutes. Yes, you read right: 150 minutes.

Just think, at £500 per week, if my husband were to complain about every poor service experience, it might have the potential to deliver him a living wage.

The lesson to be learned from this? Poor service costs your business money. A lot of money. 

Get things right and that money goes straight to your bottom line.  

Good Year or Bad Year? You Decide

It's been a Bad Year.

I've heard this more than once from a variety of business people. So it must be true.

On more than one occasions I have been told that customers just don't have the money to spend. They are behaving differently. The business is just not there anymore.

Explanations abound. The Bad Year has been caused, it would seem, by something "out there" - the economy, the recession, customers, the market, the town.

If I was to give in to the rhetoric, external factors outwith their control are the cause of this doom. It has rarely had anything to do with the business.

But here's the thing. Our clients, across the board, have had a Good Year. Sales are up, visitor numbers are up, profitability is up. How come?

In fact, if we extend our reach beyond Scotland there are  many examples of businesses who are having a Good Year.

Apple now has more cash than the US government - an unusual victor in a worldwide marketplace that is supposed to be struggling to pay their basic living expenses.

Primark, the budget retailer, by comparison has had a Bad Year. In precisely the circumstances you'd expect them to flourish.....

So what's making the difference?

I'd like to hazard a guess that it's partly to do with innovation, and partly to do with vision.

Apple has a vision for the future. Apple has continued to innovate practically ignoring the recession, pushing on regardless. Launching iPads and iPhones and changing our expectations in the process.

Marks and Spencer announced significant investment in the layout of their 703 stores just last week, and "shook up" their marketing team the week before. Their share price rocketed.

Looking at our client base, the one thing that binds them together is that they all have a vision for the future of their business and they are just not prepared to accept that the recession will have an impact. They are ready (and eager) to bend and flex with the market to journey towards that vision. Many of them have altered their business models in the last 12 months. They've shifted their marketing activities significantly and trusted my judgement when I've said "That won't work anymore".

Marketing has also entered a new era. Media has shifted. Customers have shifted. Behaviour has changed and changed for good. Many businesses have failed to shift with them. And until they do, they will continue to have a Bad Year. And possibly another one after that.

I am still staggered that some businesses are trading off a hotmail or gmail address. Some don't have websites. Many don't have facebook or twitter pages. This is the modern equivalent of a business refusing, point blank, to invest in a phone in the 1960s. Wise up.

Wake up. Smell the coffee. If you want to start having a Good Year, the solution is very, very simple. You need to stop doing what you've always done and innovate. Customers are still spending money. The business is out there. You just need to focus on making it easier for them to buy. And that doesn't mean dropping your prices. If you don't believe me, visit the Apple Store.

Innovate. And your customers will come back. Stand still, and they won't.

Death of a Salesman: What Double Glazing and Print Advertising have in Common

If you grew up in the 1980s, you'd know that double glazing was all the rage. The double glazing gold rush was pursued vigorously and competitively by an army of double glazing sales people who used each and every technique in the book to win those sales.

As their market started to contract, their sales tactics got stronger and more erratic. The consumer affairs programme Watchdog was awash with complaints about strong arm sales tactics, calling on vulnerable people unawares, and generally becoming a nuisance to society. 

This kind of sales pest behaviour is well documented, and broadly disliked. But despite that, some organisations and industries persist in maintaining this sales approach.

Take my job, for instance. I'm one of those strange people who spend their life developing and delivering marketing plans. This means I spend time looking at the market, identifying key messages, setting marketing objectives, finding suitable communication mediums, setting budgets, spending them, and delivering against that plan.

I find this delivers results. 

Advertising sales people, clearly, assume that I do something completely different.

Judging by their bizarre behaviour, they must think I sit at my desk with a big pot of money waiting on the last minute, must buy advertising opportunity to plonk right into my lap. Relevant or not.

This baffles me.

Some advertising sales people have got it right. Every January I have meeting after meeting with sales reps from outdoor advertising companies and radio stations. They ask what we have coming up for the year, I tell them. They show me the range of their products, they share their pricing mechanisms with me. They give me data on their media and its effectiveness. Occasionally they bring goodies - nothing ostentatious - but my spoils from these meetings have included packets of biscuits, boxes of chocolates, post-it notes and mugs. 

They see their job to assist me in the all important planning and budgeting stages. The outcome of this clever and well thought out sales process is very simple: they have a higher likelihood of being included in my marketing plans.  

Print advertising sales people (in the main, and there are a few exceptions) seem to respond to seeing other media or adverts and call me. Daily. Incessantly.

And the truth is, they haven't got a hope in hell of placing a sale - because the budget and media plan is already set. They have missed the proverbial boat. And not just by minutes. It sailed weeks ago.

I am not alone in being caught in the grip of the onslaught of advertising sales. Our clients are sick to death of it. As a result, we offer them this promise as part of our service: Let us deal with them.

And we do.

We route all our calls through a call answering service so it's easy to analyse the impact of advertising sales calls on our business.

Last week 61% of the incoming calls we received were from advertising sales people. Each and every single one of them believed they were the only advertising sales person to call me that day.

Only one of those calls was from a sales person from whom I was actively trying to purchase. One person called 5 times. In one day. And refused to leave a message. She will assume I don't know that she called that many times, however our system tells me everything I need to know. Imagine the negative impact on that publication's brand before she even gets through to me.

This erratic and seemingly desperate behaviour is indicative of an industry in turmoil. Readership figures are dropping, prices are increasing and their sales teams are panicking. If they see a poster in a train station on their way to work, they call that company that very day to see if they want to buy advertising. Their not so very clever assumption is that because we have already spent money on advertising, we must have money for advertising.

I know this to be true as, in our plan, we have the "in charge" dates of outdoor advertising sites I've booked, and every time we have a billboard or a poster go up in the outdoors, we brace ourselves for a flurry of advertising sales calls from daily newspapers. It's almost laughable. But it's really not that funny.

Print publications need to sort their advertising teams out and get back to the basics of selling. Know their market, know their needs and meet them. Otherwise they are in grave danger of becoming the double glazing sales people of the business world.

You have been warned.