Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts

Thursday 14 September 2023

Marketing 101: The Danger of Desperation

 There are certain rules which absolutely must be followed at all times when planning and implementing a marketing strategy. One of the most important of all is – ensure you never come across as desperate.

It’s one of the things far too many entrepreneurs seem to forget from time to time. Which is, that anything that comes across as desperate or needy comes across as extremely unappealing.


 




You know the kind of marketing messages yourself – those where the company seems to be practically begging you to do business with them. Dignity goes out of the window and so does any focus on how you set to gain from any kind of purchase or transaction. Instead, they are practically on their knees and demonstrating the kind of desperation that comes across as woeful.

Which begs the question – what can you do to ensure that you avoid coming across as desperate at all times?

The answer – be particularly careful during times of financial stress, or when your business isn’t performing particularly well. It’s during these times that you are instinctively most likely to cross the line into desperation, usually without even realizing so. What’s more, it’s worth focusing on the kinds of measures that paint the exact opposite picture to that of desperation.

The following represent a good place to start:

1. Prove your expertise

The simple fact of the matter is that if you are genuinely an expert in your field and offering something of true value, you shouldn’t have to beg people to use or buy it. This means you may need to consider how much time and effort you are investing in establishing and enhancing your authority and expertise. By getting people to recognise and trust you, it’s no longer necessary to desperately plead for their time and attention. Make no mistake about it – desperation is a surefire way of demonstrating your lack of expertise, authority and professionalism in the field.

2. Make a solid and valid offer

Make no mistake about it – attempting to sell something to a customer just because it’s cheap isn’t a good way of establishing authority or reputation. When you think about it, it’s not as if the most successful companies in the world sell the very best products in the world for low prices. Nor do they spend their time attempting to convince customers that they need to buy their products. If anything, they often make it clear and apparent that their products are designed for discerning audiences – not for everyone. Which is pretty much the exact opposite of desperation once again. It’s a case of showing your target audience your unique selling point, what it is about your products/services that holds value and why they are worth paying a fair price for. You are pushing the value and appeal of what it is you are selling, not just the fact that you are selling something cheaply.

3. Have a strong marketing plan

Last but not least, mistakes tend to be made in the marketing capacity when businesses stray from their marketing plans. That or have no marketing plans to speak of whatsoever to follow in the first place. Just a service you start making things up as you go along, chances are it will be pretty evident to your target audience that this is the case. Develop a strong marketing plan and feel free to tweak it along the way, but ensure you stick with its primary principles as you progress.

Wednesday 1 July 2020

Study Highlights Gen Z’s Retail Preferences and Expectations


Just for the record, Generation Z applies to anyone born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s…in case you wondered!

While much of the world continues to focus on Millennials, a recent study carried out by Marketing Dive highlighted the expectations and preferences of Generation Z. At least, in terms of retailers and brands in general, from whom it seems they expect quite a lot! 



This is a generation that’s made it clear on countless occasions that they prefer experiences to products. There are all about engagement and the overall experience, rather than simply buying whatever’s cheapest or most readily available. In terms of online shopping, they show huge preference to product recommendations and reviews, mobile optimised websites, free shipping, simplified returns processes and access to coupon codes. All the kinds of things retailers should be taking note of, if looking to attract, engage and retain Gen Z audiences.

One of the most interesting findings of the study is the apparent revelation that Gen Z doesn’t hate mass-marketing to the same extent as other generations. Just as long as the ads in question are of relevance and provide value, almost 50% of Gen Z consumers appreciate the informative nature of the ads in question. So it’s hardly surprising that around 44% expect the ads they encountered to be relevant, or pay them no mind whatsoever.

In particular, they show greatest preference to ads in reference to products or services they either purchased or browsed previously, which may provide them with some kind of reminder or discount code to incentivise their conversion. Once again, food for thought for anyone working in digital marketing.

Another interesting finding clearly illustrates the fact that the High Street is by no means dead and buried. Quite the contrary, as a huge 80% of Gen Z consumers stated that they genuinely enjoy the opportunity to shop in physical stores when time permits. Nevertheless, 75% tend to do most of their shopping online, due to simple accessibility and convenience. Despite the fact that 65% stated that they prefer to physically examine and inspect products before buying them, they still make most of their purchases online.

When Gen Z consumers decide to hit the High Street, almost 70% use their mobile devices to research products and services, before going ahead and purchasing them from the respective store. As for motivating factors on the High Street, Gen Z shoppers were found to respond particularly strongly to creative displays, unique merchandise, attractive store design and the ability to try out products and services before making purchases.

Back with online retail, almost 40% of this enormous and lucrative demographic believe it’s often difficult to find what they need on the web. In addition, around 35% stated that they are still somewhat uncomfortable buying products online. They’ve become accustomed to online retail in general, though don’t necessarily trust online retailers and will typically compare the products of at least a handful of sites, before making any final purchase decisions.

Tuesday 6 March 2018

Essential Marketing Stats from Mid-February

It’s time once again to share a few interesting and important digital marketing stats from the past couple of weeks. Whatever the size and nature of your business, you’ll hopefully find some kind of value in the following:



Right to be forgotten of interest to millions of Brits
First up, a recent study carried out by Mediatel found that up to a third (34%) of people in the United Kingdom are interested in exercising their ‘right to be forgotten’. What’s more, less than one in five companies are confident that personal data is handled and used responsibly, with 58% of consumers expressing concern regarding how much personal information is stored about them in general. If accurate, millions of Brits could issue requests to be forgotten over the coming years.

Mobile apps driving stronger retail sales
According to Criteo, retailers that offer their customers mobile apps are seeing around half of online sales take place via mobile devices. While mobile devices are known to account for around 40% of online sales in Europe in general, the figure for the UK is much higher at 53%. Customers in many regions and demographics are demonstrating growing preference to dedicated mobile apps, above and beyond purchasing through mobile browsers. The biggest increases in mobile sales have been noted in luxury, fashion and health & beauty sectors.

Too much personalisation is a bad thing
Personalised emails and marketing messages can be extremely powerful. However, take things too far and you’ll be interpreted as creepy, sending your customers in entirely the wrong direction. A recent study found that around 75% of consumers find all types of personalisation at least a little unsettling, with 22% having said they’d refuse to use a brand that takes personalisation too far. On the whole, around 50% of respondents said they’d had at least one creepy experience with personalisation.

Replying to online reviews is a must
New research from Harvard Business School shows that if looking to boost your brand’s overall rating, replying to reviews is an absolute must. Specifically, it was found that when hotels on TripAdvisor respond consistently to customer reviews, they in turn attract on average 12% more reviews and a star-rating boosted by 0.12 stars. Given that even the smallest of differences can have a huge impact when dealing with such huge competition, the findings of the study could prove highly significant.

Global internet user population surpasses 4bn
Last but not least, we’ve now officially passed the 4 billion global internet user threshold for the first time in history. That is, according to a new report published by We Are Social and Hootsuite. This would mean that more than half of the entire global population is now online in one capacity or another. The study also found that the average Brit now spends around six hours online every single day, with more than 95% of the UK population using the internet.

Saturday 3 February 2018

A Fresh Roundup of the Latest Facts, Figures and Stats

It’s the moment you have all been waiting for – our latest list of interesting and perhaps even useful statistics from the world of digital marketing.



65% of consumers are fed up with irrelevant communication

First up, it seems you aren’t the only one who’s well and truly fed up with pointless messages. A recent study found that a full 87% of younger consumers said they’d be encouraged to shop with a company that personalises its special offers and discounts. At the other end of the scale, 65% of shoppers said they’ve had enough of retailers and businesses in general sending them generic and useless messages.

46% of consumers have used social media to ‘call out’ brands

Naming and shaming companies in the face of a negative encounter is apparently becoming more popular than ever. A recent study by a Sprout Social found that a whopping 56% of millennial audiences have taken to social media to publicly vent their frustrations about businesses they’ve dealt with. On the whole, 46% of consumers have done exactly the same.

Consumers are switching to ethical utility brands

Environmentally friendly attitudes and policies are apparently winning over more consumers than ever before. Along with 16% of shoppers saying they’d abandon a utility service provider if it was involved in some kind of scandal, 10% said they would definitely switch providers if a competitor proved to be more ethical in general.

Email click-through rates fell last year

Though it may be too much of a general statistic to hold any real value, a new report from the DMA found that email click-through rates last year experienced a notable decline. Compared to the year before, click-through rates fell from 1.8% to 1.6%. Nevertheless, the overall open-rate remained at around the same 14.2%.

Two out of three luxury shoppers prefer to use mobile

Anyone involved in high-end ecommerce should probably take note of the fact that the majority of luxury shoppers apparently prefer to shop via mobile devices. A full two out of three luxury shoppers preferring mobile, according to Content Square.

Brands can benefit by avoiding or condemning Trump

Last but not least, analysis of brand sentiment scores before and after political statements and messages would seem to suggest that negative sentiments towards President Donald Trump can be beneficial in a business sense. Both Intel and Under Armour have recently seen significant jumps in their respective brand sentiment scores – both occurring almost immediately after the company’s publicly took a strong stance in one way or another against the Trump administration.

Since Under Armour’s CEO Kevin Plank revealed that he is to leave Donald Trump’s manufacturing council, the brand’s sentiment score has stood at a positive 89.4%.

Saturday 6 February 2016

Creative And Low-Cost Online Marketing Strategies

With so many companies vying for attention on the online marketplace, it’s becoming harder and harder to get through to your target audience. This is particularly true if you don’t have the seemingly limitless marketing budget of some of the biggest players. But this needn’t be a handicap: if you want your online customers to take notice of you then all you have to do is think a bit more creatively.


Here are some low-cost marketing ideas you may not have considered:

Find Niche Blogs: It’s a good idea to use other media platforms to gain exposure, but of course many smaller companies couldn’t expect to get on the front cover of a big trade magazine. Instead, what you could do is seek out niche blogs that appear to be popular and well-respected. You can then suggest that you write a guest article for them focusing on some particular issue related to your sector. This is a good way to spread your company’s name (because you can usually include a link to your website) and set yourself up as someone clients could turn to for advice.

Create YouTube Videos: YouTube has hundreds of millions of unique visitors each month, which makes it a pretty powerful platform for business marketing. It’s also free to use, so you should make the best use of it by putting together a great video. Make sure the headline uses the right keywords and that it has a clear call to action (such as encouraging the viewer to visit your website or subscribe to your channel). Try to be original and make it either useful or entertaining – nobody wants to watch another dull corporate overview of a company.

Get Endorsement: Yes, if you’re a small business you can probably rule out finding a major Hollywood star to come on board. But have you thought about sounding out local celebrities to see if they would be willing to endorse your business? These don’t have to be actors, singers or TV personalities – it could simply be somebody who is well-known in the local area as a positive role model. You can then send them a free gift or trial of your products and follow this up later on to see if they would be willing to write you a testimonial. People are much more likely to buy something if somebody they recognise and trust has given it a positive review.

Start LinkedIn Group: Creating your own professional network can set you up as a useful information resources while increasing the number of visitors to your site and building up new contacts. Add to this to the fact that it’s free to do and there’s really no good reason no to. Just remember that this is a networking resource: at no point should you be attempting the hard sell.


Monday 15 July 2013

Is The AIDA Framework Still Relevant For Online Marketing?


The acronym AIDA is used to describe an age old marketing framework, developed in the late 19th century and pioneered by several experts in the early 20th century. The acronym itself first appeared in 1921 and has since been used to describe this traditional method of promotion and advertising.


The framework developed throughout the first half of the 20th century although marketing companies and consultants largely stuck to the four point process. The most significant development was the development of the funnel diagram, used to illustrate that there become fewer potential customers each step along through the framework.

For those new to marketing, AIDA describes how a promotion or advertisement should:

Grab the Attention of the potential customer

Raise Interest in the potential customer by demonstrating the product or services benefits

Persuade the potential customer that they Desire the product or service

Inform and lead the customer towards taking Action and purchasing the product or service.

Whilst the framework is traditional and in no way pioneering, many online marketing companies still practise the Attention, Interest, Desire and Action process. On the other hand, there are a number of newer frameworks (such as REAN, developed by a digital marketing agency in 2006) that focus far more on developing customer relationships; something AIDA simply does not do.

Is AIDA still relevant? Can this century old framework be applied to online marketing?

1. Attention

Grabbing the attention of potential clients has never been as challenging, particularly as we are bombarded with advertisements and promotions online every day. Some experts believe we actually encounter over 500 adverts every single day, many of which are online, meaning there is incredible competition.

Online, tools such as search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media marketing can help attract potential client attention although it is certainly no easy task.


2. Interest

We live in a world where many people believe themselves immune to advertising. Fortunately for those in the marketing business, the majority of these people are misguided. Whilst it is true that it is becoming far harder to persuade potential clients that a product or service will truly benefit them, there are always new, ingenious ways company marketing experts drum up to do so.

In the online world this is often done through social media by engaging customers and potential customers in real debate. Websites must be carefully designed to direct potential customers to exactly the right page, providing exactly the right amount of information to keep them hooked on your product or service.

3. Desire

There are a number of tools companies use online to encourage potential clients into desiring a product or service. Blogging, customer interaction and social media debate can offer potential clients the information they require to be convinced that a product will benefit them. Moreover, companies encourage happy clients to share their experiences on social media sites such as Facebook or Pinterest, encouraging desire amongst their social networks.

4. Action

Websites must be informative, attractive but also very simple to navigate through. An easy to use website is instrumental in the success of any online company and is the focal point of the final step in the AIDA framework.

A potential client is far more likely to purchase from your company if the website leads them efficiently towards the checkout page without bombarding them with unnecessary questions and adverts.

So to conclude, it appears that whilst dated, the AIDA framework can (and does) still have its uses in the online marketing world. Whilst newer frameworks focus on important marketing strategies such as retaining and developing customer relationships, AIDA provides the foundations upon which a company can build a successful online operation.

Monday 1 July 2013

A Devolution Of Power From Big Business In The Marketing World?


Traditionally, most companies employing more than thirty or so staff would have their own in-house marketing department, dedicated to market research and running marketing campaigns. In a post credit crunch world however, the face of in-house marketing is changing as departments have their budgets slashed and workloads increased. Exactly how this is affecting UK companies is an interesting tale.


In the past, SMEs were the main clients for a typical marketing company. Whilst larger companies outsourced to some of the more global players in marketing, traditionally marketing campaigns were run in house by specific marketing departments. Since the economic downturn, however, marketing departments have shrunk whilst workloads have increased meaning marketing companies are suddenly seeing an increase in business from medium and larger companies.

A report published this year by Charterhouse, the market services company, surveyed 200 marketing professionals in the UK and Western Europe. The results were music to the ears of marketing companies although rather unwelcome news to some marketing departments.

The results of the survey largely suggested that marketing departments in medium to larger sized firms are struggling to cope and, as a result, outsourcing more and more work to their respective marketing company. As a result, personnel in marketing departments have become more like administrators than marketers, coordinating the relationship between the department and the marketing firm.

On the other hand, the report is fantastic news for the UK’s marketing companies with 52% of UK respondents stating their departments were now dependent in some capacity on marketing companies. Over a third of respondents said their companies were entirely dependent on third party marketing firms for creativity in their marketing campaigns, with over half saying they had outsourced creativity in some form or another. One might argue that this devolution in power from some of the larger companies is no bad thing and in line with the governments call to SMEs to prop up the UK’s flat-lining economy.

Moreover, the report signals good news for the marketing industry on the whole, with 67% of respondents agreeing their companies or departments were doing more work. Social media was at least partly responsible for this increase in work, with 61% of respondents agreeing that this relatively new marketing tool had contributed to their increase in workloads.

In conclusion, the report’s findings polarise opinions within the marketing world. Whilst large companies with sizeable marketing departments have to outsource more work as their current staff levels cannot cope, smaller businesses and third party marketing companies are benefiting as a result. For the marketing industry on the whole, however, the news seems positive with more work and jobs in small businesses as a result.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Marketing Challenge: Can Tesco Restore Its Customers’ Faith?


In the UK the horse meat scandal has knocked several of the big retailers sideways, and Tesco is one of the most high-profile names to be caught in the fall-out. Indeed, unfairly or not it seems to have become ‘the face’ of the horse meat scandal. The revelation that horse meat has been found in many of its beef products has seen customer trust in its products fall to the lowest levels yet. Its marketing experts are going to have an uphill struggle to restore its reputation and brand image to its previous levels.



Whilst the horse meat issue is not the only problem to have rocked the food industry in recent months it is certainly the most incendiary one. According to Canadean Customer Solutions, which recently spoke to a cross-section of 2000 consumers, nearly 40 per cent of shoppers are less trustful of their main supermarket in the light of the ongoing scandal. More than half, meanwhile, are sceptical about the quality of their supermarket’s meat. Downing Street has insisted that it is now the responsibility of the retailers to restore consumer faith.

So what steps has Tesco taken so far? To begin with, it has sent letters to its customers, and its chief executive Philip Clarke gave a talk at the National Farmers Union conference in February. It has also run national press advertising to discuss the scandal and reassure consumers that it is taking the issue as seriously as they are.

Clarke said: “I know that the discovery of horse meat in products sold in several major retailers, including Tesco, has shaken your trust in food retailers and the products we sell. You’ve told us that you want to buy British. And that the journey from farm to fork should be far less complicated. I’ve listened to what you have said and we’re making some real and lasting changes.”

This last issue is a key one: maybe what Tesco needs to do is actively show itself to be in control of the supply chain. The length and sheer complexity of the chains needs to be shortened in order to give consumers more confidence that they know where their meat is coming from. It should now be the job of marketers, not just buyers, to understand the supply chain and find ways to make it clearer to the average consumer. This will also aid them in their task to position products correctly.

Using the Internet and social media will be an important tool in aiding Tesco’s recovery, because it promotes a real dialogue between retailer and consumer. This means the consumer is more likely to feel their concerns are being taken seriously. It has already made a step in this direction with the setting up of Tescofoodnews.com to address some of their fears. The aim of these marketing efforts should be to create greater transparency, rather than shying away from controversial issues, but also in some way to remind consumers what it was about Tesco they trusted in the first place.

Friday 18 January 2013

What Your Business Can Learn From Apple’s Marketing

Ready . . . Fire . . . Aim . . . hey, we just launched a new product!

And so it was with the very first Apple Computer.

Yes, you did read that first bit right. ‘Ready. Fire. Aim.’ – rather than ‘Ready. Aim. Fire. ‘

Which is what the majority of businesses would do.



Many business owners have grand plans for their businesses – but (and it’s a big but) – they never take action on them. Or maybe they take action in small increments, but they don’t take the MASSIVE ACTION that will achieve their goals. In fact, some business owners will spend months poring over every word, every comma of an ad, without ever putting it ‘out there’ to be judged by its public.

That’s mainly because they are waiting for conditions to be exactly right before they do whatever it is they dream of doing. But the key thing is, it’s never going to happen. If you wait for conditions to be ‘exactly right’, you will never get your business to the place you want it to be.

Now I’m not advocating that you throw a bundle of cash at marketing your latest product or service without due diligence, but what I am suggesting is that you get your offering to market in any way you can and then assess customer feedback, modify as necessary and relaunch. There are a number of specialist marketing companies that could help you accelerate your success in this arena.

Here’s the Apple process again:
  • Ready (we know it’s not yet perfect)
  • Fire (we’re launching it anyway)
  • Aim (we’ll get customer feedback, modify our product and relaunch it)
Many software and technology firms do this to great effect. How often do you see Sensational Software V1.0 – and that’s it? No, you’ll get infinite upgrade options every now and again with many modifications and add-ons. (And hopefully, any bugs fixed!)

Procrastination for procrastination’s sake is the enemy of innovation. It can halt your company’s progress – it could even mean you get beaten to market by a main competitor.

So unless you are waiting on a patent application, or are bound by some other legal restriction where disclosing your product design too soon could be a problem, taking massive action could see your business move forward in leaps and bounds.

Why not discover how online marketing consultants can help you get your business to where you want it to be?

Ready . . . Fire . . . Aim . .  . right?

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Nike To Push Women’s Running Products And Digital Fitness


When it comes to sportswear, the sale of women’s clothing in the UK may well be going to outstrip that of men’s sportswear. The example of outstanding women’s sportsmanship at the London 2012 Olympics will no doubt have played its part here. Fitness and sporting achievement are things many people are all starting to take more and more seriously.

Nike, the world’s biggest sportswear brand, is looking to take advantage of this by heavily targeting women in its running category for 2013. Nike saw a 7 per cent rise in group revenue in the three months leading up to November. This has been attributed in part to the double-digit growth from its running division which it believes has been what it calls a ‘growth accelerator’ for its womens’ products.


Charlie Denson is president of the Nike brand, and has said that the running category will be growing organically through marketing and ramping up investment in product innovation throughout 2013: “If you look at the combined strength of women’s running, training and sportswear year-to-date, it is outgrowing our men’s business. Better still, our women’s business will be bringing a lot of new energy into the retail space this spring and on into the summer.

“I continue to see a lot of opportunities for (the running) category. Participation rates are growing around the world, our performance innovation is stronger than ever and apparel continues to bring new energy to the consumer.”

Basically, Nike’s strategy for the next year will all revolve around making its running, training and sportswear categories more appealing to women. Alongside this, it will be growing its range in the increasingly competitive digital fitness category. In the sector it already offers its FuelBand sports performance monitor, and in 2013 it is set to launch an accelerator scheme for start-ups to develop their own digital fitness products. All the major players in sporting goods and apparel are stepping up their activities in this area so it is certainly a key focus for future development.

According to Mark Parker, president and chief executive of Nike: “We are just beginning to tap into the potential of digital technology, but we believe the opportunity to drive growth long-term is incredible, and we will be investing accordingly to capture that potential in product, in brand and e-commerce.”

Friday 14 December 2012

Marketing A Marketing Firm

One would hope that a firm specialising in the subtle art of marketing would be fully capable of carrying out their own marketing and advertising strategy. Whilst in the boom times this is usually the case, many marketing companies are currently failing to reach out to their potential client base in these tough economic times.

The trouble is many firms cut back on what they consider to be luxuries in times of economic downturn. Unfortunately for marketing companies, their services are often deemed so; particularly in smaller businesses across the UK.



It is therefore essential for marketing firms to not only offer affordable marketing plans to their clients but also address the fact that their services are indispensable and could even be the difference between profits or loss, particularly as our economy struggles to start moving once more.
How? It is not always that straight forward.

First of all, for a company to even consider extending their current contract with a marketing firm (let alone enter into a new one) it is going to require the budget. This could mean offering current clients a better deal or even reducing the agreement to meet their tighter financial constraints.
New potential clients are going to need to see a marketing package that they can afford, whilst of course a marketing firm has profit margins to maintain. Offering deals such as an ‘internet only’ package at a reduced price is one example of a reduced package that could attract companies with smaller budgets.

Whilst anyone in business should appreciate the need for a sound marketing strategy, not all companies believe that they require the services of a marketing firm to develop or implement one on their behalf. As mentioned, this mentality often leads to a drop in companies outsourcing their marketing requirements and hence a fall in the potential client base for marketing firms.
It is on the onus of such marketing firms to address this belief and ensure that their entire potential client base have full confidence in the firm’s ability to increase sales and revenue for their customers. This can be done in a number of ways.

Client testimonials and success stories are always a sure fire way to encourage confidence in potential clients. They allow companies to see first-hand the work a marketing company is carrying out and the success it is delivering to its clients.

Blogging is another method a marketing firm can employ to attract customers. Keeping a blog on the company website allows the firm to share details of any accolades it achieves, any notable success stories as well as discussions about the very latest marketing techniques it is employing. All of these inspire confidence in potential clients and increase their likelihood of approaching a specific marketing firm.

At the end of the day, there is little point preaching to the choir. The majority of marketing firms are very clued up on how to sell their own business. In such trying economic times, however, it is always wise to take a step back and question just how suitable one’s own products are for potential customers.

The questions to ask are ‘can our customers afford our services?’, ‘are we offering them great value for money?’ and ‘will we really add value to their business?’
If the answer to these questions is yes, you might just be on track.

Thursday 16 August 2012

Kickstart Your Business Growth With Expert Marketing Assistance

Have you recently launched a new business or are you about to launch? No matter how confident you are in your product or service, getting your new business out into the world can be a daunting prospect.

According to an article by the National Business Association, marketing is cited as the major reason 64 per cent of new businesses fail. It doesn’t necessarily follow that these companies that went under did not spend any money on marketing, but rather in some cases that the marketing they did was inconsistent or ineffective.

For some inexplicable reason, some business owners view marketing as a ‘bolt on’ activity – a ‘nice to have’ – when the stark reality is that marketing is a ‘must have’ for every single business that wants to survive in these ultra-competitive times we live in.

So should you use marketing companies to take on your marketing for you, or should you take the DIY route?


For any new business, having a marketing expert on board from the start can be a great way to kickstart your company’s growth. The main advantage here is that those marketing companies which are experienced in your trade or industry will have accumulated a wealth of knowledge which can readily be put into practice. Not only will this save you a huge chunk of time over the coming days and weeks, but you will not be wasting your efforts going down blind alleys in trying out marketing activities which may not bear fruit.

As there are now many hundreds of marketing companies online which you may choose to employ, it’s well worth checking out their websites as the first port of call (particularly the sections on achievements and testimonials) to see who might be a good fit for you.

Something you might want to consider: is your preferred marketing company on the first page of Google for all the main ‘marketing’ keywords and phrases? If not, can you reasonably expect they will be able to achieve this for your business?

Once you’ve narrowed it down (anything from 3-6 potential ‘partners’), then why not call up your shortlist of marketing companies and ask them what they can do to kickstart your new business?
One final thing to bear in mind: don’t sign up with anyone who won’t let you have a trial period or who tries to tie you into a long contract. Any marketing professional worth his or her salt should be confident enough in their abilities not to have to resort to these sorts of underhand tactics.