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Marketing Magic
Listed under: Interviews
Published: Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Andrew Rayner of online marketing agency e-mphasis.com, discusses the importance of ensuring your promotion is spot on
Have businesses become more concerned about their marketing?
Yes, they are scrutinising their spend and measuring their effectiveness far more closely and, now that times are tight, are actually doing some of the good practice things they should have been doing all along!
How important is it to have an effective and carefully planned strategy in place?
It is absolutely vital and no business should be embarking on marketing without a plan stating who they are targeting, how and why, as this will define their success and help clarify which methods are available. Proceeding without a strategy is like going on a journey with no idea of the end destination, and no access to maps!
What are the benefits?
A clear strategy should enable a business owner to determine what the outcome should be, the budget they are willing to spend on it, and offer a way of measuring their success.
What are some of the most common errors many business owners make?
In our experience too little time is spent on determining the reasons why certain things are popular. Nowadays, business owners are hearing a lot of noise and making fast decisions – going on Twitter, for example – without questioning the purpose. Before rushing head long into anything, they need to think about a number of different factors, such as what their tone of voice is going to be like in their tweets, whether they will be using it to promote their businesses or as a place to listen to their customers feedback, and what they hope to achieve by going on there.
What are your top three ultimate tips for success?
Ask yourself why you are doing something, and if you don’t know, don’t do it.
Try stuff out, but never stop measuring. Remember, if you have no idea of the value or benefit of your investment then how will you know if you are wasting money or not.
Don’t be afraid to pull the plug – so what if you have wasted £1,000s already, if it is not working, it will only get worse, so be brave enough to stop.
Is there any other advice you would like to offer?
If you don’t have someone in the business with you at your level, such as a co-owner or director, consider finding a mentor or setting up a mastermind group with similar sized enterprises in your area. The value of having a peer group conversation about your issues and spending time focusing on the business, as opposed to working in it, is incredible.
Yes, they are scrutinising their spend and measuring their effectiveness far more closely and, now that times are tight, are actually doing some of the good practice things they should have been doing all along!
How important is it to have an effective and carefully planned strategy in place?
It is absolutely vital and no business should be embarking on marketing without a plan stating who they are targeting, how and why, as this will define their success and help clarify which methods are available. Proceeding without a strategy is like going on a journey with no idea of the end destination, and no access to maps!
What are the benefits?
A clear strategy should enable a business owner to determine what the outcome should be, the budget they are willing to spend on it, and offer a way of measuring their success.
What are some of the most common errors many business owners make?
In our experience too little time is spent on determining the reasons why certain things are popular. Nowadays, business owners are hearing a lot of noise and making fast decisions – going on Twitter, for example – without questioning the purpose. Before rushing head long into anything, they need to think about a number of different factors, such as what their tone of voice is going to be like in their tweets, whether they will be using it to promote their businesses or as a place to listen to their customers feedback, and what they hope to achieve by going on there.
What are your top three ultimate tips for success?
Ask yourself why you are doing something, and if you don’t know, don’t do it.
Try stuff out, but never stop measuring. Remember, if you have no idea of the value or benefit of your investment then how will you know if you are wasting money or not.
Don’t be afraid to pull the plug – so what if you have wasted £1,000s already, if it is not working, it will only get worse, so be brave enough to stop.
Is there any other advice you would like to offer?
If you don’t have someone in the business with you at your level, such as a co-owner or director, consider finding a mentor or setting up a mastermind group with similar sized enterprises in your area. The value of having a peer group conversation about your issues and spending time focusing on the business, as opposed to working in it, is incredible.
