1)      You’re too expensive, I can’t afford you

2)      You don’t know/understand my business

3)      I understand marketing, I can do it myself

4)      You’ll just take over my marketing activities

Here’s Part 2 of our post.

1)    The Dangers of DIY

There are many issues related to businesses doing certain thing themselves, whether it be accounting, HR management or marketing. It always comes down to an issue of expertise and knowledge. And in the case of marketing strategy and planning, success is also a function of having a clear and objective perspective on the opportunities available to you.

A marketing consultant can provide businesses with a fresh, knowledgeable and unbiased perspective, articulating the strengths and opportunities of the company and how they can best be leveraged through an integrated marketing communications plan to deliver optimal results. Business owners are often too close to their companies to truly provide this objective point of view.

2)    Loss of Control

Arguably one of the biggest deterrents for many business owners is the potential loss of influence and involvement over the marketing process. In reality, good marketing consultants understand that input from various members of the business is critical in developing an effective marketing program that will actually deliver results. Eliciting participation from various members of the business is simply a smart way to get true ‘buy-in’ to the marketing strategy and plan.

If you’re looking for a marketing consultant that wants to partner with you in helping to grow your business, give us a call. We’re looking for clients who want to take their business to the next level, and to do so in a cost-effective and strategic manner.

1)      You’re too expensive, I can’t afford you

2)      You don’t know/understand my business

3)      I understand marketing, I can do it myself

4)      You’ll just take over my marketing activities

The reality is often very different.

1)    Pricing that’s right for you

We understand that cost is often an issue for many small and medium sized businesses, especially in these challenging times. Our goal is to provide cost-effective marketing solutions that will grow your business and fit your budget.  We can do as much or as little as your budget dictates.  More importantly, we can help you prioritize your various marketing initiatives to determine what would deliver the “biggest bang for your buck”.

2)    Doing the ‘deep dive’

It’s entirely correct that we don’t work for your business and may not, at least initially, completely understand your culture, vision and values. However, we pride ourselves in spending the time with each and every new client – no matter how big or small – to get to know their business on as intimate a basis as possible. We recognize that it’s impossible for us to do our job successfully without this in-depth knowledge of you, your business, your staff and your clients and prospects.

We’ll cover points #3 and #4 in next month’s post, so stay tuned!

Social Responsibility

Of the many hot ‘buzz’ words in the 21^st century, arguably none is bigger than corporate social responsibility (CSR). With all the corporate wrongdoings by both individuals and groups such as Bernie Madoff,  WorldCom and Lehman Brothers, is there any doubt why the issue of CSR is so prominent today? Clearly, there is a need for businesses to be more ethical and accountable. Brands that can truly stand under the CSR umbrella can build brand equity and value through these actions. Those that don’t will likely be the next businesses under Chapter 11.

Social Consciousness

Employing socially responsible business practices is nothing new. As many of us know, companies like Ben and Jerry’s and The Body Shop have been doing this for over a decade. Where the tide has shifted however is in the attention given to this area of business. Once considered a novelty and a “nice to have”, today the public considers socially responsible business practices a requirement; part of the rules of engagement in business. Anything less is considered a failure and a symbol of irresponsible management.

What does this all mean for small business?

While many small business owners may look at this development as a daunting one to take on, one could argue the complete opposite. This is very much a “glass is half full” scenario,  where this “social” movement can enable small business marketers to position their clients in a way that would have been virtually impossible even 15 years ago.

This so called ‘social’ movement has enabled small businesses to differentiate themselves and stick out from the crowd. Smaller companies have the benefit of being more nimble and community focused, and thus using these attributes to leverage the local market and beyond with their social purpose and mission. In the end it’s all about making a difference and a statement about your business stands for.

The Social Movement

The evolution of social consciousness has created a number of opportunities for marketers of all types of companies, small, medium, large, for profit and non-for-profit. But to embrace this phenomenon requires a completely different perspective than in the past: marketers need to consciously develop a social element to their client’s marketing this becomes an integral part of their brand, mission and values.

Social Responsibility

Of the many hot ‘buzz’ words in the 21^st century, arguably none is bigger than corporate social responsibility (CSR). With all the corporate wrongdoings by both individuals and groups such as Bernie Madoff,  WorldCom and Lehman Brothers, is there any doubt why the issue of CSR is so prominent today? Clearly, there is a need for businesses to be more ethical and accountable. Brands that can truly stand under the CSR umbrella can build brand equity and value through these actions. Those that don’t will likely be the next businesses under Chapter 11.

Social Consciousness

Employing socially responsible business practices is nothing new. As many of us know, companies like Ben and Jerry’s and The Body Shop have been doing this for over a decade. Where the tide has shifted however is in the attention given to this area of business. Once considered a novelty and a “nice to have”, today the public considers socially responsible business practices a requirement; part of the rules of engagement in business. Anything less is considered a failure and a symbol of irresponsible management.

What does this all mean for small business?

While many small business owners may look at this development as a daunting one to take on, one could argue the complete opposite. This is very much a “glass is half full” scenario,  where this “social” movement can enable small business marketers to position their clients in a way that would have been virtually impossible even 15 years ago.

This so called ‘social’ movement has enabled small businesses to differentiate themselves and stick out from the crowd. Smaller companies have the benefit of being more nimble and community focused, and thus using these attributes to leverage the local market and beyond with their social purpose and mission. In the end it’s all about making a difference and a statement about your business stands for.

The Social Movement

The evolution of social consciousness has created a number of opportunities for marketers of all types of companies, small, medium, large, for profit and non-for-profit. But to embrace this phenomenon requires a completely different perspective than in the past: marketers need to consciously develop a social element to their client’s marketing this becomes an integral part of their brand, mission and values.

To help your business utilize this resource effectively, we’ve provided you with 8 tips we believe are critical to successfully using it.

Rule #1 – Have a communications strategy: know what you want to say, how you want to say it and to whom (i.e. your target market). Try to never stray from this approach.

Rule #2 – Remember, it’s all about them: Twitter, much like every other social media service, is about adding value to your client’s experiences, of giving back in a tangible way without expecting anything in return! Do things differently and you’ll damage your brand.

Rule #3 – Never, ever tweet more that 5 times a day: This way seem counterintuitive for some of you that think you need to be on Twitter 24/7. Remember, you’re a business, not a frat member or a groupie for a band. If you send out too many tweets, especially low value ones, you’ll irritate your audience as you’ll push everyone else’s tweets down the list. Their action to you will be swift and permanent – they’ll unfollow you! It’s all about quality over quantity.

Rule #4 – Make your tweets interesting: Somewhat related to #4 above, if you’re a business and you’re trying to promote your brand and add value to your followers business and personal lives, don’t waste your time and theirs telling them you’re at the bus stop waiting for the 11:30 shuttle to pick you up. They don’t care!

Rule #5 – Multi-tweet posts should be avoided at all cost: These are hard to follow and end up annoying people more than helping them. If you have more of a story to say, write it up in a blog post and link that to your tweet.

Rule #6 – Twitter is in the public domain: Everything you say and write is available to anyone and everyone – so watch your Ps and Qs! Anyone from your mother to your chief competitors could be watching and/or following you on Twitter so be careful what you say.

Rule #7 – Make sure your tweets are informative: As was mentioned earlier, Twitter like most if not all social media is all about adding value. Make sure your content is what your followers would be expecting from you. If you’re a chef, give out cooking tips, great recipes, etc., but not what your dog Waldo is having for dinner tonight!

Rule #8 – Never underestimate the impact of your statements: One of the dangers with social media, especially in the business space, is that many people come there to learn and to be informed. Treating this audience in a flippant and indifferent manner can do you and your business permanent and irreparable damage. Stay focused and on message at all times!

If you would like to follow Sydcam Marketing Communications’ tweets on Twitter, our user name @sydcam_marcom.

The key elements in your social media strategy

With the myriad of social media tools, resources and options available to small business, the question many owners ask us is which tools are best for our needs? While this is sometimes a difficult question, and one that may vary from one client to the next, the most common recommendations we make at Sydcam Marketing Communications are the following:

Blog: Your social media strategy needs to be centred on the creation of a blog (just like us!).  The ability for a blog to provide fresh, new content to your website on a regular basis is one important reason for its value, especially given the impact it has on your search engine rankings.

Twitter is another fabulous tool that enables businesses to send short, targeted messages of interest to their ‘followers’.

Facebook is great resource for promoting your business to clients – old and new – and most importantly for creating a community of people that ‘like’ your business for what you do, how you do it and what you stand for.

YouTube: No one can deny the power of video in capturing an idea or a moment and bringing it all to life. YouTube does this and so much more by creating a medium to house all your company videos in one neat area, and to then use the video content to put a whole different light on your business. Love that Google juice!

LinkedIn: The odd one in the bunch, LinkedIn, while perhaps not the most obvious social media tool for promoting your business, provides an incredible avenue for promoting yourself, your background, skills and credentials and enabling you to connect with colleagues and associates around the world. It helps to build that personal credibility that so many small businesses thrive on for their success.

So there you have it, a multi-pronged approach to social media that can have a noticeable impact on the success of your small business in the near term. And to be clear, it is not essential that you go an open an account tomorrow for each of the services mentioned above. Pick and choose those that you think can benefit you the most, or better still those that you feel most comfortable implementing yourself.

If you’re looking for help and advice on devising your social media strategy for your business, please contact us at Sydcam Marketing Communications. We’d love to hear from you and provide you with some insight, guidance and support to help you grow your business’ presence in this growing area.

The business applications for social media have only come along recently, almost as an afterthought as businesses realized the potential of this new medium.  Large global corporations have been using social media – particularly Facebook, Twitter and of late Four Square – to engage with their customers on a more intimate level, to learn more about their likes and dislikes and to develop a closer relationship to enhance customer loyalty.

At Sydcam Marketing Communications, we fully endorse the use of this medium as an important tactic in the creation and delivery of a focused, strategic, and cost-effective marketing plan. In the first of a two-part series, we’ll explain why we like it, and in Part II we’ll outline how your business can take advantage of it.

Small Business and Social Media

So why would small business be interested in exploring social media? Well, for exactly the same reason that many larger companies do. The ability to engage with your clients on a more personal, intimate and one-on-one basis is the critical factor, and to do so in a very cost–effective manner with little to no investment.

This medium provides small (and medium-sized) businesses with an avenue to connect with their clients, highlight unique and time-sensitive offerings and receive input and feedback in a way that was never possible before. The budget required to achieve these objectives in the past would have required a sophisticated CRM and client retention strategy that the average small business owner couldn’t afford.

In next month’s blog post, we’ll outline for you what we feel are the key social media elements most small businesses need to consider in order to establish and develop their social media strategy and plan. If you would like to learn more about social media now and better understand how and why it can be relevant for your business, please give us a call at Sydcam Marketing Communications. We would like to help guide you through the jungle of information that is out there so you can make sense of all of it.

I recently came across an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review* (HBR) that I wanted to share with my readers. The article talks about a unique aspect within social media: how it is impacting consumer behaviour (and attitudes), the impact it is having on a company’s brand, and how a consistent communications strategy can resolve consumer confusion and improve your bottom line.

At Sydcam Marketing Communications, we understand that social media is changing the sales and marketing landscape. We hope this article will enable you to better understand this new media and help you devise the necessary strategies to take advantage of this digital phenomenon.

The demise of traditional media

We all recognize that technology, the internet, and most recently social media have all adversely affected both traditional media (newspapers, TV, and radio) and traditional methods of marketing (TV and print advertising). However, many of us don’t realize the extent of the impact.

The online communities created by social media have provided a forum for discussing a company, its brands and products. These discussions often take place after a customer has purchased a product, either in the form of a product review or an online discussion.

Lesson #1: The growing importance of the post-purchase stage

In the article, the post-purchase phase of the buying process is referred to as the “Enjoy, advocate, bond” stage. Social media has facilitated consumer’s ability to advocate for (or against) a brand or product, to bond with it and to disseminate information to a wide audience very quickly. Marketers need to allocate more attention and resources to this critical stage of the buying process.

Lesson #2: Shifting the marketing spend

The research highlights that the conventional approach to using paid advertising in traditional media to influence customers before the purchase decision is not effective anymore. Instead, influencing clients post-purchase will have a much greater impact on their satisfaction with their purchase decision, will expedite their future repurchase decision, and will enable them to advocate for the brand through social media  – positively impacting the purchase decisions for many buyers.

Lesson #3: Keep your “branded” messaging consistent

Today’s plethora of marketing and communications channels creates other challenges for businesses – ensuring product and brand messaging is consistent across all channels of communication, from print to social media to product packaging and PR. One of the key concerns noted by consumers in the HBR paper was inconsistent product information and descriptions across different sources and different media, and how this made the purchase decision more difficult.

It is incumbent on companies that they view product and brand messaging from a strategic perspective, and coordinate it more effectively. Research has proven that centralizing this communications role with marketing results in a clearer and more consistent understanding of the brand by consumers; they are then better able to articulate its attributes.

 Implementing a “branded” communications strategy

If you’re looking for assistance in developing a social media plan to improve your marketing and communications efforts, or you’d like to comment on this blog, please contact us at Sydcam Marketing Communications; we’d love to hear from you.

Together we can work on devising a program that will create consistent messaging across your entire organization, strengthen and grow your brand and your customers’ loyalty to it, while helping you become more profitable.

 * “Branding in the Digital Age: You’re Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places”, Alex MacLean, Harvard Business Review, December, 2010.

http://hbr.org/2010/12/branding-in-the-digital-age/ar/2