by Birch Marketing | Jan 17, 2017 | News
The beginning of the new year is a good time to review your marketing strategy, alongside the results from the previous year, to check whether it is still valid and whether any changes are needed for the future. Every business needs to stand out from the crowd to be successful, and as things constantly evolve, each element of the marketing strategy needs to be regularly reviewed to ensure optimum effectiveness. There are a number of things to consider: 1. How successful was your strategy in 2016? Did you achieve your objectives and if not, do you understand the reasons and what you need to do differently? It could be that your value proposition needs refining, or that you need to focus your efforts on a more specific target audience. Your competition are also likely to impact your success, so do you need to undertake some market research to understand their offer and approach more thoroughly? 2. Marketing should evolve. Effective marketing isn’t about developing the best strategy and sticking to it; marketing is a process of developing, testing, making changes and optimising. You may have made assumptions in developing you original strategy and whilst some of these will have been valid, others may need revisiting during the refinement process. 3. Some things take time to bring results. Some people expect to gain instant results once they invest in a marketing programme, but unfortunately this is rarely the case. Just as building relationships through face to face networking takes time, content marketing and social media requires time investment to build interest, trust and action, so don’t be too impatient in...
by Birch Marketing | Nov 15, 2016 | News
I’m often asked about my experience of setting up and running my own business. Now that I’ve been working as a marketing consultant for over 2 years, I thought it was high time I passed on some of the things I’ve learnt. If you have any thoughts on these, please leave a comment below. Reputation is everything Birch Marketing’s business has come from a variety of sources including contacts, recommendations, cold emails, networking and social media. I always ensure that I do the best for each of my clients, and as a marketing consultant I believe that this is paramount. Delivering against promises, bringing return on investment, and having a flexible approach are all key to my mind. It is great when I hear that my clients have recommended my services to other people, or when they provide testimonials and support case studies, as this all helps to bring new business. People are great! One of the best things about running Birch Marketing has been that people have been amazing! The support of friends and family was brilliant in my start-up period, when I wasn’t completely sure that I was doing the right thing, nor whether I was going to be able to gain enough business. My clients have been lovely and appreciative, and we have built relationships based on mutual respect and trust. Being thanked for work carried out (a rare event in my corporate life!) and being invited to join them at events have been the icing on the cake. My contacts have also been very helpful, recommending me to potential clients and helping me...
by Birch Marketing | Sep 7, 2016 | News
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on communicating valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience, and to drive profitable action. Content marketing is critical because people care about their own problems much more than they care about your products and services. When you are able to communicate your company’s expertise in a way that brings value to your prospects and helps them do their jobs, then you are likely to gain attention. With research suggesting that average B2B buyers are 57% through the decision making process before they contact you, the content you communicate is critical to business success. With this in mind, there are some important considerations: Clearly define your content marketing objectives and prioritise. Is this about building brand awareness, cross-selling or up-selling, generating new sales leads or engaging with all influencers? Define and understand your target audience. Once you have defined your target segments, you will want to research the key decision makers and influencers at your prospects, and create marketing persona to reflect these. Understanding the issues that these people face and what is important to each of them is imperative before starting to create content. Create content that your target audience wants and is useful to them. Content should build trust and move a prospect to the next stage of the buying journey, using AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) or alternative buying stages if you prefer. Information about your product and service, is important in the early stages, particularly why what you offer is different to your competitors and how this brings them value. Create a...
by Birch Marketing | Aug 16, 2016 | News
Case studies are one of the best ways to demonstrate the benefits that your product or service brings, through the voice of an existing customer. The most valuable ones will be aligned with your target market segments and clearly demonstrate why you have a differentiated offer and the benefits that you bring. Bearing in mind that case studies are one of the most compelling types of content, it is surprising that they are often not well written, so here are some top tips to consider: Prepare for the customer interview. Make sure you have all the background information on the customer and the story that you want to tell, and have decided on key questions that you want to ask. Record the interview. While you may want to note down key points, it is useful to be able to focus on the conversation without having to frantically scribble things down, knowing that you can revisit details later. Make sure your case studies are compelling. Very long case studies, with lots of background detail, can lose the reader early on, so keep to the key points and make it interesting. Make sure that the title highlights the most compelling accomplishment. A storytelling format works well, starting with the problem the customer was facing, then moving on to their evaluation process to solve the problem, the solution they chose and the benefits that it delivered. Highlight benefits and quantify where possible. Ask your customer to focus on the specific benefits that your product or service brought, and what this meant to him and his business. Did you save them or make...
by Birch Marketing | Jul 14, 2016 | News
Having been fortunate enough to have received marketing training from several blue-chip companies, and a well-respected business school, developing and agreeing the marketing strategy has always been my top business priority. However, in recent years it seems the discipline around this traditional approach may be being lost. Marketing strategy is identifying where we will play and how we win in business. It requires market research and customer insight, allowing segmentation of the market, so we can decide which areas to pursue, and how to position our brand and product/ service offer for optimum success. Once this is complete, clear objectives can be devised for each segment, with measures of success. Only once this is done, is the tactical plan created, with the specific tools that may be employed, and the timescale for execution. There are a multitude of possibilities to be considered, from printed materials and PR to award entries and public speaking. What is important, is that the tools selected are used in an integrated way, to communicate to the target audience. The increase in the number of digital tools and techniques over the past decade, together with the increased splitting of marketing into separate digital, PR, social media and events roles, can result in overly tactical managers. They have selected the tools they will use long before any research or strategy work has been carried out, because these are the ones that their job description includes! In smaller companies with stand-alone marketing managers, the same trend seems often to exist. The marketing manager tends to focus on the tactics that they believe are their strengths, without clearly...
