The results of research Parallel Marketing delivered recently for the DMA on the Green Agenda can now be seen on the Marketing TV channel, Sallie is the voice of the business -
1) http://marketing.success.tv/direct-marketing-association - is the top page with all the interviews listed out.
2) http://marketing.success.tv/video/environmental-impact-reduction
3) http://marketing.success.tv/video/csr-policy
4) http://marketing.success.tv/video/greenscape
5) http://marketing.success.tv/video/greenscape-commision
6) http://marketing.success.tv/video/industry-view
7) http://marketing.success.tv/video/priority-of-green-agenda
Many thanks
Simon
Friday, 23 October 2009
Pitching
I feel compelled to help businesses out there with their pitches ,not because I'm asked to but because I don't like to see wasted work opportunities when winning a new piece of business can make the difference between keeping your job or not.
Here is my list of the do's and dont's of pitching which I hope if you read this will help you understand how easy it is to get it right on the day, today's thought is around the pitching room or what I call "The Environment".
1) The environment
You are will have no choice on the pitching room but when you arrive there's nothing to stop you making it your own. By this I mean create and comfortable environment for you and the guests.
a)Seating is important so make sure the client can see clearly what you want him to see. It's always a good idea to put up examples of work from the clients campaigns to show you have spent time looking at what they have done and it is likely to stimulate conversation.
b)Additional refreshments are a good idea be they food or drink such as fruit juices and expensive biscuits.
c)Place names , note paper and pens should be placed at each of the places on the table and make sure any pc's or laptops are working correctly.
d)Dress code is important , ensure you are as smart or smarter than the clients and prior to the pitch run through with your team what they are going to read. If you are pitching for a clothes retailer wear their clothes for example.
e)When the client arrives into the room make sure you are standing in such a way that the head of the pitch greets first and the last person to greet them shows them to their seats.
f)Now you have them sat down it's important that everyone in the room knows everyone else so introduce yourselves and confirm the names of the attendees.
In my next blog I'll talk about how the pitch structure might look and how to manage questions from the client.
Here is my list of the do's and dont's of pitching which I hope if you read this will help you understand how easy it is to get it right on the day, today's thought is around the pitching room or what I call "The Environment".
1) The environment
You are will have no choice on the pitching room but when you arrive there's nothing to stop you making it your own. By this I mean create and comfortable environment for you and the guests.
a)Seating is important so make sure the client can see clearly what you want him to see. It's always a good idea to put up examples of work from the clients campaigns to show you have spent time looking at what they have done and it is likely to stimulate conversation.
b)Additional refreshments are a good idea be they food or drink such as fruit juices and expensive biscuits.
c)Place names , note paper and pens should be placed at each of the places on the table and make sure any pc's or laptops are working correctly.
d)Dress code is important , ensure you are as smart or smarter than the clients and prior to the pitch run through with your team what they are going to read. If you are pitching for a clothes retailer wear their clothes for example.
e)When the client arrives into the room make sure you are standing in such a way that the head of the pitch greets first and the last person to greet them shows them to their seats.
f)Now you have them sat down it's important that everyone in the room knows everyone else so introduce yourselves and confirm the names of the attendees.
In my next blog I'll talk about how the pitch structure might look and how to manage questions from the client.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Go out to where the customer is
Imagine a UK high street with all the shopkeepers standing outside their shops speaking to people as they walked by trying to persuade you to come in and look around their shop, all done in a pleasant non threatening way. Having just come back from Turkey where I found nearly all the shopkeepers were eager to talk about their businesses, they knew they had six months to make their money. It made me think isn't this alot like the UK retail industry where there are key dates in the calendar such as christmas where much of their turnover is delivered. Of course the UK high street is very different to Turkey, for starters you could be arrested in the UK for obstruction or the UK shopping mindset don't like to feel pressurised in their buying. I thought it would be interesting to see retailers get out of their shops and talk to potential customers walking past.
In this same frame of mind I've been trying to find some work for my 14 year old son who driven by his desire to earn money is asking me what can he do. Reflecting back on what I did at his age , working in a kitchen washing pots or stacking bottles in a pub before opening time. But can I find him anything , can I hell, there's something called Health and Safety which ensures a 14 year old child is subjected to nearly zero risk in what they do, I don't beleive this is the best for my son as I'm comfortable for him to cat grass knwoing if you touch the blades you'll lose your fingers (because I've told him so) or to move plants around a garden centre and not stab himself with bamboo poles or cut his fingers off with a pair of scissors , just like the pair at home which again I've told him how to use safely. Or maybe we're afraid he might be press ganged into a "sweat shop" made to work five hours a day for something less than the minimum wage sewing footballs together or packing salad.
This made me think about the reason for this and have come to the conclusion that the government laggards are making jobs so risk adverse that the only people able to do them will be the aged population, which with no state pension will need to work to keep fed and warm.
Oh yes ,you've probably thought of a paper round which has to be riskier than most jobs cycling around a village in the early hours on your own. But maybe marketing is the right job for him as he couldn't do much worse than some of the "marketing" we all see and hear every day.
Imagine a UK high street with all the shopkeepers standing outside their shops speaking to people as they walked by trying to persuade you to come in and look around their shop, all done in a pleasant non threatening way. Having just come back from Turkey where I found nearly all the shopkeepers were eager to talk about their businesses, they knew they had six months to make their money. It made me think isn't this alot like the UK retail industry where there are key dates in the calendar such as christmas where much of their turnover is delivered. Of course the UK high street is very different to Turkey, for starters you could be arrested in the UK for obstruction or the UK shopping mindset don't like to feel pressurised in their buying. I thought it would be interesting to see retailers get out of their shops and talk to potential customers walking past.
In this same frame of mind I've been trying to find some work for my 14 year old son who driven by his desire to earn money is asking me what can he do. Reflecting back on what I did at his age , working in a kitchen washing pots or stacking bottles in a pub before opening time. But can I find him anything , can I hell, there's something called Health and Safety which ensures a 14 year old child is subjected to nearly zero risk in what they do, I don't beleive this is the best for my son as I'm comfortable for him to cat grass knwoing if you touch the blades you'll lose your fingers (because I've told him so) or to move plants around a garden centre and not stab himself with bamboo poles or cut his fingers off with a pair of scissors , just like the pair at home which again I've told him how to use safely. Or maybe we're afraid he might be press ganged into a "sweat shop" made to work five hours a day for something less than the minimum wage sewing footballs together or packing salad.
This made me think about the reason for this and have come to the conclusion that the government laggards are making jobs so risk adverse that the only people able to do them will be the aged population, which with no state pension will need to work to keep fed and warm.
Oh yes ,you've probably thought of a paper round which has to be riskier than most jobs cycling around a village in the early hours on your own. But maybe marketing is the right job for him as he couldn't do much worse than some of the "marketing" we all see and hear every day.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Trust me I want to buy!
I was in the market for a new car and had already decided what I wanted , the colour , spec etc and roughly how much I could afford. As with all major purchases I rang round several garages, in this case five asking the same questions and giving them all the same order details.
Out of this initial five only one called me back, with a price for the new car plus a price for my trade in. I said yes and confirmed a deposit by credit card and sent the money off. When I went in to collect the car the salesman said he still didn't beleive I would turn up and this is why he had asked for a credit card deposit.
It made me think that garages and the car industry have a lot to learn from other industries in how to prequalify calls and treat new leads.
It just so happens this car brand is selling so many of it's smaller cars due to the government scappage scheme that when you go in there's a sign saying leaving your details as we're so busy trying to process the order we have already we can't help you today and will contact you shortly. How uncustomer friendly is that, it would be better to have one person who collects customers details and talks to the customers about the next steps of the process.
I was in the market for a new car and had already decided what I wanted , the colour , spec etc and roughly how much I could afford. As with all major purchases I rang round several garages, in this case five asking the same questions and giving them all the same order details.
Out of this initial five only one called me back, with a price for the new car plus a price for my trade in. I said yes and confirmed a deposit by credit card and sent the money off. When I went in to collect the car the salesman said he still didn't beleive I would turn up and this is why he had asked for a credit card deposit.
It made me think that garages and the car industry have a lot to learn from other industries in how to prequalify calls and treat new leads.
It just so happens this car brand is selling so many of it's smaller cars due to the government scappage scheme that when you go in there's a sign saying leaving your details as we're so busy trying to process the order we have already we can't help you today and will contact you shortly. How uncustomer friendly is that, it would be better to have one person who collects customers details and talks to the customers about the next steps of the process.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Start up
Welcome to another new blog but hopefully you'll find this one slightly more interesting than normal, for example I'm planning to weave humour and my opinions into all things marketing and may have to anonymise some thinbgs to keep it legal.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog and if you feel compelled let me have your feedback.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog and if you feel compelled let me have your feedback.
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