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‘The glass half full refers to always thinking about the good rather than the bad’ - Cambridge English Dictionary
CHAPTER 1 I am a solopreneur offering a range of marketing services like web site content creation, to marketing on line, through to event management support for a range of small businesses - everyone who needs support to grow their business by communicating effectively. I work across a range of sectors, from food, to retail, energy and beyond. What defines all of my clients is their entrepreneurial flair and attitude.
Could you tell us a little about your business and/or career background? I have worked at a senior level advising boards for over 15 years. It is something I enjoy doing and the relationships I still have with many senior members stands as a testament to my abilities.
What is ‘Half Full Communications’, and what was the motivation for working in this area of speciality?
I have always been fascinated by the power of words and stories, having trained as a filmmaker and worked at the BBC in my younger years. I am also interested in tricky/challenging subjects and topics like carbon saving and child safety on the Internet. I particularly love how entrepreneurs can change things and worked for Sir Richard Branson’s not for profit called Virgin Unite, launching his book “Screw Business as Usual” - looking how business could be a force for good. My last role was for ARM a top FTSE 50 company. ARM’s silicon chip designs are in 99% of the worlds consumer electronic products, nearly all smart phones, through to Digital TVs, cameras and cars and beyond. As Global Marketing and Communications Director for ARM I advised the board on reputation management and repositioning their brand based on the impact they had in the world. I was brought on board to overhaul ARM’s marketing function, changing it into a far more sophisticated team, recruiting 20 new members and aligning their marketing to audience areas e.g. mobile lifestyle, Internet of Things etc.
I also managed the handover of one CEO to a new CEO and the subsequent communications internally and externally. Transitioning the move smoothly and effortlessly, as a result we received no negative media coverage or damage internally. I built our employee value propositions for the HR function, working closely with the Executive Head of Talent. ARM were challenged to find new engineering and so we spearheaded a complete change in their recruitment go to market messaging, looking at showing how far junior engineers could travel in the organisation. I also navigated the communication take outs for our executive team of employee surveys, the outcome of some feedback from one of those surveys was a new initiative with UNICEF to have ARM work on a project that looked at how technology could be a force for good in the world. Prior to the role at ARM, I worked at Virgin. Where I was the Communications Director for Richard Branson’s not for profit foundation, Virgin Unite. Virgin Unite was focused on using the entrepreneurial spirit of the Virgin Group and people’s skills to effect large behavioural changes in things like youth unemployment. I researched and helped draft Richard’s Book ‘Screw Business as Usual” - looking at how businesses could make a profit, but still do good. I advised Virgin Group MDs, persuading them as to how “their businesses could be a force for good and agreed group programmes for each entity. Virgin Unite incubated and started The Elders and the Carbon War Room, where one of my roles would be to find funding streams and entire teams to run these projects and help them have impact in the world.
What are the challenges with being small and do you have plans for growth? I don’t ever really work alone, I partner with my clients and with other organisations to deliver to their needs. Plus for me, small means being fleet of foot and I have to network with others. This comes easy as I have always been interested in people’s stories and connecting with them. I have one ‘filter’ in terms of growth - to work with interesting people. My mentality is ‘have fun, do good and the money will come.’
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2 I have come to the conclusion that marketing is pretty easy. We make a lot of work for ourselves and overcomplicate the process. I was mulling on this fact this morning and wondered am I right? After all, it doesn’t take extensive resources to replicate some of the core principles used to create a buzz around bigger brands:
Communicate the emotional, not just the functional, benefit of your product. • Share the mission that inspired your business in the first place. How does your product/service help customers? • Be genuine and authentic in your voice and all of your marketing. • Make your best customers your brand ambassadors and encourage them to create user-generated content that communicates how real people are using and benefiting from your product. It seems to me that stories are very key to all aspects of marketing.
Marketing 101
So how do you create a story? Everyone loves a good story, so why do so many marketeers shy away from story-telling? Part of the problem could be that we think of stories as fiction, and story-telling as the art of drawing people into a fictional reality. Not true. The story is a vehicle for a message. Brains are hardwired for stories. They are constantly asking these three questions: what do I need to know, how do I feel about that, and what do I do now?” Find them, seek them out and reward people for telling you their stories. But before all of this, work out who you are telling your story to!
CHAPTER 2
Engage your audience If you want people to engage your audiences you need to be asking yourself some important questions. For a start, you need to find out what your story is but even before you can do that you need to think about who your audience is. To get your message out to as many people as possible, you should also be asking yourself what your audience can do for you.
Low cost marketing ideas for small L business i b
Who are the stakeholders who are interested in your story and how can you make them pass the message on more widely? Think about how you can engage your audience in a way that’s meaningful to them with your work so they pass the message on. BIG CLUE - it might not just be media, influencers, scientists, academics etc.
Emotion gets us every time Once you know who your audience is, then you need to think about the story. Who are the characters? Where is the emotion? Facts are not enough to persuade. You need an emotional connection. This is where the story comes in. It is a vehicle for conveying a message and it evokes a visceral reaction. That’s why culture was passed down through stories. Conveying a sense of emotion in your story does not mean you have to lose control either. But before you even open your mouth think about who your audience is. What do you want them to think about? What do you want them to feel?”
Don’t explain. Persuade. To get the balance right between emotion and fact, consider Aristotle’s view of persuasion which, broadly speaking, states that there are three types of argument: credibility, logical appeal, and emotional appeal. Go too far in one direction for one audience, you loose the other elements. And ultimately, communicating your work is not about explaining it to people, it’s about persuading them – so finding that balance is vital. It’s pretty easy this marketing stuff isn’t it!
CHAPTER 3
Low cost marketing ideas for small business
To use limited information from a very narrow period of experience to come to a conclusion. This idea suggests that spontaneous decisions are often as good as—or even better than—carefully planned and considered ones. To reinforce his ideas, Gladwell draws from a wide range of examples from science and medicine, sales and advertising, gambling, the movies and popular music. Gladwell also uses many examples of regular people’s experiences with “thin-slicing,” including our instinctive ability to mind-read, which is how we can get to know a person’s emotions just by looking at his or her face. Thin slicing has significant implications for marketing, as gone are the days where the “Hidden Persuaders” worked in advertising, where manipulation worked to influence us to purchase products (aka the Old Spice ads). Vance Packard’s book “The Hidden Persuaders” sold more than a million copies. It explored the use of consumer motivational research and other psychological techniques, including depth psychology and subliminal tactics, by advertisers to manipulate expectations and induce desire for products, particularly in the American postwar era. He identified eight “compelling needs” that advertisers promise products will fulfil. According to Packard the needs were so strong that people were compelled to buy products to satisfy them. The book questioned the morality of using these techniques.
Thin slicing your marketing? if not you should be, here’s how...
The Packard days are gone. On a daily basis we are hit with over 100 piece of marketing and advertising a day in our every day lives (source: Zenith media). We have become highly educated and we now aggregate our own content choices, simply ‘tuning out’ media and content we don’t want to see, it’s much, much harder for us to be ‘persuaded’ by simply seeing an advertisement. We are far more influenced by recommendation and we simply don’t have time to review all the content we see across numerous channels as we did back in the 1950’s. Its the information overload era. Even Gladwell mentions that sometimes having too much information can interfere with the accuracy of a judgment. In this age of age of information overload, people can often make better decisions with snap judgments than they do with volumes of analysis. We have all been there - “analysis paralysis.”
CHAPTER 3
This has some simple rules for how to use “thin slicing” in your marketing channels 1. If your web site doesn’t say what you do and what services you provide in 20 seconds, you need to re-write it. Otherwise to sift through and focus on only the most critical information becomes dull, we move on, probably to a competitor. 2. Don’t just advertise, it really won’t help you. People don’t trust adverts any more, we can drown them out quite easily. Run a free workshop, gather your insights, help them with something they are about (not you) encourage them to trust you and believe you. Trust is critical in this era of data and information. 3. Make the time. I so often hear the small business owner saying ‘I don’t have the time, I don’t have the money’. Hogwash. You need to go and talk to people, find out what they prefer, don’t prefer. If you run a company making bread rolls, do a consumer taste test, go out on the streets, conduct your own simple research about your product, this can help you make far more informed decisions and it takes your audience with you on your journey to success. 4. Keep it simple. Don’t create reams and reams of information, leaflets, brochures and content, people won’t read it. But do make sure what you have is copy that can really get to the point, it is clear and outlines the basic ‘who, what, when and how.’ Finally, make sure you really know what your brand promise is and how to reach your critical audiences, ‘mass communications and ‘I want to talk to everyone’ just won’t work. I also managed the handover of one CEO to a new CEO and the subsequent communications internally and externally. Transitioning the move smoothly and effortlessly, as a result we received no negative media coverage or damage internally. I built our employee value propositions for the HR function, working closely with the Executive Head of Talent. ARM were challenged to find new engineering and so we spearheaded a complete change in their recruitment go to market messaging, looking at showing how far junior engineers could travel in the organisation. I also navigated the communication take outs for our executive team of employee surveys, the outcome of some feedback from one of those surveys was a new initiative with UNICEF to have ARM work on a project that looked at how technology could be a force for good in the world.
Low cost marketing ideas for small businesses
CHAPTER 4
1. Publish Great Content. I don’t think I even need to say this, but it’d be neglectful not to mention the importance of kick-ass content. If you can create it yourself, all the better (isn’t free always better?). Even if writing isn’t your strong point, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting someone on your team to crank out some articles for your blog. Try top 10 lists, best practices for your industry, etc. 2. Create Instructional Videos. Video content is really valuable, and while it can cost big bucks to get professional YouTube videos produced, there’s nothing wrong with giving it a shot yourself or hiring a film student. Wistia offers a great video tutorial showing you how to shoot expert-looking footage on your regular old iPhone! If video sounds like too much of a challenge, try making slide decks and sharing them on SlideShare. 3. Be a Savvy Social Networker. Create business accounts and participate in the big social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. Add Instagram in there too if your business is image-oriented. 4. Stumble Upon is pretty cheap compared to other paid ad structures. You start with a base price of 10 cents per click, then add +2 cents for age targeting, gender targeting and device targeting. You can see the whole price list for detailed info. Whichever way you spin it, Stumble Upon’s paid offering is leagues cheaper than most other social media ads; Facebook ads, for example, can cost as much as 80 cents per click. To really benefit from Stumble Upon, use targeting options to make sure you’re hitting the right audiences and niches. 5. DIY Infographics. Infographics are insanely powerful marketing tools. They’re visual eye candy, they’re easy to digest, and people love to share them, so they’re a great way to drive up referral traffic and links. Hiring a designer to make you an A+ infographic can hit your wallet hard, but you can make your own on the cheap if you don’t mind a bit of a challenge. If you have some understanding of Adobe Illustrator, try out these free vector kits that provide all the elements needed to make a stunning infographic. Not sure where to start? Check out Visual.ly for inspiration. They have beginner and advanced examples for you to browse through. 6. Give New Life to Old Data. If your marketing budget it tight, you might not be able to always afford content writers to whip up content for your blog. If you’re in a dry spell, instead of making something new, breathe new life into something that already exists on the web. There are a ton of data studies and stats available on the internet. While some of these studies may get initial traction, many often go unnoticed. Find a study that relates to your industry and polish it up. Highlight the most important or interesting parts of the study, add images, crank out some charts, and make your own thoughts and predictions based on the data. You don’t need to be a master writer for this strategy – the data will do most of the heavy lifting for you. One man’s throwaway data is another man’s content success story! Just be sure to cite your sources and give credit where it’s due. For government data, check out data.gov or The Census Bureau. Global statistics can be found through UNICEF and the World Health Organisation. Ultimately, you’ll have to find source data that relates to your industry and audience interests.
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
7. Lounge About on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a major social media site that is often under-utilised. Don’t just add network connections and sign out – join groups, enter into dialogue with connections, and share your blog posts. There’s a ton happening on LinkedIn, and it can be a great place to promote your content, share ideas, and build your brand. Larry recently shared some tips for getting more LinkedIn connections, and here are some ways to spruce up your LinkedIn profile if you’re a recent college grad. 8. Recycle Your Content. Just as you can repurpose existing data studies, you can rehash your old content into new creations as well! Turn a webinar into a video tutorial. Transform a collection of blog posts into an ebook. Never be afraid to mash-up your old content – chances are there will be a ton of people who never even saw your old stuff, so it’ll be a fresh, 100% new content piece for a large segment of your audience. 9. Develop a Customer Referral Program. Offer existing customers a free product, free month of service, or some other reward for referring new customers. Remember, word-of-mouth is powerful stuff, so friends telling friends about your business is incredibly valuable. 10. Online Contests. You’ll need to cough up some dough for a prize, but the number of participants and new potential leads you get will be well worth the price. Really tight on budget? You don’t technically need a super expensive prize to get participants. Even a couple highend water bottles or fancy backpacks might be enough of a draw for some users. Not sure how to host a contest? Go with Rafflecopter – they make it super easy to set up a contest and embed the contest entry form on your website. 11. Industry Partnerships. Team up with a business related to your industry (but not a direct competitor) for a joint project. This can be done locally offline through some kind of special event, or online with a webinar or promotional giveaway. Partnering with another business means twice as much notice. If you’re partnering with an industry-relevant business, you’re getting introduced to a whole new audience related to your niche. People pay big money for that kind of access!
CHAPTER 4
12. Apply Online for Business Awards. Most industries have business awards you can win, providing you with an online badge you can place on your website. Badges like these can boost credibility, and as a result, increase sales. If there aren’t any awards for your industry, host your own! You’ll get a ton of attention from other industry businesses who want to apply for your award, which means even more connections and more possible future collaborations! 13. Awesome Business Cards. Get yourself some snazzy business cards, then give them to every person you lay eyes on. Every handshake should come with a business card. The more people who find out about your business, the better – even if it’s just a quick glance at a business card. 14. Guerrilla Marketing. Guerrilla marketing emphasises creativity over budget, and strategies are often cheap and easy to implement, especially when localised. Broadcast your Twitter handle with sidewalk chalk, use an abandoned storefront as a canvas for street art, or plaster custom stickers on urban décor that makes those who stroll by look twice. There’s a ton of room for invention here, and you don’t need a big budget to be successful. 15. Host an Event or Class. Plan an event or class to host, then print out flyers and post them on community bulletin boards (libraries, coffee shops, local colleges and adult ed centres). While most community bulletin boards won’t let you post business advertisements, they’re often more than happy to post a flyer promoting an educational event or class. 16. Business Card Drawing. Put a fishbowl at your place of business with a sign asking visitors to drop their business cards in for a chance to win something from you (for example, a restaurant might offer a free pizza party). At the end of the month you’ve collected a ton of business cards, and while you can only have one winner, there’s no reason those other business cards have to go to waste. Use the email addresses provided to let users know that while they haven’t won this time, they are more than welcome to join your mailing list, which will notify them of future giveaways and special offers.
Branding Basics
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
Don’t think of branding as a logo. Communicate the emotional, not just the functional, benefit of your product/service • Don’t explain. Persuade. Communicating your work is not about explaining it to people, it’s about persuading them – so finding that balance is vital. • Be genuine and authentic in your voice and all of your marketing. • Make your best customers your brand ambassadors and encourage them to create user-generated content that communicates how real people are using and benefiting from your product, they are your brand. • Content is king - make it work hard across all your channels and know your tone of voice, don’t state you are customer friendly, let your copy show that
Creative Marketing
CHAPTER 6
Marketing needs to be creative, here are some basic tips when getting started: Marketing needs to make business sense. Have a business plan and put marketing into context make it create results to support the business plan, it isn’t a lovely add on, its essential. Make sure you know what you stand for? What do people expect from their interactions with you? Everything you do in marketing should support your brand promise and ensure consistency. Take the pain away - people want a solution to something with your product or service, talk about how your product and what you do can do that in all the marketing i.e. “Paul’s Pizzas, we cook so you don’t have to.” Make the time. You need to go and talk to people, find out what they prefer, don’t prefer. If you run a company making bread rolls, do a consumer taste test, go out on the streets, conduct your own simple research about your product, this can help you make far more informed decisions and it takes your audience with you on your journey to success. Make your basic assets work harder for you e.g. web site - if your web site doesn’t say what you do and what services you provide in 20 seconds, you need to re-write it. Many business owners are often reluctant to put on events such as hosting a ‘Business After Hours or hosting clients for a golf day... here are my suggestions for making a success of these type of events: • Be clear on the objective for the event e.g to give insight e.g ‘all you need to know about marketing’ or ‘networking for beginners.’ • Create marketing for an event like this before you think you need to. • Make it work for you, if a restaurant... why not create a taste test during the event and encourage people to tweet their meals on line to their networks. • Connect with people before the event - walking into a room full of people is daunting for some people. Get Twitter handles ‘looking forward to seeing you at xxx event. Or send a personal card. • Be memorable - create a stand out moment - find out everyone’s favourite tea/chocolate etc before hand and each person gets a gift pack with their favourite in their, or chocolate cookie etc. Encourage them to share on line.... include a link to your brand.
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
In this time of tighter finances due to the Global Financial Crisis, what area/s would you advise small business owners to focus their efforts in marketing their products or services? Eight things: 1. Speak to customers, they often hold the answers for how you should move your business onwards. Do this in a thanking kind of way “You have been a customer for x years, have breakfast on us and tell us what you think...” 2. Focus on content and engagement. You might not have a lot to offer in terms of giveaways or discounts to lure in new customers, but one thing you can offer is good content that’s relevant to our audience. Successful companies post and share things that are interesting to their audience.
Marketing on a budget
3. Recognition - it’s also important to go one step further and engage your audience. If they share or comment on what you’re putting out there, recognise them and respond! This step in the marketing process goes a long way in terms of relationship-building. 4. Be memorable - creatively package your marketing campaigns when approaching new businesses e.g. send a personal note with something really personal to them, a flower, a chocolate etc...something that will stand out as you having personally thought about them...create attention. 5. Leverage relationships - most people know at least 100 people use this advocacy approach, perhaps run a customer referral scheme? 6. Inform your customers - don’t simply sell, give more than they ask. 7. Don’t just advertise, it really won’t help you. People don’t trust adverts anymore, we can drown them out quite easily. 8. Run a free workshop on something they might be grappling with e.g. ‘everything you need to know about running a perfect event’ help them with something they might need and you will find it will build your relationship and eventually pay dividends to securing a long lasting business relationship.
CHAPTER 8
s s o
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CHAPTER 8 I can’t leave this book until I have given you some insights about how to really pitch your business or idea. I have probably worked for one of the best pitchers in the business, Richard Branson. I enjoyed seeing him present the most for things he felt passionate about for example the not for profit initiatives of the Virgin Foundation, Virgin Unite, where I was the Communications Director. He really had it sussed, and got people to climb on board for the biggest ideas like The Elders (helping on the unthinkable issues like child marriage), the Drugs Commission (campaigning for safely legalising certain drugs) and the Carbon War Room (attacking the largest carbon emitters like the shipping industry). It got me thinking, how did he do it? I started to think about how businesses might solve similar challenges every day. In fact, I am advising businesses right now about pitching well and decided to put together some key tips...
1. Words are just words, actions are far, far stronger What is it that you want the audience to do as a result of what you are saying? Don’t talk at them. I remember when I was an account director at a PR firm, someone had written ‘sea change’ in my presentation notes. I was 21, I didn’t ever say ‘sea change’ it felt odd, as a consequence I spent ages trying to perfect this so it didn’t sound like I was old before my time! Wrong. Epic fail number 1. You need to be yourself and you need to think about the outcome of what you say, not how you say a certain word. Think far less about the words, and more about the action or feeling you want to achieve.
2. It starts way before you are in the room That initial phone call, the extra effort you go to find about the people you are pitching to, what has been their career path, what are their desires, hobbies, likes? Most of all, don’t forget that impressions count. If you are rude to the receptionist, then it is likely she/he will remember you for all the wrong reasons. They are front of house for a reason. I distinctly remember Richard being nice to everyone he came across. How do you show how much you want to win your pitch, long before it has even begun? I like Paul Boross’ quote here, I have worked with him for several years at Virgin and ARM and he has the right mindset. “Don’t plan for what you want to say, plan for what you want the audience to do.” -Author, The Pitching Bible, Paul Boross
3. Stop. Take stock. Why do you think filmmakers and writers use ‘dramatic pause’. The audience has to be ready to listen before you start speaking. Get their attention and get into rapport with them, but avoid ice breakers, because they actually distract from the topic of your pitch and break rapport. Pausing before you begin is a sign of control, so take all the time you need. This is your time in the sunshine. Plus, if you take control at the start of your pitch makes it all the easier to maintain throughout. Lose it at the beginning and it is very hard to regain it again.
CHAPTER 8
4. Take people with you Watch someone with passion speak. I had a front row for many of Richard Branson’s speeches. I got an insight into how he helped persuade the world that he had the answer to banking, or health. He uses rich, evocative language that spoke to everyone. He normalises what he says and attracts us all in. He says ‘any can do this’. He connects with this audience and just watches the faces of the people and use the language that makes them react. Then he reflects it right back. His dreams, played out in the audience.
5. Benefits benefits benefits? Your language conveys the raw information that your audience needs to make a decision. It isn’t all about benefits, you must also talk about the purpose or reason your proposal will have over another that may be pitching. Without purpose, benefits are nothing.
6. Repeat, and just in case they didn’t hear, repeat again but another way! Any pitch starts with how you hold yourself, what you wear, how you look someone in the eyes. There are many different ways to get your message across to what you say in a follow up email all communicate your intention, when these factors are all aligned, you multiply the power of your message.
7. It matters how you start and how you end Ask Jagger whether he ends a concert on Wild Horses. Doubtful. You have to end well. Create something that requires a response. You want to leave them wanting more. You ask many of my internal clients at former businesses like ARM, Virgin and the British Gas, its the one thing I would have always mentioned. Its my single biggest piece of advice when pitching or presenting. What’s the encore to your pitch? Do you send a DVD with the video highlights? A thank you card? As an absolute minimum, you must send a follow up letter; not an email but a letter that demonstrates how much you want their business. Keep it personal. Most of all, believe in yourself and the company you are pitching to. Great magic can happen when organisations can connect and see the value in a simple idea, that is clearly communicated.
Thank you You can find me at 18 Byron Street, ‘The Cabin’ Brunswick Heads, 2483, Australia Email me: halffullcommunications@gmail.com Call me: 0475 841 664 Social: facebook.com/HalfFullCommunications
www.halffullcommunications.com