Cambridge Marketing review Issue 7 by Cambridge Marketing College

CAMBRIDGE MARKETInG

FMCG SECTOR FEATURES The Artisan Food Trail: A Social Media Success Story Social Media and Food Marketing Case Study: Bill’s Restaurants

FEATURES Urban Myths & their Disastrous Effects on Marketing by Laurie Young

WhAT’S On ThE MEnU FOR 2014?

Marketing in the Boardroom by Professor Malcolm McDonald Are you Ready to Change the World in 2014?

VIEWS Design for Business and Marketing Gamification the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

REVIEWS Book Reviews The Tutor’s View

ISSUE 7 AUTUMN 2013 3

Cambridge Marketing College has produced a set of handbooks available from Amazon in 2014

CONTENTS

CONTENTS 5 EDITORIAL FMCG SECTOR

6 The Artisan Food Trail: A Social Media Success Story Dawn Mimnagh, who works with the AFT, outlines the effect social media has had on the business. 8 SOCIAL MEDIA AND FOOD MARKETING Lorna Brocklesby examines the impact social media has had on the food and beverages industry. 12 Case Study: Bill’s Restaurant Jenni O’Connor looks at the growth of Bill’s Restaurant. 14 Product or place: which provides the best source of social media content generation for local food and drink producers? Using social media to tackle obstacles specific to rural marketing.

FEATURES

19 Urban Myths & Their Disastrous Effects on Marketing We reproduce Laurie Young’s amusing and thoughtprovoking speech on the ‘Myths of Marketing.’ 24 Marketing in the Boardroom Professor Malcolm McDonald suggests a new approach to assessing the real value that professional marketing contributes to corporate wealth. 27 Are you ready to change the

38 Essential Law Advice for Marketers Kiran Kapur provides advice on legal issues that marketers need to be aware of for their marketing communications. VIEWS

40 Social Selling and the Role of the Marketer This article looks at the customer decision journey from the perspective of social selling and where and how the marketer can provide support along the way. 44 Design for Business and Marketing Sally Brazier discusses how companies can use the power of design to meet their objectives. 49 Gamification the Good, the Bad and the Ugly If used correctly gamification will lead to more motivated staff, increased brand awareness and boosted revenues. 51 Customer Engagement Charles Nixon looks at customer education and how it can be used to get the most out of customer engagement. 53 Profiling the Marketing Leaders of Tomorrow Sally Wells talks about what it takes to be a marketing leader. REVIEWS

world in 2014? Peter Fisk, in a preview of his forthcoming book ‘Gamechangers’ looks at the world ahead in 2014.

56 BOOK REVIEWS Our Alumni review some of the latest marketing books and give their opinions.

34 Immaterial Products Andrew Hatcher provides a summary of some of the key issues facing marketers engaged in the marketing of services.

57 The Tutor’s View Kiran Kapur gives us the low-down on Cambridge Marketing College’s Tutor Blog and pciks out some of the best stories.

Publishing Editor: Lorna Brocklesby Chairman: Charles W. Nixon Contributors: Charles Nixon, Dawn Mimnagh, Jenni O’Connor, Jim Hardcastle, Laurie Young, Malcolm McDonald, Peter Fisk, Andrew Hatcher, Kiran Kapur, Andrew Jenkins, Sally Brazier, Paul Smith, Sally Wells, Don Moyer, Melissa Nixon and Shane Minett. Contact: Cambridge Marketing Press 1 Cygnus Business Park Middle Watch Swavesey Cambridgeshire CB24 4AA Tel: +44(0)1954 234941 Fax: +44(0)1954 234950 Email: lorna@marketingcollege.com Issue VII Autumn 2013 ISSN 2047-962X

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Printer to put FSC logo in here Design and layout by Amanda Barrett Front cover photograph: Cambridge Marketing College Annual Dinner, John’s College 2011. Diagrams and illustrations redrawn by Lorna Brocklesby. Cambridge Marketing Review is published quarterly by Cambridge Marketing Press. Printed by Cambridge Digital Press, Cambridge: www.cambridgedigitalpress.com The views expressed in contributions to Cambridge Marketing review are not necessarily those held by the publishers. ©2013 Cambridge Marketing College. All rights reserved. You may photocopy this journal for collaborative study purposes.

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Feature in our next journal Submit an article to us and you could have your review in the next journal. It’s a great achievement to add to your CV and can help boost your reputation. All ideas and thoughts on marketing related issues, welcomed. Email lorna@marketingcollege.com for more details.

Most Cambridge Marketing review articles are accompanied by a word cloud from wordle.net. You can use our clouds to assess swiftly the themes of the article: the larger the word, the more times it appears in the text. If you would like to comment, please contact the editor, Lorna Brocklesby: Tel: +44(0)1954 234941 Email: lorna@marketingcollege.com

CONVENTIONS: • We are marketers not marketeers; we are not cavaliers. • We practise marketing not advertising or PR. • When we refer to products, we mean products and services. Otherwise we refer to offerings.

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL From Lorna Brocklesby, Publishing Editor of Cambridge Marketing College

T LORNA BROCKLESBY

his issue focuses on the FMCG sector - specifically on food and drink and the effect social media is having on the industry. Did you know that Tweets with images generate 55% more leads? Social media is a powerful tool for any sector but especially for FMCG brands which are rich in imagery. So, perhaps it is not surprising that social media has been found to have more impact on the food and beverage sector than mobile/online shopping, comparison sites or QR codes. We have two case studies, one from the Artisan Food Trail and one based on Bill’s Restaurants, both of which highlight the importance of social media in growing a FMCG brand; and Jim Hardcastle looks at obstacles specific to rural marketing and how small business can tackle them by using social media. I am also delighted to include articles about our recently published Marketing Handbooks. Cambridge Marketing College has produced 10 pocketbooks which will be available to buy from Amazon in the New Year. Each book focuses on a different element of the Marketing Mix and has been written by one of our experienced tutors. In this issue Andrew Hatcher has written an article about his Services Marketing Handbook, which offers a fresh perspective on the world of services marketing; and Kiran Kapur provides a checklist for marketers from her Law Handbook. Following the sudden death of Laurie Young, who was a longtime friend and tutor of the College, we have included a reprint of his amusing and thought-provoking speech on the ‘Myths of Marketing’ which he gave at the College’s Annual Dinner in 2006. Laurie was a popular tutor for our Professional Services Diploma, and was known for his energy and provocative views. He is much missed. I hope you enjoy this issue and if you would like to subscribe to further issues or write an article for us, please get in touch at: lorna@ marketingcollege.com. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Lorna Brocklesby Publishing Editor

Lorna Brocklesby, Marketing Executive of Cambridge Marketing College, has recently completed the CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing and has a degree in History from the University of Dundee.

The Artisan Food Trail: A Social Media Success Story How the effective application of social media launched ‘The Artisan Food Trail’ (AFT) into the spotlight establishing social media as a key publicity and advertising vehicle for artisan food producers and suppliers across the UK. Dawn Mimnagh, who works with the AFT, outlines their success story.

he Artisan Food Trail, founded by Lisa and Graham Childs, has been connecting food manufacturers since March 2011. Using social media as a platform to complement its optimised website, the AFT has grown into a fullyfledged online network of producers, consumers, farm shops, delis and lovers of quality food.

DAWN MIMNAGH

The Artisan Food Trail It all started five years ago when Lisa started blogging. She found she had a voice when it came to writing about food, and built up a loyal following of online food and drink aficionados. Graham began providing professionally shot food photography for these enthusiasts and it soon became apparent that something special was emerging. “We talked to lots of people involved in small food businesses,” explains Graham. “Time and again we were being told that they were not getting the exposure they needed from their existing marketing.” By combining their skills in graphic design and social media, Lisa and Graham decided to assist producers in promoting their products. And so the AFT began. Our food loving duo watched the efforts of others in the digital marketing arena for a while before going live and were dismayed at the amount of times an online food resource was announced as due for launch, only to still be non-existent months later. “This doesn’t look good for them or the rest of the sector,” explains Lisa. “We deliberately kept the AFT out of the limelight until we were ready to make an announcement.” Only three months into the venture and the AFT was awarded its first Internet Marketing Award, and it was six months’ old when it won Theo Paphitis’ ‘Small Business Sunday’ promotion on Twitter. Theo reviews every Tweet and website link that comes through and shortlists those demonstrating a business model he likes. The award was great for promoting the AFT’s Twitter account. The AFT won 6 Small Business Sunday promotions over 18 months. “At this point a re-tweet went out to 178,000 people, gaining us Twitter followers, email enquiries, and a growth in website hits which quadrupled in a fortnight. We are delighted that subsequent interest in the AFT has stayed up much higher than it was before.” Nurturing the AFT has given the creative couple lots of scope to

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experiment with the breadth of online communication. Making the brand visually attractive presented the usual graphical challenges, but the twosome found they were more fascinated by the infinite possibilities presented by the virtual environment. “Social media works on so many levels as a promotional tool,” enthuses Lisa. “Firstly, it is a means of connecting people interested in food, and before long you see them supplying each other with ingredients and collaborating on events. Our members and supporters are talking about us to a growing network of others and that is passed on by word-of-mouth referrals. It is so contradictory, but that is the beauty of it; the virtual world merges with real life and now we are seeing the AFT having a real influence.”

“Concentrate on one social platform and focus on building a base following, you can then move on to another social network.” The social media behind the success It is important to understand the online habits of small food producers and the people that want to buy or stock their products. The natural social platform for all of these people is Twitter and that is where Graham and Lisa started, steadily building a loyal following that not only made, but appreciated what artisan food is all about and were happy to spread the AFT. Facebook followed from Twitter and is now building steadily. Pinterest also quickly became a perfect platform to spread the AFT word. Food is as much about the visual as it is the taste or smell. Of the three, only one works online, so sharing mouth-watering images of food virtually is a simple and obvious solution. It brings into the audience’s home pictures of producers’ food and, in the case of meats, the breeds that it comes from, as well as photos of growing your own food and ideas for your kitchen and the dining experience. Although the AFT website is the keystone to what the Childs do, blogging is equally important for a number of reasons. Firstly, and this is really crucial, blogs are not a website. People expect different things in different places online and a website will always be seen by many as a brochure or selling platform. A blog, in contrast, does not sell; it helps build your brand and instil your ethics into the visitor and reader. It is a place where you can create your tone of voice, allowing people to understand what you are about and what

you believe in. Secondly, blogs enable you to go off-piste and talk about things that are not always about your business. An example of this happened following an invitation Graham and Lisa had to visit Pint Shop – a newly opened Cambridge eating and drinking establishment. The pair only use their social network to promote members and the Pint Shop is not one, but because its food and drink related and Pint Shop shares the same ethic of how food and drink should be produced, they could talk about it on the AFT blog. It is essential to understand that online success requires you to be where the right people are, so you need to choose your platforms carefully to fit the demographic. Graham and Lisa always recommend using the current main platforms as these will have the largest number and most diversity of users, but only consider lesser known platforms if the demographic is a perfect fit. To Sum Up The AFT is an example of a food and beverage business excelling through the use of social media. The importance of images in social media was clear from the beginning with Lisa’s blog really taking off once photos were incorporated into her posts. It is important to know which platform is right for you. Twitter and Pinterest are important to the AFT however, it always come back to the website and co-ordinating online marketing to create integrated campaigns. Concentrate on one social platform and focus on building a base following, you can then move on to another social network. Once you have built a base across a number of platforms you should grow naturally and your brand message will spread organically. References http://www.dottingandcrossing. com

http://theartisanfoodtrail. blogspot.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/ dottingandcrossing

http://www.facebook.com/ artisanfoodtrail

http://www.artisanfoodtrail. co.uk For over 20 years, Chartered Marketer Dawn Mimnagh managed the production of marketing and corporate communications for several organisations. Through Dotting and Crossing Ltd, Dawn now uses the marketing knowledge gained from these environments to provide businesses with effective marketing communications. Dawn Mimnagh is a professional copywriter, editor, proof-reader and PR practitioner, but through collaboration with many marketing professionals from different career backgrounds, she also has a good understanding of graphic design, digital media, photography and print management. Dawn’s knowledge extends to brand management and corporate identity development. Dawn is also interested in learning more about how the millennial generation will evolve the marketing communications discipline.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND FOOD MARKETING Lorna Brocklesby, Marketing Executive at Cambridge Marketing College, examines the impact social media has had on the food and beverages industry.

ood marketing and social media go hand in hand. Everyone is interested in food which makes the industry a natural sector for adopting social media. All food and beverage businesses should be using this technology to engage consumers, build relationships and promote the excellence of their products. This article looks at the hard figures to highlight just how important social media is for everyone in the food and beverage industry.

LORNA BROCKLESBY

Facebook and Photos In April 2012 Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. Many believed this was a defensive move and that Facebook’s main reason for purchasing Instagram was because at this point Instagram had over 30 million iOS users and was the best app for taking and sharing photos from an iPhone. Facebook is essentially a platform for people to tell their story through photos. Consequently Facebook purchased Instagram in order to secure its position as the most popular social networking site. The rise of Instagram and its acquisition by Facebook reflects the growing importance of images in social media. Let’s look at another example of the importance of photos in social media. On 7th March 2013 Facebook announced a radically redesigned newsfeed. What were the big changes? Well most importantly, a new focus on imagery. Stories would be much more visual and photos would take up 50% of their newsfeed.

“57% of Pinterest users have interacted with food related content.” The strength of Pinterest Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks online and is the third-largest social network behind only Facebook and Twitter. Here are just a few impressive stats: • 47% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from Pinterest • Pinterest generates 4x more revenue (per click) than Twitter and 27% more per click than Facebook • 80% of total Pinterest pins are repins, which means the

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possibility of your images being repinned are very high 20 million of Pinterest’s 70 million registered users pinned, repinned or liked a pin in June 2013 suggesting that a good proportion of Pinterest’s users are active Images take central stage on Pinterest, and food and drink has become the most popular category on the site. 11% of pins are on food and drink. But more than that, 57% of Pinterest users have interacted with food related content. People love taking pictures of food, or posting pictures of food, or blogging about food. •

The Hashtag The panellists first talked about what the handle #foodporn was doing to the food industry. (For those of you who don’t know, #foodporn is a popular hashtag on instagram where users can share their foodie photos). “For us #foodporn is about people wanting the food after seeing the photograph.” If there are photos of dishes from a restaurant on Instagram people will see them and if they look good people will want to go and eat at that restaurant. #foodporn is word of mouth. It is a great way to generate interest and business. The pannelists concluded that social media has added new opportunities for marketing and promotion, #foodporn is an example of this.

Food Blogging Recent research conducted by Karen Fewell, Digital Consultant @digitalblonde, asked the question ‘How many people thought they were a ‘foodie’?’ 81% of people said they were. This statistic highlights how popular, and social, food is in life. Most of us are interested in food which makes the food industry a natural sector

“The rise of Instagram and its acquisition by Facebook reflects the growing importance of images in social media.” for adopting social media. Blogging is a great example of this. There are an astounding number of passionate food blogs online. In order to appreciate just how many people blog about food, take a look at SAVEUR (Savour a World of Authentic Cuisine), who hold the annual Best Food Blogs Awards. They have 12 categories and received “tens of thousands of nominations this year.” These statistics highlight just how important it is for the food industry to take advantage of social media. Food is one of its most popular categories and is rich in images. Food marketing and social media go hand in hand. Let’s hear what the professionals have to say On 23rd September 2013 Social Media Week hosted an event based on the food sector. A panel of industry thought leaders and food experts explored the question: is social media making or breaking the food industry? The discussion was chaired by Karen Fewell and the experts were: michelin star chef Tom Aikens; Head of Online at Square Meal magazine Ed Butcher; journalist and trend forecaster James Wallman and Mecca Ibrahim of Great British Chefs.

Foodie photos from Instagram’s #foodporn handle

“Social media continues to gain ground and is increasingly being utilised by food and beverage companies to engage consumers.” What then are the panellist’s top tips for using social media in the food industry? • Make your content as shareable as possible: put the shareworthy factor at the heart of everything you do • Maximise online traffic starting with your website, both online and on mobile. Make it as user-friendly as possible • Remember to be sociable. Don’t push, engage with your audience So, is social media making or breaking the industry? This is what the panellists had to say: •

• •

•

Ed Butcher: Inevitably social media is making the industry better. My experience, from the restaurant industry, is that it has changed the dining world in London so much for the better. James Wallman: I think in terms of transparency it is brilliant. The bad will be found out, and the good will be found out. Tom Aikens: The quality across the board over the last few years has improved dramatically, and social media has done that. It has forced everyone to raise their game, due to the fact that everything is out there for people to see. Mecca Ibrahim: It is definitely ‘making it’ and that is not just the food industry, but every industry. We all need to embrace social.

Now for the Facts and Figures • “Food” is currently the fastest growing topic on Pinterest • According to Technorati (the blog directory) there are now 20,046 active food blogs online • The average food blogger has 1,445 Twitter followers • The average food blog receives 40,000 unique visitors per month (more than beer, wine and fitness blogs combined) • In August 2012, 11 out of the 20 most popular Facebook company pages were food and drink brands • Tweets with images generate 55% more leads

KPMG produced a ‘2013 Food and Beverage Industry Outlook survey’. The results indicate that the use of social media continues to gain ground and is increasingly being utilised by food and beverage companies to engage consumers. Survey respondents reported that social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and consumer engagement through mobile and online channels, are having the most significant impact on their business. Social media is influencing consumers in the buying decision process: from product comparisons, to price checks, to recommendations and ratings from their virtual communities. The survey also shows that food and beverage executives are increasing their usage of social media to reach more consumers and to build relationships with them. Food businesses are even using social media to ask consumers for advice on new products. Social media has made the voice of the customer even more powerful than it was before. The transparency of the online world means that companies are publically scrutinised by consumers. Is this organic? Was it produced in an environmentally responsible way? How are your products prepared, packaged, and shipped? Social media is a two way communication. Customers can use it to ask questions and gain information about a company or restaurant; and food and beverage businesses are able to use it to build relationships and promote the excellence of their products.

“Make your content as shareable as possible: put the share-worthy factor at the heart of everything you do.”

KPMG believes that innovation is the key to success for food and beverage executives: from continually evolving products, to identifying more effective ways to run their business, to creatively building relationships with consumers and defining their brand through the use of technology. The respondents to KPMG’s 2013 Food and Beverage Industry Outlook survey indicate the most significant impact is being made by engaging consumers through digital channels and social media.

KPMG 2013 Food and Beverage Industry Outlook survey. Used with permission.

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Take Away • Images are a vital part of social media, no matter what platform; and the food industry is rich in images • Social media is having the most impact on the FMCG sector and will do so for the foreseeable future • The food and beverage industry should take advantage of a technology that is so well suited to its products • Engage with consumers, spread the word about your brand and use social media to generate more business

“the most significant impact is being made by engaging consumers through digital channels and social media.”

References http://wearelikeminds.com/live/ social-making-breaking-foodindustry

http://tech.ca.msn.com/ most-popular-companies-onfacebook#image=21

http://www.contentfac.com/ more-people-own-cell-phonethan-toothbrush-10-crazysocial-media-statistics/

https://www.kpmg.com/ US/en/IssuesAndInsights/ ArticlesPublications/ Documents/food-beverageoutlook-survey-2013.pdf

http://www.foodista.com/ blog/2013/03/26/the-stateof-food-blogging-survey%E2%80%93-sneak-peek-ofresults

https://www.kpmg.com/ US/en/IssuesAndInsights/ ArticlesPublications/ Documents/food-beverageoutlook-survey-2013.pdf

Lorna Brocklesby, Marketing Executive of Cambridge Marketing College has recently completed the CIM Professional Certificate in Marketing and has a degree in History from the University of Dundee.

Case Study: Bill’s Restaurant Bill’s Restaurants is a fast-growing, increasingly popular mid-range bistro chain offering good food at all times of the day. Started by one man’s vision and a lot of hard work in 2000, there are now 28 outlets across southern England and counting.

he original Bill’s was opened in Lewes in 2000. This first larger-scale venture was called ‘Bill’s of Lewes’, and as its popularity grew, the idea of expansion took hold. Bill’s second café opened in Brighton in 2005, which says something about the time it took to develop the brand. jenni o’connor Between 2005 and 2013, a staggering 26 more Bill’s venues opened, stretching geographically from Exeter, Bath and Bristol in the south-west, to Cardiff in Wales; from Cambridge and St Albans in the south-east to Salisbury in Wiltshire. There are 13 in London alone.

The Growth Years Not long after the Brighton branch was established, the business attracted the attention of billionaire restaurant mogul Richard Caring, owner of several world class restaurants, who allegedly invested a seven figure stake in it. Caring’s assistance helped bring Bill’s to London. With so much growth in such a concentrated period of time the key challenge was (and still is) to ‘keep it real’ and ensure each new venue retains Bill’s original values, offers genuinely good and consistent food and maintains high levels of friendliness and service. Product A Brighton reviewer: “There are lots of breakfast options on offer and all of them look delicious, there really is something here for everyone. The smoothies and fruit juices simply don’t come fresher. They change the combinations daily, and they are all made using the fruit they sell in the shop.” In this review both freshness and variety stand out and this is an experience which is intended to be repeated across all the Bill’s restaurants. Price Price is another key area Bill’s had to get right. Cooked breakfasts at Bill’s are priced at around £7.95, with the average main lunch or dinner course hovering at about ten pounds. Their three-course Christmas menu is £21.95. While this is far from extortionate, neither is it a traders’ caff ‘brikkie’s brekkie’ pricing. The costs reflect mid-range bistro positioning.

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Making a Mark In terms of marketing and promotion Bill’s has done an excellent job of positioning itself and indeed trading on its reputation as the success story of a local lad made good. Bill’s website reflects this ethos, with cosy, homey imagery which belies the skill and effort which has gone into creating it. Bill’s has a main Facebook page which is peppered with comments from delighted customers – all ‘real people’, in line with the ‘keeping it real’ theme. Like all restaurants, reputation and word of mouth is everything. So what other social media platforms do Bill’s use? Bill’s is using the 4 main social media platforms. Their Facebook profile was set up on 4th April 2011, this is perhaps why they have more engagement on that platform compared to the other 3. Bill’s first instagram picture is dated 24th March 2013 and their Twitter account was only set up in September 2013. This helps to explain why the number of followers and likes is lower than you might have expected.

As we emerge from recession, having seen the proliferation of similar chains from Carluccio’s to Côte, all operated by large scale umbrella organisations such as Richard Caring’s, Bill’s key challenge will be to maintain its individuality, spark and quality. It must at all costs continue to focus on local specialties and ingredients, and ensure it is not damaged by ‘the chain factor’ as consumers start to enjoy more spending power.

“bill’s social media accounts are full of images, photos of food that are shared and ‘liked’ by consumers.” References

Twitter: @BillsRestaurant 223 tweets 298 following 959 followers Facebook: Bill’s 4,641 likes 44 talking about this Instagram: billsrestaurant 146 posts 1,456 followers 206 following Pinterest: Bill’s Restaurant 5 boards 76 pins 18 likes 56 followers 12 following

Bill’s – where next? 2013 has seen Bill’s increase it’s activity on social media. All of their social media accounts are full of images, photos of food that are shared and liked by consumers. This will increase their reach across the market and will assist in the growth of the chain in 2014.

http://bills-website.co.uk/ https://www.facebook. com/pages/BillsBrighton/19272418742158 5?fref=ts Restaurants in the recession http://restaurants.about.com/ od/finances/a/RestaurantRece. htm http://www.thesussexreview. co.uk/2011/05/27/bills-producestore-brighton-east-sussex/ http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/ Trends-Reports/Recessionproof-How-Jamie-Oliver-srestaurants-are-dealing-withthe-downturn

Richard Caring’s empire http://www.standard. co.uk/lifestyle/exclusiverichard-carings-restaurantempire-6746753.html Andy Bassadone and the mid-range restaurant chain http:// wwwcatererandhotelkeeper. co.uk/ articles/6/12/2012/346544/ caterer-and-hotelkeeper-100andy-bassadone-cote-bill-srestaurants.htm

Jenni O’Connor is a marketing consultant and copywriter. She started her own business, Kaiku Communications, in 2010 after leaving full time employment to start a family. Having worked in fields as diverse as golf, engineering and retail, as an editor, writer, marketer and PR manager, her client base now includes medical practitioners, architects, designers, life coaches and cake makers. She is passionate about what she does, and believes in getting to know each client as an individual, as well as in the intrinsic power of well-chosen words and images. Kaiku offers a full service from ad hoc pieces of PR or copywriting, to complete and fully integrated rebrands.

Product or place: which provides the best source of social media content generation for local food and drink producers? When delivering social media workshops to the food and drink sector, the sessions had to tackle obstacles specific to rural marketing: problems of generality, abstract offers and creating trust. Product and Place are both crucial factors in overcoming these issues but how do you give small, rural businesses the confidence and skills to tackle them through Social Media?

hat is the one thing that a load of local food and drink producers have in common when it comes to social media? Worry. Worry that they don’t have any content. Worry that they won’t generate any followers. Worry that they won’t see a return on investment. Worry jim hardcastle that it is all too personal. These local food and drink producers range from selling a few home grown vegetables to companies like the microbrewery that is expanding and employs half a dozen people. Typically it is all about one person, a rural entrepreneur who is kicking things off, multi-tasking and feeling the pressure. Their experience of social media varies hugely but they all feel as if they are beginners. This is the personal end of social media training. Fish & Chips As part of the 2 SEAS “Fish and Chips” project, Somerset County Council decided to commission a set of social media workshops for the food and drink sector within the county. This followed on from initial research conducted in April 2012 into the sector’s needs for social media development, which found that nearly 90% of respondents were keen to find out more about digital marketing through training. The workshops were designed to help food and drink producers better understand the role that social media can play in promoting and growing their business. The workshops needed to provide an introduction to social media, consider how to develop digital marketing, and focus on Facebook and DIY Video. They were delivered across the county to ensure ease of access and were subsidised by the council. At a more strategic level the courses formed part of a wider project to build a virtual hub for Somerset’s producers, rather like a tourism association where joint marketing, partnerships, learning and development can all take place. Apart from the worry they have in common, what is the other thing local food and drink producers share? Their

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product. More precisely, their passion, knowledge and love of their product. Consequently the concept behind the workshops was that attendees had to bring along their product, or one from their range. Attendees love talking about their products, which creates a sharing, friendly and positive atmosphere during the workshop. This is conducive to learning and provides a great ice-breaker, but from a marketing perspective there are two other important reasons for asking participants to bring in a product: 1. The training is based around their particular product to make it as practical, personal and real as possible so they find it easier to generate content 2. Destination marketing clusters are more important than sector clusters

“What is the one thing that a load of local food and drink producers have in common when it comes to social media? Worry.” Rural marketing We will look at these two issues in turn. But first let’s identify the key problems faced when marketing with a rural context; generality, an abstract offer and creating trust. Generality They all look the same. Open the back of any brochure for a beautiful countryside destination and you will see lots of amazing B&Bs, all thatched with rambling roses over the door. They all look the same. This applies to cheese makers and egg sellers and so on. Abstract Offer You cannot try before you buy. How do you know their ‘tastiest cheese‘ really is the tastiest cheese and surely that is a question of personal taste? Meaning is with the individual not in the words. Creating trust Before you commit time or money to a visit to a farm shop or attraction you need to trust that this will be time well spent. These small rural attractions are competing with bigger organisations with more money to spend on marketing, and they get your trust as their brand is more visible.

These three issues specific to rural and destination marketing can all be overcome by social media. Perhaps this is the modern equivalent of the 17th century agricultural ‘levellers’ movement! Practical social media training So how do you go about providing practical social media training for very small rural businesses? Training people about which button to press and the mechanics of a social media platform is relatively straight forward. Secondly, by asking each attendee to bring their product along which gives them a basis for producing content and eases some of their original worries. Thirdly by using the Social Media Rule of Thirds to help people understand how to develop content to sell socially and build a following without annoying people. The thirds are: Point, Personal and Promote. POINT Content Give your followers little presents, point them to interesting things. Give them interesting curiosities, show them weird and wonderful snippets they will enjoy sharing with others or that make them better at their job. Point them to interesting bits of content from around the world that adds value to their lives. Retweet, share and like.

Count back through your last hundred tweets and filter them into Point, Personal or Promote. By using 100 you get an easy percentage! Where does the balance lie? Are you heavily Promoting without the balance?

PERSONAL Content It is called ‘social’ media for a reason. Be social. Let us get to know you. Let us know what you like and what you don’t. What makes you laugh and what frustrates you. People will follow and, importantly, listen to the recommendations of people more than a faceless organisation. Thank people publicly and follow people back (provided they are following the Rule of Thirds!). Don’t forget pictures. Pictures are 10 times more likely to be shared than text alone in the digital marketing world. PROMOTIONAL Content Now that you are making friends by giving out little presents and sharing your thoughts, you can slip in some sales messages and people won’t mind. You reap what you sow. Simple. No-one likes to be bombarded with sales messages so why do some companies and organisations insist on doing this through social media?

“The key problems faced when marketing with a rural context: generality; an abstract offer; creating trust.” Having explained the Rule of Thirds each attendee is then given a pie chart where each third of the chart represents one of the three Ps. The task is then to add content ideas into each third. This can be taken back to the office, farm or shed and pinned up over the computer to act as a prompt. Completing the pie chart hypothetically is challenging, but by holding their product in front of them content ideas become more obvious. There is another stage here on creating a human name for your target audience so you can visualise them properly but that is for another article. Back to holding the product; the Promotional content is easy, that is the price and where and how to get it. The Point content needs a bit of lateral thinking. A good approach is to consider the “process is the product” as this opens up a lot of new avenues. Where do the ingredients come from? Do you source sustainable elements? If so show us. What other companies worth associating with are involved? What news stories are circulating that link to your process? The lack of pollinating bees has been a good source of Point content for a whole variety of sectors this year. Understandably Personal content can be a challenge for the social media newcomer. They are worried about revealing things or more commonly worried about being one of those boring people that tells you online that they have just made a sandwich! But it is called social media for a reason, be social. Have conversations online; retweet, like others, share content, be digitally extrovert even if you are not offline. So back to the “process is the product”. This is great for creating Personal content. What has caught their eye today in the kitchen or workshop? What decision have they made today that will affect their product in some way? People are fascinated by seeing behind the scenes, give them that glimpse. And if you can’t think of anything to say take a picture and put it online. Destination marketing clusters Destination marketing clusters was the other reason that participants were encouraged to bring their product along. Where is the product made, grown or sold? There was an assumption at the start of the

initiative that marketing clusters would come from production sectors; this has been demonstrated by the Somerset cider and apple juice map. However, what was witnessed at the workshops was the close links between producers created by place: the Mendip Hills, or the Quantock Hills and even down to a more local level village/ town level. At the start of each course attendees were asked to introduce themselves then hold up their product and introduce it too. One of the things this revealed was their connections with other attendees. One producer of herbs for instance, would be personal friends and an advocate of the local butcher; they would both know the local artisan baker who knows the local vineyard owner and so on. These mutual support networks were clearly important socially but from a marketing point of view they are rich partnerships for creating a ‘day-out’ for visitors.

“Destination marketing is all about the combined offer of a place through partnerships.” It is also common sense. Has anyone heard of people going on a cheese tour? Or an artisan bread-making tour? Tourists and visitors are drawn to places, to destinations where, in a day, they can have an experience like a farm attraction but combine this with a meal and a visit to a farm shop. Destination marketing is all about the combined offer of a place through partnerships. Visit England’s Destination Manager’s Toolkit states: “The effective management of tourism at destination level can only truly be achieved through partnership, due to the number and complexity of stakeholders. For a long time, national and local governments have talked about partnership as a means to increase joined-up thinking and public/private sector involvement. The tourism sector, because of the nature of the work in engaging the private sector and working across boundaries, was an early adopter of the partnership principle.” The courses have had the happy consequence of reinforcing this public/private sector relationship. The public sector sourced the funding for the wider project as it has the capacity to do this. The funding was then used to up-skill the private sector and expose new marketing opportunities through friendly clusters. These friendly clusters helped attendees complete even more of their

FMCG SECTOR

“Create trust by liking your audience back and having conversations with them, be social.” Social Media Rule of Thirds diagrams. Their friends’ products and processes are perfect for Point content particularly where natural food combinations lie e.g. cheese and pickles, bread and preserves. If there was a local farmshop or B&B that was selling and serving these local products then this is even better from a destination marketing point of view. Friendships and clusters are strengthened, marketing messages are amplified and new audiences are reached. It was the non-tech, non-digital connections that really started to cause excitement between the producers. And social media was the digital delivery tool. It is also important to remember that, throughout the Social Media Rule of Thirds, we are still trying to combat the rural marketing problems of generality, abstract offer and creating trust. The Personal content combats generality, along with the chance to repeatedly ‘drip’ messages to people via social media. There is generally a personality behind these rural entrepreneurs - like a great pub landlord, they stand out. The Personal content allowed attendees to see their USP and channel it. For those that were still worried about ‘revealing’ things it was suggested in one case that the B&B cat be the social media voice! The abstract offer problem can be met head on by showing the process through images and video. Show people the amazing ingredients being pulled from the ground or the authentic cooking process. Create trust by liking your audience back and having conversations with them, be social. By taking a very human approach to the training, a very diverse range of participants have allayed their worries about social media. They have seen how their process differentiates themselves from mass marketing and that their place in the county and local clusters will help them even more if they utilise it. References http://www.projectfishandchips. eu

http://somersetcidermap. wordpress.com

http://somersetfooddrink.co.uk

http://www.visitengland.org/ england-tourism-industry/ DestinationManagerToolkit/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Levellers http://www.vmcg.co.uk/ vipervmcg/blog/vipers_social_ media_rule_of_thirds

“The Social Media Rule of Thirds: Point; Personal and Promote.”

Jim started working with Viper in 2008 to help organisations communicate more effectively. Before this his career revolved around communication, no matter what the role. He has looked after parks and countryside areas in London, Bristol and the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Through all of these he has fine-tuned ways of involving people through facilitation work, training, strategic planning and practical marketing. His training portfolio includes digital and social marketing, communication project management and interpretation for a wide range of SMEs and public sector bodies.

Basics Training

upply and demand continue to dance in the same embrace Alfred Marshall describes in Principles of Economics. Price is determined by the point where supply and demand balance—and that point can move as conditions change. More than a century has passed since Marshall propounded his model, and still you can take it to the bank. We are always trying to glimpse what lies around the corner: the thing that will, or could, or might be. As a result, we sometimes

forget the fundamentals. Some things do not change, and those things are more than just facts—they are truths. Yet business people, anxious to move onward and upward, are often impatient or dismissive of the basics. Don Moyer has collected his series of cartoons as a book, entitled 64 Drawings. It is available from Blurb at www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/949041

Used with permission. Originally appeared in the Harvard Business Review Panel Discussion column.

Drawing © Copyright April 2009 Don Moyer.

By Don Moyer

FEATURE - YOUNG

Urban Myths & Their Disastrous Effects on Marketing We reproduce Laurie Young’s amusing and thought-provoking speech on the ‘Myths of Marketing’ which he gave at Cambridge Marketing College’s Annual Dinner in 2006.

e lost a dear and highly valued friend in September. Laurie Young died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 57. He will be greatly missed. Laurie was a very successful practitioner and commentator on marketing in the professional services field, writing one Laurie Young of the definitive texts, but his influence spread far wider. He was known for his energy and provocative views. He would challenge preconceived notions and reject long accepted nostrums of marketing. His last (highly successful) book - A Marketers Handbook - was a result of his painstaking research into debunking accepted marketing concepts. Much of the origins of the book came from a speech he gave at Cambridge Marketing College’s Annual Dinner in 2006. We reproduce his amusing and thought-provoking speech on the ‘Myths of Marketing’ here as a fitting tribute to the man.

The Myths of Marketing I’m going to talk about what I think is one of the most successful marketing strategies that the world has seen. It’s been employed by professional service firms across the world for about 100 years and because it’s not FMCG, neither the agencies nor the marketing academics have really studied it. It’s called Thought Leadership. I have to admit that some of it is not leadership, and some of it certainly isn’t thought. But to give you an idea of the scope and influence of this sector, the professional services industry worldwide is probably worth about $700 billion. They estimate that in the developed economies, about 1 in 5 people work for a professional services firm. But if I pick just one of the professional service firms, let’s say Deloitte UK, we can see how successful they are. Deloitte UK bills about £2 billion per year from its clients for various activities/accountancy work and it employs this wonderful technique called Thought Leadership. On that £2 billion worth of billings, they earn twice to three times the net margin of what their clients earn. That profit is divided every year between about 900 people who are called partners. These firms are not only successful, they are enduring. Thought Leadership is a powerful tool used to build income, enhance reputation and exert influence. There is another point behind Thought Leadership: it generates urban myths across the management community. These urban myths limit and damage the thinking both in general management and in

“Thought Leadership generates urban myths across the management community. These urban myths limit and damage the thinking both in general management and in marketing.” marketing. If I say 50% of my advertising budget is wasted but I don’t know which 50%, have you heard that before? If I say it costs more to recruit a new customer than retain an existing customer. Have you heard that before? If I say the average dissatisfied customer tells 13 other people, have you heard that before? Now these manufactured ideas are urban myths amongst management circles and in a busy job where you don’t get time to think, these myths cluster in the back of your mind and become de facto strategies. My argument is that real professionalism in marketing means standing back and saying, ‘Does that make sense here?’ Let me show you what I mean. What have we been told? We have been told that everything is becoming more global. “and then in London, by his telephone, sipping his morning tea in bed, the various products of the earth, in various quantities that he might see fit, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his doorstep.” This is an example of globalisation. The quote is by Maynard Keynes in 1920, talking about his actual life in 1914. Globalisation is not a new idea. However, it can be just as influential and damaging to a company as other more recent ideas which I will discuss later. Now, I can see that there is freer movement of money across the world and that this will increase through the electronic age. I know that international trade has increased dramatically over the past few years. However, I think that Thought Leadership went too far when in 1983 Theodore Levitt published an article on ‘Globalisation in Marketing’ in the Harvard Business Review. Levitt argued that there would be these things called ‘global brands’ that would be entities that everyone across the world would buy. As a result we

in the marketing profession should move towards global marketing because: “people who are recognising local cultures are being lazy, every person across the world has the same aspirations, they want their children to be educated, they want to be healthy.”

Levitt predicted that within 20 years of 1983 there would be a number of global entities in each of the leading product categories, which would be recognised across the world. But more than that, Levitt believed “different cultural preferences, national tastes and standards are vestiges of the past. Some die, and some like Italian food become global propositions.” Now we know that this is not the case, most companies have to tailor their products or service to fit cultures of different countries, otherwise they are not successful. But, when ‘Globalisation in Marketing’ was first published, brands like Gap tried (and failed) to sell Khaki clothes to teenagers in Paris, which ended up damaging their brand. In this instance, globalisation was the wrong strategy. Let’s look at some more ideas. We’ve been told that global communication is challenging the world order. The Queen sent the world a message by global communications to celebrate her anniversary. It said, ‘Thank you my beloved people, may God bless them.’ Yet this was Victoria in 1897. Now when Paul Judge talked last year, he pointed out that in 1760, the then Prime Minister Pitt, talked to his foreign secretary about the fact that they hadn’t heard from their American Ambassador for a year, and if we hadn’t heard from him next year, we’d send him a note. Look at the difference between 1760 and 1897. By 1897, Victoria was ruling the largest land mass of any human being ever and could send this message instantaneously through telegraphy across the world. It was a major innovation. We’ve also been told that the rate of technology change is accelerating. Let’s examine this statement. The first telephone call was made in 1836 and the first fax machine was created in 1843. Take steam - this was the first time in human history that mankind could go faster than a galloping horse. Steam technology introduced standard time, before that there was a different time in Bristol and London. But, there was some misunderstanding about this new technology, like the dot-com boom. It was said that ladies should not go on a train going faster than 50 miles an hour because their brain is more delicate than a man’s and it would cause them damage! My point is that technology was changing just as fast during this period of time as we’ve experienced it, in fact, I think you could argue that some of this technology is much more revolutionary to life than an extra page on Windows.

FEATURE - YOUNG

We’ve been told that everything is becoming a price sensitive commodity. Right now IBM is running a television advert as part of its Thought Leadership. You may have seen it: “A product you launch on Monday becomes a commodity by Wednesday.” This indicates that you have to reduce prices. Yet we marketers continually create brands which buck this commoditising force; and it’s the best thing we do. Most brands command a healthy price premium and do so for many years. Heinz Baked Beans for example commands a higher price over ‘own brands’.

Pears Soap is the oldest brand I could find and was created in 1790 by John Pears, a hairdresser in Soho. He found a way to create this consistent, reliable product, and that’s what well-loved brands should do for consumers. Pears Soap has been around for 200 years. In fact, out of the top 180 brands in the world today, 50 were created before 1880. Now tell me everything is becoming price sensitive and that it is difficult to create enduring value. That IBM advert, it’s all commodity by Wednesday – nonsense. Just let me turn to those other myths I started with. ‘50% of my advertising budget is wasted,’ it was made famous by David Ogilvy, who in 1962 wrote the book ‘Confessions of an Advertising Man.’ Now, my friend Adrian Hosford found a way to measure the effect of BT’s advertising on each telephone call and prove the income increase of that advertising method on the revenues of the business. ‘The average dissatisfied customer tells 13 people.’ This was made famous by a guy called Tom Peters in his presentations about his book ‘In Search of Excellence.’ It’s quoting TARP Research which

“A popular myth: it costs more to gain a new customer than to keep an existing one.”

is an American government programme in consumer supermarkets across the mid-west of America. Now you tell me how the experience of supermarket shoppers in the mid-west is relevant to your business in modern Europe in the 21st century. It’s a modern myth – it may not be relevant. ‘It costs more to gain a new customer than to keep an existing one.’ This came from a book by Frederick Reichheld called ‘The Loyalty Effect’ published in 1996 before the dot-com boom. I joined PWC which is a 100 year old brand. Their main product is this thing called the audit and it costs them a lot of money to service a major audit client. In fact, for years they discounted this service to very narrow margins in order to get follow on work. However, all the time I was there, I felt as though while I was building my own business, I was fishing in a little river where there was just one or two fish and I was making decent money, but you go and join a company like PWC, and the companies are coming in through the door – please tell me, lead me, advise me on this – in those circumstances, it was much cheaper to serve a new customer than to service an existing customer. Again, the thought is not always true.

“Thought Leadership is a vast propaganda machine!” How do these ideas gain such influence? A few years ago, there was this idea called ‘process re-engineering’ – have you heard of that one? If you have been around long enough, it started in the 1990s. I believe it can be credited to a consultancy called the Computer Science Corporation of America. One summer they met with M.I.T. and they came up with a wonderful idea: middle management could be cut out of an organisation and replaced by computers if top management streamlined their business. (These people had obviously never used a computer before.) They then produced a book, and as a result of this the idea began to take off. For a period of time, the early adopters of these ideas, which always happen to be the same companies, became enthusiastic. It was presented at conferences and if you were unfortunate enough to be with a company whose CEO supported it, you could not challenge it. Then the computer industry got in on the act because they realised they could sell computers through this thing called re-engineering. Then the really disastrous thing happened, the city people become involved. They were convinced of it by the professions, by the computer industry, and they started to mark down the shares of companies who had not ‘re-engineered.’

This caused more companies to take up the idea – which damaged some. At the height of the bubble you get two things happening. Firstly, academics start getting good research budgets to investigate using proper methodologies. Secondly, sceptics write articles like ‘Has process re-engineering damaged corporate America?’ And now you find most business schools, a few years later, talking of ‘process management.’ The point is: Thought Leadership is a vast propaganda machine! The big corporations, the big consultancies like Deloitte, like PWC, like Accentua, have Thought Leadership teams. About 20 people across the world headed by very skilful professors who they employ, and their job is to look across their company, look across the business world and to create new concepts that they can then offer to their clients. I’m quoting, ‘what we do, to put it in other words, is make it up.’ They make it up and they are making these ideas up to sell to you.

Is marketing training the answer? I did both the CIM Diploma and an MBA, I have thought about this long and hard. Most marketing techniques taught on these courses were created by long forgotten Thought Leadership fads. AIDA is an example, Attention Interest Desire Action, which is taught as a mechanism to measure the effect of 21st century marketing communications. Kotler cites its source as E K Strong, in his 1925 book called ‘The Psychology of Selling.’ Hang on a minute, this was before the cinema was going strong, it was also before radio or TV was invented. Is this really appropriate for 21st century multimedia? For me, professionalism is about knowing the tools and techniques, but also knowing when to apply them, and when not to apply them. Building a Brand Human beings have brands as part of their life. I don’t know what your cluster of brands are, but whether it’s The Economist, Apple or The Bill, it becomes part of your life. People walk in and choose Dulux paint. They don’t know why they choose Dulux paint. It might be to do with shaggy dogs, but it is a sad fact that there are human beings in our country who have a relationship with a tin of paint. Moving onto people. This is a typical experiment: in a blind test of Heinz Tomato Ketchup vs. a supermarket own brand, 71% preferred the own label. The labels were then made visible showing the own brand and the Heinz Tomato Ketchup, 68% prefer Heinz. One of the things about marketing is that we deal with these strange things called human beings. Now, people say that you should give your customers what they want. I think that’s utter nonsense. My experience is that customers don’t know what they want and one of the secrets of marketing is that not under any circumstances should you give customers what they want. I’ve been involved with many companies across the world who actually say, OK, we give up, we’ll ask you what do you want? And it always comes back the same. I’ve seen about 15 research projects like this, it says we want more of the same, faster and cheaper. If you do that, you’ll go out of business. Let me give you an example. One of the most successful brands in the 21st century, was created in 1908. Nobody was relying on customers saying, ‘I’m thirsty, please give me a black drink that’s so full of sugar it’s going to rot my teeth and so full of caffeine it’s going to keep my kids awake at night.’ But having put it in front of them

“it is a sad fact that there are human beings in our country who have a relationship with a tin of paint.” 24

FEATURE - YOUNG

it somehow got associated with modernity and with what the new generation was about. So brands are durable, they can last 100, 150, 200 years. They create price premiums which are outrageous, high margins in many markets where the lead brand out earns its two competitors by 3 to 1 and they create this strange, perceived preference. Customers love it. The next thing that works is to create a proposition that customers value. I found something that dramatises this. A quote from Bill Gates: “If automated technology kept pace with computer technology over the past few decades, you would now be driving a V32 instead of a V8 and it would have a top speed of 10,000 miles per hour, or you can have an economy car that weights 30lbs and get 1000 miles to a gallon of gas. In either case, the new sticker price of the car would be less than $50.” Now look at the assumptions behind that, we take this wonderful technology and then we give it away for nothing. I’ve been a personal customer of the IT industry and I’ve been a business buyer of the IT industry, but I didn’t ask them to do that, they did that to themselves. If you are selling a commodity, it’s your fault. If all the other things a customer wants have been discounted, then you end up arguing about price, it’s your fault. Nobody in any market anywhere in the world ever bought anything on price alone. I’ll say that again, there are always 3 or 4 other things first. If companies can’t differentiate their products from their competitor’s products, if they all look the same then the only thing customers choose on is price. The C.O. of General Motors responded to Bill Gates: “If General Motors had developed the same technology as Microsoft, they would all be driving cars with the following features: your car would without any obvious reason have an accident twice a day; the seats would require that everyone had the same size buttocks; every time the road markings were replaced, you would have to buy a new car; before inflating, the bag would prompt you - do you really want to inflate me? And of course, in order to switch off the engine, you would have to press the start button.” Here’s somebody who understands human beings and knows how to create a value proposition for them. Conclusion So finally, after all these thoughts on the Thought Leadership industry, I come back to professionalism. For me, marketing is a

“After all these thoughts on the Thought Leadership industry, I come back to professionalism, because for me marketing is a profession.” profession, because you need a deep knowledge of the techniques, and I hope I’ve shown that there’s something behind the substance of those techniques that you need to investigate. Like an architect, like an accountant, we need to know those techniques, but we also need to know when to apply them. Does it work in this situation? Does it not work in another? I want to finish with something that happened just a few years ago that summed up for me what professionalism is about. My son was learning piano, and his teacher was from some great music academy and as he was leaving, he said to Chris ‘Well, that’s about being a professional’ – it caught my ear, it’s absolutely true. I said, ‘Simon, what do you mean?’ He said, ‘An amateur practices until they get it right. A professional practices until they can’t get it wrong.’ Let’s be as thorough and professional in our marketing as he is in his music.

Laurie Young was a specialist in the marketing and selling of services. His management career was primarily in the technology and professional services sectors where he was well known and respected. His career included a number of jobs which required marketing skills to be applied to companies in the midst of dramatic change. For instance, in 1984/5 he was Executive Assistant to the then Deputy Chairman of British Telecom, Deryk Van der Weyer, the director in charge of BT’s privatisation. Later, as Director of Service Marketing at Unisys, Laurie was responsible for marketing and repackaging a range of services after a collapse of product margins in the worldwide computer industry. In 1999 Laurie was invited to be the global marketing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ $2billion Corporate Finance division when it was considering disinvestment as a result of radical regulatory change. Laurie also founded, built and sold his own professional service company specialising in services marketing. This grew to a mid-sized boutique with offices in London, Paris and Stockholm, without borrowings or acquisition. It was bought by Ogilvy & Mather, on behalf of WPP. Over the years Laurie advised a range of high profile firms on different aspects of service marketing.

Marketing in the Boardroom Professor Malcolm McDonald suggests a new approach to assessing the real value that professional marketing contributes to corporate wealth.

The problem irstly, for far too long our community has allowed accountants to get away with their ridiculous short term rounds of exotic debt instruments, excessive leverage, cost cutting and focus on cash. Their domination of boardrooms cannot malcolm bring about sustainable growth and it mCdonald is depressing that the UK has twelve times more accountants per capita than Germany. Secondly, there has been marketing’s self-destructive focus on the measurement of tactical promotional expenditure in an attempt to prove that marketers are not wasteful, self-indulgent and innumerate. Yet our research shows that successful marketers make a major contribution to corporate wealth by understanding markets, doing proper needs-based segmentation, developing quantified value propositions, competitive analysis, portfolio analysis and managing market place risk. So, the time has come to measure the real contribution that world class marketers make to the creation of shareholder value. This will not come from econometric models - although these are important - nor from simple measures of marketing effectiveness. Top executives still do not know how to convert, for example, brand equity to ‘ real’ equity, whilst single numbers such as the “net promoter score” just do not convince anyone. Hence the “show-usthe-money” school at the top of most companies. So, a totally new approach is necessary.

Sustainable Shareholder Value The most common objective of modern commercial organisations is the sustainable creation of shareholder value. This can only be achieved by providing shareholders with a total return, from capital growth and dividend yield, that exceeds their risk-adjusted required rate of return for this particular investment. In today’s highly competitive environment, the major sources of shareholder value creation are the intangible marketing assets of the business, such as brands, customer relationships and channels of distribution: the 80 per cent of the company’s value that does not appear on the traditional balance sheet. Consequently, the critical future marketing strategies of a company, which indicate how these assets are to be developed, maintained and exploited; should be subjected to a rigorous review process. Unfortunately, not only is

Answering the Right Questions When giving talks to Finance Directors, I always leave them with the following ten questions to ask their CMOs and the correct answers they should receive: Question 1: Do we know and understand our key markets? Answer: • We define our markets in terms of needs satisfied, not the services we sell. Remember IBM (we are in the mainframe market); Gestetner (we are in the duplicator market) and Kodak (we are in the film market)? • We map our markets, showing product/service flows, volumes/ values in total, our shares and draw critical conclusions for our

•

company. We know what the key decision points are. In particular, we understand the 20/80 rule, as this is where segmentation is done.

FEATURE - MCDONALD

such focused forward-looking information still normally absent from the externally available data produced by companies, but also, even more worryingly, there is often not even a rigorous internal evaluation of the shareholder value impact of such proposed marketing strategies. Whilst most companies would undoubtedly have formally constituted, board-level audit committees that are responsible for reviewing all the major business risks that they face, conducting comprehensive financial due diligence processes on any major acquisitions or strategic investments, most have nothing for evaluating the risks associated with the use of their intangible assets to establish whether their marketing strategies create or destroy shareholder value. Joint research at Cranfield between the Finance and Marketing Faculty tackled this problem head on and just one of the results is a book, “Marketing and Finance: creating shareholder value” (Wiley 2013), sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. This book sets out in detail a quantitative process for subjecting strategies to a rigorous risk assessment, then establishing whether the resulting risk-adjusted cash flows create or destroy shareholder value. To do this, it takes account of the time value of money and the cost of capital. Books on 1001 metrics will not change the underlying problem of accountability nor help us to “talk the language of the board”. Fabulous work is being carried out in our community, not just by the Amblers, Rusts, Srinivansans, Raos et al, but we need to spend more of our energy on proving the real value that professional marketing contributes to corporate wealth. I still work mainly at board level and a day with me usually convinces them that they have been looking for the wrong metrics from their senior marketing colleagues, even though those metrics are still necessary at an operational level.

Question 2: Do we address real segments in our markets? Answer: • We do proper needs based segmentation, not priori nonsense such as socioeconomics (not all As behave the same), demographics (not all 18-24 year old women behave the same), geodemographics (not everyone in the same street behaves the same), etc. • We also understand the needs of the members of each segment. Question 3: Do we know what our sources of differentiation are in each of the principal market segments in our key target markets? Answer: • We regularly check on the buying motives of segments and compare how well our company performs compared with main competitors. • We act on the resulting strengths and weaknesses. We check that our strengths create value for us and the customer, and that they are difficult to copy. We work hard at tackling our weaknesses that are meaningful to the customer. • We regularly monitor the opportunities and threats by segment and work hard to take advantage of the opportunities and to ameliorate the threats. Question 4: Do we all agree where we should target our limited resources? Answer: • We prioritise the segments in each market, having classified them all according to relative potential for growth in profits in each over the next three years and according to our company’s relative competitive position in each. Question 5: Are our objectives for revenue growth and market share realistic? Answer: • For attractive markets (attractive means there is potential growth in sales and profits in the next three years), our objectives are to improve Net Present Value (NPV), whilst investing in growing/ retaining our competitive position.

•

• •

For attractive markets in which we have few strengths, having chosen the better ones, our objectives are to improve our competitive position by investing in them. For those markets not selected for investment, our objectives are to maximise net free cash flows. For unattractive markets in which we have few strengths, our objectives are to maximise net free cash flows. For unattractive markets where we have strengths, our objectives are to minimise costs consistent with retaining our competitive position and to maximise net free cash flows.

Question 6: Are our strategies for product development, pricing, customer service, channel management and promotion consistent with our objectives? Answer: • Our strategies match the objectives referred to above. For example, the majority of the available budget goes into attractive markets where we have strengths followed by unattractive markets where we have strengths, followed by attractive markets where we have few strengths – in that order. Question 7: Have we dispassionately assessed the risks associated with our strategic marketing plan? Answer: • We assess the risks associated with our MARKET forecasts by using the long established tools of marketing, such as product life cycle analysis. We assess the risks associated with our plans for new products and markets by using tools such as the Ansoff matrix. • We assess the risks associated with our declared STRATEGIES by testing whether we are addressing proper needs-based segments with specific offers and whether we are leveraging our strengths, minimising our weaknesses, taking advantage of opportunities and ameliorating threats. • We assess the risks associated with our declared BUDGETS by checking our forecast margins against historical margins and by checking that we are not setting unrealistic objectives such as rapid growth in static or declining markets. Question 8: Have we calculated whether our strategic marketing plan creates or destroys shareholder value? Answer: • We work with our senior accountants having taken account of the risk adjusted net free cash flows from all of our products. We then calculate whether these cash flows are

greater than the cost of capital. If they are, we are creating shareholder value and can quantify this. Question 9: Have we agreed the metrics for measuring market effectiveness? Answer: • We know the levels of promotional expenditure necessary to maintain our current level of sales (maintenance). • We subject any promotional expenditure over and above maintenance expenditure (investment/growth expenditure) to net present value calculations. • We know the difference between lead indicators (actions that cause sales etc.) and lag indicators (outputs, such as sales growth). • As a result of this, we know what needs reporting, why, when, how often and to whom it should be reported. Question 10: Are we happy with our marketing planning processes? Answer: • Our plans demonstrate: 1. A deep understanding of our markets 2. A clear understanding of needs based segments 3. A clear prioritisation of our objectives and strategies 4. Quantified proof that they create shareholder value • They are clear, creative and interesting • They enable us to allocate our scarce resources differentially Conclusion Let me say that, whilst all these questions are not relevant to all markets, unless marketers can answer the relevant ones, they should either get their marketing education up to par, or question whether they are in the right job. Underlying these questions, of course is the research-based process for assessing quantitatively the risk associated with the market, the strategy, the profit pool and the capital at risk. Until 2003, Malcolm McDonald MA(Oxon) MSc PhD DLitt DSc, was Professor of Marketing and Deputy Director of Cranfield University School of Management, with special responsibility for EBusiness. He is a graduate in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, in Business Studies from Bradford University Management Centre, and has a PhD from Cranfield University. He also has a Doctorate from Bradford University and from the Plekhanov University of Economics in Moscow. He has extensive industrial experience, including a number of years as Marketing and Sales Director of Canada Dry. Until the end of 2012, he spent seven years as Chairman of Brand Finance plc.

FEATURE - FISK

Are you ready to change the world in 2014? Peter Fisk, in a preview of his forthcoming book “Gamechangers” looks at the world ahead in 2014, the trends and themes that will shape markets, the new opportunities for marketers to drive more disruptive innovation and profitable growth.

e live in the most incredible time. These are days of exponential change. We are now in the middle of a decade when the global population is growing faster than it ever has or will, and when technology fuels unimaginable possibilities from 3D PETER FISK printed organs to driverless cars. We see power shifting from west to east, north to south, business to customer, and few to many. We see youthful passion outwit venerable experience, and small companies topple the big ones. The question is, are you riding these waves of change … or hanging onto the past? Between 2010 and 2020, the world’s population will grow from 6.9 to 7.7 billion people, mostly in megacities of the fast-developing world. Most significant for marketers will be the rise of a huge “new middle” consumer class, neither rich nor poor, driving global GDP from $53 to $90 trillion. But this growth, of which we are now in the midst, is not a linear extrapolation of the old world. It is a fantastic “kaleidoscope” of changing markets, new customers and priorities, new capabilities and aspirations. A tectonic mash up. The turmoil of financial markets, collapsing banks and defaulting nations, was the dying pains of an old world order. Amidst the shake-up there are new winners and losers. In 2014 China’s real GDP growth will be 7.1% compared to 0.9% in Europe. However some markets, including Ghana and Nigeria, Brazil and Colombia,

“When considering the challenges for business in 2014 - the biggest is the shake-up of markets banking to healthcare, entertainment and travel – and who is doing it.” 29

Indonesia and Vietnam will grow even faster. As Samsung launches its smart watch and Beijing is recognised as the world’s leading city for renewable energies, we realise that the best ideas in business are shifting rapidly. No longer are these emerging (wrong word, I know!) markets the source of low-cost supplies, and low-budget consumers. They have youth, education, disposable income, fast growth and ambition on their side too. More than half the world live inside a circle based 106.6° E, 26.6° N, and within 4100km of Guiyang, Guizhou Province, in southwest China. 55% of all products are now made in more than

“In 2014 China’s real GDP growth will be 7.1% compared to 0.9% in Europe. However some markets, including Ghana and Nigeria, Brazil and Colombia, Indonesia and Vietnam will grow even faster.” 30

one country, and around 20% of services too. 24% of the world’s adults have a smartphone, typically checking it 150 times per day, spending 141 minutes on it. 70% of people think small companies understand them better than large, 55% trust businesses to do the right thing, but only 15% trust business leaders to tell the truth. The majority of the world’s business value is now privately owned. Over 40% of companies in the Fortune 500 in 2000 were not there in 2010, and 70% of those in the 1000. And so on. It is a period of awesomeness, of opportunities limited only by our imagination. A world where impossible dreams can now come true. When considering the challenges for business in 2014 - and in particular marketers - it would be easy to state the obvious. Everyone talks about the power of big data, the next evolution of social media, collaborative consumption and how “millennials” are different. This is all true, and part of the kaleidoscope. But the biggest changes are the shake-up of markets - banking to healthcare, entertainment and travel – and who is doing it. From Alibaba to ZaoZao, Ashmei to Zidisha, Azuri and Zipars, a new generation of businesses are rising out of the maelstrom of economic and technological change across our world. These are just a few of the companies who are shaking up our world. Over the last 12 months I have completed a huge research project to find the 100 brands who are changing our world, and how they do it. Gamechangers “Gamechangers” are the next generation brands and business,

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“explore what these incredible companies are doing. How are they changing their markets, playing a different game?” disruptive and innovative, start-ups and corporates, in every sector and region, reshaping our world. This is the title of my new book to be published in early 2014, and you can already explore the list of brands at Gamechangers.pro. This new breed of business are more ambitious, with stretching vision and enlightened purpose. They see markets as kaleidoscopes of infinite possibilities, assembling and defining them to their advantage. Most of all they have great ideas. They out-think their competition, thinking bigger and different. They don’t believe in being slightly cheaper or slightly better: that is a short-term game of diminishing returns. Gamechangers capture their big ideas in more inspiring brands that resonate with their target audiences at the right time and place, enabled by data and technology, but most of all by rich human experiences. Social networks drive reach and richness, whilst new business models make the possible profitable. They collaborate with customers, and partner with other business, fusing ideas and utilising their capabilities. They look beyond the sale to enable customers to achieve more, they care about their impact on people and the world. Ultimately they want to create a better world. So rather than list a set of trends for the year ahead, I’d encourage you to explore what these incredible companies are doing. How are they changing their markets, playing a different game? And what could you learn from them, to seize your opportunity in the midst of this “decade of awesomeness” too? 23andMe The DNA profiling business founded by Anne Wojcicki in San Jose went mainstream in 2013, reducing its prices from $999 to $99 and launching TV advertising. Simple “spit tests by mail” enable 23andMe to analyse your genetic profile, identifying everything from ancestry to future health conditions. Initial ads featured Mohammed Ali, and his fight against Parkinson’s, more recent versions have focused on the US obsession of family history. Angelina Jolie’s mastectomy gave the business huge publicity, whilst the business model behind the price cuts is all about building

a huge DNA database that can change the way pharma companies develop drugs, and insurance companies evaluate life risks. For marketers, the interesting lesson is how to engage consumers in new technologies, as well as rethinking business models and their potential through partners. In 2014 … marketers need to work harder at applying the potential of new technologies in more human ways, building brands that ultimately make life better. Google X

Whilst media attention has been on Google Glass, the augmented reality headsets, the real story is about how the search business is transforming many industries at its secret “Google X” labs. “Moonshot thinking,” as chief scientist Astro Teller calls it, is about making impossible dreams happen. X’s largest project is actually for driverless cars, the innovation that Sergey Brin says is most exciting of all. This is a great example of companies “thinking bigger”, searching for more significant and disruptive ideas that create new markets rather than just evolving existing products, and tweaking price and positioning within existing markets. For marketers the lesson is about stretching imagination, becoming the futurists of their business, which ultimately will change perceptions of a business for investors, whilst inspiring customers and employees alike. In 2014 … marketers need to think bigger about their next opportunities. As Google says “why seek to improve by 10% when you could do things 10 x better”. That’s far more inspiring. Li and Fung The 107 year old Hong Kong-based company entered its 40th country this year, creating “sourcing hubs” around the world supported by its 300 offices. For the first century, the business was a low cost manufacturer of clothing, but then rising standards of living made a low cost

base impossible. So Li and Fung become a “network sourcing” business that connects companies (entrepreneurs and corporations) with everything they need to make their creative ideas happen. Li and Fung will find you the best investor, designer, manufacturer, distributor, merchandiser, accountant – whatever you need to be successful. 40% of the world’s clothing is now enabled by Li and Fung’s networks. For marketers this is a great example of the big global trend towards “ideas and networks” companies being the most successful – working in new types of partnerships that are creative, global and agile. In 2014 … “ideas and networks” businesses will give marketers the infrastructure to extend their brands into new geographies and categories at less risk and more speed. It’s limited only by your imagination. Organova

The world’s leading artificial organ business this year created a 3D-printed heart. Whilst the synthetic production of muscle tissues is becoming well established, moving to core organs which would otherwise require transplants has a fundamental impact on ethics and healthcare. 3D printing still seems like a gimmick, a step up from Play-doh, but it is revolutionising many industries. Another example this year is the Urbee 3D-printed car, which can be manufactured on location, saving huge amounts of time and expense in logistics and stock. For marketers this is about thinking different, applying new technology to different aspects of your business, to reduce costs and time, and thereby enable better solutions, and more local propositions. In 2014 … marketers will embrace 3d printing as a platform for offering hyper-personalised, fast and local products in every category.

“Gamechangers are the next generation brands and business, startups and corporates, in every sector and region, reshaping our world.” Pebble The Pebble smartwatch was launched this year, with more fanfare, and more demand, than the Samsung Gear which arrived a few months later. Pebble started as a Kickstarter project with a goal to crowd-fund $100k … but exceeded that target, raising over $10 million. Co-funders are now receiving their watches, which can also be bought through retailers for $149. The watch connects with both iOS and Android phones, notifying its wearer of calls, texts, emails, calendar events and social media activity. Whilst it has been praised for its stylish design, easy connections, and long battery life, users have been frustrated by the limited apps so far available. In many ways it is part of a new alert-device category, alongside the likes of FitBit, Jawbone and Nike Fuel. The big lesson for marketing lies in the potential of crowds in pre-launching new products, whilst also in defining new categories which sit in the gap, or on the bridge, between others. In 2014 … marketers will move to the next level in customer collaboration, co-funding, co-designing, co-building, co-marketing, co-supporting and co-rewarding. Apple

FEATURE - FISK

2013 has been a year of questions for some Apple fans: whether Tim Cook can sustain the incredible growth of the Cupercino circus, and uncertainty over the refreshed iOS7 design from Jonathan Ive. In other ways, Apple has made more impact than ever. Most significantly, the iPad has become the platform for a multitude of adapted business activities, enabling everyone from airline crew to hospital doctors to change the way they work, faster and cheaper, smarter and more human. The iPad Mini for example has been a revelation to doctors who can now slip it into their white coats and have all the information they ever need about patients, conditions and medication, instantly at the patient’s bedside. For marketers this is an example of the benefit in working through the niche applications of products to transform different customer experiences. In 2014 … marketers will need to recapture their thirst for disruptive innovations, realising that derivative price-point thinking is a danger to their brands, like it is to Apple. Think bigger and bolder. ARM

“In 2014 marketers will embrace 3d printing as a platform for offering hyper-personalised, fast and local products in every category.” they do uniquely, and how they can monetise this in more effective ways. Partnerships become ever more important in connecting the right ideas with global markets. P&G The consumer goods giant had lost its way trying to embrace the digital world with soap and cosmetics. AG Lafley returned as CEO and his first action was a letter to all staff reminding them of what matters most – the consumer. The simplicity of his obsession saw a tripling of P&G’s market value in his previous decade as CEO, and whilst it doesn’t mean the consumer is always right, it does mean that taking a consumer rather than product perspective is the foundation of more relevant marketing, and successful innovation. His letter to employees is a fabulous reminder of what matters most to marketers, inside P&G and everywhere else too. In 2014 … marketers everywhere should remember that despite the dazzling technologies and accelerating innovations, customers (or consumers) are still “the boss”. Nike

Cambridge-based designer of microprocessor has long been the arch rival of Intel. ARM’s business model is about designing the patterns and then outsourcing the manufacturing, rather than actually making the chips like Intel. This means ARM can work more globally and flexibly with many more partners and can be faster to respond to new trends. ARM’s low-energy products are more suited to small devices like smartphones and tablets, whereas Intel has focused on larger computers. The small and smarter trend in smartphones, watches and tablets favours ARM. This year the British company exceeded the sales of its big rival for the first time. In 2014 … marketers will need to think mobile first, thinking “so-lo-mo” and embracing data more powerfully. They also need to become ever more IP savvy, understanding what it really is that

CEO Mark Parker is a marketer, and an example of the trend towards more business leaders coming from a background that is creative and consumer orientated. Whilst Nike celebrated 25 years of its “Just do it” slogan this year, Parker reiterated his belief that the business is not about shoes and clothing, but about what it enables its consumers to do. Just like Phil Knight said from Nike’s founding, on every tag inside the shoe, Nike is dedicated to delivering your best performance, be that running a faster marathon, a more enjoyable gym workout, monitoring your fitness level with Nike Fuel, or sharing experiences with Nike+ devices and software. For marketers, it is about brands defining the consumer’s aspirations, extending for beyond a product-centred core. In 2014 … marketers need to add value beyond their core – additional products and services that enable customers to achieve more. They will also become ever more influential in business, driving creative and customer thinking, but also becoming the most likely CEOs.

“In 2014 marketers everywhere should remember that despite the dazzling technologies and accelerating innovations, customers (or consumers) are still the boss.” RedBull Last year it was about space jumps, with the Stratos Project, this year Red Bull Media House moved to the heart of the business, with CEO Dietmar Mateshitz pronouncing that Red Bull is firstly “a media brand that currently makes drinks”. A little like Nike, this reflects brands refocusing around consumers, their aspirations and experiences, rather than being a label of a company or product. It also reflects a growing trend for marketers to take their core creative process in-house. In an ideas world, no longer can they afford to outsource their creativity to agencies, Red Bull recognised that ideas are their core asset which they need to nurture and grow.

In 2014 … marketers need to rethink their agency relationships. Ad agencies are no longer top dogs, but neither is any other media. Marketers need to take a lead in creative thinking, and more integrated media planning and execution. Oreo

The most publicised marketing event of the year, was Oreo’s quick thinking “You can still dunk in the dark” tweet in response to the Superbowl power cut. Whilst it demonstrated that marketers need to be much more “real time” and agile in their creativity and communications, it was also quite obvious. Perhaps more significant is creating the conditions, empowered and ready, for marketers to be able to make fast decisions like this without sign-off, or long internal processes. In 2014 … real-time marketing will become the central day-today activity of marketers, connecting with current topics and realtime events, being fast and spontaneous, creating dialogues rather than pushing planned campaigns. This isn’t just about Facebook and Twitter, nor about viral gimmicks, it’s about fundamentally changing when, where and how brands engage with people in their lives.

“Marketers need to add value beyond their core – additional products and services that enable customers to achieve more.”

FEATURE - FISK

Nokia 2013 saw Microsoft purchase Nokia’s mobile device business, but what was interesting is that this is the company who had transformed itself so many times before – from being Finland’s largest forestry company, to being the leading shipbuilder, it grasped the opportunity of mobile tech. But then it let in a generation of people who were blinkered by scale and success, and lost the ability to keep changing. In 2014 … marketers need to be ever more agile, questioning everything from what market they are really in, to who their competition actually is. The answers may be unconventional, but also stimulating. Xiaomi

The Chinese Apple-imitator is growing like wildfire in Asia, fuelled by the “Steve Jobs like” on-stage antics of its CEO Lei Jen, wowing the crowd in jeans and turtle neck, with rock music and magical words. Whilst it benefits from the protectionism of its government, Xiaomi can ride a huge wave of growth as Chinese open their eyes to consumerism with new aspiration and wealth. By securing preferential deals with Chinese parts manufacturers, it also has the potential to eventually outplay Apple. In 2014 … marketers need to look east not west, for new customers and competitors, but also inspiration. Gone are the heroworshipping days of Made in USA. Whilst emerging markets have emerged, and are growing fast, we should also focus on doing more for the key markets of young and old, women and urban, ethnic and poor. To Sum Up These are just a few of the brands who are moving from the margins into a new mainstream, shaking up markets in their own vision, with reverberations felt across the world. Marketing is changing too, enabling and responding to all this change. What is most exciting for marketers is that we are the change

makers. We understand the outside world better than anyone else, and therefore the people best able to see the future, and to engage the whole business in making it happen. It’s time for marketers to harness the power of brands to make the world a better place, applying insight and imagination to create better ideas, embracing networks to reach new audiences with new partners, aligning the organisation internally, and becoming the driving force of disruptive innovation and accelerating growth. We live in a time of awesomeness. An incredible time to be a marketer. Peter Fisk’s new book “Gamechangers: Are you ready to change the world?” will be published by Wiley in early 2014. Peter will be providing further extracts of the book, and exploring more of the innovative companies who are rethinking marketing and shaking up the world. To get latest updates and explore the full list of 100 next generation brands go to Gamechangers.pro.

“marketers need to think bigger about their next opportunities. As Google says “why seek to improve by 10% when you could do things 10 x better”. That’s far more inspiring.”

Peter Fisk was the transforming CEO of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the world’s largest marketing organisation. He led the strategic marketing consulting team of PA Consulting Group, was MD of Brand Finance and partner of The Foundation, before founding his own business, the Genius Works. Peter Fisk’s new book “Gamechangers: Are you ready to change the world?” will be published by Wiley in early 2014.

Immaterial Products Andrew Hatcher, Tutor and Fellow at Cambridge Marketing Colleges, provides a summary of some of the key issues facing marketers engaged in the marketing of services. Using examples from the recently published Service Marketing Handbook Andrew reflects on how marketers need to be particularly conscious of two key issues - the moment of truth and the zone of tolerance - in order to establish and maintain customer satisfaction.

arketing has always had its detractors, especially those that have been brought up with a world full of bricks and mortar and nuts and bolts. To many of them marketing appears ephemeral, intangible, unmeasurable and therefore of questionable value. ANDREW HATCHER In response, educators and practitioners have all tried to define the role and ultimate value of marketing. The perfume industry, for example, valiantly demonstrates that the cost of producing the liquid inside a bottle of Chanel is the same as (or potentially less than) that of producing a more mundane offering, yet the price can be set at a significant multiple when presented to the consumer; the entertainment world flexes its muscles showing how it can turn talent-starved young people into global cash generating machines. Marketing, therefore, must be the magic that turns mundane into desirable, turns talent into money and turns the intangible into tangible. Despite the evidence, clearly not everyone is convinced that there is value in marrying the magical intangibility of marketing with the mystical intangibility of services. It can sometimes feel a little like staring down both barrels of the marketing cynicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shotgun.

Technology and Services It is interesting to think then that if you are now in the early majority, you may well be reading this article on an electronic device, and for that the planet thanks you, but that action alone neatly illustrates one of the key factors in the new equilibrium. No longer do you need to carry the physical product, only the means to read it. No longer do you walk into physical premises to buy the product, you enter the store online using your Facebook ID. The rise of the availability and importance of services has driven (or perhaps been driven by) the equally dramatic rise in the availability and quality of technology. This has, in many cases, handed the power in purchasing transactions almost completely over to the consumer who, with relatively little effort, can exhaustively research and evaluate any potential purchase options in advance of actually parting with her or his money. It has also created a situation where the buyer has become harder to access. Technology has enabled consumers to avoid TV ads, banner ad click throughs now are reported to be less than 0.1%, and you can pretty much get all the information you need on any

The Services Marketing Triangle ORGANISATION

In Ma tern a rk et l ing

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“No longer do you walk into physical premises to buy the product, you enter the store online using your Facebook ID.”

carries the most risk as it is the most tangible for the customer and on its own can determine their level of satisfaction with the purchase they are involved in.

TECHNOLOGY

STAFF Going Backwards to go Forwards It can be instructive to go back to basics to work out the way forward for services, and although the world of marketing is constantly changing and progressing, there remain a few key and persistent concepts which need to be understood to address the subject fully. One of these concepts is that there is a specific set of unique characteristics and challenges that are encountered when working with the marketing of services. These characteristics drive the delivery of that marketing to be more sharply focused on the effectiveness of communication between the four main constituents in the process which are the Company, its Employees, its Customers and the Technology ‘glue’ that in many cases holds them all together and which can be captured in the Services Marketing Triangle. The separate elements consist of: • External marketing – sometimes referred to as the marketing that ‘Sets the Promise’ to the customer by initially engaging them and then by informing them about what is on offer by expressing the proposition, its positioning and pricing. • Internal marketing – sometimes referred to as the marketing that ‘Enables the Promise’ to the employee group that is engaged in the delivery of the service. This type of marketing includes elements of training, teamwork and other information and knowledge that allows the employee to adequately provide the service as defined to the customer. • Interactive marketing – sometimes referred to as the marketing that ‘Delivers the Promise’ and is more often concerned with the physical interaction between the employee and the customer usually at the point of delivery of the service. This marketing

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product or service from others that have bought before you rather than from the entity selling it. This all works very well if you are buying something that has dimensions, technical data and mass, but it works less well in the world of services where the parameters that define the offering can often only really be measured and evaluated at ‘the moment of truth’ - the point at which the service is delivered and experienced and where customer satisfaction is either created or destroyed.

CUSTOMERS Interactive Marketing

At the centre of the triangle lies Technology, the glue that creates the opportunity to enable each of the three types of marketing. Technology at one extreme can replace the need for a customer to be present throughout the transaction (insurance, banking, travel) but can also assist at all other stages of the process including engaging the client with the Promise through electronic media; enabling the Promise with communication and training through video, email and intranet services to employees; and to some extent assisting with delivery of the Promise at the point of client interaction (queuing systems, ordering consoles). Technology may also reduce the cost of all types of marketing enabling the other three elements of the Promise to be implemented more efficiently and at a lower cost. Pick and Mix The 4Ps of marketing were first coined in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy from Michigan State University and have been used in a more or less unaltered form since the idea’s inception. It was only by the early 1980s that it had become clear that the 4Ps had their limitations not just because they were restricted in their ability to deliver marketing management for ever more complex products, but more importantly because they really struggled to work as a framework for the comprehensive marketing of services. It was then that the 3 extra Ps were introduced and which then and even now still causes some confusion.

People – weren’t they involved in selling products before? Why weren’t they considered part of the marketing mix previously? • Process – perhaps more acceptable as having a service bias but to think that processes are not important for all customer interactions seems to be an oversight. • Physical Evidence - every product sale was surrounded by physical evidence so why now is it suddenly more important? The key thing here is not just that of course they were all important before, but that they become much more important when services are being bought or sold due to the need to make the intangible tangible. The extended mix is not the end of the services marketing road – you can read the whole book for the rest of the story – but for me there are two key issues that stand out from the rest when it comes to the service marketer’s dilemma and which I believe they have to take most seriously. These are the concepts of The Moment of Truth and The Zone of Tolerance which both apply to product situations but which have extra significance in the services arena. The Moment of Truth All of the theorising about expectation and perceptions counts for nothing when the moment of truth arrives – the point at which the service is experienced. It is at that crucial point when the customer actually decides whether they are satisfied or not and consequently whether they will come back or stay away, whether they will speak favourably or unfavourably of the experience at the dinner table, and ultimately whether they decide to give you any of their money ever again. More worryingly for marketers is that smaller Moments of Truth can occur at any point in the service delivery landscape (the Servicescape) not just at the point of the main service delivery. It could be the phone call through to the booking agent, the beautician applying the face pack, the meeting with a bank manager to discuss a business loan or the person dealing with the delay to all services because of bad weather. In all instances the opportunity is either taken or lost to provide satisfactory service, and with that the chance to either create loyalty

“People – weren’t they involved in selling products before? Why weren’t they considered part of the marketing mix previously?” 38

and trust or to generate bad feeling and a sense of disappointment. The challenge of intangibility means that service providers and their marketers have to spend more time on designing the service delivery as this will enable them to identify all the service encounter moments, to determine which of those are most important to delivering quality and satisfaction, and consequently applying time and resources to those with greatest impact. The Zone of Tolerance The other main issue I see that is so often ignored by service marketers is the customer’s Zone of Tolerance. If we have a fair understanding of how customers go through the buying process of a service and also have a good awareness of the range of factors that will affect them as they pass from realising a need to evaluating what happened after the service delivery is complete, we stand a reasonable chance of designing a service that can meet customer requirements. It is important, however, to take into account that how ever well we design the services, different customers will have a range of expectations about what they will receive from the same service. Many of these expectations are difficult to discover in advance and even harder to control during the buying process. The challenge for marketers is to balance the equation between what the customer expects and their perception of what they actually receive. The potential difference between expectations and perception is perhaps a simple definition of customer satisfaction. If they are met and the equation balances, the customer is happy – if the perception falls below expectation then they are likely to be unhappy and, of course, if the perception rises above expectation we have achieved true success. The Zone of Tolerance

Higher Importance Lower Importance Factors Factors

•

Desired Service

Zone of Acceptable Service Tolerance

Desired Service

Zone of Acceptable Service Tolerance

Level of Expectation

A physician goes to visit a sick person, observes the symptoms of disease, prescribes a remedy, and takes his leave without depositing any product, that the invalid or his family can transfer to a third person, or even keep for the consumption of a future day. Has the industry of the physician been unproductive? Who can for a moment suppose so? The patient’s life has been saved perhaps. Was this product incapable of becoming an object of barter? By no means: the physician’s advice has been exchanged for his fee; but the want of this advice ceased the moment it was given. The act of giving was its production, of hearing its consumption, and the consumption and production were simultaneous. This is what I call an immaterial product. Jean Baptiste Say - A Treatise on Political Economy 1803.

“smaller Moments of Truth can occur at any point in the service delivery landscape not just at the point of the main service delivery.”

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In every service delivery context each customer will have two definable points on a spectrum of happiness which the service provider can make an approximation of before the service delivery takes place. These points are: • Desired service level – this is the upper (but not the maximum) point in the range of expectations and is a personal definition of what the customer actually hopes to receive from the service. This level may be determined by a range of factors including personal recommendations, targeted marketing messages and experience and, if it is met, the customer in most cases will depart happy. • Adequate service – this is the level at which the customer believes the service delivered is not as good as they had hoped for but is still acceptable when compared to their expectations. This level is crucial to understand because, immediately the quality of service falls below this point and out of what is called the Zone of Tolerance, the customer will leave dissatisfied. If we look at this concept in more detail it becomes clear that this Zone of Tolerance is not necessarily the same for all aspects of the service delivery, especially if that delivery is made up of a combination of distinctly different delivery parts. In a health care context, for example, customers may be more tolerant of a lower level of cleanliness in the reception area and less so of the same in the consulting room where their Zone of Tolerance is narrower and expectations generally higher.

Services Rock So as long as service marketers are aware of how the marketing triangle operates in their context, have used the extended marketing mix appropriately, identified and managed the major and minor Moments of Truth and kept the customer happily within the Zone of Tolerance they should be able to stare down both barrels with confidence and reason. Luckily, in the end, it is the figures that come to the emotional rescue of the pessimistic services marketer. Income and tax receipts tell the tangible end to the intangible story and perhaps no more obviously than in the city of London - nominally the world’s new capital of money. The 2012 PwC report entitled ‘The Total Tax Contribution of UK Financial Services’ estimated in 2012 that total tax receipts from the financial services sector reached £63bn or 11.6% of total UK tax receipts while only employing 3.8% of the UK workforce – enough to pay for a year’s worth of transport (£22bn) and defence (£39bn) and still have some change.

Andrew is the Managing Director of The Applied Knowledge Network Ltd which develops new approaches to strategic planning and implementation through software and training. Previously, he was VP of New Ventures at Reuters in New York and worked as part of the company’s highly successful Greenhouse corporate venture capital group. After a period in Singapore establishing a spinout online seafood trading company, he returned to the UK where he has since been involved in the creation of a number of new businesses including Investing for Good (Social Investment) and the Working Knowledge Group (Enterprise Training). Andrew was educated initially as a Mechanical Engineer and then later in business with an MBA in International Business from Cass Business School. He is the author of “Inventuring - Why Big Companies Must Think Small” (McGraw Hill, Mar 2003) Andrew Hatcher’s latest book, ‘Cambridge Marketing Handbook: Services’, offers a fresh perspective on the world of services marketing, examining the transition from the information age to the Age of Awareness and what this means for the marketing of services.

Essential Law Advice for Marketers Kiran Kapur, Tutor and Fellow at Cambridge Marketing Colleges, provides advice on legal issues that marketers need to be aware of for their marketing communications.

he Marketing College has recently published a series of 10 Handbooks on different aspects of Marketing. One of these covered Marketing Communications and the Law. A key aspect of any marketer’s work is to ensure that they are up-to-date with legal changes. Here is a checklist taken from the Handbook of places where marketers can find ‘easy to follow’ information:

Trading Standards websites Trading Standards in local areas of the UK have their own websites. These are often a good source of accessible and clear information about aspects of trading regulations.

Government advice Set up by the government, this website gives simple, clear explanations for a range of business issues in plain English. It claims to be “simpler, clearer, faster” and actually is! Thoroughly recommended for checking up on legislation. Go to: https://www. gov.uk/browse/business

Individual legal advice If you have a specific legal problem, you should consult a lawyer. Remember that many professional membership bodies offer legal advice. Members of the Chartered Institute of Marketing have access to free legal advice via its Legal Helpline.

ERWIN (Everything Regulation, Whenever It’s Needed) This is a one-stop web site for all Trading Standards, Environmental Health, Licensing and Fire Safety business related information across England and Wales. It is designed to provide regulatory services information in an innovative way that is accessible and useful for businesses. Go to: http://www.everythingregulation.org.uk

Marketing and the Law Marketing and the Law by Kiran Kapur (2013), published by Kogan Page. Written by a practising marketer and Fellow of the College, this is written with a practical view of legal issues that marketers need to be aware of for their marketing communications. Colloquial language, flow charts and comparison tables plus examples and advice for further information are included in a book written by a marketer for marketers.

Guru in a Bottle Essential Law for Marketers by Ardi Kolah (2013) published by Kogan Page. Ardi Kolah is a lawyer who understands marketing. His latest edition in the ‘Guru in a Bottle’ series is a comprehensive review of marketing law for marketers. CAP Copy Advice Team Free of charge advice on advertisements. The team will look at ideas, concepts, imagery and copy for your advertisements and claim to offer fast and confidential advice. Go to: http://www.cap.org.uk/ Advice-Training-on-the-rules/Bespoke-Copy-Advice.aspx CHECK,the Children’s Ethical Communications Kit If you are marketing to children, CHECK is an essential read. Clearly and simply written, it contains rules, legislation and guidance about marketing and communicating to children. CHECK is an Advertising Association initiative, in partnership with Turner Media Innovations and is developed with the help of the entire advertising industry. Go to: http://www.check.uk.com

KIRAN KAPUR

“A key aspect of any marketer’s work is to ensure that they are up-to-date with legal changes.” Kiran has worked predominately in Financial Services with expertise in customer relationship marketing and customer communications. As a consultant, she has worked as project manager for companies including Liverpool Victoria, Barclays, London Life and Cazenove. Kiran has taught a wide variety of courses at the College in Cambridge since 1999 and is the Distance Learning & Overseas Course Director, and a CIM examiner.

Cambridge Marketing College has teamed up with Quirk marketing agency of Cape Town to offer specialist short online courses on key digital marketing topics. Quirk is one of the leading international agencies in digital media with a considerable reputation in online education and training.

• Online Course in Digital Marketing • Digital Paid Media • Digital Paid Media 2: Campaign Management • Social Media 1 Foundations • Social Media 2 Application to Business Challenges • Digital PR • Writing for Digital For more informaiton about these courses please scan the QR code. 41

Social Selling and the Role of the Marketer According to McKinsey, consumers make a decision journey when considering a purchase. This journey follows initial consideration, active evaluation, closure, and post purchase experience. Social selling is the use of social media-related tools and techniques to find, engage, educate and convert leads into customers. This article looks at that journey from the perspective of social selling and where and how the marketer can provide support and information along the way.

here are a number of variations on the definition of social selling, but for the sake of discussion let us define it as the use of social media-related tools and techniques to find, engage, educate and convert leads into customers. According to McKinsey, consumers andrew jenkins make a decision journey when considering a purchase. This journey follows initial consideration, active evaluation, closure, and post purchase experience. Let’s look at that journey from the perspective of social selling and where and how the marketer can provide support and information along the way.

Initial Consideration During the initial consideration phase, awareness is extremely important. In this instance, awareness is actually two-sided: on one side the marketers need to become aware of customers expressing interests or needs that their product or service can address, and on the other side buyers can become aware of the marketer’s product or service through search engine optimisation, advertising, word-ofmouth and other forms of digital and traditional marketing. Let’s go back to the part about the marketer becoming aware of customers expressing interests or needs relevant to the seller. Before social media, conversations amongst friends—over coffee, over a neighbour’s fence—started and stopped with the people having the conversation. Now, marketers can proactively monitor and discover conversations that inform brand reputation, product and service design, customer service and sales. Image 2: Social Mention Of Purchase Intent

In many organisations, sales rely on marketing for leads. Regardless of whether they are talking about B2B or B2C, customers are identifying themselves, their interests, their needs and their preferences. Marketers now have the luxury of gathering actionable insights through social media monitoring, and not just from Facebook

Exhibit from “The consumer decision journey,” June 2009, McKinsey Quarterly, www.mckinsey.com/insights/mckinsey_quarterly. McKinsey & Company. Reprinted by permission.

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The consumer considers an initial set of brands, based on brand perceptions and exposure to recent touchpoints.

Initial consideration set

Active evaluation Information gathering shopping

Consumers add or subtract brands as they evaluate what they want.

loyalty loop

Moment of purchase

The consumer decision journey

Trigger

After purchasing a product or service, the consumer builds expectations based on experience to inform their next decision journey.

Postpurchase experience Ongoing exposure

and Twitter. Questions and comments can be found on discussion forums, bulletin boards, YouTube video comments, Quora and LinkedIn groups, to name a few. With a bit of effort, there is a vast amount of valuable insights to be derived from monitoring. Not only can a marketer find out who is asking the question and what the question is about, but who provides answers and has stature as an influencer because of the help they provide. Active Evaluation In the beginning, social media was the domain of marketing, PR and communications, and with that came an emphasis on brand reputation and sentiment. Consumer familiarity with a brand and its products forms the basis for sentiment and their perspective on the brand’s reputation. While it is important to monitor and measure brand sentiment, this is not something that people can affect in the short term. It can really only be affected over time and through consistent effort. For example, if a brand discovered that brand sentiment had declined because of a recent product introduction that had some problems, it is important to know that the brand had been negatively affected. However, any action taken by the brand is not very likely to reverse the decline overnight. The brand will have to implement a number of initiatives, including possible product returns and exchanges as well as proactive communications efforts to inform people of the measures being taken to address the issue. It is those measures that will help to reverse the decline in sentiment over time. That is why customer service and ongoing monitoring are critical for brands in the social media space, because strength in those areas means that sentiment and brand reputation

Ultimately the consumer selects a brand at the moment of purchase.

are more likely to be under control, and risks are being mitigated by the ongoing management and oversight. As monitoring and oversight have evolved, marketers have realised that there is more data to be uncovered from their efforts. Now, the joys and frustrations experienced by existing customers and the subtle or overt intentions of potential customers during their evaluation are becoming evident. Marketers can use that information to ensure a positive evaluation experience and influence the purchase decision. Telecom companies illustrate this phenomenon very well. Increasingly, people are expressing their frustration or satisfaction with their particular cellphone provider, and smart companies are responding by phone, email and social media. Beyond those efforts, companies are also listening for customers expressing their frustration with a competitor and extending a helping hand for the purposes of stealing the customer away. Furthermore, consumers are asking their social networks about cellular plans and specific models of phones in order to make a more informed decision. Again, marketers can help here with the provision of information about plans and models delivered proactively—and hopefully in such a way as to stand out in the eyes of the consumer and therefore increase the likelihood of a purchase. It used to be in the automotive industry that only the seller knew the true cost of the cars being sold and the amount of room available to negotiate. Sellers were in a position of power. This was before the Internet, when the seller was the most informed party in any given transaction. Sellers held nearly all the cards and nearly all the information. Buyers had to take sellers at their word and work a lot harder to

“If marketers help their companies become content-producing juggernauts, they have an opportunity to establish and maintain a leading market position.” get second opinions and recommendations from friends and family. There were no online reviews. Whitepapers, eBooks, webinars and analyst reports did not exist. Well, now the power has shifted to the buyer. They are taking longer to make purchase decisions, collecting larger amounts of information to help those decisions, and engaging salespeople much later in the purchase cycle, if at all. Buyers are reading reviews, product comparisons, case studies, whitepapers and eBooks, as well as listening to webinars and the opinions of trusted influencers such as friends, family, colleagues or industry experts. Buyers enter into a purchase discussion probably knowing the cost paid for the goods, how the prices compare to competitors’, and what other buyers have paid recently for the same goods or services. In many ways, marketers made buyers so informed that they need to continue to do so in order to familiarise consumers with what they offer, and then ultimately encourage consumers to consider their product or service over other alternatives. Marketers must continue to produce all of that content as ammunition for salespeople, as comparative analysis for consumers to digest, and as a differentiator in relation to their competitors. If marketers help their companies become content-producing juggernauts, they have an opportunity to establish and maintain a leading market position. In the insurance and financial services sectors, marketers play a critical role in generating content to inform purchasers. Because of the nature of the business environment of insurance and financial services, marketers need to create content that informs and engages while still adhering to regulatory and compliance requirements. This helps salespeople in the space because they can draw from a repository of preapproved content and share it with their current and prospective clients. Furthermore, the real-time nature of social media has led to the need for solutions like Hearsay Social that enable compliant interactions between people such as

insurance agents and their clients. These solutions are designed to monitor, capture and archive social (i.e. electronic) communication, and often it involves marketing because these solutions house the content they have developed and have had approved. Closure As consumers make purchase decisions, they are increasingly sharing those decisions socially. Savvy marketers are picking up on that. They are acknowledging the sharing and adding their own amplification. Who would not want to take advantage of people going out of their way to announce on YouTube the new car they bought or the new electronic device they are unboxing? Just search “unboxing” and “haul” on YouTube and you will see how many people are proactively sharing their purchases, and some are rewarded for it through advertising and sponsorship—more opportunities for marketers. Companies have the opportunity to celebrate their customers when they decide to make a new or repeat purchase. Car dealerships share pictures of customers picking up their new car and being welcomed into their family of customers. Restaurants can thank people for their patronage, especially if they discover that customers have checked in on Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare or have left a review on a site like Yelp. With a purchase, the consumer is nearing the end of the journey and their story arc is coming to a close. Marketers can be contributing authors to that story. They can share the consumer’s journey to help consumers that follow later. Marketers can talk about what the consumer did, who they talked to, where they did their research, what competing products or companies they looked at, and what ultimately caused them to decide in favour of the product or company they chose. This could take the form of a testimonial video, a blog post or some other type of digital, shareable asset that the marketer can hopefully use many times over. Post purchase Experience So now the prospect has become a customer, but keeping them as a customer means marketers will have to continue to engage them. In the case of a restaurant, the strength of a customer’s loyalty depends on the quality of the food and/or the service of the last meal they had. If we are talking about mobile phones, then the user experience and touch points increase in number and complexity. For cars, the performance of the product and the experience within the service department can influence loyalty. As previously mentioned, active social media monitoring can help marketers capture a sense of customer satisfaction based on the discussions being had online and the comments and content being shared. The earlier examples of wireless customers complaining about being on hold for an eternity or an online experience being

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broken or less than smooth are important insights for marketers. One social media monitoring company shared a story of working with the CMO of a wireless company who, when faced with anecdotal data about higher call volumes in customer service due to a new programme poorly launched online, said, “Prove it.” Specific comments captured in social channels that identified the problem areas in the online signup for the new programme were all the proof they needed.

“Few people are picking up on this idea of rebalancing the power of information by learning as much about their buyer as they can.” The old ways of working with customers to maintain loyalty still apply, but more attention has to be paid to social media to inform what, if any, actions need to be taken to resolve issues, grow loyalty and convert customers to advocates. Companies like Vodafone and GiffGaff rely on their customers to support one another and, in the case of GiffGaff, find new customers. Both companies benefit from less of a support burden and GiffGaff is able to grow its customer base without the need to add unnecessary staff. Activities that support loyalty definitely deliver ROI. Social Selling and Free Information The early days of pursuing likes, followers, shares and engagement, while valuable, did not always produce the kinds of results companies sought. Increasingly, decision makers want to see closer alignment between business objectives and social media activities as well as more quantifiable outcomes. Social selling has been bantered about as a concept or as buzzwords for a few years now, but as more and more companies require tangible outcomes from their social media efforts, social selling is proving to be the chosen approach. It also serves as a compliment to traditional marketing and selling activities. Marketers can develop better profiles of prospects based on such things as their LinkedIn profile and on the social intelligence and insights that are publicly and readily available. That same information can be used to tailor the content used to engage and influence those prospects over the course of their decision journey. For example, most B2B salespeople have typically relied on

their existing Rolodex and augmented that with LinkedIn. Now, as marketers tasked with profiling prospects, wouldn’t they like to know the likes, dislikes and interests of prospects so they can do a better job of building rapport and trust between the company and the consumer? Of course they would, and some prospects are perfectly willing to help them through the things that they post and share. What if they had to contact a prospect and in advance they checked out their LinkedIn profile for mutual contacts, where they went to school, past roles, and some of the other typical profiling one does on LinkedIn? Then they went to Twitter to check out their activity. They discover that they attended an industry conference the previous week and shared quite a bit about their experiences there. They shared insights, who they met (with the added bonus of pictures), and who they wanted to meet. The marketer learned that they met the CEO of a business partner and an executive from a potential business partner. They also learned what insights they took away from the conference, which could inform how your conversation would progress. It would also help determine their current mindset and stage in their decision journey. The insights captured during the preparation for that call were based on free, readily available, public information that anyone can find if they are willing to look for it. And the information is not difficult to gather, either. Every salesperson and marketer has access to the information that buyers are sharing publicly in social channels, but so few people are picking up on this idea of rebalancing the power of information by learning as much about their buyer as they can while the buyer learns as much as they can about the company, product and/or service the marketer is promoting. By adopting a social selling mindset, marketers can identify buyers early, remain relevant to them by sharing valuable information over the course of their journey, and differentiate themselves from the competition based on how much they know about buyers. Now, if your competition didn’t bother to learn that kind of information, how differently will the buyer see you?

Andrew Jenkins leads strategy for ArCompany, a social business and social intelligence consultancy. Before ArCompany, he was the Head of Social Media Strategy for the Royal Bank of Canada. He has spent the last twenty years working in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) spanning social media, wireless and e-business. Over his career, Andrew has worked with a diverse list of companies throughout North America and Europe including the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts (NESTA).

Design for Business and Marketing Design is a powerful strategic tool that companies can use to gain competitive advantage; it can enhance products, communications and corporate identity. Yet design is often ignored or under utilised by many businesses. So how can design be used effectively? How can companies use the power of design to meet their objectives?

any people struggle to use design effectively in their business. They are uncertain about how to find appropriate professional designers, how to set up and manage a project and how to get the results they need. There is also unease about how much it will cost in SALLY BRAZIER time or money. Design has rarely formed a significant part of most business people’s education. The focus in education is on numeracy and literacy; art is often only for the ‘arty’ people. Design plays only a small part (or none whatsoever) in college and universities’, business or marketing curriculum. It is therefore no surprise that design is poorly utilised or ignored in business. After 17 years of assisting businesses to use design effectively, we have developed methods, tools and a process that work well. Design By design I mean the whole spectrum of design disciplines from product design through to the design of brand identities, website and communications, to premises (retail, offices, and production facilities). Increasingly it includes the less tangible areas of service and experience design. The 8 Ps of Design 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Plan Personality Product/Services Promotion Place Perception Price Profit

Based on a model created by Clive Steer Business Link Thames Valley in the 1990s. There are 4Ps which are the core design areas. The model starts with the need to have a Plan (or strategy) for all of those 4 Ps and ends with the objectives: Perception, Price and Profit. People buy based on their perception of a product or company not the reality. Their perception is based on their experience of the

Intellectual Property Rights; copyright, patents,trademarks.

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Design Strategy Plan Design Management Personality Company ID Brand Image Differentiation IPR Experience

Product/ Services Utility Quality Innovation IRP Packaging

Promotion

Place

Above/Below Line Differentiation Exhibitions Advertising Information

Premises Space Use Style Internet Website

Perception Price Profit

company; its Personality, reputation and difference; the Products and Services it sells; the Promotion (all types of communication) and the Place or premises, such as retail outlets, offices or virtual places on-line. Perception determines the Price that the customer is willing to pay and therefore the Profit that can be made. If you are not deliberately using design in all aspects of your business, it is unlikely that you are creating the perception you want to achieve. Using Design Strategically Back in 1984 Kotler said: “Design is a potent strategic tool that companies can use to gain competitive advantage. Yet most companies neglect design as a strategic tool. What they don’t realise is that good design can enhance products, environments, communications and corporate identity.” “As competition intensifies, design will offer one of the most potent ways to differentiate and position a company’s products and services.” This is even more relevant today as we are facing increased competition and economic uncertainty. Yet design is still widely neglected. Whether you are a senior manager in a company, a business owner or a marketing professional, it is important to know how to manage design well. Designing is best left to professionals with the necessary skills and experience; however it is the management of design that is critical and is something that should be part of your role. The process that we take a client through starts with business strategy. It is important to be clear about what the strategy is for the next 2-3 years (shorter in more volatile environments). From this stems a strategy for design, which addresses different areas of the 4Ps either collectively or each in turn. This may necessitate some specific design projects to meet the objectives of the company.

The Design Process Our approach to design projects starts with the development of an outline design brief, which we will come back to in a moment. After this, a shortlist of suitably qualified and experienced professional designers is identified. The selection process involves first sending the outline brief to the designers, then inviting them to meet the client to present their portfolio of work. The outline design brief enables them to choose relevant work to show and also to prepare any questions they have. Only after the client and the designer have met is the designer asked to put together a costed proposal. The client can then assess the designers from their meeting with them and seeing their work as well as comparing their proposals. From this information the client is looking to answer the following questions: can we work with them; will we get on with them; does the designer understand our business and the project; does the designer have the right capabilities and level of creativity required; what is the price? The latter is probably the least important and, if everything else is right, can be negotiated. We do not ask the designer to do any work (free pitching) before they have been appointed. This is because any designs would usually be based on too superficial an understanding to be of value. Once the designer is appointed we work with them to develop a detailed brief. The designer has time to ensure they really understand the company and are able to research background information such as competitors, so that they can give an informed response. More than that however, the client will have the benefit of the designer’s ideas and insights, which may influence the client to do something more original or more realistic or which may be less costly. You might think that the initial outline brief is wasted but it is a balance; if you go into a project without having a clear direction before the designer is involved, the tendency is to get led into what that particular designer is comfortable with or is capable of doing. But with the direction set, you can consider alternatives and assess them against the original intentions, and choose to change if they are better. Communication, communication, communication During the project there are regular meetings and communications which help the project progress. The important point is to make sure that there is a shared understanding of what is to be achieved. Any changes required are best made early and should be clearly communicated. It is a two way process between the designer and the client, with any instructions being fed back and then verified to ensure that they are understood. The design brief is the key to this communication. It is the core tool for developing a project. By using the outline design brief framework below we can explore the different areas that need to be addressed and why they matter.

“The thinking process that the client goes through in writing the brief is the most important function because it adds the most value.” The thinking process that the client goes through in writing the brief is the most important function because it adds the most value. If a design project is properly thought through at the beginning, it works better and is less likely to go over budget. It will achieve the required results. Unexpected changes almost always add to cost, so get it right on paper early, rather than having to make changes or add to the project near to production or implementation. Research into product design projects showed that a change at the point of production costs 10,000 times more than a change made close to the beginning. Outline Design Brief Framework Again we start with the company and its overall strategy. This is important; design projects should always be linked to, and developed in the context of, the overall business and marketing strategy. For example a change in a business, such as new ownership or products, may require a new brand identity. The new brand identity signals to the market that there is something new and exciting happening. The purpose of an outline brief is to clarify for yourself where you are now and what your objectives are. Then to share with the potential designers what the current situation is, how it is changing and what the business is trying to achieve. It should include: Background • Describe the company, its products and services to give the designer an understanding of the context of the project. Company Aims • Give the objectives that the business itself is trying to achieve preferably over the longer term, e.g. turnover increase, increased profitability, effectiveness or efficiency improvements. Project Aims • Set the objectives that the business wants to achieve for the specific project e.g. position a product, attract more traffic to a website or gain new customers. Target Market • Describe the target market, industry sectors or type of

organisations as well as the people who are the decision-makers or influencers, together with their characteristics and buying behaviour. Be as specific as possible and focus on those that are the most important or profitable for the business. Who are the company’s main competitors? Image • Describe the personality of the organisation, and the perception you wish to create within the material or product that is to be designed. Identify the things that differentiate the company, its products and services, from your competitors. Scope • Describe what is to be designed and how it is to be used by your company. • Include any constraints that you already know e.g. budget, timescales, deadlines, sizes, as well as preferences or alternative options. If you create a brief that not only informs but also inspires the designers, they will be keen to do your project. Therefore they will compete hard to win the work and also provide more creative solutions. Case Study Target Sports: Discovering the value of design and using it strategically Target Sports is probably one of the world’s largest manufacturers of quality darts. Initially we worked with them when the darts market was not growing. So they developed a new area of the business: providing a precision engineering service. As it was a new area targeted at a different market and with a different service, it needed a new brand identity and new communications material. The brand identity project included stationery, direct mail, brochures and a website. The result was that the precision engineering business grew and the owner discovered the value of using professional design. When the darts market started to grow again, it was decided to apply design to the original business. We followed the process outlined above, clarifying the strategy, developing a brief for the project and selecting designers. The brand identity needed to be quite different in character and separate from the precision engineering division. At that stage Target Sports were making darts for other companies and did not sell darts direct to consumers. So initially it was about creating a new company identity and website, to consolidate their position as a quality darts manufacturer. They were offering a service and the market was business to business.

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Having established their brand, the strategy changed to launching their own range of darts. As they did not want to upset their existing customers, who were mainly in the middle market (and lower end, which were not made by Target), it was decided to start with products that competed in the top end, high quality segment, in Europe, USA and Japan. The Japanese market was growing; darts had become popular particularly with 20 to 30 year olds of both sexes, compared to the traditional UK market, which was then typically male and older. In Japan there are dart bars where customers go to play darts, as well as drink and eat. Modern electronic dartboards, which work with soft tip darts, are used. Players show off their darts in wallets which can be hung from their belts, they appreciate well designed and engineered quality darts. The new darts were intended to have an innovative technical feel and a ‘James Bond’ style; restrained quality with a playful edge. The message was that these darts came directly from a knowledgeable manufacturer, as well as emphasising that they were made in Great Britain. Darts originated in Britain and so it implied authenticity. The graphic designer who created the Target darts company brand developed the product branding, packaging and advertising as well as a new website. Product designers were also involved. The brand identity had been designed to show the British connection without seeming overly nationalistic and this was continued in the product branding. The launch was successful; it established Target as a high quality darts brand recognised by consumers. At the beginning Target thought they had a sound understanding of the darts market, however the first products enabled them to engage with consumers and deepen their knowledge of the Japanese market. Japanese customers wanted to be more hands on with their darts before purchase, unlike in the UK where tamperproof packaging is essential. Continuous innovation was demanded and sponsorship of players was important for publicity. Also despite entering the marketplace with their own darts; it also stimulated demand for their manufacturing services as well. The quality of the darts and presentation proved their capabilities to other companies. After a while the market and the competitive environment began to change again. Some of their original clients started to have more of their darts manufactured in other countries. A strategic decision was taken to move into the mid-market, which was more profitable. A range of darts was developed for players from professional to novices (but not cheap brass darts). The packaging design for these was very different from Target’s competitors; simple and straightforward but sophisticated and unisex. Their competition tended to use macho, colourful cartoonlike illustrations and aggressive brand names. Target’s range stood out and so their launch as a main stream darts brand was achieved. Target has continued to expand, becoming involved in the

Chinese market and began to sponsor an increasing number of players: #TEAMTARGET • Adrian Lewis • Tony O’Shea • Dave Chisnall • Colin Lloyd • (and others around the world) Strategy and Design The design strategy evolved in response to the business strategy. At times the design influenced the business strategy. The journey with Target started with the launch of a new engineering service to the business market. It went on to establish a new brand for the business to business market, selling manufacturing services to darts companies. After this the strategy for the business and design changed to launch a new darts range to consumers and to position the brand at the top end. Eventually it enabled Target to develop darts for the most profitable segments in the mid market. This story has spanned many years; at each stage Target has been able to use design strategically to achieve their business goals. Many businesses fail to make best use of design or professional designers. In these highly competitive and challenging times, design is the opportunity not to be missed and the management of design a skill to be mastered.

References Philip Kotler, G. Alexander Rath, (1984) Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 5 Iss: 2, pp.16 - 2 Kotler Marketing Management

http://www.target-darts.co.uk/ index.php?option=com_k2&vie w=item&layout=item&id=2&Ite mid=77

Sally Brazier is an independent Business Consultant and Director of CEOSTRA Ltd., which works with the management of established SMEs to help them develop strategically. Her background is in both design and business; a Business Studies degree followed by studying interior design, she combined the two as a designer of commercial interiors. Recognising that businesses need support to address all aspects of design she broadened her consultancy work through an M.A. in Design Leadership. Seventeen years’ experience has given her considerable understanding of the importance of design for gaining competitive advantage. It has allowed her to develop the methods and tools that enable businesses to succeed. A visiting lecturer on design management, she also delivers workshops for businesses on product and service development, brand and workplace and website design.

Here is a stunning Boots Christmas advert from the 1920â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Boots began promoting themselves as a place to shop for Christmas gifts at the turn of the last century, with seasonal adverts appearing on an annual basis from 1904 onwards. This ad, produced by Gladys Peto, was released in 1921. Jesse Boot clearly recognised the potential of the Christmas season and gift catalogues began to be produced around this time, advertising the wonderful delights that could be found behind the doors at Boots, including Christmas puddings!

VIEWS - SMITH

Gamification the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Gamification is about much more than entertaining and engaging customers. It can be used to rejuvenate the mundane tasks of business, and if used correctly will lead to more motivated staff, increased brand awareness and boosted revenues.

e all feel a sense of achievement on completing tasks, whether building a boat or going for a swim. Gamification taps into this human characteristic, particularly if there is: • Reward • Recognition • Progress

So what exactly is Gamification? Wikipedia defines it as: “The use of game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to engage users and solve problems. Gamification is used in applications and processes to improve user engagement, Return on Investment, data quality, timeliness, and learning.” The phrase was created by computer programmer and inventor, Nick Pelling. More than Entertainment & Engagement So, gamification is about much more than entertaining and engaging customers. Watch how gamification will become embedded into relatively mundane business processes – to add sparkle to repetitive tasks. By 2015, Gartner forecast that 25% of redesigned business procedures will be using gamification to implement new improved processes. Given that Forbes suggest 75% of staff (in the USA) are not engaged, then it is easy to see how gamification might help. But it is more than staff who benefit from gamification. All stakeholders can benefit as it helps to deepen learning of brand awareness, brand aspirations, brand features, brand preference, brand relationships as well as entertaining and engaging the user/stakeholder in a meaningful and relevant way. Let’s look at two stakeholder groups split into three: customers and staff (sales people and cashiers). Customers Nike+ is a potent example of the power of gamification. As its membership grows, the brand relationship strengthens, which, in turn, helps to boost sales in the running category. They estimate that as membership increased it has helped boost revenues in the company’s running category by 30%. And today ‘Nike Missions’ continues to grow http://missions.nike.com/en_US as does its UK Facebook page which urges its 200,000+ fans to ‘forget public transport’ and ‘make the commute home your racecourse’. Their creative approach to gamification also allows customers and prospects to race against themselves or a worldwide community https://www.facebook.com/NikeRunningUK.

Sales People Sales people are competitive by nature. Internal sales league tables have been around since the year dot as a way of motivating the competitive nature of the sales rep. One thing sales people do not like doing is the mind-numbing PAUL SMITH repetitive administrative task of recalling and entering data and filing reports into a database. So some organisations’ sales reporting systems have been ‘gamified’ by rewarding accuracy and frequency of data entry with points, complete with a leader board and monthly prize – ‘morphing mundane into motivation’ by making a tedious task surprisingly exciting. Cashiers Here is the ultimate tedious task made more exciting by gamification – where it helps bored, gum-chewing, cashiers in retail stores. Since the retail checkout is a chicane for customer emotions, in fact a lengthy queue, or a perceived delay in a queue can destroy, what was up to that point, a reasonably positive consumer experience, you can understand why retail is exploring how gamification can help to improve this (and many other processes). American retail chain, Target, gamified the check-out process to help engage their staff. As items are scanned the cashier sees red or green based on whether the item that was just scanned was within the ‘optimum time’. They can also see their immediate score and compare it to the ideal time to see if they are “in-time”. Getting the scan process right first time, every time, can shave a minute or more off the checkout procedure. And we all know how valuable the gift of time is to waiting customers.

“Watch how gamification will become embedded into relatively mundane business processes.” 51

Gamification Disaster: the Mistakes to Avoid Given that most staff are not engaged (a recent Forbes article suggested that almost three quarters of US staff are not fully engaged), then it follows surely, that gamification could boost efficiency and effectiveness by even just a few per cent – which is sometimes the difference between profit and loss – survival and extinction – success and failure. Poor Gamification Design Forbes suggests that poor gamification design nullifies its potential and that by 2014 up to 80% of current gamified applications will fail to meet business objectives. Deloitte confirms that they also think ‘80% of current gamified applications will fail to meet business objectives primarily due to poor design’. Perhaps this is similar to the lack of ‘instructional design’ in the many failed eLearning projects in the 90s and beyond. So don’t leap into gamification without understanding good design, like many business people who jumped into elearning without understanding instructional design. It is as if they felt they ticked that box ‘yes, we do gamification’ or ‘yes, we have a Facebook page’. As Robert Yardy says, says ‘remember not to confuse activity with success.’ Getting It Right First of all know your audience: Who are the gamers? The average gamer is 35; married; earns £23k pa; games 12 hours a week; owns two consoles, 18 games and takes a month to complete one game. This, however, will change as gamification spreads to customers, call centres, cashiers, salespeople, other staff, suppliers and other stakeholders. Second build in the 8 Gamification Success Factors:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Narrative that guides, challenges and changes as the player progresses Feedback should be immediate i.e. success or failure, and most importantly, progress Competitive, we like to compete with others even in a different location, so make it social GUI (Graphical User Interface), it must be easy and fun to use Test for usability, security, and scale - local or global roll-out Rewards, Recognition, Awards, it is a motivation programme that involves changing behaviour, knowledge and or skills.The major staff motivator is ‘progress’ - the powerful motivator is ‘psychic income’

7. 8.

Achieve business objectives not just entertainment Promoting gamification, avoid using the ‘g’ word and instead focus on bottom line results. Don’t promote the word gamification, promote the benefits of it.

Finally add in some psychic income Get gamification right and add ‘psychic income’ into the rewards programme: now that could deliver some interesting results. ‘Psychic income’ comprises non-financial income or rewards that are highly relevant to a person’s interests. But I’ll discuss this another time. The Business Benefits Customers have fun, see progress and get rewards. For staff, gamification boosts product knowledge, the efficiency of processes, customer service skills and engagement. For business, gamification boosts awareness of the brand, and benefits recruitment, retention and advocacy. It is also a cost effective tool to embed key messages and boosts operations efficiency. It can be used to capture business data, to build your own customer database for future engagement and relationship building. If a business can boost customer engagement it will boost revenues eventually. To sum up Gamification can be powerful but caution, care and a considered design are all required. Don’t forget, always follow the 8 key success factors.

“Don’t promote the word gamification, promote the benefits of it. ” PR Smith is author of several digital marketing books including Emarketing Excellence – planning and optimising your digital marketing; Marketing Communications – integrating offline and online with social media and the SOSTAC ® Guide to writing the perfect plan. #SOSTAC ® is listed in the Top 3 Business Models by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Paul runs highly engaging, yet carefully structured workshops, and talks, on digital marketing. Paul’s personal passion is to change the world through an inspirational social media programme that mobilises communities into sportsmanship values, called, The Great Sportsmanship Programme.

“Understand your customers, from this everything else follows” - Kenichi Ohmae.

VIEWS - NIXON

Customer Engagement

ith oriental simplicity Kenichi Ohmae crystallised the essence of marketing as it used to be. We needed to observe and be Market Orientated. However, new themes have emerged in the last few years which have changed the balance of power in CHARLES NIXON the relationship between customer and supplier. Democratisation of the market place through the World Wide Web, the empowerment of customers through Social Media and a more savvy consumer through hard experience has contributed to the need for more customer engagement. No longer can we just sell to the customer or hope to understand their needs through research. It is through constant dialogue and interaction with customers that we retain their loyalty and through their comments, criticism and complaints that we can build a level of mutual understanding which leads to a successful business. Marketing is about matching a company’s resources to a customers’ requirements. OFFER

COMPANY FACILITIES PEOPLE SKILLS EXPERIENCE R&D KNOWLEDGE

PRODUCT/PRICING DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION SERVICE

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

CUSTOMER NEEDS WANTS PROBLEMS MONEY CRITERIA PREFERENCES

CUSTOMISE ORDERS/COMPLAINTS REQUESTS/COMMENTS LOYALTY/REFERRALS

In Marketing theory speak we have gone through: • Market Orientation to Customer Relationships to Customer Engagement • Now we need to move on to Customer Education

Customers often do not know what they want. They have problems and need solutions but often these are analogues based on the way they work now. They do not take leaps in imagination because they do not understand what the next generation of technology will be able to achieve. So we need to education them, or at least some of them. These advance parties can act as a litmus test for new technology and how it is used. They will learn and so will the supplier. Customer education Customer Education is the next logical step to get the most from customer engagement. Many companies attempt to engage with their customers by keeping them informed about the latest news from the company. For many the aim is to move the Customer up the Ladder of Loyalty - seeking to convert as many customers as possible into Advocates. However, Customer Education takes this one step further – companies need to institute a policy of Customer Education in order to create a unique position in the market and generate heightened customer loyalty.

ADVOCATE

REGULAR

CUSTOMER

PROSPECT

SUSPECT

Training and Education The policy can be seen at two levels: training and education. The first is an explanation of how to use an existing product better. Education is an in-depth understanding of what is possible using next generation technology. The training process often starts at the Prospect level and involves giving detailed explanations to potential customers about how to operate or use an existing product. Some of the best sales people are those who are best able to demonstrate the uses of a product. This continues at the Customer stage through the use of information bulletins or training seminars. The example of Apple

“Customer education is the next logical step to get the most from customer engagement.” stores as training and advice centres illustrates the impact training can have on moving users up the customer loyalty ladder (as well as increasing footfall). The higher level education on the other hand requires intervention at the Regular/Advocate stage to bring certain customers into the corporate process. As regular users they are able to provide informed comment on the faults and strengths of the current product offering. They are also able to tell the company more about the role the current product needs to play in solving existing problems. Further they can give insights into the motivation for becoming a customer in the first place i.e. what is the problem they are trying to solve. If we then add to this customer insight, the company insight about what is technically possible both now and in the near future, we are able to identify opportunities for future product enhancements or NPD. By taking a select group of Regular users into our confidence and sharing with them the range of technical options that exist (and could be under consideration) we are able to make better judgements about the most appealing new offerings. This dialogue can be achieved through customer focus groups, or customer advisory panels. Alternatively corporate employees can be embedded into customer organisations on secondment or into customer homes as observers. The benefits of Customer Education are not only insight but also enhanced customer loyalty and reduced barriers to change. Further reading • Strategies For Effective Customer Education by Peter Honebein • Marketing Handbook: Philosophy by Charles Nixon References The Mind of the Strategist, 1982. Charles Nixon has many years’ of marketing experience, from government relations, through market research to marketing communications and strategy. Charles founded Cambridge Marketing College with Ian Brownlee in May 1991. The College has become the leading Professional Marketing College in Europe with 10 centres around the UK and delegates from over 100 countries.

VIEWS - WELLS

Profiling the Marketing Leaders of Tomorrow The marketing world is constantly evolving. If you are to be a successful marketing leader it is more important than ever to be ahead of the curve. What qualities does a successful marketing leader possess? How can you enhance your skills and characteristics in order to reach this position? What is the profile of the marketing leader of tomorrow?

Opportunities and Challenges ith the marketing world changing so rapidly, it is more important than ever to be ahead of the curve to improve your chances of SALLY WELLS being a successful marketing leader. Future leaders will face a number of challenges in this ever changing and fast-paced industry. Current challenges include the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ageing workforce which is likely to result in a recruitment and skills shortage; employee relations which have the potential to become strained as different generations attempt to work together; older workers who will need to be continually engaged and the growth of the Silver Pound which will affect marketing in particular as the purchasing power of older consumers increases. Advancements in technology have been at the forefront of changes in the marketing industry in recent years. The explosion in the popularity of social media, blogs and phone applications, among a number of other technological developments, has significantly changed the face of marketing, and there will undoubtedly be many more changes in technology in the future which will provide both an opportunity and a challenge to marketing leaders. Inbound marketing and personalised marketing campaigns present more opportunities to target audiences, but the level of technology and the increasingly tech-savvy nature of the UK population also allows marketing attempts to be filtered out, meaning campaigns must be carefully constructed in order to resonate with their audience. Future leaders must be aware of these opportunities and challenges and be prepared to deal with them.

What is Leadership? In order to become a successful leader, it is crucial to understand the concept of leadership and its role within a company. JD Batten, CEO of consulting firm of Batten, Batten, Hudson and Swab, defines leadership as the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;development of a clear and complete system of expectations in order to identify, evoke and use the strengths of all resources in the organisation, the most important of which is peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. It is important to remember that leadership is not management.

“Vision is central to marketing leadership, a leader must be willing to adapt to changes in the marketing industry as a whole and be able to envision their company’s place within it.” Good leaders are followed and admired chiefly because people trust and respect them, not for the skills they possess, but because of their personal qualities and their ability to interact effectively with their team. Good managers do not necessarily make good leaders. Qualities of a Successful Leader Although there is not one ‘type’ of successful leader, there will be some similarities and consistencies across the board. Success in leadership is affected by soft skills as well as technical skills. Leadership is more than simply having a deep understanding of your industry and specific job role; it is equally important that leaders understand people. Successful leaders must have the ability to galvanise people to action, and to lead by helping and motivating rather than simply telling others what to do and giving instructions. It is important for leaders to be self-aware, to understand their own strengths and limitations and to know how they are perceived by others. It is also extremely important to be aware of those around you and identify and work with their strengths and limitations. This will give you an idea of how and why different teams work effectively together and what each individual contributes. The ability to communicate easily and effectively is vital for successful leadership. Good communication is at the heart of the ability to motivate staff, to ensure rules and regulations are adhered to and to give direction and guidance. Effective communication is particularly crucial to the marketing industry, as marketing is all about communicating with a target audience. Equally, listening to and engaging with the opinions of others is an important part of leading a team of people. Being an effective leader means being an integral part of the team and creating team harmony and contentment which involves taking into account their opinions and feelings rather than making all decisions unilaterally and with no input from others. Engaging with and listening to the opinions of

others is very important in the world of marketing, as listening to and understanding your audience gives you an idea of how to target and engage with them successfully. Being approachable and accessible is imperative for good leadership. Team members must feel comfortable and confident in approaching and talking to a leader, and must feel that their value is recognised in order to stay motivated. Being approachable and accessible is as important on a personal level as it is at brand level; a brand must appear to be approachable to its target audience. Vision is also key to effective leadership. Leaders drive people towards a company goal and must have the vision to see and understand the company’s future and be willing to adapt and be flexible in order to move forward. Visualising and understanding the company’s future is also central to marketing leadership, as marketing methods must be geared towards progress and development, and a leader must be willing to adapt to changes in the marketing industry as a whole and be able to envision their company’s place within it. Identifying Potential Psychometric assessments are an effective way to identify people with the potential to be successful future leaders. Psychometric assessments also allow leaders to gain a greater insight into people, into how they behave at work, how they’ll get on in a team, their specific skills and if they have the potential for fast track promotion, among other things. They can be used for personal development in the workplace by making people aware of their strengths and limitations and determining areas for training and development. Psychometric assessments can be used to help identify who has the appropriate qualities to become a successful leader. Often leaders are mistakenly chosen for their technical skills rather than soft skills,

“Identifying your strengths and limitations allows you to create and implement strategies to enhance your talents and determine where to focus training and development opportunities.”

which are much more difficult to quantify, but psychometrics can help to identify and measure these soft skills. Behavioural profiling can help to give you an insight into your behaviour at work, providing answers to questions such as: Are you a self-starter? What are you motivated by? What are your strengths and limitations? Beginning to answer these questions can help you to plan for your future development and improve your chances of becoming a successful leader in the marketing industry. Identifying your strengths and limitations allows you to create and implement strategies to enhance your talents and determine where to focus training and development opportunities. Similarly, being aware of your preferred style of communication gives you an indication of the way in which you would lead a team and how the team are likely to perceive you. This understanding can help you to determine where you may need to modify your behaviour in order to communicate more effectively and make you aware of your leadership style and how it may or may not fit in with the working style of those around you. In addition emotional intelligence assessments measure a person’s capacity to identify and regulate their own emotions as well as the emotions of those around them. This is very important in leadership as effective leaders are able to recognise and manage their own emotions as well as those of their team. For example, a leader with high emotional intelligence will be able to identify when a team is stressed and put in place coping mechanisms to help manage this stress. Emotional intelligence assessments can also measure the capacity of a person to deal with change. Being flexible and adaptable to change is vital if you aspire to become a marketing leader, as leaders are often at the helm of implementing new strategies and thus you must be willing to be flexible in the face of change to help your team to adapt. Measures of fluid intelligence (the capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations) can be very useful in developing marketing leaders, as they can help to identify who has the potential to be a high flyer. The assessments can begin to answer questions such as: Could you drive change in the organisation? Are you a problem solver? Can you cope with the mental demands of

“GOOD LEADERS ARE FOLLOWED AND ADMIRED CHIEFLY BECAUSE PEOPLE TRUST AND RESPECT THEM, NOT BECAUSE OF THE SKILLS THEY POSSESS.”

the job? Those who process new information easily and quickly are more likely to have the capacity to cope well with change and solve problems quickly and efficiently, and thus a higher level of fluid intelligence can help you to lead more effectively. They are also likely to respond well to fast track training and have the potential to progress within an organisation more rapidly. If you aspire to be one of the marketing leaders of tomorrow, there are a number of things you can do to help your chances of success. Firstly, identify the type of leader you want to be. There is not a universal profile for a successful leader; each individual must decide for themselves what they think this comprises of. Being self-aware is of vital importance for those in a leadership role. Understanding your strengths and limitations and dealing with them appropriately, as well as being aware of your behaviour in general and how others perceive your behaviour, can help you to become a much more effective leader. Identify the qualities you have that will be beneficial in a leadership role and enhance, develop and use these strengths. Equally, identify your limitations and seek development or create coping strategies to help you overcome them, or use others around you who possess such skills. It is impossible to guarantee your place as a marketing leader of tomorrow, but by gaining a greater insight into yourself you can begin to plan for the future.

“a higher level of fluid intelligence can help you to lead more effectively.” References Batten, J.D. (1989), Tough-Minded Leadership, New York: AMACOM.

As Managing Director of Thomas Education, Sally’s mission is to help education centres use psychometric assessments to transform the performance of their teaching staff and their students. Sally is passionate about helping young people establish successful careers. With over 15 years’ experience in the recruitment industry, she has extensive knowledge and hands-on experience of the power of Thomas psychometric assessments to help both businesses and individuals to transform their performance. Sally has brought the benefit of these assessments to the field of education, where they are proving to be invaluable resources for both teachers and students.

BOOK REVIEWS This Autumn, we gave two members of our Alumni books to review. Here’s what they had to say:

Major Donor Fundraising by Margaret M. Holman & Lucy Sargent (reviewed by Barbara Lohar) Worried about your major donor fundraising programme or the need to set one up? Here are 180 pages of excellent help. And I make no apologies for using a ‘sales opening’ to this review, I love this book! Stephen Thorn, Marketing & Fundraising Consultant at Cass Business School, recommended it to me last year and I take any opportunity to plug it. As the book points out on page one, in fundraising 90% of funds come from 10% of donors - not an 80/20 rule like many businesses. Given this, and the particularly challenging not-forprofit environment, strategy in this area will be of particular interest to many organisations. In nine chapters the book systematically takes you from identifying donors and developing your strategy, to research and cultivation methods, through soliciting and nurturing donors and then to the area of donor recognition. The book ends with two chapters on how to prepare your organisation and culture for a major donor programme and gives us eight specific case histories. What made this book stand out for me is its concise delivery. Of course there are other books on this topic and other experts in the field but let’s be honest here, some books call temptingly from the book shelves …“buy me … you can get everything you need by just flicking through ….” they have lots of highlighted panels and speech bubbles but it is all for presentational effect. When you get round to reading them, the content just is not up to the typographical expertise (with those books take a note of the design team not the author!). However, when you read this book you can feel the expertise of the authors through the brevity of the writing; they get to the point and do it in a way that genuinely makes accessing their expertise a pleasure. The language is clear and straightforward in style and presented in such a way (sub heads, panels, etc.) that you can extract exactly what you need quickly. Plus they have an excellent array of useful forms and documents. My sort of book. They include generic forms such as sample prospect action plans, move management plans and sample letters. But again they go a bit further and show you the actual materials used by real organisations. For example, the letter the British Heart Foundation used to nurture top donors; the one page briefing note used by

ACTIONAID to brief staff before a cultivation event; the donor recognition policy from Flagstaff Medical Centre. Really useful and persuasive material. Holman & Sargent’s approach in the book is to make it real. I have mentioned the useful longer case histories at the end; there are also mini, accessible, organisation specific examples sprinkled throughout, demonstrating their recommendations in the real world. Plus they provide extremely useful industry figures to support business case development - making this a winner for me. Thank you Margaret and Lucy I say! Valuable Content Marketing by Sonja Jefferson and Sharon Tanton (Reviewed by Christine Comrie) If anyone needs a book to give them a kick at work, then Sonja Jefferson and Sharon Tanton’s ‘Valuable Content Marketing’ is the book to do it. Their challenge is that you should give away for free your company’s knowledge and resources in order to build reputation and reap the rewards. The book is in three parts: first, it explores why valuable content is so crucial in order to stand out from the crowd; then it highlights the tools to use and how to use them effectively; finally, it sets out some clear, practical next steps. The argument that providing content in order to connect with customers is clear and compelling. Although there are quotes from the usual suspect ‘marketing types’, there are also snapshots from businesses using this approach successfully and, although a direct correlation between this approach and the bottom line can be vague, it is enough to persuade you to give it a go. Set out in very clear chapters and sub-headings, ‘Valuable Content Marketing’ is handy to dip in and out of. Sonja and Sharon ensure that you can apply what you read to your own situation with a ‘Take action’ section at the end of each chapter. They provide questionnaires, templates, and planning exercises to help you write content. There is even a section called ‘How to stop procrastinating and just do it!’ All in all, Sonja and Sharon provide enough evidence and enough guidance that, by the end, you have no excuse for not immediately writing that first blog post and white paper. Get to work for valuable content marketing success!

Cambridge Marketing College Tutor Blog allows our tutors to discuss the marketing topics that intrigue them. Content marketing has been a theme of recent posts, here are a selection from the Blog that have caught my eye.

REVIEWS - BLOG

The Tutor’s View

igital Marketing is Dead? Amen. Alistair Pryde’s eye-catching headline is a quote from a speech by the Global Brand Building Officer at the world’s biggest advertiser, Proctor and Gamble. Alistair reminds us that it is easy KIRAN KAPUR to get carried away, thinking the latest buzz word will change the world. “The digital channel has only ever been that – a channel. And, as marketers, we are particularly prone to jumping on the next bandwagon and eschewing everything that has gone before. Don’t get me wrong. Digital is wonderful, but I routinely see self-styled digital marketers eventually follow the same tried and tested routes that traditional marketers know…the audit, segmentation, targeting and positioning, not to mention the all-important marketing mix. Digital hasn’t reinvented the wheel, nor does it mean we have to follow a new set of rules; instead it simply reinforces that which we already know.” Content is king. “Without the idea, the creative price, we are nothing.”

Allison Thomas discussed a superb example of content marketing in an unusual social media campaign. “It is very rare that a marketing or PR campaign stops you in your tracks and makes you think. On the 69th anniversary of D-Day, Channel 4 portrayed a real-

time 24-hour reconstruction of events using seven Twitter accounts of real-life survivors of the 1944 invasion – D-Day: As It Happens. So often social media is used for commercial purposes, or personal gain, but this campaign was refreshingly different. It had the essential classic components of a PR activity in terms of delivering an objective – in this case raising awareness of the D-Day landings – but it also harnessed social media in a compelling and powerful way to deliver a serious message in a very short timescale. Tracking the progress of the seven participants on the front, followers were immersed in minute-by-minute events in the lives of the different military personnel from a pathfinder, photographer and commando to a submariner and nurse throughout the conflict. The result was a unique social media experience that conveyed the brutal realism of a pivotal historical event in gripping detail. Compelling, exciting, often heart-wrenching, Channel 4 managed successfully to create a totally captivating experience that used social media in a completely new way to entertain, engage and, most importantly, to educate.” To see the tweets, visit https://twitter.com/dday7/the-d-day-7/ members. Christmas Adverts

As I write, our TV screens are groaning with the annual Christmas advertising onslaught. John Lewis’ 2013 animated ‘The Bear and The Hare’ gained 7.6 million YouTube views in 2 weeks. It was launched first on social media on Friday 8th November, airing on TV during prime time in ITV’s ‘The X Factor’ on Saturday night. The advertisement prompted 86,300 mentions on Twitter over the weekend, as well as discussions on TV, radio and newspapers. John Lewis’ orchestrated campaign encouraged plenty of discussion and sharing. As Neil Wilkins points out, this is vital to a good campaign: “The key is to encourage users to share content with their networks. For example, blog posts that contain images and video materials can

encourage users to share them on Pinterest and YouTube.” Content curation is a relatively new trend and represents discovering, collecting and presenting online content around a specific subject in a meaningful and structured way. Social media curation on the other side is simply filtering through all the interesting content across the web and sharing the best news, articles, videos and infographics on social media. (Extract from a white paper “Online Content – The Evolution of Online Content and Trends of Content Marketing” by College Research Associate Desislava Aleksandrova). Online Games Online games was another form of content marketing explored by Lorna Brocklesby. “In the US, there are 145 million ‘casual gamers’ (which equates to around 50% of the population). On top of this, analysts estimate that ‘the global online and mobile gaming marketing will show an increase in value of almost 60% by 2016’.” With online gaming no longer the preserve of spotty adolescents, it is not surprising that brands are looking for ways to exploit games, such as the Dutch airline KLM launching its own game Aviation Empire.

For more information about the online gaming market, see http://walblog.co.uk/2013/08/30/why-online-gaming-is-set-formassive-growth-in-the-coming-years/. Lastly, I’m grateful to Lorna Brocklesby for finding the ‘Definitions of 34 Twitter terms you were too embarrassed to ask about” at http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/34-twitter-termsdefined-list. There were certainly a number I did not know.

If this has whetted your appetite, you can read the Tutor Blog at www.marketingcollege.com/blog.

Lorna@marketingcollege.com

Cambridge Marketing Press 1 Cygnus Business Park Middle Watch Swavesey Cambridgeshire CB24 4AA www.marketingcollege.com Tel: +44(0) 1954 234944 - Fax: +44(0) 1954 234950