FIRST EDITION | PRODUCED BY FILL THE GAP MARKETING
MARKETING MATTERS
MAGAZINE
HOW TO GET BUSINESS RESULTS FROM LINKEDIN
Paul Wilson explains on page 4...
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A note from the editor Welcome to the first issue of Marketing Matters Magazine, a monthly online magazine that is full of practical marketing advice from specialists across the UK. We’re very excited to share it with you. Each month, we will publish advice from leading marketing experts from across the UK, giving you practical insights that will help your organisation to make the most of its marketing. You will also find a number of useful events that are taking place near you, events that may benefit you and your business. Where did the idea of Marketing Matters Magazine come from? As a marketing agency, we are passionate about educating people with the benefits of effective marketing. We believe that too many people see marketing as an unnecessary expense and, if money gets tight, it tends to be the first thing businesses drop. We want to educate people that marketing is not an expense, but rather an investment when done well. To coincide with the Fill the Gap Marketing Academy, we hope this magazine will help you to expand your marketing knowledge and will motivate your business. Stay tuned for the next edition on the 31st of October. We hope you find it just as useful. Wishing you every success,
Rachael Smith Managing Editor
The Editorial Team
Editor-In-Chief
Managing Editor
Creative Director
Joanne Wilson 01522 837232
Rachael Smith 01522 837231
Thomas Jacobs 01522 837234
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How to get business results from LinkedIn… Paul Wilson from PRWilson Media talks to Rachael Smith of Marketing Matters Magazine about how he got into the social media business...
Grantham. This is where I joined The Rotary Club of Grantham, which led me to a wonderful new career as a social media consultant and trainer.”
Is LinkedIn working for you? Are you using it properly? Do you want to generate more business from LinkedIn?
It was as part of the Rotary Club of Grantham that began Paul’s love for social media, as he began using the club’s social media to share the club’s fundraising Swimmarathon event with Rotary clubs all about the world.
This is the topic of our October Marketing Academy, with guest speaker, Paul Wilson from PRWilson Media. I sat down with Paul on a surprisingly sunny September day in Lincoln to find out more about the man that we see heavily active on Twitter, or have met whilst attending networking events with his trusty lunchbox! I was surprised to learn you that social media hasn’t always dominated Paul’s life. Up until 2011, Paul was working in IT and wasn’t an active user of social media, let alone have anything as close as 38,600 followers on Twitter. Paul Wilson explains, “I was working so many hours at my job that I rarely saw my family. I wanted to be part of something and so in 2011, I left my job and moved my family to
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“I started using Facebook and Twitter as a way to connect with people all across the globe. Every year, the Rotary Club in Grantham hosts a Swimmarathon and I wanted to see if it was possible get more people involved and set a world record for the biggest simultaneous global swimming event.” Paul Wilson had the privilege of leading a 10-month social media campaign using videos, pictures and regular updates which enabled them to get support from Rotary clubs across all six continents. In total, 23 countries got involved and the biggest simultaneous global swimming event in human history took place from 12:00 to 13:00 on 25 February, 2012, with 4546 participants, aged 8 to 93.
'It goes to show the power that social media can do. By simply connecting with the right people and engaging effectively, we were able to break the world record and raise over £100,000 for local charities.” Paul Wilson believes that when used effectively, social media can make a world of difference to each and every business out there, and therefore set up PRWilson Media in 2012. For the last 4 years, Paul provided social media training for a broad cross-section of businesses, national charity organisations, County and Local Councils. All of his training is practical based and he uses real-world case studies to give attendees valuable techniques they can take away and implement in their businesses. Paul Wilson will be sharing his key focus areas for getting business results from LinkedIn, each one backed up by practical demonstrations and step-by-step guidance at the Fill the Gap Marketing Academy on the 26th October in Lincoln. Expect plenty of interaction in a presentation packed full of actionable tips you can put to work straight away. To book your Academy Pass for this event, simply book on via www.fillthegapmarketing.co.uk.
FIRST EDITION | PRODUCED BY FILL THE GAP MARKETING
Our Experts
& Company
Digital Media Edge
Fill the Gap Marketing
Andy Price 01777 802112
Richard Mawer 01522 837259
Rachael Smith 01522 837231
Fill the Gap Marketing
Genius Wifi
Positive Networking
Thomas Jacobs 01522 837234
Tony Smith 0333 011 0512
Mike Stokes 01733 211873
PRWilson Media
Stone Moor Business Services
Succeed at Selling
Paul Wilson 07725 896 888
Julia McGinn 01522 802722
Susan Marot 07831 973522
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Why you need two 7 Step Sales Process Flows in your business And how each 7 step sales process will help you to close more business
alongside your internal sales work flow is essential to the success of any business.
Susan Marot of Succeed at Selling explains...
Do you really need two sales processes?
One thing that I get asked about a lot, is "What's the sales process and how can I improve mine?". The other topic I get asked a lot is "Do you think women are better at selling than men?". Not wanting to start World War 3 just yet, I shall focus on the former. I also believe that there should be not one, but two different 7 Step Sales Process Flows in every business.
You will make money with just the one, but when you get your two sales process working closely together then that is when your business will really skyrocket. What is in each 7 Step Sales Process?
One is your customer facing 7 step sales process, whilst the other is your 7 step sales opportunity process flow, or sales
process describes how you handle a sales opportunity in your business. You will notice that this too is a 7 step sales process, however it is usually visualised an inverted pyramid rather than a cycle. It is important to remember that this process is not about the customer, but always about the opportunity. This is why the process ends when the opportunity has become a sale and gone into delivery. You could have several different opportunities for one client all at different stages of the process, so using the pipeline correctly will ensure you are on top of every sales opportunity all the time. When you bring the customer facing sales process and the sales opportunity process together, you will find that your sales KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) will dramatically improve as well as your earnings.
pipeline. How you communicate with a client is important, but it is essential to know how you communicate any sales opportunity to other functions in your business. No matter if you employ a hundred sales people, or you're a solo entrepreneur, implementing a customer facing sales process
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Each step of the customer facing sales process is designed to not only close the business, but ensure that you are in the best position possible to get paid and win regular business off that new client. This is a cyclical process starting off with the preparation phase and moving through each step to the follow up. Except for the first step, the sales process directly interacts with the prospect or client. The Sales Opportunity Process Better known as your sales opportunity pipeline, this
If you want to know if you have the right sales processes in your business then grab a free call with me by visiting www.succeedatselling.co.uk.
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Why networking is actually part of your marketing Mike Stokes, Positive Networking The biggest mistake made by businesses when joining the networking circuit is that they go with a “selling” mindset. They wrongly assume that every other delegate has been hand-picked as a potential buyer for their products and services. They then proceed to pin people up against the wall while they recite their well-rehearsed sales pitch. Other delegates give such predators a wide berth and the outcome is unsatisfactory – “I didn’t get any orders”, “There was no-one interested in buying” and so on. They need to understand that networking is not a quick fix, it is not “Meet The Buyer”, all the other delegates have not attended just to place orders. So, if networking is not a selling activity, what is it? Networking is all about building relationships, being visible and establishing reputations.
It is about building credibility, raising profile and creating brands. It is an element within your Marketing strategy and, like all Marketing activities, it is a gradual “drip, drip” process which relies upon referrals and recommendations from the people you meet. Networking is effectively selling through the room and not selling to the room. Although networking includes a social element, it must be treated as a serious business activity. As part of your Marketing strategy, it should be subjected to the same test and measure disciplines as all your other activities. Networking costs money and takes up time, so you need to evaluate what you get from your networking and compare the outcome with the objectives you set when you started. Your objectives may not just include increased revenue – you may also be seeking cost reductions, strategic alliances,
personal development and other business support. If it works, then fine. If it doesn’t appear to be working then seek advice on how you could behave differently, or try different groups. But of course, as with most Marketing activities, you will find that networking takes time to produce results – you need to be patient and persistent. So, don’t regard networking as just another selling activity. It is more slow-burning and will take time to produce results – treat it as part of your Marketing.
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The route to market can change. The starting point doesn’t. Andy Price, & Company
smart phones.
I started out as a junior Art Director at one of the North’s leading agencies, BRAHM (now Brass). In those early years, I’d been brought up on the truths and teachings of the some of the industry’s greats – David Ogilvy, Bill Bernbach, David Abbott and John Hegarty. For those of you who don’t know who they are, they were amongst the greatest creative and strategically-thinking minds who have ever lived. They also founded, what are now, some of the world’s largest and most successful communication groups.
Now virtually every human on the planet can create, curate and publish their own stories. They can make or break brands in seconds. Celebs can rise and fall within minutes. And we can see the aftermath of a bomb going off in a far flung place long before the BBC tell us about it.
So they knew a thing or two… and in particular, a basic principle – one that I’ll come back to. Let’s fast-forward 25 years – and the industry has radically changed. Even more websites. More video content than you can wave a stick at. Then, along came social media….and, just as importantly,
The impact of all of this on businesses and brands has been profound, as well as for those of us who work in the communication industry, trying to find new ways to stand out and get our clients noticed. There are a lot of people talking about the ‘new way’, the ‘magic solution’, the ‘big fix’ on social media and blogs as if it’s SOME NEWFANGLED THING. Some sort of holy grail. It’s something that was drilled into me day in, day out in the early years. A basic one that the gurus, whom I mentioned earlier,
talked about. One that they built their empires on. They knew the key to it back then. In the 50s and 60s. And I learnt it back in the early 90s. The single, most important thing you can do to stand out, engage and ultimately build success and a relationship with the end customer (regardless of channel) is this. Understand the end customer. Put yourselves in their shoes. It’s that simple. That IS the starting point. It always has been. By truly understanding the end customer, their habits and their lives, then the channel, the message and the ideas will be relevant, interesting and more likely to achieve what it was meant to. Without it we shoot in the dark.
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The art of delegation Julia McGinn, Stone Moor Business Services Running a small business is really hard work and often, that list of things to do just keeps getting longer and longer. To be effective in your work, you need to learn the art of delegation. For some business owners, this comes easy, but for others it is one of the hardest things that they will ever have to do. Delegating is not about losing control. It’s about allowing you to focus on the areas that are the most important for you and that are the most financially rewarding. First of all, think back to the last few tasks you’ve completed. Now really think about those tasks. Did you need to do all of them personally? No? Then it’s time to start delegating.
1. Choose the right tasks to delegate – you should be focusing your time on the most important tasks that only you can complete to run your business. 2. Give clear instructions and check they’ve been understood – be as clear as you can, setting out what is required and all your expectations, including deadlines, and you’ll save lots of time answering questions or fixing mistakes later on. 3. Establish standards and guidelines – make sure any employees or collaborators know what is expected and what is important to your business, have accessible copies of processes and guidelines.
4.Give feedback – both positive and negative feedback are important in growing your working relationship and getting the best results out of your team. This feedback should work both ways so that you can move forward together. 5. Have faith in your team and try to avoid micromanaging, or you won’t really be saving any time to focus on your own workload. It’s all about working smarter, not harder. 6.Start small and once you are both happy with the work being delegated, add more to the list. Over time, you will both become more confident.
It’s important to note that you won’t be able to delegate every task. For a one off task, it can sometimes be quicker to get that task completed yourself. How do I delegate effectively? It can be tricky to start ‘letting go’ as you bring new people into your business and everyone will need different things from these relationships, but here are some of our top tips for delegating and working effectively with your team members, both internal to your business and outsourced:
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FIRST EDITION | PRODUCED BY FILL THE GAP MARKETING
Newsjacking: the SME marketing tool you might not have thought of . . . Thomas Jacobs, Fill the Gap Marketing “Newsjacking”. A term coined by David Meerman Scott in 2011 that simply refers to the hijacking of a news story or event by a business, often with a touch of humour, for its own gain. Picture the scene; a story breaks and you quickly muster together a piece of marketing that comments on or pokes fun at that story and post it on Twitter. Suddenly, news coverage goes from “This has happened” to “This has happened, and this brand said this about it”. It requires a finger on the pulse and quick reactions, and a knowledge of what your audience is interested in. The use of this once overlooked and generally under estimated tool is becoming more and more popular, which is great news (sorry…) for everyone; businesses and their audiences. Everyone is a customer to a business in one way or another – and as a consumer, I find it easy to forget that businesses are full of people that live in the same world as you and I, and are not in a separate world of different values, concerns and interests. Businesses might actually have more in common with us than we think. That’s why I think it’s great when businesses talk about Pokémon GO, Joe Hart’s butter fingers and the fact The Great British Bake Off is moving channel (seriously, what?!). It builds an immediate middle ground between the brand and the audience, which builds brand affection and brand loyalty. Some businesses have got so excited about newsjacking, they’ve set up their own news rooms that
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monitor news outlets and social media channels around the clock, scanning for news that could be ‘jack’ worthy. Not got a spare news team lying about? You’d be forgiven for thinking newsjacking isn’t for your businesses. See, it’s difficult to predict the future, and time consuming to watch it unfold, so some of marketing’s most respected and thought after experts put their efforts together and discovered something called a calendar. An awe inspiring document (sometimes covered in pictures of puppies) that lays out all the events of interest for the coming days, months and years – so maybe you don’t need that finger on the pulse all the time after all? Businesses began to look to the future for events they knew would happen, and prepared marketing communications accordingly. Grant Hunter and Jon Burkhart named this practice “Semi-urgent Genius”, and there’s no reason why you can’t make a success of it. That said, it’s important to pick the right news for your audience and your brand. Google search ‘newsjacking fails’ for examples of where things have got really grizzly. Timing is important too, if you’re too early people won’t know what you’re talking about. Too late and you’ll look like you’re trying too hard. You’d be mistaken for thinking that this only works with TV worthy news too. However
niche, if your audience is interested, it’s worth it. If you’ve got a news team, get them on the job. If not, begin to scan Twitter for events and topics that are of interest to your audience, and browse the internet for days, events, conferences, and anything else which could be hijacked to increase awareness of your brand. Get cracking; there’s a story that’s about to break.
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Are you getting the best return from your free wifi? Tony Smith, Genius Wifi Did you even know you could get a return from providing free wifi for your customers – Do you even know who your customers are? You don’t have to be a Tesco or a Starbucks to be able to learn who your customers are, or to develop a customer loyalty reward scheme. Intelligent wifi hotspots such as those provided by Genius WiFi provide access to your customer’s Name, Gender, Age, Date of Birth, Location, Interests & Hobbies, all of which is great for targeted marketing campaigns. You’ll also know how frequently they visit your business and what times, where they go and spend most of their visit. You can use location technology to pinpoint where your customers are in the venue, and identify heat maps and common paths through the venue.
to alert you to any mention of your key words or phrases. Restaurants, Cafes, Hotels, Bars, Clubs and similar places are the perfect venues to offer free WiFi. Giving guests a free Internet connection means they can not only check their emails but also update their social media status, which generates more brand awareness for the venue. As they share information about where they are on their social networks, their friends and followers are able to easily find them and hopefully join them for some food and drink. By adding Genius WiFi to the menu, the venue can see who is visiting and how often. This valuable information means the venue can target their customers
with relevant promotions, menu updates and event information – even inviting them to enjoy a bottle of wine on the house on their birthday. Wouldn’t all that help you grow your business, increase footfall and get a better return from your free wifi? For more information on wireless networks visit www.genius-wifi.com or call us on 03330 110512 to discuss how to fulfill your obligations, keep cybersafe and obtain a great return on investment from your wifi.
All the data collected about users is also owned by the venue (not all wifi providers include this). This information can be exported, meaning that you can have richer data about customers in your own systems. Genius Wifi ensures your business IT is protected from hacks and virus attack whilst acting as a valuable marketing tool with powerful analytics, that allows you to build brand love and loyalty. We even include Reputation Management tools that monitor the web 24/7
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How can your business drive leads and sales with Inbound Marketing ? Richard Mawer, Digital Media Edge It is time for you to stop burning your marketing budget, align your digital marketing with modern buyer-behaviour and step into the age of Inbound Marketing, where you maximize your marketing budget with a targeted, costeffective and quantifiable method of generating lead after lead. In this article we will look at why “Inbound” is such a powerful strategy for your business to adopt and why your prospective customers will love you for it.
and broadcasting” with intrusive, impersonal messages, using outdated tactics of interruption marketing to force their company on their audience via TV ads, newspaper ads, radio ads, cold calling, direct mailing and hard selling. The modern customer or client is sick and tired of interruptive outbound marketing and traditional advertising. They want to be treated like people, be engaged with, be understood and have “value” added to their lives by companies. Inbound marketing is the most effective way to connect to, engage with and build trust from your prospective customers or clients. So What Is Inbound Marketing ?
The simple, inescapable truth is that the world is changing, your customers and clients are changing and the way you attract leads, build relationships and drive revenue needs to change with them or your business will slowly wither and die. That may sound dramatic, but unfortunately the vast majority of business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers are stuck in the old “outbound” mentality of “pushing
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The principles of an Inbound Marketing Strategy involve a proven measurable process which will turn strangers into visitors to your business, convert these visitors into leads, nurture these leads into customers and then build relationships with these customers via a remarkable service to turn them into advocates and promoters who market your business for you.
The four stages of inbound are: Attract – using interesting blog posts and social media content including videos, images, infographics, animations, GIF’s and keyword optimised articles for SEO to “pull” in your audience. Convert – offering visitors premium content such as eBooks, newsletters and webinars in order to turn them into leads. A great example of this is using calls-to-action buttons. Close – sending leads emails with content that relates to them specifically and offers them exactly what they want to turn them into customers. Delight – keep promoting your company to them through great content, events and special webinars for them to use to turn them into promoters. Next Month – Planning Your Inbound Strategy
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5 email marketing mistakes that companies make . . . Rachael Smith, Fill the Gap Marketing
2. Sending too often or not enough
When used correctly, email marketing can be a powerful marketing tool for your company.
As long as you’re providing valuable content, it is likely people will want to hear from you…however sending emails every day is likely to irritate them. There is a clear line between bombarding your prospects and not sending enough emails. A customer survey where you ask about communication could help you determine the optimum amount of times to contact them.
Unfortunately, we see many businesses making vital mistakes with their emails everyday, rendering the whole operation pointless and potentially even brand damaging. Here are 5 email marketing mistakes that many organisations still get wrong: 1. Always selling People love buying, but they don’t like being sold to. If the emails you are sending out are just sale, sale, sale, it is very likely you are putting your customers and prospects off from using your business. Emails should add value and be something the people on your database look forward to receiving – it is all about building relationships and awareness of your brand.
3. Sending emails without a plan Like any marketing activities, there needs to be a solid plan behind your email marketing so that it integrates effectively with your other marketing channels. This ensures your content is varied and that you are emailing people with relevant information. We’ve all got those emails in our inbox that say the same thing every time. Do you pay them any attention? Probably not. A solid plan can help you stand out from your competitors.
5. Not analysing results Many email sending systems will provide you with stats of who has opened what and if people have clicked through to your website. Using these statistics, you can follow up leads more effectively as they are likely to be warmer than just calling someone out of the blue. It can also show you what type of emails are popular, allowing you to feed this back into your marketing plan. Need help with your email marketing? Give us a call on 01522 837232 or email lincoln@fillthegapmarketing.co. uk.
4. Not including an unsubscribe list and information It is a legal requirement for you to include your company address and an unsubscribe button on your emails. If you’re not doing so, you put yourself at risk of being reported. Now and then people are going to unsubscribe, but this isn’t a problem. It is better to have a list of 100 hot prospects, than a list of 1000 uninterested ones.
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Networking Events Lincoln Business Club The Lincoln Business Club is the city’s business networking group, bringing people together and acting as a forum for issues that affect business in the city. Each meeting gives lots of opportunities to make new contacts and they are held on the last Friday of each month (excluding December) at the Lincoln City Football Ground. Entry is just £4 on the door and there is no need to book, a great value way of building your network! We also have educational speaker and sponsorship slots available. Sponsorship is just £85 and includes promotion on our website, emails and social media, a 10 minute speaker slot at the meeting you are sponsoring and a feature in the Business Echo, read by thousands of local business owners. New members are welcomed from businesses, organisations and clubs from the Lincoln area. Membership is free - simply register on our website and come along to a meeting. We’d love to see you at our next meeting, please visit our website www.lincolnbusinessclub.co.uk for more information.
Positive Networking Positive Networking provides a support environment for open-minded and collaborative business people – those looking to open up, share experiences and learn from each other. We have an excellent track record in enabling sound connections to be made and relationships to be developed – all in a friendly but businesslike environment. Over a dozen innovative and challenging formats are used at our meetings – life is never dull, as we take ideas on board and try new concepts. All of this is provided at affordable prices and, to ensure our members have peace of mind, their membership is underpinned by a money-back guarantee. Positive Networking strives to give excellent value for its members by putting on networking and speaker events in Lincoln and Peterborough which enable members and guests to raise their business profile, build strategic alliances, obtain increased and new business, develop new ideas and new skills, engage with new suppliers and develop themselves and their staff. Please visit our website www.positivenetworking.co.uk for more information.
Fill the Gap Marketing Academy The Fill the Gap Marketing Academy, Lincoln is the place to come if you want to learn how to grow your business. Perfect for small and medium sized businesses, it is an opportunity to mingle with marketing specialists, listen to expert marketing speakers and gain practical insights that can be instilled into your business for growth. In October, our theme is ‘HOW GET BUSINESS RESULTS FROM LINKEDIN’ On the 26th October, we are delighted to welcome well known local social media trainer Paul Wilson from PRwilson Media as our guest speaker, who will be sharing his key focus areas for getting business results from LinkedIn, each one backed up by practical demonstrations and step-by-step guidance. Expect plenty of interaction in a presentation packed full of actionable tips you can put to work straight away. For more information and to book on, please visit www.fillthegapmarketing.co.uk.
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