Suffolk Marketing Blog | Timing Is Everythng

It's 75 years to the day since John Dillinger was shot and killed outside a Chicago theatre in 1934!

For those not in the know, this is very topical given the recent release of “Public Enemies”, starring Johnny Depp as the aforementioned Dillinger. No doubt this is a film I’m soon to endure as my wife has had a crush on “Pretty boy” Depp ever since he played the leather-clad digitally-impaired hairdresser/topiarist in Edward Scissorhands. Hmph.

The latest Harry Potter romp, a rather dubious sounding “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” (half-blood always meant something else in my day..), was released recently too. Amazingly, just before the start of the summer holidays. Coincidence?

It’s not news that film companies time their release of films extremely well. Most films aimed primarily at children are released in the summer holidays or on the run up to Christmas. I seriously doubt the timing of the Dillinger movie is accidental either.

Even marketers without limitless budgets and access to Hollywood pin-ups can learn from this sense of timing. It all comes down to planning. Public holidays, construction projects, sporting events and even film releases can be spotted and jotted months or even years ahead.

So why is so much marketing reactive? It just piles the pressure on, leaves you wide open for mistakes and being 'last minute' often means concurrent campaigns are less integrated than they should be. One reason of course is that many firms notice what their competitors are doing and then want a piece of the action.

Why wait for your competitors?! Mr Dillinger waited for the FBI and look what happened to him! Oh I’m sorry, didn’t you know they shot and killed Dillinger?!

No need to see the film now Selina…

Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.

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Suffolk Marketing Blog | To post or not to post...

It’s fifty years since the first UK postcode was introduced in 1959!

A nice little factoid and one I’ll certainly file away under “useful gems for the pub quiz”… but so what, surely they’ve been replaced by that ubiquitous item of personal identity, the email address?

I’m not so sure. There’s still a place for direct mail. Yes, emails are probably cheaper than direct mail, particularly when sent in serious volume, but not that much. Yes, measurement of certain metrics is easier (try measuring the open rate of a postcard), but surely the best measurement is that of the number of people responding to a campaign?

Emails can be designed with company values and branding in mind, but being digital media, I can’t help thinking something is lost. Perhaps that’s why email marketing is FAR more effective as a method of retaining, informing and communicating with existing customers than new prospects. It’s just too damn easy to hit “delete” if you don’t know who the email is from, no matter how targeted it purports to be.

Of course the beauty of direct mail is that it’s tangible. When I open a business letter, the senders choice of paper type, paper quality, typeface, printing quality, 1st vs 2nd class stamp, and all those other touchy-feely criteria tell me something about who’s written to me. Often it tells me something positive about them, other times it's a subtle warning. The point is, they’ve communicated with me before I’ve even read what they’ve sent me!

So has direct mail had its day? Is email the new king? Or is it horses-for-courses?

Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.

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Suffolk Marketing Blog - Purepricing

This is a modest sized website for a small business that analyses mobile phone tariffs for the major mobile service providers. They were painfully aware of how dull their services were perceived, so wanted an element of fun to be injected into their site, still being mindful of their clients and so not appearing too “off the wall”. They are very much statistician types, or “beancounters” – and so we came up with the idea of using fingers (to count on..) throughout the site.

We liked the use of the sweets too: mints for refreshing solutions, etc etc! Business Vitamins managed the website design project from initial scope, through graphic design, and provided all of the copywriting too, although the build phase was passed to another of the clients partners.

Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.

Why not find out more about Business Vitamins, Strategic B2B marketing agency Suffolk.

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Suffolk Marketing Blog - Turfcare, New Product Launch

The Customer

A UK-based manufacturer of professional turf maintenance equipment founded over 200 years ago in Norfolk.  Today it has 400+ employees at the UK facility with three similar sized sister sites in the USA.  There are four brand names in the UK product portfolio, each aimed at a specific market sector.

The Problem

This traditional company had an excellent reputation for high quality manufactured goods but after some research had found its product image was viewed as dated and tired in the marketplace.  An innovative new product was on the verge of completion, which would ensure the future safety of the UK-based factory, only if sales were successful.  Failure may lead to the closure of the plant and the transfer of manufacturing to one of the US sites.

The Solution

A two-fold marketing strategy was formulated.  First, it was essential to introduce the new product to existing and emerging markets.  Second, it was necessary to revive a flagging old-fashioned brand by re-packaging it as fresh, contemporary and cutting edge. 

The execution of the campaign was centred on a product ‘reveal’ at the main European industry trade show. It was based on a modern, automotive product launch using dramatic stand designs and a full audio visual production.  For six weeks leading up to the show, an integrated multi-lingual marketing campaign gave ‘teaser’ images of the product without showing the machine in its entirety. Dramatic images were commissioned by a professional photographer to show the product in a striking environment. 

Promotional items were also sent to key customers to hint at what was coming.  VIP’s were invited to an exclusive preview and test drive session with results being ‘leaked’ to the press.  The marketing plan also utilised a mixture of email marketing, phased direct mail pieces and timely advertising campaigns.  This was also backed up by targeted PR activity.

The Results

The sales team had been targeted with delivering orders for 40 units in the three months after the launch, which was also the final quarter of the financial year.  With the help of the Business Vitamins marketing campaign, the orders received exceeded 100 units.

The product was given the ‘Best New Product’ award for 2007 in an online vote by consumers, undertaken by a respected industry magazine. 

The project also came in 14% under budget.

Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.

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Suffolk Marketing Blog - Majenta Solutions Campaign Management

THE CUSTOMER

Majenta Solutions Ltd is a specialist CAD/CAM software and IT systems reseller, based in Brentwood Essex. Trading since 1995, Majenta has partnered with some of the biggest names in their industry including Autodesk, Siemens PLM, Network Appliance, HP and Dell. Whilst Majenta had no dedicated marketing resource, they have been successful in generating reasonable sized new business, albeit ad hoc and sometimes sporadic.

THE CHALLENGE

• Communicate effectively and regularly to all customers raising awareness of

relevant products and services

• Identify any ‘low hanging fruits’

• Generate leads for the Sales Team

• Communicate effectively with all Majenta partners, and where appropriate 8claim and use Sales Development Funds available

• Support the sales team where appropriate so as not to distract from their 9primary role of closing business.

THE SOLUTION

Majenta turned to Business Vitamins for their experience of the market place and demonstrable track record in this sector.

Business Vitamins worked with the Majenta team to create an integrated marketing plan that was designed to maximise the cross-pollenisation between sales divisions, ensure all customers were being contacted regularly and above all deliver significant measurable sales pipeline results that could be tracked on their in-house CRM system, Salesforce.comtm.

Considerable focus was placed on dramatically enhancing Majenta’s online presence via search engine optimisation and “pay per click” campaigns, as well as enabling their website to deliver actual sales-leads.

The marketing plan utilised a mixture of email marketing and webinar activity as well as more traditional methods including direct mail, seminar, telemarketing, press release and advertising campaigns.

Business Vitamins then monitored the execution of the plan and ensured all key performance indicators were met, making changes where necessary.

THE RESULTS

Less than 12 months on from the start of the project, the Business Vitamins plan had delivered closed business of c£150k and a qualified opportunity pipeline of c£900k.

Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.

Why not find out more about Business Vitamins, Strategic B2B marketing agency Suffolk.

Or follow BizVits on Twitter? 
Or Like us on Facebook?
Or +1 us on Google+?
Or see the Business Vitamins channel on YouTube?