I don’t read (or, in fact, speak) Dutch, so in between excursions around the country, I was hungry to read anything that was printed in a language I could understand. I fell onto an old copy of US Airways’ magazine, and was struck by an article they wrote about companies engaging customers via social media.

I was struck because, somewhat unexpectedly, the article made a lot of sense.

The gist of the article was pretty straightforward:

‘Customer Service hasn’t changed. It’s still about the customer.’

Think about that for a second. I don’t know about you, but I’m usually bombarded by social media experts and online advertising gurus. There are lot of words that get thrown about. Buzz words. Dumb words. Scary words.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
SEO
Pay-Per-Click

(your company doesn’t have a Facebook page????  PANIC!)

Anyway, what impressed me about the article was the focus back to the essential point:

Customer service is about the customer.

(That is one of the best marketing rules you will ever want to remember)

I’ll put it simply:

Social Media can be a hugely valuable customer service tool for your company, but don’t forget:

1. It’s about the customer.
2. It’s about the customer AND you
3. It’s about listening and interacting – not shouting

It was a good article, and it was an unexpected pleasure to read.

(also, the beer was excellent, thanks)

- j

I like reading up on Franchise opportunities. They all boast about having ‘world-class marketing’ (where did that phrase come from anyway? It sounds like some sort of weird advert for hoovers) systems in place that will guarantee that their franchisees will make tons and tons of money.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I was always told that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The reality is most franchises fall down in translation – translating what they found successful in one area into another one. This isn’t as easy as it seems, and it’s a critical part of developing a marketing strategy for your franchise.

Repeat after me: All marketing is local. All marketing is local. All…you get the idea.

What works in one place won’t necessarily work in another. What works for one type of customer will turn another one off. You simply have to understand the local market before you send your new franchisee out to sell. If you don’t, they’ll get frustrated and accuse you of shoddy marketing. And they’d be right. Just because it worked in one area doesn’t mean it will work in another.

I speak three languages. That’s not bragging, it’s the truth. When you’re translating from another language, you very rarely do it literally – you almost always form your words in a way that will make sense to that new language. You adjust for your new audience.

It’s the same with marketing. When we create a marketing strategy for a franchise, we look to adjust it as new franchisees come on board. We translate it into the local market – taking advantages of what the local opportunities are.

Go on, say it one more time: All marketing is local.

- j

(this was originally written for The Franchise Gap)

When I talk to people in business, and I mention I am in marketing, most people assume I am a designer of some sort or another. “So you build websites?” I get asked a lot, or “So you can design me a business card or brochure?”

Yes, but that’s not the point.

The problem is that most people think of marketing as a thing. It’s a leaflet or an advertisement. It’s a brochure or a website. And that’s true, up to a point, but it misses the real truth of how marketing is effective. Thinking of marketing as a product (ie. the ‘what’) means you’ll miss the real areas you need to look at in your business.

The truth of it is, there are lots of great designers out there. There are lots of way of putting something together that will be effective. The end products are the easy part of marketing.

The hard bit which, conveniently, most creative companies aren’t very good at, is figuring out why something needs to be done and how it can be implemented. The hard bit is understanding the profitable areas of a business and charting out where this business is, how it can be obtained, and what the easiest routes are.

Too many companies ignore this, particularly when it comes to the SME market (where marketing tends to be a knee-jerk, ad-hoc, affair).

Without an effective strategy, marketing activities tend to flounder around and not go anywhere fast. It’s hard to go anywhere, when you’re not sure which way you should be pointed (and why that’s the right way to go).

Starting with the ‘what’ is completely ass-backwards. You need to start out with how, why and where to really get structured marketing strategy that can bring you a proper return.

-j

My company works with new-start, high-growth, businesses. These are businesses that have a great potential for growth (hence the term high-growth…duh) but normally need significant money to get things started. They are usually product-based businesses (physical or software) that have a mass-market appeal.

The problem with all of this is simple.

Money.

I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but it really does take money to make money. That or a tremendous amount of luck. Businesses that want to go after a large market need to prepare themselves in the right way. They need to secure their IP, identify their markets (and the strategy to reach them) and create the opportunity to successfully launch.

Money is a tough part of this equation. From personal experience I’ve seen some projects piss away a lot of money on needless expenses, poor decisions and crappy teams. I’ve seen companies burn through hundreds of thousands of pounds. That’s one problem in this industry – making sure that ‘money raised’ is ‘money well spent’.

The other side of the coin seems to be a really British sort of problem – settling for too  little. I’ve seen companies that have a good product and a willing market fall down for the simple reason of not asking for enough money. It was almost like they are so happy to be getting money at all, that they’ll happily settle for whatever they can.

The question we always ask is: ‘What does this money get you?” That’s an important question. What is the point of raising £80-100K when you really need £800K-£1m? What does that initial money get you? Are you going to be right back to the investors (with hat in hand) unable to proceed?

Now investors aren’t stupid, and the best ones will identify this pretty easily, but a number of smaller (angel) investors may not be clued up enough to really look at how much money it will take to get something to the market effectively.

It’s critical that the stages are identified early on. It may take £80-100K to establish a proper prototype and gather market demand/intelligence. It may take more. It may be that you can get to market effectively for £300K. It may take £2M+. None of these things are set in stone – they are all directly tied to the proposition and the market (and luck/opportunity).

My point is: these goalposts need to be identified. I’ve seen too many companies go for too little money, and they end up failing. Go for the right amount of money, and set your targets appropriately. It’s the only way to get a successful finish (and keep your investors happy).

-j

(For the purpose of the group, High Growth means a company that has a strong prospect of significant returns: New Products, Biotech, Medical, Technology, Software, Manufacturing, Franchising etc.)

I started this group to bring together a focused skill-set that could help drive companies through significant growth. Some of these companies will be new ventures that need to be commercialised and brought to market, whilst others will be established businesses that are looking to break into a new opportunity.

The High Growth Group is a powerful way of bringing the right people together to get the right business done.

Our format is simple, and effective:

1. Get the right group of core companies who have expertise in commercialising new ventures or rapid growth.
2. Find projects that have a strong commercial viability and an identified market (that’s my job) that are in need of skills and/or funding.
3. Match the right project with the right investors, and bring in the team to make sure that this investment is successful.

In the room today:

Marketing
Accountancy
PR
Design
Software Development
Public Funding
Executive Head-hunting
Investor

Today’s High Growth Group led to lively discussion and, more importantly, real and tangible opportunities to do business. We had nine people around the table with the expertise, and the contacts, to really get things accomplished.

Next month we’re looking to welcome some new guests:

1. Angel Investment Network
2. Award-winning product design company
3. Private Investor

We’re also looking at 2-3 projects that we may bring into the group to be vetted. They are at varying stages of development. One is looking to secure seed funding to get a proof-of-concept prototype done. Another has proved the concept, and is in need of the next round of funding to really drive the project on.

Not every project is right for the group, but if you’re a business that has high-growth potential and you need help (funding or skills) to achieve it – our group may be right for you.

If you’re an investor, our group can help de-risk your investment by bringing the skills and structure to make sure your investment succeeds.

Exciting times. Drop me a line to find out more.

-j

There’s a simple fact I wish everyone would accept:

Not every idea can be turned into a workable business.

Honest.

That’s not me being negative, either. I really believe good ideas, if executed properly, have just as much chance of succeeding now as they have at any other time. It’s just that not every idea has a strong enough commercial angle to make it worth doing.

A good example of this tends to come out of the Universities. They have some really great people, and it’s good to see them supporting them with a pretty wide range of commercialisation and spin-out programmes. The problem, of course, is in the execution. The last time I went to one University’s showcase afternoon (my alma mater, it turns out) I was pretty appalled by the standard they presented to us. Out of around sixty spin-out ‘businesses’, there were probably only five projects that were really commercially viable.

Five. Out of close to sixty.

That’s a problem but, as they say, it’s their problem.

Closer to home, we get involved with investor-led projects quite a bit. Commercialisation strategy is one of our niche areas of speciality, so I get to see this argument from a couple of different angles.

I’m lucky in that I get to speak to a pretty wide variety of budding entrepreneurs and wacky inventors on a regular basis. Most of them are brimming with enthusiasm for their particular product or technology, but very few of them have really thought about what the commercial viability of their project is. It can be a pretty harsh reality check when they find out that there really isn’t the market for their dream, and there is a strong likelihood of not finding an investor to back them.

Turning an idea into reality – successfully bringing a new product to market – requires more than a lot of passion (although you need to have this as well). You need to understand where you fit into the marketplace, how your income streams are going to develop, and what the real investment into the product is going to need to be. That will give you a proper understanding to know that when you build it, they actually will come.

(With apologies, of course, to W.P. Kinsella)

- jordan

Let me state this very, very, clearly: Focus is crucial.

Does this sound familiar? You run your own business. Every day you think of your staff, how to get new business, cash-flow, bills, networking, clients, accountants…the list is endless. Then it comes time to getting new business. You know you need to do something, but what?

Most SME directors are pulled in multiple ways at every moment. Marketing is always a bit of a mystery, so they tend to jump on things as they appear. An advertisement here, a leaflet there.

So what do you need to focus?

Step 1. What is the best opportunity?
You need to decide which areas of your business are the best opportunities for growth. Take a long hard think about this. Don’t try and grow an area that isn’t profitable. I remember one client who spent over £9000 in one year advertising an area of the business that didn’t make any money. Why? His answer was simple: “Because we do it”. That’s not good enough. Decide what areas of your business have growth potential and focus on them

Step 2. Narrow your view
if you try to get 15 things done, the chances are you’ll only get a few done, and they will be done poorly. Narrow your focus to three or four areas and pursue them with diligence. I would rather see a business pursue three marketing initiatives in a year successfully than waste time and money doing activities every month.

Step 3. Assess, with patience
You have to track what you’re doing and what those activities are generating for you. Marketing isn’t a silver bullet. Most initiatives need time to develop. Don’t expect every activity to send your bottom line sailing, but be honest in your assessment of how something is working. Most initiates need exposure that a one-off won’t provide, so you need to think of marketing as a process.

It sounds pretty obvious, but by doing these three things, you’re much more likely to achieve the marketing return you’re looking for.

Focus is the key.

- Jordan Samuel Fleming