Paying attention to customer service starts with paying attention…
Posted on | July 21, 2011
OK. I admit I’m not a food critic. I’m not a chef and I’m not in any way qualified to write restaurant reviews. I’ll put my hand up right away and admit all of that. Setting those facts aside, this may be a slightly odd post – half restaurant review, half customer service advice. You see, although I may not be a restaurant reviewer of any kind, my company does do a lot of work in customer engagement, experience and loyalty. That bit I do know.
The hospitality industry thrives on customer service. Some get it right, others get it disastrously wrong. Here are two places in Edinburgh that I love, and I love them (in part) because of the attention they pay to their customers.
(and yes, the food is awesome too)
Mark Greenaway
Last night I took my girlfriend out to visit Mark Greenaway‘s restaurant on Picardy Place. I go there all the time on business, but last night was the first time I got to experience the restaurant in a relaxed social occasion.
(as Nicola, the Maitre’D, said to my girlfriend “whenever he’s here he’s always talking, never eating”)
Now if you haven’t been there at lunch. Go. Stop reading this and call them (0131 557 0952) to book a table. Do it now. This is the steal of the city. £16.50 for two of the nicest courses you’re going to find. You can’t beat it. It’s insanely good value. I mean almost criminal. I bring a regular business group here every month and everyone who comes is amazed at the food and the value. It’s quite simply the best place in Edinburgh to have a business lunch (we get a private room for our lunch meetings – makes it even better).
Back to last night. My girlfriend has some food intolerances. You know – Gluten, nuts, some dairy – that sort of thing. I talked to Nicola and Mark beforehand and they assured me they could handle everything. And boy did they. From start to finish they did a lot of little things that made our evening pretty special. To start with, the ‘amuse bouche’ that everyone else (including me) got had some cream in it so, without any fuss or mention, they brought out a special one just for her. It looked awesome. I was slightly jealous.
Bread is another thing. It’s one thing not to give her any bread (most places) but they went a really nice step further and brought her some rye bread (which she can eat). That was awesome. I could eat my bread without stealing guilty glances at her.
Now the food. Ohhhh the food. Just unbelievable. I had scallops as my starter and she had langoustines. Both were amazing. Now I go diving for scallops, so I’m an old hand at cooking scallops and I always judge a place pretty harshly on the quality of their scallops. These were stunning. Fresh and perfectly cooked. The taste combinations were amazing. Yum.
Without any fuss, they modified the dishes to suit my girlfriend’s intolerances. Nothing was a problem, and they were more than flexible. That meant a lot to both of us.
The mains were the same way. I had a stunning beef dish which may have been topped by her duck, which was sublime. I loved the beef, but that duck was good enough to make you cry.
(On a side note, they had put aside some of the purple mash and made it without cream so she could have that if she wanted. Nice touch.)
Dessert was a tough one. She can’t have cream or gluten, so most of the desserts were out. They put together a lovely summery eton mess (minus the cream) for her and gave me one of the nicest chocolate fondants I have ever had. Seriously. I almost had to get a room so I could be alone. I’m not kidding. Have it. Bring a hanky.
At the end of the meal, Mark came out to say hi. We’re going back in a couple of weeks with some friends, so he offered to put together a special dessert for my girlfriend so she could enjoy some chocolate too.
Sum it up? The food was sublime, but the business moral is even better. There were a lot of little things they did to make our evening special. A lot of little things that meant my girlfriend could have an amazing meal without worrying. That doesn’t happen at a lot of places. And it’s a great advert for what makes good customer service. Attention. You have have to pay attention. It doesn’t have to be big things, in fact, the little things matter even more. Mark Greenaway delivered in a huge way. On every level.
(and guess what? I’m back there for lunch today. I’m spoiled…)
Illegal Jacks
Slightly different from Mark Greenaway. Just a bit.
I love Jack’s place. I’m an official #jackaholic. I just don’t have the t-shirt yet.
But anyway, let’s get to the point. Illegal Jack‘s has a pretty big following in Edinburgh. They do a lot on social media and they get a whole lot of repeat customers. There is a reason for this. And only part of it is the food.
The food is awesome. I personally can’t tell you how many times I have had a craving for an Illegal Jacks’ burrito that went almost to the physically disabling point. I mean, what the hell do they put in their burritos? Is this another Coke thing? Should I be worried? If you haven’t tried Illegal Jacks yet, let me give you some advice. Beef/Pork burrito is the only thing you will ever need (their chicken wings and nachos are great too). Get a burrito. Load it up with pinto beans, beef, cheese, sour cream and salsa. And good luck. They are a susbstantial meal, but I have never failed to eat it all. I can’t stop myself.
The food is only half of it. Jacks really love their customers. And it shows in everything they do. Again it’s the little things. I reserved a table for my birthday and they always print out a nice reservation notice with your twitter handle on it. This time, it mentioned me as the “Birthday Boy”. It made me laugh. If you have anything you need that’s special or you want to do something a bit different for someone, they are up for it. They are there all the time for their customers. They want to engage. They want to hear from us.
And that’s what makes it special. Yes the food is awesome, but you feel like you’re a part of Illegal Jacks. You feel like it’s your place. It’s like Cheers, with no Norm. Well, maybe not exactly like Cheers, but you get my point. They pay attention to their customers. They pay attention to the little details. They make their customers feel special.
There it is. Two fantastic places to eat in Edinburgh. Two places with amazing (albeit very different) food. Two places that really care about their customers and understand that customer service is about one main thing: paying attention to the little details.
(and now, after all of that, it’s 08:42 in the morning and I’m absolutely starving)
-j
If the ship is already sinking, you probably can’t get it fixed…
Posted on | July 13, 2011
As someone who has owned and run a business for the past six(ish) years, there is nothing that makes me sadder than to see a business close its doors. No matter whose fault it is, how stupid the decisions were, or how incompetent people have been, it still makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach. I can’t imagine how much that would hurt – to lose something you have put your heart and soul into. I’d be shattered.
This came back into sharp relief for me over the past two months. Someone I know fairly well (and even odder, someone I actually like and rate as a business person) has had to close his doors.
I couldn’t help him. He asked me to. But I had to tell him no.
That’s not me being a prick, by the way. If I could have helped him, I would have done whatever I could have for free. It wasn’t about fees or money. It was down to a simple problem. The business was sunk. It needed to die. It didn’t have any life left in it.
All I could think of was this: why didn’t you come talk to me a year ago? We could have fixed this.
And that’s the sad moral of today’s story. It’s not nice, but it’s something I have seen time and time again. You can’t wait until the ship is sinking before you start to plug the holes….it’s too late at that point.
Back when my company did a lot more campaign-based work, I used to get approached by businesses all the time who were looking for quick wins. They needed cash in, so they wanted a cheap campaign (ie. they had no real budget to pay us) that would bring in some quick cash.
Now, I’ve never been interested in that sort of work, so I’d listen politely and send them away, normally with the best advice I could give about how they could create their own campaigns for free. They didn’t have the money, they didn’t have the opportunity and, even worse, they were spiraling down anyway. The ship was sinking….
What was that moral again? Oh yeah. You can’t wait wait until your business is at the brink before you take action to increase your marketing. You can’t wait until the water is lapping over the sides before you figure out where you need to focus you efforts. If you wait for that long, you’re probably not going to be able to get out of the hole in any meaningful way.
So for my friend’s benefit (who is doing OK and starting up again) and for all those others who have come to me in distress, I’m going to remind them of some fundamental marketing rules they should be stapling to their foreheads.
It’s Honest Assessment Time
What’s working? What isn’t? Do you know how many businesses I have seen that, somewhat pigheadedly, continue down the same bad paths they have gone down before? It’s insanity. You’ve got to have an honest assessment of where the best and most profitable income is coming from and focus on attaining that. Stop reaching for those projects that never come off, and stop doing the ones that don’t pay you any money. Why the hell are you in business if not to make a strong and sustainable profit? Look at where you are focussing on and make sure it’s the right direction.
Cover Your Home Bases First
Any time you talk to one of those cheesy ‘business coaches’ about marketing they normally spout a lot of drivel, but they do say one useful thing: it’s easier to sell to your existing customers. That’s very true. It’s also easier to leverage the contacts and connections (from customers to suppliers, families to neighbors) you already have than to go after people who don’t already know you. There is normally a ton of business on your doorstep (either literally or figuratively) and it drives me nuts when I see businesses ignore that.
Stay Active, Not Passive
Active marketing is a lot better than passive marketing. You want to be actually reaching out to people. That can happen in a lot of different ways, both directly and indirectly. Passive marketing is when you throw something out there and hope you get a response. Take that ad in the Chamber of Commerce calendar? Well why not? I’ll tell you why. It’s a waste of money. Spend that £400 on directly and actively reaching out and taking business.
Keep Your Eyes Open
Do you know how many good marketing ideas are basically just tweaks of existing campaigns? All the best ideas are copied, are changed, are tweaked and are improved. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel at every step. You don’t have to come up with something startling or brand new. You don’t even have to do something drastically different from your competitors. If something works, use it.
That’s it. Four simple things for my mate (you know who you are) to keep in mind.
And a simple request – don’t wait until you’re hurt before you ask for my help. You know where to find me (and what whisky I prefer).
;-)
- j
I say potato, you say pot-ahhhh-to, dahling…
Posted on | June 16, 2011
I love meeting people in marketing. Particularly ones who, with a great deal of self importance, introduce themselves as someone who is an expert because they are a fellow of something, studied somewhere or have some letters after their name. If you can add the three little beauties ‘MBA’ as well, chances are I’ll have me some fun fifteen minutes.
It will come to nobody’s real surprise that I don’t always see eye-to-eye with these people. I also have an annoying habit of saying whatever pops into my head. That is a trait that has, admittedly, brought me into trouble on the odd occasion.
But these meetings can also be fun! I learn things. We argue about ideas. It’s the way it should be.
A couple of my recent ones have focussed a lot more on one central topic. What, exactly, is marketing?
Of course it’s actually a bit of a trick question. Marketing means so many things it’s impossible to be 100% right or 100% wrong about it. Just because your definition of marketing is different to mine doesn’t necessarily mean one of us is wrong (although, to be fair, let’s just assume I’m right, ok?).
I get asked this question a lot, so I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring and give some of my thoughts.
Marketing is not about brand
Marketing is not a pretty website
Marketing is not a Twitter account (or a Facebook page, a LinkedIn page etc)
Marketing isn’t about direct mail
Marketing isn’t sending an email campaign
Marketing isn’t about your database
Marketing isn’t about design
Marketing isn’t a quick fix or a quick win
Marketing isn’t about print
Marketing isn’t a brochure
That’s lot of negatives isn’t it? Don’t worry, this all has a positive ending :-)
Now before you send me a bitchy email. Of course all of these things can fall into your marketing. Of course they can (and some of them absolutely should). All of these bits and pieces can be combined to form a coherent and powerful marketing package for your company. There is only one problem.
First you need the plan.
This is the source of most of my arguments. Particularly, I have to say, when I talk to creative agencies (ahem, sorry, ‘marketing agencies’). The majority of them do what you’d expect them to do. They react to a brief from a company. They get asked to provide a new brochure – they do it really well. They get asked to design a website, it’s a thing of beauty. That’s all well and good.
But it’s not really marketing.
Those are just things.
Too many companies get fooled into thinking that it’s the tools that matter. It isn’t. You have to know what the job is before you start picking the tools.
So what is marketing?
Marketing is about linking what you do with how you do it and who you do it for. That’s a terrible way of putting it, but it’s true.
Marketing is about profit
Marketing is about focus
Marketing is about growth
Marketing is about your customers
Marketing is about your staff
Marketing is about your products and services
My company focuses on this side of marketing (the real side, right?). We don’t concentrate on building pretty pictures or making Facebook pages. We don’t concentrate on leaflets or brochures. We concentrate on where sustainable and profitable income streams can be found. We concentrate on business models. We look at opportunities. We figure out strategies to achieve all of these things. Only then do we pick the right tools for the job.
So my advice is pretty simple. Stop worrying about your website and your advertising. Stop thinking an email campaign will save the day and Twitter is the path to salvation. That’s all bollocks. Before anything you have to be on a firm strategic footing. You have to know where you are, where you want to go and how you are going to get there. You have to understand how you fit. You have to understand where you fit.
There are a lot of things that need to be thought of before you rush off to do the creative side of marketing. Don’t be one of those companies that misses the boat eh?
- j
It’s never too early to ask for some help…
Posted on | May 24, 2011
…but it may very well be too late.
In some ways I’m going to have to tip the old hat in @craig_mckenna‘s direction. His latest blog about the responsibilities that consultants have to their clients played out in my mind as I have been working with a new client.
How many businesses suffer because they don’t actually go out and get the help they so badly need?
Rough guess? I can’t even make a stab, but from my experience it’s a lot of them and it can be the death blow.
I don’t actually mean consultants either. This can be legal, accountancy, IP….you name it.
Let me give you a scenario I have seen recently:
The company is launching a new type of offering that they will be taking out across the UK and, if all goes well, to the rest of the world. They are spending considerable time (and money) in developing their new product. They have spent hours working on it. They have spent thousands developing it. They are speaking to my company about launching it.
This is not an insignificant investment.
What is the one thing missing?
Protection. They haven’t budgeted, or really even addressed, the specific intellectual property areas of concern.
And it’s keeping me up at night. IP is a big area for our work. Most of what we do in the technology field is about launching new technology products. I can tell you right now that these projects will fail if the IP isn’t protected adequately.
So why do these companies not look for advice sooner? It’s not that they are all just massively ignorant and don’t understand that these are issues that need to be addressed – most of them know this very well.
As always, it normally comes down to cost. “We can’t afford it” and “We’ll deal with it later” are the stock answers I get told when I dig a little deeper.
Really? I think that’s a bit of bollocks. It normally costs nothing to put a plan in place. Why are you waiting?
I do a lot of work Harper MacLeod across the UK. I was having a drink with one of their partners the other day and I asked him about when I should look to bring him in on my projects. My worry, as I put it, was in bringing him in too early, when the money may not be there to do all the work.
His answer may surprise people. He would rather be brought in early and help the company understand the best direction for them (in a legal and protection sense) so that the company has a full understanding of where the dangers and opportunities are. His rationale is no different from my rationale – if we do a good job and build a good relationship now, we will stick with these clients for life. That’s good business from everyone’s perspective.
I’ll put it another way. Rather sad to admit this, but back when I first started my company I wasn’t necessarily the best at dealing with HMRC. If I got a bit behind with them, I tended to ignore the letters for months. What a stupid way of dealing with a problem. Bury your head and hope it goes away. What I found, to my surprise, was that they were very willing to help me out if I came to them early and explained the situation.
OK, that’s a bit of a different situation, but the principle is the same. If you’re in business and you need help, why are you waiting to ask for it? Most companies are willing to talk without you handing over a cheque, and if you detail what the problems are, you’ll be surprised at how many companies will point you in the right direction. The worst thing you can do is put it off.
(and if anyone needs a good lawyer, give me a call ;-))
- j
I’m just going outside and I may be some time…
Posted on | May 10, 2011
It’s been a while since I had the time to sit down and write. Too long. Things have been pretty hectic here at Designate HQ, and most of it is falling on my shoulders. I have a new team of people starting up in the next couple of weeks but, until then, it’s crunch time with a lot of our projects and I’m the only one around the carry the load.
Capacity. My old friend. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and not just because of our current, short-term, capacity loss. I think of it almost every day when I think about our clients.
Capacity. It’s such a strange word in so many ways. So few companies really think about their capacity. Most companies think getting more. They want more sales, more profit, more customers, more staff, more turnover, more expansion.
More, more, more, more….
And more is good! More is excellent.
But it has to be twinned with something else – the ability to deliver.
And that, in a nutshell, is one of the key problems any business faces when the look to expand – the ability to deliver at the same level of quality and expedience. It’s so often the last thing that business owners think about when they think about expansion. It’s so often the last piece to enter into the equation, often after the fact, when the problems are already there.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but when we’re developing a strategy for a company, we look at several key areas of their existing setup:
- Sales – the way they interact with clients, their sales process, their client base, their sales tools, their sales teams.
- People & Personalities – key people, personality dynamics, weak performers, hierarchies, behaviour types
- Marketing & Profile – PR, advertising, target markets, databases, crm systems, collateral, social media
- Financials – pricing structure, cash-flow, overheads, marketing budgets
- Products & Services – competitors, key benefits, market analysis, opportunity analysis
- Capacity – current capacity & roles, desired capacity & roles, required capacity
It’s the last one that most people are surprised by. “Hey, you’re a marketing company! What are your looking at that stuff for?”
Why wouldn’t we?
Let me tell you a little secret. You want to know what the number one reason companies fail to achieve the growth they want? It’s not because of the market – it’s because they don’t execute properly. It’s down to them. You already hold all the keys…the real question is always: what are you going to do with them?
Who’s going to manage the relationships? How is it going to work when you have doubled the client base? What about tripled? How long will it take to train up new people? Where are you going to find them? When do you need to start looking?
Capacity is so important. It’s also personal to me, at the present moment, because I’m dealing with it all over the block. First off in my own business, but also with a number of my clients.
I promise you it’s going to be a lot more important than you think…so think about it….sooner rather than later.
- jordan
Sometimes it’s my job to tell you that you look fat in that dress.
Posted on | April 25, 2011
I was sitting down for coffee with a fellow marketing man the other day. To be fair, I try not to do that too often, but every once in a while it’s ok, right?
Anyway, there was a bit of a sales pitch on his side of the table, but he was a nice guy and, at the very least, he was honest about it. I appreciate that. I liked him.
Of course what always happens in these meetings is that the two of us play a bit of ‘show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ footsy. Here’s what we do. Oh yeah? Here’s what we do! Repeat.
As I was talking to him a bit about what Designate does, I started to talk a lot more about what makes us different from most marketing companies. The short 3-second answer?
Sometimes it’s our job to tell you that you look fat in that dress.
I’ll elaborate.
Most marketing companies are really just glorified creative companies. That’s not a slight by the way. I admire them. I really do! I also use quite a lot of them on different projects. But let’s not confuse what they do with what real marketing is about. Real marketing is placement. Real marketing is the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ and then the ‘how’ and the ‘where’. The pretty skin on top is the last part of the equation. It’s a critical part, of course, but if it’s not grounded with a proper understanding of the fundamentals, it’s also a useless part. Most creative companies will act on what they are given. They don’t question…they execute on what they are asked.
Not us.
I gave him an example:
We’re working with an exciting software company right now. They have developed some very cool technology and they came to use to figure out a strategy for them. How could they turn their business from one that uses their technology to service clients into one that sells their technology and makes a lot of passive income. It’s a big question. It’s a huge change in business model but, if they could manage it, they could see the benefits. And they have been trying to figure out how to do it for years with no luck.
Well we took a look at the technology and, based on where they were, said forget it. You can’t play in that field, and going forward like that is suicide. You won’t make it. There isn’t enough of a market to make it worthwhile. Ouch eh?
Was that the end of it? Of course not. Our job isn’t to do what you tell us to do – it’s to come up with a strategy to accomplish what you want to do. If you knew how to do it, you wouldn’t need us.
Now we could have accepted the project on spec. They briefed us to do something, we execute the brief. Job done. Chance of success? hmmm..I’ll say about 5%?
Instead, we did what we always do. We worked out where the best opportunities existed and we made a case for a strategy to go after them. We got our hands dirty. And guess what? We have been helping them leverage their technology into specific niche markets. And it’s working. And they are happy.
That’s one of the things I love about what we do at Designate – it’s not our job to be reactive. It’s not our job to do as we’re told (of course we value our client’s opinions and experience and of course we put them first…don’t be stupid). It’s our job to question. It’s our job to poke holes. It’s our job to think of the better way. It’s our job to give the unvarnished truth.
And our clients appreciate it. They benefit from it. They profit with it.
So yes, my dear, you look fat in that dress. But the good news? I found a company willing to pay for it….you’re going to make a fortune as a plus-sized model….
- jordan
P.s. Please don’t send me email about using weight as an issue. It could have been anything. I’ve just used this analogy. Grow up.
You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them. Know when to walk away, and know when to run….
Posted on | April 8, 2011
I know what you’re thinking, but trust me, this isn’t really a post about Kenny Rogers (as much as I might wish it to be).
Quick back story. I was actually walking to the train station this morning and I pressed the play button on my iPhone. It randomly selected some Kenny Rogers. Me being a fan, I let it play and, as I heard those lines, business ideas started to creep into my head.
As I wandered through the streets of Edinburgh at 0630 listening to Kenny…those four lines sort of jumped out at me:
You got to know when to hold them
Now when to fold them
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
It jumped out at me because it reminded me of a conversation I had with a company just the other day.
They have the cards (to continue the, possibly tortured, metaphor) and they are in the game, but they really don’t know when to hold or when to fold. And regardless of whether they walk or run, they don’t even know what direction they should be heading.
The starting point to our conversation wasn’t positive. We didn’t start well.
They believed they should be looking at one thing. I firmly believed they needed a much deeper conversation. It wasn’t really a conversation they wanted to have. It really wasn’t. But my company had been referred by someone they trust, so they stuck it out, and we are all very glad they did.
Back to my point. It’s a bit of a throw-away line to say “don’t confuse tactics with strategy”. A lot of people use it. It’s annoyingly popular, but it is also very true, and in this case, it got to the route of the problem.
There a a lot of tactics you can use to market a company (or a person, a product….whatever). Lots of tactics. Like so many other parts of a business, the problem lies in the preparation.
To put it another way: you can be the fastest runner in the world, but if you’re pointed the wrong way I’ll still beat you to the line. A good athlete will combine the extraordinary physical nature of their sport with a real understanding of strategy. Strategy to compete. Strategy over competitors. Strategy to maximise performance. There are very rarely situations where pure power, speed or talent succeed without being lead by a strategy to succeed.
And yet, when it comes to marketing, so many companies launch into it without really understanding what it is, where it can be applied and where they need to concentrate. They talk about ends, not means. That’s all well and good, but you can’t get to the end without a thorough understanding of the means.
Marketing means a lot of things to a lot of people. I can ask ten different people and I’ll get ten different answers. There is one thing that is universally true. If you don’t know where you are and you don’t know where you’re going, you’re wandering in the dark being guided only by hope.
To me, that’s not a smart business bet. Far better to invest the time and money to develop a proper strategy. (in the long run, it’s also a lot cheaper when you make less mistakes)
- j
I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.
Posted on | April 1, 2011
The other day someone asked me a question I get asked a lot:
“How do I measure the return on social media for my business?”
To be honest, I couldn’t answer them. Or at least not completely. The truth is I didn’t know enough about their business or their activities to give a meaningful answer. And that’s a point that a lot of people don’t really understand – Every business has different criteria that they use to measure the success of their marketing, and social media is no different. There isn’t a stock answer. It has to be specific to your business….what you do…how you sell.
But I did tell them how I measure it for my company, Designate.
Let me give you a bit of background understanding:
Designate is a marketing strategy company. That’s what we do. We don’t build websites. We don’t design anything. We don’t build anything. We don’t sell products. No, instead it’s our job to thoroughly understand our clients’ businesses and figure out the ways to create the most profitable strategies for growth. We’re a service. You bring us in and we create a strategy, then we run it for you on a monthly basis. That’s us in a nutshell.
(a bit simplistic, but if you really want to know more, you can buy me lunch)
So how do I measure the return on my social media activities?
To be honest, the same way I measure the return on my offline marketing activities. It’s exactly the same criteria.
I’ll elaborate. For my business, I look to engage with a very specific type of client. We’re not selling a product and we’re not a cheap service (with no disrespect intended to those that are). We’re an great investment, and one that is taken by companies that fit certain criteria of budget, opportunity and management team. I have a very specific market I aim at and a very specific way of getting business. My company’s marketing is focussed on building the right networks of people in the right areas with the right contacts and the right opportunities. That’s it.
And it works online just as well as offline.
So that is how I measure social media for my business (and it’s specific to my business). Not by a stock formula or by applying some conversion rate, I measure it by seeing if it’s helping me achieve the marketing objectives I have set out. Is it helping me achieve my main marketing goals? Is it helping me build my network? Is it working with the same effectiveness as my offline activities?
There are lots of ways to measure you marketing activities. Some are concrete (click throughs) and some are more intangible (reputation). But before you can even start to look at how you can measure the success, you have to have a clear understanding of what that success really means. You have to set your goals and understand which tools you’re going to use to achieve them. It doesn’t work in reverse. You have to plan for it.
- j
Last I checked, you and Tesco didn’t have a lot in common…
Posted on | March 29, 2011
Last week I was asked to speak to a small group of business owners who are currently in the (torturous?) process of trying to grow their own businesses. They were covering marketing that week, and I was brought in for a couple reasons (eye candy,? Ability to creatively curse?), but the primary one was to give them a bit of an insight into how social media works.
How social media works. Hmmm… or doesn’t work. Or works sometimes. Or never.
Kind of depends on who you speak to. Kind of depends on who you are.
Before I met them all, I did actually take a bit of time to think about what I would say (hey, I’m a professional, right?). I also thought a bit about the people I have heard speaking about social media and what they had to say. It wasn’t a happy time. It confirmed, for me at least, one of the core problems we’re facing right now:
Social media ha sa lot of people convinced they are Tesco. Or at least that they are playing in the same marketing field.
(here’s a hint. You’re not)
I like social media. A lot. I can see how it can develop further and I like the communication model. We’re just going to have to get through the childlike period we’re in now. It’s the same thing that happens anytime we have a new technology or set of tools at our disposal. The first thing that happens is a lot of people appoint themselves as experts (pardon me, ‘gurus’) and go off to make money convincing the unaware or uninitiated that this is the ONLY THING YOU NEED! Email marketing was the thing right? It’s the best way to communicate with your customers, right? It’s easy to prospect new customers, right?
Except when it isn’t. Which is a lot of the time.
Back to my Tesco analogy….
A lot of people who talk about social media tend to use the big boy analogies. This is how Dominos screwed up. This is how M&S are doing it. This is how you engage your customers with your brand.
Who gives a shit? You’re not a national brand. You’re not recognisable. You’re not even in the same stadium.
What matters to your bottom line is way way (WAY) different.
See? This isn’t a rant about social media at all! It’s a bit of a rant about marketing in general.
At the SME level, marketing is a very direct activity. It has to connect directly with your bottom line. It has to connect directly with your networks and your surroundings. It can’t be abstract. It’s got to be a concrete building block.
And social media can be a tool you use. It can be a tool you use to communicate, to interact, to promote, to inspire loyalty, develop a wider network. All of these things.
But at the heart of your social media strategy has to be a solid marketing strategy for your business.
Otherwise you’re just pissing in the wind.
- j
We’re Hiring, and yes, I’m looking at you.
Posted on | March 17, 2011
Things are getting a re-shuffle here at Designate, and I am looking for a new person to come in a join us in, what is turning out to be, an exciting year of change and growth. We have ambitious plans for 2011, and I’d like our new hire to be another step forward to that growth. So, who are we looking for? I’m not really much for formality and I have never been someone who likes writing down a job spec. I do, however, have a strong feeling for the type of person who I want to join my company, and I know the key skills I want them to have.
What’s it like working here?
Busy. Exciting. Fluid.
This is a growing company. We all have to be a bit of an all-rounder. Some days we’ll be working on launching a new product and other days we’ll be talking to franchisees down in London on how they can drive new sales in their region. It changes. You need to be flexible. You need to look ahead. You need to be quick and be precise.
This is a fun company. We work hard when we need to and there can be long days and long nights. We also have fun. There’s a lot of banter. There is a lot of curiosity. We get to know our clients. We get to meet new friends.
Every week is different. Every project is different. We make a make a big impact on our clients, and it’s a big responsibility. It’s also a big privilege. We get to see the fruits of our labour played out every week.
What type of skills will you need?
Yes I know. I said right from the start that you’ll need to be a bit of an all-rounder. And that’s true. We are a small company. We don’t have room for people who can’t accomplish a lot of different tasks. I’m also looking for someone who will fit into the company dynamic – we are a young, growing, creative, ambitious company.
But there are skills we need:
- Account/Project Management – we deal with our clients on a monthly basis. We work long-term with each of our clients, which means that there are always projects to manage, clients to speak with, and research to be done. At present we are currently developing a new brand, helping to develop a new product, launching a new customer loyalty scheme and developing new marketing materials. All of these have multiple tasks and milestones to be hit. We sit in the middle, and we are the ones responsible for making sure it all gets done.
- Responsibility – I travel a lot for the company. I’m out and about creating new business opportunities and meeting with new people. You will have to be able to be responsible and be able to work on your own at times. I need someone I can rely on to get the work done on time and correctly.
- Curiosity and creativity- we are a creative company. We develop marketing strategies for businesses and we do it really well. I want someone who will be curious and creative. Someone who wants to learn a new way of working and will bring a strong creative outlook to the business. Equally, someone who is willing to make suggestion; bring their ideas and their perspectives; open and anxious to improve the processes we already have in place.
- Communication skills – this really should be obvious, but we are a marketing company and it’s essential that you have good communication skills. You’ll be working directly with clients, creatives and our strategic partners, and when you do, you represent the company (and me personally).
Why work for Designate?
Well, first off, there is a salary and room to move up. As we grow, so will you. But I’m not really interested in hiring someone who is only in it for a 9-5 pay check. This is a growing company. I want someone who wants to play a big role in an exciting business. Someone who wants to make an impact and see the real value in the contribution they make. As we grow and spread our wings, we’ll be taking you along with us. There is a lot of scope to develop your role and I’m always happy to help my staff develop.
In short, I prefer to work with someone who wants to take responsibility, who wants to be passionate about where they work, who wants to try new things and who wants to make a difference to my company and our clients.
What I can promise in return is a fun working environment, an exciting and challenging opportunity to learn and my full support.
If this sounds about right to you, or you feel you know someone who fills the bill, drop me a line:
Jordan@thedesignategroup.com