Marketing advice
Promoting Your Business
Nigel Toplis, managing director of Recognition Express, offers some tips about how you to best promote your business
Sustainable business growth only comes to those companies who continuously and consistently promote their products, services and brand.
Promoting your business is about generating exposure, creating awareness and building brand value - it's about constantly reinforcing your message to customers such that your company, your brand are at the forefront of their mind. There have been numerous case studies detailing the effect on companies/brands when they stop promoting - generally to save money.
The outcome is short-term gain through cost savings, but long-term damage to sales and brand awareness, which in some cases takes months and in others year to recover from.
Another reason why accountants shouldn't run companies!
Companies who seek to be in business for the long term are looking for steady and continual growth, and to this end will invest in a long-term promotional strategy.
A robust promotion strategy will feature four key elements.
1. On-going drip
2. Event specific
3. Information led
4. Celebration
On-going drip
This is what I would call the ‘grunt' activity - probably the most boring and yet probably the most essential of the four elements.
Generally people will retain only that information that is pertinent to their situation or need at that time.
How many times have you said (or at least heard said) - ‘if I've told them once I've told them a thousand times!' People, by and large, only take notice of the information they require for the purpose they require it at that moment. So ‘promotional dripping' is all about repeating the message over and over again so that the customer gets maximum reinforcement of your core message.
Maximising effectiveness
Firstly, remember what you're trying to achieve - you want the customer to remember the message. Also remember that the customer will not retain as much information as you think they should.
Secondly, make the message simple and memorable.
Note: "We're delighted to inform you that we've now added an extra 20 per cent polyurethane coating to our coffee mugs to enable longer lasting sublimation printing" - is not simple or memorable!
- ‘I'm loving it'
- ‘it helps you work, rest and play'
- ‘bootiful'
- ‘va va voom'
are simple and memorable.
Thirdly, ensure the message means something to the customer - does the message talk about quality, reliability (on time, every time), value (every little helps) service (we never let you down), taste, experience etc?
Fourthly, the message must be able to be repeatable
In summary, the message needs to be
- Short
- Sharp
- Simple
- Memorable
Who remembers ‘a pint that thinks it's a quart'?
Nigel Toplis will be undertaking the completely insane climb up Mount Kilimanjaro in December for the Well Child charity
If you would like to sponsor Nigel's trek and support this very worthwhile children's charity then please either
1) Send a cheque (made payable to Well Child) to Janet Matthews, Recognition Express ltd, unit 2, Forest Business Park, Bardon, Leicestershire LE67 1UB or
2) Donate directly to the JustGiving website at www.justgiving.com/Nigel-Toplis
