When you ask most business people about their marketing, they start talking about how they need to improve their website, or create a brochure, but the reality is that marketing is about much more than the face you present to your clients.
At our next Worcestershire Business Leaders (WBL) meeting http://nwbusinessleaders.co.uk/northworcestershire/ Gill Hutchinson of Aardvark Marketing will be talking about the process she goes through with her clients to demonstrate where the gaps are in their marketing.
By scoring twelve different areas out of ten and then plotting them on a “Marketing Success Wheel”. The results will usually create an unbalanced picture, showing where the gaps are in that particular business.
Gill told us, “This process gets people to think about things they don’t normally link with marketing. There are so many different areas that are important but people often don’t do the work that’s needed behind the scenes that can feed into creating their website, poster or leaflet.”
Areas that are important include:
- Customer understanding – do you know what your customers need?
- Your product mix – have you got all of your eggs in one basket?
- Understanding your competitors
- Your proposition – how are you differentiating yourself?
- Business goals
- New business development – is there a process for this?
- Marketing objectives – what do you want people to believe about you?
- Marketing strategy – is it written down and shared within the business?
- Marketing investment – how much time and money will you commit to marketing?
- Marketing plan – successful businesses tend to have one
- Implementation – are you following your plan?
- Key Performance Indicators or KPIs – are you tracking your marketing?
If you come along to our next WBL meeting on Tuesday 21st June from 10am to 12pm, Gill will be speaking on this subject and taking us through the process used with Aardvark Marketing clients, so you can see the gaps in your own marketing and understand what to do about them.
As Gill puts it, “Marketing is like an iceberg. The poster or flyer you’re creating as part of your marketing is the tip of the iceberg, which is visible above the ocean surface, whereas the bulk of the work is the main body of the iceberg. It can’t necessarily be seen by your clients or prospects, but it’s still a vital part of your marketing”.
Click here to put your name down for our next WBL and enjoy listening to our inspiring speakers, networking with established business owners, and the refreshments and comfortable surroundings of the newly refurbished Hogarths Stone Manor.
