CART BEFORE THE HORSE
THREE OF THE MOST incredulous statements you could encounter are: firstly, the cheque’s in the post; then, yes of course I’ll still love you in the morning; thirdly, I am a consultant and I’m here to help you. I am a PR consultant. And I am here. I am here to knock down some marketing myths and build up a case for communications practicality that might even help you.
Marketing is an over-used and much abused word. It is misinterpreted, hijacked as a populist metaphor for selling, or thought of as a devious means for portraying grey as white. Perhaps it is something to think about when the regular tissue of conjecture is being prepared for the bank manager?
Such widespread confusion makes it hardly surprising that companies can fail to realise how critical skilled marketing is to business success. Real marketing puts customers at the centre of all your business activities. It gives them what they want. It makes things better, or easier, or more cost-effective than the alternatives available to them.
Marketing equates to planning, product development, pricing, placement and then promotion. It is not a function, rather, it is a way of doing business. It needs to be part of everyone’s job description, from the receptionist to the chief executive. It has to involve customers at every stage. And it should be first in the timescale of events.
Promotion comes much later. It is the last step in the marketing process, not the first. So the advice is not to put the cart before the horse when you want to move forward with your business.
Do not rush into advertising, e-mail shots, social media content or any other promotional activity before the marketing basics are in place. Proficient marketing ensures that you can provide customers with what they want, in the way they want it, at a price they regard as affordable, always in the comfort that they can rely on your after-market support.
NOT MORE BUT BETTER
It means spending time with customers, constantly monitoring competitors and developing feedback procedures to turn this information into marketplace intelligence. Not more marketing, but better marketing.
Smarter operators realise that exceeding customer expectations is guaranteed to enhance business performance and that the quickest way to lose out is to over-promise or fail to deliver.
When you have your customer-centred marketing plan in place, the next important step is to tell the world about what it offers – and a whole new array of skills are required. Much of marketing is sheer hard work and simple common sense. The communications process, however, demands additional competence, just as you would expect to receive from a fee-earning accountant or lawyer. It is that specialist. It is that important.
Gazing out and around from within an organisation is one of the most difficult tasks faced by proprietors and managers. Skilled, external communications help can open up entirely new vistas.
One simple, yet pivotal, example is the difference between features and benefits. Most companies are proud of the features of their products or services and want to talk about them in great detail. Trouble is that customers are not interested in features.
They want to know about the benefits, about the advantages. That is why professional communicators talk about the joys of it being easier, or more comfortable, or sexier – or whatever. How any of that is achieved can be of minor importance to end-users.
TALK ABOUT THE CUSTOMER
Don’t talk about the company: talk about the customer. Not “we are delighted to”, rather “you will be delighted with”. Effective promotion concentrates on those who buy, not those who make or sell.
Your communications advisers will insist that the message and its supporting imagery are consistent, no matter what the promotional technique being applied.
The way in which content is developed for advertising, literature and press materials should be very different, but the underlying impression given must remain the same. In that way, your corporate reputation remains intact.
The marketplace starts to trust in the continuity and integrity of your brand. Increasingly, products and services are selected by purchasers’ overall perceptions of the supplier.
In this same connection, professionals will emphasis the importance of quality. So leave the words to trained copywriters, the graphics to experienced artists, the pictures to real photographers. Stick to what you know best.
At first sight, bringing in the specialists costs more, but nothing is inexpensive if it doesn’t work. In the long run, communications excellence could revolutionise your business. The greater part of the value of most major companies is represented by intangible assets, not by buildings, nor plant and machinery, nor work in progress.
Your business worth relies more heavily than ever on two of those less tangible assets – brands and customer relations. The brand is not only an identity: it harnesses available skills to bring about competitive advantage. And customer relations are about making it easy for customers to stay, difficult to go.
