You probably wondered why I’ve been a bit quiet recently. Well I have moved over to a new blog so you can find me here: www.bangconsultingblog.co.uk.

It’s early days yet, but I hope you will find the navigation a little smoother and the posts easier to read.

Please do stop by and take a look, and of course, leave me a comment!

As business owners we are constantly counselled to make sound decisions based on analysis and common sense. So we look at the figures, the bank balance, speak to trusted associates and buy or make the decision accordingly. But are we always pleased with the decision we make?

Let me give you an example. When the iPhone 3 came out I really wanted one. I often visited the mobile phone shops and had a little play and kept on telling my family I wanted an iPhone. But when it came to the time to change phones I allowed my head to rule. I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t justify the extra cost so I bought an alternative phone. And the result? I was never satisfied with it. The truth was it just didn’t come up to the iPhone’s standards in my opinion. I constantly compared it, and it came up short!

And it was then that I realised that sometimes I had to let my heart rule! Sure I still needed to do the figures and make sure I wasn’t making really wacky decisions, but I had to go with my heart (or gut if you like!) sometimes. Of course, the reality is that the phone I bought cost me more, because I eventually gave in and bought an iPhone anyway!

Your customers are just the same. So ask yourself are you making your products or services attractive enough to let their hearts rule? I hope so.

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Would you buy the goods or services your company provides?

Yes? Great, then you have a head start! No? Why not? Is it because they are not the same style, quality or type you favour? Or is it because they are not targeted at you?

For example you may be a man running a business predominantly focused around women, for example a fashion shop. In which case how can you be sure you’re getting it right?

When you need to make a decision in your business, such as a new design for your website, or a promotion you want to run, who do you ask? Much as we instinctively want the assurance from friends and family, the answer is definitely not them. Most of us don’t want to upset our nearest and dearest and we are all guilty of saying what we think they want to hear.

So, ask your customers! But before you do, be sure you have prepared properly – display everything well, and tell your customers the brief – what you want to achieve. Then find out what they think – does it work for them? Do they like it? Does it influence them to think the way you wanted them to? By that I mean either to buy something, or to feel a specific way about your business.

Don’t forget to record the information and to ask several customers. If your customers fall into several different categories, don’t forget to ask across the sectors, unless the work is for one specific group.

So remember, next time you need to make a business decision affecting the customer ask them if it is hitting the spot. After all, you may not be your own ideal customer!

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Do you feel that marketing doesn’t work for you? Maybe you feel that you’ve tried a few things but they don’t seem to have been effective?

Looking back (now be honest here!) have you tried a bit of everything when the whim has taken you, or someone has called you with a great “deal”?

Yes? Feeling guilty now? Well don’t worry because you are certainly not alone.

Proper marketing plan

Many business don’t set out a proper plan for their business, let alone their marketing. In the back of their minds they recognise that they need to “market” their business, so they go to a few networking meetings on and off, and then put an ad in the local paper when someone calls and offers them a deal, but if they only sign then and there.

Now I am sure you would no longer fall for the high pressure tactics used by the old style double glazing salesmen, so why do we suddenly change when offered some kind of business deal?

Setting a budget

The truth is that by formulating a plan for your business and allocating a budget for your marketing you are far less likely to fall into that trap. You can formulate your budget in a number of ways – by knowing what you want to do by way of marketing activities during the year and setting a budget accordingly. So if  you know you want to exhibit at a certain show you will need to allocate a fairly substantial sum to that.

Why is this important? Because once you have a marketing budget you know you only have a finite amount of money to work with. If you have already made a commitment to something, such as a regular networking group you need to take that off and then you know what you have left. If your business is seasonal you know you will have to take action to promote at that time, but just importantly what are you going to do to drive more business during quieter times?

Trying to plan for the whole year in advance is a very good idea – you know what you are doing and when, and you are far less likely to fall prey to a “deal” that is offered to you, unless it fits with your plan. Knowing in advance often also allows you to negotiate better discounts as you can be ahead of the game. If it is all last minute you have to go with what you are offered as you don’t have a choice, which is often far too expensive.

Do you have a marketing budget for your business?

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Knowing how your customers will react when things go wrong is important – something the super brand Apple will no doubt know about, given the recent news about working conditions in the manufacturing of their products. But are your customers as loyal as Apple’s customers?

Having a plan in place for when things go wrong is important when running a business. Being in touch with your customers and understanding them will make creating an effective “recovery” plan that much easier.

If you sell products you need to have a course of action in place for when a product isn’t available, if a product develops a fault or if there is a supplier problem. Maintaing regular communication, telling customers what is happening and what they need to do is key – nobody likes to be left in the dark. And make sure you keep up the communication until the problem is finally resolved.

For service based companies there needs to be a robust process for evaluating what went wrong and why. But this needs to be quick – customers don’t want to wait around for weeks whilst you spend time scratching your head inside the business. Again you need to keep in touch with your customers to let them know what is going on, and to ensure you have resolved the problem satisfactorily.

But take heart because if you handle a problem well you can turn a disgruntled customer into a raving fan – and wouldn’t that be good for your business?

I have unsubscribed from a few email newsletters recently and become increasingly frustrated at just how difficult some companies make it.

Some don’t have any instructions or links to unsubscribe at all – which is just wrong. If you keep emailing someone and they have to delete your emails, all you are going to do is annoy them.

Some have links which take you to a website where you have to carefully scrutinise a list to make sure you have chosen the right option to unsubscribe. Even worse is when you have to answer questions as to why you want to unsubscribe. Look, I don’t want it anymore OK?

I know some of the marketing people reading this are saying – but we want to know what we’ve done wrong. My argument to that is I think it’s too late at that stage. The reader has got to the point where they don’t want to hear from you anymore, does it really matter why?

But for me the worst option of all is when a link takes you to Outlook and you have to send an email to ask to be taken off the list. Nooooo! Don’t make the reader feel uncomfortable – just let them quietly leave.

In my opinion there should be a small unsubscribe link at the bottom of your email newsletter. Not a big highlighted button – but when you click it you are instantly unsubscribed and that is it!

And when I say that’s it – that’s really what I mean! Don’t send follow up emails, or worse still an automated email telling the reader it might take a few days for the unsubscribe to take effect. What’s that all about? In these days of sophisticated technology a reader should be able to be removed instantly from a mailing list and not hear from you again – after all that is what he is telling you he wants!

Image source: Microsoft/Fotolia partnership

When we think of our business “competitors” we naturally start to bristle – we don’t want to talk to them, after all they might take business away from us!

But is that really the case? Are we being fair to our so called competitors?  Are you sure those companies who you think of as competing with you are true competitors?

It is always a good idea to have an understanding of your competitors. Do they cover the same geographical area? Do they offer the same services or products? How do they sell themselves? Are their USPs the same as yours? What makes them special? And what makes you special?

But we shouldn’t always be nervous about our relationships with companies who seem to be in the same market place.

Not convinced? OK – then let me explain by telling you a story about my business …

Occasionally I do some marketing content work for one of my “competitors” and I also give them work when my clients want a service I don’t offer.

A while ago they called to ask my advice about some challenging work they had from a client. We talked it through and I made suggestions as to how they could best achieve a good result. They were very pleased with the ideas, and so was the client.

Then I needed some advice, and turned to them. They were happy to make suggestions. They don’t see me as a natural competitor – we aren’t based in the same area, and our clients aren’t that similar either.

So perhaps those companies you once thought of as your competitors may, in fact, be your friends! After all, what a great way to win business without any marketing costs.

Maybe it is time you started to court those companies who you may think of as offering similar services to you – you could possibly set up affiliate links or work together as associates. Or perhaps they would be pleased to know somebody else that provides a great service when they are stretched?

Think about your competition and see what you can achieve.

Research shows that, during previous recessions, companies who did not cut back on their marketing budgets reported greater profits than companies who did cut back.

Well, you would say that, Bang is a marketing company!

No, it’s true!

Successful businesses have ridden out recessions by having a positive attitude and focusing on the long term.  They realise that by being upbeat and positive this has an effect on the people around them.   People still need to buy, even in challenging times – so why shouldn’t they buy from you?

Whilst it is true that you should continue to market your business, it is time to embrace different marketing techniques and identify what works for your business.

Remember that a downturn can affect all businesses – which means you are in a great position to negotiate prices for advertising space for starters. I should add here that I am not a big lover of advertising, but I’ll come back to the thorny issue of advertising at a later date.

But in the meantime, if you think you will be tempted the next time an advertising executive dangles a juicy discount carrot, then you need to evaluate your customers.  Are you confident that you are advertising in newspapers or magazines that your customers read?  Are you sure about that? Why not spend some time chatting to your customers about where they look when deciding to work with someone in your field?

Of course, knowing your customers is vital for the success of any marketing you do.

Image: istockphoto

I recently received a piece of direct mail from the garage where I bought my car, followed up by receiving it on email too. No problem so far – good use of marketing tools. But, and it is a big BUT, they shot themselves in the foot.

Why? Because the marketing message was too general. They knew exactly what car I had – after all they sold it to me, and yet chose to tell me I could buy winter tyres from a specified price, based on an entirely different model of car. The cost for mine is in fact more than double the price quoted! The marketing was slick and very obviously driven (excuse the pun!) by the manufacturer, but I am sure they could have invested in more sophisticated back end systems, that would have made it more targeted. How impressed would I have been if they had quoted my car model and told me the exact price it would cost me? Instead I felt cheated when I found out how much more my tyres would be.

By making marketing messages, especially to existing customers, too general they are easy to brush aside. The customer feels let down – you haven’t taken the opportunity to show you care, or that you know anything about them – even though you have their purchasing history. And this applies equally well to service based businesses as it does to product based ones.

Just think about how effective some of that more targeted marketing you receive really is – we’ve all received an email from Amazon based on recent purchases, or even recent searches (and bought something as a result!). We’ve all been on the internet looking at a web page and noticed the ads are targeted to recent searches we have done. It works and it is impressive.

Making your marketing too general will turn your customers off. Make it personal and they just might return!

Last time I talked to you about the importance of taking action to make 2012 a successful year for you and your business.

At the start of every year, many people reflect on the year just gone and consider what they would like to be different at the end of the next year. Often this manifests itself in “resolutions” which, in a great many cases, have been broken before we even meet the half point in January! Why is that? Because generally when people make resolutions they take the form of sweeping statements like “Lose weight” or “Give up smoking”. But if they took the shape of proper goals with those SMART attributes we all know about, they’d have more chance of success.

And this is where you come in! I’d like you to find out from your customers (just a handful if you have hundreds) what their resolutions or goals are for 2012. And then I’d like you to think about how your business could help them to achieve those goals. So, if you’re a personal fitness instructor you’d put a plan together to achieve specific fitness levels or weight loss for your client, if you’re an accountant you’d help your clients form a cashflow forecast and targets to meet their financial goals etc.

I firmly believe that no matter what business sector you are in you can help your customers achieve their goals, and whilst doing that they’ll be helping you to achieve your goal too! (After all, it was to grow your business, wasn’t it?)

Please let me know how you get on.