When it comes to failed marketing campaigns the UK Government must lead the way. My wife pointed out that the ‘Health in Pregnancy Grant’ being a classic example of this.

For those that don’t know the Health in Pregnancy Grant is a £190 grant paid by HMRC to all pregnant women who have reached 25 weeks. [...]

New businesses often get their marketing wrong. They spend too much, too soon – and on the wrong things. Then, when they have their act together, there is no money left to invest in promotional activities which will drive business growth. The net result is inconsistent promotion of the wrong message to the wrong people. [...]

So, it’s a New Year! What does 2010 hold for you? Will there be ‘green shoots’? Are we out of recession? Is it going to get tougher or easier in these coming 12 months? Sorry, I’ve absolutely no idea – check out the horoscopes page for that one please! What I can predict that it’s [...]

Reading John’s recent posts on customer satisfaction and, having given the matter a deal of thought recently, I thought it would be constructive to summarise some simple initiatives that Business Owners can take to improve the level of satisfaction they achieve for their customers.
Organisation
Consider customers and their needs as you design your organisation. If your [...]

Shortly before Christmas my family and I had a short break at the Longleat Forest, CenterParc.
It wasn’t my idea. I wasn’t overjoyed at the prospect of going and certainly didn’t look forward to it. But my wife wanted to go and as she rightly pointed out there’s not many holidays that meet all our needs [...]

For those that don’t know Spyderco is an American company based in Golden, Colorado. They make knives.
Until recently I hadn’t heard of them. However since becoming a Dad I’ve been thinking more and more about the fun I had camping out as a Scout when I was a kid. I’ve been looking forward to being [...]

Customers
Start by discovering what your customers want (and what they do not want) and what your competitors do not offer.
Take the survey information you have already collected (you do survey – informally as an absolute minimum – don’t you?). Make sure that you understand the people who buy from you – as well as [...]

Marketing communication is most effective when it is repeatedly brought to the attention of your target market.

Why?

Most prospects do not respond immediately to the first thing they see about you;

Or perhaps even several of them.

Why?

Your prospects are not yet familiar with you/ your offer (trust).

Repetition builds familiarity, which in turn helps build credibility.

Some prospects will [...]

Earlier this century, a wealthy western government ran a campaign intended to discourage drug use among teenagers. The net results were as follows:

More than two-thirds of the teenagers surveyed recognised the adverts;

80 percent of parents said they were more inclined to talk with their kids about their social activities;

There was a slight increase in [...]

As business owners in order to win new customers we often place huge emphasis on improving our product or service offerings. Despite all our hard work we are still very likely to miss out on new business because we don’t cater for enough communication channels which our potential customers might be using. The web in [...]