The Coronavirus or Covid 19 is the hot topic on everyone’s lips right now, supermarkets have empty shelves, schools are considering shutting, businesses are sending staff to work from home and the London Marathon has been postponed in its 40th year. Businesses, especially small, independent businesses, are really starting to feel the pinch.
As you know, we provide marketing support for all sizes of businesses and from the conversations we have been having over the past few weeks, the topic of the impact on marketing has cropped up time and again. We are commonly being asked how much marketing should be done. So here are my musings on the subject and more will be added as we go through the next few difficult weeks:
Should I stop marketing my business?
Simple answer NO!
Now is the time to ensure you keep talking to your audience to let them know if:
There are going to be any changes to your service
If there will be any increases in your lead times or deliverability issues
Changes to your opening times or if you are closing outside of your normal hours
You are going to implement contingency plans to ensure you can meet service levels
There are any available offers to help during this period
As business owners, you need to keep communication channels open and remember to keep reminding your customers you are still there so that when the coronavirus starts to wane, your customers have not forgotten you. In 2008 when the recession hit, marketing was one of the first things that most businesses stopped to cut costs. This actually had a negative effect on those that ceased their marketing activity, with those companies that maintained or enhanced their marketing been more successful.
A lot has changed since 2008 – we do not have the same level of customer loyalty there was back then, so this cannot be relied upon and taken for granted.
Social Media and Email Marketing are great for keeping you front and center of your clients. However, be realistic and do not pester and SPAM your clients to the point of no return.
I would
ask you all to take a few minutes and think about how you could communicate
with clients and what messages you need to put out.
2. Should my Marketing be different?
YES – now is a great time to review what marketing messages you are sending out and what marketing tools you are deploying to ensure they are still relevant and helpful during this difficult period.
I would certainly be advising all businesses to be
looking at each medium to see if there are challenges or, more importantly,
opportunities to be utilised. My top tools for you to consider are:
Facebook Lives – keeping people up to date with your business
Zoom / Skype / Loom / Facetime meetings
Webinars and Online Training instead of face-to-face
Video – if you don’t use it already then now is the time to start
EBooks and workbooks – what you get across in a meeting, could that be delivered in an eBook?
If we all sit back and wait for this to pass and take no action, then this is when businesses will really suffer. Those that have adapted and adopted will gain and most likely benefit more.
3. Should I cut back on my marketing spend?
I totally understand that the financial impact of
the Coronavirus is only just starting to bite and could impact for many months
ahead yet, so the question of budgets is really important. It is vital that you
take the time to review what you are spending your money on. For some
businesses right now, it would be advantageous to increase spend – IT
companies, VA’s, Food delivery companies etc. as people are needing these
services more and more.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach, each business needs to assess what has been working and what budget will you have going forward. This is where your stats will be really vital to show you what is working and what could be reduced. Look at your stats from the last three and one month periods and take these as a benchmark, to measure against during this next period of time.
Take a
few minutes today to assess what activities are essential, nice-to-have or can
be postponed.
There is an argument for ensuring that your websites and e-commerce shops are updated daily because if people are at home and not able to venture out as much. The internet and social media will be where they are hanging out.
4. Will
anyone see my marketing messages in and amongst all the noise right now?
This goes back to knowing your audience and understanding what their pain points might be and ensuring you are appearing at the right time and place. Again, your stats either through Google Analytics of Social Media stats will show you the best times and opportunities for you.
I will be honest, if you do what you have always done then it might be more difficult for you – start to think about how you could stand out from the crowd in the right way, today.
5. Are
there any opportunities to be had right now?
YES – without a doubt YES. Believe it or not but there is a wealth of opportunity right now:
On-demand webinars
Facebook / Instagram Lives
EBooks & Guides
Membership platforms and building your community
Online shops
We could all sit at our desks and think about the what-ifs,
but those businesses that will make this work are ready to adapt and plan for
new ways of working.
Think about the time before every business had a website –
now you could not really run a successful business without one!
Top Tip – Make a list of all the ways your business could innovate its marketing approach?
Whilst we wait for the news to tell us all the latest development concerning the Coronavirus, you need to make sure your business is on the right path. We are helping our customers to see that we are planning and preparing to ensure there are no changes to the products and services they offer.
As we go through the next few weeks, I will add any further questions we are asked to this blog to try and give you our thoughts and ideas that you could implement. If you have a question that you would like us to answer, then please get in touch – 0115 8 376 260
If you need any help and support during this difficult period, then please get in touch – 0115 8 376 260
Creationz Marketing has announced a strategic partnership with Nottingham Trent University as part of its mission to help develop the marketing talent of the future.
Claire explains;
‘I formed Creationz Marketing in 2013 with the ethos of providing realistic, affordable marketing consultancy and social media facilitation to businesses who may not have their own marketing team in place.
‘As the business and our client base has grown, so too has our range of services and I wanted to be able to add fresh ideas and energy into the team and into our clients’ campaigns. I had looked at various apprenticeship schemes but felt the real value would be in creating a year-long internship for talented undergraduates seeking real-world marketing experience and approached Ben Topping at Nottingham Trent University to discuss this.
‘Ben and his team have been brilliant in working with us to create a very fulfilling experience for the students, which began when Jasmin Saimbi joined us as a Marketing Assistant in late 2019. Jasmin has been fantastic to work with and her input into client campaigns and indeed into the placement that we have created has been invaluable. I would urge more small businesses to think about how they can work more closely with our universities and colleges as everyone can benefit from this.’
Benjamin Topping, business advisor in the Employability team at Nottingham Trent University said;
‘Our aim is to develop our networks within the business community and we’re known for the employability of our graduates. That reputation is built on a strong track record of meeting the needs of employers – through the quality of our students and the quality of our services.
‘The focus is on real-world thinking, bringing together the latest cutting-edge research and best practice from the world of business and it has been great to work with Claire on putting together a framework for this for our marketing undergraduates. Jasmin has blazed a trail for her peers and we look forward to working with Creationz Marketing on developing this exciting business relationship.’
Jasmin said;
‘During my second year at NTU, I felt it would benefit my career to take a year in industry as I honestly didn’t know which routes I wanted to go down or specialise in. My Business Management & Marketing degree was a three-year course but I felt I needed to find out what I enjoyed doing. Whether marketing, business management or something else.
‘I wanted to look for something where I could learn and develop my skills further, especially in digital marketing. No two days are the same and working for a smaller company has allowed me to get more involved with clients, decision making processes and networking, which has helped to build my confidence loads.’
Applications are now open for Creationz Marketing’s next internship, starting in September 2020.
We are big fans of Google My Business (GMB) as it is a really powerful tool to improve local search engine optimization. It still surprises me the number of businesses not using it – and if they are, they are not using it correctly. Be honest, how are you using it?
Get your business on the local map today by setting up and reviewing your profile. Simply visit Google My Business today.
I have been working on a number of Google My Business Accounts this week and really helping clients to see the benefits that this platform has to offer. Once we can explain the benefits and show the advantages, we can often see the penny drop. If I told you that you could improve your website visibility at No cost and all that is required is a minimum of 10 minutes per week – would you do it? With a little time investment and regular updates the benefits speak for themselves:
Benefits of Google My Business:
It’s free to use – little time required to update it properly
Easy to use – no technical knowledge needed
Increases visibility of your website
Gets you noticed on the local map
Increases traffic & phone calls
Ability to share posts, giving clear direction for all the services you offer
Promote events and offers clearly on the front page of Google
If you are looking to get ahead with local marketing then it is worth spending time on Google My Business. It is also worth pointing out that the old premise of “little and often” is a mantra we try and pass on to clients as the results are stronger and longer lasting than a one-hit-wonder.
Our Top Google My Business Tips:
1: Claim and Set up Your Profile 2: Add Posts Regularly 3: View Your Insights – Know Your Numbers 4: Set up Messages on your phone 5: Make it a part of your weekly Marketing activity plan
Google My Business Masterclass
When: 18th February 2021 Time: 9.30am -12.30am Where: Virtual – Join us from the comfort of your home / office
Still not sure if Google My Business is for you? Join us for our next 1/2 day course on the 18th February where we go into a lot of detail and show you the benefits
2020 is the perfect time kick-start your marketing planning, a time to enhance your social media activity but don’t forget offline marketing!! In 2020 there will be a big push from businesses looking to merge online audiences into their offline activities.
Start 2020 off right! At Creationz Marketing, our top tip for January would be, spend time to record all of your stats from 2019 so that you have a benchmark to compare any new marketing against. If you don’t know your starting point, you really won’t know what marketing is successful for you. Ideal data to record:
Monthly Website Traffic
Number of enquiries and where they heard about your business
Social Media Follows – still worth noting but not as important as engagement
Looking to get ahead with your marketing and want to improve your skills?
Creationz Marketing offers a Marketing Planning / Strategy Package where we work with business to understand what they want to achieve and set a workable / achievable plan broken down on a monthly basis
Marketing Training
We have now launched our 12-Month Marketing Training Plan designed to give an overview on a wide-range of topics and booking is now available – See our 12-month Marketing Training Programme
Join our next Marketing Planning Masterclass
When: 23rd January 2020 – 9.30am -12.30am Where: 96a High Road, Beeston, Nottingham, NG9 2LF
It is always important to plan for the year ahead, whether this is planning for your business or for clients it needs to be done! If you’ve not started yet it is not too late, and if you’ve already started, not too worry there are still a few tips you might have forgotten!
Your plan may change throughout the year but it is so important to make sure you have one to layout your priorities and goals for the business.
We are going to give a few handy tips on planning for the new year.
Step 1: Review The Past Year
Ask yourself what worked in your business and what didn’t?
Go through your past year’s budgets, did it work well, check which months you made the most, spent the most, spent the least and why this is the case. If you had lots of budget left over, maybe this year spend a little bit extra on making your goals work.
Go through your analytics for your marketing, did your engagement increase? Did this help you reach your goal? If not try a new approach this year, if it did work well ask yourself how you could increase it more.
Brainstorm your business as a whole, how could you make the process flow smoother? Few ideas: stay on track, prioritise your work correctly and keep organised.
Step 2: Set Clear Goals
Set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) goals. You should have multiple goals for the business as a whole for the end of the year, for each quarter, for the end of each month and weekly goals.
Step 3: Create a Calendar
Print yourself out a calendar and for each month and prioritise what needs to be done for that month. Don’t forget to include seasons and holidays, adding a festive theme to your marketing. Find awareness days for each month and make sure your up to date with them including the correct hashtags.
Another big tip is to print out and stick the calendar on the wall where it is visible and a constant reminder of what you want to achieve – this works really well and is something we do. If your plan sits in your desk drawer, it will gather dust.
Step 4: Review Monthly
At the end of each month review how your month has gone, if there were downfalls, why did they occur and how can you prevent it from happening next time. Think about how to continue to improve. Check monthly analytics, this is really important to see success. Check your stats!
Join our next Marketing Planning Masterclass
When: 23rd January 2020 – 9.30am -12.30am Where: 96a High Road, Beeston, Nottingham, NG9 2LF
Last week I spoke at two different events on 5 ways to market your business on a budget as we often find that businesses concentrate on the big-ticket marketing items such as new websites, Google Ads etc and often forget about the simple things they can do to help their marketing efforts.
At each event, the point that resonated the most was using our email footers more effectively.
Be honest – when was the last time you updated your email footer?
Most of us have an email footer that contains our name, address and links to our website and possibly our social media accounts but our footer can do so much more:
Promote your latest Blog,
Share an event you are hosting/speaking at,
Share your LinkedIn profile,
Share a different product/service of your website,
Encourage sign-ups for your newsletter
Share your latest offer,
Share a recent testimonial
The key to utilising your email footer is to change it often and to make the change really stand out. Give people a reason to find out more about you or to invest in what you are offering.
As you can see from the image above, we use p.s below as a signpost for different aspects of the business – this will change in colour, style and content every few weeks. At the minute we are promoting our new FREE Facebook Group but have promoted our articles, new staff members, services and offers.
Join our FREE Facebook Group for regular practical tips & advice
We will also use a number of links if there is a lot going on – changing your email footer is relatively simple to do, will not cost the earth and can help get your marketing messages out to the right audience.
Please get in touch if you would like to know more about how email footers can work for you – claire@creationzmarketing.co.uk.
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