Marketing Priorities

When this Seth Godin blog landed in my inbox earlier this month, it instantly struck a chord.

The “time and money” principle is something I’ve referenced again and again when discussing projects old and new.

Time 

Effective marketing takes time.

For a small business that could be sitting down for 1 hour per week and planning out content and messaging, for another it could be daily engagement on Instagram or Twitter.  

For larger businesses more time is needed on all levels - strategising, building/creating, measurement, and improvement.

Yet for many businesses, there still seems to be a belief that improvements can be made without any investment.

Money 

The other side, of course, is that businesses can pay.

You can pay for expertise, ads and coverage, or both at the same time.

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As Godin says, it all eventually boils down to priorities.

I’m guilty of falling into the trap too. Of wondering why certain things aren’t happening or progressing, but eventually it usually winds its way back to two age-old problems: time and money.

Marketing to the Masses and One on One

In amidst the usual Donald Trump news, never-ending Brexit talks and St Patrick’s Day celebrations last week you may or may not have noticed the results of the Dutch general elections come and go.

The elections aren’t, and would never be, a major concern for anyone in Northern Ireland or the rest of the UK but one story stuck out for me on a purely marketing basis…

The Jesse Klaver Method

Last week, despite the centre-right party VVD becoming the largest party in the Netherlands, one of the biggest stories was the rise of the GreenLeft party.

The GreenLeft, founded just 25 years ago, mostly by outsiders, pacifists and radicals, has now become the left’s biggest party in the country under the guidance of their 30 year-old leader Jesse Klaver.

Reading into the story revealed that one of the key reasons for this growth was Jesse Klaver’s use of digital tools and his focus on delivering key party messages first on a one-to-one basis and then to hundreds and thousands afterwards.

Klaver used Meetup.com, first starting in 2015, to make direct and constant contact with tiny groups of people that eventually built into a huge network of supporters and followers.

The entire campaign culminated and ended with a massive event in Amsterdam where 5000 people were present and another 5000 watched via Facebook Live!

Social Media is Personal

You might be reading thinking, “Why as a business or marketer should I care?”

The reason I think we should all care as marketers and businesses, and the reason the story stood out to me in the first place, is because digital marketing is about marketing to the masses AND one on one.

It’s about doing both and sometimes the second half of the equation seems to get forgotten.

With the rise of different social media channels and incredible advertising platforms the focus has become more and more about reaching as many people as possible all at once and while I agree with this I also think it’s important we remember how powerful the “one on one” side can be.

Replying to comments on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter and engaging with individual people on Instagram can slowly build up over time just as all those Meetups did for Jesse Klaver.

Thankfully, these types of actions perfectly compliment larger tactics like advertising campaigns and email marketing.

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I’ve found that this approach works especially well when marketing specific events as there are always one or two inevitable queries or questions that go unanswered in broader marketing messages and campaigns.

What do you do to combine both tactics? Let me know.

Volunteering with Young Enterprise Northern Ireland (YENI)

Just over a week ago I volunteered with Young Enterprise Northern Ireland (YENI) and spoke to a group of 13-14 year olds at Glengormley High School.

The whole thing lasted around one hour (although the students were probably thankful my talk was only 15-20 minutes in total!) and focused mainly on the topics of digital marketing and running your own business/working for yourself.

It’s been years since I was last in a school, and back then I was wearing a uniform, so it was strange being back in an environment that felt both familiar and distant.

It was really enjoyable and I’d highly recommend anyone, who felt they could contribute, to give it a go. Likewise it also got me thinking about two important topics: uncertainty and collaboration.  

Uncertainty

One of the tasks assigned to the kids was to imagine their lives a decade from now when they’d be approaching their mid-twenties. Part of the task included imagining their future jobs; houses and family situation and that got me thinking. When it came to future jobs the student’s aspirations ranged from footballers to army nurses to computer programmers and everything in between but the crazy thing is, most of their future jobs might not even exist yet!

I haven’t a clue what I would have said ten years ago but if you think about the digital landscape today there are bloggers, digital marketers, eBay flippers, YouTube stars and more. Some of these jobs are brand new where as others are simply the digital cousins of positions from years gone by.

Looking at it from a business sense I think the key is to roll with the punches. In the last eighteen months Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook video marketing have all exploded onto the marketing scene so who knows what 2017 and beyond will bring.

In my experience the key is to experiment, learn and go from there.

Collaboration

Another interesting point was the collaboration and brainstorming between students.

If you think back to school days every class featured groups of friends huddled around tables distracting each other, working and having fun. Obviously there’s a time and a place for collaborating (and school kids generally test these limits…) but it’s so valuable when it comes to thinking of new ideas.

Over the course of 2016 I’ve met so many businesses that work in silos, or solo, and as a result, through no fault of their own, struggle to come up with ideas on how to market themselves in a digital world.

On our own we tend to be our harshest critics but together ideas start to bounce around and even terrible suggestions can result in the crucial light bulb moments we all need.

That’s got me thinking about both the people I work with and my own business so stay tuned for some fun collaboration in 2017… 

Christmas Marketing Ideas for Northern Ireland Businesses

For a lot of businesses Christmas can be the biggest and most important time of the year and as a result, their marketing needs to reflect this.

Hopefully, if you’re struggling for ideas, this post will help get the cogs turning but remember, keep it festive and don’t over-think it.

It’s Christmas, not the end of the world!

Tesco: Helping Out

The supermarket giants are always guaranteed to pull out all the stops when it comes to Christmas but unlike Amazon or John Lewis, Tesco focus on the more practical side of the holidays by trying to provide new ideas, hints and tips. 

Everyone knows that coming up with gift ideas for friends and family year after year can be a chore so why not make it easy? Run a campaign in store and online that inspires and helps.

For instance, if I owned a clothing store selling shoes or trainers I would run a “For the Sporty/Messy/Musical One…” that allows me to post a different product for each target customer.

Edeka: All About Family

Another supermarket, this time the German’s Edeka, made headlines with their viral video #heimkommen roughly this time last year. If you haven’t yet, watch it before reading on…

activar subtítulos +++ ative as legendas +++ activer les sous-titres +++ 请打开字幕 +++ включите субтитры Zuhause mit den Liebsten ist es am schönsten. Gerade zu Weihnachten! Mehr unter: http://www.edeka.de/heimkommen Mit unserem Gewinnspiel kannst du dich noch mehr auf Weihnachten einstimmen. Poste ein Foto, das du mit Weihnachten verbindest. Bis zum 13.

On the one hand this tale of a father faking his own death to see his adult children again is dark and twisted but on the other it’s about family and spending time together and that’s what hit the nail on the head.

The #heimkommen campaign was a massive success on a global scale but the takeaway here for smaller businesses is the festive family theme. Gifts are great but the best bit about the holidays is usually catching up with old friends and family so how can you tie your own products into this message?

If I was selling car tires I would potentially build a campaign with a message revolving around “We can get you home quickly and safely this Christmas”. This would then influence the content I publish on channels like Facebook and Instagram over the next 5 weeks.

HBO: Festival Calendars

The American TV and streaming giant spent Christmas 2015 promoting their “12 Days of HBO Now” campaign that allowed HBO Now subscribers to gift a HBO pilot to friends and family for free.

If you’ve ever watched The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Girls or West Wing you’ll now just how good a gift this could potentially be and I love the calendar aspect.

Late-November and early December are all about the countdown towards Christmas so why not let that feed into your marketing?

Whether you’re a butcher, a sports outlet or any other business the potential is there to start your own “12 Days”, “Advent Calendar” or “3 Weeks to Christmas” campaign both on and offline. 

St George’s Market, Belfast: Keeping it Simple

If you’re still reading and you’re thinking there’s no way my business can compete with or learn from the likes of Tesco, Edeka and HBO then why not take a look at St George’s Market, Belfast? 

The massively popular food and craft market gets better and better every year and their pro-active social media presence only serves to help yet they keep things very simple.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed do something as simple as giving your logo or Facebook cover a Christmas touch-up just to get people thinking about your business and the holiday all in one thought.

Ballymena BID: A Very Beary Christmas

Our last inspirational campaign keeps things local to Northern Ireland with the Ballymena BID’s massively successful Ballymena Bear campaign in 2015. 

Watch the new Ballymena Christmas Advert 2015. It's totally not what you are expecting and not a cat or moon man in sight. Find out more at www.ballymenabear.com and view the behind the scenes diary at www.productiondiary.graftersdesign.com Please like and share, promote the Ballymena Bear!

Ballymena has long been famed as a great shopping destination in Northern Ireland but the tale of a lost Bear trying to find a friend at Christmas helped showcase the town’s great selection of shops, cafes and shopping centres all in time for the festive period. It was so successful the bear is back for 2016!

The takeaway here is that if Ballymena can do it, you can to!

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Grab that pen and paper and start scribbling and pick up the smartphone and start recording or taking pictures.

There’s still plenty of time before Christmas 2016!

How to Improve Your Email Marketing

Social media might the major player in the digital marketing world nowadays but businesses should be wary of forgetting about the importance of email marketing.

A tightly constructed customer email list, created with a clear purpose in mind, can be vital as part of your digital marketing mix and the next step is using that list in a way that works for your business.

Below, you’ll find a few key touch points to consider when creating your next email campaign.

Keep It Simple

At its core marketing is a simple process. You, as a business, have a message you want to tell people. That’s it.

After that, it’s about choosing the right channel, conveying your message in the right way and cutting through all the noise.

Email marketing is simple an extension of the above and keeping it simple and straightforward will pay dividends.

Don’t bombard your mailing list with too many messages in one campaign. Pick one or two key messages; focus on them and save your other messages for the next campaign.

Give Your Audience What They Want

Recently when studying Mailchimp insights, when working with a client, we noticed after the first campaign, that the majority of their current mailing list came from countries like the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. 

As a result we tailored our next campaign to relate more with this international audience.

We asked ourselves “what do they specifically want to hear?”

The results were positive. We boosted open rates by 2.5% to achieve 30% overall and almost doubled click-through rates from 2.7% to 4.3%.

This is tangible proof that planning ahead and focusing on the customer works and we hope to see further growth with the next campaign!

Test Test Test

If you take anything from this blog, please, don’t repeat the same things in email marketing over and over and over…

Use each new campaign to experiment with different actions and tactics. Test different subject lines, campaign messages and text and imagery.

If possible, test everything!

After 5 or 6 campaigns of active testing you will start to see trends on what works and what doesn’t. This will strengthen your email marketing moving forward and your business will benefit as a result.

Good luck!

Could a Mechanic Use Snapchat Marketing?

Could a Northern Ireland mechanic use Snapchat marketing?

Last week, as I sat in my car awaiting the dreaded MOT test early on a Thursday morning, my mind started to wander.

All around me cars sat in three bays waiting to be tested and inside each was an owner worried about their car failing, more trips to the mechanics and more expenses. This happens 9-5 every weekday, every month, every year.

This seemed like the perfect potential customer group for any mechanic in the nearby area.

Can you imagine if a mechanic was allowed, and able to give up his or her time, to stand on the other side of the MOT test centre and talk to the unfortunate owners of cars that had just failed?

It would be the perfect opportunity to sell a solution to a very real and immediate problem.

Targeted Snapchat Geo-Filters

With Snapchat geo-filters that imaginary scenario is a very real possibility.

Mechanics now have the opportunity to target the small area around, and including, any MOT test centre in the country.

As car owners are sitting in bays waiting their turn they could open Snapchat, swipe across the various filters, and see something like below:

This Snapchat filter promotes “Gary’s Garage”, a fictional mechanics on the Lisburn Road in Belfast, and lets everyone at the test centre know about his “A+ MOT Results”.

Easy!

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This same type of thinking could be applied to all sorts of businesses.  

Where are the opportunities?

Also, just remember, if you’re making Snapchat filters for business you can’t include phone numbers or email addresses so get creative when targeting your customers!

If you want to get started on your own just download the Counter Digital “Snapchat for Business” free e-book here!