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Observational marketing: What business owners can learn from Peter Kay

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2nd Sep 2010
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Good marketing isn’t about spending huge amounts of money on advertising – it’s about recognising the great ideas all around you, explains Geoff Ramm, an observational marketing specialist and speaker at this year’s Sage World small business conference.

Geoff has been described as the 'Peter Kay of marketing' – but what do comedians and marketers have in common? Quite a lot, according to Geoff.  Just as the TV funnyman draws inspiration from his surroundings to create their material and entertain the crowds, business owners should look to their every day experiences to find the hook that will get their business talked about and customers through the door, says Geoff.

Q: What is observational marketing?
Geoff: Observational marketing is about opening your eyes and ears to marketing and embracing those great ideas that are all around you. Whatever it is that makes you click through, open the envelope, or laugh out loud is what you need to bring to your business. It’s the sharing of ideas from other industries/sectors. Look at the companies around you – the coffee shops, the pizza chains, the estate agents you bought your house from – and think about how they market themselves. What’s the service like? What promotional materials did you get from them? Ask yourself, ‘if this was my business, how would I improve it?’ We’re often so busy that we switch off to great marketing ideas, but it’s about getting inspiration from around you and working out how you can apply that to your business and your customers.

Q: Are there any aspects of marketing that small business owners typically get wrong?
Geoff: A lot of small businesses undersell themselves. They’re good at what they do and have great products and services, but they’re marketing is letting them down – their brand image lets them down. People do judge a book by its cover and we do judge a business on its proposal, how it’s delivered and how it looks. For example, if you’re handing out rubbish looking business card at events, what does that say about your business? Even when budgets are tight, it’s crucial to ensure you have the best materials and maintain a professional image at all times.

Another common mistake is not recognising the need for your brand to be constantly visible. Many businesses take a stop/start approach to marketing. They might do some marketing activity, ride the wave of that for a few months and then start again - but marketing is a constant day to day process – it shouldn’t be something you only think about once a quarter.

Q: How should business owners incorporate marketing into their strategic planning?
Geoff:
Creative marketing isn’t something you can carry out within a defined time slot, like doing your books, for example. You can’t sit down decide that from 3pm – 4pm you’re going to think of creative marketing ideas, for example, because invariably it doesn’t happen. It needs to be a long-term process that you revisit at regular intervals.

One good idea is to keep a notebook of good/bad/ugly/fantastic marketing ideas you come across on a daily basis. Jot down the ideas as they occur to you and encourage your team to do the same. Then, when you come together for meetings, you’re armed with readymade ideas for discussion. The purpose of this is not to cut and paste ideas straight into your business, but you can learn from these things and they might help you generate your own ideas which you can incorporate into your business and use to grab clients’ attention.

Q: What are you top tips for marketing on a shoestring budget? Where resources are scarce, are there any creative ways business owners can draw attention to their brand?
Geoff:
The key to success here is in your messaging. Businesses need to decide what they want to be famous for. It shouldn’t just be about the high quality of products or services – it’s about what makes you stand out from the rest. To achieve this, you may need to do something that sounds crazy and make sure you promote it.

For example, if you’re the owner of a milkshake bar you could perhaps attempt to get yourself in the Guinness Book of Records for creating the world’s biggest milkshake. It wouldn’t cost a huge amount to do, and you could invite the media along to watch the event, contact your customers to invite them to take part, and create a video which you then spread online. It’s an out-there example, but it shows that you don’t need a huge advertising budget to market yourself effectively – a little bit of creative thinking (accompanied by well thought-out tactics to promote it) can go a long way to getting you noticed.

Geoff Ramm is speaking at Sage World 2010, a free event for business owners, directors and entrepreneurs offering practical advice on all aspects of maintaining and growing a business, on 8–9 September at The International Centre in Telford. To find out more about the event and reserve your free ticket, visit www.sageworld2010.co.uk/

 

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