marketing and social media - central south manchester nov. 09

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Attracting customers to your site

Part 1: Marketing and Social Networks

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

What you can ask me

Marketing Web design Search Engine Optimisation Pay Per Click Usability Accessibility

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

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Objectives

Understand marketing principles

Understand social media basics

Be confident that YOU can use social media

Decide which social media are appropriate

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

What is Marketing?

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (www.cim.co.uk ) definition is:-

“The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs profitably.”

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

OK, what is Marketing?

Identifying (researching) needs

Product concept

The whole product

The price

Advertising

Sales support

etc

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Marketing VS Sales

Different departments?

Marketing creates the opportunity to sell

Sales - the presentation, upselling, cross selling, and the close

Marketing supports the sales process

Marketing makes sure sales staff are knowledgeable

Marketing creates Point of Sale assets

Marketing negotiates price

Marketing maximises after sales returns

Marketing feeds back refinements

Captures customer information

etc

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Mind mapping

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Marketing Basics

Market Research

Marketing Plan

Market Segmentation

Competition

Product/Price/Place/Promotion

Unique Sales Proposition

Feature/Advantage/Benefit

Objectives

Strategy

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Market Research

Your market research should show:

The size and requirements of the market (and details of

assumptions made)

Existing competition

Competitors’ strengths and weaknesses

The advantage your business has over the competition

An informal conservation with a prospective customer may give you

useful information. It will also tell you the language – vocabulary –

that customers use when talking about your product or service.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Marketing Plan

Where are you now?

Where do you want to be?

How are you going to get there?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Marketing Segmentation

Market Segments talk to each other (Crossing the Chasm)

Universe – the universe is the amount and all types of potential customers (e.g. “the

general public” or “holiday-makers”)

Segment – the next step is to segment your universe. What different types of

customers are there? Can you categorise them? (by age / sex / income / location

etc.)

Locate and quantify – where are your customers to be found? How many are there?

Are there enough?

What do you need to know about your customers? (Buying habits and patterns, likes

and dislikes, needs and wants etc.) Never assume!

Analyse the results – What do your findings tell you?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Marketing Segmentation

Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your customers?

Relate customer requirements to your product benefits.

Record keeping (identify which are your most profitable markets, how buying patterns

are changing etc. A holiday lettings business produced an analysis of clients taking

holidays at particular times of year and now uses this to fill specific vacancies.)

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Competitors

Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your

customers?

All businesses have competitors – either direct or indirect. A tyre and

exhaust business competes directly with others. However Parker Pens™

compete indirectly with Ronson Lighters™ in the giftware market.

You need to know who and where your competitors are. Identify their range,

specifications, pricing, discount structures, promotional activity, delivery

arrangements, minimum order quantities, terms of trade etc. You need to

know their strengths and weaknesses – as well as your own. This can be

done as a SWOT analysis to identify opportunities and threats.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Competitors

As with your customers you need to go through a process to be aware of your competitors and

their influence.

Universe – Every possible competitor

Segment – Identify the different types of competitor (size, resources, geographic coverage,

business category and target markets). – Remembering both direct and indirect competitors.

Locate and quantify – Where are they? How many? What access do your customers have to

them?

Research – What do you need to know?

Analyse results – What does your research tell you?

Do a SWOT see below! analysis identifying your competitors’ Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats. Does this present you with opportunities?

Look at your product profiles and identify your USP (Unique Sales Proposition) see below!. This

will help you differentiate your business from the competition.

Keep records on the competition – record monitor and update this information.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Unique Sales Proposition

Identify customer requirements – What is most important to your customers?

USP’ means unique selling proposition. Your USP can help your customers save time when

buying a product or service. Your USP says why your product or service is different, and stands

out from the competition. You can use different USPs for different products and markets.

To attract attention you must be BETTER, FASTER or CHEAPER than your competitors. Every

business needs a USP for its products / services. Identifying your USP helps you to focus on the

key benefits that sell your products or services and contribute to your profits. You should use

your USP in your promotion and sales activities. (See also AIDA)

To see USPs in action, look at a TV advert. This is the most expensive advertising media and the

point needs making quickly!

If your customers are switching to competitors or buying purely on price:

Have you identified the USPs for your products and services?

Are you communicating your USPs clearly to customers?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

The 4 Ps

The ‘Four Ps’ is a useful structure for looking at your

marketing operation and for planning campaigns.

There are basically four elements that you can change to

encourage audiences – the Product, the Place, the

Price, and the methods of Promotion. Here are some

examples of the kinds of marketing planning that fall into

each category.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

The 4 Ps

ProductWhich of your products and services could be made more appropriate for your

target customers?

The actual product you provide

The atmosphere in your premises

The way your staff relate to customers

The facilities you have

PlaceWhere and when is your product delivered?

Would any of your products/services be more successful via different outlets?

Are the products/services available at the right time for the target customers?

Where can people find information about the products/services?

Where & how can people buy?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

PriceIs the price right for the target customers?

Would you be more successful with a particular target customers if a “package” was

offered?

Would they value the products/service more if you it was a premium product?

Does your discounting policy meet the needs of your target customers?

PromotionAre you saying the right things to the right people, using the right channels?

What would happen if you used different tactics to communicate with people?

Remember that any changes you implement in these ‘Four Ps’ should arise from clearly

understood customer needs.

The 4 Ps

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

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Feature, Advantage, Benefit

The television

HAS a Remote Control,

WHICH lets you change the channel from

a distance,

SO you save time.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Traditional Marketing

Telesales

Direct Mail

Press Ads

PR

Exhibitions

Radio

Cost, reach focus.

oil rig components, cheaper phone calls, double glazing, clothes

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

E-Marketing

The use of digital technologies to help sell your goods or services.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Benefits of E-Marketing

Reach (as usual)

Potentially lower cost (really?)

Easier to measure/evaluate the results effectively (definitely)

Flexibility (definitely)

Your marketing message is always available (definitely)

e-Marketing campaigns can be more engaging (definitely)

Personalisation (definitely)

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

What is your marketing mix?

Who is your target market?

What are your objectives? (SMART)

What is your budget?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

E-Marketing Channels

Website - A location on the World Wide Web

e-mail – An electronic version of a letter or hand written note.

Blog’s - A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and often provide

commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news.

Podcasts - Is a method of publishing files to the Internet e.g. audio or video file.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) – Allows websites that want to allow other sites to

publish some of its content.

SMS Messaging - the transmission of short text messages to and from a mobile

phone, fax machine and/or IP address.

Online PR – Traditional PR extended online.

Pay for click – Google adwords

Other sites - ?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Examples

Other considerations when choosing e-Marketing;

Wiggly Wigglers – A gardening company which releases regular podcasts on various

gardening topics.

Here it goes again - The music video was filmed in one continuous shot and was

uploaded to YouTube, where it has been viewed over fifteen million times. The video

was popular enough to earn a Grammy award for "Best Short-Form Music Video" in

2007 and the YouTube 2006 Video Award for "Most Creative Video" .

Will it blend – A series of videos made for around £5-600 each by a US blender

manufacturer, which were placed on the internet last year. Within just a few days, the

first videos had millions of views. This had a significant impact on sales. The

campaign aim was to help build brand awareness and establish Blendtec as the

premier blender manufacturer.”

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Web 2.0

Interaction/conversation not publishing

Customer Engagement

Mostly consumers, often segmented

Appealing to marketers

Effective?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Characteristics

Is increasingly used by individuals & more

recently businesses.

It is interactive.

Informational & chatty.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media

Social media are primarily Internet- and

mobile-based tools for sharing and

discussing information.

Increasingly used by business as a

marketing tool.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Social Bookmarks

Digg www.digg.com

Reddit www.reddit.com

Delicious del.icio.us

What do they do?

How can you use them?

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Social Networks

Facebook www.facebook.com (300 million users)

Myspace www.myspace.com

Linkedin www.linkedin.com

What do they do? (online gossiping and networking)

How can you use them? (advertising, engaging, networking, coupon

distibution)

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Facebook

www.manchesterdigital.com/about.asp

Website with News, Events, Digital Jobs, Tenders. It is more formal and its members

tend to be the owners of digital businesses. Averages around 800 visitors a day.

www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=manchester%20digital&sid=d7936699c741d97b59754c4a7e04cef2#/group.php?gid=6127014011

MD Facebook group has 283 "friends", is less formal than the website and is used to

promote MD its events etc. to a wider audiance and help people from the digital

sector communicate/connect/network.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Spread-the-Word-Not-the-Bug/

59309749879

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Social Networks

http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/

http://www.ning.com

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Blogs

Blogger www.blogger.com

Twitter www.twitter.com

Gizmodo www.gizmodo.com

Technorati www.technorati.com

What do they do? (updateable news, syndication)

How can you use them? (SEO, industry monitoring, buzz creation,

customer services)

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Blogs - Twitter

Twitter search - http://search.twitter.com

Twitter monitor – http://monitter.com

Twitter feed - http://twitterfeed.com

Log in, RSS feed, email feed (http://tweetbeep.com/)

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Blogs – Twitter Uses

Lead sourcing

SEO

Industry monitoring

Buzz creation

Mini news / offers

Subscription service – protected account

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Media Sharing

Youtube www.youtube.com

Flikr www.flikr.com

What do they do? (upload and share media)

How can you use them? (virals, media distribution, media hosting,

SEO/vertical creep)

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Flikr

www.flickr.com/photos/mdda/sets/72157604946062922/

Used to store images of an event.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

BlipTV

www.manchesterdigital.com/page.asp?id=3112

Used to store promotional video material.

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Other Social Media Sites

http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Social Media Types

Buzz Monitoring

www.google.com/alerts

http://howsociable.com/

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

The Risks

Do you have the time?

Do you have the money?

Do you have anything interesting to say?

Who is listening?

You’re the boss!

Andy NicolM: 0771 311 9699

E: andy@sputnikinternet.com

Thank you