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Just a quick note to let you know that our blog has moved into our website, www.sookiasmedia,com.

Do drop by, take a look and let us know what you think! We look forward to hearing from you. 

Hannah

Hannah Sookias | Sookias Media | www.sookiasmedia.com | 01283 808460

Grow your marketing results

We gave away these aluminium tubes at a business expo yesterday. Intriguing little things aren't they? Many people stopped and asked us what was in them. People who'd seen others with them came and asked if they could also have one. 

I'd love to say they contain magic marketing dust... but they are actually desktop gardens! 

As Sookias Media helps companies to grow their marketing results, we wanted to give delegates something they could have the satisfaction of growing. They contain the soil, seeds and instructions to grow summer flowers.

You see, we know that gaining more from your marketing has similar principles to growing a garden:

• Planning
• To get the display you want, garden plants need to be planned and planted so that they blossom throughout the year and give a continual display. Marketing needs to be planned so it gives you the results (leads,  enquiries and sales) throughout the year.

• Follow the instructions
• Planting seeds and plants in the wrong place means they won't grow. Your marketing plan is like the growing instructions for your plants, follow it an you'll have more success achieving greater return on investment. 

• Care and Nurture
• Like a veg patch and flower bed, your marketing needs maintenance to keep it both flourishing and producing even more year on year. From keeping your database clean and adding to it, to reviewing your results to see which areas are producing the results you needs and the ones that need changing. 

• Replanting
• Conditions can change in your garden and/or you want to refocus on what your grow. It's the same with your marketing as your industry changes, your product and service focus changes or your want to sell more into new markets. 

For all of these, it is of course possible to do it all yourself, learning through trial and error as well using advice from friends and colleagues, blogs, books and magazines. 

There are also times when asking a specialist can generate a greater return in a shorted time. When we redesigned our home garden, we used a local garden designer to help us realise our dream outside space. Marketing consultancy and mentoring from Sookias Media can help you plan, work on and nurture your marketing so you grow and enjoy the return on investment you make. 

Read our case studies to learn how companies have been growing their marketing results, If you would like to explore how marketing consultancy, mentoring and training or marketing services could help your company, please contact us for a no-obligation chat with Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

Are you searching for clients in the wrong place?

When I first set up Sookias Media, one of my early clients was a carpet cleaning company. They wanted more domestic clients but only seemed to find office jobs through their current advertising. 

We started with an in-depth discussion about who would be their ideal domestic customer - families with kids and dogs.

I asked questions such as, " Why would they have their carpets cleaned; what do they enjoy doing together and individually; where do they go; what do they read/listen to, what's important to them?" 

By the way, profiling like this works whoever your ideal customer is - be they accountants, heavy engineering sales managers, retailers or consumers. The reason behind it is that even the best promotions will fall flat when they're in the wrong place. They need to be noticed by your ideal customers in their normal daily life. 

In this instance, we agreed that parents with younger children probably wound't see their current promotions, However, we thought they would go to indoor play centres and enjoy a cuppa whilst their offspring have fun (from experience, going with friends can be fun but if you are your own as an adult you have lots of time to notice your surroundings and read the noticeboards!). Having just secured a contract to clean such a business, we developed a campaign to promote the carpet cleaning firm's services in the play centre. 

It developed into a long term form of buddy marketing so both businesses promoted and gave a testimonial to the other. Parents, noticing the clean play centre would then relate to and make note of the banner promoting the company that kept the centre's carpets looking clean and hygienic. In return, receipts given by the cleaning firm to family clients promoted the play centre on the reverse.

Hannah Sookias helps businesses develop effective marketing with fresh perspectives and ideas. Through and consultancy, training and marketing mentoring we can help you profile your ideal customers and how best to catch their attention. Contact us to find out more and arrange a no-obligation chat with Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

Stuck on your marketing? You might have 'Blank Piece of Paper Syndrome'

You've a beautiful piece of blank paper: smooth, clean and ready to record your marketing ideas. It is a moment of opportunity to bring your important messages to potential clients and existing customers.

Should you use a sales letter, phone calls, social media, exhibitions or something else...?

It needs to have impact. 
It needs to generate a return on the time and money you put in to it.
What will work? 
What should you say? 
What will have the most impact? 
You want it to be interesting. 
You want people to notice it.


Suddenly that blank piece of paper stops being enticing and instead everything seems daunting so its pushed away for another day... This is what I call 'Blank Piece of Paper Syndrome'.

I often start working with clients when they've become stuck on their marketing. By talking through their aspirations and needs for the business, we work together to develop an effective - and practical - plan to follow. Sometimes it's a on-off consultancy session. More often we then follow progress through monthly mentoring and/or providing the marketing services needed.  Can we help you?

Develop effective and successful marketing that generates the enquiries and leads you need to achieve your business objectives and generate a return on investment. Through consultancy, mentoring, training and services, Sookias Media enables small and medium organisations to understand their market place, identify ideal customers and implement marketing activities to engage them. 

For a no-obligation, impartial chat about how marketing mentoring can help you overcome Blank Paper Syndrome, call Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

Finding your ideal customers

I'm a firm believer in people buy from people. I enjoy meeting prospective clients but how I make the initial contact varies: it's often through social media, exhibitions, conferences and carefully selected networking events. 

It's easy to waste time, money and energy looking for your ideal customers in the wrong place. 

Let me give you an example. I enjoy networking but the groups I belonged to when I first set up 10+ years ago are no longer appropriate.  This is because I have a clear understanding of who is my ideal customer. This includes the types of company they work in, the positions they hold as well as where they go for help, what they read, how they like to engage as well plus an in-depth insight into their marketing needs.

So these days, I do a little networking, but go where I meet the decision makers from SMEs.  I use social media to engage with prospective clients, influencers and referrers.  

Top Tip: Review your marketing activities. Are they finding you your ideal clients? If not, take an in-depth view of who you want as customers and how best to reach them.

Need help? Contact me today to discuss how we can help you find your ideal customers through marketing mentoring, training and services. Tel:  +44 1283 808460 | Twitter: @HannahSookias | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahsookias

Buddy (Coalition) Marketing

If you'd like a cost-effective way of targeting new people, talk to your customers and suppliers about buddy marketing (also known as coalition marketing). 

Buddy marketing is when complementary firms work together to promote their businesses. The aim is to reach a new group of potential customers who already have a relationship with the other organisation(s). 

One example I tweeted about is a recruitment firm advertising for drivers on the takeaway paper bags used at a local transport cafe. 

Others I know locally include:

• Car valet, tyre replacement and MOT companies advertising in each other's premises
• A printer including carefully selected fliers of other companies with their orders. This showcases other products in the printer's portfolio whilst promoting companies they feel their customer would benefit from knowing
• A pensions advice company running seminars with HR and law firms. 

The greatest benefit of buddy marketing is that you reach new potential customers through a partner company who already has a relationship with them. It's a third party recommendation and inferred testimonial all in one!

There are many ways you can structure your buddy marketing. These include:

• Links to each other on your websites
• Displaying adverts for each other in your premises
• Retweeting / Sharing / Reposting / Liking social media updates 
• Co-sponsoring or running events together
• Including their leaflets in your mailings
• Running a competition with prizes from each firm
• Offering your buddy's clients discounts and special offers

Sookias Media helps businesses gain the most from their marketing. Through consultancy, training and marketing mentoring we can help you identify potential buddy marketing and coalition marketing partners . Contact us to find out more and arrange a no-obligation chat with Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

The right pictures speak a thousand words

Do you like having your picture taken? I must admit that it is not my favourite thing.

However, having organised new PR shots for a client recently has reminded me the power of having and using the right pictures.

The right pictures can capture your message. They can describe your product or service in a simple snapshot and even convey the professional-but-approachable image that is increasingly important.

Forgive me for getting on my high horse for a minute, but news stories are more likely to be used when they have accompanying, professionally-taken photos that are of sufficient quality to be used in the media… snap shots taken by the office junior on their digital camera phone just won’t work!

Sookias Media helps businesses gain the most from their marketing through consultancy, training and marketing mentoring. We'll help you give the right image to your customers; on websites, press releases, brochures, eshots and other campaigns.

For a no-obligation, impartial chat about the picture your company is presenting to its customers, call Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

Why the key to marketing is... passion!

I'm often asked what the secret is to successful marketing. 

Of course, many factors influence the effect of campaigns but in my experience, people and companies with passion for what they do are the ones who see most return from their investment of both time and money into their marketing.

• Passion means marketing feels less of a chore -i.e. it's worth it to see the company / product / service succeed. 

• Enthusiasm is infectious. It will shine whenever you are talking to customers, through your adverts, marketing communications and follow-up. 

• Passion develops into evangelism - the more people you can get enthusiastic about your company, products and services, the bigger the team championing them to new potential clients. 

Ignite the passion into your marketing:

• Remember why you joined/set up your company. See how you can translate these reasons into  your marketing.

• Ask your best customers why they are like your products and services. Ask them to be your champions through customer reference calls, video testimonials and quotes. 

• Keep up the momentum so your marketing continues even when you're having a less passionate day!

Sookias Media helps businesses gain the most from their marketing through consultancy, training and marketing mentoring. We help you remember what's great about your company, products and services and give you ideas, tips and advice on how to promote them effectively and injected with passion and enthusiasm! We help you plan effective campaigns and keep the momentum going. 
Start to reignite passion back into your marketing by arranging an informal, no-obligation chat with Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

How to stop photo tagging in Twitter

Twitter's new feature of photo tagging has been much celebrated. But what if you don't want to be tagged in other people's photos?

It's actually very simple to disallow this by a quick change to your settings:

1. Login to Twitter
2. Go to Settings > Security and Privacy
3. Tick the "Do not allow anyone to tag me in photos" option
4. Save Changes.

Undecided? Here's a quick recap of what the Twitter tagging feature allows you to do:
Tag up to 10 people in a photo.

Tagging doesn't affect your character count (ie you can tag and still have the full 140 characters for your tweet.
If you're tagged in someone else's photo you'll receive a notification.

Sookias Media helps businesses gain the most from their marketing through consultancy, training and marketing mentoring. We keep abreast of the developments on social media sites such as Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn so you don't have to.  For more information, contact Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

Marketing briefs

"Carefully written marketing briefs will help you gain maximum ROI from design, website builds, PR, and more."

This was one of the most popular marketing tips I posted on Twitter this month; probably because it mentions the term Return on Investment (ROI).

Many companies invest a great deal of money with firms supplying new websites, advertising, public relations, social media and other marketing tools without really thinking through what they expect from that investment and documenting it in term of a brief.

Briefs come in all shapes and sizes and of course in this case I am not referring to the underwear variety!

A well-written brief helps you define what you want and gives your supplier/agency a clear indication of your expectations. It helps both sides know what's expected and ensure each penny is used wisely.

Typical things to include are:

Company overview - set the scene on who you are and what you are trying to achieve from this project.

Who are you targeting - define your target audience. In non-marketing speak, this means the people you are trying to talk to. Be as specific as possible!

What you need - for example a new website, press release, advert, social media campaign etc. Are there certain features, benefits or functionality that must be included?

Why you need it - what are you hoping to acheive e.g raise awareness, collect data, generate on-line sales, etc.

When you need it by -outline the key milestones and deadlines for the project's completion.

How success will be monitored - what will you be measuring? How will you all know if it has been successful?

Budget - however large or small, this is essential to understand what you can achieve from the amount invested. Agencies and suppliers want to help you achieve a realistic return on your investment, but to do that they need to know how much that will be.

Details and facts - include as much detail as possible. When quoting, it's easier for suppliers to ignore what they don't need rather than fill in the blanks! Use facts wherever possible and avoid assumptions.

Plain English - try to avoid using abbreviations, acronyms and technical terms (although if these are necessary, provide a glossary).

Including these elements will help you to ensure that no penny is wasted. Outlining your requirements means that suppliers can let you know what you can reasonably expect from your budget and you will be able to monitor that you do gain a return from your investment.

Hannah Sookias is a marketing consultant and trainer who works with many different companies helping them implement effective marketing campaigns and generate a return on their marketing budgets. For more information, contact Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

Lessons from India

On a recent trip to India, I realised that both street vendors and multinationals over there can give us some valuable marketing lessons. 

With fierce competition, everyone selling something had to work hard to get themselves seen and noticed. 

We went to three very different places - Kolkata, Goa and Mumbai yet in each they followed these five important principles:


1. Pro-actively promote what you do
2. Become familiar names
3. Explain the benefits of what you offer over the competition
4. Display your wares
5. Don't give up, even after a lost sale

So how did they do this?

Pro-actively promote what you do
Sellers in India don't wait for customers to come to them. They call out to potential customers, make their offers known and try to attract their attention. They mostly do it in person - but we can use networking, phone calls, email, social media, advertising, direct mail and more!

Become familiar names
In India, families have their favourite stalls and shops. Regular customers are known, greeted warmly and given preferential prices. Those who can afford advertising make sure that their brand is displayed as prominently as possible in places where their potential customers will see them. We need to find ways to build our brands so our potential customers get to know who we are, what we do and trust that we will deliver. We need to look after our customers so they come back to us time and again because not only do they get what they need but feel valued. 

Explain the benefits of what you offer over the competition
From fresher, bigger fruit to the craftsmanship of gifts and clothing, wherever we went, vendors were always eager to share with you what they were selling and how their offering was better than the competition. We need to stop selling and start sharing the benefits of what we do, and share what makes us different by answering the 'why should I buy from you?' question. 

Display your wares
Even in the poorest market stalls care was taken to display their wares as attractively as possible. In shops stock was displayed so you could quickly and easily see your options and the wide variety of things on offer. We too need to make it easy for our customers to know about everything we do and the options available to them. Avoid them saying, "I didn't know you did that!"

Don't give up, even after a lost sale
I admired the perseverance in India. Even if a vendor sees you buying from elsewhere and know you won't be visiting them today, they'll still take the opportunity to remind you of what you've missed out on with a reminder to 'visit us next time'. We should view lost sales as a future opportunity. Keep in touch with them so when they are ready to buy again they know you are an alternative option. 

Hannah Sookias is a marketing consultant, trainer and speaker who works with many different companies helping them implement effective marketing campaigns and generate a return on their promotional budgets. If you'd like more information on these lessons from India or would like some advice on your company's marketing, get in touch with Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460.

Overcoming the most common marketing mistake

In my experience, the most common marketing mistake made by all sizes of organisations is trying to aim your marketing at everyone.


This is because there's a ungrounded fear that by targeting just one group of people or companies means you'll miss out on business from others. 


However, by selecting carefully who you target, you become the top choice for 10% of your potential market rather than being one of 10 options for everyone. 


This is because you start understanding in more depth the needs and problems of that smaller segment and in turn develop your marketing to talk to them. This includes tuning your messages to demonstrate how you can help them as well as using the methods and frequency of communication they prefer.


The result is that you attract their attention, increase your brand's appeal and develop healthy margins based on the increase in perceived value. 


Hannah Sookias is a marketing consultant, trainer and speaker who works with many different companies helping them implement effective marketing campaigns and generate a return on their promotional budgets. If you'd like more information on how who to target with your marketing and how, please contact Hannah on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com.

What arrived in YOUR post this morning?

Remember the days when the postman came laden with piles of junk mail each morning? Chances are you only spend a few minutes sorting your letters but considerably more time wading through the spam in your inbox.

Now don't get me wrong, I really like email marketing and used correctly it's a really effective marketing tool. 

However, with more businesses cutting costs, direct mail is once again a way to surprise, delight and attract customers. 

As ever, you need to use it wisely and think about what you are going to say and why. 

When we decided to launch our marketing club earlier this year, we decided to make our initial contact with people through the post. We selected bright orange envelopes and square cards to make our mailing stand out. We used premium quality cards and took the time to handwrite personal notes to the people we invited to our launch event. 

We decided on this approach to show our guest list that valued them and taken the time to invite them personally to our event. When asked for their feedback, they confirmed that the envelopes intrigued them and by personally writing to them they felt both appreciated and committed to the event. 

Of course, you don't need to use the same approach but the best things I receive are (a) a little different and catch my eye (b) acknowledge I am a valued (potential) customer and (b) have a clear message that encourages me to take action. 

What caught your eye in the post today?

Hannah Sookias founded Sookias Media in 2005. As a marketing consultant, trainer and speaker, she works with many different companies helping them implement effective marketing campaigns and generate a return on their promotional budgets. Hannah is also the co-founder of the Effective Marketing Club  which gives business owners the opportunity to learn new ways to market their business and the time to put into practice what they've just learnt with experts on hand. 

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Protecting Your Brand & People on Social Media

With organisations worldwide promoting their products and services on social media sites, how do you protect the brand you've painstakingly built up and the people who work for you?

Step 1: Know who is officially representing your brand
It's very easy to select an office junior to look after your companies' social media sites, "because they understand it". However, using social media for personal use is very different to using it to build and protect a brand as Kent Police found out in 2013: http://bit.ly/ZGIdKj.

Whatever the age of the person/team running your social media activity, understand their previous use of social media sites and ensure they know your expectations (see steps 3 and 4).

Step 2: Determine who else is representing your brand
As well as official social media activity, there will be other people in your organisation who use these sites for personal and/or business use. To protect your brand, you need to know who they are, the types of information they are posting about your company and then work with them so your messages are strengthened by what they say.

Step 3: Know how you want to be seen
As with all marketing, understanding why you are using particular social media sites and setting clear objectives from it, makes your time spent much more effective. For example, XYZ Company decides that in the next financial quarter it wants to engage with 30 new potential customers of their new fancy widget. This allows them to profile who they want to be following on the social media site, understand what will encourage them to find out more about the new widget and what will encourage them to buy one. The updates used will then be more focused and any conversations joined or initiated will support this aim.

Step 4: Set the boundaries
All employees need to understand what's expected when they use social media sites in order to protect the company's reputation and brand.

It's also important that everyone is clear on how they are expected to treat co-workers, customers and suppliers online. Cyber-bullying is sadly on the increase and should be taken as seriously as other forms of bullying in the workplace.


Having a social media policy means everyone knows how they are expected to behave - both on the company's social media accounts and any personal ones - to safeguard the company and the people within it. I always recommend taking professional HR advice to ensure you get it right (after all each organisation is different) - try talking to Krystine or Liz at HR Protected.


Step 5: Review and Improve
Regularly check what's going on. Use a neutral computer (libraries are good for this) and search your company name. Check that references to it on social media position you in the way you want. Confirm that social media updates are written in the language and style of your potential customers; check there are no damaging links, comments or inappropriate conversations/comments.

Review the types of leads your social media activity is generating. Determine if they are they right type of leads - and if so, go and do more of the same. If not, work out why; adapt what you are doing; communicate the revised expectations and try something else.

Summary
Social media is an ever-evolving media that's great for promoting businesses. However, care needs to be taken to protect your brand and employees within it, which can be done by following the 5 steps above.

If you would like more information on developing or reviewing your organisation's use of social media, call us for advice on +44 1283 808460, tweet me @HannahSookias or send me a message via LinkedIn.

Hannah Sookias runs marketing consultancy and training company, Sookias Media and is also the co-founder of The Effective Marketing Club. She works with many different companies helping them implement effective marketing campaigns and generate a return on their promotional budgets. 



Marketing Rule #1: Know your customers

Customers come in all shapes and sizes. They differ from one company to another; even those that sell similar products or services.

But how well do you know yours? 

Do you know which industries they are from? Or the typical job roles they perform? 

Are there influencers within their companies who affect the suppliers or products they select? Or are they are in a particular stage of company growth?

Every business relies on its customers. To survive and grow we must know who our customers are, what they buy from us and why they buy from us.

When successful businesses set up, they'll have done their homework on who they want to sell to; define their market place and develop a business plan of how they intend to grow their business. They are able to give a personal service to each of their clients and know that they need to find more people who are similar to their best customer.

However, as client bases grow, it is easy to stop reviewing with quite so much detail the mix of your customers and whether their profile has changed. 

To avoid missing changes in your target market, regularly review your sales to answer the following questions:

• What are they buying?
• Who are your clients? Who are your largest clients?
• What industry are they from?
• What are the buyers’ job titles?
• How long is the sales process?
• Who else influences their buying decision?
• How did they find out about your company and your services/products?
• How often do they buy from you?
• How can you increase the quantity / frequency / profit margin on what they buy?

In my experience, companies usually have the answers to the above points but struggle to know where to look for that information. So in our consulting and training sessions we work through a proven process to help clients understand who is buying what and whether they want this mix to change. We then look at ways to develop their customer base and structure their marketing and promotions to support them.

For more information and help on knowing your customers, do give us a call on +44 (0)1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com. 

LinkedIn : Business Generator or Timewaster?

Do you use LinkedIn? 

• Is it simply an on-line address book for keeping in touch with past colleagues and current business contacts?  
• Do you regularly go on to find out what people are up? 
• Is it an essential business development tool? 
• Do you only go onto the site if someone asks you to connect?

 More businesses than ever are discovering that it’s a business relationship and development website that, with thought to how it’s being used, can be a key part of your marketing and business development activities. 

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network and now has over 200 million members around the globe. Its mission is simple: to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. 

Since its launch in 2003, LinkedIn has developed to give access to people, jobs, news, updates, and business insights. It’s recently undergone a facelift and streamlined its offerings so it is a fast, dynamic business tool. 

It’s great for finding and connecting with the potential customers you want to be working with. It’s a hub of information from business thought leaders, industry experts and your own go-to people. 

As with any marketing tool, what you get out of LinkedIn will be determined by what you put in. Knowing why you are using it, understanding the features available using them effectively will ensure the time you spend there isn’t a waste of time but a valuable investment in your business growth. 

Gain More from LinkedIn in our next Masterclass:   
Transforming Contacts into Business, 20 March 2013   9.30am-1.30pm
Book Now 

For more information on how you can use LinkedIn for your business, call us to discuss our training and consultancy options +44 1283 808460 or email hello@sookiasmedia.com