Thursday, September 17, 2015

Technical Marketing - we wrote the book

'Technical Marketing - ideas for engineers' is a book that should strike a chord with engineering, scientific and technical people in businesses that need to market their products.

It might seem a bit of a niche audience, but the fact is many small to medium size businesses typically selling engineering products to other businesses, either cannot afford, or don't have in-house resources to market their products. Tougher still for start ups with a great product idea. How do you let prospective customers know about the benefits your product might offer. You only have to watch a few episodes of Dragons Den to see how most innovators need some help and not just in marketing.

It is not unusual to find new businesses launching into buying advertising space or exhibition space without any plan or idea of financial return. Marketing isn't only advertising or exhibitions, but for example consider these two activities. For many modest start ups, or established small businesses come to that, advertising in the trade magazines can be very expensive, despite the advertising sales person offering massive discounts. How often are you told by  the sales exec there is only one page left and they are just about to go to print and will let you have it at a very special rate. Placing advertising that way will rapidly exhaust the budget. Exhibitions can be a big call on money and time as well. Having bought the stand space - because you are told all your competitors will be there - you need to pay for building a stand, travel, probably hotels, subsistence etc and suddenly it is not such a good deal. Not surprisingly Advertising and Exhibitions are often the top expenditure items on a b-2-b marketing budget. Budget, what budget? Reading Technical Marketing - ideas for engineers might help you be aware of such pitfalls, but most importantly give you pointers to what you should be doing and how to plan activities. When you have a marketing plan it is easier to negotiate deals and reject opportunist sales opportunities.

Take a moment to have a quick look at what the book contains, or simply get your credit card out and buy a copy on line now.





The continuing appeal of catalogues

The promise of a trip down memory lane
Despite the relative ease with which we can buy products online, why do some companies still publish catalogues?

In that polythene sealed envelope that accompanies Sunday newspapers is often a short catalogue typically for household items, clothing, gardening supplies, but best of all - gadgets. It is the gadgets that intrigue me and because you didn't know that they existed you probably wouldn't have searched for them online. That's why the catalogues work. And you judge the price on the basis of does it sound like a good deal, not by going to a comparison site.

One last Sunday was fabulous - a music centre. Described as an 'Exclusive Nostalgic Music Centre with Radio, Plays CDs, Cassettes, Singles, LPs and 78s. ' Fabulous - every music format since the Second World War and all installed in a 'beautifully crafted music centre finished with genuine oak veneer' that looked like it had been designed out of old radio bits about 1941! Promising the experience of'a trip down memory lane' the sales copy expertly makes you want to have one. I  could bring all those old vinyl records in from the garage ...  or not. Maybe I  will stick to the digital music that is on all my Apple kit and actually sounds much better.

How about the opportunity to own a drone complete with HD camera which can be radio controlled to fly in various directions, up, down and hover - all for less than £30. If that was available when I was 10 it would have been fabulous fun! Lots cheaper than the music centre, but then again our children are all long grown up and left home so no excuse to buy one on their behalf and help them fly it.

I particularly used to enjoy the catalogues once found in seat pockets of American airlines a few years ago  which usually included a range of outfits for animals. The tailored suits for dogs were wonderfully amusing and hilarious. Of course it is not just the catalogues that have gone, Ryanair has dispensed with seat pockets as well. But these are only relatively small catalogues, nothing like the huge tomes for mail order clothing that sometimes get delivered by courier and weigh a few pounds. Apart from anything else  because they are so heavy they are difficult to look through. The sheer cost of design, print and delivery must be huge. They do what? Charge you for them!

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Small businesses back in the spotlight

This blog has noted before that in terms of numbers there are many small businesses and relatively few large ones. Yet it is the corporates that claim to speak for business.

A news item today quotes a Treasury source as saying "the Treasury is keen to make sure small businesses are creating wealth, rather than spending time dealing with tax." A noble sentiment indeed.  While large corporations seem to merrily continue to avoid corporation tax, the small business in awe of the sweeping powers of the HMRC appears to pay more than many famous global brands in corporation tax. Then there is the EC Sales return, VAT, PAYE, NI etc it is surprising small firms have the time to go out and win new business and then actually deliver that work to clients.

Marketing is very much linked to business strategies and results and being a small business we are also very conscious of the time spent on non billable work required by the government. Interestingly by email today arrived news of a new marketing consultants report which apparently lists some 1176 firms including ours and can be purchased for between £195 and £295 depending on the format - ebook, print or searchable database. Curiously it claims to identify the best seven firms to own, the four newest and a short list of those most suitable for acquisition. Not it seems a reference for firms to locate marketing consultants, but as a resource for those who want to buy the marketing businesses. The address appeared to be a castle in Scotland. Right - back to the VAT.

And on a final note and much better value, a new edition of our marketing book quietly went into print last week. More in future blogs, but if you want to buy a copy then check out http://www.etbooks.co.uk !


Thursday, September 03, 2015

The hidden power of colour in advertising


Colour is the first thing that attracts your attention to an advertisement. Or so an article this week on the psychology of colour as it relates to persuasion and advertising claims.

The article - Psychological Properties of Colour -  claims "There are four psychological primary colours - red, blue, yellow and green. They relate respectively to the body, the mind, the emotions and the essential balance between these three." It then goes on to list the attributes of various colours and what moods they convey. Apparently "colour has a powerful psychological influence on the human brain, mentally, physically, consciously and subconsciously. These responses to colour can be used to the advantage of marketeers to illicit the desired response to their marketing campaigns."

Red, for example, is described as a 'physical' colour - "Physical courage, strength, warmth, energy, basic survival, 'fight or flight', stimulation, masculinity, excitement." Then think brands such as Coca Cola, McDonalds, Virgin, Ferrari cars ... and how often are in-store "SALE" signs red?

Green is said to offer "Harmony, balance, refreshment, universal love, rest, restoration, reassurance, environmental awareness, equilibrium, peace... and you have Starbucks.


 While certain colours such as red are used to grab attention, more often in b-2-b marketing it is the typically mute colours of the Corporate Identity that we are accustomed to work with. It did bring to mind an incident many years ago when I was marketing director of Strand Lighting, at that time part of the Rank Organisation. In its earlier days, then known as Strand Electric, a range of  filters had been developed for projection of colour from theatrical spotlights. In the world of stage craft their quaint names and associated colour numbers were well known.

One day I  received a telephone call which resulted in me sending the editor of our company magazine to follow up on the story as a potential interest for alternative use of our by then elderly range of colour filters. Indeed that was the case and Richard returned to regale the marketing team of what was to us was a whole new world called colour therapy. He no doubt embellished the story, particularly the range of treatments and the facilities at the venue. It is said that, "Colours Therapy is a natural therapy tool which uses colours to restore or promote energy balances within an individual. The colours we interact with can impact us on an emotional, mental, spiritual and physical level. Colours operate on wavelengths which each have their own energy. Each colour of the rainbow resonates with the seven main chakras in the human body. Understanding these colour, chakra relationships can be used to to restore the balance of energy within the body according to where needs it most."