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Turn Your Marketing Around Today with 5 Questions

Kylie Fennell
Here’s how to turn your whole marketing strategy around with 5 simple questions.
  1. What’s your point of difference? Call it your unique or best selling point or point of difference, it doesn’t really matter, as long as you know exactly why people should buy your products, services or ideas instead of someone else’s. If you can summarise your offering in three key messages, even better. If you can’t do that yet, it’s time to working on your brand and positioning story.
  2. Who is your ideal customer(s)? What are they like? How well do you know them? Can you really describe them? You need to identify a a customer persona that best fits your ideal customer profile. I’m talking about the kind of customer you want to target. The one that wants your product or services, the way you offer them. The ones that pay on time and are great to do business with.
  3. What marketing activities have worked? ongoing monitoring and evaluation is critical to marketing success. What worked last year, or last week even, may not necessarily work today. Never embark on new activities though without knowing how you will determine your success.
  4. What marketing activities haven’t worked? If after monitoring and evaluation, you find something is still working, keep doing it. However if it’s stopped working, find out why, and change it or stop doing it.
  5. What marketing activities do you want to try? Don’t be scared to try out new ideas. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up-to-date with all the different marketing options and advancements such as digital marketing. So sign up to blogs like this one. Read magazines and articles about marketing. Keep abreast of what your competition is doing. Most importantly, never go into a marketing activity without understanding what you are trying to achieve and who you are targeting.

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Get your marketing off to a great start in 2015

Kylie Fennell
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net
The new year is a great time to refocus your marketing efforts. 
To help you along I have trawled through some of my favourite blogs and popular sites for marketing in 2015.
Here are my top 5 tips to help your business and marketing along in 2015. 
1. Nail your online presence and digital marketing
In my last post I outlined 12 steps to sort out your digital marketing and I’m not the only one saying how important digital is.
Digital marketing is not going away. This blog post from EnMast explains that more clients will come to you through your website in 2015
“If you aren’t using your website to strategically capture new business, you need to get started. 2015 has the makings of a perfect storm that will drive buyers to the web for purchasing decisions. If the economy does grow significantly in 2015, your prospects are going to need your help — but they are going to be time starved. They are going to want to do most of the purchasing research themselves. These buyers are getting younger every year; they are more comfortable with using the web to support their purchasing decisions, and they rely on search engines to guide them along the way.”
Check out my previous posts on websitesand SEOto get the most out of your online presence.

2. Get focused
You will need to get yourself a marketing strategy and make the strategy actually happen. A great tip here from zenhabits.net is to create habits, not goals or resolutions in 2015.
“Resolutions are like wishful thinking, that fade away inevitably as the year’s newness wears off. Goals are great, but it’s hard to juggle 5-10 new goals when you have a lot of other things always going on. Instead, focus on one new habit at a time, and give it your full attention, until it becomes automatic. Then do another new habit.”
In terms of getting things done on a daily basis, set yourself three top tasks for the day and get onto them first thing each day.
3. Don’t be scared of uncertainty
Seth Godin has to be one of my all time favourite marketing and business experts.
Godin advocates being open to uncertain outcomes, which is very different from large risks.
“The question to ask every organisation, manager, artist or yourself is, ‘are you hesitating because you’re not sure the future will match your specific vision, or is there truly a project-endangering risk here?’”
4. Really, I mean REALLY, get to know your customers
If you have been following my blog for a while, you would already know I strongly believe in the marketing value of developing customer personas.
This blog post found at blog.visual.lyreiterates the importance of micro-targeting.
“If you don’t know who you’re talking to, you won’t know what to say. Committing to buyer persona development lets you deep dive into needs, lifestyle, and motivations of your buyers. The work is well worth the ability to construct more relevant content strategies throughout the buying cycle, post-purchase efforts, and account-based marketing activities.”
5. Know what to stop doing
This marketing blog post from blog.hubspot.comhas some detailed tips on what to cut from your marketing activities in 2015.
Some of these include:
  • Over-Fixating on Real-Time Marketing and ineffective or insensitive newsjacking of popular stories/trends/hashtags
  • Engaging on Social Networks That Aren’t Working
  • Expecting People to Discover Your Content Just Because It’s Great – the post recommends devoting time to building an email list and regularly notifying them of new and updated content as well as pitching relevant stories to reporters, influencers, and other trade media writers.
  • Reporting on Data That Doesn’t Matter – does the CEO really care about how many ‘re-tweets’ you have?

For expert marketing advice find us at www.kyliefennell.com

Christmas movie must-see list

Kylie Fennell 1 comment
Christmas is definitely my favourite time of year.
I was the kid who believed in Santa Claus right up until…oh heck I still believe in Santa Claus.
For me Christmas is about magical things and beings, excuses to dress up in festive costumes, hanging out with family and friends, sharing the magic with your kids, delicious food and drink and Christmas carols on repeat.
It’s about nostalgia and memories of excitement and the joy I felt as a child, but there’s one other thing.
Christmas is not Christmas without Christmas movies.
So here is my hit list of favourite Christmas movies of all time.
  1. Picard – Make it So (Snow) Not so much a Christmas movie as a YouTube clip but totally brilliant!
  2. Elf – Will Ferrell as a fully grown elf. Goofy and hilarious. L-O-V-E it. 
  3. Miracle on 34th Street – the original movie is a classic for good reason. The best part is how they prove Santa is real by the fact the US Postal Service sends all of Santa’s mail to him.
  4. It’s a Wonderful Life – to be completely honest the first time this classic came to my notice was when footage was featured in 80s classic, Gremlins, which I watched as a child. When I got a bit older I made a point of watching the whole movie and was hooked. Gremlins of course also makes it on my must see Christmas list. 
  5. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – Chevy Chase and the Griswolds at their best. Enough said. This is a family favourite among my in-laws particularly.
  6. Little Women – this is not exactly an exclusively Christmas movie and I prefer the book to the movie versions, but there are some beautiful heart warming scenes centred around Christmas and family. Tear jerking stuff but beautiful.
  7. For a complete change of scene I wanted to add my brother’s all time favourite…Die Hard. When I asked him for his favourite Christmas movies this was the first one out of his mouth. It never occurred to me that it was a Christmas movie…not sure still if it qualifies, but hey the bad guy (Alan Rickman) also plays Snape in Harry Potter and is one of my favourite actors, so there you go little bro.
So there you have it. My must-see list.  I can’t stick around too long though as I have some Christmas movies to watch. Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones and a brilliant New Year.
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Get your infographic on – why you need one and how to get it

Kylie Fennell

Infographics have been around for a while now, but many businesses have mistakenly overlooked this marketing tool.
An infographic can be reasonably simple to make but have a big impact.
What is an infographic? 
An infographic is a way of combining information, data and text to convey knowledge in a visual manner.
Infographics can be highly effective in conveying otherwise complex data and information via a visual medium, with the potential to go viral.
See (and click on) the infographic on infographics to the right as an example.
Since it’s a visual medium, it makes great fodder for social media and can enhance search engine optimisation (SEO).
A good infographic encourages social sharing, and promotes natural link building (this means Google likes it).
Infographics are also great at building brand awareness and delivering concise and engaging messages.
They are particularly good for delivering complex information or big data in a format that is easily consumed. You can use them to position yourself as an expert in a particular subject and build personal and brand credibility.
Smart businesses are using them to engage their target markets and drive traffic to their websites.
Anyone can make an infographic. There are some great free/low cost DIY tools out there such as http://www.easel.ly/ and http://visual.ly/
However the key is having a GREAT infographic. Here are my top six tips for creating an effective infographic:
1. Try to stand out – if you use a pre-existing template or are trying to replicate the look of an existing infographic, tweak it enough so it is unique and you stand out. Take a look at the unique Batman infographic below. This is sure to catch the eye.
Source: theorange.co
2. Keep to the (design) script – your business has a brand and a visual identity that should resonate with your target audience. So make sure your infographic reflects this. Don’t go for fonts, colours or design that don’t speak to your brand promise. I deliberately went for a reliable retro style for my first infographic,which suited my brand promise. Second time around though I will be stepping up my game in terms of design.
3. Be visual – sounds obvious but use as little text as possible to maintain the audience’s interest
4. Make it easy to share – if possible include widgets or social media sharing buttons with your infographic and encourage people to “Share it”.
Some infographic platforms or websites will give you the html code needed for others to embed your infographic on their websites, which is great at building links back to your website and improving SEO. 
5. Brand it – include your logo and/or website details in the infographic itself, so if anyone does share it, it is clear who created it. This will also enhance brand awareness
6. Go professional – if you can afford it, engage a professional to create one for you. If not, use one of the free tools readily available but get someone with a good eye to critique your work.

Now all that’s left to do is get your infographic on! Contact us at Kylie Fennell for more great marketing ideas now.

6 DIY steps to create a visual identity and logo

Kylie Fennell

One of the first marketing tools you will need to develop for your business is your visual identity. 

Your visual identity is a core component of your overall brand.
When we talk about brand we mean much more than a visual identity, and when we talk about visual identity, we mean much more than your logo.
Brand is the overall promise or experience you give to customers and the set of expectations they have of you. It is what will influence people to choose one product or service over another.
You can refer to my previous blog post about developing your brand story for more information on how to build your unique brand story.
Here we will focus on your visual identity.
What is visual identity?
Visual identity is all of the visual design elements that make up your brand. It includes you logo, but also your brand colours, preferred fonts and style.
A successful visual identity will reflect your overall brand promise.
It is critical that your visual identity is delivered consistently across all communication platforms and touchpoints, whether it is advertising, uniforms, emails, websites or internal memos. This will help to build brand awareness and create a sense of belonging and pride for loyal customers, employees and other stakeholders.
Your visual identity must be clear and represent your organisation in a professional manner that speaks to your target audience. 
Where to start?
Just a word from the wise, visual identity is worth investing in, that is, engaging a professional designer who has a good reputation and impressive portfolio. It is entirely possible to create your own visual identity, but if you get it wrong it can be an expensive mistake to fix later on.
That being said, many organisations when they first start out find it difficult to find the budget for professional designers. There are a few options available to you, where you can completely DIY, or do a lot of the groundwork yourself first, to minimise the budget you need for a designer.
Here I will cover off some points to enable you to DIY or develop the foundations of your visual identity.
From a practical perspective you will probably want to start with your logo, as this will enable you to print your business cards and create the marketing platforms you immediately need such as our website.
Don’t jump into this too quickly, as there are many other parts of your visual identity you should consider first that will influence your logo design.

1. Consider your brand promise and style

You should have already developed your brand story by now and have an understanding of your values, strategic vision, point of difference and key target markets.
Go over your brand story and have it clear in your mind, how you want to be portrayed.
Start researching other logos and brands that portray a similar style of brand or statement that you would like to make.
Remember you want to differentiate yourself from the competition so look at their visual identities as well to make sure you can stand out.
Cut out or print copies of images that give the feeling you want to create. For example, are you going for a retro style, a completely modern style, or something whimsical? Whatever you choose try to keep your personal preferences out of all of these decisions. The visual identity must speak to your key target market, not necessarily yourself.
Also decide if you will have a tagline or short slogan to represent your business and whether it needs to be incorporated into your logo and other design elements such as footers in document templates.

2. Choose colours
Building on the above thought process, consider what colours you would like to use for your business.
Different colours evoke different feelings and represent different types of businesses and services. Refer to my blog post on the meaning of different colours to inform these decisions.
Remember again that the colours should represent your brand and your organisation. They don’t need to be your favourite colours. Where possible you should try to differentiate yourself from the competition.
When selecting your colours you are looking for one or two main colours that will feature heavily in your logo and marketing collateral. However you should also choose supporting colours to give you more choice in design materials. All of your colours should complement each other.
It helps to obtain a basic understanding of colour theory as well as warm and cool tones. You can buy a colour wheel from an art supplies shop to help you. I have also used paint sample cards from the hardware store to get inspiration for different colours and mix and match them with other colours to see if they work well together.
Basic colour theory
There are a number of colour schemes to consider when trying to ensure the colours go well with each other.
Here are some basic themes.
Complementary colour scheme – these are colours directly opposite each other on the colour wheel such as red and green. Used together they have a big impact.
Analogous colour scheme – these are colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel. They can create a harmonious feeling.
Triadic colour scheme – these are colours that are evenly spaced around the colour wheel. This can be a quite vibrant scheme.
     
There are several other schemes you could use, but it is best to refer to a colour wheel or an expert to better understand them.
Warm and cool colours
You need to decide whether warm or cool colours best reflect your business.
Warm colours are vivid and energetic, and tend to have red and yellow tones.
Cool colours are more calming with blue and green tones whereas white, black and grey are neutral.
You don’t want to mix warm and cool colours (as a general rule) but this doesn’t mean you have to completely rule out whole colour groups. Since most colours are made up of a combination of the primary colours red, blue and green (blue and yellow), it’s possible to have warm and cool versions of the same type of colour.
For example, lime green can be a very warm colour if it has a lot of yellow in it, but it can also be cooler if it has more blue in it. A warmer lime green may suit a gym business as it suggests energy, where a cooler lime might suit a day spa and massage business where you want people to come in and relax.

3. Understand your colour breakdown
Once you have chosen your colours, it’s important to get exact colour breakdowns so the same colour can be replicated everywhere. Just because a colour may look one way on your screen, and when you print it, doesn’t mean it will look the same way on someone else’s computer or printer.
If you choose a specific lime green, you want it to be the same lime green on your business cards, as it is on your signage, as it is on your uniforms. This maintains the integrity of your brand.
This can be achieved by understanding the breakdown of your colours in terms of red, green (blue and yellow) and blue. As a minimum you will want to know you RGB and CMYK breakdowns. Your Pantone or PMS breakdown will also be helpful. You can try and determine the breakdowns yourself using the tips below, but this is one area where engaging a professional designer to help you can be worth it.
RGB – this stands for Red-Green-Blue and is the most appropriate colour breakdown when choosing a colour for computer screens. For example, websites and documents designed to be viewed electronically.
Teal is the main colour for my business and is a cross between teal and turquoise. It can be represented by the following breakdown.
RGB 0-138-151
You can check the RGB breakdown of a colour you use in a word document by selecting the text or background colour in a shape and clicking on ‘format’. When you choose colour, choose ‘more colours’ and then choose the RGB slider.
CMYK – this breakdown is used for printing with ink. It stands for cyan (a blue colour), magenta (a reddish colour), yellow, and key (representing ‘black)’.
The CMYK breakdown for my main colour is as follows:
CMYK 100-0-31-24
You may be able to check the CMYK breakdown for your RGB colour by choosing the CMYK slider instead of the RGB slider in Word, using the same process as described above. You can also try to use an online approximation tool to convert your RGB to the CMYK code.
PMS (Pantone Matching System) – Pantone colors are a result of specific mixtures of ink and can overcome some of the inconsistencies you may get with calibration between different printers that can result in minor CMYK variances. You would use a PMS or Patone colour when you want the colour to be as completely accurate as possible.
You can use programs such as Illustrator or Photoshop to help select a PMS colour close to your CMYK colour. You can find some instructions at this website.
The Pantone approximation of my main company colour is as follows:
Pantone 321C

4. Choose your fonts
Font choice is also important for different communication mediums and can evoke different feelings.
You should try and choose 2-3 fonts maximum (not including the font you choose for your logo) that will be used across your communication materials.
You will want to choose at least one serif font and one san-serif font.
Serif fonts are fonts where most of the letters have little tails, so the words run into each other. Times New Roman is an example of a serif font.
San serif fonts don’t have tails on the majority of the letters. The letters don’t run into each other, it is more like printing than say running writing. Arial is an example of a san serif font.
Generally speaking san serif fonts are great for headings and serif fonts are good for body text, as they encourage the reader’s eyes to flow onto the next word.
The exception is online or on websites, where san serif fonts are more user-friendly. Verdana is a very popular web font.
It’s a great idea to think ahead what fonts you want to use, as well as what size and style of fonts (bold, italics, underline) for specific situations and documents.
You can even create email signatures and templates for documents you intend on using a lot to ensure the fonts are consistently used. You can also develop rules for spacing, bullet point style. This consistency will support you brand and give your communication materials a professional look.
A couple of words of warning though. I recommend choosing popular fonts that would be available to most people when they open Microsoft Word or similar documents. Customised fonts are great in terms of building a unique brand but can cause difficulties if you don’t know how to protect their use and there may be licensing costs.
If a person receiving your communication material electronically doesn’t have the same font, their computer will choose a default font, defeating the purpose of selecting fonts for your brand in the first place.
There are a couple of things you can do to protect your font and the integrity of its appearance, such as converting documents to a pdf file or learning how to embed fonts. However sometimes this isn’t always feasible so it can be better to choose popular fonts.

5. Now design your logo
Once you have figured out all the above, you should be able to work on a logo that represents your brand, using appropriate colours and fonts.
When it comes to your logo you may want to get a professional to design one for you.
A professional designer will create a logo based on your brief about style, colours etc, but they will also give you the logo in different file types such as JPEG, PNG and EPS and on different backgrounds.
Without going into too much detail here, what you need to know is that you will need a high resolution version of your logo for high quality and large format printing, and a lower resolution one for on screen applications such as the website. Some file types also have a transparent background, which works really well for some design situations.
You may also want a colour one and a black and white one or even grayscale depending on where it will be used.
Some organisations have landscape and portrait versions made to suit different design situations. Additionally you can have logos with different background colours eg. One with a white background and one with a dark background, depending on where the logo will be used.
A professional designer will create all of the different versions for you.
However it is possible to create your own logo versions using design programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop.
You can also use DIY logo design online services such as freelogoservices.com, logomaker.com, logoyes.com or vistaprint.com.au

6. Create a visual identity guide
Once you have locked in the above details and have your logo, you should compile the key information in one guide that can be referenced by anyone who needs it. A Visual Identity Guide should be accessible and referred to by staff, printers, designers and marketing officers to ensure your brand is protected.
In your visual guide, outline your style, logo and how it should be used, fonts, colours and colour breakdown and guidelines and samples of how to use all of the above.

There you have it, a DIY guide for developing all or part of your visual identity. To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and articles like this, sign up here.

Book mountain – my nemesis and oasis all at once

Kylie Fennell
As a writer it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I‘m also an avid reader.
I love, LOVE, L.O.V.E. books. And when I say books, I mean the old fashioned kind.
I have nothing against e-books at all and have been known to read a few novels on the Ipad now and again, but it’s not my preference.
There is the tactile experience of flicking through the pages of a book, running your hands along the spine and across the cover, just the simple act of opening and closing a book is completely satisfying. I like to keep my favourite books on display, to admire, to remind me why I love writing so much. They are my beautiful friends.
Then there is the completely practical reason I prefer old school books – they tend to hurt less than an Ipad when they land on your head after falling asleep mid-sentence.
So yep I love books, which brings me to my dilemma – Book Mountain.
Book Mountain is my nemesis and oasis all at once. It is a pile of books that sits tantalisingly next to my bed. This is where ‘must-read’ books wait for me to get to them.
I try to only read one book at a time, but occasionally I have an urge to park what I am reading and delve into a different topic, land or time.
Then there are the books, I really, really want to read but haven’t got time for right now, but maybe soon…they are perfect candidates for book mountain.
Just when I make a dent in Book Mountain, another must-read arrives and takes its place. The books that are lucky enough to make it to the top of Book Mountain, will be read…unless another more enticing book comes along in the meantime…but I will get to it…eventually. At least that is what I tell myself.
This week I wanted to share Book Mountain with you so you could get a snapshot of what kind of books inspire me and my writing.
So here it is:
The Tournament by Matthew Reilly – I was very fortunate to win a signed copy of this book when I subscribed to the Never Ending Bookshelf blog by Jess – a big shout out there to the fabulous Jess. I’d never read any of Matthew’s books before but admired his journey as an author. He is an international best-seller who self published his first book. Legend! I’m reading The Tournament right now, and am really enjoying the story and Matthew’s no nonsense writing style. It’s a fascinating story with a young Queen Elizabeth I, as narrator.
It centres around a chess tournament in Constantinople held by Sulleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan invites all of the major nations to send their best player for the tournament. A 13 year old Elizabeth Tudor, accompanies her teacher, Roger Ascham, to the tournament but the focus quickly turns to murder.
This is a crime story, which is not my usual type of book, but I am a major fan of historical fiction and the Tudor Court, so this take on Queen Elizabeth is definitely new and exciting for me.
The White Princess – I’m a sucker for anything written by Philippa Gregory. I share her passion for history and I love the stories she builds up around real historical figures, particularly how she portrays female characters. I can’t wait to read about King Henry VIII’s mother.
War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy) – I bought this on a whim. I guess I wanted to find out what all the fascination was about. When I saw how many pages it was, and how small the font was, I was reminded of what people mean when they say, ‘Don’t give me War and Peace’. That being said, I’m determined to get to this one.
Week-end Wodehouse– I’d heard somewhere that PG Wodehouse was a remarkable chronicler of a particular kind of Englishness. That his witty stories had become required reading at country house parties in the late thirties. As a fan of anything vintage and English country houses, I bought this wanting to transport myself to dark panelled drawing rooms, evening gowns and smoking jackets. I’m still looking forward to this one.
Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations (Norman Davies) – I read a review once about this historical reconstruction and it sounded fascinating. Apparently Norman Davies brings back to life the long-forgotten empire of Aragon; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, once the largest country in Europe, and the Kingdom of the Rock, founded by ancient Britons when neither England nor Scotland existed.
Geez! That does sound interesting.
Catherine the Great(Robert K. Massie) – this was featured in another review that struck a chord with me. Historical – tick! And a strong female character – double tick!!
Ulysses and The Dubliners – I was watching an interview with one of my other favourite authors one day, Ken Follett. Ken recalled an anecdote about author James Joyce explaining his day’s work when writing Ulysses. He had spent the day painstakingly writing two sentences. “I have the words already. What I am seeking is the perfect order of words in the sentence,” he is quoted as saying. I found the anecdote fascinating and wanted to read the book myself. I added The Dubliners to the shopping cart at the same time, for good measure.
A Tale of Two Cities(Charles Dickens) – I love Great Expectations, especially after watching the recent BBC adaptation. I thought it was only fitting I read this Dickens’ novel as well.
The Once and Future King (TH White) ­– A while back a childhood memory came to me of reading a book about King Arthur, while lying on a blanket in our backyard, enjoying the sunshine and eating watermelon (the ones where you had to spit out the seeds!) trying not let the juice drip all over the pages. The power of nostalgia got me thinking that I should start reading some Arthurian novels. I love historical fiction and fantasy, so this was an obvious choice.
The Crystal Cave (Mary Stewart) – I bought this one at the same time as the Once and Future King. I started reading it a while back, but it was taking too long to get to the ‘magic’ stuff so I put it down in favour of something else. I know this is supposed to be a great read, so I’m determined to revisit it.
Rendezvous with Rama (Arthur C. Clarke)  ­– this science fiction novel came with an irresistible recommendation. My husband read it, enjoyed it and said I should read it. For a start my husband isn’t an avid reader. Secondly he’s not the science fiction type. So if he liked it, it must be awesome. This earns its place in Book Mountain based on his recommendation alone.
So there you have it, my ‘pending’ pile of books I’m reading/will read. Hopefully next time we revisit Book Mountain, we will find some brand new candidates in their place.

I realise my ‘must-read’ mission is doomed to never-end and Book Mountain will simultaneously haunt and thrill me…but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

3…2…1….blast-off – how to market the launch of your new business

Kylie Fennell
When starting a business there are a few basic marketing activities you need to get underway. 
Image courtesy of koratmember/freedigitalimages.net
Ideally you would have developed a marketing strategy for your ongoing operations, but just as much focus should be given to launching your business.
You will only have one ‘grand opening’ for your business, so you should make the most of it. 
Getting your launch marketing activities right will put you in a good starting position and create a great first impression.
Here are my tips for marketing the launch of your new business. You can also use some of the same tactics for marketing a new product, service, idea or store location.
The ‘Coming Soon’ phase
In the weeks leading up to your grand opening, you want to start sharing the ‘Coming Soon’ message.
You can achieve this by:
  • Creating a ‘Coming Soon’ web page. You don’t need your full website to be up and running for this. A holding page or temporary page is fine for the ‘Coming Soon’ phase. Refer to my previous blog post for tips on setting up a website.
  • Tell everyone.Tell all of your friends, contacts/everyone you know or meet, about your upcoming business opening.
  • Create a contact list– start building an email/mailing list of people who would be interested in receiving information about your business. This will be the starting point of your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system – one of your most valuable assets. You may not be able to afford specific CRM software, at least not initially, so you can use a simple spreadsheet to capture contact details.

    You could also set up a simple subscription form on your website and Facebook page. You can even create and manage contact lists in a free web-based tool such as mailchimp, which provides tailored sign-up forms and can be used later to develop and distribute e-newsletters.

    However, you must comply with relevant privacy laws and anti-spam laws, which you will need to make yourself familiar with. These differ from state to state and country to country but generally you can’t send marketing information to anyone unless they agree to receive it.  If someone agrees to only receive certain type of information, you can’t send them different types of information. You can’t pass on any person’s contact details to a third party without their permission and their details must be kept securely. You must also include an unsubscribe option in any email/text message communication.

    Don’t ever abuse the right to send contacts information or overload them with too many emails/letters. If you do they may unsubscribe.

    You could send your current contacts advice initially that your business is ‘coming soon’ and a little information about it and ask them if they are happy to receive any further updates or information about opening specials.

Get active on social media and blogs
Set up your social media accounts and post that the grand opening is ‘coming soon’. Refer to my previous blog posts on how to tame the social media beast, and identifying the best social media platforms to use for your business. You can also find tips on developing social media content here.
You can start a blog and follow and comment on other blogs relevant to your industry. Read about the benefits of business blogging at my previous post.
On social media you can also post ‘teasers’ or sneak peeks of your store, products or services or staff. Count down the days to opening on your social media pages.
Organise your marketing collateral
You will need to have your basic marketing material prepared and ready to go.
Once you have chosen or created a logo and visual identity, including colour schemes and preferred fonts, you can start printing and creating email templates.
The basics include a business card and email signature. These should include your main phone and email contact details, website address and details/links for social media pages if you have them.
You will also want to start preparing letterhead templates and other stationery if needed. You may need flyers, catalogues, posters and/or product lists, and signage ready to go. Refer to this blog post for all the different types of marketing material you may want to consider.
Make sure all of your marketing material includes your key messages and speaks to your target audience. Your point of difference should be clear. Read these tips on how to develop a unique brand story and key messages.
Contact media
Determine the most relevant media for your audience and business, then send them a media release advising of your upcoming business.
Often your local paper and radio are happy to highlight good news stories of businesses opening, especially if you are buying advertising at the same time. Just don’t demand media coverage. Don’t ever pressure a journalist to write something ‘because’ you advertised.
Editorial (or media coverage) is not an entitlement for advertisers, but it can give you a better shot at being highlighted in your local media. That being said, if the news angle or story idea is strong enough, you shouldn’t have to advertise to generate media interest. Tips on writing a media release can be found here, as well as how to identify news story ideas or media angles.
If you are interested in advertising, contact the media outlet’s advertising representative and determine the best advertising plan for you. Ask them for details on their audience and demographics so you can ensure your advertisement reaches your target market. There may also be opportunities to buy an advertisement and ‘advertorial’ in a specific feature relevant to your business and target market.
Once you have determined your advertising plan, ask the ad rep how you may go about approaching editorial to see if they would be interested in doing a news story on your business. They will give you the best advice for their media outlet.
Other advertising and cross-promotion
You should also consider other advertising and promotional opportunities such as outdoor signage and billboards.
Look for opportunities to cross-promote with other businesses by offering discounts/deals for each other’s clients. Choose likeminded businesses, those located near to your business or complementary businesses, eg. hairdresser and a make-up artist, butcher and a fruit and vegetable shop, an accountant and a solicitor. You can put business cards or flyers in each other’s shops.
Even if you don’t have a shopfront you can develop mutually beneficial relationships with other businesses and share each others’ details, promotional material and perhaps promote links to each other’s websites or social media.
Giveaways, discounts and competitions
In the lead-up to your launch and at any launch event, offer giveaways, discounts, or competitions to win a free product/service. Send details to your contacts and post details on your social media.
If your business is focused on a specific region or location you may want to consider a letterbox drop, and offer discounts or giveaways to them. This is an especially great idea for direct neighbours, especially if your neighbours are residential and you want to get off on the right foot with them.
Get out there
Start getting out there and introducing yourself to potential customers and influencers. Try to reach your target audience in person if possible.
You can set up a stall at trade expos, festivals or community events. Consider sponsoring a popular local event.
Get listed
Make sure your business name and contact details are listed on key directories. These directories will differ depending on your business type and budget, but they may include Yellow Pages, TrueLocal,and/or Yelp. Some directories are free, but if they are charging money just make sure the directory seems credible and well-used.
Check out where your competition is listed and perhaps get listed there as well. At the same time, investigate what other promotions your competition are doing and how you can compete.
Launch event
Hold your own launch event and invite contacts, supporters, potential customers and media. If you have a shopfront try to hold the event on site. If you don’t have a physical shop, hold it at a local hotel, café, restaurant or function centre.
It doesn’t have to be a particularly lavish type of event. Make sure you have marketing material on display and product samples. You may also want to prepare a slideshow or presentation.
If you are a service based industry you may like to offer a free or discounted price seminar at a local venue. You can give away some of your ‘secret sauce’, which will help to develop brand awareness, and hopefully give you leads on potential customers or opportunities to upsell your full services.
Coincide activities
Get the most bang for your buck by trying to coincide promotional and advertising efforts with each other. For example, if you are sponsoring an event on a particular weekend, you may want advertisements in the local paper around the same time and pictures or teasers for the event on your social media pages.
Have your operational ‘ducks in a row’
It is all great to have all your marketing sorted for your launch, but there’s no point if your operational ‘ducks aren’t in a row’.
This means your product and services need to be ready for launch. Marketing materials need to be sorted. Distribution channels need to be ready as well as customer and product support infrastructure. Packaging, pricing and people (staff) also have to be locked in readiness for launch.
Marketing strategy
Try not to lose sight of your overall marketing strategy for your business. Your launch is only one promotional activity in the grand scheme of things. You want to keep your promotional momentum going well past your launch and your overarching marketing strategy should support this. Learn here how to DIY and create your own marketing strategy.

For help with your marketing needs contact us at Kylie Fennell .

Nailing your communication touchpoints for a sale ­– “Easy” as pie marketing advice

Kylie Fennell
Once you have a marketing strategy and goals in place, one of the hardest things to do is decide what marketing or communication tactic to use.
There are so many ways to connect with your target audience, and it’s a matter of deciding which way will be most effective. You also need to be aware of what’s possible within your current budget and resources.
Additionally it’s important to keep in mind, when communicating with potential customers, that it may take several different points of contacts (touchpoints) before they take the step of buying from you.
Industry experts will give you varying numbers of how many points of contact, or touchpoints, it takes to make a sale.
Experts such as Dr Jeffrey Lant in his ‘Rule of Seven’ states that you must contact your buyers a minimum of seven times in an 18-month period for them to remember you. Other experts have also cited seven as the number of times you have to contact someone and ask for a sale before you get a “yes”. You can read more on that here.
What all experts agree on is that there is no definitive figure, and that the number of touchpoints will differ and fluctuate across industries, organisations and target markets. 
They also agree that in today’s world when we are overloaded with advertising and messages, the number of touchpoints may need to be higher and more varied.
If you want to cut through to your target audience, whether you want a sale or to engage your staff, you need to pick the right communication tool and use several different tactics.
My infographic provides an ‘Easy as pie’ guide on how to choose the best marketing or communication tactic for your target audience.
For professional advice on creating effective communication touchpoints speak to an expert via www.kyliefennell.com

PS You will notice this infographic is food inspired. This won’t come as a surprise for those people who know me, and how much I love cooking and pies. Regardless, I hope all of you find your marketing ‘easy as pie’ with this guide. 


How are you tracking (your marketing)?

Kylie Fennell

When it comes to marketing, you can be the most brilliant and creative strategist but it may all come to naught if you don’t evaluate your results.

Monitoring and evaluation of marketing campaigns and tactics is one of the most overlooked components of any marketing and communication strategy.
It is also one of the most important aspects. You need to know your money is well spent, especially when marketing dollars are hard to come by. You need to know what works, what doesn’t work and what can be improved?
The thing is that sometimes it can be hard to prove a direct link between marketing activities and results. You may have implemented a fantastic new advertisement in your local paper and sales around the same time increased by 10 per cent. Can you argue there is a direct link between the two? Yes and no.
There are definitely sophisticated marketing metrics and tools available that can help you determine cause and effect. Larger companies have the resources to put facts and figures to what are often intangible results.
However smaller businesses should not despair. Here are 10 free or low cost ways you can monitor and evaluate the success of your marketing activities.

1.     Know before you start

I have previously talked about how important it is for any marketing activities to have marketing objectives that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely/timeframes) and directly link back to your overarching strategic goal or aim as an organisation. Then you know what you are trying to measure.
If your marketing activity is not going to contribute to the organisation’s overarching goal and doesn’t support your vision and values, it may not be worth proceeding with it.
Sample objectives may include: Inspire 20% more calls-to-action (calls/likes/share/views/comments) or opt-in to your mailing list; Generate 20% more sales leads; Increase customer enquiries by 10%.
2.     Have baseline or benchmark data
Before you start your marketing activity it is a great idea to find out what existing benchmark or baseline data you already have, so you can easily compare before and after performance. This data does not need to be that sophisticated if you don’t have it already. It can be anecdotal even. For example if you are hoping to increase customer enquiries by 20% over six weeks by implementing a particular marketing activity, you need to know what the level of customer enquiries were before you implemented the activity.
If you don’t have hard data from statistics collected or ‘Contact Us’ emails, speak to people who do have a clear idea. Frontline staff and sales reps can give you informed opinions and anecdotal evidence. If you have time before you start your marketing, ask them to collect some data over a period of time, even if it is just a week.

3.     Sales

Even if your marketing objective isn’t specifically to increase sales, it is still an indicator of whether a marketing activity might be having an effect. Your marketing objective might be to increase awareness of your organisation, but certainly sales could be a flow-on benefit.
Sales can be measured by new leads generated and converted sales, number of customer enquiries and bookings, customer referrals and billable hours. Be aware though of any peaks and troughs in your business and any other promotions underway, as well as your sales life cycle when measuring sales. You don’t want to be misled into thinking your sales have increased suddenly by 20% in one month, when historical sales data says it always increases at that time of year.

4.     Ask!

Ask your customers, staff (especially frontline staff) and stakeholders if they heard/saw/responded to your promotion. Ask them for feedback and suggestions, all of the time.
Do this formally via a questionnaire or survey. Free on-line survey tools such as Survey Monkey are really useful and can collate data for you. Use the same questions in your survey and repeat it at another time so you can have baseline data.
Use ‘How did you hear about us?’ questions in Contact Us forms on your website and a drop down list of options such as ‘local newspaper, Google, a friend (please specify your friends name so we can thank them)’. Keep the drop down options up-to-date as you introduce new promotions. If you don’t have one of these on your website yet, get one.
Also get your staff to ask the question ‘How did you hear about us?’ verbally whenever they hear from a new customer. They should also keep a record of the customers’ responses.

5.     Measure Return on Investment

Know how much you have spent on your marketing activities. You need to consider all costs, such as advertisement rates, printing and design costs, but also consider labour costs (hourly rates), additional resources and equipment required to make your marketing activity happen.

Compare your costs to how much money (sales revenue and profits) you think can be attributed to your marketing activity and present it in a dollar term to see if it is worth it.

6.     Check you’re reaching your target market

Let’s say your target market is 30 to 40-year-old mums, but the majority of people engaging with your marketing activity are 21-year-old university students.
With this information you need to reevaluate how to reach your target market and whether it may be worthwhile targeting a new market segment or not.

7.     Measure your digital and social media performance

Use free analytics and other built-in tools such as Facebook Insights, Twitter analytics and Google Analytics. You can gain valuable profiles of the people engaging with your site and how they are interacting. If people are liking it, viewing it, sharing it or commenting, you also know your social media efforts are working.
Track website hits/click-throughs, (your website provider should be able to provide this type of data), e-newsletter subscriptions, number of people engaging in your social media platforms (notice I use the word engaging rather than number of followers, which sometimes can be overrated if those followers aren’t actually engaging with content). 
8.     Track and monitor mentions
It is very useful to monitor mentions of your brand name, and reproduction of your key messages across all media including social media.
You can set up free Google Alerts to track mentions on the internet.
You can check for reviews about your company on on-line directories, and review sites such as Yelp.
Monitor media such as your local newspaper and radio for mentions and record whether it was positive or negative.
9.     Competitor Response
It’s always a good idea to monitor what your competition is up to and if all of a sudden they start mimicking your marketing activities, you could reasonably deduce you may be making some serious cut-through.
Remember imitation is the highest form of flattery.
10.  Learn and evolve

Take on board what you have learnt from your monitoring and evaluation. What is working? What’s not? How can we improve? And remember it is an evolving process. The same thing won’t necessarily produce the same results forever. Stay innovative, don’t be scared to try something new, but make informed and calculated risks when it comes to marketing. Finally you can engage an expert if you do need extra help.

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What’s your story? Getting your brand story right

Kylie Fennell
In many of my posts I have talked about the importance of establishing a marketing strategy before embarking on individual marketing activities. When developing your marketing strategy you will identify goals and objectives, target markets and how you will reach your key stakeholders.
A marketing strategy is without a question a critical tool for your business. It will ensure you get the right messages to the right people; but what are the right messages?
Your messages will depend on your audience and why you are communicating with them, but they must link back to your overarching messages and be relevant to your brand.
Essentially you need a brand or ‘positioning’ story.
What is brand?
Often when people think of their brand they immediately think of their ‘logo’ or visual identity. This is only one part of your brand. Brand actually encompasses much much more.
Marketing and business blogger Seth Godin defines brand as the following:
‘A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.’
When people purchase goods or services, they are first connecting with your brand and what it promises. People make purchasing decisions based on emotional connection with brands, what feeling and memories they elicit and what purchasing that brand says about them. Brands must promise an emotional connection and to get people to connect with your brand, you need to articulate it in a story: a story that can be embraced by all of your staff and stakeholders.
You need to create a clear brand or ‘positioning’ story.
The brand or positioning story
Creating a positive positioning is an essential branding tool used for building and managing reputation and awareness of your business.
Positioning tells your business’s story. It gives meaning to your business’s vision purpose, values, strategic plans, priorities and point-of-difference. It secures a position in stakeholders’ and customers’ minds and should speak to their expectations.
The positioning forms the foundation of all communication, providing common direction, meaning and focus. It ensures that internal and external messages are aligned and consistent.
It is important that everyone tells the same story about your business and your messages are consistent. This will build your reputation with your target market, stakeholders or people who are important to your success.
Essentially positioning is your ‘story’ and can be used for presentations, web text, fact sheets, media releases or any other communication. It can be tailored and changed slightly to meet each situation, but the core is always the same story and messages.
An effective positioning is a ‘one page’ story about your business, what it does, what it offers. It should clearly articulate your point-of-difference and ‘what’s in it for me’ for your customers.
Key messages
Once you have written your one-page positioning story, you need to distil or summarise your story into three key messages.
Key messages are the core messages you want your target market and audience to hear and remember. Key messages allow you to control communication and enhance relationships with your target audiences.
When you develop your key messages keep in mind the critical messages you want to communicate?
Key messages should be limited to three (this makes it easier to remember), with each overarching message supported by facts and examples.
How do we use key messages?
In day-to-day conversation, meetings and written material, you should use your key messages and relevant supporting facts.
All communication tools and touch points, such as media releases, presentations and displays, give you the opportunity to tell your positioning story and use your key messages.
Developing your story
A great way to create an effective brand or positioning story is to get key staff together and hold a brainstorming workshop over a few hours. You can approach the exercise in a similar way to creating a customer persona.
Imagine your brand as a persona and look for overlaps between your brand and customer persona or target market. Use the commonalities to better connect to your persona.
You can ask yourself questions such as:
  • What is our strategic vision and purpose, overarching goals and objectives?
  • What is our point-of-difference, unique selling point?
  • What makes us different or better than our competitors?
  • What problems do our customers have that we can help solve?
  • What is in it for them (our customers)?
Extend this to develop a real personality for your brand with questions like:
  • What is the culture in our organisation? Are we strictly professional? Casual and fun? Driven by innovation?
  • If our organisation was a car, what kind of car would we be?
  • When people think about our organisation what feelings and associations do we want them to have?
  • What are the benefits (tangible and not tangible including emotional benefits) we offer customers?
  • How would we like customers to describe us?
  • What is our history and credentials?
Once you have answered these questions you can start building your one page positioning story and key messages.
After you have finalised your story and messages, share it with all of your key internal stakeholders so they can embrace the story too.
The test of your brand story
A brand story above all must be realistic. You must be able to deliver the customer experience you claim to deliver. The brand or positioning story must be authentic and embraced by all key stakeholders.
It needs to be implemented right across the business. It will be experienced through visual identity and logos, customer service and experience, marketing and communication materials, stakeholder engagement and employees.
You will know your story is making an impact if your key messages are being reproduced and customer feedback supports your brand interpretation.
Ask yourself whether you can put your hand on your heart and swear that every customer experience and communication touch point is true to your brand story? If not do you need to revise your brand story or address some issues in your business?
Finally consider whether you would like a professional to facilitate your positioning process, create your brand story or edit it. Professional branding and marketing services can take your brand story from good to amazing. They can translate and wordsmith your ideas into persuasive content and sharp messages. Remember, the foundation of successful marketing is getting the right messages to the right people.
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