Entries by Darren Stevens

When Adidas compares TV advertising to the fax – should we all listen?

Marketing Week Magazine has this week reported on the fact that the snappily titled Adidas “global head of digital ecosystem design” David Greenfield, has compared TV advertising to the fax. Clearly a damming and unwelcome comparison for TV advertising, but is it a viewpoint that all marketers should listen to?

According to Thinkbox (the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK), TV advertising revenue in the UK totalled £5.27 billion in 2015, up 7.4% on 2014. This is the sixth consecutive year that TV advertising revenue has grown in the UK. Forecasts suggest however that digital advertising will overtake TV advertising for the first time in 2017.

TV viewing figures are also on the up, with first half of 2016 figures showing that commercial TV viewing on TV sets had increased for individuals, ABC1 adults and 16-34s.

Yes, the TV market and the way in which we consume media means that audiences are fragmented, but this has also brought TV advertising into the reach of many brands that could not have otherwise considered it. The fragmentation has enabled talented media types to really focus targeting on the desired audience and technological innovation means personalised ads are becoming a reality.

David Greenfield though didn’t hold back with his views – “Of course TV still has a place but the fax machine still has a place too and I’m not about to create a fax machine marketing strategy. Digital is the most relevant channel for our audience.” This viewpoint led the brand to concentrate its spend on social media marketing rather than TV.

Does TV advertising still have a place? I would suggest the answer to this is yes, but it will have to continue fight a rearguard action and innovate to mimic further the targeting and measurement capabilities of digital marketing. TV can be great for brand awareness and direct response, but will always be innaccessible for many and struggle to match the flexibility and speed of movement possible with digital marketing.

We live in interesting times when it comes to the options available to businesses and their marketing budgets. The basic fundamentals do not change though. Any Marketing will struggle unless you are clear on who is your target audience and what your proposition is. Businesses can also improve the chances of making the right choices by making sure that they have the measurements in place to understand where business is coming from. Anyone in need of a fax marketing strategy? Perhaps not.

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Is there such a thing as too much marketing?

It might come as something of a surprise to hear a Marketing business say this, but in our opinion the answer to this question is most definitely yes. The most obvious reason for this is a business or organisation’s ability to service the business or level of business that marketing has generated. If you cannot […]

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Doing good is good for business

When did you last take stock of what and how much you spend as a business on charity and community involvement? If you include financial, practical help and volunteering the answer might surprise you. But how much good is this doing for your business and is there a smarter way to go about this – possibly.

One of our favourite phrases is “doing good is good for business”, but this can sometimes not necessarily be the case if your charity and community involvement is not well structured and thought through.

We have listed below some considerations that you might want to consider when reviewing your charity or community involvement or perhaps embarking on it for the first time.

– Budget. Like any other form of marketing, it is a good idea to set a budget and stick to it. Otherwise expenditure can run away and you have no framework for decisions when you are approached.

– International, national, regional or local. This can depend on where you operate and the size of your business and there is nothing wrong with adopting a mix. For us though as a small to medium sized, predominantly local business we like to stick to local causes, where we can make a difference and the work that we do can get noticed.

– Decide what you want to get out of it. Are you entering into this simply to put something back or you looking to benefit from good PR or make new business connections. Do you want to raise money for a cause or do you have time or skills that you and your employees can contribute. If you are clear on all of these considerations, it makes it easier to make an informed choice of who to partner with.

– To adopt or not to adopt. There are significant advantages to adoption, whether that be for a one, two or three year period. You can develop a good understanding with your partner and from a PR perspective there is a beginning, a middle and an end – all presenting publicity opportunities. Open ended support can also sometimes lead to disappointment at one if not both ends, when you draw matters to a close.

– Policy, policy, policy. It can be a good idea to document what you will or will not do into a short and punchy policy. Making this publicly visible might cut down on the inappropriate or badly matched approaches you get and it also gives you a valid and reasonable reason to say no, when you are fully committed.

– Involve your staff in the decision process. If staff fundraising or volunteering is a key part of what you intend to do, then try and make sure your staff are involved in the decision process in some way. This can be through nominating causes for a shortlist or voting on a shortlist to choose the eventually successful partner.

– Communication is key. Start as you mean to go on. Establish clear lines of communication with your partner and agree nominated contacts and preferred methods of communication. Outline what you intend to do for them and what you are willing to be approached about and equally importantly the things you won’t consider. Make sure you communicate clearly to your staff why you have chosen the partner, what they do and the benefits to the community. As things progress, keep your partner, staff and other stakeholders advised.

We hope this doesn’t make it all sound too complicated, as ultimately doing something is usually better than doing nothing at all. If you want further help we have extensive experience in charity and community involvement, helping firms adopt charities and introducing charity and volunteering policies. We also regularly get asked to publicise charity initiatives. Feel free to contact us if you would like more information.

You may also be interested in our pages on Corporate Social Responsibility or Charity Adoption.

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Prestbury Marketing renew sponsorship of Gloucester-Hartpury Women’s Rugby Club

Prestbury Marketing have renewed their sponsorship of the Gloucester-Hartpury Women’s Rugby Club. Established in 2014 the joint Gloucester-Hartpury Women’s side have previously won the Women’s National Junior Cup. They finished in second spot in National Championship Midlands Two in their first season in that league and their ultimate ambition is to compete in the Women’s Premiership. Darren […]

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Questions to ask yourself if you think your marketing is not working

When we meet new or potential clients, we more often than not hear a list of marketing “things” that a firm has done, swiftly followed by the comment that “none of them worked”. We thought in the light of this we would share some questions to ask yourself if you find yourself in a similar position.

1. Are you sure that it did not work? Do you measure and track enquiries and sales and religiously ask where somebody heard of you and log it. If you have physical premises do you track footfall or have you reviewed your google analytics to see if there has been any impact i.e. a spike in visits or an increase in direct traffic if your marketing was offline.

2. By what measures are you evaluating the success? What had you expected to achieve and on what basis was this figure arrived at? Were your expectations reasonable and rational – say perhaps based upon past results?

3. Were you targeting the right customer? Have you defined your target audience and did the marketing you are reviewing reach that audience?

4. Was there an appropriate call to action? For Marketing to work it needs to take the potential customer through the four steps of AIDA (getting Attention, creating Interest and a Desire and then taking Action). If your marketing “only” took the potential customer through the first three of these steps there may be a residual benefit in that you have raised awareness.

5. Was there sufficient repetition? It is a big ask to expect one form of marketing to lead to a sale, when the recipient hasn’t heard of your business before.

This list is not exhaustive, but hopefully it has given you food for thought. If you would like us to explore this in some more detail with you, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Or alternatively you may find our page on Marketing Audits to be of interest.

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Highlighting our wares

The Gloucestershire Business Show is here a second year and Prestbury Marketing are excited to be heading to the racecourse this Wednesday and Thursday to speak to local businesses.

‘The show is a great local event to network and meet local companies just like us’ said Darren Stevens, Marketing Consultant and Managing Director of Prestbury Marketing. ‘It gives us the opportunity to show how we work and what an impact we can actually have to your bottom line. It’s also useful to talk to businesses from Gloucestershire to see what issues they are facing and if the challenges are similar to ours, it’s an enjoyable although long couple of days’.

Alongside the exhibition there is also a number of seminars and workshops, networking and meeting hubs so plenty going on.

If you are in the area, come and meet Darren and the team on the stand and enjoy a chat and perhaps a coffee with us!

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Practicing what we preach

Prestbury Marketing are excited to be launching their new website today. The site is the result of months of hard work and hours of writing content, establishing the SEO, case studies and trialling different options. It highlights the successes of Prestbury Marketing, offers hints and tips to support customers and demonstrates how they offer an innovative way to resource your marketing and to grow your business.

Jenny Jervis, Marketing Consultant at Prestbury Marketing said ‘We’re really pleased to have the new site up and running, it finally feels like we can showcase the business more effectively. The site has needed a revamp for a while but we’ve struggled for time, like most SME businesses. Now it finally feels like we’re practicing what we preach and have got our own house in order, like we tell clients to!’

With an expanding team at Prestbury Marketing, the site is another step forward as the company grows and the number of businesses they are supporting is increasing rapidly. The team are now looking forward to meeting local companies at the Gloucestershire Business Show this week.

We would like to thank the team at AM PM for all their help with the website.

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Prestbury Marketing to sponsor Cheltenham Challenge

Prestbury Marketing is to sponsor the running bibs for this year’s Cheltenham Challenge. Since being taken on as an event by County Community Projects, the event has gone from strength to strength, attracting thousands of participants who complete a variety of distances. The event raises money dozens of local and national causes. Darren Stevens from […]

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