Ros Conkie Marketing
  • About
    • Case studies
    • Careers
  • Get Started
    • 2hr Strategy Session
    • The Marketing Machine Programme
    • Support for Scaling Businesses
    • Developing your first marketing hire
    • Pro Bono
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Free Guide: How to do marketing that actually works
    • Free guide: How to attract amazing customers
    • Free tutorial: End Scattergun Marketing Forever
    • Free marketing advice by email
    • Reusable 90-day planner
    • 90-day marketing planning journal
  • Contact
  • Members login

My Articles

How long does it take to create a marketing strategy?

4/8/2020

Comments

 
Picture
Weeks? Months?

I disagree with a lot of marketers on this question. I don't believe a business necessarily needs to spend weeks (or even months) creating a strategy.
 
Don't get me wrong, if you're running a huge corporation with a marketing budget of millions then it'll take time. You'll definitely need to spend a while getting your strategy right before you start implementing it.
 
But I work with small businesses who want to see results as quickly as possible. Do they need to take weeks out of their business before they can start taking action?
 
I say 'no'.

Read More
Comments

How to scale up your marketing

30/1/2019

Comments

 
Picture
Most people jump to this stage of the process first. This is the equivalent of placing a first order of 100,000 widgets based on a design on the back of a napkin. Yes, there's a chance they might do the job but you're risking losing a lot of money in the process. (Read 'Turning your marketing upside down' for a more detailed explanation)

First, you need a robust marketing function in your business that leads your customers comfortably through their buying process. You need to make sure you've designed your marketing to be effective and you've tested it out and are confident that it is converting customers with a good return on investment.

The process of doing this will almost always result in an upturn in sales, but if your sights are set higher and you want to grow your business more, you have two choices:
  1. Increase the marketing activities you're already doing that are proven to work
  2. Add new traffic sources

The order of these is important: it is far easier and more efficient to increase sales from existing, proven marketing activities. People often shy away from doing this because they're not confident their activities are delivering ROI. If that's the case, go back and put measures in place so you know whether they're working or not. 

Read More
Comments

How to measure your marketing

12/7/2018

Comments

 
Picture
​In any good manufacturing or software business, there will be rigorous quality assurance processes to make sure every product is up to standard. The quickest way to lose a customer is to fail to deliver on your promises. But if you measured every single thing, you'd never get your product out of the door. You couldn't test every keyboard that comes off the manufacturing line.

Instead you need to take meaningful measurements at regular intervals. You need to decide:
  • When during the manufacturing process should you take samples to test?
  • How often will you pull a sample from the line and test it?
  • How will you effectively and efficiently test the sample to get useful results that will inform production and highlight any issues?
I believe this is why marketing often gets a bad reputation: marketers fail to measure their activities and demonstrate the results.

Just like you would check the quality of a product's components and subassemblies as well as the product as a whole, so too should you measure different elements of your marketing.

But marketing measurement doesn't have to be complex, especially if you know your way around an Excel spreadsheet.
​
Here's how to do it.

Read More
Comments

Why you need to prototype and test your marketing

26/6/2018

Comments

 
Picture
In engineering, you'd probably prototype and test a product before investing in expensive tooling.

Likewise, in marketing you want to avoid wasting large sums of money on activities that don't pay off. When trying any new marketing activity, it's always best to start small and scale up.

In the book 'Lean Startup', Eric Ries talks about building a minimum viable product (MVP). Think of your marketing in the same way - start with a minimum viable marketing operation (which is your prototype) and then expand on it. If you need a piece of marketing to fill a gap, then start with something that works and fulfils your basic requirements and build on it later.

Your prototype marketing activity should be used to test three different things.

Read More
Comments

How to ensure your marketing delivers ROI

7/6/2018

Comments

 
Picture
Marketing often gets a bad name because marketers fail to demonstrate ROI. There are two parts to this issue: one is in the planning and the other is in the post-campaign measurement.
​
In this blog I'd like to share how I work out whether a campaign is going to deliver ROI. If I can't demonstrate that it has a high chance of success - before we start planning the actual activity - then it's scrapped. Even if it sounded like an amazing idea when it was first floated.

This process applies for almost all marketing activities and campaigns, whether it is advertising, email, direct mail, an exhibition or event, PR, or social media. Here's what you do...

Read More
Comments

Where to find new marketing ideas

15/5/2018

Comments

 
Picture
Early on in any engineering design process, there's always a period of fact-finding.
  • What are other people doing successfully? Let’s make sure we make use of any existing knowledge and build on what others have achieved.
  • How will you build this system? What techniques will be most appropriate? What components should you consider including? Which suppliers will you use? What are the costs likely to be?
  • Is there any IP we need to be aware? Are there any regulatory restrictions that need to be considered?

​Apply the same process to your marketing.

Read More
Comments

Why your marketing needs a specification

22/3/2018

Comments

 
Picture
In my last blog ("What's the point of marketing?") I discussed how the first step in engineering a new product is to establish its purpose. In marketing it's the same, you need to establish the purpose of your marketing and how it needs to support your customers at every stage of their buying decision.
Once you've done that, you need to define your specification.

An engineering specification or functional design specification will typically include everything you want the product to do, how it should work, how it should be manufactured, timescales, cost restrictions and any other pertinent requirements.

In my last blog, I used the example of designing a keyboard. In this scenario, I'd need my specification to describe...
  • The type of computer or tablet it was going to be suitable for
  • Whether it'd be wired or wireless
  • The keyboard layout
  • The colour, size, shape and ergonomics
  • Whether it would include any extra functionality such as media buttons or an integrated mousepad

It's always tempting to sidestep this phase or start with a rough outline of what you want to achieve, However, the consequences of this approach can be costly.

Read More
Comments

What's the point of marketing?

1/3/2018

Comments

 
Picture
Every new product, software, system or process must have a purpose. It must solve a problem or else it has no value and no one will buy it. By deeply understanding the problem your product solves for your customers, you can stay focused on what features will deliver the most value.

For example, if I was designing a new computer keyboard, I would need to consider...
  • Who is it for? Is it for a gamer or a business person? Will you sell to individuals or businesses?
  • Why would someone need and want it? Is it going to be a mainstay of their desk or will it be something they plug into a tablet to use occasionally?
The answers to questions like this will determine how the product is designed, built and delivered.
​

Likewise, you must always stay focused on your marketing's purpose.

Read More
Comments

Are you checking your marketing assumptions?

10/11/2017

Comments

 
Picture
Most people who aren't marketers think of marketing as "getting your name out there". That if you want more customers, then you just need to tell more people about your product or service.
 
This assumes two things:
1. That as soon as people hear about you, they'll just "get it" and immediately understand the benefits of your product.
2. That the decision to buy is an easy one that doesn't involve too much thought.
 
If you sell an impulse-buy, like cupcakes, chocolate bars or jewellery, those assumptions are probably correct. So a marketing strategy that focuses on promotion (or "getting your name out there") is probably correct.
 
However, for most businesses I work with, at least one of these assumptions is wrong. 

Read More
Comments

    Get marketing blogs by email

    Get strategic advice, tips and ideas straight into your inbox every fortnight.
    Yes please!
    x
    Get strategic advice, tips and ideas straight into your inbox every fortnight.
    Rest assured, you can unsubscribe at any time. I look after my clients' data VERY carefully.

    Categories

    All
    Coaching & Mentoring
    Content Marketing
    Customer Loyalty
    Customer Profiling
    How To Engineer Your Marketing
    Influencers
    Marketing Management
    Marketing Measurement
    Marketing Messages
    Marketing Planning
    Marketing Strategy
    News And Events
    Pricing
    Product Development
    Sales
    SEO
    Social Media
    Start Ups
    Strategic Training
    Value Proposition

    RSS Feed

​Copyright © Ros Conkie Marketing      Privacy Policy      Cookie Policy​      Contact
​
Ros Conkie is a Marketing Consultant based in Portishead near Bristol, North Somerset, UK

This website uses cookies to ensure that you get the best experience. If you continue to use the site without changing your settings then I'll assume you're happy to receive all cookies at www.rosconkie.com. You can find out how the site uses cookies here.
  • About
    • Case studies
    • Careers
  • Get Started
    • 2hr Strategy Session
    • The Marketing Machine Programme
    • Support for Scaling Businesses
    • Developing your first marketing hire
    • Pro Bono
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Free Guide: How to do marketing that actually works
    • Free guide: How to attract amazing customers
    • Free tutorial: End Scattergun Marketing Forever
    • Free marketing advice by email
    • Reusable 90-day planner
    • 90-day marketing planning journal
  • Contact
  • Members login