October 4, 2011
by CIM GLR
in Events
Events are a big part of the London region. Your team works hard to deliver relevant events and conferences to give you the very latest industry developments and to support your Continued Professional Development.
There are many events on the horizon in London, and take a look at one that’s coming up in October.
Mobile marketing
27 October, 18:00
CPD hours: 2
BBP Business School, St Mary’s Axe
This event includes the latest research from the Institute and will offer you an insight into how mobile marketing is developing and how it can be used effectively as part of an integrated digital marketing campaign. Find out more and book today.
Photo credit: Vaughan Williams
Effectively monitoring the wider business environment to continually support strategic goals is not an unfamiliar concept however for marketers who design effective short, mid and long term plans they will now face their toughest professional changes in the months and years ahead. Recent reports from sources such as the Financial Times and the Economist have shown that even the most senior analysts are not able to accurately predict the business reactions within the current economic crisis.
The fact that there are currently many business variables globally will mean that any fast paced planning should be much more considered as this will likely effect the marketing plan. Traditionally these highly effective analytical economists have been the benchmark when predicting business and will demonstrate to marketers that they will not only need the ability to create and design robust plans but will have to ensure that a reactive mechanism and a fast radar sensing factor built within plans in order to account for fluctuations within the business world.
Having a strong ability to react well to fluctuating market changes which influence the commercial ability of businesses will be of great importance to marketers as identified in Marketing Week August 11, 2011; 19 ‘How Marketers can climb to CEO level’. Building corporate empathy and having a broad and detailed understanding of where marketing actually fits in to the corporate platform will likely win respect from the commercial or sales director.
The commercial team will have the most influence and decision power towards the board of directors in turbulent times of order to recommend how best to manage financial fluctuations in order to remain top of the business game. By demonstrating that marketing not only understands and reacts well to the sensitive economic environment but also to find effective solutions, (‘Fix’) and advise on business challenges through their own marketing expertise.
Through concise and regular monitoring of the market (constant analysis/research and radar sensing) marketers will be able to assess both traditional and digital platforms in order to make flexible informed decisions that can then be demonstrated within marketing plans. It’s time for marketers to fully reach out to commercial teams in order to grow to assist the business in order to grow this to a new strategic level so that finally marketing gain total corporate recognition and credibility.
Consumer trends, slower and erratic market growth and the threat of a double dip recession will at the very least provide justification for marketing professionals to be even more meticulous to detail and look even wider than ‘out of the box’ in order to identify and close possible gaps and then have a contingency plan to suit. The difficulty then will then not be with the currently designed strong plan that does reflect quality marketing messages but the economic and analytical front line now ‘blurred’ by the current dimensions of the disruptive business world.
As always the 999 call must be for marketers to ‘Fix’ and cope with the challenging corporate terrain in order to retrospectively demonstrate that the marketing function is much more than sales, corporate events and a catchy campaign or tag word. From here on marketing will provide total clarity, strong leadership and a brighter futuristic understanding for the corporate world to embrace.
More from Kevin
Hear more from Kevin by reading his other articles; Leadership Verses Micro Management, and The New Leaders of Marketing.
Covent Garden based specialist marketing and design recruitment agency, Aquent, supported the Institute’s Women in Marketing Conference this year. Here they talk with Dave Kerpen, CEO, Likeable Media, on why the only choice is to be likeable on Facebook.
In the four years since Dave and Carrie Kerpen formed their company, social media has exploded to become a central element of word-of-mouth marketing, and much of that activity takes place on Facebook. In a recent Aquent webinar, Dave Kerpen demonstrated the myriad ways for organisations to use Facebook marketing to expand and extend their reach.
Word of mouth “has always been the best and truest form of marketing,” Kerpen said. “We all do business with people and businesses that we know, like, and trust. People trust their friends.” But he said Facebook has changed the definition of friendship to take in a far wider network of connections. The average Facebook user has 130 friends, and “that’s drastically different from how word of mouth could travel just a few years ago.”
The other advantage for marketers is consumers’ willingness to hear from companies and organisations via social networks. “Take your marketing hats off for a moment, put on your consumer hats, and think how you feel as a consumer about telemarketing, television commercials, and direct mail,” he said. Despite that sense of inundation, 85% of social media users are actually putting their hands up and saying, ‘I want to interact with you using social media.’ This means it’s no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when and how you will join the conversation, and how effective you will be on Facebook.
Tips to get ‘liked’ on Facebook
- Have a great profile picture and a welcome tab that will grab attention on your fan page.
- Utilise the five most effective ways to engage your fans: Use Photos, video, links, questions and interactive applications (including polls, quizzes and virtual gifts to your advantage).
- Set up a content calendar and provide useful content.
- Share your content. Ask your fans what they think. Develop a news feed to share comments, gain attention and attract likes.
- Understand how Facebook works and target your perfect customers using Facebook ads.
- And, most importantly, make the conversation about your customers, not your organisation.
Facebook reported 500 million users in early autumn and is growing at a rate of 750,000 to one million users per day. It will likely reach one billion users in 2012 out of the 1.8 billion Internet users worldwide.
Here’s the last in the series of the Small Business Market Interest Group events.
PR workshop, small business marketing from Mark Ganellin on Vimeo.
Impressive PR, presented by Gabrielle of Gabrielle Shaw Communications, highlights the importance to small businesses of producing creative communications campaigns that ‘punch above their weight.’ To compete amongst the larger corporates, small businesses need to deliver a memorable consumer experience, and this video will show you how.
Here’s the first in a series of three of the Small Business Market Interest Group events.
Small Business Marketing, presented by Mark Batchelor will demonstrate how a marketer in a small business with a small budget, doesn’t have to mean small thinking.
Small Business marketing from Mark Ganellin on Vimeo.
Although small businesses can have the challenge of smaller budgets, you’ll see how they are open to a huge wealth of opportunities in the market place, and have key benefits above bigger corporates. You’ll learn how with digital developments and the popularity of smart technologies, small businesses are finding they can communicate and react a lot quicker to comments from social media forums, as they can’t hide behind corporate red tape.
July 14, 2010
by Stephanie
in Events
