Contents

• Kick-start your resolutions with 17 free services from the CIM
• Win a Personal Life Coaching Programme worth £900!
• Clear your diary for the inspirational Women in Marketing event
• 7 top tips for Smarter Pricing from pricing guru Tony Cram
• A Year in View: Buying for Bhs
• A quick heads-up: marketing pubs in 2007
• Sticky situation at work? Confide in a mentor
• Good news for professional members on your tax return
• Top brands make marketers’ job wish list
• GLR’s Catherine collects her prize from Lord Heseltine

If your New Year’s resolutions include any of these perennial career favourites – and chances are they do – GLR News is offering some actual, practical help. Each of the 17 links in this article will whizz you directly to a free CIM resource designed to help you get where you want to go this year. Click just a couple and you’ll have already made a start on your 2007 To Do list. Easy!

New job?

• Are you making the right move? Do a free Personality Test to discover your ideal working environment.

  Planning your next move has never been simpler. Not only can GLR members use The Institute’s job vacancy database but there’s also a convenient list of recruitment websites and company profiles to make your job search easier.
• The CIM also offers a career guidance service. Download a Careers Info Pack or fact-sheets on topics like Successful CVs and Interview Preparation.
• Over 200 people attended the last GLR Careers Fair. Meet marketing recruitment specialists and career advisers in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Leading recruitment agencies will be in attendance again on 20th February.

Old job?

• Fed up of getting saddled with duties outside your remit? If you’re staying put job-wise this year, talk to your boss and tighten your job description. Look at the CIM’s Job Descriptions Guide to help you set some boundaries.
• Or, on the contrary, are you bored? Take the initiative and ask for more projects. Your enthusiasm will be rewarded and you’ll advance faster than the thumb-twiddlers. Make sure your time management skills are up to scratch though otherwise you could get snowed under with new projects!
• Does company politics get you down? Like it or not, politics are part of every workplace and if you don't play the game you and your career could be overlooked. But it doesn’t have to be a battle. Talk to an experienced GLR mentor free of charge about your company politics and pick up tips on how to play the game and win.

New habits?

• Boost your business awareness by taking 15 minutes a day to read leading business articles on the CIM website. Or resolve to ‘Read a White Paper a Week’. See Shape the Agenda or Cutting Edge.
• If you took CIM exams in December last year, more study is probably the last thing you want to commit to right now. But it doesn’t have to be a qualification or even marketing-related. Employers (current and potential) are always impressed by extra skills that can transfer to the work place. Taking a course in any subject that interests you is a great way to learn something new and improve on your existing skills. Look at the CIM’s training portfolio and make 2007 a learning year.
• Put in 35 hours worth of CPD each year – that’s less than 3 hours a month – and this time next year you could be a Chartered Marketer. Once you’ve got your hard-earned Chartered status make sure you keep it up-to-date.

Six degrees of separation

• Why network? Six degrees of separation is the (albeit unproven) hypothesis that anyone on Earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances with no more than five intermediaries. So you’re only 5 “Hellos” away from the person who could change your life!

  Networking is not just for people who are looking to change careers. Meeting peers and fellow members from different industry sectors can give you practical pointers and a fresh perspective on your job, your career and your projects. And if you are looking for a new job, it's best to lay the groundwork before you want or need something.
• Networking doesn’t have to be a chore. If you’re in Central London, drop into Meet with Drinks on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Or meet up with the team leader from your areas to talk about planning and organising events. You can liaise with high calibre speakers, fellow members and earn CPD points too.

Need to PR yourself?

• Did your achievements and efforts go unappreciated in 2006? This year, don’t be shy, make more of a splash. Start by appearing in GLR News. You don’t have to be Marketer of the Universe to be interesting. Respondents in our survey last issue told us they’d like to read more member profiles, regional case studies and campaign projects. That could be you. Email us.
• If you work for a large company, use your company newsletter or Intranet to share project or team news with your colleagues and raise your profile at the same time. Keep any clippings you get with your latest CV. Remember, it’s not an ego trip, it’s a marketing plan for You plc!

CIM GLR has arranged for one GLR News reader to undertake a 6-session Life Coaching programme to help them set and achieve their career and personal ambitions in 2007. After the first ‘intake’ session with your personal Life Coaching counsellor, you will have 5 follow-up coaching sessions over the next three months. Each session lasts for one hour and takes place over the phone, according to a mutually agreed schedule, making your coaching sessions focussed, private and convenient.

Leading Life Coach Hannah McNamara
Hannah McNamara has an Advanced Diploma in Coaching, is a Chartered Marketer and a Member of the CIM. She is currently mentoring several CIM members as part of the GLR scheme. Hannah is a lecturer at The Coaching Academy, Europe's largest coach training school. Her 15 years experience in Sales & Marketing includes Senior Management experience within national and international organisations.

What is Life Coaching?
A recent study by the International Coach Federation found a wide range of benefits reported by individuals who take part in coaching. These included:

• Increased self-awareness 68%
• Better goal setting 62%
• Lower stress levels 57%
• Increased confidence 52%
• Enhanced communication skills 40%

"Coaching is an interactive process that helps individuals develop more rapidly and produce more satisfying results. Coaches work with clients in all areas including business, career, finances, health and relationships. As a result of coaching, clients set better goals, take more action, make better decisions, and more fully use their natural strengths." International Coach Federation.

Download a free factsheet from Hannah’s website www.hrmcoaching.com.

How to enter
For a chance to win this free 6-session Life Coaching Programme, simply complete our short online questionnaire before Wednesday January 31st. The winning entry will be chosen on Thursday February 1st. We will then contact the winner in person.

The Creatives, Wednesday 7th March 2007

Planned for the eve of International Women’s Day, The Creatives is designed to celebrate women’s excellence and achievement in the arena of marketing communications. The event lines up distinguished speakers and panel guests from the world of creative media and marketing. Presenters will share their success stories along with practical and motivational pointers that CIM members will be able to take on board and use.

"We’re finalizing an amazing agenda which will inform and inspire both male and female delegates, whether they work at a junior or senior level” promises organizer Ade Onilude (pictured left) from the Central London team. “It really will be an unmissable evening for marketing professionals.”

Delegates and senior representatives from other professional bodies such as the Chartered Management Institute’s Women in Management, The Publicity Club of London and Women in Advertising will add to the rich mix of professionals at this top-notch event.

The Creatives promises:

• Captivating keynote speakers and inspirational stories
• Cutting-edge creative concepts unveiled
• Mingling opportunities over drinks and canapés
• Fashion show in stunning Commonwealth Club venue
• Goody bags for delegates upon departure

Condé Nast Case Study: Luxury branding & the celebrity effect
Exclusive presentation from the publisher of Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Wired, Traveller and more. With dozens of internationally-renowned brands under its very stylish skirts, Conde Nast has millions of customers across the world, online and in print. Recently nominated for 10 awards in the Magazine Editors Awards and with Vogue.com winning Website of the Year 2006, this case study presented by Condé Nast for Women in Marketing will explore the celebrity phenomenon and ask how can content-providers successfully brand and repackage their offering to win the online space.

Keynote speaker: Tamara Gillan, Founder, SPF15 Advertising Agency
Presenting: From employee to employer
As Head of eMarketing at Orange, Tamara created the company’s digital marketing division and pioneered the use of photo-messaging and voice-mail for marketing purposes. Following a ‘road to Damascus’ moment on a Mykonos beach in 2004, she left Orange and set up SPF15, an agency comprising one member of staff – herself. Within six months the company listed Olay, Orange and lastminute.com among its clients. SPF15 now has upwards of a dozen staff, is profitable on a seven-figure turnover and continues to win household-name brands as clients.

Keynote speaker: Polly Cochrane, Marketing Director, C4
Presenting: The role of TV in the digital age
Polly’s media career has included senior roles at Vanity Fair, The Guardian Newspaper Group, Channel 5 and Channel 4, where she became Director of Marketing in 1998. She is responsible for all of the corporation's output: from channels and new media to the recently launched video on demand service. In 2001, she launched 4 Creative, an advertising agency working on internal and external business, which helped Channel 4 win Campaign Magazine's Advertiser of the Year in 2005.

• Do pricing research but don’t ask customers how much they would be prepared to pay – they go straight into bargaining mode. Test different prices with actual customer groups and monitor real behaviour to see what price the market will bear.
• Avoid reliance on price promotions which can damage long-term returns. Customers can end up waiting it out, having learned that their price resistance is eventually rewarded with greater discounts.
• Develop pricing ‘stairways’ to encourage profitable customer behaviour by linking discounts to volume or time conditions such as ‘sign up for a year’s subscription’, offer a range of add-on products or services which appear small in the shadow of the original purchase: gift-wrap, next day delivery, insurance.
• Price according to profitable patterns of consumption. Like the gyms that incentivise people to pay fees monthly rather than annually; every time they see the payment go out customers are reminded to use the gym to get value for money. Driving regular consumption builds a higher likelihood of renewal.
• Unless your product is known for leading on low price, don’t get dragged into a price war. Value players remove benefits to fund their price platform; identify the benefits that the customer will miss and build your proposition based on these.
• Manage a price increase with transparency and confidence. Give ample notice and a valid rationale, demonstrating that you have taken costs out of your own system before seeking increases. If possible bring in a new benefit at the same time.
• Measure pricing effectiveness by looking at your enquiry-sale conversion rate. If it’s anywhere near 100% your price may be too low. Count your customer grumbles about price. Few grumbles may suggest there’s room to raise prices.

Tony Cram teaches at Ashridge Business School and has written books on Smarter Pricing and Customers that Count.

Delegates snap up 2 hours of CPD at Smarter Pricing seminar
39 members joined speaker Tony Cram (FCIM) on 6th November at London’s White Hall Hotel to hear about the effects of pricing on customer response and how being creative with pricing can boost profitability. Each Smarter Pricing attendee also snapped up 2 hours worth of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) time.  “The seminar was well received with 76% of delegates rating it as ‘excellent’” reports North London team leader and pricing event organiser Claire Dirdal. “Members thought it was great value for money and there were calls for more CPD point-earning events”.

GLR organisers are considering another pricing event for 2007. Please email Claire Dirdal with any particular areas of interest you have for this topic.

Claire Dirdal (GLR’s North London team leader) is Senior Buyer for Food Gifting at Bhs. Her team ensures a range of Bhs’ own label gift products in the confectionery, food and alcohol categories appear in the shops. Like most retailers, January finds Claire recovering from a manic pre-Christmas frenzy of activity. “We spend most of the year preparing for the retailers’ golden quarter – the 10 week run-up to Christmas”.

Taking a moment to look back over 2006, what was the year good for in your industry?
It was a great year for innovation largely thanks to a fiercely competitive high street. You really have to think and work creatively when you’re pushing hard for the winning edge. High consumer confidence this year meant that we could also enjoy having customers with some money to spend!

What are you looking forward to in 2007?
Doing the same again – only bigger and better. I always find the seasonal market place exciting; there’s something new every year. We’re exploring a wider range of channels to market too which we hope to move into place in 2007.

What new marketing challenges do you anticipate?
Every year you need to raise the bar a little to truly surprise and delight customers particularly at the premium gift end. It’s getting tougher every year to meet and surpass sophisticated customer expectations. We’re looking overseas for innovative packaging concepts and more design-led products.

Which aspects of marketing do you see doing more of in 2007?
Buying is all about negotiation; striking a deal that meets the needs of the retailer and the supplier is a daily activity. This year I want to develop relationships further up the supply chain and work more directly with the actual manufacturers of goods. We’re also getting further into product targeting and developing a price architecture based on geodemographics.

A day in the life: Retail Buyer
Retail buyers buy merchandise for shops. They plan, select and source the range, type and quantity of products according to customer demand trends, store policy and budget. Daily activities include:

• analyzing data to understand customer needs
• monitoring and reacting to industry trends
• seeking feedback on merchandise from customers
• writing reports and sales forecasts, and analyzing sales figures
• meeting suppliers and negotiating terms of contract, often overseas
• maintaining relationships with suppliers and sourcing new suppliers for future products
• liaising with other departments within the organisation to ensure projects are completed
• managing plans for stock levels, reacting to change in demand and logistics
• attending trade fairs to select and assemble a new collection of products, often overseas
• participating in promotional activities
• liaising with shop staff to ensure product/collection supply meets demand

Source: www.prospects.ac.uk

Cathy Jones and Stuart White report a fascinating evening at the Courtyard Marriott in Milton Keynes. Both deny speciality beer had anything to do with it…

GLR teams from Herts, Beds & Milton Keynes joined up with the CIM’s Northampton team to organise and host the Brewing up Profits event on 24th October, giving 40 attendees an inter-regional networking opportunity.

Peter Wells, Sales and Marketing Director for the Charles Wells Pub Company based in Bedfordshire, presented the issues facing the UK brewing industry. The evening ended on a high note with casks of ale as prizes and delegates went home with a bottle of a speciality beer! Cheers!

• The pubs sector is heavily regulated: new licensing laws, which allow pubs to open later and stagger their closing times, have so far been successful in reducing binge drinking and social disturbance.
• Pub owners and brewers fear revenue will suffer following the public smoking ban which comes into force in England in July 1st (April 2nd for Wales).
• Alcovision research shows pub visits are declining and suggests that more people are already drinking at home. Many supermarkets pursue aggressive Below Cost Selling pricing strategies on alcohol.
• Speciality premium cask ale is seen by Charles Wells as a unique differentiator (a ‘cross the road’ category) for pubs, particularly for the growing 45+ demographic group with higher disposable income.
• Of service marketing’s traditional 7Ps, ‘People’ is by far the most critical factor in a pub’s success. The landlord is pivotal in steering the culture and atmosphere of the pub as well as the attitude and ability of the staff.
• Research shows that ‘atmosphere’ is by far the most important factor affecting a customer’s choice of pub. Location is a distant second followed by décor and choice. Price is the second least important influencing factor.
• Pub landlords are encouraged to tailor price and product around a specific social group but clever ‘repurposing’ of pubs for different experiences at different times of day drives profits up.
• Food is still seen as the best prospect for long-term profit: some pub groups already report people drinking less and eating more.

A recent survey shows that CIM GLR mentors are highly valued for the confidentiality and objectivity they offer.

The survey carried out last November reveals that the most popular topics for discussion between mentors and mentees are career development, finding a new job, going for interviews and preparing your CV. “These are things you may prefer to discuss with someone who is on your side but not in the next office.” says Philip O’Brien who masterminded the operation of the GLR Mentoring pilot scheme. “Having an experienced, external mentor is a great source of confidential advice – where else can you go for that?”

The survey also showed that time management and how to make the most of their CIM membership were other subjects explored. “In my experience, mentoring relationships which extend over time start to cover other topics of importance to the mentee” continues Philip.

Other subjects that require discretion and trust are things like dealing with office politics, improving your work-life balance or handling a difficult boss. “These issues can be really tough especially when you’re in your 20s or early 30s. Finding a reliable source of trusted advice can give you practical advice or just act as a sounding board for your own thoughts”.
According to mentoring experts, it’s a good idea to develop a mentoring relationship whether you’re facing sticky work issues or not. Philip concludes “people can mostly cope with smaller day-to-day problems, but when a big issue crops up, many of our mentees say they were glad to already have an established rapport with someone who knows them and can help guide them through”.

If you would like to get in touch with a confidential, experienced mentor or would like to put yourself forward as a mentor, contact Philip O'Brien.

Mentoring Pilot Scheme: Survey Results
“Thank you to all who have helped to make the pilot scheme work last year. A very special thanks is due to the mentors who have made their time and experience available. We will be working our way through the feedback and making improvements over the coming weeks. Findings include:

• The match-making process has not worked satisfactorily in a few instances and warrants more attention. We would like the process to remain relatively straightforward however.
• Central London is by far the most popular location for meetings – reflecting the higher numbers of members in this branch.
• Mentoring by email is a popular idea. In a small number of cases, due to changed circumstances, mentoring has continued even when one party has moved abroad!
• Some mentors report a disappointing level of commitment among mentees with late or repeated cancellations of appointments. Although the scheme will remain free to join, mentors do request a degree of commitment in return for their own commitment.
• As a result of the survey itself, several members previously on the ‘interested in mentoring list’ decided to sign up as full mentees or mentors.

We plan to continue and improve the scheme. Please continue to support it, encourage others to join and don’t be discouraged if it isn’t quite perfect first time round! The best mentoring relationships improve with longevity.” Philip O’Brien

Your CIM membership fee is exempt from tax! Simply quote CI/SUB/57 on your tax return form and the full subscription amount you (or your employers) have paid will be offset against your tax liability for the year.

Don’t forget the deadline for filing your 2005/06 tax return is coming up soon – 31 January 2007.

The good news applies to all full professional members including Affiliate (Professional), ACIM, MCIM and FCIM.  However for Studying members, HM Inland Revenue stipulates that the exemption does not apply to your membership fees or to your exam fees.

The Michael Page/Marketing Week Top Employer Survey asked more than 1,000 marketers to name the companies where they would most like to work and their criteria for choosing a company.

GLR’s Catherine Worswick was in Birmingham in November to accept her prize from CIM President Lord Heseltine at the Graduation Ceremony. Catherine won the Top UK Professional Postgraduate Student Award and the award for highest mark in the Analysis and Evaluation module. Catherine’s prizes included two cheques for £250 and framed certificates from sponsors Mintel and WCM.

About Michael…
In the commercial arena, Michael Heseltine is famed for helping create the Haymarket Publishing empire. He rejoined the Board on leaving Government and became Chairman of the Group in 1999. In his governmental career, Michael worked under Margaret Thatcher as Secretary of State for Defence from 1983 until he resigned in 1986. Lord Heseltine is now President of the CIM.

About Catherine…
Catherine Worswick is famed for winning the Top UK Student Award for the Professional Postgraduate Diploma and the award for highest mark in the Analysis and Evaluation module. Catherine from Wandsworth in South West London is Marketing Executive at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.