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Do you have the stomach for a marketing audit?

How do you know where you are and if what you’re doing is in alignment with what you’re trying to achieve? We recommend an audit – not a financial audit – but an audit of your current practices. And I know that some people think that they don’t have marketing practices to audit, but they do. (See “I don’t do marketing”.)

When we’re called into a prospective new client, we typically walk into a scenario in which the firm owner or company leadership see the need for better marketing and don’t know where to start – or restart – or don’t have the internal resources to sustain the effort necessary to create forward momentum. They may even have exhausted their internal team already and cracks in performance are beginning to show, either because the internal resource is crying uncle or opportunities are being missed.

A scenario we encounter less often: the company owner believes that better marketing will help her grow her business, and she’s been marketing the firm herself. She doesn’t want to invest more money in marketing, or any money in marketing, but she believes she’s willing to invest her own time in the process.

And, still, another scenario is that the company leadership does not believe that they need to improve their marketing efforts, but internal forces (sales people, business development folks) are demanding some kind of action or support.

In all of these situations, we ask the same questions in order to quickly audit the company’s marketing status. We ask questions that inform our internal judge and assessor. But first we ask them to show us or tell us what they’re currently doing to market the firm. Let’s list what we’re talking about so you know what to put out on the table in front of you.

  • Your company name
  • Your logo
  • Your tagline, if you have one, or often-used “brand” language
  • Website
  • Social media accounts
  • Advertisements
  • Email marketing
  • Letters and communication to clients and colleagues
  • White papers or blog posts
  • Etc.

All of this should be collected and put out in front of you in some way.

Now, we ask:

What do you do? What markets do you serve? Who is your ideal client or customer? Describe her workstyle, education, type of business or industry, etc.

Why does that client prefer to work with you? What makes your relationship work? As we ask these foundation business questions, we look and read the current marketing materials against the answers. Do the answers to your questions appear in your marketing materials?

Ask further: What feedback have these materials garnered? Do prospective customers respond to any of your marketing tools? How? How are you measuring the success of your marketing materials?

Right away you may be able to see where there’s accord and traction, and see where there’s a disconnect. That should begin to give you insight into your next steps.

This is something that any business can do for itself, whether you’re a solopreneur or run a fully staffed team: audit your marketing. Do this audit and be honest with yourself.

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New year, same old issues?

The New Year sweeps in with lots of hype: a rose-colored-glasses look back on the last year and heaps of often-unrealistic expectations for the year ahead. If you like to have a fresh starting point once in a while, January gives you a boost. But, if January 1st feels like just another day, dragging with it all the same issues that plagued December 31st, how do we conjure the wherewithal to get through the winter, let alone meet our marketing and business goals? 

Like most of us, I know that the New Year is both a state of mind and a calendar date. I’m not going to wake up on New Year’s Day with superhuman energy or to find that a marketing version of the shoemaker’s elves has done all my work. I can choose to see that life is chaotic and challenging, joyful and satisfying, and try not to deny any of it. That translates into planning for 2020 marketing activities, too.

Even if you only know the broadest or most general goals of your organization, you can easily identify a few promotional tools that will move you in a positive direction. Of course, that’s the [deceptively] easy part: Once you know the people you serve and understand where they get their information, meet them there with your brand, your know-how, and your compassion. The rest may seem hazy or even overwhelming; the rest is all about the how.

“Break it into pieces” may be the best advice I’ve ever heard about anything. If I make no other resolution for the new year, I vow to default to a “pieces” view when issues become too cloudy, complex, or challenging. That’s especially true for marketing.

You’ll be able to get more done and be better understood when you focus on single, well-articulated ideas. Break your bigger ideas into smaller parts. List smaller pieces of the larger initiative. Make flow charts and lists to your heart’s content, but try to narrow your energy to one piece at a time. If overhauling your company website is on the horizon for 2020, the very idea can shut you down before you start. After you segment the project into a list of to-dos or an itemized spreadsheet (we all have our preferences and organization SOPs), isolate one piece at a time. A website redesign, for example, may include steps like a content audit of the existing site (what works and what doesn’t), an audit of the host’s performance, and identifying an outside design partner to help realize your vision. That’s a lot to wade through. With the “break it into pieces” approach, confining your efforts to the content audit first (and alone) may greatly reduce the overwhelm and provide data that will help redefine other steps, potentially lightening the overall weight of the project.

Whether you’re looking at January as a month of brave new days, or seeing it as the same-old-same-old, I hope that when you break your goals into manageable bits, you’ll move mountains.

Deanne

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Adopt a homeless pet.

Stone’s Throw’s in-studio rescued mascot, MacGuffin

Every year millions of dogs and cats are destroyed in shelters and pounds. In an effort to help spread the word about how we can all help homeless animals, we’ve provided links to a few shelters and organizations that make a difference every day.

Please remember to spay or neuter your dogs and cats. And, if you can, adopt a homeless pet. You will find photos of animals waiting in shelters and rescues nationwide, and available for adoption today, at www.petfinder.com.

Animal Rescue Force (ARF) rescues pets from shelters that do not have a no-kill policy, fosters them with volunteers during the week and offers them for adoption through their two centers in New Jersey — at Sayrebrook Veterinary Hospital, Sayreville and Englishtown Auction, Englishtown (in the gray building).

St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center – Located in Madison, New Jersey, St. Hubert’s has been helping animals for over 50 years.

Best Friends Animal Society is located on roughly 350 acres in southern Utah. They provide a no-kill, permanent home for those pets deemed “unadoptable,” as well as shelter for rescued animals that are looking for a good home. Best Friends’ mantra continues to be “no more homeless pets.”

Animal Protection League of New Jersey is a community based, non-profit, educational organization offering programs that promote responsible science, ethical consumerism and environmentalism. APLNJ also provides a free feral cat hot line.

Marty’s Place Senior Dog Sanctuary® provides a safe, loving and protected environment for senior dogs that do not have homes. Residents are older – age 7 or beyond – and receive the physical and emotional comfort, companionship and enrichment they need to thrive in their golden years. At Marty’s Place, they find a home for life.

Pets with Disabilities is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the adoption of dogs and cats with disabilities. The organization serves as a rescue and an adoption placement aid for animals that have been injured through trauma or disabled by illness. Pets with Disabilities provides invaluable support and resources for the families of disabled pets and for shelters attempting to place special-needs animals into loving homes. For the animals it helps, Pets With Disabilities is a bridge to a better life and forever home.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has worked since 1954 to promote the protection of all animals. HSUS is the nation’s largest and most powerful animal protection organization, working in the United States and abroad to defend the interests of animals.

The photograph of MacGuffin is courtesy of Rich Yasick. List updated November 14, 2023

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Get some press.

You’ve got a story to tell. News outlets and other online information platforms hunger for good content. Whether you’ve got business news to share or your current project sheds light on a contemporary medical or social issue, it may be time to send out a press release. We can help plan and research topics, write engaging copy, and help you find your audience…and help your audience find you. These are a few of the press releases we’ve helped our clients produce and share with their target markets:

NEWS: Automated Control Concepts launches Lab Owl™ Bioreactor Control System

NEWS: Automated Control Concepts promotes key executive personnel as founder retires

NEWS: Dynamic Strategies announces strategic alliance with cybersecurity firm Harbor Technology Group

NEWS: IT managed service provider, Dynamic Strategies, Inc. in Cranbury, acquired by Catapult

NEWS: Acumen Biopharma launches new business unit, expands capabilities into continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing

NEWS: ATCC and The Institute For Life Science Entrepreneurship (ILSE) collaborate to establish a new translational microbiology center located at The NJCSTM in Union, New Jersey

 

 

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No advertising budget?

There’s an old rule of thumb that five percent of gross revenue should be allotted for marketing (which includes sales and promotions), but in the past years we’ve seen guidelines that range from seven to eight percent for companies with gross revenues over $5 million (12% or higher for lower revenues), with 10% emerging as an average.  The Wall Street Journal reports that marketing budgets vary widely by industry with percentages that range from four percent for the energy industry to 24% for consumer packaged goods. You can imagine how large these numbers can grow.

If your business doesn’t command the revenue for large-scale advertising, or if you’d like to increase the impact of your budget without increasing your spending, consider relying more on focused networking. Here are a couple starter ideas that go beyond advising you to increase your activity on social media:

Get involved – You or your colleagues likely already volunteer for a community program, sit on a board, or lead a local scout troop. Make sure that you attach your business credentials to any listings or press mentions.

Teach – Local colleges may need someone with your expertise. If not, volunteer to speak at a business function or hold your own seminar.

Publish – Trade organizations and local media outlets (both online and print) typically welcome guest contributors. If you aren’t up to writing, find a writer to polish up your ideas before submission. (Yes, we ghost write. Call us anytime.)

Be visible – People work with people they know.

Need more ideas…or a custom marketing plan to meet your business growth objectives? Let’s talk.

*Reference: “Marketing Budgets Vary by Industry.” The Wall Street Journal. 24 Jan 2017. deloitte.wsj.com/cmo/2017/01/24/who-has-the-biggest-marketing-budgets/

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Five quick marketing fixes

If you have some time this afternoon, you can move your marketing forward just a bit more without having to make a sizable investment of time or money. Of course, there’s no substitute for a marketing plan that melds strategy with compelling creative and brilliant execution, but these five fixes can buy you a little of the time you need to plan bigger:

1) Use your company logo and website URL in your email signature. Brand. Brand. Brand.

2) Make sure your estimates and proposals include a one-page overview of the solutions you provide for clients, customers, members, or partners. Cross sell. Cross sell. Cross sell.

3) Keep your social media accounts current, but don’t focus energy on them if your optimal audience doesn’t frequent the platform. If your audience does, ensure your plan includes a social content strategy.

4) Audit your marketing materials to ensure that they reflect your business values and culture. If they don’t, plan updates now. Get out your red marker.

5) Network in person. Choose a local event that interests you and register today. When you attend, ask questions and listen to the answers; don’t sell. Then, attend another next week.

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Overwhelmed?

What has been a common theme when meeting with new clients lately?

More than a theme, it’s a common state of being: overwhelm. Clients can get overwhelmed with the day-to-day demands of running a business or organization. They’re doing important work and operating on all burners. But in that state, it’s challenging to take care of the things that nourish the business, including marketing. Marketing can become a grinding necessity or is guided by bursts of energetic focus after weeks of neglect.

One of the most rewarding aspects of what we do is to bring some relief. Sometimes all it takes for a client to move out of overwhelm is helping to identify a few priorities and address those projects in a creative and meaningful way – getting sales materials into the hands of the folks who depend on them or crafting messaging that resonates with your audience. As priority projects begin to materialize, the sense of overwhelm can make way for innovation. When that space opens up, we can see clients becoming excited again. Everything begins to click.

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Do you have a sales process?

Larger companies typically understand how to leverage their marketing efforts to grow business. Part of that understanding is manifest in an institutionalized lead qualification and sales process. Salespeople undertake rigorous training on the features and advantages of products and services, how to use recommended marketing materials, and even how to overcome customer objections. But, having a workable sales process helps businesses of all sizes.

You likely have a sales process already, even if you haven’t memorialized it in print. Have you tried writing it down? Not only will it help you save time with each prospect, it will help you identify where you could lighten up or fortify activities. We know it’s all about making connections and building relationships, not about getting caught up in data entry and recordkeeping, but outlining your process is likely to help streamline your efforts for optimal effectiveness.

Whether you are an entrepreneur or you market a growing mid-size business, reviewing the phases of your company’s selling process will help you ensure you have all the tools necessary to build your business with increased opportunities. Download our quick guide to getting organized with your sales process.

For ideas on how to position and market your business, let’s talk. Give your salesperson all the communications material needed for optimal performance: introductory email content, an informative website, capabilities brochures, spec and sell sheets, email marketing campaigns, and even telephone scripts for initial calls and recommendations for online CRMs.

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Happy anniversary!

Is your business or product reaching a milestone? Celebrate it.

This year marks our 25th anniversary and has had us looking back through our archives.  The following recommendations began as advice to a client. They’re perfectly suited for today, and bear repeating.

If, like Stone’s Throw, you are nearing a significant anniversary, congratulations!  Experience is a valuable business asset.  Businesses that stand the test of time foster trust, confidence.  When your business or product reaches a milestone anniversary, let your clients and colleagues know about it.

Whether you decide to do a few labels for your stationery and a single press release, or several activities culminating in an awards reception, let’s call your anniversary activities a “program.”  No matter the details, whatever you do will and should serve as a marketing communications opportunity.  If at all possible up front, determine the length of time you’d like to dedicate to your anniversary program, determine a budget for the program, create a timeline for program events and activities, and assign responsibilities for each project or task.  At the risk of sounding crass, like other communications programs, an anniversary program easily falls under the category of business building in all its forms and departmental labels: business development, public relations, marketing, lead generation, corporate communications, sales and promotion, etc.  As upbeat and celebratory as some of the events to mark them may be, make no mistake, anniversaries mean serious business.

Whatever you plan to do, try to focus on and involve your clients, employees, community and any other groups that influence your company.  This will also help you determine which anniversary themes and events will resonate most.

We’ve put together a list of ideas for helping to mark the occasion, and perhaps create a little buzz and good will with your clients, employees and other business colleagues. The list begins with the most practical and least expensive.  It’s certainly not all-inclusive, but it should help to get your creative wheels turning.

Do a bit of digging.  Browse through your company archives and scrapbooks with the aim of rediscovering your company, recording a company history timeline, collecting photos and news items that may help tell your anniversary story, etc.  This research may help set the tone for your anniversary and spark ideas to commemorate it. For example, you might use the material to create a reception-area display or a web page of your company’s four-decade history.  Be sure to get your team involved in the digging.  Encourage employees to bring in photos from their time with the company, too.

Establish an anniversary theme.  This could include a special logo and tagline – Clients first for fifty years, Celebrating a Million Widgets, etc.

Tell your story.  Write a press release that isn’t simply an announcement of your anniversary, but shows how relevant your anniversary is in 2016.  Talk about the economic climate changes your business has weathered.  Mention other events that parallel your history.  Showcase employees that have been with the company over its history.  Allow readers to see some of what so many years of successful experience looks like.  Perhaps provide helpful information about your area of business expertise. You should tailor the release to the particular media outlet.  Post anniversary content on your social media accounts and blog (LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc.).  Submit content or press releases to appropriate trade and business journals and other publications.

Let people see (and hear) your success. Include your anniversary logo and tagline on all communications materials.  Teach employees how to use the logo in email signatures.  Provide your employees with labels to use on existing stationery, invoices and envelopes; integrate the anniversary logo in specially printed letterhead, invitation and other materials.  Make sure all of your trade dress includes reference to your anniversary (trade booth graphics, employee recruitment posters, billboards, advertisements, brochures).

You may also want to create a few posters to use internally – a thank you to your clients in the reception area and thank-yous to employees in common areas.

Consider adding an anniversary or thank-you message to the recorded greeting on your company’s phone answering system and/or integrate it into reception greetings and phone answering.

Show you care.  The possibilities are endless. Here are a few ideas that don’t have to be exorbitantly expensive in order to be effective and appreciated:

Sponsor a team for a youth sport, a charity walk or a marathon fundraiser. Provide T-shirts and a hospitality tent or table at the event.

Offer clients an anniversary package deal. Are there a few services you might bundle together at “anniversary” pricing?

Plan and sponsor a community event. Contact the town in which you operate your business to see if there are opportunities for you to plant a tree or a garden in one of its parks or donate a piece of sculpture or playground equipment. Provide a free professional services workshop in concert with one of the area colleges. Institute a scholarship. Create a time capsule. Invite the media to the event by sending out a news release prior and contacting editors personally (especially the community news). Tie the event into your company mission.

Throw a party.

It’s easy to celebrate with an employee-only party on premises, but you may want to consider inviting clients and employees to something more celebratory in a special location. Consider recognizing anniversaries within your anniversary; recognize employee and client loyalty with awards. Show a slide show of your scrapbook. Schedule the party to coincide with your actual anniversary date. Be sure to photograph the event and share the photos (web site, bulletin board, newsletter, press releases, etc.).

Give a few gifts.

Giving a small, quality token of appreciation can go a long way. Depending on the theme for your anniversary, select gifts that will bear your logo and tagline. Match the item with your mission and the theme of the anniversary. Personally, I would choose and recommend recycled, repurposed and green giveaways over cheap and mass-produced plastic bits. “Honor” charitable contributions, a healthy plant, flowers, good food and well-made chocolates top my list – all green and all customizable.  Gift cards and recognition awards can be quite meaningful, especially for your staff.

Tap into your creative team.

If you’re at a loss for where to begin, or simply don’t have enough time to get things started, why not use your trusty creative resources to help develop your anniversary concept and bring it all together? Like your favorite writer or designer? (That’s my shameless promotional plug.)

No matter how you celebrate and share your story, happy anniversary!

All my best,

Deanne

 

© Stone’s Throw, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Creative & marketing support

Tap into creative and marketing support when you need it – defined by the project or based on time.  What could make more sense?

The support we provide to our clients sometimes puts us in mind of geese flying in a V formation. Scientists believe that this geometric configuration helps each bird conserve energy by reducing wind resistance – each bird taking its turn at the front. It also helps the geese look out for each other by maximizing visibility. I’m sure you know that human pilots have long mimicked this flying pattern to provide protective support to the lead plane.

 
Think of us as your creative wingman.
How can we help your organization?

Call Deanne or Janice at 609-395-0650.

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corporate entities for life sciences/healthcare for professional services small and midsize businesses small business marketing

Stones Throw, Inc.
Cranbury, New Jersey

1-609-395-0650 Phone

 

 

 

 

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