The Truth About SME's Right Now

Yesterday I was asked the question about what are the concerns of small to medium sized businesses when it comes to marketing right now.

The truth is only they know, however I have a good gauge having spoken with more than 100 small to medium sized businesses in the last month.

Their real concern is what if the sales don't come in, how are they going to pay wages. It's as simple as that.

This fear that has been ignited in small business that if what we read and hear is right and it is all doom and gloom for a long time coming, then how are we going to be able to pay wages.

Whilst I harbour the same concerns, I have fortunately had an increase in revenue over the past 12 months of over 20% but the profits are nowhere to be found. Why? We now give more to our clients than ever before so they can get through this tough time. They need every chance to succeed. Whether this proves to be a good strategy or not it is anyone's guess.

Which leads to the issue of profits. Should we all be more relaxed when it comes to profits in a downturn and focus on streamlining our business and giving better service?

When it comes to SME's right now, and I am one, the light flickers on and it flickers off each month and we all don't know whether or not it will stay on or eventually go out.

If you don't have a marketing team or an agency who helps you out, search the Internet and find ways in which you can market your company at no cost. Start a blog (www.blogger.com is free) and drive customer back to your website.

Use public relations as a vehicle. There are hundreds of websites telling you how to write a press release and the best way in which to distribute it. Ring up a journalist and tell them the compelling reasons why your business is newsworthy.

There are so many ways and I am happy to share them with anyone. Give me a call as at the end of the day, we are all in it together.

Tough times brings people and business closer together.

www.marketingeye.com.au

Express Websites - doesn't mean quality needs to be down

I am always dubious about discounted, low price or templated websites. Firstly a website that is just from a template is NOT YOUR BRAND - so why bother? It is a complete and utter waste of money to be doing the same as everyone else just because it is cheap. Your brand deserves more than that and so do you!

After searching the internet to find out what is there, I notice that there are a lot of hacks out there who are just interested in taking your money. They have no interest in whether the website works for you or not, whether or not you are successful or that your brand is aligned to its offline presence.

BEWARE of people selling a standard format.

Now discounted is another thing. Always look at what a company has done before and how well they have translated another company's brand online. This is the true way in which to ascertain whether this company will do the right thing by your brand and you.

In the current economic climate, discounting is a thing that many companies are resorting to. Heck, we are even providing prospective clients with special offers to encourage them to market their businesses and reap the rewards. Not because we are desperate for the work, but simply to educate people of what a little bit of marketing can actually do for their businesses in a tough economic climate.

There is no point hiding behind a tree and hoping the economy will change or customers will come racing through your door.

Get out there and do something about it - but at the same time, beware that there are a lot of people out there that just want your money.

Find companies that want to partner with you and see you succeed. Not just for the short-term, but the long-term.

Make sure they resonate with your company culture and beliefs.

Don't miss your opportunity to communicate with millions of others online by staying off. Take the step but do so knowing where you are heading and where your destination is going to be.

And remember - no templated websites. Work with people who care as much about your brand its ability to communicate online as you do. www.marketingeyedigital.com.au

$10 per day websites - To discount or not?

Brainstorming ways to generate more sales in the current economic times is a daily ritual for those who work at Marketing Eye. Our last quarter was still strong, but could have been better - like everyone else in the consulting game.

The latest, or more precisely, today's great idea is $10 per day websites over 12 months interest free. Now I personally have a problem with this, as it's the same product that we give clients who pay $8,000 for a website and they have to pay upfront.

Whilst we offer small to medium sized businesses a Marketing Manager for $24,000 per year*, we don't normally discount and this is more than 50% off the normal price.

We say, 'everybody needs a marketing eye, but not everyone has one' and we feel the same way about websites. Everybody needs one but not everyone has one or at least, has one that people see.

For us, it's like the first entry into marketing your business successfully after developing your brand.

We are not alone when it comes to discounting in the area of professional services. According to Raintoday.com, discounting is the norm.

61.4% of professional services firms report that they discount their fees from their internally standard or externally published rate or fee structure.
38.6% report they do not ever discount.

Marketing Eye does not discount its fee structure at all, but areas that are add-on's, we regularly review on a client-by-client basis. The reason being is that if the company we work with doesn't have a good brand, has a bad website, or doesn't understand the value of public relations, sometimes we have to lead the way and show them the benefits by actually giving it to them at a price that is too good to refuse. If they don't have these things, how can we market their businesses?

Should companies be discounting in the current climate?

To trial this promotion, we are focusing on companies in the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton and Cairns.

Have you been hit lately?

Standing out from a crowded market is getting harder and harder to do.

Right now, the team at Marketing Eye are in brainstorming mode for the year ahead and we are trying to come up with creative for an advertisement in the Gold Coast Bulletin.

'Have you been hit lately?' is the headline for the advertisement for launching a new website or refreshing an old one.

Websites are all about hits after all.

Now, there is a part of me that thinks that a headline like this is sending the wrong message. Yes, it is clever. Yes, it relates directly to the product we are trying to sell BUT can it be taken the wrong way?

When the LOSER campaign came out, did anyone take offense to this? I suppose some may have.

A long time ago, when I was young and trying to be really creative, I came up with a concept "we're not a fat company" eluding to the fact that in the technology boom days, agencies had large overheads and therefore had to charge their clients more - yet as a boutique agency, we had little overheads and kept our prices low.

An image I had in mind was an obese, nude lady, with layers of fat and our logo at the bottom of the page.

My creative department was scared! They were worried that everyone would take offense to an ad like this. I found it to be creative, yet others found that it would offend people and so in the end, we didn't do it. The risk was too high.

I still like the creative and personally, wouldn't care whether someone is fat or thin... as long as they are happy and healthy - who cares. Right?

Given the context, 'have you been hit lately' relates well to the topic at hand and certainly would make someone look twice.

It will be interesting to see what happens from here. Will our phones be ringing hot with sales or will someone take offense?

Let's wait and see.