Why a marketing contractor could be amazing for your business

If you are too busy to manage your business marketing or unsure of what to do, a marketing contractor can give you support – for the projects and time you need it.

Get help to leverage more business from your existing customers, create more leads (and more profit) and ensure that your business is presented to entice and assure more prospects.

Businesses get the benefit of a very experienced practitioner who can achieve more in less time

Sometimes using a less experienced practitioner is a false economy. It might seem cheaper initially but in in the long run the efficiencies and knowledge of a senior contractor will offer measurable results and ROI.

A senior marketing contractor can achieve goals faster and more effectively than a less experienced employee. They will also have the adaptability to work with a client’s existing suppliers or make recommendations for new ones.

Marketing contractors are flexible and work hard to gain clients – and keep clients happy

Marketing contractors are flexible because they can work both in and out of your office and scale up and down as agreed and required.

A good contractor will work alongside your team to understand and market your business.

Some business owners believe the myth that employees are more loyal and invested than contractors. The truth is lived business goals and purposeful work are what engages your team – whether they are an employee or contractor.

Any direct contractor is running their own small business and wants repeat business from happy customers – just like you. They will work hard to attain and retain clients. They honour their commitments to agreed goals, tactics and budgets and a contractor agreement can be used to define agreed service and terms.

There is good value in only paying for the hours the marketing contractor works

Compared to the costs and responsibility of hiring and maintaining a full time in-house marketing team paying an hourly rate is value for money. No need to cover health insurance, annual leave or supply hardware.

Also, a good marketing contractor doesn’t require skill development or investment – they are already skilled and keep themselves up to date with industry trends.

Marketing contractors offer objectivity, a fresh perspective and focus – to increase profit

Running a business is challenging – leaving little time for market perspective, competitor analysis and reviewing your customer’s experience and prospects needs.

A marketing contractor is like a prospect advocate. Thinking, feeling and acting like a potential prospect is an objectivity a marketing contractor can offer a business.

How is your current marketing really performing – do you know? How does your brand/offer perform in the market and what do customers want to stay loyal to your business.

An experienced marketing contractor can help you answer these questions and take action to address the answers.

For help with your business marketing please contact Annabel Huskinson 021 745 663 annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Are you ready to change for more business?

Nobody really wants to change. Change is uncomfortable. Most people want to stay the same and get different results.

The truth is – if you want your business to grow you may have to change your perspective and focus on different things. That’s a nice way to say – you have to change!

I know change can sound like hard work and frankly – irritating. But remember – you don’t have to do it by yourself and you don’t have to do everything at once. You use a specialist (an Accountant) to help with the finances. Why not use a marketing specialist to help make changes that increase enquiry?

Sometimes the biggest gift a marketing contractor can give a business is to cut through the clutter and focus on what works – step by step.

For example, most small businesses already have customers they could get more business from and they already have great customer stories that they are not leveraging. Or it could be as simple as reviewing their offer (and their competitors) through a prospect’s lens.

Change is your uncomfortable friend. Your alternative is to day dream about the thousands of imaginary prospects lining up to do business with you ………. Or you could pretend you won Lotto so you can spend your life planning amazing scuba diving adventures (that might just be me).

As Andy Warhol said.

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

For help changing your business please contact Annabel Huskinson 021 745 663 annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Why are you hiding behind your website contact form?

One of my biggest disappointments is a website with no business profile, people or personality and the only way to make contact is a form on the Contact Us page. Not very appealing.

The first rule of business websites is that it is all about your potential prospects – not about you. But you do need to introduce your business and staff to prospects.

Prospects want to know if your business can solve their problems – and they want to know who can solve their problems. Profiling key staff with names, direct contact details and maybe even a photo, personalizes your business.

Amazingly I have had clients who say they don’t want to profile their staff with contact details on their website because they don’t want to be bothered by spam. I say “but you do want to be bothered by prospects, right?” The key to avoiding mismatched prospects is to include relevant and meaningful content on your website – this goes a long way to weed out tyre kickers.

Imagine ……. a prospect finds your business online, identifies that you might be able to help them and contacts a staff member (because their direct contact details are actually available on your website). The prospect explains their problem to the staff member, which they solve, and hey presto (in the dream land of this blog) you have a new customer – who could buy again. Or at least in the real world…. you might have a qualified lead.

They have already qualified themselves by doing all the work – finding your website, deciding you could help and calling you – they are landing in your lap. What is that cost of this lead? No effort on your behalf – that’s the cost of this lead.

Imagine that same customer coming to your website and they come across a …….contact form. No people, no phone numbers, no listed email address – just a form, which when completed goes off into some land where all the unanswered contact forms go. I think that customer is likely to find another potential supplier.

For help with B2B marketing please contact Annabel Huskinson 021 745 663 annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Why B2B is really B2C – emotions included

Every decision people make is emotional.

Mathematicians, engineers, even moguls may say they make business decisions on data – but even these disciplined thinkers can’t stop their emotions interfering with their decision making.

Data gathering and deciphering can help us explain our decision but they really only prop up the emotional decision we are making.

Some researchers even say humans make a decision unconsciously 7 seconds before we even know we have made a choice. So, what is making our decisions? Our unconscious and emotions. Which means they are running your prospects decision making too.

This is why although many industrial businesses present facts, figures and technical specs as a reason to choose them, they often discount or don’t include messaging that addresses the emotional side of decision making. The feeling of ‘they get me’ or ‘they feel my pain’.

Like all humans your customers fear they could make a wrong decision about a product investment. Addressing how they feel (not think) about your product/company gives them confidence they are making the best decision for them and their team.

It doesn’t mean we all have to sit around the bonfire and spill our guts, it just means try to understand who you are speaking to and what they need from you. What are their concerns and how can you solve them – as well as some facts and figures so they can feel like they are making a choice based on logic even if the research says they are not!

For help creating robust messages for your products please contact Annabel Huskinson 021 745 663 annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Why marketing is like industrious and pro-active insurance

Business insurance is for those unexpected or ‘just in case’ events. You pay a large premium to cover you for the things that might happen.

B2B Marketing is different to insurance. Marketing is pro-active, industriously working to insure you against the things that most businesses know are very likely to happen.

Most businesses know they may be very busy now but ….. business could get quieter.

They know they have a decent market share but ….. a competitor could enter the market at any time.

They know they have a solid customer base but …… they also know good customers test the market for a better deal.

Marketing is like insurance for these things – the things that you do know about. Business insurance often covers events that ‘might’ happen. Pro-active marketing helps businesses limit the effect of market and customer fluctuations.

Marketing is about growing and nurturing your prospect list, so you have a consistent funnel of potential new customers.

Marketing is about consistently building business credibility with messaging that your customers relate to.

Marketing is about knowing that your offer adds value to a customer, so they don’t jump to a new competitor.

It’s not difficult to implement simple actions that address the things you know can happen.

For help insuring your business with B2B marketing please contact Annabel 021 745 663 annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Turn content creation from an overwhelming chore to easy bite size pieces

Creating content for your website, e-marketing and social media can seem like a chore but it doesn’t have to be.

Creating a content habit is like doing your housework. If you don’t clean your house for 6 months the clean up job will be hard work and take a long time. On the other hand, if you clean your house weekly or monthly then the clean up job is manageable.

The awesome difference between content creation and house work is that consistently creating content creates a library of information that can help you turn prospects into clients. Unfortunately doing the house work is a never ending cycle of cleaning with a small amount of satisfaction when the house is spick and span followed quickly by more cleaning.

Easy content ideas

No matter what type of business you run you will be giving your clients advice – for free!

Next time you are giving advice pay attention to what your clients are asking about and what their pain points are. Then write it down. Just a few notes can easily turn into a blog, a video idea or a client testimonial.

Don’t be afraid of getting ideas from your competitors. Subscribe to their newsletters, follow them on Facebook and LinkedIn and look through their websites to see what they are writing about.

For help with content planning please contact Annabel 021 745 663 annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Even engineers and civil contractors have needs and feelings

Making your customers lives easier is as simple as asking what they need, feel and want.

What they need (have to do) and feel (concerns and frustrations) leads to what they want (solutions).

Lets put that theory into practice. Below is 2 examples a pipe supplier could apply for Civil Contractors.

Civil Contractors Challenge: Avoidance of risk

Need: To minimise their risk and don’t want to rock the boat with governing bodies.

Feel: It is the suppliers responsibility to test new products/install processes and gain approval for use from governing bodies.

Want: Easy application  – avoid risk, time and cost it takes to introduce new products and install processes. e.g suppliers could offer a simple portal of approved new products/install processes that can be easily applied to projects.

Civil Contractors Challenge: Cost

Need: A more effective and efficient way of doing things to be competitive.

Feel: Frustrated that contract financial penalties, health & safety procedures and sustainability requirements are affecting profit.

Want: Whole project solution – not just individual product focus – to minimise product and install costs.

Identifying what your customers need and feel will help you give them what they want. Customers who get what they want keep coming back.

Need help getting to know your customers?

Contact Annabel Huskinson

021 745 663

annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Is your business easy or high maintenance?

In the game of gaining and keeping customers, being easy will get you ahead of the competition.

Would your customers describe their interactions with your business as easy or high maintenance?

How do you stop being high maintenance and get easy?

1. Recognise it’s not about you; it’s about your customers
2. Lose your inhibitions and get familiar with your customers 
3. Identify and implement solutions that make your customers lives easier

Do you really know your customers? What challenges do your customers face every day?

Maybe their biggest challenge is avoidance of risk. Or it could be cost & efficiency pressures, or they need more technical expertise.

Put your customers first and get to know your customers and their challenges. This allows you to deliver solutions that make their lives easier.

Nobody wants a high maintenance relationship. If your customers feel you make things easy for them, they will show their appreciation by doing business with you.

Want help making your business easy as? Contact Annabel Huskinson.

021 745 663

annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz

Are you romancing your customers?

Today I want to talk about words marketers use a lot – Customer Engagement.

So what is customer engagement?

The truth is good customer engagement is all about romance.

I like to ask my clients “are you romancing your customers or treating them like a one time, online hook up?”

A good customer romance includes regular and meaningful communication, taking time to listen and putting your customers’ needs above yours. It’s about creating an experience that secures a long term commitment.

An online hook up is just that – wham, bam, thank you ma’am. A one time, unemotional transaction. No second date, no getting to know your customer better, no heart flutters. No future relationship.

Customer engagement is romance.

Your best customers want romance. Are you romancing them or using them once via an APP?

If you want to add some romance to your customers life please contact Annabel 021 745 663
annabel@oncallmarketing.co.nz