We are a successful events management company that has been going for 20 years. We have a good reputation and lots of repeat business. We’ve not really done any sales and marketing - work has come through public sector tenders and private contracts have come through word of mouth. I’m aware that to grow the business we need to do some marketing. We have a limited budget. How should I go about it?
First of all, congratulations on 20 years of success. For any small or medium sized company that is an admirable achievement and your awareness must be very high in your existing market sectors.

In terms of tackling new markets, I would suggest the following information may be of use:-

Really define and identify the target markets you wish to tackle.

Undertake some background research to find out how the customers in this sector buy - the publications they read, what events they attend and their process selecting ‘new suppliers’.

Identify the range of communication opportunities for your sector - such as events directories and directories, online marketing, tender watch, events for the marketing industry, trade PR opportunities, database build and networking opportunities.

Identify key messages to portray how you are different from others in the sector.

Timetable & Budget – It is important to budget either time or money for the marketing process. Communication work to let the world know of your existence requires commitment and expertise as in all other areas of your business! We would suggest an amount of money be allocated in your annual budget as well as the internal resource to manage the process. The promotional spend is your shop window on the outside world after all!

We would allocate 4-5% of projected turnover in our small company as a budget. An alternative method is to decide the goals you wish to achieve and set budget accordingly to the tasks.

If you would like further clarification on this information could you please e-mail RFM on russ@rfm.co.uk or alternatively telephone 0141 226 2400 where someone from the RFM team will be happy to help.

I’m a medium sized company in the technology sector. Our marketing is mostly based around events. What else do you think we should be doing?

There are a whole host of promotional & communication opportunities open to your company.

The key is to identify your different target markets at the start, and think around the opportunities open to you.   You also have to find out the selection and purchasing processes of both your customers and different potential customer groups.  This should provide you with a guide to the best communication formats to use.

Time and/or money spent on research at the start will pay direct dividends in the future.

Another element to consider is the type of activities in the marketing plan that will build brand awareness of the company and the type of activities in the marketing plan that will generate specific enquiries.

For Example:

Advertising in the right directories may yield specific enquiries but may not necessarily communicate to a wider audience.

Activities such as sponsorship, awards, PR & Learned Papers can build the brand image of your business in target markets but may not lead directly to sales enquiries in the short term.

Once you have decided on communication formats and also your key messages, timetable your activities.  It is important to repeat this message to target markets on a regular basis.

If you would like further clarification on this information could you please e-mail RFM on russ@rfm.co.uk or alternatively telephone 0141 226 2400 where someone from the RFM team will be happy to help.

I was thinking about doing a post-grad in marketing. What part-time course would you recommend?

Nowadays, many Universities offer this kind of programme and it would be difficult to identify any specific course.

In the West of Scotland, the RFM organisation receives most application forms from people who have studied and gained a marketing qualification from Strathclyde University, Paisley University and Glasgow Caledonian University.  These universities have strong marketing departments.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing in Cookham, Berkshire – may run its own programmes however they may tend to be more expensive than some further education and Higher Education establishments in Scotland.

If it would help for you to have a chat with any of the RFM team please contact Nick on 0141 226 2400 and he will be happy to deal with any queries.

We’d like to do market research but the quotes I’ve had are prohibitive. How can I find out what the market thinks of our products and what the market wants in the future?

Good, controlled market research is now seen as a classic way to develop, test and improve products and does cost money or resource whether you are outsourcing or doing it on your own.  Market research is about lessening the risk and asking customers their opinion.  The trick with a research is to ask the right questions to the right audience in a sample size that can provide you with objective information.  If you are going to base business decisions on the research findings, it has to be robust in the first place.  Sounds obvious I know, but not always the case in practice!!

In order for you to find out what the market thinks of your company and/or product, it is important to firstly identify the market (s) you are targeting because if this is not specified or your products are targeted towards the wrong market they simply wont sell. 

An example of this comes from a case study carried out for a client of RFM who indicated that the research undertaken for him had saved him a £1,000,000 investment.  Good quality research indicated that the market he was keen on was not the right market to be in.

Once you have identified the market to be investigated, you can then utilise a number of techniques- in-depth interviews, focus groups, distributing questionnaires, online surveys, competitor observation, web search, published information etc – each of these have their place and will provide specific types of results.

A well-publicised research strategy was the start of the ‘Innocent’ drink brand. The guys
who started this made up some smoothies with their mothers juicer and took product to a
local Food Fair. They gave away samples for nothing.  All they asked was if customers
enjoyed the drink if they would put the empty bottle in bin A and if they disliked it, in bin
B.  By the end of the day bin A was full and bin B was empty.  A pretty cost effective
research technique!!

If you are wanting to research but do not have the budget allocation, It may be possible to buy some time to have someone set up the research format for you to administer yourself.  Time at the end to interpret the results is also a possibility.

A word on MRS accreditation.  The Market Research Society of Greta Britain set guidelines for good research technique.  The research sector is an easy entry business so it is important to use an organisation that is at least committed to and guided by the principles of good practice.

I’m just starting up a small business run by two people. We are spending too much time already on our three existing contracts. How do I work basic marketing and business planning into my busy day?

The answer to this question is easy – making it happen is much more difficult!

If you accept that marketing communication and sales activity is important and indeed crucial to the delivery of business – the activity has to be undertaken on a regular basis.

If you were in a large FMCG company – each product would have a Brand Manager and a Product Manager looking after the brand on a regular basis. However as you are a small company you need to dedicate the appropriate amount of time to both the marketing and the business side.

The easiest way to do this is to get your diary and plan ahead.  Allow a specified amount of time for each area of the business you have to deal with thus setting yourself targets and giving yourself a time limit when working on projects – the key is to be organised.

You may like to schedule in a Friday afternoon as companies are often more relaxed and it might be a reasonable time to manage the marketing process

The alternative is to outsource your marketing activity to another small operator in marketing or pr.  In this way, that organisations mainstream job is to look after your promotion and keep your name in lights. 

When you get larger there are schemes such as Graduates into Business which may help utilise the power of graduates to assist in activities such as database build, exhibition information etc – allowing you to continue with the areas of the business you want to concentrate on day to day topics.  If using this technique, make sure the graduate is guided and helped.  They cannot be expected to hit the ground running – that is a more expensive person indeed!

If you would like further clarification on this information could you please e-mail RFM on russ@rfm.co.uk or alternatively telephone 0141 226 2400 where someone from the RFM team will be happy to help.

I’ve been in the food business for 10 years. We have a good reputation based on a range of products but we haven’t thought about developing our company brand. How do we develop the brand and use it to boost the sales of our range of products?

Branding of food products is a very intense area of business as you are often tackling brand development in trade markets, consumer markets and wholesale distributors – all at the same time!

The following may give some ideas:

In the consumer sector press information, recipe ideas, good on shelf merchandising, sales promotion, celebrity endorsement, product placement, consumer Food fairs, sponsorship etc can build the message of awareness of your brand – and encourage the consumer to choose.  

Trade press and trade exhibitions, Meet the Buyer events scheduled at the same time can increase your brand name in the mind of the trade buyer.  This type of buyer wants to buy product that the consumer will be seeking.

Distributors and wholesalers also need to be kept in touch with your brand.  The sales people in these companies will be representing your product amongst many others and you want your product to stand out more than any other.

These are the practical elements of implementation and need to be budgeted. 

There is also the positioning of the brand to consider – the core values, the market it is aimed at, geographical heritage, graphic interpretation of what it will look like on the shelf etc.

There is clearly a time cost and perhaps some financial cost in this however, would be worth it if you are really that keen on promoting your brand name to boost your sales.

We have some very interesting DVD case studies on food company branding

If you would like further information on this information could you please e-mail RFM on russ@rfm.co.uk or alternatively telephone 0141 226 2400 where someone from the RFM team will be happy to help.