The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire May Edition | Page 9

MARKETING & PR EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIP MARKETING As the UK economy strengthens many businesses are looking at how to capitalise on new optimism whilst making clever use of marketing budgets. Partnership Marketing is growing, providing companies with an opportunity to broaden their own offering whilst accessing a wider, relevant audience. Karen Ramirez of Lingua Communications, explains her five top tips to successful partnership marketing. Group Structure Invite people from organisations that offer products or services complementary to each other. Select a chair with clarity of vision, who will drive strategy and can inspire others. Ensure everyone is willing to take some level of personal responsibility for the groups success. Market Research A common dilemma is either lack of data or information overload. Before spending money carry out an analysis of information already available. Explore opportunities for up-sell and cross-sell. Clear Sales Strategy Once the target market is established, the group needs to identify and package up the services or products to be marketed and Confident Sales & Marketing With Results Karen Ramirez Lingua Communications create a sales plan with activities, roles and responsibilities, and timescales. Creative Thinking What sets you apart from the crowd? How can you offer the same thing, but uniquely, creating desire? Are there sectoral or supplier affiliations that you can develop? Robust Communications Plan A well-thought-out, structured communications strategy is essential. It will take into account: product focus; target audiences; platforms – social media, PR, advertising; style – your “voice”; an activity schedule; a plan for handling responses. To ensure consistency and build your group “brand” the plan – including key messages – should be shared with the entire group. Karen says: “Partnership marketing can seem a daunting prospect ,you have to implicitly trust the people you work with and expose some of your own plans. However, the benefits are a free sounding board for your own marketing ideas, shared resource and budget, and a team of brand advocates who know you, respect you and want to help each consortium member be successful!” www.lingua-communications.com Front Room Marketing & Design is a Malmesbury based marketing and design agency. www.frontroommarketing.com A sales led and growing business themselves, working with businesses of all sizes to help them reach more customers. Co-owner and Marketing & PR Director, Lesley Wood said: “We believe the secret to business success is to have something which people want to buy, which is done really, really well, is sold at a price people want to pay and is backed by a brilliant marketing & PR plan.” Working with their client Intuitive Systems & Networks www.ISN.co.uk is a great example of this in action. When Lesley and The Front Room team started working with ISN they had already developed an impressive client base which included MOTO Motorway Service Stations and London Fire Brigade but felt their marketing plan, marketing materials and website didn’t really reflect the strength and professionalism of their services and lacked clarity/focus on their core services. ISN knew they should be leveraging their excellent client case studies and client feedback to win more new business, but without a dedicated marketing function inside the business it just wasn’t getting to the top of their agenda. Simon Rance of ISN says “Having Front Room Marketing & Design as our marketing, design & PR partner finally made our marketing happen while we kept our focus on running our business. Starting with the production of a clear plan aligned to our business goals, they helped us refresh our brand identity, create benefit based marketing materials, designed and built a website we’re really proud of and are now achieving editorial coverage in some great media.” Whether you need regular sales or marketing support or something more ad hoc, why not give Front Room Marketing & Design a call on 01793 629002, we hear they’re good at making things happen! Exactly like... no other IT company ” ISN are our network and helpdesk partner and we really appreciate how proactive they are. As a smaller team, it’s important we have some understanding of our IT to handle first line issues ourselves. ISN have been so helpful guiding us, their team willingly visits the office. CTCS Group IT comes naturally Call or email us for a friendly, no obligation conversation 0203 239 2476 | [email protected] | www.isn.co.uk THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2013 9