Dear M.D./C.E.O./Owner/Proprietor/Boss,

In letters 1 and 2 we have discussed why you need to put in place a Digital Marketing Strategy.

Let’s just say that all the ” old ways ” of marketing ( so called traditional marketing ) are not quite dead yet. Depending on your business many of them may still be relevant now and for some time but, for sure, the world is changing fast.

In the more recent world the company website was a sort of ” electronic brochure ” or ” presentation ” of your company. It was probably created by ” creatives ” ( graphic designers, marketing people ) or ” programmers ” ( software developers ). You referred people to your website by putting the web address ( url ) on your business cards ( along with your email address, phone and fax numbers ), brochures, mailshots, vans, lorries etc etc.

If the website was found by a Google search on ” your company name” then everything looked good. Or did it ??

The problem is that unless you are a really famous/well known company then people will not search on your company name. They are more likely to search for a product or service which they hope will then lead them to some information and then the best company to supply that product or service.

If say you needed help with your swimming pool in Staffordshire you might Google

” Swimming pool repairs Staffordshire “.

When I did this I got a load of Google maps results ( N.B. !! ), a load of yell.com results ( N.B. ), a company that said it was Staffordshire based but was obviously in Essex !  and one

http://www.leisurelinespas.co.uk/index.asp

that had good information and was in Shropshire – ok,  close enough 😉

This brings us to the first point in the Digital Marketing strategy:

That you must know what you want to be found and known for – your products, your services, your advice and your philosophy – and your website ( and associated blogsite ) must be found by Google for those search terms.

To borrow from my friends at HubSpot the overall mantra is to:

1. Be found ( for relevant search terms )

2. Convert ( visitors into leads )

3. Analyse ( where you got your visitors from and how )

Find-Convert-Analyse.

The second point is that there is very little point in investing time and effort in a Digital Marketing Strategy unless you know where you started ( how many visitors/leads/sales you are getting at the moment – your baseline ) and how you are are progressing in your efforts.

Over time we will suggest that you do many things to drive traffic ( visitors ) to your website e.g. write blogposts, do Internet PR, start and run Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin pages on top of ensuring that you are found for relevant terms but what you must do is to understand what is working and what is not.

Typically your website will have a level of visitors who are finding you directly ( they know your url ) or indirectly ( they know your name and type it into google or they have typed in a search term that has resulted in them finding your website or blogsite ). You will add to this base traffic with referrals from e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or another website or wherever.

You want to know what works ??

Did you get more visitors ( leads and sales ) from blogging, posting on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin ??

Which blogs/posts/Tweets worked and which ones didn’t ???

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/07/05/letter-from-marketing-no-4/

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/06/28/letter-from-marketing-no-2/

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/06/22/letter-from-marketing-no-1/

Services

Services

or contact:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/leighhopwood

If you are looking for a dog friendly hotel, bed and breakfast or pub near Prestatyn in North Wales then try The Glan yr Afon Inn just along the A55 towards Chester.

Over the years the Glan has had some great reviews as a Dog friendly pub and hotel such as these articles here:

http://www.flintshirechronicle.co.uk/flintshire-news/local-flintshire-news/2011/02/03/flintshire-pub-dubbed-doggy-heaven-51352-28103123/

http://www.flintshirechronicle.co.uk/flintshire-news/local-flintshire-news/2011/06/23/save-our-flintshire-pubs-the-glan-yr-afon-inn-dolphin-near-holywell-51352-28923816/

and  the Glan is always looking for ways to improve it’s relationship with pets and pet owners.

Recently someone told The Glan that there were no pet friendly hotels in the Prestatyn area and suggested that an Internet post to advise people that The Glan was pet friendly would be a good idea.

Over the years

Dear M.D./C.E.O./Owner/Proprietor/Boss,

In Letter No 1 we outlined the basic challenge of Sales and Marketing today – that, due to the rise and development of the Internet things are changing forever.

In this diagram

we highlighted the difference between the Internet based marketing methods and the ” traditional ” marketing methods. We noted ( in the comments ) that there are other marketing methods not identified here e.g. word of mouth marketing, business networking ( attending business networking meetings and other gathering of business people ), television and radio advertising etc. etc. We also mentioned that some of these methods are described ( now ) as ” Push ” marketing and some as ” Pull ” marketing.

One of the problems with the ” traditional ” marketing methods highlighted toward the right of the above diagram ( e.g. print advertising, tradeshows, direct marketing etc ) is that they are expensive and consuming in both time and money. Advertising in traditional print media ( papers, magazines etc. ) is very expensive and it is not just the cost of the actual advertisement it is also the cost,time and skill involved in producing the right advertisement in the first place. Attending Tradeshows is horrendously expensive if ALL the costs are taken into account e.g. not just the cost of the stand space but also the stand itself, supporting marketing materials, staff costs,travel costs,  hotel costs etc. etc. Direct mail, telemarketing and traditional P.R. are also expensive ( Internet based P.R. and traditional media PR can be very efficient and effective ).

In addition it is hard to track the returns from some of these marketing investments: How many actual leads or sales did you get from that advertising campaign/tradeshow/direct mail campaign/telemarketing campaign ???????

Furthermore it is getting harder and harder to get results from these methods because e.g. people don’t read print advertising as much; people don’t have time to attend tradeshows; direct mail ends up in the bin because nobody has time to read anything and you can’t get through by phone to the decision makers because they are too busy and have effective filters in place like their secretary or receptionist. Even email campaigns end up in Spam filters.

So it is no real surprise to hear that marketers are shifting their time, efforts and money toward the first 3 or 4 items in the above diagram.

The reasons for this would include:

1. That people are shifting their time online – in various ways and that they get information and buy when they want to and not when you want them to.

2. That the traditional methods are too expensive all around – in time, skill, effort and money.

3. That the traditional methods are not working as well any more mainly because the people are not there any more or are filtering out those efforts.

4. That the old ways are not as easily trackable as the new ways ( you cannot work out the R.O.I. as easily )

So, you must put in place a digital marketing strategy that transitions you from the old world to the new world.

How will be the subject of Letter from Marketing No. 3.

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/06/29/letter-from-marketing-no-3/

Dear Managing Director/C.E.O./Owner/Proprietor/Boss,

The way that people seek information and buy is changing rapidly, dramatically and forever.

You have probably changed the way that you buy some things – using Google to search for things, holiday booking sites for great deals and price comparison sites to compare prices. If you have young people in your family or know them you will see them using Google for the answer to nearly everything !

This change puts the power in the hands of the searcher and buyer. They will seek information on your products and services when they want to. They will to some extent ignore your ” Interrupt driven ” efforts to make them think about you, your products and services ( Mailshots, emailshots, telemarketing, advertising etc. etc. ) in the same way that you may ignore people trying to sell you things in this way. Although you still may catch them at the right time or with the right offer.

Of course the fact is that we are part way through this process and so some of the older ways are still valid now and will be for some time.

This change in the way information is gathered and products and services are purchased has been facilitated by the appearance and development of the Internet.

Of course, at present, some people use  the Internet a lot and some people not so much. You might use the Internet for email but may not be on Facebook or Twitter.

If we look at the graph above we can see a number of things:

1. That business to business marketers ( B2B ) have a range of options to get the attention of their target customers. 4 of them are Internet related ( social media, virtual events/webinars, search engine optimisation ( SEO ) of websites, paid search advertising ( PPC ). 1 can be Internet and/or traditional media related –  Public Relations. The rest are ” physical ” – phone calling, mail shotting ( N.B. email shotting is Internet related ) , attending a tradeshow or advertising in physical media e.g. a paper or magazine.

2. That 6 of them are outbound or ” PUSH ” marketing and 3 of them are inbound or ” PULL ” marketing. ( Although I think that paid search and Internet PR can also be regarded as ” PULL ” marketing in some ways. )

3.  That marketers themselves expect to put more time and money into the first three to five than the last four.

You probably know quite a lot about the last four ( although each of these needs to be done well to be effective at all ).

You probably need to know more about the first 5 ( plus email shotting ?? ).

Subsequent ” Letters from Marketing ” will help you to work out where you are in terms of your preparedness and ability with these 5/6 and also how you can develop these areas.

Regards,

Chris.

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/06/28/letter-from-marketing-no-2/

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/06/29/letter-from-marketing-no-3/

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/07/05/letter-from-marketing-no-4/

I recently came across this post on another blog site:

” I do the SEO for a healthcare company, and I have these exact problems. ( a lack of respect due to … 1. Poor communication, 2. Department mentality, 3. Being seen to be opiniated )  The good news is that they are trying to improve their marketing. I have lots of knowledge, good ideas and excitement and I really want to help them reach their goals. The bad news- lack of understanding of my role, lack of coordination between the various types of marketing, because I am not being told about all the company goals, even if I ask.
In addition, nepotism and the boys’ bonding club is another thing I have to deal with. To make things worse, I am expected to train the web designer about what I do instead of doing my work, and I have to convince him that what I do is worthwhile (since he is design-oriented), so that we can design from a marketing and SEO perspective, all alone and without back-up from my boss (they are really chummy). This means projects are taking longer than they should, deadlines are unrealistic (the graphic/web designer calls the shots of when he is done and he is taking his time), and I can’t really show what I can do, nor can I do anything about it- since I have to keep my mouth shut (I have already been assigned the labels you mentioned in the article).
So, instead of marketing like crazy and getting the results- which is extremely fun for me and good for the company- I have to deal with things such as the ones mentioned, plus I have to do other things that I should not be doing and I get no support. So, yes, I get no respect. I did try to do the team work thing, but it seems to me that educating people about everything is a really a time-consuming task, and it needs to be a two-way street.
I think that companies need to educate themselves better on the roles of marketers and give them more support, instead of just expecting them to be “friendly” with everyone and being submissive and quiet, so that they would fit in. All these cookie-cutter ideas of how people should be all be the same are old and outdated. Part of being a marketer means being bold, free, more independent,creative, outspoken, taking chances, thinking outside of the box, being daring, competitive, a little rebellious and result-oriented. This is what I want my boss to support, because that is what gets him the results. “

and it really touched a raw nerve with me – perhaps because another marketer that I know was experiencing some similarish issues.

I told her:

1. To plot her exit

2. To screw ( use ) them whilst she did it

3. To be happy ( doing it )

Well – like I say it touched a raw nerve !!!!

SEO and more recently Inbound Marketing people are THE FUTURE but they will inevitably be held back by ” the old guard ” – traditional marketers, web designers and other ” established ” marketing and non-marketing functions.

Now this young lady may think she is frustrated but I can tell her that it is even more frustrating being an investor in a company that still has these attitudes and policies.

Remember, as an investor, you may sit on the Board ( or not ) but you will probably not have control ( which resides with the management team ) so you can actually only influence.

As an investor in this company I can imagine myself sitting in a Board meeting while they whinge about the fact that they are not going to hit their numbers.

Trying to ignore this fact slightly you ask why and they make some excuse about market conditions; failing salespeople etc etc

” How is your Internet Marketing going ? ” you ask, innocently. What are you getting from that ??

Oh we don’t get any actual business, they say.

Do you get visitors you ask ??

Well we do but don’t know how many.

Is the website being found ???

We think so.

What is it being found for ????

We don’t know.

Well, you’ve got an SEO specialist right ??

Yes.

So what have you told her to SEO the website for then ???

( Blank looks all around )

o.k. So listen – if the SEO specialist does not know what you need to be found for she will be guessing. So you need to think about it and discuss it with her and then allow her to make changes to the website to ensure that it gets found. Your design guy isn’t going to be able to help you in this.

You also need to think about giving the SEO specialist the tools to measure if her work is having an effect on visitor numbers and leads generated.

Of course by now you have ruffled LOADS of feathers – but hey – they are playing with your money !!!!!

I could make this a much longer blog !!

I am always looking for industry sectors that performed well over the last couple of years and the replacement car parts market is certainly one of those.

Despite ” scrappage schemes ” and ” 0% Finance ” people have been repairing their cars in great numbers and this has led to massive expansion in the sector. Here are a few extracts on some of the key players in the market:

Euro Car Parts Ltd began as a single site operation in London in 1978 but, unlike some other companies that have hit the headlines in this sector recently; they have grown organically, rather than by acquisition, into a 38 branch national parts distributor covering England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Employing nearly 1,000 staff, and operating 400 vehicles (including a fleet of motorcycles where traffic congestion slows the progress of a van in highly populated city centres), this specialist organisation has been successfully satisfying the needs of German, French and Swedish vehicle repairers and owners for over 27 years.

The 2004 turnover figure of £59 million has dramatically increased to nearly £70 million in 2005 with profits rising from £1.3 million in 2003, £2.5 in 2004 and nearly £5 million in 2005, even though they are only currently supplying parts for 35% of the vehicles registered in the UK. As always, these profits have been re-invested into the business to ensure its continuing growth and ability to keep up with modern vehicle trends.

For 2006, the company is expanding its offer to their customers by entering the ‘all makes’ sector, thus increasing their target customer base to 100% of the cars registered in the UK – a staggering 27 million vehicles. The turnover for 2006 is estimated at between £90 and £100 million. With a strong management team and excellent planning in place, this looks to be an achievable target. Its 2007 plans include
acquisitions and consideration of expansion into Europe.

Facts and Figures…..

• Our branch delivery service covers over 90% of the UK population
• Over 80 branches across the UK
• ECP is the UK’s largest car and van parts distributor
• In 2009 we made in excess of 5 million deliveries
• We have enough parts in stock to fill every seat in Wembley Stadium (with plenty to spare!)
• Our new National Distribution Centre has more than 400,000 sq.ft of warehousing space and 12,000 sq.ft of office space
• We have over 110,000 different parts always in stock
• Our branch network is growing by more than 25% per year
• We now have in excess of 3,500,000 sq ft of warehouse storage in the UK
• We now employ more than 3,200 people in towns and cities right across the UK
• Over 400 ECP staff are studying for an NVQ Qualification

About Us

GSF Car Parts really began back in the 1970s. Today’s business brought
together in April 2000 by the German & Swedish Management Team stems
from a number of long standing car parts specialists such as Vee Wee,
Autocavan, Andyspares, and URO.

Since the formation of GSF Car Parts in 2000, the company has developed a parts and distribution portfolio to create one of
the UK’s strongest independent parts suppliers. Today, GSF Car Parts employs approximately 800 people covering all of UK
as well as Eire. There are 60+ distribution points and over 300 GSF delivery vans on the road.

Key developments

• 2000 – GSF Car Parts is formed.
• 2000 – GSF Car Parts adds replacement parts for French cars to range.
• 2003 – Hans Motors joins GSF Car Parts and sells all makes parts to other factors.
• 2005 – GSF Car Parts adds all makes range of parts to specialist inventory.
• 2006 – TDCS is bought by GSF Car Parts enabling industry-leading diagnostic equipment sales.
• 2009 – GSF Derby moved to brand new refurbished site.
• 2009 – GSF Car Parts complete several branch refurbishments and upgrade the whole company’s stock criteria.
• 2010 – GSF Car Parts sign up with several leading garage equipment providers and offer a market leading garage equipment solution to support the existing diagnostics business.
• 2010 – GSF Banbury, Leeds East (RDC), Worcester, Letchworth and Kettering are opened.
• 2011 – GSF Bristol (RDC) is opened.

Today GSF Car Parts has a turnover of £75m. The company has a dynamic strategy supported by an extremely able staff
body to continue expanding its parts and distribution service to its customers.

CES (UK) Ltd was set up in 1984 by Howard Warren and Charles Colton. Both managing directors love anything to do with cars and motor racing. Equally, they both have a passion for excellence. CES (UK) evolved as a result of these interests, aiming to offer the service level of a national company to the local garages in and around Chester. Back in the 1980’s the explosion in exhaust part numbers meant that the stock holding requirement for any garage became overwhelming and a national distributor was needed. CES was there to fulfill the role. For many years now we have supplied Britain’s widest stock range of exhausts & catalysts for national distribution. CES (UK) quickly expanded due to our mission to never say ‘No’. This means we have to have the best technical expertise in the business, in order to source our vast stock of exhausts and catalysts. Over the years we have introduced a full range of car parts, garage equipment & training, providing automotive solutions for today and anticipating those of tomorrow. We currently have 17 branches throughout the North West, North Wales, Midlands and the Isle of Man delivering a complete range of car parts on our vans to our local customer base. Over the last 25 years we have twice been awarded Distributor of the year by theprestigious Automotive Distributor Federation. More recently, at the 2009 ADF Annual Awards, we won two of the top categories. CES were awarded the much coveted Distributor of Excellence award. On top of that accolade, CES put in an amazing performance and scooped all of the awards in the new category of UK Parts Advisor of the Year. In 2001, CES (UK) became a member of the UK Parts Alliance (UKPA), which consists of nine like-minded independent distributors. To find out more about the UKPA, visitwww.ukpa.net

CES Branches With a network of 17 branches across the North West, Midlands, North Wales and the Isle of Man, and a fleet of over 180 vans, fast, frequent and reliable delivery is one of our main commitments to you. For customers further a field, our overnight nationwide carrier service ensures you are never too far away. CES Anglesey CES Burton on Trent CES Caernarfon CES Cannock CES Chester CES Crewe CES Derby CES Isle of Man CES Liverpool CES Llandudno CES Northwich CES Porthmadog CES Rhyl CES Shrewsbury CES Stoke CES Telford CES Wrexham National Exhaust and Cat Service

I have just had an email from my Dad telling me that Uncle Les Windley has died.

Les stayed with us for a couple of years when he came over from Nevis & St Kitts  but we had a bit of a falling out after a while.

I don’t have any details of Les’s death at the moment but I know that he came back to England suffering from cancer and was in a home recently.

A quick google search on Les and a sailing boat that he  was associated with for many years – the Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Marguerite T – will reveal that many people regard him as a real character – which he certainly was – and miss him. Particularly he is missed in Oualie Beach, Nevis where he lived for many years.

You could write a book on Les and maybe someone will one day. Perhaps people will post stories about him here.

Les’s association with Marguerite T – a very famous Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter – began when he purchased her whilst in the Hamble and rebuilt her over many years and with the help of many friends.

Builder: E Rowles, Pill, near Bristol

Build Date: 1893

Length on Deck: 53 ft

Beam: 13ft 10in

Displacement: 43 tonnes

Thames Tonnage: 35

Draught: 8ft 3in

Present Location: River Fal, Cornwall

Current Owners ( 2011 ) : Robert and Anna Brunyee

As I understand it he also learned to sail and navigate aboard Marguerite and also with my father Peter aboard various R.A.F. yachts.

I spent a memorable time as a teenager aboard Marguerite whilst she was in the Medina River, Cowes, Isle of Wight.

Les was working on the J class Endeavour and living on Marguerite – he also played music in The Jolly Sailor.

We came up to the piles in the Medina and Les told me to pass a rope through the pylon and back to a bollard on the deck. What he forgot to tell me was to surge the rope around the bollard as he went astern. I held it fast – the bollard pulled out of the deck and went over the side. Les ran up the deck and when he realised what happened he grabbed me and threw me overboard saying ” and you can get the effing bollard back ” or similar. He had a short temper did Les.

Having rebuilt Marguerite Les sailed her down to South Africa and then to the Caribbean – ending up in St. Kitts and Nevis. This was quite an achievement for a boat of which the surveyor was reputed to have said ” This boat can neither be towed, trailed or sailed anywhere “.

I am going to add more stories about Les over time.

R.I.P. Les.

Les would come to see us in an old Mark 1 capri which he loved

You could not exactly say that he was at home on the motorways of today but he got there – just !

Captain Les Windley, an old sea dog originally from England plays harmonica and blues guitar on Tuesday nights in the Oualie Beach Boys Band. The rest of the time he is usually taking guests out sailing on his charter yacht. Ask him to tell you the yarn about the time he and another foolhardy young fellow lassoed a 13.5 foot hammerhead shark from a 13 foot boston whaler and went waterskiing up the channel behind the thing!

Please Note: I will try and make the information here as accurate as possible and please feel free to point out errors where they occur.

I have just rushed to make this post after my friend and business colleague of many years, Brian MacIver, posted this comment

“Chris,
A well timed and topical posting. Several of my clients are asking “hard” questions about their ‘investment’ or web ’spend’. Particularly in the Property Market, they laid off sales people, boosted their web content and saw little return. Now that the property market is returning they cant find Salespeople (did they all go to Dubai?)
Good posting, thanks.
Brian”.

on this blog

http://mandarainmaker.co.uk/wordpress/2011/06/08/what-return-are-you-getting-from-your-website-investment/

and it just made me think – You have to manage your website like you ( should have ) managed your salesforce.

What do we mean by that ??

Well, back in the day Brian would have coached us on 3 essential elements for a successful salesperson – and more were added over time:

1. Activity – a salesperson must be active – phone calling, writing etc etc

2. Skills – a salesperson must have good sales skills

3. Knowledegable – a salesperson must be knowledgeable about his products, his company and his competitors.

4. Personality – surrounding all of this – people buy from people – so be nice !!

5. Administration – You have to manage your salesforce and they have to manage their business – turning leads into orders –  and to do that you need some information – How many calls did they make ?? How many appointments did they go on ?? How many proposals did they write ?? How many orders did they get ?? How close was this to their target ??? etc etc etc

6.  Going alongside 5 is the analysis of their progress and performance to determine their R.O.I.

There may be more aspects but lets start with these. What’s the analogy in terms of managing your website like you would your salesforce ??

Going in reverse …

5. & 6. Analysis and Administration   It is essential that you have the means to monitor the performance and progress of your website. You need to know how many prospects it is reaching ( visitors ) and how many of these turn into a lead ( respond to a Call to Action ). You need to know which activities ( posting a blog, posting on Twitter, posting on LinkedIn etc ) produced the best results. You can only do this with the right software on your website.

4. Personality. When you do post information you have to do it in the right way. You want your ( attractive ! ) personality to come out and you want to be nice to people. We all know that ” hard nosed salespeople ” sometime do succeed in spite of themselves but I always thought that this was creating unnecessary ” friction “. Being funny sometimes helps aswell !

3. Knowledge. You have to be knowledgeable , educational and informative in what you say. Many of the most successful people on the Internet ” give away ” loads of free advice and information.

2.  Skills. There are lots of skills that you are going to have to learn and develop ( or you can find people with those skills ) to succeed. Blogging; Posting on Social Networks and building your networks; writing etc etc

1. Activity. Yes of course – as with salespeople it is partly a numbers game and you always have to be active – blogging, posting, commenting, liking, sharing, reading etc etc.

I think it is a great way to think of your website as like your salesforce ( or part of your salesforce ) and of managing your website as you would your salesforce.

If you can get it right the R.O.I. can be massive – just think of all those salespeople’s salaries you are not paying 😉