We’ve just updated our About Us video outlining our current services, in particular our Fixed Fee contracts and Interim Marketer retainer projects. We’d love to know what you thought of it, so leave a comment on our YouTube channel! If you want to know more about how we can help your business specifically, contact us and we will be happy to provide an initial consultation free of charge!
Eighteen months ago, we did some research on what local business expectations of marketers’ salaries were, so we thought we’d get an update for 2012. Interestingly, the salary levels according to the data have not changed – and neither have the beliefs of business owners! There is still a very large gap between average ACTUAL salaries and what smaller businesses can afford to pay a marketer – expectations of £25,000 to £30,000 will still not be enough to attract a senior marketing manager. And this does not take into account the additional costs to the business of NI, pension, holiday and sick pay.
This is why we work with small businesses to provide interim marketing managers on a part-time basis as we only charge for the actual hours they do. Plus the fact that our interims are very experienced marketers (often marketing directors with up to date networks and contacts) that what they can achieve in one day a week compares very favourably with what an employed junior marketer (at the equivalent cost) could do.
Check out our Key Services page to find out more.
Those who know me know how irritated I’ve been getting by the negativity of the British media over the last couple of years, so it’s great to get an article from a company that is thriving in a sector that has been up against it. I’m delighted to have this article by Sharon Shaw, who is the Business Development Manager for Safety First Manufacturing in Plymouth. If you follow them on Twitter, you will have seen how well the company has been proving there are still manufacturers out there who know how to grow! And this article is typical of the positive attitude they always display….. enjoy!
It’s Not All Doom and Gloom in British Manufacturing….We can live the Mary Portas Dream.
Mary Portas has recently regurgitated the slightly sore issue of the decline in British Manufacturing with her TV programme Mary’s Bottom Line. She successfully breathes life into a Manchester based company by re-opening the crumbling sewing room floor and bringing her Kinky Knickers offering to the retail market.
What Mary has done is brilliant. Not only has she revived a once thriving business and given employment to the long-term unemployed, she has raised the profile of British made goods and opened up the subject for renewed debate and support.
There is definitely room for the celebrities of this world to use their powerful influences with the media to help our causes. There’s a lot of it going on in the food industry. Jamie’s battle against sub-standard food previously offered in our educational establishments has seen the government make radical changes to the school dinner system. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is making great progress in ending wastage in the fishing industry with his Fish Fight. Will Mary’s efforts have the same beneficial effects on British Manufacturing, or is it a painful rubbing of salt into the wound?
Manufacturing is a much bigger beast and the return of high levels of British made goods in our shops seems, on the surface, an almost insurmountable goal. British food is a feel good cause that people are more than willing to support. It’s on trend. Does anyone actually care if their wardrobes are stuffed with so many ‘Made in China’ labels, there’s hardly room for clothes?
The dodgy economy has pushed the consumer toward the cheaper end of the market. It is hard to envisage a time when people willingly spend extra pennies with gusto to support Britannia and push her back into her former manufacturing glory.
Britain was the pinnacle of the Manufacturing world community. Bustling factory floors with hundreds of employees graced virtually every town and city in the country, keeping entire communities afloat. Manufacturing in the UK once accounted for more than 30% of the UK GDP.
It’s not all as bad however. British manufacturers saw a strong start to 2012 with output rates stronger than the previous 12 months and the UK CIPS (Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply) report hints at evidence that an industrial recovery in manufacturing got back on track at the start of this year. The fall in the pound means that goods produced in the UK are more competitive in global markets. The Bank of England has noted increased production in the UK.
Higher oil prices have driven up transport costs and higher inflation in Asia has made products from countries such as China more expensive. In addition, a need for shorter lead times has seen the sourcing of products locally where possible to avoid a wait of several weeks for goods to arrive from overseas.
Aside the reduction of employment opportunities that manufacturing once generously offered to our communities, there is a further niggling factor afoot. The decrease in manufacturing in the UK has seen a parallel decrease in suitably skilled personnel. If the hint of return of a truly healthy British manufacturing industry is realised, we are at risk of missing the golden opportunity. The carte blanche of a return to a thriving manufacturing presence in the UK could be marred by the absence of skilled troops.
It is clear that those UK Manufacturing companies that have survived are now in a great economic position. During the manufacturing downturn, the wheat was separated from the chaff. The resilient manufacturers working in the sectors that have retained a presence are producing goods that are notably carrying the British badge of unmatched quality.
An example of this resilience is Safety First Manufacturing. We have maintained an unflinching presence in the UK for over 30 years in the manufacture of safety clothing for industry. Despite challenging times, we have also launched new sister companies including a division providing high end swimwear and a business providing promotional clothing.
Managing Director of Safety First, Emily Wright says “As a successful clothing manufacturer, we’ve managed to survive despite having to compete against cheap Chinese imports. We’re one of the relatively few remaining in the UK. We’ve dug in our heels and refused to compromise quality for price. The desire for low cost imports is now turning on its head and we’re seeing a rise in demand for British made goods.”
She adds “Investment in R&D has been key in our survival, particularly within our industrial division. Development has enabled us to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Emerging Asian economies can compete by supplying cheap labour, but they do not invest largely in development.”
The outlook for British manufacturing is positive. There are solid grounds for optimism. In real terms, a return to a thriving economy for the whole of the sector is a hugely achievable scenario, although one that will probably not materialise overnight.
If you like what you’ve read, you can learn more about Safety First Manufacturing by contacting them here.
I have been reading the latest report produced by Executives On-Line (EOL) about the current state of the market for interim managers and executives in the UK. They surveyed 936 interim managers and 123 businesses who use interims and whilst the results generally reflected the negative impact of the global economy on business, there were some interesting (and positive!) outcomes too.
As today is International Women’s Day it was good to see that in the field of interim management, there is no longer a pay gap between the genders and as women make up 15% of the interim work-force, we are better represented than those in employed executive roles. Personally I have never found my gender an issue as a consultant and interim manager – if anything, it has often been an advantage as I am known for being very direct in my feedback to business owners, but my female charm tends to sugar-coat the bluntness of my message! I have had quite a few (male) business owners reflect that they may have reacted differently if what I had said to them was delivered by a man, whereas typically my female clients simply like the fact that I get to the point quickly!
So what are the benefits of using an Interim Manager in today’s market? According to EOL’s report the key qualities that businesses currently using interims value are:
Dangerous Marketing’s interims have all these values! Plus we focus on working with smaller businesses so understand you do not need us on a full time basis, but need to draw out the knowledge and expertise we can supply quickly! So if you are looking to accelerate your business’ growth or have a specific issue you want to address, contact us for a free consultation.
I noticed two contrasting articles published today which reminded me of an argument I had with an economist a couple of years ago! Firstly, in what is sadly becoming a typical way to talk about the economy, ie negatively, the BBC reported Sir Mervyn King’s statement that the economy will “zigzag” in and out of growth. On the other hand, one of my favourite sources of information Marketing Donut (via IT Donut) presented a positive outlook with the results of their recent small business survey. They had gathered feedback from 700 respondents about the current business climate and what they were planning in 2012. The vast majority of these respondents were senior managers, directors and owners of small businesses – and most of them had a positive view on the UK economy, for example:
These results mirror the informal feedback I get from clients and associates, all of whom are owners of smaller businesses in the south west. Business owners generally seem positive about what their businesses will achieve in 2012 (especially as one of my clients had one of their best years ever in 2011!). But the media still insists on reporting only the negative news about what is happening – which is why I was reminded of my argument with an economist in 2008!
I had attended a briefing by this senior economist who, in his view, presented a ‘factual’ prediction of an economic downturn (which duly happend!). But the issue I had was that by stating his opinion as ‘facts’, he (and all the other nay-sayers with access to broadcast media) were creating a self-fulfilling prophesy where we would all be so scared of a potential recession, we would stop buying/spending to protect what money we had. Which is exactly what everyone did – and the result was a recession!
As a marketer, I believe in putting out POSITIVE (and honest!) messages to encourage people to take an action. As a psychologist, I know that language can be use to persuade individuals to do all sorts of things – positive AND negative. So if your business is putting out a negative message – guess what! – people are likely to NOT do what you actually want them to. Your business needs to express its messages positively and practically – which is how you will get people to want to buy your products (rather than your competitors!) AND complete the buying action.
Want to know more about how to increase the positive responses of your potential customers? Contact me and I’ll show you how!
With thanks to IT Donut & Marketing Donut for their permission to reprint the results of their survey.
Here’s some links to news articles from the world of Marketing and Social Media news that were published and featured in January 2012.
Click on the link to go to the original article (all copy-write ownership remains with the original authors).
Social Media in the news:
Compliance/Regulatory and Government Initiatives news:
Brands:
Technology:
Reviews, Opinion Columns & Miscellaneous:
Here’s some links to news articles from the world of Marketing that were featured in December 2011.
Click on the link to go to the original article (all copy write remains with the original authors).
Facebook in the news:
Compliance and Regulatory news:
Brands:
Technology:
Reviews & Miscellaneous:
An article appeared today on the BBC News website that caught my eye: Spelling mistakes ‘cost millions’ in lost online sales focusing on how “a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half” according to Charles Duncombe, boss of of Tightsplease.co.uk. As someone with a reputation for being a grammar rottweiler, I know how spelling mistakes makes me feel when I see them in an advertising by-line or on-line description, I assume that the the writer doesn’t pay attention to detail. And if they don’t attend to what their writing, what else might they miss?
Whilst spell check software if very useful, it does not uncover every error, especially if the word is correctly spelled (spelt?) but used wrongly (incorrectly?). To a lot of people it doesn’t matter – which may be fine, but if your customer is one of those fussy types like me, it can make the the difference between a sale and a miss. And by the looks of the news report, there are more fussy types out there that you might of thought!
But it’s not as easy to spot mistakes as you might think, certainly if your self-editing. Our brains have a clever way of filling in blanks or correcting errors without us even being consciously aware of them. For example, read this sentence: FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS. How many F’s were in that sentence? 80% of you reading this will come up with the wrong answer!
Have you checked your promotional material recently and spotted all the mistakes, because you may be giving away sales without even realising!
So, one last question: how many deliberate errors have you spotted in this article? Have a re-read! And if it’s going to drive you to distraction, click here for the answers How closely do you pay attenion_answers!
In one of my previous interim roles, I had the honour of being part of the marketing team for a social enterprise that provided communication skills training for anyone to understand and support people with learning disabilities. What set this training apart for me was its simple, but very powerful approach: the training was delivered by the people with the learning disabilities who used their real life experiences to ‘show and tell’ learners how to communicate with them.
As part of my marketing research for this training, I came across a consumer survey completed in 2006 by the Employers’ Forum on Disability that was used as part of a study commissioned by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills analysing the issues disabled people have to face when they are customers (my full article “How much are we worth to your organisation” is on IP2′s blog site.
The barriers that disabled people have to face when they simply want to buy something is astounding and shocked me as a marketer. The survey produced figures such as 83% of disabled people have ‘walked away’ from making a purchase because they were unable to access a business (either its physical premises or via a badly designed website) or were subjected to such poor customer service (eg rude and uninterested staff!) that they chose to shop elsewhere.
These figures are even more shocking when you realise that 1 in 5 shoppers is likely to be a person with some form of disability. On the 2006 figures that the survey was based, the market potential of the disabled consumer was estimated to be worth £80 billion per annum!
It would be unthinkable for a business to deliberately ignore 20% of its customer base. But it seems this is precisely what a very large number of UK businesses are doing – simply though a lack of understanding of how to communicate with this consumer group. When analysed from a positive perspective, the survey also stated that 66% of disabled people chose to stay loyal to the business where they have received good customer service related to their disability. Just think of the competitive advantage you could gain by understanding the needs of the disabled consumer – and the good news is that these needs are often very simple!
Case studies show how organisations with better accessibility increase their customer base more rapidly, grow faster and more profitably, as well as being able to maintain a distinct advantage over their competitors. It’s obvious, isn’t it!
So how much of the £80 billion per annum market do you want to tap?
To celebrate the first year of our Be My Guest blog, we are delighted to feature a guest article by Clare McNamara, who runs Move Ahead which coaches business leaders to make step changes to their performance and to achieve balance across their professional and working lives. Her clients include senior people in multinational corporations and smaller, niche, high-growth business. For this article, she has been focusing in on the advantages women can bring to business growth! As you might imagine, it’s a subject very close to Dangerous Marketing’s heart!
You can find our latest article by Clare McNamara of Move Ahead by clicking here to access our Be My Guest blog site.
