Social Media has become almost a necessity to any business, either large or small. For example firms as large as Coca Cola have a social media campaign, but then so does most SME’s. However one trend that can be common across all business sizes, especially small, is the tendency to rush straight into it!

I write this blog after visiting Ad:Tech, a digital marketing convention, and in particular David Taylor’s seminar named ‘Has Social Media Put Telemarketers Out of Business’. David has devised a strategy that shows that firms mustn’t simply rush in and think that just tweeting or Facebooking without a decent plan is enough.

This strategy has 4 key components; Plan, Listen, Analyse and then Engage, however most businesses rush ahead of themselves and Engage. You wouldn’t start a marketing campaign, or a PR campaign without a plan, so why is social media any different? You should set clear objectives and targets otherwise you can get easily lost. Why are you starting a social media campaign? Is it to gain new leads, or simply to improve your customer service?  This needs to be established otherwise your social media campaign is likely to have little impact.

Because social media offers the huge benefit of actually engaging customers and the public and being able to easily interact in a two way conversation, a business must also listen! You must research into what is being said, and by whom. Social media isn’t about one-way selling but actually connecting with people. To be able to effectively do this, you need to know what topics are regularly being talked about, establish who the key influencers are and listen to what the target’s needs are.

Businesses must also analyse their strategy. Is the content going to be relevant to your audience? Who are going to be interested in what you have to say?

Then you can enter the exciting stage, actually engaging with others. These are the day to day conversations you have with your customers. You need to seem sincere as people will be put off by tweets or comments that have no personality. For businesses that may have a number of social media platforms, you should consider using a platform such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to make your life a little easier. However one tip I would give is not to be too ambitious and expect all your social media channels to be brilliant. This is how social media can become very time consuming and very expensive. It is better, especially for smaller less tech-savvy companies, to have one very good channel rather than many average platforms.

So social media can offer businesses huge potential, but as long as they remember their strategies need to be planned and well thought out. Businesses always need to remember that social media was originally planned to be a commerce-free zone, and marketers should never use this as a medium for spam!

If you are in need of a social media campaign, submit a brief now!

Hamish

Photo courtesy of Free Digital Photos.

Today’s blog is by Dharia who is one of the Experts at blur Marketing and is going to be one of our bloggers. 

There’s a whole world of data and, as a marketer, your job is to constantly make sense of it.  It is a well known fact that systematic data analysis can improve decision making, provide a single view of the customer, show the ROI of a promotional campaign and get the management’s attention. In fact, According to Sookie Shuen (community manager at an inbound marketing consultancy) – a clearer vision on the value of analytics is one of the Top 10 marketing trends for 2012, and must be built into every manager’s annual plan.

But what if you operate in the primitive, technologically-deprived offline world and don’t have the privilege of ‘Big Data.’ Most online businesses and sophisticated retailers have access to heaps of transactional data that allows them to form at least a two dimensional view of their customer. In the absence of ‘data-driven’ marketing, most people rely on vanity metrics like leads from a trade show or Facebook likes, but such metrics seldom help the marketing team deal with a crisis of credibility. The next time you are grappling with a data void, here’s what you can try.

BE CONSUMER-CRAZY

Your company probably has a dedicated research agency that fills you in with quarterly reports from U&A studies and focus groups. Usually, there is a temptation to rely solely on this information to form a view about consumers; however, everyone in the team is privy to such research and quoting from them will not build your reputation as a customer-centric decision maker.

A technique some marketers use is to have a bunch of (uncanny) assumptions handy about your consumer and then attend a couple of researches first hand to reinforce or invalidate these hypotheses. Some of the best customer insight comes from anomalies. Of course there is a physical constraint to the number of customers one can go out and meet, so here is another tip.

All consumer-centric companies have a feedback mechanism via a toll free number or an email address where customers post comments or provide reactions to the firm’s products and services. Make a list of these every week or month, then pick up the phone and speak to an irked customer. If properly catalogued over time, a database of consumer complaints/ grievances can rival the inferences of the best research reports.

SURPRISE WITH SECONDARY SUPPLY

We often underestimate the insights that can be derived of data from secondary sources, possibly because they are so freely and abundantly available. There is a plethora of information available in the form of trade journals, annual reports and financial statements of competitors, census data, TV and other media viewing behaviour, etc. However, the disadvantage of such multi-source data is that collecting, analyzing, interrelating, and presenting all this information is a gruelling task in itself.

Technology these days allows you to skim through truckloads of reports with palpable ease. All you need to do is set up filters with keywords that are relevant to your product and industry and wait for your newsfeeds to pass on only those pieces of data to you that are truly relevant.

A close associate of mine shared an interesting method to grasp and decode such information.  Encapsulate the two or three salient points of every large report on different strips of paper, one point per strip only. Now place the strips from different reports next to each other to see how the information relates to each other. You may be bowled over by your own findings.

If your in the need of a game-changing marketing plan then submit a brief to our experts now!

Dharia

Photo courtesy of  Free Digital Photos.

There is no doubt some of the larger accounting firms such as Ernst and Young and Grant Thornton UK spend considerable amounts on marketing. However it is not uncommon for smaller accountants to breeze over marketing so they can focus more on the work they are good at.

Although a quality reputation and efficient and effective work is obviously essential, so is marketing! Mark Lee has drawn together 5 key marketing activities that all accountants should be doing.

Ensure your website homepage is focused on your target audience

Your homepage is often the first thing your customers and prospective customers will see, especially in this digital age, so you must make sure all content, images and offers are orientated towards what they want to see. It must contain key words your target audience will be searching for as simple Search Engine Optimisation is essential to direct customers to your site, otherwise your site will not appear in relevant search results.

Identify what makes your firm unique

It is likely that there will be lots of firms within your local area that performs similar services to you. Firstly you must identify what it is that makes customers choose you, whether it is the efficiency of your work or the friendly customer service you offer. You must emphasise this in everything you do to make sure you stand out against your competitors and customers will remember you as an unique accountant not just another accountant.

Ensure you and your staff are all focused on providing quality client service

Many accountants claim word of mouth referrals are what drives their business, however few actually have a structured approach to securing those referrals. You must focus on client service, and ensure that you evaluate your service from the client’s perspective.

Implement a referral marketing programme

Make sure you ask clients for referrals at the right time, in the right way to secure the right type of new clients. For more information see Mark Lee’s referral marketing for accountants.

Focus your marketing efforts where they will generate maximum return

A lot of focus in recent marketing journals is orientated around maximising customer lifetime value. It is easier and cheaper to gain more work from existing clients than it is to try and find new ones. You must identify your key customers and those who are most likely to continue to want your services. Then concentrate on identifying the additional services these customers will seek in the future and ensure you will be the first in their mind when they will require such services.

These techniques are essential for any accountant to be aware of, and marketing as an activity should be integral so any firm whatever the size. If you are in need of a marketing service to help you maximise your firms efforts, make sure you sign up to blur Marketing.

In dyer need of a quality marketing campaign? Make sure you visit blur Marketing and submit a brief! Photo Courtesy of Free Digital Photos.

Hamish

The boom of social media and online marketing has transformed the way businesses both large and small operate. It can be an extremely useful tool for every line of business, however many companies are sceptical about its effectiveness. Some believe social media is only useful for high-tech firms; however there are also many benefits to be gained for traditional service providers such as law firms.

So firstly, what is social media? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as websites and applications used for social networking, and this social networking is what creates huge opportunities for businesses and law firms. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest gives your law firm the ability to increase your awareness and further develop relationships with your clients.

There are 6 main benefits law firms and practices can gain from the proficient use of social media.

Profile

Social media has the power to significantly raise the profile and awareness of your practice. By posting comments about the work your practice is currently working on and keeping followers updated on any interesting stories, your law firm can become noticed. It provides an opportunity to determine what information is displayed about your practice online by giving you the ability to shape the messages about you and focus on the areas of your practice you wish to promote.

Communication

Websites, such as Facebook, allow your practice to communicate and develop relationships with clients and prospective clients. It may become a form of communication between you and the public. As social media is becoming a dominant tool for communication, clients will start to expect to be able to contact you via these channels.

Scale

As you know, social media is on the World Wide Web. This means there are no barriers to the reach of your activities, which may allow you to reach an audience wider than previously available. For example, just the click of a button and the post of a tweet can reach a prospective client on the other side of the world within seconds.

Reach

Social media is everywhere, in practically every country of the world, but most importantly it can be accessed by anyone almost everywhere in the world. Your clients will be accessing sites on the tube on the way to work, whilst at work and in the evening whilst relaxing. By using sites such as Hootsuite, your practice will be able to communicate and access your clients practically every hour of the day.

Marketing

Regular updates on sites such as Twitter will instantly create recognition for your practice and can be used as an important marketing tool. Updates on sites like Linkedin allow you to direct people directly to your practice’s website. It also gives you an avenue to find new clients who are looking for services that you can offer.

Cost

It’s important to know using social media is relatively low cost. It only takes you a couple of minutes to sign up to any of these sites, but you must realise for social media to have a real effect on your practice you must ensure social media activity becomes an on-going part of your practice.

So although law firms may offer traditional services, social media still has the power to make a real difference to any practice, especially in the creation and development of business relationships.

If you are interested in using social media but have little knowledge on how to use it effectively, make sure you visit our blur Marketing site and submit a brief at blur Marketing. Also make sure you join blur Legals our new global legal services exchange.

For more information about the difference social media can make to your practice, visit Law Society. Image from Free Digital Photos.

Hamish