Develop plans that connect ambitions to activities with responsible business budgets.

Plan to succeed

Many businesses don’t formalize their business plan. I can help. Creating a strategy – and a plan to deliver it – will determine, document and cost the entire journey.

As a experienced marketer, I can design & deliver a plan that you may not have the time, expertise or resources to manage yourself and I can do it quickly with the staff you do have. With a costed plan, budget can be allocated, activities dynamically shaped to match cashflow need and success analyzed.

Understand your business & products, write succinct positioning and strategy to re-energize your identity and develop it into a valuable brand.

No, it’s not a logo!

Most think of branding as a logo. But it isn’t. It’s so much more than that. Brand is the set of associations we make with a product or company – the logo its flag. Large, small, technical, friendly or whatever is right, but every business profits from building brand that represents it the way it needs to be perceived.

In 2007 the well-respected Interbrand agency valued the Coca-Cola brand at $65.3bn – about half the company’s market value! So brands have a tangible value and are how your prospects, customers, peers and even suitors might recognize and understand you.

All businesses require different branding characteristics, but the principle of being distinct about what your business stands for is always true. I can develop branding that will grow the perception & associations of your choice. And then exploit them to evolve a brand with real value that enhances performance.

With more information consumed by smart-device than TV, ‘Digital’ is the answer.

Digital Marketing

In a ‘noisy’ world, where more information is consumed by smart-device than TV, companies still need to connect with their audience. And sell. The dynamic struggle to capture, communicate, compel and convert demands ‘digital’.

Any digital strategy is likely to incorporate: Website & UX (User Experience) Development and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Social Media, SoMed & PPC (Pay-Per-Click), Advertising, eCommerce and more. Targeting prospects, reaching them, building relationships and moving them along the sales funnel are part of what a good digital strategy will achieve. And as Digital is dynamically shaped and ‘spend’ capped – almost any size business can benefit.

But like all great marketing, Digital must start with strategy that supports Business objectives and integrates with the Marketing Plan. I can help.

PR & Social Media: Using LinkedIn and Twitter as both conduit and platform for the accurate delivery of consistent message to multiple ‘touch-points’.

Public Relations – the power of the press?

I’m a huge believer in the power of public relations when used as part of a smart marketing strategy. People really are more likely to buy from companies they’ve heard of; advertising for example. And even more likely to buy from companies they’ve heard good things about; in the media. PR seeks to get this positive coverage. Accurate delivery, consistent message, multiple touch-points

PR should be closely synchronized with your marketing communications plan and can utilize and recycle content for maximum cost-effectiveness. PR execs should be proactive with publications ‘what do you need, a bylined article for a forward feature?’. React quickly to requests for comment and contribution, and Press Releases only issued when there’s something really interesting to say. Obvious really.

Develop the strategies, content, processes and reporting to ensure your proposition gets to the audience at the proper place in the pipeline!

Content Marketing?

It’s essential have engaging content available at the right stage of prospect’s research and to support campaigns. I’ve written & produced content: websites, videos and Brochures and etc. for large companies such as Panasonic, Sony, Ericsson, and SMEs such as AGD Systems and THEITSupplier. I’m used to communicating the complex, take a look in my Portfolio.

Content: White Papers, Case Studies, Brochures, Product Information, Technical Data Sheets, Reviews, Infographics, Sales Leaflets, Videos, eBooks, How-to-Guides, Market Research, Reports and Survey, Training Courses.

Many businesses don’t have the expertise or bandwidth in house to  develop content, I can help cost-effectively to develop the strategy, produce the content and measure the outcomes.

Knowing where to start is the problem. ‘We’re head-down working and just don’t have the time or marketing expertise in-house. Or a business plan to begin with.’

A simple ‘contained’ scoping project – easy!

Many smaller business don’t have a documented Business Plan, let alone a Marketing Plan. And lots of management teams are too head-down working hard ‘delivering’ to think about planning. So an outside perspective can really help with the ‘we’re here, we want to get there, measure the gap – and build plan to bridge it’ exercise.

Business objectives: establish goals, change, grow, sell-more-profitable-stuff, diversify, expand/simplify services, establish group, re-structure, re-position, rebrand, acquire, merge, define succession plan, divest. Leave early on Fridays.

My three day scoping projects are straight-forward and used to identify the key issues of concern at an early stage of the marketing planning process. I sit down with you and your management team to facilitate and document your businesses key objectives – with which I synchronise my marketing recommendations: simple-SWOT, required activities & components, suggested budgets, time and resources for example.

Produce brand building websites that acquire, engage and convert visitors into customers.

But it’s only an online brochure isn’t it?

With the ease of the internet, the web is the very first place prospects will look to research you and your competitors! Every business should have a well designed, search optimised website that has clear goals, great content and success measurement metrics built into it.

Goals, Positioning, Branding, Content, Engaging, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), Links, Analytics, Social Media, Blog, Digital, PPC & SoMed Advertising, eCommerce

Goals?

If you’re to spend money off the bottom line, let’s ensure you get a return on that investment. Site goals could be: Easy to find and supports business objectives; demonstrates you’re a real business doing what for whom; provide relevant information & content and generate respect. Clearly explain your services & products to engage prospects into the buying process. Sell your products or services online.

For the internationally successful aircraft engineering company Andair I produced new branding and a highly cost-effective eCommerce website that has increased sales, reduced workload and streamlined manufacturing processes.

My specialist ‘Tech’ experience was brought to bear on AGD Systems; fresh positioning, messaging and branding were delivered by a new responsive (works on PCs & Smart-Devices) website. The website is Search Engine optimised, supported by Social Media activity and part of AGD’s fully integrated  marketing & digital strategy! The results? Five years of flat-lining performance turned into 20% growth within 18 months.

Create content that communicates clearly – because remember, its not what you say, its what’s understood that’s important.

Copywrite in-house?

Not many businesses have a copywriter in-house. The ability to develop ‘apps’, engineer widgets or ‘structure’ cabling – doesn’t mean that person has the skills to write effective copy about them. Which is where I come in.

Communication doesn’t occur until understanding has happened. So use simple words that the reader will know when trying to communicate the complex. Write in a tone, language and style that will engage the listener. Describe what is relevant to the audience, not the creator, engineer or ego.

I’ve written copy, content and proposals for small businesses that you haven’t heard of and large ones that you have, such as Panasonic and Sony. I’ve composed content for IT, Tech and Engineering businesses, which is a specialty of mine, and for services, solutions and security companies. All clients need me to understand and communicate their proposition – interesting or complex – in language that connects, communicates and compels action.

Capture attention, compel viewing and convert customers.

• Capture Google, the world’s 1st largest search engine. Optimized video stands a 53X greater chance of ranking on the first results page than any textual page.

• Compel Widely published award-winning professor of psychology Dr Richard Wiseman, says [white board] videos gain and hold attention ‘Simply because people are more engaged in the process’.

• Convert 70 percent of marketing professionals report that video converts better than any other medium. www.marketingprofs.com

• Deliver As part of am integrated multi-platform campaign for Panasonic my video helped: triple sales, win sector dominance and deliver sales – 85% of the following year’s came from this campaign.

So for those needing new content that delivers great return-on-investment – videos are winners. And we can deliver the entire process, from ideas, through script & storyboard to delivery.

Develop targeted campaigns that generate awareness, build brand and deliver qualified sales prospects.

Acquire, engage and convert

My Business Development and Lead Generation Campaigns use multi-platform marketing techniques that seek to ‘acquire, engage and convert’.

ABSNet/Cisco JMF funded Launch Campaign resulted in identified pipeline of £2.61m

ABS’s 3-2-1 Blast Off marketing campaign funded via the Cisco Joint Marketing Fund is one of the most complete, integrated campaigns I have seen to date in my nine years at Cisco. The program, which consists of many of the elements from the marketing mix including a full reporting mechanism, is already proving to drive incremental business for both parties involved.

Neil Bernstein, Cisco Business Development Manager Sales/Channel

Create a strategy that integrates tactical activities to drive sales by automating marketing processes.

Plan, integrate, automate

Marketing Automation can make life easier and more effective. It’s a bit more than an email app and uses a web-platform to automate some of the marketing processes: Act-On, Marketo, Eloqua, Hubspot, Salesforce-Pardot and MailChimp are all Marketing Automation platforms. So how does it work?

If a ‘visitor’ to ‘our’ website responds to a ‘call-to-action’, asking for ‘Content’ – a Case Study, Data Sheet, or ‘Idiots Guide to…’, the platform sends it, having first collected contact details. Automatically and with no marketing person involved!

Now the platform knows who’s ‘visited’, they become a ‘lead’ that we can ‘score’ – and ‘nurture’. The more visits they make and actions they take, the higher their lead-score. A high score might trigger another process, such as sending information or getting a Marketing or Sales person to call. Automatically.

However, for Marketing Automation to be effective, strong business and marketing foundations must be in place. Its no good automating anything without an effective marketing plan in place. And patience, as it will take time to work.

Marketing Automation is right for many, but smaller businesses in particular may struggle with: budget, resources and expertise – and require help from someone such as myself. Please give me a call for a conversation on what will work best for you.

Get the most for your business by using professional sale preparation help. Speak in the language your suitors use, get noticed, show your success and how easy you’ll be to integrate.

Divestment – time to sell the business?

I provide seamless: Business Strategy, Marketing Strategy and Execution and services to SMEs with a turnover typically between £2m – £100m. stephenSMITH works with owners & senior management to assist with: strategic business planning & growth and sale/divestment preparation.

Stop Press Another stephenSMITH Client Acquired!

Builders Profile

Construction industry supply chain compliance & PQQ information provider Builders Profile was successfully divested, to Fortius, at the beginning of March 2020. stephenSMITH provided the outsource Marketing Director services in support of building Builders Profile’ success over the past five years. Full Case Study to follow.

ABSNet

The owners of ABSNet wanted to sell so I was brought in by the specialist CEO managing the divestment to help prepare the business for sale. I directed the re-positioning, rebranding and marketing of the company, increasing profitable turnover by over 50% to £18m in the space of only ten months. Business partners Cisco and Hitachi both delivered unsolicited testimonials stating that ABSNet ‘now’ has the best marketing and demand generation engine in the country. The owner’s objective of divestment was successfully achieved  in under two years – to Capita for £ 13.6m!

Elcom

At AMA/Lantec/Elcom/SCC/ElcomIT I provided board level consultancy to five successive owners delivering: marketing strategy, branding, acquisition integration and tactical marketing services. My contribution is show cased by the growth Elcom UK had achieved when it was acquired by SCC – its turnover had accelerated from £2m to in excess of £400m in less than nine years.