Marketing Advice

[Craig Fulton]

Hi geeks!

Thought I would dig out this thread again and it was refreshing to see some new responses, with some still gaining a benefit from the content. I can only apologise for my absence. Unfortunately I had fallen ill due to medication i was on and was constantly catching up with work on my good days. I'm on the mend now though and I plan to be on here from now on for you lovely geeks :biggrin:!

I will get working on the next update for you guys (internal culture)! Good post Peter, glad you share a passion for marketing.

As always PM me if you need anything (apologies for those requests I missed :smack

 

[MrsHBeauty]

Sorry to hear you've been poorly, it's good to hear your feeling better.

I look forward to your next update xx

 

[Craig Fulton]

Sorry to hear you've been poorly, it's good to hear your feeling better.

I look forward to your next update xx

Thank you Jemima, I hope you will gain something from this thread

 

[Craig Fulton]

Here is the update as promised :lick:!

A lot of you will know the basis of this thread and for those just coming across it now, I would advise you have a read through so you understand the common misconceptions of marketing and the limitations of the interruption activities that we currently run. Within this you will also read the importance of brand values and we have a go at identifying our own, whilst also exploring our passions within the industry.

Now I want to show you some discussion activities that will allow you to select true brand values by breaking from your past and encourage you to challenge conventions of the market. I know so many of you will be busy working within the business so this will be a good chance to step out, aligning your brand values with your internal culture (any unique behaviours or policies or actions that develop among the people who work in your business constitute as internal culture). Everyone who represents your brand will represent your brand values; genuinely and passionately. If you and your staff dont beleive in your brand values then how can you expect the consumer to?

Therefore it is ideal if you do these activities with your staff. You will gain interesting insight and ideas from the people who work with/for you and they will feel part of your brand value initiative. If you are a mobile therapist and work solo, then try and get some friends or family to give you their input. Have an open mind and these activities will help you analyse your market and identify your brand values.

Ok, let’s get started. I have broken down the activities into three sections; preparation, your market and brand values. The first section you can perform yourself just now and I have posted this below. The earlier you start the better. The other sections I will post up this week. (As a short disclaimer: The information contained in this thread is for general information purposes only. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk).

Preparation

This section is short though very important in preparing you for the other ‘tasks’ ahead.

The majority of us are too close to the question that we constantly produce the same answers. the majority follow the market leaders :cry: believing that what made them successful will make us successful. This leads to hundreds/thousands of imitation brands that can be perceived as cheap copies of the market leader which only makes their brand perception stronger. Markets are eventually shaken up by newcomers with little industry experience and bring with them new exciting ideas. It’s up to you if you wish to imitate or create.

Fire yourself. Yes you heard right. Fire yourself. Walk out of your Salon completely detached from the business. For that one night only you are not allowed to think of the salon or your mobile business. When you wake up the next day, walk into the Salon as your new energetic replacement. This person is in the mould of Richard Branson, the guys at innocent or whoever is ambitious, bold and hungry. As the first task of the new innovative you, I want you to instinctively decide on one thing your business should stop doing and one thing you should start doing. This is the first step in breaking from your immediate past.

Have a go, any questions just ask and I will write up the other sections shortly .

 

[JoJo1980]

Craig this is brilliant! thankyou so much! x

 

[Craig Fulton]

Section 2

Here is the next section geeks. It's ideal to do this section with your staff. If your a mobile therapist and work on your own, then get some friends or family to help you out. Of course you can do this on your own too! As always any questions just ask!

Your Market

Sometimes we need to take a breather, to step back and have a look at the opportunities that are present to us all. We can get too involved in the day to day tasks that often we can become blind to the bigger issues and opportunities. I hope that the preparation section will have given you a chance to start thinking from a fresher perspective. Now we want to have a look at what is around us, the industry that we operate in and lay it all out in front of us so we can develop brand values (you will create superb values from this) and take advantage of those opportunities present.

Here are 5 tasks to do exactly that :

1. What is our central challenge?

What we want to do here is identify that 'big fish', that central challenge that will eat us if we don't eat it first. identify the following:

1. The key competitive issue
2. The key consumer issue
3. The key internal issue

Next, as a group choose one that everyone agrees is the primary challenge. This is the goal, this is your direction, write it up so everyone can see and eat it before it eats you! (Keep this in mind as we go on).

2. Rules of our industry

What do we think of when we think of the beauty industry? When we think of a salon, a mobile therapist or nail technician? What we do is we build up a series of rules, common practices or culture, that are the 'norm' or just expected of the industry. Think of an 'industry' rule and as a group think of a compelling reason why this rule is no longer valid. Challenge the rule and write down your reasoning next to it.

After you have completed this do the exact same for your brand. Think of the rules of your brand and why these are no longer accurate. The list below can aid you:

How you define yourself within the industry
The definition of your target market
The key brand equities (whats unique to your brand)
Brand promise
promotional/advertising equities (unique marketing activities exclusive to your brand)

3. Truths

If you think of the vacuum cleaning industry, it was always perceived as a low-status, solitary activity. It seems we were wrong! Dyson came in with a superior product and wrapped it within a beautiful design. We can learn from this. Write down two 'truths' about the way our industry has perceived and presented itself up to now and write down how these are no longer true. Do the same for your brand. Discuss with each other, open up the thinking!

4. Opposites

Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. Identify and think of the market leader (this could be a local/national chain salon, mobile therapist, that you believe has the largest share of your market). On the left hand side write down 10 key qualities of the market leader: its personality, its style of service, what it emphasises, how it uses media and so on. On the right hand side write down what it would mean to do the opposite or to be very different on each of these dimensions for us as a brand. Remember this is not a blueprint for our brand, rather discussing how differentiating is possible.

Next get another sheet and again write down the market leader qualities on the left hand side. Now discuss which areas you need to be on the same level as the market leader to directly compete, and which areas you need to be different or significantly better. Know where you need to be different and where you need to be the same.

5. Copy Cat

When we look at other companies out with our industry, we can learn a lot. There is no need to re-invent the wheel so to speak. If we 'borrow' features from brands outwith our industry, then we wont be seen as an 'imitation brand', as these concepts will be new to our industry.

Pick a few 'challenger brands' (exciting brands that do differently and passionately) write down their characteristics, how they broke their market and place them within the beauty industry. What would it mean if they brought their unique features to the beauty industry? What would it be like if we adopted these features? how would we act? Why would we champion this? What would be the underlying belief or cause about why it is important, one that would unite the community for us and perhaps even go against the market leader? Discuss and see what you come up with.

Thats all folks....for now anyway. I will post up the brand values section soon. We will be well on our way in developing brand values that can open new doors for our business and most importantly...market effectively

 

[MrsHBeauty]

Wow, I am working in that tomorrow! Thank you xx

 

[Roisin_x]

Wow this is FAB!! Didn't realise how much there was to marketing!! I just thought it was all leaflets and facebook pages lol. So glad I read this, definately got me thinkin. Thanks for this x

 

[Craig Fulton]

Wow this is FAB!! Didn't realise how much there was to marketing!! I just thought it was all leaflets and facebook pages lol. So glad I read this, definately got me thinkin. Thanks for this x

You would be surprised! You have to think about how people communicate with one another. To not go into the complexities of communication, we have a very complex filtering system where we attempt to apply meaning to the world around us. Before you have spoken a word, a person can instantly create a perception of you by your look, smell, the way you walk etc positive or negative. Its an instinct that we are all born with and the most influential leaders in the world understand how to use this to create a positive image which in turn creates loyalty. This is similar to what we are trying to achieve here.

Brand values encourage you to think of the signals and messages that you are communicating, before and long after you even 'pitch' your business in the traditional sense.

I am writing the next section now so will post very shortly :green:

 

[Craig Fulton]

Section 3

Hi Geeks,

Here we go with section 3 where you build your very own brand values. As before its best to work with primarily staff or if on you work on your own then family or friends. Of course you can try this on your own too! Remember don't hesitate to ask if you have any issues.

Your Brand Values

So far we have prepared ourselves by breaking from our past and encouraged ourselves to think from a fresh perspective. Then we done some exercise's to allow ourselves to step back and have a look at the pond we swim in. Good work geeks we are nearly there! All you need to do now is buy my book for £12.99 and you can find it.....Im only joking :lick:.

As you can probably tell my passion is marketing and I personally loved working in the beauty industry. I feel the industry is little 'disconnected' and more support should be given to salons/therapists/colleges. I want everyone to open there eyes to the brilliant marketing that we are all so very capable of doing and ditch the lazy expensive activities that we seem to be chained too. Therefore instead of selling you a 'fish', I am giving you a 'fishing rod'. These are my values, driven by passion, fuelled by a cause...what are your brand values?


1. Brand Bank

Sometimes the identity of our business is just hidden away and we just need a little help rediscovering it. We need to find the most relevant dimensions of those facts, equities (what is exclusive to us), or ideas that are locked away and amplify them. Do a little presentation on why your business started or why you entered the beauty industry (do this as if you are a personal brand). Include the following:

Why did the brand begin when was it launched? Or when did you join and why?

If you had a period of success what was the three key factors in this? What did you stand for and what did people care about?

What kind of people did it appeal to at the time and why?

Was there any big ideas or innovations at the time? what could these mean now? could they be reformed in todays social context?

What features were exclusive to us? What ownable brand assets can we rebuild from?

Have a look at what you have written. Can we use anything that can form our brand values?

2. Define our Challenge

After some exploratory thinking, lets be clear and define your challenge to the market or culture. Which challenge will it fall into?

Challenge some dimension of our market?
Challenge some way the consumer shops for, experiences or consumes our 'product'?
Challenge the culture surrounding the market?
Challenge a broader aspect of contemporary culture?
Challenge a Dimension or quality of the competition or Market Leader

3. Where's the passion?

When you share your passion, its easy for people to pick up your energy and enthusiasm. What are you passionate about? Be specific and list all your passions within your industry? Can you tie you passion to your challenge?

4. A just cause

Everyone likes an underdog. We need something that people can rally behind. Can you tie your brand values to a cause? Think of Brewdog: Scotland's largest independent brewery. On the side of their bottles you can read (very short version) "you dont know what good beer is or how pathetic mass-marketing beers truly are...we wont have any part in this. We are on a mission to open as many peoples eyes as possible". They lay down a challenge to the market and they have a cause which they are clearly passionate about. What just cause can you fight for? Brainstorm and write down your ideas.

5. Build your values

Well done geeks. Good work so far. Now we need to bring it all together. Here is how to do it.

1. Look at all the exercises that we done in section 2. What opportunities do you see? Where are the gaps? You now know you don't have to accept the status quo, the way things they are. What industry 'rules' are weak and can we target them?

2. What strengths do we have in our business? What make us unique, are exclusive to us? What is hiding in our past that we can now amplify again?

3. What clear challenge in our industry are we going to lay down?

4. Can we mix this with passion?

5. What is our cause? What are we now fighting for?

6. Now answer these:

What is our unique take on the beauty industry?

What makes us really different?

Why does our point of view really matter? Why would the world be poorer without it?

If you can answer these with confidence, feeling excited and passionate then well done you have true brand values that are unique to your brand in your industry. Share your values with other on here. Be proud of them.

Remember in Section 2 when I asked you to identify the "big fish"? That one challenge that will eat you if you don't eat it first? How can your brand values beat this challenge?

Keep in mind that this is only the start. We have laid the foundations and now we need to start the hard work, where most brands fall. You wont!! Next I will show you how to translate values into behaviour.

 

[Emmawin]

Just bumping this amazing thread for those that might have missed it

 

[joejoewood]

I cant wait to read more xx

 

[Annemarie]

I love this thread. It's been an interesting read. Can't understand why I never came across it before.:biggrin:

 

[Mike16300]

You talked at the beginning about "permission marketing".
If I am correct, it is the purpose of a website, for example not to sell you something, but to interest you so you will sign up for a freeby or a newsletter etc.
This way, you have "permission" to bombard said individual with emails, statistics state that it takes around 7 attempts before someone will buy form you.

The thing is, everyone knows who we are, we're salons! If we get to the point that we can ask a prospective client for their email address, why not just ask them to come in and have a treatment?

They know what a salon is, and if they like the look of you, or your prices or treatments, they'll give it a go.