Marketing Consultation and Planning on the Digital Spectrum
Very often when consulting or teaching, I find that the concept of marketing is unclear in many people’s minds. Not surprising. We marketers don’t really do a lot of marketing for ourselves. So I put together this little slidedeck for my peeps just to make sure we are all on the same page – and to help erase the image of us marketers as merely advertising people or used car salesmen ;)
We are getting to that time of year when I need to see one of my favourite adverts of all time. You remember it. That Coca-Cola ad with all the people on the hilltop singing about how they’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony :) I love that ad. To me, once I see that ad, then the holidays are coming.
I’m a singer (bet you didn’t know that – who knows, I might give you a little sample sometime lol ;) … but I’m not attempting to teach the world to sing – there are plenty of good people out there doing that ;) I do want to teach the world about marketing though. Particularly those of us who run small or medium sized businesses, where business is not just business but a lifestyle. Those of us that start a business because we have a dream – whatever that dream may be – more money, freedom, being your own boss, helping people or whatvever. That’s my passion. Helping build businesses that people love – that customers love, and that the owners love running. See, there are far too many great businesses that fail, simply because the marketing know-how is not there. And I don’t want that to happen!
It’s a jungle out there – a marketing jungle. I’m a marketing nerd. This is what I do all day in and out and I still get confused sometimes. With the internet, social media, smartphones etc. there are so many options, so many opportunities, so many potential pitfalls. So to help us all make some sense of all this marketing mess, I’ve written a book on it – hey, that’s what you do don’t you, when you want to teach? ;)
It’s my hope that this book gives non-specialists a good foundation to build their marketing on and makes sense of this whole thing. So far so good, I’ve got some great reviews from pre-reads of the book, some of which you can see on the page where you can get a sneak peek into the book: https://thoranna.is/marketinguntangledfree/
The book outlines the five main themes underpinning a solid marketing strategy and action plan: target groups, competition, branding, marketing communications and the marketing system. The plan is then to delve deeper into each of those five themes in the coming year with five more books in the Marketing Untangled series, giving you all the tools you need to master this marketing thing ;)
I do hope you’ll grab a preview. Once it’s out I’ll let you know, and for the first few days it will be available for free through Amazon – so grab the preview, keep your eyes open for the launch and grab a free copy! It really is a win-win!
Oh, and those that grab their preview can come join me in the Marketing Untangled Series Facebook Community where we talk marketing. I pop in regularly to take part in discussions and answer questions, and I’d love for you to come join me!
To your marketing success!
xo
Thoranna
p.s. that link again – just in case ;) https://thoranna.is/marketinguntangledfree/
The SMALL BUSINESS BRANDING day was held for the first time at a beautiful and unique location, the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. The BRANDit production was organized by its two founders; Bjarney Ludviksdottir, international director and producer, and Runa Magnus, the international branding lecturer, and author of the upcoming book “Branding Your X-Factor”. This special day was dedicated to small business owners and their executive team, and designed to give them insights into the 8 steps to sharpen their success with high-performance strategies from 8 leading European business and branding experts. [Read more…]
I am tidying up. What about you? It is something one must do regularly. I have to admit I don’t do it enough, but occasionally I get a kick in the butt and I do try to go over my strategy once a year.
It really is something you should not need a kick in the butt to do though. Every time I do this, it reminds me how important it is to set things up in a clear way, planning things out. It’s a bit like moving house. It’s cleansing. Throw out stuff you don’t need, realise what you do need. Out with the trash and in with a trip to Ikea and all the consequent organisation! :)
One of the very useful things to come out of this process for me was a marketing clean up. I try to do that regularly. OK, as I have said sometimes before, I am on wayyyy too many social media, more than I would recommend for most, but that’s just because I am in marketing and want to know what they are all about. Apart from that, things are pretty clear. I am constantly learning more and more about what works and what doesn’t.
It is really useful to set things up visually. [Read more…]
Most of us don’t decide to live an empty life. Most of us do not want to do work that we are not interested in. Most of us don’t decide to go into business just because… Heck, those that have tried it know that you don’t go into business just for fun – it is a lot of work, unpaid for a long time and feels a bit like being back at university – you never really have any time off because you could always be doing something (and always feel like you should be doing something). You don’t go into business unless there is a fire in your belly. Unless it is what you really want to do. It’s a bit like acting. After three years at drama school and a few years in the “biz” I realised I simply did not want to be an actor – and believe me, that is not a business you’re in unless it is the only thing you can imagine doing!
I remember meeting with young and talented designers with a very exciting project. We discussed [Read more…]