Subject Focus

Appraisals Business Improvement Leadership and Management Health and Social Care Sales and Marketing

Our focus this month is on sales and marketing

Marketing has changed so much over the last decade due to the developments in technology driving the change in the way the customer engages with us and the way businesses engage with other businesses. Many organisations are bringing in staff to develop their online content strategies and other staff to deliver the strategy. Small businesses who don’t have these resources are investing in paid-for content, as they recognise its importance. No longer can a business just keep doing what its always done and survive.

However, investing in content is not a guaranteed recipe for success. There are many challenges, no more so than just keeping up with the developments in technology and shifting trends.  Employing qualified and experienced digtial marketeers is not an option for every business and even if it is, its not just all about churning out content, it needs to be good quality, interesting content that others want to read. Those taking on the responsibility in a small business for delivering the content strategy may have an understanding of digital marketing, but are they producing top quality content, are they representing their company appropriately across all online communication channels, do they fully understand the implications of using different online communication tools for business and how to make the best use of them? Do staff fully understand their online responsibilites to ensure the good reputation of a business brand? A good reputation takes a long time to earn, but can be lost with the click of a mouse. Lots of questions, which if the answer is ‘no’ e-learning can help turn some of those answers to ‘yes’.

B2B Branding – does yours appeal to personal values?

We all know that branding is extremely important to any business, but did you know that business to business branding is more successful when it appeals to our personal values and emotions rather than if it is a result of business factors and analysis. Well at least this is the findings of research carried out by CEB and Google reported by Marketing Week this month.

As a contribution to this month’s focus page we have an excellent guest blog from Dianne Edgar “Marketing or Sales, which comes first?”, which recounts some lessons learnt and gives some useful information on maximising the bang for your marketing buck.

Blog

Marketing or sales, which comes first?

It’s a question I am often asked, and my reply is neither- the potential buyer comes first.  Both marketing and sales require a detailed understanding of the buyer, what he or she is thinking now, what motivation, alternatives, and costs are being considered.

Marketing works like the “cement” holding the sales “bricks” together, to form a structure that is stronger than its parts.  The potential buyer may not think he/she needs your product or service, but as a marketing person supporting a sales process, you have to demonstrate that you have thought about his needs and wants, and can supply a solution. Read more

A selection of our sales and marketing products: