New ways of Marketing today

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:00:19 +0000

One of the best Marketing books is a Chartered Institute of Marketing prescribed text by Professor Niger Piercy called Market-Led Strategic Change. In this book Percy explains how companies have become more innovative in their customer approach and that there are a number of ways to improve marketing performance.

Piercy explains that for “all organisations the only thing that really matters at the end of the day is not the technology, or company policies, or computer systems, or products, or even the management …but the long-term satisfaction of customers – this is the only way it can survive.

Piercy goes on to state that the process of marketing goods and services of any kind is incredibly simple in concept or principle, but again and again we have proved , beyond doubt, in organizations, that putting it into practical effect and achieving what we want is excessively difficult.

He believes that there is an urgent need to go back to basics and to clarify the important issues to be addressed in how we want people in our organizations to understand the customer and the role of marketing.

After detailing successful marketing organizations such as Virgin and Body Shop to back up his theories Peircy goes on to state that:-

you have to get better at going to market – but probably without a marketing department.
you have to build trusting and close relationships with customers and suppliers – but you can only do that by breaking relationships (the ones your competitors have with those same customers).

For me one of the best lessons from this book is that “Customer perception is reality”. Piercy states that “the harsh truth is that value is not created in the factory or the back office; customer value exists only on the customer’s terms and reflects the customer’s priorities and preferences. We think that Piercy has got it 100% correct where he states that perhaps one of the hardest things we have to do in building customer focus is simply to listen better to customers. Where if you can find better ways of listening to customers, the pay-off may be enormous. The surprise again and again is that customers will actually talk to you and learn how to be better if you are just prepared to listen.

Central Strata uses the ideas and practical advice laid down by Piercy contact us today to find out how we can help your business.

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The value of a good site

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:15:41 +0000

Recent studies have found that fewer than half of all of the UK’s small businesses still don’t have a website and of those about half that number believe that a website wouldn’t deliver any tangible benefits.

It’s becoming harder and harder to think of a business sector where a website wouldn’t be beneficial. If potential customers can’t search for your business on the web, they’ll probably go elsewhere. If your business has a website that’s been cobbled together in a haphazard fashion, then it’ll stand up poorly to the competition and probably be doing your business no favours. It is too easy to start building a web presence without really thinking about what the site will offer its visitors.

The first mistake that a lot of businesses make is not to think of the market they serve. If you are a firm of Solicitors your website will be very different to that of a maternity wear website…so first of all you should think of your market! The first question you should ask yourself is what are your competitors doing and what is your market.

Secondly, the site content is critically important. It is usually recommended that you have an About us and Contact us section, but when it comes to the products and services you offer you need to put them into terms that your customers will understand.

The best way to get good search engine visibility is to have a good site with good content, regular updates and links to and from other respect sites.

Remember that once the site is developed, it is never finished, you need to continually update it with new content and keeping it fresh and relevant. This makes it attractive to new visitors and search engines. Also, is your site achieving its’ objectives? Are you getting more sales? This is the reason that Central Strata offer both Internet and Marketing service, we help provide you with a return on your investment, by ensuring that your site is out there and achieving its’ objectives.

Central Strata » website design

New ways of Marketing today

The value of a good site