Creating a Big Impact on an SME Budget - Brought to you by NatWest

Monday, 20 May 2019

Good marketing is critical to the success of an SME, but there are clever ways to win new customers that won’t break the bank.

 

“We post blogs that answer really important questions”

Many SME owners have been told they should blog, but they sometimes struggle to come up with compelling content. One approach is to give customers inside information that they can really use – an approach adopted by Phil Purdie, founder of SnowSkool, which runs ski and snowboarding instructor courses. Purdie admits that when he first committed to blogging five years ago, it took some time to see any obvious benefits, but once he and his team started posting genuinely insightful posts – things that his potential clients (would-be ski instructors) really wanted to know – everything changed.

 

A good example is ‘How much do ski instructors earn?’, which has been viewed thousands of times and Purdie says has led to hundreds of new clients. “That post works well because a lot of people search for salary information, which we identified was a bit of a niche,” he says. That post ranks number one on Google – not just because of the quality and depth of the content but because keywords were added in the right places and that the content was structured correctly. When a blog like this, which takes half a day to create, can lead to multiple people booking courses costing as much as £10,000 a time, that’s ROI on a colossal scale.

 

Takeaway: use your inside knowledge to give potential customers information they’re already searching for on Google.

 

“I boost my business profile at industry events”

A great way to reach a large group of potential customers is to speak to them at industry events, and Ben Mein, CEO and co-founder of real estate agency Harness Property Intelligence, knows that it’s vital you make the most of your moment. His trick is to make sure he always involves his audience, instead of just talking at them.

 

“It’s not about brazen self-promotion,” he says. “One thing I did recently was ask people to access an app on their phones to illustrate a point I was making about tracking. Getting the audience to experience this for themselves made my talk much more tangible and directly relevant, and the leads we secured on the day all mentioned it during our follow-up discussions.”

 

Takeaway: talking about your product or service at an event can be a great way to reach multiple potential customers in one hit – just make sure you’re memorable for all the right reasons.

 

“I’ve hired a cameraman”

This suggestion – from Peter Watson, MD and co-founder of digital marketing agency Distract – might be outside the budget of many SMEs, but the idea can be scaled down to suit. In many ways, it has less to do with buying a camera and more to do with identifying a credible frontperson for your brand.

Watson says it’s always felt natural for him to get on stage and talk about what he’s passionate about – which is marketing. “We’ve gained 70% of our clients through regular speaking events and the subsequent content we make from them,” he adds.

 

With Watson constantly ready for camera-friendly snippets, Distract is able to produce plenty of content, which can then be shared online. “We have a YouTube series, a podcast and social media microcontent going out all the time,” Watson says. “The return on investment has been amazing.”

 

Takeaway: If you know your subject matter inside out and aren’t camera shy, channels such as YouTube, Facebook Live and the blog pages of your own website are a great way to reach new customers.

 

“We dropped golf balls in people’s gardens”

Windlesham Golf Club in Surrey is a big hit with its members, but it can be tricky to get newcomers through the door to see what they’re missing. Working with creative marketing agency Gasp, it came up with an innovative campaign to drop golf balls (emblazoned with a web address ashortdrive.com) in the gardens of people who live along the M3 corridor that is easily served by the club. “Typically, golfers live within 30 miles of their club,” says Peter Lumley, the club’s executive chairman, “but as Windlesham is accessible to many more people due to its proximity to the M3, the potential target market was ‘a short drive’ away. It was a brilliant idea, and we’re still working through the opportunities it’s delivered.”

 

The campaign was relatively affordable (printed golf balls were inexpensive, and employing people to drop them in gardens didn’t break the bank), and it worked because it had impact. The club saw more than 50 new members sign up on the back of the campaign, and there has also been a significant number of enquiries.

 

Takeaway: use creative thinking to find ways to reach potential customers and compel them to take action.

 

Five tactics to consider

1. Start a referral programme (rewarding customers for introducing new ones).
2. Sponsor a key event.
3. Commission a survey and share the results.
4. Organise a competition that complements your brand and improves awareness.
5. Use social media influencers to promote the brand.

 

Marketing tips for SMEs

Matthew Pover, chief client officer at media agency The Specialist Works, shares his top marketing tips:

 

Back a winner: when you have established a marketing tactic that works, invest in it – and incentivise those bringing it to life (staff, customers, marketing professionals) to keep up the momentum.

Get your ducks in a row: get your digital channels working brilliantly, then when you invest in offline channels, the combination could make your business fly.

Trust specialists where it matters most: don’t over-reach. Find specialist agencies who can demonstrate success with businesses like yours, who will be true partners, and who are a good cultural fit.