One of the issues in data collection is how we use it. I have always prescribed that data is used as an aid to decision making, but all too often is used as a method of control and apportioning blame. A recent report on the use of, and future direction for, data in the US […]
Category: marketing
Day 9: Apply for a Google Grant
You may not have heard of it, but Google Ad Grants is the non-profit edition of AdWords, Google’s online advertising tool. As part of its nonprofit programme, Google gives eligible charities $10,000 (£5,800) a month to spend on AdWords, Google’s pay-per-click advertising system. Not only that, if you spend at least $9,500 (£5,545) in two months of the previous 12 […]
Selling to new customers is just so costly
We all know the old adadge that selling to new customers costs a lot more than selling to existing ones, so perhaps we should just stop chasing new ones – in these austere times that might make sense. However, as I’ve mentioned here before (Customer Acquisition vs Customer Retention), it does seem that going after […]
How many flavours of JAM do you have?
Segmentation is based on a principle: everyone is different; and a hope: but in certain aspects they are not that different – people can be grouped together based on some similarities and grouped in large enough bundles to make marketing cost effective. “Segmentation is a compromise between the homogenous mass and the single individual”1 Segmentation […]
Now is the time to invest in your customers
Image via Wikipedia 2011 has been a difficult year for arts organisations. Early this year 206 organisations found out they had had their applications for funding rejected by the Arts Council. The impact of these funding cuts will depend to some extent on the size of the arts organisation you work in. If you are […]
Protect your brand from ‘creative’ team members
Most organisations have a dusty document (or a pdf file) somewhere that outlines their brand guidelines. Given that the development of your brand takes time, effort – and doesn’t come cheap, it’s important that all that investment pays off. The Marketing Department should be familiar with how your logo appears, it’s relative size, positioning, background […]
My newsletter’s not SPAM!: 5 things to remember
One question we keep getting asked is “how do I stop our newsletter being thrown into the junk mail box?”. If you are involved with email marketing, and I include newsletters in that, then this is obviously an important consideration. Avoiding the waste basket has been the goal of direct marketeers since direct mail started […]
How to save time and money when running a business
When it comes to running a successful business, finding ways to save both time and money can help you to reach your goals, and make a fantastic profit. However, when running a company itself uses so many of your resources, it can be difficult to find the opportunity to consider what changes could be made. […]
Customer retention vs Customer acquisition
I had an interesting conversation over lunch yesterday. We were discussing why new customer initiatives seem to be much more attractive to marketeers than customer retention activities. Even though all our marketing eduction, and experience, tell us that it is much cheaper to sell to existing customers and patrons yet it seems that more effort […]
What’s in a name?
Naming companies is a strange business. It was 25 years ago that we chose the name Systematic Marketing and it can’t be described as a very scientific process. Of course back then we didn’t have domain names to worry us and so I don’t think anyone had thought of combining a colour with an animal. […]
Repeat after me.
Had a very enjoyable and informative day yesterday at the Arts Marketing Association seminar on “Tracking Success: Measuring the impact of press and pr” given by Katie Moffat. A huge amount was covered, but one small piece rang a particular bell for me. A while back there was a big project by AMEC about measuring […]