SIMPLE.

Simple came about after talking to a friend (and now client) about how she could effectively market her business.  I realised that small businesses are unique in that they have come about because the owner is particularly passionate about and/or skilled in a particular area.  That is their area of expertise - our area is Marketing.  Would you do your own fillings or pay  a dentist to do them for you?

In my opinion many marketers (or marketeers as they often like to call themselves) get too caught up in fancy terminology and don’t provide enough of the hands-on, how-to information. Additionally Sales and Marketing are often terms that are used interchangeably but they are quite different.   The basis of my work is that Marketing provides the guidelines for getting the Sales, and that the high-level purpose of a marketing plan is, simply, to get more sales. At the end of the day sales are ultimately a numbers game – the more people you have through your store, or looking at your website, the more sales you should have. Once we get them “in the door” your products (or services) should do the rest.

Marketeers tend to focus on the 5 P’s – Product, Packaging, Price, Production and Promotion.   I prefer to use the far less attractive, but in my opinion far more useful:

• What marketing activities will we undertake to drive your sales?
• Why these activities?
• Where will these marketing activities occur?
• Who will the activities be focused at?
• When will the activities take place?
• How do we actually do the activity?

If for some reason we are getting the traffic but not converting to sales then we need to try to find out why, but that is much further down the track and a different part of the equation. At this stage we are simply looking to increase those numbers.

 

(Not So) Simple People

 

Jaime Bigwood - Bachelor of Business Studies

Marketing & Communications Management

 

I graduated from Massey University in 1999 and soon after graduating I moved to the UK for 6 years during which time I worked in the cut-throat sales industry of recruitment for 2 years, before moving to my much loved Marketing role for the largest alcohol company in the world.

I was lucky enough to be “left in the lurch" by my boss, who left suddenly, thrusting me into a sole-role marketing position for the Premium Wines division of the company (who were responsible for, among other things, providing the Queen Mother with her Gin!). It was entirely my responsibility to ensure that the sales team had the tools required to make their targets in a highly competitive market, and though I had the Marketing-Machine back-up of the large corporate, the business was niche enough to require a bespoke approach.

Upon returning to New Zealand in 2005, I worked as a contract Marketing Manager, in a sole role position, for an Electrical Cable company – about as far removed from Premium Wines as diamonds are from gumboots! This role further reinforced my belief that as a marketer I don’t need to implicitly understand a product – just its place in the market and where its owner wants it to be/go. In my short time there I set up a very in-depth, hands-on marketing guide that I knew any of the sales team could pick up and run with.   Simple.

My next role was as Brand Manager within a Marketing team, but I applied the same approach to my Brand – by providing a hands-on plan, that the sales team could use to drive their sales, with the focus on where in the market we wanted my brand to be. I was there for almost 2 years before I left to have my son in 2007. Since then I have worked on a consultative basis for businesses with products ranging from Self Adhesive Bras to Personal Training and Weight Loss Programmes. I have experience with JASC Paint Shop Pro so can assist with simple design work and picture manipulation, and have recently up-skilled to add Web Design to my repertoire, so can also assist with this if required.

I look forward to seeing your business grow and expand and hope to help provide you with tools to ensure the ongoing and increasing success of your business.

 

No frills.  No gimmicks.  No hidden costs.

Simple.