Clock’s MD, Mark Taylor, shares his thoughts on brand building and how strong communication will reap rewards for a company.
During an interview for a new business sales position many years ago, I asked the candidate to tell me his favoured way for generating new leads. “Door knocking” came the reply. “OK and can you tell me how else you go about finding leads…yes… more door knocking… hmm.”
How things have changed – or at least I hope they have. The intelligence now available to help direct, plan and support the sales resource is vast, so vast in fact that this can be a problem in itself, one that is best solved by marketing.
Effective marketing helps develop a company’s full potential
For sales and marketing activity (not always the easiest of bedfellows) to function effectively they need to operate in a conjoined manner. The days of the isolated, seek and destroy salesman are over. However good a company is at selling (and there are plenty that have grown on the back of their sales ability alone), without effective marketing they will not develop to their full potential.
Assuming a saleable offering, selling is made much easier if an organisation communicates with its audiences effectively – creating a pull to complement the push of the sales function.
In the most effective organisations this will take the form of an integrated communications campaign, utilising the most appropriate media for the respective audience (a 52 page A4 glossy prospectus is not necessarily the best way to communicate with a 14 and 15 year old audience).
A brand is built by continual reinforcement
The consistency of the message and its delivery across the various media is paramount; for example online campaigns can be complemented by effective PR and literature must be consistent with point of sale and so on. A brand is built through continual reinforcement using design, content, copy, style and imagery.
There is no better way to be greeted by a prospective client during a new business sales call than for them to say that they have been reading about the great work you have been doing for other great companies!
We all want to deal with credible organisations
Effective communications are very much complemented by activity that helps to embed and build upon ones expertise. Through speaking engagements, thought leadership and intelligent use of social networking an organisation’s selling function is greatly helped as they are seen as the industry experts. We all want to deal with credible organisations that are experts in their field.
Finding, winning and retaining good quality clients can be a challenging brief and a fantastic and exciting one too. It is essential for every company to find a formula in order that they grow and prosper. An effective, integrated communications plan will make the salesman’s life a lot easier and an organisation’s future brighter.
