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The Bright Marketing Manifesto - Part One

Part One of a three part series that looks at the Bright Marketing Manifesto.  The 23 Principles that evolved from the unique Barclays Bright Marketing Seminars have changed the lives and fortunes of thousands of the UK’s small businesses. So what’s it all about?

 

The first Bright Marketing seminar was run in June 2002. Since then the workshop has been delivered over 100 times to approximately 10,000 people who run small/growing businesses. 

SO WHAT IS ‘BRIGHT MARKETING’

Bright Marketing is a workshop based on the ideas of the book ‘Customer Is King’ (Foreword by Sir Richard Branson).  Originally it was presented as a two-day workshop and then as a one-day workshop. Finally it ended up as an interactive fast-moving half-day workshop.

‘It’s important for business owners not to take their eye off the ball’ says John Davis, Marketing Director, for Local Business Banking at Barclays, ‘and good marketing can be the key to a successful and profitable business. Our own research shows that businesses want to spend 50 per cent more of their time on marketing… and these seminars certainly give delegates the focus they need.’

Once the proven formula was agreed, we set about taking it to more people.  Rolling-out this unique ground-breaking programme was only possible because Barclays Bank wanted to take it ‘on tour’ to as many small businesses as possible throughout England and Wales; more importantly their involvement meant that delegates were able to attend at no charge (although tickets had a face value of £225!).

A UNIQUE EVENT

Every event has started the same way, asking the question,
‘What is it…  that you want to know how to do... by the end of this session?’.

This unique approach to running a marketing event ensured that delegates got just what they wanted from the event rather than being lectured at by someone who insists on working from their own agenda.

Having asked the question over one hundred times we now have a pretty good idea of the key marketing issues that people want sorted.  The Bright Marketing Manifesto sums up the key points of the philosophy of these hugely successful Bright Marketing events.  As indication of the popularity of the programme, 99% of delegates said they would recommend the event to other business owners.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’S) OF MARKETING

We spoke to MDs of multi-nationals as well as owner-managers of smaller businesses and the same themes just kept coming through to us.

To give you a rough idea of the top questions, they were as follows:

• How do I get into bigger businesses?
• What works best?
• What do people buy?
• How can I make people buy from us?
• How do I get the biggest bang for your bucks?
• How do I know how I am doing?
• How can I make more money?
• How much should I invest in marketing?
• If there was only one thing I should do then what would it be?
• How can I sell more?
• How can I get more, more profitable, customers?

FAQ’S IN A NUTSHELL

At its simplest, the questions that audiences wanted the answer to came under one of five headings:

• What works?
• How to communicate?  How to get heard?
• How to focus?  How to target?
• How to measure?
• How to stand out from the rest/how to be listened to?
• How to get more sales with no/little budget?

And these were the questions that the workshop answered.

INTRODUCING THE MANIFESTO

The Manifesto is the foundation, the backbone, of the events. Without sounding too grand, a common ‘ology’ emerged, an attitude, that separated the exceptional performers from the average ones. The Bright Marketing workshop was the forum for the fundamental questions, out of which emerged a common set of Bright Marketing fundamental actions that create remarkable results for those that use them in their businesses.

The Manifesto is a list of some 23 principles, fundamental approaches that separate the Bright Marketing (BM) business from the run-of-the-mill.  We have listed some of the principles below.  Understanding and adopting the manifesto will help you to be more profitable, it is as simple as that.

 

THE BM MANIFESTO PRINCIPLE #1
If there’s a choice between better or different then go for different every time – ideally you should go for best and different

 

Small business people are essentially technicians; they are really good at their job (garage mechanic, cook, web designer) and know pretty much everything there is to know about how to do it. 

Unfortunately they tend to become pre-occupied with doing a better job.  Your customers won’t necessarily thank you or even remember you for using a slightly cleverer technique or technology; this is because what they are buying is a solution to a problem and what they want is the benefit of your work.

For example, most customers are more interested in you getting the car to work than know that you have used computer diagnostics, they are more interested in tasting your delicious food than knowing that you used a 1200w microwave, they are more interested in getting a website that promotes the business than know that you have used the latest flash technology.

We are all a bit too much in love with our businesses… and we are in a world full of mediocre, similar-looking businesses, most of us look identical

So what is to be done?  People will remember you for how you are different from the rest so seek to make yourself (look) different: faster, slower, brighter, more local, higher tech, lower tech, the first  – but please don’t make yourselves look just like the rest.

Of course, in an ideal world I would like my businesses to be the best and different from the rest

 

THE BM MANIFESTO PRINCIPLE #2
Why should people bother to buy from you when then can buy from the competition?

There are four answers here:

• You know exactly what makes your product special/unique/different and deliberately set out to capitalise on these differences
• You offer a unique set of advantages, but you have never really identified them yourself
• You offer the client no unique set of advantages and you’re just lucky to still be trading
• You are about to go out of business because you are virtually giving the stuff away

The customer is not stupid; they know that they can probably buy your product or service from someone else.  In fact they could probably get it cheaper and maybe even better, from someone else.

So, why should customers buy from your business?  Why should they bother to buy from you?

If you can’t answer this question then you are in real trouble.

SO WHAT?

Learning a set of principles or ideas is an entire waste of time unless you do something about it.  The delegates that have really benefited from the Bright Marketing manifesto are those that have acted upon them. 

My one-liner of the day

Attending a workshop (or reading an article!) is an entire waste of time and money unless you are going to do something different as a result of it – so think ‘WIIFM?’ (What’s In It For Me?).

What are you going to do differently?  What are you going to

• Do more of?
• Do less of ?
• Stop doing?
• Start doing?
• Continue doing?

Next Month we will look at some more of the Manifesto Principles and how they have been applied in small businesses across the land!

 

NOTES

The Barclays Bright Marketing Workshops will be delivered by Robert Craven in Spring 06 visiting 20 towns.  For further details of the Bright Marketing Manifesto go to 
www.directorscentre.com/barclays-bright-marketing-diary.php

The Bright Marketing Workshops are organised and run by Barclays Bank as part of their commitment to help local businesses.  Further information can be found at http://www.barclays.co.uk/seminars/brightmarketing

Customer Is King – How To Exceed Their Expectations by Robert Craven, Foreword by Sir Richard Branson.  Virgin Books, ISBN 0 7535 0968 7  RRP £10.99

About the author

Robert Craven is a keynote speaker and author of the business best-sellers 'Kick-Start Your Business' and 'Customer Is King'. He has recently been described as 'one of the UK’s leading marketing specialists' and the 'entrepreneurship guru'. He runs The Directors’ Centre, helping growing businesses to grow.
For further information, contact Robert Craven on 01225 851044. (rc@directorscentre.com) www.directorscentre.com

Robert Craven©2006

publication details

DUE TO BE PUBLISHED: May 2006 Start Your Business magazine.