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Philip Brookes, Director at Aktiv Digital
That's a far more complicated question than it sounds - mainly because it requires us to define "traditional marketing". I know that sounds picky, because we all know that "traditional marketing" is everything except digital marketing. But from my perspective, digital marketing is actually a subset of traditional marketing - it's just grown into huge prominence (with good reason). It's never going to 'replace' traditional marketing.
Let me explain - traditional marketing has always been about establishing an optimal marketing mix. It's about reaching your target audience through the most appropriate channels - TV, radio, direct mail, print media, PR, etc... But in the past couple of decades we've added a huge swathe of additional potential channels - web sites, eDM, social media. And not just to push out advertising, but to truly engage with your audience.
So in one sense traditional marketing has just been radically expanded.
However, if I understand your question rightly, I suspect you're really asking if old marketing/advertising channels are becoming less and less relevant.
Again, I would argue that "it depends". Horses for courses. When you take a look at the advertising that's on TV these days, most of the big brands are still there. For those with the budget and the appropriate audience, mass media can still be a valuable part of the marketing mix.
But there's an increasing number of smaller businesses who are now able to compete against bigger players and reach an audience on much smaller budgets than was (is) required for mass media advertising. So we now have a much greater level of marketing activity across the entire spectrum of businesses.
I certainly believe that digital marketing is an imperative for virtually every business these days, whereas older/mass media advertising formats are not as universally applicable. It's also much more accessible no matter how large or small your business is. In sheer numbers, there are a lot more marketing/advertising consultants/agencies/providers competing for your digital marketing business than there is for other forms of marketing/advertising.
But I don't believe that most of the 'traditional' advertising channels are of any less relevance today (with the exception perhaps of advertising in niche market magazines - these are typically struggling to maintain circulation of their print editions and the audiences are largely moving online). Radio, TV, loyalty programs, PR, event marketing, etc... all continue to be an essential part of the marketing mix for numerous businesses IF they are targeting those audiences and have appropriate budgets. We just need to understand how much exposure each of these channels will actually get.
Justin Dry, Owner at Vinomofo
Phil Khor, Founder at SavvySME
Rebecca Carroll-Bell, Owner at RCB Mediation Services
1. Knowing that I can often make a time to deal with the unexpected issue e.g. make a time to call someone back, tell them I will have an answer for them by a certain date, and so on. I often find that if you listen to someone, acknowledge their situation then tell them what you will do and when you will do it, that it enough to keep them satisfied in the short term, allowing you to keep control over your time and schedule.
2. For issues that are beyond my control and expertise e.g. technical or computer problems, I have learned to outsource early. I used to waste so much time trying to figure out how to fix things for myself. Now I am building a team of people who I can call on in times of need to get the problem fixed ASAP.
3. Communication. Talk early, talk often.If something comes up that will effect workflow and delivery down the track, I contact my other clients/colleagues/contacts and let them know ASAP. By giving as much notice as possible and a little insight into why I need to reschedule or postpone, I find others are a lot more accomdating and supportive.
Melanie Gray, Managing Owner at MyCL (My Computer Lab)
Shaun Farrugia, Director at Optimised Accounting
Brian Dorricott, Startup Guide at Meteorical
Absolutely - test and measure.But perhaps you're on the wrong track"The price of being unremarkable is advertising."So how can you make yourself more remarkable so that word-of-mouth (still the best form of introduction) can happen? Check out the Gaddie Pitch as a way to articulate this.
Maini Homer, Owner at Infinity NLP Coaching
Generally the rule of thumb is to test and measure... Ask yourself this.... If you found a source of advertising that paid you $10,000 for every $1000 spent, how much would you throw at it?
What is your favourite or preferred project management system?
These days there are so many management platforms such as Asana, Active Collab, Trello, Podio Teamwork PM. Which one do you use and why?
Steve Osborne, director at Steve Osborne / Smarthinking
Maria
After looking at quite a few including a couple already mentioned and several highly sophisticated (expensive!) tools, I went with Project Bubble.
It fits my main criteria in that it's intuitive to use, shareable and has easily defined tasks. Plus, it's okay to look at.
Iain Dooley, Owner at The Procedure People
I use *shudder* Basecamp CLASSIC.
I really want to use something else and constantly evaluate various PM systems that come my way, but the one feature that I simply can't do without is the ability to see a calendar with all milestones for all people across all projects.
Everything else is secondary and can be solved with processes or API customisations (albeit cumbersome to do so in places).
I've seen a few "gantt" plugins that purport to sit on top of Trello etc. but haven't had the chance to evaluate any yet ... if anyone else has some war stories or recommendations I'd love to hear them.
Thanks, Iain
What are your thoughts on smart watches?
Perhaps I'm a bit jaded, but I don't see the allure of the forthcoming Apple watch. I don't believe that interacting with a screen that small will be very efficient from a usability / ergonomics perspective. I think older ideas around multi-function watches are more interesting say, Dick Tracey's Walkie-Talkie watch or James Bond's watch that can shoot lasers among other things.
Lina Barfoot, Editor at SavvySME
I'm obviously very late to this question but I just have to vent; I hate them. I do not see the appeal at all. They seem completely superfluous to me.
Why should you stay as an "Anonymous" LinkedIn member?
Let's talk about a controversial setting in LinkedIn called, “Who’s Viewed My Profile?” This setting controls what is shown to LinkedIn users whose profile you have viewed.
To be accused of stalking someone is strong language, but I agree. At least have the decency to tell the other LinkedIn member what company or industry you’re from. Help me figure out why some LinkedIn members will activate that controversial privacy setting?
In my opinion you may have perfectly good reasons for being anonymous when you surf profiles on LinkedIn and it’s none of my business why you would want to but you ought to be aware that anonymity can be fleeting and you run the real risk of being exposed. Here’s the scenario – you decide to cloak yourself in anonymity and change the appropriate setting before you go and browse. You feel confident that no one you browse can identify you and you’d be correct. Except that you then go back to your settings and switch back to showing your name & headline.
If you then visit the same profile you browsed anonymously, LinkedIn will switch your previous anonymous footprint to your name & headline. The lesson? Browse anonymously forever but if you decide to stop being anonymous, don’t re-visit the profiles you browsed when you were HIDDEN. LinkedIn currently allows paid users to see 90 days of browsing activity.
When you opt for the anonymous profile characteristics (PARTIAL), you’re neither identifying yourself nor being anonymous. Because your footprint can be clicked, you’re leading a not so merry chase. It’s an odd way to do business and does you no favours. My advice? – Go HIDDEN and don’t waste anybody’s time or go FULL and reap the potential rewards of being found on a network of 225m+ professionals. Don’t be a deer in the headlights; make a decision – get off the road or go with the flow.
So, are you ready to jump out of the shadows by changing your setting to “visible?” or do you have a different point of view?
Regards,
Cassidy Poon Digital & Social Marketing Manager LogicalTech Group
Chelsea Creamer, Community Manager at SavvySME
Cassidy is totally right - it nails your professional online identity. In any case, there's always the account settings section and the save changes button :)
Ling Lee, at Digital Marketing and Personal Branding
Stalking on a social networking site is a key sign that a network is user engaging, in my opinion. I have no objections to being open in my profile. It is like an online resume. After all, the ultimate aim is to extend profile reach to as many people as possible.
Are Internal Processes or External Brand Perception in the Driver's Seat?
What do I mean? Simply what is currently a larger driver of your business (for better or worse)
- What keeps you up at night?
- Are you more bias to positive or negative feedback (internally and externally)?
- Are your internal processes causing efficiencies or inefficiencies further down in your business?
- Is your brand perception positively or negatively impacting you (and are you doing anything about it)?
I'm looking forward to all of the answers. Feel free to tack on additional questions if you feel I missed any that are related.
Deborah Vella, Owner at Support Legal
Both internal processes and external brand perception are important in business. As the owner of a law practice providing legal services, the external brand perception for Support Legal and personal reputation of myself as a lawyer are crucial to successful practice.
That being said, my internal processes go along way to maintaining a quality brand perception and good legal services. Therefore I believe that you can't have success in one without success in the other.
Brian Dorricott, Startup Guide at Meteorical
Some stats for you. 88% of new business use the Entrepreneur's, family, friends, neighbours, etc. funds. 8% use Business Angels and 4% use Venture Capitalists.Money from freinds and family is also easier to obtain since they believe in you. When you go to strangers, you are in sales mode which makes it challenging... always check out any grants that are available too (although they can come with reporting strings attached).I'd only recommend selling equity (i.e. .to Business Angels and Venture Capitalists) when every other single avenue (including banks) has been exhausted.
Jules Brooke, Founder and Director at Handle Your Own PR
Whatever type of investor you are chasing (and I loved Jef's answer as it really explains the different options well) I would also suggest that you should try and get some publicity for the business first.
It's free if you approach the media yourself (I have to admit that I teach PR to small businesses so I have a subjective perspective!) and the benefits are that it gives credibility to your business and the endorsement of a media outlet can be priceless. It establishes you as a 'real' business for potential investors and somehow implies solidity.
If your business is a start up then it is probably offering some sort of innovation, or solving a problem, so use that to make it an interesting story for the metro newspapers to write about. Or go to radio producers and see if you can get an interview.
It's a worthwhile exercise if you want to impress the investors!