One of the jobs I had when working at The TV Register in London was to prove that ideas for adverts HAD been done before so that they could get made by the agency.  So if they wanted to shown old lady standing on a ladder, we had to find a different catagory of product that had used such an image without generating complaints.  Often before an advert could be made it would have to go through this kind of test both with the client, the agency and indeed the ASA.

People would find the smallest thing to complain about, which is why I’m always interested in the most complained about advertising.  The BBC has a summary page has for just such ads from the past 12 months – the most controversial and complained about adverts.

What I always find interesting about these lists is how some things which seem harmless to me WILL cause offence in others.  Also how some very uncontroversial products of service will rely on sex or violence to sell. Judge for yourself at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8020881.stm

Busy week next week with a free evening seminar on Tuesday and a full day seminar on Thursday. If you are one of the business owners attending I’m looking forward to meeting you there.

marketing seminar

Thank you to everybody who came to The Business Club meeting on Tuesday evening. I was asked to speak on the ‘9 Steps to Successful Marketing’ which I’m pleased to say received very positive feedback.

If you have never been to a Business Club event, I would suggest you try one of them. They run in Leicester, Northampton, Peterborough & Hertfordshire. The format of the meeting works well and all the events I’ve spoken at have been very well attended and seem very well liked by the members.I’m due to return to run another marketing seminar / marketing talk at the Leicester event again this June.

marketing seminar

Have you got a ‘shark’s mouth’ approach to marketing?

In my marketing seminars, I sometimes talk about the term a ’shark’s mouth approach to marketing.  What do I mean by this?

After the film ‘Jaws’ was released in 1975, most people who saw it felt at least a little twinge of fear the next time they ventured into the sea. However, despite all the image problems that the shark has, the shark can teach us a couple of useful lessons. It’s certainly not to do with PR – sharks get pretty bad PR in general – it is to do with the principle behind a shark’s mouth and how we can use this idea to our approach to marketing.

A shark’s main weapon in staying alive is its teeth. Most sharks have about 3-5 rows of teeth at any time. The front set does most of the work. The first two rows are used for obtaining, killing and cutting up prey; the other rows rotate into place as they are needed. These sharp pointy teeth will tear open a passing fish, boat or other shark. However during some of these attacks, sharks will often lose a tooth, which may remain embedded in the flesh of its victim.

Losing the odd tooth wouldn’t be a big problem however as it happens quite regularly, and the shark has two ways to overcome this.

First of all it has lots of teeth – a single toothed shark would not be such a terrifying sight if it tried to suck you to death with it’s gums. However many companies are, in effect, a ‘one toothed shark’ as they have only one main way of marketing their business. Over the years they have stopped putting the effort into finding what marketing works for them and now rely on only one or two methods. A shark’s mouth is such an efficient ‘killing machine’ because it has so many sharp teeth in it. How many different marketing channels do you have working for you? Are you in effect a one tooth shark?

Secondly, sharks have the ability to re-grow their teeth. A shark has seven replacement teeth behind its visible tooth. That means when its tooth gets knocked out, there are plenty more waiting to take its place. From a marketing point of view, this is a good lesson in resilience and results. Every time we try a piece of marketing activity – say a direct mail letter – we get a result. It just might not be the result we want. At that point, many people just give up. I once worked for a company that told me ‘direct mail doesn’t work for us’. Within a few months were sending out thousands of direct mail letters each month, and generating hundreds of enquiries. Don’t give up on an area of marketing too early. Your first attempts might not work out, but be prepared to use a few extra ideas that you have in reserve.

Action Points:

1. Look at how many ‘marketing teeth’ you have – actively capturing new clients. Is it time to develop some new ones?

2. Have you given up on a marketing area before giving it a proper chance to work? Could you have some ‘hidden teeth’ which will give the project some bite that lie buried just under the surface?

Book a free place on my next marketing seminar or find out how you can enrol on the complete marketing mentor programme for free by calling 01858 44 55 43 or e-mail charlie@themarketingmentor.co.uk

marketing seminar

The next marketing seminar we are running on April 28th is booking up fast.  Today alone we took 12 bookings for places. We also signed up 6 companies to the Marketing Mentor programme.   The Harborough Mail – our local paper – ran a story about us and this certainly helped, but then I’ve always talked about how useful PR can be!

To book one the remaining places on our next free marketing seminar call 01858 44 55 43 or e-mail charlie@themarketingmentor.co.uk to attend the April 28th evening event.