Agency disintermediation will be rife

Tuesday 30th December 2008

"We will also see the disintermediation of large agencies - as larger global financial clients go direct to media partners such as Google."

Strategic thinking will come to the fore

Monday 29th December 2008

"Medium and Long-term strategic considerations will be the main priority for clients seeking to build market share during the downturn in order to emerge stronger. A robust strategy must underpin all tactical campaigns. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) will eclipse Pay Per Click (PPC) as a result".

Clients will abandon larger agencies

Sunday 28th December 2008

"Clients will migrate their allegiances away from large, overhead-heavy agencies to smaller niche boutique agencies - for a combination of senior director focus, market segment or sector specialism and superior value."

Conversion optimisation will become big news

Saturday 27th December 2008

Database hygiene will be a major focus

Tuesday 23rd December 2008

"Since financial marketers' budgets will be more constrained and marketing headcount is limited, there will be an intense focus on segmentation and profiling prospects that have a higher propensity to convert, rather than generating vast swathes of unprofiled enquiries that are time consuming to qualify."

Top Ten Financial Marketing Trends for 2009

Monday 22nd December 2008

It's Time to Lead

Wednesday 10th December 2008

Leadership means a great many things.  Sometimes the need is to create a shared sense of purpose and direction.  Sometimes it’s facing uncertainty head on.  Both are needed right now. Business leadership. Thought leadership. Brand leadership. Economic leadership.

Colin Powell said: “Leadership is about problem solving.  Real leaders face reality and solve problems.  They don’t push them aside.  The day people stop bringing you problems, you’re no longer leading.  They either don’t think you can, or worse, they don’t think that you care.”

“When I was a new Lieutenant at Ft. Benning, an old Sergeant came up to me and after telling me he thought I might amount to something some day said, “You know you’re a good leader if people will follow you, if only out of curiosity. You must never show fear, or hunger, or fatigue.  Show none of those emotions.  They’ll follow you if only out of curiosity to see how you get them out of that mess.  The best leaders accomplish leadership through trust, not fear”.

What a Difference A Year Makes

Monday 08th December 2008

I just received an email with this alarming ‘thought for the year’:

"What a difference a year makes: Just a little more than one year ago, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) paid $100bn for ABN Amro (80% cash).
Today, for this amount, RBS could buy:

Citibank $22.5bn,
Morgan Stanley $10.5bn,
Goldman Sachs $21.0bn,
Merrill Lynch $12.3bn,
Deutsche Bank $13.0bn and
Barclays $12.7bn,

And still have $8bn change. What price RBS now?”

Get Connected

Thursday 04th December 2008

Just to clear this up I’m not going to wax lyrical about all the social networking sites that you should or shouldn’t be working with in today’s blog. I want to talk about different connections you could be making to improve your business success in 2009.

Here’s my top ten list.

Consider connecting by:
Industry or sector (direct or partner channel association with a market)
Wants and desires (synergy with the same end-game in mind)
Beliefs and culture (cause related association with like-minded individuals and groups)
Complementary services (project teams, JVs, closing skills gaps, bundling, white label)
Information (vital data for key information seekers)
Geography (proximity, location,ethnicity)
Distribution (similar routes – physical and online, gaps)
Marketplace  (buyers and sellers)                             
Technology (mash ups, shared platforms)
Outside interests (shared experiences)

Start planning now - these connections may hold the answers as to how you can Create Your Own Space in 2009.

When Networking Isn't Working

Wednesday 03rd December 2008

We’ve seen a stack of new B2B social networking sites hit the web recently including Talkbiznow and BusinessScene. I’d have to say that despite a flood of invitations from very well-meaning networkers, I will decline to join them politely.

The established players such as LinkedIn which has a credible membership base, Ecademy which offers smart community interactivity, YouTube which contains a wealth of video archive footage and Flickr which is a superb photo-sharing site all have something to commend them. They either offer a firm foundation based on a large membership / user base or a degree of functionality that sets them apart. The generalist new kids on the block fail to differentiate, in my view, as there are not enough businesses that are leveraging the opportunities afforded by existing networks, let alone new ones. The future of communities lie predominantly in a social networking site’s ubiquitousness or niche orientation.

Unless these new sites possess and communicate a clear remit, offering specialisation by ‘tribe’, geography, sector, content, cause or ethos, they will struggle to secure the following they need to survive.

Newton’s Laws of Marketing

Monday 01st December 2008

My last post made me think that there is a “massive” amount of synergy between Newton’s Laws of Motion and the Laws of Marketing (you mean, you didn't think that too!)

Newton's First Law: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

You must apply force to get momentum. Sales will stay in a constant state unless and until you apply your marketing effort. Standing still is NOT an option when you want your financial organisation to move forward.

Newton's Second Law: The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma.

A budget applied regularly month on month is more effective in combination than a large budget applied once or twice.

Newton's Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

One off advertising or a one-shot email may get you awareness but no response – so don’t do it (at least not unless it is in tactical support of a wider PR campaign). Be aware of this important law and allow yourself to build your relationships and trust with your readers over time.