How a bread changed its spots

In May 2011, Lily Robinson (age 3 ½) wrote to Sainsbury’s to ask them:

Why is tiger bread c\alled tiger bread? It should be c\alled giraffe bread.

Chris King (who at the time worked in Sainsbury’s customer service team) replied to Lily saying:

Thanks so much for your letter. I think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread is a brilliant idea – it looks much more like the blotches on a giraffe than the stripes on a tiger, doesn’t it?

It is called tiger bread because the first baker who made it a looong time ago thought it looked stripey like a tiger. Maybe they were a bit silly.

I really liked reading your letter so I thought I would send you a little present. I’ve put a £3 gift card in with this letter, if you ask your mum or dad to take you to Sainsbury’s you could use it to buy some of your own tiger bread (and maybe if mum and dad say its OK you can get some sweeties too!).

…

Chris King (age 27 & 1/3)

I first came across this exchange via a post on Facebook last week and it certainly made me smile! Personally, I’m a big fan of Sainsbury’s anyway but this only added to my delight. And I am certainly not alone!

The letters first appeared online in June of last year when Lucy Robinson (Lily’s mum) posted to her blog Lily’s letter followed by Sainsbury’s response. The letters quickly went viral both last year and again this month. Bloggers have written about them; the photos have been shared on Facebook literally tens of thousands of times; the topic has trended on Twitter; Sainsbury’s say that “phone calls from customers mentioned the exchange and commended us for this great piece of customer service”; and BBC News, Huffington Post UK, The Sun and This is Money have all run articles about the story. This simple exchange has certainly made a big impact. To such an extent that Sainsbury’s have today announced that they are renaming their Tiger Bread to Giraffe Bread and will be seeing how it goes.

A tiger story of my very own

Reading Lily’s story reminded me of one of my own childhood experiences.

I’m sure many of you know and love Kellogg’s Frosties and Tony the Tiger. One of the promotions Kellogg’s ran when I was a child featured a set of four Tony the Tiger water games. By collecting tokens from Kellogg’s packs, you could send off for a small plastic game that you filled with water. To play the game, you pumped buttons at the bottom that caused either small plastic rings or balls to rise through the water, hopefully landing on hooks or in holes that were your targets.

I diligently collected tokens for such a game and sent them off, receiving one of the four games shortly after. So excited was I by this gift that I wrote a letter to Tony the Tiger thanking him for my present. In what was to me a completely surprising twist of events, I then received another parcel with a letter from Kellogg’s saying how pleased they were to hear from me and, as a show of their appreciation, here were the complete set of four games just for me.

Much like Chris King’s response to Lily’s letter, this was such a simple act on Kellogg’s behalf but it is something that has made a big difference. As a child, I was thrilled to receive the games and Tony the Tiger seemed like the kindest tiger in the world. With age came the realisation that it was in fact Kellogg’s who had been thoughtful and generous but the story has stuck. Kellogg’s actions had such an impact on me that this is a story I continue to re-tell more than 20 years later (just ask Matt!).

When Smarties failed to have the answer

In contrast, I read an article last week featuring Lily Robinson’s story in which the author said:

When I mentioned this story to my wife (@Jilltovey) she told me about the time when she, aged 8 or 9, wrote to Smarties to ask them why they had the answer and was sent a curt reply telling her it was “just a marketing slogan”.

Again, the story has lasted.

Simple acts of kindness lead to customer delight

I’m sure we all have our own stories of great customer experience and times when brands have let us down. What has struck me reading about Lily’s story and being reminded of my own however, is how simple the acts are that make a lasting impact. It would be easy to dismiss a child’s letter or to send a stock response (just as Smarties did) but by taking a little time to respond to the child in a way they relate to, Sainsbury’s and Kellogg’s have both not only made two children (and their parents) very happy but have also created lasting memories and stories to tell for years to come. Isn’t this how we should be treating all our customers, both young and old? Reaching out to them where they are and delighting them in every interaction we have?

Built to Last (written by both Collins and Porras) and Good to Great (written by Collins) have been described by The Economist as “the Harry Potters of management literature”. Built to Last was a fixture on the BusinessWeek best seller list for more than six years and Good to Great (which has been translated into 35 languages) was, in 2008, the bestselling business book of all time.

For this reason, Collins and Porras cannot be ignored and they have been credited with being “largely responsible for a revival of interest in the ‘visioning thing’ in the mid-1990s”.

That is not to say however that the pair are without their critics, in part due to the fact that “almost half of the visionary companies on [their] list have slipped dramatically in performance and reputation.”

In an in-depth article published in 2004, Fast Company examined both sides of the argument—namely, have the companies on Collins and Porras’ list failed because they stopped applying their principles or did other events and the wider business context simply change?—and essentially ended up sitting on the fence:

There’s this one big rub about management books…The world they seek to describe is so complex, so tumultuous, often so random as to defy predictability and even rationality…And all this jumble and chaos mean…that for every management theory, there is an equal and opposite theory that makes just as much sense…Perhaps BTL readers would do well to follow the title of chapter seven: Try a Lot of Stuff and Keep What Works. Now there’s some business advice worth taking.

Personally, I love Collins and Porras’ work and believe that we can learn a great deal from their insights. Yes, critical thinking must be applied to every text and it’s important to learn from later events but that’s not to say that works authored by Collins and Porras are lacking in value.

Matt and I have put their approach to building vision to the test (both ourselves and with our clients) and we believe it works. I agree that no theory or book should ever be taken as gospel but, in our experience, Collins and Porras’ philosophy is a great place to begin the journey of articulating vision, values and purpose. At the very least, it provokes lively discussions within management teams and their organisations, stimulates the discovery of valuable insights and provides food for thought. All of these are worthy outcomes and if such experiences lead to strategic alignment, a unified focus and motivated people, then I believe their philosophy offers much that we can learn from.

A little history…

Collins and Porras’ first attempts to create a framework that defined organisational vision seem to be documented in their 1991 research paper, Organisational Vision and Visionary Organizations. This framework consisted of a ‘Guiding Philosophy’ (in which purpose was driven by core beliefs and values) and a ‘Tangible Image’ (in which mission led to the creation of a vivid description).

Their framework was influenced by both the research later published in Built to Last and their work with a variety of organisations. It should also be said that, in creating a framework, Collins and Porras intended to remove some of the “fuzziness” surrounding vision:

If we look at the literature on organizations and strategy, we find numerous terms for “vision” that sometimes are used synonomously, sometimes have partially overlapping meanings, and sometimes are intended to be totally distinct from each other. As one CEO told us: “I’ve come to believe that we need a vision to guide us, but I can’t seem to get my hands on what ‘vision’ is…no-one has given me a satisfactory way of looking at vision that will help me to sort out this morass of words and set a coherent vision for my company. It’s really frustrating!”

Eventually, the ideas first articulated here evolved into the framework many will now be familiar with from Built to Last and also Building Your Company’s Vision published by Harvard Business Review in 1996:

For those of you unfamiliar with this framework, I hope to provide an introduction below.

Core ideology

For Collins and Porras, core ideology is absolutely integral to vision setting. Their use of the yin yang symbol was deliberate: core ideology is essentially meaningless without progress or movement towards the future, whilst a congruent vision cannot be created without a stable foundation.

For a vision to be created, it is essential to first understand those elements of the organisation that will always remain unchanging. In the words of Collins and Porras themselves:

Core ideology defines a company’s timeless character. It’s the glue that holds the enterprise together even when everything else is up for grabs…a consistent identity that transcends product or market life cycles, technological breakthroughs, management fads, and individual leaders.

Core values

Core values are the handful of beliefs, guiding principles or tenets that are absolutely non-negotiable within an organisation. Imagine your own personal values: it may be that, in relationships, honesty, integrity and kindness are important to you; you may value courage, fearlessness and daring; or how about fun, humour and happiness?  When you contemplate your personal values, you usually have a sense of what is truly important to you—the characteristics that you couldn’t live without. For Collins and Porras, organisational core values are the same—they are as natural as breathing.

Throughout their research, Collins and Porras consistently found that “companies tend to have only a few core values, usually between three and five”—any more than this and they believe that core values are being confused with other factors. From their perspective, ‘core’ means that a value is “so fundamental and deeply held that [it] will change seldom, if ever.”

Consistent with this idea, they believe that values cannot be created but must instead be discovered. Although we all aspire to worthy ideologies, if a value is not authentic to the behaviour of your organisation, Collins and Porras suggest that treating it as core is likely to lead to justifiable cynacism. Instead, they believe that aspirations are more appropriate to an envisioned future.

So, what does your organisation really believe in? There is “no universally right set of core values” and it is even likely that other organisations will hold at least some of the same core values as you. It is important however to determine those values that your organisation would hold steadfastly. To test whether a value is truly core, Collins suggests asking whether you would want your organisation to stand for this value in 100 years time and he even goes so far as to ask whether you would continue to hold this core value “even if at some point in time it became a competitive disadvantage”?

Core purpose

In many ways, core purpose is similar to core values: it is natural and fundamental to an organisation, it is deeply held and unchanging, it need not be unique, and it must be discovered rather than created.

For Collins and Porras, every organisation has a purpose, even if it hasn’t been articulated yet. Purpose could be described as the heartbeat or soul of your organisation—your organisation’s “most fundamental reason for being”. Not to be confused with product lines, services or customers, purpose motivates and inspires. A true purpose grabs “the ‘soul’ of each organisational member” and reflects their “idealistic motivations for doing the work.”

For me, Collins and Porras’ best description of core purpose is:

…like a guiding star on the horizon—forever pursued but never reached.

Purpose guides and directs an organisation, it determines who fits within an organisation and who does not, it is the plumb line by which all other decisions should be measured.

To determine your core purpose, Collins and Porras suggest asking questions such as:

How could we frame the purpose of this organisation so that if you woke up tomorrow morning with enough money in the bank to retire, you would nevertheless keep working here?

When telling your children and/or other loved ones what you do for a living, would you feel proud in describing your work in terms of this purpose?

Envisioned future

For Collins and Porras, an envisioned future is the means through which core ideology is translated into a tangible goal that stretches and challenges your organisation. Where core ideology “resides in the background, ever-present and ‘in the woodwork’”, an envisioned future is “in the foreground, focusing people’s attention on a specific goal…[it] is bold, exciting and emotionally charged.”

10-to-30 year BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal)

Whilst all companies have goals, Collins and Porras found that visionary companies often had exceptionally bold and ambitious targets or, as Collins and Porras coined them, BHAGs—”pronounced BEE-hags and shorthand for Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals”.

Unlike core purpose, a BHAG has a clear finish line and an organisation should be able to determine when the goal has been achieved. That said, for Collins and Porras, “a BHAG should not be a sure bet—it will have perhaps only a 50% to 70% probability of success”. However, an organisation should nonetheless believe that it can achieve the goal, something that Collins and Porras came to call the “hubris factor”. To set BHAGs requires a “certain level of unreasonable self-confidence” or, at the very least, unreasonable self-ambition.

The easiest way to explain BHAGs is to compare them to stretching and challenging personal goals. For example, I have reasonably good levels of fitness and enjoy exercising regularly but to set myself the goal of cycling from Land’s End to John o’Groats, completing an Ironman triathlon, or climbing Mount Everest would require extraordinary effort on my part. All of these goals are potentially within my reach should I ever wish to complete them but they are certainly no walk in the park! BHAGs are the 10-to-30 year organisational equivalent of these. What does your organisation wish to achieve in its future that would require “extraordinary effort and perhaps a little luck”?

Perhaps the other thing that should be said about BHAGs is that, much like core ideology, they should be inspiring. To be honest, I have no real wish to climb Mount Everest at present, so I am unlikely to ever achieve it. Setting a BHAG simply for the sake of setting a goal is pointless. Rather, Collins and Porras suggest you should ask, “Does it get our juices flowing? Do we find it stimulating? Does it spur forward momentum? Does it get people going?” In their words:

The envisioned future should be so exciting in its own right that it would continue to keep the organisation motivated even if the leaders who set the goal disappeared.

Vivid description

Unlike a BHAG—which should be concise (usually no more than a sentence or phrase), easy to understand and capable of being expressed in a multitude of ways—a vivid description is an organisation’s opportunity to express in detail what it will feel like to achieve their goal.

For Collins and Porras, a vivid description is essential to making a BHAG tangible. Describing the achievement of the BHAG is about “painting a picture with your words”—a “vibrant, engaging” picture that brings your goal to life. For example, climbing Mount Everest is certainly a goal but how would it really feel to stand on that peak and look out across the mountain ranges below? What else would have already been achieved along the way?

Although it can be uncomfortable to express emotions in an organisational context and Collins and Porras readily acknowledge that some managers find this difficult, they also believe that “passion, emotion and conviction are essential parts of [a] vivid description”. It is precisely these ingredients that motivate others.

We must dispose of the widely accepted norm that rationality should rein supreme, and that emotion should be kept in check. Creating the right mission and describing it with vivid detail should release people’s passion and generate the commitment organisations need to achieve high performance.

One of the methods that Collins and Porras advocate for developing a vivid description is to write an article that you would love to see published about your organisation in 10, 20, 30 years from now. Imagine that you have achieved your BHAG and a major newspaper or business magazine is writing about your organisation—what would they say?

A last word

For Collins and Porras, their vision framework is about preserving the core (through the discovery of core ideology) and simultaneously stimulating progress (through the creation of an envisioned future). It is about managing both continuity and change.

…it’s not either core or progress. It’s not even a nice balance between core and progress but rather two powerful elements, inextricably linked and both working at full force to the ultimate benefit of the institution.

Collins and Porras believe that “without vision, organizations have no chance of creating their future, they can only react to it.” In contrast, when vision becomes an explicit part of an organisation’s DNA, they believe that the organisation has inherent capabilities to achieve their goals, to outlast changes in leadership, to weather organisational storms and, ultimately, to prosper.

Both authors acknowledge that an organisation’s journey will not always be smooth and it could even be said that visionary organisations will inevitably experience some failure but, in the words of Porras, “The key point is that visionary companies display a remarkable resiliency to bounce back from adversity and shine over the long term.”

And for those of you who like the research…

Brown, T. (1994). Greatness that endures. Industry Week. 12-22.

Collins, J.C. (2002). Vision framework. Available as a PDF from Jim Collins’ website

Collins, J.C. & Porras, J.I. (1991). Organizational vision and visionary organizations. California Management Review. 30-52.

Collins, J.C. & Porras, J.I. (1996). Building your company’s vision. Harvard Business Review

Collins, J.C. & Porras, J.I. (2000). Built to last: successful habits of visionary companies (3^rd edition). London: Random House Business Books.

Reingold, J. & Underwood, R. (2004). Was “Built To Last” built to last? Fast Company

Less is more and, believe it or not, your business can be more with less!

Minimalism and de-cluttering have become popular personal paradigms—you only have to Google ‘de-cluttering’ for a wealth of hints, tips, articles and websites on how to de-clutter your life.

Surprisingly, there is also a profusion of literature (both academic and experiential) that supports the value of de-cluttering your business, particularly your product lines and service offerings.

Reducing the range of choices that you offer your customers not only increases the likelihood that they will buy in the first place but it also increases their level of satisfaction with the purchase they make.

De-cluttering therefore creates value for your business. Simplification also frees up your time and resources enabling you to be outstanding at the few things you do rather than mediocre at the many.

Allow me to tell you a story…

I have sensitive teeth. When I bite into an ice cream or switch quickly between hot and cold, needles of pain shoot through my teeth. Until earlier this year, I was relying on Colgate Time Control to reduce these sensations. For whatever reason, Colgate seem to have discontinued this toothpaste and eventually I found myself in Sainsbury staring at a rather overwhelming myriad of choices.

Colgate alone sell no fewer than six different types of sensitive toothpaste: Total Sensitive, Sensitive Pro-Relief, Sensitive, Sensitive Whitening, Sensitive Multi Protection and Sensitive Enamel Protect.

The marketing speak on the boxes is virtually indecipherable and, to all intents and purposes, they all seem to do the same thing! I’m sure there’s more science involved but, from a lay-person’s perspective, the subtle differences between each product are almost impossible to discern.

And that’s not even including other brands. Sensodyne, Arm & Hammer, Oral B, Sainsbury’s own brand—the list goes on!

After standing at the shelves for a rather long time (certainly longer than should be necessary to buy a tube of toothpaste!), I eventually dropped a box of Total Sensitive into my trolley. Why? To be honest, simply because Matt uses Colgate Total Advanced Whitening and it seems to work for him.

Fortunately, my choice seems to have been a good one and I haven’t suffered any sensitivity or pain. Yet, every time I pass the shelves I find myself questioning whether there is a better toothpaste for me. Surely choosing toothpaste shouldn’t be this complicated?!

The art of simplicity

In another, totally different situation earlier this year, I was conversely impressed by the art of simplicity.

For a thoroughly English outing and to celebrate my mum’s birthday, Matt and I visited David Austen’s Plant Centre. Heading to the tearooms for lunch, we found ourselves stood inside the door by a blackboard with ‘Today’s Lunch Menu’ handwritten in chalk.

As we waited to be seated, we read the menu. Served between 12 – 2.30pm, diners at the tearooms could choose from a selection of six lunchtime platters: two different types of sandwiches, a garden platter, pâté, coronation chicken or dressed Devon crab. Even with only six options, we had difficulty choosing but, by the time we were seated, the waitress was able to take our order immediately.

A restaurant menu is one situation in which an abundance of choice is generally thought to be a good thing. Interestingly however, the limited selection offered in the tearooms not only conferred benefits upon the diners—we were seated quickly despite a long queue, received our meals almost immediately, were given great customer service and ate a fabulous meal—but also upon the business itself.

The tedious chore of queuing was transformed into a creative choice process; diners reached their decisions faster, enabling a higher number of covers to be filled within the short lunchtime period; food production was highly efficient as only a limited number of dishes were being served; and ordering processes are likely to have been simplified and relatively volume based.

Around the same time as this, I stumbled across another article on the idea of less is more. In this article, Lawrence Chan profiled The Doughnut Vault—a doughnut store in Chicago .

Starting at 8.30am Tuesday-Friday and 9.30am on Saturday, The Doughnut Vault typically sell between 750 to 900 doughnuts per day but once they’re sold out (often by 10am!), that’s it—they’re sold out. Even though the store only offer a limited range of flavours, the queue to buy is often 40 to 50 people deep and nearly an hour long to wait.

As Lawrence points out, “scarcity lends value”. By limiting availability and supply, The Doughnut Vault creates a sense of urgency and demand for their product. Not only that, but as Brian Adams expresses in one of the blog’s comments, limited options enable “higher quality control”, conferring further benefits upon the business.

I was similarly intrigued by another of the blog’s comments by Fabiana Loverde de Huffaker:

My sister opened a home decor store that is only open on Thursdays. She has 400-600 transactions per week. Prices are to die for, service is top notch. People come from all parts of the western US with trailers and will clean her out. The thinking was, if you need something from Walmart, and you know it is open 24/7, you put it off. If you can only get it one day a week, you make it a priority to get there on that one day. People thought she was crazy and 5 years later, she can not keep up with demand. Donuts or decor – the principle works!

A sound business case

As I hinted earlier, aside from the experiential evidence above, an extremely sound business case can be made for embracing the idea of less is more.

Back in 2000, Sheena Iyengar (a professor at Columbia Business School) and Mark Lepper (a professor of psychology at Stanford University) conducted what has become a classic study on the consequences of choice.

Whether examining the behaviour of consumers purchasing jam in an upscale grocery store, the performance of social psychology students in an extra-credit essay assignment, or the satisfaction and purchasing behaviour of individuals tasting chocolates, Iyengar and Lepper consistently demonstrated that a wider range of choice can have a detrimental effect on satisfaction, performance, motivation and even purchasing behaviour. Even in situations where choice had relatively trivial consequences, their results were startling.

When consumers were presented with a tasting booth of Wilkin & Sons’ jam at Draeger’s Supermarket, those consumers who encountered a display of only six different varieties of jam were ten times more likely to buy than those individuals who encountered a display of twenty-four varieties.

Similarly, students who encountered only six different flavours of Godiva chocolates were four times as likely to choose a box of chocolates over the offer of $5 than those who either encountered thirty different flavours or those who had been given no choice in which chocolate to sample. Individuals who had encountered a limited range of flavours were also significantly more satisfied with the chocolate that they tasted.

Such findings have been replicated time and again. In 2004, Barry Schwartz wrote ‘The paradox of choice: why more is less’—over 200 pages of examples and evidence supporting the idea that whilst we feel like an abundance of choice should bring freedom and happiness, in fact too much choice “might even be said to tyrannize”.

And household brands are learning from these ideas and capitalising upon them.

In the early 1990s, Proctor & Gamble reduced its product roster by one third; “even the mighty Head & Shoulders line was pared in half”. In the same period, P&G’s overall sales grew by one third and sales per item in hair care more than doubled, with market share in hair care growing by nearly five points.

More recently, “when General Motors shrunk its brands from eight to four last year, dealers reported a 16% increase in sales.”

Is it time to de-clutter your business?

In the face of the possibility that your business could become more with less and could even gain competitive advantage, is it time to trim your product lines or service offerings? Have they become unnecessarily complex or overwhelmingly confusing? Could you create value for your organisation and your customers by adopting the idea that less is more?

In a world in which complexity increases almost daily, being able to make simple choices is a refreshing change and simplicity helps you to stand out from the crowd. Far from being unhelpful or constrictive, by giving our customers less choice, we actually release them to focus on the more important things in life. After all, life is too short to spend more than 2 minutes worrying about which toothpaste to buy!

And for those of you who like the research…

Button, G. (2011). Over-branding kills profits and scares off consumers. Fast Company’s Co.Design

Iyengar, S. & Lepper, M. (2000). When choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 79: 995-1006.

Schiller, Z., Burns, G. & Lowry, K. (1996). Make it simple. BusinessWeek.com

Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: why more is less. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Before we dive into your marketing plan however, I hasten to add that this template is based on a couple of assumptions. We’re assuming you already fully understand your market, customers, competition and organisational capabilities—yes? Great!

We’re also assuming you’ve decided on your target market segments and priorities, brand positioning, basis for competing and overall marketing strategy. Another yes? Brilliant!

In that case, let’s dive right into how to create a great marketing plan for 2012.

Introducing the template

• The marketing plan template has two tabs: one for creating a plan of your marketing activities and the other for planning your marketing budget.
• Down the left hand side of each sheet, you’ll find all the possible elements of the marketing mix you might want to make use of.
• In the budgeting sheet, we’ve also included formulas that add up the monthly and yearly subtotals/totals so you can keep track of how much you’re spending and when.
• The bit in the middle of each sheet is for you to fill in!

What you’re aiming for in a marketing plan

Your goal is to end up with a scheduled and co-ordinated marketing plan that effectively engages your customers, that is aligned with your strategy and that, of course, drives both your brand awareness and your revenue growth.

In order to meet this aim, you’ll need to…

Take an engaging approach

Given that marketing has almost wholly moved from push marketing to the creation of two-way engagement, you are not looking for opportunity to bombard your existing and potential customers with messages focused solely on your greatness. Rather, start looking for opportunities to add value and to be useful. Don’t take customer relationships for granted—you need to earn your prospects’ trust, respect and loyalty. While different industries will have different expectations, showing your potential customers that you understand their needs is always a great place to start.

Use the marketing mix effectively

There are many ways to market your business—sadly however, there is no silver bullet and no predetermined secret to success. The idea is not to use every single element of the marketing mix but rather to match your message to your customers and to align both of these with the communication medium you choose. Some elements of the marketing mix will be better at targeting the people you are trying to reach, whilst others will be a complete #fail. Choose wisely and choose a mix that maximises your chances of success.

Allocate resources wisely

You’re likely to have a set budget for your marketing, so the aim is to maximise your bang for the buck. Not all marketing communications are created equal when it comes to return on investment, so make sure your budget is allocated to those elements that will deliver the highest return. And once you’ve allocated your budget, stick to it! Although flexibility is at times needed, becoming too flexible and trigger happy over your latest campaign can scupper your best laid plans for the rest of the year.

Reduce, reuse and recycle

If your organisation is like most businesses, there are usually finite resources when it comes to marketing, both in terms of time and budgets. By creating a marketing plan that cleverly integrates each element, and by reusing and repurposing content across different channels, you can increase the impact of your marketing, whilst reducing the amount of work required. With the new year presenting a perfect opportunity to take stock, you could also look at simplifying your marketing and cutting out those elements that haven’t worked so well in previous years, freeing up valuable resource for other activities.

Measure results and learn

If you don’t measure the effect of your marketing, you are likely to find it difficult to select and prioritise your marketing mix and to effectively allocate resource. By tracking leads and their sources, along with a broader range of key performance indicators, you’ll be able to discern what works and what doesn’t. Whilst you’ll probably find online marketing easier to track, it’s also possible to successfully track offline campaigns, so make sure you put measures in place to do so where you can. Whether online or off, it is also vital to listen to the voice of your consumers, enabling you to understand their reactions and capitalise upon their response.

Plan ahead

It may sound obvious but marketing tends to be time intensive, so don’t underestimate the time it will take to complete necessary design processes, write copy, obtain approvals, establish your social media, and so on. For many businesses, there are specific times of the year that you need to be in touch with your customers—retail businesses live and die by their seasonal campaigns! By planning ahead and getting everything ready in advance, you’ll ensure that you don’t miss out on vital opportunities.

Focus on existing customers too

It’s generally recognised that the cost of acquiring a new customer is far higher than retaining the loyalty of an existing one. Thinking about your customers in terms of total lifetime value can be helpful when deciding how much resource to invest in gaining new prospects versus encouraging loyalty. How can you make your customers—both new and old—feel loved and valued? What can you do to provide such good products and services that they never want to leave? Don’t forget to reward loyalty in your marketing campaigns too—don’t just give all the special offers to the newbies, leaving your trusted, loyal customers feeling unloved and out in the cold.

Not drop the ball

In many cases marketing is only part of the process. Once you’ve generated a lead, you need to turn it into action. This requires great follow-up by your sales team, exceptional delivery of a fantastic product and/or service, and outstanding after-sales care. I’m always surprised by the number of businesses that fail to follow up leads and I’ve had this experience personally with several potential suppliers—suffice to say, they never ended up with my business! Returning a call or following up an enquiry is a simple but crucial step to completing a sale. Ultimately, marketing is the stepping stone to creating an ongoing relationship with your customers and it’s important that they experience a consistent customer journey from start to finish.

Over to you

Download: Marketing Planning & Budgeting Template 2012 (MS Excel file)

To enable you to maximise the value you obtain from this service and to help you create a great partnership between yourselves, your International Trade Advisor (ITA) and your OMIS team, we’ve pulled together our top tips for getting the best out of OMIS.

Top-level strategy

Before diving headlong into internationalisation, it is imperative to develop a strategy. Whilst you may not need to document your strategy in a lengthy tome, you should at the very minium have some form of strategic framework—we certainly wouldn’t recommend playing pin the tail on the country!

• Develop an overall vision of where you want your business to be in the future
• Create a business strategy that will enable you to achieve this
• Develop an international strategy that is aligned with your business strategy
• Identify your target country or a shortlist of countries/regions
• Set aside a budget for your internationalisation—include the costs of OMIS, travel, accommodation, marketing collateral, legal advice and documentation, etc.

Online research

It’s pointless paying someone else to find out basic information that a couple of hours or a morning spent on Google could give you, so don’t be lazy! You’ll spend as much time explaining what you want to a market specialist as it will take you to complete a quick, broad sweep of the landscape yourself.

• Start by doing some basic online research
• Where possible, find out about the market structure, size and potential within your chosen country
• Try to establish a basic profile of your industry: Who will your competitors be? Who might you be able to partner with? What is your customer profile within that country?
• Conduct an initial search to uncover key political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors that might influence your business overseas
• Don’t forget to search for other UK companies that are already trading in your target country as you may be able to learn from their experiences and/or to partner with them

Choosing your OMIS package

Having completed your own online research, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how OMIS can help you and will be able to strategically tailor your OMIS package to meet your needs. It’s likely that the closer you are to entering your chosen market, the more practical the services you need will be.

• Mix and match OMIS services to select those that best meet your needs and requirements
• Use OMIS for ‘value added’ services (i.e. activities that you are unable to easily do yourself)
• For market research, choose between depth and breadth depending upon your current level of understanding—you’ll want to dive deeper into the market if you already understand the broad brush strokes than if you’ve had difficulty establishing basic information
• Tie any activities you ask for to your next planned steps—all services will be part of a bigger process

Creating a clear brief

A good brief is vital to maximising the value you receive from OMIS—when requesting OMIS services, you’ll be asked to complete a standard UKTI form, which should provide you with the structure you need. Remember, you’re engaging the services of someone who doesn’t yet know your business, who doesn’t know you and who certainly can’t read your mind, so the more information you can give them about your company and what you are looking for, the better.

• Clearly specify your objectives
• Ensure you have understood who will be carrying out your brief and write it accordingly
• Define key outcomes and findings that you require from OMIS
• A clear focused brief = clear focused research and services
• Double check that you and your market specialist have a mutually agreed understanding of the research and services to be carried out

Ongoing engagement with OMIS staff

Whilst written communications are great, verbal communication can’t be beaten. Ensure that you maintain contact with both your ITA and OMIS in the same way as you would to get the best out of your own staff and suppliers. Misunderstandings can happen, especially across international borders, and you’ll save a lot of time and hassle if you make sure that everyone is on the same page from the outset.

• Maintain personal involvement throughout the OMIS process―phone conversations are best
• Relationship is important to getting the right results
• Conduct regular health checks on your OMIS services
• Use milestones and due dates
• Ensure that you obtain sight of draft/initial research so that you can be involved in final revisions/tweaks

Final sign off on market research

Once you’ve received a completed OMIS report, check through it to ensure that it meets your stated brief—don’t just leave it in your inbox gathering dust! If anything is missing or does not meet your expectations, contact your market specialist as soon as possible—they will quickly move on to their next project and it will be easier for them to revise your report whilst it’s still fresh in their mind.

• Once the research has been completed, make sure that you sign off on your brief and that you’re happy it has been met
• Prior to sign off, ensure that you obtain any final amendments that you feel are needed

Using OMIS to conduct a market visit

If you’ve correctly specified your OMIS report, you should now have a strong list of potential customers and partners who you may wish to meet with. Before you dash out on the next plane however, it’s vital to ensure that you’re thoroughly prepared and that you’re making the most of the support that OMIS can give you.

• Let the OMIS staff know when you’d like to visit your chosen country and what you’ll be hoping to achieve―again, a clear brief ensures successful outcomes for all
• Check with your market specialist to ensure that your planned dates don’t coincide with any public holidays or national celebrations
• Where possible, give your OMIS team plenty of notice about your intentions―OMIS’ in-country support can be hugely valuable but if you leave it to the last minute to liaise with the team, it’s highly likely they’ll be unavailable due to other commitments
• Prioritise who you’d like to meet with and explain to your market specialist why you’ve made these choices so they can arrange your meeting schedule accordingly
• If you’d like a market briefing, cultural advice or explanations of business etiquette, specify this when you choose your OMIS package―alternatively, if a UKTI trade mission is arranged for your sector and chosen country, many of these services will often be included

Turning OMIS into action

It’s now your turn to act! The key to unlocking the value of OMIS services is to be a proactive partner throughout your internationalisation journey. Whilst OMIS can help you to lay all the right foundations, at the end of the day it’s up to you to promote your business, to make a great impression with the people you meet, to build lasting relationships and to follow-up effectively. OMIS can generate huge return on investment if you effectively play your part.

In a highly succinct and lucid talk, Berlow demonstrates that complex doesn’t always equal complicated and shows how visualising vastly complex situations, systems and connections can actually lead to surprisingly simple answers and insights. He even distilles and crystallises an infamous Powerpoint slide that was designed to portray the complexity of American military strategy in Afghanistan and of which General Stanley A. McChrystal is said to have remarked, “When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war!”

If you have a spare 3 minutes (the talk really is that short!), I’d really encourage you to watch the video.

For me, the stand out quotes from Berlow were…

The more you step back and embrace complexity, the better chance you have of finding simple answers. And it’s often different than the simple answer you started with.

…Simplicity often lies on the other side of complexity, so for any problem, the more you can zoom out and embrace complexity, the better chance you have of zooming in on the simple details that matter most.

You may be wondering however why I am writing about this on a blog entitled ‘Business Musings’. Well, for me, what Berlow is saying really does apply to business. Matt and I have oftentimes found that the more one steps back and embraces complexity in strategy, marketing, performance improvement and more, the clearer the situation becomes. With complexity also comes an increased likelihood that you will find an answer that delivers the outcomes you are looking for.

Chatting to Matt earlier, he cited the example of sales being a frequent focus of financial objectives and concerns. When targets aren’t being met and a business isn’t growing at the rate you hoped it would be, it’s tempting to assume that you simply need to drive more sales and for your sales people to work harder. Their targets have been set, they must achieve them!

However, this can be a simplistic and naive outlook. In reality, although a failure to reach sales targets could be due to the underperformance of your sales people, there are a whole host of other factors that might be influencing this outcome. It may be that your target market is declining or your market has shifted such that your product or service no longer meets the needs of your audience; a new competitor or a substitute product/service may have appeared in your marketplace making it difficult for you to compete; your marketing may be failing to generate an adequate number of leads or to encourage trust and loyalty to your brand; your branding and positioning may have become outdated or may no longer be relevant to your market; or it could be that your sales targets are in fact inaccurate. And that is just a handful of the factors that could be involved. To paraphrase Berlow’s vocabulary, by focusing only on the sales and finance ‘nodes’ in this situation, you risk missing the fundamental root cause that is in reality your key to success.

In almost all business situations, it’s vital to examine the broader situation, to consider a host of contributing variables, and in the end to hopefully arrive at a clear, accurate and potentially simple solution. Whilst embracing complexity doesn’t necessarily guarantee either success or simplicity, I would personally take complexity over a simple but fatally flawed outlook any day.

For many of us, whilst we appreciate great design when we see it, designing anything for ourselves can prove somewhat of a challenge. Great designers typically have a healthy dose of natural talent and have spent hours and hours practicing their trade. Neither of these factors make DIY design easy!

That is not to say that we mere mortals do not have ideas, opinions and an overall direction that we would like to take the design of our brand, product, customer experience or store. In an ideal world, a designer would be able to read our minds and would have complete insight into our business strategy. They would just know what we wanted. In reality, it just doesn’t work that way. If your other half can’t read your mind, how does your designer have a hope?!

Help is at hand

A design brief is a tool that helps you to clearly communicate your ideas and requirements to your designer ensuring that he/she effectively meets your objectives. A design brief can also be used to obtain accurate quotes and precise pitches from a selection of designers, thereby aiding your decision making process.

What should be included in a design brief?

Item(s) to be designed

First things first, you probably know what item(s) you want designed, whether it’s a brochure, email newsletter, website, office space or a whole new brand identity. Communicate this upfront to give the designer an idea of the scope of your project.

Company profile

In all likelihood, a designer won’t know your business inside out, so a clear description of your organisation provides a solid foundation for your project. It will also ensure that your designer creates designs that are appropriate for your industry. Even if you feel your brand is a household name, don’t assume that a designer will know your side of the story—it’s really helpful for them to hear it in your own words. Aim to answer questions such as:

• What does your business do?
• What is its history?
• How are you different to your competitors?

Objectives

Good design can help you to meet your business objectives. It will therefore help if your designer understands how this project fits into your wider objectives and what you would consider a successful outcome from this work. Aim to answer questions such as:

• What are the goals of this design project?
• What has brought about the need for this work—for example, are you launching a new product, trying to sell more products, raise brand awareness and so on?
• What do you want the design to communicate?
• What is your most important take home message?

Target audience

Describe the people who will be interacting with your design, including their unique characteristics. Consider providing demographic details (such as occupation, gender, age range, nationality), details about their seniority within an organisation and their job role, behavioural details (such as loyalty, usage, the benefits they are looking for) and psychographic details (such as values, attitudes, opinions, interests). Alternatively, you could take a more persona based approach: “John is a…”. Aim to answer questions such as:

• Who are the people you would like to reach with this design?
• Why do they care about your company/product/service?
• If you have several target audiences, who is the most/least important?

Context

From a designer’s perspective, it can be difficult for them to know how much creative freedom they have within a project and what your expectations are. Be clear about the results you are hoping for and how the design will fit within the wider brand/marketing context of your business. Answer questions such as:

• How will this design fit into the wider activities of your business—for example, will you be running multiple promotions, additional events and so on?
  
• Does the current design need to conform with/complement existing marketing material and, if so, what?
• Do you want to update your existing collateral or are you looking for a complete redesign?

Where you have existing collateral available, it can be really helpful to include a few examples of these within your brief.  For example, you could provide a link to your website, a sheet of your letterhead, an existing brochure and so on.

Inspiration

You may have already seen various designs you like and others that you hate, not only within your own industry but even within other industries, your home and in everyday life. By providing your designer with this information, you’ll give them invaluable insights as to what kind of creative approach will work well for you. Answer questions such as:

• What examples of design do you like?
• What examples of design do you hate?
• What do you like about your existing material and is there anything you would like to change?
• What words or metaphors describe the feel that you would like your new design to have?

Specification, constraints and available materials

It may be that you have a clearly defined specification for this project or there may be elements of it that are still up in the air. Define what you already know and highlight those areas that still need clarification or that you would like support from your designer to answer. Answer questions such as:

• Are there any constraints to what is being designed—for example, does the design need to conform to a particular size, shape, colour palette and so on?
• Are you looking only for design services or would you like a full service that includes printing, production, web coding, mailing and so on?
• What copy/pictures/photographs/diagrams need to be included in the design?
• Are images available or will these need to be sourced?
• Will a professional copywriter or photographer be needed?

Budget and schedule

If you have a budget range in mind, be upfront with your designer. Whilst it can be tempting to think that designers will see your budget as a target, in reality it helps them to understand the scope of your project so they can create a design that fits your needs. If you’re not looking for a full service from your designer, don’t forget to also budget for additional elements such as printing, web coding, mailing and so on.

Similarly, be upfront with your designer about your schedule. Although they may face their own scheduling constraints and good design usually takes time, it is vital that they are aware of deadlines such as an upcoming product launch, trade show, holiday offer and so on. Answer questions such as:

• How much are you looking to spend on this design?
• How soon would you like the work to be completed and do you have a specific deadline to meet?
• Is your schedule flexible in any way?
• How do you see the timeline of the various phases involved in the design work?

A stitch in time saves nine

Whilst there can be a temptation to believe that your time would be better spent diving straight into the design work instead of taking the time to write a brief, in reality you’ll find that this approach is a false economy (much like building a house without agreeing the plans first). As you start to write the brief, you may find that you don’t yet know all the answers you need—this is just confirmation of the brief’s importance. If you don’t yet know what you are looking for, how can you expect your designer to?

As you collate your ideas, involve your colleagues and don’t be shy about asking for their input. Ensure that you obtain sign-off on the completed brief from both senior management and other relevant parties too—there can be differing views on objectives internally and it’s always best to find this out at the start rather than when everyone complains about the finished design! The bigger the project, the more important collaboration and sign-off become.

All in all, you’ll find that having a good design brief not only ensures that your designer will love you forever but also that you get a better design for less money and with less confusion, hassle and headaches along the way.

What is OMIS?

If you haven’t heard of it before, OMIS stands for Overseas Market Introduction Service. Provided by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), OMIS allows businesses to access the services of UK trade teams located in British embassies, high commissions and consulates across the world. Having used OMIS ourselves for several international client projects, we’ve found it to be a hugely valuable service and would recommend it to anyone looking to break into a new overseas market.

Why do we recommend it?

Internationalisation can be a daunting task, especially when there are differences in time zones, languages and cultures. OMIS provides a wealth of practical support, advice and key market information, supporting you through each stage of your international journey.

Whilst we’d always encourage you to begin the process of market research for yourselves, international research can be difficult when you don’t have contacts ‘on the ground’ and the research information you are looking for is in another language—Babel Fish and Google Translate only go so far! OMIS teams can prove invaluable in finding the information you need and you’ll be amazed by the caché that contacting organisations through the British Embassy brings—it really can open doors that would otherwise remain closed. Imagine sitting at your desk in the UK and receiving a call from an international embassy—you would certainly provide a warmer reception than for a cold caller. The call would probably get past your secretary too! This works in the same way abroad.

When it comes to actually visiting an international market in person, OMIS can be on hand then too. Booking meetings for a market visit and sending marketing material abroad can be time-consuming and frustrating due to the added complexities of tracking down the correct address in another language, dealing with international postage, sourcing meeting venues, and ensuring that you don’t book two meetings at opposite ends of the country on the same day! Using OMIS’ market specialists removes considerable stress and hassle both during the organisation of your visit and once you’ve actually landed in the country. We’ve used this service before and wouldn’t consider organising a market visit any other way.

How can OMIS help me?

OMIS provides a broad range of activities, each of which can be tailored to your individual requirements. You might be looking for more indepth information on a particular market, interested in identifying a new business partner for your services or looking to launch your product abroad with a splash: OMIS can help in any or all of these situations.

To give you a better idea of the types of services you can purchase through OMIS, I’ve put together a list of example activities that OMIS can undertake for you below (the list isn’t exhaustive but it is relatively comprehensive):

Market research

• Identification of market size, market potential and key trends within a marketplace
• Provision of localised industry and sector advice
• Analysis of possible routes to market
• In-country competitor analysis
• Assessment of the potential level of demand for your products or services
• Identification of opportunities and prospects

Introductions and partner selection

• Identification of possible business contacts and partners
• Assessment of the level of interest displayed by potential partners
• Background checks and partner references
• Provision of marketing material to partners of interest (including provision of cover letters in the partner’s native language and personal follow-up once the material has been sent)
• ‘Warming up’ of potential partners and contacts
• Organisation of local market introductions (for example, Chambers of Commerce, trade associations and so on)

During your international visit

• Organisation of meetings for your market visit
• Provision of pre-visit briefings and one-to-one mentoring
• Provision of local support to get you from meeting to meeting in an unfamiliar country
• Provision of translation, cultural advice and explanations of business ettiquette during meetings
• Organisation of a launch event hosted at the British embassy (with possible access to the British Ambassador or High Commissioner at the event)
• Invitation of guests and organisation of bespoke receptions, meetings and seminars where you can personally present your product or service
• Organisation of follow-up meetings and post-visit support

Sadly, not all activities are available in every overseas market as the activities are dependent upon the presence of UKTI market specialists within a given country, but where OMIS is available the market specialists are solely dedicated to supporting UK businesses (UKTI provides a full list of country specific information on their website—those countries marked in bold offer full local services).

What will it cost?

OMIS services start from around £225 and then vary in price depending upon your requirements, the level of support you are looking for and the country that you are looking to target. Overall, their prices are very competitive compared to commercial in-country support, especially when you consider the reduction of risk and the support apparatus around these services in the UK.

So what now?

Your first step is to get in touch with UKTI (look for your local contact by region) and to meet with an International Trade Adviser (ITA). Your ITA will become your key point of contact and will be able to offer additional advice on your internationalisation process. To enable you to access OMIS, your ITA will put you in touch with the right contacts, help you fill in the relevant paperwork and brief, and support you throughout the OMIS process.

Update 10 November 2011

If you have already started the OMIS process or are thinking about requesting their services, we’ve pulled together our top tips for getting the best out of OMIS in our latest article.