I’ve been talking to two clients about extending their brands this week. Both have been trading for a while and both have brands that have taken off faster than they expected. One is in the food sector and one in retail clothing. We met them both just as they were starting out and it’s been as exciting for us as for them to see how well the marketplace has taken to the brands we have developed. But now they have a dilemma – should they be satisfied with organic growth or try to turbo-charge their businesses by extending their brands across new products, and into new markets? It may seem like a safe approach to stay with what one knows and to promote existing products into known and proven markets. However, every product goes through a bell curve and, unless you’ve launched the next Kit-Kat, it’s safe to assume that sales will start to decine at some point. It is therefore better in the interests of longer term growth to capitalise on the brand value that one has built up by extending it.

I have advised both clients to undertake some research so that they understand what motivates sales of their brand at the present time. Until these factors are understood, any brand extension could be going off at a tangent based on incorrect assumptions. This research need not be time-consuming or costly. My food client could run a focus group to establish whether people buy his product because it is perceived as a luxury treat or as good for the health, or for a mixture of both reasons. The results that emerge will provide a clear direction for new products and indicate whether the original brand values should be replicated in a new product or a sub-brand created to communicate either the indulgence aspect or the health aspect. The sub-brand route would be recommended if there is any risk of tainting the core brand with conflicting values in the new product.

Similarly with my clothing client. As this is a retail operation, some test marketing can easily be carried out before any investment is made in brand extensions. Fashion is a fickle market but with consumer feedback being so readily available, it is easier to make the right decisions.

Whilst many sectors are suffering at present, we notice that food and clothing brands continue to be buoyant, especially at the premium end of the market. They key word there is “brands”. It is more vital than ever to differentiate by brand at the point of sale when times are hard. If the product looks good it will sell, even if it costs more than the item on the next shelf, or the next webpage.

I’m reading a great book at the moment – Grow Your Service Firm by Robert Craven. The book refers to a survey undertaken by the Rockefeller Corporation on the factors that affect the choice of an accountant. I think the same factors would apply to the choice of any professional advisor – a marketing consultant, a solicitor, a financial advisor, etc. The key factors were interpersonal skills, interest in the client, willingness and perceived honesty amongst others. The one factor missing from the list was PRICE. And the reason most people gave for leaving an accountant was that they felt a lack of interest in them and their business. This is so true. I’ve had the same experience myself and it took me several years to find an accountant with a genuine interest in my business and who saved me more than he cost.

Why, knowing that price is so low on the priority list if it even appears at all, do businesses insist on selling on price? As Mr Craven says, “The road to bankruptcy is paved with people who tried to buy market share by cutting prices.” Better to be “reassuringly expensive” than to commit financial suicide by selling your valuable skills for less than they are worth. I would rather lose a sale on the grounds of being too expensive than because of the quality of our work. Whilst maintaining price integrity is difficult in a challenging climate, it is a slippery slope once you start to buy work in.

Finally, if your business were a car, what type would it be? Just one of the questions posed by this book – one of the best I’ve read for a long time. The premium car marques are apparently doing rather well at the moment.

I’ve been working on branding for a couple of projects concerning mental health recently. It’s an issue that affects us all as much as physical health but it’s not talked about very much owing to the stigma that still exists. There is now a Mental Health First Aid Kit that can be used at times of crisis. The use of this “kit” can be taught to people in organisations in the same way that they can be taught to administer emergency aid when people are injured or have a heart attack. I think this is a great idea. Most of the time, when we sense that people are suffering from emotional issues or approaching a breakdown, we get a bit embarrassed and pretend not to notice. Timely intervention can prevent these problems from escalating. After all, mental health is a spectrum – we’re neither 100% ill or 100% well at any time, just as our physical health ebbs and flows. I’m looking forward to learning more about this from our clients and to helping them to communicate it into the marketplace.

We will donate £1 for the first 300 unique visitors to www.alphaontrac.co.uk this month. This is to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I was invited to join the Shropshire branch of Breakthrough Breast Cancer by a friend last year. This small group raises huge amounts of money by organising events in the county and the funds that are raised on a national scale go towards research into this very common disease. Most of us know someone who has been affected either directly or indirectly.

People often feel drawn to supporting a cause that has affected them personally but in my case it was the other way round. I joined the charity and 9 months later I was called to the local hospital in July following a routine examination. To say that this was inconvenient may seem like a massive understatement but the only way I could deal with this was to attend the appointment with complete belief that it was a mistake and an unwelcome interruption at a very busy time. I had just signed contracts for the merging of our business with The Ontrac Agency and being ill was not on the agenda. When the nurses asked me why I was attending alone and whether they could call a relative for me, it suddenly started to seem more serious. A biopsy was taken and I was sent away to await the result. A week later I attended again to be told that the sample taken was insufficient to be conclusive and another biopsy was taken. This second test revealed a suspicious area and I was booked in for day surgery. Fast forward four very anxious weeks and I was told by a beaming surgeon that the result was completely benign. It is apparently very unusual to get as far as having surgery and then have a good result so I was very lucky indeed.

I cannot put into words how I felt during that time. I also cannot express enough gratitude for the people with whom I shared the experience and who gave me so much support. In particular my friends in the Shropshire Breakthrough group. I guess I would have wanted to continue with my support of this very worthwhile cause with or without this experience but it has enhanced my empathy for anyone who has, or suspects they might have a disease that kills 1000 women in the UK every month. Mothers, sisters, wives, daughters – and men can get it too. Please visit our website this month.

Matthew Parris had it right in yesterday’s Times. He said that we’re too busy looking at the knives and forks instead of finding the next meal. He suggests that, instead of blaming systems and the banks for the financial situation we should be prepared to work a bit harder. This comes hard to the people who have been brought up in the wealth of the 80s when you couldn’t really fail to make money. It also comes hard to those who are now striking because they don’t belive in pay cuts and would rather risk losing jobs altogether than accept that the money simply isn’t there any more. I’ve worked in both public and private sectors in my working life so I have experience of unionised “job protection” as well as the more secure position (in my view) of having to create your own income. We’ve grown a workforce in the UK that knows all of its rights and none of its responsibilities – holidays, sick pay, minimum wage – all of these need to be funded somehow.

When I started out in business I had some advice that I’ve never forgotten from a friendly and well respected competitor . His business had failed in the recession of the early 90s. His turnover had slid from just short of £1m to under half over the period of a year. He said to me, “If you can cut your overheads by £1000 a month before you absolutely have to, do it. It would have saved my business.” The figures are bigger now but the principle is the same. All employers have to think this way now – it’s no good blaming external factors on the situation we find ourselves in. We have to tighten our belts, fly the flag (well done British Airways by the way – sense at last!) and get down to some hard work.

I’m not lacking in sympathy for those who lose jobs; we’ve been through that too. It’s a huge blow without a doubt. But once you realise that your fate is only ever in your own hands, you can start to do something about it. Whether you work for yourself or for a company, or for a public sector organisation, there will always be a financial cycle and that involves fall-out. It’s not the fault of the government, past or present, it’s just the nature of economics. Once we accept this and start working together, maybe things will start to get better.

Our new trainee started today. He’s the first for the Autumn/Winter season but others will be joining soon. We’re enhancing his basic understanding of HTML and CSS by getting him to rework a simple corporate website we built earlier this year. The Launchpad training course is tailored to the ability and aspirations of each trainee. It’s a fast-track program and we’re focusing on equipping each delegate with the skills and confidence they need to enter employment or self-employment. We’re going to have to grow this slowly as we have yet to identify a funding source but we’ve decided the best way of proving its worth is just to get on with it.

Launchpad started originally about three years ago, when the recession was just starting to bite. We realised that young people were coming out of university with qualifications but little chance of getting into the creative sector. Firstly because the number of jobs was reducing and secondly because the graduates lacked the practical skills needed by employers. Also, talented people without degrees can enter the sector given the right support and training – and we aimed to help both groups. It’s satisfying to us when we see our delegates gain good jobs after completing their training with us. We have to face the fact that young people from Shropshire often aspire to move out of the county to advance their careers and we realised many years ago that a turnover of talent is healthy in a creative business. Whilst some Launchpad delegates become part of our team, others will move on and we are proud to have helped them on their way.

Launchpad is supported by Alpha Ontrac and delegates will be working on live projects for the company.

Great news – we’re recruiting again for Launchpad. This training scheme that we devised about 3 years ago has enabled us to help people wanting to enter the creative sector. Launchpad delegates are trained on live projects and at the end of 12 months (full time course) or 24 months (part time course) they are ready either for employment or self-employment. Presentation skills and other aspects of business are taught alongside the hands-on practical skills of web design and development. We have always had a good response to the scheme, both from potential delegates and from clients of the service. Delegates are available to work for client companies or for other marketing companies through the scheme and this is how we fund the training. We may set Launchpad up as a social enterprise or community interest company soon so that funding can be accessed. This would help us achieve our objective of having 20 delegates a year go through the scheme as an alternative to university, or as a post graduate work readiness induction. www.alphalaunchpad.co.uk

In the current aggressive trading environment there are signs of an increasing lack of loyalty and integrity. After 22 years in business I’ve seen or experienced most types of skullduggery from employees trying to set up in competition whilst under our own roof to suppliers approaching clients directly. The only comfort in this is that it never lasts very long. Many of the companies in our sector are “breakaways” formed on the back of poaching a client from an ex-employer. Many people think that this is acceptable and will even risk breaching contracts to get their hands on a piece of business – it’s just not worth it. They may get away with it for a while but usually find that the same thing happens to them a little further down the line. Clients who move agencies just to save money soon find that they are missing out on some other aspect such as service, or an even lower price, then they move again. And if staff witness this lack of integrity in the workplace, they will soon follow the example they’ve been set.

The funniest example of short-sighted behaviour was by a large printing company that went into insolvency last year. They had traded for generations and were perceived as a company of quality. They served end-users as well as the trade but only the bigger agencies used them because they demanded premium prices for their premium quality, and rightly so. Customers and agencies used them because of their reputation. They took this for granted and didn’t bother investing in new equipment or keeping up with changes in technology.

As the demand for print started to slip, they finally noticed the writing on the wall and panicked. They decided to set up an in-house design and marketing department. They brought in an expensive creative director from the nearest city, they invested in new kit…. and then they made a huge mistake. They designed a very smart mailer which was like a paperchain of people. The headline was “Cut out the middleman”. And then they sent it to a database. Which happened to include all the agencies who had previously supplied them with business. I know that because I received a copy. Did we use them again? Er, no. The issue wasn’t that they were trying to compete with us, fair competition is good; but that they were trying to undermine a whole group of their own clients, and then telling us about it - how stupid is that!

If you haven’t read Who Moved my Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson, it gives great guidance on how to deal with change in an intelligent way. And if you have read it, read it again. I’ve read it a couple of times this month.

I’m in the process of buying a new smart phone – in fact it should arrive later today. I’ve been looking around for a while and seeking advice from friends and colleagues about the best type to buy. I’ve also been approached by numerous phone dealers offering all sorts of deals – very confusing. When I called to check my current contract expiry date I found it was almost up but that a month’s notice was needed to terminate. As I need the smart phone now, being out and about more than I used to be, I said I’d hoped to do this sooner. My current provider then quoted me a very good deal on the exact phone model I’d been looking for. My point is, I wonder why my provider did not seize the opportunity to offer me an upgrade rather than wait for me to reach the point of terminating my contract – they could easily have lost my business. I know I keep going on about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) but it’s key to retaining relationships with clients.

I visited a client of long standing the other day to talk to him about how to generate enquiries for the approaching Autumn/Winter season. He is a retailer in the home products sector. His products tend to have a long life span – some 10-15 years. I asked my client how far his customer records went back and he told me it was almost 30 years. He celebrates his 30th anniversary next year which was another reason for our meeting. I suggested that we go through the customer records, make a database then circulate the customers who fall into the group that may want an updated product from him. Even if the customers have changed address, the new owners at the address could well be looking for a replacement product. I told my client that it is between 8 and 10 times easier to sell to people who know of you and your business than it is to enter new territory with cold approaches to people who have never heard of you. We are now talking about producing a newsletter that will showcase new product ranges, talk about improvements in the industry, feature some information about my client and his business – in short to engage with these past customers and show how they are valued. This approach could be adopted by any business in any sector.

I often think about how the banks miss a trick with CRM. When our son was small we used to encourage him to save with the help of the NatWest piggy banks. These pottery piggy banks were produced as a limited edition and they are now quite collectable. To a small boy they were a great incentive not to spend all his pocket money but to save for the next pig in the family. When our son reached the age of 18 and was about to go to university he opened a bank account – but not with Natwest – he was offered some music vounchers by another high street bank who had spotted that he was reaching maturity. He has been with that bank ever since, his wife now banks with the same bank and no doubt their son will start a relationship with that bank too when he qualifies for pocket money!  Loyalty is in short supply these days and we have to work harder to retain it. If we don’t look after our clients, another company will. Keep close to them.

I was just speaking to a client who was a bit disillusioned with online marketing. He has now semi-retired and works from home servicing some of the clients he used to serve when he had a large premises near the town centre.He told me that, when his business was at its peak, he had only four competitors, all of whom were within the county. When the internet became more widely used he suddenly found himself with hundreds of competitors; all selling at low prices and he felt he could no longer compete, nor did he want to. Whilst he was finding his new situation a challenge, he wasn’t confident enough to get back in the arena. I understood his frustration but not every business owner is at a stage where they can take retirement so the issue of increased competition needs to be faced. My advice to business owners would be:
1. Do not feel under pressure to reduce prices. If you do not maintain margins you will end up buying in unprofitable business. Remember that price is only one aspect of the sales process.
2. Add value to the sale – offer better service and communicate that in your marketing.
3. Increase off-line marketing and PR – use a variety of media to promote your products and services. Many of your competitors will be relying too heavily, or even exclusively, on online marketing and that could be their downfall.
4. Market your business in your local and surrounding areas – many purchasers still value face to face relationships and will welcome a local supplier, even if it means paying a premium.
5. If you can’t beat them, join them – make sure your website is as good as it can possibly be. It needs to draw customers in and keep them involved. Then it needs to invite a response – the old rules of ATTRACT attention, provide INFORMATION, provoke DESIRE and invite ACTION still apply and you’d be surprised how many websites fail to do any of these adequately.

For mature businesses to survive and thrive nowadays the internet and social media should be viewed as opportunities rather than threats. When my client gets bored with golf, we’ll get together and see how a creative, cross-media campaign can get him back in the limelight.

We’ve got a tiler at home this week. It’s for the downstairs toilet which has been untouched for 25 years. Yes that’s right, a quarter of a century of rather unpleasant beige flowery tiles! Anyway we’ve bought some lovely black and white marble tiles for the floor and traditional rectangular white ones for the walls, a new toilet and basin. Should look very smart – when it’s done. On Tuesday evening, relaxing after work, we noticed the sound of dripping water coming from the vicinity of the smallest room. Upon investigation, there was water leaking into the cellar and the hall carpet was beginning to feel soggy. The tiler could not be reached but was expected back the next morning so we waited. He failed to appear on Wednesday and when we finally reached him on the phone he promised to bring a plumber with him this morning. The plumber diagnosed a leak at 8.30 this morning as I was wanting to leave for the office but said he could do nothing about it as he was off on holiday at lunchtime. Could we wait a week? The tiler seemed to think this was a good idea. He had other jobs he needed to do anyway. I told the tiler that I thought not. He must locate another plumber and that, if the leak had been upstairs we would have no option. Even though it was downstairs we had the hall woodwork to consider plus the carpet, etc. The tiler looked at the plumber and said, “Perhaps we’d better ring the husband?”

Readers, I don’t want to sound like a ranting feminist but there are times when, as a woman, one has to weigh up how to deal with this sort of situation. Very calmly is best I find. I told the tiler to find another plumber who could deal with the leak today then left for work, after making them both cups of tea of course. On the way to work I called ”the husband” to make sure he agreed that to live with a leak, no downstairs loo and a complete mess in the hall for a week was not really an option. I didn’t want him to undermine the little woman when he was called by the men!