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Richard Gee Presents....
John Shattock
 
Subject: Marketing: Expense or investment?

Hi Richard,

John Shattock here. This is your copy of Get Your Message Across,  the email
newsletter which helps you do just that.

In this issue:

 * Marketing: Expense or investment? This article is from our sister
website, The Marketing Coach (www.marketingcoach.co.nz/pays.html) It is also
relevant to businesses concerned with marketing communication.

 * Talking up Business: How to build your personal brand through speaking ­
one-hour tele-seminar 27 April (www.marketingcoach.co.nz/talking.html)

 * This month's computer tip: More useful advice from the experts to make
you more productive.

Reading time: Less than 5 minutes

* * * * * * * * *

** Marketing: Expense or investment? **

Is marketing an expense, or an investment? Your answer to that question will
determine how much of it you do, and how successful your business is as a
result.

I believe marketing is an investment. And the most important thing a service
business owner can invest is time.
 
Most service businesses rely on so-called "word-of-mouth" marketing. The key
elements which make this type of marketing work most effectively are
knowledge, expertise and guidance.

These are things which can be bought or hired. But for most small-medium
service businesses, knowledge, expertise and guidance have more value if
they are transferred to the business owner or manager.
 
This requires the business owner or manager to spend time (and some money)
on that process.

Sometimes business owners have a mind-set that they cannot afford the time
or the money.

They see marketing as something which should only be bought (not learnt as
well) and therefore they see it as a cost.

Marketing does not cost. It PAYS!

If any other area of business generated an output several times its input,
not just immediately but on an on-going basis, it would be called an
investment.

But because marketing involves a monetary cost, it is defined as an expense.
No-one thinks about the return.

Business people often take a similar attitude to spending time on marketing.

This is especially so in service businesses which charge their clients or
customers by the hour.

A working proprietor or partner usually has the attitude that paying clients
or customers come first.

While this loyalty to the people who are the basis of the business is
commendable, it has some unfortunate side-effects. One of these is a  focus
on personal productivity which can become all-consuming.

Anything which is not "billable time" is seen as an erosion of profit
potential. Time spent on marketing gets lumped into that category.

This causes business owners and partners to become extremely reluctant to
commit time to marketing activities ­ unless the flow of business has dried
up to the point where they literally have nothing else to do!

Former Harvard Business School professor and global consultant to
professional service firms, David Maister, spends several chapters on this
issue in his book "True Professionalism". One passage in particular,
identifies both the cause and the solution:

"There exists, even among the best professionals and professional firms, a
perverse belief that only billable time (chargeable time spent serving
clients) really counts," he writes.

"Anything non-billable is viewed as either worthless or not as valuable as
'real work'. While most firms have incredibly tight monitoring and control
systems for billable time, few have effective procedures to manage their
non-billable time. This is a mistake which should be obvious to all
concerned.

"What you do with your billable time determines your current income, but
what you do with your non-billable time determines your future."

Another reason many service business owners are reluctant to invest time
(and money) in marketing, is that it does not have an immediate return.

Where services are intangible, where users may not require the service
regularly, or where the customer is a business, it takes time for
prospective users to become clients. An investment of time and money today
is not going to generate a monetary return next week, probably not even next
month.

With the prospect of a more distant return, the need to make the investment
somehow seems less immediate, especially when there is paying work to be
done.

Highly-effective service business owners develop a series of marketing
habits which they apply to create a more sustainable balance between
immediate income-producing work and activities which will produce an income
in the future.

These are the areas every service business owner needs to spend time on to
determine the future of the business.

"The 11 Marketing Habits of Highly-Effective Service Business Owners" is
available free in the form of a special report at
www.marketingcoach.co.nz/request5.html

* * * * * * * * * *
Talking Up Business: How to build your personal brand through speaking

On 27 April, my tele-seminar guest will be Richard Gee ­ training presenter,
conference speaker, author and sales/marketing consultant (www.geewiz.co.nz)
trainer, marketing consultant, and professional speaker.

Richard conducts regular public training seminars through Chambers of
Commerce in Auckland, Tauranga, and Christchurch; and through the Employers
and Manufacturers' Association in Auckland and Wellington. He has lectured
at the Auckland University of Technology and the NZ Institute of Management.

He also consults on sales and marketing issues, provides personalised
in-company seminars, and makes his expertise available through books,
planners and CDs.

In this tele-seminar, Richard will outline how owners of service businesses
can incorporate the same strategies into their marketing.

After making 6,138 presentations to more than 163,000 people, Richard is
well-qualified to explain how to make speaking work for you. In the
tele-seminar, he will discuss:

- Why choose speaking as a means of communication and marketing? What can
speaking achieve which other strategies can't?

- What is a personal brand? How do you want to be regarded professionally?
And how do you keep this separate from your personal life?

- Is it safe to be a guru, with knowledge, in New Zealand or Australia? How
can you combat the "tall poppy syndrome"?

- "But I'm no good at public speaking ­ how can I do this?"

- Where should a service business owner start? The added value of speaking
to audiences to increase their understanding of your message. The service
clubs ­ Rotary and Lions, etc.

- How to structure your story to create an interesting speech.

- Are there benefits in providing free presentations? How can you leverage
unpaid speaking to create business opportunities? How can you link this with
other forms of marketing?

- How to create further leverage from your speaking ­ creating conference
presentations, workshops, seminars; and creating products like books, CDs,
and E-book from your speaking presentations.

- Where to go for free speaking advice - Professional Speakers of New
Zealand (Richard founded this organisation) and National Speakers
Association of NZ

For more details and to register, go to
http://www.marketingcoach.co.nz/talking.html

* * * * * * * * * *

** Computer Tip: How to turn off the alert that tells you when a new email
arrives **

Many people find this feature distracting and prefer to check their emails
every hour or twice a day rather than be interrupted by an alert that
flashes onto the screen every time a new email arrives.  To turn this
feature off:

- On the Tools menu, click Options.

- Click E-mail Options

- Then click Advanced E-mail Options

- The various options for new mail alerts can be de-selected here.

This tip comes from Extra Mile Training - training that works for working
people. For details of courses including the new free basic computing
courses, call Extra Mile on 09-486 4622, email info@extramiletraining.co.nz
or visit  www.extramiletraining.co.nz

* * * * * * * * * *

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Best wishes,

John Shattock
Shattock Communications & Research Ltd
www.shattock.net.nz
PO Box 590 Orewa, Hibiscus Coast, New Zealand, 1461
Ph: +64-9-426 6664
john@shattock.net.nz