Marketing on-demand

 

If you’re in a sales-led company – and you’ve taken on the role of marketing – then we could be just what you’re looking for, a marketing resource that you can just switch on or off.

For our bigger customers we supplement the work of their incumbent agencies, bringing specialist skills on a project basis.

At the other end of the scale we act as a completely outsourced marketing department, helping our customers create the brief, present at board level and develop campaigns for focused outcomes.

Your 1^st Objective

We align marketing services in a way that supports your sales objectives. We are not a specialist agency and you’ll find that we deliver unbiased, agnostic advice.

We look at typical sales and how they are achieved. Then we suggest marketing services to make those sales easier, more frequent and more likely to succeed. Later we support your engagement with key accounts for repeat sales.

And beyond sales support, we look to build your brand’s value, improve engagement with customers and communicate internally to make your workplace even more productive.

Turn us on!

You can visit the website to see what we’ve achieved for others, but it’s what we can do for you that matters. Why not call us in for a chat or to talk to one of our reference customers?

01628 472755

 

End-to-end prospecting checklist

 

 

As part of recent consultancy work we have developed an end-to-end checklist for lead generation.

Starting with choosing whom to target all the way to measuring results, this list can help you see your programmes’ touchpoints in the round and most importantly, from the standpoint of your audience.

1. How do you select customers or prospects from the database
2. How are messages for a campaign created and made relevant for the audience
3. What will you send them – or contact them with – in the first instance
4. What’s the call-to-action
5. Secondary messaging, contact and/or follow-up
6. Where does the recipient goes next, (ie website landing page), how relevant it is and what recognition elements are used to tie the two together
7. What will you ask prospects to do next, degree of difficulty/ease of engaging/fewest barriers etc
8. What fulfilment is offered in return for any sign-up or commitment on their part
9. Quality and content of that fulfilment ie a webinar, an offer or free trial etc
10. How will you follow-up, sell through or cross-sell
11. What materials the sales team will use to support that process
12. What ‘further information’ resources are available to prospects to keep them ‘warm’
13. How will you measure success, ROI etc

While all of this looks simple – when broken down into these elements – it only needs one weak link and all efforts to be lost and re-contacting, without realising why a campaign has been ineffective, can annoy or disaffect the audience you are trying to reach.

An added value here is that marketing and sales must work together to ensure better outcomes and that neither department can accuse the other of not pulling their weight.

It’s only words…

One of the ways we help customers is through our copywriting skills. Early stage to mature companies use 1^st Objective to deliver only the words they need for lead generation, brand messaging and internal engagement. Only words can convey your uniqueness and create differentiation for your products or services. And only words can create the urgency that prevents visitors clicking away or delaying their purchase. If you’re looking to make your online presence more impactful and persuasive, generate new business, or need to push back on your competition, talk to us.

 

From launching new cars to mergers between industrial giants to internal motivational speeches to scripts for sales kick-offs we’ve been there, done it and got the t-shirt.

IT

• Fujitsu Siemens Computers, national press and outdoor
• VMware, emails and events
• Symantec, emails and scripts

Automotive

• Nissan, fleet sales, dealer support and lead generation
• Infiniti, experiential events, websites etc
• Optare, bus manufacturer in Leeds, advertising

B2C

• Sky, door drops
• Visa, programmes, branding and ads
• Wickes, launch of new discount card
• Glidden, Dulux Trade, Dulux Weathershield paint, advertising

TelCo

• Nokia, launching new phones
• BT, re-branding and corporate identity and internal comms
• MLL Telecom, ads, literature, lead-gen, site etc

Mergers, Acquisitions & Integration…we’re part of it!

The merger, acquisition and integration process is complex and demanding. The majority of deals fail to deliver the returns and targets forecasted at the outset and even after a successful conclusion integration can be costly and fraught with risk. MA&I Ltd deliver improved outcomes for the M&A process, ensuring that deal values are assessed properly and post deal integration is effectively executed.

 

1^st Objective provides the marketing function for the group and the clients they serve.

Marketing can make a vital contribution to any newly formed business, an area so frequently neglected during the merger or acquisition process. Marketing activity is often routinely put on hold while deals are done. It means new entities repeatedly emerge in a weaker state, with a shorter order book and facing stronger competition. We apply marketing services, a hands-on approach, that enables businesses to accelerate out of the gate, immediately engage with their audience and push back on their competition.

We deliver the following Marketing and PR services:
• Organisational structure and prioritisation of the marketing department(s) resources
• Rigorously auditing the marketing you have planned both past and present
• Market segmentation and scoring against competitors
• Review and evaluate the quality and applicability of market data
• Practical and pragmatic implementation of marketing services to grow sales
• Brand audit and message building
• Reducing duplication and creating efficiencies

As part of our process we assess and audit what you are doing and the success you have experienced, matching our findings alongside the business’ sales plan, providing a marketing health check. We build-in funding that’s ring-fenced specifically for the marketing function and pragmatically apply resources to support your sales growth.

Visit the MA&I Ltd website

Weird, wonderful but no different

The work of Cliveden Conservation – the leading UK specialists for the conservation and restoration of historic buildings and sculpture – takes them around the country and to ancient sites like Aphrodisias in Turkey.

Although well known in the industry they need to compete like everyone else in business. Driving lead generation, maintaining share and ensuring loyalty within their client base is aided by simple and drip fed Direct Mail which showcases their skills and latest work.

Our mailings for them are paper based and include a covering letter which although ‘old-skool’ by modern standards, remains the best way of reaching their audience and leads them gently to their new website.

We have now completed a first phase of mailings to communicate their main disciplines in stone, plaster, the decorative arts and laboratory services. The aim, to cleanse and rebuild their databases held at their three regional offices.