Real Business #5 - ITM Soil

Real Business is a series of posts that analyses the marketing opportunities and challenges of real businesses in the South East. The articles are also appearing in The Courier.

The ITM-Soil Group specialises in the manufacture and installation of instrumentation to monitor ground and structural movement that occurs during major civil engineering projects worldwide.

The company manufactures a large range of instruments for monitoring earth, rock and concrete structures, including dams, tunnels, embankments, retaining walls, piles and steel work.

Since 2002, the Group has launched in Australia and it also has a presence in China and Germany.

The recession has bought significant challenges, but the group is confident that it can achieve its ambitious growth targets.

“The marketplace has become increasingly competitive,” says Jeremy Scott, General Manager. “There are fewer projects to go round and we now have to compete with suppliers offering cheaper products, particularly from India and the Far East.”

He continues: “We need to continue positioning ourselves as offering quality products and services – as we simply can’t compete on price alone. It’s a case of reminding customers that they need a really robust and reliable product – as it might have to work under the ground for many years – and for that peace of mind, you may need to pay a little more.”

In the future, the Group is looking to continue growing its presence in Australia – particularly focusing on the mining industry. In the meantime, countries in which ITM-Soil is particularly busy include Morocco, Spain, Brazil, Singapore and Germany.

The company is currently on the verge of launching a new wireless sensor system.

“Up until now, the majority of our products have been cabled – so to offer customers a wireless solution for our specialised sensors will be a major step forward,” says Jeremy.

For more information, visit: www.itm-soil.com

The Marketing Eye says:

As the number of infrastructure projects in the UK falls and competition from abroad increases, ITM needs an international marketing strategy to support its expansion.

Marketing needs to be localised to the different target markets. This goes beyond simple translation of materials and should extend to cultural and regulatory differences as well: even colour choices can have different connotations in different regions. Mistakes can be damaging to the brand, so it is important to avoid them.

Localisation could start by translating the website into several languages. This will make the site more accessible to local decision makers and will improve its performance in search engines. Localised domain names could also be bought.

The choice of marketing method needs to be made with each market in mind.

European markets are mature and media consumption remains high. Impactful design is important to achieve cut through and give the brand its desired quality positioning.

Brazil on the other hand is young and social. Mobile and broadband penetration is very high making online marketing effective.

In Asia, getting a contract relies on connections and face-to-face contact. The good news is that half of the population is below the age of 30 and very open to new ideas.

Building the brand on quality rather than price will be achieved through the superiority of service, the ability to innovate and the effectiveness of the marketing. The introduction of the wireless sensors is an important step and needs a launch strategy in its own right, not just to ensure its success as a revenue generator, but also as a contributor to the brand.

Are you a digital native or a digital immigrant?

This post is written by Marketing Executive, Matthew White.

“It wasn’t like that in my day” is something often said by the older generation to the new one.

There is probably no greater example of 'it not being like that in my day' than the digital revolution that has taken place over the past 20 years - a revolution that has entwined digital technology such as the internet, mobile phones, video games and digital radio into our daily lives.

A growing number of scholars, academics and visionaries have started to believe this latest digital generation is not only different from the last one on a behavioural and social level, but that it thinks and learns differently too.

The new generation are widely known as ‘digital natives’ - a term coined by visionary Marc Prensky. Prensky claims that anybody born after the year 1980 has grown up so immersed in digital technology that it comes completely naturally to them.

Prensky defines anybody born before 1980 as a ‘digital immigrant’. These immigrants have known life before digital technology and, while adjusting well to their new surroundings, never lose their ‘past accent’.

But is it really that clear cut?

Many scholars challenge the claim on the grounds of gender, social demography and the scope of accessibility of digital technology.

They say that boys use digital technology more than girls; people from poorer backgrounds do not have the disposable income to use it; and arguably the most prominent catalyst for the digital revolution, the internet, is still not available in 10 million UK homes. Can the 10-year old socially disadvantaged girl without internet access still be defined as a ‘digital native’?

The debate is broadened by questioning the age-groups. A child born in 1980 was 12 when the internet was invented, a teenager when mobile phones took off and 21 before broadband became widely available. This compared with a child born in 2008 who plays with ‘toy’ laptops (that are actually real laptops), toddler i-phone apps and who can now interact with the cartoons on the internet.

Can both generations really have the same level of digital expertise?

I was born in 1985 and from my own recollection did not grow up immersed in digital technology. This technology, however, undoubtedly now plays a very important role in my daily life, in fact, I cannot imagine life without it. Does this make me a digital immigrant or a digital native?

Perhaps we should be questioning the very existence of the ‘digital natives’. Maybe we are all just immigrants constantly adjusting to the rapid pace of digital evolution.

Do you see yourself as a digital native or a digital immigrant? More importantly, what does it all mean for marketers?

Demand Generation - the theory and practise. #1 Gaining acceptance

Over the last few months, we have been immersing ourselves in the concept and application of B2B demand generation.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Demand Generation is a marketing process that nurtures and engages prospects appropriately at each stage of the buying cycle.

We have a number of client projects in progress at this time and are closely monitoring the challenges and successes that we encounter. This is in the interests of continuous improvement, practical insight and, of course, great results for our clients.

The principle of demand generation is the application of multi-touch marketing communications that respect, and are tailored to, where the prospect is in the buying process. In simple terms, it is holding back from trying to close the sale on first contact - because the attempt will fail unless the buyer is ready to buy.

As ever, matching the theory to the practice is the hardest part and the first obstacle normally occurs at the acceptance stage.

The theory says that we must stop the salesperson going in too soon. Instead, we must align the nature of the conversation with where the prospect is in the buying cycle.

When implementing a programme of this nature, early challenges arise when you have a sales-force that needs feeding. A proposal to slow the flow of leads in the interests of a higher rate of sales conversion further down the line is rarely popular with a team that likes to show it is active, if not always successful.

This is closely related to persuading telemarketers not to go straight for the appointment when all of the instincts and training are directed towards this end.

The demand generation process requires nothing short of a wholesale change in the sales process and sales culture, which is a big ask of any organisation. We, therefore, address this with a three-tier approach to gaining the support and engagement of Sales.

Firstly, we enter into open and shared communication with the sales teams to explain the approach.

Secondly, we run a dual system in which we work the new approach on a specific set of data and allow traditional methods to run on the remainder. This retains the continuity of supply and keeps the sales team on board during the transition.

Thirdly, we persuade senior management to adjust incentives relating to the demand generation exercise to reflect nurturing, not just closures.

Demand Generation requires discipline and a whole-hearted commitment to the methodology by us and the client. A breakdown in any area of the process undermines the programme - and, more importantly, the results.

In future posts, we will take a look at some of the specific 'in-life' challenges that we encounter, such as generating relevant content and managing and monitoring the process without a sophisticated CRM system.

Stay tuned!

Time to decide

So, after what seems like months of campaigning it is now decision time.

The Conservatives have the clearest and most favourable policies for business and if my vote was to be cast on that alone, it would be an easy choice.

But, of course, it's not. A few pounds off the tax bill and perhaps a little less red-tape pales into insignificance when placed alongside the broader impact of a possible return to recession.

The central issue is how to deal with the structural debt. Labour says we must continue to invest to ensure a return to growth. The Conservatives say we need to put the breaks on and take the pain now. If your business was in a similar position, what would you do? The answer should guide your vote.

Throughout the campaign, Brown has been the strongest performer when it comes to the numbers. Close your eyes and listen to the content and it is evident that Gordon Brown wins hands down on substance. He knows that some of the promises made by the other parties won't work and has been straight when saying that NI must go up to allow spending to be slowly, not rapidly, constrained.

Cameron, a polished performer backed by a successful and well funded marketing campaign, promises the change that many feel is overdue. The PR machine has worked well and he has campaigned tirelessly.

The promised change though is a risk. Cameron conceded in the Marr interview on Sunday that only 20% of the necessary expenditure cuts have been highlighted, blaming the Government for not detailing its spending plans. Are we being softened up for broken election pledges already? - it feels like it.

The argument that the Tories don't know what they might inherit is ridiculous. The Institute of Fiscal studies has been able to produce a detailed analysis of the economy for all to see.

I worry too why Cameron won't be drawn on who he intends to appoint as Chancellor - no doubt fearing a backlash against Osborne. Surely, as his potential employer, we have a right to know what the team will be.

We then come to The Lib Dems who's star has risen too early. Their policies are ill-prepared and weren't written with Government in mind. Their time will come though. This election has shown that Clegg and his team are the party of the generation that is now under 30. They will have to be taken more seriously next time and are still likely to have a significant influence on this outcome.

So, where does that leave us. The Lib Dem balloon will be pricked if not popped and they will secure around 25% of the vote. The electorate will give Labour a bloody nose in the marginals leading to the loss of many key seats.

If all this happens, we will be looking at a narrow Tory victory and I suspect Cameron will try to lead a minority Government.

I find myself, like many others, torn between the Tory promise of a new impetus and Labour's dour pragmatism on a measured return to growth.

When I enter the ballot box tomorrow, my pencil will hover between red and blue. A hung parliament might have attractions for those that genuinely can't decide, but it would be a recipe for stalled policy making at a time when we need action.

Time is running out and it is now our duty to decide. I'm veering towards playing it safe.

Real Business #4 - Durlings

Real Business is a series of posts that analyses the marketing opportunities and challenges of real businesses in the South East. The articles are also appearing in The Courier.

Launching a business focusing on commercial property as the UK toppled into recession might seem like a rash decision but, 18 months on, Durlings sale boards are a familiar sight around West Kent and East Sussex.

Rupert Farrant launched Durlings in May 2008 after a career in property. He wanted to focus on commercial property and he wanted to run his own business.

“While the market was slow when we set up, low prices did mean that there were people out there buying commercial property for that reason – possibly for the first time, he said.

“We offer a one-stop-shop – dealing with everything from rent reviews to managing refurbishments and surveys, as well as both selling and letting commercial property.”

Today, around 75% of Durlings’ work comes from Tunbridge Wells, although the team has worked on projects as far afield as Portsmouth and Arundel.

“Tunbridge Wells is a great place to be located, with a strong base of professionals from which to gain referrals, ” said Mr Farrant. “It is also ideally based for London and offers an interesting mix of industrial, retail and leisure properties.”

When the firm started out, Rupert ran the business from a shop on Mount Pleasant, near the station. However, it is now based in offices in Church Road.

“It was great to have some initial exposure for the firm,” said Mr Farrant. “However, we realised that we didn’t get people just calling in, so we moved to Church Road, which has the added bonus of parking.”

Today, Durlings estimates that around 75 to 80% of its enquiries come via the Internet.

“We have kept our website simple and easy to navigate, while we also make sure we have listings on all the major commercial property sites, ” said Mr Farrant. “We also run an email alert – which means that properties are sent round to all our clients as soon as they are available . Our boards are also still an essential way of marketing .”

Mr Farrant said that the current movement in the commercial property market is due to a number of factors – leases coming to an end; people setting up a new business; or established business owners maybe taking the opportunity of current lower prices to buy property. What is currently missing from the market are investors – buying or selling – and developers.

Mr Farrant has plans to expand the business in the future – but wants to continue focusing on Tunbridge Wells.

“Bhav has been working and training with us and it’s worked really well – so I’d like to bring more graduate trainees into the business,” he said. “However, finding good graduates is a challenge – as less younger people have been attracted to the business during the recession.”

For more information, visit: http://www.durlings.co.uk/

Challenges facing Durlings:

* Encouraging investors and developers back into the marketplace.
* Growing the business as the UK pulls itself out of recession.
* Making full use of the Internet as a means of advertising properties.
* Finding good graduate trainees to build their career with Durlings.


The Marketing Eye says:

While the absence of walk-in trade wasn't sufficient to justify a High Street presence, it would have been contributing to the general awareness of the brand, so other tactics are now needed to keep the profile high.

The base of professionals in Tunbridge Wells is a rich vein of business opportunity and networking should be high on Rupert's agenda. Given the broad array of reasons why businesses move, the nature of networking should be very wide - from BNI where he will meet smaller businesses, to the Chamber of Commerce and Royal Tunbridge Wells Lunch Club where larger businesses and professionals can be met.

The property boards are an important form of marketing too. The simple and clean identity that Rupert has chosen is easily memorable and will be making the boards stand out.

The fact that so many enquiries come from the internet is a reflection of how the market now operates. Rupert is doing all of the right things to keep the visibility of his website high.

A highly visible and attractive website is appealing, not only to purchasers, but to vendors and landlords, which will ensure a continuous supply of stock - the lifeblood of any agency. The website is easily found in the search engines, which means it should be possible to reduce the reliance on the property portals in future.

Marketing can help with recruitment. Becoming active on Twitter, running a Facebook page and writing a blog are all activities that will make Durlings look attractive to younger prospective employees.

With thanks to freelance journalist, Angela Ward, who is interviewing the businesses featured in these posts.

Are Tories taking the high ground in battle for business votes?

At long last, I've had a reply from the Conservatives - a comprehensive and persuasive reply at that. The question is, do we believe there are £6bn of efficiency savings to be had? Labour are rapidly losing touch with the business community over the issue of National Insurance and it could prove to be their downfall. A U-Turn could be the only option.

The full text of the reply is shown below:

Dear Mr. Edwards

I am writing on behalf of David Cameron to thank you for your e-mail of 14th March 2010. I apologise for taking so long to reply; our office has been inundated with correspondence in recent months. Nevertheless, we are grateful to you for getting in touch, and I have taken careful note of the points you raise.

Government needs to create a climate in which small businesses can thrive and compete, both nationally and internationally. In 1997, Britain’s tax system was one of the most competitive in the developed world. But over the last decade we have become progressively less competitive and our tax system has become the most complex in the world. And astonishingly, the Budget confirmed that Gordon Brown wants an extra £1 billion in taxes out of small and medium-sized businesses.

We can’t go on like this. And that is why, if elected, a Conservative Government will make sure that Britain is open for business again.

We believe in low taxes, so we will ensure that the largest part of the burden of dealing with our budget deficit – a critical step if we are to get this country back on its feet – falls on lower spending rather than higher taxes. And, where savings can be realised from existing budgets, we will use some of these to protect jobs and businesses.

This is why we have announced plans to cut waste in order to avoid most of Labour’s planned tax increase on working people. The 2010 Budget confirmed Government plans to raise Employer National Insurance Contributions (NIC) for everyone earning over £5,700 per annum. This is a tax on jobs that will undermine the recovery. We will stop a large part of this tax increase by raising the secondary threshold at which employers start paying NICs by £21 a week, saving employers up to £150 for every person they employ relative to Labour’s plans.

We will also stop the increase in NICs for most employees. Relative to Labour’s plans everyone liable for Employee NICs earning between £7,100 and £45,400 – seven out of ten working people – will be up to £150 better off each year under the Conservatives. Lower earners will get the greatest benefit as a percentage of their earnings. Nobody will be worse off than they would be under Labour’s plans.

These proposals have been backed by a raft of high profile business leaders – Sir Stuart Rose, Executive Chairman of Marks & Spencer, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Founder and Chairman of easyGroup, Simon Wolfson, Chief Executive of Next and Justin King, Chief Executive of Sainsbury’s, to name but a few – as well as Britain’s top business organisations such as the Confederation of British Industry, British Chambers of Commerce and Federation of Small Businesses.

We also aspire to create the most competitive corporate tax environment in the G20. So to begin with, we will cut the headline rate of corporation tax to at least 25 per cent and the small companies’ rate to 20 per cent, funded by reducing complex reliefs and allowances introduced by Gordon Brown.

And we have also outlined plans to reform government support for business, much of which is, at present, delivered through Business Link. We are considering a range of options but do not currently have any plans to abolish Business Link itself.

These proposals are in addition to our plan to allow local authorities to offer business rate discounts to help struggling firms, and to make small business rate relief payable automatically to qualifying firms.

Meanwhile, we have tried to offer practical ideas for further action. A Conservative Government will:

· reduce the burden of red tape on business with a ‘one in one out’ rule for new regulations, mandatory sunset clauses for regulators and regulatory budgets for departments;

· help small firms grow by using Government guarantees to create diverse sources of affordable credit and providing a £2,000 bonus to small and medium-sized businesses for every apprenticeship place they create;

· cut the number of forms needed to register a new business – moving towards a ‘one-click’ registration model with the aim of making Britain the fastest place in the world to start a business;

· end restrictions on people starting a business in social housing, to enable social tenants to become entrepreneurs;

· make enterprise a central pillar of our plans to get Britain working again; and

· open up government procurement to small and medium-sized businesses by reducing administrative requirements.

We know that only the private sector can generate the sustainable growth we need to get Britain out of the red. That is why we have set out these plans, and why we are proud to be the party of enterprise and hard work.

We all know that the re-election of a Labour government with more debt, waste and taxes will bring us a new recession. That is why there is a clear choice at this election between five more years of Gordon Brown’s tired government making things worse, or David Cameron and the Conservatives with the energy, leadership and values to get the country moving. I hope you will feel able to join us as we seek to change our country for the better.

Kurtis Christoforides
Office of David Cameron MP

PS. Normal marketing posts will resume shortly!

A budget for business?

For the last few months I have been engaged in a simple, yet seemingly naive quest to get some clarity from each of the political parties on their policies for small business.

So far, I have had a hand-off from the Labour Party – who, about a month ago, promised me a reply within 15 days; an apology from David Cameron – who said that my first communication couldn’t be found and would I send it again – so he could ignore it again; and nothing from the Lib Dems – who you think would sell their own mother to get a cross in the box.

At least Alistair Darling has been forced to the dispatch box today to give me and every other business owner in the country, an account of what we can expect in the coming months should we entrust Labour with our vote.

The answer appears to be a series of modest, but well intentioned changes.

The Annual Investment Allowance, which gives us tax relief for capital expenditure, has been doubled to £100,000. Whilst the increase will provide a modest boost, it is only businesses that have the cash or the borrowing capability to invest above the current limit of £50,000 that will be able to benefit from it. Even if the allowance is fully utilised, it would only be worth £14,000 a year.

I, and I think most businesses, would prefer direct savings in tax and National Insurance over incentives to spend or borrow when business confidence is low and the availability of credit remains scarce. Liquidity is the key to our survival – not debt and new machinery.

In this respect, the Chancellor shows that he is out of touch with the real needs of small business. He spurned the opportunity to reduce the headline rates of corporation tax and made no move to stall the 1% rise in employers’ NI, which is due to take effect from April next year: a clear sign that he believes taxing businesses on employing people is the best way to reduce the dole queues.

The promise of cuts in business rates for one year from October is more promising. There seems to be scant detail available on who will qualify and for what relief, but let us not look a gift horse in the mouth – nor get our hopes too high.

The extension of the time to pay scheme is another welcome move. We haven’t needed to make use of this facility, but it is nonetheless reassuring to know that HMRC will play its part should we find ourselves in distress.

For the best news, it seems we have to wait until our ship finally comes in. Entrepreneurs’ relief has been doubled from £1m to £2m, providing an effective Capital Gains Tax rate of 10% on any gains that we make up to this level. Best get my finger out then and build some value.

The biggest factor though is not the impact of individual measures on individual businesses, but where the economy is going in general – nationally and globally. Business is about confidence and when the confidence runs out the impact on small businesses is cataclysmic.

We are in the midst of our worse crisis for seven decades and our vote has to be cast on who with think is delivering the most sensible response. Do we believe that the impact of the recession has been minimised by the present government or caused by it? Do we think that we need to make the present government see through its actions or is it time for change?

Darling has been forced to err on the side of caution and avoid any radical changes for fear of it being branded electioneering. I, like many business people in the South East, see it as a missed opportunity to give a much clearer indication that the Labour Party is the party for business.

The question remains, who is?