The Cape Town Tour Guide, Clive de Bruyn, talks about his experiences as a creator of bespoke, luxury tour experiences in South Africa during the Coronvavirus lockdown and the measures he’s putting into place to see his business continue to do that when the lockdown lifts.
Huge thanks to Clive for being part of this.
For more information about The Cape Town Tour Guide, please visit:
Website: https://www.capetowntourguide.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/capetownguide/
Your marketing company chooses you just as much as you choose them – when you’re on the hunt for marketing help for your business, look a little further than simply price and a great sales pitch.
In the business world, when things get rough, the first area where costs are so often cut, is the marketing budget – and I get it. Your focus is on self-preservation, cashflow and protecting your immediate assets.
Which is why there is all the more reason to be very selective of the marketing capabilities you enlist to help you to grow your business.
Here are 3 things which you need to consider when considering new marketing help.
As marketers, although we’d love to tell you that we know your industry inside and out, there is always something new for us to learn. Yes, the obvious point would be to find someone who is experienced in your market and understands the pain-points and opportunities to give you a head start, but remember that there is a lot of value in an independent mind looking at things from a new perspective. So, if you’re looking for marketing help, make sure you hire someone who likes to ask questions, is naturally curious, and is ready to learn from you, your customers and your markets, to come up with new strategies to extend your business. After all, if you’re still using the same strategies that you’ve always been using, there’s probably a reason why they’re not working.
A new global study of more than 10,000 office workers, revealed that Brits spend a whole month a year (30 days) doing work that a colleague has already completed. Tasks such as responding to constant emails and message notifications, attending unexpected meetings and chasing people for input or feedback, now consumes 60% of the average office worker’s time at work. Not great productivity. So, when you’re paying for someone’s time, that amount of non-productivity becomes a catastrophic waste of cash for you. When looking to hire a marketing person, hire someone who is a hybrid blend of the Strategic And the Tactical. Someone who is able to help you build a plan, and then has the capability to execute that themselves – whether you want them to or not. The ability to execute demonstrates that they understand the requirements, and they are able to give you solid practical advice on how to do things better.
As much as we would love to work alongside your business for the rest of our business existence, for many consultants like ourselves, we see our roles as filling a gap in your business, to help you grow further and faster. And once growth is there, it may happen that you need to hire your own internal team to help you grow even more. That’s why, when you hire a marketing consultant or company, hire a company that spends as much time enabling your existing teams to work better and more efficiently, hire a team-player and someone who speaks about “we” as much as you speak about “we” – with the “we” being the same persona!
Yes, you want to find a consultant that work can work at your pace, and is able to hit the ground running with the huge need for upfront training. They need to have proven experience in their field and have visible reviews from other customers who have truly benefitted from using their services. Take the time to understand their own mission, what’s important to them, and use a business that becomes a partner in your vision, rather than just a service provider.
I had a catch up with one of my clients yesterday. And while we were chatting about various things, our conversation turned to the frustration we both feel at not being able to get out and see people, meet clients, suppliers, partners. We started to talk about ways that we can continue important conversations while our physical movement is restricted.
And it got me thinking.
This lockdown has changed us all, in one way or another. And while we are focussed on getting restarted again as businesses, the tone of our conversations has been affected, and most likely, for the long run.
Talking to my client, I asked her what she felt the new underlying tone of marketing activity will be as we progress out of this lockdown mode, and into a renaissance of working. Her answer was simple. Authenticity.
And it got me thinking some more.
I took to my virtual networks. The likes of LinkedIn, Twitter, facebook groups and industry forums, and I started to test this theory. Now over the past few weeks I’ve noticed my linkedin timeline become a flurry of new information, new activity from people I haven’t heard from or seen in a long time. Probably all feeling the need to connect in some way. But this time, things were slightly different. The tone of the conversation had changed. Where once it was a tone laden with self-promotion, indulgence almost, this new tone had become more collaborative, functional, cross-promotional, where we are sharing the news of others, people who we may even deem to be competing in our own space. Posts that were more human, raw in some cases, and I realised, she was right. Authenticity is the new name of the game.
At the same time, I spotted something else on my timeline. It was a series of posts from someone I used to work. Someone who, perhaps I can say, had their own challenges in being able to lead, and unfortunately as a result of these challenges, caused a lot of hurt to those they worked with, and the business they led. The posts being shared were ones that were almost dictatorial, instructional, about how others in similar roles, are damaging their own organisations. And every fibre of my being wanted to call them out on it. And I realised again. Authenticity is the new name of the game.
Some will get it, and some won’t. And your customers? Well, they’ll see right through any games you are playing, and instead will seek out the experience they get that is based on honesty, integrity, and truth.
So, while you think about ways that your business will adjust as you prepare for tomorrow, think about the tone of your conversation. Think about how you represent your business. Think about how you represent yourself. And if it’s time to bring back the authenticity into your conversation, then do that. It will speak for you when you’re not.