Time definitely does move faster the older you get. I heard a convincing explanation of why this might be on Radio 4 this year: your brain registers and stores new experiences in great detail, appearing to make them ‘last’ a long time. When you are young, all experiences are new and thus your childhood seems to last forever. As you get older, most of us have less new experiences as you’ve had them before and thus, time seems to fly by.
Well if that’s true it means that I’ve had very little new experiences this year! But in any event, this year seems to have gone by in an instant. One minute I’m hanging over the toilet bowl on New Years day wishing I hadn’t mixed ‘grape and grain’, the next I’m a year older, getting home in the dark again and watching my children writing to Father Christmas.
Okay I know it’s a little bit early, but my friend’s wife tells me that Asda has had Christmas puddings on its shelves since the end of September so I feel fully justified in providing my own ‘festive’ content even if it is only November.
As my kids start to write their letters to Father Christmas I thought I’d write my own wish-list for those of us that aspire to make 2007 a better year for relationship marketing to small businesses.
Dear Santa, can I have…
1. More sources of data
Despite small businesses and the self-employed forming such a large and important element of the economy, there is still only one really good source of comprehensive small business information for marketing that Information Arts blends from a number of disparate sources. The fact is that companies not using DNA may be missing up to 1.5 million of the UK’s small businesses, with all the economic opportunity that goes with them.
Maybe the ultimate answer is to lobby government to make it a legal requirement to register details of all business entities centrally; not just Ltd and Plc organisations. This would create much more robust data sources for marketing and risk-decisions and remove uncertainty about the size of the business universe. It would allow companies to develop better relationship-marketing programmes that generate greater wealth and tax revenues by enabling suppliers to bring new and innovative products and services to the attention of small businesses. It would also make the business of tax collection a darn sight easier and ease the pressure on the public purse significantly. (I never thought I’d be making a plea for the Inland Revenue!)
2. Better insight
Insight starts with data and, undoubtedly, better insight could be gained should my first wish be granted; by getting consistent population of data with even just the most basic of data variables.
I’d also like more suppliers to put more thinking into developing ways to understand small business behaviour. The industry has to get away from the legacy of lazy thinking and its generic approach to describing businesses (SIC, number of employees, yawn!) and start to build insight systems that really seek to understand motivations and factors in decision making; because surely that’s what we’re trying to do.
3. Better interpretation
As a marketer who talks to lots of clients and prospects, I pride myself on my reasonable working knowledge of the ‘techie’ subjects of analysis and database technology. Not because I’m geeky about those subjects, but because it’s necessary in explaining what they can do for clients.
We in the industry constantly need reminding that in general, our clients reside within marketing departments, have short attention spans, no interest in technology for its own sake and work under great pressure.
Too many suppliers still don’t make allowances for this and absolutely insist on telling clients how clever they are by producing long reports and presentations that never really connect to the issue or the solution. Too many suppliers leave the clients to make that connection.
Let’s make a real effort next year to communicate with clients in the way they need us to: for example, the ‘this is what it means’; and ‘this is how you should use it’; and ‘this is what you should expect’. Let’s give insight, rather than reams of baffling analyses: after all, this is where the value lies.
4. Better perspective
As professional and valued partners to our clients, let’s all remember to keep some perspective. Although we all live and breathe our businesses, we just need to remember that we only provide part of an overall solution.
Let’s please not get carried away by new gizmos and the latest flashy technology, remembering that the marketing industry overall would still probably be on Douglas Adams’ (author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) third space ship; despite what we think!
5. Better cars
Okay, this is a personal one, but a Lamborghini Gallardo or a Ferrari F430 Spyder would look excellent on my drive.
Happy Christmas!
