In a world where all of our senses are constantly bombarded by the efforts of marketers, it’s no small wonder that many business entities struggle with the overall marketing of their goods and services and are often overwhelmed with the available options.

Marketing is probably the most intangible and abstract activity a business has to contend with and given there are no ‘hard facts’ to work with or no real ‘right or wrong’, marketing activity is largely left to chart its own course.

For many smaller businesses the role of marketing has traditionally been left to the owner(s) or key manager(s) rather than a dedicated resource. These businesses relied on that person(s) having some empathy for marketing as well as a level of capability.

As a consequence, the function of marketing was often approached in a reactionary manner with no real planning or specific allocation of funds.

The reality today is that, whilst some businesses still have this approach, attitudes have shifted.

By necessity, businesses have been forced to become smarter and more structured in their approach to marketing. This is particularly so for smaller businesses where dedicated resources and funds are limited at best – yet the need to grow and market their business has become more critical.

Driven largely by ‘new generation’ business owners entering the market, better informed and educated business owners, and, of course, the effects of increased competition, technology advances and deregulation, business owners are not just investing more in overall marketing but are looking for ways to achieve more value from their efforts.

In recognition of this a much higher number of businesses are commissioning consultants or external marketing experts to assist them with their overall marketing needs rather than isolated activities.

With such a big choice in marketing channels and services there has been a move towards providing a ‘one-stop-shop’ or fulfillment solution so a business can access expertise and a range of services from the one point of contact – rather than spend time and effort shopping around and managing multiple relationships or activities.

Given that the role of marketing is essentially planning, budgeting and project management of activities – how much of it can be contracted out?

According to one source – all of it.

Imagine that your business could take a ‘multi-vitamin tablet’ which comprised of a mixture of specialist expertise and proven methodology to deliver your business an achievable and sustainable growth program?

"The main need for the majority of businesses today is to grow their business," says Chris Caiger, a founding partner of Traffic Group and a passionate advocate of the success of the business model they have developed.

Conceived out of a frustration of seeing businesses invest in costly projects that were often not implemented, Traffic Group offers a unique approach.

"We are totally solution driven and see ourselves as a business performance accelerator. We are not interested in generating copious reports that culminate in a strategic business or marketing plan to sign off on. We are interested in helping our clients to translate research into something they can use and then we actually help them to roll it out. This makes us share in the accountability for the outcome and it’s what makes us unique."

No matter the size of the business, the needs are essentially the same. The processes and methodology used by Traffic Group (www.businestraffic.net) can be applied to all types and sizes of businesses.

"Many businesses tend to get hung up with their niche in the overall market. We start off by helping them to consider the entire market or value chain and what is driving change. This in turn initiates the opportunities that underpin the strategic growth plan," says Caiger.

For an investment similar to employing a marketing manager, businesses can access a pool of experts who have been involved in the planning process and who will help to implement the plan. The experts who are partners in the Traffic Group team are all skilled practitioners with specific experience in business growth.

"With Traffic, you can get many experts for the price of one. We are your marketing team and we are part of your business. We help your business to grow and help determine what you are going to say, who you are saying it to, and how you will say it – and then we make it happen!"

If a total outsource solution doesn’t quite suit then you may like to consider something that offers a completely different approach, such as ProAdzs’ "Online quoting for all marketing needs".

Haydn Bowbyes, MD of recently formed ProAdz, is very enthusiastic about the free, on-line solution he has developed as a tool for business managers and owners.

"If you or your business has ever wanted to find an easier way to obtain marketing quotes, find a new supplier or quantify marketing spend, then our new ProAdz system may be just what you are looking for."

Born out of frustration at having to spend time sourcing quotes and suppliers during his time as a marketing manager, Bowbyes developed the system to solve time, budgetary and quality constraints faced by businesses conducting marketing activities.

Clients access the site (www.proadz.co.nz) to submit a brief and receive quotes from at least five suppliers for any marketing job. During the entire process they remain anonymous from the supplier.

The site has online briefing submissions for more than 180 sub-categories of marketing within the main categories of research, consultancy, creative/design, production, imaging, media planning, media purchase, letterbox distribution, direct marketing, branding, photography, videography, talent, pre-press, print, freight, promotions, public relations and new media.

The service is free to any business and you can choose from a ‘live’ or ‘finished’ quote.

A live quote enables you to receive assistance from an account manager (at no cost) whilst a finished quote allows you to complete a brief and seek a quote.

Having tested the system, I found the briefing forms and process easy to follow.

I received five quotes within the required timeline and was invited to follow-up on these.

"Once you agree to accept a quote you start to interact with the successful supplier – many of whom are full service agents who can offer a range of activities. For a business that doesn’t have an agency or has limited time to source suppliers, ProAdz is a particularly useful tool that costs the client nothing," says Bowbyes.

Regardless of who manages the marketing activities, the campaign or channels used, the emphasis is on tracking, measuring and comparing one against the other and setting overall objectives.

Whether you need to solicit direct sales/leads, gather customer information, critique performance criteria, or have other requirements, you need information that helps you determine what works and what doesn’t. This requires an ability to target the audience you are communicating with, and the more specific you are, the more accurate and useful the results.

Whilst not achievable with all marketing activities (particularly in areas that don’t have a specific call to action) it is recommended that key marketing activities have an ability to measure results against the objectives set.

This may be in the form of a direct mail campaign with a ‘call to action’ or a more complicated interactive campaign utilizing a range of channels.

To achieve the best and most useful results you will need a good database – not simply a list of names collected over time, but an accurate, qualified database that contains contacts most likely to have an interest in your business proposition.

There are many businesses that provide cost effective database solutions with add-value services to assist in the design, implementation and downstream support for client communications.

Atlantis Group, for example, offers a range of services and can provide a business with a very comprehensive database based on their requirements. You can specify a database based on your demographics and, if you wish, Atlantis can manage your campaign including the actual dissemination of your communications (be it direct mail, text messaging or email), as well as updating and collating information, results analysis and even call centre services. Atlantis also provides a range of CRM and loyalty programs designed to enhance relationships with your clients.(www.atlantis.co.nz)

Once you have your database you need to decide what channels you wish to utilize for communicating your message(s) and how you will measure the results. Cost, customer preferences, your own business’s capabilities and business support network will be determining factors.

For example, you are not likely to consider a text messaging campaign for a customer base of mature years just because you want to use something new and different.

Many suppliers have developed technology or systems to enable some very specific tracking and measuring capabilities to be employed, as well as some novel ways of communicating with clients.

One such development is ‘Smartrack’ which combines print and CD/DVD which in turn can interact with your website.

A CD or DVD is capable of containing a significant volume of information in the form of text, video, graphics, advertisements, etc. Developed by Media Technology, the objective is to provide relevant information to the user and when they click on an area or item of interest, it links them to the relevant page on your website.

The real benefit is that you are interacting with your clients (or prospective clients) and tracking exactly what is happening by measuring what aspects the users (not just buyers) are interested in.

The cost of the CDs is very competitive and the packaging provides a further avenue to promote your business. According to Media Technology, there is reluctance for people to dispose of CDs – particularly when they have a value to the user.

Online advertising, e-commerce, sponsorship, search engines, and email communications in particular are popular avenues for smaller businesses to promote themselves.

One of the key advantages of e-marketing is its ability to cost effectively measure, track and engage clients in some form
of activity.

However, a key disadvantage is the intrusion that on-line communications can create if not managed properly. If you think how many emails you receive each day that are neither relevant nor from someone you know, you’ll appreciate why.

Yet there is still a tendency for businesses to bombard the market with unwanted communication or SPAM (unsolicited email).

The challenge for marketers is to plan their online marketing and not be tempted to try a ‘shotgun’ approach simply because it is cost effective.

One solution for a successful email campaign is to look for permission based opportunities where you promote your business based on your specified demographics.

Atlantis Group offers a permission based email and mailing service (www.eatlantis.co.nz). In partnership with Smile City, they can help you target businesses and individuals who have agreed to receive customised advertising emails.

"The fact that you can design your communication very specifically to suit your target audience makes this option extremely effective," Tony Bozzard of Atlantis explains. "There are not many opportunities to communicate so qualitatively with prospective clients who have a real interest in what you are promoting."

Online media is another area that is used extensively in the SME market as rates are attractive; it is trackable and accountable; it allows you to interact with clients; and you can engage your audience in a variety of ways (i.e. audio, visual, video etc).

As Michael Te Young, GM New Zealand for Facilitate Digital explains; "The ROI for online media campaigns is very attractive. It’s all about acquisitions and conversions and the online medium allows for very specific measuring of what works, when and how."

Facilitate Digital recently entered the New Zealand market to provide the tools and systems that allow detailed measurement of the digital matrix.

Whilst their clients are predominantly advertising agencies and publishers, they are keen to inform the market of the availability of these tools and how to achieve the best results.

"The whole area of digital advertising is poised to enter the next phase of growth and our facilities allow for total ease of management and measurement - critical in such a multi-faceted environment."

According to Te Young, on-line advertising is dominated by search activity. This is either in the form of natural search results (as in a Google search) or paid results (the sites that appear as sideboxes on your Google search).

"This area is the fastest growing component in e-advertising and means that a business has to optimize it’s website to get good placement in a natural search and/or bid for key words that are known to work for driving customers to your site," he says.

This bidding process is actually done visibly online by the agency or the marketer.

"I believe that a lot of SME managers are already doing this themselves. The appeal is that it runs on a performance based model so you only pay if your advertisement is clicked on."

One of the key benefits that Facilitate Digital offers is the ability to measure the entire range of channels used (including online, SMS, etc) by importing the results onto the same platform for comparative reporting. This allows the marketer to totally understand which aspects of the advertising and communications have been the most successful.

As an industry, marketing services encompass a significant pool of resources from strategy through to implementation, from design through to placement, from data bases through to loyalty programs, and so on. As varied as the levels or expertise needed are the channels that can be employed to reach your market.

The risk in doing it poorly, wasting time and money or simply avoiding doing much at all are therefore very real. As one source said: "It all starts with the planning process – then you can determine what to say, who you need to say it to, and how you will say it."

This should tell you the range of services you’ll need to draw on.