The Secret Diary

GB Magazine on Nov 2007

Branding expert Peter Shaw opens his diary for Growing Business to reveal his work with a fast-expanding retail chain launching into new markets

Is the giddy growth of the early years of a business steadies and the management structure becomes more complex, the question of how to keep growth on track usually leads to a question of marketing: how to attract and keep more valuable consumers.

Most who run a company five or more years old would recognise that an experienced marketer could significantly improve profitability, but few are willing to bring such a person on board full-time. Concerns about overheads and cultural fit typically win out over the longer term and uncertain prospects of a better marketed offer.

FINDING A SOLUTION
The typical compromise is to recruit a bright but inexperienced individual who will run promotions and keep the website up-to-date, with the vague hope that they will grow into a more strategic marketing role. However, without the guidance of an experienced marketer, this person will soon become frustrated and move on to a business where they can learn those valuable strategic skills.

For specific issues, hiring a consultant on a project basis makes sense. However, we have found another way – working with a client on an ongoing basis, providing strategic input and marketing experience, part-time. This model is proving increasingly popular for financial management, so why not for marketing? The business benefits from the experience at a far more digestible level of investment. It’s what I have coined the 80-20 marketing director.

The idea is to provide the strategy and insight of a serious marketing director at a fraction of the cost and without having to spend time recruiting. The reality is full-time versions spend most of their time managing teams and sitting in executive meetings.

The advantage of a consultant doing this ongoing role is that we work on many marketing
and brand issues across many sectors and have the experience to rapidly digest issues and
find solutions.

To illustrate how the 80-20 marketing director relationship works, I’ve been keeping a diary of my work with one client for Growing Business. For confidentiality, the client’s identity and details have been changed in these extracts:

March 22
Today I received a call from Nick Wilkins, the chief executive of Delectables, a chain of food outlets, which has seen great success since its launch five or so years ago. He says his business needs the expertise of an experienced marketer, but does not feel it is ready to take one on full-time. We arrange to meet.
March 28
I meet Nick over a cup of coffee to discuss the potential of working together. He describes the business and its history, a five-year-old operation with a £15m turnover and a very rapid rate of growth. We see eye-to-eye sufficiently to agree that we should discuss the offer in more depth and that I should meet his management team. Cultural fit seems right, which is critical for such a relationship.
April 6
Before I meet the management team the following Tuesday I get a call from Nick regarding an issue they are facing over the best approach to a consumer research exercise. He wants me to join a meeting with a research company when I am at the company’s offices and emails me the research proposal and background on the market. This should be interesting as I know very little yet about the business, but it is important that I demonstrate the ability to rapidly absorb issues and find solutions to them.
April 9
I’m to spend the next day in the business, meeting Nick, the operations director and FD. I travel the evening before, stay in a hotel and read the research proposal and background documents.
April 10
We meet first thing and go straight into the meeting with the research company. We look at the proposal and discuss alternative approaches, ranging from qualitative focus groups to more complicated quantitative modelling. We agree what is most likely to deliver the insights we need and the research company goes away to develop a proposal.
I spend time visiting the outlets with Nick, observing customer behaviour and discussing details of product, service and outlet environment. Next I meet Jane, the operations director, who has been with the business since the start. She is very passionate about the brand and we discuss the issues that she thinks the business is facing as it grows. Simon, the FD, has recently joined from another retail operation, we have a chat about the medium-term expansion plans.
Nick and I meet up at the end of the day and agree that we can work together. On the train journey home I reflect on the day and think the relationship will work. Delectables has a strong team of complementary talents and a culture that is open to new thinking and approaches. Nick is an incisive entrepreneur who is constantly thinking about the details of the business and how to improve them. He has successfully built up a number of businesses over the years and is a complete convert to the potential of a well-managed brand. He also recognises how different people bring different types of value to the business.
April 23
We agree a rolling contract for Brand Catalyst to provide strategic marketing input on the basis of three days a month, two days with the team and one day responding to questions and issues via telephone and email. I will personally fulfil that role.
April 24-30
I spend time visiting competitive outlets and getting immersed in the sector, absorbing research, including editorial. This appears to be a very strong offer, but like many businesses that are through their launch phase we will need to clarify what will set the brand apart over the next five years. There are some very strong elements that can be given more exposure through marketing – product heroes exemplifying the brand promise.

May 10
I spend two days at the company offices, getting to know the team. We discuss a range of issues from the changing profile of consumers, competitive activity, product development, graphic design, and development of the brand. Like many entrepreneurial businesses much of the thinking is right, we just need to sharpen and shape it, so that everyone in the business is focused on the same things and is able to make better decisions as a result. It sounds dull but a bit of structure around the thinking will be a release for the business.
May 14
I start to plan a brand distillation project, which will require me to interview the key members of the management
team, I need to deliver this for a crucial meeting in mid August. I am bouncing ideas off Nick as I go.
Remote working means Delectables has a strong email culture which works very well. A high level of respect between individuals and a care with words might sound old-fashioned, but it means email is highly constructive, unlike the destructive reputation that it has in many organisations. I am beginning to really enjoy this and feel that I am making a contribution.
During this week we start to discuss the ideal profile of a marketing manager to run the design, advertising and promotions. I make some suggestions to the head of HR on the type of company where we might find such a person. Although it will cost us 25% of the appointee’s first year’s salary we decide to go down the recruitment agency route, to give us a higher quality selection of candidates than a recruitment ad might.
May 22
We have just heard that a major overseas player is likely to acquire one of our main competitors and significantly invest in them, re-branding them in the process. Nick, Jane and I get together and discuss a response strategy. I recommend that we run a war-gaming session with the operations team to think through how this brand will enter the market. War-games are designed so that you become the competitor, trying to think from its perspective.
May 30
I run the war-gaming session and we get under the skin of our competitor, looking at our business from their perspective, how would we take share from Delectables? How would we market the rival’s proposition?
We work through a range of scenarios, from highly aggressive to wait-and-see. After the session I work through the output with the operations team. I develop the competitive response strategy further, discussing the development via phone and email with Nick and the team.
June 27
I travel to Delectables’ offices to interview a candidate for the marketing manager role, she has already been interviewed by Nick. She had responded to an ad in the trade press. I think she has potential and we decide to invite her back to get a better feel for how she thinks in one of our outlets.
August 15
I meet the director of a design agency that has done work in this area, to discuss how we might evolve the look and feel of the Delectables brand. We spend time going around competitive outlets and I get a feel for the way the agency approaches design. I decide that we should take it to proposal stage with this agency and that I will develop a detailed brief for them to respond to. This will be a significant project that will command a fee of £50,000 plus.