A recent discussion on a LinkedIn group got me thinking about the key skills that are required to be an effective leader. Many of the comments make in the discussion were great and raised some valid points. I felt the need to sum up a number of qualities, as well as to point out the need for empathy and self-awareness.

I’ve come up with a few points which have been derived from my experience managing teams and working with clients.

The traits that make a  great leader:

The ability to define objectives and tasks.

The ability to see the big picture and to plan.

Vision.

The ability to brief others effectively, so that can carry out their delegated tasks.

The ability to delegate!

The ability to put controls in place.

The ability to evaluate performance – and adjust tactics and activities when necessary.

The ability to coach and motivate.

The ability to organise.

The ability to lead by example.

All of these traits are required for business success. But I do believe there is more – and it’s something that you’ll clearly see in every great leader. Emotional intelligence.

I believe it is self-awareness and the willingness to continue to develop leadership skills, coupled with empathy and the motivation to become a  better leader which makes a great leader. Social skills are also a must, as leaders need to cultivate strong relationships with key stakeholders.

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“Our clients are benefiting from marketing strategies and marketing plans that tell them exactly how they will achieve their business goals in 2013. They now work from a plan with forecasted results and tools in place for monitoring and measuring results.”

To deliver targeted, accountable marketing activity with a focus on return is the goal of most marketing plans but why do so many marketing plans fail? For a marketing plan to succeed, strategic marketing planning must follow a process and this is where firms need support, comments Kim Moore, of KG Moore Limited, a Colchester based marketing consultancy, who has seen an increase in business as firms focus on their investment returns.

It is a misconception that when times are tough, spend on consultancy decreases. Kim Moore notes that, “Our client base is expanding, mainly through referrals. We help our clients to create a marketing plan that leverages the use of the marketing agency, design resources, SEO and PR agencies that they already use. If they lack resource, we  can help. The focus is not on cutting the budget (although savings often result) but on making sure that all activity is effective. For this to happen, marketing efforts need to be aligned with business objectives – and all resources working together from a single plan, not pulling in different directions.  This is how companies can get the highest possible return on their marketing budget.”

“I don’t listen to what anyone tries to tell me about my business, except for Kim.  I really value what she has to say.  I’ve got different people working on designing my literature, my logo my website and they were all working at their own tasks. But now, with Kim’s input and guidance, everything’s pulled together by a clear marketing strategy and plan, and I am already seeing the results.   We’re developing an exciting new brand that really communicates what we are about.   Kim has been extremely flexible, working with me in the way I needed her support the most, which has saved me money on her fees. She’s also identified some things I wasn’t great at and is saving me money, with her knowledge and experience, knowing the best way to conduct my marketing, with the budget available. With KG Moore supporting our marketing, I am confident I’ll improve results and generate a greater return on my marketing spend.”  Commented Dave Kitt, owner of IP5alive, an Ipswich based organization that offers summer camps for children.

KG Moore has grown its marketing strategy and planning services considerably over the last couple of years, and recently added a new member to the team, Victoria Blanshard, to help meet this demand. KG Moore offers freelance marketing resource for developing marketing strategies, marketing planning and plan implementation to customers throughout Essex and Suffolk.

For more information about KG Moore marketing strategy services, contact Kim Moore on 07900 136598 or by email at info@kgmoore.co.uk.

Implementing change effectively will save both time and money, yet so often organisations fail.  So what are the secrets?

Is it the speed that change is introduced that impacts the successful implementation of change?  A great article was published on the Harvard Business Review Blog talking about the slow/fast leadership  argument. The author states “The issue is less about how fast CEOs are willing to move than how quickly their most reliable customers are prepared to change.”

Consider your customers and how they will be impacted by any change that you are introducing.  Keep them informed and let them know how the change will impact them.

Successful implementation of any change also needs to carefully take into consideration not only the impact on customers, but on your people, your internal resources.  They are the guys who are on the front line living with the change, implementing it.

When change is introduced, we all experience “the change curve”. Understanding this curve and how people may react should be taken into consideration when introducing change.  By understanding the stages that people go through when dealing with change, you can help people adapt to change more quickly.

Plan for this impact that change will make, communicate clearly, support your people and provide direction and guidance – and your change is more likely to be successful.

The Change Curve model describes the four stages most people go through as they adjust to change.

A great article on the Expert Program Management website talks about introducing change. In my experience, a strong Project Manager who manages the introduction of change will greatly increase the likelihood of success.

All people are impacted by change differently, yet we all go through the change process.  Take this into account when introducing any change and you’ll make it less about change and more about a smooth transition.

Like what you are reading?

If you require any support with your marketing strategy or marketing planning, or if you need help assessing how your plans will impact your customers and your people, contact KG Moore on 07900 136598 or by email at info@kgmoore.co.uk

The last year saw the marketing planning practice grow considerably as we continued to work with our loyal clients and welcomed a number of new customers. Already, we are enjoying working together on a number of exciting projects.

In order to meet the growing demand we are experiencing, we welcome our new marketing consultant. Victoria Blanshard, has held a number of senior marketing and management positions across the publishing industry, gaining strategic and project management skills which will be an asset to the team. Graduating in Law, Victoria moved into marketing, complementing this career change by studying for various CIM and IDM qualifications. Victoria has worked across a variety of industries, mainly legal and scientific, and most recently headed up the academic team at leading legal publishers, Sweet and Maxwell.

Commenting on the appointment, Kim Moore said, “The arrival of Victoria Blanshard is an important step in the growth of KG Moore. With the arrival of Victoria, we can increase the number of organisations we help with their marketing strategy and have the great opportunity to expand our specialised marketing services to different sectors such as the legal market”

If you need any assistance with the plans you are making for your company in 2013, please contact KG Moore on 07900136598. We can work together to ensure you achieve your objectives this year.

No matter what you’re communicating, you’re probably measuring awareness as one part of your strategy. But awareness shouldn’t be the ultimate goal.

So I’m aware of your brand, product, message or campaign. Now what? How does that help the business?

We communicators have to translate that awareness into action. Are we trying to improve sales? Loyalty? Referrals? Employee productivity? It comes down to aligning your communication strategy with the desired behavior, and that means having the right objectives at the outset. The objectives have to go beyond awareness.

Some examples:

• From awareness to market share. One client, a corporate foundation, wanted to improve its communications, but many people didn’t even know the foundation existed. So objective No. 1 was to increase awareness of the foundation. Then we developed strategic messages and communications to convert that awareness into meaningful outcomes. The result? Post-launch research showed that because of improved awareness about the foundation, consumers had a more favorable opinion of the parent company, existing customers were more likely to stay, and prospective customers were more likely to buy.
• From awareness to compliance. Another client, a large government organization, wanted its customers to follow a certain process for requesting services and products. We obviously needed to ensure awareness of the process, but awareness alone wouldn’t equal success. We also had to improve confidence in the process and compliance with it. What does that compliance look like? What are the desired behaviors? We answered these questions at the beginning, and they formed the objectives for the strategy.
• From awareness to employee engagement. At a nationwide restaurant chain, some employees weren’t aligned with the company’s direction, so the organization developed communications that improved awareness and understanding of the company strategies. But awareness and understanding would only be valuable if they also translated to factors like job satisfaction, employee productivity, reduced turnover, improved customer service, and higher sales. The company aligned its employee communications to these objectives.
• From awareness to trial. At the same restaurant company, senior management recognized that “media impressions” – the traditional PR metric for stories generated in print and broadcast media – were only an indicator of awareness, not behavior. So PR developed a measurement tool showing that consumers, after reading or hearing a news story about a new product, actually visited a restaurant to try it out. In this way, the PR department linked generated stories to product sales, demonstrating the real business value of public relations.

Remember: Awareness is an important stepping stone, but it’s usually not the destination.

Ensure your PR activity is aligned with you marketing strategy and overall business objectives.  Turn awareness into action with a strategic marketing plan. Contact KG Moore on 07900136598 or by email info@kgmoore.co.uk for support with developing your marketing strategy and marketing plans.

Once you’ve completed your marketing plan for 2013, run your plan through this simple test to ensure you’ve covered all angles.

1. Have you clarified your business goals? Clear business objectives make it simpler to identify where marketing efforts need to be focused. It also ensures that there is no conflict between objectives in different areas of your organisation.
2. Did you conduct a marketing audit? Assessments of your past marketing efforts, your marketing resources, and the competitive landscape can help to identify how you can achieve greater results and uncover new marketing strategies.
3. Did you undertake any marketing research and opportunity analysis? Looking outward can help you discover big opportunities and simple quick wins.  It can also help to prepare you against market threats.
4. Is there a clear product management plan in place? All products need careful management in order to get the best return on their performance, especially as user objectives change and competitive products grow. Effective pricing, positioning and careful management of the product through its lifecycle are essential.
5. How will you control your Brand Management? Your brand is everything and its identity needs to be safeguarded and nurtured for growth.
6. Do you have a clear customer management plan in place? Mange your customer base well and you can turn your customers into brand advocates and increase their lifetime value and profitability.
7. Did you determine the best marketing tactics and why they are the best? Your chosen tactics need to match your budget and your resource while achieving the results you need.
8. Do you have a documented Marketing plan and budget? A clear plan is easier to communicate, manage and implement effectively.
9. Do you have effective controls and measures in place for monitoring performance? Controls are essential for measuring success.  Without them, money may be wasted on marketing.

If these simple questions raise any thoughts, take action to make your planning stronger and more effective.  If you require any assistance, contact KG Moore on 07900136598 to assist you with starting off on the right foot with a solid plan for a successful and profitable new year.

For many organisations, their marketing plans failed simply because they just started doing marketing, without a strategic plan. It’s easy to understand the need for strategic marketing planning, but creating a strategic marketing plan is notoriously the most difficult of all marketing tasks.

The strategic marketing planning process involves a daunting task – bringing together into a realistic, well timed, budgeted plan for all of the elements of marketing that will help you meet your business objectives and hit your sales targets.

Achieving this, will require careful compromise between conflicting objectives and some difficult decision making.  And there is no doubt that different directors in an organisation may have strong ideas and objectives for their particular area of the business.  Conflict and compromise is inevitable and all part of the planning process.

The complexity of your planning will also be influenced by any number of factors: your company size, international markets, your market share, the competitive environments you operate in, technology and your financial position.

Is it realistic for an inexperienced marketer to be able to pull this plan together successfully?

Strategic marketing planning involves a systematic approach, difficult decision-making and dedicated time. It also requires an understanding that there can be marketing objectives and strategies at all levels in marketing – social media strategies, advertising and promotion strategies, sales strategies, and pricing strategies.  Pulling all of these into a coherent executable plan will keep your marketing resource and budget focussed on the right things and improve your results.

As you review or set your business objectives and your sales forecasts for 2013,  remember that this activity alone does not determine HOW your objectives and targets will be met.  The HOW will come from a marketing strategy.

It is time to get serious about a developing a clear content plan – one based on a solid keyword strategy.  This is a must for your 2013 marketing plan.

As a marketer, Google Panda is good news for me, and for my clients.  It’s good news because it enables companies to just focus on producing great content for their propositions, and not be distracted by additional or expensive SEO tactics. Great content will help your search engine rankings, AND it will also help you communicate a clear message about your products and services. Educate your customers and prospects, keep them informed, build relationships with them.  Talk to them – all through good content.  You’ll find that you retain customers, and gain more at a greater rate – simply because you have good content that speaks to them.

If you base your content plan on a solid keyword strategy, your results will be even better.

For larger organisations who reply on the tactics that SEO companies undertake on their behalf, this Panda release suddenly makes the practice of SEO a bit harder, more time consuming — and it requires knowledge of their products and services in order to create good, valuable content.

Content is really king.

If you have not created a content plan for 2013, now’s the time.  Don’t delay because with Google Panda, it is more important than ever before. If you’ve never created a content plan, based on a keyword strategy, get in touch and I can help you get started in the right way.

‘Gratnells came to me with a specific need to enter new markets, in order to grow awareness of their brand and increase sales outside of their niche market, the Education sector,’ said Kim Moore, Marketing Strategist at Colchester based KG Moore.

She continued: ‘Gratnells are an amazing company – a leading manufacturer of tray storage solutions, exporting their products to over 40 countries and producing three million storage trays a year. I’m working with them to create an international marketing strategy, and entry into the UK veterinary market is just one tactic that Gratnells will be undertaking,’

Gratnells has been one of the leading suppliers of storage solutions to NHS and private hospitals for the past 40 years. The comprehensive range of trolleys, frames, trays and boxes are ideal for medical storage needs. It is this product range that fits the needs of the veterinary market, making expansion into the veterinary sector low risk.

Gratnells already has a number of veterinary practices using the products and proving the need for the solutions. It is the organisation’s intention to become the primary supplier of storage solutions to the veterinary market and developing new products to meet their needs.  Part of the market entry strategy has involved a move to market direct, through a dedicated website selling storage solutions for veterinary practices and referral centres. Development of the e-commerce site has been a collaborative effort between KG Moore and Colchester based WDL. This site is now live and can be viewed at www.gratnellsveterinary.com

The full marketing launch will take place in November 2012, using the London Vet Show as a key platform to generate awareness of the Gratnells brand.

Commenting on KG Moore’s marketing consultancy work, James Hammond, Sales & Marketing Director of Gratnells, said: ‘Kim is a brilliant strategist and has left no stone unturned in getting the research, strategy and tactical plans developed for the veterinary market. Her project management skills are at an extremely high level, and her attention to detail is very impressive. We’ll be working with Kim on other major marketing projects throughout next year – and I’m looking forward to that.’

The advertising strategy that a brand takes at Christmas time can have a massive impact on their sales.  Getting it right is critical.  There are a few moves that I’ve noticed so far.. and I’m sure there will be more.

1. John Lewis

The new John Lewis Christmas 2012 advert – The Journey - was released on Friday. This advert tells a story about a journey that a snowman takes to buy a gift for his snow woman – a  gift comprised of  gloves, a scarf and a hat. The advert makes an emotional connection, as you see the story unfold while listening to “The power of Love”.

When I looked this morning, the video on YouTube had already been viewed 861,908 times. John Lewis claims the ad had already been mentioned 33,000 times on Twitter by yesterday afternoon and the music track, Gabrielle Aplin’s cover of ‘The Power of Love’’ went into the iTunes chart at number eight within 24 hours of the ad first being aired.

Craig Inglis, marketing director at John Lewis, said: “It is clear from the incredible reaction in the social media that our Christmas advert has once again struck a chord with the nation. We didn’t think it was possible for the response to be bigger than last year’s success but the volume of comments suggests that is exactly what happened.”

2. Waitrose

Waitrose has opted for a plain and simple advert – Giving more this Christmas, stating that they are spending less on their advert so they can give more to charity. Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal, who appear in the advert are both waiving their appearance fees in support of the idea.  Waitrose’s Marketing Director, Rupert Thomas, said: “At what is a difficult time for many people across Britain, we feel that Christmas is the right time to give more back to good causes in the communities we serve.

When I looked this morning, the video had been viewed 59,634 times.

3. Coca Cola

I know Christmas season has arrived when I see the traditional, iconic,  Coca Cola advert and hear “the holidays are coming”. It marks the beginning of the festive season. The advert boldly keeps with tradition, something that many of us find so important at Christmas – family traditions.

What makes a great advert and a successful holiday campaign?

In my opinion, a campaign that makes a strong emotional connection with people is most successful.    Brands that make an emotional connection with their customers, successfully, are  stronger, more memorable brands.  Emotion tends to dictate our response – they charge us, moving us away or towards something. Ultimately, we’ll have to wait to see the Christmas retail figures to see how well any of these ads performed.

When you are deciding your next campaign idea, think again about how you can make an emotional connection with your customers.  It works. I know I will certainly be checking out what John Lewis has on offer this year.  I’ll be stocking up on Coca Cola for when guests stop by my house, and I will certainly remember to donate money to charity this year, I always do.  I might pop into Waitrose to buy a few special bits for christmas, but I will do the bulk of my food shopping as Tesco – where every little helps!