Getting paid promptly is easy, if you know how
A previous post talked about how lawyers don’t market themselves very well. There is one notable exception that I know of and, not surprisingly, it is the firm with the happiest clients according to a Legal Business magazine survey. The firm in question is Liverpool-based Thomas Higgins Partnership (THP), which specialises in commercial debt collection. Marketing has a number of definitions but if you agree that, at its core, it is about finding out what customers want and then satisfying those needs profitably, then THP is clearly an exemplar. Getting paid in reasonable time is probably the biggest bugbear ... read the full post »
01 September 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : commercial debt, happy clients, law firms, lawyers, marketing.
Pitching media stories requires instinct and persistence
This is a story that will ring plenty of bells, and should be encouraging, for those who spend most of their time pitching stories to media. It might also be revealing to those who pay their salaries. A couple of years ago I worked for a management consultancy. The firm specialised in the corporate finance function, helping CFOs of medium to large corporations improve operating efficiencies, and generally improving the ability of their finance functions to serve the business strategically. It was all very sober stuff and, as might be expected, the firm’s employees were ... read the full post »
23 July 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog,Uncategorized | Comment on this post »
Tagged : media coverage, pitching, The Financial Times.
How ‘scribing’ helps you to communicate with more impact
From time to time, we're all faced with presenting something complicated to an audience, and we often worry about how we can make what we have to say interesting, memorable and engaging. That's why I want to share this great video from The Royal Society of Arts. It demonstrates well how to use 'scribing' a technique I first came across in 2004 when working with a management consultancy and have since seen put to great communication effect. You can find out more about scribing and how it can be used here. In the meantime, I hope you ... read the full post »
05 July 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : impact, Royal Society of Arts, scribing.
From Duncan Bannatyne: words of wisdom or utter drivel?
I’m going to give Duncan Bannatyne, one of the BBC’s business gurus from the popular Dragons’ Den TV series, the benefit of the doubt here. I think someone else must have written his opinion editorial published in last Thursday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK. Duncan Bannatyne sports a red nose for charity Because I can’t believe someone who started with a £450 ice cream van and is now said to be worth £350m would read the full post »
27 June 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | 1 Comment »
Tagged : Dragons' Den, Duncan Bannatyne, marketing advice.
How to do annual reports in the Internet age
Outside the obvious targets of the City and shareholders, who are understandably most interested in the numbers, an annual report has many audiences. Still, all too many make for pretty turgid reading, and rely primarily on the standard pie/bar charts to convey the data. So it was a pleasant surprise to see Home Retail Group, owners of well-known UK high street brands Argos and Homebase, taking a different approach this week with this nice creative use of video. It’s a pity, though, that they didn’t recognise that the rather dry, jargon-laced corporate language used in a printed report ... read the full post »
10 June 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : annual report, Argos, Homebase, retail, video use.
Reputation, trust and retail banks
In the UK, high street (retail) banking is dominated by a handful of five, big brands so similar you’d be hard pushed to fit a cigarette paper between them. So news of Metro bank’s launch, which The Telegraph newspaper points out is the first new entrant to this market in 100 years, ought to be welcomed, didn’t it? Especially when you hear its billionaire founder Vernon Hill likes to have fun and plans to “to eliminate every stupid bank rule we can find." How refreshing. Well, on the surface, yes. Any new-comer promising to shake things up and put customers ... read the full post »
08 June 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : banks, CNN, Harvard Business Review, Havas, marketing, Metro bank, reputation, Tesco, The Daily Telegraph, trust, Virgin.
How easily events at suppliers can turn into a big reputation issue
Reading a major, left-leaning British newspaper on Saturday I was struck by two separate stories featuring what is now the world’s largest technology corporation, Apple. In the first, Apple was the story. It was a light, positive piece about the frenzied events at the company’s flagship London store on the first day that Ipads went on sale. Apple marketing folk must have been delighted by the scale and tone of the article. The second story was altogether different, and must have tainted the pleasure prompted by the first. It was about a spate of suicides by unhappy workers ... read the full post »
03 June 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : Apple, BBC, Foxconn, reputation.
Legal services market set to heat up. But does anyone want their law firm to be ‘cool’?
Some would say lawyers deserve all they get reputation-wise: they communicate in a strange, obscure language, deliberately designed to complicate the simple; they inhabit a rarefied, archaic world largely untouched by modern business norms such as offering high customer service levels and value for money. I suspect Luke Johnson’s recent damning column in The Financial Times speaks for many. The British government clearly thinks things need shaking up too because its ‘Legal Services Act’ comes into force next year, and aims to open up and deregulate the market. It has been described by The Times newspaper as ... read the full post »
25 May 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | 4 Comments »
Tagged : branding, law firms, Legal Services Act, marketing, reputation, social media, The Financial Times, Times newspaper, Twitter, USP.
People judge you by the company you keep. So why do firms accept porn pedlars as Twitter followers?
Like others, I’m interested in keeping up with how businesses are using Twitter and what benefits they accrue. So was keen to read a recent article on this theme penned by international property consultancy Drivers Jonas Deloitte, DJD for short. After a bit of a struggle to find DJD’s Twitter page (they forgot to tell us in the piece), I noticed that the firm had a seemingly impressive number of followers (1100+). Curiosity is something I’m not short of so I delved a bit deeper. As I saw some of the followers’ profiles, the article comment describing Twitter ... read the full post »
20 May 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : Google Adsense, marketing, reputation, social media, Twitter.
Pitching is on the rise – but who really pays and how much does it cost?
Most companies who hire marketing services firms love to assert their power by making their suppliers jump through hoops from time to time, and it’s an increasing practice. Which is why, a few times each month, suppliers of advertising, public relations and other marketing services have to participate in a time consuming and usually fruitless ‘beauty parade’ game, otherwise known as pitching for client business (other businesses use the more generally known term: selling). I’ve been on both sides of the fence on many occasions and can tell you it ... read the full post »
18 May 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | 1 Comment »
Tagged : agencies, agency management, Microsoft, new business, pitching, PR firms, PRCA, selling.