Take Control Of Your Marketing Today

Is your marketing strategy one of trial and error?

This is how some businesses operate:

‘The Haphazard Plumbing Company’ decides that they should be targeting households within a 10-mile radius of where their business is based. Let’s say Leeds for example. So they buy in a mailing list of 20,000 names and they mail their A4 direct mailer to everyone on their list.

Then they wait patiently  . . . for a response . . . only . . . the uptake is a disappointing 0.008%. And they’ve wasted a ton of money on the design, the printing, the postage. So what to do next?

Then we have the ‘Savvy Plumbing Company.’ With the help of a hands-on marketing consultant they can be confident in their approach.


They will then analyse the response levels and fine-tune the letter which attracts the most favourable response. This will be the company’s ‘control’ letter.

They may even decide to pit this version against another one still – as a direct marketer you should never stop testing. But what they won’t do, is send an untried mailer out to 20,000 people – and neither should you.

So what kind of ‘sales letter’ elements might you test?:

• Headlines
• Subheads
• Bullet points
• Body copy
• Your offer
• Payment terms
• Guarantee
• Graphics & charts

The difficulty for many business owners can be objectivity. Frequently they become so attached to their businesses, they will blindly pursue avenues that are clearly not bringing in quality results for them.
By using sampling in your direct marketing strategy you will pretty quickly be able to determine whether you have a winning direct mailer, or something that could do with a little more tweaking. Either way, you will not be wasting money on something that might or might not work for you.
A marketing consultant can be a genuine help in producing winning sales materials for your business. But whether you decide to go down the DIY route, or invest in some professional help, you will need to establish a ‘control’ sales letter. That is, a sales letter that your potential customers will respond to – one that will allow you to take control of your company’s marketing results.

Improving Your Marketing CV

So you have identified marketing as the industry you wish to pursue a career in; perhaps you are a graduate, fresh out of university; perhaps you have reached a point in your career where you realise you need a change; perhaps you are already pursuing a career in marketing but have reached a plateau and are desperate to take that next step.

Whilst your skill set and experience are absolutely essential for career advancement, often a good qualification is the only thing that will help you take the next step towards achieving your goals.
The first thing to note is that, whilst a university degree will certainly help you into a career in marketing, not all marketing companies will specify that new employees must be graduates. Often, training is on the job and an academic background is unnecessary for the most junior roles.

That said, a degree in a science based subject will prove to employers that you have a logical and mathematical brain; often more impressive than an arts based degree. On the contrary, an industry specific degree, for example in marketing or business, could well give you the edge over other job candidates, particularly if you can apply the theory to real life situations and scenarios.

As a tool to reach the higher echelons of the marketing industry, the weight of affiliation or membership with the Chartered Institute of Marketing cannot be overestimated.

The CIM have a membership structure designed to accommodate anyone working in the marketing industry, from graduates to senior management and executives. The higher levels require certain qualifications, with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent required for the highest.

The very highest accreditation in the marketing industry is Chartered Status with the CIM. This highly prestigious acclaim can only be gained through extensive experience and expertise within marketing and a relevant degree is also usually necessary.

In addition, the CIM run their own courses and qualifications that are designed to guide you along the way to gaining Chartered status. Moreover, any qualifications with the CIM are extremely highly thought of across the marketing industry.

There are a number of other professionally accredited qualifications that are extremely valuable in advancing your career to that senior management level. Institutes such as the Institute of Direct Marketing and the Institute of Export are other professional bodies that offer such opportunities to study.

Unfortunately for those new to the industry, marketing companies are often looking for experience and the catch-22 is that it is very difficult to gain experience without previous experience. That said, volunteering, internships and work placements are all great ways to gain invaluable time within a marketing firm.

Whatever you decide to study, always have a specific goal in mind. If you are set on gaining Chartered Status from the CIM, look at their courses and development programmes. If you are mathematically minded, perhaps consider a maths based degree that includes marketing modules.
You will soon find you have the edge over other candidates applying without such qualifications.