Watertight Marketing

Fancy a bit of light relief from the Budget today? Bryony Thomas will be running a live lunchtime masterclass called 'Lessons in marketing from a multi-million pound cat thief'... it'll be fun. Join us!

🐶 If customers were more like dogs than cats... You give them love and they'd be loyal from the start.  You show them which path to take and they follow you. You give them some toys and they want to play with you. 🐈 Cats are very different. For one thing, you don't own them. They come and go as they please. Do join us next week at midday on 30 October when Bryony Thomas will be sharing lessons in marketing from a multi-million pound cat thief! Info and booking details here: https://lnkd.in/exj3js4m And... you'll be getting a sneaky peek of the other 100 ways in which customers are like cats.

🧩 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗷𝗶𝗴𝘀𝗮𝘄 Earlier this month we shared the initial findings of this year's research: how well does marketing support business plans? As it turns out, not as well as you might want or need! So what's missing? We identified four things: 1. Only 𝟰𝟭% 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 about what they were selling to whom.  2. A 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹 mapped to every step of the sales journey.  3. Just under 𝟰𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱 at which people make decisions. 4. Teams are generally 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻. In the discussion that followed we talked about some key issues that emerged: > why is marketing planning so hard and > why do MDs rate marketing so low? 👇 Read the full write-up and find out more about the four missing pieces, the two questions we chatted about and the five key actions you can take. https://lnkd.in/em4d8d4v

"A slap round the face with the bleeding obvious" This was a quote from an MD after reading the Watertight Marketing book. He meant it as a compliment...! He said that page by page there were moments of realisation, and he couldn't quite believe he hadn't seen things like this before. "Now you've told me, it's utterly obvious!" On 16th October, Bryony Thomas will be sharing her four top marketing truths that every growing business needs to accept and embrace. Do join us! Link url to register in the pic!

Join us today at midday to explore our research findings, and discuss the following questions that have emerged: - Why is marketing planning so hard to get right? - Why does tactical execution not match strategic intent? - Does the speed of marketing make it impossible to ever keep up? - Why do MD's rate marketing as less effective than their marketers think it is? Join us live to discuss the findings >> https://lnkd.in/eZ-rnD7G

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀? We'll soon have the answer... 📊 We're busy analysing the results of our latest research, which explores just how firm the foundations are for sustainable business growth. By looking at both strategic and operational elements, this research highlights common challenges faced by businesses today—and more importantly, what marketers can do to drive success. Join us on the 2nd October at midday as we dive into these insights. Link to register > https://lnkd.in/eZ-rnD7G

⁉️ Is your marketing the very best it could be? With insights drawn from deep research and experience over two decades in marketing, our new masterclass draws out the four key things the very best marketers do every time. We’ll also show you really practical tools you can use to steps things up. 🤫 Do join us next week to learn about the four secrets of highly effective marketing. https://lnkd.in/eVWxjGDE

“𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀” Our latest interview is with Damion Viney, owner and accountant running with Co-Accounting, based in South London. One of the things Damion talks about is how, having been on some sales briefings from a training organisation, he realised how well Watertight worked with sales. In fact, when his new business development manager started, he handed her the book, saying: this is our approach to marketing. She has been using it to map out their customer journey and there is plenty in our material about what marketing to put in place to warm up conversations with prospects, give them sense of what it's like to work with you and how to prove your promises - all things a savvy sales person would want to do. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/e5Vs6zJy. Thank you Damion for chatting to us!

**New podblog** 10 ways to screw up your marketing budget. Bryony Thomas explores the ten things she most often sees blowing the marketing budget. I think my "favourite" one is: counting entertainment as marketing. I'll hazard a guess that EVERY marketer who's reading this will nod their head. Yes it has a place, and of course if can be about relationship building, but paying several thousand pounds for a box at the local rugby ground... might not be good value. You can listen to it here https://lnkd.in/eVmecUjk Which of the 10 ways resonate most with you?

**New interview published today** Latest in our series of Watertight Thinker's interviews is from Kim Slater. She's been using Watertight for a number of years so we talked to her about how she'd applied it and the impact it's had for her. She said lots of interesting things. One of them was the answer to the question I posed: "Thinking about the wider business, the other people to whom you’ve introduced the language, what do you think the impact for them has been?" Her reply: "It definitely makes us feel more like a team. When I first started, nobody really knew what I did; nobody understood what I was doing, and it felt quite separate. But being able to be more collaborative feeds both ways, we’re able to support people. Now people will come to us for specific advice .... or they've spotted an opportunity to upsell something, but I’m not quite sure how to go about it and things like that." Not something you'd necessarily think a set of marketing tools, frameworks and approaches could do for you! https://lnkd.in/ecHJVN7x