Selling Your Services – Not Your Soul

Marketer Extraordinary

And what a great guy!

Richard Branson is.. A dynamic, successful and glamorous entrepreneur and so are Virgin products and services. A principled man who not only cares about children and world poverty but is using his wealth and position to do something about it.

And the message is... You can share some of the dynamism, glamour and success as a Virgin customer. By buying Virgin, you associate yourself with Richard Branson’s moral values and help him in his charitable work.

The impact is... You choose to spend your money on Virgin products or services Virgin companies’ profits rise Virgin and Richard Branson’s reputations are reinforced You feel good about Virgin AND you feel good about yourself!

Why marketing matters SDS should mean individual choice People are denied choice if they don’t know about you Marketing is your chance to tell people who you are, what you stand for, what you do and how you do it

People first

Market research – about you Existing ‘customers’ – what do they really think about your services? Do they think your services are high quality and values based? Would they go elsewhere if they could? Do they know what else you could provide?

Listening to the customer Who else might want to use SDS to buy your services? Find out who they are and what they want - and keep checking. Is there something else that people want that you could provide?

SDS – obstacle or opportunity Do you need to ‘sell’ SDS in the first place? What do you know about perceptions of SDS? Are there other barriers to promoting your service in the context of SDS?

Planning and integration Part of strategic planning Agree what identity you want to present – what are your key values, main activities and attributes? Agree what you want others to know about your organisation, your services, your issues – what are your key messages?

Make every contact count Face to face Phone, , website, publications Funding applications, events, stalls & fundraising Feedback opportunities

Planned and integrated Set out marketing objectives in strategic plans and individual workplans Consider marketing issues in the same way as you consider financial, staffing or other issues... automatically Include marketing in staff/volunteer/management group induction and training – produce guidelines

Word of mouth The power of personal testimony Encouragement by example – overcoming obstacles Living the values Constantly seeking feedback and being seen to act on it