BUSINESS, FINANCE
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BUSINESS, FINANCE
COMMUNICATION
It’s not all about you anymore
A Real Crisis? By Rick Ziemski
“Dear parents, I am fully aware that money doesn’t grow on trees. Sincerely, that is why I’m asking you for it.” ~ Anonymous
By Susan Baka
With regularity our media rings alarm bells about student debt. The lament, often sensationalizing in nature, leaves us with discomfort and guilt over these graduates who apparently struggle hopelessly under the burden. Phrases like “spiraling costs” and “mountainous debts” create visions of a generation of Canadian students in unprecedented financial hardship. Add to this the pictures of protesting Quebec students, and we are surely in a crisis. Or are we?
Traditional marketing techniques put product promotion first. Nowadays, it’s about helping your customers fulfil their needs and desires
• The customer is the centre of the universe. All content you deliver to your customers and prospects should be helpful, concise and answer their questions. It should fulfil what they want and need, not be about you and your products. If someone has searched for “selecting paint colours” for example, an interior designer might want to have an article with advice and tips posted on her website.Your content should also be available in the format people want – through their smartphone, for instance. • Build trust. Save the hard sell for later. If you are truly helpful when prospects first find you and become a trusted source of information to them, they will be more compelled to take the next step down the path to exploring your solutions.
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• Experiment and measure. Review your web metrics to find out what search terms are driving traffic. Are they “early stage” search terms? If so, are visitors staying on your site and exploring other areas? Look at your percentage of leads generated via search engines and social networking sites. These measurements will help you determine what content works, and what doesn’t, so that you can tweak, enhance, and test again.
Recent reporting with a more contrarian view has addressed the issue of misleading media references to student debt. Analysis of government and other studies serves to dispel the myth that most students are in debt, showing that nearly half of graduates had no debt at all. As well, approximately one quarter of those graduating with debt hold most of the debt; on average $27,000. It seems that the perceived crisis may be narrower than often presented and also might be the result of factors other than the alleged unprecedented “spiraling costs”.
The social and mobile explosion has opened a new world of opportunity for businesses of all sizes to connect with customers, but that doesn’t mean it is any easier to succeed. Changes in the online world mean changes to the marketing techniques used to penetrate it. The smart, savvy company that keeps abreast of the ever-evolving marketplace will come out ahead. This means creating a strategy that includes research, planning, budgeting, execution and testing – and a willingness to continually revisit the strategy depending on the results. It also means producing great content that will deliver results. If writing content is not something at which you excel, you may want to consider hiring an expert. It is worth the expense in the long run because the amount of information being delivered to your potential customers is growing by leaps and bounds. It’s important to ensure that your content is compelling enough to stand out and to capture and sustain their attention.
■ Susan Baka, President Bay Communications & Marketing Inc. sbaka@baycomm.ca www.baycomm.ca
It is 1969 and a young man (unnamed to not embarrass the writer) graduates from McMaster University with a $4,500 student loan. Other than free room and board at home in the summers, he has paid for his education with summer and part time work. An average annual starting salary after graduation at the time is $7,000. His debt amounts to 64 percent of gross wage. This ratio taken today assuming a debt of $27,000 and average starting wage of $40,000 is 67 percent and is relatively comparable.
Human nature is often not unique and I would venture a bet that dissection of today’s student loans in that “one quarter group” would reveal many cases of self inflicted excessive borrowing related to our two culprits: poor money management and a sense of entitlement. Good parenting means preparing our kids to stickhandle their own way in life.To ensure university is the right direction, a parent needs to ask some hard questions: • How badly do you really want a university/college education? • Are you sure you’re not just in need of leaving home? • Are you ready to make the sacrifices necessary for this investment in yourself? • Are you willing to learn money management and to stay within budgets? • Are you ready to put “some skin in the game” by paying your own tuition? • If necessary can you accept a lower living standard than at home? (No iPhone 5?) • Does cheap beer make you throw up? ■ Richard Ziemski C.A. Management Consultant rickziemski@cogeco.ca
Years later, a postmortem of the circumstances and factors behind this debt revealed no unprecedented “spiraling costs” even though media alarms were common then just like today. There were however a couple of uncomfortable personal truths behind the creation of this debt; namely a failure to budget/manage money properly plus a sense of entitlement:
Photo: Yanka Van der Kolk
Traditional “outbound” marketing (where you go fishing for customers and pitch to them) is not effective in the new interconnected online world. Before you publish anything online, you need to examine it from a strategic perspective. Don’t think of publishing content just because you can, but ask yourself what you want to publish, the tools you want to use, and why you want to publish it in the first place. Here are some new ways to think about marketing:
COMMUNICATION
Student Debt:
CONTENT MARKETING
There are so many online channels available now to market your products and services – your website, Facebook,YouTube and other social media sites, mobile devices, email – that have created new, exciting opportunities to gain customers. And because these methods are relatively inexpensive, the temptation for small business owners is to throw as much content out there as possible, hoping that something will stick. Lacking a strategy, however, can actually be counterproductive, causing potential customers to go elsewhere.
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• Purchase of an used red MGB sports car $1,400 • Speculative stock buy on advice of a professor (an asbestos mine!) $1,000 • Ski trip to Mt. St. Anne, Quebec $500 • Steady girlfriends and pubs (guys paid in those days) $1,600
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