All of the dragons were impressed by the reusable and erasable alternative to a flip chart” thats how Westwood described his product bar Peter Jones. Its ridiculous,” he spat during the show. Why would I ever use this But their appearance on the show wasnt in vain as the Westwoods accepted a 100,000 offer from Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden in return for a 40 per cent stake.
In the period since, the company has been a growth success story. Its current turnover is 1m a year, and in 2014 the Westwoods bought the Dragons Den investors out for a combined 800,000. But one of the most crucial lessons the two founders learned was that it’s easy to waste moneyinmarketing.
To help shine a light on the issue, Westwood unveiled five things bosses should be wary of advice, he said, that he would also be taking on board the second time around.
(1) Paid-for search isnt always the best solution
Ive wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds since we started in 2006,” Neil Westwood said. The problem is, everyones a guru and if you havent come from a marketing background, you believe them at first. We were spending a fortune on paid search on Google but were paying as much as a pound for a click through to our website and only one in every 100 converted. Wed end up paying 100 to make a profit of 15, which isnt very good business sense.
Digital display advertising, he claimed, was also a pricy expense that didnt always deliver. In fact, Westwood suggested the banner ads saw no life in sales even sponsoring the Worcester rugby pitch had no effect. This all leads him to the conclusion that bosses need to beware of paid-for search.
(2) SEO is the way to go
One of the most important marketing tips any business leader should take into account is that a natural approach will be more beneficial to your company. Westwood suggested that rather than paying for paid listings, firms should focus on search engine optimisation (SEO).
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- Debunking five common SEO myths
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He said: SEO was another area we wasted a lot of money in. Wed use agencies who knew how to best set up a website so it’s Google friendly. Thats great, but such agencies always wanted a monthly retainer for doing little. We took it back and learned how to mark up each page with meta tags, where you put in keywords that describe what the page is about.
If these match up with what people are searching for, such as magic whiteboard or portable whiteboard , the results can be great. They have been for us. Its the best use of our budget by far because nobody knows our business better than us.
Read on to find out more about wowing the crowd.
(3) PR agencies should be your best friends
A huge factor that contributes to a web page being considered “important” in Googles eyes is the number of links pointing to that page a concept Westwood concentrates a lot of effort in by fostering relationships with PR agencies.
Id never heard of PR when we launched, but getting people to write about your business and then link back to your website in the article does wonders for your search results,” he said.
And the beauty is, it doesnt cost much, other than time and maybe some samples. We send out press releases and contact journalists on social media to see what theyre writing about so we can contribute. We also enter competitions. If you do well or win, youll often get a mention and a link.
And contrary to most advice, Westwood suggested companies needed to be wary of using social media to advertise a method of marketing Magic Whiteboard saw no noticeable results in. There was also the fear factor of fake accounts, he warned.
(4) Dont forget the more traditional methods of marketing
Though technology is changing marketing at a rapid pace, there are several benefits to having an exhibit presence at a trade show.
Trade shows are great for getting people to use your product,” Westwood explained. Theyre also useful for getting coverage. We go on Facebook and Twitter to say where we are and what were doing and you not only get potential buyers popping along, but you get people who go on to review the products too.
If you can offer something over Skype to potential customers too, thats a great way of doing of presentation or giving a speech without having to travel anywhere. I regularly talk to schoolchildren via Skype about being a business person, which is great fun but schools are a major part of our business too.
(5) If you see an opportunity to wow the crowd then do it
Remember the Red Bull dive from space” Of course you do, everyone loves a good stunt. This is an area that Westwood feels passionate about hes no stranger to doing the odd stunt himself. After buying a Peel P50 he would drive it to trade shows and park it on a stand. Afterwards, he was featured on the Channel 4 show Posh Pawn trying to sell it.
More recently,?he brought Margaret Thatchers parliamentary robes for more than 80,000.
In summary, it’s all about getting the word out there and ensuring that your company is on the tip of everyones tongues, be it through a mobile-friendly site or a concentrated PR effort.
Elsewhere in the marketing landscape, for an industry that always proclaims its delighted adoption of the new and innovative, marketing is actually filled with inertia. Businesses are notorious for sticking with tried and trusted methods of customer communication no matter what.
