The Blog
More Ways to Navigate the Blog
A Dose of Marketing Clarity
We have a back catalogue of over a decade of posts, almost all of which are still relevant and useful today.
Audio
PodBlog
For those that prefer to listen than to read
Key Concepts
By Framework
Find posts that relate to key frameworks
Touchpoint Leaks
By Leak
Find posts that relate to each of the Leaks
Masterclasses
Live Masterclasses
Put your questions directly to us in live sessions
Fancy a regular dose of marketing clarity by email?
The latest posts…
What skills does a marketing director need?
Getting the backing of your board for the marketing budget you need to do a good job is a key skill of a client-side marketer. If you’re getting push back on your budget requests, here are three key ways to get better buy-in by distinguishing the three marketing budgets, index-linking your requests, and using Visual Budgeting to express your rationale.
How do you get buy-in to your marketing budget?
Getting the backing of your board for the marketing budget you need to do a good job is a key skill of a client-side marketer. If you’re getting push back on your budget requests, here are three key ways to get better buy-in by distinguishing the three marketing budgets, index-linking your requests, and using Visual Budgeting to express your rationale.
How to get buy-in on your marketing budget
Getting the backing of your board for the marketing budget you need to do a good job is a key skill of a client-side marketer. If you’re getting push back on your budget requests, here are three key ways to get better buy-in by distinguishing the three marketing budgets, index-linking your requests, and using Visual Budgeting to express your rationale.
#WatertightWednesday Write-ups
What skills does a marketing director need?
< Back to the Blog If you’re aiming for the most senior marketing position or are already there, what skills make this role a success? Our roundtable discussion this month looked at this topic through three lenses: bridging business strategy into marketing...
How do you get buy-in to your marketing budget?
< Back to the Blog Many people not in the marketing team have a view that marketing budgets are not always well justified. They can come across as more of a cost rather than being activities from which the business can derive real – even long-term – value. So how...
How to get buy-in on your marketing budget
< Back to the Blog Getting the backing of your board for the marketing budget you need to do a good job is a key skill of a client-side marketer. If you're getting push back on your budget requests, here are three key ways to get better buy-in. We invite you to...
Building a Marketing Team
What skills does a marketing director need?
< Back to the Blog If you’re aiming for the most senior marketing position or are already there, what skills make this role a success? Our roundtable discussion this month looked at this topic through three lenses: bridging business strategy into marketing...
How do you get buy-in to your marketing budget?
< Back to the Blog Many people not in the marketing team have a view that marketing budgets are not always well justified. They can come across as more of a cost rather than being activities from which the business can derive real – even long-term – value. So how...
What is marketing strategy, and whose job is it?
< Back to the Blog What is marketing strategy? Roundtable discussion (58 minutes)How do you draw the distinction between strategy and tactics? More importantly, what do others in your business think strategy is and who needs to be involved? Where marketing strategy...
Posts by Framework
Flow Foundations
What skills does a marketing director need?
< Back to the Blog If you’re aiming for the most senior marketing position or are already there, what skills make this role a success? Our roundtable discussion this month looked at this topic through three lenses: bridging business strategy into marketing...
How do you get buy-in to your marketing budget?
< Back to the Blog Many people not in the marketing team have a view that marketing budgets are not always well justified. They can come across as more of a cost rather than being activities from which the business can derive real – even long-term – value. So how...
How to get buy-in on your marketing budget
< Back to the Blog Getting the backing of your board for the marketing budget you need to do a good job is a key skill of a client-side marketer. If you're getting push back on your budget requests, here are three key ways to get better buy-in. We invite you to...
Touchpoint Leaks™
What skills does a marketing director need?
< Back to the Blog If you’re aiming for the most senior marketing position or are already there, what skills make this role a success? Our roundtable discussion this month looked at this topic through three lenses: bridging business strategy into marketing...
How do you get buy-in to your marketing budget?
< Back to the Blog Many people not in the marketing team have a view that marketing budgets are not always well justified. They can come across as more of a cost rather than being activities from which the business can derive real – even long-term – value. So how...
What is marketing strategy, and whose job is it?
< Back to the Blog What is marketing strategy? Roundtable discussion (58 minutes)How do you draw the distinction between strategy and tactics? More importantly, what do others in your business think strategy is and who needs to be involved? Where marketing strategy...
Logic Sandwich
Marketing In Action: Receipt Bank turns happy customers into a sales engine
< Back to the Blog Mobilising the goodwill of happy customers is so powerful. I've recently started using Receipt Bank, and there's a little thing they do that I thought I'd share with you. Now, we have nothing to do with this bit of marketing cleverness, but it...
How to structure a marketing case study
< Back to the Blog The marketing case study is an essential part of your toolkit . They have an essential role in proving your credentials and overcoming any concerns that a potential buyer might have. So, I've asked Certified Practitioner, Cheryl Crichton, to give...
What are the real triggers in a sales process?
< Back to the Blog As buyers we are exposed to more and more messages that fight for our time. As marketers, it’s often tempting to emphasise the unique features and logical prowess of an offering. But, the mind doesn’t work like that. There’s more to engaging the...
The Time Triangle
Three ways to pay (not what you think!)
< Back to the Blog I'm not talking about PayPal or invoices here, I'm talking about what people exchange with you in return for value at different stages of a buying decision. If you can crack this, your marketing will almost always deliver for you. As someone goes...
Is your content formatted for how your customers’ brains are wired?
< Back to the Blog Yesterday, I zoomed in on the power of visual content in your mix of materials. Today, I want to zoom back out to give you a way of planning a mix of content in different formats to ensure that you grab the attention of people who might be...
The only 5 things you should be doing in social media
< Back to the Blog Social media marketing can seem like a bit of a minefield. It can also seem like there’s a dizzying amount to learn before you can even get started. But, it really breaks down into four activities and one core skill – which are common across...
Influencer Icecream
Is it time to Validate Concerns rather than Overcome Objections?
< Back to the Blog It’s received wisdom amongst many sales professionals that a key part of their role is to overcome the objections that people may have to buying what they have on offer. Indeed, many a training session and book can be found on the skills involved...
How to choose a CRM system for small business
< Back to the Blog I am continually asked how to choose CRM for small business. Our clients are typically step-up businesses. That is, they are onto some thing and they now want to scale it up. At some point in this journey their data needs and automation desires...
How to overcome the third party veto in a complex sale
< Back to the Blog Following a strategy workshop that I ran with Watertight Marketing Certified Practitioner, Joshua Morse, there was some disagreement. Going through the Touchpoint Leak™ Assessment, Joshua rated – Leak 5: No Critical Approval – as Red, whilst the...
Profit Purpose Matrix
What makes marketing work?
< Back to the Blog I often start workshops by offering to write up on the board in red or green pen. Red for something they hate about marketing, and green for something they love about marketing. Without fail there will be someone in the room that hates how hard...
Growth: Do you want lifetime value, margin or volume?
< Back to the Blog This post is also available over on our PodBlogI was chatting with one of our clients last week. This is a £20m+ b2b service provider. They have a core service that's low margin, but gives them a platform to sell add-on services that are high...
Why your direct competitors are often the least important
< Back to the Blog This post is also available over on our PodBlogIf I say 'competitors' to you, I'm willing to bet that you think of people that offer similar things to you. So, Burger King would be a competitor to McDonalds, and Pepsi a competitor to Coke......
Posts by Touchpoint Leak™
The Touchpoint Leaks™ framework is introduced in Chapter 2 of the Watertight Marketing book. You can use this to create a Touchpoint Leak™ Traffic Light Report to find your focus Leak. Then please use Part Three of the book, and these posts to #tweakyourleaks
"The Touchpoint Leak™ Assessment is the best tool I have ever seen in helping someone organise their marketing priorities while taking in the whole picture. I’m going to be recommending it to all my customers - it’s a must."
Leak 1: Forgotten Customers
Marketing In Action: Receipt Bank turns happy customers into a sales engine
< Back to the Blog Mobilising the goodwill of happy customers is so powerful. I've recently started using Receipt Bank, and there's a little thing they do that I thought I'd share with you. Now, we have nothing to do with this bit of marketing cleverness, but it...
10 ways to build great customer loyalty
< Back to the Blog We've talked before about the importance of building customer loyalty, and it's no accident that the first of the 13 Touchpoint Leaks is "Forgotten Customers". It's been said before, and it will be said again. But actually cultivating loyalty in...
Customer Marketing: How to make sure your customers don’t feel forgotten
< Back to the Blog Customer marketing is one of the most important, and often overlooked, elements of a marketing plan. Your existing customers are the people who pay your bills folks! But, more than this, they are the foundation of your reputation, your word of...
Leak 2: Poor On-Boarding
How Inside Travel Group got their marketing stars aligned
← Back to Case Studies Inside Travel Group engaged Watertight Marketing to undertake a Marketing Team Alignment, Benchmark and Plan, and then have gone on to apply the results“The Watertight Marketing Team Alignment and Benchmark did two powerful jobs for us...
3 tips for customer retention marketing that any small business can achieve
< Back to the Blog Welcoming your new customers on board is a critical factor in the overall success of your small business marketing, and indeed of your business sustainability. Customer retention is often as important a marketing task as customer acquisition.As...
Hard-sell only works once
< Back to the Blog This post was written in 2012 and approved at the time of writing. KashFlow (www.kashflow.com), providers of online accounting software for small businesses, exhibited at business events in their early days. I interviewed them to appear as an...
Leak 3: No Emotional Connection
Josef Elliott: “Half of our customers didn’t know half the stuff we did”
← Back to Case Studies Josef Elliott, co-founder and MD of Oyster IMS, talks about how they've used Watertight Marketing to tweak their marketing operation and win more business at the Confidence & Clarity Conference 2018. Transcript: Steve Bustin: "Our first...
Critical ways brands can improve the quality of their customer interactions
Typically, the businesses we work with are in the £2-20m turnover bracket. But, the Watertight approach was borne out of my previous life working with much larger brands, like Microsoft, Lloyds TSB, and Experian. It doesn't matter how big or small your business is......
You can’t logic someone out of love
< Back to the Blog How many people do you think will be getting a Valentine card this year, who don't really deserve it? Looking beyond a person's failings could be said to be the very definition of love. And, this is one of the reasons why – as a business – having...
Leak 4: No Gateway
Why should you invest in marketing when sales are soaring anyway?
< Back to the Blog This post is also available over on our PodBlogMost of the businesses that we work with on a marketing transformation have a sales team. In fact, most have an excellent sales team on whom the growth to that point can be credited. Further to this,...
Can your potential buyers picture your products?
One to the key tasks of your marketing is to help your customers to get a sense of what it would be like to work with you, or own your products, before they become a customer. In the Watertight Marketing methodology, we talk about this specifically as part of the...
Three ways to pay (not what you think!)
< Back to the Blog I'm not talking about PayPal or invoices here, I'm talking about what people exchange with you in return for value at different stages of a buying decision. If you can crack this, your marketing will almost always deliver for you. As someone goes...
Leak 5: No Critical Approval
How Inside Travel Group got their marketing stars aligned
← Back to Case Studies Inside Travel Group engaged Watertight Marketing to undertake a Marketing Team Alignment, Benchmark and Plan, and then have gone on to apply the results“The Watertight Marketing Team Alignment and Benchmark did two powerful jobs for us...
Is it time to Validate Concerns rather than Overcome Objections?
< Back to the Blog It’s received wisdom amongst many sales professionals that a key part of their role is to overcome the objections that people may have to buying what they have on offer. Indeed, many a training session and book can be found on the skills involved...
How to proactively generate word-of-mouth for your business
Many businesses will say that they generate most of their new business through word-of-mouth. However, dig a bit deeper and you often find that they are not doing anything to specifically support this... it's more a case of being a by-product...
Leak 6: No Proof
Critical ways brands can improve the quality of their customer interactions
Typically, the businesses we work with are in the £2-20m turnover bracket. But, the Watertight approach was borne out of my previous life working with much larger brands, like Microsoft, Lloyds TSB, and Experian. It doesn't matter how big or small your business is......
How to structure a marketing case study
< Back to the Blog The marketing case study is an essential part of your toolkit . They have an essential role in proving your credentials and overcoming any concerns that a potential buyer might have. So, I've asked Certified Practitioner, Cheryl Crichton, to give...
Why do you need to use evidence in your marketing?
Lots of the growing businesses that we work with are the new kids on the block. They're up against established competition and can struggle to gain trust from people who feel they may be taking a risk with a less established organisation. So,...
Leak 7: Information Overload
Three ways to pay (not what you think!)
< Back to the Blog I'm not talking about PayPal or invoices here, I'm talking about what people exchange with you in return for value at different stages of a buying decision. If you can crack this, your marketing will almost always deliver for you. As someone goes...
Three sales-boosting tips for your business blog
This is the fourth in a series of five blogs on blogging this week. A business blog is one of the simplest ways of overcoming Leak #7 (Information Overload) of the Thirteen Touchpoint Leaks. It acts as invitation information and a stepping stone between...
How to bring some personality to your blog
This is the third in a series of five blogs on blogging this week. A business blog is one of the simplest ways of overcoming Leak #7 (Information Overload) of the Thirteen Touchpoint Leaks. It acts as invitation information and a stepping stone between...
Leak 8: How (format)
3 examples of effective video marketing from zero budget upwards
Video is quickly moving into the 'must-have' category for even the smallest of businesses. In Touchpoint Leak 8 - How detailed in my book, Watertight Marketing - we talk about a six part matrix for ensuring your content is presented for the way people's brain's are...
One piece of content. 20 ways to use it.
In my last post, I gave you some ideas for creating key marketing content, and roughly how long it might take. Today, I wanted to make crystal clear that each iteration does not have to have unique content. In fact, repurposing, cutting up, re-using, and...
Is your content formatted for how your customers’ brains are wired?
< Back to the Blog Yesterday, I zoomed in on the power of visual content in your mix of materials. Today, I want to zoom back out to give you a way of planning a mix of content in different formats to ensure that you grab the attention of people who might be...
Leak 9: Where (channel)
Where does telemarketing sit in your toolkit?
< Back to the Blog Telemarketing is a hotly debated topic in both sales and marketing circles. It's a bit of a love/hate relationship. Anyone who knows the Watertight Marketing methodology will know that we're advocates of gentle permission-led marketing. But, that...
A day in the life of a small business tweet
< Back to the Blog Or, how Twitter can join the dots between people, products and profit Tweeting has been commonplace in the small business marketing landscape for some time now. With the right strategy and tools in place, and along side other activity, Twitter...
The only 5 things you should be doing in social media
< Back to the Blog Social media marketing can seem like a bit of a minefield. It can also seem like there’s a dizzying amount to learn before you can even get started. But, it really breaks down into four activities and one core skill – which are common across...
Leak 10: When (timing)
How often do you repeat yourself in your marketing?
Are you worried about repetition in marketing? We often encounter an uneasiness and sense of mounting pressure in businesses where marketing includes putting out high quality content. Perhaps they've made a commitment to a baseline of weekly...
Marketing Timing: How to make sure that you show up at the right time
I was recently asked, by the fabulous Valuable Content duo, what our most successful content of 2015 had been and why. The answer was clear. It was our simply, useful and timely Christmas Marketing Checklist. Getting your marketing timing right is so critical to...
Three ways to pay (not what you think!)
< Back to the Blog I'm not talking about PayPal or invoices here, I'm talking about what people exchange with you in return for value at different stages of a buying decision. If you can crack this, your marketing will almost always deliver for you. As someone goes...
Leak 11: Who (Influencers)
How Inside Travel Group got their marketing stars aligned
← Back to Case Studies Inside Travel Group engaged Watertight Marketing to undertake a Marketing Team Alignment, Benchmark and Plan, and then have gone on to apply the results“The Watertight Marketing Team Alignment and Benchmark did two powerful jobs for us...
Is it time to Validate Concerns rather than Overcome Objections?
< Back to the Blog It’s received wisdom amongst many sales professionals that a key part of their role is to overcome the objections that people may have to buying what they have on offer. Indeed, many a training session and book can be found on the skills involved...
How to proactively generate word-of-mouth for your business
Many businesses will say that they generate most of their new business through word-of-mouth. However, dig a bit deeper and you often find that they are not doing anything to specifically support this... it's more a case of being a by-product...
Leak 12: What
Josef Elliott: “Half of our customers didn’t know half the stuff we did”
← Back to Case Studies Josef Elliott, co-founder and MD of Oyster IMS, talks about how they've used Watertight Marketing to tweak their marketing operation and win more business at the Confidence & Clarity Conference 2018. Transcript: Steve Bustin: "Our first...
How do you find clients that sustain you energetically and financially?
< Back to the BlogThis post is also available over on our PodBlogFor many of our clients, it's not necessarily that they need more clients, it's that they need more of the right clients. And, in many more cases, once this has been clearly defined and a strategy put...
The effect of marketing on staff morale
< Back to the Blog Lots of our clients are fast-growing businesses for whom finding and keeping good people can be as much of a challenge as finding and keeping profitable customers. So, I asked Peter Baynes to look at the effect of implementing Watertight...
Leak 13: No Emotional Impact
Critical ways brands can improve the quality of their customer interactions
Typically, the businesses we work with are in the £2-20m turnover bracket. But, the Watertight approach was borne out of my previous life working with much larger brands, like Microsoft, Lloyds TSB, and Experian. It doesn't matter how big or small your business is......
Marketing messages are often meaningless. Scenarios almost always make sense.
We're not going to be the first or last to say that you need to focus on emotional marketing messages to get a response. In using our Logic Sandwich™ messaging framework, we ask clients to focus on on 'away-from' emotional triggers to get a...
What are the real triggers in a sales process?
< Back to the Blog As buyers we are exposed to more and more messages that fight for our time. As marketers, it’s often tempting to emphasise the unique features and logical prowess of an offering. But, the mind doesn’t work like that. There’s more to engaging the...