What I love and do
The “balance” in my work/life seesaw comes from my amazing wife and three grown-up sons, our three dogs and various chickens. I am also a proud season ticket holder for the mighty Northampton Saints so weekend priorities can be challenging!
What I do and love
I am a marketing communications strategist. I help my clients exploit effective communication principles to influence and change behaviour. My time in global organisations, including WPP and Sodexo, has given me unrivalled access to Big Strategic Thinking. Now I bring this big thinking to smaller businesses. Budgets and resource may change, but the overriding principles and ultimate objectives do not–to influence an individual’s next buying decision either directly or indirectly. Engagement is the key. Passive marketing is, dare I say it, just advertising; a medium whose effectiveness is difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate. Promotional Marketing techniques designed to elicit a direct response are, almost by definition, quantifiable in terms of their effectiveness. The messaging is connecting with the consumer or client directly, using a simple clause to make a contract with them: if [Client] does this, [Producer] will do this. We could be asking our customer to complete a form, enter a competition or draw. In return, we could be promising to reduce the purchase price, give them cash back, send them to the cinema or on a holiday of a lifetime. Whatever we are promising, we are engaging with the audience in a way that other media cannot, so we understand immediately the effectiveness of the activity. Together we will define your current sales and growth challenges and agree on targets for measuring the success of what we do next. I will build a range of solutions designed to address the specifics of your business and the habits of your customers. Once these are agreed we will plan realistic timescales to implement the activities and to evaluate their success. I also train sales and marketing teams helping them explore promotional strategy and work on a more long term basis to boost growth and profitability.