Marketing; it isn't just sales and it isn't just advertising. Marketing is the encapsulation of these and many other elements that help to put your product or service, in front of consumers. While every company's marketing objectives will be different, there are quite a few fundamentals that give businesses the best chance of success.

The bulk of our marketing clients are SME's and they use Neo Marketing as their small, cost-effective marketing department.

For a three or four hours a week, we make sure that our client's business is being promoted and presented in the best possible light. There are a few steps that we undertake with each new client.

The Marketing Audit

Initially we meet with the client and conduct a Marketing Audit. This six-page document covers just about everything, such as:

• Internal/external environments
• Strengths/vulnerabilities
• Competitors strengths/vulnerabilities
• Brand awareness
• Competitive Advantage

Market Research

This almost always reveals areas that require some more information to make informed decisions. We use our exclusive access to Scotland-wide, UK-wide and Worldwide (most businesses markets extend beyond Glasgow and Edinburgh) business and acedemic databases to research all documents, publications and articles relevant to our clients needs. If more current, consumer-based data is required can facilitate online surveys and/or live focus groups.

The Marketing Plan

Then comes the fun stuff.... From the marketing audit and the market reseach we plan the marketing efforts for the next 6 months to 2 years, depending on requirements. Once complete, we return to the client and discuss the elements and direction of the plan, make changes, then match the costs to their budget.

Implementation

To provide the best value for our clients, we suggest they undertake as many of the projects from the Marketing Plan as they are capable of doing. We usually meet our clients fortnightly or monthly to review their efforts and re-focus for the next period. As all of our in-house services, such as ad design, graphic design and webdesign are available to our marketing clients within the agreement, they are very popular and indeed for most clients we are a one-stop-shop.

It doesn't matter if you sell beach doll houses or wheel nuts, or if you are in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, St Andrews, Dundee or Perth... The success of your business usually hinges on succesful, sustained marketing.

To find out how Neo Marketing can help your business, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it