Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

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Support Beam Advice

January 13, 2014

Support Beam Advice

“I know you don’t like that big beam and you want to remove it but you can’t – It’s a support beam. Take it away and the building falls down“

That’s black and white advice you just wouldn’t ignore and you would have to accept.

When advice like that comes with such a critical consequence you just have to follow it, and in a way it makes it really simple to take on board.

Often we give specific advice to clients, which we believe is critical to the success of their projects or business.

It’s really problematic when the person you are advising just won’t take the advice on board. Because no building is falling down as a consequence sometimes they ignore it because they feel they know better, they have a strong resistance for some reason, someone somewhere told them to do something else, they want to save money or they just have some other reason for digging in and not taking what you say on board. Often a course of action might simply take them out of their comfort zone.

In our case it could be advice around one or more of these elements:

  • A business name change
  • Branding refresh
  • Merchandising and POS
  • A new website
  • Optimisation of the website so you will be found on Google searches
  • Engaging on social media regularly
  • Dealing pro-actively with a  crisis PR situation
  • PR for successful initiatives or good news
  • Commissioning professional photos
  • Creating an event to generate interest
  • Profiling the individuals as well as the business
  • Supporting  campaigns with advertising
  • Allocating sufficient budget to campaigns

I found myself chatting to a new client recently and we were reviewing their proposal.

The client was very reluctant about one really important element in the plan, which I felt was critical to the success of the campaign. For me if we didn’t do this element the plan would definitely not work.

After a long conversation and some unsuccessful persuasion I had to change my approach.

“Imagine I am your engineer and this is your house we are talking about. This element that you don’t want to go with is a support beam. If we take it away your house will fall down. Do you get my point?“

The penny drops …

If your client won’t take your “support beam” advice then maybe you should just walk away – you don’t want to watch a house falling down!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Advertising, Business Planning, Crisis PR, Customer Care, Direct Marketing, Marketing, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Uncle Neilly and the importance of telling stories

December 15, 2013

David Gray - Cork Opera House

Recently we were lucky enough to see the fabulous David Gray performing at the Cork Opera House – while I have always loved his music it was the first time seeing him in concert and he didn’t disappoint.

He has an incredible voice, fabulous songs and he delivered a very special performance with the help of a gifted band. He showcased some tracks from his new album, which were really strong.

Lisa O'Neill - singerBefore David Gray we had a support act, singer song writer Lisa O’Neill from Cavan who entertained the crowd with her unique style. I hadn’t heard of her before, which seemed to be the case with pretty much most of the audience who had taken their seats early.

It must be difficult entertaining the crowd when your songs aren’t familiar to them and when in truth they are not there to see you at all.

Lisa did something very clever to endear herself to the crowd – she told us stories.

She told us about the honour of being on tour with David Gray and how stunned she was when he asked her to tour the United States with him. While she wanted to grab this opportunity she was apprehensive as an uncle she was very close to, Neilly was suffering badly with cancer.

When her uncle heard this he insisted that she went and gave her €500 to make sure she “always bought a round when it was her turn“.

When she was on tour she kept Uncle Neilly up to date with her experiences and the one thing that fascinated her were fireflies. She had never seen these before and at night on the tour bus she saw many of them who politely decorated the windscreen on a regular basis.

“This song is for Neilly who isn’t with us anymore”. Lisa had our attention and had won us over.

After a really great night and a memorable performance by an artist I really like the thing I remember most is the story about Uncle Neilly.

Whenever you are pitching or selling your wares try to tell a story to bring it to life and most importantly one that makes them remember you.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Entertainment, Marketing, Music, Sales | 6 Comments »

What do you do?

December 12, 2013
Robert de Niro

Hi – What do you do Robert?

I was reading a book by Michael Port called Book Yourself Solid and in it he gives some really interesting advice about answering the question:

“What do you do?”

This is probably asked of you a few times week when you meet new people and it might typically arise at a networking event.

Your typical answer is to use your normal industry label “I’m an architect, an accountant, a solicitor, a financial consultant, a life coach, a banker, an insurance broker, a PR consultant, a social media consultant“.

While this is helpful as it does wrap “you” in a nice simple understandable package, Michael Port argues that this is possibly doing you a big disservice.

Once you mention that “label” you are bunching yourself automatically with every other person who might use the same label to describe themselves. For example if the person has had a poor experience in the past with a “wealth advisor” then the minute you mention that you are a “wealth advisor” they mightn’t like you very much and will politely shuffle away from you!

Imagine Robert De Niro answering the question by saying “I am an actor“!

Michael’s simple suggestion is that instead of using the typical label why not describe “what you do” in a much more descriptive way.

Michael’s suggestion struck a chord with me as I know when I am asked the question “what do you do” I certainly don’t want anyone to put me in the same category as any of the people working in our general area – I am totally different and I bring vast business background and a particular skill-set to the table.

So instead I might say: “Working with a great team I use my commercial experience to make businesses and organisations more successful by first making sure their proposition is presented in the best possible way and then getting as many people as possible to hear about them” …. I could even go simpler with “I work with a really talented team to make businesses and organisations better“.

“Oh.. how do you do that?” and then you tell them!

What do you do?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Marketing, Personal development, Personal Marketing | 17 Comments »

Taking a Fountain Pen to your Social Media

October 7, 2013

fountain pen & social media

I was presenting to the team of one of our clients this week about how they could use social media best for their business.

At my sessions before we look at any of the social media tools I do this simple exercise by asking the group a question “What are the characteristics of  people you like to do business with?”

The group give me a list of characteristics – Now, take all of that into account and apply it to your online behaviour and you will be really effective.

During this part of the session I noticed the younger members of the team had glazed looks across their faces ….what is he talking about, I thought this was a training session about social media?

Social media isn’t about technology, it’s about how you use it to connect and interact with people.

The older experienced members of the team got what I was saying immediately and one of the most senior in the group gave me an incredible example of how you apply old world values to new world technology:

“When I spot online that a company has won an award or has experienced some other good news or when I see someone has been appointed to a new role, I congratulate them”

“How do you congratulate them” I asked.

“I write them a personalised handwritten note on my own notepaper using a special fountain pen and I post it to them”

Wow, that’s so simple but it’s genius – what a way to stand out

Making social media work?…..take all the stuff you are great at already and apply it online

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion with offices in Cork and Dublin in Ireland offer social media training and consultancy services

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Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Training | 15 Comments »

Death Forgiveness ..

October 3, 2013

Every time I hear the advert on the radio or see it on the TV it drives me into an absolute rage – how can they run a campaign like that, it’s ironic, it’s insensitive, it’s untrue ….it’s a meaningless marketing tagline and message designed to make them stand out.

The “message” is that we are different because we really care about you, we consider our customers in a different way, we know our customers, we are sensitive to our customers needs, we are customer focused.

When you come up with a PR or advertising campaign it must be true in order for it to work.

It’s not about fancy taglines and cool adverts – it should be about capturing the real essence and truth about that business and then delivering on that promise.

Think of the simple “Ronseal” principle – “It does exactly what it says on the tin“. When you get this right it works.

Stephanie Meehan - KBC

Stephanie Meehan brought the nation to tears about a month ago on the Late Late show with her heartbreaking story about her husband Fiachra who took his own life due to the pressure of the Priory Hall debacle – A badly built home that they were put out of nearly two years ago because it was so unfit for purpose.

Her story was one of reckless builders and an insensitive bank who would not take circumstances or emotions into  account and kept hounding her and her family for money they were not in a position to repay. Unfortunately something had to give ..

The incredibly brave Stephanie, when she was strong enough told her story to the media, which culminated in the appearance on the RTE Late Late show.

After the sobering and tear jerking story on the show there was an audience prize giveaway and an appearance by some band and smiles were back on everyone’s  faces  – the show is about entertainment and they have a duty to mix the content but I was surprised at how quickly we could move on.

“That’s very sad, poor girl ….next!” – do we move on that quick?

Personally I wasn’t surprised when I heard about Stephanie’s family story – for years now I have heard countless stories about banks who have been showing no mercy to anyone as they push through their agenda and pick at the bones of what remains of people and their businesses. People have been destroyed and good businesses have been shut down because of this behaviour – how many other lives have been destroyed I wonder?

I fully understand that the banks have a job to do but we all know and fully understand the circumstances of our economy, the huge role that the banks played in fuelling the problem – decency, understanding and mercy should be ethics that we all follow in our professional and personal lives and the banks are no exception.

Stephanie’s appearance had the effect of the bank waiving part of her debt “given the specific circumstances of the tragic case” – well done! In my personal view this was just  PR pressure – they knew of her “specific circumstances” well before her Late Late appearance.

This is a game we all know and understand …if you don’t sort it out I’ll run to the media and if the story gets enough media attention you will be forced to do something (it worked recently for Tim O’Brien who cycled to Dublin to get a medical card decision revoked for his daughter)

Was there a public apology, was there a genuine promise and commitment that they would investigate their internal procedures, did they assure us that they would interview everyone involved in this case?

I didn’t see or hear about it if they did.

Instead we get a brand new advertising campaign – was it already planned, was it to balance the poor PR from the incident ….is it a true reflection of their bank and their values?

Never Forget - Hillborough Tragedy

I know it is a totally different thing but in Liverpool, 24 years after the Hillsborough tragedy where 96 Liverpool FC fans lost their lives The Sun newspaper is still boycotted – this is due to their hurtful and incorrect coverage of the incident at the time.

They don’t forget or forgive in that town.

One week after Stephanie Meehan’s Late Late appearance we were getting:

KBC “Join the Bank that’s all about you” …. “KBC – The Bank of You” ….hmmmm 

It drives me mad – Why do we move on and forget so easily?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin.

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Posted in Banking, Customer Care, Family, Marketing | 5 Comments »

Tipping the Customer

September 28, 2013

Hostaria La Cross, Garda

It was bucketing out of the heavens as we stared out the window of our hotel in Garda in Italy during our summer holidays. It hadn’t let up for over an hour and it showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

We had planned a leisurely stroll into the lakeside town and a nice meal on the waterfront but that was impossible – the tummies were groaning at this stage and the hotel restaurant was shut.

The restaurant that was directly across from the hotel (we were about a mile away from the lakeside strip) didn’t have the views that were on the lake but it didn’t seem to stop the steady stream of locals using the place since we had arrived.

Day and night there was a constant stream of Italian cars in and out of the place – it must be good if the locals were going there we reckoned. I checked on Four Square (a phone APP where you can leave tips about places) on my phone and the restaurant had some quite good reviews left by previous diners.

We decided to make a dash for it and despite it being just across the street we did get fairly wet.

Hostaria La Cross, GardaHostoria La Cross gave us a warm greeting as we entered but after doing so the waitress left us standing there – two minutes later she came back to us with two glasses of prosecco .. “welcome!“.

Wow – we were given a gift on the house before we had sat down or ordered anything.

It put us in great form and we had a fabulous meal (despite every second dish being laced in truffle oil..can’t stand that smell!)

Of course we left a big tip after our special night but really appreciated the “tip” the restaurant gave us at the start of the meal.

The last few times I have taken taxis in Dublin and in Cork I have noticed that each time the driver has “rounded down” when it has comes to the fare “€10 is fine” when the fare clocked €10.70.

The simple gesture is a big change to how it used be and it shows the appreciation of the business and invariably you end up leaving a good tip.

Last night after our meal in Bacco in Ballincollig we were offered a Limoncello on the house as we were settling the bill. They showed their appreciation for the business …”Thank you, we’ll be back”

Giving the customer something they are not expecting is a clever way of saying thank you and building customer loyalty.

Are you tipping your customer?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Customer Care, Holidays, Hospitality, Marketing, Sales, Tourism, Travel | 9 Comments »

Mushy Peas!

September 24, 2013

fish and chips with mushy peas

“I’ll have the fish and chips please” .. yum yum!

It was our first time eating at this busy restaurant that we had heard a lot about including the multiple awards it had received in recent years.

The Fish and hand cut Chips with mushy peas caught my attention – I fancied that with a pint of Murphy’s.

In the meantime we ordered some starters and chatted.

The fish and chips arrived, nicely presented with a slice of lemon, tartar sauce and a mini bowl of frozen peas.

Had I read the menu wrong? …I didn’t think so, it was mushy peas – for me fish and chips just isn’t the same without mushy peas

I tucked into the meal and it just wasn’t quite the same with the frozen peas – I took one mouthful and just left them behind. Not the same ..

“Is everything ok with everyone’s meal?” the waitress asked.

“Yes thanks” I didn’t want to be a crank about the peas so I said nothing and besides on a night out when you want to relax the last thing I wanted to do was complain.

At the end of the meal our plates were cleared and in my case a mini bowl full of frozen peas were returned, pretty much the way they had arrived – I wondered had anyone wondered why.

At some point someone in the restaurant decided it was easier or ok not to serve mushy peas  – after all, it’s not really too big a deal and the chances are no one complains so why not do it again the next night and the next night and so on?

And besides, if people weren’t happy wouldn’t they complain..wouldn’t they?

For me instead of being the award winning restaurant it’s the place that tells me I am getting mushy peas but serves me something else – I won’t complain but I probably won’t be back.

At times do we all serve something that’s not quite what we described on our menu? 

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Customer Care, Hospitality, Marketing, Sales | 10 Comments »

10 Years, Crystal Balls and Awards

September 19, 2013

Chambers Ireland - CSR Awards - Greg Canty, Fuzion PR

10 Years ago my buddy Tommy Doyle collected me from my old job. I handed back the keys to my five month old Saab 93 (that was tough as it was the best car I had ever driven!) and I handed in the keys to the office – I was done with my well paid job as General Manager and about to start my life as a 100% self employed person.

Tommy took me to O’Brien’s in Little Island for a sensible breakfast before we started a day of celebratory drinks – the boy was set free!!

While I was in celebratory mood quietly I was really nervous – I had just shut the door on a long and quite successful career in the drinks industry and was about to enter a new world, which required me to totally reinvent myself and put bread on the table at the same time.

If I had a crystal ball I couldn’t have predicted the 10 years that I have had …

  • We traded in Dee’s car and bought a second had Santa Fe jeep (hated that jeep!)
  • We toured Ireland with our high profile luxury women’s event Catwalks with top models, top brands and Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet fame (great fun but exhausting!)
  • I sold my music stores – I had three stores in Cork, Limerick and Dublin
  • We did a lot of work with Killarney Golf and Fishing Club, launching the new Killeen course
  • We took on our first staff member, Ali who is still with us
  • We took on more PR staff and a graphic designer
  • We opened an office in Cork city – who remembers the punishing four flights of very uneven stairs?
  • The recession came crashing in and wiped out some really good clients –  We adopted the “storm the recession” approach (great book)
  • We bought a new Santa Fe jeep (liked this one!)
  • We had to write off nearly €200k in bad debts over three years, mostly because people were unable to pay but we did get caught by some chancers as well – the Credit Control Warrior and Famous were born!
  • We started to do PR and social media training – this has been so enjoyable and we have met so many great people through these courses 
  • We got married eventually – Dee still calls it “her” wedding!
  • I started blogging and realised I love writing
  • We won a national PR award for the “War Crimes” Cystic Fibrosis , St. Vincent’s Hospital  Campaign
  • We took on staff in Dublin and opened an office
  • Dee’s mum Joan sadly passed away – a dynamic and challenging woman (my buddy Tommy made her giggle by calling her a …. I better no say!)
  • We moved to better offices and celebrated Fuzion’s 10 years in business
  • I really started to excel at social media lecturing for the Digital Marketing Institute and providing courses for Enterprise Boards and clients
  • My kids are both flying, Brendan with his video production company Feel Good Lost and Ellen with her own career
  • We bought a brand new car, a Jaguar XF, one that was better than anything I ever had before – this is something we had to do for oursleves 
  • We managed a few really great holidays to the US, Italy, Turkey, Greece  and Cuba and back to Italy again
  • We continued to grow picking up national PR recommendations for Tour de Munster and Safebook
  • We are about to unveil a statue to celebrate the values of a great man Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty

No crystal ball could have predicted these 10 years, the variety, the speed that it  has flown by, the tough economy that have us working our socks off and digging deep continuously, the sadness and the smiles, the stress and the joy, the worry and the excitement, the highs and some lows, the friends and team mates past and present.

I have had to totally reinvent Greg, bringing all of my old skills and moulding these into a new sector including social media which didn’t exist 10 years ago when I started this journey. When I tell people I started off life as an accountant most won’t believe me!

For me the culmination of this 10 years was accepting a National Award at the Chambers Ireland, Corporate Social Responsibility Awards  event last  week for the work we did on “Safebook“, which was really my baby. We designed a simple info-graphic to encourage our young people to behave responsibly and respectfully online and a simple “how to” if they are victims of cyberbullying.

All of the Fuzion skills including PR, Design and my knowledge of social media helped us to push this out internationally to over 100 countries (a few months ago we were asked to translate it into Hungarian for a conference in Zagreb!) – we are making a difference!

!0 years …wow!

What will the next 10 years bring for me and for you?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin 

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Posted in Business Start Ups, Marketing, Personal development, Positivity, Social Media | 29 Comments »

Amazon – Lessons in knowing your customer

September 16, 2013

Music Store

It’s Friday afternoon, I’m  up the walls after a really busy but great week.

Before the afternoon closes out I’m determined to clear down my emails..

There is an email from Amazon in the middle of all my other emails …before I hit “delete” the nice image catches my attention and I give the contents of the email a quick glance:

“Reprave: Volcano Choir – BON IVER, new 2013 album from his collaborative side-project with fellow Wisconsin crew..“

hmmm… I love Bon Iver, which of course Amazon will know from my previous transactions.

Click …it’s a new album

Click …the reviews are good

Click …buy (they have my credit card and delivery address already)

Bought in under 30 seconds!

AmazonI’ll avoid clicking or looking any more because they have recommendations for me, which are always so spot on that I end up buying more. They also show me some of the other music people have purchased who also bought this album – even more temptation.

Amazon must have the best, most intelligent database management system for e-commerce ever – ask my credit card!

Know your customer, understand what they like, write to them and remind them you exist, make recommendations,  make it easy for them to buy, update your database and start the cycle all over again.

Where was I?… Back to my emails

Note in diary: Send out an email to my database on Monday

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Customer Care, Direct Marketing, Email Marketing, Marketing, Retailing, Web Marketing | 20 Comments »

Go on – Personalise

August 5, 2013

I Love GregHi there!

Wouldn’t it be a lot better if “Hi Greg” had appeared on the email instead of the words “Hi there”?

Dear Customer,

Wouldn’t it be a lot better if “Dear Greg” appeared on the invitation to attend the launch event instead of “Dear Customer”?

The Manager

Wouldn’t it be a lot better if “Greg Canty” had appeared on the envelope and letter that accompanied the brochure instead of “The Manager”?

Price List

Wouldn’t it be a lot better if  “Fuzion price list” had appeared on the quote instead of a generic price list?

Reserved

Wouldn’t it be a lot better to see “Reserved for Fuzion” on the restaurant table instead of a plain “reserved” sign.

It does take time to customise and personalise, it does take a little extra effort but your communication will resonate so much more when you can avoid being generic. (Personalising has never been so easy with the tools that are now available).

Often being generic can even have a negative effect and can have your customer feeling very “not so special“.

  1. If you can’t personalise think twice about communicating
  2. If you can personalise get it right – double check the spelling of people and company names
  3. Where personalising isn’t expected …personalise!

I received a CD in the post from an Amazon affiliate supplier and the docket had “thanks Greg” marked across it in marker – Wow!

Sometimes it’s really easy to stand out by doing just a little thing.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Care, Direct Marketing, Marketing, Retailing, Staff training | 7 Comments »

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