Kim Macnish, marketing planning,
qualified, experienced, passionate.

After 15 years of experience in my own small businesses and 30 years in the workforce, I am convinced you need to be as passionate about marketing planning and management as you do about the actual business that you do.

In my case

I started my career in marketing, as marketing manager for several large well-known corporates. Then I spent most of the 90’s as a marketing and management advisor and mentor to business owners and directors. In the space of 10 years, I bought and sold two businesses, and set up an import business.

In all cases, the challenge was to develop a marketing campaign that matched the resources available. One that targeted the correct audience for the product or service and most importantly, got results. The key is to develop a clear understanding of the target market and what channels are most effectively going to communicate to them.

Corporate

At the corporate level I developed and managed television, radio and billboard advertising, sponsorship’s, telemarketing, sales and marketing teams, public relations, events and market research. Results were continually measured and fed back to realign with the marketing campaign goals.

My first small business

Things were vastly different when I purchased a business. However, money is generally not the blocking issue, lack of good ideas and innovation are.

In my first business, it was clear that a strategy of creating brand ambassadors or in less technical terms, raving fans to encourage word of mouth referrals would be best. As a result, I did almost no paid advertising as most work came through referral from happy customers. But it was not by chance. We worked a strategy to achieve that. Every customer touch point was a critical marketing opportunity.

That business was sold after 6 years. I then purchased a run-down manufacturing business with a good product. The marketing strategy for this business required a complete makeover.  A new company name, logo and branding, a new and well-designed website, a Google Adwords campaign and newspaper and magazine advertising. An extensive direct mail campaign was also created as the various target audiences were easily identified and targeted with mail.

Next

Next project was a gift import business, importing container loads of stock from China. A website was created, and marketed through a television campaign on low cost TV in Sydney.  We attended major trade fairs for direct wholesaling to retailers and Facebook, YouTube and Google Adwords campaigns were established. The marketing campaign achieved excellent sales. However, it was too expensive and cost more than the profit on the product. Some valuable lessons were learnt.

Marketing is not just a company logo, website and brochures. It could be any of a hundred different strategies that communicate your message to your target audience in a manner that motivates at least some of them to buy your product or service.

Now

Now I have the theoretical background with a University degree in marketing and the practical skills and experience to help others who are seeking to grow their business. I can engage for a short-term project or for a longer term to assist you to create and implement a marketing campaign that works for your business. It could be as simple as improving your customer experience or it could be a radio and television campaign, a new website and social media or a complete makeover of your company image. Times are tough, which makes it even more important to ensure your marketing is working for you.