Whilst none of us here at Onefoursix can claim to have any Italian blood running through our veins, we are actually referring to the pasta staple of our Mediterranean friends. We’ll get on to that shortly.
January 2016 saw a first for Onefoursix. Our very first Lunch & Learn, where 10 like-minded business owners got together under our supervision and discussed some hot topics in the world of online marketing, over a few sandwiches and cakes. The semi-structured agenda was designed to take people through some basic concepts of online marketing whilst encouraging conversation and sharing of experiences. The feedback we received was fantastic and we have plenty more sessions lined up for the future if it’s of interest to you. Just click here to learn more.
For our first Lunch & Learn session we wanted to help break the ice a little bit – partly to help put a new group of strangers at ease, partly to help settle a few of our own nerves as we embark on a new chapter of exploration. We delved in to past experiences and plumped for an exercise whereby two rival teams have a few minutes to create the tallest, unsupported structure made solely of dried spaghetti and marshmallows. The main purpose of the exercise was to have a little bit of fun, but it also served the purpose of a good analogy.
As you might expect, the two teams created structures that were quite unstable! And that is understandable; the purpose of the task was to create the tallest structure. In business, we might equate creating the tallest structure to generating as much revenue as possible, or winning as many customers as possible. At this point it’s worth having a mental image of the Pantheon in Rome or the Acropolis of Athens. Your business might have (or might not have) a structure in place to help support your ability to win customers and create revenue. Think of the pillars of that structure as marketing channels: location based marketing, visual branding, TV/radio advertising, networking, engaging website, social media, adwords, blogging, to name just a few. Whilst it is not applicable for every business to invest time and effort in every form of marketing, the basic concept of investing in as many forms of marketing your business as is practical I think is valid. And if you’re struggling to analyse which marketing channels are most appropriate for your business, just remember: if you can find your potential customers there, it’s probably worth investing in that form of marketing. Managing several marketing channels forms part of an integrated marketing strategy, an approach that most businesses should be thinking about.
So whilst it might be a bit silly to think of those marketing pillars as spaghetti structures, it is probably quite memorable. And if a business has many strong spaghetti pillars, it’s going to create more stability in your marketing plan and a stable acquisition of new customers to help you grow.
Our Lunch & Learn sessions are two hours long and cost £10, with all profits being donated to Alfe’s Cause – a childhood cancer charity. If you’d like to attend a session, please visit our website for more information or give us a call on 01604 779035.
