Marketing Meanders: The Marketing Podcast for Marketers and Small Business Owners

In this episode, Sally and Sam discuss the importance of tone of voice in branding and marketing. They emphasise the need for a consistent and appropriate tone of voice that resonates with the target audience. They share their experiences and challenges in finding the right tone of voice, especially when marketing to different segments. They also discuss the impact of tone of voice on various communication channels and the importance of maintaining authenticity.

The importance of tone of voice [00:00:13]

Appropriate tone of voice for target audience [00:01:25]

Challenges of finding and maintaining a consistent tone of voice [00:04:55]

The Importance of Tone of Voice [00:08:58]
The Example of Burberry [00:09:14]
Challenges of Maintaining a Consistent Tone of Voice [00:10:08]

The importance of matching tone of voice with the target audience [00:18:15]

Breaking the tone of voice occasionally [00:19:07]
Having different tones of voice for different platforms [00:21:48]
The importance of testing, learning, and monitoring [00:26:14]

Balancing factual content and brand personality [00:27:00]
Different tones of voice for different products [00:27:57]

We'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences, so please share! Tweet us at @meanderspod, message us on Facebook, or email [email protected]

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

This time, Sally and Sam discuss the impact of AI on copywriting and the need for marketers to upskill themselves beyond their specialism. 
They also stress the importance of communication, collaboration, and a generalist understanding of all aspects of marketing. They explore the need for balance and experimentation in marketing, while also being mindful of the resources and time available. So, perhaps marketers need to take a deep breath, evaluate their strategies, and make adjustments as needed to achieve success.

AI in Copywriting [00:00:24] 

Marketing Generalist [00:02:06] 

Alignment between Sales and Marketing [00:05:36] 

The Importance of Open Culture [00:09:37] 

Managing Feedback [00:08:12] Tips on how to manage feedback from different departments and how to filter and prioritize them.

Balancing Specialism and Generalist Understanding [00:07:06] 

Over-egging the pudding [00:14:11]

Importance of analytics [00:17:20]
Trying something new [00:19:34]

Take stock of your marketing [00:23:35]

Exploring old marketing techniques [00:22:00]

Challenges of digital communication [00:20:14]

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

In this episode, Sally and Sam discuss the importance of having a clear marketing strategy and aligning new ideas with it. They caution against overloading the marketing plan with too many new ideas and suggest going back to the overarching strategy to ensure that new ideas align with it. Have you thought of balancing your approach to innovation, and involving other departments in the decision-making process? Are you evaluating the return on investment of time and resources spent on various marketing activities and ensuring that you align with the overall marketing strategy?

Overloading marketing strategy [00:01:53]

Aligning with sales [00:06:30]

The importance of aligning new marketing ideas with overall strategy [00:07:10]

The need to engage customers and keep them on site [00:10:02]

The importance of being formalized as things get more complex [00:12:59]

Transition to digital marketing [00:13:39]

Learning new skills [00:15:17]

Intellectual property strategy [00:19:42]
Taking Stock of Marketing Processes [00:21:07]

Opportunity to Try New Marketing Ideas [00:20:14]

Importance of Having the Right Balance of Ingredients [00:22:40]

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

This week, Sally and Sam conclude their discussion with Lynn McBain, a lecturer at Oxford Brookes University as they continue to discuss the student marketing experience.  Listen to find out more about how students and businesses alike can benefit from university marketing courses.

(0:28) Live-client exercises
(3:55) Student placements
(10:32) Student feedback
(12:38) AI and Marketing

Connect with Lynn McBain on LinkedIn

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

This week, Sally and Sam are joined by Lynn McBain, a lecturer at Oxford Brookes University to discuss Marketing and the student experience. Listen to find out more about how students and businesses alike can benefit from university marketing courses.

(0:42) Student expectations of marketing
(6:08) The generalist marketer in modern marketing
(15:27) Dealing with deadlines
(18:41) Learning skills for the workplace

Connect with Lynn McBain on LinkedIn

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

This week, Sally and Sam conclude their discussion on LinkedIn and it's uses as a marketing platform with paid campaigns. Join this meander as Sally continues asking the questions that we all have about LinkedIn and listen on for Sam's top tips for running paid LinkedIn campaigns.

(0:20) The issue with relying solely on LinkedIn campaigns
(3:36) Sam's top LinkedIn advice
(9:40) Consistency within campaigns
(15:36) Campaign calibration

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

This week, Sally and Sam discuss LinkedIn campaigns, how to get the most out of them and confront the common concerns that businesses may have when using them for the first time.

(1:44) Is LinkedIn advertising difficult?
(8:05) Using your CRM with LinkedIn campaigns
(9:57) Targeting your audience
(12:29) LinkedIn Campaigns for Smaller B2B
(18:02) The importance of LinkedIn groups

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

In part two of their discussion on Micro-Segmentation and Granularity, Sally and Sam discuss the difficulty of personalizing a brand for a large customer base, and the importance of alignment within businesses to facilitate customer segmentation.

(1:19) Segmenting Large Customer Bases
(5:55) Alignment and Internal Insight
(9:22) Brand Establishment
(12:40) Identifying Micro-Segments
(17:53) Using Data to Drive Segmentation

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

In this episode of Marketing Meanders, Sally and Sam discuss how to move from segmented messages to personalization and micro-segmentation, with considerations for data privacy, customer data and website infrastructure, as well as discussions on the importance of evaluating the return on investment when segmenting customer lists.

(1:40) Improving Personalisation and Micro-segmentation
(3:51) Why you need to further segment your target audience
(10:15) The impact of micro-segmentation on ROI
(13:34) Considerations of Segmentation

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Birkett and Sally Green delve into eight common reasons why many marketing campaigns fail. The two also discuss how to identify when a campaign is not going to be successful and the measures that can be taken to make changes to turn it around.

(0:15) Looking at the Bigger Picture
(4:16) Understanding the Customer Journey
(8:52) Marketing Metrics and Gauging Performance
(13:59) Standing Out In Imperfect Circumstances
(17:26) The Importance of Inter-departmental Alignment
(22:14) Positioning and Re-Positioning

Articles discussed in this episode:
8 Common Reasons Why Marketing Campaigns Fail - Forbes

Marketing Meanders is hosted by Sally Green, Partner at YMS and Senior Marketing Consultant, and Sam Birkett, founder of Amiable Marketing and Specialist Marketing Consultant.

Sally Green:

I am an experienced marketing consultant who loves helping people plan and implement successful strategies, creating campaigns that both strengthen the brand impact and increase revenue streams.

Working with me will give you a proper understanding of what does and doesn’t need to be done, how you can measure your success and how to get the best return on the effort you put into your marketing. Working with both large organisations and SMEs, I will help you set achievable goals, create a strategy and develop sustainable marketing plans that will show positive returns on your marketing effort.

Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.

Sam Birkett:

I specialise in higher and executive education marketing strategy, and operational and tactical support. Specialisms include LinkedIn lead generation and conversion campaigns, Persona and Proposition development, Content strategy, Webinar, Interview, Podcast and Video creation.

My consultancy works with institutions and organisations both in the UK and internationally, and over the last 16 years, I've been fortunate enough to work for world-leading organisations.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn.