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Waikato Business News March/April 2017

Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.

Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the
voice of the region’s business community, a business community
with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of
co-operation.

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Online marketing<br />

strategy is not a thing<br />

The very idea of an online<br />

marketing strategy<br />

assumes that there is a<br />

difference between marketing<br />

and online marketing. This is<br />

wrong. “Online” is just another<br />

communication medium,<br />

like print, radio and television.<br />

The medium of communication<br />

should not be guiding your<br />

marketing strategy; your strategy<br />

should be used to select the<br />

correct communication mediums.<br />

Granted, technology has<br />

empowered the masses. While<br />

we still start our purchase selection<br />

process with the businesses<br />

whose brand we have been<br />

exposed to, the next step does<br />

not narrow the list. Instead we<br />

go online and use social media,<br />

search engines, and websites to<br />

see who else is out there and see<br />

if they can provide the goods<br />

cheaper, or offer a better service<br />

for your money.<br />

It’s this step that enables<br />

small businesses to take business<br />

away from the larger,<br />

well-established businesses.<br />

Of course, this also means that<br />

there are a lot more businesses<br />

competing for the consumer<br />

dollar. With so many players<br />

it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.<br />

MARKETING MATTERS<br />

> BY MEHRDAD BEHROOZI<br />

Mehrdad (Merv) Behroozi is general manager of Hamilton graphic<br />

design and web development company E9. Phone: 07 838 1188<br />

Email: merv@e9.nz<br />

It’s easy to think that an online marketing<br />

strategy is a thing, so intense is the<br />

onslaught of the worldwide web, but it’s not.<br />

To solve this problem, an<br />

entire industry has evolved<br />

around online marketing.<br />

There are businesses that<br />

work on optimising websites<br />

so they rank higher in Google<br />

searches. Others use social<br />

media platforms, such as Facebook,<br />

Instagram, and Snapchat,<br />

to engage with clients and prospects<br />

online. Others focus on<br />

securing and maintaining good<br />

user feedback on online review<br />

sites. A complete eco-system of<br />

services, applications, and technologies<br />

have been developed<br />

as a result of the rising popularity<br />

of inbound marketing.<br />

The rapid rate of technology-driven<br />

change has left businesses<br />

blinkered as cauldrons<br />

full of online marketing experts<br />

come at them with new technologies,<br />

buzzwords, case studies,<br />

statistics, and approaches to<br />

marketing online. Meetings are<br />

filled with buzzwords such as<br />

clickability, p-commerce, Cost<br />

Per Like (CPL), second-screen,<br />

Social+Local+Mobile (SoLoMo),<br />

and online marketing<br />

strategy.<br />

A small business that needs<br />

to raise awareness locally can<br />

use online services such as<br />

Facebook and Google to target<br />

locals and track success (or<br />

failure). The business can also<br />

use the traditional offline print<br />

medium of flyers which, when<br />

combined with direct marketing,<br />

allows for face to face contact<br />

with the locals.<br />

This works best when it undergirds<br />

a strategy that requires<br />

the building of personal relationship<br />

with your local community.<br />

There is very little that<br />

can beat getting out there, shaking<br />

hands, and getting to know<br />

your neighbours in person.<br />

You can then use the online<br />

medium to keep in touch,<br />

answer questions, and engage<br />

with prospects in a manner that<br />

is in line with your strategy.<br />

Your strategy will guide how<br />

your business uses Facebook<br />

or Twitter. It could, for example,<br />

require that the content of<br />

the business’s online advertisements<br />

should be based around<br />

local events, and posts should<br />

be relevant to the local community.<br />

The problem with the question,<br />

“what’s your online marketing<br />

strategy” is that it’s asking<br />

about how you are using,<br />

monitoring, and maintaining<br />

communication using the many<br />

online communication services<br />

available on the Internet. If your<br />

online marketing strategy is, “to<br />

use Facebook, Google, Twitter,<br />

or any other online communication<br />

tools”, then what you really<br />

need is a marketing strategy.<br />

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>March</strong>/<strong>April</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

Helping people enrich their lives<br />

Enrich+ is a not for profit charitable<br />

trust. Established in 1990 as<br />

Gracelands Group of Services, following<br />

years of growth, Enrich+ services<br />

are now offered throughout the greater<br />

<strong>Waikato</strong> and King Country.<br />

Enrich+ work alongside individuals<br />

to develop their skills and abilities and<br />

enhance inclusion in the communities of<br />

their choice.<br />

Enrich+ recognised the need for services<br />

for those with High Functioning<br />

Autism (previously known as Asperger’s)<br />

due to a serious gap in funding and services.<br />

These people often miss out on ‘a<br />

life like any other’.<br />

Enrich+ Spectrum Energy was established<br />

in 2015, to fulfill a service need for<br />

those with Autism, their whanāu/caregivers,<br />

schools and employers.<br />

In New Zealand service provision has<br />

largely been made available to those with<br />

co-occurring conditions, such as intellectual<br />

disability or mental health diagnosis.<br />

There is very little funding available<br />

through normal channels such as government<br />

funded models. Enrich+ Spectrum<br />

Energy relies on fee based service provision,<br />

and philanthropic trust and sponsorship<br />

models.<br />

Catering for those with High<br />

Functioning Autism on an individualised<br />

basis is something Enrich+ Spectrum<br />

Energy is extremely proud of, with specialised<br />

staff having the relevant qualifications,<br />

education and experience to provide<br />

meaningful 1:1 as well as group services.<br />

Among the services provided is 1:1<br />

mentoring:<br />

· One to one and completely tailored to<br />

the individual’s needs<br />

· Flexible days and times to suit the<br />

person<br />

· Working towards personal goals,<br />

whatever these may be<br />

Examples of personal goals:<br />

· Employment<br />

· Flatting/moving out of home<br />

· Studying<br />

· Beginning a new hobby<br />

· Learning to drive<br />

· Building confidence and/or social skills<br />

· Health and wellbeing – impact of exercise<br />

and healthy living on mental health<br />

Testimonial from a parent:<br />

“Since attending mentoring sessions, my<br />

daughter has chosen to attend school<br />

camp for the first time during high school,<br />

and is interacting with extended family<br />

members for the first time without using a<br />

device as a support.”<br />

For more information, visit:<br />

www.enrichplus.org.nz/services-2/spectrum-energy/<br />

7<br />

J2307A<br />

Spy boss drops in on IoD<br />

The director of the Government<br />

Communications<br />

Security Bureau<br />

(GCSB), Andrew Hampton<br />

paid a visit to <strong>Waikato</strong> recently<br />

when he addressed an Institute<br />

of Directors <strong>Waikato</strong> branch<br />

function on what role directors<br />

should play in the area of cyber<br />

security.<br />

At a second function, also at<br />

FMG Stadium <strong>Waikato</strong>, Ngaire<br />

Best, team leader of the Appointments<br />

and Governance<br />

team within Treasury’s Commercial<br />

Operations Group who<br />

spoke about Crown Board appointments.<br />

Iod <strong>Waikato</strong> branch<br />

chairman Simon Lockwood,<br />

left and Andrew Hampton.<br />

Martin Thomas, left and Rollo Webb.<br />

Jon Calder, left and Marc Scott.

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