• One Star is acknowledged as First Class
• Two Stars as Outstanding
• Three Stars is Extraordinary

The survey, participated in by well over 250,000 employees of thousands of British companies, is widely considered to be the definitive guide to British employers.  Having been ‘ones to watch’ for two years and a ‘one star’ last year, we’re delighted to have be an oficially ‘Outstanding’ company to work for.   Being a ‘best company’ goes beyond the bottom line. It’s about excelling in every area throughout the workplace and an organisation’s commitment to its most important assets – its people. The majority of our score comes from an employee survey and is depending upon how highly they score us according to the factors the survey measures. It is therefore fantastic recognition from Group Positive employees that we have a created a positive environment in which to prosper. The plan, of course, is to build on this in 2012 with our Positive Days, Thinking Days and other workplace initiatives designed to nurture a culture of positivity and forward thinking. While we’re thrilled with our progress, we now have our sights set firmly on not just being Outstanding, but Extraordinary too.

This certificate will sit very nicely indeed alongside the 2011 IPM Gold Award we picked up in April this year….. Euro’s next…..

Watch this space.

What we heard

The conclusion is that this year’s fast.MAP/ IPM Marketing GAP Tracker provides a spark of marketing joy in the midst of the seemingly endless stream of global financial gloom.

Many of last year’s trends continue – and almost all of them are good.

The percentage of those who open direct mail has reached an all-time high and each year the minority who throw away mail unopened shrinks.

The popularity pendulum which swings slightly towards email one year and back to mail the next is poised between the two; and although it is still only a tiny minority of consumers who prefer to be contacted by landline, mobile, SMS, Twitter or social media, that minority has at last begun to grow.

Almost everyone redeems some of the coupons they receive and each year people become less likely to misredeem them.

Fewer people “always” tick the opt-out box and more donors are prepared to reveal how much they give to charity.

What’s more, the GAP, between some types of consumer activity and opinion and marketers’ expectations of what that behaviour will be, has begun to narrow.

Certainly, marketers seem more in tune with the rankings of the mechanisms and motivations which people use, identifying the most and least popular – even where the percentages they hazard continue to fall wide of the mark.

It seems that marketers are rising to the tough challenges of a sluggish marketplace and consumers are more willing to make the most of any marketing opportunities on offer.

There were three different races – Ultra which was just bonkers at 22k run; 77k bike; 11k run – and the Challenge which was 11k run; 22k bike; 5k run which I took part in. I won’t mention the Fun Run which so many of my so called friends dropped down into at the last minute (5k; 10k; 5k!). Having sloped off home early on Friday afternoon with a hacking cough and minor temperature (I know), 48hrs of Actifed and Vitamin C doses meant that I appeared on the starting line at the allotted time of 9:45am alongside my merry mates and 3,000 others all competing on the day (have to say we didn’t all start at once as that would have meant more carnage than even the transitions that saw many a brave soul being T-boned at the bike turn in point).

Having been told to turn off at the Fun Run 5k point due to ‘ill health’ my heart led me on to ignore best advice and to go the full distance (something my legs and body was to regret later that evening!). But then faint heart never won fair lady and all that, and there were some very fair ladies out and about on the course, and so 2hrs and 1 min later (I know – imagine if my Dad hadn’t given me his cough and cold….), I dragged my worn and beaten body over the finish line to the cheers of many, and a placing of 243 out of the 3,000 competitors and a large smile on my face.

Next year….well yes there will be a next year. Sub 1:50hrs the target and in the 4wk build up to race day, anyone within 10yds of me who looks as though they may have a cold will be taking their lives in their hands believe me.

Oh and a big shout out to the guy who did it in 1:30hrs. Astonishing!!

By appealing to both the emotion and logic of your buyers, your brand is immediately more attractive, and memorable.   B2B marketing really does demand a combination of rational and emotional appeals at specific points of the process.

B2B brands need to overcome the urge to focus on functional capabilities in order to create an emotional connection with their audience.   Hard numbers and facts appeal to the rational brain. The abstract brain responds to more abstract concepts such as safety and trust.  The tendency within B2B clients is to lead with the ‘WHAT’ and ‘HOW’, which invariably means: ‘We’ve developed this great new product ‘X’, this is what it does and why you need it, this is how we deliver it’.   What we need to do is get B2B clients to bring the ‘WHY’ further up the chain.

By relegating the ‘WHY’ (by that I mean ‘why we do what we do’ i.e. our story) to the end – at which point it might not be noticed – or even leaving it out altogether (!!), it’s really no wonder that customers will not connect with a B2B brand on an emotional level.

Positive Thinking’s work with National Car Rental is a great example of this.   Significant research highlighted the need to establish a clear point of difference for the brand from their competitors.  We repositioned the brand so it stood for more than just great rates and service by creating Invisible Service; a proposition that put customers at the heart of all business The proposition was underpinned by 3 core values; Efficiency, National’s ability to provide effective solutions that integrate with a business’s needs; Transparency by ensuring no hidden costs and Flexibility to adapt products and services to specific needs. ‘In a word. National’ was the campaign that brought to life the service proposition.

So what you should be doing more of is telling the brand story and referencing the target’s business problems in order to create empathy. This should then naturally segue into why X product been developed. Ultimately, it’s much more powerful to communicate that we understand you (the customer) – what you desire and what you need – and hence the reason we delivered ‘X’ product to meet this need.

In this information-loaded world, you can stand out from the crowd and sell more effectively if you concentrate on marketing that tells the world what you believe in and ‘why’ you’re in the business that you’re in. By doing that effectively you can get prospects excited and engaged. It’s mandatory to communicate and answer functional needs – the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. But when you can also communicate and differentiate your B2B brand by appealing to B2B buyers’ wants and beliefs, you make a much more compelling – and winning – sales pitch.

Annette Simmons’ Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins includes a great quote:

“People don’t want information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith – faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.”