Lindsell Marketing » Paul Lindsell

CEOs vs Footballers

Paul Lindsell — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:34:15 +0000

With reference to the current hoo-hah about CEO’s bonuses, I note that: Wayne Rooney allegedly earns £13 million per year; while Yaya Toure apparently earns £11.5 million per year.

This appears to be some way in excess of Steven Hester earnings this year. Yet no-one is baying for the footballers’ blood. One famous London team’s performance this season has led some to bemoan the club’s financial prudency and begged for serious money to be spent on expensive players to improve that performance. Much the same argument is used for high salaries for CEOs who are expected to deliver winning performances.

If a few banks collapsed because they could not attract an effective CEO, we would all be plunged into economic meltdown. If a couple of football clubs went down the tubes, we’d be sad, but we’d get over it.

If Labour are going to initiate a Parliamentary motion on salaries, perhaps both bankers and footballers should be included. After all, performance related pay would be easier to calculate for footballers, and might then provide a benchmark for all professions?

I’d vote for the political party that was prepared to fight the issue on this comprehensive basis, as they would be brave indeed.

Lending Shortfall? Of Course.

Paul Lindsell — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:07:14 +0000

So UK banks have fallen behind on ‘project Merlin’ and have not extended the agreed volumes of credit to SMEs. So what… from both points of view.

The time when SMEs need credit is when the banks lending criteria are squeezed to the point of virtual drought. It’s only now the economy is starting to move that banks will once again lend, and even now, not enough. Credit availability is the biggest fueller of economic recovery, but banks will only relax lending criteria once each stage of recovery is seen (retrospectively) to be under way.

Which is chicken, which egg? Why is government not offering SME credit, where banks will not lend? And to a much larger extent than the equity lending being offered through the newly announced Business Growth Fund.

Or is government equally afraid of losses and defaults as the banking system?

Vlog: Top marketing tips for 2011

Paul Lindsell — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:53:19 +0000

Paul Lindsell provides a festive treat for marketers with his three top key tips for your marketing strategy in 2011.

If you’re still in the throws of planning and willing to adapt to market movements, this vlog is a must watch.

Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas and wish you a prosperous New Year!

Vlog: Content is King

Paul Lindsell — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:24:19 +0000

Do you think content is king? And how do you cope with the content hungry machine of the web? Paul discusses the importance of content as the central and binding element for marketing campaigns. Why is content so powerful and what real difference can it make to your marketing campaigns? Learn more by watching the short video below.

Vlog: Chinese brands in Europe

Paul Lindsell — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:43:57 +0000

In our first video blog, Paul Lindsell discusses the importance of Chinese companies developing strong brands in Europe and provides top tips on how to do this successfully. As more and more Chinese brands decide to enter European and Western markets, Lindsell Marketing, with its international staff and experience delivering global multi-media communications, tackles the issue of brand communication across continents. With our knowledge in customer audiences globally and what makes them tick, Lindsell Marketing is able to light the way for Chinese brands looking for a way into western consumer’s homes and hearts. Watch and enjoy.

Stay tuned for more from the Lindsell team!

The dangers of tinkering

Paul Lindsell — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:42:44 +0000

So our beloved, recently elected, most esteemed, coalesced leaders are doing something very important with Capital Gains Tax. I thought that we had left the period of pre-election posturing and were supposed to be getting down to real policies to sort out the economic crisis. Evidently not. Do you know how much CGT raises each year? Around £3-4 billion. So alter that by, say 10% (a politically acceptable change for the electorate) and it might raise £300-400 million. In the current situation, that is a totally insignificant sum. As our survey amongst UK financial managers shows, it’s income tax that has to rise if we are to plug the enormous deficit gap.

The theme of tinkering around the edges can also be applied to today’s marketers. Look at the mirage that is e-marketing. Sure, some works – and Linked-in communities provide a very good example of that. Yet time after time, we find companies saving pennies on print and going totally online. It just doesn’t work. There is a substantial proportion of the business community – at least half by our reckoning – who say that they NEVER respond to online or email marketing pieces. What utter twit would therefore save a couple of thousand on print and mail, in order to studiously ignore half their target market who might represent a potential market of several millions? It just doesn’t make sense.

In business and in politics, it’s the people who can see the wood for the tress who succeed.

For SMEs, it’s afterwards that matters

Paul Lindsell — Wed, 05 May 2010 10:00:13 +0000

So we Brits are all in the throes of having to make the dreadful choice when casting our votes this week. Colleagues and clients across Europe and the US have been studiously telling us that there is either more definition or less corruption in the UK’s political options compared to their own home turf, and that we should stop moaning and just get on with it with good grace. Point taken.

In fact, there are two issues that the successful party or coalition must address immediately and seriously. First is the economic black hole of the UK public deficit (expected to be around £70bn once the temporary bank prop-up allowance is removed). The other is giving small and medium-sized businesses proper recognition and a strong representation to government.

I believe that the existing small business organisations are frankly ineffective in forcefully carrying the SME lobby to parliament. There is plenty of wooing of large firms by political parties, but only token recognition really being given to the 1.5 million firms that produce half the country’s revenues. The Conservatives have pledged that 25% of government contracts would be awarded to small businesses. The LibDems say they will force banks to lend more to small businesses. Labour says it will provide £4bn in new venture capital for growth businesses.

All this is very well, but what pressure group is going to scrutinise government and lobby for real delivery on these promises? In my personal view, certainly not the feeble organisations that currently claim to represent SME interests.

So with a new government, we need a new representative organisation to drive through SME issues. Any volunteers?

Election Special – Labour’s Bad for Business

Paul Lindsell — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:32:54 +0000

So election fever has begun in earnest today. Given the way vulnerable seat boundaries now lie, it may well go to the wire on May 6th, with the Conservatives having more of a battle than they’d originally thought. Personally, I won’t be deciding which way to vote until the last minute. But Labour certainly seem to have missed a trick in one respect – the business vote. We’ll are in the process of launching a new piece of national business research which firmly shows a huge polarity between the Conservatives and Labour when it comes to steering the nation towards economic recovery. The Tories are trusted to do so by twice as many businesses as Labour, who are languishing only a couple of points ahead of the LibDems. This finding should be disseminated amongst consumer opinion watchers – after all, who is better placed to make predictions about economic recovery that the businesses who are themselves striving to move forward?

One sobering thought though. Our survey also found that over 50% of the business population felt none of the political parties could be trusted to manage economic recovery. Politicians of all colours need to get re-engaged with the UK’s wealth creation community, whoever wins on May 6th.

The Marketing Lobby – Time for Change

Paul Lindsell — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:53:07 +0000

Most industries are well organised to have their interests effectively represented to parliament, government and the EU. Chemicals, pharmaceuticals, utilities, retail, telecoms, the much vilified banking sector… it is difficult to think of an industry that does not have its trade association robustly ensuring that its collective voice is heard in the halls of power. Except, that is, the marketing industry.

Our sector seems to have an extraordinary propensity for internicine squabbles, and a highly developed talent for being unable to see the wood for the trees. Part of the issue has to be that our trade bodies are hugely fragmented into a series of subcategories – sales promotion, advertising, direct marketing, digital marketing, live events, and so on. These are all largely the result of a yesteryear situation where different media were competing for the same above-the-line media spend. Yet are we not now living in a converged world? The majority of campaigns and customer management strategies are now conceived – media-wise – as multi-channel. So the old negotiating position, pitting media against one another in a largely false ‘either/or’ fight, is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Therefore, a fragmented set of trade associations makes no sense, even from a practical point of view.

It’s time the marketing industry had a single body to represent its interests. None currently exists. There would be no point in an existing body like the IPA or the DMA taking over the whole marketing scene – their single issue past (and frankly flabby track-record on effective lobbying), would not help present a holistic image. So a new group is needed, possibly a federated concern of which existing associations make up the subgroups.

Getting agreement that such a body should exist is probably not going to be too difficult. Getting co-operation between the egoistic heads of trade associations may be a little more challenging.

Is Bellwether revelant?

Paul Lindsell — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:22:27 +0000

“Marketing budgets are still in decline but optimism and confidence is growing according to the latest IPA/BDO Bellwether report. So says Marketing Week’s report on the latest prognosis on our industry. DM and online are up. All else is down. Yet is the main statistical survey on marketing’s barometer becoming rapidly redundant?

If we keep the analysis of the marketing industry’s health focused on traditional silos, then we will learn nothing. What does the category of direct marketing now mean? Is a DM campaign that drives web traffic categorised as direct marketing, or online? How do we compartmentalise an online campaign that is designed to pull people into an event?

The task is not an easy one. The various traditional marketing techniques are being combined in many interesting and productive ways. Few of which fit neatly into Bellwether categories. Does that mean that Bellwether’s measurement is redundant? No. But the barometer of our industry needs to morph with the times, at least with some covering notes about these imaginative media combinations.

In truth, marketing and sales are the recognisable big categories that are coming together. Indeed, a PR campaign now may be the principal driver of a sales initiative. Too long have silos of technique determined how we are measured. And this does not help professional buyers understand how they can really be benefiting from our services.