Size does matter

Welcome back.

And I can guarantee that this remote corner of the blogosphere will provide a safe haven for all those seeking relief from reading about MPs expenses. This is not a subject of interest to Cicero who will always remain above the grubby subject of money and dedicated to providing business and marketing wisdom to his devoted followers

Last week you will recall I posed the question ‘what was the greatest thing since sliced bread?’ One very devoted follower of Cicero, with far too much time on her hands, has told me that the phrase derives from a 1930s ad campaign for ‘Wonder Bread’, the first mass-marketer of sliced bread as a product. Well now we know. Time must pass very slowly in the Yorkshire Dales.
Moving on.

Since I am not going to be talking to you this week about MPs and their expenses I would like to talk to you about size and to prove to you that no matter what men might like to think, size does indeed matter. More specifically I want to talk to you about scale and stature in business.
I think scale and stature are two very important qualities in any business whether you are in private, public or third sectors (and for those of you not totally au fait with the latest evolution of our language, the third sector used to be called charities.

Customers like to think that they are with a brand big enough to cater for and meet their needs and to service their business. Sure we all like the idea of being given the highly personal treatment that goes with a small business but we also like the assurance of a business of scale, of pedigree, of longevity, of stature. The businesses, the brands, we deal with and buy are a reflection of who we are and how we think of ourselves. And hands up if you want to be thought of as small and insignificant. Thought not.

And on basis of my constant marketing principle that everything communicates there are lots of small steps we can take to help build scale and stature into our brand.

In a previous role with relatively small sums of marketing investment at my disposal, I always tried to find ways for my brand to punch above its weight, to look bigger that we were. On one occasion I ran an ad on the largest poster site in Europe. It blew the marketing budget and we had no right to be there as such sites are usually reserved by the likes of BA, Sony, Apple, mega global brands all. But, boy, were we noticed.

And closer to home I have a friend with his own business. It is just him but he sought to convey the impression of an international business of scale and stature. His web site address was .com. He registered for VAT even though he did not need to in order to convey a business of a certain size. And the first invoice he ever issued was not numbered one as you might expect but 601. He did not want his first customer to know they were his first.

And then there was story, not apocryphal, of a leading London ad agency in its early days who pitched for a major account. They had to hire premises by the hour as they did not have their own offices. And they filled their rented offices with resting actors and students to convince the client they had staff. I think they got away with it but imagine the panic when the client asked to come back in to the offices to see them again. But they did convey a serious level of scale and stature. They did communicate that they had the size to handle the work.

So look around you. Do it now. And think hard. On a scale of 1-10 what is the level of scale and stature your business is projecting? What ideas do you have to move it up a notch? And go on, make them happen. You can do it. You know you can.

Is it only me?

You may know that I spend a lot of my time travelling backwards and forwards to my State bunker and this gives me plenty of time to watch and stay in touch with the State’s subjects. And, as I peregrinate through the realm, one thing puzzles me-why do women put their make up on in full view of everyone else while they are travelling?

Personally I am not sure I want to watch as the raw product is transformed from duckling to swan. Bismarck, the great German statesmen said that there were two things you did not want to understand how they were made-sausages and laws. I would like to add a third. I am sure no woman wants to watch me shave on their daily commute. I do wish women would follow my maxim for a happy life-if it can’t be fixed with a comb then it’s not worth bothering about. And that way we might all be spared having to watch the application of foundation, mascara and lip gloss. Can anyone explain to me while you must do it in full view? I can’t wait to hear if anyone dares to rise to the challenge.

And finally. If you still wondering, or even care, the lift in my State bunker is still not working. Maybe too much is being spent on MPs expenses and no money left over for lift repairs.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.