Date: November 2009

Where did you come up with the idea for running an outsourced marketing company?
After running a creative marketing agency for 5 years primarily focused on big corporate, I realised that there was a need in the market for small to medium sized businesses to have an experienced marketing manager at an affordable price.

Making marketing affordable for all companies has been our mandate and as such Marketing Eye has developed a number of models to help small businesses with all areas of marketing.
We keep everything in-house including public relations, advertising, branding, web development, film production and multimedia – allowing us to keep the costs of these services down. It works and clients appreciate that their brand is being managed under one roof.

Why would companies decide to outsource marketing rather than insource?
When a company gets to a certain size, they should have a full time marketing resource. However, it’s the time between startup and reaching this point where businesses struggle with their marketing and growth plans. This is where an outsourced model fits in and helps businesses achieve their goals.

Strategic Marketing, once touted as just for large corporations, is now being applied to businesses across all levels and of all sizes. Becoming increasingly more affordable and less standardiSed, strategic marketing has been heralded as the most important element of the marketing mix for many businesses that are looking for sales acquisition and growth. Without it, marketing activities remain unmeasured and lack appropriate ROI.

Having just received information pertaining to a client of Marketing Eye’s that had a section on their website whereby visitors could lobby to have their local shop store a particular beer, I was surprised by the number of people who are loyal to a brand.

Marketing Eye is always the last to market ourselves, but having put together some ‘hairy audacious goals’ for 2010, we are looking at every possible avenue to market our business to small to medium sized businesses.

What typifies a small business varies from country to country but there are almost 2 million in Australia if you incorporate sole operators and consultants in the mix – or at least so they tell me.

I had the most unusual experience today with Prism Colour in Melbourne which is run by a guy (who I have never met) by the name of Greg McHenry.

There is much debate amongst my colleagues, friends and clients on what is an ‘effen great bloke’ because through Marketing Eye’s promotion of effen Beer, we have all been absorbed with the entries that have been rolling in for the competition.

Everyone has their own idea of what an effen great bloke is and I am sure by December 1, 2009, all of Australia will know what the general consensus is on the topic.

Whilst we all have an opinion, the reality is that there is no right or wrong answer. Afterall, it’s just an opinion.

Ask around your office and find out what each person in your office thinks about what an effen great bloke is. Then log onto www.effengreatbloke.com.au and enter. I am keen to hear what you have to say.

For your efforts, you may just win a year’s supply of beer for you and a mate.

It doesn’t matter if you are a woman or a man. We all drink beer and if you don’t, it’s always handy to have beer in the fridge for when someone comes to visit and particularly if you are thinking about having a Xmas Party.

Mellissah Smith
Marketing Eye

Marketing Eye promotes brands we believe in. effen is a great tasting beer that is smooth and reminds me of a quality Belgium beer. Recently, it won an award in Melbourne for the best Lager at the Micro Brewery Showcase. Now the many thousands attending this event can’t all be wrong – right?

Whilst we all espouse to work with companies that have the same ethics, culture, and key set of values – it doesn’t always happen that way for a variety of reasons.

Last night I was invited to attend a dinner for a up and coming politician that has just won pre-selection in the seat of Kooyong.

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A last minute decision to attend the ‘race that stops a nation’ reminded me why gossip magazines sell so well and how gen-y is absorbed with the idea of celebrity, so much more than I remember my generation ever being.