The Target Trap
Ever sat in a meeting where someone casually dropped a target that made your stomach sink? You know the type – the ones that sound great in the boardroom but keep you up at night wondering if they’ve confused “ambitious” with “impossible.”
You’re not imagining things. As marketing budgets shrink and expectations soar, we’re seeing a dangerous trend: targets that exist in a parallel universe where resources are infinite and timelines are suggestions.
The Numbers Game Nobody’s Winning
Let’s be honest there’s a growing chasm between what’s expected and what’s achievable. “It’s not unusual for a client to come with unrealistic expectations of what they can achieve with their budgets” says Hannah, Account Director. When expectations creep into the impossible, it pays to revisit the business strategy and re-align with goals originally set. “Typically, we would create a list of all the deliverables on the wish list, and then decide which ones are most important. You could put them into sections called “must-have now,” “must-have but in the future,” and “nice to have”. That way, it feels less like ‘no’ and more like ‘not yet’.
Pro tip – ‘It can help to set a calendar of those activities against the business goals, any sort of events or product launches, and then schedule those across a period of maybe 6 to 12 months or even upwards.” Hannah, Account Director.
The Multi-Target Trap
We’ve all been guilty of it: trying to make every campaign achieve everything for everyone. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: when everything’s a priority, nothing is.
Pro tip – “Stop setting multiple targets for one activity. Maximise impact with fewer, more strategic projects.” Hannah, Hannah, Account Director.
Speaking Truth to Power
Here’s where it gets interesting (and a bit uncomfortable): the disconnect often starts at the top. Your senior leadership team wants results – big ones. But as Account Director, Jen emphasises, “having an open dialogue with your SLT or board is absolutely key. In that communication, manage their expectations. Talk to them about what success looks like, and what those KPIs are.”
Don’t wait for the quarterly review to reveal that those targets were fantasy. Build the bridge between ambition and reality early and keep reinforcing it. It all comes back to transparency, open dialogue, and managing expectations.
Pro tip – “Be transparent. Keep that line of communication open. Just keeping them abreast of what’s going on means you’re not waiting for a six-month board meeting to drop something on them.” Jen, Account Director.
The False Economy of Corner-Cutting
When the pressure’s on and budgets are tight, it’s tempting to start making compromises. A little corner cut here, a standard lowered there. But before you know it, you’re looking at your brand in the mirror and barely recognising it.
“Be wary of the impact cost-cutting can have on your brand” says Head of Content and Strategy, Lara. “At the very least it will become diluted, but it could get a lot worse and actually start to damage your reputation.” A cost-effective way to mitigate this is to appoint a brand guardian. Someone who knows the limits of the brand and can protect it from being watered down with bad practices and careless activities.
Pro tip – “Think of your brand guardian as your voice of reason – the one who stops you from making those “just this once” compromises that slowly erode your brand’s value.” Lara, Head of Content and Strategy.
The Way Forward: Quality Over Quantity
So what’s the solution? It’s not about lowering ambitions – it’s about raising the quality of our goals. Here’s what works:
1. Fewer, Better Target
- Focus on what moves the needle
- Align goals with actual resources
- Choose quality over quantity
2. Open Communication
- Regular dialogue with stakeholders
- Early flagging of potential issues
- Clear alignment on what success looks like
3. Brand Protection
- Designated brand guardians
- No compromise on core values
- Strategic partnerships with agencies who get it
The Bottom Line
The gap between expectations and resources isn’t going away. But neither is the need for strategic, effective marketing that delivers real results. The question is: are you ready to have the honest conversations that bridge that gap?
We’ll continue to explore these themes in our upcoming social campaign, where you’ll hear more from our team on managing tight budgets, navigating data overload, and making smart marketing decisions. Keep an eye out for our video series featuring Hannah, Jen, and Lara, as they share insights on how to navigate these challenges effectively.
Be strategic. Stay bold.
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The Data Dilemma
As a marketing manager, you’re no stranger to the constant pressure of making data-driven decisions. But let’s be honest: how often do you feel truly confident in the data at your fingertips? If you’re like most of us, the answer is “not often enough.” Welcome to the data dilemma – a challenge that’s as universal as it is frustrating.
The Reality Check
You want to spearhead brilliant campaigns that drive results, not spend hours wrestling with spreadsheets and questioning the validity of your metrics. Yet here we are, feeling more like a data analyst than a marketing strategist.
At Fluro, we see firsthand the struggles that marketing teams face when it comes to data. And we think It’s time to tackle these challenges head-on and turn them into opportunities for growth.
5 Data Challenges (and How to Overcome Them)
1. Redefining Data in Marketing
The Problem: Many of us still view data too narrowly, focusing solely on quantitative metrics.
The Solution: Expand your definition of data. It’s not just numbers in a spreadsheet; it’s valuable information from customer interactions, team insights, and market trends.
Action Step: Schedule regular cross-departmental meetings to gather qualitative insights that complement your quantitative data.
You can dig deeper, find out what’s driving audience, engagement and their decision making. Talk to people. Just reach out. It doesn’t always have to be formalised. Lara, Content & Strategy Director
2. Quality Over Quantity
The Problem: We’re drowning in data but starving for insights.
The Solution: Focus on key metrics that truly drive your business. Start with:
- Traffic Sources
- Conversion Rates
- Bounce Rate
Master these, and you’ll have a solid foundation for data-driven decision making.
3. The Untapped Potential of Qualitative Data
The Problem: Over-reliance on numbers often leads to missing the ‘why’ behind customer behaviours.
The Solution: Integrate qualitative research into your data strategy.
Challenge: Conduct five customer interviews in the next month to uncover insights that your quantitative data might be missing.
4. Building a Data-Driven Culture
The Problem: Data analysis is often siloed, seen as the responsibility of one person or team.
The Solution: Foster a company-wide appreciation for data:
- Connect team members with data sources across departments.
- Demonstrate how data impacts each role directly.
- Celebrate data-driven successes to reinforce its value.
5. Overcoming Resource Limitations
The Problem: Limited budgets, disconnected systems, and information overload often hinder effective data usage.
The Solution: Start small and focus on what you can control:
- Utilise free tools to build your case for more robust solutions.
- Manually connect data points between systems if necessary.
- Prioritise the metrics that directly align with your goals.
From Data Dilemma to Marketing Mastery
The truth is, perfect data doesn’t exist. What matters is having enough reliable information to make informed decisions and the courage to act on those insights.
Remember Peter Drucker’s wisdom: “What gets measured gets managed.” But let’s take it a step further: what gets understood gets improved. It’s time to move beyond managing data to truly understanding and leveraging it.
As marketing managers, you have the power to transform our approach to data. By addressing these common challenges, we can turn the data dilemma into a strategic advantage. It won’t happen overnight, but with persistence and the right mindset, you can lead your team to more effective, data-driven marketing.
Stay tuned for more Fluro Sessions where we’ll tackle other pressing marketing challenges, including managing expectations, optimising budgets, and making smarter strategic decisions.
Be strategic. Stay bold.
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Lincolnshire 2024 – Go Brigg or Go Home!
At Fluro, we know the importance of stepping away from the daily grind to refresh and reconnect, so this year’s team-building weekend took us to the charming town of Brigg, Lincolnshire. Our home for the weekend? The White Hart – a converted pub with plenty of character, and we couldn’t have picked a better spot.
After the long drive, our first night was all about relaxing and having fun. Pizza and pub games were on the agenda, with pool, darts, and giant scrabble quickly becoming competitive favourites. A few of the team even jumped behind the bar to serve up drinks, and before long, we were all laughing, competing, and shaking off the week’s work stress.
Saturday kicked off with a hearty breakfast of sausage sandwiches, (nothing like having your breakfast cooked by your boss), certainly helped fuel us for the day ahead. We then laced up our walking boots and headed out into the Lincolnshire countryside. Our 6-mile trek took us through rolling fields, past curious cows, and over plenty of puddles along the way. It was the perfect chance to clear our heads, reconnect, and enjoy a bit of nature.
The evening was a real treat, as we were spoiled with an incredible meal prepared by The Blind Swine – Michael, Private Chef. His steak and ale pie was nothing short of delicious, with generous portions and impeccable service. The meal left us feeling fully satisfied and ready for the final event of the day – our very own ‘Night at the Races’. Bets were placed, cheers were loud, and our developer Matt clinched the top prize. We won’t mention the booby prize for the loser – but let’s just say they know what they’re in for!
By Sunday, we felt fully recharged and ready to return to work with fresh energy. The weekend in Brigg wasn’t just about getting away – it was about reconnecting as a team, enjoying each other’s company, and having a blast while doing it. Safe to say we went Brigg, and we went home – but only after an unforgettable weekend!
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Tech Marcomms: 8 Ways You’re Doing it Wrong
1. Tech brands don’t talk to their audience. They talk about themselves.
Count the number of times you say ‘we’ and ‘our’ on your home page.
Then, count the amount of time you mention your audience ‘you, your’.
Let’s just let that sink in for a moment.
If the ratio is about 50:50, then well done. You’re not doing too badly.
If it’s tipped in your favour, then you’ve got work to do.
2. They’re too reductive about benefits of their solutions.
Your audience wants to know about desired outcomes and yet tech brands rarely talk about HOW the solution can actually help people in any meaningful way.
It’s not enough to tout generic benefits like saving money or time or accelerating growth.
It’s easy to see why this occurs so often in the tech sector. The inherent nature of tech products and services is to normalise and standardise input to create repeatable, scalable results. It’s embedded in the DNA of the sector.
But the trouble is, your audience doesn’t see themselves or their unique and complex business challenges as ‘input’ for your new tech product.
3. They’re too reductive about the audience.
It’s a fatal mistake to assume all ‘business’ is the same.
And worse, that all ‘business people’ are the same.
Your audience cares deeply about their business.
By forcing the audience to think and act in categories that are convenient for you, you’re reducing them to a lumpen mass. And they feel it when they visit your website, as they glaze over trying to understand your world view instead of you trying to understand theirs.
Don’t ever forget that even though it’s called B2B, you’re never communicating with a ‘business’. You are always, every – single – time, communicating with a human being. They might acting on behalf of the business, but they still have human interests at heart.
“We bring together the latest workplace technologies to deliver solutions for your business users.” Un-named Tech Brand
4. They overestimate their importance.
Tech is a tool.
It’s the means not the end.
And for the audience, it’s beginning to feel like tech brands have simply become vendors who have technology that’s looking for a problem to solve.
5. They oversimplify the problems.
Business challenges are not a thing you can neatly contain in a bullet point list and manage with a simple, end-to-end solution that costs £XX.99 per month.
We get it, you want as many customers as possible. But when you over-simplify your audiences’ needs and challenges to create a convenient ‘average customer’ you end up appealing to none of them.
“The extreme simplification of communication makes it impossible for users to distinguish which brand category the message belongs to — whether it’s banking, education, investment… The brand identities become blurred, and as a result, brands lose their connection with the audience.” Medium
6. They overstate the ‘solution’
What do you mean when you say ‘solution’?
Because we certainly don’t know
7. Messaging is lazy and confusing
Data. Growth. Scale. Future-proof. Solution. Transformation. End-to-end. Innovative. Accelerate. Technology. Empower. Workplace. Legacy. Digital transformation. Deploy.
These are tech sector buzz words.
And no one likes them.
Try harder.
“Delivering a fully automated, user driven, transformation based on data analytics performed against your legacy environment.” Unnamed IT/Tech brand
8. Stop talking about ‘humans’
This ship has sailed. Let’s talk about something else please.
Tech brands love to talk about ‘being human’ and yet their messaging is anything but. Most of us mere mortals won’t ever be able to live up to the epic promise of their tech solutions.
The skills gap is growing day-by-day as tech gets smarter and smarter. This leaves most of us feeling left behind and inadequate in the face of your insistence that we can accelerate, unleash, unlock, enable, empower, increase, transform, improve, and out-perform.
Let’s turn the volume down a bit.
(ps: we all know ChatGPT loves power verbs)
Ready to take your tech marketing to the next level?
Download our Tough Love Guide to Tech Marketing for practical ways to strengthen your brand and connect with your audience.
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Are You Ready for Some Tough Love?
Something Isn’t Right…
If you’re in tech marketing, you’ve probably felt it—something just isn’t clicking. You’re doing everything by the book, but your brand’s message isn’t resonating the way it should. Maybe it’s time for some tough love.
We’ve put together a guide that’s not for the faint-hearted. It’s a wake-up call for tech brands who are ready to stop playing it safe and start making a real impact. But be warned: you might not like everything we have to say.
What’s Inside?
We’re not here to sugarcoat things. In our guide, we dive deep into some of the most common mistakes tech brands are making today—mistakes that are costing you engagement, leads, and sales. Are you guilty of any of them?
Here’s a hint: it’s not just about what you’re saying, but ‘how’ you’re saying it. And if you think your brand is already doing a great job of communicating its value, you might want to think again.
The Consequences of Playing It Safe
In today’s saturated tech market, playing it safe isn’t just boring—it’s dangerous. Conformity has crept into tech communications, leading to a sea of sameness that’s drowning out even the most innovative brands. If you’re not careful, your brand could be next.
What’s the Answer?
We’re not giving away all our secrets here, but we will say this: it’s time to rethink your approach. The brands that stand out are the ones that connect on a human level, the ones that make their audience feel understood and valued.
Our guide doesn’t just tell you what’s wrong—it points you in the right direction. But we’re keeping the full story under wraps. If you want to know more, there’s only one thing to do.
Curious?
Download the full guide and discover the tough love your tech brand needs to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.
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The real powerhouse of lead generation
By now you should know that at Fluro, brand comes first. Get your brand right, and it will be your most powerful marketing tool, leading the way for all your campaigns and marketing activities.
If you haven’t got yourself a strong brand with distinctive assets, then you’ve got our number, right? But for now, let’s assume that you’ve got a great brand that’s working for your business. So, what comes next? Tell the world. Spread the word. Shout it from the rooftops.
Whether you call it brand awareness, brand building, or brand marketing this stage covers all the various campaigns and activities that tell the world about your brand. These days, there are more brand awareness opportunities than ever before; experiential marketing (think Carlsberg’s beer dispensing billboard) events live or virtual (think launches, keynote speeches, webinars, thought leadership), social media, PR and traditional media advertising campaigns.
The war on brand
The B2B Institute at LinkedIn, believe that there’s been a war on brand since the rise of digital marketing. The advent of tracking software and the lure of quantifiable metrics have led to an explosion in performance marketing. Being able to see actual hits, visits and clicks has become quite addictive. And let’s not forget that hard facts always impress the stakeholders. But the result of our insatiable desire for metrics, has meant that brand-building has lost its footing in many marketing budgets.
However, the B2B think tank also believes that by 2030, the tables will turn, and brand will once again reign supreme in the hearts, minds and budgets of marketing teams all over the world. They reference the game-changing research of Les Binet and Peter Field who suggest that all marketing falls into two basic categories;
- Sales Activation: performance-based tactics that work fast for short term growth
- Brand Activation: less measurable, but richer, strategic activities for long term growth
Binet and Field criticise marketing budgets that favour sales activation activities, typically called ‘lead generation’ or ‘demand generation’ in a B2B context. They believe that sales activation merely captures existing demand and brand building is the real powerhouse behind generating new demand.
The case for brand building campaigns
- Brand power builds customer loyalty and customer loyalty generates recurring revenue.
- Brand power adds value, giving a business the ability to raise prices and increase profitability amid inflation and competitive landscapes.
- Brand power can protect you against the shifting sands of category. “Categories are mortal; brands are immortal.”
- Brand power can’t be copied. Features and benefits can be copied, lead gen campaigns and tactics can be copied. But your brand is yours alone, and if someone tries to copy it, they’re breaking the law.
- Brand power attracts the best talent.
From B2B Institute; 2030 B2B Trends -Contrarian Ideas For The Next Decade
Get Creative
“Creativity is one of the most important variables in marketing success” says Jon Lombardo, of the B2B Institute. “Some would say it is the single most important variable and that strong creative can multiply the financial returns of a marketing campaign by 12X.”
And he’s not the only one who’s putting all his eggs in the creative basket. James Hurman of Previously Unavailable, has been touting the importance and extraordinary value of creativity in collaboration with WARC. WARC analysed 5,000 award-winning campaigns in their archives, from 2015 to 2022. They found that those which are highly awarded for creativity are more likely to be effective, supporting the idea that creativity supercharges the impact of marketing.
Bet Big
Getting noticed is the name of the game for marketers. And if you already have a brand that stands out, then doubling down to make a noise, is relatively easy.
But doubling down still requires a leap of faith, because it means having the guts to be different and to stand by your most distinctive qualities.
“If you’re not spending at least 50% of your budget on a single creative idea, you are not betting big enough” says the team at the B2B Institute. “When you are fortunate enough to find an idea that is contrarian and right, you need to bet big on it.”
Today, the marketing experts are recommending that budgets are split 50/50 between sales activation and brand building. If your strategy doesn’t look like this, then it’s time rethink your strategy.
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FIND YOUR BRAVE
DISCOVER WHY BEING DIFFERENT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN BEING BETTER WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR BRAND.
You’ve heard people talk about it. Branding experts write books about it. Business empires are built upon this single foundation; be different.
Seth Godin once said, “the sound of a small bell during a dark night is louder than the din of traffic outside your window during rush hour. Surprise and differentiation have far more impact than noise does.”
Think about it for a moment. If your unique selling point (USP) is about outperforming or undercutting the competition, chances are you won’t be able to rely on that as a competitive advantage forever. Someone else can come along at any moment and do it better than you or cheaper than you.
So, what’s the one thing they can’t compete with or do better at?
Being you; your perspective, your technique and your experience and all those intangible qualities that make your business different. And when your brand is different, you will stand out.
DIFFERENT IS BETTER
Take Apple, their agenda was not about being better than the competition. Apple was all about being different and their mission to be different informed their entire brand identity and marketing approach, changing the centre of gravity for the sector and the consumer.
Okay, so if different is good, how can you make this work for your business? It’s tempting to fall back on features and benefits when it comes to differentiating your offer, but the competition always catches up. So, let’s look beyond USPs. Instead of trying to be a better version of the competition, we’ll help you become the best version of yourself. Because after all, you’re the only one who can do it the way you can. Your unique qualities and driving purpose have meaning and value far beyond mere features and benefits.
But how do you communicate all of this personality, all the layers and complexities that form your unique character? The simple answer is branding. Branding is the key to true and lasting market differentiation. A strong, distinctive brand will give you a competitive advantage that – unlike features or benefits – can’t be copied or bettered. And unlike features and benefits, we believe that the story you tell about your brand has unlimited potential. In fact, your brand story will only become more potent over time.
WHEN IT’S HARD TO BE DIFFERENT
There are plenty of situations where it’s hard to be different. Sometimes it’s because you’re new, and you’ve got nothing to leverage. Sometimes it’s because you’re familiar and you are challenging expectations. And then there are those times when the intangibility of your offer makes it feel like you’re chasing a phantom.
– When you’re brand new
Building a memorable brand can be difficult for any new product or business. After all, how will anyone ever find you if they don’t know you exist? But that’s where marketing experts can step in and lend a hand.
The business of getting your business ‘out there’ is called Brand Awareness, and it’s a core principle in advertising. It involves first creating a memorable brand identity through design, tone of voice and customer experience and making sure your brand gets noticed and remembered through a combination of inbound and outbound marketing strategies.
– When you’re lost for words
When your offer is something new, whether it’s a product, service or business model, it makes talking about your offer a real challenge because you can’t leverage an existing ‘language’. We’ve had clients present us with an offer that doesn’t easily slot into any existing sector categories or terminology. This can make it difficult to communicate your message to the world, especially in an online context where search engine optimisation and pay-per-click (PPC) rely on keywords to communicate your offer effectively.
Coining a phrase or term for your new offer poses a problem when it comes to digital marketing and communication, because if no one is using that term, keyword or phrase in their search, then how will they find you?
– When your offer is intangible and iterative
For many start-ups there is often no physical product or service to offer, especially in the early stages of development where the ‘product’ is intellectual property. Defining immaterial goods and services makes brand identity challenging because there’s fewer opportunities to use packaging and signposting to communicate your look, feel and tone of voice.
Plus, it’s tough to define a brand when the goal posts keep changing. The nature of a start-up business often means that the brand will undergo several transformations before it gets to market. This makes it hard to know when it’s the right time to commit to a brand identity. For many start-ups, creating a strong brand identity between rounds B and C can have more impact than waiting till after the final round. Even though the parameters might change again, being armed with a strong brand identity during the funding process can project confidence and present a more concrete vision.
– When your brand is established
Loss of brand equity is usually the biggest barrier a business will have when it comes to rebranding. And we get it. A drastic change in branding has the potential to alienate existing loyal customers who have strong associations with the old brand.
That why with careful research, planning and clearly defined objectives we can protect the major brand elements to preserve recognition.
Communication is key for any successful rebrand, having an official launch and sharing the reasons behind the rebrand goes a long way towards mitigating any potential loss of brand equity. A continuous effort to monitor the impact of the rebrand will mean that we’ll be ready to adapt strategies based on feedback and market responses.
FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE
“Who Dares Wins” isn’t just a Channel 4 reality series or a John Wick tattoo and as a sentiment, it goes much further back than the British SAS. The earliest record of “Fortune Favours the Brave” or something like it, has been attributed to Roman writers in the centuries before Christ and it remains potent to this day.
Why does this phrase still have so much power?
Because it’s not easy being brave. If it was, everyone would be. Only those who overcome their fear of failure, their fear of change and challenge will win the ultimate prize of success and good fortune.
Sounds intense, doesn’t it? But in reality, being brave doesn’t start with confidence. Being brave starts with determination and courage can be learned and developed. It’s not about leaping blindly into the unknown, it’s about being observant, learning how to evaluate risk and recognise opportunity when it comes knocking.
HOW TO FIND YOUR BRAVE
We don’t expect everyone to be comfortable with our approach at first and it’s important to know that we don’t equate being brave with being foolhardy. For us, being brave is about self-awareness, understanding and great timing. To help you understand our approach, we’ve put together a list of Five Ways to Find Your Brave;
A balanced perspective
Fear can be useful. If we acknowledge our fears, we’re one step closer to overcoming them.
Identify your strengths
When you’re confident in your abilities, you’re much more willing to go all-in when an opportunity presents itself.
No risk, no reward
What’s the worst thing that could happen if you take a risk? Now compare that scenario to what will happen if you do nothing at all?
The Comfort Zone
Build your courage muscles by pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone slowly and more often. Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. Make peace with uncertainty.
Failure=winning
When you take a risk, you never really lose because you either succeed or you learn from your mistakes.
Being guided through the process by someone who’s done it before and has the skill to uncover and define what makes you special will make all the difference to your journey. Having a like-minded creative partner will help you build and market a brave brand. A brand so different and so strong that it will the only reason your customer chooses you.
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