Proactive communication and marketing measures for SMEs

Project Information

TargetSME

Grant agreement ID: 870496

DOI

10.3030/870496

Project closed

EC signature date 26 August 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 August 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 50 000,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

FUNDACJA UNIWERSYTETU IM ADAMA MICKIEWICZA W POZNANIU
Poland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TargetSME (Proactive communication and marketing measures for SMEs)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2020-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

According to the Expert Advisory Group on Innovation in SMEs final report there is rather a passive approach where the SME is supposed to actively look for support and where the institutions wait for the companies to find them instead of being a proactive strategy reaching out for non-obvious clients and solutions. That’s why it is recommended to rethink the marketing/communications strategy and shift it from a passive and traditional one to proactively looking.
In order to take up this challenge, the Target SME project's main goal was to increase the agencies’ capacity and efficiency in the field of seeking new ways to attract innovative SMEs by using emerging communication and marketing tools and facilitating interaction and partnerships with various actors of the innovation ecosystem. The SMEs (project’s target group) are understood as the companies launching new products/technologies, markets or operating in R&D or having potential for innovation implementation, regardless of their date of incorporation or their stage of maturity.
The project assumes that any activity to engage SMEs in the innovation field should take into account that the companies often do not want to be helped and often do not know how they can take advantage of support and innovation offered. That’s why building innovations agency brand awareness and communication process is so important.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

TargetSME applies the TWINNING+ methodology of peer learning for innovation agencies to enhance the partners’ and other agencies’ capacity to deliver well focused, effective support and bringing the desired macroeconomic effect. The project concept responded to the methodology postulates in the following manner:
Common innovation support challenge: creating the valuable and well perceived by SMEs brand of innovation agencies by designing new elements of communication strategy.

Work performed:
1. Identifying the main target groups - one of the most important and critical aspects in order to start successful marketing is the selection process of the target companies. The main goal was to identify the best companies fitting to the innovation agency profile. The available information about the companies was gathered in order to better prepare for the initial contacts and cover their needs.
During the project partners analysed the available qualitative and quantitative data to define the target groups. The profile of the target group was prepared including qualitative characteristics (using personas and empathy maps in design thinking workshop) and key development’s needs.

2. Key messages and marketing actions appealing to the definied target groups were developed using Canvas Value Propositio, MarCom STP and Good practices

3. Peer reviews - partners collected of SME beneficiary information and marketing of services during the project's meetings (Poznan and Tallinn travels, Kaunas and Malaga online). Tallinn did the peer review for Poznan, Poznan for Tallinn, Malaga for Kaunas and Kaunas for Malaga.

4. Recommendations. Each partner designed the action plan including new approach and recommendations for changes in communication strategy, new tools for approaching right SMEs and key performance indicators of marketing activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

• Innovation agencies should prepare and manage effective programme oriented towards their professionalization/ raising competences and at the same time avoid over-loading IA staff with training courses, finding balance between fulfilling their daily operations (mainly providing to companies services which are already part of their portfolio) and gaining new competences, developing new services.
• Innovation agencies should continue to convince businesses and academia that they are not just another bureaucratic institution, which function as simply as the acquisition of budget funds for some projects which are not necessarily aimed at the stimulation of innovation processes and the creation of entrepreneurial relationships in the cooperative system (clusters and networks).
• Innovation agencies should keep using effective ways of promoting their services among target groups. The new ideas on how to stimulate/organise a pro-active approach of innovation agencies towards their clients should be generated on a regular basis. Any solutions relating to definition of the target group and identification of potentially innovative companies as well as start-ups are of interest.
• Policy makers should cooperate with innovation agencies on a regular basis as they know the needs of the entrepreneurs, their gains, pains and barriers of development. The policy changes and new tools should be based on all the information from IA experts and conducted researches and then implemented.
• All the innovation agencies should pay more attention to building brand awareness. The main problem is the reputation among SME enterprises. The IAs are not perceived as business institutions with specialised services supporting business development. They are more associated with public administration or universities whose values proposition is completely different from business values. That’s why communication strategy is extremely important in a proactive approach towards the business sector, including SMEs.
• In professional innovation agency, communication strategy is developed, goals are defined and based on this marketing campaigns are organized. The efforts to promote a specific goal, such as raising awareness of the brand or specific services capturing positive customer feedback or beneficiary acquisition. AI aims to reach clients in a variety of ways and involve a combination of different available channels and tools such as: media, newsletters, print materials, online marketing, social media, event marketing, influencer marketing. Successful campaigns tend to be carefully planned, focused on details, good quality visuals, and execution, rather than ad hoc activities. Planning a marketing campaign starts with understanding clients’ needs and ends with details such as tailor made messages.
• The constant communication of the innovation agencies activities and success stories to the key stakeholders group is very crucial. It will be important for this action to identify the individual stakeholders’ needs and most desired effects of the IA activities. Then the value proposition for each stakeholder (both internal as well as external ones) should be built. The next point is the focus on enhancing customer relationship management in order to be more perceived as the professionals, not only non-commercial or EU project oriented institution. It will be important as well as to acquire new customers through non-profit activities and encouraging commercial clients to use the non-profit services. To achieve the expected results, this action needs to be analysed on a regular basis. The important tool of this action is CRM, that lets for monitoring of the process and effects of cooperation with customers.
• Joint promotion of the agency and the other innovation ecosystem actors results in synergy for the parties, enhances communication and the ability to compete on the market.

consortium meeting