Tweak Your Biz » Marketing » Review: The Cheese Mall, Key Marketing Skills

Review: The Cheese Mall, Key Marketing Skills

by lornasixsmith on November 24th, 2011
12 Comments



Bernie Tracey, author of The Cheese MallThe Cheese Mall is a new marketing book by business coach Bernie Tracey. Bernie works with enterprise boards and SME companies and she also coaches at executive level in organisations.

Millie and Matthew

The Cheese Mall tells the tale of two mice, Millie and Matthew, who have been made redundant after working in the Cheese factory for a year and it follows their journey as they prepare a detailed business plan in order to secure funding from the bank for their new business venture. The book is aimed at start-up businesses and those who want to refresh their knowledge and revisit their business plans.

It has been endorsed by Sen Feargal Quinn “The Cheese Mall by Bernie Tracey is a must for budding entrepreneurs!  It shows you how to go about starting your own business in a sensible step by step method and it demystifies all jargon.”

Easy read

I found the book to be easy to read as it is written in a conversational tone, it is possible to skim the book in an hour and then return to the areas that you wish to concentrate on and read them in more detail.

Each cartoon character researches an area of marketing and then explains it in depth to the other sibling showing how it relates to their new business and providing examples.  The other character asks the questions that we might ask which are then answered in relatively simple terms. It is a book that is written in plain English, in a conversational tone and this definitely benefits the reader.

Concepts

Concepts such as Market Segmentation, Marketing Mix, Marketing Communications Strategy, Branding, SWOT and how to write an elevator pitch are all explained clearly, consisely and simply.  Examples are provided to show how Millie and Matthew are applying these concepts to their new business so it is easy to understand.

My only criticism of the book is the lack of tables or graphs that would make some aspects of the explanations clearer, for example, when explaining what details need to be put into each column of their Key Strategic Goals. Tables or graphs would also serve as useful revision-type notes at the end of each chapter.

So many business people (myself included) put a lot of time and effort into writing a business plan and then we file it away.  This book would encourage and help existing business people to re-evaluate their business plan and to re-write their plans going forward, not just for the bank manager but for their own planning of how their business will move forward.

There’s a large number of marketing and sales book available for SMEs but few make it as easy to understand and relate to as this one.  Yet, that doesn’t mean that it is dumbing down the concepts, just making them much more accessible.

Writing a business plan can be a very daunting task for start-up SMEs and The Cheese Mall breaks it down into bite-sized chunks.  It also demonstrates how businesses should put the customer to the centre of their attention.

This is a book that I will return to again and again. It has inspired me to revisit the business plan I wrote 18 months ago and evaluate how things have altered and affected my plans and create a new plan going forward for 2012.



Category: Branding, customer, Marketing Strategy

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The Author:

Lorna co-owns Write on Track, offering social media consultancy and ghost blogging services. She is also a co-organiser of the Blog Awards Ireland and KLCK Bloggers Network. Her knowledge of online retail is also extensive from owning a home accessories online store for 5 years. http://www.writeontrack.ie

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  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    Hi Lorna, Nice review but If I’m honest I think business plans are now almost worthless. It can be a useful exercise to focus the mind but after that?  

  • http://www.garrendennylane.com/blog Lorna

    I think that’s the point Bernie is making though, well, that’s what I read into it.  We all have to do them for the bank etc and then we file them away, whereas if it seems easier and more accessible with a book like this, then we’d be more likely to revisit our business plans and alter them accordingly.  I think the best of us needs to focus our minds occasionally and see if we have achieved the targets we set ourselves and set new ones based on what we’ve learnt. :)  

  • Bernie

    Niall, I agree with your thinking here that there is more to running business than just having a business plan. What is good about them though, apart from having to write one if you are looking for funding, is that your idea does come to life.  More importantly you have work out in the plan how you are going to communicate with your customer and let them you know you are open for business. This is the essence of the book i.e. helping new start-ups understand what marketing is really all about.

  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    I take your points, Bernie and they of course make sense! I’m sure you appreciate that my observation was meant in a general way, rather than specifically about your book. That said, the fact that funding continues to depend so heavily on what is also now widely accepted to be so flawed surely says something about the funding process? And then by extension it’s ability to identify the right companies? 

  • http://www.cgonlinemarketing.com/ Christina Giliberti

    Great review Lorna! Ans I’ve now added to my ‘must read’ list. I feel that making books, articles, blogs, etc, easy to read, is a cultivated skill. It’s much more difficult to simplify concepts and I champion Bernie for achieving this. I agree that business plans are daunting. Why over-formalise…..make it fun and the maybe we’ll all enjoy writing them.

  • http://www.denisefay.com/ Denise Fay

    Hi Daniel, Just like Niall, here’s a big warm welcome to TYB. I like your five points.

    I am still amazed at the amount of businesses who use their business name first and then followed by gmail.com or hotmail. com (eg. achievemarketing@gmail.com). It’s the first thing that I will say to small business owners – get your own domain and route your email through gmail. It gives a much better (and bigger) impression.

    Good points and thanks for sharing here.
    Take care,
    Denise

  • http://www.theexecutivesuite.com/blog/ Warren Rutherford

    Daniel – great post. I like the shared workspace idea. Having worked from a basement office for years (no windows) it was hard to create a “lasting impression” on clients when I would meet them at a coffee shop or sandwich shop. Depending on your product or service those lasting impressions make a difference.

  • http://www.stanleyrao.us/ Stanley Rao

    Good points mentioned… and i agree with it to a greater extent

  • http://twitter.com/christopherjanb Christopher Benitez

    I whole-heartedly agree on #4. A great design on all your marketing tools go a long way. Not only does it make your brand competitive at the very least relative to bigger companies, but it also increases your online presence.

  • John Twohig

    Thank you Marie, yes the health communities are working to help each other, which is the purpose, this is one of the 3 pillars of intrinsic motivation, the advocates and influencers flow from this.

  • John Twohig

    Thank you for your comment and it is great that the post provoked your grey matter into action. Your are right when you mention some interaction is not appropriate or wanted.

  • John Twohig

    Yes Debbie, these types of communities have the biggest impact in my opinion as the people are interacting for the purpose of helping each other, which is a mixture of Purpose and Autonomy, 2 of the 3 pillars of intrinsic motivation. Mastery can creep in there as the contributors in some cases are trying to improve there own circumstances, i.e. a new business.

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