Enterprise Nation

Michelle Patel is Head of Marketing Campaigns at HM Revenue & Customs and her team was recently presented with the ‘Marketing Strategy of the Year Award’ at the Orange National Business Awards. We call up Michelle to ask the secrets of her marketing success.

Well-deserved

Michelle ad her team won the National Business Award for their self-assessment campaign that was promoting a channel shift and encouraging us tax payers to file our returns online.

To ensure the success of the campaign, here are the key factors Michelle took into account:

• Customer insight – Michelle is aware that paying tax is not high on the priority list of things to do for most of us “it’s something people place even below doing the ironing” says Michelle so the campaign was built on this awareness that it was important to engage with people and encourage them to do something they don’t want to do.
• Partnerships – to clearly communicate the message, Michelle sees the importance of “pally-ing up with another party who has something to say” for example working with Banks who also recognise the importance of filing accounts on time and with retailers such as Staples who promote the benefits of good record-keeping.
• Recognition – it’s important, says Michelle, to also celebrate a campaign when it works well and entering Awards is one way to do that (especially if you win!) “in a department of 86,000 people, most of whom are tax professionals, it’s good to have some recognition for the role of marketing in communicating our message and ensuring the whole system runs well.”

Michelle may be in a department of many but these factors apply equally to us home business owners who work each day to promote our own message to market.

• With thanks to Michelle Patel, HMRC