Launch for b2b Feedback Platform SenseCheck

Former Unilever and Kraft marketer Roger Jackson has launched SenseCheck, an online platform allowing b2b small businesses to give and receive anonymised, honest feedback about each other's marketing plans and campaigns.

Jackson worked as a Brand Manager at Unilever and then at Terrys of York, Kraft Foods and Princes Foods BV in the 1990s in brand and marketing roles before moving to the supply side. For the last ten years he has run London retail insights firm Shopper Intelligence.

The new company aims to help entrepreneurs who have 'little of the resource that is available to big corporates to test out their marketing strategies': Jackson says his own research finds 95% of b2b SMEs agree that marketing activity is crucial to business growth, but half don't know in advance if a marketing idea will work out or not, and more than half (55%) don't know if the money they spend is delivering results. He explains: 'When I left the corporate world more than ten years ago to set up my own business, I no longer had the means to validate my marketing plans. Quite simply I was crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. When you consider marketing is an SME's key driver of growth and a huge chunk of your precious cash is at risk you really don't want to be leaving things to chance. If as a marketing professional I found myself facing this challenge, I realised that an entrepreneur without a marketing background would find it even harder. Getting open, honest and objective feedback from people I respect and trust is the concept that powers SenseCheck'.

Members of the new platform can upload materials to the site and receive anonymised feedback from a randomly selected group of their peers, and each time someone provides feedback, they receive a credit so that their membership can end up costing next to nothing. SenseCheck will initially offer up to 500 qualifying B2B entrepreneurs the chance to join the community without paying the usual membership fee.

Jackson concludes: 'Our target company sits in the £500,000 to £10 million turnover range, which represents the long tail of SMEs that powers the UK economy. It's more important than ever that they succeed and I believe the SenseCheck community can help them do that'.

Web site: www.sensecheck.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.