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Welcome to Igneous Marketing the resource for SME's around the country. We will provide workable advice and tips on how to improve the marketing of your business

Saturday 30 April 2011

Being found is great but being loved is better


Much has been made recently about signing up to Social Media Networking sites and creating your own Blog. Even more importantly, a big deal is also made about linking these Tweets and comments back to your own website. But how effective is it? If you write drivel who is going to bother to read your news?
Quite rightly, copywriters and SEO professionals are reminding people to write meaningful news items and to employ a copywriter for important news and events. However, I have seen many websites that have superb copy but very poor graphic design.
How you design your website, or indeed any other materials such as printed matter, will be the first point of contact potential customers have with your company. Visual impact is key to draw visitors into your website. We are very visual beings and as they say a picture paints a thousand words.
Remember - It's the design that draws you in! How often do you visit a website only to click away from it immediately? Think about why you do that.
Your website should involve the following:
— attract visitors
— inform
— be easy to navigate
— have graphical consistency
— look professional
— encourage you to return
— make a sale
So whilst copy is vital, you need to consider grabbing your prospects eye before you grab their mind!

Friday 29 April 2011

Referrals Scheme Launced!

Just thought we would quickly update you with our latest offer which could provide you with our services, every month for FREE! Too good to be true? Read on here

Why Your Customers Social Network Is Now VITAL to You!

It’s a fact: Your customers and prospective customers have a bigger voice than ever before!  Thanks to services like Facebook and Twitter, their ability to reach people is so huge, that it can generate an avalanche of word of mouth marketing for you, (so long as you continue to exceed their expectations.)

Of course, if you upset them, their ability to share their frustration is just as huge and can cause a great amount of damage!

Social networks: When things go bad

I am a firm believer in the importance of disclosure; of being transparent and honest with your marketing.  It makes sound marketing sense, to be ethical, open and upfront.  So, what happens when a company decides to do the opposite – To hide something from the marketplace in order to make a fast buck?

There’s a post over on Seth Godin’s blog, where his opening sentence was just 2 words: Avoid stamps.com.  This was in a post called “A bias for scamminess,” which gave his account of what allegedly happened to him, when he tried to use the stamps.com service, and found that just by entering his credit card details to buy some stamps, he had agreed to pay them $15.95 a month!  Whether Seth made a mistake or was victim of a technical error, rather than a deliberate stealth sales tactic, Seth’s experience has probably been shared with hundreds of thousands of people by now.

Of course, best-selling authors like Seth have always had their own platforms.  If you angered a celebrity 20 years ago, they had the power back then to get their message out, via mainstream media.

What’s different today, is that hundreds of millions of people now have their own social networks and therefore a voice.

Social networks on a smaller, local level
I live in a small town, in the South of England.  My wife recently discovered a great place for parents to take their kids, and she shared it on Facebook, with her friends.  She suggested that they all meet there on a certain day, so the kids could play and the parents could take a look.  On the day in question, 27 of her Facebook friends met up with their kids, for a great day out – all because of her Facebook message. Here’s the thing:  Had that same Facebook message been a negative review, rather than a positive recommendation, just as many people would have seen it.  Just as they were motivated to attend, they could have been motivated to avoid the place, and tell their friends to do the same, had the message been negative.

The fact that the marketplace now has a greater voice than ever before, has (at least) 3 interesting consequences:
1.   
For providers, who exceed expectations and are remarkable for all the right reasons – It’s pure gold dust!  The providers that used to enjoy a lot of word of mouth recommendations, will see an increasing supply of great referrals.
2. 
   For providers, who offer a similar-ish type of service to their competitors – At best, they will stay about the same.  The providers that have never really attracted many word of mouth recommendations, still won’t.
3.or providers, who offer a poor service – The clock is ticking.  If they disappoint enough people with lame products or poor service, they can expect the newly enabled marketplace to spread the word.
I believe that the motivation has never been greater, for small business owners to focus on delivering service excellence.  The rewards have always been good, but right now, they are excellent.  Exceed the expectations of your marketplace and offer a uniquely valuable service then help them share how great you are on their social networks.

As ever, Igneous Marketing can help you and your business with all of your Social Media needs.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Mobile Retailing Explodes - Are you missing out?

It was announced today that there has been an explosion in mobile retailing. Google and the British Retail Consortium has stated that mobile search volumes for retail services has increased by 29% in the last quarter whilst purchase searches have increased by 181% in the same period.

Many retailers are now revealing that they are really benefitting from the surge in smart phones and tablet PC's with some stating a 42% increase in sales via this channel! The top 10 searchs were announced as:

  1. Boots
  2. Dresses
  3. Fancy dress
  4. Beds
  5. Kitchens
  6. Curtains
  7. Sofas
  8. iPod touch
  9. Amazon kindle
  10. iPod nano
whilst iPogs and the Kindle may not be a surprise surely furniture and clothing must be! So what does this mean to the small business and how must we ready ourselves for the increase in mobile retailing?

Well you must start with your website. Your site must be viewable and easy to read on a phone - check for yourself, is it clear? Often websites do not translate well on a smaller medium but this can be assisted with testing and using appropriate formats.

Also do you offer an ecommerce element to your site? Id it time to? People are making decisions on pruchases on the move and you need to take advantage of this even if you offer a call back solution. Don't let them just leave your site and buy elsewhere

Twitter

We have finally joined Twitter! search for @SMEMarketing1 and you will find us.We aim to update our followrs every day with news, advice and tips on everything SME. Follow us today click here

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Generating Inbound Links

So we all know that Google loves inbound links and if you want your website to succeed you need to build these...and lots of them! So many small businesses see this as a one of task usually undertaken when the site is launched. Wrong!

I would say that the majority of small businesses are not implementing a cohesive inbound link strategy on a daily basis. The good news is that about 80% understand the importance of inbound links and about 30% actually have plans for generating them, but a mere 10% are actually doing something about it.

Why Inbound Links Are Important
If you want to reach the top of major search engines, then you're going to have to tell the search engines why they should rank you. Do you have unique content? Are you a credible website? Can you provide a good user experience? These are all important questions you should be asking yourself as you consider developing an inbound linking strategy.
So here are a few top tips on how to build a profitable link strategy:

1: Right Here, Right Now.
Start with an idea of where you are. Regardless of what type of tool you use (free or paid) to evaluate your current SEO status: rankings, keywords, sites linking in, etc., make sure you have a good idea of where you're starting from - and ultimately where you want to get to. Additionally, plan to check your progress at least once a week. You want to see if your inbound links are helping you success on search.

2: Begin With Your Competitors
One of the best link building strategies is to start with your competitors. Who's linking to them? Are the links from high Google PR sites? What else can you learn about your competitors linking strategies? Start with your competitors or who is already ranked in the number one position for the keyword term or phrase you're optimizing for.

3: Focus on Anchor Text
Another great SEO tip for inbound linking is to evaluate all of the existing inbound links to your website. Whether you use the simple "link:" code via the Google search box, Alexa, or some other tool, create a list of sites linking in and work with them to apply the proper anchor text to the link associated with your keyword.

4:
Quality Content and Social Media.
If you provide quality content on your site or simply cover something that would be of interest to your target market, allow others to comment, bookmark and share. Quality content is what search engines like and so will your readers. Develop quality content and encourage others to share it. This creates quality back links to your website.

5: Three Way Linking
Okay, "reciprocal linking is dead". Yeah, I get it.. don't necessarily agree but we won’t debate that here. The good news is that we don't have to talk about it since the best linking option is one-way linking. This can be achieved through a 3 way link. Trying to make a difficult to explain concept relatively simple, exchange links with another website but do it using a 3rd site, not your own. This allows one-way links in either direction.

These tips cover a great deal and have worked for me when it comes to helping my websites and blogs, as well as others, build a significant number of inbound links to their website steadily over time.
WARNING: You may be the anxious type, looking to build hundreds or even thousands of inbound links to your website(s) in the next 48 hours - DON'T DO IT! Although I successfully did this in the past, Google is penalizing sites who are too fast out of the gate when it comes to link building. You should look to ad 3 - 5 quality links to your site on a weekly basis. Slow and steady wins the race.

Monday 18 April 2011

Common Business Facebook Mistakes

Common Facebook Mistakes

There are about ten common Facebook marketing tactics. (You can probably think of more, but most are a derivative of one of these ten.) It may surprise you to learn that five of these tactics don’t even work — that’s fully half! Now, no Fire God will suddenly appear to smite you if you happen to have done one of the following things. They are definitely mistakes, but they aren’t irreversible. In fact, they’re really only mistakes in one sense of the word.

My perception of these as “mistakes” isn’t about breaches of the unwritten Facebook etiquette either – I dance on those lines myself from time to time.

Rather, I’m calling them mistakes from a perspective of effectiveness, versus the alternative behavior. Whether they’re wrong in terms of just coming across as rude or politically incorrect is another matter altogether.

Having said that, off we go.


Mistake #1 – Posting Signature Links on Profile Walls with Your Introduction

I asked someone why they did this once, especially since I’d already been to their site and purchased the item they were selling on that page.

She said: “I saw someone else do it.”

“How did it make you feel?” I asked.

“I felt kind of used. But I figured if that’s what it takes to be successful, that’s what I’ll do, even if it doesn’t seem quite right.”

Now that’s deep.

I understand though, because once I made the vow to become successful, I also made a vow to do “whatever it takes”. At the time I thought it meant hard selling and being pushy. I later found it meant hard work, and doing what’s right even if there’s a lazier, easier way.

Even if this was at one time effective in terms of getting clicks from random profile visits, Facebook is now much more stream-driven than it is profile-driven.

And that’s a huge part of why this is a mistake in terms of effectiveness.

Not to mention that people who see these postings as rude or attempts to spam can remove or hide them. They may even drop you as a connection, which cuts you off not just from them, but from their network.

You’re not missing out on anything by omitting that signature link. Your name, hyperlinked to your profile IS your signature link. If your profile is set up correctly, prospects will get to your site from there.

Mistake #2 – Pitching

If you want to pitch people on Facebook, buy an ad on Facebook.

It doesn’t have to be a Facebook ad – buy one in a popular Facebook application. No matter how good your elevator pitch is in real life, it doesn’t translate in online networking. Let me give you a hypothetical example from the real world.

Imagine you go to an after-work bar. People go there to relax with work friends, to meet potential mates, on actual dates, and to get to know other people in the business.

You’re unwinding with colleagues when someone walks up, and without forewarning, tries to sell you some steak knives. When you stare blankly, they shrug, and move on to the next person.

We all may chuckle to ourselves, and wonder what that person is thinking… but are you ever the knife salesman when you’re on Facebook?

Honestly, when I first came here, I was tempted to be.

Thank God my better judgement stopped me. I’m telling you that to say this – if you’ve been the knife salesman don’t be ashamed, you didn’t know any better. It’s not like they issue marketing lessons with your incorporation papers.

Just make a vow, right now, to always check yourself before you post. Ask yourself “Am I Networking or Pitching?”

Mistake #3 – Artificial Bonding

I’d respect a person more who was upfront with me, and said they were hoping we could work together, or do some business, than someone who pretended to care about me in order to get me to have a conversation that they could then direct to their pitch.

I wouldn’t buy from them, at least not then. But at least I’d still respect them, which means I could change my mind in the future.

Pretending to like people until you get the chance to try to sell to them is really just pitching with a little bad foreplay first.

Bad foreplay isn’t better than none at all.

Mistake #4 – Favoring Uphill Marketing Over Downhill Marketing

Again, this is a mistake in terms of how effective it is. In my own experience, as well as in case studies of clients, it always works out better when you create a fantastic marketplace presence and people are drawn to you in droves, seeking to do business with you, rathere than the alternative.

The alternative, of course, is when you go out and pursue customers and clients one by one.

That’s not to say that you should stop advertising, bidding on projects, or being a go-getter in any way.

It means that while you’re doing that, also create a situation where customers are flowing towards you, seeking you out, asking for help.

It’s much less work to get from interest to sale when they come to you.

Mistake #5 – Fishing on Dry Land

A long, long time ago, I was in a network marketing company. Now defunct, the products they have greatly enhanced, possibly even saved, my life. The products were targeted to people who cared about being healthier and eco-friendly.

At first, I was so excited about what had happened to me, that I told every single person who would listen. I would try and go product by product and explain how great everything was.

After failing Very Hard for about three months, I narrowed my focus.

I bought a bottle of the mineral complex, and some sample sized containers. Then I gave a sample to every single person I could think of who had a health problem that might be related. Orders started pouring in.

Ever since that day, I have remembered two things. First, the one that’s relevant here – proper targeting greatly increases sales. Secondly, give a free sample of something needed to those most starving for it, and they’ll be back to buy more.

A few well-timed, well-placed interactions with the right profile are the main things you need to do the equivalent of offline networking on Facebook. A great profile is just as important as being appropriately dressed at a networking function offline.

Sunday 17 April 2011

Sex, Lies and Advertising

Ok, I lied. There’s no sex in this post. Adverts, on the other hand, aren’t technically allowed to lie. Back in the 19th Century, you could make all kinds of wild claims about your Tincture of Gripe Water or Dr Astoundo’s Patented Baldness Liniment. Nobody could sue you if it didn’t do what it said on the tin. That changed in the early 20th Century, which is all to the good. It means marketers have to be more creative when promoting products or services, and not just resort to bare-faced lies.

But there’s no law against bad spelling, grammar, or inaccurate use of terms. I’m one of those people for whom bad spelling and grammar are akin to the screech of nails down the blackboard of my soul. I spent a good 15 minutes staring at two pieces of bad advertising on the Tube this morning:

1) Nintendo DS’s 100 Classic Books. “100 classic novels… from Jane Eyre to Hamlet”.
Hamlet is not a novel. It’s never been a novel. It’s a bloody play, as anyone with half their wits about them knows.

2) Magnum Temptation. “It’s name? Magnum Temptation”.

This kind of thing puts me in danger of injuring myself, such is my righteous ire. There are talented young people out there busting a gut to get into copywriting, and some smug pillock can’t even be bothered to read through his or her own copy and check for grammatical howlers like this one. And, apparently, neither can anyone else in the agency. It’s an insult to the audience, to people who genuinely care about the quality of their work, and to the whole institution of ice-cream -eating. I will never buy a Magnum again.

Saturday 16 April 2011

Ecommerce Boom!

High Street Slumps, eCommerce Soars
 
It was announced today that despite continued poor high street sales, online businesses are booming. The first quarter of 2011 showed a continued increase of 14% in March. This represented a combined total expenditure of £5.1bn – which equates to roughly £82 per person per month! The 2 core areas of significant increase were Hair and Beauty products, which rose by 32% in March and Business Service, which rose by over 15%.

It is the later part of that statement that I find most interesting. Business services include many utilities such as broadband, call packages, etc plus other outsourced services such a support, marketing, maintenance. Whilst the proliferation of selling products on line has continued, the services market has often struggled to implement an eCommerce solution without a “human touch”.  

Selling products online really removes you from the equation and is a customer only experience. Think of the last time you purchased from Amazon or Tesco online. There was no need to talk to an employee. In fact many of us like this and it ensures a speedy transaction. Services traditionally have been a 2 way thing and this has created an issue when sat at a PC. Banks have negated this pretty well as have insurance companies but what about other services? Trust and security still play a part here. We know Amazon will take back a book and Paypal will credit our money if the product does not arrive but service requires a person.

The latest trend is to use video – show, demonstrate and promote your service first hand via a video. This gives a great try before you buy experience of the product and as long as you offer the same standards that consumer’s expect (security et al) then you should see a slow but steady take up.


Direct Mail Tips - Get More Opens

This post is all about how to get YOUR marketing letters opened.

When a company sends out a mailshot, it does so in order to generate enquiries or sales.  Of course, in order for these marketing letters to work, they must first be opened and read!  After all, you can have the strongest, most compelling and motivating marketing letter imaginable inside that envelope, but in order for it to generate business for you, the envelope must be opened.

Amazingly, although there’s stacks of information ‘out there’ about writing a marketing letter, there’s very little written about how to get someone to actually open the envelope (what some trendy marketing people call ‘the carrier’!)

Get your marketing letters in the right pile!
I was reminded of how poorly most companies deliver their mail shots earlier today, when the post arrived at my home.  My wife Sharon divided the letters into two, unopened piles.  I asked her what the piles represented and she said;

“The letters in the left pile are junk mail – the letters in the right hand pile are going to be opened”

Now, my wife has no marketing experience, yet she was able to spot junk mail without even opening the envelopes, with 100% accuracy!

Get YOUR marketing letters opened!
If you want to make sure your mailshot letters get opened, here are a few simple guidelines:
·         Make sure the name and address of the person you are writing to is displayed clearly.
·         Use ‘window envelopes’ with the name and address of the recipient printed onto the enclosed letter.
·        
Don’t address letters to a job title or ‘the occupier.’
·    
     Be extremely careful about printing any kind of message on the envelope.  If you really must have a message on the envelope, make sure it is written by a professional copy writer.  If in doubt, leave it!  Get the message even slightly wrong and you could find 100% of your letters remain unopened!
·         Don’t address the letter IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
·         Never, ever, ever use printed labels for the name and address.  These tend to be mainly used for mass-mailings, so people tend NOT to open them.
·         Don’t use highly decorated envelopes unless you want people to know that there’s a sales pitch inside that letter.

Finally, here’s a quick marketing tip: Take a look at the mail you receive, which you instinctively think is either junk mail or a sales pitch. Ask yourself what it was that made you feel that way, before even opening the envelope.  Then, make sure you avoid the same mistakes. Then, check out the letters that you DO OPEN and ask yourself, what it was that motivated you to open those particular letters.

The bottom line here, is that you need to make sure that recipients of YOUR mailings are not thinking negatively about what might be inside your envelopes!

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Writing Business Articles

Writing Good Business Articles

In today’s business environment, people are constantly searching for quality information. They want to understand processes, systems, products, services, and organizations better. They are always on the lookout for online and offline articles that present current and relevant information. In business, articles enhance an enterprise’s reputation when they impart practical information to readers in an organized and easy-to-read format.

So, how does a business, whether small, medium or large, use articles to enhance their business? They place their articles on their company websites and on their company blogs. Sometimes a business writes a search engine optimized (SEO) article intended for widespread distribution on the Internet. They provide links back to their company website in the author’s resource section at the end of the article. These articles build traffic to business websites.

Articles are also part of online and offline trade publications. An example would be a business article on new trends in inventory control. Retail trade magazines geared to retail managers, for example, would publish this type of article because it applies to the interests of their readership.
Most businesses today are taking advantage of the Internet. They embrace the exposure that’s available to their business via this medium. Many print publications are adding an online version of their publications. Some are forgoing print altogether and just using the web. Therefore, a significant amount of business article writing is for an online audience.

Here are some points to consider when writing articles that will reside on a business website or business blog:

1. Have a Title That Tells the Reader What the Article is about
An example would be “5 Ways to Ensure Health and Safety in the Workplace”.  The article would have an introduction concerning workplace health and safety. It would then proceed to expand on the 5 points, and offer a suitable conclusion. The reader knows by reading the title exactly what they will receive from the article.

2. Write in a Conversational Tone
You don’t want visitors to your business website or blog to feel as if they’re reading an encyclopedia. Write in a simple, clear style, and make your paragraphs flow logically from point to point.

3. Use Shorter Paragraphs
Very long unbroken blocks of text are a chore to read at any time, and especially online. Strive for paragraphs that have five sentences maximum. In fact, long winded sentences are also a chore to read online. Strive for an average of 14 or 15 words per sentence. That’s an average, though, as some will be shorter and some longer.  You can use Word or Google Docs to check the "readability" of your article (See Below).

4. Include Examples
A business article may talk about a product or service. Including examples or case studies shows the reader how a product or service actually works. The article will explain the benefits of the product or service and examples of how it helped others.

5. Point Your Reader to other Resources
Your article should include references and links to where your reader can get even more detailed information.

You may reference an outside source or direct the reader to other pages of your business website where they can access more information.

In business, articles are also appropriate content for a business’s promotional newsletters and ezines. They’re also suitable for publishing on other sites or in other ezines. These are the aforementioned SEO articles.
A business SEO article is an article of 500 to 750 words based on keywords or keyword phrases. The intent is to have the right keywords in the article related to what web searchers are using as search terms.
For example, an accounting software company may write an article on how software can help a business manage payroll efficiently. Other businesses looking for quality accounting software may key in search terms such as “payroll software” or “accounting software for payroll”.

They’re looking for information concerning payroll software. The SEO article dealing with this topic will have these words and phrases sprinkled throughout the article. This will help the article get ranked higher in search engine results page listings. Consequently, more people will find the article online and from the article readers can click on links back to the company’s own website to get even more information, or maybe even buy something.

Look at various online articles in article directories and similar places. You will notice links at the end of the article stating who wrote it, and usually there is a link back to that person or organisation’s website as well. This is how SEO articles build traffic to websites.

The key to writing business articles is to refrain from making them sound like commercials. They need to be quality pieces full of useful information. They are supposed to answer any questions that your audience might have concerning a particular topic. They present advice, tips, solutions, and current information. Readers really don’t want a blatant sales pitch in an informative article.

Business articles published online or in print are ambassadors for a business for as long as they stay in circulation, and that can be for a long, long time, which means it’s important to get it right; spelling, grammar and style are all important. Businesses can even take advantage of articles to discuss issues that are important to their readers. They can highlight their enterprise in an interesting, dignified way through offering valuable and useful information. They build their reputation as authorities in their field via top-notch articles loaded with good information.

Use articles to promote your own business if you run one. At your workplace, suggest articles as a means of promoting the enterprise. The business of writing articles…for business… is a great way to connect with potential customers.

Monday 11 April 2011

SME Branding Mistakes

Branding Mistakes

I've provided media and spokesperson training services to executives for more than 20 years, and I'm still astonished to see how many intelligent, high-performing leaders cause catastrophic damage to their brand by making foolish comments or public gaffes. These are often followed by compulsory apologies and, more often than not, tearful resignations. It's especially sad because these missteps are easily avoided.

Recent examples of these gaffes abound:

White House correspondent Helen Thomas retired abruptly (many are calling it a forced retirement) from Hearst Corp. in early June after a citizen journalist (who happens to be a rabbi) released a video of her saying Jews should "get the hell out" of Israel and "go home" to places like Poland and Germany.
BP CEO Tony Hayward, clearly suffering from oil spill spokesperson-fatigue, said he wanted his life back and that the oil spill was minor compared to the size of the Gulf of Mexico. Only exacerbating the company's problems, his boss, BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, apologized to all the "small people" hurt by the spill.

Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) had to backpedal very quickly after apologizing to BP for what he termed the Obama administration's "shakedown" of BP. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) was so incensed he threatened to remove Barton from the Energy Committee, forcing Barton to issue an apology for his apology.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal was relieved of his command less than 40 hours after being quoted in Rolling Stone magazine referring to the vice president as a "nobody," the national security adviser as a "clown" and stating that our country's commander-in-chief had "failed."

Common-Sense Tips to Avoid Damaging Quotes

The causes and reasons for speaking out of line are varied. Sometimes the speakers are well-intended but choose their words, time or place poorly. In other instances, ill-conceived remarks occur because the spokesperson had an inexplicable brain freeze.

Regardless, foot-in-mouth disease is easily avoided if you follow some simple, common-sense guidelines:

1.Seriously consider the offer and the interviewer. Closely examine each interview offer and do some quick research on the reporter, as well. Do you know if this person has a history of "gotcha" questions? Do you know where this story or video will appear? Is this really an offer worth accepting--i.e., will doing this help me grow my business? Keep in mind there is no such thing as "off the record," and everything you say can and will be used against you.

2.Practice, test, then practice again. The cliché is true: If you fail to prepare, you are prepared to fail. Work out your key messages and answers to tough (and easy) questions ahead of time. It helps to role play with your PR person, a colleague or a friend before each interview. It's akin to stretching and warming up before a race. Watch yourself in the mirror to make sure you are physically delivering your messages in a credible manner (minimizing over-gesturing, not crossing your arms, etc.).

Additionally, those who've never done an interview before might want to invest in media training classes or a personal session with a media trainer.


Try to find someone who has experience being a spokesperson himself, and who can help you develop and refine your key messages. Media training services may seem pricey at first--upward of £2,000 to £5,000 for a full-day session, depending on your market. But the experience is worth it, and the skills are highly transferable to your other business dealings. (Full disclosure: I provide media training.)

3.Dodge "drive-by interviews." Nothing good comes from taking an interview on the fly. The same holds true for impromptu questions. Avoid both at all costs. Schedule another time for the interview and respond to unexpected questions by shifting the discussion to what you want to talk about or by saying you will get back to the questioner.

4.Work out sound bites ahead of time. Remember, shorter responses are always more memorable, and sound bites should never be worked out on the fly.

5.Mind your "no-fly zone." Create a list of topics you won't comment on and construct transition phrases like "it's important to understand that ... ," which you can use to safely steer the conversation away from these hot-button topics toward what you want to say.

6.Think before you speak. Pause briefly before you respond. Your first answer may not always be the best. Repeat your key messages in your head before opening your mouth and, when in doubt, leave that comment out.

7.Don't attempt to be a "Spokes-hero" like Hayward . It backfired on Hayward for variety of reasons, not the least of which was that he was the only voice for BP during the early days of the spill. PR, in the best and worst of times, is a team effort best executed with a bench of trained, qualified, highly credentialed
spokespeople.

In the hands of a talented spokesperson, quotes have the power to transform public perception for the better; but one misguided sound bite can cause substantial brand damage, cost you your job, or both. Keep these common-sense tips in mind to keep your neck off the chopping block and your feet away from your mouth.

Friday 8 April 2011

How to Network

Networking

Networking is a great and powerful way to meet people, get your name and business cards out there and even win some new business. We've done our fair share of networking now, and quite successfully, but it's always surprising that some business people out there make a few mistakes that are a huge turn off.
Here are top tips:
  • Do you have an elevator pitch prepared? Is it exciting and interesting or do people start looking around the room for their next target? I'm not saying it has to be the world's best motivational speech, but show your passion, know what you are talking about, know your business and read people's signals. If they start to wander, ask an open ended question - people love talking about themselves.
  • A footnote on the elevator pitch - don't take a hard sell approach. Networking is about building relationships. The hard sell will inevitably put people off you right away (huge personal bug bear).
  • Set yourself a goal or work rate. Yeah, the free nibbles and drinks are great but what's the point if you don't come away with meaningful connections?
  • Make sure you have business cards to hand and also make sure that they are quality!
  • Be polite. No one minds if you join their little conversation if you're polite. Read the signals: are they standing in a closed circuit excluding everyone else from joining in? If not, then a "Hello, may I join you?" will go a long way.
  • Please please please refrain from garlic the night before and brush your teeth. Yes it's common sense but you'd be surprised!
  • Be positive and get off your soap box. Do not take networking as an opportunity to air your gripes about the world, the economy and the government. We get enough of that all day, every day, thank you very much.
  • Ready for the kicker... follow up. If you've had a great conversation with someone, follow it up with a phone call, email or whatever feels right. Add your new connections on LinkedIn and Twitter to reinforce your acquaintance.
  • Above all of this, be yourself.
Now go and find yourselves some networking events to attend, go to as many as you can until you find ones that you enjoy and are worthwhile, and then stick with it. It's not a quick win but it will help your business.
Have fun...

Thursday 7 April 2011

Small Business Website Tips


These days, having a presence online is of the utmost importance for businesses, with most potential clients using online searches to find the products and services they require. For small companies, having a business website doesn’t have to mean an extravagant expense or a time consuming design project, but it can bring vital benefits, such as:
Increasing your customer base. If you have a website it means you can be quickly and easily found online. Potential customers will use the web to research the products or services they need and being online means you have a presence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Showcase your services. Your business website gives you the chance to offer full details on all your products and services, meaning your customers will know straight away that you can offer the things they need.
Let customers know where you are. Not only can a business website explain your services, but it can also give details of where to find you and how to get in touch. Making these things easy for customers means they are more likely to give you a call or visit your shop.
Become well known. Your web presence gives your customers confidence in your business and your brand, which means they will turn to you time and time again.
Turn your high street shop into an online shop. Why not customize your business website into an online shop, meaning you can reach even more potential customers around the country and not just in your local area.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

10 SME Marketing Mistakes

10 Common Small Business Marketing Mistakes

If you’re a small business owner, you’ll usually have to wear a number of different hats during the day to day running of your business and it’s not easy to be an expert in many different areas.
Marketing your business effectively is critical to its short and long term success, so here we’ve identified 10 of the most common online marketing mistakes small businesses make.
  • Not identifying a target market
Before you do any marketing at all, it pays to have a clear idea of who your product or service is aimed at. When it comes to designing your website and writing the content for it, you need to appeal to the people you want to buy your product or service and connect with them.
  • Not doing enough research
If your small business is offering a new or innovative product or service, how do you know that people will either need it or want it? The time to find out is not when you’ve had a website designed and spent a fortune on Google Adwords with little or no return; it’s at the planning stage.
  • Building a poor quality DIY website
In 2009, almost £50 billion was spent on internet retail sales in the UK, so if you want a share of the online market, your website will need to be up to scratch. There’s fierce competition online in almost every market sector so a poor quality website that looks homemade will not do you any favours at all.
  • Communicating features rather than benefits
Confusing features and benefits when it comes to website copy is a very common mistake. Let’s say you were selling golf balls online, a feature could be that they have a titanium core but why would that interest the reader? The benefit would be that you can hit them longer distances which of course would appeal to most golfers.
  • Advertising once and giving up
It’s widely accepted that people often have to see an advert or brand name 6 or 7 times before they will act on it. So if you decide to advertise your business online via Pay per Click, it pays to run a campaign consistently rather than doing it once and deciding it’s the wrong way to market your business.
  • Copying your competitors
Whether you’re trying to compete at a local or national level, copying your competitors is never a good idea whether it’s having very similar content on your website or using the same words on your Pay per Click adverts. Be innovative, do something different and people will notice your business.
  • Focusing all your attention on getting new business
It’s all too easy as a small business to concentrate on gaining new customers and forgetting about your previous or existing ones. Email marketing is a cost effective way to communicate with your client base and help keep them as loyal customers.
  • Not advertising when you’re doing well
If you fail to market your business when things are going well then you will find it difficult to expand as well as potentially missing out on lucrative orders for the future. For example shutting down a successful Pay per Click campaign or deciding to stop emailing past customers doesn’t make good business sense.
  • Having separate online and offline messages
It’s important to treat your online and offline marketing as one overall strategy. Too many small businesses fall into the trap of not combining their marketing efforts and end up with a haphazard approach that’s confusing to customers.
  • Failing to measure your marketing results
If you don’t measure your marketing results, how will you know what marketing efforts are worth continuing with and what’s losing you money? A simple “How did you find us?” option on an online contact form or analysing your Pay per Click statistics regularly can help you measure your return on investment.

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Why should a small business use PR?

Why an SME should use PR

We often get asked why PR? What can PR do for my business that advertising or marekting can’t.  Whether you are a small business, start-up company, or simply expanding into a new country or geographical area, PR is an important tool for you. Here is what we think…
Credibility – Public relations holds a powerful position in the communications suite. One of the major impacts of PR is media relations, which assists you in achieving editorial coverage. People in your target market may see editorial as an independent and objective evaluation of your company. Due to the perceived objectivity of editorial coverage, PR is said to hold more credibility than other forms of marketing communication. Editorial coverage is trusted more than running an advertisement.
Cost Effectiveness – Public relations can be less expensive than other forms of paid communication, even if you hire an external public relations agency rather than performing this task in-house. Whilst you are paying for the services of a PR specialist, what you are achieving in the way of media coverage and changes in public perception may have otherwise cost you much more.
Exposure – Media coverage achieved through PR is likely to be more extensive than that which you would achieve through advertising, given a similar budget. Specialist PR people know which media to target for which message (and often have cultivated incredible contacts), what content the media want, when to pitch them which story and what is the best way to deliver your message.
Flexibility – Public relations has the benefits of being flexible in message content and being responsive to news. A skilled PR professional can turn around media releases in reaction to news or crisis situations within hours

Monday 4 April 2011

How Should a Business Use Twitter

Figuring out what to tweet can certainly be tricky. A lot of people make the mistake by going straight for the sell. Which is to me the worst method as people will see them as a spammer. Its harder for smaller business owners as people don’t know who they are compared to a giants like @starbucks and @dell
So what should you tweet?
1. Personal Tweets
Personal messages works, they are about you and your personal life, however make sure that you don’t tweet the entire day about what you do. People might tune off their ears if what they hear is about you eating cereals for breakfast everyday. However share things that let people get to know you a little better.

2. Retweets
No matter what people say, retweet works! You should retweet what you feel is interesting to you and your readers. Before retweet think about how it can benefit your followers.

3. Replies
Engagement is NOT optional anymore. You should always reply whenever you can. People don’t like getting ignored especially if it is something to do with your company or a question.

4. Questions/Participation Tweets
Want recommendations? Or want people to interact more? Try asking questions to get more interaction on twitter. Interaction is always a great tweet as it is a two way conversation.

5. Business related Tweets
It’s okay to send tweets about your company, after all you want to get some leads right? If you built a great relationship with your followers you can post tweets about your business. However make sure you maintain a ratio of 1:>10. This means whenever you send out a tweet about your business, make sure that there are 10 tweets that are engagement and with your followers.

6. Miscellaneous Tweets
You can send out quotes that inspire you, or whatever you find interesting. Quotes works as well because it is easy to connect with your followers with quotes. Facts about your niche works too. Try it.

7. Something FUN that helps to know more about your business
You can also tweet a twitpic of your business. If you’re in the cafe business why not tweet a picture of your daily specials? You can also tweet a video on how to prepare a simple dish that customers can do at their homes. Perhaps even tweeting the “daily photo” of your customers on twitter. People will love that as they are in that photo and they will share with their friends.

So there you go, seven types of tweets for small business owners. If you know more, why don’t you share with us?