Dec 8, 2011 | blog, marketing tips
It is the time of year for making New Year’s Resolutions, so here are some ideas for Marketing Resolutions, and who better to look to for inspiration than Santa?
So why is Santa so effective at marketing himself?
1. Consistent branding
No matter how many different pictures you see of Santa – he always wears that red outfit with a white trim and white beard. While you don’t need to wear the same clothes all the time, do make sure you use the same style, colours and logos on all your marketing – it makes you easy to identify, and makes sure clients recognise your messages.
2. He repeats the message
He is there every year, and handily, lots of other companies repeat the message on Christmas cards and decorations, increasing his visibility. So you need to repeat the message, moving your clients through from Know to Like to Trust, by repeating your advertisements, press releases, emails – once is not enough!
3. Build Credibility for your Brand
When doubt set in about Santa in our house, my daughter insisted we not only had a mince pie and a beer for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolf, but also a Santa footprint in flour on the hearth.
You can build credibility for your brand by becoming an expert in your field – speaking, writing, blogging, Tweeting.
4. Use Online Tools
Yes, even Santa has a Twitter account! His journey round the globe can be tracked live on Norad’s website see www.noradsanta.org – and he has an App!
There are loads of free online tools to help you with marketing – Mail Chimp or Constant Contact for email marketing, Survey Monkey for surveys, WordPress or Typepad for blogs, Google analytics on your website.
5. Give excellent customer service
Santa never fails on customer service – he turns up on Christmas Eve no matter what the weather. Keep your customers happy by giving excellent customer service, then you can get recommendations and testimonials from them, stay in touch with them, then sell them more. It is much cheaper to sell more to your existing clients than to find new ones!
6. Make sure your website can be found on Google
Google Father Christmas or Santa and his website www.northpole.com comes up first on Google because he understands the basics of Search Engine Optimisation. Make sure you do – page titles, links on high ranking sites, and register on Google maps.
So as small businesses, we can learn a lot from Santa!
Author: Beryl Pettitt
Ridgeway Marketing provides Marketing Mentoring and Marketing Training to small businesses and organisations across the UK. Beryl Pettitt has worked in marketing for over 25 years, and her experience spans both the corporate environment and running her own business. She understands the needs and pressures of managing a business, so clients find her advice both practical and affordable.
Dec 1, 2011 | blog, marketing tips
The first thing we all do when we set up a business is spend money – business cards, websites, leaflets, advertising …
But there is so much you could do for free! The truth is that most of us spend too much money, but not enough time on marketing!! So what should you spend your time doing? Here are some ideas….
1. Tell people what you do
Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised how often I find it is quite difficult to understand what a company does, particularly if it is offering a service, and also what makes that company better than its competitors – its Unique Selling Point.
2. Target your customers
To do this, you need to know who are they – their age, sex, socio-economic group, nationality, industry sector etc. When do they use your product or service? What do they read or watch? What do they do? Where do they go?
3. Use this information
You can then use this information to reach your potential clients. This could be speaking at the events they go to, writing articles in magazines or newspapers or blogs they read, socialising where they do, putting your leaflets where they are…
4. Repeat the Message
Whichever marketing tools you use, you will need to keep up a steady flow of press releases, mailings, exhibitions, networking events, adverts etc – once is not enough! Marketers often use the AIDA acronym which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action – and you need to move the client through all of these.
5. Use Free Marketing Tools
If you register your business with online directories such as Yell the link will help with the Search Engine Optimisation of your website. Enter competitions and awards – local papers and networking groups often run these, and are desperate for entries. Getting press coverage won’t cost you anything either – more on this in a later article. Social Media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and Linked-In are all free, and so is giving talks and presentations.
6. Use free online tools
There are lots of free marketing tools available online, such as Mail Chimp and Constant Contact for email marketing, Survey Monkey and Smart Survey for online Surveys, and WordPress and Typepad for blogs. If you haven’t already got Google Analytics on your website, add it so that you can see how many visitors you get, and how they found your site.
7. Use the basics of Search Engine Optimisation
So many company’s websites cannot be found in Google, even for their company name. Make sure you understand the basics of Search Engine Optimisation – having the right page titles, having links on high ranking sites, and for local searches, registering your business on Google maps.
8. Use your Existing Clients
We all tend to emphasise getting new clients, but it is much cheaper to sell more to the ones you have. Make sure you keep them happy, get recommendations and testimonials from them, and use the information you have about them to sell more to them.
9. Write an action plan
The best way to ensure you put all of this into practice is to write a plan with actions. Make sure you agree it with somebody else, to encourage you to put do it. Then when you have actioned it, monitor the results, revise your plan and start again!
10. Measure the Results
You can use some of the tools mentioned above to help you monitor the results. Email marketing programmes will enable you to see who has clicked on what part of your mailing (and follow it up), and Google Analytics will show you how many people are responding to your marketing campaigns and clicking on your website. Just asking enquirers and customers where they heard about you can also help.
If you would to learn more about how to market your small business, you can download our free e-book Ten Top Tips to Improve your Marketing here
Author: Beryl Pettitt
Ridgeway Marketing provides Marketing Mentoring and Marketing Training to small businesses and organisations across the UK. Beryl Pettitt has worked in marketing for over 25 years, and her experience spans both the corporate environment and running her own business. She understands the needs and pressures of managing a business, so clients find her advice both practical and affordable.
Tel 01623 883144
Jun 20, 2011 | marketing mentoring
Many businesses find it hard to understand how a marketing mentor can help them, so here is how it is working for one of my clients. Of course, each business is different, but Sally and Andrew’s story is an interesting one…
I met Sally of Northgate Business Centre at a seminar I gave on How to Write a Press Release. As usual, I offer all delegates a free marketing mentoring session, and Sally and her business partner Andrew take me up on this offer.
At our first session, we discuss the difficulties the business faces, in particular the website, which was not featuring in Google searches, and they felt needed updating. A quick search on Google showed that a lot of the top results are big property agencies, and a couple of local competitors are there too! In fact the website does not do the beautiful Georgian buildings justice, is quite tired looking, and cannot be updated by Sally and Andrew. They are also considering expanding the business but don’t know how to integrate the new building into current marketing plans, or how to increase the Business Centre’s profile.
All these issues were concerning Andrew and Sally, and they knew they needed to do something to address them, but they just didn’t know where to start. I reassured them that there was plenty we could do and set about suggesting some answers to their marketing and business development problems.
We discussed how the Business Centre is positioned, and how this should be reflected in the website. I suggested it is like a boutique hotel, and they agreed – they consider themselves to be a hotel for businesses, as the offices are fully serviced.
Over the next four months we meet four times, and during this time Andrew and Sally acquire the lease for a former telephone exchange just across the road from the Northgate Business Centre, and completely renovate the upper floor. Although this is a huge amount of work for them both, we agreed a marketing plan, so that the marketing does not get overlooked.
By the time the local MP opens the new office in the Exchange, they have professional photographs taken of both sites, a completely new website designed which they can update themselves, coverage in the local press, and a high quality folder which they can use to promote both sites. The new offices are filling rapidly, and enquiries are coming in steadily from the new website, which is ranking well in Google. Here is what Sally said about marketing mentoring:
“A business like ours needs lots of skills but neither Andrew or I are naturally good at marketing so the sessions with Beryl keep us focussed on what we should be doing, and at a price we can afford!”
The story doesn’t end there – I am still mentoring Sally and Andrew because they have learnt that marketing needs to be ongoing, and they have plans for future growth. And if you are looking for new offices, virtual offices or meeting rooms in the Newark area, do have look at the Northgate Business Centre website www.northgatecentre.com
So, if you’re stuck in a rut with marketing your business, but don’t have the budget to pay expensive agencies to do the work for you, why not talk to Ridgeway Marketing for some inexpensive, yet highly effective marketing mentoring sessions to get you kick started in the right direction?
Author: Beryl Pettitt
