Feeling much better this week, so I wanted to find out more about what you want to see in our newsletters and tips sheets. Let me know what topics would be useful, whether we communicate with you too much or too little or what burning issues you have that you would like us to cover. Whatever it is, let us know...
We're also thinking about running some free teleseminars (workshops over the phone). Would these be of interest and if so, what topics would you like to see?
Be nice though - feedback is great, but only if it's constructive...
Sunday 23 March 2008
Tuesday 18 March 2008
The joys of running your own business
Well had some positive and negative things happen this week. The positive thing was that we have been trying out pay per click or Google Adwords, with some great successes. We've only invested a small amount at the moment, but if results continue how they have been been doing, we may well carry on with this.
On the negative side, I have a cold - again! This is the second time this year (I usally get one every three years or so) and I'm not very happy. I hate colds with a passion!!! So, I can't breathe, can't sleep and yet because I run my own business have to carry on - hence the joys of running your own business. Who said eating heathily was good for you!?!
On the negative side, I have a cold - again! This is the second time this year (I usally get one every three years or so) and I'm not very happy. I hate colds with a passion!!! So, I can't breathe, can't sleep and yet because I run my own business have to carry on - hence the joys of running your own business. Who said eating heathily was good for you!?!
Monday 10 March 2008
Do we need another bank holiday?
I had an email today from a member of my staff asking me to sign up to a government petition for an extra bank holiday. While I'm sure the team want another bank holiday, I'm not sure they're thinking through the possible implications of this.
Because let's face it, I really don't want an extra bank holiday. Why? Quite simply because it creates havoc with the business. People just don't want to buy around bank holidays - they want to enjoy time with their families and that's fair enough (if it was just one day).
But bank holidays don't tend to be just one day do they? People tend to take the week off too and use the short working week to maximise their holidays. And with the new school calendar meaning different schools have different times of the year off, that's even worse!
I must admit that I always find it interesting that when people are working everyone wants another bank holiday and then when people become self-employed, they change their views! I'd be interested to hear what you think.
Because let's face it, I really don't want an extra bank holiday. Why? Quite simply because it creates havoc with the business. People just don't want to buy around bank holidays - they want to enjoy time with their families and that's fair enough (if it was just one day).
But bank holidays don't tend to be just one day do they? People tend to take the week off too and use the short working week to maximise their holidays. And with the new school calendar meaning different schools have different times of the year off, that's even worse!
I must admit that I always find it interesting that when people are working everyone wants another bank holiday and then when people become self-employed, they change their views! I'd be interested to hear what you think.
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Why is my marketing not working for me?
There is nothing more frustrating that doing some marketing and finding it doesn’t work for your business – especially if you’ve spent money on it. Not only is it annoying, but it’s also demoralising and pretty soon when you’ve exhausted all the ideas you had for marketing your business, I can completely understand why you’d think that marketing was a huge pain.
But why isn’t your marketing working for you? Let’s look at some common reasons and see if we can put them right.
REASON NUMBER 1: TARGETING THE WRONG PEOPLE
The easiest way to find customers for your business is to go where they go. The most common reason why your marketing isn’t working is that you don’t know enough about where your customers go. Let me explain. If you were targeting mothers for instance, common places you might find mothers include doctor’s surgeries, mother and toddler groups, post offices, schools, nurseries etc. If you were targeting HR Managers, you might go to CIPD meetings, read Personnel Today, go to HR conferences etc.
Sounds easy doesn’t it. But, I meet far too many businesses who tell me that anyone is their customer or are appealing to the end user rather than the person who buys their services (i.e. the employee rather than the HR manager who will pay for what they’re selling).
Solution: Go back to basics. Really define who your customer is. Think about what motivates them and what frustrates them. Then think about where they might go to buy what you’re offering and make sure you’re in these places when they’re looking.
REASON NUMBER 2: NOT EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL GET YOU CUSTOMERS
Whenever you do any marketing, there are three objectives: a) Get awareness of your business b) Build your reputation and c) Get customers. Agree? Problem is that many of the marketing ideas you’re doing already are probably better at getting awareness of your business or building your reputation. PR for instance is great for awareness as is advertising; networking is great for awareness; doing a talk is good for building your reputation; sending out leaflets is good for awareness and so on.
You can get business from these methods, but it an extra step – capturing contact details!! If you do some PR, you’ve no idea who has found your press release really interesting but didn’t get around to calling you, let alone who might have looked at it. Therefore, you need to build some mechanism in each of your marketing methods to get contact details of people who are interested.
So in a press release, you might offer a free sample or a free newsletter; in a talk you might offer a free summary of your presentation and so on. If people give you their contact details, they’re telling you they’re interested – then all you need to do is follow-up.
Solution: Without contact details your marketing ideas will do little more than build your reputation and the awareness of your business. In each marketing activity you do, find some way of capturing those contact details.
REASON NUMBER 3: NOT DOING MARKETING
Ah – caught you! I know it’s hard. I know you have 1001 other things you want to do. But, the simple fact remains that most small business owners who say they aren’t getting as much business as they would like are not doing any marketing. They may dabble in it, but they probably aren’t doing it consistently.
You see if you really want your marketing to work for you, you should be trying 5 (yes 5) marketing ideas at once and putting a system in place to capture contact details so that you can follow up with people.
If you really don’t have time, find a marketing person to do some marketing for you (you can always contact us you know) which frees you up to do the things you like doing.
Solution: Do marketing (or if you really don’t like it, find someone to do it for you).
9 times out of 10, the three reasons I’ve outlined above are the main reasons why marketing doesn’t work for small business owners. Think about the solutions I’ve mentioned and try putting them in place for your business. Good luck.
Exceptional Thinking provides marketing help and advice for start-ups and small businesses. For more tips and ideas, go to www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk and sign up for the free newsletter.
But why isn’t your marketing working for you? Let’s look at some common reasons and see if we can put them right.
REASON NUMBER 1: TARGETING THE WRONG PEOPLE
The easiest way to find customers for your business is to go where they go. The most common reason why your marketing isn’t working is that you don’t know enough about where your customers go. Let me explain. If you were targeting mothers for instance, common places you might find mothers include doctor’s surgeries, mother and toddler groups, post offices, schools, nurseries etc. If you were targeting HR Managers, you might go to CIPD meetings, read Personnel Today, go to HR conferences etc.
Sounds easy doesn’t it. But, I meet far too many businesses who tell me that anyone is their customer or are appealing to the end user rather than the person who buys their services (i.e. the employee rather than the HR manager who will pay for what they’re selling).
Solution: Go back to basics. Really define who your customer is. Think about what motivates them and what frustrates them. Then think about where they might go to buy what you’re offering and make sure you’re in these places when they’re looking.
REASON NUMBER 2: NOT EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL GET YOU CUSTOMERS
Whenever you do any marketing, there are three objectives: a) Get awareness of your business b) Build your reputation and c) Get customers. Agree? Problem is that many of the marketing ideas you’re doing already are probably better at getting awareness of your business or building your reputation. PR for instance is great for awareness as is advertising; networking is great for awareness; doing a talk is good for building your reputation; sending out leaflets is good for awareness and so on.
You can get business from these methods, but it an extra step – capturing contact details!! If you do some PR, you’ve no idea who has found your press release really interesting but didn’t get around to calling you, let alone who might have looked at it. Therefore, you need to build some mechanism in each of your marketing methods to get contact details of people who are interested.
So in a press release, you might offer a free sample or a free newsletter; in a talk you might offer a free summary of your presentation and so on. If people give you their contact details, they’re telling you they’re interested – then all you need to do is follow-up.
Solution: Without contact details your marketing ideas will do little more than build your reputation and the awareness of your business. In each marketing activity you do, find some way of capturing those contact details.
REASON NUMBER 3: NOT DOING MARKETING
Ah – caught you! I know it’s hard. I know you have 1001 other things you want to do. But, the simple fact remains that most small business owners who say they aren’t getting as much business as they would like are not doing any marketing. They may dabble in it, but they probably aren’t doing it consistently.
You see if you really want your marketing to work for you, you should be trying 5 (yes 5) marketing ideas at once and putting a system in place to capture contact details so that you can follow up with people.
If you really don’t have time, find a marketing person to do some marketing for you (you can always contact us you know) which frees you up to do the things you like doing.
Solution: Do marketing (or if you really don’t like it, find someone to do it for you).
9 times out of 10, the three reasons I’ve outlined above are the main reasons why marketing doesn’t work for small business owners. Think about the solutions I’ve mentioned and try putting them in place for your business. Good luck.
Exceptional Thinking provides marketing help and advice for start-ups and small businesses. For more tips and ideas, go to www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk and sign up for the free newsletter.
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