Henmore Marketing

advertising with AIDA impact

2012-01-16T11:49:00.004Z

We'll make your advertising work hard . . . here's how!

Have you heard of AIDA?

Your advertising needs to be eye-catching with something that grabs attention, like an image or a bold statement.

random image - made you look tho

Once you've caught someone's attention, you need to stimulate their interest to delve deeper - key messages in bold text and in image captions often work well. These teasers need to mean something to the readers or they will quickly lose interest again.

The idea is that they quickly understand what it's all about and engage with what you are saying. This is the make or break moment for your copy. What you are saying has to resonate enough with the emotions of your potential buyers for them to take action. This means that you have to create a sense of desire that motivates them. You need to share the joys that the benefits of your product or service will bring. At the same time they have to have a clear understanding of all the facts. So think about exactly what they need to know.

By this stage they have breezed rapidly along an emotional journey, supported by fact, and have alighted at the point of decision. To take action now, or not to take action? Yikes - you don't want to mess up now! Keep them on track . . ..What will swing the reader to jump into gear and not leave it til later? Quick, can you think of a limited offer, a consequence, some way to motivate them to start loving the thing you are offering ...soonest? If you can't quite think of something, I know for certain that we can.

We have ideas aplenty, and lots of experience to back it up. So email us now at marketing@henmore.co.uk and let's put some refreshing sparkle into your advertising.

Olympic year has started

2012-01-04T18:09:00.002Z

How did 2012 creep up on us so soon?
Can your business take advantage of the Olympic Games? Not all businesses will benefit and some are claiming the games will have a negative impact. Madness really that our capital city will be flooded with tourists, yet tourist businesses like London theatres will be closing during the games.
Do you have plans to capitalise on Olympic fever?

Thoughts on Google +

2011-11-29T10:44:00.001Z

I am facilitating a training workshop this evening on Social Media Marketing, covering the basics and a bit beyond depending on the range of online marketing experience in the group. So as I put the finishing touches to the presentation, which generally means cutting back my expectations of the amount of information I can realistically share in 2 hours, I am pondering on whether to even include Google +. I suppose it would be wrong not to as it is now 'out there' like it or not. In my case, right now .... not. Obviously this will be subject to change as the market responds.

My issue is that the fine line between bartering my identity in exchange for some great free gizmos has been crossed when it comes to Google +. I am generally a fan of Google products, but with Google + they aren't even pretending to know only a reasonable amount about you, your friends, family, business, preferences, habits.... It is no secret that your information is being pillaged, on the contrary we are being persuaded to get over it. Probably I will in time. Just now I am imaging a future when one day when I can't decide what to wear, up will pop my Google + app telling me that it has selected my underwear ready for me to get dressed. How is that for a nightmare scenario?

Small business branding issue - where is the line between you and your business? What are you really selling?

2011-10-21T11:51:00.000+01:00

I have just received anemail from a client who is seeking clarity on an issue she has withher marketing. Her query is as follows:

“I need to getclearer about ''my name" or "my company name's" (footnote 1) USP, and I am still not sure whether I am my business or not”

First a little bit ofcontext. My client is a consultant/coach working on personal andprofessional development with individuals and teams. Her specialistsubject is by definition personal to people and in order to beeffective she needs people's trust. The payingcustomer/decision-maker may be the direct recipient of her service ormay be an HR person who sources and arranges on behalf of theorganisation.

I hear businessadvisors tell business owners “you are your business”. Theyinsist “you must sell 'you'. And the poor business owner, who islikely to be at home with the operational side of their business, butless comfortable being its marketing manager, is left unclear on whatthis means. Conclusions may be drawn that you have to be a nice person,or a popular person, to run a successful small business. Then there is the current buzzword 'authenticity', which alot of people are translating as sharing everything about themselvesas individuals. And, then add to that the now obligatory adjective'passionate'. Can't you just be good at what you offer any more?

I send out a challengeto these business advisors. I am not satisfied thatyou have to “sell yourself” and “you are your business”. I would like to offer some health warnings to small business owersregarding this advice.

Back to the client query re the USP. Let'sdifferentiate between 'USP', ethos, brand, and 'personal selling!

USP – so hardto offer something “unique”. USP has been downgraded to “wowfactors” with good reason. A wow factor of your business could bethat it uses the latest technology, has the most comfortablepremises, has some amazing quantifiable results etc etc (nothingpersonal there). If you are struggling to think of some wow factorstrying asking your customers what they think.

Ethos and brandare very linked in my mind, as a brand without an ethos is in dangerof becoming just a meaningless logo device. No matter the size ofthe business, there are brand values wrapped up in it. Thedifficulty for micro businesses is unravelling what they are becausethe business owners are so close to it and simply do things 'theirway'. In Henmore's Marketing Club we have some fun working on thisarea. Have a think, what standards and values do you have that areappropriate to share with your customers? What values do yourcustomers seek?

Personal sellingis a marketing text book phrase for when there is a face-to-facesales person as one of your marketing tactics (part of yourpromotional mix - see 2 below). Sales reps are the essence of thistactic. So if you are thebusiness owner and selling your expertise you are inevitably both thesales rep and the delivery mechanism so possibly the conceptof having to sell yourself and be authentic and passionate loomslarge (see 3 below).

Could someone else sell your product/service?

Try testing yourselfwith this question. Could someone else sell your product or servicefor you? There should only be one answer to that question – yes! Imagine what information and approach this ficticious sales personwould need. Actually, don't just imagine it, write it down. Whatsteps would you suggest the sales rep takes to convert a prospectivecustomer into a paying customer? Give your ficticious salesman thejob description of having to demonstrate credibility - would youequip her with some prepared information? How would she buildconviction? This may involve a demo or trial – so that is possiblywhere the real you comes back in again. How would you make sure yoursales person sets expectations about price and service levels? I betyour sales person wouldn't give away so much for free in the way thatsmall business owners do!

If you couldn't answeryes to the salesperson question and you are more comfortable selling'you' then let me leave you with this thought: You may beover-identifying with your business. You may be viewing its success,financial or otherwise, as validating you as a person. Whensomething goes awry - business owners do make errors, products dofail, markets can collapse - the disasters or failures could have anaffect on your mental well-being. Some entrepreneurs evaluate andstart again with new information, others don't. What would you do?

----------------------------------------------------------

You'll spot thatnames were deleted – there's a balance between transparency and appropriateness.

Personal selling is part of the promotional mix, which for the sake of completeness also includes advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity. The promotional mix part of your marketing plan specifies how much emphasis to apportion each of these techniques, and how much money to budget for each. (Reality check – not many micro businesses have a marketing plan beyond a 'to do' list unless their bank requires one).
I will publish my blog on authenticity another time because I want to run it past a kindred spirt in the US first. In the mean time I'd advise people to start being wary of describing how passionate they are about their business or product because it is fast becoming a cliché.

Which is more important - the intuitive or rational mind?

2011-10-10T12:09:00.003+01:00

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." Albert Einstein

Marketing and running a business requires both, I reckon . . .

Facebook for business

2011-09-22T15:08:00.000+01:00

Setting up and managing Facebook FOR BUSINESS

With more than 750 million users, you are likely already using Facebook; you may even fall in the 50% that log on every day. The question is: How well are you using Facebook for business … if at all? If you would like to know how to create a winning Facebook page, increase the number of “likes” and generate business leads with Facebook, this session is for you. You will learn:

How to set up your Facebook page correctly
How to manage events on Facebook
Best practices and tips for creating engaging content
Communications strategies for your fan base

Venue: Dove Studio, Dove Farm, Mill Lane, off Dove Street, Ellastone, DE6 2GY
Price: £15 + VAT

2012 workshop schedule and booking form

Other details: Please bring a laptop computer if possible and a note of password information to any applications (e.g. Facebook) so that you can access and make changes to your accounts.

This workshop is for a small group of people so we will do our best to answer individual questions and resolve issues.

“Catherine talks common sense when it comes to marketing, which is wonderfully refreshing for a small business trying to achieve top results on a tight budget. Her practical, down-to-earth approach is both reassuring and motivating. I found her social media workshop and her general advice extremely helpful.”

Netwalking in Churnet Valley

2011-08-01T20:29:00.009+01:00

More opportunities to improve your work life balance!

- work bit is making/strengthening your connections with local business people
- the life bit is enjoying some fabulous scenery and getting some exercise by walking for an hour or so
- the balance bit is the consumption of refreshments afterwards!

So this is what to expect from netwalking! Plus the easy, stress-free nature of this form of networking resulting from the format that Paul arranges.

Next netwalking: 23rd August - Churnet Valley, Staffordshire

meeting in Alton at the Parish Church to set off at 12.30pm.
Walking for about an hour with a quasi-formal facilitated networking structure. Booking via netwalking booking form

Comments about the network following the Carsington Water netwalk

Sort of small print:
Paul, the netwalking leader that we have partnered with (www.skylarkactivities.com), has a netwalker code:

You are your own best medical expert.
Accept the need for the group to make the journey together – being outdoors there is a shared responsibility. Alert fellow netwalkers to any hazards along the way.
Share your expertise - if you spot something interesting.

Help people over difficult patches or obstacles – like up inclines or over stiles.
Set your own pace and re-group every now and then.
Choose what information you want to share, who with and how.

Networking - the merits of connecting locally

2011-07-17T10:15:00.000+01:00

Networking locally has been a useful activity for us at Henmore, even though are clients are UK wide, in Europe and USA. As a result of local networking we have:

formed associations with marketing specialists to offer a wider marketing service
worked collaboratively on new projects with the people we’ve met
been invited as a guest speaker at UK events and conferences
strengthened relationships with existing clients
gained many new business referrals that have generated new customers (thank you to those that have supported us)
built a network of ‘champions’ who help us spread the word about our local marketing training events and programmes
gained insight and feedback on our ideas
kept abreast of issues and events taking place in our local area
made some new friends

After trying various groups and organisations I have settled on a select few groups in my local region of Derbyshire and Staffordshire that suit my style. I regularly visit these groups: WiRE, Matlock Business Club, The Business Cub, at Chatsworth, Moorlands Networking, SPDTA.

I am the facilitator of Matlock Business Club, which has enabled me to observe many people’s approach and consider my own.

Here are few thoughts about networking:

Attend with an open mind, go with the flow. Some people seem to judge an event by the number of business cards they collected. After assessing the benefits to Henmore of our networking activities, I am not convinced of that as an evaluation criterion.

Be friendly – you would think this would be obvious! Be friendly even to your competitors. I’ve heard some horror stories of people slinging some mud at their competitors (worse still dissing them in the one minute slot). Don’t go there . . .

Be open and welcoming. Approach those on the edge of the room; invite them into your conversations. As an extravert, I have to remind myself that some powerful business people are not necessarily natural networkers, so don’t overlook those looking on from the sidelines.

Stay calm. If you spot an influential business person please don’t go all gaga around them. I’ve seen this happen and it is just weird.

Allow yourself to move on. Some people will monopolise you so be kind to yourself, and to them, and move them on to someone else or request permission to continue networking in the room.

Keep your business card in reserve. I am not a fan of ‘card slinging’ networking events. Some people look for quantity rather than quality, but that doesn’t suit our business model. Unless it suits yours, save yourself the hassle of unsubscribing from a million mailing lists and hold back your details until you are asked for them.

Introduce people within and across your networks – be the real-life face-to- face version of LinkedIn and Facebook.

Source and share in your networks. If you need something then ask from within your network of contacts. It sounds obvious, but if it is so obvious why do so few people do it?

In conclusion, I offer a gentle reminder that your network of contacts is not just a place to push your own wares.

Marketing & Technology - Ideas into Action

2011-07-15T11:48:00.005+01:00

Really enjoyed the discussions with everyone at the event today. Thanks for listening to Chris Woodhouse and me doing our best to share some ideas and strategies to use technology for marketing improvement. Great to listen to fellow presenters Mathew (www.peakdistrictcreations.co.uk) and Paul (www.spinlessplates.com).

I promised a link to the thoughts I shared on how to make marketing work for small businesses. This takes you to a tool I use for sharing documents - box.net. Can be handy for sharing. It also allows collaborators or those you share documents with to leave comments. And it is free so hey, nothing lost.

Insights, ideas, strategies, ----> actions.
Next steps:
Here are a few ideas to encourage you to take further action - some are free, some are low cost and some are regular price but attract grant funding if you get your skates on and talk to our event hosts at Live & Work Rural.

1. Free, anytime, LinkedIn Form: Join our private delegate forum on LinkedIn and post questions and discussions. We'll answer as appropriate, and maybe others will add the benefit of their experiences as well. Click for the Marketing and Technology Series forum on LinkedIn.

2. £30 + VAT: Workshop facilitated by Catherine and Chris
Date: 20th July from 9.30am at Riber Rooms in Cromford
Half day workshop delving into the detail of online marketing and social media. Further info: Marketing and Technology Workshop

3. £3 approx: Teleconference Q&A.
Date: Thursday 21st July from 2pm for approx an hour.
All delegates of the Live & Work Rural Event are invited to phone in and join some of the panellists from the event today. All you need to pay is the cost of the call which the provider states is 4.3p/minute (so an hour session is approx £3). Ask your own questions or be inspired by those of others. We are using PowWow for this event: Telephone number is 0844 4 737373 and then you'll need to enter a PIN code. If you would like to join us on that call please contact us for the PIN (email: web@henmore.co.uk).
If you would like to submit your question in advance it may help get a more precise reply in the time available.

4. One-to-one consultancy
£400 + VAT for 2 x half days (eligible for grant funding). Training and Advice
Help to get your business properly set up for effective marketing and enabling appropriate use of technology. Making sure you are on track with everything. Either/both Chris and Catherine will come over and help get your business set up right for what you need to be doing. This consultancy and training package is eligible for grant funding if you're quick :-) >

5. Marketing Club
£500+VAT pa (eligible for grant funding): With 6 x group sessions combined with 2 x one-to-one consultancy sessions and a supportive peer group of fellow members makes this programme excellent value for money. We have members of this year-long marketing programme who are grant funded; again, be quick applying. > Marketing Club

And here is that thought-provoking YouTube clip, complete with cheesy music.

Brand management - moment of amusement

2011-06-20T12:45:00.001+01:00

This morning I received a jolly note from a client pointing out a typo in the LinkedIn event information for my business development workshop this Wednesday. I gave myself a telling off, but then I tripped over this message from Google and now I feel a whole lot better. This has to be a fundamental brand management error for a leading search engine specialist. Quite fun though.

Take a netwalk

2011-06-01T11:24:00.002+01:00

How about this for work life balance?

work bit is chatting about business and making/strengthening your connections with local business people

the life bit is enjoying some fabulous scenery and getting some exercise by walking 2.5 miles.

the balance bit is eating cake afterwards!

So this is netwalking. Try it with Matlock Business Club on Thursday June 30 and explore an unusual part of Derbyshire. Refreshments (that's the cake bit) are included.

Rendezvous at the secluded Cliff Farm (Peak Serenity) with walking shoes laced up for 4.30 pm. Take in the fantastic views and explore the surrounding area with its woods, stone circles and mock beggars hall. We'll return to Cliffe Farm around 5.45 pm for refreshments and to carry on networking.

After a welcome briefing by netwalking leader Paul Hunt from Skylark Activities (www.skylarkactivities.com)we'll walk 2.5 miles along well defined paths and country lanes over typical Derbyshire hill farm country and through woods. A few stiles will be encountered but these shouldn't pose a barrier as you'll be in a group that helps each other and that's determined to see the points of interest in this part of Derbyshire.

Location and Directions : Cliff Farm is on the lane between Elton and Alport.

Directions : Post Code for Google Maps and satnavs : DE45 1LL

There is a small charge of £5 ,which includes refreshments, and is payable on the day to Matlock Business Club . Book you place by email to info@colemanbradshaw.co.uk

Distance : 2.5 miles / 4 Kilometres

Terrain : Hill farm countryside of grassed fields and woodland.

Well defined paths and country lane; some wooden styles and some squeeze styles.

Points of Interest : Cratcliffe Rocks, Hermits Cave, Robin Hood Stride, Nine Stone Close Standing Stones , Harthill moor and woods

Join Matlock Business Club online > http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Matlock-Business-Club-2344019

Ideas and strategies into action - Like!

2011-05-26T13:56:00.003+01:00

A few months ago I ran a day's training on improving your online presence and using social media tools for business and one of the attendees was Lucy Cufflin, foodie and Cookery Writer. In the group there were experienced social media users and total sceptics. I hope that Lucy won't mind me saying that she came to the event yet to be convinced or the merits of any of it; persuaded to come by a business associate. And look at Lucy today, my goodness. She has three Facebook business pages. And check out the comment below if you can read it. . .

Lucy posts"bring your friends, spread the word" and the reply posts says . . . . (I love this bit) "I already am! facebook definitely works, every Friday I get reminded its cake day and almost every week I'm trying a new cake from you . . ."

Lucy has found her online voice and things are going well. I am off to check up on how the other course attendees are doing now.

Next course June 15th - Cromford Mill.

Training and thinking, marketing forum 15th June, Derbyshire

2011-05-20T17:32:00.006+01:00

Ideas + Strategies -----> Making Connections
We are planning a new style event on 15th June at Cromford Mill. We'll facilitate IT and Marketing-based subject discussions and provide the environment for you to join other forward-thinking business owners to take a little time out to concentrate on your business, generating ideas and workable strategies.

Broadly, the morning session will cover strategic marketing and IT subjects, delving into some how-to and top tips for success with the tools and techniques we showcase:

Ways to keep in touch with your customers and create champions and referrers.
Seamless ways to collaborate with associates and present work to customers.
The mindset and toolset to create a more marketing-led organisation.

. . . and it will be lively and interactive with presentations, case studies, thought-provoking exercises, peer group discussion. More than that we have built into the agenda an extended 'let's take that off-line' break-out session designed to be free flowing. Choose between the opportunity to pose detailed questions to the experts or engage in discussions and networking with other attendees.

Ideas & Strategies – Marketing and Technology

9.30am – 12.15pm Facilitated interactive sessions (as above)
12.45pm – 2pm Freeflow and break out sessions - Marketing and IT questions answered and debated.
£15 + VAT (book in advance cw@cwoodhouse.com)
Lunch and refreshments available at the on-site cafes

Why not arrive early and include some breakfast networking taking place in the same room.
7.30am - 9am Matlock Business Club – networking and business support group meets
£5 including breakfast payable at the door (book in advance web@henmore.co.uk)
Call or email us to reserve your places at these events.

Online Marketing Conference and Exhibition, #omce2011

2011-03-22T13:54:00.003Z

Spent a worthwhile day yesterday at the East Midlands Conference Centre visiting the OMCE event put on by @ebizclub.

I always find with these sorts of events that you sign up to go because an aspect of it is tempting, then come the night before all enthusiasm to take a day away from the office has evaporated because a long 'to do' list is beckoning. On this occasion I stuck to my resolve because managing online marketing is a service we offer clients and social media for business is one of Henmore's popular training events. I needed to check we are on the pulse of all that is new and vibrant in social media for business. We are!

I particularly enjoyed the presentation by Andrew Grill (@AndrewGrill). He made exactly the same comment that I always use to open my presentations: "Am I a social media guru? In social media there are no gurus, just practitioners." Things evolve very quickly in social media and even quite minor-sounding changes have far reaching implications for online marketing. Take the Facebook business page change a couple of weeks ago for example. And Google's changes to its algorithm always puts the cat amongst the pigeons - watch out for Panda Farming and some Google house-keeping is coming up as @IanLockwood explained in his fab presentation on the future of search.

During the conference and presentations some of us were tweeting our thoughts. As @IdeasStrategies we were having some fun with @somecallme_Jem, @zaddleMarketing, @davedawes, @tom_geraghty, @AndrewGrill (and somewhere on another continent @hotelPRguy tweeted that his ears were burning).

I just did the #omce2011 search on Twitter again (this is the day after) and I see others have just joined the fray. I guess they are doing the same as me, blogging and sharing their views on the day.

Well, it was worthwhile. Check Andrew Grills slides and enjoy the notion of the Twitter Tax.

Andrew Grill OMCE2011 March 2011

View more presentations from Andrew Grill

Marketing & Technology Workshops - spring 2011 series

2011-03-02T17:35:00.006Z

Please view/download the flyer for the Marketing and Technology tutorial events

I co-presented a workshop recently with Chris Woodhouse, an IT and technology expert. We trialled the one event to see how it went. Quite honestly we were quite pleased with it. But obviously it is not what we think it is what the delegates thought of it, and it seems they were pleased with it too. Phew!

We were delighted to receive this comment on the LinkedIn page for the event: "Really enjoyed this workshop and came away with lots of practical ideas. Highly recommended."

Since then Chris and I have put our heads together and the result is a number of workshops on Marketing and Technology working together.

Is your website doing its job? Let's ask Google! - we take you through the best way to analyse your site traffic and interpret findings into a plan of action.

Grow your business using loads of free stuff - we short cut delegates to low cost / no cost marketing tools that we know work and demo case studies of clients that are doing a good job.

Can you improve your online marketing? - we help you assess whether your online marketing efforts are working and throw in some alternatives to consider.

Business development using The Cloud technology - using case studies we explore how to make the most of the tools already at your disposal and the software and gadgets that you can add for smarter marketing and business development.

More details on all of these tutorial workshops >> Marketing & Technology
Please add your name to Henmore's mailing list to be sure to receive details of our workshops, programmes and speaking engagements.

REGISTER - When you are ready you can book your place online.

Marketing Club 2012

2011-01-10T16:52:00.009Z

Marketing Club is one of my favourite services. I love the enthusiastic participation of everyone in the group and I am gratified by the positive steps that the business members take as a result.

Henmore's Strictly Marketing group

Marketing Club is designed to help business owners find 'clarity' and 'certainty' in all areas of business development. The primary aims of this long-term programme are to help you to do more business and to do that business on your preferred terms.

This translates to minimising wasted effort and/or budget on sales and marketing, to selling at the right price and to achieving maximum customer satisfaction. We know this is aiming high, but justifiably so because our Marketing Club members are benefiting from the positive results.

In the words of a Marketing Club Member:

Strictly Marketing has provided me with the know-how and motivation to develop and implement a structured and focussed marketing strategy for my business.

Catherine’s step-by step approach, one-to-one mentoring and engaging group sessions enable businesses to adopt a professional approach to DIY marketing. It saves time and gets results. Highly recommended and great value. Chris Mills, Barlow Associates

What we cover in Marketing Club?

During the group sessions and in the one-to-one sales & marketing consultancy sessions, we build knowledge and improve techniques in the following marketing essentials:

Know the customers you want to win
Establish a strong brand and generate strong sales leads
Understand the available methods to reach your customer types
Position your products and services to wow your prospective customers
Communicate effectively with prospects and customers
Convert more sales, doing business on your terms
Evaluate what works and what doesn't
Help your customers become your champions
Extend your successes further into the market and/or enter new market segments

Workshops are held six times a year on a Wednesday at 12 for 12.30 until 2.30pm with networking and meeting room space available before and afterwards. We meet at Dove Studio, Ellastone, DE6 2GY.

Enjoy the extra encouragement via the peer support and feedback of other group members. Come along and address those hard, strategic questions: is your business approaching the best customers, in the best way, at the best time, with the best products? Is there more you could be doing? How will you find out what is working and what needs improvement? Make sure your ideas are put into practice in a structured way.

More Marketing ClubMembers' comments:

"Many thanks forthe speedy response - and really useful feedback. It's so hard to beobjective when promoting your own business."

"I think there's alot of 'marketing tips' on offer through events and online, andpeople tend miss the point - one size does not fit all, and thoughgeneral advice can be helpful, successful marketing needs to be rightfor your business and you personally. In the same vein, although a'quick hit' can be effective, keeping your marketing going iscrucial, and this is where ongoing support, that can be tailored toyour particular circumstances, is invaluable...and where MarketingClub really fits the bill."

"Marketing Club isgood use of my time and budget"

“I am a member of Catherine's Marketing Club which is a fantastic opportunity to receive professional marketing advice, expertly tailored to my business, at a reasonable cost. The club consists of a group of businesses with bi-monthly meetings facilitated by Catherine. These meetings are highly practical, informative and enjoyable. Club members also benefit from regular a one to one session with Catherine. These are an excellent follow-up to the group sessions. I can really see how my business is benefiting from this regular and focussed input. I also very much value the input of the other group members and find it an ideal forum to get honest feedback on my ideas and strategies. All in all, highly recommended.” A recommendation from Frances Taylor, Brightspark Training, posted on our LinkedIn page.

Venue: Dove Training Suite, Ellastone, DE6 2GY. To join one of these programmes please email us on web@henmore.co.uk or call Catherine on 01335 289075

Marketing and use of Social Media

2010-10-18T12:05:00.000+01:00

Henmore's virtuous circle of marketing communications diagram illustrates the marketing challenges businesses need to address.

During the workshops this week we helped businesses with the use of Social Media in their marketing. Participants came armed with laptops and applied changes to their online presence during the workshop. I am driven by a determination to help businesses translate ideas into workable strategies, that they succeed in putting into action, gaining desired results. It is not enough for me to see people scribbling notes of their good intentions, because I have shared those intentions myself and subsequently lost the piece of paper (or the good intentions). We all know about this inevitable loss of momentum. That's why I like interactive workshops and year plus programmes like our Strictly Marketing Club.

Last week people in the room were there to make changes. But of course we worked our way towards that part of the workshop. First of all we looked at the challenges faced by businesses in generic terms, referencing Henmore's much-referred-to trademark diagram (as shown above). Each workshop participant in the room articulated the particular marketing communications challenges that were a priority for them. Then we took action on the laptops.

I am sure someone once advised it is high risk to present live in an environment of children, animals and IT. We only had live IT, and it seemed to work OK on this occasion.

As presenter and facilitator I really enjoyed the sessions and the enthusiasm of the business owners in the room. I would like to thank everyone for all the positive comments and the reviews and recommendations that we have received as a result. And I would like to thank Jane Stretton at Dove Studios for the refreshments and the perfectly functioning IT connections.

Is the customer king, more than ever before?

2010-10-11T14:26:00.001+01:00

Do you remember that old phrase 'The Customer is King'?

It was an adage that businesses had to regard, because unhappy customers had the annoying habit of muttering their displeasure around the local community. The result was that businesses had to take note and make improvements, assuming improvements were necessary. Either that, or the community made an assessment of the mutterings, filtering out the ramblings of the odd unhappy customer on the basis they were probably maladjusted or had a personal vendetta. Easy enough to spot – then as now.

I was particularly interested in the TripAdvisor debate and the views of various commentators and phone-in participants. I was reassured that people said they'd ignore someone whose user name is something like 'ChocChipCookie' making a personally damning observation along the lines of “the hotel owner is aggressive and a sexist racist and you shouldn't stay in her/his hotel . . .”

True, Social Media does give King Customer an instant voice. These tools take us back to hyper local ways, albeit across a global economy. I was just researching the latest views on social media tools for this weeks workshops and was reading a blog article on Social Media Today on which I just had to leave a comment. It said:

“One happy and connected customer can start a spiraling of praise which can hyper accelerate building a global brand. And one maligned (or maladjusted) unhappy customer can put the breaks on a multi-million dollar campaign and bring pain to a huge company.”

I said I thought the author was exaggerating. Huge brands have so much consumer interaction that a few negative comments are drowned out.

Many would sign off their blog criticism with #justsaying (on Twitter) or Just sayin' (on a blog comment). This always reminds me of when people say “no offence, but . . .” It's fun this social media, isn't it? A couple of opinionated people on different continents having their say, jostling for position and recognition by being slightly critical but mainly in agreement.

The author's main thought, about the struggle businesses have on Social Media in finding their voice and putting on a face, is a point on which I wholeheartedly concur.

As I said, I am meant to be researching social media views in preparation for the workshops on Wednesday and Thursday this week when I was distracted by this blog post, and just had to leave a comment. . .and then had a coffee and thought a bit more about it and decided to write this blog on the subject . . . and have it feed through to facebook, twitter and LinkedIn.

It was a time-consuming distraction . . . . a sign of the times for sure.

Social Media for Business - marketing training event

2010-10-04T15:21:00.001+01:00

Social Media - your business voice

Social media has revolutionised small business marketing. There ever never before been such a cheap and easily accessible set of tools. More and more small businesses are seeing the benefits of social media to help increase awareness, create and nurture relationships, generate new leads, increase search engine placements, monitor marketing effort ... all with reduced expense.

It takes thought, so many organisations are not yet effectively establishing and managing a strong social media presence, let alone keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of social outlets and tools.

Henmore's interactive, hands-on workshop session covers:

Social Media Basics & Beyond: Understanding key social media outlets, emerging trends and new tools and communities to consider in your social media plans
Creating Your Social Media Strategy: Developing and implementing a social media strategy that supports your specific brand voice and vision, takes into account your day to day realities, identifies which tools make sense (and which don’t) for your business.
5 Marketing Questions to ask yourself: What you need to consider before diving into specific social media outlets - and tips for making your effort worthwhile when you do.
Tips, Tricks & Real-world Examples - ideas, practices and lessons learned from helping clients with their marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Blogging, and more.

Our social media session is always one of the liveliest. We share our knowledge and give you tips
and tools to help you get started, grow and solidify your social media strategies.

2012 Social Media Workshops - schedule and booking

Social media follow up for WiRE group

2010-07-22T08:04:00.001+01:00

More on Facebook for the women entrepreneurs of Derbyshire and Staffordshire who are busy with their Facebook pages:

Importing your blog to the Facebook Notes.

Prep your Blog:

Check your feed settings on your blog and make sure it is set to allow feed
Find your feed address - likely to be your blog URL/feeds/posts/default or something like that.

Edit your Facebook page:

In edit pages of your FB page go to Notes and select import external blog option
Add the feed address that you identified above
Decide if you want to publish to your wall or just to your notes. (see previous post here for thoughts on this)

Hope this helps - let me know!

Thanks
Catherine

Facebook for Small Business Owners

2010-07-12T11:52:00.004+01:00

I met up with some enterprising women from Staffordshire and Derbyshire at the local WiRE meeting last week. The highlight of the evening was obviously the delicious local Staffordshire food provided by Emily and Maggie of Simply Staffordshire in the relaxing environment of Dove Farm. The main notice of the evening was the launch of the WiRE Doves Networking pages on Facebook. To accompany the launch I was tasked with presenting on the subject of using Facebook for business. This post is a follow up for those that want to get started or work a bit harder at using Facebook.

A show of hands revealed that most of the women in the room were small business entrepreneurs who were either sceptical about Facebook or inactive users. With a couple of advanced users in the room we were well set up for some lively discussion.

1. Mindset for Facebook

Adopting Facebook does require a different mindset to having a web site and using email. To some, it is uncomfortable when their interface with the online world becomes potentially more personal, more visible, possibly less controllable. Maybe I was too harsh and modern when I suggested that it was time to 'get over ourselves'. But I said this with true passion to the women in the room simply because I really want them to take action asap to help their businesses. Right now there is still opportunity to get in on the act while this space is less crowded. If they wait until the culture is fully adopted and they are inured to this whole way of doing business then it may become harder to gain a foothold. And mistakes will be more obvious to the world. I was an early adopter and made some mistakes along the way - we all did at the start- but Social Media Marketing is becoming more established and part of this means that ways of conducting yourself are becoming established. Why do humans so love to create rules of conduct, I wonder?

2. Manage your Personal Brand on Facebook

I am always banging on about how your business has a brand, an identity, a personality, that it is not necessarily the same as that of the owner or founder. You and your business are different (I have a fun exercise on this for another time). But on Facebook you are required to join as an individual first. You have to sign up as a consumer and are encouraged to provide some information and a picture just to get going. Nb Leter when you set up a business page your identity and your business identity become seperate again.

Think really hard about the information you provide. Choose the Interests you list. This is info about you as a consumer and will drive the adverts and information that is placed on your page. E.g if you list Travel and the Far East as interests you will receive special offers and adverts from holiday companies operating there, that may be useful. By being female and over 40 you will be bombarded by dieting and debt ads. Obscure and quirky things may seem fun just to position you versus other people, but it all forms part of your online personal brand so please sanity check what you offer – and set your privacy for who can see this information.
Get comfortable with the Privacy Settings and activate them. They are much easier now than before. You need to be in control of this!
For more Privacy sophistication, put your contacts into Lists and control the privacy levels associated with these lists accordingly. Start as your mean to carry on with this. (Parents take note – your children, when they get savvy, might put you on a List and you will be in blissful ignorance of their real online outpourings).
The Wall is something to manage and understand. You can write on your own to distribute your status (aka a thought/deed/update) to all your Friends; you can jot something on your Friends' walls; you can also write something on the wall of a Business or Organisation e.g WiRE Doves Network or Alton Towers. Just remember that whatever you write stays with you publicly on your wall.
If you 'Like' something you see then click to say so. The fact that you have done so is shared to all your Friends. In organisational terms this is a great viral way to raise awareness of brands and issues. It also work conversely if you complain by writing a negative Comment – so use this tool to hold businesses and organisations to account. Organisations also have online reputations to maintain.
Quick word on Marketplace – it is a place to flog or give-away stuff, visible to your friends – and Groups – indicators of the collective state of mind and vehicles for the collective voice. Groups are mainly for lobbying and spreading trends. If you feel strongly about something there will be a Group for it or you could start your own.

3. Manage your Business Brand on Facebook

Really, really easy to set up a business page (once you have a personal account). And a lot less personal as there is no need for your mug shot or your name to be on the page (although you will be the first fan to join your page so at that point the connection remains obvious).

Think about the name you use for the page and picture/logo you add. As an example, the holiday cottage has benefited from being called 'Barks Holiday Cottage near Alton Towers' because it positions it clearly. On Facebook adverts this vital geographical fact has been in the headline. When people search Alton Towers on Facebook, up pops the cottage in their search list. FYI www.facebook.com/barks.holiday.cottage
Choose and add other pages: Add Notes, Info, Boxes, Photos, Video, Events and any other Apps (.e.g Twitter feed) that suit your business. Try and get it all sorted out before you get people to join/follow your page because changes are notified to your followers.
Contact details – A good spot is in the little biog bit on the top left of your page and in the Notes section.
Set which page you want to act as the opening page – it is not necessary to have the Wall as the main page and wouldn't be suitable for some businesses.
There is a place to show 'Favourite pages' of your business so add wisely to suit your business brand and ethos and to support your associates' businesses (e.g. other WiRE Dove networkers' businesses.)
Import your blog to your Notes page using the RSS feed from your blog. Choose carefully whether you want your blog posts to be published onto the wall (and thus automatically sent to your followers) as this may be overwhelming or may be perfect, depending on your business. The blog can be a good opening page.
Post status updates. How often? You know you get it right when interesting snippets please your followers and they post comments or click the Like. Gratifying sure, but more importantly they are spreading the word to all their friends. You know you get it wrong when your followers decide to hide your feed, or worse still leave altogether by unfollowing your business. A negative comment would be better than have them unfollow!

4. Facebook Business Targets

First Target = 100 Fans / followers: then you can set the page name for your business from a whole load of numbers and squiggles to a meaningful name that you can publish on your business cards. I will deal with how to find and keep followers another time.

Ongoing target and primary goal: Engage with your followers and fans

Right now this is relatively easy. Users of Facebook have not yet become so discerning about what they follow and like and join. There is still a level of innocence to it all, especially with the older users who are signing up in the droves right now. It doesn't take long before you want to start weeding out the 'noise' by paring down what you follow.

Management Target: to maintain the post quality and the number of likes and interactions so that you can measure and maximise the level of engagement you are achieving with your followers. Because Engagement is what it all about.

As a business using Facebook think really hard about what you post and how frequently. Your goal is to elicit Likes and Comments from your followers and getting testimonials and fan photos from them.

BTW – if you are a friend of the business owner, remember it is not helping them promote their brand and business if you write personal, non business-related comments on their wall. It could actually be damaging.

Engaging with customers and prospects so openly can have its downsides too. If you do get a negative comment then deal with it to your advantage - clarify, apologise, offer recompense, rectify as appropriate. (If all else fails there is always the Remove comment button.)

Long term target: If you can manage to get 10,000 fans you can get some serious analytical insights into each post and who read it etc. We'll come back to that another time perhaps when everyone is a bit nearer this target.

In the mean time, I wish everyone in the room every success with their online marketing.

5. And Finally

A quick plug for us - Henmore has services and packages that cover set up and management of most online marketing methods in case you, or anyone you know, is short of time or patience for handling all this Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc stuff. Drop me a line for further details or call to discuss.

This post has now gone on far too long, as did my talk. I admired the forebearance of those not interested in the subject of Facebook politely waiting to be allowed to sample the delicious desserts on offer; thanks for your patience. My effort of preparing and giving the talk was rewarded by those that set about creating or improving their Facebook pages the very next day. Thank you for your enthusiasm. I was amused by the Twitter activity between @HenmoreLtd and @SimplyStaffs next day. LOL!

If I can help you further please do get in touch.

If you would like further details of the WiRE Doves Network please visit the new Facebook page.

PR from an editors point of view

2010-07-02T11:26:00.005+01:00

I have just read a great blog post written by an editor about how editors are treated and what they face day to day. I have pleasure refering clients and PR associates alike to this great post that explains what is acceptable and not acceptable to a modern editor of a trade publication.

I have been fortunate over the years to consider many editors as colleagues and our work has been mutually beneficial and enjoyable. It is not always easy, however, to build 'relations' when you work in Public Relations and to find the 'social' when you use Social Media, in the way this blog post suggests PR and marketing people should always do. I agree, however, that this is what should be done.

There are plenty of editors that build impenetrable walls around themselves. There are lots of journalists that enjoy proving to novice PRs that there is a imbalance of power to be remembered at all times - the power being in the hands of the journalist, of course. These are unhelpful attitudes but are a response, no doubt, to the unforgivable behaviour of too many PRs and companies that try to randomly promote stuff using the online equivalent of a blanket junk mail campaign. It's just rude behaviour all around.

Shh, don't tell anyone but . . . there are plenty of times when editors rely on PRs for relevant information, contacts and, of course, opportunites and transport to cover a story first hand - but PRs are never meant to openly acknowledge this side of the relationship as it hints at some sort of impartiality in journalism. Obviously I would never, ever suggest journalists can be swayed in any way, just that PRs and editors both have jobs to do and can help each considerably if they know how to make things a bit easier for each other. After all, I shall never forget that balance of power as long as I am in the PR business ;)

I like to think that this blog post from a real, live editor might restore the faith of a few hurting, novice PRs and provide some tips to anyone considering some DIY media relations. This blogger reminds us of a golden rule of PR: publications are approachable if we have applied serious thought to what each editor requires. It also reminds us of a golden rule of doing business: remember our manners.

Strictly Marketing Workshop

2010-07-01T12:37:00.001+01:00

The Strictly Marketing Club programme is unashamedly one of my favourite business activities at Henmore and yesterday's workshop reinforced my fondness for it. Such a great team of members. They set aside valuable time, taking time out from the day to day stuff that earns them immediate money and instead came along to focus on marketing. Added to that they are generous in spirit; they don't just focus on their own marketing, they stretch their brains and their energy on each others' businesses too.

If you are a business owner, taking time to focus on marketing is vital but incredibly hard to do in an effective way. As Paul observed yesterday, he wants to brainstorm his ideas, have them sanity checked and then test the detail on other people. Fine to do in the Strictly workshop environment but hard to achieve in a busy work environment or at home of an evening.

Yesterday the group set about a task of coming up with marketing campaigns for a ficticious company that was facing a difficult challenge. With a given set of limited resources they created campaign ideas to flush out sales interest from a cold list and qualify them into a sales pipeline. In 15 mins there were a number of genuinely workable campaigns fully mapped out and discussed. I think it was Brendan that articulated the take-away thought of the exercise - we do have 15 minutes that we could set aside to achieve the same in our own businesses. . . the trouble is, without the fictitious boss, the deadline or pressing circumstances we rarely apply such a rigourous approach.

Back at HQ, without the relaxed environment at Dove Studios combined with the collective creativity and resourcefulness of the group, it is hard to get into the right frame of mind to find that 15 minutes. There were, however, a good many campaign ideas generated yesterday that could be taken back to HQ and put into action.

And although as businesses owners we don't have a boss, we do have the sheet of paper with all the actions we committed to taking prior to the next meeting on 8th September.

Pink Concert PR disaster at Alton Towers

2010-06-28T15:12:00.002+01:00

It was all going so well, Pink wowed the capacity crowd at Alton Towers . . . . and then it was time to leave the concert and head home. That's when, from midnight, it all started going horribly wrong at Alton Towers. A double whammy, guest and local residents PR disaster ensues! Quick, arrange a meeting with the crisis management PR people.

I had heard last week that Alton Towers were genuinely expecting it to take 4 hours to exit the park - well they were right, it just about did take that long. I really have to wonder why, if Alton Towers knew how long it was going to take, they couldn't make better arrangements. Either find a way to get everyone out of the park quicker, or find a way to set more realistic expectations.

Guests exiting the park at 2am after a 2 - 3 hour stationary wait apparently vented their frustration by beeping their car horns in the local villages. Not sure how that fits into operating within a noise abatement order (brought about by the already frustrated residents of Farley). During a meeting at Alton Towers recently, the PR person said to me that they had given up worrying about what local residents think of Alton Towers. Amazed by this, I downloaded a Charter they've written on this subject and looked carefully to find any meaningful content, but alas, there was none so I guess she meant what she said.

The residents of a few roads in Alton and Oakamoor receive a quota of free theme park passes to compensate them for the lines of traffic passing their front windows, but then receive letters reminding them that special events like concerts are strictly off limits with these passes . . . oh and sorry about the extra traffic jams and noise it will all cause. I don't guess they mentioned the likely risk of angry car drivers beeping at 2am! This letter went down quite badly, which was a pity when it could have been turned into a local PR triumph with just a bit of smart thinking. But Alton Towers' PR thinking of late has been about issuing press releases to do with the need for plastic pants on Thirteen and the calorific content of the flies that riders unwittingly ingest. Not very strategic.

Meanwhile, customers invest in Park plus Pink tickets and get there early to enjoy a day at the park prior to the concert; a USP over Coventry where Pink played last weekend. Were the early birds with this ticket really directed to the furthest away car park K? Surely better arrangements were in place. No?! Just imagine, there you are with your kids, after 14 hours spent trailing round Alton Towers (with a lack of food and facilities to cope with the pre-booked 28,000 guests) and guess what? Only another 2 and a half hours from midnight sitting together in the car before you need bother to start the engine! It just wasn't what full paying customers were expecting. No wonder there are so many complaints posted on their Facebook page this morning! These techniques to engage your customers are great, aren't they . . . I've not seen any replies from Alton Towers as yet!

Fabio Capello is probably not the only one who's job contract is being examined this morning! Was there any trouble getting people out of Glastonbury do you think? Alton Towers, it really is time to consider PR a lot more strategically than you do. Plastic pants indeed.

New web site - we're like those cobblers' children

2010-06-01T17:14:00.003+01:00

Do you ever get completely fed up with your website? We certainly have with ours! The old one stayed up way too long and became an embarrassment. It's not that we lack the skills, far from it, the trouble is we always priorise our clients' requirements. . . Cobblers children!

We have prepared ourselves a brief, at least, and put up a 'holding site' while we prepare a new site. The reality is that it will take a while. This is what we are planning:

•Give reassuring examples of the ways our current clients successfully add our marketing communications expertise to their organisations. It's important that potential customers understand what we are all about. It is also vital that existing clients know how to make the most of our range of services. A few case studies should show how we handle ongoing marketing activities and specific projects on behalf of clients.

•Raise awareness of our work with Midlands-based entrepreneurs and business owners that keeps them in charge of their own marketing. In particular we'd like to promote our popular consultancy offerings: the Strictly Marketing Club, a group business development programme, and our hard hitting half-day Team Workshops for marketing trouble-shooting. We have been experimenting with lots of the 'free' marketing tools recently, so that we can advise clients on what works and what doesn't. We created a Google site for Strictly Marketing and a private forum on LinkedIn for members to share ideas and give feedback. Check out the Google site so far, its been a bit of a fiddle: Strictly Marketing Business Development

•Position our business as having seasoned marketing, design, copywriting and web experts. We have been going for almost 20 years. We would like to inspire some extra confidence for potential customers to try us by showcasing our team and focusing on our years of experience organising all sorts of marketing-related projects. We put links on the holding page to LinkedIn and this blog.

Making preparations for the holding site has taken quite a bit of effort. I am reminded how much work goes into preparing a whole new web site. This is a timely reminder of what our clients go through, even with our direction and support. They also have to prioritise working IN the business rather than ON it.

So, cobblers children that we are, a new holding page will have to suffice for the time being

Press Release Oct 2009: Strictly Marketing Club

2009-10-14T11:33:00.002+01:00

Press Release: Strictly Marketing Club is a year’s programme for business owners.

Businesses in Derbyshire and Staffordshire are being offered a way to make sure their marketing effort isn’t wasting time or breaking the bank. Strictly Marketing Club is designed to help business owners focus their effort and maximise results from their marketing. It’s a programme for the year with a combination of group workshop participation and one-to-one marketing consultancy.

The workshops consist of tutorials, case studies and group discussion, all designed to add insight and inspiration as well as encourage action and add accountability. Catherine Doel, MD of Henmore Marketing and facilitator of the Strictly Marketing Club workshops says: “The programme will help business owners remain in control of their marketing communications and budget for the year ahead. Participants establish clear marketing objectives and create their own calendar of activity to suit their businesses. We cover strategic subjects and make them relevant to participating businesses by addressing tactics they could use and discussing case studies. Ideas and feedback from everyone in the group plays an important part.”

These days, simply being 'open for business' is rarely enough. Businesses need to find ways to get their message out there and convert interest into sales. Business owners have joined the programme to ensure all aspects of their marketing mix are well planned and managed.

Paul Hickman, an experienced business owner who runs Great Business Websites in Belper, explains why his business has joined the Strictly Marketing Club programme: “I know a good deal about marketing already, but there is always more to think about and it is important to take time to focus. The management team at Great Business Websites is serious about what we want to achieve and the part that marketing plays in that. We will be using the consultancy sessions for experienced input to our marketing plans, and the group workshops to get feedback on everything we do to win and keep customers. Starting and running a business means spinning a lot of plates - marketing is not one we intend to drop! This programme will be enough to keep us thinking and is incredibly cost effective for what it includes.”

The first group Workshops are starting in October and November and are being held at Dove Studios in Ellastone.

Sales & Marketing Workshop

2009-03-04T14:52:00.001Z

My sales and marketing presentation to our local Women in Rural Enterprise group was well received yesterday (based on feedback forms and the discussions that followed). Normally a 3 hour interactive workshop, we converted it to a 40 minute presentation. It was hard to leave anything out, so I rattled through it at a pace.

The workshop focussed on the 'virtuous circle' of marketing communications from raising awareness to taking an order and delivering the product or service in a way that meets customer expectations.

We covered many dos and don'ts of marketing communications. I urged everyone to be analytical, make a plan and stick to it, and harness the power of testimonials. Naturally I asked for testimonials and plenty of feedback.

The next event is on 29th April in Fenny Bentley when Derbyshire's business owners are invited to review their sales and marketing plans for 2009.

Networking

2008-12-01T13:25:00.000Z

I haven't been to any networking events recently for one reason or another, but this week I'll be going to two and James will be attending another two. It must be the time of year.

I was amused at an event during the spring when a veteran networker stood up and announced, while firmly looking in my direction, that his business does no marketing and relies 100% on referrals. Having given his spiel he worked the room handing out lots of business cards. His morning included a networking presentation, business cards given, business cards taken and all useful contacts were probably followed up by email and logged in a database. That was probably more marketing done in a morning than many businesses do in a year.

This man is an interesting case study: he has considered his target market of local businesses; educated his network (us) about his business; positioned his business as successful and popular (so much so, remember, that it does no marketing but gets plenty of business from referrals); and found a low cost form of marketing that brings in sufficient enquiries to meet his one-man-band capacity. He works very hard at his marketing (I mean networking) and I imagine this commitment pays off.

It would be rare for us to recommend to a client that they put all their marketing eggs in one basket in that way. We prefer clients to undertake a number of different marketing activities, backed up by suitable information (online and offline), and evaluate the results. If, however, your business is restricted by lack of available time or budget for a broad range of marketing activities, and you have made a decision to concentrate on one form of marketing, it is essential to commit to it and do it well.

There are numerous guides to using networking in your marketing and they all recommend preparation. My extra word of advice is first to review the basics: your business offering; your target market; your key messages. Then consider who will be in the room with you, and how much all this will make sense to them. After you've presented who you are, what you do, and who you do it for remember to be clear what it is you'd like the assembled networkers to do for you - buy from you themselves or refer suitable customers to you?

I hoped I had been doing all this for Henmore and thebestof sites we manage in Derbyshire, but I've realised I've been makimg a hash of it. Chatting to someone who knows me quite well, I was asked a simple question the answer to which I address every month in my networking presentation. This is disheartening feedback, but I'll endeavour to take it positively and review my presentations for my networking week ahead.

Put your footer down

2008-11-04T14:01:00.000Z

Emails - we all dash out loads everyday. Here, we have lots of Henmore Marketing email accounts and various accounts for each of our local areas of thebestof.co.uk. Most businesses have similar arrangements. I know for a fact that we do not make the most of our emails to update clients on other things that we are doing. So here is my 'blinding flash of the obvious' (as ActionCoach pal Neale Lewis would say) shared here today.

Footers on your emails. When was the last time that you updated yours?

I was reminded of this BFO twice today. Once when I was looking for someone's telephone number and thought it would be quickest simpy to open one of her emails to me. I opened them all, and not even a basic footer with contact details to be found on any of them. Let alone all the business about registered company details etc. The other time I was discussing with another client a forthcoming industry event they are exhibiting at and ways to maximise an award they have just received. This business has 120 people, all sending dozens of emails every day. Simple and cheap marketing - a footer with exhibition dates and the award logo is going out to all staff with instructions to update their email footer.

My personal BFO is to apply all this good marketing sense to my own emails - how many accounts did I say I'll have to amend . . . ?

pdf downloads

2008-10-10T11:16:00.001+01:00

We have spent the week reviewing and revising most of the pdf download materials for one of our clients. It was quite a fiddly job, with close collaboration between client, copy writer and graphic designer (our web designer has yet to do his bit and upload them all to the client's site).

Many of the pdfs had been in circulation for a while and needed the content editing to reflect new sales messages. To complete the set we researched and wrote new copy for both fact sheets and case studies. Meanwhile on the design side, the client's corporate image has evolved over the years and the pdf fact sheets and case studies now looked dated. It was time for a new template style to be designed and implemented across the whole set. They are now all proofed and with the client for approval or amendment.

Whilst working on this project we received a call from one of our printers wondering if there were any printing projects on the way. I confessed that these pdfs are unlikely to be printed because our client makes them available from their web site and uses them to email to potential clients. Posting printed material is a bit last century.

Categorisation of online directories

2008-07-22T09:49:00.001+01:00

A thought on websites and marketing. Most companies have their own websites. Many companies strive to increase visitors to their websites using search engine optimisation techniques, search engine adwords and online adverts. There are, amazingly, still a few businesses that are under the misapprehension that having a website and putting the address on their business cards will be enough to bring them sales enquiries.

Sensible use of directory sites can be a useful technique to drive traffic to your website and generate sales enquiries for your business. Some directories will achieve this and some will not. A good directorty will achieve much more, by positioning your business and adding to your credibility and enhancing your brand, but be warned, some directories will do the reverse - they might damage your reputation.

We have made some generalisations below that attempt to categorise online directories. We would be interested in your thoughts on this subject.

1. National sites with free/cheap listings whose main objective is to drive web traffic to banner adverts rather than actually provide the info you searched. They can be frustrating when you are looking for information because they frequently seem to offer false promises and dead ends. When composing this article we searched cafes in Belper and one of these sites offered us 1 -10 of 1635 coffee shops in Belper. How many? We clicked and were offered coffee shops as far afield as Sheffield. We say, don't pay to advertise on this type of site.

2. National, recognised brands that used to be primarily paper-based do at least provide the type of contact details they promised in the search results; useful if all you need is an address or telephone number. If you are doing online window-shopping looking for a reputable local supplier the results of this search don’t actually provide sufficient information to make an informed choice. This is a pity because being listed on such a site takes a large chunk of a company’s advertising budget. We say, there are other ways of using this budget to attract traffic and give them the information and the motivation to make an informed choice.

3. Local sites set up by well-meaning individuals. They can sound great in concept because they are often really cheap. Trouble is they rarely have sufficient budget or technical back up to actually drive meaningful web traffic to your business. Some of these sites will imply you'll be front page of Google - they rarely explain that will be via Adwords for approximate 5 mins at 6am! Don't be fooled, they probably don't mean you'll be top of Google in the organic listings.

4. Official directories for your industry sector or established ones in your niche market. These industry sector directories, particularly those offered by professional bodies, are really useful to prove your credentials or support your ethos. Similarly there are often a number of sites aimed at each niche, such as eco-tourism sites, parenting sites etc. In many cases we would recommend that businesses prepare suitable entries on these specific directory sites.

To maximise the effectiveness of your directory entry, cross reference your listings to other aspects of your marketing, e.g using the logo of the professional body on your stationery or the link to your eco-tourism directory entry in your email signatures.

Now ask yourself this question. Do you have any niggling doubts about the quality of your web site? The thing is, interested people are being sent to your web site by most directory sites, and if this traffic bounces (leaves again without contacting you) it may be time to review your site. Sometimes the smallest change can make the biggest difference, but that is another subject for another day.

Please contact us if you would like additional support with any aspect of your online marketing.

Staffordshire Moorlands Business Networking Evening

2008-06-23T11:21:00.001+01:00

Henmore took the initiative in school fundraising by running a local networking event in Staffordshire Moorlands.

Catherine Doel, MD of Henmore Marketing and Chair of the local Pre-school Playgroup, broke out of the mould of the usual school fundraising by arranging a business-focussed event.

"The challenge with school fundraising is to find ways of getting people from outside the immediate parent group to part with their cash to help meet running costs. So we organised an event and invited businesses and entrepreneurs from across Staffordshire and Derbyshire to meet and make business connections. Paying £5 per head plus £5 for trade space represents a great return on investment from a company's marketing budget; that £10 then has a huge impact at the school because it pays for another hour or so of top quality care and education for local pre-school children."

Energetic fellow parent Nicki Mosley was involved with the organisation and Louise Cliff, another businesswoman parent, who owns Whiston Hall Golf Club and Mansion Hotel, kindly donated the venue.

Some 40 people came along to experience this relaxed and informal business networking event where people doing business in the Staffordshire Moorlands took the opportunity to mingle and chat to fellow business people. Most also made a brief presentation about their businesses to fellow guests. Some also put up a trade stand or made a table display to present products and services on the night.

The event raised just short of £200 for the organisers' chosen local charities (Ipstones Pres-school Playgroup and St Leonards School). We are very grateful to Whiston Hall for generously providing the venue and facilities

If you would like to receive an email invitation to the autumn event please use the Newsletter Sign up box on the right and select the list for Staffordshire Moorlands Networking Events.