Marketing

What impact do you feel new bank, Shawbrook, will have on your business? In case you missed the news (and yes, I am a little behind with this – house renovations have completely halted any blog activity in the last few weeks!) Shawbrook bank launched on 18th October amidst a fanfare of publicity. One of their niches is in lending to small businesses. They claim to have the funding and desire to lend to businesses that have the confidence to grow.

My hope is that this can only be a good thing. 

Week in, week out I meet with business owners who have big ideas for their businesses, and a good chunk of them have the confidence and investment available to see through the big thinking. The investment pays off in spades and it’s wonderful to see their businesses grow.

But at the same time I think back to the retailer I met in January, desperate to launch an online shop presence, who simply couldn’t get the funding to make her dream happen. And it’s not about dreams, it’s about good business sense. As markets change and consumer and client habits change, you need to have the money and confidence to invest your time, money and energy in your business. And you can only do this through investment.

There are things you simply can’t do well yourself – and whether that’s  having an ecommerce site developed, investing in a new logo or website or buying a new piece of machinery or taking on staff. To really grow your business you need to think big, be bold and have the guts to go for it.

In my experience there are numerous examples of businesses that need to make the investment, but don’t. Now it may be about a physical lack of money, but I suspect in many cases it’s more about fear. Fear of not seeing a return instantly, fear of needing that money for something else. And perhaps we’re all a little more sober about what we do with our money these days?

So tell me, if you could get your hands on some funding, would you use it? Do you think it would make a difference to your business? And do you think there’s any likelihood that the bank will live up to their claims and lend, or is it just a marketing ploy?

Tagged as , shawbrook bank, sure brook bank, sure brooks in Big Thinking, Marketing

Blogging isn’t easy is it? You work all day (and sometimes into the night) with the day job and then somehow you’re expected to find the time to blog. And for goodness sake, does it even work? Is it even worth it? You hear horror stores of people putting in dozens of hours a week with nothing to show for it and it becomes scary.

Having blogged for my own business for the last four years I can categorically say that it does work. Blogging has helped me develop relationships with my current and prospective clients, showcase our work and gain recommendations. I’ve also gained countless speaking gigs from the back of it and forged some online friendships along the way. And on top of that, we gain a good chunk of enquiries and clients through the blog. It has certainly become a core part of my marketing mix and something I’d be loathe to do without.

That said, it takes time (that I don’t have) and energy (which as a mum is often in short supply) and determination. There are times when I just don’t think I’ll be able to find the time to blog, and times when I’m so busy that I just need to let it go for a week or two. But you know what? The world doesn’t stop turning just because I don’t blog for a day or two.

After four years I hope I have a healthy attitude to my blog and social media. I know that I’ll get out what I put in. And I love to put in a lot, but not at the expense of my wellbeing. And I think it’s that attitude that really makes a difference.

In preparation for my Blogging Workshop on 22nd September (do join us if you can, there are only a couple of spaces left and it’s always fun) I got thinking about the difference that makes the difference. Here’s my thinking…

The difference that makes a difference

Focus. A great blog with a strong and loyal readership is focused. The author is clear about what they write about, what their focus in and how that feeds through to their business. And if the blog is your business, this still matters (see my case study on Flowerona for more info on how she has turned her blog into a business).

Consistency. Of design, of the frequency of posts, of the tone of voice. I guess it’s about being authentic. Think about your favourite magazine – you buy it because it has reliably consistent content around a theme or a genre. It speaks to you and it inspires and motivates you. It’s the same with a blog.

Design. Blogs that have consistently high readerships are well designed. It’s easy for readers to find their way around, pleasurable to look at and the branding complements the tone of voice.

Generous. With information, with positive energy, with knowledge. We read blogs because we love to learn, we love insights into someone elses’ business of life. Positivity is key and a feeling of “not holding back” information also really matters here.

Passion. Passion is contagious. It keeps people coming back for more, it enthuses them to tell their friends and it helps them engage with you. Passion is one of the key words people use to describe my blog and I think if you look at most successful bloggers you’ll see passion right up there as a key attribute.

Those are my thoughts. How about you? What do you think is the difference that makes the difference in the blogs that you read?

Tagged as in Blogging, Marketing, Online Marketing

It has never been cheaper to start an ecommerce business. Gone are the days where you need to spend hours learning HTML to build your own website – businesses like Shopify and Create mean that you can create an online shop from around £30 per month. Which is great news for cash-strapped startups – or is it?

Getting your ecommerce website online only tells half the story. What’s much more important is getting people to buy. And that means having the right product, at the right price, in the right place, with the right promotion. Hang on? That sounds like old school marketing! And yes, it still has a place in running an ecommerce business today.

Just because getting your ecommerce business online is can be cheap, that doesn’t mean that you can ignore the basic rules of business. In fact, these rules apply more than ever. I firmly believe that if you want to succeed with an ecommerce business that you need to invest properly in branding, a decent website and in promoting the business properly to get it off the ground. But there is one question that you can ask yourself that will cost you nothing and gain you everything.

Why should people buy from my shop over my competitors?

There it is. It’s not rocket science. It’s not earth shatteringly off the wall. Just a basic business question.

Let’s say, for example, that you have ambitions to pull together a shop that takes the best local designer makers in your area and showcases them to your customers. You want to create a gift shop. The bad news is that whilst you can certainly do this cheaply, doing this well, in a way that means you won’t compete on price, is going to be a lot harder.

You need to think seriously about your competitors. Not On The High Street (NOTHS) and Gift Wrapped and Gorgeous do this sort of thing really well. What do you bring to the table? What are you doing differently? What are you doing better? Why should I spend my £30 on a gift in your online shop rather than, say, NOTHS? If you really want to get volumes of people buying from you then you need to be able to answer this question. And you also need to take steps to ensure you can compete.

And that means having a logo that looks enticing, an ecommerce website design that looks engaging, compelling and reassuring, a process that gets people to the checkout page and beyond and a meaningful brand that keeps your customers coming back for more. There are a host of other things to consider too: how do people find your online shop (both via SEO and Pay Per Click advertising and with offline PR and promotions), what does your packaging look like, how do you set the business up, control your stock and manage deliveries?

But you have to answer the most basic of questions first: Why should people buy from my shop over my competitors? After all, if you can’t answer this question, how are your customers going to be able to?

Image Credits: Nice Package via Paisley St Claire

Tagged as , ecommerce, powerful ecommerce in Branding, Business Strategy, Marketing, Online Marketing, Powerful Ecommerce, Websites

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Tagged as , competition, customer greenhouse, engaging propositions, powerful ecommerce, successful ecommerce, summer social in Branding, Business Strategy, Marketing, Powerful Ecommerce, Websites, Workshops

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Tagged as in Branding, Marketing

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Tagged as in Branding, Marketing

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Tagged as in Branding, Graphic Design, Marketing

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Tagged as in Powerful Photography

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Tagged as in Powerful Photography

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Tagged as in Powerful Photography