I’ve done it and I am so excited! I have just booked my tickets to Holly Becker and Leslie Shewring’s Day of Color, Styling and Photography on 4th March… In New York! I’ve long admired Leslie’s approach to colour and photography and with my book manuscript nearing completion, I know that now is the perfect time to up my game when it comes to styling (even though I plan to draft a pro in to take the photos).

I’ll have what she’s having

Leslie has the knack of putting together the most stunning photographs and I just love her creative, light, fresh approach. Just take a look at these beauties to see what I mean…

All images: Leslie Shewring/ Holly Becker

So add to that creativity the amazing Holly Becker, the woman behind Decor8 and the author of the book Decorate I think we have a pretty irresistible class. In fact, so much so that I’ve been trying to talk myself out of going for the past three weeks but I just had to give in and book today!

It’s all part of my mission to create something really big and exciting this year.

It feels like we’re all thinking very big at Flourish right now. So many positive things have happened over the past six months that this trip really feels like a big part of the journey. I can’t wait to spend the day immersing myself in creativity and meeting the other class delegates. I’m also looking forward to getting back to New York and just taking everything in.

I was last in New York almost 12 years ago just after my graduation. I fell in love with the busy, chic and vibrant city and I’ve always wanted to go back but the time was never right. It feels like it could be now.

So I have one question for you. I’ll have a couple of days to just mooch about before the class starts, and I’m already making a little list in my head of places to go (Anthropologie, Purl and J Crew for starters) but I would love your advice. Where should I go? I’d love your New York shopping, eating and general amazingness tips!

Ps. Thank you to Karen and Suzanne for making going to the USA for a workshop not seem like a crazy thing to do Enjoy your time with Yanick Silver!

It’s an online class that starts on 6th Feb and runs for a month. You can pace yourself, so whatever your responsibilities, and where ever you live in the world, it can fit around you. All you need to do is commit to a couple of hours a week where you really focus on your business brand.I promise that it’ll be creative, inspirational and informative, and it will make a big difference to your brand (whether you have a lovely logo and website or not).

• Clarity and purpose around your brand strategy, niche, profitable clients and brand messaging
• A mood board to help you visualise and communicate how you’d like your brand to look and feel
• A marketing plan that helps you own and defend your niche and attract and retain the right sorts of clients
• A communication plan for your clients journey from enquiry to invoice that wows and inspires them
• A plan for a truly powerful website that attracts, engages and wins you business

In addition I’ll be sharing lots of inspirational case studies, behind the scenes insights from the design team at Flourish and plenty of useful tips, tools and techniques you can start using in your business immediately to make 2012 your best year yet.Here are some of the nice things people have said about previous workshops:

“It was very helpful to take time out and refocus on marketing priorities and how to be more consistent with the marketing messages I put out. Lots of clear, practical ideas – thanks!”

Anne Williams, Worklife Balance Solutions

“Thank you so much for a very inspirational and practical workshop. I feel much more confident about promoting my business now.”
Sue Goodson, Floreal Therapies

Investment for the whole four weeks is just £165+VAT when you book your place before 23rd January and this includes all the course notes, follow up support, bags of expert info, a 20 minute one to one with me and a £75 Flourish gift voucher.So why not start your year as you mean to go on – with purpose and inspiration, and join me for a fun, creative and purposeful Branding Masterclass. Book your place today and prepare to take your brand up a gear!

Over the last week or so I’ve been carving out a little time to pick back up the branding book that I started writing in February. And in a vain attempt to get me motivated and moving forwards (as opposed to procrastinating by writing blog posts) I thought I’d share with you my plans for the book. This is mostly to make sure I actually do get it finished, but also because I’d really love your opinion on what I’m writing, and to do that, you need to know the premise of the book.

The premise

There is absolutely no shortage of books out there on branding. From incredibly highbrow books on how big corporates brand their businesses, to some inspiring stories from the likes of Starbucks and the Body Shop (didn’t think I’d ever see those two names in the same sentence) right down to books aimed at small businesses. The world is overwhelmed with branding books.

“So why bother” you may ask? I ask myself that question a lot too!

I choose to bother because I have a passion for branding and I guess I’ve always wanted to write a book about branding. But that in itself doesn’t make for a good reason to write the book or people to buy it. What I hope is that I can bring a different spin to the market.

The branding books that I own are all very knowledgeable but some of them are just too highbrow for the busy business owner. I also have a lot of design books that are inspiring, but they lack accessibility and aren’t really aimed at small business owners.

What I’d like to do is create an inspirational guide that small business owners can work through to brand their businesses. For me it’s not about theory, it’s about inspiration and action.

As inspiring as a craft book

Why do business books have to be so dull in their design? There seems to be an unwritten rule that (in the main) if you publish a book for business that it needs to be A5-ish in size and wall to wall black and white text. I own a lot of books like this and they’re fab. I’m not knocking them. But I own hundreds of cookbooks and craft books, and you know what? They don’t just get me thinking and pondering. They inspire me to get up off the sofa and take action. And that’s exactly my brief for this book.

I want it to be as inspiring as a craft book. Beautiful images, plenty of white space and encouragement to try out projects for your business. What do you think?

How many words do you think I’ve written? Excluding titles and subtitles – it’s less than this post!

I blog about branding, I tweet about branding, I speak about branding and I run workshops on branding. I also spend much of my working life helping other businesses brand themselves more effectively.

You could say I know my stuff when it comes to branding.

So why is writing a book so hard? Why am I procrastinating? And why, when I have been blogging so prolifically am I finding the art of general blogging quite so difficult as well? I think I have a classic case of writers block lumped in with a smidgen of impostor syndrome.

I’m going to just stop for a few days, mull things over at the back of my mind and find my mojo again. I’ll be reading Tom Evans Blocks (designed to unblock writers) and I’ll be walking, thinking and generally not writing. Watch this space!

I think that time is now. And goodness, if I don’t start now then some other hobby will come along and absorb my time, so why the heck not?! I planned out the book in 2009 with my fabulous writing mentor, Tom Evans, the bookwright (if you’re even considering writing a book I urge you to speak to him or the wonderful Leda Sammarco) and I’m really excited about getting on and writing.

The new book is going to be about something that’s very close to my heart, and what we practice every day at Flourish, and that’s how small business owners can create a strong brand. I want to show you how you can create a brand that attracts, engages and retains your ideal clients: how by getting focused about what your business is all about and communicating that with flair, you can attract more of the profitable clients. And you won’t need to compete on price.

I plan to show you how to get focused, the secrets (and horrors to avoid) behind creating a compelling brand identity, how to find your niche and how to own your niche. But I’d love to hear from you too, what would you like to know?

Those of you that have read my first book know that I won’t be preaching about theory: I’ll share practicalities with you. I’ll give you tips, checklists and show you how my concepts work in reality. But tell me, what do you need to know about creating a powerful brand?

Have just received this glowing review from a local publication, Guildford Means Business from Ezie Publishing and as it’s so lovely I thought I’d share it with you. Over to you John Hines and John Ashcroft… (and thank you. My mum is delighted

The exclamation mark is the most overused – and misused – pieces of grammatical notation. In emails it is abundant. The result is that everything screams for attention and nothing gets it. When they are used correctly they make their subject stand out from the rest. They give it an enduring life of its own. When the Theatre Guild in New York launched a show called Away We Go, no one gave it a chance. It bombed on tour and it was only just before it was due to premier on Broadway that advice was sought. Impresario Lawrence Marshall’s suggestion was not only to rename it after the US state his wife came from, but to add an explanation mark.

Oklahoma! is still running 60 years later. In fact, a west-end production is playing at the New Victoria Theatre this week (May 10th – 15th). All this came to mind as I started to read Fiona Humberstone’s book exhibit!. It’s a book which gets your attention. More importantly, it’s contents comprise truly easy ways to get customers’ attention. It is the ‘Lawrence-Marshall-advice’ that will change the way your company exhibits forever..

Getting the right kind of attention

The book contains one of the most powerful, successful business practice sentences I’ve ever seen: everyone in business should read it. It’s lines two and three on page 61. “If you can just switch your focus from what you want to sell to what’s motivating your VISITORS, you’ll be on the road to success.” For VISITORS, substitute ‘clients’ or ‘prospects’ or ‘customers’ or anyone else who can help make you successful.

The sentiment of the rule is universal. It works for our magazine editorial too, when we tell contributors that we do not do advertorial. “If you can just switch your focus from what you want to sell to what’s motivating your READERS, you’ll be on the road to success.” exhibit! is the road map to success

We’re trying it out

It’s easy to write two dozen column inches of review about a book. With exhibit!, though, we are going to do something entirely different, Because the GROW exhibition is almost upon us, eZie-publishing is taking this book to task to see if it works. Our ad on page 23 and our stand display atGROW (stand XX) is right out of page 127 of Fiona’s book. It’s a simple exercise in collecting data which the book goes into great depth about.

The other side of exhibiting is speaking. It’s easy to say, as I have seen in other “how to” books, “Speak at seminars: it will boost your company’s exposure.” It’s nowhere near as easy as that. Look at the seminar list for GROW YOUR BUSINESS on page 17. Many of those names keep popping up all over the place. Getting onto those lists takes perseverance. exhibit! comes up with a superb way of starting. Look at the scan of Fiona’s “Creating a speaker sheet” page above.

This book has page after page of such working guides. Not words about what you should do, but checklists to ensure that you do it. And these are not incomplete lists, where the way to complete a project is to employ the writer as a consultant. exhibit! has everything: it’s Fiona’s entire exhibiting knowledge.

It’s like having a professional exhibition consultant by your side, 24 hours a day.

You can see if it all works for yourself

Go to the seminars at GROW and see how others put their stands and their presentations together. Especially, go to Fiona’s own stand (she is speaking at 10.00am and her stand number is 35) and you will see everything she writes of in practice.

Normally when a book is launched the author will sit at a desk for 60 minutes to sign copies, spending perhaps more than seven seconds with each customer. Fiona is going to be there all day. There’s no escape for her. She will be all yours at the Guldford Spectrum on 12th May. She’ll tell you how this book will help you grow your business at GROW YOUR BUSINESS. And I guarantee that you’ll get considerably more than seven seconds.

I think that deserves an exclamation mark!

And you can see the GMB4 – Fiona Review here.

Excuse me a little moment of self indulgence here… My book, Exhibit!: The SME’s Guide to Using Exhibitions to Grow Your Business is now available via Amazon. It does exactly what it says on the tin: shows you how you can plan your next exhibition much more effectively to significantly improve the result you get from your next exhibition. Just thought I’d let you know!

I’ve always used exhibitions as a core part of my marketing strategy. At my first exhibition I picked up 100 leads and converted 70 of them into paying clients over the course of the year. When I tell this story people are always astounded – they don’t often find they have such a profitable experience! So I’d like to share with you, in a nutshell, how I did it, and how you can do the same.

1. Be clear about why you’re going. Set yourself realistic goals and make sure your marketing collateral and stand design is set up to help you achieve them.
2. Understand why the visitors are going to the exhibition. What do they expect of you? How can you fulfil their needs (most people get it wrong by pushing what they want to sell at visitors – try coming at it from a different angle!)
3. Create a stand with wow factor. A couple of posters you printed out at home won’t cut it. Be creative, set the scene and allow a little time for wow factor. Think styling! You can see an example of a stand we designed for Photographer Matt Pereira on our blog.
4. If you want to sell products on the day, run a compelling offer (10% off won’t cut it!). Think big discounts, gifts with purchase or bundle offers that compel people to buy now.
5. Selling a service? Think about what you want people to do next – book an appointment perhaps? Create a small “taster” session so that people can try you out without too much commitment. Most of the 70 people that bought from me spent �49 on some business cards. It was a low-value order that enabled people to try us out without having to think too hard. What could you do?
6. Bring your product or service to life. Offer tastings, trials or demonstrations.
7. Run a relevant (not bottle of champagne) competition to gain targeted leads.
8. Try and get a speaker slot if that’s your bag – you’ll boost your exposure and demonstrate your expertise.
9. Be creative with the giveaways. Do people really want another pen? Try and think of something creative that reinforces your brand message. We give away seeds because we help people grow their businesses!
10. Schedule in time before the exhibition for the follow up. Make sure you’ve blocked out at least a couple of days to follow up on all your leads – if you don’t, your competitors will!
11. Have a robust communication plan and be persistent. I converted 70% of my leads because I kept in touch, I called every single one of them and I made sure I kept them on my postal and email distribution lists.
12. Review the event and think about what you could do differently next time.

Getting this right is hard work, but it’s absolutely worth it. If you’ve got an exhibition coming up why not join me on 18th March for a morning of exhibition planning! I’ll walk you through each step to ensure you get the most out of the opportunity. Workshop: How to use exhibitions to grow your business.

This post was taken from my Marvellous Marketing Tips newsletter. If you’d like to be added to the list simply email the studio studio@flourishstudios.co.uk and ask to sign up (just until we get a more sophisticated mechanism in place!).

On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of judging “Best Exhibition Stand” at the Best of Richmond’s Networking Expo. Nick Taimitahara and his team had put a huge amount of effort into ensuring that his exhibitors made the most of the opportunity. Not only did Nick employ an expert to run a seminar on how to exhibit (ahem… yes, that was me) he also bought each and every exhibitor a copy of my book and broke the tasks down into weekly, manageable chunks to give everyone the best possible opportunity.

So as you can expect, the standard was incredibly high. Every exhibitor had gone to a huge effort to ensure they presented their very best self to the 850 visitors that attended the expo at Twickenham Stadium.

Judging was really hard as there were several stands worthy of a mention. My two runners up were Strictly Marketing for their impactful stand (guys, if you have any photos email them to me and I’ll post them up here) and Barefaced Marketing for her sheer effort (she baked 250 cupcakes and made a branded cushion!). But there could only be one winner, and that was deservedly the Marble Hill pub.

As soon as I saw Oliver and his team wheeling in a full size olive tree (I kid you not!) I knew we were in for a treat! Oliver had recreated not just the styling, but also the atmosphere of his pub and there was a real buzz surrounding his stand. I’m sure the mini pies and the passionfruit and vanilla cocktails had a lot to do with that too, but the staff on the stand really engaged with the visitors – which is exactly what you’d expect from a pub, but not usually what you’d get!

The photos of the stand really don’t show it off to it’s full potential – blame the camera (I mistakenly left mine at home…). But the chairs, bar, wallpaper and (now empty) wine rack really created an atmosphere.

Congrats to Oliver John, Mike and Mike for a tremendous effort! Mr H and I will be popping in to see the “real” bar very soon…

A jubilant Kim and David of the Wedding Community returned from the National Wedding Show last weekend and as we have helped them plan their stand, design their website and create their brand identity, how could I resist sharing the story with you?

The Wedding Community is a social networking site for engaged couples and their friends and family. The marketing plan for the Wedding Community has two streams: to gain more members, and to gain more advertisers. The National Wedding Show was mostly about gaining more members, which will, in turn, enable the company to boost their advertising revenue. The exhibition was also about raising awareness in the community and building a brand presence.

Judging by Kim’s comments, the show achieved all three – in spades!

“We had an amazing show with over 800 people entering our competition. We will let you know the outcome of the show but looks like a great success.”

We planned a simple but impactful stand based around the Wedding Community’s branding. Bespoke “wallpaper”, homely furniture and a branded plinth added to the professional and anything-but-average look, without costing a fortune. Many of the items the Wedding Community can (and will) use again, which keeps costs to a minimum.

The whole stand was themed around the strapline plan, inspire, connect and had a number of initiatives planned to help communicate that message. We made full use of the Wedding Community’s expert advisors with five minute expert talks (the plan and inspire bit!) throughout the day. This drew a crowd and brought the concept of the experts to life.

Yarwood-White, one of the Wedding Community’s experts had also given a prize of £250 worth of bridal jewellery, which certainly helped the Wedding Community gain their 800 competition entries. These entries have enabled the Wedding Community to build a targeted list of brides and grooms to be. Naturally they are being very careful about how they use the data, but it has been a great way of building a list, boosting brand awareness and building relationships with potential members and advertisers.