Posts Tagged ‘ideas’

OK, OK, I can’t resist it any longer!

For those of you that don’t know, I recently became a happily engaged lady. Nick and I were in New York for Christmas and he popped the question at sunset on Brooklyn Bridge. Utterly romantic, I know. And I said yes.

Since then (as I’m sure most newly engaged ladies experience) I’ve become obsessed with The Wedding and despite it being a good 17 months away, I’ve pretty much planned everything from the style of the invitations to the pins going in the bridesmaids’ hair.

Today I wanted to share something rather beautiful with you that really got me thinking.

By pure coincidence my friend Melanie is getting married in New York this August and I duly received her invitation through the post last week. I was truly taken-aback at how much love, passion and devotion she’d poured into creating her bespoke invitation and I felt completely inspired to a) share it with you all and b) think of ways that we as a business could pass that kind of emotional experience on to other people.

It really made me question why that much love and attention can’t be put into something we give our customers.

Lots of ideas! Where do I start?…

Tagged as , ideas in Inspirations, Powerful Branding

We’re all pretty familiar with the power of the testimonial aren’t we? Testimonials give your marketing another, more powerful, more genuine voice and can really help sell your products or service. I think one area of the testimonial we overlook is the ability of testimonials to generate interest in your business from people who weren’t actively looking to buy from you.

Let me explain.

Recently I’ve noticed something quite nice happening. If I receive great service from someone I make a point of emailing them to say thank you. And not just thank you, I usually say why and how it helped me or my business. What I’ve noticed is that marketing savvy people have started using these testimonials on their websites, in their emails and on their marketing literature, and they’ve got my name on them! Now this means that they are not only spreading the brand, but more often than not, they also include a link to my website. Fantastic! All these people that weren’t necessarily interested in what I have to offer might have a curious click through. And if my website design is arresting enough to capture their attention they might just delve a bit deeper.

So go on. Make someone’s day by saying thank you. And it might just turn around into some business for you!

Tagged as , cost, ideas, low, marketing, testimonials in Blogging, Copywriting, Workshops

Low Cost Marketing Means different things to different people. When I asked a group of ladies recently about their views on Low Cost Marketing we had lots of very different (and interesting responses), here are a few of them:

“Spending as little money as possible”
“Building up my own personal reputation”
“Marketing through customer testimonials and recommendations”
“Marketing my business without spending any money”

Now my own view on Low Cost Marketing certainly encompasses some of these ideas, but for me is quite radically different. Low Cost Marketing for me isn’t about spending as little or no money as possible. It’s all about maximising the return on investment.

Low Cost Marketing is all about spending the money where you need to, and cutting back on where you don’t. It’s all about ensuring that the money you do invest is well invested and creates the outcome you need for your business. Let me explain what I mean by that.

Some of the biggest mistakes that businesses make when they market their business is the failure to plan. They don’t think about what they need to achieve with their marketing. They don’t plan a cohesive campaign and they make knee-jerk decisions based on how the market is behaving that month. This means that they often end up spending more money on less effective marketing.

Clever low cost marketeers start by identifying their marketing objectives. Where their business is at currently and where it needs to be. They evaluate all the options available to them and they select and invest in only those activities which will help them achieve their marketing objective.

That means that if your objective is to attract 1,000 visitors to a one day event, you need to be certain that every piece of marketing you invest in is going to help you attract those visitors. If it won’t, don’t waste your money on it.

However, if you believe that a piece of marketing will help you achieve one of your marketing objectives, then you need to invest in it properly. And that means not cutting corners, it shows, and that is the enemy of the low cost marketer.

If you would benefit from some marketing help then why not develop your skills and grow your profit with one of our Marvellous Monthly Marketing Workshops? You can find out more details on forthcoming subjects and dates here.

Tagged as , cost, free, ideas, low, marketing, workshops in Uncategorized