Taking your ideas for a ride – or why I can’t write a book (Part 2)

On 20 September I blogged about my client and riding instructor, Debbie, who thought I was joking when I suggested that she write a book. (Click here to read Part 1.) I knew it would be a great way to promote her services and to share her knowledge with some of the thousands of horse [...]

The importance of good design

There is nothing more off-putting than going to a networking group, finding an interesting prospect, asking for their card and receiving something that is obviously from Alta Vista, when your initial concept was that they were a thoroughly professional outfit successfully doing business left, right and centre. How you present yourself shouldn’t only be limited [...]

How not to do direct mail – part 2

About 18 months ago, we got in touch with a company that sells mailing lists, to see if they could provide us with useful contacts for one of our clients. At the time, we had a lady called Lisa working with us. Recently we received a letter from the mailing list company, with words and [...]

How not to do direct mail

“Dear Sir or Madam” - if you really want to get my attention, make a phone call first to find out my name, instead of addressing me that way. “We currently have available an exceptional new business person who is immediately available” -  but I’m not looking to recruit a ‘new business person’. “In his previous role [...]

Why boring adverts don’t work

Advertising is having a difficult time at the moment, as there is a ‘rumour’ going about that it doesn’t work. Well, that is true if your advert is rubbish, and believe me, there are plenty of rubbish adverts out there! Chantal gave me one to comment on yesterday, which was particularly bad. For starters it [...]

The 2010 Christmas card awards

I’ve already awarded the prize for the 2010 worst Christmas card – click here to read that blog post if you missed it. There are a few more awards to present. The award for the Pointless Waste of Time and Money card goes to a printing company not far from my office. The image on the [...]

What’s the best marketing you’ve done this year?

What marketing have you done that has really worked? What have you done that hasn’t been a great success? What was your best effort and what will you be doing more of less of next year? 2010 has been a busy year for Appletree so we’ve taken a look at the different marketing we’ve done, with [...]

How to sell a book without selling a book

My book has been rejected by two publishers! I’m dismayed and I’m giving up! No, not really. There are plenty of other publishers out there who I can approach and someone will, eventually see sense and give me a publishing deal. (Imagine being the person who originally turned down JK Rowling and her first book [...]

How to get customers to notice you

Many people consider advertising to be a waste of money, because they do not get any business from it. They spend a lot on the design to make it look good, and even negotiate where it is placed in the publication for maximum effect, and yet the punters don’t come flocking in. This can be very [...]

5 top tips for writing adverts

During a recession one of the main marketing activities to suffer is advertising. This is not surprising, as most adverts fail because the people that write and/or design them don’t understand the psychology of their customers and how they think or react. This statement may cause many tempers to rise or collars to become suddenly [...]