What do you do? And how do you tell people?

When you go to networking meetings and someone asks “What do you do?” can you answer succinctly, in a way that leaves people wanting to know more? Can you get your message across in one minute – or less – in a way that everyone can understand? Or do you leave people confused, bored or [...]

15 Ways to Give your Business an Unfair Advantage – Part Three

Here are some great tips I read recently in Real Business Magazine. Click here to read parts one and two! 11. Write a not-to-do list “How many people have a to-do list? Forget that, you should have a not-to-do list for your business,” advises Richard Harpin, the founder of Homeserve. Understand your own strengths and [...]

15 Ways to Give your Business an Unfair Advantage – Part one

 Here are some great tips I read recently in Real Business Magazine. Parts two and three to follow soon! 1. Keep your customers happy – at all cost “Start with the customer. What makes your proposition better than anyone else’s?” asks Simon Calver, chief executive of LoveFilm. He says LoveFilm’s brand is built around three [...]

How do your customers find you?

I have a good friend whose new business is doing particularly well. She opened her new shop nearly two years ago, and already she is overwhelmed and thinking of expansion! I asked her what she thought contributed to her success. First, she has encouraged repeat business, a good following and excellent referral status by providing [...]

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 [...]

Need some inspiration? Create a new vision for your business!

Running a business takes up a lot of time and energy. There’s a lot to do and a lot to think about. Sometimes you might find that you start to lose energy or enthusiasm for what you do. So how do you find your focus? How do you inject some inspiration into what you do, [...]

How customer loyalty is preferred over satisfaction

If you make your customers happy, then they are satisfied; but that is not the same as loyalty. Loyalty requires working on these satisfied customers, giving them excellent, high quality service, forming a relationship with them to find out exactly want they want, how it can be delivered to them in the best possible manner, [...]

9 selling drives that relate to marketing

Here are some tips on various selling techniques. Controversially I’m treating them like my marketing methods: building relationships, spreading expertise and gaining credibility, as these attributes can all be used in conjunction towards a goal, to sell a product or service. 1. Don’t over-stuff. Avoid the overwhelming desire to include everything all at once at [...]

What do you think marketing is?

I’ve been tweeting about the difference between marketing and sales, and that they’re not the same: the former is about gaining relationships, spreading expertise and maintaining credibility; the latter is about making money. But what does marketing mean to you? What and why is it important? How can it be used to transform your business’s [...]

Why should businesses have a list?

Many marketing specialists often say that it’s important to have a list, which is a database of interested, like-minded and relevant contacts who would like to know more about you and your business. This list has a variety of uses, of which the most well-known is for a newsletter. After all, you should be maintaining [...]