Organise your own ‘Topping Out’ ceremony!

Posted on 08/05/2012 by

I was invited to a client’s ‘Topping out’ ceremony on Friday and I made a few ‘notes to self’. 

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My last Topping Out ceremony as Marketing Manager – DLR extension to London City Airport in 2006!

For those looking blankly at the screen, the construction industry marks the achievement of putting the last beam in place on top of a newly built building.  It’s a get together to which key partners who have made the project possible are invited, plus a couple of local dignitaries and usually involves a glass of something and some nibbles.

The main note I made to myself is to mark achievements and celebrate more! Too often we just carry on plodding and forget to pat ourselves on the back when we’ve got a new client, finished a tough piece of work – or even reached a point in our business when we can recruit someone or take on a commercial lease; real rites of passage for a small business!

It’s so easy to get carried away by the momentum of running our business, as though we’re all running on a hamster wheel, and we rarely come up for air – and to see what we’ve achieved.

It’s ironic, as when I ran marketing teams in my past life, I was very conscious about congratulating my team, allowing celebration when we achieved a goal; got through a product launch; packed up after a 3 day exhibition or reached the end of a year-long marketing campaign.  Why do I not allow myself the same reward?

So, thanks to the topping out ceremony, I’ve decided I will mark achievements and celebrate more in my business – we all should!

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Remember to celebrate!

So please join me in raising a glass to my new part-time colleague, Limara Hassall, who started a couple of weeks ago and my new commercial premises, into which I’ll be moving later this month! Not only should you be congratulating yourself, but there’s a PR story in there…!

Happy Days!

Posted in Public relations, Small Business Marketing, Uncategorized, Working relationships | Leave a comment

Why entering awards is a good thing – but only if you do it properly

Posted on 15/03/2012 by
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Think first

I had the interesting job of judging some regional business awards recently and I suffered such polar reactions to the standard of submissions, I had to write a blog post…  I was even taking notes for my blog whilst reading the applications! 

As a result, here’s a snapshot of tips if you’re considering entering your business into your local business awards …

Why you should enter awards

  • Entering awards puts you on people’s radar; they hear about and will look out for you in future
  • If you’re in the process of getting some business, getting an award will swing it
  • Entering awards makes your clients feel good about choosing to work with you
  • They make your staff feel wanted and worthwhile
  • They give you something to strive for
  • They give you a chance to question your own performance
  • They give you a chance to benchmark your business
  • They highlight your performance in the eyes of the local press or your industry/ sector, depending on which awards you’re entering

How to enter awards and waste your time and the judges’…

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Provide evidence

  • Don’t take them seriously
  • Don’t read up on them
  • Enter all the categories you think you qualify for
  • Send in one submission for all the categories
  • Give a vague story about your business
  • Provide no substance or evidence about your claims
  • Rely on customers to ‘vote’ for you or nominate you
  • Don’t bother calling back when the awards organisers offer you the chance to puff out your submission
  • Don’t consider who you’re up against

… Oh yes, I’m serious!  The number of submissions who didn’t even get discussed as the judges had all crossed them off for the same reasons was shocking – and more than anything, disappointing.  Even well established companies let themselves and their staff down by not giving these awards enough of their time.  If you don’t have time to take the submission seriously, don’t enter the awards.

Here’s how to enter them as a serious contender:

  1. Focus - Select a couple of categories in which you know you perform well. Don’t pick more than around 3 as you’re unlikely to win all of them, so pick your strongest
  2. Tailor - Tailor your submission to the category you’re entering. Don’t send a vague submission, with no relevance to the category you’re entering. Think about how you apply for a job you really want; it’s the same approach – it’s about persuasion.
  3. Substantiate - Substantiate your claims. It must be clear why you’re entering, that you believe you have a chance to win – make it easy for the judges to select you. Everyone has a good idea; everyone has testimonials. What makes you particularly good?
  4. Criteria - If no criteria have been set, create your own. Really think about what you do well as a business and that you have evidence to back up.
  5. Don’t refer - Don’t refer judges to other resources such as websites or videos; if you want them to look at something, provide the content in the submission pack – again, make it easy for them; they’re ploughing through dozens of submissions!
  6. Don’t assume - Amazingly some very big names make huge assumptions about their reputation and don’t take awards submissions seriously. Don’t assume you’re the best out there; it’s arrogant and naive.
  7. Don’t give up  - If you don’t get through this time ask for feedback from the judges. It is often not offered, but provided if requested. Make the most of that. Get your feedback and try again next time.

    Earn them and be proud!

There are always businesses which are undoubtedly good at what they do, but it might just not be the right time for them to win.  They may be too early on in their journey or they simply may have been up against a stronger candidate. Either way, it’s easy to identify those worth ‘keeping an eye on’ over the next year and if they enter again next year, with the right evidence, they’ll win.

Bonne chance, mes amis!  See you at the Awards Ceremony…

Posted in Brand Values, mentoring, Public relations, Small Business Marketing, Strategic Planning, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Do you wonder why networking is not quite working for you?

Posted on 05/03/2012 by

When I started my business in 2007, networking was the most powerful and cost-effective tool in my marketing toolbox. And it got me my first 3 clients.

But over the years, I’ve heard people mutter that it’s not working; it’s too time consuming; they see the ‘same old, boring people’…!  Sound familiar?!

Theoretically, networking is a form of direct marketing, so, as with all marketing, there are a few things you need to ask yourself to ensure you get the most out of it:

http://www.thesussexnewspaper.com/news/business/3702-what-networking-really-means-to-your-business.html

Let me know how you get on and if there are any other tips you’ve found that work for you!

Posted in Events, Networking, Small Business Marketing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Hashtags V Twitter handles

Posted on 26/02/2012 by

I’ve just had an interesting conversation with a new client about Hashtags and Twitter names and which you should encourage when promoting an event.

#Hashtags#

These are used to track/ search for keywords or topics. For instance, I had a few problems yesterday with my car and was tweeting for advice using #carproblems. This meant that if anyone was searching for #carproblems, my tweets would come up, in theory meaning they might be able to help me! (no one did!)

So, in the case of an event or show, you can encourage people to use #idealhomeshow or #homeshow whenever they tweet about the show. This way, every time they use this hashtag anyone else interested will see that tweet when they search for the term/ topic/ keyword/ event.

Let everyone know

Other than suggesting people use it on all your materials and communications, there’s no guarantee that people will, of course, so this effort could be lost.

Twitter names

As you probably know, you can set up an alert so you know when your name is mentioned which means you know exactly when people are talking about you and what they’re saying. By encouraging people to refer to your Twitter name instead of a  hashtag, you can keep an eye on who’s talking about you and what they’re saying.

I would also suggest that the benefit of encouraging this rather than hashtags for any reference to an event is that it will help increase awareness of the event and also potentially bring in new/ additional visitors, rather than just track how often the hashtag is used.

allows you to track an event or campaign

By this I mean people will be more likely to look at your Twitter profile – which of course has a website link (doesn’t it?!) whereas a hashtag on its own doesn’t direct people anywhere – it just shows them what people are saying about that topic.

I believe it is more natural to include a Twitter name rather than a hashtag in a tweet as hashtags can sometimes be quite random, such as #TTS2012 (Travel Technology Show 2012 – ok if you know what you’re looking for!!)

What have you found more useful for your events? Hashtags or your twitter name?

Posted in Events, mentoring, Online marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

5 key points for e-marketing success

Posted on 16/01/2012 by

I delivered a half day workshop on e-marketing this week and we had some really good discussion. This post follows up on the workshop and provides 5 key things which will help you get your e-marketing right.

Pressing the button on e-marketing

e-marketing is instant

E-marketing is as long as a piece of string… It is such a generic term for some very different techniques. But they’re all about marketing your business electronically and include websites, email marketing, AdWords, SEO, web advertising, e-newsletters and everyone’s New Best Friend, social media.

1. Remember the point about e-marketing

Electronic marketing is about being instant, reaching a large number of people quickly –potentially globally, it’s about two-way communication and it’s measurable if you do it correctly.  It’s very much within your control and can easily be tweaked if you need it to be.

2. Know what you’re trying to achieve

Any marketing is pointless unless you know what you’re expecting and e-marketing is no different. There is no point using one of the most measurable marketing approaches, if you don’t know what you’re actually measuring and why.  It’s about responding to your business objectives and also managing your own expectations.

target your readers

3. Don’t miss the key benefit of e-marketing – targeted marketing

e-marketing methods allow you to target very specific audiences, so make the most of it as niche markets are easier to reach.

  • Write your website should with your prospective customer in mind
  • Your e-newsletters should be about keeping in touch with customers and prospects
  • E-shots alert a select group of people to issues relevant to them – these should be different, depending on who you’re e-mailing
  • AdWords are about being clever with keywords you know your target market uses
  • Web advertising will only work if you appear on relevant websites/ newsletters
  • SEO needs constant monitoring – or outsource it!
  • All social media channels are different; they are used for different things, by different people and will provide you with different results.

4. It’s about ongoing communication

e-marketing is about creating, building up, and capitalising on the relationships you have with your clients; it’s about keeping a conversation going. So don’t just do something once and expect it to work!

5. It’s about being relevant

make sure it's relevant

There’s a fine line between relevant and spam! If you’re not relevant,

you’ve missed an opportunity and potentially burnt that lead…  Irrelevant AdWords or ads that lead to an irrelevant landing page won’t get you the results you want.

Have you found e-marketing success?  What works for you? Please share!

are they working?

QR Uncovered

One of the topics that came up in the workshop is QR codes – a new way of getting and measuring direct response. My next blog post will look at how QR codes are being embraced by companies for both consumer and business-facing markets and how well they’re working.

 

Posted in Online marketing, Social media, Strategic Planning, Training | Leave a comment

Coalition Connecting for Business

Posted on 18/11/2011 by

Coalition is exhibiting at the Marriott Portsmouth on Monday 21st November in the Connecting for Business show- why not pop along and see us?!

Connecting for Business, Portsmouth Marriott

As well as having stand at the business show, I’ll be hosting a seminar on social media: Social Media Marketing: Old Rules, New Tools, so if you’ve always wondered, but are not quite sure, join me at 12.00 to hear more about how your social media could improve.

Entry to the exhibition and seminars is free, but you do need to book in advance for the workshop.

All visitors to my stand will be entered into a prize draw to win a free marketing review, so it’s worth popping along…!

I look forward to seeing you there!

Posted in Coalition networking, Social media, Strategic Planning, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mentoring Matters

Posted on 11/11/2011 by

This is my latest article for SussexNewspapers.com, based on a lot of confusion I’ve heard recently from businesses keen to get some support, but not really sure what support they need.

As I provide mentoring for marketing issues, I’m intrigued by how the advice and guidance landscape has changed over the last few years. I also find it has changed the way I deliver my marketing workshops, which are much more interactive, action-based and less like the traditional classroom-style training more widely available.

I’d be really interested to hear about your thoughts, comments, experiences of mentoring; either here in this blog, or via the SussexNewspaper.com article.

Have you tried mentoring? Has it worked/ not worked? Do you think it’s a load of rubbish? Do you provide mentoring? What do you think?

Posted in mentoring, Small Business Marketing, Strategic Planning, Training | Tagged , | Leave a comment