Grow Your Business Exhibition

Make sure your marketing investment counts this year...

Do you have an up to date marketing plan?
Have you clearly defined your position in the marketplace? Does all your marketing support that position?
Is your marketing literature is as effective as it should be?

In an economic slump you need to be careful where you spend your money. But marketing is no place to scrimp. In a recession, well-planned, well-executed marketing is more crucial to your business success than ever. Tough economic times provide an opportunity for you to steal the advantage on your competitors: but only if you work the opportunity carefully.

Plan carefully...
Taking the time to create a strategy, plan your approach and define your market positioning is essential. Ensuring that every piece of marketing literature, from your website and brochures to your posters, banners and emails support that market position is a part of this. You’ll not only spend less, your marketing will be more powerful for the consistent approach.

Create powerful copy and compelling design...
Making sure every piece counts with powerful copy and impactful design might mean spending more initially, but in the long run you’ll reap the benefits with stronger returns. And because you’re not getting sidetracked with last minute ‘deals’, there’s no need to bust your budget either.

Quite simply, homespun marketing that fails to appeal to your target audience won’t cut it in this marketplace. A shambolic approach to marketing based on the lowest cost option, however unsuitable, will just result in you wasting money.

Start with a plan: a clear plan. And a budget. Chances are, you won’t need to spend any more money than you did last year. But by planning where to spend it sensibly, you will significantly increase your return on investment. And in this economic climate that’s probably essential.

Guildford printing.com will help you make sure that your investment counts. We’ll help you formulate a plan, define your market positioning and attack the market with gusto. And with copywriting, graphic design, print and marketing services in house, you can be sure that you’re gaining the very best expertise at a price that you can afford.

Not using the back of your business card? You're missing a trick!

Do you use the back of your business card? And I don't mean for writing notes on! I mean to inspire, to sell or to explain; to create impact, add intrigue or simply to appeal to your target audience.

So many businesses miss out on this opportunity, and yet it doesn't actually cost very much more. For about £35 you can massively increase the impact of your business cards, just by putting something on the back. That something might be a photograph, block colour like in the example, a piece from your logo or an illustration. It might be a quote, a question to get people thinking or simple your strapline or website. Either way, it's another opportunity to capture peoples attention and imagination. It's another opportunity to sell your business. And it certainly creates impact.

In fact, why wouldn't you use the back of your card? I was talking to someone yesterday who protested that having information on both sides was annoying. That he stored his cards in a plastic file and having to take them out to retrieve information was frustrating. I agree. I'm not suggesting that you put important information on the front and back because that does get annoying. What I'm suggesting is that you use the back to sell yourself.

Secondly he commented that block colour on the back of a card was annoying. But why? "Because I often like to write on the back of cards.". Now people say this a lot. Think about it, when was the last time you wrote on the back of your card before you handed it to someone? Thought not. People usually want to write on the back of your business card because they want to sell you something. Why would you miss out on creating impact with your business card just so that someone can sell you something?

So go on, be brave, use both sides of your business cards and make yourself stand out from the crowd.

Post Purchase Dissonance, and how to combat it

You know that unpleasant feeling you get when you’ve bought something and you somehow just feel a little let down by it?

Maybe you feel you paid too much. Maybe you felt the product wasn’t up to spec. Maybe you felt a little ripped off. Whatever the reasons, this is known as post purchase dissonance. Or cognitive purchase evaluation.

I believe that combating this is essential if you are to gain repeat business and recommendations from your clients. And the good news is that there are a number of steps that you can take to reduce or completely combat post purchase dissonance within your clients.

Firstly, talk to people a couple of days after they've bought from you. Just because people haven't complained doesn't mean that they're happy. So give your customers the chance to give you feedback and then take steps to put it right.

Secondly, ensure that you don't make the classic mistake of only investing in smart marketing materials for contact before the sale. How you deal with people, the effort you put in after is just as important, if not more. This means that boxes (if you use them) should be smart and branded, the art of receiving the goods should be just as exciting as ordering them. And if you think that you can get away with home-made invoices, well, this is the time to think again. What does that tell your customers about how you feel about their business?

Design plays a big role in the avoidance of post purchase dissonance. It’s your way of showing that you’re serious about your business. That you take yourself seriously and you believe you’re worth investing in.

But what about you. Have you ever had positive or negative post purchase dissonance feelings? Sometimes it can be the smallest, most unrelated thing that causes a big impression in someone's mind.

I can remember when I bought my Golf a few years back. I went to collect my shiny new car, and there it was - exactly as spec. The colour I'd ordered, with all the extras and on the day they told me it would be ready. And yet do you know what gave me that unpleasant feeling in my stomach? The fact that I'd always heard that when you buy a new car from a dealer you get a bunch of flowers or a bottle of champagne. I looked in the back and there sat... a branded teddy bear! Not the same effect. Not at all.

Contrast that with a recent purchase I made online with Isabella Oliver. The clothes are expensive but I'd looked around for similar quality and wanted to treat myself. The package arrived literally 24 hours after I'd placed the order (BIG tick in the box!) and was so impressive that it actually encouraged me to go back online and order more. Yes, the clothes were fab. But to be honest, I'd expected that. It was the extras that really impressed me, that really gave me the feelgood factor. They came beautifully wrapped in swathes of orange an white tissue paper, with a thank you note from the business owners, postcards to send to my friends (branded of course) and a discount voucher for future purchases.

The Isabella Oliver experience just goes to show how you can use the natural post purchase feelings to your advantage and really cement a relationship with your customer. And at no extra hassle to the company.

What can you do in your business to create a feelgood factor after purchase?

What comes first? A website or a new logo?

When you're starting a business or revisiting your marketing, where do you start? With your website or with your logo design? When budgets are tight I can understand the logic behind starting with your website - websites can start generating you visible income immediately, they're an essential part of your marketing mix and if you can get the website right you can use the income generated to refine other areas of your marketing.

However, if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, I think you'll see why this logic is flawed.

Great marketing always starts with strong branding. If you don't have a strong brand identity you'll simply be making life harder for yourself. You'll have to fight harder to engage your target audience, you'll have to spend more money (in the long term) getting your marketing collateral looking like it's come from the same company and quite simply, you're missing a trick.

Think of branding like losing weight
Imagine you decided that now was the time to go on a drastic image makeover - you'd lose 3 stone and get a new haircut and new wardrobe. When would be the best time to invest in that new wardrobe? Before you'd lost the weight? Or after? Sure, you'd feel better instantly if you went out and bought a new wardrobe immediately, but ultimately you'd end up throwing all your old clothes away when you reached your target weight. Your body shape would be different, you'd have more confidence and your tastes might even be different. You'd probably feel like you'd reached your full potential and feel as though now was the time to be showing off your new body shape. Do you think that the clothes you bought when you were 3 stone heavier would still work on your new, trimmer frame? Unlikely isn't it?

So why then, does it make sense to design your website before you finalise your branding? Getting the branding right at the outset can actually save you money in the long run. To start with, you'll have a clear set of brand values and brand identity to give to your web designer. This means that you'll incur less creative bills (and probably get a better outcome since most web designers aren't branding experts). You'll also get to where you need to be much faster because your web designer will know what you expect of them. And finally, you'll have a website that truly represents your brand. That really says the right things about your business.

So before you rush out and order your new website, just think - am I happy with my branding? Is it saying the right things about me? And if you're not, talking to a friendly design agency who specialises in branding!

Do you know it takes 7 times?

7 times to do what?

To get your neighbour to stop parking their car across your drive way?

To get a 5 year old to eat brussel sprouts? To get your partner to buy you flowers on your birthday?

No! On average, you have to communicate with a potential customer 7 times before they will buy something from you.

What! 7 times I hear you cry. If I want someone to buy something from me, I have to speak to them or send them something 7 times before they are willing to part with their hard-earned money?

Yup, that's right.

Now, obviously some people will buy on impulse and buy something or a service from you there and then.

But if the average figure is 7, that also means that it could take some people 20 times or more before they are willing to trust you enough to buy from you.

Think about your own buying habits. You are watching Ugly Betty on a Friday night and an advert comes on for a new moisturiser. You open the magazine supplements on a Sunday morning and there is a full colour page advert for that same moisturiser and you kind of recognise it but you are not sure where from.

On Monday you are chatting away to a girlfriend who mentions that she has recently bought this amazing new moisturiser. And so it goes it on until you find yourself at Boots on the high street and you are standing opposite a big display stand promoting that very same moisturiser.

What the hell, you think and you throw it in to your shopping basket.

If you hadn't had seen the TV advert, glanced at the newspaper or heard your friend raving about the product, there would have been every chance you would have walked straight past that promo stand.

If you are running your own business, there is a very high probability that you do not have the budget to advertise during Ugly Betty nor take out a full colour ad in the Sunday Times Style magazine.

But you can create a buzz and get people talking about you and what your business offers.
Communicating with a potential customer doesn't always have to be about advertising (although it can certainly help if you target the right publications) and as a small business, probably on a budget, there are dozens and dozens of ways of communicating with your potential customers.

From speaking at local events to contributing on online discussion forums. From sending people Christmas cards to forwarding them interesting and relevant emails. From talking to people at networking events to phoning someone up to ask their opinion on something.

Communication opportunities are open to you each and every day. And if you think it can take, on average, 7 times of communicating with someone before they are willing to buy from you, isn't it worth being conscious on how you can improve your communication opportunities?

One of the most effective and cheapest way of ensuring you are communicating 7 times is publishing your own email newsletter.

Karen Skidmore runs CanDoCanBe.com which helps women build successful (and profitable!) home based businesses. She'll be speaking on Email Newsletters Made Easy at the Grow Your Business Event on 30th April.

Email Newsletters - Get Personal

It may be tempting when you run a business from home to “pretend” to be bigger than you actually are. You may not want your customers to know that you work from the kitchen table and sort out your washing between answering emails.

However, when building relationships with potential customers, especially building relationships online, the more personal you make your email newsletters, the better.

You don’t need to share your stories about how drunk you got at your cousin’s wedding last weekend or how your daughter has just been awarded a prize for her mathematical ability. But when you write your articles and “talk” to your subscribers, show your personality.

Be fun, be creative, be serious. You decide – it’s your personality. By showing your personality you will be more likely to open up the doors of communication and start to build relationships with the types of customers you want to work with.

Make it personal. After all it is your business.

Karen Skidmore runs CanDoCanBe.com which helps women build successful (and profitable!) home based businesses. She'll be speaking on Email Newsletters Made Easy at the Grow Your Business Event on 30th April.

How to ruin your brand in 5 seconds flat

Your new letterhead and business cards are back from the printers; your exquisitely designed website is all ready to go. All you need now is some photos of yourself, your team and your products.

So, grabbing the digital camera you make a quick tour of the office, snapping everyone at their desks, take a few shots of your products and post the photos onto your website; maybe you even use some in your leaflets. That’s the great thing about digital photography isn’t it? Now, anyone can take photographs like a pro without having to go to the time and expense of hiring a pro, right? Wrong. If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, owning a digital camera is not the only prerequisite for taking professional-looking pictures; if it was, not only would everyone be doing it, they’d also be doing it well; which is certainly not the case, as a glimpse at many companies’ websites and brochures will show! As the photographer Ansel Adams said “You don’t take a picture, you make a picture”.

So, why should you use a professional photographer?

Your brand values are reflected in everything from the words you use to the design of your marketing materials. A mismatch between any of these will weaken your business image.

Whilst it’s tempting to go for the instant result at no cost, will that result send out the desired message about your business?

Don’t forget that it takes seconds for someone to make up their minds about you and your company. How many times have you looked at a website, business card or brochure and been put off by the unprofessional quality of the design, graphics or typeface?

Photographs speak volumes - if you and your people are at the forefront of communicating your business message, then it’s vital that your photos create the right impression first time. And if you have a great product, you should be doing it justice by presenting it in the best way possible. Using the services of a professional photographer will help you send out the right message about your business. Good photography can enhance an already great brand; poor photography can destroy that brand’s credibility in seconds.

Here are just a few of the ways in which a professional photographer can help you create the right business image :-
• By identifying the best locations and backgrounds and “designing” the shot
• Using professional lighting techniques at all times
• Matching the style of photography to your business image
• Advising on the type of clothing that will work best for a portrait session
• Posing subjects in the most flattering way
• Being aware of and sensitive to the feelings of those being photographed and being able to put them at ease within 5 minutes of meeting them
In return, you will benefit from:-
• A consistent style for all your marketing material which supports and enhances your business image
• Professionally lit portraits and product shots at all times
• An ongoing relationship with a fellow professional who, in effect, becomes another member of your team whom you can call on whenever you need to
• Professional presentation and post-production of all your images
• More time for you to spend on your business
Anna Saverimuttu is a Guildford-based photographer, specialising in portrait and event photography for businesses and individuals. To see more of her work, visit www.annasaverimuttu-photography.co.uk
Or, contact her for an informal chat and further advice on 01483 571119 or at annasaverimuttu@aol.com

What is Low Cost Marketing?

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.