There are many methods to promote businesses online and with the advance of web 2.0 or the social Internet, further opportunities have developed for the business looking to get ahead in their marketing efforts. Social networking enables business owners to leverage the powerful social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter, and more in order to build a reputation, generate more leads, and keep in regular contact with those leads. …read more

Word of mouth marketing has long been the desired choice for businesses. A customer that arrived through word of mouth has directly cost your business nothing but will arrive with a sense of trust and respect for your business. They will already be pre-sold on the concept of what it is you offer and all thanks to the efforts you’ve put in with previous customers in order to generate such a good reputation.

In terms of word of mouth marketing, reputation really is everything. Whether you’re operating online or offline, your brand should always be the first one that people think of and by offering a top quality product or service, friendly customer service, and exceptional after sales support you can expect great referrals from your existing customers.

However, word of mouth marketing can be much more than this, especially on the Internet. Viral marketing is the term that has been adopted to basically incorporate virtual word of mouth marketing. By developing a high quality website or offering content or giving away something of value it is possible to create a buzz even among those that are not your customers.

Word of mouth marketing can come in the shape of forwarded emails between friends, colleagues, and others with similar interests. It can also mean free advertising on social media and social news websites as well as industry websites but above all it is without doubt one of the most desirable forms of marketing your business.

The perception of value is critical. Even giving a product or service away for free is no guarantee that the word will be spread. The item has to be perceived as being valuable, useful, informational, or helpful in some way. If you can achieve this then word of mouth marketing could become one of your biggest assets.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is widely heralded as being one of the least inexpensive, most effective, and highly targeted methods of generating traffic for a website but what exactly is it and can anybody do it? …read more

Selling products or services online, usually referred to as e-commerce, has become the way to go for many small businesses. It can turn a small local enterprise into a global, world leading brand although this obviously takes a lot of time and effort but it also reduces overheads, minimises workload, and offers you greater potential to access new and potentially profitable sources of customers. So, what’s needed to sell your products or services online?

A Plan

The planning stage of e-commerce is the most important. You first need to outline your goal by setting up online. Will the Internet be your sole source of sales? Will you be using the web to promote your physical stores or shops? You need to be able to answer these questions before you even consider contacting a developer, although a good developer will certainly be able to help you work through many of the steps and answer a lot of your questions.

The Website

Whether you’re intending to manage a simple brochure page that gives details of how to find your physical store or you will be managing hundreds of different products in your own e-commerce store you’re going to need a website. There are tools to help you build your own but if you don’t have any experience in design, development, and to a degree, marketing, then it is best left to the professionals. A poorly designed site can instantly turn visitors away and, worse still, send them to your direct competitors as a result.

Shopping Cart

If you intend to sell products directly on your website then you will need some form of shopping cart software. This software enables you to add and display products, categorise them, and add price and postage details. More advanced options can include cross product promotion, gallery pictures, and even detailed sales and traffic reports. There are many shopping cart options available to you and your best option is to discuss your needs and wants with your developer, because they will be responsible for installing the software.

Payment Processor

To sell items online you need to be able to accept payments online. Service providers may be able to get away with requesting bank transfers or BACS payments to a large degree but offering the option of credit and debit card payments will almost certainly enable you to reap greater rewards. Services like PayPal, Moneybookers, and NoChex can be integrated into your website without the need for a merchant account.

Traffic

The best designed site with the most intuitive interface, the most competitive prices, and the most appealing products will still not yield results until you generate traffic for your website. The Internet is literally awash with methods to promote a site and help you sell your products or services.

Globalisation and the information age. A fascinating video.

Working from home is becoming more and more common. With e-mail, social networking sites and online collaboration systems, its never been so easy to work from home but what can you do to make working from home more productive?

Here are some of my tips for working from home… something which I have done for many years now…

Workspace

Its important to have a separate workspace. You need somewhere where you can setup your business, ideally in a spare room. To me, this is one of the most important things! I have two small children and being able to close the door to block out the noise and distractions is very handy!

Try and make your workspace inspirational; somewhere where you want to work. Put up artwork or posters that you like. You will be spending a lot of time in your new office so you need to like your surroundings.

Plants are a worthy introduction too! Try and get something quite hardy as, if your like me, you will forget to water it!

Take a look at some of the images below for some inspiration workspaces:

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No matter which industry and which niche your website or your business operates in you will have to face competition. The more competition you face the greater the challenge you have to become the go-to company that potential customers choose. Regardless of the number and quality of competitors you have, though, part of the challenge that you face is standing out from the crowd. …read more

Here are a pile of more inspirational business card designs. As you may have gathered, I like business cards!

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The marketing arena is an ever expanding and ever evolving one. Seemingly new and innovative ways to market a business are introduced on a regular basis. It doesn’t feel that long since a website was considered a luxury for most small businesses and yet, nowadays, small businesses are turning their attention to Social Media Optimisation as well as Search Engine Optimisation, online press release submission, link building, and many other forms of online marketing.

The big question is do you have the resources and the expertise to effectively establish and maintain all of these marketing methods?

• Can you write press releases?
• Can you craft compelling content?
• Do you know how to conduct keyword research?
• Do you know the most effective ways to build links for your website?
• Are you able to formulate an effective viral marketing campaign?

Don’t worry if you can’t answer yes to all of these questions because, in reality, very few companies can. In fact, there are marketing companies out there that can’t manage all of these aspects of marketing and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Who’s to say what the next big thing in marketing will be, right?

The Pool Of Knowledge

One of the biggest benefits when outsourcing your marketing is that you gain access to a pool of knowledge that you don’t already have. A marketing company specialises in marketing in the same way that your business specialises in manufacturing your products or providing your service.

If you were to attempt to undertake all of your own marketing then you would need to employ an extensive team of marketers. You would need to pay for the office space, utilities, and the cost of computer equipment, software, and hardware. Plus, of course, you would need to pay your new marketing team a competitive salary to ensure they stay with your company.

The Cost Of Knowledge

That leads us to another advantage of outsourcing, in general, and outsourcing your marketing requirements specifically - the cost. Employing a team capable of fulfilling all of those functions would cost a prohibitive amount of money for most small businesses and many of the team members would find themselves with little to do for a lot of the time.

A marketing consultancy is only paid for the work they do. When the work is done, or when there’s nothing to be done except wait, you won’t need to pay wages or rent office space or meet any of the other overheads.

Intricate Insight

The biggest downfall of using a marketing firm is that they won’t have the same intricate knowledge of your business, your products, or your services as you and your employees do. This makes it vital when choosing a marketing consultancy, that you choose one that gets involved and makes decisions based on your specific requirements rather than offering a one size fits all solution.

We covered QR codes in a previous post recently and we even have our own! To follow on from this post, have a look at some of the creative ways you can use QR codes to market your business.

H&M Poster Campaign

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