If you want to start your own business and sell your own product, you always have to ask yourself about making that product as popular as possible. Here’s 8 Marketing Tips For Small Businesses… 1. Find understanding for your clients One of the most important things in marketing is to understand and get to know your clients better. Social networks can help you with that, things like Facebook or Google+, because those kind of social networks have all information you need in order to know your clients better. Collecting this [...]
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Sales and Marketing Plan
Over the years I have come across so many businesses, small and medium size, where there is no sales and marketing plan at all…..no really – none at all. From the outside they appear successful. Other customers and business people that know them think; ” They have it sorted”, “How do they do that”. This surprised me too! Then I get a phone call to come and talk to them as they needed “Marketing” help. Over a lovely cup of coffee the real truth is unveiled. “We have no real structure to [...]
Filter bubble, the shallows on steroids?
Client problem A lot of our clients are struggling with the speed of change. In social media, in marketing and in customer behaviour. They are also struggling with innovation . Future bubble A friend (thanks Alan Boyd of Hoik) recommended “Filter Bubble”. Boy(d) am I impressed. It is a book that covers the impact of the introduction of personalised search. My search results on “soccer” will be very different than yours (Ajax!). And that has all kinds of consequences. Touches on privacy, data, innovation, culture, the role of news, democracy, marketing, [...]
Branding and total recall
What is the future of business? WTF, DCJ Brian Solis is the author of “Engage” and “The end of business as usual” (#WTF). In my view he is one of the best in social media and marketing. #WTF is an extension of “Engage” and “The end of business as usual” and expands on the constant feedback loop or what he now calls the experience loop or Dynamic Customer Journey (DCJ). THE experience There is an unforgiving technology revolution, which is raising customer expectation to new height. In the future everything [...]
Packaging and Brand Perception
Most people probably don’t sit down and think about the psychologies behind the products they purchase in the supermarket. For most of us, it’s an instant, instinctive action that operates on our unconscious level. Yet, what we choose to buy or not to buy, is actually a very complex thought process based on our emotions. The packaging of the product is a key component for brand perception and decision to buy. Packaging and Brand Perception The packaging of a product isn’t just for holding the contents of the item together. It plays [...]
Sport and your B2B Relationships
Being a mass market activity sport is often look on primarily for its power as a consumer marketing tool. Often overlooked though is how a sprinkling of stardust can make a huge difference in business to business relationships. Padraig Harrington has signed a long term endorsement deal with Clune Construction, a large interior construction company based in the US. The deal works on a number of levels, one of which is branding for Clune but equally if not more important are the CSR and pure B2B benefits the Irish heritage [...]
How to stop wasting time on social media
The Business Achievers Business Live Events are over. We have been in Belfast, Galway, Cork, Waterford and Dublin. With hugely entertaining panellists from all walks of life and this is another opportunity to thank them all for their contributions. They had wide variety of opinions about marketing, social media, selling, SEO, websites, e-commerce, apps, etc.,, etc. What struck me about the discussions is the complexity and nuance once you go below the service of what marketing means to business. The number of marketing tools that are now at your disposal as [...]
How to Create Brand Recognition
The attitudes that consumers have towards brands today are very different to the attitudes of even one generation ago. Today, having a strong brand is more important than ever before. Consumers are not content to purchase a product simply because it “can do the job”. They identify strongly with the brands that they use, and demand the ability to communicate with, and feel a part of, those brands. In this post I outline some tips on how to create brand recognition. How to Create Brand Recognition To build a loyal consumer [...]
Is social media right for my business?
Some sales and marketing executives are still skeptical about social media. It’s been one of the most buzzed about topics in marketing for the past few years, but many companies (especially in B2B marketing) are still asking themselves, “Is social media right for my business?”. Is social media right for my business? Social media is a broad topic – after all, there are many types of social media, ranging from blog articles to YouTube videos to podcasts to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I have yet to meet a client who [...]
Can social media agencies help your business?
If you’re going to have a successful business, it is going to be very important that you have the right marketing techniques in place. There are lots of really effective methods out there that can provide businesses with outstanding results if they are properly applied. However, due to the extreme competition on the net, business owners have taken different lengths in order to reach out and get customers. Social media marketing has become the new platform for businesses to connect with their target audience and increase their sales. In this [...]
Marketing strategies, your pitch to 82,000 fans
Nothing quite compares to the primal atmosphere of Croke Park on All Ireland Final day. Let’s see how it relates to marketing strategies and your pitch to 82,000 fans. It’s live theatre in its rawest state and every emotion is intensified and expanded like few other times in a normal setting. Two months later I’m still pulsating to the memories of Galway going head to head against Kilkenny in that thrilling encounter. I remember the stories from RTE’s ‘Sunday Miscellany’ as we travelled up in the car; the coolness and [...]
Kickstart your business, Tempted Craft Irish Cider
This Saturday’s Kickstart Your Business on Newstalk (11am) features Tempted? Craft Irish Cider: Tempted? is an Irish Craft Cider created by Davy Uprichard in Lisburn, Co. Armagh, and it’s now being marketed and sold across the whole island of Ireland, typically through independent off-licenses. Until now, Davy has been promoting his brand at Craft Beer Festivals and Tastings. However, he’s planning to increase production, and is beginning to grapple with the challenges of promoting an increasingly popular cider to a much wider audience than before. Check out www.TemptedCider.co.uk and suggest what Davy [...]
Building a relationship with the local media
Every county in Ireland has at least one local newspaper, with some having as much as five or six. Local newspapers continue to prevail despite the downturn, with an Ipsos MRBI survey (Oct 2011) showing that when compared year on year, readership of local newspaper titles is only marginally down compared with national titles at -3.8pc. The retention of weekly newspapers is 5.9 days, with readers spending twice as long reading them compared to a national daily title. A resounding 86pc of readers say that they rely on their local [...]
Kickstart your business, IQ Signage
IQ Signage is a company bringing strong project management and communication skills to a sector of the market, which has traditionally been driven by technical ability and price. Despite growing rapidly, IQ are struggling to communicate effectively what makes them different and, by their own admission, messages on their website ( http://www.iqsignageprojects.com ) and social media profiles ( www.facebook.com/IQSigns ) are weak. What do you think Jan and her colleagues can do to show that IQ difference? Please post your suggestions here
WIN a €10,000 web development and marketing prize for your business
As a business owner, putting your shop online is a daunting task. More so than most even realise when they take that tentative first step to find out what’s involved. Getting an ecommerce store built right and deployed is an expensive journey and at the end you are handed the keys to your ecommerce store and wished the best of luck by your developer. Then you spend months wondering if you’ve done the right thing, while you have very few visitors to your website. You second guess the wisdom of [...]
