The more you can get people talking, the more popular your page will become as others will see the interactions going on and want to join in. Here are some ideas (based on a garden centre) to get you started:

Share photos:                               
“Here are some pictures of our gorgeous hanging baskets, made over the last few days. “

Hints and tips:                              
“Now’s the time to plant your clematis if you want beautiful flowers in the early summer months. Plant them in a sunny spot for best results”

Awareness:                                   
“Did you know we offer a gardening service, including lawn-mowing, hedge trimming and weeding?”

Staff focus/personal:                
“This is John, he works in our accounts department and has been with us for 5 years. He loves his enormous Irish wolfhound dogs, and regularly walks them in the park – you may have met them”

Warm and friendly:                    
“Mary’s got a packet of chocolate hobnobs for her tea break. She’s promised to share them if you pop into the shop today!”

Competition:                                
“Guess how many bedding plants we planted up yesterday. The nearest one will win a free box of beautiful pansies.”

Exclusive Offers:                         
“10% discount on everything today, just for our facebook friends. Mention facebook at the till to get your discount”

Achievements:                            
“Hooray! We’re in the local paper. Read all about our recent award here… “ (link to article)

Updates:                                        
“Just arrived …”  “Now in stock….” “We’re busy getting on with …” etc

Events:                                            
“We’re going to be at the village fair on Saturday – pop by and see us” (include details)

Success stories:                           
“We’re so proud of Fred who has just passed his NVQ Level 1 after months of hard work – well done Fred!”

Seasonal:                                        
Mother’s Day, Easter, Christmas – special items for sale/events

News:                                              
“Mr Celebrity is coming to see us on Tuesday”

Acknowledgements:                 
“Thanks to the local paper for supporting our campaign …”  “Thanks to all our supporters for their hard work and generous donations”

Questions/discussion:              
“What do you think looks best – this one or that one?” (with a photo)

Behind the scenes:                    
“Here’s Mary, busy preparing our planted tubs ready for sale at the weekend” (with a photo)

Link to articles:                             
“There’s a really good article about how to make the most of a north facing garden on the Gardener’s World website – have a look here” (link to website)

Involvement:                                
“We’re planning a family summer party … what entertainment would you like to see?”                                                           
“We need a new name for our gardening service – any ideas?”                                                          
“We’re having a sale at the weekend – tell all your friends and call in to see us for some fantastic bargains on all plants and garden accessories!”

Celebrity news:                           
“Mr & Mrs Celebrity called in today and bought lots of geraniums for their terrace”

Case studies:                                 
Stories and case studies of people who’ve worked with you can be written as an article and posted within the Notes section of your page. You can also add photos in this section. The introduction appears as a status update on your wall and on the news feed of all your facebook fans.     

Top tips

• Use images and links to either your own website or other, related websites to add interest and colour to your status updates.
• Be warm and friendly, not too formal – facebook is a social environment
• Respond and thank people for their comments and input on your page
• Be responsive to others – they will appreciate it and return the favour
• Even if you haven’t got anything to say, click the “like” button to show that you like a post

Photo credit

However, every now and again, I catch up on the various newsletters that come in, and last time I checked I found a newsletter from these printers, promoting the idea of “twitter cards” – little business cards that feature your twitter username and say “you’re now face to face with (username)”

I thought this was a cute idea, so posted a link to the article on twitter. Evidently several other people also thought it was a good idea as they re-tweeted the post to their followers. And who knows if their followers forwarded it again! So what can we learn from this?

If the printer looked at their email newsletter statistics a week after they sent the email, they would have assumed that I was one of the people who had not opened their newsletter.

However, 2 months later not only did I open the email, but I forwarded the information to a new audience of 1,200 people (based on 4 people, each with an average of 300 followers).

The lesson from this tale is that you never know how far your marketing messages will reach – or how they will get there. So make sure your communications are easy to understand out of context and include a call to action and contact details.

By the way, if you’re interested the printer is Goodprint and the link to the twitter cards is http://www.goodprint.co.uk/style-l-twitter+cards-businesscards.php

See, yet another promotion to another couple of hundred people!

Photo: Federico Stevanin / freedigitalphotos.net

Whether you are a household name, or a small local business, the principles of getting yourself noticed are the same.  The key is to be seen repeatedly, and in more than one place.

If you think about the brands you’re currently aware of, you’ll find that they are on TV, radio, in the printed press and probably online too. Big brands never do anything in isolation – they create promotional campaigns.

So how can you re-create that impact if you’re a small business?

It doesn’t have to be difficult or even expensive. For instance, let’s take a car valeting company as an example. Their unique selling point (or USP) is that they come to you with everything they need to clean your car. You don’t need to provide water, buckets, sponges or electricity.

Imagine they have come along to clean a car in a residential area. In order to make the most of that as a marketing opportunity, they could have a sandwich board that they put outside the house while the valeting is in progress. In addition, they could deliver some leaflets or postcards through the neighbours’ doors, saying “we’ve just cleaned your neighbour’s car – if you’d like yours cleaned, give us a call”. They could also advertise in the post office window, take out an advert in the local paper or community magazine, and build up their local contacts on social media, inviting satisfied customers to post recommendations. They could have a branded van, with their contact details on – and maybe a uniform or branded T-shirts.

All of this activity should be consistently presented, using the same logo, typeface, colours etc so that people become aware that they have seen this company before. In each case, the USP should be highlighted – “it’s easy, you don’t need to provide anything, we just get on with it”.

Very quickly, they would build up a local awareness. All they would then need to do is deliver a good service to make sure that people talk positively about them. Next time somebody in the area says “I need my car valeting” they would be front of mind, and most likely to be contacted.

So what else can you do to build awareness of YOUR business?

Photo: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Promotions can be a good way of generating interest in your product or service – a discount, 3 for the price of 2, buy one – get one free … a trip round your local supermarket will give you lots of inspiration.

I was struck today by an “early bird discount” promotion which seemed to be the opposite of the norm.  My children have been begging me to get “Alvin & The Chipmunks – The Squeakquel” (Just the title alone is enough to put you off … wait till you hear those squeaky little guys sing!)  But I got caught out!

It was recently released on DVD and available at the supermarket for £8.99 – right at the front of the store with lots of promotional boards and hype. I resisted the begging, but when my son received some money for his birthday he decided that’s what he wanted to spend it on.  So on the next shopping trip, I went to the DVD section, only to find the promotion was over, and the price was now £13.99!

The incentive was to buy early “for a limited period only” to boost early sales. I’ve always believed that DVDs are highly priced when they’re new and desirable, only to go into the bargain basket when they become yesterday’s news. This promotion is bucking that trend, and it certainly made me wish I’d been a bit quicker off the mark – next time a DVD is released I’ll be ready to buy as soon as it’s on the market.

What can we learn from this as small businesses?

Be inventive with your promotions and offers. What can you do to create urgency or a need to act?  Do you offer a last minute discount … or does the price go up if you wait till the last minute? Think about the buying patterns of your customers and reward behaviour that helps you.

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In a nutshell, it’s a more positive way of writing and yes it is important!

Using active voice in your communications makes them more direct and engaging. Passive voice can be seen to be avoiding the issue somewhat. For instance compare the sentences:

1. Your invoice will be paid next month

2. Our accounts department will pay your invoice next month

The first one sounds like an exercise over which you have no control – the invoice will be paid. Somehow, it leaves room for doubt and you just have to hope that it will.

However, the second one sounds much more positive with a definitive action.

In active voice, the subject is doing the action e.g. The accounts department is the subject, paying the invoice is the action, the invoice is the object.

In passive voice, the object (the invoice) becomes the subject with an action being done to it. It can be a bit vague. 

However, passive voice is sometimes used on purpose for diplomatic reasons. For example imagine a group of people at a party and someone breaks a glass.  The host comes in to find people scrabbling around for a dustpan and brush. Rather than saying “Fred broke a glass” (an active voice sentence), Fred’s embarrassment can be avoided by saying ”a glass got broken”.

Another example is politicians who want to dodge responsibility for something, for instance “taxes will be raised” (passive) rather than “we will raise taxes” (active)

So if you want your communications to be perceived as strong and positive, use active voice.

Although it can help to know the grammatical rules, the key to this is to think about is whether there is a clear and obvious responsibility within your sentence. Active voice is easier to understand and that’s always a bonus when you’re writing.

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Networking is another form of marketing. It’s an opportunity to get you and your product or service in front of new people, and to build relationships that could be mutually beneficial. However, it is not a sales tool!  If you go along to a networking event and start selling, it will be a shortlived exercise. The focus should be on meeting new people, finding out about them and making business contacts.

I can honestly say that most of my business comes through networking – but that doesn’t mean I go to a networking event and come back with a new project. Over the years, I have kept in touch with many people I have worked with, including employers, suppliers and colleagues. Social media makes this even easier, so you can stay connected without any pressure or obligation to do anything.  The odd email or direct message from time to time, or a comment on an article or update all help to ensure that you and your business pop up regularly enough to prompt requests for help when it’s needed.

Networking events give you the opportunity to meet people and talk about business. There aren’t many places where you can launch a conversation with “Hi, what do you do?” Nobody minds, that’s what you’re there for. If you meet someone you get on with or think you could work with, keep in touch. 

For example, last year I met a lady from a design agency. I liked her portfolio and we exchanged details. Several weeks later, I bumped into her whilst walking the dog. Then we connected on LinkedIn. A few weeks after that I needed some help with a design project so of course I called her. And then she had a client who needed some marketing advice so I won a great piece of business. We’ve since worked on several projects together to our mutual benefit.

I used to avoid networking, thinking it was all about a sales pitch but it really isn’t. Use the opportunity to find out about other people and whether they have the same outlook and the same business values as you. You will probably have to meet someone several times before any work comes your way, so give it time. And networking can happen in many different places, not just at official networking events. Clubs, committees and groups are networking opportunities, as are workshops and courses. View meeting people as a chance to build up awareness, trust and credibility.

If you’re looking for opportunities to meet new business people in the Maidenhead area, try:

• Maidenhead Chamber of Commerce – www.maidenhead.org.uk
• Business Link – www.businesslink.gov.uk
• Success Network – www.successnetwork.org
• Thames Valley Business Women’s Group – www.tvbwg.com
• Ladies Who Latte – www.ladieswholatte.rsitez.com
• She plc – www.sheplc.com
• Athena – www.theathenanetwork.com

There are plenty of others I haven’t tried yet – search for “business networking Maidenhead” on Google

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It is a well known fact in marketing that people need to see something 7 times before they take action. And in today’s world with technology and mobile devices sending us ever more messages, that magic number 7 could be even higher.

So what does this mean for you and your business?  Well, if you’re promoting something, you need to think in terms of the maximum number of opportunities you can generate for people to see your promotion.  Because of course, just because you advertise something 7 times doesn’t mean everyone will see it each time… so you have to advertise it many more times than that.

Many people think if they don’t get a response initially, then nobody’s interested. But this is not necessarily true – it’s just that they just haven’t seen it enough times yet!

Let’s imagine you’re promoting some kind of event. It could be a workshop, or a social event. You might produce a poster and put some of these up in strategic places. Perhaps you’ve printed some leaflets and distributed these. You may even have sent an email out to all those you think may be interested. And you might have mentioned it in a newsletter too. By now, you could be getting despondent that the event hasn’t attracted much interest. But potentially, people simply haven’t seen it 7 times yet.

Here’s my suggestion. Draw up a list of activities that you could do, and do each of them at least twice, some of them more often. Maybe you change the wording in order to help people see the message in a different way. You could come up with a list like this:

- Poster
- Leaflets
- Email campaign
- “Sandwich board” promotion
- Mention in newsletter
- Advert in local paper
- Press release
- Social media updates
- Article on your website
- Article on somebody else’s website or newsletter
- Word of mouth

Don’t forget to mention the benefits of attending. Why should people come along? What will they get out of it?

The other vital thing to remember is to make it clear how people need to respond. What do they need to do once they’ve seen the advert? Don’t miss the opportunity to catch them while you’ve got their attention.

If you work alone, it can be difficult to motivate yourself when things are quiet. Joining forces with someone else could inject new life into your business.

As is often said, two heads can be better than one.  So, who can you join up with?  Ideally it would be a business that complements yours but does not compete. It should be something that appeals to a similar target audience so that you can combine your marketing efforts.

The perfect solution would be working with a business that enhances and improves your product or service and vice versa.  For example a personal stylist and a make-up artist, a caterer and a wine merchant, an accountant and a book-keeper, a virtual assistant and a meetings venue … Use your imagination – what other services do your customers need?

Then you can consider how you can work together. It could simply be referrals to each other, or you could create a joint product or service such as a workshop, an event or an offer.

Or carry out a joint marketing campaign, or exchange space on each others’ websites or email newsletters.  Note, you can’t mail each other’s database though – your customers agreed to receive communications from you, not them. However, you can feature an article within your newsletter about another business.

Give it some thought – it could provide just the inspiration and motivation you need.

So the prospect of seeing them “in person” before buying them was very attractive, and the fact I could do so at a friend’s house with a glass of wine – even better!  This is why I think it’s a stroke of genius on Boden’s part… I used to buy a couple of items a year, but stopped buying clothes from the catalogue about 3 seasons ago.  I would get all excited waiting for an item to arrive that looked fabulous in the catalogue, only to find it too big on the waist, too long, the wrong shape for me etc.  That sense of disappointment happened once too often, and my Boden shopping habit stopped.  But since then, I’ve noticed friends wearing lovely clothes that I’d overlooked in the catalogue, and on asking have been told “Oh, it’s Boden”.

So when I got the invitation, I was delighted. I could try on 20 items if I wanted, until I found the perfect one. And I did. Boden sold 4 items last night that they would never have done, no matter how many attractive catalogues and email offers they sent through. And I wasn’t the only one – cheque books and credit cards were out all round.

Well done Boden, for reviewing your marketing efforts, looking at alternative distribution channels and delivering what your customers want. Genius!

The first year of the vegetable plot saw us eating carrots twice a day for about 3 weeks… and then no more carrots for the rest of that year. Learning from that experience, we now have regular “batches” throughout the year. And so it should be with marketing. A massive influx of business one minute and a quiet period for months is not healthy for you or your bank balance. And given that most business comes from the marketing efforts you apply, it would make sense to spread these activities over a period of time.

So how do you do it?

First think about the results you need, and when. For example, you may know that the early autumn was quiet for you last year, so need to generate some business for that period. You may also think that you’d like to be less busy in the summer holidays so you can take some time off.  Think about how long it takes to generate business once you’ve done some marketing.  Is it instant, like selling ice-cream? Or is there a long lead time before an enquiry converts into actual work for you? Plan your activity to create a steady stream of enquiries and interest throughout the year so that you can manage the workload and direct it to fill (or avoid) those periods you’ve identified.

In this way you should be able to enjoy the fruits (vegetables?) of your labour all year round!