Professional marketing, friendly budgets, great ideas…
Your brand is more than just a logo…
April 8th, 2011
I have to say I get 'slightly' annoyed when I see creative design and "marketing" companies talking about your brand, as if brand is all about the logo, look and visual style of your business.
Your BRAND is more than just a logo!
Your business brand is the very essence of your business and your visual "brand identity" is simply the representation and communication of your brand values. And a visual one that can help your customers and potential customers recognise you with ease and consistency.
So for me, and the team at Just Too Busy, when we help you create your brand, we are doing MORE than just designing you a new logo (although this is something we do very well, I have to say!).
Your business brand consists of key elements that you need to understand and define, so that you can communicate those brand values and positioning to your identified target audiences. If you don't pay attention to this side of your brand, and we think it is the most important side, then a pretty logo that has no meaning or deliberate thought involved in its creation, will just not "do it" for you (or your business).
SO… When we say your brand is more than just your logo… We REALLY mean it!
If you would like to learn a little more about how to create your own business brand then click here to sign up for this FREE Just Too Busy webinar.
Tags: brand development, brand identity, brand secrets, branding, business brand, creating a brand, creating my brand, creative design, logo design, Marketing, marketing advice, marketing help, marketing tips, small business marketing
Posted in Just Too Busy, Marketing, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Lo-Tech Your Marketing….
April 6th, 2011
In these days of social media, online marketing, SEO and more sometimes going back to basics is the way to go. I'm talking about "lo-teching" your marketing.
I did some direct mail marketing for a client of mine and I decided we should do a 'split test'. You see, the DM approach is usually the glossy flyer or promotional item sent to you target market in the hopes this impresses them so much that they become your customer. and if done right that can work.
However, one of the biggest barriers to DM is getting your 'target' to even open your letter or packet or read the flyer that comes through their door.
So our split test involved a really simple tactic
Have a think…. If a letter comes through the door with a nicely printed label and/or a 'logo-ed' post mark, one of the first assumptions you might make is that it's junk mail. If you receive a handwritten letter, then what do you think? And which one are you more likely to open?
That was the essence of our split test. We bought in a database and sent letters containing a postcard to each of them. (We did this so that even if they didn't read the letter they might take notice of the postcard.)
On 50% of the letters we used printed labels. On the other 50%, we hand wrote each and every one, and put stamps on them (not post marks).
What do you think happened? From which 50% did we see our best results?
If you are more likely to open a handwritten letter (and think why this may be), then can you see how "lo-teching" your marketing can sometimes beat the high-tech, slick (and usually more expensive) methods?
Why is this important for small business marketing?
Small businesses are usually operating on a smaller budget. This is especially useful if you have the time but not the money to invest into your marketing. I always say to my clients: "You wither have to invest money in your marketing or time (and ability)." if you don't have the time then you have to invest money. If you don't have the money then you need to invest the time – and of course you need to be able to so what you want to do. If you don't have the skill – you need to learn.
How can you learn to do your own marketing?
Well you can sign up to marketing tips sites and newsletters. You can read marketing blogs and get some really useful ideas. But what most of these ideas won't do is get you to really understand your marketing and how to approach it so that you don't waste money on doing things just because you think you "should".
I have launched a programme aimed specifically at small business owners who want to understand their marketing and how to do it for best effect rather than wasting money they don't have and being disappointed. It's called Marketing Magic and you can find out more here.
It's not always about "lo-teching" your marketing but if you know the options you have at your disposal and which ones are best for your business, then wouldn't that be a good thing??
To find out more about how we help small businesses with their marketing click here. You can also sign up to our webinar: "3 MUST HAVES For Creating a Successful Business brand" here.
Tags: direct mail, direct mail marketing, direct marketing, marketing for small business, marketing to customers, small business marketing, targeted marketing
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FREE Webinar from Just Too Busy
April 4th, 2011
3 MUST HAVES For Creating a Successful Business Brand
This is a 1-hour FREE webinar where you will discover the THREE fundamental elements of creating, defining and understanding your business brand. For more information click here to go the EventBrite page.
Tags: branding, free marketing advice, free marketing tips, Marketing, small business marketing
Posted in Blog, Marketing, News | Comments Off
The Business Blogging Network
January 26th, 2011
Again, Just Too Busy's MD Alex Stone, has been asked to contribute her expertise and knowledge, this time to The Business Blogging Network. Alex wil be posting regularly on the site with business and marketing gems. see her first two posts here.
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Do You Know Business?
January 26th, 2011
Just Too Busy's MD Alex Stone has been asked to be a regular columnist for We Know Business magazine.
In her first issue (Dec 2010) Stone discusses the principles behind successful small business marketing – the WHO, the WHAT and the WHY. To read the full article, "Putting Your Brand Before Your Plan", which also appeared in the hard copy of the magazine, click here.
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How to define your business brand…
December 15th, 2010
I love the process of creating a brand (and this is more than just a logo – watch this space for my next post) and for small businesses this often involves their entire business proposition and positioning.
So when I work with my clients, the majority of whom run small businesses, when we talk about brand, we are talking about their whole business, their offering, their target markets and how they can differentiate themselves from the competition and entice their target markets to spend their money with them.
Many small businesses will start marketing and promoting their small business without really thinking through what it actually is they are marketing and promoting and this often means they end up spending money on marketing that’s not working as well as it should for them – because they haven’t thought it all through. So here are the three key things I get my clients to think about when we are defining their business brand in preparation for marketing it.
The WHAT, the WHO and the WHY…
If you know inside out, in detail, with clarity (you get the picture) WHAT it is you are offering then you can clearly communicate that offering in your marketing.
If you know WHO you are offering your products and services to then not only can you identify the particular needs of your target market but you can create communications to them that are targeted specifically for them and to address those needs – this means they are more likely to respond to your marketing because they will relate to what you are saying and how you are saying it.
If you WHY your target market would buy from you rather than a competitor – i.e. you know the benefits of your business for your target market and you know your competitive advantage – then again communicating this information to that target market becomes easy and more focused.
If you would like to know more about defining the WHAT, WHO and WHY for your business to make your marketing more effective and get more business then please feel free to contact us on 0845 272 3539 or visit our website for more information.
Tags: branding for small businesses, branding strategy, business brands, business marketing, Marketing, marketing for small businesses, marketing tips, small business marketing, successful marketing
Posted in Just Too Busy, Marketing | Comments Off
What’s your Wordle?
November 19th, 2010
I have JUST discovered what a Wordle is. Well, actually I have seen these beautiful word clouds around for ages but just thought they were a design style. I never realised that there was an online tool that allowed you to create your very own Wordle. And.. it… is… AMAZING!!!
Saying I LOVE this tool is no understatement. It is fab-u-lous!!!
I did a search on google for “what’s a wordle” and cam across this great post. I loved the comparison between Michell Obama’s speech and Sarah Palin’s. So I found the Wordle tool online and decided to input my bio into it (the bio I use for my website and all my speaking gigs or anything else that needs a bio).
This, with a little customisation of fonts and colours (you can’t change the words once the Wordle has been created) is my BIO wordle:
Isn’t it pretty? And of course the word marketing is at the centre of this just like everything I do.
PLEASE go to Wordle and send me yours – you can screenprint it or if you have a Mac then Apple + Shift + 4 will let you take a snapshot. I would love to do a post with all your Wordles on. I love mine so much I am going to use it on my new website (coming soon!).
Tags: keywords, what are your keywords, wordle, wordles
Posted in Just Too Busy, Silly stuff | Comments Off
What’s Your Distraction Reaction?
November 17th, 2010
You might be wondering what a distraction reaction is. Despite being a catchy phrase I came up with the other day, it’s actually a real phenomenon.
Think about it. How do you deal with distraction? What do you do when you’re working on one thing and then something else vies for your attention? How you manage this is your “distraction reaction” and it’s crucial to how successfully you manage your time.
Types of “Distraction Reaction”
Some people will stop what they are doing, deal with the new thing and then maybe go back to what they were doing before or get completely distracted and do something else altogether. not a great time management technique but an easy habit to fall into (especially if you are procrastinating about the original task in the first place!).
Others will ignore the new task, or distraction, entirely, until they have finished what they are working on, and then they will deal with it. Even more restrained people will put it on their priority list and get it to in the proper order.
I’m kind of in the middle. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: small business advice, small business tips, time management, time management techniques
Posted in Business Focus, General, Just Too Busy | 1 Comment »
IS content KING?
September 24th, 2010
I read this great post last week called “60 Proven Ways to Increase Your Online Marketing Influence” on the Hubspot blog and I bookmarked it because I knew I would want to come back to it: 1) to refer to and remind myself of the ways mentioned and 2) because I realised it would be a good basis for a post of my own.
Out of the 60 ways included in the list, 12 of them (that’s 20%) mentioned directly or referred to “content” or “message”.
So IS content King?
Errr simply: YES. Without content you would have no blogs, no newsletters, no websites, no sales letters, no stream, no feed, no… anything. So yes it IS king, but only if you get it right.
Your content is the real vehicle for getting your business, message, brand and more out there – the ways you do it i.e. Twitter, your marketing material, your video tutorials etc are just the carriers. So what’s more important in content? What you say, the way you say it or how you deliver it?
Opinions differ. Some people may say that no matter how good your content, if it is not presented in an easily digestible and/or visually attractive way, then it doesn’t matter what the content says. I agree.
Others say that the channel is the most important and dictates the perception and expectation your reader/your audience will have of the content and will influence their reaction to it. So if your content isn’t that hot but you disseminate it through the latest technology then the wow factor may be enough to get a positive reaction and carry you through. Again I agree.
Yet another point of view I have read and heard booted about (especially from clients) is that if your content is good, if what you have to say is earth shattering or completely unique (well they think it is), this will override all other considerations. Here is where I would disagree.
It’s not just what you say…
Just like body language, just like tone of voice, the way you present your content depends on the way it is presented and the method of delivery you use as well as what you are actually saying.
On the flip side to this, no matter how glitzy your presentation or how wow-y or trendy your channel of communication, if your content is rubbish – there’s just no coming back from that.
So yes! Content IS king but presentation and delivery of that content are the throne that the content sits on and the crown that tops it all off – and what’s a king without his (or her) throne and crown?
Tags: business marketing, communicating, content, marketing content, marketing for small business, marketing message, online content, online marketing, successful marketing
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Social Media and Marketing: Using Your Head
September 23rd, 2010
During my usual weekly rummage through the delights of the Internet I came across this absolutely wonderful post by Frank Strong, the director of Public Relations at Vocus & PRWeb, a client of TopRank Online Marketing and featured on Top Rank Blog.com. It was called “7 Social Media Lessons from Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid”.
A well crafted, currently relevant (vis a vis Karate Kid 2010) and a fondly nostalgic blog post, it really summed up the best way to approach social media and the ways I myself try to approach it. However, out of all the words of Miyagi wisdom “using head for something other than target” hit home the most for me as I see this applying to all forms of marketing and promotion, not just social media.