January 20, 2012 – 11:00 am
Are we hypocrites? A year ago we weren’t completely comfortable with what our business was offering. We weren’t completely giving the answers to some of the real difficulties experienced by businesses. Consequently, we went back to the drawing board and developed a range of distinct services that cover all the bases to effectively promote growing businesses. We are now completely comfortable with, and wholeheartedly believe in the tremendous value our services offer. Yes, these are exciting times.
But before we celebrate, we find ourselves in an uncomfortable position. We haven’t been completely practicing what we preach. We are very good at telling businesses how to market and promote themselves effectively but haven’t really been doing it for ourselves. Huge hypocrites. We know. The truth is, what right have we to profess to be great marketers and communicators if we don’t do what we say?
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December 15, 2011 – 5:41 pm
You probably have a business presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You might have a profile on Foursquare, Flickr and YouTube. And there’s others! Each of these communication channels have a profile section where you can complete information about you and/or your business.
Once you’ve chosen what social media channels are right for your business, ensure you get the most out of your profiles with these five tips.
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November 22, 2011 – 5:19 pm
Gone are the days when the only time you needed a profile picture was for a boring organisational chart or a mug shot hidden at the back of a brochure. With the prolific use of social media for business your personal public image has become rather more significant.
The real reason you are using social media for business should be to build relationships. The people you are aiming to connect with will want to know who is speaking to them. Therefore there is a need for professional images. Here are five tips on public image profiles (for example, your Twitter image). A photo blog of our shoot with Business Photography, who we recommend, also follows.
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November 12, 2011 – 9:14 pm
Through the web businesses can turn one way communication into two way communication. By stimulating conversation and interaction their audience can become more engaged. This is social media.
But debate rages about if businesses should get involved or not, whether it’s measurable, if audiences are really ‘engaged’, how much time to spend on it, how to control employees on social media channels… I could go on. Experimentation is rife, and rightly so. After all, this is so new, no one really knows how to do it perfectly (even all the self confessed gurus out there).
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September 11, 2011 – 6:42 am
I’m often baffled how so many business people perceive marketing. Contrary to popular belief or lack of understanding, marketing will not be successful if your approach to it is a one hit wonder, sporadic or spatter gun like. Getting the attention of your potential customers, and keeping it, is an art that takes commitment.
Marketing is everything that you must do to develop relationships with members of your target audience. The clue is in the word ‘relationship’. You cannot develop successful relationships without effort and time.
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August 16, 2011 – 8:49 pm
People ask, ‘I know I should be blogging, tweeting and facebooking, but what the heck do I say?’ Our answer is, ‘Do things with and for people.’ It’s one of those weirdly simple but complicated answers.
Firstly, involve your audience through questions, discussions, debate, competitions etc. Secondly, help your target audience through your content. Thirdly, remember that when you do things with and for people in the traditional face to face sense, you usually like and trust them. And that means that you will show your true personality. So, get to know people and show some personality!
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Our business has evolved. In the past few weeks our name has changed from SaraBrown Ltd to Something Beckons Ltd. When I’ve announced this at networking events everyone has been very keen to know why. I thought I’d answer that question here too.
I’ll tell you a little secret about our previous name SaraBrown Ltd. I had sarabrown.co.uk which was originally my portfolio site from when I graduated from university. We needed to become a limited company because of our work with our sister company in Zambia. Budgets were really tight (I mean really tight) and time was short. We became SaraBrown Ltd and that served a purpose for a while.
Today we are Something Beckons because in order for our vision for our business to manifest we need a name that is memorable, quirky and distinctive. We needed our name to mean something. After months and months of discussion we came across the word ‘beckon’.
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I’ve just slammed the phone down. It was a recorded message saying something about debt management. It’s 7pm, I’ve just got in from walking the dog, I’m thinking about my supper. What makes them think I want my phone to ring for a machine to talk to me right now?
This is a classic example of outbound marketing, and frankly it sucks. Here are some other examples of outbound marketing:
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February 6, 2011 – 10:37 am
Every morning when you get out of bed you’ll consider what you’re going to wear. Dressing up is the norm. So if we all get dressed up, why do so many people fall at the first hurdle and fail to dress their business message up? Dressing up your wares is what I would call marketing, graphic design and effective communication.
Each morning you’ll consider what your day has in store and dress appropriately. You’ll be aiming to send out the right kind of signals depending on what you want to achieve. Some will make conscious decisions about their choice of dress while others will argue they don’t care how they dress. To those who say they don’t care, my point is, you still get dressed. I have yet to come across naked people doing business (thank goodness)! Let me clarify…
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January 16, 2011 – 9:22 pm
What are the do’s and don’t s of image use? This has come up a lot recently in various discussions with some of our clients. Images are a huge part of our work and here is our advice on handling pictures and image rules.
Note that this is not a discussion on the legalities of copyright and ownership as that would need a thesis – these are just simple enough tips to help you come across more professionally. Here we discuss reputable image sources and the best way to handle your images.
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