Five Tips For Boosting Employee Morale

The research that positively correlates workplace morale with employee efficiency is extensive and well documented. Any business consultant will tell you that a happy workforce is a more productive one. Despite the trend being near common knowledge many employers still neglect to employ morale boosting techniques and encourage a more productive workplace.

The fact is an expensive business consultant isn’t necessary to raise employee morale and neither are grand gestures or costly schemes. Here are five simple, inexpensive techniques instead – perhaps give them a try in your workplace!

1. Food

They say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. In fact, there aren’t many people who’d be upset by an offering of free food! A round of pastries on a Friday to round the week off or a business lunch to break up those arduous Mondays can really give staff a lift.

2. Stash

Free clothing is another simple way to keep people in high spirits. By giving out a t-shirt every few months emblazoned with the company logo, not only are staff getting something for nothing, they can also wander round advertising your firm to whoever they come into contact with outside of work!

3. Engage In Conversation

If an employee feels undervalued, forgotten or out of place he or she is unlikely to perform to their potential. As a firm’s director try to speak with as many employees as possible, not only to keep them interested and let them know they are valued but to gauge their opinions on how the place is run. Moreover, act on these opinions, particularly if there is a common theme. If everyone feels the office is too warm, for example, turn the heating down!

4. Team Work

Left to their own devices, most people will slowly dwindle until they are moving at snail’s pace. By encouraging team work and collaboration, employees almost become self-regulating, keeping each other on their toes. Organise workloads in such a way that encourages collaboration and gets active minds exchanging ideas.

5. Competitions

Most people have an element of competition in them, some even a burning desire to win. By running competitions every so often not only are you allowing employees a break from their daily tasks, you are stoking their willingness to succeed.

The competitions could be charitable – ‘who can raise the most money?’ for example, or work related – ‘come up with a new slogan for our next ad campaign’. Who wins isn’t always important, but encouraging participation keeps staff on their toes and encourages competitiveness – something essential to success.

So there we have it. Five simple morale boosting techniques that you might like to try in the office next week. You might be surprised at how effective they are!

Marketing Corporate Social Responsibility

In the 21st century any marketing consultant can testify to the fact that social responsibility has become a necessity for medium to large sized firms and corporations. Whilst being socially responsible can be extremely beneficial to a company’s brand image a failure, or even perceived failure to be so is potentially catastrophic.

There a whole host of factors to corporate social responsibility, including sustainability, environmental considerations and corporate philanthropy and for a company to be seen as socially responsible each of these must be addressed. Moreover, each factor needs to be carefully marketed to create the double victory corporate social responsibility can allow.

First of all, and most importantly, a social responsibility policy must have its foundations in the core principles and beliefs of the company involved. This ensures the ethos spreads throughout the entirety of a business and is consistent between different departments and branches of a firm. Failure to do this can lead to a mismatch of practises between difference departments, causing truly responsible acts to come across as disingenuous.

On a similar note, a well marketed corporate social responsibility story is only as good as the actions and ventures that make it. The public quickly see through projects that are executed solely for the benefit of a company’s brand image or share price. In fact, a story with solely selfish intentions can quickly escalate into significant bad press.

The good news is, however, that by being genuinely green a company can expect an increase in popularity and even share price according to a number of studies in the US and USA.

Similar studies also show that by being transparent a company can also benefit both financially and in terms of reputation. By opening up to scrutiny a firm can address its shortcomings and easily allow the public, investors and media to examine their operations and corporate responsibility record.

Transparency and corporate responsibility story alone however will not do the trick. As any marketing consultant knows, the key to any business is marketing and corporate social responsibility is no different. A company should create a brand image that ties in their social responsibility with their day to day operations and ensure it is visible to as many audiences as possible.

For a company relatively new to social responsibility the road to achieving ‘nirvana’ can seem daunting. As is often the case however, becoming a champion in one or two aspects can be far more effective than attempting to master every facet of social responsibility. This is not to say that every factor of social responsibility should not be addressed, but that championing those close to the company’s core principles can be far more effective than spreading resources too thin.

Once this ‘champion’ status has been achieved there is no reason for a company to reinvest the rewards back into an expansion of the social responsibility policy and further philanthropic ventures.

A Structured Approach To Your Business Marketing

When it comes to marketing your business, having a realistic plan or structure is all important. Unless you have an experienced marketing team on side, it’s all too easy to get drawn into adopting a ‘scattergun’ approach to your marketing, which won’t achieve the success rates you want. In fact, you could end up thoroughly frustrated and despondent, because you will be wasting so much time and energy on activities which won’t work for your business.

So how does this happen?

Scattergun marketing normally occurs, either because business owners try several different marketing strategies in isolation. For example firing off one sales email, setting up a blog and writing one post every two weeks, signing up for a Twitter account, then forgetting to Tweet at regular intervals.
 The other reason businesses adopt this scattergun approach is because they really aren’t at all sure of what ‘actions’ they should be taking. They know they should be ‘doing marketing’, but what does this really mean for the individual organisation?

The key thing about internet marketing is that there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution. You need to take the right ‘actions’ for your particular business. But how do you know what these are? Going down any number of blind alleys will cost you valuable time and money.

However there is a solution. Discussing your business with your marketing company – your ally in digital marketing success.

Your marketing company will have a wealth of experience in helping companies like yours produce better results with their marketing. They will draw up a plan of action, with realistic, achievable targets, so you will know exactly what they intend to do for you and when, and what each element will cost.

A marketing company will make running your business so much smoother and easier, because it will free up your time to concentrate on other elements of your business like customer care and service delivery.

Having a structured internet marketing plan means that it will be so much easier to track your Return on Investment in the future. You will know exactly how much your leads and conversions are costing you, as well as the cost per customer.

Without a structured marketing plan in place, it’s all too easy to deviate from your course of action and you will not achieve the financial rewards you deserve.

So why not find out how a marketing company can deliver a structured marketing plan that adds value to your business – today.

What Can Marketing Companies Do For My Business?

Running or starting up a business in the current financial climate is not for the faint hearted. With any business venture there is always so much to think about and never enough hours in the day to get through the longest ever to-do list in history!

That's why it's good to know that help is out there for existing and new companies who are struggling to get themselves noticed in the busy and competitive world of commerce. Whatever product or service you sell, no matter how good it is or how much you believe in it, if nobody knows about it, you will have problems.

This is where marketing companies can help. A good marketing company is one that helps you to grow your business successfully, using a blend of technical expertise, business know-how and experience. Using tried and tested methods,  marketing companies can successfully formulate strategies that will project forward to where you envisage the business in the future.  Marketing professionals are familiar with advertising methods, public relations and how the influence of media and digital marketing is growing in business – with the help of those in the know, your business can be elevated to the top position it deserves.

By employing the services of a marketing company, you are actively helping your business to succeed. An objective and experienced marketing team will immediately identify areas in your company where improvements can be made. Sometimes being so close to the action, you are unable to see where things are  not working as well as they could. A skilful marketing pro will make an initial assessment of how your business is performing and offer suggestions as to how things can be changed to achieve positive results.

Of course the one positive result all businesses crave is more sales, higher turnover and customer growth.   Many angles are covered by marketing companies in their role to improve your trading position. From troubleshooting to mentoring, formulating digital strategies to elevating your company's name into the top search rankings,  there is plenty of fire-power in the marketer's arsenal. They can also analyse the corporate image and customer service levels of your company,  and offer suggestions where improvements could be made.

More business is done over the internet these days than face to face, and the importance of having a strong  online presence can not be over-stated. Don't allow your business to fall behind simply because you don't  possess the technological know-how. Internet marketing specialists can increase your visibility with the right target audience by using tried and tested methods –  following a thorough digital marketing re-vamp it is often the case that business queries via the internet quickly overtake those of more traditional means.

But surely all this expertise can't come cheap - how much does it cost to employ the services of marketing companies? The short answer is, whatever you invest on marketing services, you almost always make it back in increased revenue. It is wise to look at the long game and to have some kind of marketing plan. Whether you sign a long term contract with a firm of marketers who have a lengthy and detailed strategy mapped out for your business, or an outfit who offer short-term, quick-fix solutions, both are equally valid and have their place.

When To Call The Business Consultant

Running a business can sometimes be lonely. When the buck stops with you and all the responsibility for success or failure is laid at your door, it can be tough. Sometimes, when things aren't going too well, when the phone is quiet and enquiries are few and far between, it can make a lot of sense to take advice from an objective expert. Securing the services of a Business Consultant can frequently make the difference between  staying afloat and going under, and in these turbulent economic times the demand for such advisers is increasing.

When you are really close to a problem, it can be impossible to see the way out of it. When a business is struggling and everything you try to improve the situation seems to flounder, you need fresh ideas and insights from an experienced adviser. A good adviser will assess your business model, analyse your working methods and review your marketing strategy. Having examined how the business is functioning, they will report back with their opinions and ideas for how things could be improved.

Think of a Business Consultant a little like a personal trainer for your business. They will assess how fit your company is, where it can be leaner and performance enhanced. Soon they will have things running smoother, faster and more efficiently than ever and your company will have a far healthier outlook. They will have the know-how and experience to identify what makes your business special and how its unique qualities can be best marketed. Ongoing support and help with implementing changes and planning is often part of the service and frequently clients are left wondering how they ever coped without such expert assistance.

A business can be a twenty-four hour commitment and there is never enough time to think about the bigger picture. Areas such as strategy can fall by the wayside as you fight to meet the the company's demands on a daily basis. They can work to understand the way a company functions and make suggestions on how certain processes or procedures can be improved.

A Business Consultant should be used as a trusted sounding board for your hopes and dreams for the company. Don't be afraid to share your ambitions for the business. Often things you considered either too expensive, impractical or just impossible can be achieved with less effort than predicted.
Increasingly, with so much business being conducted online, to guarantee success, a heavy web presence is frequently recommended. By formulating a digital marketing strategy that meets the needs of your trading model, and can turn around the fortunes of your company quicker than you imagine.  Utilising digital marketing tools such as social media and delivering elevated search engine rankings can have a really positive effect on your company's visibility and online presence. This in turn frequently translates to business growth – which is after all, the shared goal of both client and consultant.

Is Your Business Easy To Find?

No matter how high the standard of your services and products, if your business is difficult to find, new custom will be hard to come by. The internet has made it easier than ever to find business details; from contact details to product prices, customer testimonials to company history. If your business information is not easy to find, access to your competitor’s material is just one click away.
When you want to improve your organisations visibility, hiring a marketing consultant is one option.

However, there are simple steps you can take yourself to make it easier for your customers to find you online and off:

Improve your website – In the year 2013, there’s little chance you haven’t got a website for your business, but a website is pretty useless if customers have a hard time navigating to find the information they require. Ensure that your website has an easy-to-use and professional design with clear menus and legible font faces. Incorporate sharing functionality so users can easily send page links to other web users via email or social media networks.

Get started with social media  - Not every business has the budget for an in-house social media marketing consultant, but establishing Facebook, Twitter and Google+ profiles for your business has become more important than ever. When a customer wants to keep up-to-date with company news and offers, social media is one of the first places they will turn. Facebook is a brilliant tool for displaying opening hours, product images and testimonials to your customers, old and new.

Utilise business directories – You may consider the Yellow Pages a thing of the past, but with deliveries made to homes across the UK each year, it still remains an essential directory for any business. YP advertising can be costly but today there are thousands of free-to-use business directories online. Both for local and nationwide marketing.

Encourage reviews – Much like business directories, review sites offer a brilliant (and often free) space to detail your company information, as well as encourage positive reviews from your existing clients. For the hospitality sector, TripAdvisor is a must use. Small businesses can maximise on local review websites as well as Google+ business pages.

Signage – Make your business easy to find in the physical world. Consider clear signage or striking shop faces for your small businesses. Add concise directions and an accurate map to your website too. Google Maps have made it easy to provide a detailed map on your website, whilst listing your postcode makes it straightforward for SatNav users.

Improve your SEO – Search engine optimisation is a complex process; with ever changing search engine algorithms it can be hard for a novice internet marketer to keep on-top of what really works. However, SEO is an essential element in making your business easy to find online. When used effectively key phrases in your business content can help your company to appear in online search listing for queries relating to the services and products that you offer.

How To Increase Your Online Sales

One sure fire way to increase your business profitability is to increase your sales, but effective marketing will be wasted if you can’t convert those who visit your website into paying customers. Before hiring the services of a business consultant, for in-depth strategies relating to your organisation, try the following steps to increase sales online:

Make your services clear – One of the biggest barriers between you and your online sales is your website home page. It’s a common mistake to try to be witty or poetic on your landing page, but clear headers that detail exactly what you offer can make a huge difference in securing custom.

Improve your CTA (Calls-to-action) – Effective calls-to-action are essential in triggering your customer to do something, whether that is: adding their name to your mailing list, browsing your products or placing an order. CTA’s should be ‘above the fold’ of your website, meaning there’s no need for viewers to scroll down.
Use concise headlines and phrases that direct action like ‘Sign-Up’, ‘Buy Now’ and ‘Contact Us’ along with colours and images that stand out in a simple and professional manner.

Emphasize the benefits for your customers – Put yourself in the mind-set of your buyers, how do your products and services really benefit them? List these benefits within your content and product descriptions. Use percentiles and statistics were possible; by how much can your software increase productivity? How fast will your new diet plan help people lose weight?

Customise your offers – For some small businesses a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is not the most successful. Even when you think your audience is a homogenous group, look closer and make sure you have segmented your potential customers properly. Your actual products/services need not change, but the way you market them can.

Make sure you’re easy to do business with – Secret shop your own company. This could mean heading in store and browsing physical products or sitting back and using your business website to place an order. Is it as easy as possible to do business with your organisation? A quick review of the purchasing process can help eliminate inadvertently pushing clients away.

Display testimonials and reviews – Online business is based on trust. When we can’t see and touch products in advance, we rely on reviews, particularly if we’re making a hefty investment. The same applies to online service providers. Testimonials help build a trustworthy reputation when clients won’t have the chance to meet you face-to-face.

Make the most of social media – Today, business consultants will tell you the growing importance of social media for increasing business sales online. The amount of time and money you invest in online marketing will have a direct impact on the results you can achieve but even casual use of social networks for business can see an increase in traffic and lead generation. Facebook, Twitter and now Google+ have become staples in any organisations online presence.

Ensure a sense of urgency – If you want to make quick sales, you need to convince your browsers they need to buy now. Irresistible offers which have a limited time period are a great way to instil a sense of urgency for the buyer.

Five Flaws Of Management and Business Consultancy To Avoid

Management consultants are used by businesses of all sizes and in all areas of industry and commerce. It is true that a good business consultant can be worth his or her weight in gold; developing implementable business strategies, streamlining processes and essentially steering a company towards a more profitable future.

There are, however, certain pitfalls that are essential to avoid if your company is to truly benefit from the services of  business consultants.

1. Pre-Packaged Solutions
Too many businesses settle for ‘one size fits all’ consultancy. Your firm is unique; it has its own unique problems and therefore requires unique solutions. Any consultancy firm that fails to recognise this is ultimately going to provide a substandard level of consultancy and fail to reach the best results for your firm.

Of course, any good consultancy firm will have a set of tried and tested techniques it uses but this is very different to proposing bland, non-bespoke strategies and plans for its clients.

2. Inexperience in Your Field
Small business consultancy firms typically begin targeting a niche area of industry. As they grow, however, they may begin to diversify into other areas that perhaps their consultants do not fully appreciate or understand.

For any consultancy firm to produce real, deliverable results for your company it is essential their consultants are experts in your field. Always ask for evidence of their experience before signing any consultancy contract.

3. Lack Of Sustainability
A common complaint from businesses that have hired consultants in the past is that once the contract has come to an end or a project has finished, the results that they were enjoying suddenly disappear.
Always check a business consultancy firm has a sustainability plan. The best will offer a period of audit following a consultancy project to ensure their work is sustainable.

4. Report Only Based Consultancy
Some consultancy firms offer purely only report based consultancy. This means the consultants spend a period working in a company, auditing their books and processes, before writing an extensive report on what the firm could do better. This is the end of their involvement.

For a company to get the most out of a consultancy project the consultants need to be hands on and work alongside the firm to ensure their plans and proposals are implemented. It is very rare the implementation of a proposal will go exactly to plan and the best consultants will be dynamic and able to adapt to problems as they arise.

5. Non-Relevant Consultancy
Finally, there are so many different types of consultant it is important for a company to enlist the services of one relevant to their needs.

For example, an IT consultant may well be fantastic at setting up technology infrastructure but completely out of his or her depth in terms of website development. Both tasks fall under the category of IT but require very different skill sets and it is important the company fully understands what they require from the consultant.

What Your Business Can Learn From Apple’s Marketing

Ready . . . Fire . . . Aim . . . hey, we just launched a new product!

And so it was with the very first Apple Computer.

Yes, you did read that first bit right. ‘Ready. Fire. Aim.’ – rather than ‘Ready. Aim. Fire. ‘

Which is what the majority of businesses would do.

Many business owners have grand plans for their businesses – but (and it’s a big but) – they never take action on them. Or maybe they take action in small increments, but they don’t take the MASSIVE ACTION that will achieve their goals. In fact, some business owners will spend months poring over every word, every comma of an ad, without ever putting it ‘out there’ to be judged by its public.

That’s mainly because they are waiting for conditions to be exactly right before they do whatever it is they dream of doing. But the key thing is, it’s never going to happen. If you wait for conditions to be ‘exactly right’, you will never get your business to the place you want it to be.

Now I’m not advocating that you throw a bundle of cash at marketing your latest product or service without due diligence, but what I am suggesting is that you get your offering to market in any way you can and then assess customer feedback, modify as necessary and relaunch. There are a number of specialist marketing companies that could help you accelerate your success in this arena.

Here’s the Apple process again:

• Ready (we know it’s not yet perfect)
• Fire (we’re launching it anyway)
• Aim (we’ll get customer feedback, modify our product and relaunch it)

Many software and technology firms do this to great effect. How often do you see Sensational Software V1.0 – and that’s it? No, you’ll get infinite upgrade options every now and again with many modifications and add-ons. (And hopefully, any bugs fixed!)

Procrastination for procrastination’s sake is the enemy of innovation. It can halt your company’s progress – it could even mean you get beaten to market by a main competitor.

So unless you are waiting on a patent application, or are bound by some other legal restriction where disclosing your product design too soon could be a problem, taking massive action could see your business move forward in leaps and bounds.

Why not discover how online marketing consultants can help you get your business to where you want it to be?

Ready . . . Fire . . . Aim . .  . right?

Do Your Customers Like You?

It’s no secret that we as consumers choose to buy from people (businesses and brands) we like and trust. So if I asked you what your customers think of you – do they like you? Do they love your products and services? Do they trust you? Do you know?

If you’re a fan of ‘Mary Queen of Shops’ or ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’ and the like, you will know that when Mary Portas or Gordon Ramsay attempt to turn around the fortunes of an ailing retail store or restaurant, one of the first things they will do is to ask customers of that business what they think about it. What they like about it – and mainly what they don’t. Yes, it makes for compelling TV viewing, but there’s a sound resonance behind this approach also.

Namely that once you know what your customers like or don’t like about your business, you can create a strategy to address these things.

Many businesses fail because they create a product or service for which there is insufficient demand. Another reason for failure is due to poor marketing strategy. If there is a proven demand for your product or service, but your marketing messages are either not reaching the right people at the right time, or your messages are not being understood, then you will need to take steps to address this.

Customer complaints can be good for business

The most successful businesses thrive on customer feedback – not only do they encourage it – but they actively seek it.

“How was your shopping experience today? Tell us at ourwebsite.com and you could win a £25 voucher to spend on your next visit.”

And did you realise that your customers who complain could turn out to be your biggest allies? That’s right, if you acknowledge the validity of their complaints quickly and put them right, research shows that these customers are likely to become your brand ambassadors – possibly for life.

As a business owner it may be more palatable to bury your head in the sand and blindly carry on as you are. That’s perfectly natural. As human beings we all want to be liked and most of us like to think we are good at what we do, but unless you seek feedback from your customers regularly, you may never know the truth of why people buy from you and why they don’t.

You may wish to engage a marketing consultant to set you off on the right track with your customer feedback campaign. Or if you are on a tight budget there’s a really simple ‘two-minute customer satisfaction survey’ you can download from the ‘Marketing Donut’ website – just insert your business details and logo and you’re good to go. You can of course customise the feedback form as you wish.

And once you know what your customers really think about you, you will be able to drive your business forward with confidence.

Nike To Push Women’s Running Products And Digital Fitness

When it comes to sportswear, the sale of women’s clothing in the UK may well be going to outstrip that of men’s sportswear. The example of outstanding women’s sportsmanship at the London 2012 Olympics will no doubt have played its part here. Fitness and sporting achievement are things many people are all starting to take more and more seriously.

Nike, the world’s biggest sportswear brand, is looking to take advantage of this by heavily targeting women in its running category for 2013. Nike saw a 7 per cent rise in group revenue in the three months leading up to November. This has been attributed in part to the double-digit growth from its running division which it believes has been what it calls a ‘growth accelerator’ for its womens’ products.

Charlie Denson is president of the Nike brand, and has said that the running category will be growing organically through marketing and ramping up investment in product innovation throughout 2013: “If you look at the combined strength of women’s running, training and sportswear year-to-date, it is outgrowing our men’s business. Better still, our women’s business will be bringing a lot of new energy into the retail space this spring and on into the summer.

“I continue to see a lot of opportunities for (the running) category. Participation rates are growing around the world, our performance innovation is stronger than ever and apparel continues to bring new energy to the consumer.”

Basically, Nike’s strategy for the next year will all revolve around making its running, training and sportswear categories more appealing to women. Alongside this, it will be growing its range in the increasingly competitive digital fitness category. In the sector it already offers its FuelBand sports performance monitor, and in 2013 it is set to launch an accelerator scheme for start-ups to develop their own digital fitness products. All the major players in sporting goods and apparel are stepping up their activities in this area so it is certainly a key focus for future development.

According to Mark Parker, president and chief executive of Nike: “We are just beginning to tap into the potential of digital technology, but we believe the opportunity to drive growth long-term is incredible, and we will be investing accordingly to capture that potential in product, in brand and e-commerce.”

Marketing A Marketing Firm

One would hope that a firm specialising in the subtle art of marketing would be fully capable of carrying out their own marketing and advertising strategy. Whilst in the boom times this is usually the case, many marketing companies are currently failing to reach out to their potential client base in these tough economic times.

The trouble is many firms cut back on what they consider to be luxuries in times of economic downturn. Unfortunately for marketing companies, their services are often deemed so; particularly in smaller businesses across the UK.

It is therefore essential for marketing firms to not only offer affordable marketing plans to their clients but also address the fact that their services are indispensable and could even be the difference between profits or loss, particularly as our economy struggles to start moving once more.
How? It is not always that straight forward.

First of all, for a company to even consider extending their current contract with a marketing firm (let alone enter into a new one) it is going to require the budget. This could mean offering current clients a better deal or even reducing the agreement to meet their tighter financial constraints.
New potential clients are going to need to see a marketing package that they can afford, whilst of course a marketing firm has profit margins to maintain. Offering deals such as an ‘internet only’ package at a reduced price is one example of a reduced package that could attract companies with smaller budgets.

Whilst anyone in business should appreciate the need for a sound marketing strategy, not all companies believe that they require the services of a marketing firm to develop or implement one on their behalf. As mentioned, this mentality often leads to a drop in companies outsourcing their marketing requirements and hence a fall in the potential client base for marketing firms.
It is on the onus of such marketing firms to address this belief and ensure that their entire potential client base have full confidence in the firm’s ability to increase sales and revenue for their customers. This can be done in a number of ways.

Client testimonials and success stories are always a sure fire way to encourage confidence in potential clients. They allow companies to see first-hand the work a marketing company is carrying out and the success it is delivering to its clients.

Blogging is another method a marketing firm can employ to attract customers. Keeping a blog on the company website allows the firm to share details of any accolades it achieves, any notable success stories as well as discussions about the very latest marketing techniques it is employing. All of these inspire confidence in potential clients and increase their likelihood of approaching a specific marketing firm.

At the end of the day, there is little point preaching to the choir. The majority of marketing firms are very clued up on how to sell their own business. In such trying economic times, however, it is always wise to take a step back and question just how suitable one’s own products are for potential customers.

The questions to ask are ‘can our customers afford our services?’, ‘are we offering them great value for money?’ and ‘will we really add value to their business?’
If the answer to these questions is yes, you might just be on track.

Applying Six Sigma To Marketing

Terms such as ‘Six Sigma’, ‘process improvement’ and ‘DMAIC’ are not traditionally the jargon of a marketing consultant. Nevertheless, there is an increasing proportion of such experts using this technique, developed by Motorola back in the 1980s, to improve their marketing strategies and process.

So what is Six Sigma? What is it all about?
Essentially, Six Sigma is a methodology that aims to reduce the amounts of faults or mistakes in a process. If a process has achieved Six Sigma, statistically there will be just 34 mistakes in every 1 million opportunities.

That sounds great, but how does it apply to marketing?
Well, a marketing consultant may never reach Six Sigma although the methodology that comes with it can greatly increase his or her marketing success rate. Imagine coming even close to selling to 99.99966% of the potential clients that view an advert! Of course that seems ridiculous, but the methodology once developed in the manufacturing industry can actually help a marketing business.
In fact any organise with a goal orientated strategy or process can achieve results with Six Sigma methodology, as long as the strategy is well defined and organised.

What is this methodology?
The Six Sigma methodology is centred on one acronym, DMAIC.
Define – a company needs to define the problem and the goals it wishes to achieve. This could well be top level targets such as ‘increase sales’.
Measure – the firm should then measure its existing system, determine its capability and establish parameters in the current system that could be optimised to improve it.
Analyse – once the parameters to optimise have been established, the company should apply statistical tools to discover just how to do so. Look up ‘design of experiments’ and ‘Taguchi methods’ for an idea where to begin.
Improve – once the firm has established just what can be done cheaper, faster or safer it should do it. Being inventive is no bad thing; the statistical tools are there for guidance rather than constraint.
Control – the new process needs managed effectively to ensure it operates smoothly and efficiently.

How would a marketing firm go about implementing this?
In the manufacturing world, Six Sigma infrastructure is typically implemented as follows.
Black Belts – These are the people responsible solely for the implementation of the Six Sigma process. They should be knowledgeable about the process to be optimised and focus their entire time on implementing Six Sigma and DMAIC.
Green Belts – These are the staff who, whilst continuing with their day to day responsibility also lend a hand to the implementation of Six Sigma.
Process Owners – These are the line managers whose own operations are going to be the focus of the Six Sigma optimisation.

 Can it really work in marketing?
Whilst the Six Sigma approach was certainly developed for the manufacturing world, there is absolutely no reason it cannot be applied to other industries. It already has been widely adopted in the financial world as well as in health care and marketing is simply another industry that could certainly benefit from the approach.

From optimising administrative tasks to better identifying potential customers, Six Sigma is waiting for the marketing consultants and companies of the world to grasp it and utilise it to the very best of their ability.

Why brand awareness is is commonly overlooked by UK SMEs?

Constraint is the word that comes to mind every time an employee or a business has an excuse. Why is a project not completed? The deadline was not realistic. Why is a website not ranking in search engines? The cost involved is too great. The questions and excuses are never ending, but that doesn’t solve the issue that is on the table today.

It is the constraints that business owners connect with brand awareness that mean many SMEs throughout the UK are not necessarily avoiding brand awareness, but overlooking it completely. They assume that time and money invested in brand awareness can not be measured in terms of return on investment (ROI). Of course, when developing a cost-benefit analysis, ROI is important, so without a measurement, an analysis can not be developed.

Brand awareness is slightly different to a marketing campaign that is designed to promote or sell a product. Brand awareness is creating awareness within a demographic about a brand and its products. This helps potential consumers to assign a certain value to these products. Ideally, the brand and the products on offer are the first things that this potential consumer is going to think of when they are need of a product, without seeing a direct advertisement.

Effective brand awareness takes time, money and strategy, but is it really worth it? For those that are looking for a few sales on eBay, no. That being said, for those people that have a vision of creating a leading brand in their industry, brand awareness engagement is something that should be considered part of their every day business activities.

In fact, starting to create a brand image might not be as complex, expensive, or time consuming as many people might imagine. Even well designed banners, located in the right places can start to implant a seedling into the brain of a consumer that can grow into something of high value. The more diverse brand awareness strategies become, the more a customer will relate to that product. Look at the likes of Coca-Cola and Red Bull, both brands that are well known by people across the globe; thanks to brand awareness.

Let’s assume a brand is a manufacturer of extreme sports casual wear. By visiting extreme sports events and consistently placing banners at these events, they will start to create awareness for their brand. They might not be able to instantly and effectively measure the ROI of their efforts, but the end result is that next time a potential consumer walks into a retailer, that stocks their products, they are likely to look twice, knowing that they have “seen that brand before”.

The impact of that initial sighting of the brand is not really measurable. The potential consumer gets in the spirit, at an event relating to their passion, they see the advertisement and assign this with their passion. From here they see the product in a store, buy it and who knows how many like minded people buy the same product as a result of a positive review?

Would You Like To Make Your Business More Successful, Risk-Free?

As a business owner how would you like to:

Do more of what works and eliminate what doesn’t?

Create and implement a successful marketing strategy?

Establish a positive and productive working environment?

Deliver a consistently higher Return On Investment?

A professional business consultant can help you achieve all these things and much more.

Every successful business needs a workable marketing strategy at its core. The problem is, some companies waste endless time and money creating random strategies and projects that never go anywhere. Even assuming they do get off the ground eventually, they will not provide a return on investment worthy of the resources spent on them.

This is where the services of a qualified professional can really pay dividends: Someone who can demonstrate many years experience, who boasts a portfolio of successful projects to show you, and a network of readily available contacts who can use their know-how to drive your business forward quickly.

More than likely your advisor (or an associate) will already have gained considerable knowledge of your industry and will be able to set you on the right track from Day 1.

Whether you need help with creating a business plan, writing a bid or grant application, planning an exhibition, internet marketing – or perhaps you’re not exactly sure what you need help with – only that you do. Either way, a specialist advisor can help steer your business in the right direction using proven strategies, without wasting precious time on ‘maybes’.

Don’t leave the future of your business to chance. Any direction could be the wrong one if you don’t know where you are aiming at. A top-notch business consultant will look at your business with a fresh perspective and a keen insight. He or she will identify problems which could halt your growth, while unearthing opportunities to exploit new and existing markets.

How does that sound? Exciting? A tad overwhelming?

You will naturally be concerned about getting value for money, as you would be when hiring any professional advisor or service. So if you are worried that budgeting for business advisory services could be a problem, seek out the kind of business consultant you only pay for upon ‘agreed results successfully delivered’.

If you’re thinking this kind of consultant doesn’t exist, let me assure you he does – though it’s somewhat rare.
This is the kind of proven confidence you will want to inject into your business and marketing strategies from now on.

Drive More Customers To Your Website With Google AdWords

The world’s most popular and powerful search engine is currently Google. When business owners talk about getting their website onto Page 1, they generally mean Google.
So what kinds of businesses could benefit from a Google AdWords campaign?

Basically, any business that has a website. And these days, if you are in business, frankly you need a website.

The really great thing about using AdWords to bring more visitors to your site is ‘relevance’.  You will know that the people who come to your site having clicked on your ad are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. That’s because they entered your keyword or phrase in the search box – and your ad matched! And of course, you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad, not each time it appears in the listings. The clue being in the name: Pay Per Click, or PPC.

Once your account has been set up and your strategy determined, your first ad(s) can be up and running within the hour. Assuming your campaign has been research properly it should quickly pay for itself in terms of additional enquiries and sales.

The first thing you will need to do is to identify the main keywords and phrases people might typically use to find your business online. Who is your ideal customer? Where do they live? Are they mainly local to your business? Or might they be national, or international? What is their age group? Does what you do or sell have a gender bias? What sort of websites, blogs or forums does your ideal customer frequent? How do they access the internet primarily? Is it via a PC, or is it more likely to be via a tablet or mobile phone?

Once you have built up a mental image of your ideal customer, it’s time to decide how much funding you will allocate to your ad campaign per month and how much you are prepared to bid for a particular keyword or phrase. Google’s keyword tool and keyword question tool can help you identify the sort of keywords and phrases your target audience is most likely to use to find a business like yours. This can be an ideal starting point.

To those in the know, Pay Per Click can be an extremely cost-effective way to run an advertising campaign, regardless of your budget. However it can prove expensive to dabble in if you aren’t sure what you are doing. Outsourcing your ad campaign to an AdWords professional will inevitably save you time and prevent costly errors that could blight your success.