Marketing Secrets

• Blogging for All
  If you're new to blogging it can be a bit daunting. Blogs (short for “web-logs”) started out as personal online diaries, which is one of the reasons businesses find them difficult to understand as a marketing tool.

• Search Engine Marketing
  Marketing on the Internet is a challenge and as the internet grows daily and more and more people put up websites and fight to get theirs up the search results list on Google, it all gets a bit overwhelming. Especially if you're responsible for marketing your business!

• CRM What is it? And How to Use it...
  CRM is short for “customer relationship management” and these days you can buy off the shelf software specifically designed as a complete “customer relationship management” system for your business. But let's not forget the basics – CRM is a tool to help you to track contact with potential and existing customers and to make sure that you keep in touch with them.

• E-newsletters and Emails
  Keeping in touch with your customers has never been easier!  As long as you get it right, there's no excuse to not keep junk mail to a minimum and provide your clients with useful information.

• Don't Forget to Network
  Many of us understand that we need to produce a marketing plan and quite happily arrange a schedule for the year which includes PR, advertising, exhibiting and direct mail. But how often do you remember to include networking?

• Make an Impact and Get Into the Press!
  Putting together a marketing plan focuses the mind on your marketing mix, in particular deciding which elements will work for your business. Your marketing plan should reflect a multitude of methods to reach your target audience and PR (public relations) is an excellent way to do this.

• SWOT Analysis or Not?
  If you're a marketer already then chances are you'll already know how valuable a SWOT analysis can be. Even if you're not, you'll probably have come across them for business planning or just as one of those useful business tools.
  
  But why are they so useful?

• Find your USP and Stand out from the Crowd
  Surprisingly, you don't have to be that radical to be different from your competition. Creating a marketing plan is the perfect opportunity to think about what your Unique Selling Point (USP) is and you'll probably find that the answer is already there.

• Marketing Plans - Keep it Simple
  We're great believers in making marketing plans simple – because if they weren't easy to follow, you wouldn't use them – right?

• Marketing Evaluation - Measuring What Works
  To see the benefits of their marketing and just as important, to understand why it sometimes doesn’t work, successful marketers measure and evaluate what they do.

• Marketing Plan Templates - Getting it Right
  Knowing that you need a marketing plan to take your business forward is one thing.. how to put one together is another matter altogether! Even if you already have marketing experience or run your own business doing everything including the marketing and the washing up, putting together a plan is not something you do everyday.

• Internet Marketing - Tips and Hints
  For some businesses, launching a web-site complements other ways of selling products and services – others might decide to sell exclusively using the internet or “e-commerce” technology. If you have a business that has always marketed using traditional methods or “off-line” - how is “online” marketing different?  

• Competitive Marketing - Make Friends with your Competition
  Although we usually see our competitors as a threat, they can also be incredibly useful. Watching what they’re up to means you can learn new techniques to market your own products and services and keep you one step ahead.

• Corporate Image - Identify Yourself!
  You don’t have to be a huge corporation to establish an image that identifies your business and sets you apart from the competition. By using a logo and a consistent style it’s surprisingly easy and cost effective to develop an image that your customer can instantly recognise.

• Marketing and Customer Service - the Customer is King!
  You know that your customer is supposed to be “King” but just how can you guarantee that they will come back and rave about you to other people?