Advice for your business – PR
PR (public relations) is what we all want for our business. Basically it is FREE publicity! But with free publicity comes the difficulties in obtaining it. You can’t guarantee a newspaper will print it or a radio station will read it out.
Apart from the fact that PR is free, why else do we want it? No publicity is bad publicity Well, no publicity is bad publicity. Take Kate Moss for example - She was in the papers for her controversial exploits recently and as a result she had most of her modelling contracts cancelled. With an expertly done PR comeback, however, she then obtained other, more profitable contracts! That’s the power of PR. For most Hollywood stars, PR is the wheel that drives their careers.
So how does this apply to you?
It’s simple, PR can enhance your brand and your image. It acts as a back-up to advertising and can even explain more detailed intricate products to the customer. The best aspect is that PR can stretch even the shyest marketing budget when promoting a business. Make it news-worthy I am not giving you the green light to write all about your upcoming promotion though. PR isn’t an alternative to advertising. In order for your press release (article) to be printed it needs to be news-worthy. This means you need to write something your audience will want to read!
Don’t sell birdseed to dogs
Why would a dog want birdseed? It wouldn’t. In the same way you need to make sure your article is targeted to a relevant audience. If your press release is relevant to an audience based in Dungarvan there is no point sending it to a newspaper in Wicklow! It’s important to think of what newspapers will be read by your customers or what radio stations they listen to and work from this. You should even set up a database of contacts you will send your press releases to on a regular basis.
PR doesn’t have to be frightening. In fact there are lots of ways to increase your chances of getting your press release printed. Contact Ace Marketing www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826 for a consultation to find out more about PR techniques. Your first consultation is FREE if your business decides to work with Ace Marketing within one month of your consultation.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Customer Database Business Advice
Advice for your business – customer database
In an ideal world your customer would walk into your business, buy a product/service, and walk out. They would then tell all their friends about how fabulous your business is and come back for repeat purchases along with all their friends! This is how it works right? Wrong. Gone are the days of face to face contact keeping customers loyal. In an age of competing prices, quality and service who can blame them? The customer is king and as soon as you as a business person recognise this and treat them this way, your business is destined for greatness.
Encouraging Loyalty
Why do you think all the major retailers have introduced the “club card” and run special offers and promotions? It’s not solely because they want to reward their customer, that’s for sure. It is so that they can encourage the customer to establish a habit of shopping with them. It is an ingenious and successful ploy to foster customer loyalty.
Employ this principle in your Business
You too can promote loyalty by valuing your customer. Put yourself in the customers’ shoes. What is drawing them to shop with you in the first place? Why would they come back again? Also consider the negatives. Why would they shop with the competition? Is your customer service up to scratch? Use this feedback and apply it to your business. If you can see why customers come back to shop with you then make sure to keep doing as you are. If you can see why they would shop with your competitor make changes to your business and fast!
Creating a Database
There is no point in saying “I have somewhere in the region of 4500 regular customers”. You need to be sure. Every business should have a customer database. The main reason being that you can have regular and direct contact with your customer if you know who they are! If you decide to offer them a loyalty card or a special discount you can easily send them a letter or an email to tell them!
Data Collection Technology
Times are moving on and there is lots of software available to gather customer data. You can even build a data collection mechanism into your website to enable you to follow up on leads from people who were browsing and entered their information. Data is so valuable nowadays and collection systems are so widely available, it would be a sin not to have a customer database.
Step One – Customer Database
Remember one of the first steps to take in marketing your business is to establish your customer database. If you would like a marketing consultation with Ace Marketing contact us on www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE if your business decides to work with Ace Marketing within one month of your consultation.
In an ideal world your customer would walk into your business, buy a product/service, and walk out. They would then tell all their friends about how fabulous your business is and come back for repeat purchases along with all their friends! This is how it works right? Wrong. Gone are the days of face to face contact keeping customers loyal. In an age of competing prices, quality and service who can blame them? The customer is king and as soon as you as a business person recognise this and treat them this way, your business is destined for greatness.
Encouraging Loyalty
Why do you think all the major retailers have introduced the “club card” and run special offers and promotions? It’s not solely because they want to reward their customer, that’s for sure. It is so that they can encourage the customer to establish a habit of shopping with them. It is an ingenious and successful ploy to foster customer loyalty.
Employ this principle in your Business
You too can promote loyalty by valuing your customer. Put yourself in the customers’ shoes. What is drawing them to shop with you in the first place? Why would they come back again? Also consider the negatives. Why would they shop with the competition? Is your customer service up to scratch? Use this feedback and apply it to your business. If you can see why customers come back to shop with you then make sure to keep doing as you are. If you can see why they would shop with your competitor make changes to your business and fast!
Creating a Database
There is no point in saying “I have somewhere in the region of 4500 regular customers”. You need to be sure. Every business should have a customer database. The main reason being that you can have regular and direct contact with your customer if you know who they are! If you decide to offer them a loyalty card or a special discount you can easily send them a letter or an email to tell them!
Data Collection Technology
Times are moving on and there is lots of software available to gather customer data. You can even build a data collection mechanism into your website to enable you to follow up on leads from people who were browsing and entered their information. Data is so valuable nowadays and collection systems are so widely available, it would be a sin not to have a customer database.
Step One – Customer Database
Remember one of the first steps to take in marketing your business is to establish your customer database. If you would like a marketing consultation with Ace Marketing contact us on www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE if your business decides to work with Ace Marketing within one month of your consultation.
Advertising Business Advice
Advice for your business – advertising
You might need to advertise to let people know your business exists and to generate revenue. Advertising return far outweighs the costs once you have chosen the correct place to advertise.
You should consider advertising if:
• You are in start-up mode or you have never advertised before.
• Your competition advertises or is passing you out.
• You have unique product or service.
• You want to grow your business.
You might think that’s all very well, every business needs to advertise but what if it doesn’t work? How will I pay for it? Where will I advertise? What will my message be? Let address your concerns.
Let’s face it, advertising works! Why else would businesses spend millions every year on massive TV campaigns? You have to spend money to make money. If you are unsure of the scale of advertising you need employ a marketing consultant or just take baby steps. Place one ad and see how it works.
Advertising can be large scale or small scale. If your business is a local Dungarvan based one, it would be pointless to have a billboard advert in Galway! Local advertising is generally cheaper than national advertising. There are also advertising rates to suit all budgets. You’d be surprised how small a budget can be.
Design shouldn’t really be a concern. There are marketing consultants, newspapers, and printers locally who offer design as part of their service. All you need to do is discuss what you would like on the ad. Be sure to listen to their advice however as they will know what colours, fonts, pictures, etc., work best in attracting the customer.
Where you will advertise depends on where you think your customer will read about, hear about, or see you. Put yourself in their shoes and think of where you might find a business you would be looking for!
Think hard about your message. Are you promoting anything? What information needs to be included? What is your advantage over your competition? Consider this before you decide what you want to say as this will make your ad much more effective.
If you would like a marketing consultation with Ace Marketing contact us on www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE if your business decides to work with Ace Marketing within one month of your consultation. Usual first consultation fee is €200.
You might need to advertise to let people know your business exists and to generate revenue. Advertising return far outweighs the costs once you have chosen the correct place to advertise.
You should consider advertising if:
• You are in start-up mode or you have never advertised before.
• Your competition advertises or is passing you out.
• You have unique product or service.
• You want to grow your business.
You might think that’s all very well, every business needs to advertise but what if it doesn’t work? How will I pay for it? Where will I advertise? What will my message be? Let address your concerns.
Let’s face it, advertising works! Why else would businesses spend millions every year on massive TV campaigns? You have to spend money to make money. If you are unsure of the scale of advertising you need employ a marketing consultant or just take baby steps. Place one ad and see how it works.
Advertising can be large scale or small scale. If your business is a local Dungarvan based one, it would be pointless to have a billboard advert in Galway! Local advertising is generally cheaper than national advertising. There are also advertising rates to suit all budgets. You’d be surprised how small a budget can be.
Design shouldn’t really be a concern. There are marketing consultants, newspapers, and printers locally who offer design as part of their service. All you need to do is discuss what you would like on the ad. Be sure to listen to their advice however as they will know what colours, fonts, pictures, etc., work best in attracting the customer.
Where you will advertise depends on where you think your customer will read about, hear about, or see you. Put yourself in their shoes and think of where you might find a business you would be looking for!
Think hard about your message. Are you promoting anything? What information needs to be included? What is your advantage over your competition? Consider this before you decide what you want to say as this will make your ad much more effective.
If you would like a marketing consultation with Ace Marketing contact us on www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE if your business decides to work with Ace Marketing within one month of your consultation. Usual first consultation fee is €200.
Website Business Advice
Advice for your business – Websites
“What’s your website address?” Many of us have been asked this numerous times by potential customers and feel embarrassed by our reply. We then procrastinate about it for so long, that the only thing that spurs us into action is the high spec website our competitor has just launched! Sound familiar? Perhaps my outlining the benefits of a website may help you with your decision before it’s too late.
What is a website?
A web site is like your giant public bulletin board where people can get information on where your business is located, what you have to offer, why your service is unique, and what’s new in your company. It also is easily updated and changed frequently, and is a communication forum through which your customers can communicate back to you with questions, concerns and feedback on their needs.
How will it help your business?
The internet has revolutionized the way people do business nowadays and has A website will allow you to sell your business to a wider audience. Deise Design’s Willie Whelan comments “Websites are a very cost efficient way of reaching many customers cheaply and efficiently. Don't forget of course that your website is open for business 24/7. Typical small business websites will have between 100 and 500 different people visiting the site each week (depending on the type of business). If you were to compare this to other marketing efforts, you would need to hand out between 5200 and 25000 brochures or business cards annually to match the coverage!”
How do customers find my website?
While a website acts as a huge chunk of your marketing, you still need other tools to compliment it. You especially need to promote your website to generate traffic. Another way potential customers would find your website is through a search engine. One of the most important of these services offered by website companies is website optimisation. This means that they engineer the wording of your website in such a way that the search engines will pick them out as being most relevant. This is just as important as the look of your website as it generates visitors to your site.
Should everyone have a website?
It really depends on who your customer is. If you own a small local business that works through word of mouth perhaps you don’t need one. Another reason why you may not need one is if your customers are not the surfing type! However, if you operate over a large geographical area then a website is important for your business. Equally if you are offering a unique product or service then you can be found on a search engine. If your product can be bought online and your market is not geographically dependent then a website is a good idea.
These are all interesting points to ponder so if you would like to talk more about website contact Ace Marketing at www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE provided you work with Ace within one month of the consultation.
Promotions Advice For Business
Advice for your business – Promotions
Most businesses are affected by seasonal sales changes but there is a way to increase sales during quiet periods. When business is slow depends on the industry you are in. The typical busy periods for retail business are Valentines Day, Easter, Back to School, Halloween and of course Christmas. The “Sales” then kick in after Christmas and during the summer to encourage increased revenue in quiet periods.
How Do I Combat Slow Sales?
You can take two approaches to increasing your sales, the short term or the long term approach. It’s always best to take both as a short term sales increase while great won’t alleviate your problem in the future. A long term solution would be to make a detailed business plan outlining strategies for increasing sales and market share. A short term solution would be to run a promotion.
Should I Reduce My Selling Price?
Recently I had a consultation with a client whose sales were slow. He wanted to drop the price. I advised him to run a promotion for two months. He agreed and informed his target market. During this period his sales quadrupled as his customers wanted to get a deal. If he had reduced the price there would not have been a call to action for the customers to buy. His sales would still be at a lull.
Plan Your Promotion
Think carefully about what you want to promote, in what way and when. Here are some pointers;
1. Promote a product that will be attractive to the customer – a saving of €2 or a free pen might not entice someone to buy!
2. Make sure you are getting a viable profit – be aware of your margins before you decide on a promotion price
3. Check you have enough stock – don’t run out of stock just when things are starting to work
4. Know your customer – will a saving of money, a percentage saving or a free gift entice your customer to purchase now?
5. Know your seasonal fluctuations – In planning your promotion make sure you know when your sales lull is in advance. In this way you can be ready for it!
6. Communicate your promotion – make sure you advertise your promotion well through mail outs, advertising, PR, in-store point of sale etc. A promotion is no good if your customers are unaware it’s happening.
7. Note Sales Increases – Take note of any increases in sales during your promotion so that you can refer back to it for the next lull period!
If you would like to talk more about promotions, contact Ace Marketing at www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE provided you work with Ace within one month of the consultation.
Printing Advice For Business
Advice for your business – Printing
Printing may sound like the easiest thing possible to handle but trust me it’s not! You have your deadlines set for when your brochure needs to be ready so you send off the design a week early. The only problem is the printer also has his own deadlines and a week probably isn’t enough time to get your brochure done.
Time Management
The earlier you can send your design to a printer the better. This leaves time for you to proof it and make changes if you need to. It’s crucial that you let the printer know when your deadline is. Printers are very busy places but once they know what you need and by when, they can deliver.
Describe the finished article
You may think telling a printer you need a brochure is sufficient. You need to consider if you want it in colour, what size, what finish (gloss, matt etc.), how thick the paper will be and of course how many you want. You can print the same brochure at various costs if you have different finishes. Don’t compromise on the quality of the brochure to save costs though. The printer will know what finishes will suit your brochure so ask for their advice.
Ask for proof
You may feel like a diva but asking the printer for a sample or proof of the work before the bulk job is printed is a good idea. I always do this and I have often changed my mind about designs once I have seen them in print. You can make your changes then and at least when the job is done, you will be happy with the result. It may take longer to get it right but it’ll be worth it in the end. Again, remember to allow time for this when you are forward planning.
Decide on quantities
Something many people don’t know is that printing becomes considerably cheaper per unit, once the quantity goes up. For example, I got a quote recently for 5000 brochures that came in at €1233. For 10000 of the same brochures, I was quoted €1673. As you can see twice the quantity doesn’t mean twice the price. Make sure you have thought about how many brochures you require carefully. Remember that if you need a re-print in a few months time you will be paying full price. In the case above, if the client orders 10000 instead of re-ordering another 5000 in a few months they will save €793.
If you would like to talk more about printing, contact Ace Marketing at www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE provided you work with Ace within one month of the consultation.
Printing may sound like the easiest thing possible to handle but trust me it’s not! You have your deadlines set for when your brochure needs to be ready so you send off the design a week early. The only problem is the printer also has his own deadlines and a week probably isn’t enough time to get your brochure done.
Time Management
The earlier you can send your design to a printer the better. This leaves time for you to proof it and make changes if you need to. It’s crucial that you let the printer know when your deadline is. Printers are very busy places but once they know what you need and by when, they can deliver.
Describe the finished article
You may think telling a printer you need a brochure is sufficient. You need to consider if you want it in colour, what size, what finish (gloss, matt etc.), how thick the paper will be and of course how many you want. You can print the same brochure at various costs if you have different finishes. Don’t compromise on the quality of the brochure to save costs though. The printer will know what finishes will suit your brochure so ask for their advice.
Ask for proof
You may feel like a diva but asking the printer for a sample or proof of the work before the bulk job is printed is a good idea. I always do this and I have often changed my mind about designs once I have seen them in print. You can make your changes then and at least when the job is done, you will be happy with the result. It may take longer to get it right but it’ll be worth it in the end. Again, remember to allow time for this when you are forward planning.
Decide on quantities
Something many people don’t know is that printing becomes considerably cheaper per unit, once the quantity goes up. For example, I got a quote recently for 5000 brochures that came in at €1233. For 10000 of the same brochures, I was quoted €1673. As you can see twice the quantity doesn’t mean twice the price. Make sure you have thought about how many brochures you require carefully. Remember that if you need a re-print in a few months time you will be paying full price. In the case above, if the client orders 10000 instead of re-ordering another 5000 in a few months they will save €793.
If you would like to talk more about printing, contact Ace Marketing at www.acemarketing.ie or call 058 48826. Your first consultation is FREE provided you work with Ace within one month of the consultation.
Business Planning Advice
Advice for your business – business planning
How many of us have started a business only to realise that the first thing you should have done was put together a business plan? We are all guilty of this and in our defence there is so much to organise when setting up that a business plan is the last thing on your mind! If you only take one piece of advice from me let it be this, make sure you have a detailed comprehensive business plan. Not only you but everyone in your business should understand the business plan in order for it to work.
There are many reasons for doing a business plan. It allows you to focus on your goals and set strategies for achieving them. It tests the viability of your plans. It sets targets for you to measure how well you are doing. Most importantly for lots of us it is a standardised document that can be used when applying for funding from the bank, the enterprise board etc. It’s important that it remains a working document though. A good business plan is one with dog ears!
Things to add into the plan would be details on the background of the business. Where you started, who works there and what you have achieved already. Also you need to look at your competitors. Is there room for you in the market? What is your advantage over them? Next consider what you want to achieve. This would include your goals and objectives. You need to decide how you are going to achieve these goals. This is the crucial part of the business plan as we all have great aspirations but they are not always reachable. Your strategies would probably be different aspects of marketing, staffing, budgeting and more.
After setting down your strategies you need to think about how you will measure these to see if they are working and also the resources you will need to carry them out. Last but not least, include details of accounts. This means your profit and loss accounts, budgets for sales, budget for spending and anything else that you (or the bank) deem relevant.
If all this seems really daunting you can have a professional do the plan for you and then you will have a working document that will last you for a few years. Alternatively you can get some advice about where to start and have the satisfaction of putting it together yourself! Talk to me on 058 48826 or visit www.acemarketing.ie for more details.
How many of us have started a business only to realise that the first thing you should have done was put together a business plan? We are all guilty of this and in our defence there is so much to organise when setting up that a business plan is the last thing on your mind! If you only take one piece of advice from me let it be this, make sure you have a detailed comprehensive business plan. Not only you but everyone in your business should understand the business plan in order for it to work.
There are many reasons for doing a business plan. It allows you to focus on your goals and set strategies for achieving them. It tests the viability of your plans. It sets targets for you to measure how well you are doing. Most importantly for lots of us it is a standardised document that can be used when applying for funding from the bank, the enterprise board etc. It’s important that it remains a working document though. A good business plan is one with dog ears!
Things to add into the plan would be details on the background of the business. Where you started, who works there and what you have achieved already. Also you need to look at your competitors. Is there room for you in the market? What is your advantage over them? Next consider what you want to achieve. This would include your goals and objectives. You need to decide how you are going to achieve these goals. This is the crucial part of the business plan as we all have great aspirations but they are not always reachable. Your strategies would probably be different aspects of marketing, staffing, budgeting and more.
After setting down your strategies you need to think about how you will measure these to see if they are working and also the resources you will need to carry them out. Last but not least, include details of accounts. This means your profit and loss accounts, budgets for sales, budget for spending and anything else that you (or the bank) deem relevant.
If all this seems really daunting you can have a professional do the plan for you and then you will have a working document that will last you for a few years. Alternatively you can get some advice about where to start and have the satisfaction of putting it together yourself! Talk to me on 058 48826 or visit www.acemarketing.ie for more details.
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