Last weekend my Dad piped up and said he was going to the boat show on the Sunday, and basically asked ‘who’s coming?’ This is not unusual - he’s been going to The Boat Show for as long as I can remember, and mum’s been putting it off that long, too! Exhibitions are nothing new to me, but I’m glad to say that this trip was all for pleasure, rather than work!

I LOVE boats, and I love going to The Boat Show – it’s the only time when I let my self do some real dreaming!

For those who don’t know, The Boat Show does not just consist of new shiney boats like the ones above; but sailing schools, boat chartering companies, chandleries, ladder companies, and even mat companies attend The Boat Show here. Obviously the best bit of this show is the HUGE gym palaces’, as you can see from the ques below…

Exhibitions can be quite daunting if you’re new to them as a business. There’s a lot to think about, from your stand set up, position and neighbouring stands, to sending your appropriate gear there and packing it up. The Boat Show goes on for a week, so the stands required cover for all of that time, too.

If you get your exhibition right, the day will be gone before you know it, but if you don’t, the days are soooo very long… and this is what I really noticed. The busy stands were REALLY busy and the dead ones were soooo dead – the difference? Well, the ‘dead’ stands were usually covered by one person who had resorted to a chair and doodling, whilst the busy stands had people there looking enthused and ready to answer your questions… well, almost ready!

Don’t get me wrong - I’ve been that person manning a stand on your own and it’s not that easy to look enthused when it’s quiet and you’re almost watching the clock; but my point is, you need to make it interesting! How? Well you can have:

• Competitions – in exchange for their contact details, one of your consumers could win something!

• Exhibition Prices – exclusive deals only available at the exhibition!

• Promotional Materials – brochures, sweets, pens, calenders, and so on…!

• Demonstrations – seeing the desired product doing what you say it does is a great way to make sales.

Firstly, you need to know exactly what you want from you exhibition – you pay good money for these spots, so you must make it work for you.

It’s vital that your product or services are VERY OBVIOUS from your stand! If you want to create awareness and make some sales, then you need incentives, like the ones above, which are exclusive to your present consumers.

Some consumers get nervous that the appropriate sales person will jump on them at the first sign of interest, which is true, and not necessarily bad thing for the sales person to do… but an exhibition like The Boat Show is so large that it takes all day to get around and see everything, and a lot of people like my self want to get around, so we just pick up the appropriate brochures to get the job done that bit quicker - unless we’re drawn in for another reason – and that’s what I want you to focus on.

When we were nearly done, one sales girl randomly asked us whether we’d like to stop and enter their competition, and it’s VERY unusual for us to stop in this situation, but Dad must’ve been having a good day because he gave his contact details away without hesitation. Much to the shock of us all, he actually won a prize that he wanted, although he didn’t get to choose it. But of course, not everyone wins; however, now they can send these people promotional stuff from now on.

There was one stand that REALLY caught my attention, and you can probably see why – it was the only stand that had gone to this much effort; they were selling central heating for boats – but unfortunately for them it wasn’t really obvious to those who don’t know what central heating systems look like and didn’t look as high up at the sign that said what they did, so I took a photo and swiftly went! But still, well done to them for producing such a work of art – this sort of thing makes people stop and want to know what it is; however, remember that it takes more than that to achieve results.

Consumers want to take an interest at these events, but they also want to spend their time there well.

How do you know whether your stand was a success? Well, you don’t know how successful it was unless you measure in some way. Yes, sales are a definitive way of deciding whether you got a good return on investment, but if you were looking to get a lot of contact details, either through competitions or membership, how do you put a value on that? Did you hit the right customers?

As an exhibitor, you must have set goals to decide whether you’ve achieved them. Exhibitions don’t have to be scary, as long as you know you have something to offer and you offer it well. Exhibitions can be a great way to meet interested consumers and like-minded people – enjoy them!

Whether you’re advertising online, in parish council magazines or in the newspaper – you need to know whether the return on your investment is a good one. This means that whatever time and money you put into your chosen form of advertising, you must measure how many enquiries or sales that has created for you, and in-turn, whether it’s been a worth while investment.

Here are a few of ways of capturing where your consumers found you:

• Ask consumer when they enquire through a call or online form
• Ask them on a feedback form
• Ask them on a follow-up e-mail or telephone call

The best forms of marketing vary from business to business, but the idea is to find out which ones work for you, and then keep doing them!

The mistake many small businesses make is to use only one or two forms of marketing. Keep your options open by at least knowing what else you can use when you have the initial funds or time to implement them.

With growing forms of marketing and greater knowledge of the elements required in our materials, it’s much easier to get it right the first or even second time – however, it’s important to know that it may not necessarily be the form of marketing you use that doesn’t work, but quite often it’s the material being sent out.

The only way to ensure you material works is to test it on a small scale. If you don’t do this, you could pay the price for thousands of useless flyers or adverts to go out and not work – it’ll be lost money that you won’t be able to recover. To ensure you get your return on investment, test small, and if you get a good return, then you can then do it on a bigger scale.

If you want to purchase your own selection of Top Marketing Tips you can do so from this page.

Key Characteristics For Your Communications

So, What Do Your Customers Want?

Firstly, I must apologise for not writing here as I should have over the last couple of weeks! I admit, I made the most of the Christmas break and I hoped to avoid work as long as I could thereafter…and I know I’m not the only one! 

If you struggle with The January Blues too, I’ve written an article with tips to help keep your motivation, goals and achievements up, when business may be seemingly down…!Recently I’ve been preparing some figures for one of my clients; sounds boring, I know, but I’m quite excited for them, the benefits that they will get from their investment, and the challenges too.

I’ve been working for this company since the end of August 2009, and the initial challenge was to evaluate what they were currently doing to bring in business on their small budget, and how they could improve it; this worked well for me, because by helping them grow then, I am now able to help them grow again now.

My recent job has been to go through all their figures to ensure that my client puts forward a good case to the bank manager for securing some substantial funds.

Therefore, I needed to get know all of the following detail:

• Their previous income before the changes we made in 2009
• Their average current income since then
• Their current expenses
• Their previous expenses
• Their current marketing activities and expenditure
• Their current market demand and competition
• Their required investment for desired marketing schemes, machinery, vehicles (real figures)
• And their required future income to meet current debts, future commitments and expenses

This client started small, and in a sense, on the back foot! They got into their market at a time where their industry was really starting to be recognised for its earning potential, growing demand and technology. Unfortunately this company started with the industry experience and service to offer, but they were starting from scratch when it came to business knowledge. With a bad credit rating and the bare minimal to invest in marketing and office administration, it could not have been harder to start and manage a business. Now this company have got to the point where, with a little bit of help along the way, their income is now a sustainable amount to run effectively; the main competition, however, is starting to run away with the new technology, and they need to invest in bigger and better machinery to keep up, which also means new vehicles, to justify their pricing structure and service quality…

But for this, I also need to provide evidence that this company can create the demand, cope with the created demand effectively, and in-turn they will be able to produce the right amount of money every month to repay the desired loan.

By securing these funds, it would offer the company an opportunity to design and think about the new messages they can convey and promote to their current existing and potential customers.

• What makes this new machinery and technology better?
• How, or why does it meet their needs or benefit them?
• How is it value for money?
• Why should they YOUR company?

Money is precious in this day and age, and it takes a lot more persuasion for consumers to part with it!

I asked the company what they originally thought they would need to borrow, and after I had finished with the figures, they needed another half of their original figure mentioned to sensibly meet repayments in the required time and still have cash to reinvest, or for unexpected, and unwanted surprises!

This was perhaps an unwanted surprise in its self, but with no cut backs available, this is a risk they needed to take, and anyone who has been there will understand that it’s almost like you could be signing your life away to the bank manager…

So before making any large investments or commitments like this, be sure that this is what you see your self doing in 5 or 6 years time, how will it effect your cash flow, and most importantly, your stress levels…

A stressed boss is never a happy boss, and an unhappy boss means unhappy workers, …and so on and so forth!

I’ve been a little naughty at the beginning of this year, because I haven’t been publishing all of the content I’ve written, and in turn, it looks like I’ve had an additional week or so off – which isn’t true! I have felt the initial post-Christmas blues, where I didn’t want to do very much, I didn’t feel overly happy about the work I produced and I had plenty of other things to keep me occupied. This article discusses what you can do to keep your motivation, self-esteem and achievements up!

As I’m sure many of you have experienced, with all the hype in the run up to Christmas, the excessive eating, drinking and socialising can often lead to you not knowing what to do with yourself when it all stops!

It is particularly hard to feel motivated when it’s very cold outside, everyone’s feeling the money pinch, and going back to work could not be more of a shock to the system. If you’re self employed, you could find that starting the year reminds you of starting business all over again; making your lists, getting back into your routine, planning your next move…!

Many business people may have worked through the Christmas break, but with demand often dwindling at the beginning of January, it can feel like a bleak time. Remember that your customers have similar experiences, and you can use these facts to personalise your customer communications; they too are thinking about the summer and next event to prepare for.

Helpful tips for The January Blues include:

Eating Your Breakfast: Attempts to reverse festive weight gain often involve meal-skipping; however, low blood sugar effect your energy and mood. Dietician Lyndel Costain recommends porridge – low-fat, filling and warm – which provides mood-friendly B vitamins, iron and zinc, and keeps blood glucose levels steady.

Exercise: Studies show that exercise is an effective treatment for mild to moderate depression, as well as that Christmas bulge! But you already knew that, you just need to find the motivation to do it – whether it’s a friend or a new exercise video, every little bit counts.

Your Sleep: Weekend post-Christmas “catch-ups” will make you even more lethargic and discombobulated. As you may expect, experts advise a regular pattern of 7 to 8 hrs per night to function well; and to kick your body clock back into place, it’s recommended that you wake up at the same time every day, whatever time you go to bed!!

These tips are of course like old news to some, but you will only really benefit from the tips if you put it them into action. If you’ve got goals for 2010, go and make them happen, because nothing happens on its own – it’s like waiting for that money tree to grow!

Find out what you really want to achieve this year and keep that goal in mind every time you hit a ‘wall,’ and your goals may be reached sooner than you think.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous 2010!

As a business, there will be a number of resources that are absolutely essential for you to operate, which could include:

• Tools/machinery
• Phone lines
• Computers
• Internet connection
• Printers
• Fax machines

And I write this article shortly after my partners laser jet printer started producing large black runner marks all over the printouts! And you’ll never believe when it started… well, at least I couldn’t!

It started when they were printing the envelopes for the Christmas cards. The only word that sprung to mind was, ‘TYPICAL!’ This printing had been left until the last minute and now the printer’s playing up. Just another thing to add to the to-do list before the week’s out…

From what I found out on the net, the toner is probably the problem – so it could be worse. For example, my partner, Paul, is in the Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning business, and he has to have a variety of machinery to be able to do his job, amounting to thousands of pounds – but what do we do if something happens to that? Well, we’ve had more than a couple of close calls, and at least one occassion when it went right past close and we’ve had to cancel work! Which leads me to my point…

Like most items we purchase, equipment lasts longer when it’s well maintained. Whether it’s a company vehicle, your printer or your machinery – they all will have a life expectancy, and it’s up to you to maintain your resources to ensure they last you as long as you expect them to!

As modern businesses, most of us will have a computer, internet access and electronic customer databases, and with increasing dependence on technology, you must ensure you also do whatever you need to do to ensure that your internet is secure and your data is backed up, because if you don’t, you will risk all of this detail being lost, and that may be irrecoverable!

I’m writing this shortly after all our latest power cut! Although it was only a few hours, it was one of the longest we’ve had in ages! They’re quite a rare occurance anyway, and of course, it could’ve been much worse. Particularly for us – we weren’t prepared with back up gear of any kind. Suddenly we needed generators, or candles, our fire and a gas cooker… Candles and fire we managed, but the generators and gas cooker were another purchase away…!

With increasing dependency on electricity to work, live and play, when it goes, we all get a little lost. My partner was a fine example – he was walking around in circles, wanting to go to the shops and tear out the board games only 10 minutes into the power cut! I recommended that he didn’t use all his escape cards too quickly, and thought he should try and enjoy it! (And this, coming from me, who can’t really leave work at work!)

Suddenly we had been thrown into a situation where technology was out the window, apart from our mobile phones (so we could still text mum!)

This article is for those of you who spend too much time thinking, worrying and of course, doing, work. Don’t get me wrong, I admire hard workers and don’t think much to slackers, but I recognise that some people just work too much, to the sacrifice of their health, spare time and may be family – although I’m a bit of a hypocrite, I write this at 7pm on a week evening while my partner plays his racing games on the computer (he doesn’t have much trouble not working)!

My point is that we were forced to do things a little differently that afternoon – we had no TV, no computers, no i-pod, no landline, no lights – just candles and a fire on a cold winters eve. My partner finally sat down with his Dad’s old guitar, which he’s been meaning to do for years, and started making some music; and may I say, considering he hasn’t played for years – I was very impressed!!!

We also got our Christmas Tree just a touch early this year, so the sitting room couldn’t have looked more perfect! My man, however, wasn’t occupied for very long, and any signs of a power recovery had him running to the ipod player, only to be disappointed seconds later when it crashed again..

Therefore, I could quickly see that we occupy ourselves with too much, because it’s too easy to do so. We can take work anywhere with us now, and we can play on most consoles – we don’t use our imagination to think about things to do anymore. As young kids, we specialised in making something out of nothing and we’d be content for hours, but now, we struggle to come up with anything more than a dinner out or a cinema trip. Some of us will sit at home, after finishing late, feeling unfulfilled watching TV for the rest of the night, or stressed out when we’ve got something to go to…

I appreciate that most people have 101 things to do, and I’m one of them! But this power cut made me see that we need to spend a little more time away from the technological screens and try using our minds to think of some stimulating activities that don’t involve consoles, computers or mobiles, and perhaps time will fly while you’re having fun!

I write this article a short while after I was involved in a car accident on my day off; I’m very glad to say that no one was seriously injured, at least physically! It may sound silly for me to remind you that keeping your records up to date, whether it’s your insurance details for your vehicle and premises, or your customer database, it’s essential – but sometimes it’s easy to forget how important it is! If you don’t ensure that these simple details are maintained accordingly, you could find your self caught in a big pickle!

I was reminded of this when a young lady was unfortunate enough to have not seen the 5 cars in a stationary position in front of her, and ended up writing off 3 cars, including her own, from behind. I’m happy to say that I was basically at the front of the que, and came off pretty lightly considering. My car was drivable and repairable, but if I wasn’t all up to date with my insurers, then it would have been a very bad day!

Not only did the police check that we were all insured appropriately, but they also checked that every single driver involved was breathalised and up to date with their vehicle M.O.T.’s!

My accident is just an example of a bad day that could’ve been a lot worse, and so let this article remind you not to avoid calling your insurers to up date your details, because you never know when someone else will determine the outcome of your day!

Of course, keeping your details up to date goes further than your insurance details; for example, customer details and subscriptions must be managed well, because you can really upset someone if they’ve followed the steps to unsubscribe more than once, and they’re still receiving unwanted mail! It’s even more embarrassing when someone has sadly passed on and a member of their family or a colleague has to chase you up to make sure they don’t hear from you again! It doesn’t look efficient or professional on you and your company, so make an effort to ensure you get it right the first time. Be sure to have return address labels on mailouts and unsubscribe links clearly visible, as this should save you time and money in the long run! Remember that you can increase your business efficiency if you offer your consumers automation and flexibility.

I hope this article reminds you to not only check everything is in order, but also to recognise that we can’t take what we have for granted, because you never know when someone might take it away!

Thank you for reading, and please do share your own experiences below…!

Well it’s a good sign that you’re here, but unfortunately I’m no mind-reader and I can’t work miracles…you must implement the things you learn to see any kind of change or benefit, and although that may seem quite obvious - a surprisingly high percentage of people like you and me have the knowledge and tools to implement new ideas and skills, but for one reason or another they are rarely used. This article goes over the main points you need to consider before starting-up your own business.   

Essentially it’s all about your attitude, because this will be critical to your business success. If starting-up a business is all a little new to you, you will soon find out whether you’re ‘made of the right stuff.’ It’s crucial that you have passion or determination to get where you want to be in business.

You’ll need to be self-motivated, good at working alone, happy to work alone, and you need to be good with your time and financial management. It does sound quite boring when it is put like that, but essentially with a lot of businesses, the hardest part is becoming established. Your determination and motivation need to see you through the harder times in business; if you’re lucky enough to have family support, then I’m sure that will assist you immensely when you’re not feeling so strong. When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, you will be the manager of yourself, and if you don’t do it - it doesn’t get done!

You must have My Three P’s: Passion, Potential and Persistence in your choice of business to ensure you succeed in this vicious world. Enthusiasm for your product or service is so important because it’s likely that you will be able to share and pass that enthusiasm on to potential consumers or investors. After a certain amount of time your passion and/or determination will probably lead you to a point where you could expand your business or just let it almost run or grow its self; either way, you should always be looking for continuous improvement, particularly because customers now tend to always look for the best value from businesses, and why shouldn’t they?

It is essential that you understand your ‘ways’ and ‘wants’ now, because you do not want to look back in a year or two and ask yourself why… why didn’t you do things differently for your business? Such as use your time, research, efforts or money more wisely?

Whether you are the type of person to watch your business grow, or the type who makes business grow, you cannot expect your customers to believe in you and your service or product if you don’t. You must listen to your potential audience and be open minded to suggestions, criticism and learning. You can never please everyone. Not everyone will be supportive or make your life very easy, because it’s not their job to. I’ve come across plenty of consumers who think you owe them something, but please remember that many are having a tough time at the moment and stress can do the funniest of things to people…(the others are just grumpy)!

“Smile and the world will smile with you!” Although smiling isn’t always easy when you feel down, particularly when you have to take on additional responsibilities and/or risks, you might well be surprised at how you can influence your own feelings by answering the simple question, “How are you?” with a “very well thank you” instead of an “okay…”

To find out how you can handle any stress and debt issues more effectively click on our other article links below!

The Importance Of Stress Management

Beware! Debt Consolidation Loans For Bad Credit

You must always remember that consumers buy a solution to a problem or predicament, rather than a product or service. Your consumers need to be given the reasons to buy or call you, but firstly, your advert, sales page or PR piece needs to have a striking headline that tells the ’story’ in short. You also need to tell them why what you’ve got to offer is unique to you or your recommended provider, and why they need to buy now.

Give them a headline they can’t ignore, following with plenty of reasons and visible proof to confirm the reasons to buy, with bonuses to make the offer irresistable, and then you must tell them what to do next…

Another popular way of building a relationship with new customers is to give them something for nothing, such as knowledge or free products. When you are communicating with your consumers, you need to address them in a personal fashion, so they feel like you’re talking to them directly and that you care about their experience, opinions and feedback. The old saying, ‘treat people how you’d like to be treated’ is the ideal one to remember here – consumers want to be treated as real people just as much as you do.

To communicate what your consumers want to hear, you must start by stating the problem or issue, challenge or predicament you are looking to solve to show understanding, and then you can address the possible future scenario for them if they purchase with you/your product.

Your headline is responsible for drawing the consumers in, then you must create interest and desire by presenting possible future scenarios for them, sharing the experiences of happy customers, and then direct your consumers to the required action to solve their issue. To really get your consumer’s attention, you must identify how they will benefit from your product or service to be able to communicate it to them. If you can’t pinpoint the benefits of your product or service, then your customers will struggle to too.

In conclusion, you need to put yourself in their shoes to understand what sort of service you can and do provide. If you like the idea of creating your own eproduct to give awa as a bonus, or to sell with your product, why not get Your Own Product Bible today so you can get started?!

If you want to create some attractive marketing material, whether it’s a website or a leaflet, there are some basic rules that you must apply for your copy to work for you.

1. Your headline - this must spark interest with your consumer. A question which addresses your consumers needs or desire is recommended to gain the consumers interest in your material. An ideal way to compile good headlines is to brainstorm your keywords and common problems associated with your subject to help you with this.
2. Your language – the language you use in your markerting materials is so important. I don’t mean your spoken language - but your written copy. It’s easy to get lost in your own work and even easier to pick up on the downfalls of others, but try to avoid all aspects of negative language in your marketing materials - if the reader is reading a positive message, they will feel positive too.
3. Your message - what are you trying to achieve from your marketing materials? Are you looking for an instant response or sale? Are you looking for feedback? What do you want you consumers to do when they have your material? It may sound silly, but you would be amazed at the large amount of copy that can be produced, perhaps rushed, and as a result be of poor quality. Also think about What’s In It For Your Customers.
4. Your guarantee - your consumers will often expect a guarantee from businesses now rather than it being a nice surprise. Therefore you would be daft not to assure your customers that they can have a full re-imbursement of their investment if your product or service is not to their satisfaction, and this needs to be clear on all of your marketing materials too. This is an important part of forming your relationship and trust with the consumer.
5. Be different! Consumers are bombarded with marketing materials all the time, whether they realise it or not. Therefore, for your marketing materials to stand out, you do need to be a little different. You can do this by producing your materials in bright colours, or maybe you could include interesting facts or quotes that could be inspiring and of interest? Use your imagination!

Would you like to get your hands on 101 copywriting tips, collated by the experts?