GUEST BLOG BY ALISON PAGE MARKETING

SMALL BUSINESS START-UP TIPS

Based upon her own experiences, Rebecca asked me to write this guest blog to provide marketing information, assistance and direction to small and new business owners. 

The following is really just the tip of the iceberg but covers, in my mind, those areas most commonly forgotten or disregarded by the small business owner.

I hope you find it interesting and would love to receive your feedback.

Step 1 Research your [intended] market

·       Is your product or service something that people are looking for?  

·       Is it already being supplied?  If so, what is your potential competitor’s price and quality?  Review their packaging and promotional activity.

·       Can you compete or do any of those elements differently, or perhaps better? 

·       Who are you intending to sell to, are they male or female, old or young and does it matter? 

·       What are their habits? 

·       Where are they based geographically?

·       Where can you find them?  Online, in a shop, perhaps a leisure centre or up a mountain!

·       How do they typically research and purchase for their needs?

Tip:  Price should never be the sole differentiator, it is difficult to maintain and you could find yourself in a spiralling downward price war!

Step 2 Consider your inbound and outbound communications

·       Where would you like the majority of your enquiries to come from?  The reality may be different, so be prepared!   Do you need a website, or perhaps a holding page would suffice in the short term?  Social media is the new word of mouth, is it a viable medium for you and your business?  Online networking, referral and directories all play a key part but put your energies into the area which is your priority.  Don’t ignore the others but focus initially on one, when time (and money) may be at a premium.

·       Think of a brand or two that appeals to you.  Why?  What makes it special?  What do you like about it or them?  How do you engage with them?  Now think how you and your brand can appeal to your prospective customers.  What can you learn and apply?

·       Be consistent in your tone of voice, style, communications and offering.  Disjointed messages will create uncertainty and if people are uncertain about you or what you offer, they will look elsewhere and your credibility will suffer as a result.

·       Use a language which is appropriate to your audience.  It’s easy to get carried away with industry terminology.

·       Ensure you remain professional at all times, from your initial contact, through to contract to invoicing to follow-up.  This will reinforce your reliability and help build trust and long term relationships.

Tip:  Don’t just focus on the features, major on the benefits.

Step 3 Present a professional image

·       In line with the above, consider how you’re presenting yourself; again you need to be consistent. 

·       Use a representative and professional photograph of yourself online and complete your bio’s thoroughly and appropriately, giving consideration to your audience. 

·       Your chosen marketing activities need not be expensive but make them count in terms of quality, professionalism, relevance and include a call to action, ie, what you want the reader to do and, of course, your contact details. 

·       There are lots of free software and tools available now for publishing, social media, blogging platforms, newsletter templates for personalised communications, forums and video and PR distribution sites.  See below for some suggestions.

·       By all means produce your own literature, fliers and business cards in the early years but again be professional (avoid Word Art at all costs!) and utilise the reverse of business cards as a reminder of your offering.

·       Find your niche, what you’re good at and where you can add value.  Customer service is becoming a key differentiator, so go the extra mile and offer an enhanced service.

Tip:  Get feedback.  What are people looking for and how do they perceive you?  Learn from this, refine your offering and repeat!

Step 4 Learn to juggle!

·       Seriously, you will need to wear a number of hats once you start your business.  Your priorities may end up looking something like this:

1.     Look after and meet the needs of existing customers

2.     Find new customers

3.     Find new suppliers

4.     Complete invoices and accounts

5.     Complete admin

6.     Review competitor activity

7.     Review industry technology

8.     Self-development and training

Tip:  Seek help from the professionals and focus on what you’re good at.  Professional assistance will offer skill in the required area, valuable experience, objectivity, greater knowledge of what resources are available to you, how to make best use of your spend and provide a source of new contacts.

Useful tools that I can recommend:

·       Wordpress for blogging

·       Hootsuite for managing multiple social media accounts

·      Mailchimp for email newsletter templates

·       Animoto will turn your photos and video clips into professional video slideshows

·       PR distribution site with free stats

For further information on how Alison Page Marketing can assist your business, please telephone mobile: 07963 002065, send an email to Alison@acpmarketing.co.uk or visit my own blog: www.alisonpagemarketing.co.uk/blog.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Good luck and best regards, Alison

Liesl & Anthony's 50's Wedding

Liesl & Anthony's wedding was such a pleasure to photograph, not least of all because Liesl has known me since the age of 6, but also because she made everything from her own wedding dress, the bridesmaid's dresses to the invitations, sweetie bags, candy buffet, cake, you name it, she made it!  Her attention to detail in her 50's themed wedding was outstanding and I just had the best time capturing all the details of her day.....and what a lovely family, you couldn't wish to meet nicer people :)

Thank you both for a truly special day - being your photographer was an absolute pleasure!

ANNA & DANIEL'S WEDDING

6th August 2011 was the date of Anna & Daniel's wedding,  and as far as emotional weddings go, this was right up there, even I had a tear in my eye during the service!  Their wedding was held at the Northchurch Baptist Church by minister and family friend,  David Russell and streamed live to Dan's home in the Philippines which was just beautiful.

Thanks to Anna and Dan for giving me the honour of photographing your wonderfully happy day....

STOWE SCHOOL VISIT, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

Recently my father visited me from his home in Durban, South Africa.  One thing he was really keen to do was to visit his old school, Stowe, in Buckinghamsire - in his words, "I can't wait to show you the greatest influence of my life".   He and his brother were born and brought up in India, so it used to take them about 4 days via army planes to fly over to their school in England!

I contacted the school about Dad's wishes and was met with such a lovely response from Caroline Whitlock who works in the Old Stoic Office there.  She really was so helpful, answering all our questions ahead of our visit and especially helping with Dad's specific request of wanting to see his old house, Temple House.  As it was the holidays, Caroline herself showed us around and both she and I were fascinated to hear some of Dad's stories about his time there given that both he and his brother, Robin Fennell, were both Head of Temple House in their time.

The story Caroline found most amusing was that in Dad's day they had 'skivs' who made their beds and waited on them in the dining hall!  No such luck now!   Although Dad's other recollection the minute we walked into the House-master's study, was that this was where he remembered being beaten!  Now, there are Childline posters all over the school which would have them fail their Ofsted if they were not displayed!  Oh how times have changed!   Dad was also able to enlighten the school about some names engraved above a fireplace, as those names of head of house from when the school was first established in 1923.   I guess it's not too often that Old Stoics from the late 40's visit the school, although they have had one or 2 more old boys recently, even more ancient than my 77 year old Dad!

But two things pleased Dad greatly.  One was being able to have a wonderful lunch in his old dining hall so I couldn't resist a photo in which my dad looks like the cat that got the cream!  The other thing was a copy of a report that Caroline had found from his old Housemaster, JF Roxburgh who dad holds in great esteem.  The report read " HUGH FENNELL - Remarkably good performance in boxing finals, March '49, beating Proctol (2 and 1/2 years older) badly.  Probably the best boxer in the school"
Dad has told us about his boxing days a bit but modest as ever, never quite said how good he was!  Amazing stuff.

We spent much of the day wondering around the school but in true English fashion, the weather wasn't too kind to us so we didn't get to wander around the gardens. However, it is open to the public so one day soon I hope to take my son there for a picnic because I think it would be great for him to see where his Gramps went to school - a very special place, I think you'll agree.  No wonder my father has such fond memories of his time in an English boarding school.

Thank you, Caroline, for giving both my Dad and I such a memorable day!

Portrait of an Old Stoic....