Marketing tips

Know your success factors

1 thing Success factors

After a very patchy, unpredictable year (which I think is going to be the future pattern) today's Do This One Thing is to think about these success factors and start to make a list of what you might need to do next year. 

I'll help you work through some of these in early 2025. 

Not all bad news

When the news is full of fuel price hikes and everyone around you is strapped for cash, it’s difficult to feel upbeat about the future. There is some good news. Not everyone is struggling…

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Make people cry

1 thing Make people cry

Today's Do This One Thing is simple and essential: you need to make people cry

Actually I’m not exactly suggesting that you should make your visitors cry, but the fact you’re reading this demonstrates the power of emotions.

Many believe that marketing is expensive or difficult. It really isn’t. What you need to do is simple:

Avoid being bland.

Make an impact by being memorable.

Develop a strong emotional appeal.

Make people feel something.

That’s all you need to do.

The…

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The power of three

1 thing Power of Three

Today's Do This One Thing is very simple! It's all about using the power of three

  1. If you want people to remember something, put it in a list of three. 
  2. If you want to help someone make a choice, give three options.
  3. If you want people to feel comfortable enough to book or visit you, use three things. 

(see what I did there?!)

Three is a powerful number - very useful in marketing

Our brains like to have choices, but not to feel overwhelmed. They also like to remember info…

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Delight both first time and repeat visitors

1 thing First time and repeat visitors

Today's 'Do One Thing' is really simple, yet few businesses ever do it... 

Many years ago we stayed at a hotel in Canada. It was off-peak and the large hotel was almost empty. Every evening for five nights the owner served us dinner. Every evening he introduced himself, asked where we were from (no other Brits in the hotel at the time), explained the short menu and the buffet starter arrangements.

Every evening. Not a flicker of recognition.

Still the same spiel, despite us maki…

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Ideas for social media posts in Autumn

1 thing Autumn social post ideas

It's the one thing everyone tells me they struggle with - ideas for social media posts

What can you write about to keep people interested and engaged, even if your business isn't open or busy at this time of year? 

For today's Do One Thing, I'm going to suggest you quickly brainstorm some ideas for Autumnal social media posts so you have a stack ready to go. Here are a few ideas to get you started. 

Instead of just scanning through these ideas, I suggest you get a pen and paper …

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Autumnal marketing

1 thing Autumnal marketing
If you're trying to promote your business in Autumn and Winter, you need some really good images to help counteract some of the negative pictures in people's heads that might otherwise deter them from visiting. 

Promoting Autumn and Winter means creating a cosy feel, showing visitors that our locations are inviting and good places to be through-out the year. 

Some tips to create cosy images that sell

Light can be really flat during the day in Autumn and Winter, so think about ta…

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Generous marketing

Copy of 1 thing generous marketing

I think we can all agree this has been an unpredictable, patchy year? Really good in parts, bad in others?

It really does feel like it's time for us all to work together. Tourism can be affected by so many different factors (weather, cost of living, pestilence, competition) which we can't control. We can however make everything feel better.

Community. Collaboration. Kindness. None of them cost anything, yet they have enormous power. Visitors love to be in places where these qualities a…

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Tough love - technology

Technology fear

In today's Do This One Thing blog I'd like to encourage you get over any fear of technology you might have. And stop procrastinating!!

“I’m rubbish with technology”

I hear this from tourism business owners every day. Even from the ones who seem petty good with technology!

If you’ve ever said or thought you’re rubbish with technology, it’s time for some tough love.

You’ll thank me for it later. Actually, not even much later if you read and act on this. Within minutes you could be doing so…

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The power of photography

1 thing use photographic evidence

There's one action that you probably know you need to take, but... you might not yet have got round to doing. Maybe you can take this as a reminder/nag?!

It's actually several related actions: take more photos, organise your photos, use your photos!

Images are essential ‘evidence’ and a crucial part of your marketing.

When someone leaves your website to go to a review site, or just scrolls past your info in social media there's often a simple reason: they need to see more - and the 'right…

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Never ever use these words and phrases

1 thing avoid these words

In this series of blogs, each week we'll look at one quick action you can take to strengthen your marketing. Make sure you come back each week for the next step - many build on the previous action. You might find it useful to read last week's blog before working on this one. 

Everyone wants to find a way to promote their business as cheaply and effectively as possible. You probably want to make your website, social media, mailings more effective without spending anything? 

The answer is to sta…

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