Marketing

Do you love… walking, potatoes, knitting, dogs, trees, beaches, scones?

It doesn’t matter what it is, someone loves it. Which makes for powerful marketing and happy people.

If you lead a website or blog heading, mailing or social media post with something that people love, they pay attention. You’re talking about something they’re interested in. You might be about to give them an idea that will make them extra happy.

Most businesses don’t match what they offer to what others love. 

Passion +…

Do you offer gift vouchers? 

With more people buying experiences as presents, offering gift vouchers for your business is a good idea. 

They're something you can offer year-round, but promote specifically just before celebrations such as Christmas and Mothers'/Fathers' Day. Don't forget to do some last-minute promotions too - you could solve some-one's gift-giving dilemma. 

There are two more advantages to offering gift vouchers. 

You can promote them year-round and generate income even when…

Every week when I'm talking about marketing, or someone is asking me how to generate more revenue in their business, the same thing crops up. 

"I'm scared I'll be too salesy or seem too pushy" or "I don't want people to think I'm doing a sales pitch" or "it feels like I'm in sales mode". 

Tough love:

You need visitors to buy, book, visit and pay you money.

You need sales.

You need to generate income. 

So you need to sell. 

It's not a dirty word. Selling can be done in the way a dodgy sec…

Hate social media? So do I.

But I also manage to reach almost 20 million people a year using it... (find out how)

Most of us don't actually like using social media.

But here's the reality.

Imagine you're running a cafe. You don't like washing up. So you don't do it... and what happens?

Imagine you're running a B&B. You don't like making beds. So you don't do it...

Those dreaded tasks are an essential part of running a tourism or hospitality business. 

If you want visitors to visit your bu…

Imagine you’re going for a walk in an unknown place. The directions say to follow a compass bearing of 90 degrees. You take a path across a field that’s a degree or two off that. It doesn’t seem to make much difference.

You keep walking.

That tiny difference starts to make a bigger difference. At first you’re just a degree or two off course, but over a long distance you veer more and more off the route. Perhaps you even get lost, and struggle to get back on the right track. 

That’s what happe…

We all do it. We start a business, and make a website or post on social media, and gradually add ideas and information. Perhaps you come to one of my marketing workshops and I give you an idea, which you add. And over time you get busier and busier. And you gradually drift into other marketing activities, with different messages. And you start to leave out the essential, foundational details. 

I was reminded of this yesterday when I spoke to a dog trainer. When I first met him a few years ago h…