Marketing trend articles have been swarming my social media feeds and email inbox for the last five or so weeks. As a marketer, I was initially keen to open these articles to discover some insights of what lies ahead, and what I need to add to my continual development.
Content seemed to be a key trend for 2014. Businesses must focus on their content marketing. Read More
Branding, as I wrote in Part 1, is the building block to your business and its marketing. It is built over time with consistency of message and service/products plus delivering on your promises.
A business’ brand will – dare I say should – be developed at the beginning of a business based around the business owner’s values and visions. And whilst a business will evolve over time, the core reasons for starting the business should remain.
I talk often that your brand is not your logo or your name; that customers and clients won’t build a relationship with these things.
Customers connect with people. And herein lies the next ingredient in your branding: your staff. Read More
Branding is one of the most important building blocks in the marketing of your business. Get it and your marketing plan, strategies and tactics right and you’re on your way to connecting with your ideal customers.
When I sit down with any new client, it is important before I start my work that I understand what they believe their brand is. Often this leads to much confusion of what a brand really is: Your message of why you’re in business and what you will deliver to your customers. Read More
a) Ask if they’re ok and need to talk?
b) Ignore the fact they are crying?
c) Ask them to come back when they have composed themselves?
Silly question? Well my experience, more often than not, is that most answer this question with the action of “b”.
So the real question is: Is it your responsibility to ask someone if they are ok? Read More
In my last post, I discussed how I had broken up with Facebook and the importance of keeping your personal and business pages separate. But the other interesting take-away from my experience was the reality of my online relationships.
Within a few hours of deactivating my personal account, one of my closest friends texted me asking how I was. Two days later, another close friend texted and two girls I went to school with, one I hardly know, contacted me via my business page. Out of 100+ friends, that was it! (Blow to the ego or what!) Read More
Facebook and I decided to break up. It’s not necessarily permanent, but I told it I needed a break to de-clutter my mind’s chaos. Knowing I am an addict and too nosey for my own good, I deactivated my personal account.
My love affair with Facebook and social media marketing is still alive and well though and I have my JoElla Marketing page still active.
But our personal break-up reminded me of why it’s so important to keep business and personal separate, especially on Facebook. Read More
Twitter is one of my favourite social media marketing platforms. How I’ve developed business relationships over 140 character, bit-size chats is a little staggering, but I have. Maybe it’s the fact we have to often think mindfully about what we want to say within such a succinct format that our true voice comes to the fore?
Whatever it is, I have actually met amazing, like-minded people via Twitter who support me and my business. But what I didn’t expect was for some of these people to become my accountability partners. Read More
Marketing is hard, let alone when you’re a start-up.
When I decided to take the leap-of-faith, my family and friends asked: “How are you going to get clients?” I joked back: “I better know, I’m a marketer!” Read More
Aspire Magazine article image
On my way to gym I decided to drop in to one of my favourite clothing boutiques. I was looking for a dress for an event. I needed help and watched two sales assistants ignore me and walk past.
I grabbed two dresses and helped myself to a dressing room. I came out twice to look in the only mirrors available, outside in the store, and still staff ignored me. In the meantime I noticed one of the girls helping a well-dressed lady who arrived after me.
The sales assistants had seemingly assumed I wasn’t their ideal client as I was in gym clothes, no make-up and had my hair pulled in a ponytail. I was, in fact, one of their VIP customers, a repeat buyer! I have never returned. Read More
Mother’s Day is a time to utilise the opportunity as a marketing platform for your business’ sales. Or is it?
Last year, before I got ready to host my Mum for Mother’s Day, I did a boxing session. At the end of class, our trainer was asked, “Hope you sent your Mum some flowers”.
The trainer was dignified, smiled and said “Yes”. I checked on him later and invited him to my Mum’s dinner. I knew his Mum had died when he was four-years-old. Read More
