For most small businesses, budget is not the biggest challenge, focus is. When money is tight, every decision matters more. The goal is not to do more marketing, but to do the right marketing, consistently and deliberately. Here are the principles I use for my clients to keep costs low while still investing in what actually drives results: Be selective with advertising You do not need to be everywhere. Paid advertising should be intentional, targeted and constantly questioned. Before spending anything, ask: Who exactly is this for? What result do we realistically expect? Is this driving leads, learning, or just noise? Focusing on niche, relevant audiences almost always outperforms broad reach when budgets are limited. Keep the tools and subscriptions simple…

Considered one of the most essential strategies for attracting and engaging an audience, content marketing is an approach that can establish your brand, provide valuable insight as well as boost your website rankings through search engine optimisation (SEO). Content marketing is becoming an increasingly popular method of marketing thanks to its benefits of providing customers with what they want; useful and relevant information that can help them and, therefore, drive positive customer action. Instead of irritating customers with glaring and imposing marketing, content is something that provides real value and that customers appreciate. Why is content marketing a growing strategy? Content marketing has been adopted by many businesses (around 90% of organisations) for many reasons but most notably for its…

When planning your marketing strategy, it is likely that content marketing will play a significant part in your plan. Content is vital for building trust with your customers and establishing your brand and its values with potential buyers. Content develops leads, converts into sales and can even promote brand ambassadors. However, for content to work its magic, it needs to be compelling. So, how can your business create compelling content to engage your audience? Steps to creating compelling content 1.  Define your audience It may sound simple, but content will only compel if you target it correctly. Not all content is the same, and not everyone will be compelled by the same content. For a start, you need to make…

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25th May 2018. It’s an EU framework which governs how personal data is stored and handled and so has far-reaching implications for businesses about how customer information is collected and managed. What is GDPR? GDPR replaces the current Data Protection Act and aims to improve the security of personal data. It is built on the principle of ‘privacy by design and by default’ which means that organisations must consider the impact that processing personal data can have on an individual’s privacy. Among other rights, your customers will have the 'right to be forgotten'. You can find out more on at the Information Commissioner's Office website, but in summary GDPR…

With Black Friday just gone, and Christmas on its way, it’s likely that your inbox is full to bursting with marketing emails. As a marketing agency, we love receiving emails as they give us ideas and insight about how different companies promote themselves. But at times, even we admit to getting a bit emailed-out. If you’re currently spending a lot of time deleting emails, you may assume that your customers are doing the same. This begs the question: is email marketing still worth doing? We would argue a resounding ‘yes’ but with the caveat that it must be done well. And therein lies the difficulty! One of the critical factors in improving your email marketing open rates is to come…