Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Business systems - client cards
| One of the great things you can do for your clients is to send cards. They can be thank you cards (thanks for being a new client), happy birthday cards, happy anniversary (for the month a person became your client for the first time) or as I did this week happy new financial year cards to all of my copywriting and consulting clients from the last financial year. Cards make you stand out from the crowd and help you to become memorable. A hand written card in the mail is a very personal thing compared to an email. Cards are a great client nurturing strategy - reminding clients you are thinking of them helps them to know you value them as a client. It is also a great way to say thank you to people who have made a difference to your life - whether a client or the person who makes you great coffee at the Coffee Shop. The trick to this strategy is to be organised. Over at agoodsort.com blog they talked about some tips to get organised with cards. One of their tips includes pre-purchasing cards and writing a reminder in your diary or calendar about a week out from the event to remind you. One of my clients uses a monthly concertina file with a list of upcoming events for that month along with cards for those events. They then post them out in the first few days of that month. I have a pile of great Thank You cards and postcards in a drawer that whenever I get great service I jot a note to the company and post the card off that day with the outgoing mail. Whatever your system, a little bit of organisation will generate great results - both in terms of customer retention as well as the nice feeling you give to other people when you remember them. Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: marketing tips |
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Heads up if you are heading to Canada in May
 Just a quick heads up on a really fantastic marketing training for green, local, community minded, holistic and otherwise conscious entrepreneurs if you live in or are travelling to Canada in May. It is run by my colleague Tad Hargrave who is a brilliant marketing teacher and has some great ways to help conscious entrepreneurs build their businesses. He doesn't run these workshops often, so when he does it is worth finding a way to get to them if you can.
WHAT? Radical Business Intensive (marketing training for 20 or so conscious entrepreneurs)
It's worth checking out! Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart HarmonyLabels: marketing tips, tad hargrave |
Getting repeat business
| Another great article from AlternativeHealthPractice.com - this time about how to get repeat appointments for your clients. Many businesses miss out on repeat business because they simply forget to ask for it (or ask for it in the wrong way). Some of the key points I wanted to share from the post - Strike While The Iron’s Hot Tell, Don’t Ask
Small difference in words. Big difference in outcome. Leverage Our Love of Routine
If you can’t offer the same time, offer the same time of day: “We can get you in again on Wednesday morning next week.” Narrow the Options
I also don’t like to book too far out because I’m afraid I’ll forget. Reassure your patients by giving them an appointment card, and by telling them you’ll call a few days before the appointment to remind them. These appointment strategies also work for other things for your business such as writing copy to get a sale from your brochures or website.
Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: appointment strategies, copywriting, marketing tips |
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Mika - remembering the niche markets
| Niche markets are everywhere. Filling a need for the niche, helping them do something better or easier or just making them feel good about themselves is great for business. One of the best most recent examples is Mika with his song "Big Girl (You are beautiful). Very catchy song celebrating curvy women. This song is sweeping the world - it is great for teenagers self esteem as well as any lady with a few extra pounds. In other words - an exceptional product targeted to the right niche. What can you do to meet the needs of your niche market? Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: marketing tips, mika, small business marketing ideas |
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Great Aussie ideas
| I have just discovered a great blog - My New Shiny Shoes. It is an online shopping guide for Australian shoppers. It is great to see Australian companies happy to source local products. The post that particularly caught my eye were two enterprising companies that send Australian care packs to people o/s including Tim Tams, Polly Waffles, Milo and other goodies. It takes G'day LA to a whole new level! What about sending some Aussie gift baskets for your overseas clients or customers instead of the traditional boring ones for your next promotion or thank-you? It's funny how what is regular and mainstream to us can be interesting and novel to others. Have a look at your business through new eyes and see where you may be interesting to others (but boring to yourself). Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony |
Monday, 14 January 2008
Marketing Tip - Low cost marketing ideas
| I am always on the look-out for great low-cost marketing ideas for small business and found these ideas on the Tall Poppy Blog. While they are written in the context of party planners getting bookings - the ideas are directly applicable for any small business wanting appointments or sales from clients. And the best and simplest idea ... simply ask for an appointment with every contact! Here's a link to the full post if you would like some more low cost ideas. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: marketing tips, small business ideas, small business marketing ideas |
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Marketing tips - Lessons from Christmas
| I just read some very interesting stats in a blog by Tonic Gifts - most people who bought their Christmas gifts on-line had to purchase by Dec 18th to ensure pre-Christmas delivery. If you are a small business and sell gifts suitable for Valentine's day - you only have until Feb 7th to make the mail. How can you remind your customers of the rapidly looming deadline? What else can you do to boost your Valentine's Day sales and marketing. While we are at it - think bigger. What press-releases can be issued about Valentines Day - newspapers are always looking for a great Valentine's Day angle - so get your thinking caps on. One year we had great media success with a meditation on forgiveness packaged under the heading "What to give you ex for Valentine's Day". The sky is the limit - so think laterally Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Labels: buying presents online, christmas gifts, marketing tips, valentines day gifts, valentines day marketing ideas, valentines day press releases |
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Marketing tip - What is Squidoo?
| One of the most useful sites on the net is Squidoo. It is where you get to showcase your depth of expertise in particular areas. With Squidoo you shine a lens on your niche information in a fun, interactive and informative way. On the plus it has high rankings when your page is indexed, you can include links to other websites/blogs etc and you can make money linking to products from places like Amazon. Once you get the hang of the design, creating a lens is easy and quite addictive to do (sort of like on-line scrapbooking!) On the downside it seems to take some time before Google discovers your great new page. But why would you do it? Because you get to position yourself as an expert in your field, to attract traffic, to promote your business and create additional income streams. To give you some idea of what a Squidoo lens looks like here are two I have done up so you can get an idea of the sort of thing you can do: Employee Handbooks that are right, read and understood Marketing plan template Happy Squidooing! Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Blogs: Small business ideas Employee Performance Reviews Labels: internet marketing, marketing tips, small business ideas, squidoo |
Friday, 28 December 2007
Marketing Tip - What you can learn from Wii
| What was the hottest item in Brisbane this Xmas - Wii. How do I know? I joined all of the crowds on Boxing Day to find an additional Wii controller and spoke with many many many shop keepers. All said the same thing - there were none to be had. So what made Wii so popular this year? It wasn't major advertising push - Wii were relatively quiet. It wasn't as if they offered major discounts or cutting prices. There weren't any supply problems. There was no major new release or upgrade. All the shop keepers can put it down to is the power of groups. People talked with other people they valued and trusted. Blogs raved about Wii and the latest games. People on Facebook talked about it. This combined made Wii the hottest computer game item for Christmas 2007. Basically a good product was promoted by lots of people. What can businesses learn from this? Social media on the internet is now a major force to be reckoned with. Businesses need to learn how to harness this media for maximum results. Ads and traditional marketing are reducing in impact - businesses need to learn the new media and new skills or be left behind. So ... are you on Facebook yet? Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Facebook- Ingrid Cliff Labels: facebook, marketing tips, social media, wii, wii marketing |
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Marketing tip: Ebay Pulse
| Small business needs to be aware of business trends. What if in real time you could see what people are buying around the world - would that help you to know what to stock? Ebay has a funky tool called Pulse, where you can look at the most popular searches from the past week. Why is this important? It tells you there is a market out there wanting these items. Go to http://pulse.ebay.com for international ebay or http://pulse.ebay.com.au for Australian searches. Remember just like regular ebay you can dig deeper - go into the drop down categories button and explore. For example - Harry Potter is the hottest book in demand today, and Phantom comics are the most popular ebay comics. In business the most popular item is an excavator while the most popular craft remains scrapbooking. Happy searching Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Labels: business trends, market research, marketing tips, trends |
Friday, 21 December 2007
Marketing Tip: Bloglines
| Marketing is about being aware of your customers - their thoughts and feelings, wants and desires. It is also about being aware of trends so you can capitalise and respond to them. If you run a business you need to be seen as adding value to your customers. You also need to be seen as the expert in your chosen area. One of the ways to do this is through reading and responding to blogs. Yeah - but who has the time? I mean you can waste hours on reading through blogs each day. What I do to stay on top is a website called Bloglines (www.bloglines.com). Bloglines allows you to have all of your RSS feeds for your favourite Blogs in the one place. I quickly scroll through my list of feeds to see what is happening, choose which ones to respond to and save hours in the process. ... And best of all Bloglines is FREE! So - try out Bloglines as a way to manage both your time and your information. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Labels: blog alerts, bloglines, marketing tips |
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
Marketing Tips - Appearances are everything
| A few months ago I worked with 2 companies in retail. Both companies had similar problems -their store presentation was dreadful. Floors not swept, stock not dusted, crowded aisles, stock scattered and not logically grouped and faded/tattered price ticketing and point of sale material. They had lived in that environment for so long they couldn't see the slow spiral down. From an outsider looking in I interpreted what I saw as a company that didn't care about the details, that didn't care about their stock, that were disorganised and made it really hard to buy from them. One was willing to take the step - so with a major spring clean and shiny new tickets, stock that hadn't moved in 18 months was sold in less than a week. They maintained the presentation level and sales have boomed. The other one made a half-hearted effort but no lasting change. They rang to tell me this week that sales had been dreadful these past few months and they were closing their doors. How many sales are you losing because of your presentation and organisation? You want to make it easy and enjoyable for people to do business with you - so take time to clean, improve your tickets and store presentation. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Labels: marketing tips, store appearance, store presentation |
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
Marketing Tips - Loyalty Programs
| Marketing for small business is also about learning from bigger businesses. They do the research (hopefully), and spend the big dollars exploring different strategies, so look at what they do and apply them on a smaller scale to your business. One thing to consider is loyalty programs. You have all seen them - the cards at coffee shops - buy 5 coffees and the sixth is on us. They are there because they work at getting people back into the store. Most businesses (even service based businesses) can benefit from some type of loyalty program. Consider gift vouchers with a $ amount or % off their next transaction or service. What about a buy 2 massages in the same transaction and recieve a gift voucher for the third free. Or 5 toner refills and the 6th one free. I have even seen smart Avon ladies offer 5% off for every 5th purchase. All of these are ways to invite your customers back to your store and for you to retain some great customers. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Labels: loyalty programs, marketing tips |
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Marketing tips - Personal style in copy
| Personal preferences flow into copy. People who reflect and think a lot can tend to the verbose and fluffy side with their copy. They want to make sure they have dotted every i and crossed every t. Reading copy that is overly padded can feel like being punched around the head with a feather pillow. It can smother and people want to get away rather than stay and read it all. But ... long copy statistically outperforms short copy. So what do you do? Keep each sentence short, to the point and build to a climax. Read each sentence out loud. If you run out of breath before the sentence is done ... it's too long! And if you know you have a tendency to use 40 words when 5 will do - hire an editor or copywriter to take to your copy with a pruning saw. Until next time warm regards Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Business development through copywriting Labels: copywriting, marketing tips |
Friday, 7 December 2007
Marketing tip - Train your team on promotions
| Many businesses create a great new product or service and are so excited about getting it out to the market, that they forget to brief the team about it. This can be potentially damaging to the credibility of your business as your team members have to scrabble for information. If they don't know about it - they can't sell it! Whenever you have a new product or service, schedule time in with all of your team. Take time to walk them through all of the features and benefits of the product and service. Let them understand all of the rules or information they need to be able to clearly sell or teach customers about the product. Always make sure they know where they can find critical information such as price lists, brochures or fact sheets both on the computer and in hard copy. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony http://www.heartharmony.com.au/ Business development for small to medium businesses through marketing and human resources Labels: marketing tips, product launches, staff training, training |
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Marketing Tip - Alliances
| Marketing for small businesses doesn't have to be all about beating the competition. Many small businesses think they have to go it alone, do everything themselves and try and dominate their competition. However, the most successful small to medium businesses actively seek out like minded businesses and form alliances. As a result, they can provide integrated and seamless solutions to customers and win more business. For example - I have some great alliances with a few graphic designers and web designers. Often their clients need help sorting out their overall business strategy as well as writing the words to go with their designs, and often my clients need help with the images. This is a major win-win for both of our businesses and the main source of our leads. But your alliances need not only be with complementary businesses - what about ones in "so called" competition? I have alliances with other copywriters - we share direct mail, as well as provide back-up for each other in peak times, when we may be sick or want to take a few days off. We also refer business to each other based on our personal interests and preferences in writing. We believe in an abundance - that there is enough work available for everyone and the more we share the more we grow. Again this is a win-win for our businesses. So, look through your business card pile and work out who you would like to form an alliance with. Who do you like and trust to do great work? Who do you enjoy talking with? If you like them, then it is likely your customers will like them also. Approach them. Have a coffee and talk about how you can work together to get better results for your clients. Share in each others success - it is one of the cheapest strategies for increasing your client base. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony http://www.heartharmony.com.au/ Business development for small to medium businesses Labels: alliances, marketing tips |
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
Marketing Tip - Guarantees
| Many consumers are reluctant to purchase products without a guarantee. Many businesses I see are reluctant to offer guarantees because they are worried they will be inundated by people taking advantage of them. This is particularly true of service businesses - they don't consider their services are appropriate to offer guarantees. However, offering a solid guarantee is one of the most powerful ways of removing objections to purchase. Think of IGA's 200% meat tenderness guarantee - they replace the meat as well as refund your money. Avon has a 100% happiness guarantee - like it or you get a full refund. Both companies get great sales as a result. But it isn't just for the "big players". Small business also should consider guarantees. I offer a money back guarantee with my Instant HR Policies Manual. Even with copywriting I offer a 100% refund guarantee - if I can't get your copy the way you want it on your second draft, I refund your commencement deposit and you pay nothing. If I don't meet our agreed deadlines and the brief didn't change after we set the deadlines - you are only up for your commencement deposit. Link your guarantee to the most common objections people have about services like yours - with copywriting it is people not meeting deadlines and the copy not up to standard. So ... have I been inundated by people demanding their money back. No. I have only had one person in all the time I have worked where I couldn't reflect their direction in their copy and I was happy to not charge them. What could your guarantee be? Think outside the square to find your guarantee. Make it real - make it big - make it believable. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Business Development for small to medium businesses ... through marketing and copywriting Labels: avon guarantee, copywriting, copywriting guarantees, guarantees, IGA guarantee, marketing tips |
Monday, 3 December 2007
Marketing tip - Voice tone is important
| Marketing is not only about words on a page, but how they are delivered. When you or an employee answers the phone - what does the tone of voice convey? Are they bored or do they speak so quickly that it sounds like they are calling the last race at Doomben? The person at the other end of the phone needs to feel valued and connected to you and your business. The tone of voice used is the main key to making this happen. A quick tip is to place a photo of a loved one right next to the phone. When you answer the phone imagine you are speaking to that person. Your tone of voice automatically gains warmth and deepens into connection. This tip also works if you are giving a teleseminar or on the other end of a phone presentation or interview. Place a picture where you can see it, look into the picture's eyes and talk to the picture. Your voice will automatically gain "rise and fall" in tone, will be warmer and more interesting to listen to. Try it out! Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Business development for small to medium businesses .... through marketing. Labels: answering phone techniques, customer service, marketing tips, phone techniques, phones |
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Marketing Tips - Market to the Generations
| Marketing is all about knowing your customers and helping them understand why your prorcut or service can benefit them. You all know the general age groups of your best clients (don't you?) Use the differences between generations as a way to market to them. It goes without saying your visual and graphical images need to appeal the particular market you are targeting. Here are some other quick tips ... If your "A class" clients are Baby Boomers then reward their loyalty to your company, reinforce the stability of your company, provide symbols of their status and standing with you. For Gen X clients - recognise they have a life (so respect their time after hours) and be flexible with your approach to them, reinforce how your service will make them more productive so they can spend more time doing what they really want to do, use testimonials from their peers as a tool to gain referrals. For Gen Y clients - use technology to provide services to them and to allow them to contact you (Facebook, Blogs, MSN, Instant On-line contact sections on your website), provide mentoring advice and information to them about your product and service, provide other ways they can instantly learn more. If you want to learn how to motivate different generations click here to read an article on Managing and Motivating Gen X, Gen Y and Babyboomers Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Business development for small to medium businesses through marketing Labels: babyboomers, gen x, gen y, marketing tips, marketing to baby boomers, marketing to gen x, marketing to gen y, motivating babyboomers, motivating gen x, motivating gen y |
Friday, 30 November 2007
Marketing Tips - Envelopes are more than just holders of mail
| Direct mail marketing isn't just about the content. What motivates people to open mail? In my experience curiosity is one of the biggest factors in getting people to open mail. Think about it for a moment - if you get an envelope plastered with logos and slogans from a company and it is obviously direct mail - how many people don't even bother opening it and bin it instead? My local post office kindly provides a bin near the post office boxes so people can "sort" their mail straight into the bin. Now imagine you get a hand written plain envelope that has something lumpy inside that crinkles a bit when you touch the envelope. Would you open it to see what was inside? Most people would. (I personally used this approach last month when sending out instant coffee bags with a mail out about my Instant HR Policies and Procedures Manual - they crackled and made the envelope lumpy enough to be interesting). If the mail is opened you have a chance to have your message read. Tap into curiosity and you are more likely to have your mail opened. Broadcast your wares on the outside of an envelope and there is no mystery left to be revealed. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony http://www.heartharmony.com.au/ Business development ... through copywriting and marketing Labels: direct mail, marketing envelopes, marketing tips |
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Marketing Tip - Manage your team changes with clients
| Marketing isn't just about selling a product - you also are selling your team, your skills and your brand. One of the most forgotten marketing areas is planning for team transitions. Losing a key contact in your business through resignation, promotion or even just an extended holiday is often a time when your key clients make a choice to go elsewhere with their business. Without effective planning for this transition you may find your customers follow the person leaving, get confused about who to talk with about their issue or even get frustrated about having to repeat their history to a new person. Some tips to manage the marketing of succession:
Managing a transition doesn't have to mean losing customers - if you deal with it correctly. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Business development ... through human resources and marketing
Labels: customer service, customers, hr planning, marketing tips |
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
Marketing Tip - Campaign alignment
| The most effective marketing campaigns align with the goals of the campaign. Each part of the campaign builds on a previous part. For example a print ad may lead people to a website "squeeze page". This page needs to be consistent with the information contained in the ad otherwise people will click away without leaving their details or taking action. Once they get taken through to the website - the page they land on must be consistent with the previous page information. Everything must seamlessly flow through. The more aligned your material - the better your results. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Business development ... through marketing Labels: alignment, marketing campaigns, marketing tips |
Marketing Tips - Maximise Christmas
| It is that time of year when people are desperately trying to find suitable presents for people. Put yourself in most present buyers shoes for a moment - they are tired, worried about the cost of buying for everyone on their list, most hate shopping at the best of times and really hate crowded shopping centres, they have very little time and want things to be made easy for them. You can help both them (and the people around them) and your business by understanding these needs and taking action. Gifts: How can your product or service address these needs? How can you make it quick and easy to shop with you? How can you present your products already wrapped ready to give - at a great price? Service: How can you make their day a little bit more pleasant? How can you make their lives a little bit easier and stress free? The extra time you take looking after your customers this time of year will pay dividends for both you and them. Until next time Ingrid Heart Harmony www.heartharmony.com.au Business development through marketing Labels: christmas marketing, customer service, marketing tips |