2009 November | Norfolk-web-marketing-blog

Archive for November, 2009

Social Networking and Your Business Image

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

In traditional terms business networking is about walking around a room full of business men and women, swapping business cards and other wares and talking about what one another’s business works. More recently a wider view of today’s business networking has become focussed more now on social networking (a part of social media) which helps us all to create a good range of business contacts throughout our local, regional, national or even international community. Your business image whilst participating in social networking is of course crucial though don’t discount the traditional methods of networking just yet, they are important too and give your business a face no matter how few people may be attending.

Networking Successfully Online
Social networking in a successful manner is now vital to any small business for many reasons. Conducting yourself properly at an official business event or on a social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, business forums etc can be easy with a little guidance if you are currently unsure of how to present your business in these situations. Essentially these three we’ve mentioned are only the few to be found in the 100’s of the social media phenomenon, being the current major sites we are basing our experience on those but our advice is applicable to most online media of their kind.

We have put together this article and one that follows to help you conduct social networking and promote your business image in a positive way, we hope you can use our advice for your business be it blogs, social media, websites or other resources.

Using Social Networking for Business Relationships
Social networking has given us many trusted business relationships, products and services and with the whole thing exploding at the moment it’s a great time to get involved, your business will thank you in time. So how many active users do you think Facebook has at any one time? Millions, in fact recent figures from whyfacebook.com tells us that there are over 300 million users. Relationships do matter and becoming involved has been proven to give businesses additional exposure, in turn of course bringing new leads and potential customers.

If you have a good social networking manner and compose yourself well on these networking sites, you also give yourself chance to play around with extra marketing projects using some of your contacts as leads. Eventually you may build up such a list of friends and followers that you can select a small section of these to experiment your marketing skills with, promote a new product or simply stay in touch with latest industry news. Should this fail then you can move on to another section of your contacts or try a different marketing approach.

Goals
The aim on these websites is to promote your business in a less polished and less formal way. In fact it’s not even promotion at all. Not everyone wants to learn about how you increased profit by selling frog legs or anything else (!) now people expect to see a more laid back approach and want to know more about you or the people that work for you, so bearing this in mind go and introduce yourself, what your office is up to right now, who kissed the boss at the Christmas disco – or maybe not THAT personal but I hope by now you get the point, mixing more relaxed messages with others about your news or interesting info about the industry can give you the perfect balance – and the perfect amount of followers.

We cover a few more ideas on the next article ‘Social Networking and Business Success’

Posted in Branding, Social Media, Social Networking, Web Marketing | No Comments »

Business Stationery and Projecting Good Business Image

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

logosandbrand Projecting your business image in the right manner is imperative, not only does it show just what a professional business you are but also gives people easy access to your business information provided you get it right. This aspect of your business may well be the last thing that you think about. It’s importance is the same as any other aspect of your business because it provides people with a visual of your business because it showcases your company message or philosophy and also the business logo which gives people the idea of how your business works and its personality as well as allowing you to influence people into how they view your business.

Obligations
One thing that you must not forget when designing your business stationery is that there are legal requirements relating to what information you add, see the quick list below for the information that must be included on your letterhead – the first two may or may not be applicable to you:

Company VAT number (if used for invoices)
Company registration number (if Limited company)
Registered office address (if Limited company)
Name of business or your name (if you are a sole trader)

Additionally consider the following:
Business address
Telephone numbers (including home numbers if applicable, this depends on how your company works)
Fax numbers
Email address
Website

What to get printed?
Choosing exactly which type of stationery you are going to have depends on the nature of your business. However you may choose from the following to include your details on:

Business cards
Letterheads
Compliment slips
Invoices / Credit notes
Receipts
Remittance advice
Marketing materials

Simply all of the stationery you use in day to day business, the list is certainly not endless and in the longer term as your business expands you may also choose to print your message on additional items like envelopes and postcards though keeping the costs down at an early stage in business is recommended!

What about printing?
Selecting a printer may be easier than you think. The designer that helped you finalise your company logo and branding may point you in the right direction or indeed maybe able to print off your stationery in-house, which will save you time searching for a reputable printer. An advantage to using your logo designer is that they can co-ordinate files and provide you with great advice on what information to include, fonts to use and of course font sizing.

Think rather carefully about quantities that you may find yourself using, and of course obtain proofs of every copy of your stationery before it is printed to go over any errors – mistakes on either side are costly and can easily be avoided. Finally, do remember to order your stationery before you use up the last pieces as it can really halt proceedings if you run out!

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How to Begin E-Marketing Your Business

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Small business marketing isn’t rocket science but still so many businesses don’t get involved with emarketing for varying reasons. Most are possibly put off with the costs involved in hiring an expert however marketing your business properly can bring real results both the way of sales and gaining recognition for your brand and some of it can be done free of charge, all you need is a little time.

First things first you have something to sell, be it a product or service, so tell people about it. The easiest form of free marketing is to start by adding yourself and your company to some niche directory websites and joining online forums getting involved in the conversations and even becoming a tweeter on Twitter (see our Twitter articles and social media introduction) or start blogging.

You must remember to not sell directly on social networking sites, firstly become part of the community and be helpful, answer other peoples questions and reply to tweets plus comment on other peoples blogs – all within your relevant industry – and ask your own then later you can begin mixing in your message and mentioning your products. Writing a press release and launching it in amongst your other messages ensures that you are not simply joining a community to sell but you are there to ‘network’ and promote indirectly. Below are a few ideas for you.

Optimise Your Website
Quite frankly if your site is not properly optimised for search engines (norfolk seo experts) then you don’t have much chance of gaining visitors from search engines to your website but it’s easily rectified, even just setting up a new page and concentrating on a main keyword can help if you don’t want to go over the whole site. You will find a top keyword by using a free keyword tool such as the google Adwords tool to get some great ideas. Ensure you set up simple items like meta tags, title tag and decent content on the page (or pages) you choose to work on.

Write a Press Release for Emarketing Media
Try writing a press release and ensure you add it onto any press release sites you can find that are free to use, add a similar press release or article to your website and direct everybody there then make sure there’s an easy link or two from the article to your product list or sales section. Also send the press release to off-line media like local magazines and papers, you may need to hire a PR company to make this more effective.

Register Your Small Business at Google Maps
Make sure that your website is listed on Google Maps and add your entire product or services list to Google Base where they are all searchable to your potential clients.

In summary basically get involved in online communities which don’t require lots of time – logging in and being active in your chosen communities for just a few minutes a day is better than not at all, and remember to try leave the url (your website address) wherever you go without spamming for for example the use of signatures on forums and your bio on Twitter!

Posted in Social Media, Web Marketing | No Comments »

Corporate Identity – Communicating Confidence through Competitive Branding

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

logosandbrand One thing that will truly help your business is building a corporate identity and competitive branding which will work hand in hand to get you recognised and build trust with your prospective clients. Managing and planning your business branding will effectively help your small business attract repeat business and new clients and so improving the success of your marketing projects.

The thing about business branding is its total overall effect through visual means, company philosophy and brand values. Your branding is significant and will have impact on how your target clientèle view your business and how you conduct your business and carry out your branding can gain you trustworthiness among potential customers.

Branding is not only about a logo but about how your business is perceived as a whole package so you need to think about how your company is presented. Your corporate identity is slightly different but equally as important as branding and should come before you think about logo and visual id, it is more about how your small business is made up and the decisions that your business makes. Defining corporate identity is the first step of building your brand and should be based on the nature and personality of your business.

You need to manage your branding perfectly and the first thing that you should consider is to work on a competitive branding project to eventually build it around your company and the way it works. You should aim at creating a brand that promises your clients something, delivers that something and gives them reason to trust you. Communicating confidence through your branding tells them you will deliver what you promise.

Branding your business can help aim your business toward the right type of client so when you think about how to market your business and whom you are targeting this should become the way that you attract the right type of person to your business. Ensure that your branding and your logo are clear and give a concise message and you will encourage people to come to you, also bringing with them loyalty or repeat business making it successful even in the current gloomy times.

Once you have decided on a brand, add your logo designs and company message to all your stationery and make sure you get a price from your designer for the whole package – not only simple logo design as its important to co-ordinate your branding project well and they most likely can help with the whole implementation project. It’s also important to reflect this branding on everything you do including your website, being consistent with your branding shows customers that you are proud and happy to display your name and logo everywhere, even adding it as a signature on all of your emails.

Ensure that the company you choose to design your professional branding and logo will supply you with a number of designs after the first brief so that you make the final decision. They also should quote you for adding your new brand to stationery and website and most will issue you with the option to setup a new website and can register and host everything for you too, so long as it’s competitive then there is no real reason not to take them up on this type of offer.

Looking like you are serious about business and that you have confidence in yourself will help reap rewards. Fail at this first hurdle and you could damage your chances of taking your business through the recession in one piece!

Posted in Branding, Graphic Design, Web Marketing | No Comments »