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Marketing Eye Small Business Marketing Articles
It's a catastrophe in the making. Already you have eaten one extra scoop of ice-cream that you really did not need, and the vino - well, it was just there and it had to be drunk.
New Years Resolutions are renown for being thrown in the bin and rightfully so, because few of us really commit to them for longer than a day or two. In fact, statistics show that New Years Resolutions are not kept with only 8% of people keeping them past the first few days according to Times Magazine.
When you try and tie a behavioral change to a specific date, you tend to rob yourself of an opportunity to fail and recover and many who believe that they will change, and fail, tend to believe that they have to wait another year to try again. It's a weird psyche that many of us share.
This year is my year. I am dedicating it to achieving everything I ever dreamt of and more. There is no second place and certainly no throwing in the towel. Instead, I am committed like never before to achieving all of my goals and ensuring that I live life to the fullest encapsulating all my dreams in one forward movement into the future.
I am not getting any younger - and neither are you may I add, so there is no time like the present to get off my fairly ample bottom and put those trainers on with that Nike exercise outfit that has been gaining cobwebs and start the race on high speed with milestones every day of the year, that need to be met.
"Onwards and upwards"
It doesn't take much to realize that 2013 has been the biggest roller coaster of my life. While I have had many wins, I have had equal losses that have been harder to swallow than I would have liked.
Building a business isn't easy. In fact, it is damn hard. You get on a roll and then one thing happens and it crashes downward until somehow you find the strength that you didn't know existed, then you pull it back in line and then start all over again, hopefully learning from those mistakes and taking the business in a slightly new direction albeit one that has the same end result.
Entrepreneurs are a unique breed. I know. I am one of them.
It use to be a word that was used to describe the unruly small business owner who spruiked their new businesses from the rooftops. Kind of uncool.
Now, its a word associated with billionaires, A-type personalities, game-changers and fairly much anyone who is "having a go" at business. This is cool - the innovative kind.
When lambasted with questions on what 2014 will look like for small business marketing through social media, I, an entrepreneur who does wear Prada, am as excited as ever. What really is in store for small businesses and how can they capitalize on new, innovative and customer-centric marketing techniques aimed at giving small businesses (and large if I am to honest) a greater insight to customer interaction and push-buying techniques.
Here is the 2014 Outlook for Small Business Marketing
It's an employees world - and don't I know it! I am not about to complain, but gosh, it's hard trying to be a leader and getting 100 percent of your employees engaged - all of the time!
#24yrold asked me the other day, "what can we do better?"
I couldn't believe my ears!
With the constant issues many of my entrepreneur friends face with Gen-Y, and my own struggle with finding the right people for the right job, that are self-motivated and wanting to be exceptional at what they do - I find that my team rarely asks me for feedback other than in a performance review.
Working for a company is a two-way Street. It is not "what you can do for me" or "just about the money" - it's about together working as a team to achieve a common goal. When that goal is achieved, everyone celebrates and is rewarded through recognition and financial upside.
5 Ways Employees Can Step Up Their Game
5 Things That Your Business Can Do In December To Improve Sales
Dec 02, 2013 Written by Mellissah Smith
Late on Wednesday, Maikayla Desjardins (aka #24yrold), a marketing consultant at Marketing Eye Atlanta gave her weekly pep talk to the team. In her talk, she encouraged them to take Friday off and enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend, coming back to the office on Monday all fresh and ready to achieve our company goals for December.
Then, out of the blue, she said, "I want to kick-ass in December and to do this, I need all of your help. I need for you to take the next four days to think about just one thing that we can all do in December that will improve our sales performance and ensure that we achieve our goals."
Inundated with calls from friends, its refreshing to know that through my experience with business expansion, others are able to rethink their business strategies and look at their own business potential.
The US market for my business is 27 times bigger than Australia and as such, a lucrative opportunity exist for businesses like mine that have a strong product or service to capitalize on the market opportunity.
Marketing Eye provides a bespoke business solution for companies that do not have in-house marketing capabilities providing small to medium sized businesses with a complete outsourced marketing department for just $2,000 per month. This includes an experienced marketing manager backed by a team of graphic design, branding, public relations, web and online specialists, all under one brand - no freelancers or outsourcing.
I can't help wondering what I did to deserve to be continually packing things up and moving but somewhere along the line in the last year or so, it has been something that has become almost second nature. So much so, that I don't think I had time to unpack everything.
Four hours of checking to see if I have everything, and packing up my most valuable possessions, I am finished. My dog is looking at me scared about what possibly could be next. Moving still isn't something she is use to and I realized early in the piece that it is what brings her the most fear. For that matter, it does the same to me, however my New Years Resolution this year was to put myself in "uncomfortable" situations and I have certainly lived up to that.
You may be thinking that I am plain mad. What is a 40 year old woman doing moving around like an unsettled teenager? Well, its simple - I have a plan and it requires my undivided attention and for now, I have to keep living out of a suitcase - and its not fun, nor easy and it certainly isn't comfortable in any way.
The way your company wins in the future is very different...
Nov 19, 2013 Written by Mellissah Smith
There is one thing we all know for sure about business as we go into the future:
The way your business wins in the future is very different than the way it has won in the past
Just when we think we have got it 'sorted out' something else comes along and again, small businesses fall behind the eight ball.
If I look back on the past 20 years or so, business has changed dramatically.
- Globalization is changing the way we work, play and learn
- Technology affects every element of our lives and being
- Employees have become the single most important part of any business
- A person can no longer just blunder into business and expect to survive
- Old business models and paradigms have changed and will continue to do so
- Connecting with customers doesn't come just by word of mouth, a strong sales team or advertising in the local newspaper
- People have changed.
There are so many things that have and are shaping our world and with that businesses are now required to make changes that not only impact their businesses but also the way their employees, community and stakeholders view them.
Last night I had the opportunity to attend an event at JWT Atlanta, the best experiential marketing company in Atlanta and one of the most experienced and creative agencies in all of the US.
They put together events every other month, bringing together people from the marketing and advertising industry.
I really enjoy going to their events as they have quality speakers and as a company, JWT Atlanta is as inspiring as any of the people that they have present. Their office space is uber creative and their people, so much fun, that even I want to go and work there.
Yesterday's speaker was Kevin Carroll, the founder of Katalyst. To say that he is inspirational, passionate and above all, a game-changer is an understatement.
There is not a small business on the planet that hasn't heard of Twitter, yet many are still failing to execute a social media strategy that cleverly integrates Twitter as a social media platform designed to connect and communicate key messages.
Co-founder Jack Dorsey, a 36 year old tech titan, and now CEO of small business payment technology, Square, has built his billions on knowing what small businesses want and need. Square is the fastest growing small business payments technology in the world today, and through his small business meetings in Town Halls throughout the US, Canada and Japan, #letstalk, he is educating small business owners to talk and support each other, rather than work alone.
Marketing Automation - Why small businesses need to get onboard
Oct 25, 2013 Written by Mellissah Smith
Interestingly, after speaking with a number of marketing automation vendors in the past few weeks, it has become apparent that there is one clear contender for the top marketing automation spot - and that is Marketo.
The presentation on "How 10 Brand Leaders Are Redefining Their Customer Relationships" talked to the crowd of about 30 or 40 people on how important it is for marketers to take mobile marketing seriously.
According to the invite;
"Mobile now sets the bar for brand relevancy, and Urban Airship is leading the shift from interruption-based marketing strategies to personalized, invitation-geared messaging."
Brent Hieggelke, a man that clearly knows what he is talking about, pulls from years of research done by his firm on best-practices for employing digital wallets, apps, location data, and targeted customer insight to drive meaningful, and profitable, brand engagement.
"Top power brands aren't just building consumer connections, they're redefining the context."
If you think about it, as Hieggelke says, your customers are spending 80% of their time on mobiles or smart tablets and they love apps. As much as consumers download apps, their attention spans are short, so its highly likely that after 30 days, they will delete it and be onto the next best thing, namely because smart phones have limited real estate.
What apps allows B2C marketers to do is forge a direct relationship with the consumer and understand them at a level that has never been available to do so before. By downloading an app, customers are giving you permission to access data on them so that you can tailor your message to the end-user and ensure that you are one-to-one marketing at every touch point.
Hieggelke gave 5 key points at the presentation as to what to consider when using mobile marketing. Here are 3 of them:
1. Create a real utility for the customer. For example; news
2. Location is the the mobile game changer - you can now do push notifications based on what location the consumer is at, enticing them to buy or experience things in close proximity.
3. Not every push deserves a shove. Sometimes a push notification can be taken the wrong way by a consumer and the damage of that is that within seconds, your "shove" may mean that you go viral on twitter or other social media platforms.
Mobile is a marketing mind shift and its notable that cuotmers love their mobile devices and use every available minute to look at them. How often have you been out of drinks with friends to find that the conversation has stalled because everyone is checking their mobile phones or that while you are waiting for the restroom, instead of just standing in line, you are quickly checking your messages or getting an update on the news?
So, developing a mobile app strategy is no longer something that "others" do, but a marketing platform that every business whether you are B2B or B2C needs to think seriously about.
To prepare for the mobile mind shift, your mobile strategy needs to evolve and it must centralize around the consumer and what their needs, likes, wants and desires may be.
About Ideas Tools : JWT Atlanta
CLEVER is a JWT Atlanta art, performance and insight series revolving around leading innovators, independent thinkers and creative visionaries. CLEVER is ideas made kinetic.JWT Atlanta
Inspired by collaboration and innovation, JWT Atlanta operates an integrated suite of strategic, creative, digital, technology, media, production and analytics services. We rely on data and strategy and daily multidisciplinary collaborations to identify and quickly take advantage of opportunities for growth within our client partners; markets and categories.
From Marketing Eye's website, we had a lead last month from Industrial Maintenance Group. They were interested in our industrial marketing expertise and were looking for a refresh of their brand and website, as well as ongoing marketing.
Industrial marketing is very different to traditional business to business marketing. It is very important to think about who is receiving everything from a business card through to a direct mail piece or a visit to your website.
When we looked at Industrial Maintenance Group, we realized that they stood out in the industry. The owner, Wes Schollian, works on the tools while his senior management team does most of the business side of things like bringing in new clients and marketing.
The reason Wes does this is to ensure that the best possible job is done every single time for his clients.
Our job is to get this act of "precision" out into the market place and communicate why Industrial Maintenance Group is the number one choice for fabrication, industrial services, recycling services and the purchase of balers, screw conveyers and recycling equipment.
Industrial Maintenance Group Brand
Marketing Eye's brief was to create a brand that ignites the sense of perfection in the fabrication, industrial maintenance and services, and recycling products and services.
As a marketing agency, we use a number of "must have" apps to ensure that we are regularly monitoring our clients performance online and ensuring that we are abreast of their competitors movements, campaigns and conversations as well as leveraging industry news and developments to bring their brands to the forefront.
While we continue to grow audiences, increasing our clients brands within the circles in which they trade, it becomes increasingly important to utilize Apps that cut-through the clutter and help ensures that we don't waste time on social media where possible.
Here are 8 of the most efficient analytical Apps that Marketing Eye uses:
1. HootSuite: If you don't use this, then you have not only been hiding under a rock, but you are missing a valuable tool. HootSuite is a social media management solution that enables teams to collaborately execute social media campaigns across multiple platforms from one single view point - a dashboard. HootSuite includes audience identification tools, the ability to streamline workflow and customize reporting. It is perfect for managing Twitter accounts.
Niall Cairns is someone I met 15 years ago, and his venture capital business was the reason why I relocated my first company Insomnia Marketing and Communication to Sydney. They were raising a fund and I helped out with marketing and public relations activities for both them and some of their investment companies.
They kindly gave me a few seats in their prominent George Street location which was perfect for me at the time. I so loved being in their office that as I expanded, I moved my staff to another location and only popped in to see them every now and again. Possibly not the best business decision but it worked for me at the time and I was only 25 years old, so I had a lot to learn.
