"Same bed, but it feels a bit bigger now" is the lyrics in the famous Bruno Mars song "When I was your man". An apt description of Marketing Eye's business expansion into the US market. It's the same company, but it's a bit bigger now. 

What started out as a step to expand the international footprint of our brand, has taken on a whole new dimension. Australia and America have long been tied and now more so than ever. The ebbs of the economy has led to an opportunity for Australian companies that are geared for expansion to leverage the strength of the Australian dollar, and affordable set up costs in the US market without breaking the bank. The downside, is US dollars are not worth as much, as the dollar loses its grip on parity.

What does a generous smile and a MacBook have in common?  It's all science, computer science that is.

I'm talking about marketing automation; the web-based program that helps your court new clientele.

You walk in to your favourite shop and immediately, something beautiful captures your attention.  You need it, you want it, it would be just right for you.  Summoning all of your courage, you walk over to that breathtaking prospect and begin your introduction.  And no, I’m not talking about a man, or a Georgio Armani suit -  I’m describing else something that elates me; engaging with a potential new client; that instantaneous allure of a new connection.  And I’m not going to lie; you must approach business like you would a date.

Yes, I’m encouraging you to flirt with your customers.

Marketing automation is your vehicle to woo and court business with every single element of the marketing mix taken in to account.  This software is a platform that allows you to create chemistry with your potential customer by enticing interaction on multiple levels.  It’s not a want but a need for you and your business. 

And like any new relationship, marketing automation is initially hard to work out but if you remain patient with it, it is well worth the benefits.  It’s a system designed to make lives of marketers easier (so much yes!), reduce headcount in your departments and increase return on your investment. Typically, businesses rely heavily on ROI and this system facilitates lead-to-revenue management, the foundation of most successful businesses. 

But what does this have to do with flirting?  Go back to the shop scenario.  Your prospect is now surrounded by a number of people, and with every step you take, more individuals approach them.  Once confident, you’re rendered hesitant by all of the attention your prospect is grabbing.
You ask yourself: how can I gain the acknowledgement of this person?

The only way to catch their attention, you realise, is relating to them in a way that no-one else does. 

Due to the rapid rise of technology, we are swamped with information.  Imagine several people at that shop bombarding your prospect with conflicting messages.  No longer is there just one prospect to one marketer; marketing automation deals with this modern conundrum by offering a refined approach to relationship building, enabling you to appear as the only option in a sea of people.

The beauty of this system it treats the customer as knowledgeable.  They know what they want.  They’ve heard it all before.  In fact, few are ahead of their marketers.  Placing a heavy emphasis on analytics, marketing automation captures customer data; every web page they visit, tweet they send, link they click.  This information allows the marketer to understand their customer’s needs like never before and relate to them in a completely new way. Rather than lead their customers, marketers become part of their process; remembering - it does take two to flirt.

Marketing automation encourages the marketer to help the customer through their journey by educating them and listening to what they’re saying.  Sales have always been relationship-driven – that has not changed – but now our focus must be on building that relationship, using data to ‘flirt’ with our leads and pump out revenue.

It's been quite a roller-coaster of a year already and its only 7 weeks in. I am already exhausted. Everything imaginable has happened to me this year, but somehow exhilarated at the same time.

There have been so many changes; life, business and game. I feel like I have lived through so much, yet there is still so much more that I want to achieve.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending half an hour with a young entrepreneur by the name of Kylie Marie. She is inspiring, ambitious, energetic and ready to take on the world. I now know why older people liked spending time with me when I was new to business, because that energy is contagious. I couldn't help but smile and be totally inspired by what Kylie is doing and her fearlessness in business. Her brow bars, Browco Brow Bar, will be everywhere in the next year or so, along with her eyebrow products that are to die for.

It's that time of year where companies are back hiring new recruits.

As someone who is always too busy, I have left the on-boarding to our previous CEO and Area Managers, with my role being minimal other than an introduction.

However, like most entrepreneurs, January is a time to re-think your business in every way; finance, recruitment, human resources, marketing, sales, products/services etc.

This has given me an opportunity to see just what is going on and I have to say, we have some gaps. As a marketing and communications based company, Marketing Eye plays a pivotal role in communicating a company's brand and culture to employees of our clients. We develop and design on-boarding manuals, podcasts, corporate videos and interactive presentations on the company, people and history.

What I have realized is that we are not dissimilar to a mechanic who never finds time to fix their own car. 

With that, off came the gloves and I rolled up my sleeves to have a better insight into our on-boarding processes. 

Here are some clever best practices that we teach our clients and implement on their behalf:

THE INTERVIEW

• When writing an advertisement for a position, include a link to your website which talks about the company culture and the type of person that will fit in. This is great for the applicant and even better for your company as it sends people to your website and drives traffic and engagement.
• Ask applicants to like your company on social media. If they don't want to do this, then they are definitely NOT interested in your brand, culture or the future promotion of your company - so strike them immediately off the list.
• When an applicant comes for an interview, ensure that someone from your team rings them the day before, introduces themselves and talks to them about a normal day in the office. It's a great way to give the applicant an idea what it is like to work for your company and also shares with them an insight into the culture and type of people that they need to fit in with.
• Do something clever to get the applicant to remember your company like sending them an inspirational email with a famous quote. Ensure that it is written on a picture to give your brand  a "lift"
• On arrival at the interview, give them an iPad with a presentation and video of what it is like to work for your company and what type of people perform best. 
• In the interview, present your company like you would present the company to a client. Then ask for the applicant to talk about themselves; share insights that do not come across clearly in their CV's and ask them to explain why they think that they would be a good fit.
• When they leave, give them a company brochure and any literature related to your company that may be of benefit to them.

As business owners and managers in an ever evolving world, our jobs become more challenging every day – every hour – to cut through clutter and make consumers notice our message.

How many times do we find ourselves repeating what we say to co-workers to get a message across?  For most of us, this isn’t a reflection of how we’re gauged as professionals or individuals but 95% attributable to the ‘151 rule’.

They say a person needs to hear new information at least three times before it registers into his/her mind for immediate recollection.  This has been taught over and over again to us and you can test it by saying aloud a new name you come across three times consciously.

When you target a market with a specific message the same rule applies, all except your target isn’t one person and those three times won’t cut it.  It’s all about repetition.  You have no control over which people are listening at what time of the day - so the logical bet is to be accessible and available 24/7/365.

I have to tell you... I really cannot get enough of this buzz that is going around this year. Everyone seems as excited as I am about life and business - that we all seem to be jumping up and down literally.

With all of this positive talk - anything can happen!

They say using positive affirmations to manifest change in your life works. Well, gosh I hope so!

It's Saturday and I am stuck in a hotel room in Atlanta working away on my computer. It's quite nice outside and certainly not what you would expect from Atlanta this time of year. It's warm, kind of TShirt type of day and the sun is trying really hard to stay out.

Getting through my first four days in Atlanta has been a breeze from a professional point of view. Yesterday I wrote on Marketing Eye's Atlanta blog how I had 13 strong leads by midday on Friday having only started on Tuesday. There has been no marketing, but we do have a decent website that delivers us with leads day-in day-out.

By the end of Friday, we had contracts signed and 14 strong leads. People are really ready to get started this year and make a difference to their business outcomes. With marketing changing so dramatically over the past few years, it is more prevelant than ever that small businesses need to outsource their marketing rather than try to do it all themselves. The skills required to be a modern marketing manager is now so diverse that you would need to be bordering on genius to be able to do everything - and as we know, marketers are not known for being rocket scientists.

Key to success this year is relationship management and connecting content with customers on multiple levels. Creativity is also key and if all of your competitors are walking one way, make sure you walk in the opposite direction.

For businesses focused on B2B marketing, don't be fooled that sales automation is just another buzz word. It's the smartest solution ever invented in sales and businesses that blink and miss it, will no doubt be on the bottom of the heap when it comes to competing against smarter more aware competitors.

Mobile is another area that businesses need to step up with and if you cannot read your website on a mobile phone, then you had better fix it immediately. As fast as they click on, they click off.

It's Saturday and time to sign out - but hope we have given you some things to consider.

After having an issue the other week with a man that quite simply told me a bunch of lies that were completely untrue and then spent the next few days after realising that I found out, covering his tracks, I was in good need of my  friends. It's amazing what people do when they are caught out lying. They have to tell lies to cover lies unless they are man enough to own up to what they have lied about which most people, including myself, am fairly forgiving. It's when they lie, then have to make up stories to cover them, that it gets out of control and becomes a drama that quite simply, it does not need to be. But friends, they are great levelers. They tell you how it is and always put things in perspective. Unfortunately, in life, there will always be people that can't help themselves with lying and they will do crazy things and say complete crap, in order to try and make themselves look and feel better. It's quite sad really... but as you get older, you realise that there will always be people who disappoint you. Rising above it, is important for your soul as much as it is for the situation.

When you run a small business, it can be lonely, but life can be even lonelier when you travel every week interstate and overseas and only ever seem to see the insides of a hotel room or the office.

After a highly successful trip to AT & T for a new mobile phone, I ventured towards the car through the shopping mall Lennox in Buckhead Atlanta.

My eyes were captivated by the lights and colours that shine so brightly from Victoria Secret that my one year ban from going into the store, became a distant memory.