PART 1

Resolutions 1-5

As the year draws to a close, we thought it might be helpful to offer some suggestions on how you could improve your business prospects in 2016. Please call us (020 3623 3308) if you would like to know more about any of the items listed below.

1. RESOLUTION Nº1:
  Get a responsive website for your business

I was watching the trailer to the new ‘Steve Jobs’ movie over the weekend and I wondered to myself, with all the billions that Apple have made, why has no one even seriously come up with an alternative to the Apple Mac? Then it struck me; the desktop computer is not a growth sector. There’ll always be a place for them but not in the mass market and definitely not where the internet is concerned. The world is now looking at the internet on anything from a smartphone to a tablet to heaven knows their toe-nails which means, of course … if your website isn’t built to serve up the best possible experience on all possible devices you’re going to be left behind. This means getting responsive.

1. RESOLUTION Nº2:
  Start a regular email campaign

In all the the twenty-five years I have been doing this I have NEVER known regular communication with your database not to pay you back. If you think of your customers as your friends (and who wouldn’t?) then what kind of friend only calls once a year? Providing your email communications are relevant and engaging you will win business from them.

Follow up on how to get the most out of them on these two blogs: Maximise your emarketing campaign returns and Ten Ways To Maximise Your Email Marketing Responses

1. RESOLUTION Nº3:
  Go eCommerce with your goods and services

To say that eCommerce is the fastest growing retail sector is rather like saying rain is wet. In 2014 just under £50 billion was traded in the UK online and 2015 is predicted to have grown around 18%.

The stupid thing is that it’s SO EASY to start trading and, with the rise and rise of more flexible payment methods such as Paypal, Sage and Google you can be online and selling your goods and services in a fraction of the time you would have taken five or six years ago.

The investment to have your store designed, built and populated is a mere fraction when compared to setting up on the high street and with tools such as shopify, bigcommerce and Woocommerce (WordPress’s powerful ecommerce plugin) you can have levels marketing and analysis that used to cost ££££s.

1. RESOLUTION Nº4:
  Get a serious SEO campaign going

I’m always alarmed by the number of businesses I encounter who have never really taken SEO seriously. People either think that it’s not for them, prohibitively expensive or just plain unlikely to work. Add to this the belief that without a facebook page you’re nowhere and it begins to be clear why so many people ignore this fabulously inexpensive way of reaching their target audience in numbers that have never previously been possible.

Judged by ROI SEO is NOT expensive, it IS for you and it DOES work. I agree that your social presence is important but if this scares you take a look at this blog article

1. RESOLUTION Nº5:
  Organise a photo shoot to create a library of assets for your marketing communications.

Two things:

1. 1. In all my experience I have only once known amateur photography look any good in any kind of business communication.
  2. Good photography is what makes the difference between an ordinary piece of communication and a truly stand out one.

The problem is so few small businesses see the value in it. After all, if you can wing it with an iPhone then why pay £600 to a photographer? But people buy with their eyes. Good photography is just about the best way to generate desire for your products and services. Furthermore, probably the most common request I get from new clients is that they want to look bigger than they are. Believe me, a bit of money spent on photography is about the quickest way to achieve this.

In Part II coming soon – Video, Social Media Marketing, Your corporate identity, building an app and starting a blog.

Call us on 020 3623 3308| Email us on enquiries@carrdale.com