"Social Media is a waste of time and money - unless you can convince me differently, I will no longer be using it!!"

This was a statement made to me a few months back by an extremely frustrated business owner who was about to give up using social media for marketing his business.

When I viewed his business profiles across LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, I could see why...

- content was heavily sales driven 'buy this', 'discount offer', 'price match', etc...
- too much waffle and not enough substance - no value proposition!
- no real target market identified - trying too hard to appeal to everyone...
- boring images and lack of creativity...

I could go on...

Sadly, this is a common trend across many business social media feeds... dull, uninspiring content being used to aggressively push products and services rather than trying to engage, listen and build relationships.

So, here's my top five tips for creating engaging, interactive and noticeable social media posts. 

#marketing ...

Managing social media… So, you’ve got your Facebook page and you’re desperately trying to be ‘Liked’. You’re tweeting for England while you’re LinkedIn profile is receiving invitations from people you’ve never met. But not to worry because you’ve got some great office ‘selfies’ in your Instagram account, not to mention your Google+ page and YouTube channel.

Sound familiar? Then you’re not alone.

I recently visited a new client to talk about managing social media marketing requirements. Within ten minutes of our introduction, they informed me that social media wasn’t for them. It didn’t ‘work’ and therefore there was no need pursuing that avenue any further. When I asked why, they proceeded to tell me about the numerous social networks they had subscribed to in order to ‘stay ahead of the game’ and the types of ‘content’ they had inflicted on their...

IT’S MY BIGGEST IRRITATION IN MARKETING...

...the amount of money some organisations spend on customer acquisition against the punitive amounts spent on customer retention.

In some cases customer acquisition can cost up to 3x more than customer retention... crazy!

‘Love thy Customer’ is the second business commandment after ‘Honour thy Cashflow’... Customers are the life-blood for any business. They know you, they know your business and hopefully they think you’re amazing and wouldn’t hesitate at spending more money to receive even more value from you.

They are also a valuable source for developing new products and services, researching your market and promoting your brand.

For further inspiration, please find below my top 8 ideas for ‘Loving thy Customer’

1. Send them a monthly newsletter / email
2. Interview them for a blog post
3. Offer them discount on a new product / service
4. Arrange a quarterly / annual review meeting
5. Invite them to an...

“Fail to plan… and you plan to fail…”

Look, I hate commercial clichés just as much as the next marketing professional (and you’ll never see one of those motivational posters emblazoned across our office walls).

Yet this phrase holds true time and time again. Success simply cannot be achieved without a strategy.

If you need to generate fresh leads and new customers for your company (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t?), then you need to create a marketing strategy. No ifs, buts or exceptions. Moreover, you need the right strategy. A marketing strategy that provides rock steady focus and guides direction; that identifies your potential customers and how you can communicate with them – and because timing is absolutely crucial – you need a marketing strategy that will also tell you when to communicate and how often.

For the average SME the mere term ‘marketing strategy’ can loom large and seem an almost...

The prospect of marketing your business can be overwhelming, especially when your budget is tight.

But don’t despair! Often the most simple and cost-effective ideas can produce the best results. Here are my top 5 tips to spend less and market more: 

1.        Blogging

Blogging is an essential way of reaching out to your target market and should be the foundation of any social media strategy. Just take a look at some of your biggest competitors and you’re sure to see that they take their blogging efforts seriously.

Reasons to start a blog:

·     They engage with your desired audience in a more informal way, driving brand loyalty and helping readers feel that they know you, your business, and your product / service offering.

·     They provide an opportunity for you to promote your services and products, share your expertise with useful insights and information, which...

Consumers are more time short than ever before and the continual bombardment of marketing messages – from the moment we wake until the time we go to bed, has created consumers that are overloaded with advertisements. In response consumers have developed an uncanny ability to be immune to the marketing placed before them – ‘snowblind’ is a word I’ve heard on a few occasions.

Consumers simply aren’t listening like they used to – and it seems that the challenge for businesses has never been tougher.

Adding further to the average SME’s woes is a marketing landscape that has been revolutionised by technology; the rise and rise of social media and the adaptation of SmartPhones are but two leading examples of the ways in which consumer communication has changed irrevocably.

For the thought leaders in business this has presented only opportunity, where marketing has transitioned to something a whole lot more personal.

However for the...