Monthly Archives: January 2018

Wonderful Websites

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It’s amazing how developing new marketing aids, such as websites, can clarify your view of your business.The process of instructing someone else to produce something which encapsulates your business means that you have to have a very clear view of your business values and goals.

I am very lucky because the person who has the job of representing my business to the wider world is one of the people who knows me best – my hubby Jeff. He has been responsible for the look and feel of my business pretty much since I started out over 10 years ago and its been a gradual development over the years.

When I look at my website and other marketing bits from 10 years ago they seem very dated now, so I am glad that I have made the effort to keep things fresh.

I come across many businesses that have never changed their image since they started out – sometimes many years ago – and their current marketing collateral seems tired because of it.

I don’t think it’s necessary to throw the baby out with the bath water though. There may be a particular theme or image which your are particularly attached to and you don’t need to throw that away. But I do think that the way our businesses are portrayed on our website, and our other marketing, should be regularly revamped (at least every few years) so it keeps pace with the changes in our businesses.

I don’t know about your business but mine has changed quite considerably over the years and is continuing to change as my own goals and ambitions are molded by circumstance and family need.I am much more confident about what I want to achieve and know so much more about the environment my business operates in than I did when I started out.

I think having websites (I have a couple for the different sides of the business) which clearly demonstrate this confidence are a great asset.

So if it has been a while since you looked at your marketing aids perhaps it’s time to give them a refresh – the process can also refresh your view of your business!

Fiona 🙂

Fact or Fiction

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If you saw any of the Christmas films over the festive period almost certainly there would have been snow. It’s a strange thing that our perception of the perfect Christmas still includes something which very rarely – if ever – happens. And all because it was very cold over Christmas’s in the Victorian era when many of our traditions became fixed in the public psyche.

Funnily enough this year we did have snow on the Mendips the day after Boxing Day which we enjoyed hugely – but not on Christmas Day itself.

In business there are similar assumptions which lead us to see the world, not as it is, but how it might have been only a few years ago.

We still believe that we are in control of the image our business has in the market place. If our website is great, and we have marketing colleral which is well thought through, we can make sure the world sees us as we would like. But of course this is a complete fallacy. In a world dominated by social media where anyone can write anything they like about us it is very easy for us to lose track of our public image. All we can do is try to give the best service we can, in a way which engages our customers in as positive way possible. Hopefully this will encourage them to give us great referrals that they make public.

This year with the advent of GDPR we will have to make changes to how we hold information about third parties and how we use that information to market our services. We will have to make sure we get people’s explicit consent to send them items such as the newsletter you are now reading. It will no longer be acceptable to assume consent because a tick box has NOT been ticked.

The changes come into effect on 25th May so make sure you are up to date on how they might effect your organisation.

Fiona:)