Monday 24 June 2013

Build an Audience



Perhaps the easiest and definitely the cheapest way to market your business on line is to use social media. In order to make it effective you need to build a network on all the platforms that you choose to use. It is always best to gradually grow your connections and look to build an audience you can engage with and hopefully eventually get some work from.

We can help you build an audience with our training workshops that are designed to show you how to grow your potential market on line.


Saturday 22 June 2013

Social Media for Dinosaurs


For those of us who grew up in a less than digital age, where TVs were still mostly black and white, telephones had round dials and were certainly not mobile, discos and LPs were trendy and petrol was available in 2, 3 or 4 star, the digital age has been quite an eye opener.

In those dark and distant days if you wanted to advertise your products or services you had to place an advert in the local newspaper. Everyone then read the newspaper so you had a good chance of getting in front of an audience. Another great way of getting the word around about your business was to do a good job and get recommended, that will always be the case. In fact that is where social media can now step in and you can use your on line social network and your customers network to promote your business and to get recommended to new potential customers. Without spending money you can gain followers for your business and generate interest in and enquiries for your business via Facebook, Twitter etc.  With millions of users nationally and internationally it is now possible to reach people globally through clever use of these mediums. You can also target potential customers by location, gender and age as well as targeting special interest groups that contain your prospective customers.

As an addition to more traditional methods of advertising social media can be a great tool, to some it is the only way they advertise their services. Surely as business owners we cannot afford to ignore any medium that has so many potential customers on it and that is free to use.

If dinosaurs like me can get to grips with social media, then so can you, whoever you are and whatever your background. 

If you  need a bit of help with you Social Media why not join us for some training to get you sorted: http://www.getters.co.uk/social-media-day.html


Wednesday 19 June 2013

Your Website Needs Good Images



Many people think they are great photographers but I can tell you that of those “many” most are not (including me!). I have just looked at a website and the first thing I see is an out of focus picture that the web designer has squeezed into a box that is too wide for the picture. As a result of this the people look like they are in one of those short fat mirrors at the fair. I am immediately put off even looking at the rest of the site because I now view them as cheap and unprofessional. In actual fact the rest of the site is full of awful pictures and random text boxes. Not good.

What makes a good photo?
 
·         Contrast
·         Focus
·         Main area of interest
·         Lighting

What makes a bad photo?

·         Out of focus
·         Blurry
·         Bad lighting
·         Dull no point of interest
·         Too busy

If you are going to take pictures yourself use a good camera and only use really good pictures. Be honest with yourself about the quality of the images you are using on your website. If in doubt get a professional in! Paying a little money to use decent pictures will make your site a whole lot better. Or get some lessons and be honest about your pictures! Images do make your image! 




Monday 17 June 2013

More than Numbers





More than Numbers

So you are tweeting like a mad thing letting the world know what you are up to. Have you ever thought about your audience? An essential part of your marketing twitter is a fabulous tool to engage with potential customers. The first thing to ascertain is who your customers are. If you customer base is local then so should your following be on twitter. It is always nice to be followed so I am quite happy to be followed by anyone whoever they are and wherever they are. It is always worth looking a little deeper and exploring who your followers are and engaging with any followers who are part of your target market.
It really is about more than numbers it is about your influence and about your engagement with your market place, wherever or whoever that is.

Friday 14 June 2013

Twitter and You



You don't have to be a celebrity to get a lot out of twitter. Many businesses and individuals get a great deal of success from using twitter to promote themselves.
The usual response I get from people who don't use twitter is "I've got nothing to say" or "nobody wants to know what I'm doing". I have met many people through my training sessions who have said this and followed up with comments like I only want to know about Linkedin as that is more professional. Most of these people have ended up being prolific tweeters who I now follow with interest on Twitter as they go about their daily work. When you analyse your life, be it work or play there is often many things you do or see that would be of interest to potential followers. I really don't want to know about you having a cup of tea unless you are maybe enjoying the view of the black mountains from your customer's roof while enjoying it, having just re pointed the chimney. Perhaps you have just left a customer's office having just helped them improve the way they do business or just unblocked a drain whilst eating your sandwiches. Your work may well be uninteresting to you as you do it every day but people are interested in what you have to say when you make it interesting. Our training sessions can help you gain an audience show you all the basics.
Everyone has a tale to tell in 140 characters and that includes you.