Category: Marketing

I was set the task of organising our company Christmas outing and with a job title of Marketing Superstar, there was certainly no pressure in pulling this one out of the bag.

When organising even the simplest of activities I think we often take a lot of the skills involved for granted. Some people are instinctively good at clear communication and others don’t seem to be wired the same way.

The task was to ordinate a band of individuals who are located across the country with very diverse work schedules, availability and priorities to meet for an entertaining afternoon puzzling our way out from an escape room and feasting on a festive meal. Sounds simple but when you get more than 3 people together to coordinate this can get a little more challenging.

My method takes the pressure out by giving people a decision to make. Make it simple, give them options A or B. Sometimes I like to simply list the pros and cons of each option. If you approach with a woolly question you are only setting yourself up for woolly answers: What would you like to do? Can you let me know your availability? It may sound silly but when people are in the thick of it they can’t always make those decisions so it falls onto the ‘I’ll get around to that’ pile.

It is much easier for people to answer yes or no – I am available on that date, yes or no I don’t want to do that.

When organising or delivering a project, I hate wasting my time, repeating myself and poor communication. So I try my best to reach out to people how I would like to be approached.

When given a task I suggest to try and loosely touch base with the key parties involved aka your line manager to ensure you are striking off in the right direction and to come up with the foundations of your brief. Now is your time to ask your questions and to try and unpick what it is that they want you to do and be responsible for.

Remember, when you ask your questions, it is not acceptable for them respond with an ‘I don’t know’ or be vague, even if it’s the boss. Don’t accept the answer, in the politest manner possible ask them why they can’t answer or don’t know or have just not replied. Do they need more time to answer? Do they need more information? Is there anything you can do to help them to answer? Keep pushing and get to the bottom of their resistance.

A brief can simply be a list of bullet points or notes. In my case, it was a month, general location, activity idea and meal. By ensuring you are starting off with the correct information will save any unnecessary embarrassment going forward.

Once the core plan has been signed off, look into the details and gather all of the facts. Think about what your team members will ask you. Don’t be lazy, call the organisation, the restaurant you are going to and ask them your queries. Be proactive, don’t just send off an email and wait for a response. Time is precious and you might miss out on the booking for being too slow. Like anything in life strike with impulsion.

When you have gathered all of the information make sense of it yourself. When I am being informed about something I want to receive one email with the options laid out clearly. I don’t want to be digging through multiple emails trying to link two and two together. Take your time over it, don’t rush it as it is amazing how many people just hit the send button and realise they have missed some crucial information. That’s when your communication starts to get messy as people respond to different bits, completely overlook certain information and the result, is a gaggle of confusion.

When reaching out be firm on your deadlines, when asking for a response make it clear they need to respond by a certain time otherwise you will assume they do not want to attend or you will not take further action. It will save the chase of cat and mouse as you try to pin them down to a simple yes or no. Although if it’s your boss that’s a little slow maybe be a little more lenient and send a gentle reminder!

Ben and Al talk about email scams, Facebook shadow profiles, email marketing advice, planning your marketing for next year and how the world sends 2.6 million emails a second.

If you have any feedback, ideas or topics you’d like covered on our podcast we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch via our contact page, leave a voicemail on 0800 881 5805 or mention @RatherInventive on Twitter.

Something Inventive is an entertaining and lively podcast on creativity and the web. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or search for ‘Something Inventive’ in your favourite podcast player.

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Episode sponsored by Ticked Off Marketing Checklist

Simple marketing tasks to act on right away. Each task includes examples, downloads or the steps needed to complete it, plus a big button to tick it off when you’re done. Sign up for a free 30 day trial at ticked-off.com with just your name and email and no credit card.

Show notes

• Interview: GDPR with Rebecca Hardy and Jeremy Aldous-Fountain
• Rescam: Scam the Scammers
• 401 scam video of recording scamming scammer
• TED talk: This is what happens when you reply to spam email | James Veitch
• The Smart Girl Guide to Privacy
• ContractStore: Legal Business Contracts, Templates & Samples
• WordPress Hacks
• Internet Live Stats.com

The Hosts

Al Osmond (@inventiveal) – An unusual mix of logical thinker with a creative eye
Ben Kinnaird (@benkinnaird) – Knower of Social Media, SEO and ‘the Web’

Be part of the show

Tweet a service or product you’d like to promote, mentioning @RatherInventive and the hashtag #podvert and we’ll read it out over the coming episodes

Thanks for listening!

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Audio edited by Donalize – ‘Goofy Vocal Groove‘ intro music by Dave Girtsman – Image Credit: Rubber Duck by Quang Nguyen

What to review when planning your marketing

I’ve created a video to share 5 things you should be reviewing as part of your marketing plan for 2018.

Did you find the video helpful? What are your 5 most crucial marketing concerns?

Get your marketing plan started with Ticked Off, my unique marketing process, for free. Sign up to ticked-off.com.

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Transcript

1. Review the previous year

Think about what worked well, can you do this again and ditch anything that doesn’t work.

What are your objectives for next year? More sales? New products or more family time

Incorporate the good ideas back into plan

2. Review your marketing website

You should regularly be reviewing the content on your site to make it easier for more people to get in touch or buy from you.

Is it easy for a visitor to find out what you do or how a product can benefit them?

Are the contact details available?

Are you asking people to get in touch or buy from you? If not why not

Are there any projects or clients you’re proud of that aren’t on the site

If you don’t have cookie and privacy policies on your site. If you don’t you can buy them from places like contractstore.com

Make sure your website is backed up and if it’s WordPress, updated regularly

3. Review your social and blog efforts

Which social networks give you most likes, shares or conversation? Focus your efforts on those

Are your social profiles up to date. Visit each one and make sure the bio description, profile and header images at correct and consistent

Are you providing customers with answers to common questions? Think back to previous customer questions and create blog articles from your answers or use tools such as answerthepublic.com to help generate ideas, then write about them.

Can you create a short video to explain your service benefits or how a product works? Ask customers for short testimonials when you next see them or hold an interview over Skype.

4. Review your ad campaigns

Are you getting the return you expect? How do you measure this?

Decide on an objective, such as the number of visits to your contact page or product purchases, then monitor these along with your costs. Ideally, you want to know how much money it costs to generate single lead or sale. For example, this could be your monthly ad spend divided by number of leads you receive each month

Remember to review and focus on the best performing adverts. Which ones generated a great conversation on Facebook or which keywords on Google gave you the most conversions on your website.

And finally

5. look into GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation will come unto force at the end of May next year and will impact all businesses that hold any personal information, even on their employees!

If you’ve not looked into this yet then I recommend listening to our interview with Rebecca from Kidwells Law and Jeremy, a data security specialist to find out more.
Just search for Rather Inventive GDPR interview on Google

Thanks for listening and if you need any help with your website, blog, video production or social media, in fact, anything to do with online marketing you can visit ratherinventive.com/contact

Bye

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Image Credit: Rubber Duck by Quang Nguyen

You already know the power of your email marketing. It sends a friendly prompt to encourage your audience to engage with your content. But with competition for eye time rising every year, it’s easy to lose valuable readers.

Here’s how to keep your emails and recipient lists in tip top condition…

1. Streamline

As a subscriber, one of my biggest pains is having to delete/spam/unsubscribe all the emails I receive from companies that I’m just not interested in. So, do your email recipients a favour and streamline your list first. Send it only to those who want to hear from you and remove those who don’t open or no longer engage with you. That way you won’t annoy anyone and your good reputation will remain intact.

Don’t make people puzzle over where you got their information – if they think you’ve got it through dubious means (buying email addresses) then they’ll dump you in spam. Ensure the consent of your subscribers, and include details in your email content. This is particularly important with GDPR coming into force next year.

Unfortunately, no matter how good your content is you won’t please everyone. If your open rate is falling it may mean that unsubscribes (and worse, spam complaints) will follow. If more people keep unsubscribing, try to identify the cause. Keep doing what works, stop doing what doesn’t.

Take notice of what people are telling you by not opening your emails. If they’re not already opening them, they’re not likely to start any time soon. Remove them from the list and your open rates will increase.

Don’t be a victim of the email recipients’ kiss-of-death: move to junk. Great newsletters work because they are aimed at a specific group of people. Attempt to cater to all and you’ll miss your mark. Focus on the kind of people who make up your specific audience and deliver content that they will appreciate.

2. Personalise

Use that personalisation button to ensure the recipient feels that the email is for him or his business. Yes, of course he knows that you’re sending the same email to hundreds, possibly thousands of people, but nothing is likely to turn people off reading than receiving a “Dear Customer” email. Also, personalise the “from” email address. People are more likely to engage if they know they can respond to a real person.

3. Avoid clickbait

There’s nothing more frustrating that clicking on a subject line that turns out to promise more than it delivers. Manage readers’ expectations by providing good quality content that is truthful to the subject line. Otherwise your click-through rates will suffer and you’ll start getting unsubscribes, or your email sent to spam.

4. Have purpose

Do you want to tell people about an upcoming event? Are you offering exclusive content in exchange for more information about their organisation? or are you offering a promo code for a purchase on your website. Ensure you have a clear and concise goal for your email and make sure it’s clearly laid out. Give calls-to-action and plenty of links, so recipients have multiple avenues to engage with you.

5. Build trust

As I’ve mentioned above, it’s important your recipients actively show that they want to receive news from you. This means that when they receive your email they’ll instantly recognise you. The DMA’s Consumer Email Tracker 2017 report showed that almost half (49%) of recipients need to recognise the brand before opening their marketing emails.

People are put off by gimmicks but a carefully crafted email, with well-written text and energising images, is vital if you want to create trust in your recipients. It’s trust that you’ll deliver good quality content that will get your recipients buying your goods and services, and sharing your message.

Don’t know where to start? Look at newsletters that you love to receive, why do you love it? What are they doing to incite your engagement with it? Do your readers say, “Wow, I love reading this.”

Unless you’re producing quality content, every single time, then you could just be a nuisance to your recipients who’ll dump your email straight into ‘Trash’.

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It’s getting more competitive just getting your subscriber’s eye but don’t be discouraged. Email is still the mainstay of digital marketing. Put more effort into giving your subscribers good quality content that they’re pleased to receive, and they’ll reward you by opening and sharing your message.

Did you find this interesting? If you’d like more articles like this subscribe to our monthly newsletter in the box below.

Image credit – 1972 Chevy Chevelle by Holmes Palacios Jr.

There has been an awful lot of hype about the new GDPR regulations that are coming into play in May 2018 and I for one have been trying to get my head around it.

The GDPR, also known as the General Data Protection Regulations are changing and in a lot of ways are changing for the better. It is giving us, as an individual more rights to know what data is being held on us and to have the right to be forgotten. It is finally giving consequences for companies that sell and spread our data without our consent. We might finally even be able to get off that cold call list!

However, as a business, it provides a little bit more of a headache as like anything in life it is easy to pick up a trail of computerised and archive debris which we need to ensure we have permission for, regularly review and endeavour to archive safely and securely.

This is no easy task but a lot of people are suggesting that we see this as opportunity. An opportunity, to dust off the files and reconnect with previous clients, to evaluate all the information we hold and review what is actually necessary. Or are we simply just clogging up our disc space.

I was asked to try and get us ahead of the curve to ensure by early 2018 we are in a strong position to deal with this. It won’t be long before our clients will soon be asking us what we are doing and what data we hold but with every new venture, there is not always a clear path.

The first step I took was to get in touch with the governing body, the ICO who regulate this law and have released some guidelines, a 12 step plan to be precise to help companies navigate the changes.

1. Awareness

The simplest one of all. If you are aware this is happening from the 25th May 2018 then you are currently ahead of a lot of people.
More laws are coming into place to protect our personal data which boils down to any data that can identify an individual, directly or indirectly. So this would include their name, personal email, personal number, personal address, image amongst other information.

2. Information

Within your own organisation you need to start reviewing what personal data information you hold. The new GDPR regulations dictate that these records need to be maintained and regularly updated to ensure they are current and accurate. If you have shared these details with a third party it is your responsibility to inform them so all data can be updated.

3. Communicating

The key ingredient to everything we do – you need to start communicating internally with your employees how to handle data correctly and start communicating externally how you deal with data within your company. Review your current privacy notice and check if you cover how, why and where you store your data, how long you intend to hold it, guide customers on their right to be forgotten and their right to complain to ICO if they feel there is a problem with the way you are handling their data.

4. Individual Rights

Check your procedures to ensure you cover all the rights individuals now have, including how you would delete personal data or provide data electronically and in a commonly used format.

The GDPR includes the following rights:

• the right to be informed;
• the right of access;
• the right to rectification;
• the right to erasure;
• the right to restrict processing;
• the right to data portability;
• the right to object; and
• the right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling.

Some good questions to ask yourself – if someone asked for the information to be deleted is: Would your current systems help you to locate and delete the data? Who in your organisation will make the decisions about deletion?

5. Subject Access Request

Beware that customers now have the right to see what data you hold on them and you will no longer be able to charge for this service but to simply respond within 30days with the information requested in a concise, easy to understand language. So you may need to think about how this information could be contained and easily managed to allow you to do this.

In exceptional circumstances, you can refuse to do so if the requests are manifestly unfounded or excessive. However, this must still be done with the 30days and you must explain to the individual why you have taken this decision and that they have a right to complain to the ICO. I would also recommend liaising with the ICO before you take this step to ensure your reasons are supported.

6. Lawful basis for processing personal data

(I am still to wrap my head around this one) The ICO advises that you should identify the lawful basis for your processing activity in the GDPR, document it and update your privacy notice to explain it.

7. Consent

Gather consent, this one sounds easy but imagine in the next few months when everyone will be reaching out to everyone and once the novelty wears off won’t our customers become numb to even the most cleverly spun consent letter? Will we end up having to delete client data as they are simply fed up of having to tick boxes and respond with their consent?

8. Children

For the first time, the GDPR will bring in special protection for children’s personal data, particularly in the context of commercial internet services such as social networking. Minimum age of consent is currently 16 years old although I heard this was being moved to 13 years.

9. Data Breaches

Make sure you have the right procedures in place to detect, report and investigate a personal data breach. From May 2018 you will have 72hours to notify the ICO if you have had a breach which could result in discrimination, damage to reputation, financial loss, loss of confidentiality or any other significant economic or social disadvantage to a client. The ICO will then advise you on whether you will also need to notify the client. Failure to report a breach when required to do so could result in a fine which can be up to 4% of your annual turnover as well as a fine for the breach itself.

10. Data Protection by Design and Data Protection Impact Assessments

I am yet to get to this stage on the list but the ICO recommends that it is a good idea to carry out a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) as part of this.

11. Data Protection Officers

Designate someone to take responsibility for data protection compliance and assess where this role will sit within your organisation’s structure and governance arrangements.

12. International

This one is not really applicable to us (yet) but if your organisation operates in more than one EU member state, you should determine your lead data protection supervisory authority and document this.

 

When faced with the above it can feel a little overwhelming particularly when you look at the client list and see how much data you need to account for. So, I attended Kidwells Solicitors Free GDPR Seminar to help me understand some of the grey areas without all the heavy jargon. You can hear what I learnt in the workshop on our episode 19 of our podcast or  listen to an interview with Rebecca and Jeremy, the workshop hosts.

The main thing I took away is that you must make your policy relevant to you and your company. There is no official stamp yet on whether you are GDPR compliant, this will only come to be tested when you get a breach. It is not a case of if, it is a matter of when. Make sure you are making the relevant steps above and are only keeping what is necessary. If in doubt you can always contact the ICO on their helpline who offer free advice and policy reviews.

As you can see our GDPR journey has only just started and each of us will be taking a slightly different path to ensure we are compliant for May next year.

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Image credit: Data Thief – Hacker – Cyber Criminal by Blue Coat Photos

I walk into my usual hairdressers. They make me feel welcome by greeting me warmly and offering me a coffee. They behave as though they want me to be there, and are pleased to be cutting my hair.  Most importantly they do a really good cut.

In return for the exceptional service I receive, I will tell anyone looking for a hairdresser about my favourite salon. I sing their praises, evangelizing about the quality of the cut and the excellent customer service.

This hairdressing salon is a little different to other businesses because it doesn’t advertise, it doesn’t have a Facebook page, and it doesn’t have a Twitter following – it doesn’t need it. This may be considered a little outdated these days, after all as a business you want to be building your clientele, but by focusing too much on followings, likes and shares you’re taking away focus on your service or product. My hairdressers don’t need to think about social media because they get enough business through word-of-mouth.

Focus on connecting, not just collecting

You probably spend an inordinate amount of your time trying to reach out to people. And to some degree, you’ll measure your success by counting the number of e-newsletters opened, or views of your products on your website pages. And, although your ‘reach’ is important what is more vital is that you give your customers what they need – a good experience in working with you.

Be good at what you do and care about your customer’s experience and you won’t need to spend so much time promoting yourself by other means. Create customer experiences worthy of being passed from person-to-person and people will flock to you.

Word-of-mouth is still the original and most powerful way to influence business results. The quality of your work and your customer service will be all the advertising you need because this form of marketing is what your consumers trust above all others.

But what if word-of-mouth recommendations are not forthcoming?

Asking for feedback reminds people about your business and gets them to think about your company or product. The ‘How would you describe us to a friend?’ question forces them to think about, and create a concrete opinion to you. If people form an opinion of you then they are more likely to share that opinion with others.

Advertising or promoting yourself on social media is not fundamental for success. If you’re adverse to Twitter or Facebook (or any other social media platforms), or you simply don’t have the time or inclination, then don’t bother with a half-hearted attempt. Instead create a wonderful experience for your existing business clients. Create happy customers, and they will send many new ones in your direction.

Image credit: Midnight Believer, Whisper

Every interaction you have with potential or existing clients is an opportunity to market your business. So, do you think they would want to deal with a cold bloodsucker or a real human being?

In a world where we are all besieged with advertisements and sales pitches, marketing your business is no longer about getting as many eyes as possible on your ads, it is about using your qualification as a human being to speak directly to clients, to build relationships, and give them the means to identify with you and your business.

Trying to suck the money out of clients with out-of-date marketing concepts that appeal to no one in particular is a loser’s game. But showing your human side by building relationships, whether as an individual or as the representative of a business, will get people on your side.

When it comes to fulfilling business or personal needs, consumers have a world of choice.  And too much choice become baffling. The only thing they have to rely on is their contacts, and they’re going to trust the ones who take the time and energy to help them make the right decision. Building authentic relationships with people is what fosters trust in you and loyalty to your brand. It is trust that drives people to purchase from you.

Doing it the right way ultimately comes down to showing your human side, and appealing to theirs. Talking directly to people about their needs, writing blog posts that speak to people and gets to the heart of their problem, creating ad and email campaigns that clients can relate to – this is all relationship building.

To err is human

Of course, being human, you WILL make mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of life. The important thing is to demonstrate that you can rectify those mistakes because in doing so you will not only demonstrate your conscientious-ness, but also your ability to deal with problems effectively.

To deny problems exist by sweeping them under the carpet or respond ineffectually, shows clients that you have the problem-solving abilities and emotional intelligence of a frog – this is not conducive to good business relationships.

Your customers will know when you’re being up front or when you’re stretching the truth. Give them a hint that you’re not being honest and you’ll lose them. Instead, admit to your mistake, explaining how you’ll handle it and what steps are being taken to prevent the same from occurring in the future, and they’ll appreciate and admire you more for it.

Expecting faultlessness from yourself or your employees is not realistic. There is a fine line between striving for excellence and unhelpful perfectionism, which does nothing but lead to an unhealthy workplace. It can impact on the mental and physical health of you and your employees, which filters out to the clients. A healthy level of quality control, as opposed to control freakery, creates beneficial relationships between employees and clients. In fact, research shows that the more human and connected a workplace feels, the healthier and more productive people are.

Show you care

For some reason being ‘professional’ seems to be synonymous with a lack of emotion. But pretending we are not human does not make us better at business, and sterile interactions are not the way to come across as a human being. You can be professional AND reveal your true personality, the human in you, even within a larger business, as long as you’re adhering to its core brand identity.

These days, being busy and stressed is often worn as a badge of honour. And for some people, to be seen as the type of person who considers work to be the centre of their universe is the ideal. It is almost as though their endeavours at work have to displace their human relationships or be cold and detached from the realities of being human, in order to be good at their job – this isn’t true – Being ourselves and bringing all of the aspects of our lives to complement our work is what makes us truly human, and come across as such. So, feel free to go surfing at the weekend and tell your newest client all about it.

No matter what business you’re in, the human element is vital. To deny your humanity by failing to build healthy working relationships, or being cold and detached with no warmth and personality coming across in your interactions, creates an unfavourable impression and suggests that there is something about your business that is not quite as it should be. In which case, you may as well have fangs, and blood dripping down your chin, because customers will run a mile.

Image sourced from http://sexyaidanturner.tumblr.com/

Ben interviews the lovely Louise Jenner. She’s enthusiastic about using online marketing tools and has lots of great advice to help develop a business that doesn’t run you. She says “if you’re not in your dream job, you’re in someone else’s”… so true.

Find Louise on Twitter @LouiseJenner1 or visit louisejenner.com/ebook/ and signup for her free book “Your Dream Job. How to find it and get hired to do it!”

• The Dream Job Coach
• Laptop Friday
• Jonathan Pollinger as a Guest on Something Inventive EP10
• Louise’s free book Your Dream Job. How to find it and get hired to do it!
• The Dream Job Show Facebook live videos
• Zoom Video Conferencing
• WebinarNinja
• Buffer social media management app and multi-social-network-poster thing. It’s pretty cool

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Photo Credit: Louise Jenner

In a business world littered with marketing advice, it may get a little confusing to know what to do to increase your company’s visibility. But one thing you shouldn’t do is lots of different things with no purpose or aim – this is the fastest route to a wasted budget. It may sound like a good idea to spend hours on building your social media following by tweeting every 5 minutes, but this is probably not the most appropriate route for your business.

Unfocused Social media, SEO or Pay Per Click advertising may be effective for some, but for many businesses, this scattergun approach fails to have an impact and leads to a lot of wasted time that could have been better spent elsewhere.

When it comes to the marketing there simply isn’t a one size fits all methodology. The best way to understand that best strategy for your business is to ask yourself one question – Who is my customer? Keep that customer in mind when creating your marketing strategy.

Plan consistent strategies

Put a strategy in place with your customers in mind. Think ahead, plan what you need to do, and keep doing it. Marketing works best when it’s consistent – you cannot just send one email and expect great results – whatever you do needs to build up and gain momentum. Measure the results.

• Try Email marketing – this often produces a much higher return on investment than social media, so put your time into creating an effective email marketing campaign where you can speak directly to followers. Grow your email list and write compelling and engaging emails, using words that appeal to your target market, that you send directly to the customer on a regular basis.
• Facebook allows you to get very specific in who you are targeting. Want to aim at women aged 25-40 in London who recently made a high-ticket purchase? Yes, you can target them. Or men in their 40s who love guitars and Apple products? Yes, them too. Facebook use data from individual’s Facebook activities to find out what their interests are, and you can use this to your advantage to reach a very narrow demographic of buyers.

Nurture your target market

• As Simon Sinek says, ‘Start with why’. Tell your customers why you are running this business and let them know why they are important to your success.
• Give your customers reason to trust you and never let them down.
• Analyse your current customers. Why do they buy from you? Use this information to focus your marketing.
• Find out where the leaks are in your marketing funnel. Where do people drop out and lose interest in what you are offering?

The more you can target and focus your campaigns, the more successful you will be in winning customers. This is the only way you will cut out the marketing fat and increase the visibility of your business to the people that matter – those who are going to buy your product or service – and ultimately, improve your bottom line.

Image credit: Petras Gagilas. Target.

You walk into a supermarket and you’re approached by a very friendly shop assistant who is offering a free sample of cake. You feel a little bit excited. Everyone likes free stuff. So, how do you feel about this supermarket? A tiny bit more positive perhaps – more inclined to buy the product?

It seems to be everywhere now – businesses offering stuff for free. But why?

Generates traffic

One of the primary benefits of offering something for free is that it generates traffic. The free product introduces the business and hooks likely buyers, with the result that the expense of handing out the free samples will be more than counterbalanced by the resulting sales. The big US companies such as Kraft, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever think nothing of spending a couple of hundred dollars each day to set up a free sample stand inside a supermarket. But these costs are tiny compared to the good will that is being cultivated in the customers who are getting these free samples.

Creates grateful customers

When it comes to reaching consumers, free samples are often much more powerful, and much cheaper than traditional advertising. If enough people try the product then some of them will decide to buy simply because they’ve gotten a freebie and, consciously or not, somehow feel obligated to pay the company back. Researchers have discovered that shoppers who’ve received freebies in the supermarket are more likely to buy the products given away, and to even become loyal customers.

Positive brand recognition

By giving something for free, you’re investing in positive brand recognition. People love to get something for free with no strings attached even if the product is worth little. In fact, the word ‘free’ makes the product and the company or brand more appealing.

It has a positive impact on how they regard your brand and it makes people more willing to give something in return. For example, businesses will give away free eBooks or white papers in return for contact information. People are more likely to respond to a favour with another favour. Rather Inventive offer freebies in the form of their book, Be Sociable, in the hope that it will tell people a little bit about the business, and garner a positive attitude towards it.

If you’re a small business owner then the word ‘free’ can be a little scary. You’re in business to make money after all. But by now you can see that there are various benefits that free samples and giveaways provide. Sometimes the benefits are not seen immediately but are contributing to the positive perception of your business, but at other times the benefits may be more immediate.

So, how can you harness the value of ‘free’ to make your business more successful?

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Photo credit: Myrtle Beach TheDigitel  – FREE Samples

No matter what industry you’re in, if you’re a small business you probably feel like a tiny plankton in a huge ocean. So, what can you do to stand out?

One effective route to success is to become an authority within your field. After all, there’s nothing that brings in new clients better than being considered an expert. You can do this in several ways. You could do interviews, write a book or introduce innovative new products.

Possibly the most difficult route, but one which cannot fail to get you noticed is to solve your industry’s biggest problems. By addressing the bone-aching problems within the your industry you will set your company apart by showing yourself to be knowledgeable about your subject and aware of its shortcomings, and to care enough to want to find a solution.

Let’s look at an example in the electronics manufacturing industry. New standards and regulations are pushing electronic manufacturers to consider their social responsibility when making decisions and to include sustainable engineering strategies to satisfy the growing trend for environmental awareness. The entire lifecycle of a product must be considered; from manufacturing, with the use of harmful chemicals and human exposure; to consumer use, with the consumption of energy; to the end of its life, with waste disposal and complex disassembly.

This costs money and in an industry with steadily shrinking margins and higher product performance and quality expectations, this can be a real problem. Yet, electronics manufacturing leaders will define the solutions and find a way to make it work. They will work to ensure continuous process improvement and will invest in systems and processes, and then they will share those solutions.  

If your business is seen to be the one to introduce a workable solution to a problem. Not only will potential customers become aware of who you are, but fellow industry experts will consider your company to be at the sharp end of the industry.  

How do you become an authority in your industry? Here’s a step by step guide to becoming a problem solver in your industry;

1. Work out what the problems are – If you’re already running a small business within a certain field of expertise, you probably already have a handle on what the issues are. So, clearly define the problem you want to solve.
2. Why does the problem exist? – Now that you have the issue you want to eliminate, have a look at why it exists.
3. Narrow down solutions – There may be several different ways to approach a problem. But concentrate on just one or a couple of clearly-explained solutions otherwise you risk overwhelming and confusing people.
4. Break it down – It’s all very well having a fantastic solution to a problem, but if nobody knows how to put it into action effectively, chances are it won’t be used until another business gets hold of it, tweaks it and takes all the credit. Break down your suggested resolution into a step-by-step actionable plan. This will make your suggestions easier to digest, understand and implement and more people will follow through to completion, making your problem-solving strategy more successful.
5. Repeat steps one to four – So, you’ve successfully solved an industry problem? But your solution will only put you at the top of the list until another business swoops in to solve the next problem.

If you make it your mission to solve the problems of your industry as they arise you’ll establish yourself as a business who can lead the pack. Set yourself apart as an industry expert and you will reap the rewards that it brings.

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Photo credit: David, IMG_4151

 

What is trust?

In a previous blog post, I spoke about how Simon Sinek refers to ‘Start with why’, an interesting concept about how presenting ‘why’ you do what you do can get people on your side. But at the heart of the ‘Start with why’ theory is the idea of trust. Trust is a feeling of security one has, based on the belief that someone is reliable, good, honest, and effective. Trust is what your employees, customers and clients need so that they can hear your ‘why’ and know that it is the truth.

Trust is critical in any relationship, and is just as true in business. To build a successful business there must be trust permeating the relationships throughout the organisation – between leaders to employees, employees to employees, and employees to customers.

According to the 2017 Edelman trust barometer, the world population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media — has declined. In this climate, “People’s societal and economic concerns, including globalization, the pace of innovation and eroding social values, turn into fears”. This is why building trust in your business is more important today than ever before.

How much trust is in your organisation? In business interactions, we can usually intuitively feel when trust is lacking. Without it, there are the underlying feelings of resentment, undermining, avoiding and game-playing among employees.

I am very well acquainted with one such business; it is a hotbed of gossip; there is an undercurrent of frustration at the management; and rather than unity there is stress and low productivity where fake camaraderie, petty squabbles and backstabbing were everyday occurrences. Does that sound like an environment that puts trust at the heart of its operations?

Trust within an organisation creates a healthy work environment. It forms the foundation for effective communications, staff retention, motivated members, and contributions of energy and, according to studies, there is also significant link to sales, profits, and turnover in organisations with a high level of trust.

How to build trust in your organisation

So, do you think your organisation might be lacking in the trust quota? If so, here are a few things you can do to ensure that trust remains one of the most important features of your business.

Act with sincerity and integrity

Probably the bedrock of trust, keeping your promises will set you up as reliable and dependable. What immediately follows is strong trust and respect. If you frequently make commitments but fail to keep them, you’ll see only frustration and self-serving behaviour – not conducive to long-term successful relationships. Also, offer your true perspective on matters, align your words and actions, and be consistent in your behaviour.

Listen

Listen to and act on feedback, even if it’s negative. If colleagues, employees or customers feel listened to they will more likely feel trust for you and your business. Demonstrate caring and unconditional positive regard to others’ point of view, even if you disagree with them.

Handle crisis well

Do your utmost and encourage others in the organisation to turn a negative situation to your advantage by going over and above to handle a crisis effectively, and you will be cultivating trust

Be transparent

Own your failures, and learn from them.  Share them so that others can learn from them too. It will help you bounce back better and higher than before.

Encourage ideas and innovation

Be well informed – have views on industry issues, and encourage others to. Put your efforts into finding solutions. Don’t tread water; it’s the fastest way to obscurity.

Communicate well

The way companies communicate has a great deal of influence on the amount of trust employees and clients have for them. Be direct, be spontaneous not rehearsed, be blunt not diplomatic and polite. Give personal experience over data – what does it mean in real terms. Also, make good use of social media – a two-way means of communicating, rather than direct advertising, which is one way and doesn’t give customers a platform on which to communicate their views.

Support others

Use your skills and knowledge to support others’ work. Serve all parties’ best interests. It will bolster everyone’s positive regard of you and therefore their trust in you.

How employees create your success

Ultimately, for a successful business you must treat your employees well. They should be at the heart of the business. They are, after all, the people who know the most about your organisation, your products and services and the market. Invest in them regularly. Employees who remain in one place (physically and emotionally) will grow bored and weary.

Employees want to understand why they are doing things, they want to know the difference that they make, and they want to trust and to know that they are trusted to deliver. They will be willing to go the extra mile to ensure that your business goals are met. If on the other hand, they learn that they are not valued and that winning is the ultimate prize, then they’ll begin to think less about trying something new and different and instead focus on self-preservation. The result may be reliable workers, but it will diminish trust and stunt your business’ growth.

Express genuine appreciation up, down, and across your organisation and you will hear your staff say, ‘We’re in this together’.

Trust leads to a happy, productive workplace that can handle anything and will continually move the organisation forward. In these days of inherent mistrust in large corporations, it is important, over everything else you do, to cultivate an environment of trust. It is a non-negotiable facet of a successful business – you cannot have one without the other. In a successful business it is the relationships you forge—and the trust you create—that matter most.

 

Photo: Ideas Alchemist, Trust

Why should your customers choose your business over all the thousands of others doing the same thing?

According to Simon Sinek, motivational speaker and marketing consultant, when we’re trying to influence others we need to start with why.

We could be selling a product or service, looking for employment, employees or seeking funding – the important thing, Sinek says, is to start with telling people why you are doing it. He says;

“People don’t buy what you do,
they buy why you do it”

Sinek refers to his Golden Circle – the outer edge of which denotes the what. In every industry, including yours, there will be hundreds of businesses doing the same thing. He explains that the businesses that use what to sell products need to manipulate customers into buying their product or service. People will come to this type of business because it offers low prices, freebies, novelty (under the guise of innovation) to compete with others all doing the same thing. This doesn’t breed loyalty or create trust.

The reason why you do what you do is likely to be different for every company. This could be your company’s sense of purpose, it’s beliefs, its values – whatever it is that underpins its reason for existing. This is what attracts people to your business and keeps them returning.  

The goal to influence in business is no longer about the practical aspects of doing business. Consumers have a wealth of choice for every service or product they could ever desire. It’s about the emotional aspect and how connecting with a certain business can make them feel. So as a business, connecting to the group of people who ‘get’ why you do what you do is the key to business success.

What do successful businesses do differently?

Seth Godin explains in his book, All Marketers are Liars that the most successful companies are those who fit into the worldview of their customers and offer something different that these customers value. They use an effective, authentic story to make a better and more lasting impression on customers who will say ‘I’m willing to turn down a better offer or product elsewhere to do business with you.’ because they can relate to your company beliefs and feel as though they belong.

Steve from Efficient Thinking Solutions is a client of Rather Inventive. Steve loves to solve problems. It gives him a sense of purpose and fulfilment to put systems and processes in order so that businesses can get the most out of their employees. Steve’s ‘what’ – to offer the service of consulting for businesses and helping to improve their productivity – is the proof of what he believes. It’s his values and his guiding principles that fuel his business, not the other way around.

How do you get staff on board?

When it comes to selling your company to your staff, so that they are working for something they believe in, it’s the same principle. Sinek says a company should be a group of people with a common set of values and beliefs. This is what keeps the company moving in the same direction, giving everyone a sense of belonging and working together to achieve goals and solve problems. This can only happen when a leader demonstrates his beliefs and his values about the company. Without it, the staff will be working only for pay and will jump ship at the first sign of trouble.

So, do you know why you do what you do, and can you shout about it? Do you hold yourself accountable to that reason, every time you work?  Make sure everyone knows your why and they’ll keep coming back.

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Photo credit: Walter Lim, Start With Why Diagram

 

I interview Tanya and Dave, owners of The Priory Inn (Tetbury), on how they’ve improved quality and sustainability, by insisting on buying only from suppliers within a 30-mile food zone, and the restaurant’s continuous development using ‘Lean manufacturing’ principles.

Find Tanya on Twitter @ThePrioryInn or visit www.theprioryinn.co.uk and book a table. I can recommend the pizza.

• Lean manufacturing
• Strawberry and blue cheese pizza!
• 30 mile food zone policy suppliers at The Priory Inn
• Holy Smoked Cheese
• Priory staff visit to Uley brewery
• Barter at the back door
• Award winning Stargazy Fish Bar

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Photo Credit: The Priory Inn

I catch-up with Becca Wild from Photopia to find out why she and partner Simon decided to create a rather unique recipe book, and in my opinion an epic project, while continuing running their photography business and expecting a child.

Find Becca on Twitter @PhotopiaUK  or visit photopiaphotography.co.uk.

• Met at Hereford Tweet Up
• Chase Marmalade Vodka. They make rhubarb flavour too!
• First book Made in Hereford with help from Jo Hilditch
• Second book Made in Shropshire, foodily supported by Beth Heath

Christmas is upon you and that means hundreds of choices staring you in the face – what gifts to buy for whom, venues for the Christmas do, what to eat at the Christmas do, what to wear to the Christmas do, blah de blah. It’s enough to give you indigestion before you’ve even taken a sniff of turkey.

Christmas is just the tip of the choice iceberg, every aspect of your life; what you buy, how you work, how you eat, how you run our business is all encumbered by choice. If you don’t take control you can drown in it, and so can your customers.

Our society is built on the idea that choice is a good thing and to some extent I would agree, after all who wants to be limited to one TV channel, but we’ve taken this idea to extremes when the average supermarket now sells hundreds of different types of cheese.

Every day your customers are served by millions of people who work to make billions of products just to offer choice – everything can be personalised to our individual tastes. Decaf soya cappuccino? Double expresso light or a machiatto? Don’t want either? Well then how about a short, tall, skinny, decaf or iced Latte instead? You can have whatever you want, when you want it. The problem is that the decision becomes more difficult the more choice you have.

Barry Schwartz in his book The Paradox of Choice, says that at the point where the effort to make an informed decision overtakes the benefit of having a choice, then “choice no longer liberates but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannise.”

So, are you drowning your customers in choice? Columbia Business School Professor Sheena Iyengar, a psycho economist gave a TED talk about how businesses can improve the experience of choosing. She says that because our brains simply can’t categorize and choose as well with so many options in front of us… “We choose not to choose even when it goes against our best self interests”.

When already faced by a barrage of choice at Christmas you might just be tipping your customers over the edge by adding more to their proverbial table, resulting in their disengagement and dissatisfaction. So, imagine your company makes choosing a product or service a much simpler process. Where there is no need for endless comparing and contrasting. Your customers will walk away having made a decision they’re happy with, rather than feeling overloaded, and you’ll feel that tinge of satisfaction when a happy customer sings your praises on social media.

Here are a few tips that Professor Iyengar recommends for keeping your customers from feeling overwhelmed;

Eliminate choices to make decision-making easier in your business.

Cut down the number of products and options your company offers. Keep the best sellers but cull the lowest-sellers. “When Procter and Gamble went from 20 different kinds of Head and Shoulders to 15, they saw an increase in sales by 10 percent,” Iyengar says. Less is more. If you are willing to slim down on products, sales increase and costs go down. It’s a win/win.

Help customers focus on a specific, positive outcome

Linking your customer’s choice with a concrete aspect of their life and how it may be affected will help them choose better. For example, ‘These wall tiles will help you achieve a sophisticated and serene bathroom, helping you to bathe in style’ will plant the image in their heads of your wall tiles on their walls. Customers need to see how your service will improve their lives without too much mental effort.

Categorise

If you must have hundreds of products and services, then categorise them into easy-to-follow classifications on your website to help your customers navigate their way around. Ease them in first. For example, offer one or two categories each with choices within. Make it a simple-to-navigate website. Limit the jargon and blocks of texts if possible too.

Help customers by ‘conditioning for complexity.’

Yours may be a company whose very nature is to offer a thousand choices, perhaps you sell ceramic wall and floor tiles for instance. If the first decision your customer has to make has fewer categories and options than the following ones, they will be more likely to participate in ongoing decisions rather than disengage. This is called ‘conditioning for complexity’.

In order that you don’t overwhelm your customers with choice you need to be selective in what products you offer. Avoid being that restaurant that offers too much choice. Not only because it means that by doing too much you will not do anything particularly well, but also because too much choice, at the very least, will leave customers not wholly satisfied with their decision. It may, at worst, have them running in the opposite direction.

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Photo Credit: Menu Board – Yugamama

Brilliant episode from NPR’s Planet Money podcast on the power of free. (for those without flash you can listen online here)

“Free has the power to make us do completely irrational things. It can drive us to break rules, and take risks we never thought possible. It can make us feel savvy and smug and exhilarated.”

It’s just under 20 minutes so perfect to listen to on your tea break.

Most interesting to me (11:38 mins in) was the idea of charging for something people don’t expect to pay for such as your mother charging for a family meal or an airline charging for customer service (one airline actually did this!). What would you expect to get for free?

I provide free advice so people can get a feel for our process but I used to struggle with how far that free advice would stretch, often into many follow-up emails and becoming a time suck, and it put me off offering anything for free at all which then in turn put off people who needed a little re-assurance of how we can help.

I found setting a clear boundary for what’s free and what’s not enabled me to offer the advice knowing there was a limit which was communicated upfront. Should people want only the free advice then they tended to use their time wisely.

I am now happy to offer my advice for free if I’m out networking or other similar event, either as a talk or just casual conversation or as a one off coaching taster session. After that, get your wallet out.

Are you charging for something people expect for free? Or are you not charging for something people would pay for? Let me know on Twitter @benkinnaird.

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Image credit: Libre Sign by Gisela Giardino

After receiving an intriguing promotional book called “I didn’t know they could do that” from Print Strategy I wanted to find out how well it’s been working for them so got in touch with MD Rob Newton¹. We also talked about the future of print and how it’s beneficial to modern marketing.

Follow Print Strategy on Twitter @printstrategy or visit their website printstrategy.eu.

• Yummy, Graze food boxes
• “I didn’t know they could do that” portfolio book
• Pact coffee – Fresher, better-tasting coffee, delivered to you as you need it.

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1. This is my first Skype interview, I’ve love to hear what you think of it on Twitter @BenKinnaird.

I stand at a networking event in Cheltenham¹. I’m not here to sell anything, simply to meet a few people who may or may not be useful to know. Initially I have to force myself to go say hello to unfamiliar people, but I am welcomed warmly, like an old friend into a mix of people who, like me, are there simply to socialise in a professional capacity.

I used to have this vision of networking events as disingenuous and very formal business environments, full of high flying, self-promoters who are there simply to sell their services. To stand in a room of unfamiliar people, drink in hand, forced smile on face and an equally forced interest in other people’s work, making small talk until the opportunity comes to sell, sell, sell, seemed more than a little false. I could never quite get over the feeling that I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t, trying to sell something no-one wanted to buy. It’s incredibly daunting. But I’m not alone – it seems that many of us avoid networking events for fear that we will be seen as being ‘fake’.

Don’t get me wrong; there are networkers like that. In my experience there are ‘takers’, those who are there simply to try to sell their services, who have no real interest in others; who strike up a conversation only to launch into a well-rehearsed pitch for their business. Most of us can spot a ‘taker’ from one hundred paces.

And then there are the ‘givers’; those who show a genuine interest in the lives of others, who are there to build mutually beneficial relationships, share ideas, ways of working, to find common ground or unexplored avenues. They ask questions, delve into the detail of another’s working life. They ask about work projects or industry news.

Most people like to talk about themselves. Give them the opportunity to talk about what they do and they will leave the conversation with a more favourable impression of you and will be more interested in following up, giving you the opportunity to offer some help².

Few of us are naturals at building rapport with complete strangers, but if we want to expand our client base, develop business partnerships, find a better job or find better staff, then it is a necessity. Thankfully, it gets easier the more we do it. And, research shows that the more powerful we become in our working lives, the easier networking becomes because we have more to offer, making our interaction with others more about giving rather than taking. So, if we were to change our mindset to one that is more altruistic, to consider what we can offer rather than take, and give people the opportunity to talk then we are likely to feel more comfortable in networking situations.

Take a long-term view and show sincere interest in the other party then there is no reason to feel like a fake. If you are a naturally caring and thoughtful person, this won’t be difficult. Provided it’s authentic, a compliment is a great conversation starter that will help build initial rapport. If you’re not, you may want to cultivate this life skill, it will reap huge benefits in the form of connections, which might, one day turn into clients.

For a more in-depth look at networking and its benefits, take a look at this Harvard Business Review article.

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1. The event was Laptop Friday if you’re interested
2. This advice also works for online networking in social networks

Image credit: Working hard at #LaptopFriday

Effective communication happens when a message is delivered that has the same meaning for the recipient as it does for the sender. In project management this means that you and your client have a mutual understanding of what the project is about.

As I mentioned in the recent post on flexibility, a project is likely to evolve as it progresses; our client may have a completely different vision of what they want at the beginning of a project compared to the final result because of the changes along the way. To effectively integrate these changes into the project means that we need to maintain a good level of communication with our client.

The main objective for our client Abbot’s Hill School was to make changes to their school website so that it was “much clearer, much easier to navigate, have more items of interest on the home page including the school video, links to social media and current news items.” The client “wanted to ensure that information was easy to find for both prospective and current parents, which meant a revised main navigation menu and the ability to have a range of sub pages.”

We met with Alison and Katie from Abbot’s Hill School to discover every aspect of the project as they saw it, and after the initial meeting we produced a full summary.

“RI was able to suggest various ways that [our project objective] could be achieved. They then produced a comprehensive project plan, including timescales and costs.”

We then used Basecamp, a project management tool, to update the project as it progressed, to track any changes and to ensure that throughout the lifecycle of the project all parties (the client, our team and brand designers Kilvington) had a comprehensive understanding of required tasks. This meant that all involved could see the current status of a project at any time.

“This dialogue continued throughout the process with the use of Basecamp which worked brilliantly to have a running summary of all our actions and changes to the project in one place and I felt RI really understood what I wanted to achieve.”

Communication for us means supporting the client so that they know exactly what is happening. Whether it’s a large project or many small projects, all the information in one place means that the pace of a project is sustained, all parties maintain control of the project’s progress, and those with different responsibilities and levels of involvement are better engaged in the project.

“I felt totally supported by RI throughout the project and I thought we worked really well as a team to achieve the final result.”

We acknowledge that for our clients their project with us is just one of many tasks on their to-do list. With a central system of control, such as Basecamp, every issue related to the project, whether large or small, a request or question is easy to track, with task responsibility, a full history and deadline reminders. Which means that project update emails don’t get lost in the sea of other work.

Effective central communication saves money, time and effort. Without it problems can easily arise: lost time (which means lost money), inefficient development, delays and products that don’t meet expectations. Ultimately, the reputation of the company and the client’s trust are at risk.

“The overall knowledge, skills and experience that RI has is impressive and I was delighted with the high level of customer service throughout the project from all members of the team. […] I would not hesitate to recommend RI to anyone and I am absolutely delighted with our new website.”

The success of any project will be contingent upon many different factors depending on the nature of your business. But there are some vital aspects that are universal; good communication, the alignment of the project’s objective between parties, and knowing what success means for each.

Know what success looks like

Some clients may not know exactly what the success of their project looks like initially, and we’ve found that the nature of any project may change and evolve during implementation. For this reason we believe that a degree of flexibility in our approach is required, and a successful project for us relies upon our ability to be flexible so we can meet the client’s own evolving requirements for success.

We worked with UCL Institute of education Families and Food in Hard Times Project. Their research examined the food practices of young people aged 11-15 and their families in Portugal, the UK and Norway, in a time of European austerity. The objective of the project was to provide a website with information for study participants and research beneficiaries including academics, NGO’s, the media and general public.

We set out to explore what UCL wanted from the website and discuss what a successful project looked like to them. They wanted a website that provided a source of public engagement to allow those involved with the project to both engage with participants by disseminating information relevant to them, and to serve as a touchpoint to view latest news, keep in touch and update contact details. It was also important to UCL that the website was easy to update and manage.

Be flexible

Rebecca O’ Connell, Senior Research Officer said, “[Rather Inventive] worked with us to understand the look and feel we wanted and were very flexible as our ideas evolved during development. I felt fully supported, that it was OK to make revisions and to change my mind – as someone who is not experienced in website design this was important. 

By defining what project success looks like beforehand, and reviewing progress on a regular basis to take into account any changes and revisions, each party knows exactly what they are striving for. For us this means taking the time to ensure everyone involved in the project has a chance to contribute, and to be open about what they need from the project’s completion. This involves meeting face to face, wherever possible. “[Rather Inventive] spent time understanding the project and our needs and have been incredibly responsive,” said Rebecca O’ Connell.

What does a successful project look like for your company? How can you work more flexibly with your project partners to make sure that all objectives are met? Let us know on Twitter by mentioning @RatherInventive.

A guide to choosing the right search terms for your business

First things first. What are keywords? They are the words or phrases that someone looking for a business or service like yours will type into a search engine to find you. And if those words and phrases don’t feature in the content, their website won’t come up when someone types them into a search engine.

As a general rule, your keyword list shouldn’t be very long. (If you’ve got 150 words or phrases in your list, you’re either running a multinational business with hundreds of products or you’ve got too many words on the list). Around 10 to 12 words or phrases is plenty for the average site.

So how do you choose them?

 

Part one: brainstorming and choosing

Brainstorm all the words that come to mind when thinking of your business. Don’t worry at this stage how many you’ve got. Now look at each of them in turn and ask “if I was looking for a business like mine, would I type this into Google?”. There are three possible answers:

• yes
• no
• only if I combine it with one (or more) other words or phrases in the list.

Remove all the “nos” from the list and combine all the “only ifs”.

 

Part two: checking and exploring

The next step is to check your list.

Enter them into Google (or your search engine of choice) and see what comes up. If your competitors or websites similar to yours are coming up, you’ve probably got the right keywords. If they aren’t, you can remove them from the list.

Ask your customers what they would type into a search engine if they wanted to find a business like yours. If they match yours, that’s great. If they don’t, add them to the list.

Use Google’s keyword research tool. This will provide you with suggestions you may not have thought of. It will also give you an idea of how competitive your chosen keywords are so you can assess your chances of appearing high up in the rankings. And this is extremely important.

 

Part three: assessing the competition

The last and perhaps most important step in this process is to assess your chances of appearing high up in the results when people search for them.

Let’s take an example. If you sell cars, you might think your top keyword is “cars” and that you need to be on the first page of results when people search on “cars”. But realistically

• you won’t be
• you don’t want to be (honestly!).

You won’t be because you’ll be competing with every single website in the world that’s about cars. The chance of being in the first one hundred pages, let alone the first page or the number one spot are remote, to say the least. Optimise your site on the word “cars”, you’ll never be found by your potential customers. The result? A website that isn’t doing its job.

But why don’t you want to be? Because anyone searching for the word “cars” is unlikely to be looking for you. They’ll be looking for photographs, to find out how they work, to find out how many there are, etc etc. The one thing they aren’t doing is looking for you. So if you did manage to get onto the first page, you’d get lots of visitors, certainly. But how many would turn into customers?

Optimise your site on the type of car you sell (luxury cars, vintage cars, red cars) and where you are (Herefordshire, Norfolk ) instead and you’ll only be competing against other people who sell the type of cars you do where you do. So your chances of being at the top of the rankings are better. What’s more, if people type “vintage cars for sale Herefordshire” into a search engine, they’re definitely looking for you. The result? A website that’s doing its job.

Think of it like this. If you work in a shop, you don’t need every person in town visiting your shop, you just need every person who is looking to buy what you sell. Get your keywords right and you’ll attract those people.