Congratulations to Kimberley-Jane Design on winning awards Promotions/Events Business of the Year and Highly Commended Business of the Year 2013.

A few key steps can make all the difference

As business owners, all of us have learned over the past couple of years that online marketing is something that makes sense. We understand that if we put an ad in a magazine, it’s a bit ‘spray and pray’ – most people who see it will not be interested in our product or service, though a few will. But with online marketing there’s no guesswork. We can target and reach the people who are already actively looking for us online. It sounds like a perfect strategy. And yet many of the business owners who come to us are finding that they are spending a lot of money on their website and on search engine optimisation (SEO) or Pay Per Click ads, but are not getting the return on investment they expected.

So what can you do in house to improve results from your online strategy? There are a few basics that can vastly increase your ultimate return on investment and we encourage clients to consider these before our team starts the technical side of SEO.

Here are 3 things you or your marketing team can do to ensure the best results from your online marketing:

Step 1 – Know your Ideal Client

Usually, when I ask a business owner to describe their ideal client they give me demographics – these include anyone out there who could possibly need what they sell.

In fact, your ideal client doesn’t just need your service – they want it, they love it and they recommend you to everyone they know. That sounds like heaven – so how do you target those people? We need to look beyond demographics to psychographics – what your potential clients are feeling and how they decide to make a purchase.

Take a moment to think about the fears, frustrations and concerns that people typically experience when buying a service or product in your industry. For instance, if you are a builder, most people worry that you’ll go over budget, drag the work for weeks longer than agreed or slip them cheap materials. If you own a kindergarten, parents worry about leaving their children all day and whether they will be safe and stimulated.

You undoubtedly know how you currently solve these concerns for people. But there may be some that you deal with – and enjoy solving – more than others. That leads us to step 2…

Step 2 – Choose Your Niche Market

Choose one or two of these concerns to address. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Most small to medium businesses should aim to be an inch wide and a mile deep. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, you want to narrow the field of people you appeal to, by offering a particular service that appeals to some prospects but not all of them.

If you have a kindergarten, you could offer excellent education and qualified care-givers – and to pay for that, you would probably narrow your target market to more affluent parents. The upside is, with a more focused target market, you are likely to convert more of your leads to sales.

Step 3 – Innovate Your Business

Now comes the fun part. All kindergartens claim to be educational and secure. So how can you innovate your business to really deliver exceptional value? Perhaps you can certify that all staff are qualified to provide excellent reading tuition. For security, perhaps you could offer a webcam that parents can log into and watch at any time.

Let your imagination run riot when you do this exercise – don’t be hampered by cost or unlikeliness. Ideas are everything.

You may find that one or two ideas spark your passion and when that happens there’s a good chance they will work!

Armed with this knowledge of your niche, your innovations and your ideal client, you can target your SEO keywords much more effectively.

Ultimately, this means the extra traffic that comes to your site is much more likely to convert to actual leads and revenue. When that happens, your online marketing becomes an investment with measurable returns.

If you’d like to check in depth whether your business site is search engine friendly, fill in the form at the link below to have Hanan’s team do a free full scale analysis for you.

Follow this link or copy and paste http://bit.ly/STJZI9 into your browser.

A FALL in the number of firms going into liquidation should not lead to complacency in the SME sector, a legal analyst has said.

Latest data from the Insolvency Service has revealed there were 3,971 compulsory and voluntary liquidations in England and Wales in the third quarter of this year – a decrease of 2.8% on the previous quarter and 6.6% less than the same quarter in 2011.

However, commercial litigation and insolvency lawyer Sam Pedley said it would be wrong for businesses to relax or ‘take their eye off the ball’ in the months ahead.

Mr Pedley, associate solicitor at law firm MFG Solicitors, said: “These latest figures show a dip in the number of firms going into liquidation. But they aren’t statistics we should get too carried away with.

“A near 7% drop year on year in figures has, as expected, been widely welcomed here in the West Midlands but people must remember the economy is still suffering and a sustained period of economic growth is anchored far into the distance.

“It’s a historical fact that these insolvency figures are linked with our long recession and they demonstrate a fall from a fairly static position since 2008. Our region didn’t see a huge increase in the number of liquidations when the recession kicked in so people must keep their eye on the ball as we’re far from out of the woods.”

He said on the positive side, the figures showed business leaders had been taking advice and finding new ways to cut their financial cloth tighter than in 2011.

“I’ve seen many examples of firms doing things differently to keep their cash flow moving. But I am certain that strategy could quickly change later next year if the economy improves,” he said.

“If an upward trend does materialise then we will see more firms taking action to recover debts as it will be far more worthwhile to pursue debtors if they have a better chance of recovering funds – a potential situation firms who owe a lot to creditors must keep in the back of their minds.”

Mr Pedley said firms feeling the pinch should learn to co-operate with creditors and not ignore them.

“But there are also some common sense cash flow measures, such as debt recovery, prompt invoicing, timely and effective chasing of those invoices and even ensuring terms and conditions are clear to customers. Simple but effective tactics which can go a long way to keeping any firm solvent during this tough time,” he added.

He warned that the demise of retailer Comet should remain as a prime example of why businesses must be cautious of their trading positions even during busy times such as the festive period.

Follow this link or copy and paste http://bit.ly/UBcIRB into your browser for more information.

BUSINESS leaders are urging SMEs to seriously consider export markets and are stressing that help is available for those willing to put a toe in the water.

Despite much positive press about international trade and the positive impact it has on a company’s bottom line, many businesses are still reluctant to seek out international markets for their products and services.

The options for companies looking to set up overseas are considered in more detail in a new supplement on international trade from TheBusinessDesk.com, in partnership with RSM Tenon and DLA Piper. Click here to download.

Richard Butler, director of the CBI in the West Midlands said the organisation’s own research confirms the theory that a lot of firms that could be exporting aren’t doing so.

“A report the CBI produced last year on exports showed that, for SMEs, in mainland Europe one in four exported while in the UK it is one in five,” he said.

John Campion, a partner at law firm DLA Piper, said: “I think the thing that puts some of them off is not an antipathy towards exporting but the fact that they’ve got so much going on in their own territory and they don’t have the time or resources to invest in new activity.”

“But increasing numbers of companies are taking up that opportunity.”

He points out that the advisory community in the Midlands is very different to the way it was in the past.

“There are a number of organisations here now with an international presence, so you can get advice on the doorstep,” he said.

Phil Coleman, international partner at accountancy firm RSM Tenon, suggests that deciding to export could be a lifeline for many firms.

“If you have not got growth at home or the market is saturated, now is the time to look elsewhere for growth,” he said.

“A lot of it is about risk and reward. If people don’t know about something they will naturally put the risk as very high. The role of advisers like us and the CBI and UKTI is to help people understand those things so the risk comes down.”

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