Marketing Blagger

Crowdsourcing - What is It?

Andy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:01:11 +0000

I read an incredibly interesting and inspirational book recently about crowdsourcing. Written by Jeff Howe, the Editor of Wired magazine, it is full of case studies of how crowdsourcing is breaking down traditional corporate structures and ways of working, producing innovative ways or developing products, building communities, engaging with customers and more. Essentially new ways of doing business.

How to Improve Your Response Rates

Andy — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:56:37 +0000

I’ve organised a fair few email and telemarketing campaigns recently and one thing that has stood out as having a huge impact on response rates is the importance of properly segmented contact data. In any direct marketing campaign you will only get a good response if your message is well targeted and relevant to your audience. It stands to reason therefore the broader the audience, the broader your message will have to be and the less likely you are to hit the spot.

Social Media Measurement

Andy — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:10:44 +0000

And if you enjoyed the last post about Why Social Media?, you'll probably enjoy flicking through my friend Mauricio's presentation on measuring the impact of social media campaigns. It's probably more tailored to those of you working in agencies, but for business owners and marketers there are some good ideas for what you could ask your agencies to think about.

Why You Should Care About Social Media

Andy — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:53:34 +0000

If you have ever wondered about the value of using the social media to market your products, you might just want to watch the video below. It contains some pretty compelling stats which might convince you to start playing in this space now, and I mean right now.

Hot Tips for Good Meetups

Andy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:16:52 +0000

I received an email recently that I thought could be interesting for anyone running event marketing programmes. It was from a friend of mine Navin Arora, founder of Pheonix GMN, a company responsible for the IndiansinLondon.net social network, along with the recently launched UKbloggers.net and countless other excellent networks. Navin has worked on the Meetup platform [...]

How to Avoid Advertising Disasters

Andy — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:49:47 +0000

I've been working with small businesses for long enough to know that most standard advertising is fairly ineffective for generating sales pipeline. Sadly I have learnt this the hard way, by wasting money on adverts that have generated a negative return on investment - the negative element being the loss of cash and moral! So why then do I occasionally get caught out by advertising sales reps?

The Art of Competitive Intelligence

Andy — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:13:09 +0000

I started to work with a new client recently and they asked me to prepare a marketing plan for how to take their new software product into the UK small business space. It was particularly pleased with this project and certainly because the product seemed strong and relevant – it was all about increasing efficiencies, managing finances and essentially creating a smarter back office for your small business. One of the first tasks I advised the client to work on was to look at the competition. It seemed to me the product was good, but it would be entering a hectic market place and therefore the positioning had to be spot on. By positioning I essentially mean which market segment, at which price point and selling what benefits.

Reader Polls: Social Media Tools

Andy — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:46:38 +0000

First of all it confirms the significance of blogging as a key business communications tool. It’s interesting to see how many different types of business have jumped onto this marcoms tool, with everyone from CEOs to technical R+D experts, professional services firms and more. Working with small businesses I find blogging can provide a good platform for demonstrating your expertise, creating a feedback channel for customers, providing a place to foster conversation with existing and prospective customers and much more.

Ten Reasons Why Businesses Fail to Make Networking Work for Them

Andy — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:54:05 +0000

Ten Reasons Why Businesses Fail to Make Networking Work for Them. A few weeks ago I met with networking expert Andy Lopata and asked if he would be so kind as to write a post for the Marketing Blagger. It wasn't too long before the following landed in my inbox including some pretty good top tips on how to get the most of out networking. Certainly I agree with #6 - far too many people attend networking events just want to sell, when in relaity most people are not there to buy. Think about the long term and build relationships, rather than simply selling.

Hot Tips for Raising Venture Capital

Andy — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:02:38 +0000

I attended a really superb event last week for female entrepreneurs looking for finance to run their expanding or in some cases start-up business.