The lovely Becky has gone on to other things because she's had an exciting opportunity. And to save you all from me rambling on about subjects all the time on my own. I’d like to introduce you to another fantastic connection of mine, the lovely Lisa, (she'll tell you all about herself in a minute) is going to join me on the podcast.

it's still about building your brand, making your brand stick, and getting your customers to stick around. But this time it's going to have a little bit more of a slant on social media and marketing content, which is Lisa's area of expertise.

Grab a brew and have a listen to what’s coming up in season 2 of Marmalade Pod.

If there is anything you would like us to cover in business, branding, marketing, content, social media or something else drop us a comment below

Today we are discussing networking, which is something that we've done a lot of over the years.

Can you remember the first-ever networking event that you went to? For Clare, it was a Chamber of Commerce networking event. “It was quite big if I remember rightly and I was absolutely scared to death, I can remember going into the room and seeing all these people and pretty much putting myself in a corner and standing with my back against the wall, hiding behind my business partner, who was about a foot shorter than me. It’s something I don't think I'll ever forget, but it's also often something that brings a smile to mind now, because if anybody that does know me, I'm quite a confident person. Walking into a room where I don't know anybody. ”

And for Becky, it was also a chamber meeting, probably about eight years ago now. “I didn't really have an understanding of what networking was. I didn't really have an understanding of what networking was.

I just understood. It was something that he kind of had to do in business to find more business. I walked into this room and everybody seemed to know what they were doing and everybody knew everybody else. So I thought, right, I'm, I'm gonna approach this. Like it's a friend's wedding. And I walked straight into the middle of the room. I found what I would describe as you know when you were at a wedding and there was a drunk aunt on the dance floor. Yeah. I found the business version of the drunk aunt and I was like, right, you are the person I am going to speak to.”

In business, We don't celebrate all that much unless it's something like a really big milestone, for example. Yeah. It's, it's quite strange really when you think about isn't it, there are so many things we could celebrate in this next. Um, I mean, you know, there's the obvious one's companies being no in a year, five years, 10 years, 15 years, 50 years.

In today's episode, we are talking about how your business needs to have two sides to it, the side that makes it amazing for your customer and the side that makes it simple for you as a business owner.

And you really need to make sure that you've got them both, right. So as much as you need to focus on your customers, giving them an amazing experience and ensuring that you deliver everything that you promise, you also need to make sure that as a business, it's as easy as possible to deliver. And that you have things in processes within your business that also give you some time back. So you don't get swamped by delivering customer expectations.

Today we are talking about welcoming new customers into your business. Whether that's just a friendly welcome or a full onboarding program. Creating the first impression can only ever be done once. And when you bring in a new customer, and even if you've wowed them all the way through the sales process, this is the point where they really get to know you and your business and experience what you've sold to them for the first time. So getting it right can make or break a future relationship.

For us both, as customers, we like to feel listened to and understood so we bring that through into the way we serve our customers.

In this episode, we are discussing touchpoints and automation within your business, which is quite on topic for us now, because we've been both doing a lot of work on customer journeys, systems, and automation. Mapping out and knowing what your customer touchpoints are from the awareness stage right through to the delivery of your product or service is one of the key areas you can differentiate your business from your competitors.

You can also use automation along the journey to help keep things consistent and make the experience a smooth one for your customers.

Today we are talking all about building trust. It’s much easier to build trust when you're face to face with somebody for example if you're at a networking event, or you're meeting in person. Your expressions and body language are easier to read in person and you get a feeling too – like those occasions when you strike up a conversation and feel like you’ve known someone for years.

However, many of our first impressions are made online either through emails, websites, social media, or zoom calls. Video is a brilliant tool to help build trust, your audience will be watching you and getting to know you, so you are building trust without knowing it. Much like TV characters we watch, and we feel like we know them – we either warm to them or dislike them.

Hello, welcome to the latest episode of marmalade pod. Today we are talking about mindset, which is important for every business owner. We think it's just as important for general wellbeing.

Sometimes, you have to shift your mindset. Sometimes something negative happens and impacts quickly and we've got to re-centre just as quickly. Clare “I like to use a technique of asking the question of myself, will it matter in five minutes? will it matter in five hours, will it matter in five days, the longer the period that the annoyance will matter, the more time I will give it to get my head back square on. If it's not going to matter in five minutes, then all it gets.

Becky “This really helps me… I ask myself when I get frustrated. Is it shit? Or is it compost? If it’s just shit. There's nothing I can do about it. If it's compost, it's something that I can grow from, how can I look at this differently? How can I make this into something positive? This simple question helps me to reframe it.

Today, we are going to be discussing packaging offers. We think it's something that we all do in business. And equally, we all struggle because there are a lot of things to consider. And you've got to look at it from multiple different viewpoints, not just what's best for your business and what you think is best, but also how people are going to react and ultimately will it make it easier for your customers to buy from you.

Take the well-known takeaway – there's always an upsell – Do you want to go large? It’s how you position things. And it's about what it is you do, how can you package it and present it, how much you're going to charge for it? Who was it for? Who's your ideal customer, and all those things have got to line up? So that they benefit your business. But do they offer value to your potential customer?

Welcome to the latest edition of marmalade pod. In this episode, we're talking about planning - the bit that we both get a bit geeky about when a plan comes together.

So, what is your go-to when you're planning something? How do you start? Clare likes to doodle and draw “I suppose that’s the creative designer in me, I also like post-it notes – they are great for moving things around and help with organisation”. Becky likes an overall view and her go-to is a whiteboard because you can remove things and add things, however, the problem with a whiteboard for detailed planning is you have to take pictures of it to keep it – because it's going to disappear.