The Marketing Menu

With the New Year firmly behind us, how many of us actually set some business goals for the year ahead and how many, a month or two later on, are on track to fulfil them?

In this podcast, we talk about the importance of setting achievable goals, deciding on actions to achieve them and how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset to help you succeed.

Plus , we share some of our own goals for 2019!

We've all heard the reports about the decline of the British High Street. Stories about businesses closing seem to appear every day. So, what marketing tactics can smaller businesses employ to make themselves stand out and become more visible in an ever-crowded market place?

We consider how charities can influence their results to greater acclaim, whether that's either by putting together successful funding applications or through engaging a greater audience which could be further volunteers or perhaps greater membership. What steps can you take to help your marketing endeavour in a competitive field when you are apealing often on an emotional level.

To get you in the festive mood, in this week's podcast we're taking a light-hearted look at some of the good and not-so-good (in our humble opinion) Christmas Adverts on the TV:

* What do we really think of the much-awaited John Lewis ad?

* Which adverts are trying to be too clever?

* Should the focus be on products?

* Which one is our absolute favourite and why!

 

In this week's podcast, we are delighted to be answering Listeners Questions! All of them are very topical and, as usual, we aim to provide simple and jargon-free solutions to your marketing challenges, including:

* When is it ok to share an email address, bearing in mind new GDPR regulations?

* The benefits of creating a Facebook Group

* Where to start when marketing a new business

* The importance of privacy settings on Facebook personal and business pages

The AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire & Action)  model is perhaps the best-known marketing model amongst non-marketers and it's based on ensuring our marketing messages capture attention, generate interest, create desire, and ultimately compel the customer to take action, for instance, to buy your product or service.

We at The Marketing Menu have taken AIDA on several steps further in light of the wonderful opportunities now that digital channels and social media particularly present us with today and created the 7 C's of Customer Communication.

This podcast will explain exactly what the 7 C's are and how you can apply them to your business marketing.

We’ve talked in previous podcasts about how to present yourself at networking meetings but how many of you have been asked to do a formal presentation either to a panel, small group or even a larger audience?

It might be because you’ve been asked to speak specifically about your business or maybe a subject that you are considered an expert in. Either way, you may, quite understandably, be terrified. So we’re going to give you some simple tips to help you prepare and calm some of those nerves including:

How to prepare for your presentation

* The benefits of rehearsing

* Where to focus when speaking

* Using your body language to make you feel more confident

 

 

 

To get your business and brand known, you need to promote what you do. You should know what your key messages are and which marketing tools you are using. But how do you know whether your activity is actually reaping any rewards?

In this week’s podcast, we look at some different ways of measuring whether your marketing is effective, including :

How to calculate Return on Investment

* The difference between Inbound and Outbound marketing

* Why knowing your Customer Lifetime Value can help you plan

* Net Promoter Score and how it can help you identify areas for improvement

 

 

You may have a story about your business that you want to tell the world but how do you get it in the media?

In this week’s podcast, we share some top tips on working with journalists including:

What makes a story newsworthy?

How to make contact with journalists

* Where journalists find their stories

* Creating a media database

* How to deal with a media crisis

 

It's really important to remember that although a business website is an effective marketing tool, the language you use, although it should be consistent with your other marketing material, is going to be very different from the way you'd write a leaflet.

In this week’s podcast, we give you some guidance on what to consider when writing content for your website:

How to know how much content to write

Understand who you are writing for

Sell the benefits of what you do by providing the answers to your customer's problems

Tips for improving Search Engine Optimisation

* Design considerations