Blog

Current market pressures on businesses are coming from all angles: Rising supply chain costs, increased labour costs due to short supply, and rocketing energy bills. These hikes drive competition in most markets, so you need to think about how you will adapt. Cutting your prices to retain or win business is not the answer; you should be increasing them. Read more to hear why!

The winning approach to creating an excellent website for your business? One that attracts good visitor traffic and converts it into enquiries. This month we discuss the importance of having a great website at the heart of your business in an increasingly digital world.

Going viral is the holy grail of marketing. "Viral" content you create on social media that gets the public's attention; people then share it to their network, and those people do too. Before you know it, and in the same way bacteria multiply in a dish, hundreds of thousands to millions of people have seen your content, and it hasn't cost you anything!

This month, we look at the power of the e-brochure (and the brochure in general). An e-brochure is a digital version rather than a printed one, enabling you to utilise digital-format benefits to tell your story richer and more captivating. Plus, if you want a printed brochure, you can also do that with your e-brochure as your source file.

When is the right time to update your logo and company image and messaging? In my 20 years in marketing, this remains one of the most challenging questions for many company owners and directors. The common trap I see people falling into is the delusion that updating their brand is arduous, expensive and a threat to “what people already know”. The opposite is true, and brand stagnation is one of the worst mistakes a business can make.

This month’s article is about ways you can find and secure new customers for little to no spend. What’s not to like about that? Many people don’t realise that the old payment model for software has completely changed, so there is plenty of software available that doesn’t have to cost you a penny.

One of the things many business owners find difficult is talking about their own business. It is incredibly common. Not day-to-day conversation but defining what their story is, what their brand proposition is and then putting that into written words. Where do you start – a brochure, a website? What do you say? How do you say it? Surely anything will do? Having a structured approach to telling your story will help you to build really strong foundations that you can build your entire pitch around.

With many businesses now feeling there’s light at the end of a long and dark tunnel, companies are (or certainly should be) thinking about what they are going to do to generate new business. Whatever action you plan to take, things are going to get very noisy out there, so what can you do to stand out from it all?

In a world where businesses have been forced to adapt to so many sudden changes, it is not just people’s needs and behaviours that are changing, their beliefs and feelings are too. This is a time to focus not only on our methods (and how we communicate) but the substance, tone and style of what we communicate.

The world doesn’t stand still and neither should a brand. Things change so fast nowadays that brands can’t simply do enough to keep up with the times and often miss major opportunities that can be exploited by a real shift in direction. This month’s article is about how your brand should evolve not only to survive but to prosper.

Internet advertising, often aggregated together under the term “PPC”, can be a powerhouse opportunity for anyone wanting virtually instantaneous product sales or service enquiries. At the same, it is a minefield, so how you determine where your budget is best spent and avoid the common, beginners’ scenario of it disappearing down a plughole with nothing to show?

This month’s article focusses on some winning ways to approach B2B (business-to-business) selling. There are so many different ways to find prospective customers but, when you have someone you would like to work with, how do you get them over the line?

During the pandemic, it is easy to lose sight of the way forward, with the worry of what your business' future may hold. This article is all about positive guidance to get through the tougher times.

This article gives you the basic knowledge you need to embrace LinkedIn as a networking platform, get going and see results quickly.

Now is the time for some introspection and to think seriously about what you can do to improve the way you retain your existing customers and reach new ones in new ways.

In this article, we build upon the SEO basics I introduced previously, expanding on what you can do on-site and off-site, to make sure your SEO strategy a success.

Drawing people to your business, is becoming more critical than ever. And one sure-fire route to getting you front and centre in front of your customer is through PPC advertising.

If you can dominate Google search results, you can dominate a market. This is the power of being found first and you should make it your goal.

How you can improve conversions once you get to the stage that you are asked for a price, a quotation or a proposal? Find out how

This month, I’m going to explore in more detail what to do when you find yourself in front of someone. This is more tailored to face-to-face selling but you can adapt and apply these techniques to all types of selling situations.

Today, this is useful for anyone selling something in person, rather than online, and even if you don't have a business, you will find tips here you could apply when selling yourself to a prospective employer in your next job interview.

Now your idea is off the ground, it's now time to discuss the topic of “the brand” and how critical it is to getting a business off on the right foot.

From the idea stage to bringing a product or service to market, a business launch encompasses myriad steps. Darren Isaac, the founder of TFA, offers his advice on starting the right way.