You can cut your customer database in any number of ways, and the more detail you can go into, the better you will be able to make your targeted marketing work for your business. Ideas for segmenting your customer base Here are some ideas for different ways...
The information you hold about your customers is one of your most valuable assets, and recently introduced GDPR regulations have focused on how we secure and protect this data. There are plenty of CRM systems out there vying for our attention, and while many of...
You don't need to be technical to do this, the vast majority is just common sense. Put yourself in Google’s shoes and ask yourself how you would choose which websites to put at the top of the list against any given search? You’d want to...
One of the biggest factors affecting the success of marketing investment in small businesses is that niche marketing works. What does that mean exactly? Well, it boils down to the fact that the more specifically you target appropriate messages at a highly selected audience, the more successful your...
Outsourced marketing support is not for everyone. But can make a massive difference to companies not large enough to justify the cost of a full time marketing person in-house. At The Marketing Team, our outsourced marketing support is flexible and very affordable. Out team is highly...
One of the secrets of successful marketing is that niche marketing works best. The more targeted your message, media and materials are to the needs of a specific audience, the more effective you will be. So how does that work? OK, as a business owner, your...
I asked my husband this morning what he thought I should blog about this week. Being a corporate man, and currently frustrated by an internal communication process, he suggested "Corporate B*ll*x"! My first instinct was to ignore his advice, but actually, this does apply to what...
Accessible businesses, accessible websites. Remember all the fuss when the Disability Discrimination act came into force a few years ago? Businesses, shops and pubs, all had to look at how to make their premises accessible to disabled consumers. Recently I've had pause for thought on this...
When we are asked for our Top Copywriting Tips - the one thing to do when writing for your business that will transform the results you get - it is this: Before you start writing, decide exactly what action you want the person reading to take. Yup,...
It’s a fact that the more targeted your marketing, the better the response you will get. Targeted list rental is one of the best ways to achieve this - the original direct marketing! And the more specific your audience, the better. Take this example: An MOT station...
As your business starts to grow, it can be tricky to decide how to handle your marketing - hence the great debate on in house vs Outsourced Marketing You might expect us to come down on the side of the outsourced marketing department, and while we will...
More and more SME's are finding content marketing is helping them to draw in customers without having to actively sell to them. So what is Content Marketing? Content marketing is any material you put on your website that isn't overtly promotional. It can include blogs about a...
I have lost count of companies I've spoken to who are under the impression that just having a website is enough - not realising that great website management can make a massive difference. It might help to think of a website in the same way as you think...
A brand new Marketing year, and our message to small businesses everywhere is: Marketing. Just do it. The number of very sensible business people I speak to who don't actually do much (if any) is amazing. Of course it's important to get your marketing right. But frankly, there are...
Understanding your organisational values is a key component of marketing – not just for the obvious factors like core messages. While your benefits statements might talk about what you do and how that benefits customers, your organisation’s values are about how you do what you do. Organisational values And...
The Marketing Team works on marketing processes for a manufacturing business - regional when we took it on 2 years ago, now covering the whole of England and Wales. We help them with several aspects of developing the business: Re-engineering sales and marketing processes. As...
We don't often think about email protocols until something goes wrong, or until we receive a particularly badly handled piece of email. But a little bit of thought, and a touch of staff training can help you make sure your business is using email effectively without...
Product sales channel analysis is a critical part of your background marketing work if you sell more than one variant of your product or service. It's not as complicated as it seems, and is vital when you consider one of the basic rules of marketing...
We have just launched our Small Business Marketing Plan Package to companies across Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. Small Business Marketing Plan Package Without a plan, most businesses carry on doing what they've always done. We all get sucked into the trap of working in the business rather than...
Managing print quality is an often overlooked aspect of marketing, but can make a massive difference to how your business is perceived. Managing Print Quality There are a number of elements to consider: Choose the right printer. Printing in house is rarely the best option, but how...
There are no ecommerce risks; an ecommerce site will make you rich, right? Unlikely. In fact, extremely unlikely. The ecommerce myth can be just that. Yes under certain circumstances, ecommerce can create wealth. Or support a bricks and mortar business. Ecommerce Risks Overview But before you invest several...
As long as we have been working in marketing (and that's longer than we'd care to remember!) there has been an ongoing debate about Marketing vs Common Sense. Marketing vs Common Sense Which one do you need for your business? Well, really you need both, but actually they...
Social media has undoubtedly and dramatically changed all our lives. Whether we choose to participate or not, the world around us is a different place since Facebook first appeared 13 years ago. And the impact has been just as dramatic in the business world as in...
Last week I joined a brainstorm on fundraising with a group of people who had volunteered their time to help a very special charity. And as so often, it struck me that without defining the organisation's fundamental marketing objectives, really we were just guessing in the dark. Fundamental Marketing...
Marketing isn't all about the pretty bits - the website, your brochure and your business cards. Marketing Basics Creating these marketing materials - while critically important - should be the very last stage in your marketing planning process, the output of a series of activities designed to...
The Print vs Digital debate rages on; the results of a UK consumer survey add fuel to the fire! It's been our feeling for quite a while that print is starting to outperform digital in newsletter type activities - and this just backs it up. 500 UK...
Website Security Website Security is not a topic for the fainthearted. Even if your website is not integrated with your business systems, making sure your site can't be hacked is important for your branding. We’ve been watching the rise in hacking attacks on UK websites with increasing concern and have...
The email marketing myth is overdue for exposure. Email marketing captured the popular imagination way back when Mailchimp and others hit the market with their game-changing email marketing platforms fifteen years ago. Can it only be 15 years? It seems like some pushy emails have been...
Most SMEs have been caught by advertising myths at some point. From the 'last minute special offer' that you later realise has swallowed half your budget for little or not return, to the yellow pages adverts you've left to run for years, without realising that you're...
Last year we wrote about how Google would start to penalise firm's whose websites don't comply with their mobile responsive rules (see below). There are still hundreds of thousands of websites out there that don't pass the test yet - is yours one of them? If so,...
We always get asked how to market a website. Having a website in itself is not enough to make you rich. Having a website built is not a tick box exercise - if you want it to work for you, you shouldn't consider it 'done'...
Marketing through Business Networking is often the best thing a new business owner can do to get the word out about their products or services. There are so many benefits to business networking that many would be mad not to, including: Meeting fellow business owners who...
Is your marketing plan still alive? Or is it languishing on a shelf or even on your hard drive? This might sound slightly odd, but one of the biggest issues we find when reviewing companies' marketing plans is that they spend lots of time putting it...
If you are looking for Marketing Support Peterborough, then you've come to the right place. Based on the outskirts of the city, The Marketing Team has been offering high quality marketing support for nearly 20 years. In this time, we have built relationships with hundreds of...
Welcome to 2018. Another year, a new set of opportunities to get marketing and grow your business. Did your business grow last year? Did you achieve everything you wanted? If you have answered 'no' to either of those questions, then you need to look at your marketing...
If you're spending the precious time between Christmas and the New Year planning what you want to achieve in 2018, then you're far from alone. As marketing experts, we know from experience that the more effort you put into your marketing planning, the better the results...
Smarter Marketing is all about bringing together the different strands of activity in your business to ensure they are all getting the right message to the right target audience. Used well, it can yield amazing results - sales uplifts into double figures! In many SME's, the...
Sometimes marketing your own business can feel like really hard work. They just don't always 'get' what it is you're offering, or how it's relevant to them. So try this. Marketing is about trying on a different pair of shoes. Your customers'. It's never a waste of time to put...
There are many reasons why you might be looking for a new logo for your website. Perhaps you have changed how you operate significantly over time Maybe you have added a new range of services or products, or have acquired another business You may even...
Choosing your marketing tools Choosing your marketing tools is one of the most important decisions you will make for your business. But where do you start? There's so much noise around, for example, social media marketing and email marketing, that you could be forgiven for thinking all...
Wordpress Security We have been watching the steep rise in hacking attacks on UK websites with increasing concern, and as a result have already installed the maximum enhanced free security measures we can on all the websites we manage. However, the free software cannot provide complete protection and we feel that...
Business Christmas Cards - To Send Or Not To Send We are often asked at this time of year whether it is worth sending business Christmas cards or not. Whether they should be branded or not. Who should sign them ...
Charities Marketing Charities marketing is a specialist area of marketing, and has both many easy wins and many pitfalls. When you talk about charities marketing, people tend to assume fund raising - and that's certainly a part of it. But there are many more areas to consider...
Using bought-in databases We often get asked about the pro's and con's of using bought-in databases. Good practise is surprisingly simple. Understanding that bought-in databases go out of date at the rate of over 20% every year (roughly the same for B2B and B2C) tells you only to buy...
Email marketing myths to beware of A much more efficient method of delivery. Or is it? If I had a pound for every time someone had proudly told me that over 40% of their customers regularly open their newsletters, I'd be considerably richer! What few people consider is...
As we approach the end of the calendar year, many people start to look back at their 2016 Marketing performance. 2016 Marketing Performance - how was it for you? For some businesses, they only have a feel, because they have no measurement process in place. And that's...
Construction Sector Website We are very pleased to announce the launch of a construction sector website for Robinson Manufacturing Ltd, one of the UK's leading roof truss and floor joist manufacturers. The company, which has three factories across Northamptonshire and Essex, has recently undertaken a management buyout,...
Client site hits page 1 Google in just 4 weeks After just 4 weeks live, our blog site for School Interviews has hit page 1 Google against one if it's chosen keywords "organise parent teacher evenings", as well as a number of other phrases - and already...
Wordpress mobile site solutions don't have to be complex or expensive. If you have a Wordpress site, and you haven't managed to do anything about Google changes to how they rank your website based on how mobile-ready it is - there is no need to panic. You know that a...