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Does your business deserve a ‘Stevie’?

March 29, 2010 By Emily Leary Leave a Comment

If your business has achieved indisputably fantastic results over the last 12 months, there could be a Stevie waiting for you at this year’s International Business Awards.

The awards are open to businesses in all sectors and of all sizes. Entrants will compete against similar businesses to ensure that a privately owned SME has as much chance of winning a Stevie as a company in the Fortune 100.

There are around 200 categories available to enter this year, spread across 19 key areas:

  • Management
  • Company-Organisation
  • Corporate Communications
  • Investor Relations & Public Relations
  • Creative
  • Customer Service
  • Human Resources
  • Information Technology
  • Marketing
  • Products & Product Management
  • Support
  • Advertising
  • Advertising/Craft & Technique
  • Corporate Literature
  • Website or Blog
  • Interactive Multimedia
  • Video & Film
  • Video & Film – Technical & Craft
  • Live Events

Entry requirements and costs vary according to the type of award entered.

For achievements relating to individuals, teams, departments and new products, a submission of up to 500 words describing the entrant’s achievements since the beginning of 2009 is required. For individuals, this type of entry costs $225 (USD), while team achievements attract a fee of $375.

For achievements relating to advertising, websites, video or other media, the end product in question must be submitted along with a brief explanation of up to 100 words describing its objectives. For a single piece, entry costs $225, or $325 for an entire campaign.

The deadline for submissions is 12th May, bur entries will be accepted until 9th June if a $35 late fee is paid.

To request an entry kit, or for more information, visit: The International Business Awards.

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Preparing tomorrow’s PR pros

March 29, 2010 By Emily Leary 1 Comment

This is a guest post by Jane Crofts, a PR Lecturer at the University of Lincoln. I asked Jane how the university is preparing the next generation of PR pros for the changing landscape amidst the rise and rise of social media

So how are we preparing the youth of today to be the PRs of tomorrow? Particularly bearing in mind that many of the tutors of today are the PRs of yesterday… and bearing in mind that the advent of Web 2.0 sees PR changing faster than it has for very many years!

At the University of Lincoln we are a small but beautifully formed team of ex-practitioners and academics setting PR in the business context alongside Marketing, Advertising, occasionally Management or HR and even less occasionally Journalism. Our purpose is to give students a solid academic grounding in their chosen subjects but with a practical dimension to give that added extra to their employability. To this end we encourage them to get as much paid or unpaid work experience as they can find and to develop a portfolio of work they can show off to potential employers.

Increasingly we are encouraging students to develop this portfolio online in the form of blogs and integrated web pages taking advantage of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn used appropriately – Facebook is very much the ‘Uni life’ and softer side of the portfolio! So, we are inviting our protégés to embrace Web 2.0…and then explain it to us!

The portfolio may also be a repository for some of their assignments for example in their studies of Managing PR the assignment is a blog about developing team working skills and a reflection on how the individual has learned about their own strengths and weaknesses as a team player. As part of PR for organisational communications part of the task is to develop a real campaign for an organisation of their choice – a charity or voluntary group – and to get as much of it implemented as possible.

But of course this is just part of the picture, it’s getting those blogs and pages noticed that will count. ‘Behind the Spin’ the Chartered Institute of Public Relations student online publication provides a great outlet for the students to write about their experiences, review books and observe about developments in PR. Recent contributors from Lincoln have attracted comment from far and wide resulting in offers of help with their careers and even jobs. Subjects have included a discussion of the role of Twitter in crisis communications and aspects of the debate between students from different schools at the University – is PR killing Journalism? One book review by a Lincoln student prompted the book’s author to make contact and another student’s observations about a PR campaign to stamp out spamming in PR attracted interest from the campaign manager.

Dissertations form a critical part of the final year of study and students are encouraged to explore something new. This year social media is a popular subject including its role in the workplace as an internal communications tool, its impact on music PR as well as the afore mentioned crisis management. The students are developing a wealth of original thought and creating new angles on old models such as the popular Grunig and Hunt four models of communication (Managing Public Relations, 1984).

So, to return to the question, I guess the students are preparing themselves very well and in true academic style we are guiding them to think independently, take risks and try new ideas in a safe environment. I am confident, therefore, that tomorrow’s PR specialists and thought leaders will be able to shift and change to meet their clients’ needs and provide wise counsel to ensure PR objectives are fully integrated into a powerful package of communications using the most appropriate tools and techniques from the ever expanding kit bag.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Public Relations, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How to get the best from your BT Tradespace profile

March 29, 2010 By Emily Leary Leave a Comment

This a guest post from Amy Cutbill, Communities Manager, BT Tradespace.

I’m often asked “Why should I get a Tradespace profile” or told “Well, it isn’t doing much for me, so I don’t do anything on it”.

The truth is, if you give your Tradespace some TLC and keep it updated with fresh content, you will soon be seeing the benefits! If you just register your business name and never do anything else, you won’t get the brilliant results you are hoping for.

When setting up your Tradespace site, or taking a fresh look at your existing site, the best thing to do is imagine you are the customer you are wanting to attract – imagine them landing on your Tradespace profile. What would they think of you when they got there? Would they instantly know what you offer? Would they want to buy from you or get more information? Chances are, if you just have a business address and business name, they won’t go much further. But if you had a logo, a header image that suits your business/product or service, an ‘about us’ description, news and posts, images, products to purchase or services and perhaps some video… you’ll be well away!

People want as much information as possible before they make a purchase these days, they want to know what other people think of the item/business and they also want to know who they are buying from; using your Tradespace allows you to give them all that. You are able to show them the person behind the business and most importantly, show them you care about their business. People want to buy from people they know and trust after all.

One of the great benefits of BT Tradespace is the fact that you can add so much content to your site, you can add keywords to all content you are adding which all helps in getting you noticed. BT Tradespace profiles do very well on search engines such as Google and we often hear from people that they have their Tradespace site ranking higher than their actual website.

You can also network with other businesses on BT Tradespace. By getting involved in the communities on site, or creating your own you can meet like minded people, get advice on new ideas and build a support network for your business. Community activity also helps you get noticed online, Google picks up the activity so make sure you give your posts relevant keywords to get yourself seen!

We’ve recently added some new features to the site and there are even more ways to network and increase your visibility. By using the Fan feature, you are able to build up and manage your online reputation. By adding some Q&As to your free customer service community, ServiceSmart, you have yet another way to increase your online visibility as Google also picks these up very well.

We’re a friendly bunch at BT Tradespace and are always looking to promote the fantastic businesses & content on site, so if you are on BT Tradespace and you have something you think we should be featuring on the site, please do get in touch or you can always find us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/bttradespace).

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

The problem of defining a marketing budget

March 25, 2010 By Emily Leary Leave a Comment

pile of moneyThis is a guest post from Crispin Read, co-director of Optimum Financials, specialist bookkeepers and accounts support. As Crispin knows a thing or two about how to use accounts to guide business decisions, I asked him for his experiences when it comes to deciding on a marketing budget.

Google for ‘How Much Should I Spend On Marketing’ and you are going to get about a half million pages of suggestions – from the sublime to the ridiculous; from everything you can afford to a clinical 20% of all revenue.

Taking the cold hard 20% of revenue as an example, let me tell you my story as a specialist bookkeeping service of three staff serving Lincolnshire and the East Midlands.

The routes we chose

The majority of marketing that we do at Optimum Financials is:

  1. Telemarketing
  2. Membership of tight referral networking groups
  3. Loose networking groups
  4. Advertising
  5. Web-based approach including new website, blogging, and email marketing

Quantifying results

Clearly the ideal is to know your target market and the channels you need to use to get to them, so that they can choose your products and services.  One of the first steps that we took was to engage a marketing consultant who specialises in supporting SMEs to help us define these very points.  After this, however, when you are starting out there is a temptation to spend as much as you can afford until you can work out what works and what doesn’t.

So, the most important question became, ‘how can we quantify which marketing method is the most effective?’ because, as one commentator has said: you have to insure against those impulse decisions which may result in nothing.

Because there are many ways in which you can calculate your marketing budget I suggest it matters not which method you choose, only that you quantify the results.  After all, this decision is like any other business decision – you need to show a return on your investment.  So whether you decide to invest 20% of revenues on Marketing, or everything that you can afford, each marketing method will have costs and revenues which must be quantified allowing you to calculate that ‘return on investment’ (ROI) .

Our marketing results

In terms of ‘getting out to the market’ – we do this well, we do a lot of marketing.  Some of this is a time investment, and some is an outsourcing investment.  Ultimately, based on what we have said must be done, we calculate our marketing AND sales based on the ROI as we see below:

Budgeting table

The jury is still out on web-based marketing, although as with each method with the exception of telesales/marketing there is a fairly long lead time and I don’t expect technology to provide any quicker results – just a quicker way to achieve a presence.

Factors influencing your return

In conclusion, my results suggest that doing almost anything consistently will produce a return.  That return will be dependent upon:

  1. What type of business you are
  2. The value of your product/service
  3. How likely you are to gain repeat purchases
  4. The cost of the marketing method

And if you don’t know how to answer those questions, well – that’s when you might need to ask for help.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Are you setting the standard in HR?

March 25, 2010 By Emily Leary Leave a Comment

Rowing teamwork

Has your company’s HR department worked hard over the past twelve months to achieve exceptional results? If so, let the world know about it! You have until the end of today, 25th March to get your entries in for the Haymarket Human Resources Excellence Awards 2010.

The awards recognise creativity, originality and differentiation in HR and the fifteen categories open this year are:

  • Best Talent Management Strategy
  • Most Successful Change Management Programme
  • Most Effective Benefits Strategy
  • Most Effective Use of Internal Communications
  • Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy
  • Most Effective Recruitment and Retention
  • Best Learning and Development Strategy
  • Health and Well-being Award
  • Best Use of CSR in HR
  • Most Innovative Use of Technology
  • Best HR Strategy in a Company Under 1000 Employees
  • Best Public Sector HR strategy or initiative
  • Best Third Sector HR strategy or initiative
  • Best Workplace Diversity Strategy
  • Best HR Team

 
In a 2000 word submission, entrants must demonstrate their eligibility for the award by describing their performance between January 2009 and March 2010.

A single entry costs £300 + VAT, with further submissions charged at £180 + VAT. A discounted fee of £150 + VAT is offered for charitable or voluntary bodies.

The awards ceremony will take place at Grosvenor House in London on 30th June. Tickets are £240 per head.

To enter, or for more information visit Haymarket Human Resources Excellence Awards.

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Six questions to help your designer frame your words effectively

March 15, 2010 By Emily Leary 3 Comments

Tick boxes

This is a guest post from Andy Clayton of printing.com Lincoln & Newark.

So you’ve written – or had someone else write – some great copy all about your business, ready to go into print. The question now is how do you make this into a leaflet / brochure / flyer / booklet (delete as appropriate)?

This is where design comes in, and where things can start to go wrong. The common myth is that design is all about making things look pretty, but this is far from the truth. Design is fundamental to the success of a print marketing exercise: it’s about making the copy work, creating mood, attracting attention and initiating an action. For this reason, the first thing you need is someone who is skilled at acheiving these ends, and the next thing you’ll need is a good, clear design brief.

The following are the six questions I go through with each client before commencing any design work:

Who are you targeting?

Be specific – think about who this is actually aimed at. Every sector is different and designers will know the best way to attract the attention of different people whether it be by industry / role / gender / age. The worst answer any marketeer can hear is ‘everybody’ or ‘anyone, really’ as it is impossible to produce any material that targets everyone successfully.

What is your corporate identity?

You need to supply details of any relevant logos, images, fonts and colours so that the designer can keep to your business identity. Consistency is key in marketing. If you constantly change your image, you will dilute and weaken your message.

How do you wish to appear?

This is about how you want to position your offering in this particular piece; do you want to be seen as traditional or modern? professional or informal? luxury or budget? With this information, your designer can look at the appropriate fonts, images and colours to make sure the perception is correct.

What is the purpose?

Is this aimed at attracting new businesses who are unfamiliar with the brand or is it to give information that has been requested by clients? Designers need to know the purpose of the material so that the design can be maximised to that effect. It will dictate how the content is laid out and the focus throughout the piece.

How are you distributing?

Will you be posting, handing out or taking to an event? It is important that the design is done to the correct specification from the start as it saves time at the end. For example, if its to be posted then you need to remember the rates go up after A5 so therefore you need to either keep to that size or if it’s to be folded then it needs to be designed in such a way that the fold looks right.

What is the expected outcome?

You need to decide what you want people to do, as this defines your call to action. You need to spell out what the readers should do next and the designer needs to know this so that the design can emphasise and draw attention to the preferred action or point of contact

The questions above are there as a guide to help you create the best possible brief. By taking the time to collate the relevant information, you can reduce the time taken to produce designs, ensure your designer incorporates all relevant aspects, and therefore increase your chances of achieving success with the final piece.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Copywriting, Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Harness Twitter for your brand and add value for your followers

March 12, 2010 By Emily Leary Leave a Comment

Working on sofa

This is a guest post by San Sharma of Enterprise Nation, the home business website.

It used to be that the measure of a successful website was how many hits it had. But more recently, when people have asked, the question has felt intrusive, as if they were asking to see our medical records or our bank accounts!

These days, however, it’s about engagement – and not hits – that determines what makes a successful website. And it’s a measurement that’s far more transparent anyway. You can pretty much see for yourselves when a website has comments beneath its blog posts, activity in its forums, @replies or retweets on Twitter.

And that’s why, at Enterprise Nation, the home business website, we started #watercoolermoment. It’s a Twitter trend that happens every morning at 11am, when homeworkers across the UK gather to discuss topics ranging from last night’s TV, to family, to books and business. It’s a chance for our followers to recreate that feeling of ‘office buzz’ without any of the downsides of working in an office. You can always tune out, we say, if you’re too busy, which is where we think we have the edge!

How it works is we tell our followers to use the hashtag #watercoolermoment in their tweets between 11am and 12pm each day. We usually set a topic beforehand (apart from on ‘freestyle Fridays’!) and tune into Twitter’s live search results to see the responses. Our followers can too. So, what you get is a huge conversation taking place, linked together by the hashtag we came up with.

It’s a fantastic way for us to increase engagement with our followers and to raise awareness of our brand. Their followers might wonder what #watercoolermoment is, and if they click the term, they’ll see the conversation taking place and us leading it. More than that, it’s a fantastic way for our followers to get to know one another, to overcome the cabin fever of working from home and share ideas and experiences.

#watercoolermoment is only in its third week, but it’s already a huge success. We love getting involved! It’s great for us and it’s great for our followers. And it works because it achieves our goals and adds value for our followers.

Visit Enterprise Nation at http://www.enterprisenation.com and follow at http://twitter.com/e_nation.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Featured, Guest posts, Marketing, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

Trust me, I’m a cartoonist

March 11, 2010 By Emily Leary 2 Comments

trust me - cartoonist taking a brief

Working with creative types can be tough for your average business – how do you brief on something you don’t really understand? In this guest post, cartoonist Colin Shelbourn looks at some of the comments that put strain on the client relationship.

There are a number of ways NOT to commission a cartoon. Here are six things a client might say and the cartoonist’s secret thoughts.

1. “I love your style but could you draw it like (insert famous cartoonist’s name here)?”

Terrific. This means (insert famous cartoonist’s name) wasn’t available or exceeded your budget.

2. “Draw anything you like. It doesn’t matter.”

My brain has just frozen over and all ideas become extinct.

3. “Here’s how I want the cartoon to look and I’ve come up with a joke and a caption and a funny character.”

Well done, you’ve just hired an expensive pen.

4. “This isn’t what we agreed at the start but I’ve just had a better idea.”

Please don’t spoil a beautiful relationship.

5. “I know we said three people but can you also include a football team. And a circus.”

Oh good. All cartoonists like to draw a circus.

6. “Hm, yes. I see. I like the way you’ve drawn that leg.”

Noooooo – be brave. Don’t accept the initial sketches if you don’t like them. Cartoonists prefer happy clients and enjoy the challenge of getting closer to the target.

Cartoons can be political, satirical, whimsical, campaigning, hard-hitting and, occasionally, funny. Cartoonists, on the other hand, are all about happy clients.

Are you a blogger? March is Be My Guest month, and we’re encouraging bloggers from all over the world to swap posts and reach new audiences. See Be My Guest for more information.

Filed Under: Freelancing, Guest posts, Marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lincolnshire enterprise: secure a bright future for your business

March 5, 2010 By Emily Leary Leave a Comment

IMAGE - clouded blue sky

The Epic Centre in Lincoln, UK will play host to the launch of a new initiative, Innovation Advice and Guidance – Developing a robust future for business on Friday 12th March.

The launch event takes place 10.30am – 2.15pm and is free to attend, with lunch and free parking for provided.

It will feature a keynote speech on Turning Business Adversity into Opportunities by ex-Dragon Rachel Elnaugh, as well the following presentations:

  • Beyond the recession – challenges and opportunities for businesses in Lincolnshire with Professor Ted Fuller, University of Lincoln
  • The challenges facing our economy with Graeme Leach, Chief Economist, Institute of Directors
  • How Innovation Advice and Guidance can help your business with Professor David Rae, University of Lincoln

There will also be a networking lunch and a question and answer session with the panel.

The Innovation Advice and Guidance programme has been established to help local, forward-thinking firms fight the downturn. It is presented by the University of Lincoln, and jointly funded with its strategic partners, East Midlands Development Agency and Lincolnshire County Council.

For more information and to book your place at the launch event, visit Innovation Advice and Guidance.

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Could you build a business on a tenner?

March 5, 2010 By Emily Leary Leave a Comment

ten pound notes

This year’s Make Your Mark with a Tenner competition got underway on Monday 1st March, with 30,000 students across the country aiming to turn a profit from a £10 loan over the next month by coming up with creative and enterprising business ideas.

But, that’s not all – their business ideas must also have a positive social impact and be of benefit to their local community. Indeed, there will be prizes at the end of the month for the students who make the most positive impact on their local community – one to one sessions with the likes of Dragons’ Den’s Peter Jones and other leading British entrepreneurs.

The other categories are Best Business Idea and Most Profit Generated, with the judging split into three age categories: under 11s, 11-14 year olds, and 14-19 year olds.

As well as the one-to-one sessions up for grabs, six winners will also each be awarded £100 to help them develop their entrepreneurial ideas, while a business mentor will provide them with the necessary help and support to really get their idea off the ground.

The competition is the brainchild of entrepreneur Oli Barrett, and this year is being funded by Peter Jones and Michael and Xochi Birch, the founders of Bebo.

When Make Your Mark with a Tenner first ran, the average profit made was £90, with the highest profit being £410. Once the £10 loan is repaid, students can re-invest their profits, give them away to a charitable cause, or even pocket them!

Peter Jones, chair of Enterprise UK, which runs the competition, said: “Make Your Mark with a Tenner harnesses the unrivalled energy and creativity of young people. Their fantastic achievements increase each year that we run it, proof that if you trust young people to act entrepreneurially they will rise to the challenge.”

So, what would you invest your tenner in?

Filed Under: Awards, Events Tagged With: , , , , ,
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