What A Strategic Marketing Consultant Could Deliver in a Month

April 5, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Improvement/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

strategic marketing coach — You’ve been meaning to write a marketing plan, let’s do it together

I often get asked for more details of what I offer in terms of strategic marketing services and how that offering translates into monthly activities that will bring you value.

I’ve just emailed a lady in response to this request and figured it may also prove a useful article for my other followers who may think they need some coaching with their sales and marketing.

Employ an experienced consultant

My experience tells me the success of your business — no matter what size or industry — depends on the thoroughness of your planning and vision. I provide coaching and support to help you form a strategic marketing plan that can provide a roadmap for accomplishing specific goals, and will increase your chances of reaching objectives on time and budget.

An example of an objective

One of those objectives may be launching a new course which you would like to put 20 ‘specific’ bums on seats for in 3 months time at a cost of £2000 per person.

The difference between a strategy and a plan

While strategy looks at why certain steps should be taken, a plan outlines how to enact those steps. Strategic planning marries these two concepts in order to determine the best possible course of action. The purpose of strategic planning is to provide a thoughtful, deliberate approach to reaching objectives based on an in-depth analysis of both internal and external factors affecting your business.

A strategic plan often covers multiple years, addressing both short- and long-term goals. It also provides a way of tracking progress and measuring success. However, it’s not a document that is fixed in stone — instead, it’s wise to revisit and adjust a strategic plan periodically based on the evolving vision, objectives, needs, and resources of your business.

Month 1 with me would cost £500 and we would be able to put this plan together. You could then choose to work with me to action the plan on a rolling monthly basis.

A bit more info for you … you might already know.

There are benefits of strategic planning, including the following:

Align the goals of a project with larger business goals
Provide clear communication to team members, stakeholders, or clients
Clearly define the vision and mission of your business.
Provide clarity on how to deal with internal or environmental changes

One way to think about strategic planning is that it identifies any gaps between a current state and desired future state, and then dictates how to close those gaps — how you get from where you are to where you want to be. To that end, various factors are taken into consideration in order to formulate an effective plan. Here are some of the elements often included in a strategic plan.

Introductory Statement: The introductory statement should briefly describe why the strategic plan was developed and for what time period, and list the authors of the plan.
Background Statement: This section may provide information about the organization, such as history, management structure, and supporting partners or agencies. Alternatively, you could use this section as a brief business statement — more of an elevator pitch — to concisely describe your business.
Organizational Structure: Include this information if it’s relevant to evaluate how your business or organization operates and is structured, from governing board to staffing.
Vision: A vision statement should briefly describe what a company wants to achieve or become. This is one of the primary organizational tenets to consider, along with values and mission.
Values: These are the principles that an organization stands for and abides by. Many businesses create core value statements to guide company culture.
Mission Statement: A mission statement describes the purpose of a business or organization. This is distinct from a vision statement because it is not a projected goal for the future.
Problem Statement: Some plans include a problem statement, which can outline key or discrete issues that need to be addressed.
SWOT Analysis: A SWOT analysis provides a foundation and context for developing strategy by examining the strengths and weaknesses within and organization as well as external opportunities and threats.
Goals: As stated earlier, a strategic plan may include long-term as well as short-term (i.e, monthly or quarterly) goals. Objectives should be measurable and broken down into actionable steps, and the action plan for each goal should specify who is responsible for implementing the strategy, a timeline for starting and ending the action, and how the outcome will be evaluated.
Evaluation: Methods for evaluation should be spelled out in the strategic plan. This could include tracking (KPIs) and documenting the progress of action steps on an ongoing basis.
Executive Summary: This final summary helps employees, investors, or other readers quickly understand your plan.

Strategic marketing services and coaching delivered face to face or over skype to business owners and managers in the northwest

I suggest 5 hours per month @ £500 per month as a minimum, however the above can be completed in as much or as little detail as you feel is appropriate to your business needs. I can provide you with a template if you would like to complete this yourself and month 1 could start with either a review of the plan or me coaching you through the creation of a plan. This would be useful so that we can target subsequent months at specific goals or projects which you highlight.

Our work would involve a monthly meeting which can be done face to face, or over skype and weekly contact over phone and email on agreed days/times in advance.

You can learn as much or as little as you would like about digital marketing at your own pace. I can train team members if it would be of benefit.
Payment is at the beginning of the month by bacs for the ensuing month.

If this is of interest please give me a call on 07564236528. If i miss your call, please leave me a message and i’ll be right back to you asap. Just means i’ve my hands full with the kids having fun or i’m out walking Sherlock.

Thanks for reading

Jessica

Free On-Page SEO Checker – Get Your SEO Score Now

Solving the Crime of Lots of Leads and No Customers

March 7, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Improvement/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

If this article has caught your attention you may be the victim of the crime of lack of customer acquisition knowledge. You’ve either got no leads, you haven’t got the kind of leads that suit your business, or you’re getting leads and they’re not converting. We are experts in lead marketing and in analysing your crime scene. Our experience leads us to make the following proposals.

Fast response is essential.

The speed of the first attempt to call a newly generated lead correlates with a significant increase in the number of qualified leads. By responding in 30 minutes rather than 10 minutes the percent of leads qualified dropped 4.3% and close rates fell nearly 2%. Therefore it’s essential that you contact leads as quickly as possible, and get there before the competition. Even if this is by carefully crafted auto-responder if you are unable to make contact immediately face to face, on the phone or by personal email. There are many autoresponders that can be set up on email and social media.

Trace and Interview. The initial conversation.

Our qualification team speak to every lead that is qualified and make notes about each buyer’s requirements. This not only helps to warm up the lead, but the qualification notes allow you to ensure that the sell is tailored to their individual requirements.

Excellence is a habit.

The first email you send to a lead is similar to the first face-to-face meeting. It is your opportunity to prove to a potential company that you are professional, credible and well placed to meet their needs. Face-to-face you have about 30 seconds before a judgement is made. With email you first need to get your message opened, by using an effective subject line. Once you’re over that hurdle you have another 10 seconds in which to prove why your company is the best one to work with. Ensuring that the first, and all subsequent emails are well crafted will go a long way to helping you close more business.

Intelligence based investigation is key.

Competitive intelligence may be more important to small companies than to large ones, because small businesses feel the impact of competition more immediately and more deeply. All small-business owners do Competitive Intelligence (CI) in some way or another. Not all of them do it well, though, and research increasingly demonstrates that the lapse is holding these companies back. At successful companies competitive intelligence is part of the day-to-day operation — part of the fabric of the enterprise.

Identifying Suspects.

Identify which type of lead you are dealing with. We have an approach to lead categorisation that helps to prioritise the time and effort of the sales team, according to the type of lead. These types include hot, warm, beauty parade, infinite loop and black hole.

Jessica Kemp / Lead Marketing Consultant

Contact us if you are looking for an experienced lead generation consultant. My strengths are in helping, guiding, educating, training and mentoring on the latest best practices to help individuals, business’ and organizations compete in their market place.

Contact a Lead Marketing Consultant :

google optimise advice from a business consultant

Have You Been Emailed About Google Optimise?

February 28, 2019/0 Comments/in Business Improvement, Marketing/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

We are data driven, digital agency that focuses on Search Engine Optimization, Technical SEO for Retailers, Paid Search Marketing, Digital Advertising and Retargeting, Web Analytics, User Experience Optimization, Email Marketing and the design and development of WordPress and WooCommerce websites. We see this all lead to business improvement, but there’s a whole host of tools and techniques at our disposal to solve a case.

Google Optimise is part of Google’s marketing platform and you can start an optimisation journey with this tool for free; you have to pay for their advanced tools using their product Optimise 360. Optimise offers small business and enterprise solutions to help you test and deliver the best digital experiences to your customers.

google optimise help — Do you understand the benefits of Google Optimise for your business?

Benefits of using Google Optimise

Let your data guide you.

Optimise is natively integrated with Google Analytics, so you can quickly understand how your website can be improved.

Test what works best.

Easily run tests on your website’s content to learn what works best for your visitors, including A/B, multivariate and redirect tests.

Tailor a compelling experience.

One size never fits all. Customise your website experience to suit each type of audience.

Take matters into your own hands.

Drive better results from your own screen in minutes.

Gain more customers.

Create custom landing pages for your Google Ads and convert more visitors into customers. see all benefits

Simen Petersen, Digital Business Developer, Telia is quoted as having said

Google Optimise helped us make continuous UX improvements on our mobile site. One experiment alone drove a 2X increase in monthly plan sales.
https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/optimize/

Conclusion

google optimise help article — The Hound of the Baskervilles

Google Optimize is relatively new and it’s going up against giants like Optimizely and VWO, but the value of the native integration is hard to ignore. Especially with a £0 price tag.

At the very least, create an account and run an experiment.

Is anyone using Google Optimize or Google Optimize 360? Please let me know what you honestly think of it in the comments.

There is a really good blog post that explains this tool more fully, looks at the free v paid options and goes through how to set it all up here, but if you get stuck with the jargon, fill in your details in the contact form below and we can help you look at this and other ways of optimising your business even if you have an existing web company and SEO support. This is about teaching you more about online business opportunities so you can tell your suppliers what you need from an informed standpoint.

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle; Corrections And Editor Edgar W. Smith; Illustrators, The Hound of the Baskervilles

Contact the idea büro about the above article and tell us how we can help you :

Reviewing Video Evidence #marketingsleuth

November 9, 2018/0 Comments/in Business Improvement, Marketing/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

Next week we’ll be investigating rumours that the president of the dairy council has become a Mason, and goes around giving his colleagues the ‘secret milkshake.’ Ronnie Barker

Retain us monthly to gather your evidence

This is no joke though; video gets 87% higher engagement on social media, ranks 4 times higher on Google & doubles lead generation – Are you using video for your business’ marketing?

I’ve been surfing video marketing news this morning and it’s amazing how many posts there are about the use of video in marketing. There are still business owners in the dark about the benefits of integrating video into their marketing. I remind myself that not everyone reads marketing news every day. Hopefully my network will take notice of my posts as i love spreading good advice and it goes hand in hand with my 1-2-1 digital marketing coaching. Today I want to press the truth that video is progressing rapidly and will reach new heights sooner than we think. This trend is fueled by businesses who invest in marketing intelligence, reporting real statistics, proving that video marketing gives them a good return on investment.

There is no longer a delineation between digital and traditional customers. Anyone with a smartphone traverses between online and offline activities without a second thought. As they do, they gain a penchant for modern conveniences, such as speed, utility and real-time assistance. Along the way, they also become more and more impatient and demanding. To engage today’s customer takes a modern approach to marketing where advanced technologies and customer optimization set the stage for what is called “adviser brands.” These market leaders know the power of using video in their marketing.

Video marketing is one of the newest additions to your business’ promotional toolbox. You might still have your doubts. Is it really worth considering using videos for promoting your business? Do you have enough resources to create and use video content in your marketing? Are you computer savvy enough to take the plunge?

The answer is simple: Yes, it’s worth it. Not only because everyone’s doing it, but because video is one of the most versatile and profitable digital marketing tools out there.

Would you like to speak to me about how we can incorporate video into your sales and marketing?

Making marketing videos for your business requires creativity and knowledge of human psychology. They should then be embedded into your sales and marketing strategy. The cocktail of these components makes it possible to create real miracles of advertising at minimal cost. If you’re anxious, or stuck for ideas, contact me for a chat about how i can help you :

It’s all about the leads you see….

Generating Leads.

Video can lead directly to sales. Adding a product video on your landing page can increase conversions by 80%. There is a higher probability that users who watch an explainer-video about a product will subsequently buy it.

Return On Investment.

Even though video production is not yet the easiest nor cheapest task, it pays off to create it. Online video editing tools are constantly improving and becoming more affordable. If you can’t afford a video creation company to come and shoot one for you and help you with the script, you can in the right situation create videos you can use effectively off your smart phone. I’d suggest writing and practicing your script first of course, but the more you do the easier it’ll become. Work with a friend or colleague for perspective. Your videos don’t have to be perfect, just get them out there. Make sure you explain the product, or service clearly.

Trust is the Foundation of Conversions and Sales.

The whole concept of content marketing is based on trust and creating long-term relationships. Stop selling and let the people come to you by providing them with interesting and useful information. Reach out and develop a trusted network of influencers so that they will give your content the thumbs up to their networks which should include your prospective clients, or customers. Think carefully about your networking; focus online and offline and join up this marketing effort. Some consumers are still skeptical about buying products and services on the internet because they fear fraud and cheating. But effective marketing videos present your products in a conversational form and even better if someone that consumer trusts shares your video.

Target Google.

This is clearly the case. Videos allow you to increase the time spent by visitors on your site. Thus, longer exposure builds trust and signals to search engines that your site has good content. You’re 53 times more likely show up first on Google if you have a video embedded on your website. Since Google now owns YouTube, there has been a significant increase in how much videos affect your search engine rank. Make sure to optimize your videos on Youtube for SEO. Write interesting titles and descriptions. Add a link back to your website, products, and services. Give potential customers the way to take the next step. And explore the world of interactive videos, to encourage actions even more.

Let’s Face Facts. Everyone Is On Mobile.

Video and mobile go hand in hand. Most consumers watch videos on their mobile. YouTube reports mobile video consumption rises 100% every year. Since people like to watch videos on the go, and the number of smartphone users is growing, your video audience can only keep getting bigger and bigger.

Age Old Advice.

It’s important to explain your product or service effectively to get a customer and keep them returning. Are you launching a new product or a service? Create a video to show how it works. 98% of users say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product, or service. That is why 45% of businesses who use video marketing said that they have an explainer video on their home page. Of those businesses, 83% said that their homepage explainer video was effective in increasing website hits.

Trying to explain a difficult concept? Create animated videos. Animation can bring concepts to life that no text or live video can. Besides, boring talking heads are not enough anymore to break through the clutter. Animated videos are a perfect combination of entertainment, nostalgia, and simplicity. Make sure you use a process that will get you results. Never be afraid to ask on for example on ‘Linkedin’ of video production ‘experts’ for tips. The right kind of people will want to help with useful advice even if you don’t become a customer of theirs straight away. Facebook has many apps to help create video which can be posted onto your page within minutes.

Understanding Customers.

Video is a great tool for learning, but it’s also very easy to consume. Today’s life is too busy to have time to read long product descriptions, or dig deep into services. The modern customer wants to see the product in action. Video preference is one of the most important driving forces of using video in your content marketing. Video marketing can capture a wide audience, and it works on many levels. Even the laziest ones. Make sure you target not only to the eyes but also to the ears of the potential client. Make sure you know who your client is by creating their persona in your marketing campaign plan before you start. This will help you put yourself in their seat when creating video content for specific personalities of consumer.

I think the process is one of using the camera and sound in the way a detective uses a magnifying glass: to find the clues. They’re discovery devices, not performance devices – you’re watching things the way a cat does. You’re not judging. You’re there to witness something. D. A. Pennebaker

You Want People To Share Your Content Online and Talk About Them Offline

In the 8th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report Michael Stelzner stated that 60% of the social marketers used video content in 2015 and 73% of the total respondents planned to use it in 2016. And they sure did.

Social networks also encourage video content with their new features. Facebook has launched 3600 Video, Live Video, and Lifestage (A Video-Centric App for Teenagers). Instagram put in place 60-Second Videos & Instagram Stories, Twitter has Periscope. And YouTube is the second most popular social network in the world.

However, in a social media context, video marketers must remember that people share emotions, not facts. 76% of users say they would share a branded video with their friends if it was entertaining. So create fun entertaining videos to encourage social shares if it is appropriate to your marketing goals. Emotions are not exactly ROI but social shares can increase traffic to your site, and you can capture that traffic and funnel it from there through to purchase pages.

I never was that boy who loved gangster films, but when I was growing up, I was obsessed with the detective Dick Tracy. It was one of my favourite movies as a kid, and he really inspired me. I would have loved to be part of that golden age of Hollywood in the 1940s. It made me want to become an actor. Ryan Gosling

Email and Ads

When you’re creating videos already, make sure you to incorporate them into your email marketing campaigns. An introductory email that includes a video receives an increase click-through rate by 96%! That’s a great way to stand out from competition and get your message across.

Hear this: the average click-through-rate of video ads is 1.84%. That’s the highest CTR of all digital ad formats! And for a 15-second non-skippable YouTube video ad the completion rate is 92%. For skippable video ads, the rate is 9%.

Video ads are also highly effective on social media platforms. Facebook, clubbed with Nielsen, projected the value of video ads on its platform. They learned that 74% of the total Ad Recall can be achieved already within the first 10 seconds of the video. So, fight against banner blindness by making video ads instead.

When Planning Out Your Marketing, Think Like Detective, or Hire A Marketing Professional That Does.

In detective land, you have to deal with a lot of intense emotions, so you yourself have to remain mostly unemotional and detached. These are people, like law enforcement and surgeons, in professions that don’t have the luxury of being able to be emotional or to break down. In my line of work, it’s almost a requirement. Juliette Lewis

Can anyone see the irony of my post yet? …

“Let’s start with what we can be thankful for, and get our mind into that vibration, and then watch the good that starts to come, because one thought leads to another thought.” –Bob Proctor”

Starting a Business? What the Internet Will Tell You to Do First

July 26, 2018/0 Comments/in Business Improvement, Business Startup Advice/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

You’ve got a business idea but what are the next steps?

There are tons of blog articles and guides to help you put the foundations in place for your business success.

You’ll come across statements like “Starting a business is like climbing a mountain; it may look daunting from the bottom, but focus on taking it one step at a time and you will soon reach your goal.” which seem great and will focus you for the day….read it again tomorrow and it may not have the same effect. Look for another great quote, or inspirational video, It’s a good habit to get into at 5:30am. It’ll spur you on for the day. I call this my R&D time and it’s before the kids wake up and my head wants to know how to feel about the day.

I’ve just read a recent blog on what to do when you first startup and fair enough i agree with their 7 points (with a few of my comments thrown in) :

1. Market research: Make sure your business idea is actually viable, and refine it if necessary. This article on researching your market is a good starting point – ask yourself the tough questions before you begin to avoid pitfalls later on.

2. Examine the different business structures. Read up on the different legal business structures you can adopt and decide on the best option for your start-up. Not many new businesses will start life as a limited company; you will most likely want to register as a sole trader, or find yourself a business partner. If this immediately flummoxes you, find a business coach and ask for an initial chat. It’ll probably be free and the best advice you can get at start-out. Record the conversation and keep it. Make sure you have a pad and pen to jot down notes and have questions ready written down to ask.

3. Create a business plan: You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, so don’t start a business without a plan. A professional, well-thought out business plan will not only provide your start-up with a clear direction and contingencies in the case of unexpected events, but it can also be vital in securing investment. It doesn’t have to be well written, just brain dump on paper to start with. There are plenty of templates you can down load with headings to help you.

4. Choose a name for your business. Do you know the importance of how to choose a business name. An effective, memorable business name can be the difference between failure and success and should reflect the type of business you wish to be. Bit of a dramatic statement I know! and I’ve also seen business names change as business go through growth and rebrand exercises. Don’t worry too much. One of the mistakes to avoid at all costs is creating confusion with competitors, which can lead to lost sales and legal action. Avoid common branding mistakes by learning from some cautionary tales, and learn what to do if your chosen name is unavailable. Have a good search online to see who has a business with a similar, or the same name as yours, but in a different area, or country. Again, seek free advice from someone such as a business startup coach at a growth agency. Our local agency is Business Wales, but there will be a similar one in your area.

5. Design a logo: A logo is often the first thing prospective customers see, and is therefore crucial in making the right impression. You can create one yourself online, or find a designer to help you. Fiverr is a pretty good site for that. Don’t procrastinate, keep it simple. Even large corporations are moving to simplified images of their original idea. BP, or Apple are good examples of this.

6. Register a domain name and build a website. After you start out in business, customers will want to investigate more about you on the web, so make sure you get in early and register a domain name. Everyone has a mobile phone and as soon as they hear about you, the first place they will look is online. Build your website with using a well-recognised website designer, and learn some vital tips by asking them which newsletters and sources you should regularly read up on to learn about sales and marketing.

7. Get your finances in order. Get an accounting and cashflow system set up before you begin so you don’t find yourself buried in invoices and receipts a month in. If you plan to grow your business beyond the VAT threshold (currently £72,000) then it’s worth planning for it from day one. Especially for novices, taking on an accountant can pay off in the long run – learn some basic rules to ensure you keep costs as low as possible. As well as using an accountant to manage finances from the top down, it may also be worth looking at comparing merchant account services, small business POS systems, or small business CRM services to maximise profits and processes.

8. Networking is vital. Many of the blogs I have just read either dedicate a whole article to this, or miss it off all together and only write the above points, probably not wanting to swamp the reader. I think after mentioning the above, you’ll give me license to squeeze this last point in. It’s really important. Find your local, or industry specific thought leaders, networkers, influencers and link with them on social media. Linkedin is free and a great place to start. Speak to them on the phone, introduce and ask their advice. Put everyone you meet, speak to and all your jobs, thoughts and todo’s in your crm, via the app you can download to your phone. It’ll help you keep track of your work as the pace increases and minimise your stress.

9. Make a point of doing something for you that you enjoy once a month. I’ve just been sailing with the kids in North Wales and it was great. Check out Horizon Sailing if you fancy it too.

Good Luck.

“I’ve also learned that the biggest lessons came from my biggest mistakes.”
– Gurbaksh Chahal, RadiumOne

I cannot recommend Jessica and her team at the Idea Büro highly enough! Jessica has an absolute wealth of skills and knowledge. She has assisted me in website design, coaching and a sound marketing plan for my business moving forward. Jessica is the ‘go-to’ person in any of these areas. She is very solution focussed and her strategy and implementation is second to none. I am now looking at my business in a completely different way and I have a sound plan which has allowed me to take my business to a completely different level.
If you would like to speak to me about the services the Idea Büro offers, and the difference it has already made to my business, please feel free to contact my via LinkedIn.
Don’t hesitate, contact Jessica today!
Thanks once again Jessica.
Janine Mitchell. Helping Occupational Health & HR Managers reduce stress & absenteeism. Ex-stressed employee|Stress Management Specialist. May 4, 2017, Janine was a client of Jessica’s

So You Want To Create a Website Eh

July 25, 2018/0 Comments/in Business Improvement, Marketing, Wordpress Website Training/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

Starting Your Website Build

Ok, i’m really pleased you’ve stepped into my office to read what i’m typing. Whatever your business, i’m a wordpress website coach and the first steps are easy :

Register your url – your web address at https://www.ukreg.com/
Select website hosting – I recommend https://www.hostgator.com/
Use their quick install link to install WordPress – their guide is here
Create your email account on Hostgator – this is how to do that
Look on Theme Forest for a design (tip – click on wordpress themes > filter by best sellers; better support, less bugs), buy your design and download the zip file > upload to your wordpress and activate the recommended plugins.
Most themes will come with ‘demo data’ > install the demo data and your wordpress should look like the theme design you just purchased.
Edit the pages to replace the demo data with your own words and pictures – you might need to buy image editing software like Photoshop Elements to create your own images and optimise them for web. Otherwise the images are huuuuuuuge and affect your page load speed as well as giving you other problems. Not good.
Publish and maintain your website. Ideally at first blogging every day with quality content, including video if you can and distributing this on your social media channels. Here is what makes a good blog.
Advertise and promote your website. Grow your audience and sign up to marketing newsletters. Enthusiasm will get you started, but habit will keep you going. Learn everything you can about sales and marketing, both online and offline, by attending the many free events government business growth agencies put on. This is a good website to sign up to newsletters on marketing https://www.smartinsights.com/. Please let me know by commenting on this blog if you come across other marketing newsletters you can recommend.

Call me if you get stuck on any of these stages and I can coach you through them. I’ve been doing this a long time and i’m adamant the best websites have a great deal of input from the business owner, even if long term you decide to employ, or out source your website, marketing and PR. My 9 year old Jennifer is sat next to me building her first website. It’s easy with a coach for a mummy.

Need a hand?

Fill out my discovery form with whatever information you can and i’ll call you as soon as I can to offer help and advice with your website build.

“Only minutes after I first contacted Jess by e-mail she had called me back. Jess has an infectious enthusiasm in business that has certainly affected me positively in a short space of time. A talented, driven and reliable business woman who I would recommend to anyone.”
Andrew Widdison. Xactly | SaaS | EMEA | Sales. September 7, 2011, Andrew worked with Jessica but at different companies

Two examples of when it’s time to hire a freelance social media girl #flintshire #chester

July 24, 2018/0 Comments/in Marketing/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

“I don’t have big ideas. I sometimes have small ideas, which seem to work out.”

– Matt Mullenweg, WordPress

When you know you need a hand with your marketing…

Example 1: You’ve built a decent following on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You are tracking results. Your social media work is generating a small but steady trickle of enquiries or sales. You are certain you could increase this trickle, but either you can’t get to it personally, or your existing social media staff is already maxed out.

Example 2: You’ve already got an intern part-time and a social media person who works full time. They have built a decent presence on the big social sites, with footprints on the smaller social sites. Results are a little sketchy, but you’re approaching this more as a branding exercise, so you’re okay with the fuzzy results. Where you’re really lacking is in tracking. You also feel like the whole social media program needs a thorough audit. You have neither the skills nor the time to do such an audit. Neither does your existing staff.

If either of these two scenarios are a fit for you and you’d like to discuss how we can help you, please fill in the discovery form below and i’ll call you within the day to discuss your situation.

Our social media marketing services are focused on putting your company in a better position to tap into the two-way conversation naturally happening between you and your customers. Our services are designed to show you where people are talking about you, the areas where you can best get involved, and the tactics you should use to help increase brand awareness and generate leads or sales.

Through our social media audit, competitive analysis, and custom-built interactive strategies, we’ll teach you how to take advantage of the social web and how to successfully drive visitors to your site if you want to be coached. Or we can work for you on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Our social media services include:

Social media marketing strategy: Do you have a social media or interactive marketing budget but aren’t sure where to start? We can assess your needs, outline opportunities, and prescribe specific actions for long-term social media success.
Implementation guidelines: Do you already know what you want to do with social media but need help navigating a complex and seemingly subjective landscape? We’ll work with you to ensure brand integrity, compliance with the different mediums, and best practices for future development and communication.
Software recommendations: If there are hundreds of SEO tools, there are thousands more social media tools due to the explosion of open source software and a larger audience. Finding tools to track performance, opportunities, management and more can be daunting. We can help narrow your choices based on budget, resources and environments.
Social media audit: This audit analyzes in depth your site’s presence across the various social networks and offers a strategy for ways to improve it. Not every site should have a place on Linkedin or Instagram, so we cater our suggestions to realistic options, including niche opportunities and relevant mainstream tactics.
Competitive analysis: Is your competition doing an incredible job with videos, blogs, linkbait, widgets or community building? We’ll identify their tactics, potential service providers and action alerts that you can start implementing to shake their hold on your industry.
Social profile creation: We will identify the social networks where you should be participating and where people are talking about you. We’ll also help you create and manage your own social media profiles to attract visitors and leverage the two-way conversation
Blog design, setup and/or optimization: A blog that is not set up correctly won’t attract readers or yield the search engine benefits you need. We’ll work with you to find the best blogging platform for your needs, help you optimize your blog for success from the very beginning, and show you how to tweak it to make it more accessible to both users and the search engines.
Blog strategy development: We can work with you to create a blog strategy that carves a space for your corporate or personal brand in the greater blog community. This may include crafting ideas for blog posts, writing the posts themselves, showing you how to comment on other blogs to build awareness.

“Wow, what can I say – Jessica is a lovely, lovely lady and just amazing. Her knowledge exceeds all boundaries, with her out of the box and off the wall marketing ideas producing phenomenal results. I love working with Jess and would highly recommend her services to all :)”
Sharon Alexander. Chief Executive Officer (designate) at Rosy Apple Childcare ltd. September 24, 2012, Sharon was a client of Jessica’s

All of our work has a focus on your business goals and ultimately profit improvement. Contact us if any of this resonates with you and you’d like a no obligation chat.

What are your thoughts on hiring a freelance marketing consultant for 3 months?

July 23, 2018/0 Comments/in Marketing/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

Are you skeptical when you hear the term “freelance marketing consultant”? You might be surprised to know how many entrepreneurs swear by their services.

“It’s not about how many years of experience you have. It’s about the quality of your years of experience.”

– Jacob Cass, Logo of the Day

It’s the summer and the juggling of your holidays, staff holidays, time with the kids and family. Most business owners think they have it all under control and they will optimistically manage through if there are issues. Somewhere they’ll fit in their sales and marketing, or they’ll just take it on the chin and pick it up again in September. But why put yourself in this position.

If you’re in need of some help, it’s time to consider hiring a freelance marketing consultant. The right one can bring a lot of value to the table.

If you are looking for inspiration in your business and practical support in implementing it then look no further.
Jess is awesome.
Think you’ve got it covered? Open your mind to your business’s real potential.

Steve Thornton. Property Consultant and Director at Buy to Build (eco-homes) and our new product Sub Pad, your “sub”terranean home

May 8, 2016, Steve was a client of Jessica’s

Looking for Business Growth Funding in Flinthsire?

June 15, 2018/0 Comments/in Business Improvement/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

Finance Locator Alerts

Funding alerts allow you to receive email notifications if new funding opportunities arise which match your search requirements. To setup a funding alert, simply run a search for funding on the Business Wales site. When you are viewing search results press “Save Search”. There is an option to receive funding alerts at this stage so make sure this option is ticked.

You can also set up funding alerts for a search you have already saved by enabling email alerts in the “Saved searches” area on the site.

I’ve just received my alert with the latest funds and thought you might find it useful if you like me run a business in Wales!

Latest Funds

British Patient Capital (BCP) Fund

A £2.5 billion fund for business, supporting UK companies with high growth potential to access long-term investment to grow and go global.

Date added:	14/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Horizon 2020 – EIC Horizon Prize For ‘European Low-Cost Space Launch’

A Horizon 2020 prize to develop a European technologically non-dependent solution for launching light satellites into Low-Earth Orbit.

Date added:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Smart Waste Tracking Data Collection, Storage and Reporting Services SBRI Competition

Organisations in the UK can apply for funding to develop a new digital solution to help track waste from source through treatment to end destination.

Date added:	07/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Wales Flexible Investment Fund

Loans, mezzanine finance and equity investments are available for businesses in Wales.

Date added:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Wales Stalled Sites Fund

Funding for businesses in Wales looking to develop a residential site project that cannot be progressed with traditional development funding.

Date added:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Wales Technology Seed Fund II

A scheme aimed at technology start-ups, university spin outs and IP rich companies to help them commercialise their innovative products and technologies and bring them to market in Wales.

Date added:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Updated Funds

Brick Awards

Awards recognising excellence in design and construction by construction companies using brick in the UK across three categories: housing; building and landscape; and technical and craft.

Date updated:	14/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Business Payment Support Service

Enhanced support to businesses finding it difficult to make tax payments on time, including corporation tax, VAT, PAYE, income tax and national insurance contributions.

Date updated:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Commercialising Quantum Devices: Innovation R&D Competition

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million to collaborate on prototype quantum devices that meet end-user needs with a clear route to market.

Date updated:	14/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

eCommerce Awards for Excellence

Awards programme designed to reward the activities of the UK’s ecommerce industry; celebrating the country’s presence in ecommerce excellence with winners being showcased as inspirational companies.

Date updated:	11/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

EEF Made in Britain Photography Competition

Competition offering financial awards and additional support for UK-based professional and amateur photographers who submit images that present a picture of contemporary British manufacturing which can give the sector greater visibility and changing the misconception that ‘Britain doesn’t make anything anymore’.

Date updated:	11/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

EUREKA

Assistance is available for pan-European near-market, collaborative R&D projects which lead to the development of advanced products, processes or services. Assistance may include help with finding partners and the lowering of likely barriers to commercial success.

Change made:	Eurostars is reported separately. EUREKA individual projects can be submitted at any time. Calls for projects launched by EUREKA clusters have specific deadlines.
Date updated:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP)

This programme aims to contribute to the reduction of the social and economic burden of poverty-related diseases in developing countries and in particular in sub-Saharan Africa by accelerating the clinical development of effective, safe and affordable medical interventions for poverty-related diseases.

Date updated:	13/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Forward Ladies National Awards

Female entrepreneurs throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland may apply for a number of award categories through the Forward Ladies National Awards for the chance to gain publicity and networking opportunities.

Date updated:	14/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

G Awards

Awards recognising excellence in the UK glass and glazing industry.

Date updated:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Ignite: Big Energy Idea

Funding and commercial support for social entrepreneurs with businesses of any legal incorporation, including charities, not-for-profit companies limited by guarantee, community interest companies or for-profit companies limited by shares in the UK energy sector seeking to grow their enterprise.

Date updated:	13/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

INTERREG VB North-West Europe Programme 2014-2020

The North-West Europe Programme will focus on the challenges and needs that can be effectively tackled through transnational cooperation under three priorities: innovation, low carbon, and resource and materials efficiency.

Date updated:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Medicines Manufacturing Challenge Fund Round Two

UK businesses can apply for funding from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to uncover innovative solutions to medicines manufacturing.

Date updated:	08/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Publishing Grants (Welsh Language) – Grants for Book Launches and Signing Tours

Financial assistance available to publishers in Wales to carry out promotional book launches and signing tours for books that have been published with Welsh Books Council grant aid.

Date updated:	13/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

RAD Awards

The RAD Awards aim to celebrate ideas that evolve around businesses within the recruitment, marketing and HR industry. They represent prestige, innovation and talent. Agencies within the UK are encouraged to enter campaigns that have made a difference and stood out from the crowd.

Date updated:	14/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Funding Competitions

Research and development (R&D) funding competitions to enable businesses in the UK to develop technologies to meet the needs of public sector bodies and government departments.

Date updated:	11/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

SmallBusiness.co.uk Small Business Grants Initiative

This grant competition offers funding on a monthly basis to help start-up and early-stage businesses in the UK become established and grow their operations into successful enterprises.

Date updated:	13/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

The UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund

The Fund has been designed to encourage the development of high quality research into world-class business opportunities, and will be used to enable the exploitation and development of new ideas from the broad science and technology base covered by the partners of the Fund.

Date updated:	13/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Total Food Marketing

Support is available to enable Welsh food and drink companies to grow and develop through tailored mentoring and practical promotional and marketing services.

Date updated:	13/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

UK-South Korea Smart Energy Innovation Collaboration Competition

This competition allows UK companies and project teams to apply for a share of up to £3 million to develop innovative smart energy solutions on a collaborative basis with partner companies or organisations from the Republic of Korea (South Korea).

Date updated:	08/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Wales Technology Seed Fund

A scheme aimed at technology start-ups, university spin outs and IP rich companies to help them commercialise their innovative products and technologies and bring them to market in Wales.

Date updated:	12/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

Welsh Red Meat General Support Scheme (2014-2020)

A range of tools and assistance available to businesses processing or marketing red meat products in Wales, aimed at developing a more responsive supply chain and competitive Welsh red meat industry.

Date updated:	13/06/2018
Matches saved search:	flintshire

contact us

June 13, 2018/0 Comments/in Wordpress Website Training/by Chief Inspector & Mum On A Mission

Starting a Business in Flintshire.

Learn how to get the most out of WordPress Website with WordPress Website Training.

One of the reasons WordPress is so popular, is that it is so easy to use, and most people find that they are able to use many of the basic features with little or no formal training. If your website or blog uses WordPress, you are in good company because over 85 Million people have chosen to use WordPress as the perfect platform to manage their websites – making it (by far) the worlds most popular Content Management System (CMS).

However, WordPress is also extremely powerful and has loads of more sophisticated and advanced features that can add a lot of extra benefit to your website or blog. In addition, there are thousands of add-on products (called “plugins”) that are freely available and add all sorts of additional features and functionality to your website. Our WordPress hands on workshop will not only teach you how to manage your own WordPress based website or blog, but will give to practical hands on experience, and ensure that you are maximising the benefits of WordPress for your specific needs.

8 Hours Customised Training/Consulting

Whilst we can (if you wish), spend a full day with you, One on One training tends to be fairly intense, so we typically offer this in 2 or 4 hour “chunks” of time – which can be spread across a 3 month period if you need. This allows us to focus on a specific aspect of your WordPress training needs, and gives you time to go away, have a “play” and come up with a new list of questions for the next session. It is also possible to use this time as training , or consulting or a mixture of the two. Sometimes, you may want something implemented,. but you don’t necessarily want or need to know how to do it. It may only take us half an hour to implement something, but 1 1/2 hrs to teach you how to do it… so in these cases it is more cost effective for us to do it as consulting.

Personalised WordPress Training

Our WordPress Workshop offers you personalised WordPress training to help you get the most out of WordPress. We customise your WordPress training to meet to your specific needs so you can be certain that you are not wasting time learning things that you already know (or don’t need). To ensure that everything we cover is relevant to you, we only offer WordPress training as one on one and small group training. As a part of the preparation for this workshop, we will liaise with you over exactly how you are using WordPress and what you want to achieve with this training befpre your training sessions. Topics covered could include all (or some) of the following :

WordPress training course outline

Time 8 hours or in chunks to suit your learning
Please note that you will need to bring a laptop (PC, Mac or Chromebook) as the course is ‘hands-on’
The course is great if you want to learn how to build a new website,
The course is also great if you have an existing website and you want to learn how to maintain and improve it.
Optional WordPress training site to learn on during the day and for 1 year after the course
No experience required. As long as you can use a computer you will be able to build a great looking website with WordPress.

How to set up WordPress

Introduction to WordPress
How to set up a WordPress website in 15 mins

How to publish posts, pages, images and video

How to manage content in WordPress
An explanation of content management in WordPress
How to create professional looking pages and posts
How to add links
Inserting and embedding media – images, video, audio
How to create and arrange menus

Comment moderation

How to monitor and moderate comments
How to stop spam

How to make your site look great with WordPress themes

Themes and how can you use them
How to install themes
Recommended themes

How to add functionality to your site with WordPress plugins

Overview of plugins
How to install plugins
5 top WordPress plugins and what they do
How to use plugins and widgets to improve your website’s functionality

Search engine optimisation

How to make sure your website is optimised for Search Engines
Use ‘pretty url’s’ that will improve ‘click through’ rates
Tagging and categorising your posts – how to do it and why it’s important
How to add meta descriptions in your content to improve ranking
Best practices when linking

Security

How to make sure your WordPress website is secure
How to back up your WordPress website

How to take advantage of the social web

How to sharing your content on other social networks
Auto-posting to Twitter
Adding ‘Share’ buttons
How to add a newsletter
How to integrate your content with Twitter and Facebook

Following this course you will be able to:

Create a WordPress website
Manage, update and improve a WordPress website
Use WordPress to manage your website content
Integrate social media content into your WordPress website
Promote your website
Manage comments
Understand WordPress themes, plugins and widgets

And pretty much anything else you may wish to know about using WordPress…

What do you get?

You will already have a WordPress based website or blog that you (or somebody else) has setup. You will know how to log in, and may know a little about the basics, but you will be uncertain or have little or no idea about how to manage it effectively. WordPress Training will help you to feel competent (and confident) to handle the ongoing activities that you need to run a functional and effective website. You will get 8 hrs of practical hands on training, making changes, improving the features, and optimising the effectiveness of your site.

We expect this WordPress Training to provide you with enough information to not only manage your own WordPress website, but give you actual hands on experience so you can confidently undertake your ongoing website management yourself.

When can I start a course?

We can usually schedule WordPress Training – which consist of a full 8 hours of hands on WordPress training – to fit in with your needs. We can provide this workshop most days throughout the year in Flintshire and within reasonable travelling distance. For further information or to make a booking, simply contact us and we will be in touch to check on your requirements and schedule a suitable training date for you.

WordPress consulting

If you have a WordPress based site, but don’t have the time or desire to lean how to customise or manage it yourself, we can also offer WordPress Consulting services, that can be booked on an hourly basis to help you to setup, customise or improve your WordPress website or blog. You can even combine WordPress training and consulting if you wish, so we can teach you specific areas of WordPress that you should know, and implement other features or functionality that you want on your site, but don’t necessarily need to learn how to set it up.

I often get asked for more details of what I offer in terms of strategic marketing services and how that offering translates into monthly activities that will bring you value.

Employ an experienced consultant

An example of an objective

The difference between a strategy and a plan

There are benefits of strategic planning, including the following:

Strategic marketing services and coaching delivered face to face or over skype to business owners and managers in the northwest

Fast response is essential.

Trace and Interview. The initial conversation.

Excellence is a habit.

Intelligence based investigation is key.

Identifying Suspects.

Jessica Kemp / Lead Marketing Consultant

Contact a Lead Marketing Consultant :

Benefits of using Google Optimise

Let your data guide you.

Test what works best.

Tailor a compelling experience.

Take matters into your own hands.

Gain more customers.

Conclusion

Contact the idea büro about the above article and tell us how we can help you :

Would you like to speak to me about how we can incorporate video into your sales and marketing?

Generating Leads.

Return On Investment.

Trust is the Foundation of Conversions and Sales.

Target Google.

Let’s Face Facts. Everyone Is On Mobile.

Age Old Advice.

Understanding Customers.

You Want People To Share Your Content Online and Talk About Them Offline

Email and Ads

When Planning Out Your Marketing, Think Like Detective, or Hire A Marketing Professional That Does.

You’ve got a business idea but what are the next steps?

There are tons of blog articles and guides to help you put the foundations in place for your business success.

Starting Your Website Build

Need a hand?

Discovery Form

Step 1 of 3

When you know you need a hand with your marketing…

Discovery Form

Step 1 of 3

Our social media services include:

Are you skeptical when you hear the term “freelance marketing consultant”? You might be surprised to know how many entrepreneurs swear by their services.

My experience as a freelance marketing manager

Discovery Form

Step 1 of 3

Why would you hire a freelance marketing consultant instead of adding another marketer to the payroll?

1. Outside perspective

2. Specialized skill set

3. Short-term commitment

4. Saves time

5. Evades office politics

6. Increases accountability

Can you afford not to hire the right person?

Starting a Business in Flintshire.

Learn how to get the most out of WordPress Website with WordPress Website Training.

8 Hours Customised Training/Consulting

Personalised WordPress Training

WordPress training course outline

How to set up WordPress

How to publish posts, pages, images and video

Comment moderation

How to make your site look great with WordPress themes

How to add functionality to your site with WordPress plugins

Search engine optimisation

Security

How to take advantage of the social web

Following this course you will be able to:

What do you get?

When can I start a course?

WordPress consulting

Contact Us

Business Wales Approved Supplier

**Can you afford not to hire the right person?**