Ten Minute Marketing - Free Marketing Hints and Tips

This week is a quick tip to make sure that people you're connected with online actually know the type of work you do. People often use social media for business but are connecting on their personal accounts. That's great as people choose to do business with other people, not companies. But do make sure that your personal profile shows what you do, and includes links across to your business profile and/or website too.

Another quick win on this is on your personal email signatures. Why not add a line about the work you do and a link to your company web address too. If people like and trust you personally, there's a very high chance they'll trust in your work too. Even if they don't need whatever you provide, they'll possibly know someone who does and will be only too happy to introduce you if a suitable opportunity arises.

If you've got any other comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

People love free stuff, don't we all! And giving away free stuff is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge, make new contacts, and share something of value to genuinely help other people. 

But (you knew that was coming!), tricking people with a promise of free info or help really isn't on. You see it quite often online where an article promises a free guide but it's actually just a thinly veiled sales pitch. You often get half a page into the article and realise it's not actually told you anything and slowly descends into an out and out sales pitch. Arghhh!!!

So if you're going to offer something for free then do just that. Actually deliver what you promised and give away the value that you said you would. People won't even mind a little plug for your products/services within it if that's of use. Just as long as what you promised would be free, still is.

If you've got any other comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

One key aspect of marketing is knowing exactly who your ideal customer is. Once you know this, it makes your marketing so much easier to do as well as much more effective.

I hear people say "but my product/service can be used by anyone". Just because it can be, doesn't mean to say it should be ;)  Think about what is important to you. The kind of businesses and people you want to work with, the benefit to them specifically, and the kind of work you'd like to spend your days doing. Then focus on marketing that work to those people.

If you've got any other comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

I need to get a top of the range camera first!

I'll do it next week when I have more time!

I haven't bought the right microphone yet!

I need to spend more time researching it!

These are all things I see and hear all the time when it comes to marketing and getting content out there. Typically, these are just excuses for not getting started though. Often this is driven by fear of the unknown and failure. It's much easier not to do it and find excuses, as that way you can't fail.

Well, actually you can, just in a different less obvious way. Without actively marketing yourself you won't make sales, and a lack of sales is a much more important failure than thinking some content could have been more polished or got more likes or views!

I do understand your worries but if you want to be successful with marketing, you need to be visible. Things don't have to be as amazingly produced as you think. What really matters is the content and value of the information you're providing. 

I'm obviously not saying to put out any old rubbish, but as long as the quality (be that writing, audio, or video) of what you're putting out is good enough to get your point across, it will work.

And one thing I can absolutely guarantee to you is this. You'll make more sales from a video recorded on your phone where you stumble on a couple of words, than a perfectly planned and scripted multi camera angled recording session in a studio using a £5,000 camera that never actually happens...

If you've got any other comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

This week I want to set you a little challenge. I call it the lazy like challenge and you apply it to your social media use for a week.

When you're using social media, you are banned from just hitting the like button, you also have to leave a comment.

Why is this a good idea? A like is just a one way street, you're effectively just agreeing with something. But a comment is so much more personal and interesting. It can strike up conversations with new and existing contacts and keep you on their radar. It also creates engagement for both the person who made the post and you too. Social media platforms like that, no pun intended!

So this week stop just liking posts, and start commenting on them. Do give this a try and let me know how you get on. 

If you've got any other comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

Something that a lot of people find challenging is coming up with ideas of what to post on social media. The good news is that you may not have to come up with anything new after all :)

A great way to create short social media posts is to look at existing longer-form content such as blogs that you've already published. You then take individual points from that content as ideas to use for social media posts.

For example, if I take the blog I published last week "A Marketing Checklist – The 5 things you should always check!" (click here to see it) then here are just a few examples of social media posts that could be created from it:

1. The obvious ones are to take each of the 5 points and create a post from each one.
2. Another obvious one is a sentence about the blog and a link off to it.
3. The blog mentions a couple of ideas for the process so posts could be created about those.
4. Create a graphic including the 5 points.
5. Make an Instagram post with multiple images, 1 for each of the 5 points.
6. Create a video or animated GIF of the 5 images above.

That's over 10 different social media posts from just 1 (very short) previously posted blog! If you have longer blogs you'll be able to create even more posts, and of course the more existing content you have the better it is.

So next time you're struggling to come up with some ideas for your social media posts, give this method a try. 

As usual, if you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

Before you publish any form of marketing, I always think it's worth doing the following 5 point sanity check. This is quick and easy to do but is really worthwhile to make sure that your marketing is effective and that nothing ever gets missed.

Here are the 5 things you should always check before publishing:

1 - Branded - Is it branded with your brand style/colours/fonts?
2 - Exciting - Is it exciting or interesting enough to get read and remembered or actioned?
3 - Valuable - Does it give something of genuinely valuable to people?
4 - Call to action - Is there a call to action? You need to tell people what action to take.
5 - Target market - Is it aimed at your target market? The more specific the better.

Keep this list somewhere and get into the habit of referring to it whenever you publish anything. I personally use Google Sheets for simple processes and checklists like this to make sure they always get done. But your system could be as simple as those 5 points written on a sticky note on your desk!

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

It might sound counter-intuitive but stop trying to do everything in your marketing.

If you do a bit of research or ask a marketeer about marketing you'll typically get told you should be spending hours posting and engaging on social media, blogging, writing emails, publishing videos, recording podcasts, doing Facebook live's etc etc.

That's all well and good and a great approach to marketing if you have the time or someone dedicated to doing so. But the newer you are to marketing, and the smaller your company is, the less chance there is of this being achievable. Not only do you need to learn how to make each of these things work the best for you, but you also have to find the time to carry out all these tasks consistently week in week out. Most people can't commit to the amount of time needed to do so properly.

So what I suggest is to spend a bit of time researching what form of marketing you think will work best for you and focus purely on this. At least initially. Once you've been doing one form of marketing for a while, you'll find it becomes quicker and easier to do. At that point, you can add the next marketing activity into the mix and keep building it up in that way.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. If you don't have the time, knowledge, or inclination to do your marketing yourself, we can do it for you. Example packages with prices can be seen here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

This week I want to tell you about the importance of personal branding and how you can use it to win business. People often hear the term "personal brand" and it turns them off or they think its something complicated. It doesn't have to be. It's basically showing up as yourself in your company and using your true personality in your marketing.

So how will this win you business?

Because people want to do business with people, not just a faceless company. They'll get to know the real you, your interests, and they'll remember you. If you're open, honest and genuine about who you are, you'll build rapport far more quickly with like minded people. And those are just the kind of customers we all want.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. Did you know we have various online marketing courses that cost just £10+VAT? More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/marketing-training/

I talk about consistency in your marketing all the time, and the importance of regularly showing up and being visible. Most people understand why this is so important and have good intentions, but then they get busy or distracted. So here's a quick practical tip to make sure you keep doing the things in your marketing that you know you should be doing.

Have a process to follow. The simpler the process the better, and use a tool that you already like and use.

For example, if you want to make sure you write a blog every week and already use your calendar for planning your week, add the blog writing and publishing time into your calendar as a recurring weekly event. Another example could be to add a recurring task to your daily to do list, if that's what you use, for making your daily social media posts.

It really doesn't have to be complicated, you just need something to remind you to do it and have the time set aside to do so. That way it will always get done.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. Did you know we have various online marketing courses that cost just £10+VAT? More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/marketing-training/

A short but effective tip for you this week...

Don't just show up in your marketing when you want something!

For example; Don't only go to networking events every few months when you have a new course coming up that you're trying to sell tickets to. Don't only post on social media when you've got no work and desperately need to sell more.

Marketing is something you should be doing all the time, not just when you need something. It's about building relationships over time and constantly and consistently reminding people who you are and how you can help them. That's the key to selling more, not just showing up whenever you want something.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. Did you know we have various online marketing courses that cost just £10+VAT? More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/marketing-training/

You never know when inspiration for your marketing will strike, but you need a way of capturing it as otherwise it can be forgotten just as quickly as it arrived!

If you're like me then you have great ideas for blog posts and marketing campaigns when you're not working or sitting in front of your computer. It could be when you're out and about, if you wake up in the middle of the night, or any other inconvenient time, lol! Because of this, it's very easy to forget these ideas so I recommend you capture them while they are still fresh.

Whenever I have an idea I quickly make a note of it using an App called Evernote in a specific "marketing ideas" note I have there. This is typically just one sentence about the idea that is really quick to write down but is enough of a prompt for my whole train of thought about the subject later on. The beauty of doing this is that whenever I do need to write a blog post (like these 1 Minute Marketing Monday tips!) I have a whole list of ideas to write about. It's far better for you to have an existing list than to try and force creativity when you're under pressure at the time.

Of course, there are other ways to capture your ideas and you don't have to use Evernote. You could have a Google Doc, use your phone's notes App, even write them down in a good old fashioned notebook and pen. Use whatever works for you. Just make sure than you have access to whatever method you use at all times which is why I think a phone App works so well for this.

The important thing is to just get it written down so it's not forgotten. By doing this in the same note/doc/notepad, you'll always know where to find it too.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. Did you know we have various online marketing courses that cost just £10+VAT? More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/marketing-training/

People often check how well they are doing in the search results on Google. I highly recommend you do so, but also make sure that you are seeing the real results. What most people do is simply go to Google and enter the search term (which could just be their company name or their product/service/area).

The problem with doing that is you will get skewed results based on your previous searches and your online activity. So if you've spent time on your own website (which you no doubt will have) it will show much higher in searches than it will for other people.

So the solution to this is to do the searches as a user with no history. The easiest way to do this is to open a new incognito window (on Chrome, Safari calls it private browsing) in your browser. You can do this from the "File" menu. Once open, you can do your searches as usual and see the real search results.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a "done for" marketing service. So if you don't have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

Does networking work? (January 2015)

Networking. Stop Rushing to Tell People Everything That You Do (September 2017)

A big mistake in business networking and how to avoid it! (July 2019)

But when I left the UK I wasn’t able to continue business networking as it was face to face. And the networking organisation I was a member of (4Networking) was back in the UK. That was until earlier this year when it went online! I jumped back into it and despite my reservations of networking online it has continued to be really successful for me.

So back to my challenge for you…  If you’ve never tried online business networking I’d like you to do so and go to a meeting this week. To make it even easier for you I’ve got 10 FREE visitor passes to attend any 4Networking meeting over the next week. So you have nothing to lose by trying one! There are multiple meetings a day so you should be able to find a day and time to suit your diary too. You can see all the different meetings here https://www.4nonline.biz/find-meeting. Just choose one and drop me a message and I’ll sort it out for you.

A usual, if you’ve got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here.

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a “done for” marketing service. So if you don’t have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

So what is often overlooked, or at least underused in most people's marketing? Distribution.

Lots of people spend an awful lot of time putting together content, especially with things like blogs. They spend hours researching and carefully crafting everything, publish the new blog on their website, and then consider that the job is done and move onto the next thing on their task list.

But publishing content is only part of what's needed. There's no point having all this great content if nobody sees it. That's where distribution comes in. Yes, you need to be telling people about it as soon as it's published, but you also need to continue trying to tell people about it.

What typically works well is using social media to post about any new content at least daily for at least a week after it's first published. Remember, just because you're posting doesn't mean that people are actually seeing it. Because of the way most social media algorithms work, only a very small proportion of your connections will actually see it. By posting it multiple times, you then increase the chances of them seeing it.

But even after that first flurry of activity, you should still continue to post about it regularly. Not as much as when it's new, but do keep reminding people about it as well as letting any new connections know it exists.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a "done for" marketing service. So if you don't have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

The best marketing has nothing to do with marketing. No, I've not lost the plot, let me explain!

If you're great at what you do then your happy customers will do the best form of marketing for you. They'll tell other people about you. So before you go planning your next SEO and Facebook Ads campaign, go back to basics and make sure you're actually delivering the super service you should be.

Of course, you can make the most of this in your own marketing by publishing reviews, testimonials, and case studies too. But the most important stage is actually doing a great job in the first place. Your customers telling other people how great you are is the best form of marketing you can get.

If you've got any comments or questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and comment there or just reply to me here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a "done for" marketing service. So if you don't have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

It only takes a tiny amount of time and may just be small but over time it adds up. Over a year that's 365 people you've connected with or 365 pieces of content you've put out there. That sounds way more impressive! More importantly, just doing this every day will help keep you visible and still in peoples thoughts.

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there or just reply here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a "done for" marketing service. So if you don't have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

If you’ve got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there or just reply here.

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a “done for” marketing service. So if you don’t have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

This week I want to remind you about the importance of storytelling in your marketing. You can massively increase the value of your products and services by telling the stories behind them.

For example, it was my son's birthday last week and he received a lovely present from a friend. His friend knew exactly what they wanted to get him but when they went to the shop they'd seen it in, it had sadly closed down. But undeterred, they used their contacts in town and managed to find the shop owner and got in touch with them. They explained the situation and how much they wanted to buy this present for a friend's birthday. The owner then agreed to hand-make one especially for my son. Once we heard the story behind the present it instantly became so much more valuable and significant to us.

Are you telling people the stories behind your products and services? It's really worthwhile doing so. It's a great way to not just build more value and a connection with people, but to come up with more content ideas for what you're putting out there.

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there or just reply here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a "done for" marketing service. So if you don't have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

We all write content and the longer that content is the more chance we have of making mistakes! Although it's not the end of the world, I'm sure we all want things to be the best they can be. We also all want to do things efficiently and save time where we can too.

So today's tip is twofold. Firstly, when you write a piece of content do go back through and check it afterwards. If you can, then I recommend leaving it overnight before re-reading it. But even just a 30 minute break doing something else and coming back to it can give you a fresh pair of eyes and spot obvious errors you didn't notice earlier.

Secondly, always write the content on the platform you're publishing it with, and then check it in the format it will be viewed. For example, if you're writing a weekly email for Mailchimp write it within Mailchimp rather than elsewhere and copy/pasting it later. Otherwise, you can spend ages wasting time sorting out formatting issues. And when you do check it, send it as a test preview email rather than just reading it back off the page. You'll be amazed how many times you spot errors in the email version that you didn't notice earlier!

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there or just reply here. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a "done for" marketing service. So if you don't have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

I like to keep things fresh and interesting so this week we have a guest tip from someone who has been nailing their marketing for the last year and is now reaping the rewards. This guest is Stuart How the celebrity hypnotist who gave the following tip...

Always talk about your day. If you look at Stuart's social media, he constantly shares what he's doing throughout his day. So he'll post about how he's trained someone in hypnotherapy, how he's helped someone quit smoking, or how he helped someone with weight loss. He doesn't post sales messages all day long, he just shares the stories of people he's working with and how he's helping them. And by telling people what he does, people start to listen and start to understand his story and how he may be able to help them too. Once people are invested in him, they are far more likely to invest in his products and become his customers. So start telling your story, and start talking about your day in your marketing.

To see the kind of things Stuart posts, take a look at his social media over on Facebook here.

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there or reply to this message. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. We now offer a "done for" marketing service. So if you don't have the time or inclination for marketing but know you should be doing it, we can do it for you! Prices start at just £99+VAT per month. More info at www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/full-marketing-service/

I can't stress how important good titles are for any content you put out there. A good title can honestly make the difference between success or failure of your content.

So what makes a good title? Firstly it should entice the reader to want to know more. It should REALLY make them want to click on that link. Secondly, if used in public (such as a blog, YouTube video title etc) it should be something that your target audience is actively looking for to help it get found by searches. It's this second point I'm going to help with this week.

If you've always wondered what people are searching for, Google itself will actually tell you. If you head to Google and enter a search, after all the search results at the bottom of the page is a section titled "Searches related to...". This shows lots of relevant searches that people are looking for.

For example, a search for "boil an egg" shows some useful related searches as follows:

"how to soft boil an egg"
"how long to boil an egg for hard boiled eggs"
"how to boil eggs step by step"

These would all make great titles for someone interested in boiling eggs.

TOP TIP - "How to" titles always perform REALLY well btw!

Another bonus of these related searches is to get ideas for other similar content you could create content about. In this example you may want to use the following as new content ideas:

"how to peel a boiled egg"
"soft boiled egg timer online"

So next time you create any content, take your current title, put it into Google, and check out the related searches. It may just help you write a better performing content title :)

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. Did you know we have DIY marketing courses that start at just £10+VAT? Check them out here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/marketing-training/

As it's nearing the end of the month I thought it was a good time to remind you to review your marketing activities for the last month. The reason being is to see what is working and what could be improved or even ditched! This is something I advise people to do once a month and something I personally do on the first Monday of each new month. 

But it's not just the usual things people think of like the number of website hits and Facebook likes. The whole point of marketing is to get the right people to your door who have the intention to buy from you. So although stats can be useful, it's your actual sales that matter and the marketing activities that led up to these sales. Your marketing review can be as simple as looking at the sales you made over the last month and figuring out where they came from (Top tip: ask your customers if you're not sure!). Once you know that, you can then plan to do more of that good stuff!

Do be careful not to write off and stop something you've only just started though. This is especially important for content marketing (blogs, podcasts, video and other article/info based work you put out there) that usually takes a while to start having an effect. But once it does, it's massively worthwhile.

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

P.S. Did you know we have DIY marketing courses that start at just £10+VAT? Check them out here www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk/marketing-training/

That headline may sound like the opposite of what you'd expect, so let me clarify. Stop asking for feedback... from the wrong people! All too often I see people publically asking for feedback on ideas, products, and services. But that feedback is from the wrong audience. The feedback is only really valid if it's from the people who will use that new idea, product, or service.

For example, if you sell accessories for Ferrari's then you need to be getting feedback from Ferrari owners. If you have some new carbon fibre mirrors for sale at £900 (true story btw!) your uncle Joe may say that nobody will buy them as they cost more than his 10 year old Ford Focus. A Ferrari owner who's just spent £250k on a new car and wants to personalise it (i.e. your target market) will have a very different opinion. It's their feedback you want, not uncle Joe's!

So this week's tip is to be careful who you listen to when getting feedback. Make sure they are actually the sort of person that your product or service is aimed at.

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

Do you know who your ideal customer is? If not then I suggest you find out! Without knowing this, your marketing will be very hit and miss as you won't know what message to put out there or where to put it. If your answer is "everyone" then again I think you need to work on that. If your marketing and message is trying to attract everyone, it will often attract no one.  

A good example could be an estate agent who when asked who they can help may say "anyone who wants to sell or buy a house". Nobody really connects with that message. But, once they think about it, they can actually be much more specific and give a much clearer message. If they look at their existing customer base they'll no doubt see some clear similarities especially around the type, size, and cost of properties they sell. So their messaging can change around that and be much more focused. When someone asks who they target, it could be a much clearer "we sell large family homes in the North Leeds area" or "we sell apartments to first time buyers in Manchester city centre". That makes it so much easier for people to know if it suits them (either buying or selling) or to think of anyone else suitable they could introduce. Knowing your ideal customer makes your marketing much more focused and so much easier to carry out.

Another quick tip is to sanity check any marketing you put out there by thinking if it would suit your ideal customer. Look at an actual existing ideal customer of yours, let's call him Bob. And then think how Bob would react if he saw it. Putting a real name and face to this really helps you decide if it's good content to be putting out there. If Bob would like it, so would other people similar to him :)

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there or reply to this email. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing: Training, consultancy, or we can do it for you!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

This week I want to tell you the most important word in marketing. And that word is consistency.

For your marketing to be successful, you need to be consistent. Your branding should be consistent (people should recognise your materials from their look and colours alone), the message of what you do should be consistent (so it's crystal clear what you do), and your target market should be consistent (so people know if you can help them in particular, or people who they know).

All the content you put out there needs to be consistent too. Not just with the things mentioned above, but also how often and when you publish. There's little point in only marketing when you have nothing better to do. I see this all the time where suddenly someone is doings lots of marketing, but then gets busy and doesn't post anything for 6 months when they are quiet again. It's no surprise to me that the people and companies that are inconsistent with their marketing also seem to be the ones who's workload is in a feast or famine cycle. These things are linked...

As an example of consistency with your content; it's way better to publish a blog once a week, rather than publishing 2 articles a day for a week and then doing nothing for months. It really doesn't look great when you look at someone's website and it shows their last blog was from 2016 ;)

So how do you become consistent with your marketing? It's quite simple (but not always easy of course). You just need to have a plan of what you'll do each day/week/month and stick to it. This doesn't have to be complicated and could be as simple as having time scheduled (with a reminder) in your diary to carry out your marketing activities. Quite often, the simpler your system is, the better.

If you've got any questions, just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there or reply to this email. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

I can provide low cost training courses that teach you about an area of marketing (e.g. blogging, creating videos, starting a podcast etc). There are 20+ of these on the website at just £10+Vat each.

I also offer 1to1 advice and consultancy if people need help in a particular area of their marketing. So if you need help with something specific, just get in touch.

And finally, I’ve just launched a “done for” marketing service that came about because I’ve heard the same thing from so many small business owners over the past few months. They’ve said they know they should be marketing but don’t have the time or inclination to do it and just want someone to do it for them. If that’s you take a look here and drop me a message.

But I’m also totally cool with people subscribing to and implementing the free tips and never spending a penny with me if it helps them out.

If you’ve got any questions just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there.

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing – Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

We all spend a lot of time and energy creating opportunities and enquiries for our businesses. We then spend even more time and energy speaking to potential clients and putting quotes, estimates, and proposals together.

But are we forgetting one of the most important steps? Following up! I know I've been guilty of this myself in the past but once I realised how important following up is, it was a gamechanger. I previously felt like I was hassling people when following up but soon realised that it wasn't about me, it's about them. People are busy. Things get forgotten, and things drop off the radar. Some people even think that if you don't follow up then you're not actually that interested in doing the work. So make sure you ALWAYS follow up with people.

Here's a quick example of how powerful it is that prompted this week's tip. We needed to hire 2 scooters for 3 months recently so approached 3 local companies a couple of weeks ahead of when we needed them. We wanted to know what models they had and at what price for such a long term rental. They all pretty much had the same scooters at the same price after some negotiation. They all knew the date we wanted to hire from and that I'd be deciding who to use the week before that date. Only 1 of the 3 followed up with me (twice, plus did lots of other great stuff!) so of course they are the ones we've hired from.

If you want to convert enquiries into sales, make sure you follow up. If you haven't already, why not take a look at any quotes or estimates you've put out in the last 2 weeks and follow them up :)

If you've got any questions just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

It doesn't matter how good you are at what you do if potential customers don't know it too. Yes, you can tell people how great you are, but why should they believe you? People are far more likely to believe an existing customer singing your praises which is why testimonials are so important. Yes, this weeks tip is all about testimonials and reviews.

Firstly, make sure you get these and build your requests for them into your sales process. And talking of process, make this process as simple as possible for your customer. Don't just ask "Could I have a testimonial?". Make it easy for them, tell them where you'd like it (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tripadvisor etc) and how to do it. In most cases, you can send them a link that goes directly to the page for them to leave a review. If they can do it with one click they are far more likely to do it than if they need to seek you out on a platform and then figure out how to leave a review.

Once you do have a testimonial or review, brilliant, but it's also just the start of it. Make sure you actually use it! Most people do so once and then forget all about it. Again, build it into your ongoing marketing process. There's no point going to lots of effort getting a testimonial, creating nice graphics and images using it, and then posting it once on social media. Keep using all your testimonials constantly. For example, add them to your website, post them on social media, add them to your email signature etc.

Hopefully, this podcast has reminded you to use your testimonials and reviews, so even if you do nothing else with this info, why not share a previous testimonial on social media today :)

If you've got any questions just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask me there. 

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

Are you taking your own advice (and showing people you really believe in your product or service) by actually using it yourself?

Recently I seem to have seen lots of examples of the exact opposite. The social media "expert" that rarely uses social media, the telesales outsourcer who contacted me via email, the copywriter who doesn't blog, the web designer using Wix etc... You get the idea ;)

If people check you out, can they easily see that you're taking your own advice and/or a user of your own product/service? If not then why should they trust what you say, if you're not doing it yourself? Trust is a huge part of marketing (as well as sales that marketing should lead to) so do make sure you practice what you preach.

If you've got any questions just head to the Ten Minute Marketing Facebook group here and ask away. Or post with an example of how you ARE taking your own advice ;)

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

Last week's practical "how to" tip was really well received so here's another!

Being able to quickly and easily record your computer screen has lots of benefits, especially at the current time when you can't just show people something face to face. From a marketing perspective, it can be really powerful to demonstrate a software product, creating how to and example videos, as well as loads of other practical uses too.

In the past this hasn't been simple to do and would need special software installed, editing afterwards etc, and then actually distributing the video would be a pain too. I've used various bits of software and different ways to do this but it was never quick and easy.

But a couple of years ago I discovered a great tool called Loom that I've used extensively and am a huge fan of. It does exactly what most people want. No complicated software to install and it's super easy to use. It even lets you record your webcam at the same time so people get to see and hear you as well as what's on your screen. Once you've finished recording, you simply share a link and other people can then view (and even comment). Oh, and it's free too.

To give it a go yourself, just head to https://www.loom.com/.

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

This week's tip is a practical one. We all use images in our marketing (or at least we should!) but I often see people doing so badly with a lovely image ruined by the addition of a logo pasted on a large square white background, or adverts using poorly cut out product images etc.

I'd like to share a tool with you that can massively improve your images. Basically, this tool takes any image and removes the background for you automatically in seconds. The tool is free to use (as long as you don't need lots of very high resolution images which you probably don't), works online so there's nothing to install, and it works brilliantly. It's called RemoveBg and you can access it at https://www.remove.bg/

For example, you may have a photo of a product on a wooden table but want an image of it on a crisp white background for use in your online shop. Or you may want to put a photo of yourself in an advert on top of a different background.

In the past you'd have had to know Photoshop or pay someone to do things like this so I think it's a tool definitely worth having in your virtual tool chest.

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

This week's tip is all about not spreading yourself too thinly. As a small business, you're often trying to do lots of things yourself. But you can't do everything, not if you want to do those things well. This is really apparent in marketing where there are so many different avenues to explore, and always lots of new shiny things to use!

My advice is to concentrate on a couple of things, and do them really well rather than doing lots of things badly. For example, there are new social media platforms launching all the time that (self proclaimed) gurus say are "the next big thing" and that you "have to be on or risk missing out". Although it's good to keep an eye on them, I'd advise you to stick to more established ones where you already have relationships and know where your potential customers hang out.

Another example is Facebook Groups, where people decide to join hundreds and just drop their pitch into them all every so often and never post otherwise. This simply doesn't work and is a waste of time.  My advice with Facebook Groups is to only use 3 but get properly involved with them. Don’t just pitch! Be helpful and become a valuable member of that community over time. I'm not saying don't sell at all. I'm saying sell to people who know and trust you already and want to buy from you.

Remember, you only have so many hours in a day, and only some of that time is for marketing, so do use it wisely :)

Thanks

Richard

P.S. I'm now offering a "Power Hour" 1to1 marketing service. In this hour I can help you with a particular marketing challenge, review and advise on your current strategy, or help you build a successful marketing plan. These cost just £99+VAT and I'm limiting these to just 3 sessions per week so if you'd like to know more, just drop me an email to richard@tenminutemarketing.co.uk

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

6. Backgrounds
If possible, try to have a non-cluttered background, and certainly not a huge mess behind you! One thing that can work well is the use of a roller banner as this can help get across your brand. There’s also a clever virtual background option that I previously made a video about here.

Finally, I’ll just say that you should set all the above up, and test everything out for optimal results way before you have your live Zoom call. Once you have a setup you’re happy with, it will only take a minute to have it all setup and ready again before every call.

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing — Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

This week I've heard a few people say that their business can't operate online so there's no point doing any marketing at the moment as nobody can actually buy anything. Now is the time they (and everyone else) should be doing MORE marketing, not less, to ensure they stay visible! 

The same is true for you. If you don't continue marketing, it will be like you're starting again from scratch later on. Not a great situation to be in as there'll be a big lag between you starting to market, and then getting new work again.

Even if there's absolutely no way your business can do any paid work right now, you still need to be visible and be consistently seen out there. Once we come out of the other side of this situation, you don't want to have been forgotten. People will soon forget about you and your business unless they are regularly reminded that you exist.

Whether you can work or not, you've probably got a bit more time in your day than before so why not use it wisely. A couple of suggestions are to get helpful content out there (through social media, blogs, podcasts, videos etc) on a daily basis, and to try some online networking. Thanks to Zoom (and others), online networking is now possible, and something I've jumped into myself. I've found it not only helps my business but also my sanity!

I totally get that everyone's situation is different of course. Lots of people now have children at home rather than at school, and we don't all have the ideal working environment. Some people actually have less time than before! Even if you don't get time to do much, please do keep your business visible though. I guarantee you that spending just an hour a day marketing your business will help you far more in the long run, than watching yet another episode of Tiger King on Netflix ;)

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

1 Minute Marketing Monday is back!

After taking a few months off for personal reasons (I've been travelling the world, see https://www.instagram.com/richardjeaton/ ) I've recently taken Ten Minute Marketing off the back burner which includes your weekly marketing tips email.

Firstly, I've put some new info together in the past couple of weeks to try and help people through the current Covid-19 situation.

1. Here's a guide I put together to help you work from home.
2. If you're using Zoom for video meetings, here's how to make and use a branded background. 
3. If you want to do some business networking online (you should!) check this out.

But this week I thought I'd point you to a load of free resources I previously put together to help you with your marketing. Check out the full article here which points to all the videos, podcasts, and blogs. It includes the following:

1. Zig When They Zag
2. How to get notified whenever anyone mentions you online
3. It’s easy to overlook something so obvious
4. Try new things, they might be better
5. It doesn’t have to be perfect
6. It’s not just about you!
7. How to improve communication with this 1 simple tip
8. What do you do?
9. A big mistake in business networking and how to avoid it!
10. The Best Way to Handle Social Media Leads
11. A mistake I see all the time with videos
12. Marketing isn’t just about finding new contacts

If you've got any questions, just ask!

Thanks

Richard

Ten Minute Marketing - Successfully market your small business. In just 10 minutes a day!
www.tenminutemarketing.co.uk

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