SME Marketing Tips

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Below is a list of 7 simple tips to help the SME when considering marketing activity. They are simple, low-cost ways for any small business to find customers and generate sales quickly.


1. Don’t Advertise Like a Big Business. Big businesses advertise to create name recognition and future sales. A small business can’t afford to do that. Instead, design your advertising to produce sales …now. One way to accomplish this is to always include an offer in your advertising – and an easy way for prospective customers to respond to it.


2. Offer a Cheaper Version. Some prospective customers are not willing to pay the asking price for your product or service. Others are more interested in paying a low price than in getting the best quality. You can avoid losing sales to many of these customers by offering a smaller or stripped down version of your product or service at a lower price. 
3. Offer a Premium Version. Not all customers are looking for a cheap price. Many are willing to pay a higher price to get a premium product or service. You can boost your average size sale and your total revenue by offering a more comprehensive product or service …or by combining several products or services in a special premium package offer for a higher price. 
4. Try Some Unusual Marketing Methods. Look for some unconventional marketing methods your competitors are overlooking. You may discover some highly profitable ways to generate sales and avoid competition. For example, print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. A small ad on a postcard can drive a high volume of traffic to your website or generate a flood of sales leads for a very small cost. 
5. Trim Your Ads. Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads for the same cost. You may even be surprised to find that some of your short ads generate a better response than their longer versions. 

6. Set up Joint Promotions with Other Small Businesses. Contact some non-competing small businesses serving customers in your market. Offer to publicize their products or services to your customers in exchange for their publicizing your services to their customers. This usually produces a large number of sales for a very low cost. 
7. Take Advantage of Your Customers. Your customers already know and trust you. It’s easier to get more business from them than to get any business from somebody who never bought from you. Take advantage of this by creating some special deals just for your existing customers …and announce new products and services to them before you announce them to the general market. 


Also, convert your customers into publicity agents for your business. Develop an incentive for them to tell associates and friends about the value of your products or services. An endorsement from them is more effective than any amount of advertising – and it is much cheaper!!

Are you an SME looking for help with your marketing? Why not put Bath Marketing Consultancy to the test?

Social Media = Online Networking

Paul TagentLeave a comment

Networking has been used as a marketing tool for generations of business owners and I find it is a good profile builder for my business. However, if you are a business providing a unique service and hence, have little or no competition, networking can be a huge part of new client acquisition for you.

This form of traditional networking has evolved as the Internet has grown and developed into an online version of online networking. This form of online networking is called social networking and I feel that is has become one of the most effective online marketing tools available.

Social networking refers to online sites where people gather together to learn, share ideas and socialize. When considering the opportunities for word of mouth advertising, social networking online is the best opportunity for referrals when leveraged effectively.

‘But where do I start?’

If you are new to social networking or you want to become an expert at it, the first thing to do is to research your market; have a look at what is being said by others on networking sites. Most social networking sites have good search facilities so you will be able to get a feeling for what works. Then I would try and put together some sort of strategy which will allow you to possibly measure what you do. This can be followers on Twitter, traffic numbers to your website, increasing meetings in your diary etc. All of these are areas that I have experienced and I have also been asked to write for other sites thus expanding the platform I use to market my company.

There are arguments for using the services of someone who really understands social networking by outsourcing it to someone. Alternatively, try and ensure there is someone in house who can spend dedicated time to manage the social networking activities of your business. Maybe even find a halfway house where in house and external marketing people work together. I do this for a number of clients like http://westcountrysolicitors.blogspot.com/ and http://employmentlawsolicitor.blogspot.com/

The fact is that social media is a proven and effective business tool. Use it wisely and you’ll have a new voice for your customers to engage with, and you’ll make more sales in the long run.

If you would like to talk to me about social networking in more detail, please email me paul@bathmarketingconsultancy.co.uk

5 Top Tips to help SEO

Paul Tagent5 Comments

Below are the 5 main areas Bath Marketing Consultancy think you should look for when building a website which effectively can prevent a site from getting proper rankings:


 • Lack of content on the homepage. There are some very big companies who believe that they can get decent search engine rankings without adding readable text to the sites homepage. This is a huge mistake. 

• Having a site Designed Entirely in Flash. Adobe has made a lot of great strides in making its files readable, and should be commended for it. However, text in Flash files gets embedded into images, which aren’t read by the search engines. In many cases, the search engine sees a big blank spot when Flash is presented, so it can’t judge how relevant a site is.  


• No hierarchy. For very large sites, the lack of a clear hierarchy presents a problem. The distribution of pages on a website should look like an organizational chart for a major corporation. The homepage would be the CEO, the category pages would be the directors, and so on. A lot of sites present a very wide and shallow profile, so the search engine can’t distinguish between an important category page and an ancillary product page. Hierarchies can be created using breadcrumbs, good directory structures, and HTML sitemaps, and are always recommended for sites with hundreds or thousands of pages. A Bad URL Structure can also keep pages from getting found which makes your pyramid look a lot smaller in the search world.
 • Same Title on Every Page. Many enterprise level corporations are obsessed with branding, and want to be sure the same message appears on every title. A search engine can’t figure out the topic of each page if all the titles are the same, and the information at the left of the title is the most important. If your company name (xyz.com) starts every page title, you are robbing your site of a higher natural search engine position. 


 • Set It And Forget It Mentality. Part of keeping a site relevant involves making sure the site is updated frequently in order to stay fresh and account for search engine algorithm changes. In the corporate world, inertia can set in, so outdated information may be left on the site for years, and changes to the website may happen infrequently or as part of an initiative where all the pages are updated at the same time. After awhile, search engines visit less frequently, and competitors who keep fresh websites get priority in the search engine rankings.

There are quite a few other mistakes made when it comes to building websites and most of those mistakes are made in the small business sector. However, search engines have gotten very good at spotting many common mistakes, and can usually figure out the relationship between pages on smaller sites. Larger sites, however, may be compounding their design mistakes and may be fractionalizing the value that search engines apply to each of that sites pages. 


 Sometimes a cheap looking site with minimal SEO work can be more effective in search engines that an expensive, well-known branded site.

Drop me an email and I will take a look at your site.

Social media

Paul TagentLeave a comment

Bath Marketing Consultancy came across an article recently that gave a whole load of stats about online trends relating to social media and its usage in the US which I found staggering.

I have pulled out a few snippets so that you can see the actual scale of the numbers being touted about. I am seeking similar stats for the UK, but am pretty confident that the UK won’t be too different in its usage of social media, especially as a marketing tool as searches for ‘social media marketing’ in Google are up nearly 200% in 2010.

Brace yourself as one in ten people surveyed went to a social networking site in December 2009, up almost 100% from December 2008’s 5.8%. In addition, 25% of all page views came from the top social networking sites and that is up 83% from the 13.8% posted in December 2008.

Over a 12 month period (Dec 08 to Dec 09), 28% of social media visits went to MySpace, with 68% going to Facebook whose market share surged 286% year-over-year.

The social media market has grown over the same period of time, but consumer usage is growing at a staggering rate with social media influencing everything from buying behaviour to how we work.

Where will things go next???


Spotting the marketing thief

Paul Tagent8 Comments

This is as much a post asking for advice as giving it and based on a recent problem I have experienced.
In a nutshell, I recently identified a prospect who was wasting money on unsuccessful marketing. He also had a very poor brand identity, performed badly in organic search and would have complimented Bath Marketing Consultancy’s client base due my sector experience. I approached him and we had 3 subsequent meetings lasting about 45 minutes each time and were really getting on.

He requested a formal proposal which I submitted identifying key strategies and initiatives over a 6 month period with costings…………..and he has now gone underground. Not only that, his pa has obviously been briefed to use the ‘he’s in a meeting’ line and he has blocked my number on his mobile. To top it off, the pieces of advice we discussed have been implemented………..not by me.

I believe that I am a good judge of character and this particular person never gave any indication that he was never going to engage me. However, it has become abundantly clear that he has simply used my experience and advice for his own gain.

In my numerous years in the marketing industry, I have come across certain people and situations where the personalities don’t work. In addition, there have been times when I haven’t won what I pitched for.

However, this is pretty much the first time this type of thing has happened and, in a small business community such as Bath, word can get around.

Are there any steps to prevent this type of thing happening? Do I name and shame the prospect in question to make sure he doesn’t do it to anyone else?

Advice would be much appreciated paul@bathmarketingconsultancy.co.uk

Why Content is King by Gail Gibson.

Paul TagentLeave a comment

Bath Marketing Consultancy is proud to post this Blog written by a friend, colleague and professional copywriter, Gail Gibson of True Expressions.

Do the words on your website, flyers or brochures truly represent and reflect a clear message about your business? Or do they disappear into obscurity and allow your professional business to just become “one of many”?

Whether you are a one man band, small business or large corporation good, compelling and relevant copy is vital to your organisation. Content is king. Why? To stand out from the crowd, be noticed and successfully drive more customers toward your business. Many business owners “know” everything about their own business and feel they are the best placed person to write the words to promote their own business. Agreed that you know about your business, BUT do you have the right skills, time and inclination to put together great copy to attract and inspire your potential customers to actually do business with you?

Take your website. What does it say about your business? Does it inspire people to pick up the telephone and call you or to email you for more information? Does it instantly tell them – What’s In It for Them? After all, your website is a shop window for your business. It should reflect who you are and what you are about in a professional and targeted manner.

Are you easily found in web searches? Is your copy SEO rich (not saturated) for local area content? What is the length of viewing time of your visitor – do they read your content and take action to contact you? There is no guarantee that relevant and compelling copy will guarantee successful results however without it your business could miss out on opportunities.

Together with SEO your web and marketing copy should create interest and be thought provoking, to encourage your visitors to want to learn more. Your words should convey information, personality and attitude, giving personality to your business.

Your options? Write it yourself or employ the services of a professional copywriter. You have sound knowledge of the detail of your business and what you are trying to achieve with your marketing strategy however a good copywriter can add something extra.

A professional copywriter will spend time with you, to get to know and understand both you and your business. The copywriter sees your business from an outside viewpoint and this should be reflected in the copy they provide for you. Getting your copy professionally written gives you back the time to develop and grow your business; to talk to your customers and network with other professionals. Utilise a copywriter’s expertise to prove to others why content is king and really make your business stand out from the crowd.

For more information and to see how Gail Gibson, Published Author, Writer, Coach and Trainer can help your business, contact Gail via her website.

Save money and the planet

Paul TagentLeave a comment

Bath Marketing Consultancy came across this news snippet on Brand Republic and thought it very apt as I am an E.ON customer, am conscious of green issues……………and would like to pay them less……!!


Basically, as part of their ‘Go Green’ campaign, E.ON is offering free energy saving products to News of the World readers this Sunday.

Readers will receive three energy saving gadgets (worth £30) including plugs that automatically switch off electrical equipment and a shower save device, which regulates temperature and the flow of water to help cut utility bills.

The energy provider says the products can save over 26,000 tonnes of carbon from being released into the atmosphere a year, the equivalent of over 480 million kettles being boiled and savings to consumers are projected to be £9m.

Supported with TV, press and digital advertising launching today, News of the World readers will be able to pick up the products free, with a coupon, from over 500 Sainsbury’s stores.

BMC – I think this is a fantastic promotion and it is refreshing to see a brand in a competitive market being proactive and not just looking at a brand ambassador to boost customers. By actively offering free products that save money as well as help the environment, I really think E.ON will boost its brand in relation to competitors such as British Gas. As far as I can recall, this is one of the first campaigns where an energy supplier is not just marketing themselves by competing on price or after sales services. It will also be interesting to see what happens to sales & distribution of News of the World as well as visits to Sainsburys. A very clever campaign.

What do you think? Email me paul@bathmarketingconsultancy.co.uk or leave me a comment.

Mistakes to avoid in Marketing

Paul Tagent7 Comments

Some common mistakes to try and avoid when carrying out marketing initiatives are:

  • Advertising to the wrong people
  • Using the wrong messages
  • Marketing at the wrong time
  • Neglecting to remember that half of the people are logical and half are emotional
  • Other controllable or uncontrollable factors – seasonal factors
  • Buying advertising you don’t need or doesn’t work

As marketing is also a time consuming activity it is likely it will take you away from the core part of your business. You can hire people to help you, but the main aspect is to be in charge of your activity; work with the person/people you hire. Set out objectives, allocate a budget and continually review what you do. Remember, no single activity will work in isolation.

Why not get in touch with me for a one hour free consultation. I could very well be your key to success.

paul@bathmarketingconsultancy.co.uk

Getting hacked off?!

Paul TagentLeave a comment

I dont know about anyone else, but Bath Marketing Consultancy is getting increasingly frustrated by the recent hacking of it’s Twitter account. It happened 3 times last week despite the password changes I made.

Fortunately, I received numerous direct messages from Followers as to how to deal with this problem and people have been very helpful. However, I also lost over 40 Followers as a result of the DM’s I was apparently sending out.

If you have fallen victim to the phishing problem, see this website.

Top 10 Advert Tips

Paul TagentLeave a comment

Not all of the below are possible all the time, but Bath Marketing Consultancy have constructed a check list of the sort of criteria you must adhere to when running an advertisement.

1. Your advertisement must look good and be professional
2. It must appeal to the right person (or target audience)
3. Your ad must invite people into it; use the correct imagery
4. Promise some sort of rewards; ‘call me and I will give you xxxx’
5. Back up anything you say; use testimonials
6. Make everything run in order- header, copy, call to action
7. Try and personalise your advert
8. Make it easy to read
9. Really stress the service you are offering and the benefits
10. Ensure it reflects your business and its character
If there is a number 11, I would seriously suggest speaking to a professional who understands you, your business and the media you are advertising in.
NEVER let the media design your advert as a free service. They do not care about your brand!