When was the last time you added to, updated or reviewed your website?  Your website is more often than not the digital face of your business but does it reflect your business in it's the best light? 

It’s 2020 and the power is in your hands to design and build your own website! Fortunately in 2020, it’s not all about coding and there are numerous platforms that you can use, each offering a range of different features so you can pick one that works for you and your business. Here are some top tips to think about when it comes to improving your website design and user experience.

Holy Christmas Bells, it's almost time to drag the tinsel out, decorate the store and get your Christmas on!  Yes, Christmas is about to be all around us and as the tinsel hits the shop floor (we've even seen it sneaking out already!), so we pulled together a few of our favourite things, Christmas style, to take the stress out of the planning.

Cloud-based digital tools are providing a golden age for small businesses with tools that have previously been out of the reach of the small business owner now accessible through easier to manage cost structures. As a small business owner having a digital toolkit to help run your business is essential and these are some of our must-have tools.  We just couldn’t successfully run our business without them in fact!

Like so many of us, as a working parent I’m all too aware how maintaining a balance between my children and family and work – and time for myself – can at times be tricky. Let’s face it, without children it’s challenging enough! 

Let’s be honest, with the day-to-day hustle of running your business, it’s easy to forget the approaching holidays. How many times has a holiday come, only for you to realise that you never prepared a promotion for it? So, if you want to end 2020 with a bang, then you need to be prepared and plan ahead, so here are 10 tips to get your digital Christmas game organised.  

Your branding is the one thing you want everyone to instantly recognise as belonging to your company – and only to your company. It affects everything your business does – from talking to your customers to designing your business cards. Branding not only means creating a suitable logo and a letterhead it also includes brand colours and a tone of voice for internal and external communication. So, when it comes to your branding there is a lot to consider.

Email marketing and social media marketing are best buddies so when you plan your content calendar make sure you are utilising both channels to promote the other.  

Following a turbulent 2020, Christmas this year is going to feel a little different from what we have previously known. The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives, and the new habits we have formed will shape our behaviour over the festive season. So as marketers, how do you begin planning your activities for the upcoming season, and how can you help your customers and communities, and how can you drive sales for your store?

When setting up your competition consider this, what is the outcome you are wanting? Is a competition going to achieve this or are you gaining unengaged followers who are only in it for the prize, not because they feel a connection to your business? The key to success on Social Media is to have an engaged audience, not having the largest number of followers, so don't let ego blur your vision.  

Each year we set ourselves five goals to help keep us focused on business and personal growth.  These were the five goals we set at the start of 2020, obviously with no idea what the year had in store for all of us!  And while 2020 has thrown some interesting spanners into everyone's business plans, it just goes to show that it's more important than ever to have goals and work towards them. So, let's check-in to see how we are going with our 2020 goals. 

Yes folks if you are in retail, it's already past the time to be planning Christmas!  (The good news this year is that the closer we get to Christmas, the closer we are to the end of 2020!). So, back to that C-word, it's a word that strikes terror into the best business owner, marketer, or anyone working in retail but it's also the most wonderful time of the year with 40% of revenue for many businesses coming from the month of December alone. So let's start planning for a great end to 2020.

When your business goals align with your social goals you unlock social’s potential as a true driver for business growth. And it all starts with understanding your target audience.

Brands need to be listening to their consumers and constantly adapting to their needs so that we can be giving consumers what they really want. Luckily, our friends at Sprout Social are keeping their finger on the pulse of industry, in their annual Sprout Social Index, and sharing their findings with marketers to better craft their strategies. Here are three things they found to consider to ensure that your social strategy is a strong, adaptive plan for your brand and that you give your customers what they really want and need.

Social media is becoming an ever more important part of an organisation’s media mix. Accordingly, organisations are starting to manage Social Media Platforms like traditional offline and online media. And just as all businesses are different, so too are their response to managing social media. So we created a 5 lines social media bingo, so you can succeed at your social media game. 

In an age of Social Media, Omni-Channel Retailing and extending global connections, the choices are becoming greater by the day for consumers. With so much choice, we are becoming more and more driven by price and service when making buying decisions. The flow-on effect from this means that businesses are needing to shift focus to brand recognition, values, and a strong reputation for great products and services in order to keep customers on board. 

Social Media is not a nice to have, it's an important tool to engage and converse with your customers. And loyal customers are what will ultimately drive your success. And planning your social media takes the guesswork out of what you are doing and ensures you stay on track to use social media as a tool to deliver your business objectives. Enter the social media content calendar, read this week's blog to get your calendar sorted.

There are thousands of social networks out there to choose from, but the good news is that you can start by narrowing it down to the most popular and most widely used platforms. From there, it’s all about determining which platform will give you the exposure you're looking for with the right audience, and figuring out which one will help you meet your marketing objectives.