I’ve come across all kinds of people in my career as a consultant. It’s the variety of the people I deal with – and the different work they do – that make my job so interesting.  Yes, entrepreneurs and business owners often share common personality traits, but I can honestly say I’ve worked with every different personality type going!

I certainly don’t have all the answers when it comes to building great client relationships, but I’ve picked up a thing or two over the years about consulting that I wanted to share in a blog.  I hope some of these tips and notes will help others working in consultancy roles.

Here are some things I’ve learned:

1.  Listen and learn – Never forget that it’s a privilege to be invited into the inner circle of a business.  Yes, you’re meant to be the expert, but you’re also an outsider (at the beginning), so tread carefully. You need to demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about (so they know they’re in safe hands), but you should always spend more time listening than talking.

2. Ask – Even if you’re familiar with the industry, you’re new to this particular company and their culture, so when you have questions or you don’t understand something, ask. You’re an expert in your field, not theirs, so don’t pretend you know everything. I always joke in the first meeting with a client saying, ‘Treat me like an idiot and explain…..this or that’.  Then I get all my ‘dummy’ questions out of the way.

3. Manage expectations – If a piece of work isn’t panning out the way it should, things are getting out of scope, or budgets are quickly getting swallowed up, etc., talk to the client immediately.  Where possible, quote up front. In any case, you should always have a high level of transparency about how and when you’ll be charging and invoicing.  Don’t presume the client knows what you’re doing when. Which brings me to my next point . . .

4. Over-communicate – I probably do this a bit too much, but in my book, there’s no such thing as too much communication.  I’m not talking about sharing personal information, but about responding to every single email, giving progress reports and touching base if you haven’t heard anything in a while.  I always respond to every email and phone call the same day, even if it’s just to say I’ve received it and will respond once I’ve formulated my thoughts.

I’m going to generalise now (!) but having worked in both the UK and Australia, I have noticed that Australians don’t respond to emails as much. I’m often left wondering if technology has failed me because people don’t reply to say they’ve received them.  It drives me crazy, so I make sure I always respond the same day.

5. Time is (their) money – You want to be friendly and open, but always remember that your client has a business to run and is paying for your time. When I attend a meeting, I keep the preamble short and get into the details as quickly as possible, without being rude.  And I never accept the offer of a tea or coffee – they take too long to make.  Water is fine!

6. Break down work into bite-size chunks – When you start working with a new client, it’s a little like going on a first date. You’re just getting to know each other and deciding if you want to continue the relationship. It’s a good idea to de-risk the first piece of work, both for you and for them.  Make it small, quote up front and get paid for the work before moving on to a bigger project. This way, you’ll learn much more about how the client works, how they like to communicate, how detailed their feedback is, how involved they like to be, etc. – and if either party decides that they want to break things off and ‘just be friends’, neither will have invested too much time or money.

7. Create a written record – Recap what you discussed in meetings via email to make sure there is no confusion and everyone is clear on who is doing what and when.  If I know I’m having regular meetings with clients, I create an action plan that gets updated and sent a few days after the first meeting, which becomes the agenda for the next meeting.

As I say, this is not an exhaustive list but just some do’s and don’ts that I’ve picked up along the way.  If you have any other tips on being a better consultant, contact me as I’d love to hear them.

That’s where SEO comes in. As mentioned in a previous post on SEO, search engine optimisation is all about creating websites so that search engines (namely Google) can easily identify, categorise and select them when a user does an online search. This means that users have an easier time finding your site.

In the past, some companies tried to use underhanded practices (known as ‘black hat’ techniques) to improve their search rankings, such as duplicating content, putting in bad links or adding keywords into their page content just for the sake of getting extra keywords in there (a practice known as ‘keyword stuffing’). But Google is onto these tactics and constantly updates their algorithms to improve results for users and reward sites that follow legitimate, or ‘white hat’ SEO practices.

If you’re building a new site, it’s a good idea to include SEO best practices from the start, but you can also improve an existing site by making adjustments that keep Google (and your users) happy.

SEO is a huge topic (plus there’s onsite and offsite SEO techniques to consider too).  There’s way too much to cover in this blog – but here are 4 best practices for designing or updating a site so that it’s SEO-friendly:

1. Make sure your content can be indexed

Creating good, engaging content for your site will always benefit your company and your viewers. But you can do more to help Google understand exactly what your content is. Why is this necessary? When Google sends out its “spiders” or bots to crawl the web, they collect data to bring back to Google’s massive database. But the spiders can’t ‘see’ images like photos, Flash animation or videos – they can really only collect HTML text – so it’s hard for them to index this information.

Of course, photos and videos are very valuable, because they help you tell the story of your brand, sell your products, make your site more attractive and improve user experience. Therefore, the best thing to do is to help the spiders out by creating ALT text for photos and images (by assigning actual text that explains what’s in them), adding supplemental text for Flash images and providing a transcript for videos and audio recordings whenever possible. Your web designer can help you put all these in place.

If you can get keywords into your ALT tags and transcripts, that’s even better. On that note . . .

2. Watch those keywords, and use them wisely

It’s a good idea to work with your web designer to do some keyword research prior to building your website, because it can help you focus your content, build your meta data such as title tags and descriptions (more on that in a moment) and determine where you can target potential searchers.  To start, you’ll definitely want to include the name of your business as a keyword, as well as particular products or services you offer. If you have a local business, using your name with your location is important for searchers.

For instance, if you’re an accounting firm in Adelaide, you’d probably want to consider keyword phrases such as “Adelaide accounting firm”, “Adelaide accountants”, or “top accounting firm in Adelaide”. As noted above, it’s not a good idea to throw in more keywords just for the sake of getting those terms onto your pages. Doing so makes for bad content, and Google will punish you for this kind of ‘keyword stuffing’.  A good rule of thumb is to choose a couple of keywords to focus on for each page.

3. Title tags

Title tags are one of the most important elements of SEO. A title tag is the main text that describes what’s on a web page or in a document, and these tags appear in three key places: browsers, search engine results pages and external websites. Even though you probably won’t see them when viewing a web page, they’re in the source code and show up in searches.The text in blue below is an example of how and where a title tag appears in search results:

Ideally, each page of your site should have its own title tag – preferably including a keyword or two – so Google knows what each one is about (and so do your searchers).  However, don’t make your titles too long or they’ll get cut off – if you keep your titles under 55 characters, at least 95% should display correctly.

4. Meta descriptions

Like title tags, meta descriptions help search engines and searchers understand what’s on your web pages. Meta descriptions are in your source code and appear underneath your title tag and URL in search results, as shown in the grey text below:

A meta description gives you a chance to introduce your brand and what you offer to searchers before they come to your site – they act as ‘organic ad text’, helping connect searchers to your content when keywords appear in the text and match a search.

With meta descriptions, you have a little more text space than with title tags, but you still need to keep them fairly short and sweet. Ideally, your meta descriptions should be between 150-160 characters so they don’t get cut off.

As I said earlier, there is a lot more to SEO than I can talk about in one blog.  If you need help improving your onsite or offsite SEO, contact Breathe Marketing today.

As a marketing consultant, it’s obvious that I’m going to suggest companies outsource and I’m clearly not ‘unbiased’(!), but after 21 years of doing marketing for businesses, I know there are often very practical and sound reasons to outsource some or all of your marketing needs.

But is it the right choice for your company? Here are 4 reasons to consider outsourced marketing:

1. To cut costs or better manage your budget

I’m not suggesting you get rid of your in-house marketing team if you have one! However, if you don’t have an in-house team, you’ve been forced to cut staff or you can’t afford additional employees right now, you might benefit from outsourcing. By using an outside marketing firm, you get the talent, expertise and skills you need while avoiding the expenses that come with hiring a new employee.

For smaller businesses that could never afford an in-house marketing person, going outside for ad-hoc marketing projects, or even just some marketing guidance every now and then, can be a great use of limited marketing budgets.

2. To reduce the stress of your in-house marketing team

Today’s marketing teams have a lot on their plates. From social media, eshots, content writing, Google AdWords and SEO, an in-house team can struggle to keep up with all of the changes. In the rush to keep up with everything, deadlines can get missed, skills training can lapse and projects can get pushed aside.

An outside marketing agency can take over some of the day-to-day tasks – or assist with overall planning and strategy – so your in-house team has time to explore new ideas, get additional training and get things back on schedule.

3. To gain a fresh perspective

No one understands your business better than you do, right? You know exactly what, how, when and why you do what you do. But do you really know what attracts your customers?

When you work with a professional marketing consultant, you get a fresh, outside perspective. Marketing consultants know how to attract and convert buyers, and can offer valuable insights about unique selling propositions (USPs) you may not have considered. A good marketing consultant will work with you – AND keep you focused on your plans and goals.

4. Get a better idea of what’s working (and what’s not)

How’s your marketing working for you? Is your website bringing in more traffic than in the past? How do most of your customers find you? What were the results of your last online promotion? You need to know the answers to these questions.

A good marketing consultant will provide reports that show you what’s being spent where, what’s bringing in new customers and what needs work. In addition, they’ll provide insight into how your marketing is affecting your bottom line.

Think outsourcing might be a good choice for your business? Contact Breathe Marketing to discuss how we can help.  

Why? One-to-one marketing (or 1:1 marketing) has been shown to foster greater customer loyalty and better ROI. Fortunately, through CRM, email and other marketing software tools, it’s never been easier to target your prospects and customers with customised offers and content.

Here are a few suggestions – and a few tools – to help you do just that.

Know your audience

Putting customers’ first names into your print or email campaigns is a good start, but being able to offer tailored coupons or promotions can really boost sales and loyalty.

When you know who your customers are, you can create custom marketing campaigns to appeal to specific wants and needs. This sounds daunting, but being able to separate groups of customers by their interests or past purchasing behaviour gives you the power to target your marketing efforts to individuals.

So how do you do this? Start by using the information you have available. Use your email list and customer database (or CRM) and look for ways to segment campaigns. You can separate groups by purchase frequency, city, postal codes, services and much more.  Then you can use this information to send grouped special offers via email, postcard or even SMS messages.

Set up automated triggers 

Behaviour-triggered emails help you respond to how your customers are using your product or website. They’re a great way to get results and build interest.

For instance, if you buy something from Apple, you’ll undoubtedly get a follow-up email after you receive the item that asks you how you liked the product. And if you put something in your shopping cart and then leave the site without purchasing it, you’ll probably get an email a day or two later that says, “Hey, your items are still waiting for you!” These are both examples of behaviour-triggered emails.

Trigger emails are highly effective, with a 152% higher open rate than traditional emails. They’re a valuable communication tool that’s easy to automate with most major email platforms, and they can be used for up-selling, cross-selling, welcoming new customers and more.

Get the tools

Not sure where to begin in personalising offers for prospects and customers? Email platforms like MailChimp offer a wide variety of options for segmenting your emails (with some paid and some free choices), but there are also several online tools available that go beyond email:

• Marketo is some pretty full-on marketing automation software, offering real-time personalisation with targeted individuals through dynamically generated and personalised communication.

• Vero is a cloud-based email platform that helps businesses create and send targeted emails based on customers’ website behaviour, as well as offering complete data analysis.

• Intercom combines CRM and email tools to provide support, live chat, feedback and trigger emails so businesses gain an understanding of (and respond to) customer actions both online and in-app

• SparkPage is a B2C tool that helps businesses analyse where they’re losing customers in the conversion process, creating tailored messages suited to users’ needs.

These are just a few options to personalise your marketing. Depending on where you are in the process, your software and your marketing plans for the year, you can create plans for personalised promotions and efforts that will focus on each of your individual customers.

Need help personalising your marketing to get results? Contact Breathe Marketing today.

In my final blog post of 2014, I wrote about the value of various kinds of networking groups, which can be extremely useful for making contacts in your industry, getting involved in the community and growing your business.

If you’ve decided to join a networking group or attend a business event in 2015 – the New Year is a great time to get focused and efficient. Here are 4 tips to ensure you’re making the most of your time while you’re at events.

1. Focus

First off, think about why you joined this group in the first place. Did you join to make contacts or gain knowledge in your industry? Was it to become more involved in the community? Or was it primarily to build your business and find new clients? Remembering why you joined and what your goals were will help you think about what you want to do while you’re there. Can’t come up with a good reason to go? If not, then don’t – it’s not worth your time.

2. What’s in it for them?

Before any meeting, ask yourself what you can offer that would be beneficial to someone else. For instance, if your goal is to find new clients, be prepared to offer something of value to help demonstrate your expertise, such as benchmarking information, a white paper or a free consultation. Give and you shall receive.

3. Do your homework

Before going to any event, it’s really important to prepare – especially if your goal is to make contacts that could lead to more business. If possible, do some background research, such as getting a list of attendees so you know who’s coming and how you might help them. Take your own printed business cards, your notebook and/or smartphone so you can collect information.

Next, make some specific goals for each session or event. How many people would you like to talk to? Plan to arrive early and stay until you meet your goals.

4. Follow up

Meeting someone at a networking event is about starting a relationship – don’t expect to win a piece of work from your first meeting. Make a point of getting in touch with your contacts within a day or two of the event. If they don’t respond immediately, continue to follow up with a call or email from time to time (without overdoing it!) so that you stay on their radar. The next time they might need your expertise, product or service, you’ll be on their minds.

Still looking for more ideas? Contact Breathe Marketing today Breathe Marketing.

I’m still staggered by the closeness of the Adelaide business networks – there seems to be about one degree of separation between people! It’s an extremely connected city, which is great for referrals and networking.  The phrase “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” has never been as important to me since setting up Breathe Marketing eight years ago.

There are many ways of increasing your number of business contacts.  Joining a networking group can be useful – IF you do your homework and find the right fit.

What kinds of groups are out there?

There are a wide variety of networking and business groups available, ranging from ‘casual contact’ networks such as Chambers of Commerce (Business SA) to ‘strong contact’ networks and professional associations (usually within an industry, such as medicine, law, accounting, etc.).  There are also community service clubs (such as Rotary and JCI Australia) and social/business organisations.

Being clear on your overall goal will help you choose the right group.  For instance, if you’re looking to make contacts or gain knowledge within your own industry, an industry association may be a good choice. However, if you’re primarily focused on building your business and finding new clients, you’ll probably want to seek out a group that allows you to meet people in other industries and provides a good structure for referrals (like BNI Australia).

Tips for choosing the right organisation

Before joining any network or making any kind of financial commitment, it’s important to do some homework and ask a few questions to determine if joining a group is the right move for you and your business:

• Are they legit? – In the case of a Chamber of Commerce or a professional organisation like the Law Society, you won’t need to worry about whether the group is legitimate or not. However, other groups claiming to be “business networking groups” may not provide the kind of contacts and serious business interaction you’re seeking. Ask around and do some online research.
• Talk to members – If you already know business colleagues or others in the group – or if someone you know recommended that you join – ask them about their overall experience. Have they got any good contacts or referrals out of it? Do they find the meetings worthwhile? Is it worth the investment (both in terms of time and membership fees)?
• Do the maths – Most networks require some kind of fee to be a member. Look carefully at any upfront costs and determine how much new work you’d need to win to make the costs worth it. What’s your breakeven point?
• The bigger picture – Keep in mind that when joining any of these groups, you’re going to have to make an investment of time as well as money. Not only will you be attending regular meetings, but if you join any committees or make follow-up contacts or appointments with members, you’ll need time for that, too. How much time away from your office will you need to budget – and can you afford it?

Once you’ve done your research and decided to join a specific group, you’ll want to make sure you’re making the most of your time in meetings. In my next blog, I’ll talk more about how to get the most out of attending networking events.

If you can’t wait that long (!) contact Breathe Marketing today to discuss how you can get more out of networking.

Have you been working on improving your website for mobile users? Fantastic. Now, what about improving your user experience across all devices and platforms?

Today’s consumers are on the go, they do their homework online (probably on multiple devices) and with the help of technology, they’re pushing marketing in new directions. With that in mind, let’s take a look at omni-channel marketing and the message you’re sending your customers.
What is omni-channel marketing?

Omni-channel marketing has to do with the change that’s taking place as consumers connect with your brand across an increasingly wide range of devices and marketing channels.

For instance, customers can visit your website, see your posts on Facebook, view an email on their tablet, call you to ask questions and then stop by your store. In all of these instances – and all devices – your marketing message and brand should be consistent.

If you have an e-commerce site, you want your customers to be able to see and order your products easily from any device. And if someone creates an account, places an item in their shopping cart from their phone and then leaves your site, you’ll want them to be able to jump back in later – even from a different device – and complete their transaction. (Ideally, you’d even send them an email reminder after 24 hours if they still have items waiting in their cart.)

The ultimate goal is to make visiting and purchasing from your company as easy and pleasurable as possible. The easier you make it to buy, the more likely customers are to make a purchase and come back in the future to do it again.

Tips for improving your omni-channel marketing

• Reach out in a variety of different ways – Customers will take different paths on their “journey” to buy your products and services. They may start by visiting your website from a phone, take a more in-depth look from a desktop computer, and then come by your store to take advantage of a discount you send them through email.  Think of all the different ways your customers can see what you offer and find ways to connect them.
• Track your results – Watch your Google Analytics (or other analytics) carefully and see how people are using your website, especially by device. Are they purchasing from their phone/tablet/desktop most of the time? Are they visiting your site by phone, getting a coupon and coming into your store? Are coupons sent via email campaigns more successful than those on your Facebook page? It’s critical to track what’s working and what’s not and make changes accordingly.
• Do an overall analysis – How does your site look and work from a phone and a tablet? Is it easy to see and buy the products? Have you mentioned your sale offers to your most loyal customers (i.e., the ones who like you on Facebook and are on your email list)? Do you offer live chat services, or is your phone number front and centre so customers can call if they have questions?Have someone – preferably a marketing professional, but definitely someone outside your organisation – walk through your site with you on multiple devices and various browsers, and take a look at how these compare with all your marketing messages and campaigns.  If there are questions or improvements to be made, this is a good place to get started.

Need help creating a consistent message?

Struggling to get a grasp on omni-channel marketing? Need to send a consistent message across different channels? We can help. Contact Breathe Marketing today to discuss your options.

Wondering if your business should develop a mobile website or a mobile app? The answer probably depends on your business needs and goals.

Before determining which is the right choice for your business, let’s take a quick look at what each one is and does.

What’s the difference?

A “mobile website” is a website version that can be viewed and used easily on a mobile device, such as a tablet or smartphone.

For instance, since mobile users don’t have a mouse to click with and are viewing on a smaller screen, buttons on a mobile website may be larger and easier to push with a thumb or fingers. It’s normally a separate website from your main site, built for mobile, not PC.

A better option is having a single website that is “mobile-responsive”. This means that the primary website automatically determines which type of device the viewer is using and adjusts accordingly. In other words, the display, clickable buttons, text and other features vary depending on what type of device it’s being viewed from.

On the other hand, a mobile app (application) is specifically designed ONLY for use on mobile devices. Users have to download the app onto a smartphone and/or a tablet.

Which is right for my business?

Without question, if you don’t have a mobile or mobile-responsive website, you need to create one. According to statistics released by 3rdsense in January, 65% of the Australian population now has a smartphone. Of those owners, 78% said they use it to research products and services, 90% use it to research local information and 41% have made a purchase directly from their phone.

Bottom line: If your business wants leads or sales from your website and you don’t have a website that displays on mobile devices, you’re missing sales opportunities. A mobile-responsive website is typically better than building a separate mobile website due to doubling the costs of developing, maintaining, updating and hosting. However, if you don’t have a main website; you can’t afford to make it mobile-responsive; or you want some different mobile functionality, a mobile site can be useful.

Many website design themes are already mobile-responsive. They are your best option. Aside from being preferred by Google (to mobile websites) they offer advantages over apps too: it’s easier to quickly update information (like editing prices and content); you can link to them from emails and blogs easier; they have a broader reach than an app; and are easier to find using a browser. Unlike an app, mobile-responsive websites don’t have to be downloaded, and they generally cost less to create.

However, an app can be useful for customers who have a specific need, especially while on the go. For instance, I created an app for one of my clients, Ri-Industries, that allows contractors and plumbers to access detailed drawings of their septic tanks and other products while on site via their phones or tablets.

Also, a mobile app can offer advantages that a website can’t. For example, not all apps require an Internet connection; they may have an offline mode so that users can still use them without being online.

Apps can also be great for pushing out messages or you want to have interaction with your audience.

Need to create a mobile site or app?

If you don’t have a mobile or mobile-responsive website – or if you think you want to create an app for your business – we can help. Contact Breathe Marketing today to discuss your options.

On that note, it’s astonishing to look at how much has changed in the industry, just in the past two decades. Major tools and ‘mainstays’ of today’s marketing weren’t even around when I started my career.

Here’s a brief look at some of the biggest changes in marketing over the past 20 years:

• The Internet – Twenty years ago, no one had even heard of the Internet, let alone used it in business marketing. It’s hard to remember now, but businesses didn’t have websites or worry about their ‘online presence’. The idea of ‘e-commerce’ didn’t exist; no one had an online store where shoppers could get information or buy products 24/7.
• Email marketing – Email was just starting to gain ground in businesses and schools in the 90s but nobody was using it for marketing campaigns. There was definitely no MailChimp, no one had an email list of clients and the only box we were worried about getting SPAM in was a lunch box.
• Social media – Remember the days before Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? The word ‘tweet’ had nothing to do with communication (except between birds) and ‘posting’ was something you did on a horse, in a newspaper or on a bulletin board. Having your customers ‘like’ you was great, but it didn’t mean they were sharing their views about your products and services with the online world.
• Devices – Marketing for the iPhone, Android and tablet? Not a concern in the 1990s! ‘Mobile marketing’ had nothing to do with a handheld device – it just meant putting a sign on the side of your truck, or using billboards. If someone wanted to order something from you by phone, they called you from a landline during business hours.
• Turnaround time – It used to take a lot longer to create an advertising campaign that would reach your customers. Putting an ad in the newspaper required reserving space in advance, creating a layout (which sometimes took days) and sending it off to print. A direct mail postcard campaign often took weeks or even months to design, print and mail, especially if you didn’t have the addresses you needed. Now, with an opt-in email list of your customers, you can get a message out almost immediately. You can set up online advertising with Pay Per Click in 10 minutes!

Need help with all the changes? All of these changes are challenging enough when you’re in the marketing field, but if you’re struggling to keep up (let alone plan for the future), I’m here to help. Contact Breathe Marketing today to discuss how to keep your marketing in line with the times.

Its vs. it’s

‘Its’ is the possessive form of ‘it’. In other words, when you use ‘its’, you’re referring to something that belongs to the item in question. ‘It’s’ is a contraction of the words ‘it is’.

Incorrect: I think its going to rain this afternoon. The cub followed it’s mother into the woods.

Correct: I think it’s going to be a long meeting this afternoon. The board gave its recommendations to the president.

Tip: If you can substitute the words ‘it is’ in the same place in your sentence, you should use the contraction ‘it’s’.

Use of i.e. versus e.g.

Many people confuse these two abbreviations, but there’s an easy way to remember which is which. The abbreviation ‘e.g.’ means ‘for example’ (it’s short for the Latin exempli gratia), whereas ‘i.e.’ means ‘that is’ or ‘in other words (from the Latin id est). The easiest way to remember this one? Think of e.g. when you need to provide an ‘eg-xample’ of something.

Affect vs. effect

These two words are often confused. As a general rule, ‘affect’ is usually an action (or verb), while ‘effect’ is usually a noun and/or a result of something else. For instance:

• I wonder how this arrangement will affect the company?
• What is the effect of this arrangement on the company?

Here’s a tip for remembering which to use: If you’re describing something you’re going to do, use ‘affect’. If you’re describing something you’ve already done, use ‘effect’.

Less vs. fewer

This one can be a bit tricky, but the key is to remember that ‘fewer’ applies to things you can actually count, while ‘less’ describes the extent of something. Therefore, the popular sign at grocery stores that states ‘Ten items or less’ is actually incorrect – it should be ‘Ten items or fewer’!

Incorrect: Did he make less mistakes on this test in fewer time?

Correct: He made fewer mistakes on this test, even though he had less time to take the exam.

Note: In cases where you’re referring to time or money, ‘less’ is used because the concepts are considered to be continuous: ‘In less than two weeks, he will have less money than he started with.’

Accept vs. except These two words have a number of different meanings, but the word ‘accept’ is usually used correctly; the trouble often comes with ‘except’. To accept is to receive, and except is to exclude. To accept is to take or receive something like food or a beverage, a gift, etc.; if you’re debating about which one to use, it may help to remember the word ‘exception’.

Incorrect: He excepted the gift from his aunt. I like all of the dresses accept this one.

Correct: Except for this one, all of the customer surveys have been sent. I decided to accept the position with the new accounting firm.

Need more help?

Need more than just a few tips to improve your written content? We can help. Contact us.