AlanF - Profile

Great list, don't think I can add to the list, so I'll add some detail

- Prepare - most client meetings are a negotiation of some sort, it you prepate well you will clarify that. If you are negotiating it is especially important to prepare in advance, and a mnemonic I learned was LIM-it
L = Like, what would be a fantastic outcome
I = Intend, where you expect to be
M = Must, your bottom line

The preparation consists of listing several items in each category. You can be surprised how many things there are beyond money. And the more you understand about the potential negotiating points, the better you will be, as you can often trade a 'low value to you' item with a 'high value to the client' item.

Small and local business 'sell' because of their 'people' rather than their 'brand'.

So thinking laterally, promotional products with pictures of local business staff / team members might work ...... or maybe i'm just going a bit crazy.

As a general rule, Facebook advertising isn't as successful in terms of ROI (return on investment) as Google AdWords.

Of course there are exceptions, so it is worth testing make sure you can track the conversions though so you can calculate the return.

Did you not put together a business plan, or at least have an outline budget for marketing?

For e-commerce I'd be setting aside around 20-25% of projected turnover for marketing activities.

All these are expert skills that take many years to learn the trade. (well at least many months). So if you want to become an online marketing expert in multiple fields, you need to start reading, and reading lots and expect to take a while to come together.

Generally you won't get any SEO benefit from it, and you may risk being associated with a bad neighbourhood or a google may interpret you as a someone trying to manipulate rankings. So if you currently rank well, link exchanging MAY risk your position.

Although the text providers give you very neat mobile landing pages for the text to link to, as smart phones are so sommon, this gets more info across, short mesaage linked to web landing page


Yes, I think so, I think for restaurants etc drumming up business on quite nights etc.

Personally I'm not signed up to many (maybe just 1). I get dominos pizza texts, but I always ignore them.

Sort of answers my question.

Sorry to go on, but also, ask yourself who are your target customers and where do they search for get their solutions to the sort of problems you are planning to solve.

If maybe the processes you are automating are financial reporting processes, then what trade shows and publications do CFO's of medium size companies partake in? If they are operational processes, where do operations managers hang out, etc?

Conventional wisdom says DIY AdWords and DIY SEO will give you a better return on investment that the online versions of the paper directories re-invented as online directories.

There are a lot of free directories that you can list in, too just googe 'best free uk business directories'. And then ignore the sales call you get to 'upgrade' to premium.

So what, in every ones opinion, is the most effective way to get the product message out there without being annoying?