Fresh Direction
We’ve started the year with a new niche for our marketing and creative skills, now focusing upon companies within the technology, energy and manufacturing sectors - and further honing our offering to companies with a turnover of over £2million.
Having recently secured a new 12 month contract with PMA, who have recently been nominated for a prestigious technical innovation award, we’re looking forward to focusing upon what we do best, and further developing our specialism.
For more information, give Ed a call on 01264 355 846
Link of the month
We’d always wondered how our SEO expert, Lucy, managed to get her Mini into such a tight space in the morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REpXf0cmJ64
Not sure you can afford to exhibit at one of our Business Expos? Can you afford NOT to?
Here are ten reasons why you should be making an exhibition of yourself...
- Exposure. Exposing your services and products to hundreds, even thousands of people who are looking to buy is a fantastic way of generating new business.
- A live marketing experience. You can’t beat getting face-to-face with potential clients, showing them what you can do and ensuring their undivided attention.
- The right people. Business events deliver buyers direct to sellers, usually within a specific industry sector or location. What does that mean for you? That everyone who walks through the door is a potential customer, with needs relevant to your offering.
- Cost effective advertising. Exhibitions are the cheapest method of getting in front of your customers – you and your staff are the advert. And that counts for more than words on a screen; you are a living, breathing and believable promotion, capable of building strong leads and forging important connections with visitors.
- Let them come to you. Getting in front of potential customers is difficult at the best of times, and also time consuming. At an exhibition, prospects will come to you, and you can speak to everybody at once in the same professional surroundings, where you have your team, portfolio and products to hand.
- 80% of exhibitions visitors are personally involved in buying products and services*. Imagine it: a room full of influential people interested in what you can do for them.
- 91% of decision-makers prefer trade shows**. And unlike normal correspondence, you can address and overcome any objections swiftly, thus accelerating your sale.
- Boost sales. We all know about the recession, but you can either sit back and worry about what the state of the economy means for your enterprise, or you can get out and secure the business which will see you through the hard times.
- Raise your profile. Associate yourself with the cream of local business or well-known brands within your sector and people will see that you are serious about what you do and proactive in your approach.
- Appeal to all five senses. Demonstrate what you do, talk to people, show them, let them touch, test or taste (maybe even smell!) your products. Build familiarity and faith in your brand.
And don’t forget, if you aren’t at that exhibition, you’re out of the game. Don’t let competition leave you behind – put yourself forward and start exhibiting now!
Business Expos are a fantastic way of boosting business and increasing your potential for success. You can exhibit for less than you think at a TWA Expo. Visit www.andoverexpo.biz or call Lucy Lomax now on 01264 355846.
*Source; Event industry alliance
Creating & Maintaining your Brand
Branding is important because:
It is your reputation and how people feel about your business offering. Correct Brand positioning can give you competitive advantage. Perception is reality.
How do you create a Brand?
Here are 5 points to consider when creating or reviewing your Brand:
- Know your Mission / Vision / Values. If you haven’t got these then develop them
- It is your passion that makes you different
- Identify your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
- Ensure design simplicity of your corporate identity/logo that reflects your corporate culture and is workable with all media and applications of use
- Always be consistent
Maintaining your Brand
- Keep it consistent across everything
- Protect the design
- Remember that part of Brand perception is the whole customer experience before, during and after the sale
- Monitor what is being said about your Brand (particularly social media)
- Revisit your Mission / Vision / Values statements and ensure that everyone in your company knows and understands them.
- Maintain the culture that makes what you do special
When the Brand is right it makes us want to own it and be part of the whole experience.
Remember we are all members of the human race. We buy from those we know, like and trust so you must breed love and trust in your customer base.
Your Brand is an asset and there are tangible and intangible elements - the look and feel. The tangible is the graphic element of the logo and application in all marketing communications together with the messages. The intangibles are you and your people, the customer experience, the way they behave and the perception of your product/service.
You don’t just create and apply Branding, you and your organisation are branding. Everything you and your staff do (and the way they do it) is part of your Brand.
As business owner/founder YOU are the single most important part of your Brand
Want to make this happen? If you need help, talk to TWA and we will ask you the questions that will get you thinking. Get the thinking right and the rest will follow.