As a business owner or sales person, social media is just a place you’ve got to be these days isn’t it? It’s the modern day ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing or networking online, however you want to think about it, social media marketing has got to have a place in your...
As a start up business, there are few things more important to master than your website, but where should you begin? With so many content management systems available, various price points, various levels of complexity, it is a bit of a minefield, which is why this...
Scattered throughout my blog you will find lots of useful articles relating to what you need to know about marketing your business. In THIS blog, I have decided to provide easy access and a logical way to read them! Follow the hyperlinks to success! With a marketing...
Why you need a marketing plan Starting your business, whatever that may be, usually lands you in a whole world of pain about some area of business that you have no idea about. Whether it's finance, sales, HR or marketing, you have a lot to learn. Marketing is such a...
Social media should be an integral part of your marketing plan and so it is important to learn how to use LinkedIn to build your brand. In this blog we will discuss what LinkedIn is and how to leverage the key features of the platform to grow and engage your target...
When you're working on marketing projects, graphics, imagery and illustrations can make a huge difference. You need to know how to choose a photographer, what to look for and how to evaluate your choices. Stop relying on stock imagery killer imagery can take your...
Instagram is a big deal. It’s huge. There is so much to do, where do you start!! This blog will explain how to use instagram, the basic set up and what to post. Is Instagram right for your business? Before you learn how to use Instagram, you need to have a think about...
Google Analytics used to scare the living day lights out of me, I won’t lie. For new business owners, picking up a website is quick and easy, but figuring out the fundamentals of Google, Search Engine Marketing and Google Analytics is a whole other ball game. ...
Search engines, they’re like a completely different planet. We can’t blame you for not really getting it, it’s a world of “bots” and “algorithms” and words that are fairly new to new business owners and to people who don’t do marketing. So let’s figure out what you...
In this blog we are going to go through the RACE digital marketing framework in more depth and discuss how to use it. I am so glad that people come up with these fancy frameworks to make marketing our businesses easier to do. Let’s imagine our prospective...
As with anything, to launch a product you need a plan. A good framework to go by is one defined by the acronym - SOSTAC, which this blog aims to summarise below. S. Situational Awareness - where are you now? You can do a SWOT analysis on your new...
If you're not a 'marketer' the term 'content marketing' might not mean all that much to you. People throw this term around quite a lot so what is content marketing and why is it important? First let's differentiate between 'content' and 'copy' - both are essentially...
In this blog we look at the pro's and con's of email marketing versus direct mail as part of your ongoing customer communication and marketing strategy and we will take a look at some things to be aware of if you start using one or both of these tactics. What is...
How to improve your website and make it your own Creating a website can be a very daunting task for many business owners, the thought of writing all that content, and making it resonate with an audience, is just one step too far for some people. This blog will...
Learn about the 10 marketing commandments, marketing tips by Philip Kotler, interpreted in true Design Grove style. The 10 Marketing Commandments - Number 1 Treat your customers with love and your competitors with respect. Why? What’s in it for you? It helps to...
I was recently invited by The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce to take part in a panel of guest speakers on The Logros Show, hosted by Lee Dinsdale. Alongside Ian Nicklin of In Business Ninjas, Sue Ollerhead of the Oxford Professional Education Group, we were...
At one stage or another, all businesses will find themselves lost. Thats ok, it's probably because you've hit a good spell and you've been so busy working in your business that you havent had time to work on it! But hitting a difficult spell, like we all do from time...
Business leaders will tell you that communication is one of the biggest problems within their organisation, but why is communication so important and what can organisations do to improve it? Communication is so important because it makes people feel reassured Everyone...
There is a lot of hype around user experience or UX at the moment. It is a role that has become more prominent within organisations these days because they know that it is the key to providing customers with an experience that makes the difference between them buying...
If you have googled 'how to be a better boss' and come across my article, then firstly I applaud you for taking the initiative and asking the question, because guess what, it means you actually care and you're heading in the right direction. These little snippets are...
To help your business stand out from the rest of the world, you need to think about your branding. Words synonymous with this word are: MarkingStampingLabellingNamingClassifyingDescribingCategorising Branding is your ‘markings’ – your logo, your digital assets, the...
This blog explores the link between employee engagement and marketing and explains why they are so intrinsically linked. There are multiple ways a business can focus its marketing strategy. For example, a product or service focused business will give all it has to...
It can be off putting thinking about how to advertise your business when you maybe don’t have the budget to invest very much into it, but done right, advertising is the quickest way to get in front of your prospects. There are so many options when it comes to...
Coaching is a style of leadership that is characterised by working together and in partnership rather than dictating. It is thought to induce a higher level of creativity and improves motivation amongst employees. If coaching is a management style that you are...
Do you find your team looking to you for the answers, rather than looking to you for agreement or support for their answers? If the former, chances are you are playing the boss card and making the decisions too often. The key to building respect within a team, lies in...
Many businesses face wide ranging challenges but don’t always have the internal resources to deal with them. Rather than recruit or retrain existing staff, many businesses are turning to outsourcing. Why? What are the benefits of outsourcing and why should you...
You and your business put a huge amount of effort, time (and money) into winning new business. It’s like a romance between you and your prospect. But once the sale is made, what then? Thinking about the customer decision-making process, it’s the final stage that I...
Looking back over the many events and exhibitions I have organised over the years I can honestly say that I have made my fair share of mistakes. But for every mistake that I made, there was something to be learned from it so I wanted to share this little guide...
According to Global Workplace Analysis, the number of non self-employed people working from home has increased by 173% since 2005. As managers get gradually used to the idea of remote working and trusting their staff to work unsupervised, it leaves a whole new set of...
Some companies struggle with the concept of internal communication, some will give it a cursory glance by doing the odd newsletter here and there, whilst others go ‘all in’ for the bean bag and ping pong table. The right balance depends on your business, but don’t all...
The Change Curve is a concept developed by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross who maps out the emotional stages that people go through during times of change. It can be applied in a business setting and the following article highlights how you should communicate during in each...
So you've decided to take the plunge with your new business venture.... It's all very exciting, but where the hell should you start with your marketing right? Well, here are some of my marketing tips for small businesses, not THE ONLY things you can do, but SOME...
Your reception area is a valuable area of your office space that has the power to create the all-important first impression. So make sure it’s a good one. A reception area has many similarities to a stand/booth that you might find at an expo. It’s a space that is...
Do you want to improve communication and employee engagement? The time for change is now, businesses all over the UK, particularly in manufacturing are facing ever growing uncertainty amidst fears of what Brexit will bring combined with the need to operate faster,...
I set out writing this blog to challenge the ideology that a website should be the centre of your marketing universe. I found NO research to support me whatsoever. It seems most people on the world wide web believe that your website IS the centre of your universe....
Are you sitting in an organisation wondering what it’s values are? Do you know what is expected of you as an employee? Do you see people getting away with poor behaviour? No one takes responsibility and it’s all someone else’s fault! Leaders, you have a problem!...
You have a multitude of customers, contacts, information, it is stored all over the place, different people have different sets of business cards, outlook contacts, backs of cigarette packets etc... and the relationships, the details of the people who do business with...
The definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing and expecting different results’ These are some of the vicious circles that employees find themselves in and complain about on a regular basis. We need to improve the way we do things so we can be more productive and...