Dear Reader

Someone said that the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. If you’re looking to grow your business this year, perhaps it’s time to look for different ways of doing things – different ways to promote your business, different ways of packaging what you do, different clients to work with?

Some people call this 'innovation' but if that’s a scary word for you and you don’t see yourself or your business as innovative, this issue of Scribbles might just change your mind! It will show you that innovation is really about making money by doing things differently and it will get you thinking about how you can become innovative and make more of a success of your business.

Do you have an innovative business? What will you do differently this year? Click here to answer this question on LinkedIn.

Chantal

Can Your Business Afford to Stand Still This Year?

If your business is standing still – always doing the same things, the same ways, for the same people – then you could be missing out on new opportunities and new business. Your competitors will be innovating – looking for different ways of making money – which means that you could be losing business to them.

Every year your competition becomes fiercer, more pressure is put on margins and new products or technologies come along and nibble away at your market. This means that just doing what you’ve always done is a recipe for eventual failure. You need to innovate and improve your offer continuously, or someone else will either steal your market or leave you working harder for less money.

So how do you innovate? Where do the new ideas come from?

Steve Jobs from Apple said “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat.”

Innovations happen most frequently when you need to solve a problem. You may not know which one thing about your service niggles your customers most, because it might be very small. And yet when you find out what it is, it could open the way making huge improvements. So you need to make a point of asking your clients what it is about your service that they don’t like.

Towards the end of 2011 we decided to run a workshop, to help service based businesses to get more from their marketing. In the run up to the event, I realised that there was only so much help and advice I could give the delegates in one day. This was a problem for me, because I didn’t want my delegates to get all fired up and then not be able to carry on marketing their businesses. After a bit of thinking I came up with the idea of an ongoing mentoring programme, to provide a regular top up of marketing ideas and momentum. And hey presto – a new service was created! The clients who have joined the programme are making great progress already!

Innovative Marketing

You don’t have to restrict innovation to developing new services. You’ll also find a lot of scope for applying new ideas in sales and marketing. I recently started working with a new client because he’d been using the same marketing tactics for the last year. While they used to work, bringing in a steady flow of new clients, over the last six months he’d noticed that flow almost completely dry up and he didn’t know what to do. He wanted some ideas on what could be done differently with his marketing. There are so many marketing channels now available to you that you’re almost spoilt for choice!

Innovative Pricing

You can also be innovative in the way you charge for your service. Experiment with a mix of incentives, or price test your new services, to see what response you get. Don’t think that cheaper is better – some clients won’t take you seriously if they think you’re too cheap; and offering endless discounts can devalue your service and expertise. Look at ways in which you can add value to what you provide, without adding to the cost of delivery.

Can your business afford to stand still this year? What will you do differently this year? Click here to answer this question on LinkedIn.

SOS Your Marketing

If you want to be more innovative with your marketing this year, then come to this half day workshop on 24 January 2012. We'll look at where you want to go with your business and the best way to get you there. You’ll get lots and lots of ideas about new and different ways to promote your business. By the end of the session you’ll have an outline Marketing Plan you can put into practice, to drive the growth of your business this year.

Places cost just £25 +VAT and are limited, so to book online, click here.

Magnetic Mentoring

So you're busy doing marketing and looking after clients. New ideas are flowing out and the enquiries are flowing in. How do you keep up the momentum and find the time to do it all? Who do you talk to about a new idea, or you get stuck with your marketing?

Magnetic Mentoring could be the solution. It's a monthly programme – your chance to spend an hour on the phone with a marketing expert who can help keep you on track. Time to talk to your very own Marketing Director and make the most of their expertise. For just £85 +VAT per month you get all this, plus a brand new website, membership to a networking organisation, teleseminars with marketing experts and lots more useful things, all worth over £3000! If you’re interested in getting started, call me on 01635 578 500 for a chat.

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