Missed Opportunities

The economy is doing very little to help small businesses in the UK, and certainly, over the past few months, it has become evident that every one of us is having to watch our budgets very carefully.

By the same token, it has always been said that businesses should market their way out of a recession, which is often easier said than done when you consider that every penny counts.

Marketing does not have to cost a lot, and carefully considered marketing will help your business generate more income, and grow.

Let me give you a recent example:

Last week, we organised one of our regular monthly business Tweet-Ups at a local hotel.

The networking meeting receives a good deal of publicity - local press coverage, local business radio, business websites and emails to Chamber of Commerce members, plus lots of social media chat. Word of mouth is also important when it comes to these events, and we rely on attendees to bring along colleagues or spread the word aboout the events.

When I arrived at the venue - a function room adjacent to the main hotel - I noticed immediately that there was absolutely nothing in the room to publicise the hotel. Whilst the hotel had very kindly let us have the room free of charge (they made money from the sale of refreshments), they were missing a great opportunity!

The people who attend these networking events are all local business people. They have clients, suppliers and other contacts, and this was the ideal time for the hotel to advertise their Christmas menus or functions to a local, captive market. I mentioned this to the hotel staff and we got some of their Christmas menus to spread out on tables. They may not receive any bookings as direct result, but marketing is not always about generating immediate direct sales. It is far more than that. It is about knowing and understanding your target market, making sure that your name is in front of those people and that they identify with both your brand and your marketing message.

So, there are opportunities out there. Find out where your target market is, and make sure you are visible there. Make the most of every opportunity; don't take it for granted that potential customers will simply come knocking at your door, because the likelihood is that they won't. You need to be there when they look for a service or product that you provide.

What a difference design makes

The owner of a Bed & Breakfast contacted us recently, as she had noticed that the enquiries for her accommodation had decreased. Looking at her existing website, it was clear that there were some fundamental problems.

The dated appearance of the website homepage did little to tempt visitors to get in touch. There was a lot of text and the images were not compelling enough. The website was not optimised to be found in relevant Google search. The owner herself stated that she was only found when a potential client typed in "Bed and Breakfast Biddenden", but as we pointed out, how many customers would be that geographically specific? It would be more likely for a potential customer to search for Bed and Breakfast Kent or South-East, or using one of the better-known towns as a point of reference (Canterbury, Tunbridge Wells, Rye, Tenterden for example).

We were contracted to redesign the website for the client, and the new design can be viewed prior to launch at:

http://tudorcotta.users34.interdns.co.uk/

The use of quality photography to market both the accommodation and the local area draws customers in and tempts them to look further. The textual content is more concise, and there is a clear call-to-action at the top of every page - telephone number and email address.

Of course, the proof of the pudding will be an increase in enquiries for the remainder of this year and beyond. However, there can be no doubt that the new-look website has all the essential ingredients to get the right message in front of the right people.

"The site is looking really good, excellent work. It has a really classy feel to it." Owner, Tudor Cottage Bed & Breakfast.

The website was produced using the Sesome system developed by Argent Ram Media. This feature-rich platform allows you to update the website yourself, and each site is constructed to be search engine friendly and social media-ready. The latter makes it easy for you to start widening your marketing network using Twitter and Facebook to drive potential customers to your website, maximising every opportunity to draw attention to your accommodation. Prices for a Sesome website start at just £299.00 + VAT.