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Scrolling through my newsfeed the other day I came across yet another 'Sponsored' post but this time I actually took the time to read it. This ad was offering me the chance to attend a free webinar that would tell me all about the pending changes that Facebook and Instagram were going throw at me. Why not, I thought so I signed my life away.
The webinar was run by Samantha English of Retail Marketing Academy and it lasted just shy of an hour. It was an interesting hour that I believe has helped me understand what it is to try and properly market a business on these mega social media platforms. I'm not going to share everything that was outlined in the webinar but these stats really stood out to me, so perhaps you will find it interesting too...
Seriously, that's massive! And the data that Facebook has on us is incredible, which means that businesses are able to drill down pretty far so they can speak to who they really need to. That's a good or slightly disturbing thing depending on how you feel about Big Brother etc. So, how did I feel after the webinar? It just reinforced to me that Facebook is where its at. You really don't need to spend much money on your marketing, you just need to spend it smartly. And Facebook, allows you to do that. Exciting (and challenging) times ahead I say. Until next time... Fx It's been a rough couple of weeks here, sick kids and school holidays do not make for an easy time of it. Work commitments took a backseat to being mum, sometimes its the way its gotta be.
I am currently in the design stage of the Beauty Therapy project. I need to give the client a few options for how she wants the imagery for her Facebook page and website to look. The brief so far is that she doesn't want things to be too "pretty" because her salon isn't about pampering, its about beautifying yourself. I've got a few stock sites I use for this type of thing but its been tough because it seems as though when the world thinks of beauty therapy, they associate it with the exact type of things my client doesn't want to display. Makes my job a bit tougher but I do enjoy a challenge. I am going to try and give the client some images to consider, see where her preferences lie and then take it from there. Wish me luck! Until next time... Fx As mentioned in my rather pitiful previous post, I feel fortunate to have welcomed several new clients into the All Sorted family. The funny thing is that all four of these wonderful newbies are all in the creative sphere; arts and crafts.
Every time I visit one of them, I feel a bit in awe of what they sell/produce. The creativity and ingenuity that surrounds me is spectacular, and I can't help but feel so proud they have chosen me to help them "go loud" about how awesome they are. Three of these clients are well established art, craft and gift shops in Auckland and Wellington, but the one I'm going to talk about here is very small and sweet and has only just come to being earlier this year. CraftyKins is the brainchild of a creative new mum; Anne (the artist) finds seriously cute soft toys and then paints a gorgeous painting of it to sell them as a pair. I may not be describing this very well but its a lovely little business venture for the baby and child market. As this is just a new thing Anne she's trying out, she's started off using Facebook as her platform. I've created her some business cards and branded stickers to put on all of her original artworks but she's holding off on a website for now until she knows how much of a market there is for this kind of thing. If her first few months are anything to go by, I'm pretty sure a CraftyKins website won't be too far away. The main point for this post - other than welcoming CraftyKins on board - is to remind small businesses that you don't have to do everything straight away. Go at your own pace and start off doing things you know you can manage on your own. It's important to learn how to walk before you can run. Good luck Anne, and good luck CraftyKins! Until next time... Fx It has been way too long since I even visited my poor little website. The good news is that its because I've actually been really busy working with real life clients, I've even been fortunate enough to welcome some new ones to the All Sorted family, but its really no excuse to neglect my own work.
I think I've said this before but just because the going is good now, doesn't mean it will always been smooth sailing. The fact that I basically just ignored my own business is pretty terrible. What makes this even worse is that I had a former client ask me if my website was still running, and I didn't know what to tell her! I mean, I thought it was but because it had been so long, I had to actually go and check. Seriously people, don't be me. Do better for your own business, keep your marketing and communications ticking over. Update your photos. Write that blog post. Share things on social media. Every little thing you do helps to build a bigger and better picture of your business. It will help new clients find you and prove to your current ones that they were right in choosing you in the first place. Enough of the self-flagellation. I have learned my lesson and I am going to do better from now on. Until next time... Fx There have been a few of the same questions fired at me over recent times so I figured that perhaps these worthwhile questions were worthy of a post, so hopefully I can give you some answers even before you ask them.
That's about it from me. If you have any other burning questions, just let me know. Until next time... Fx And we're back!
Over the past few weeks a number of things collided which left me with very little time to keep y'all updated on progress; school holidays, the eCommerce website build and an eCommerce website makeover. The Miss and Little Mister are back at their respective learning establishments. The eCommerce website makeover went well and working with Bronwyn was fun. And the eCommerce website build is still trucking along, which is what led me to this post... When marketing your business (or yourself) I have found that consistency is key.
Websites are no different. Product images need to be the same size - yes it might take a while to get that sorted, but its worth it when your customer gets an attractive uniform look no matter what they click on whilst online shopping. Ideally, all your products should have the same background too, but baby steps people, that can be one of the things you work towards. It's pretty awful to visit a site and see hickeldy-pickeldy product images zig-zagging all over the page. You wouldn't like it at a supermarket, so don't do it on your website. You might think I'm being way too strict on this but have a think about your favourite online shops. What do they look like? How do they present their products? What do their posts on Facebook look like? Just because we might be a one (or two) man band with pockets that don't stretch that far doesn't mean we can't present ourselves professionally yet with a charming amount of personality. Need some help? Let me know! Until next time... Fx Simple [adjective]; easy to understand, deal with, use etc.
I've been working on a website build for a client and upon sending them the first mock-up, I received the feedback that it was really simple but they liked it. The simple look and feel of the website doesn't truly represent the amount of work that's gone into creating it. I created a simple yet high impact site for the client because that's what works best, in my opinion at least. Flashy websites annoy me; who wants to wait 30 seconds or more for a whizz-bang intro to play, or a new image to open up every time I accidentally hover my mouse over a different part of the screen? Not me. There are a few simple rules I try to adhere to when working on websites;
I won't go into too much detail on those here (if you're curious, just ask), but hopefully you get what I'm saying. I do wonder though; would anyone turn away from a service provider if they thought their website were simple as opposed to flashy? Hopefully not. Until next time... Fx I'm currently a good example of what not to do. I always encourage people to update their website and social media as often as they can; being active on your site only helps with your organic reach and build your profile.
I have not been paying attention to that. I find that when life gets busy, I neglect my All Sorted presence. I suppose in my mind I must subconsciously think, "I'm busy working, so I'll do my own marketing later," Little and often is a good motto here, and one I need to adopt. In other news, one of the All Sorted family have launched their new business venture and website! I wish Jon and Shae-Renee nothing but the best of luck with Budget Caravans NZ, if I had any spare money I wouldn't hesitate to buy my own home-away-from-home. It would be a pretty great way of seeing more of Aotearoa and no one said adventure had to involve "roughing it". Until next time... Fx A client found themselves with a big pile of end-of-lines, samples and damaged packaging items they'd been given by a friendly supplier. They wanted to let everyone know about it, without spending a bunch of money. You know how it goes.
When considering something like this, you've got to take a good look at the resources you've got to work with, in this case they had their website, Facebook page, a customer database and a tiny budget. My advice; use everything! Step 1. Create an effective banner for the website homepage Step 2. Create an email to send out to the database Step 3. Share email on Facebook (or if you'd prefer, create a Facebook specific post Step 4. Boost the Post on Facebook By 'Boosting the Post' you can choose a far smaller budget than if you were 'Promoting the Page' (in this case, we entered a daily budget of only $1.50). You can also specify a target market and the duration of the promotion. All of this took a couple of hours to get sorted, and within a day of the campaign starting some of the items sold out! If that's not success, I don't know what is. So if you've got something you want to "go loud" about but think you don't have the means to do it justice, just remember that an effective campaign can cost less than $20, Until next time... Fx This past week has been all about writing resumes and cover letters for some very fine folk just north of Auckland. I've always been the "go to" person among family and friends to help update and make a CV fancy, but doing it for randoms was a surprise. Not that that's a bad thing.
For anyone about to sit down to try and write about themselves in an attempt to take the next step in their career, or even get back into the workforce after studying/travelling/parenthood (or all of the above), if I could offer you just one piece of advice it's this; express yourself! I've been on the recruiting side and when you're trawling through hundreds of job applications, the ones that stand out (in a good way) are those that tell you a bit more about the applicant instead of the bare minimum. Its nice to know who you are, not just what you do. It's good to include personal information, like hobbies or what you like to do for fun. The CV and cover letter needs to accurately reflect who you are as a person, because you are more than just facts on a page. One of the most risky things I've done when applying for a job was having 'Pick Me' as my subject line. But guess what? They did! Maybe it stood out in the hundred emails of 'Application for ...' or perhaps they knew I was quirky enough (and honest enough) to deserve an interview. Until next time... Fx |
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