The moment the sun breaks through after a long hard winter and, in this case, after a long hard year all of us turn our minds to springtime, spring cleaning and the opportunity to start afresh.

However, what about the feeling we get a few weeks later when we realise that we didn’t stick to any of our new year resolutions? When it comes to looking after a business it can often feel the same. All those good intentions during that first week in January can soon get lost in the everyday rush to meet the various demands of your business, never mind the legal requirement to make sure you get your tax return in by the 31st. We do understand how it happens all too easily and yes, we’ll share this with you from our corporate days - it happens to even the biggest and the best of companies.

All organisations are run by human beings after all. What we’ve found so far in 2021 is that many of you want this year to be different after the wake-up call that is the pandemic. It has been a struggle for some organisations who are just surviving, as they hold their nerve until business life regains some semblance of normal function. For other businesses it has provided opportunity and also the impetus to innovate. Whichever it is, there are risks, challenges and opportunities to be thought through and acted on. One of the central issues is communication and how you maintain an appropriate dialogue with your customers as the parameters constantly shift and as your ability to deliver your goods or services changes to meet the regulations and guidelines.

We’re talking about your marketing and communications here.

If you’ve got lingering issues in your set-up that were already causing bumps in normal times, then now they will make themselves really felt, just when you need to be fast and efficient and sure of what you’re doing. This is not the time to be flummoxed by LinkedIn or Facebook or any of those other critical marketing tools for your business.

What To Do?

Well, some of our clients already know about our exceptionally effective and free health checks, which will review and quantify a particular area of your business operation. Many have already been in touch, asking us to health check their communications and provide recommendations. The outsider’s viewpoint can be incredibly helpful in a situation like this, shining a light on problems that can sometimes be fixed rapidly through training or tidying-up processes and this makes the world of difference. These health checks are proving the most popular as our lovely clients navigate the roadmap back to normal operation.

THE PINK SPAGHETTI HEALTH CHECK APPROACH

Our Pink Spaghetti Virtual Assistants identify what is working well and what business owners could do to enhance each area selected for a health check, leading to a report with specific recommendations which is free of charge. The Facebook Health Check Facebook is a place where you can converse with your customers and where, depending on what your business offers them, they will discuss your products and services. There is an art to doing this well especially when everyone is in a time of flux. You need to be a combination of human and professional so that your customers know you are real and dependable, and willing to listen to them. There are many ways to optimise your Facebook Page and make it work for your small business.

Profile pictures and header images need to be high quality and branded.

The same quality rules apply for content which needs to be consistent and engaging. We will guide you on a range of settings and suggest improvements. The LinkedIn Health Check A steady flow of interaction on LinkedIn tells your community that you are active, engaged and steering your way steadfastly through tricky times. Even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes, it’s good to be part of a business community where you can learn from others. Essentially you are your business and LinkedIn is where you present your professional profile, through your education, experience and achievements. We make sure it is professionally set up for you to build a meaningful network of contacts and guide you on how to offer ongoing value to your professional community and peers through creating relevant articles and posts.

The Brand Health Check

When things are changing in unpredictable ways for you and your customers now is the time to know yourself better than ever. If your customers know what you stand for, then it is much easier to communicate with your customers in an authentic voice every single time. Have you got a quality brand that is brought to life consistently through all your communications?

Does everything look and sound like it comes from the same company with one voice and one look – across websites, invoices, ads, emails etc? If yes, great; if not, we’ll show you how to fix it and we can suggest templates to make ongoing consistent branding for your business easy to achieve.

The Email Health Check

Your email list is such an incredibly valuable asset. You should nurture it, polish it and check it on a regular basis. Remember how annoying it is to get something that is badly spelt or gets your name wrong or worse, an email when you’ve unsubscribed? On this last point you may be breaking the law so it’s not just about niceties of grammar. Email should help rather than hinder a small business owner. Our health check will identify ways to clear up, file and automate many areas of emails; and then look at the frequency and content for the next few months. The outcomes of these health checks can often be as simple as training to show you quick and easy ways to plan your communications or assistance with sorting out the relevant processes and content for your customers. If you’d like a communications health check to make sure your marketing is ready for the next few months give us a call. It’s free and we promise it will make a positive difference to you and your business.

*Image credit Canva Sept 2022

11 August 2022

Cornwall Insight, one of the leading energy market analysts, has revised its forecast for the October and January price cap - with forecasts suggesting an 81% rise in October. This means the typical household energy bill will reach £3,589. And in January, when the price cap reverts to quarterly, there will be a further 19% rise according to Cornwall Insight. This would take bills to £4,266 per year for the average household.

Another Headache?

This is another headache for consumers as the cost of living crisis continues to bite. These revised forecasts will have households revisiting their budgets and spending plans for the rest of the year with further pressure on their pockets. But there is a way for consumers to take steps to insulate themselves from the forthcoming price rises. While most energy-only suppliers are only able to offer prices at the price cap, the UK’s only multiservice supplier, Utility Warehouse, is committed to offering variable energy prices up to 5% below the price cap.

Not just savings

But the savings don’t stop there. UW’s latest fixed price offer provides customers with a way to make substantial savings against future price cap rises - right through August 31st 2023. New and existing UW customers, who take two or three other services, will be able to fix their energy at a cost of £3,150 a year for the average customer - until 31st August 2023. This represents a £432 saving against the incoming October price cap and including the universal £400 rebate from the government, this is effectively an £832 saving against the impending price cap in October. Looking ahead to the January price cap, consumers who fix with UW now will be able to save more than £1,100 against current forecasts.

And the savings don’t stop there...

Cashback Card

Multiservice UW customers are able to access further savings. UW offers the unique Cashback Card, a prepaid debit card that gives customers cashback up to 10% on purchases at selected retailers and customers who take two or more services can access a further 1% cashback everywhere they spend. The money earnt comes directly off the monthly utility bill. UW customers can also take advantage of further discounts and savings on other services and products. As UW spreads its cost over a number of essential household services, our customers can take advantage of great broadband, mobile, and insurance deals.

Such as:

• Superfast broadband prices starting at just £21.60 for new multiservice customers - including a 10% discount for taking both broadband and mobile
• Great value mobile SIMs starting at £12 a month for 5GB of data, with unlimited texts and calls or just £18 for unlimited data, texts, and calls.
• 5* Defaqto rated boiler and home cover for just £18 a month.

We all know that building relationships within your networking groups are the main factor for success when it comes to networking.

Whether you attend a monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly networking group, there is usually a regular schedule to the groups you’re a member of.

However, we do also have lives outside of our networking groups! You may be going on holiday, fall poorly, or be unable to attend your regular meeting due to something out of your control. This is where a “sub” comes into play.

Why you should send a sub

Our WIBN groups meet 12 times a year, either face to face or online, for 2 hours. If you can’t make it, you can have a sub up to three times in your membership. So why should you send a sub in your place, if you can’t make a meeting?

A sub gives you the opportunity to continue to showcase your business in the room. Whether to members or visitors. You will provide your 1 minute to your sub, and they will read it while in attendance. This means you won’t miss the chance to build your sales team for your business, particularly for the people you haven’t met with yet! 

If you send a connection of your own, who isn’t a member, they get to attend a networking meeting to grow their connections too! They will be able to attend, for free (as it is included in your membership) and they’ll have the chance to do their own 1 minute for their business.

Why it’s great to be a sub

As a member, you can visit other WIBN groups that don’t have your profession in the room, to grow your network even further. You can do this as a visiting member, or as a sub!

As a sub, you will be offering the same benefit for a member who can’t make it to not miss the opportunity to make sure their business is heard in the room. As a member, you’ll get to go to the other group, for free, and also connect with the members in the room.

Being a sub is a great way to help someone in need in the network, as well as help you build your business network.

Overall, the most important thing with networking is the consistency of attending. You want to show that you are committed to this business event and the other people in the room. If you regularly can’t make the date, then this may mean you need to speak with the Associate who runs the group to see if there’s a better group to align with your schedule.

We want to make sure you get your best results from networking which comes with consistency and building strong relationships. As a member, that means ensuring you can come to your networking meetings regularly, but also offering the option to have someone there in your place when you can’t. If you ever have trouble finding a sub, the best option is use the closed facebook group or contact your associate and ask them if they can help. 

So, you’ve been online and everything you’ve read about marketing is telling you that having “a list” is key. Or to put it another way, everyone is telling you to build a large database of subscribers who have signed up to hear from you by way of your newsletter. And that seems simple enough, doesn’t it?

The answer

Well, yes and no. An effective newsletter is a great way of keeping yourself “top of mind” of all your fans, helping spread the word about your business, and with luck (or hard work) win new clients.

So far so good, but if you’ve ever written a regular newsletter, you’ll already know that getting those subscribers and creating great newsletters is hard! And getting subscribers to actually open your newsletter and click on those all-important links is even harder.

So, what’s the magic formula?

Actually, there is no magic or mystery to newsletter success. The real secret is to always keep in mind a few standard but golden rules:

1.Know your objective and get organised

It’s all too easy to think, oh cr*p, it’s newsletter day I better just get something out. But in fact, like all marketing tools, you need to have some clear objectives in mind: What’s the overall objective of writing a regular newsletter (more visits to your website, increased brand awareness, more phone call enquiries)? What’s the objective of each individual newsletter? Promotion of a particular product or event? Hand in hand with objectives goes planning. Your newsletters will perform better and be much easier to manage if it is thought out and planned well in advance so that it dovetails nicely with your other marketing activities. You also need to consider how you’re going to organise the content you include. If you just chuck everything in, don’t be surprised if it looks a bit like lumpy porridge.

2. Quality and relevance

When I’m writing a newsletter, I always start by reminding myself that my readers are very busy. And if they’ve been kind enough to allow me into their inbox and better still, if they’ve given me 5 minutes of their time to read my newsletter, then I better make it worth their while, or they might just dump me. Think about your own behaviour when you’re busy and your inbox is filling up. The chances are, you’ll only read stuff that you know is going to be interesting or useful. And won’t take too long. So that’s your mission when writing your own newsletter, to deliver something worthwhile… every… single… time. In a nice succinct and easy-to-read way. The other thing to bear in mind is that although it’s called a newsletter, just telling readers all about your news and what you’ve been up to is rarely interesting enough. There, I’ve said it. Your readers are much more interested in themselves than they are in you, so unless your news is somehow of use to them, less is more!

3.Frequency

Frequency is going to be dependent on the point above, namely how much really interesting and relevant news can you generate consistently? If you’re writing lifestyle newsletters with regular recommendations for great things to do (a weekend away, a new restaurant, a local wine) then weekly newsletters just before the weekend may be absolutely fine. But if you’re writing about widgets, honestly, how much do your clients really want or need to hear from you? Would monthly be more than enough? Consistency is also key here. If you’ve announced to the world that you’ll be publishing a weekly newsletter, that’s what you’ve got to do. Every week. However busy or boring your world has been.

4. Length

This is super tricky and again depends on your audience and what else is in your newsletter. Does it have links to articles on your website, links to external content, lots of photographs, and testimonials? I’ve seen newsletters that are just one sentence long but have perhaps four links (with a compelling Call to Action with each) and it works really well. What you don’t want to do is write too much. Nobody really has time to read for more than a minute or two so a couple of paragraphs is usually sufficient.

5. Keep it simple

OK, so you’re one of those lucky businesses which have lots going on and lots of great information to share. Great, but don’t overwhelm your reader. Remember your objective? Do you want them to visit one particular page of your website perhaps? Well then don’t include 6 links to all sorts of other places. And don’t forget to make it really clear and simple what you want them to do… or they won’t do it. Keep the design and format clean, and make sure every aspect of is it easy. That usually means one clear Call to Action. And while you’re thinking about your design, go back and look at your newsletter sign-up page. Is it clear and compelling? Does it tell subscribers what to expect from your newsletter and give them a reason to sign up in the first place?

6. Not too much sell

Of course, ultimately you want to get more sales, but nobody wants something rammed down their throat. That means keeping a healthy balance. Focus on delivering really interesting, valuable content and keep the sales to about 10%.

7. Spend time writing a “wow” factor email subject line

Most of your readers will decide whether or not to open your newsletter based on the email subject line. As internet users, we’ve all become pretty good and using these one-liners to filter out the stuff we don’t think is interesting or might be spam. That means, in order to get your readers to even open your newsletter, your subject line has got to be pretty damn compelling. Don’t write it as an afterthought. Tempt them, tease them, let them know what amazing things are within. Use emotive and sensory language, be playful… but never, ever promise something in the email subject line and then fail to deliver. It’s a breach of trust and you will lose subscribers.

8. Promotion

Spend a little time thinking about how you will promote your newsletter. Will you invite people to sign up in your social media posts, or as your Call to Action at a networking event. Think about the wording you will use to encourage people to sign up. These little snippets can be as important as the newsletter itself but can easily be neglected.

9. Have faith

There are simply hundreds of newsletter gurus out there that will promise you that if you sign up to their course for a small fee (for which read large), they can give you the magic formula to 10,000 subscribers in less than a week (or something like that).

They can be tempting but the bottom line is newsletters take thought, and time and require dogged consistency. But stick with it if you can. Make it a religion. Make it the one thing you do exceptionally well and keep going!

Or, of course, if that all sounds like too much hard work, you can always ask me to write them for you!

Please get in touch if you would like to know more.

*Photo credit - Canva

I have been interviewed on Author & Ted X Speaker Madeleine Black Unbroken podcast, the most deep interview I’ve ever done.

Madeleine says: ‘Some people seem to experience a catalogue of events in their life, and I’m always amazed how they draw strength from these events and come back stronger and brighter than they were before!’

Some key points from our interview, Madeleine says;

🎧 How she feels that she did feel broken and destroyed in the past, but she’s come back braver and better than before

🎧 How after a serious road traffic accident when she was hit by a car when she was cycling, she developed depression, chronic fatigue and PTSD 🎧 How she discovered Pilates which inspired her to heal and set up her own studio

🎧 How she had a pre eclamptic fit during childbirth and nearly died again but believes she survived to protect her son and give others a voice

🎧 How she and her three-year-old son had to flee their home due to domestic abuse

🎧 How she had to learn to heal herself again but her creativity opened up again as a result

🎧 How she loves to encourage others to connect with their guardian angels

🎧 How she is now thriving in life and business after overcoming all of her challenges

Listen to the interview here https://www.buzzsprout.com/1386718/10611227 may it help & inspire, let me know what you think!

I decided this year to further step into the spotlight by pitching to be a guest on podcasts.

Thanks to listening to my fellow WIBN business friends podcast Lesley Thomas who has the great ‘let’s talk money and more podcast’, I heard Lesley interview Lou Hamilton, I then read her book dare to share, it teaches you how to be a podcast guest and pitch to podcasts. A marketing tool to help & inspire & grow our businesses. Grateful. Thank you Lesley.

How are you stepping into your spotlight this year?

Hannah Sanderson singing teacher helped me feel more confident before this interview with a vocal coaching lesson which was fun & helpful, the brrrrr warm exercise makes me smile & gives you a boost before any interview Love Bev Author & Mindfulness Pilates Teacher

www.beverleydensham.com