Smart Assessor update – by Fiona Hudson-Kelly
October 9th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
After a lovely few days of summer sun in October I have realised that the glorious summer months are finally over and I wanted to reflect on things that have worked for my new venture www.smartassessor.com in the last few months and some of the things that havent worked so well.
We experimented with some pay-per-click marketing during August trying both the display network and the conventional pay-per-click. With the pay-per-click we were really specific on our key search phrases and researched them well narrowing down the final selection to 4 phrases. The cost of the PPC was approximately £25 a week and returned on average 1 demonstration request a week, we covert roughly 1 in 2 demo requests to orders and the average order for the first 12 months of a client is £2,500. This represents good marketing value and we have continued with the pay-per-click campaign whilst optimising our new website with those phrases. One of our key phrases is eportfolio software and we are now at the top of page 2 organically in just a few months. However we have decided to continue with the campaign as for very little cost it provides good exposure.
We also experimented with the google display network, this was much more expensive using our budget of £150 each week. The display network generated more clicks to the web site but not as many conversions to demo requests. Those demo requests that did come through were of lesser quality than the pay-per-click and lower value orders. We felt that this was not good use of our staff time demonstrating to lower value clients at this point in our growth strategy and have discontinued this campaign although we may turn it on again prior to new contracts being tendered for next summer to create brand awareness.
We also tried a Linked In campaign which was more successful than the display network but not as cost-effective as the pay-per-click. We ran the campaign for a month at a cost of $200. We had 15 demonstration requests and converted 4 to clients at an approximate value of £4,000 revenue. However the clients are smaller and they need as much attention as our larger clients which yield greater value but cost much less to support to we have decided not to continue this campaign at the moment.
The greatest effort, and cost, over the summer went on getting a good quality data list together and I used an external data cleansing agency to do this. I then did a simple direct mailing letter to the 380 contacts and spent time following them up one by one on the telephone. I think sometimes with the attraction of internet marketing we forget that the conventional marketing activities still work well, especially when they are blended into an online campaign.
The data lists, mailouts and most importantly the follow-up calling was by far the most effective of our marketing activities. Telemarketing takes much time and much effort and unfortunately has to be done by someone very experienced in your product/service offering because when you are suddenly put through to a decision maker you have less than 30 seconds to get them interested enough to listen to your compelling message.
As a small enterprise I was personally involved in this campaign and although I couldn’t give it as much time as it needed we still managed to attract 4 new large clients from this effort and we have a good quality data list for ongoing marketing.
Connecting to clients and prospects through social media networks such as Twitter has also generated brand awareness and referrals. Sending update and industry news is a great way of keeping both existing clients and prospects interested in your brand without it always being about you.
I have been focussing very much on our new e-portfolio software Smart Assessor and not on my Fiona Hudson-Kelly marketing but I am planning to spend some time updating my website and thinking up new ways in which I can help my clients with their marketing shortly to bring it up to the same standard as my new Smart Assessor web site. www.smartassessor.com
Fiona Hudson Kelly – on why Microsoft wanted Skype
May 10th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
An amazing deal was sealed today when Microsoft brought Skype for £5.2b
The deal, one of the biggest in Microsoft’s history, gives it a foothold in the internet market, where it could be argued it lags behind brands such as Apple and Google.
The internet has moved from desktops to mobile devices with 60% of social media interactions taking place on mobile devices this trend is set to continue.
Most interesting to me however is how do Skype make their revenue? With their basic subscription offered free of charge are they reliant on people using Skype at no cost and then being able to up sell them extra’s such as video calling, screen sharing across multiple screen and subscriptions for unlimited land line calling?
Is this a model for success and one that other companies can replicate or are we in the ‘nonsense’ world where brands that derive minimum revenue seem to be valued beyond belief?
Should smaller companies be offering more of their basic services over mobile technology at no cost and what would be the benefit of doing this?
let me have your comments in the usual way, I would be interested in getting your thoughts on this.
Post blog updated by Fiona Hudson-Kelly
New Leadership and Management Advisory Funding
April 8th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
There is a new Leadership and Management Advisory Funding available for this year.
It’s a bit different from the previous funding in as much as it all has to be matched funded and it can’t be used for marketing. There is £1000 funding available but you have to match that with £1000 also. You don’t have to use the full £1000 you can use any amount up to £1000 but it all has to be matched.
On a positive note it is now eligible for business’s with 2+ employees who have potential to grow.
You can use any supplier you wish for the training but it has to be around Leadership & Management with a specific focus on business’s with the potential to grow.
I’ve put together a 5 day Leadership programme aimed at small company owners taking some time out to focus on how they are going to grow their business through effective strategic planning. The 5 day programme is outlined below. Let me know if you would like more information on how to apply for the funding.
Course Name: Developing a highly effective personal leadership and management style for Business Growth
(Including strategic thinking; and effective communication)
Duration: 5 days, first 2 days taken together then the remaining 3 spread across the following 3 weeks
Commitment: In addition to the 5 full days there will be tasks set for completion in the workplace and at elbow support and coaching as needed.
Target: Owners/ Directors of companies employing less than 9 people with growth potential
Outcome: At the end of this 5 day leadership growth programme you will have developed an outline strategic plan for your business and will be able to present it effectively to improve your relationships with stakeholders such as employees, banks and other financial influencers, co-directors and potential strategic partners.
Cost: The cost of the 5 day programme, including support and coaching as needed, is £1,750. This cost includes all refreshments and course materials.
The Presenter: The 5 day workshops will be delivered personally by Fiona Hudson-Kelly who has successfully started and grown a multi-million £ business, Silver Lining Solutions, selling her majority stake to venture capital investors in 2007. Fiona has delivered strategic advice and guidance to hundred of business over the last 2 years with 100% good feedback, of which 98% rated her as excellent!
Why Choose This Course?
Having the courage to start-up your own business can be challenging enough and simply surviving can seem to be all-consuming, particularly in the current uncertain economic environment but few businesses can seem to achieve their full growth potential, there are 4.8 million small businesses in the UK but 95 per cent employ less than 5 people **. Imagine what could happen to the UK economy if just 10% of those small businesses grew to employ more just 2/3 more people each that would be over another 1m people in work.
Does your business idea have the potential to grow into a successful company?
Do you have the personal leadership skills to take it there?
PROGRAMME OF LEARNING
DAY 1 & 2- YOU AS THE LEADER (CONSECUTIVE DAYS)
* Understanding good Leadership Behaviours
* Learning the difference between Leadership and Management
* Understanding your own beliefs and behaviours
* Defining your personal Qualities and Strengths
* Heighten your awareness of what’s going on around you
* Improving your Interpersonal Skills and Communication Skills
* Learning about Commitment and making things happen
* Making Key Decisions
* Managing Your and Other People’s Stress
* Empowering, Motivating and Inspiring Others
* Leading by Example
Outcomes
At the end of Day 2 you will understand how to be an effective leader and have started to shape your personal leadership style.
Self Study/Tutorial work
At the end of Day 2 you will be given an assignment to complete to identify national statistics relevant to your business which you will need to complete Day 3 of the programme.
DAY 3 – DEVELOPING YOUR STRATEGIC THINKING
Day 3 is all about getting you to leave the detail behind and open up your mind as to what the future of your business could be. We will work interactively as a group using brainstorming and evaluation methodologies to explore options for your business that are in tune with your personal aspirations and exit strategy.
Outcomes
At the end of Day 3 you will have opened up your thinking to identify where you would like to take you business in the long term (5/7 years), medium term (next 3 years) and the short term (next 12 months).
Self Study/Tutorial work
At the end of Day 3 you will be given an assignment to complete to identify key performance indicators for your business which you will need to complete Day 4 of the programme.
DAY 4 – WHERE IS YOUR BUSINESS NOW? HOW CAN YOU GROW IT?
Morning session
Having identified in Day 3 some options of where you would like to take your business in the future you need to measure where your business is now and what you will need to do to move forward. During this workshop we work on a ‘gap analysis’ where we measures your current business and map this against your desired strategy.
We use 5 key matrix to measure current position against strategic desire:-
* Core competencies and skills
* Finance
* Resources & infrastructure
* Sales & Marketing
* Operations & Processes
The gap generated from this exercise is the challenge and defines the next step which is ‘How are you going to get to where you want to be?
Afternoon session
With these business issues identified you can now establish a list of actions that are required to resolve them and move your business forward.
These actions then need to be prioritized into what are the ‘now’ actions that need to be implemented straight away and what are the ‘next ‘ actions that will follow on to keep this action plan dynamic – most importantly who is going to do what by when and what are the targets and measures that can be put in place to ensure that the business is moving in the direction you want it to?
Documenting this will provide you with a simple and effective strategic plan; to be reviewed and updated regularly, defining the next move(s) to enable you to grow your business and to better manage your time effectively; thus moving you from a tactical to a strategic business owner!
During the afternoon session we will prepare the draft action plan.
Outcomes
At the end of Day 4 you will have completed a gap analysis on your business from where your business currently is and have identified the key actions you need to take your business forward. At this stage the action plan will be in draft format.
Self Study/Tutorial work
Your assignment from Day 4 will be to prepare a detailed action plan from your draft plan that includes priorities, time lines, targets and measures.
Day 5 – COMMUNICATING YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN
Having a strategic plan is a great starting point to growing your business but you will need to be able to communicate your plan to different audiences to enable you to inspire and motivate stakeholders to help you take your ideas forward.
Whether this is a financial stakeholder such as a bank, Investor or venture capitalist, employee(s), Business Mentors, Business support services, Strategic Partners, Suppliers or simply your friends and family whose support you will need.
This last day will focus on finalising your Strategic Action Plan and your communication skills including:-
*Common Communications Mistakes
*Different communication choices
*Active listening skills
*Harnessing Nervous Energy
*Understanding body Language
*Develop your own communication style
*Present a clear and succinct message
*Know & profile your audience
*Making communication interactive
*Encouraging and reacting to feedback
Outcomes
At the end of Day 5 you will have completed your strategic plan, feel confident in presenting it to different audiences, be committed to keeping it up-to-date and use it as a key tool to grow your business to meet your aspirations.
Let me know if you would like me to send you a form to apply for a visit from the funding skills advisor. They will arrange a no obligation visit to help you identify which, if any., leadership training and providers would be relevant to you.
New Workshops
April 3rd, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’m thinking of designing some new workshops to help you kick-start your business in 2011 and wondered what sort of topics and what duration/format you would like the workshops to take.
Some of the ideas I’ve come up with include:-
- A 3 day strategic review workshop , spread over 6 weeks, to review and refresh your business by looking at where you are now, where you would like to take it and working on an action plan for change. This series of workshops are designed to re-energize and focus your mind on where you could take your business.
- A practical 1 day workshop on how to create your social media pages in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn then connect them all together with Ping.fm
- A 3 day workshop on creating a word press landing page then designing an HTML e-mail to direct traffic there
- A 1 day workshop on creating a word press blog and a Twitter account
These are just some suggestions I’ve thought up, some are practical workshops to help you get things done the 3 day strategic review workshop is designed to help you think about where you want to take your business using the ideas of other businesses on the course and then working through a practical action plan of how you can make it happen.
I would appreciate it if you could let me have your comments on what you think of these suggestions, ideas for other workshops based on issues that are troubling you and the format whether you would prefer a 2/3 day back to back workshop maybe residential or separate 1 day workshops.
With regard to the cost of the workshops, would you prefer to pay more to have a small group say £500 for a maximum of 6 people or £250 for a group of 15 or £150 for a group of 30?
I’m also considering starting up a marketing network group which would be a combination of online social networking plus events and face to face meetings to share marketing ideas and learn from each other. I thought I would charge this out on a monthly subscription of say £25 per month plus a small cost to attend events. I thoguht this way we could do a combination of marketing training and sharing of ideas. Again if you can let me have your thoughts and ideas by commenting on the blog that would be really helpful.
The comments do not get published they come through to me to review so don’t feel inhibited that others may see them!
Creating a new web site
March 21st, 2011 § Leave a Comment
After spending a long time training clients on how to improve their website the time had come for me to put into practice everything that I had been advising you when we created a new software to launch called Smart Assessor.
Longer blog post than usual but I thought you may find it useful for me to share this experience!
The starting point was to identify the purpose of the web site. We were launching a new software and brand that nobody had heard of which means that I felt the purpose of the web site would be to illustrate why this solution was different from those already available and project a fresh and innovative brand that would attract early Adopters to try it out. Later we will want to use the web site to build a community for those early adopters to share their excitement and experiences with other prospects but that is for phase 2!
This is what our initial web site looks like:-
Once we had established the purpose of the web site I then defined what we wanted the web site to do, in other words the functionality we required to be built into the web site both now in the initial phase and the additional functionality we would require to activate in the future.
Our initial feature list included:-
* Brief demonstration of the software without having to leave their contact details
* Online dynamic calendar where visitors could book personal full demonstrations
* ROI calculator to illustrate cost savings
* Option to register for a free trial
* Link to our social media sites where visitors could join our community
* Live chat where visitors could chat online to our team
* Log in from our website to our software for clients to increase our traffic
* News And Article section where we could upload topical articles
* Blog integrated within the web site which we can use for back links from Twitter
Later features will include:-
* a community area that clients will be able to access directly from our software
* forum and chat room
Having defined what we wanted the web site to achieve through its functionality the next step was to choose the design for the site. My dilemma was whether to review my competitors web sites before looking at design choices or to have a look at designs that inspired me then check out my competitors sites. I decided to browse some template libraries first because I didn’t want to be influenced by my competitors sites and I was concerned that I would design our site based on what I liked from theirs rather than being original.
I had a look at hundreds of templates online and used this inspiration to get ideas for the look and feel that I wanted for Smart Assessor, our new software. At this stage I hadn’t decided on the exact design, colours, layout, images or even menu items!
I asked a friend Design-SG to design our logo and choose the colours for the new brand which he did brilliantly and created a very simple logo using grey with a mixture of vibrant colours.
I met with several web designers to choose a company to work with, I wanted a company with a small team rather than an individual consultant so that we could get the site developed quickly and be supported but I didn’t have a big budget. We chose to work with www.Zarr.com a small web company based locally whose client web sites we liked because they were fresh and innovative.
Zarr were brilliant at interpreting our needs and they mocked up the whole site in a graphic design package first which was tweaked before the site went into production.
Once the site was developed with the initial functionality we had scoped, we were then able to upload all of our own content ourselves, from menu items to news articles and blogs, which meant that we felt in control both with the initial development but also in being able to keep the content fresh in the future.
Being able to upload and manage our own content has been critical in the success of getting the site exactly how we want it to be. If we hear something in the news in the morning we can get it straight onto the site.
The area I struggled most with were the menu items. From experience I knew that we had we had to create content that would be useful for visitors and clients whilst also being used as ‘landing pages’ within our site which we could optimize for Google.
The result is a work in progress, our website will evolve with our clients. By asking them how can our web site make life easier for them I’m sure the web development hasn’t finished it’s actually just beginning.
Take a look at our new web site let me know what you think by contacting me through my website Fiona Hudson Kelly.
Our web developers link to their own web site is located in the far right hand corner.
Social Network Marketing
February 16th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Often clients know how to use social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter but are unsure about how to use them as part of their marketing strategy.
My advice would be to simply focus on your existing clients, after all you have already absorbed the cost of acquiring that client and have developed a relationship with them so up selling to them other product and services should be relatively easy.
Don’t get too concerned about getting random followers, if just 20% of your clients followed you and they referred you to 20% of their ‘network’ that would provide you with enough new clients to last you a lifetime.
The challenge is focussing on a niche market rather than trying to be all things to all people. Review your existing client base and identify which 20% are providing your profit, are easy to deal with and pay promptly.
Then find out which social networks, if any, these clients belong to. If you are Business to Business you may well find them in LinkedIn if you are Business to Consumers then there are 28m consumers in Facebook in the UK of which 10m are over the age of 40 and you may find your clients in there.
If you are targeting professional people you may well find them in Twitter, for example the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and their members, would belong to the RICS Twitter page.
The next challenge is what do you ‘Tweet’ about or communicate in LinkedIn? I find that anything that isn’t about you usually works well, instead share your expertise with your clients and share generously. Research what’s innovative in your market and what will help your clients improve their business performance.
For more information on how to use social networks contact me through my website.
Making Linked In an ‘exclusive club’
February 10th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Linked In, often known as the Facebook for suits!, is used by many of my clients who have a Business to Business model yet none of them seem to know how to utilise the power of this social networking tool other than to connect to people.
Whilst it is undoubtedly a useful solution to stay connected to people you know, or have been introduced to, what do you do with them and how can you make it work for you?
Create groups for your clients to join. You can have as many groups as you want to, either project based for a specific client or topic based which you invite your clients to join.
Groups are great because they are secure, your competitors can’t join them or see who belongs to them and you can set up your group so that its by invitation only.
Within your group you can then use the discussion boards, upload files such as Powerpoint presentations and include links back to your website for supplementary information.
Clients who aren’t in Linked In can be encouraged to set up their profile to that they can join your group too!
Making your client groups an ‘exclusive club’ creates a connection that keeps you in touch with clients in a positive and permission based way, try it and let me know how this works for you.
For more help on using Linked In contact me through my web site
To blog or not to blog?
February 3rd, 2011 § 1 Comment
Blogging is getting increasingly popular as a way of researching useful information, never more so than now Google has its own Blog search engine.
If you are thinking of blogging, I would suggest that you consider the following:-
1. Do you want your blog on your website or away from your web site. Advantage of having is on your web site is that the content and tags are optimised within your own web site rather than your blog page and you are also keeping people on your web site. However to do this you may have to modify the infrastructure of your site which can be time-consuming and costly. You also need to make sure that you are communicating your blog update to your audience so that you create back links into your blog.
2. What should we blog about? Things that are of interest to your target market, not what you had for lunch or how many steps there were are Russell Square station. Think about your existing clients and keep the blog updates relevant and interesting to them.
3. How often should you Blog? Simple answer when you’ve got something of interest to say! As a rough guide I would suggest at least once a week and a couple of times if you can manage it. Set yourself a time limit, if your blog is taking longer than 11 minutes to write you are probably waffling and your clients wont have time to read them.
4. How do people find my blog? You can tag your blog for keywords that will get optimized by the search engines but you also need to let your clients know that you have now updated your blog and what the blog is about. Twitter is a great way of letting your followers know that there is fresh content to read.
If you would like more information on blogging and internet marketing please get in touch through my web site.
Making e-mail marketing work for smaller business’s
January 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Whilst social marketing is a great way of keeping in touch with your existing clients, e-mail marketing is a slick marketing tool that can help you let your existing customers know the full range of your product and service offering and quickly get you noticed by prospects who aren’t yet your clients.
With e-mail marketing I would recommend that you use an e-mail distribution software such as mail chimp or campaign monitor so that you can see exactly what happens to your e-mails once they leave you.
These distribution software solutions are low cost and fairly easy to use; Mail Chimp even has a ‘free’ offering if your e-mail distribution list is less than 1000 subscribers.
My 3 top tips for e-mail marketing are:-
- Have an interesting subject line, questions work well. Often this is the only part of your e-mail they will see if they aren’t in their Outlook but working elsewhere on their p.c.
- Include a compelling to call to action in your e-mail that will entice your recipients to want to click-through to your website to take up your offer. Promotions work well as do webinars that they can subscribe to.
- Keep your e-mail short and simple with lots of links back to your web site and minimal images. Many clients won’t be able to see your images without downloading them and some will not be able to receive e-mails with images through their spam filters.
I’m also going to start offering an e-mail marketing service in February where we will do all of this for you, design your e-mail template, write your e-mail, send your e-mail to your existing clients and provide you with a ‘hot’ list of those who visited your web site. Make sure you subscribe to my blog or follow me on Twitter @fhudsonkelly and I’ll e-mail you more information.
Alternatively contact me through my web site and I’ll get in touch with you.
Making Twitter Work – for you
January 20th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Make sure that any content you provide through Twitter is interesting and relevant to your target market – don’t make the tweet about you or what you are doing, thinking feeling but about what will be of interest to your target audience.
You won’t find new clients through Twitter! You will get new clients by referrals from your existing clients who are following you on Twitter, like the content you provide them and forward your tweets to their own followers, in other words use Twitter to access your clients networks.
My 3 top tips for Twitter are:-
1. Find your existing clients in Twitter by uploading your contacts when you set up your page. Twitter will then let them know that you are on Twitter and suggest they follow you.
2. Market the fact that you are on Twitter and your Twitter name @fhudsonkelly, make sure it appears on everything from your e-mail signature to your business cards.
3. Where possible link the tweet back to more content on your web site or blog so that you are creating good quality referring links.
Finally – Google ranks Twitter extremely highly as a credible source of referrals, giving it an exceptionally high page ranking of 9 – almost unknown in the SEO world – maybe that’s why they are trying to buy them out.
For more great information on marketing your small business contact me through my web site
