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Steve Parish inspires SMEs at The Business Show

01/03/202011/20/2017 by scmarketing

The Business Show 2017 hosted some top seminars from industry leaders with vital advice for attending start-ups and SMEs. In case you missed anything or weren’t able to make the show, here’s a summary of one of the keynote talks that caught our attention.

As a Croydon based business, we had to make sure we caught the talk by Crystal Palace FC’s co-owner and Executive Chairman Steve Parish. He spoke about his career and what a motivational and inspiring speaker he is. Key take-aways for SMEs included:

Create a brand proposition: Look at everything about your business and create a brand position. In Crystal Palace’s case they became ‘South London and Proud’. But Steve notes that ‘if you want a successful brand you have got to live it’. If you don’t love the business you’re in, then you can’t make others love it.

Immersion and hard work will pay: You must immerse yourself in the subject and you will be ‘delusional if you think you don’t have to work hard’.

Understand what may be wrong to make it right: Address every issue to understand what may be going wrong. You must face up to the fact that if you haven’t been doing it right then things may need to change.

Keep an eye out for our next blogs with further nuggets from this year’s Business Show.

If you want help with your brand proposition and getting your message out there, contact the Smart Cow team a call on 020 3137 1826 or email saymoo@smart-cow.com

Digital marketing best practices for SMEs to improve growth

01/03/202011/10/2017 by scmarketing

One of the keynote speakers at this year’s Business Show was Raja Saggi who leads Customer Acquisitions and B2B Marketing for Google in the UK and Ireland. Raja spoke about digital marketing best practices offering practical tips for SMEs to improve growth and overcome retention challenges. Here’s some of the key insights from his talk.

One single value proposition:

Find that one thing that you are best at and be known for it. For example, are you cheaper or faster than your competitors? Get to the bottom of what you do well and focus on that,

Persona development :

He spoke about the importance of developing a persona for your brand and making sure that your online visual aligns with your target user. Take a look at our blog on persona’s to help you understand the initial steps to developing one for your business. Speak in your customer’s language so they understand how good your service is and how applicable it is to them.

Does your website pass the three second test?

If you can’t find what you need in three seconds then you fail the test. Keep websites basic, simple and clutter free.

Encapsulation, colour and directional cues:

‘What works on the internet may not work in real life’. Use a bold box out for a CTA, contrasting colours work really well at getting attention. Finally, directional cues such as arrows will make people look at it.

Customer reviews:

These still work. They provide social proof which is powerful for building trust and influence.

Reinforce your value:

Display your value proposition at every step of the website journey to avoid drop off and to reassure your customers. Sell benefits instead of features.

Cater for mobile:

With 5 billion mobile users by 2020 forecast, a mobile friendly website is essential. Speed is of the essence. Every second increases the drop off rate with a 7% reduction in conversion. Raja advised that ‘mobile design is about chucking stuff out’. Keep it simple.

Raja provided great insight into digital marketing and website functionality for best practice. If you couldn’t attend the show and have further questions about the functionality of your website then give us a call on 020 3137 1826 or email us on saymoo@smart-cow.com

Why visit London The Business Show 2017?

01/03/202011/09/2017 by scmarketing

The Business Show is jam-packed full of the very best speakers, innovations, education and opportunities in the business world; the event is dedicated to guiding start-ups and SMEs.

It is completely free to attend and provides world-class expertise on everything needed to grow a business in any department or industry. Check out the schedule of industry leaders due to speak at the event. From current and former dragons through to the head of B2B marketing UK Google, CEO of Yell and the founder of Pure Gym, there are some stellar speakers lined up to offer their expertise on improving, evolving and expanding a business.

We’ll be joining Flexicom Solutions at stand 772 in the SME zone, where visitors will be able to take advantage of our combined experience in IT and digital communications.

Pop by our stand and say hello from 16-17 November at Olympia, London.

What is the benefit of link building to my business?

Link building is all about getting quality links back to your website which aid Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). While this can be in the form of links from social media channels back to the relevant pages on your website. It is also about other external websites hosting information about you and providing links back to you. These links need to be from a quality trusted source to help improve your rankings in search.

An easy way to understand the benefits of link building to your business is to think of it like getting a vote or ‘like’. The more you get the more popular you are or in link terms the higher ranking you are in search which means your potential customers can see you.

Here’s a few simple ways to create links back to your website:

Social media

If you have social media channels then utilise them to their full extent and make sure they give a hand in link building. When you compose a post make room for a link back to a relevant page on your website. Think of it as your call to action, what’s the purpose of your post? It is ultimately for sales, so to make it easier for people to see what you have on offer it makes sense to include a link back to your website.

Guest blogs

You’ve probably all heard about blogs and the importance of these for your website to build quality content which aids SEO. However, blogging is also about securing guest posts on a third-party website with the aim of getting a link back to your own website as the source.

But how do you get your blog onto another website? Firstly take a look at where your competitors may be appearing and then look to approach that website too and offer an opinion piece. Also, if someone has posted about your blog on social media then check out their profile and whether they have a website. If they do, then you can approach them to ask whether they would be interested in adding it to their website too.

Infographics

Infographics are a popular way to get your content on another website. They’re eye catching and a succinct way of getting your point across. If it is being used on a third-party website then make sure they provide a link back to your website. It is a matter of courtesy to reference the source and a simple hyperlink can be requested.

Moz.com has some more in-depth tips in its White Board Friday if you want to delve further into link building.

Building you SEO can be a complicated task so if you would like any help getting the ball rolling, then get in touch with us and let’s see where we can take your SEO.