• Case studies
• Testimonials
• Referrals

You could also look at allowing your customers to start to earn for their loyalty and support. Think about introducing:

• A loyalty scheme
• Affiliate schemes
• Party plan and other direct sales
• Drop shipping

Your task for this week:

Pick one activity from the list above. Will you ask your customers to share their story and explain the benefits they have had from your business so you can tell others? Or do you think that people would like to start selling your products for you as part of an affiliate scheme or by drop shipping?

I have more secrets to help you use telemarketing to market your business in next week’s post. For more ideas to help your business grow, buy A Guide to Promoting Your Business: The Ultimate Workbook for Business Owners by Antonia Chitty.

Join Twitter

Set up your blog

Link your blog to Twitter with Twitterfeed

Link your blog your Facebook page with Networked Blogs

Add your Twitter page link and your blogs to your email sig

Join Linked In, Ecademy and Bttradespace if you offer B2B products or services

Join relevant forums and include details of your business, facebook account, twitter name or blogs in your sig if allowed by forum rules. Post on the forums every day or two and offer helpful advice.

Pick one or two time slots each day to tweet

Use a tool like Su.pr to see which of your links shared through social media get most clicked on. Do this for a few weeks to see if certain times of day get better reponses that others

Join Social Oomph (or Hootsuite) and set up recurring and scheduled tweets. Set aside an evening each month to do the tweets for the month to come

Always reply to people who tweet you and thank those who RT your messages.

For more ideas to help your business grow, buy A Guide to Promoting Your Business: The Ultimate Workbook for Business Owners by Antonia Chitty.

I’ve linked up my profiles on Linked In, Ecademy, various Ning sites, the Women’s Marketing Forum and Facebook to Twitter too, so I can send updates from any of these sites, and all my Twitter updates appear on each profile too.

I use Friendfeed to link my tweets through to my Facebook account and pages. And remember to use Networked Blogs to link your blog to your Facebook page or group.

Your task for this week:

What will you do this week? How can you use technology to link your social media together and save work? It won’t take you long to sign up to Twitterfeed, Friendfeed and Networked Blogs to maximise all your social media marketing.

I have more secrets to help you use social media in next week’s post. For more ideas to help your business grow, buy A Guide to Promoting Your Business: The Ultimate Workbook for Business Owners by Antonia Chitty.

This week we’re looking at using Facebook as part of your marketing strategy.

If you’re using Facebook socially, it is an easy step to turn it into another way people can find out about your business news. Go to ‘groups’ and click the ‘set up a group’ button or click on the link at the bottom of any ‘page’ to set up a page. A group is ideal if you want to promote a membership organisation or club, while a page is more appropriate for most businesses.

• http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
• http://www.facebook.com/groups/create.php

Once you have entered the details asked for, add some content. If you have a blog use Networked Blogs to add your blog to your page so that the content feds through automatically. Send messages about your page to your friends and ask them to highlight it to people who they think might be interested.

Once you have a few fans of your page, your messages will be seen by them and, more importantly, by their friends who visit their profiles. The word can spread about your business to people who are contacts of your contacts.

Add in the occasional exclusive offer for Facebook fans of your page and people will have even more reason to sign up. Use Twitter to tweet out to people and ask them to join your group. Asking them to help you find 100 followers, 500 followers, or offer a prize draw for those who like your page once you reach your target.

Your task for the week:

Do you need to create a Facebook Page for your business?

Or if you have a page already think of three ways to attract new fans

AND

Think of three ways to add value for people who are fans already. Could you include them in a draw, make a special offer or limited discount for this group? Implement one idea each week for the next 3 weeks.

For more ideas to help your business grow, buy A Guide to Promoting Your Business: The Ultimate Workbook for Business Owners by Antonia Chitty.

 JULY 2010
——————————————————-
Saturday July 03 – Sunday July 25
Cycling: Tour De France

Sunday July 11
F1 British Grand Prix, Silverstone

Sunday July 11
Football: World Cup Final, South Africa

Thursday July 15 – Sunday July 18
Golf: The Open, St Andrews

Monday July 26 – Sunday August 01
European Athletics Championships, Barcelona

Thursday July 29 – Monday August 02
Cricket: England v Pakistan 1^st Test, Trent BridgeFriday August 06 – Tuesday August 10
Cricket: England v Pakistan 2^nd Test, EdgbastonFriday August 06 – Saturday August 28
Edinburgh Tattoo

————————————————————-
AUGUST 2010
————————————————————-

Saturday August 07 – Sunday August 08
London Triathlon

Tuesday August 12
Glorious Twelfth: Start of Shooting Season

Wednesday August 11 – Friday September 10
Islamic Festival of Ramadan

Thursday August 12 – Sunday August 15
US PGA Championships, Wisconsin

Tuesday August 17 – Friday August 20
Horse Racing: Ebor Festival, York

Thursday August 18 – Sunday August 22
Cricket: England v Pakistan 3^rd Test, Oval

Friday August 19 – Sunday August 22
British Transplant Games, Bath

Thursday August 26 – Monday August 30
Cricket: England v Pakistan 4^th Test, Lords

Saturday August 28
Challenge Cup Final, Wembley

Sunday August 29 – Monday August 20
Notting Hill Carnival

Monday August 30
Summer Bank Holiday

Monday August 30 – Sunday September 12
Tennis: US Open, Flushing MeadowSaturday September 04 – Sunday November 07
Blackpool Illuminations

——————————————————–
SEPTEMBER 2010
——————————————————–

Thursday September 09 – Saturday September 11
Plaid Cymru Conference, AberystwythFriday September 10 – Sunday September 19
Commonwealth Conference, Kenya

Saturday September 18 – Wednesday September 22
Liberal Democrats Party Conference, Liverpool

Wednesday September 22
BBC Last Night of the Proms

Sunday September 26 – Thursday September 30
Labour Party Conference, Manchester

———————————————————
OCTOBER 2010
———————————————————
Saturday October 02 – Sunday October 17
Paris Motor Show

Sunday October 03 – Thursday October 14
Commonwealth Games, Delhi

Monday October 04 – Thursday October 07
Conservative Party Conference, Birmingham

Saturday October 23
Launch of UK Poppy Appeal

Sunday October 31
UK: Halloween

Sunday October 31
2am: UK End of BST: Clocks Back 1 Hour

——————————————————-
NOVEMBER 2010
——————————————————-
Friday November 05
Guy Fawkes Night

Sunday November 07
London To Brighton Veteran Car Run

Thursday November 11
Armistice Day

Sunday November 14
Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph ServiceThursday November 25 – Monday November 29
Cricket: Australia v England 1^st Test, Brisbane

Tuesday November 30
St Andrew’s Day

——————————————————-
DECEMBER 2010
——————————————————-
Friday December 03 – Tuesday December 07
Cricket: Australia v England 2^nd Test, Adelaide

Friday December 10
Nobel Peace PrizeThursday December 16 – Monday December 20
Cricket: Australia v England  3^rd Test, PerthSunday December 26 – Thursday December 30
Cricket: Australia v England 4^th Test, Melbourne

Business Awards
- The National Business Awards – submission deadline: 1st July
- The Dragon Awards – submission deadline: 19th July
- Startups Awards – submission deadline: Late July
- 02 X Awards for Small Business – submission deadline: Early August
- Sussex Business Awards – submission deadline: 27th August
- Shell LiveWIRE Awards – submission deadline: 6th September
- Technology Fast 50 Awards (Deloitte) – submission deadline: Mid September
- Virtual Business of the Year Awards – submission deadline: 15th September
- Growing Business Awards – submission deadline: Mid September
- IAwards – submission deadline: Late September
- The Internet Business Awards – submission deadline: 30th September

Business Leader Awards
- Stevie Awards for Women in Business – submission deadline: 28th July
- NatWest Everywoman Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- Women of the Future Awards – submission deadline: 3rd September

Training and HR Awards
- Pay Awards (Pay Magazine) – submission deadline: Early July
- International E-Learning Awards – submission deadline: 10th July
- IPP Awards (Institute of Payroll Professionals) – submission deadline: 16th July
- National Graduate Recruitment Awards – submission deadline: 23rd July
- eLearning Awards (Bizmedia) – submission deadline: 30th July
- Recruitment Business Awards – submission deadline: 23rd July
- National Management and Leadership Awards – submission deadline: 31st July
- Remote Worker Awards – submission deadline: 31st July
- CiB Communicators of the Year – submission deadline: 20th August
- HR in Hospitality Awards for Excellence – submission deadline: 31st August
- National Online Recruitment Awards (NORAs) – submission deadline: 10th September
- IT Training Awards (IITT) – submission deadline: 30th September
- ELTons Awards – submission deadline: 30th September

Customer Contact Awards
- NOA Awards (National Outsourcing Association) – submission deadline: 9th July
- National Customer Service Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- WOW Awards – submission deadline: 27th August

Corporate Social Responsibility Awards
- BURA Awards Best Practice in Regeneration – submission deadline: Early July
- RSPCA Good Business Awards – submission deadline: 9th July
- VIBES Awards) – submission deadline: 9th July
- Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards – submission deadline: 19th July
- Green Awards – submission deadline: Mid September
- Social Enterprise Awards – submission deadline: Late September

IT Awards
- Retail Systems Award 2009 – submission deadline: 30th July
- Open Source Business Awards 2010 – submission deadline: 31st July
- Real IT Awards – submission deadline: Summer
- Hot Companies and Technologies – submission deadline: Late Summer
- Construction Computing Awards – submission deadline: 10th September
- The Internet Business Awards – submission deadline: 30th September

Marketing and Communications Awards
- DADI Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Screen Marketing and Distribution Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- Roses Design Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- AMEC Communications Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- Recruitment Business Awards – submission deadline: 23rd July
- Marketing Design Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- Corpcomms Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- The Eventia Awards – submission deadline: 3rd August
- BIMA Awards (British Interactive Media Association) – submission deadline: Early August
- CiB Communicators of the Year – submission deadline: 20th August
- Word of Mouth Marketing Awards – submission deadline: 17th September
- The DMA Awards – submission deadline: 10th September

Public Sector Awards
- Sustainable schools award – submission deadline: Ongoing
- Guardian Public Services Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- BETT Awards – submission deadline: 21st July
- CSP Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- The Civil Service Awards – submission deadline: 6th August
- The Compact Awards – submission deadline: Mid August
- Education Business Awards – submission deadline: 17th September
- Queen’s Anniversary Prize Scheme – submission deadline: Late September

Industry Specific Awards
- Telecoms – Radio Advertising Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Printing – Printweek Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Transport & Logistics – UK Bus Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Financial Services - The Financial Innovation Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Construction – British Urban Regeneration Awards – submission deadline: Early July
- Supply Chain – The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Construction – World Architecture Festival Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Telecoms & Mobile Technology – World Communication Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Digital and Media – Guardian Student Media Awards – submission deadline: 2nd July
- Publishing – The Henries awards – submission deadline: 5th July
- Retail – Garden Retail Awards – submission deadline: 6th July
- Digital and Media – The Fresh Awards – submission deadline: 7th July
- Financial Services - Insurance Fraud Awards – submission deadline: 9th July
- Healthcare- Military and Civilian Health Partnership Awards – submission deadline: 9th July
- Security – Security Excellence Awards – submission deadline: 9th July
- Health and Social Care – Occupational Health Awards – submission deadline: 9th July
- Property – European Property Awards – submission deadline: 11th July
- Construction – What House? Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- Financial Services - IPP Payroll and Pensions Excellence Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- Recycling services – Wales Recycling Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- Charity & Not for profit – Guardian Charity Awards – submission deadline: 16th July
- Health and Social Care – Mental Health Media Awards – submission deadline: Mid July
- Hospitality – The product Innovation Awards – submission deadline: 23rd July
- Financial Services - Accountancy Age Awards – submission deadline: 23rd July
- Health and Social Care – HSJ Awards (Health Service Journal) – submission deadline: 23rd July
- Manufacturing – Elektra – European Electronics Industry Awards – submission deadline: 23rd July
- Manufacturing – Manufacturer of the Year – submission deadline: 30th July
- Retail – Retail Systems Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- Financial Services - Cover Excellence Award – submission deadline: 30th July
- Financial Services - Insurance Times Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- Financial Services - Financial Adviser Service Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- Manufacturing – Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- Healthcare – Private Dentistry Awards – submission deadline: 30th July
- Freelance – Remote Worker Awards – submission deadline: 31st July
- Engineering – The British Engineering Excellence Awards – submission deadline: 31st July
- Telecoms & Mobile Technology – The M E Awards – submission deadline: 31st July
- Manufacturing – Future Manufacturing Awards – submission deadline: 31st July
- Legal services – Justice Awards – submission deadline: Late July
- Digital and Media – Institute of Videography Awards – submission deadline: 1st August
- Financial Services - Health Insurance Awards – submission deadline: 6th August
- Financial Services - Banking Technology Awards – submission deadline: 6th August
- Transport & Logistics – Greenfleet Awards – submission deadline: 6th August
- Telecoms & Mobile Technology – Mobile Content Awards – submission deadline: Early August
- Regeneration – Brownfield Briefing Remediation Innovation Awards – submission deadline: 12th August
- Digital and Media – Digital Magazine Awards – submission deadline: 15th August
- Design – Spark Awards – submission deadline: 15th August
- Financial Services - Gold Standard Awards – submission deadline: 20th August
- Agriculture – Farmers Weekly Awards – submission deadline: 28th August
- Travel & Tourism – Fleet Hero Awards – submission deadline: 29th August
- Manufacturing – Strategic Manufacturing – submission deadline: 31st August
- Food and Drink – SIBA Brewing Business Awards – submission deadline: Late August
- Travel & Tourism – International Travel Journal Awards – submission deadline: Late August
- Journalism – The Paul Foot Award – submission deadline: 1st September
- Food and Drink – The British Curry Awards – submission deadline: 1st September
- Construction – The Builders Merchants Awards – submission deadline: 3rd September
- Healthcare – Premier Awards – submission deadline: 3rd September
- Legal services – The Personal Injury Awards – submission deadline: 6th September
- Publishing – International Customer Publishing Awards – submission deadline: Early September
- Legal Services – The British Legal Awards – submission deadline: 8th September
- Construction – Architectural Review Awards – submission deadline: 10th September
- Financial Services - Asset Finance Europe Awards – submission deadline: September
- Financial Services - Consumer Moneyfacts Awards – submission deadline: September
- Utilities – Utilities Industry Achievement Awards – submission deadline: 10th September
- Financial Services - IPE Awards – submission deadline: 11th September
- Healthcare – Dentistry Awards – submission deadline: 13th September
- Construction – The Civic Trust Awards – submission deadline: Mid September
- Travel & Tourism – Business Travel World Awards – submission deadline: 13th September
- Financial Services - Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards – submission deadline: 17th September
- Education – Education Business Awards – submission deadline: 17th September
- Travel & Tourism – Fleet Europe Awards – submission deadline: 21st September
- Health and Social Care – GSK Impact Awards – submission deadline: Late September
- Transport & Logistics – London Transport Awards – submission deadline: Late September
- Property – International Property Awards – submission deadline: 26th September
- Overseas Projects – The British Expertise Awards – submission deadline: Late September
- Education – Queen’s Anniversary Prize Scheme – submission deadline: Late September

The hyperlinks for these and numerous other awards can be found at http://www.boost-marketing.co.uk/awards/

This week we’re looking at using Twitter tools as part of your marketing strategy.

Twitter isn’t hard to use, but there are some handy tools to make it much easier. Try:

Tweetdeck: helps you divide the people you are following into columns – much easier to see at a glance who’s saying what. You can add in search columns to make it easier to follow topics of interest to you. It also allows you to link Twitter up with Linked in and Facebook

Hootsuite: Does all of the above and allows you to schedule tweets in advance; very helpful if you are planning marketing messages for the month ahead.

Twitterfeed: A helpful tool to automate linking up Twitter, blogs and Facebook. Check out Friendfeed too.

Social Oomph: Allows you to vet followers, send automated replies and schedule tweets in advance.

Twitbacks: Customise the way your Twitter page appears so that you showcase your business in the space on the left side.

Twibes: join groups to help you find like minded tweeters, or start your own group.

Your Task for the week:

Which tool will you try out this week?

We’ll look at how Facebook can boost your business marketing next in this series. For more ideas to help your business grow, buy A Guide to Promoting Your Business: The Ultimate Workbook for Business Owners by Antonia Chitty.

Jonathan Jay runs NABO – an alliance of business owners across the UK – which is the only national business support organisation that’s free to join.

Business owners can join NABO for free at www.businessowners.org.uk.

Jonathan is passionate about helping business owners succeed and hates seeing them make stupid mistakes.

“Not having a marketing plan for your business is planning to fail,” Jonathan said.

“Every business, no matter what size it is, must have a set of clear goals and a marketing strategy to achieve it.

“Please don’t think I’m talking here about putting together a 12 page Word document that sits on your computer or on a shelf and never gets looked at.

“The best marketing plans I have ever seen take up no more than one page. But they help to keep the business focused on what it needs to do to grow: which markets it is in, what media it uses to communicate with clients, and what the marketing messages are.

“Planning your marketing doesn’t have to be a difficult process, but does need some careful thinking.”

NABO is an organisation dedicated to helping business owners grow their business is celebrating signing up its 35,000th member.

Charter members get a free 12 page newsletter posted to them every month, plus a heavily subsidised one day marketing, internet and business live seminar.

Jonathan launched NABO to help more business owners succeed with less hassle.

“Running your own business doesn’t have to mean more hours for less money,” he added.

“The key is to focus on the things that really matter, which for most businesses is improving their sales and marketing quickly so they get more clients.”

NABO supplies free information to its members every month on how their can improve their sales and marketing.

Its monthly Business Success newsletter also features case studies of members who have made a considerable difference to their business using NABO advice.

Business owners can join NABO for free at www.businessowners.org.uk.

The FSB is pleased that the Treasury has listened to concerns about hiking Capital Gains Tax to 50 per cent, and has chosen instead to increase it to 28 per cent for those on the highest incomes. The FSB welcomes moves to increase the Entrepreneurs Relief threshold to £5 million from £2 million. This relief was called for by the FSB under the previous administration.

The move to reduce the Small Companies Tax Rate to 20 per cent is welcomed and will help over 850,000 small firms. The FSB is also delighted that the Government will extend the Enterprise Finance Guarantee which was introduced following calls from the FSB and helps many small businesses who face difficulty in accessing credit.

The FSB welcomes the proposals to exempt new businesses from NICs but believes that this should also be extended to existing businesses, which have the capacity to employ people. This useful scheme should also be made UK-wide.

Moves to increase personal allowances by £1,000 are also welcomed as it will help to reduce the pressure on businesses from wage demands and give employees more cash in their pockets.

Government plans to hike VAT to 20 per cent from 17.5 per cent will hurt small businesses in the high street. However, we are pleased that there is some time to go before the increase takes place and it is interesting to note that common sense has prevailed with the increase coming into play on 4 January 2011 and not on New Year’s Day.

For many small businesses insurance on many items is a must and the proposal to increase Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) from five to six per cent is a tax on responsible business and should be reversed.

The FSB was pleased to see that its campaign to save many businesses in the tourist sector has reaped results with the Chancellors announcement that tax breaks for Furnished Holiday Lettings will continue.

While the Chancellor referred to stability in fuel prices, the FSB is concerned that proposals for a fair fuel stabilizer to control erratic movements in the price of fuel were not announced today.

John Walker, National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses, said:

“The measures announced in the Emergency Budget will go a long way to reducing the deficit and will please the 93 per cent of FSB members who called for a clear plan on tackling the country’s debt.

“The increase in VAT to 20 per cent will however, hurt small firms who will have to pass the increase on to their customers, unlike big business which can absorb the cost.

“We welcome moves to give a national insurance holiday to start-up firms, but are concerned that with 70 per cent of firms operating below capacity, those businesses already trading will not be helped. We need to see a full reversal of NICs increases to fully offset the ‘tax on jobs’ which the previous administration initiated.”

It is really important to make the most of social media for your business so over the next few weeks your emails will all be about social media. You wouldn’t turn down someone offering you a handful of tenners would you? Nor would you walk on by if someone came up to you in the street and said, “I’ve heard about your business and it sounds right up my street – can you tell me more?” If you aren’t  tweeting, you are actually turning away potential sales and missing the chance to tell customers all about your business and why it is just what they need.

Twitter is a simple concept, but it can seem hard to work out how best to use it. The sign up page is easy, and writing 140 character messages takes next to no time. What can seem tricky, though, is to get the right balance of messages that motivate people to buy and interesting items to attract followers. Plus, should you be tweeting about personal matters as well as business? Read on for some guidance.

Twitter is great because it is another way to build relationships, and relationships help people to know you, to trust you and to buy from you whether you run a tiny business or have your sights set on becoming an international enterprise. It allows you to respond rapidly to people’s enquiries, find those who want to know about what you offer and spread the word about sales and promotions.

The way to make Twitter work for you is to have a strategy. Think of 12 promotions and offers that you will be running this year – that’s one for each month. Then, plan your month’s marketing activities around that promotion, and tie your tweets in too. Use a service like SocialOomph.com to schedule in tweets highlighting that month’s promotion. I find a countdown like ‘just 3 days left for this month’s offer’ works to add an incentive for people to click through to your site.

Your Task for this week:

Decide on 12 promotions you will offer this year.

Sign up to Twitter if you’re not already registered.

Sign up to Social Oomph or Hootsuite and start planning in tweets about your promotion.

Try out different times of day and frequency of posts and see what works well for your business.

Next week find out about some tools to help you use Twitter.