CYMRU MARKETING JOURNAL

Cymru Marketing Journal - (CMJUK) - Online Business Journal & Digital Marketing Agency. Business News, Directory, SEO, Social Media Management, Advertising, Reviews, Forum, Market Research, Content Writing & Website Design. Thinking Local, Acting Global.

Category: BUSINESS CONSULTING (Page 2 of 4)

Does posting URLs in comments be of concern?

Wed, November 03, 2021 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

Does posting URLs in comments be of concern?

It was brought to my attention today that adding an URL within a comment to a post can be interpreted as spammy and unprofessional (and I quote “needy“). This was a eureka moment for me because now I was given an opportunity to write about it.

I will link other articles I have found on other marketing websites that all basically say the same.

It has to take a top marketer to stop all the rumors and false information flying about.

Posting URLs in Comments Debunked.

If you post a picture or text-only post on LinkedIn and state “link in the comments,” would your post be penalized (i.e., receive lower impressions/views and lower engagement)? This may have been the case some time ago but it is not so any longer. (The instigator of the post this morning, automatically went on the defense and called the person I have got information from a “Moron”). I did not respond to the insinuation.

Here is What I have found out and is backed by credible sources.

Research conducted by https://growthrocks.com showed a study on the reach and click-through rate of LinkedIn posts with the link in comments and found reach to be almost three times higher on posts with the link in comments:

Linkedin Reach

According to Guy Kawasaki who conducted the research reported in mid-2017 amazing findings on his LinkedIn account when he added the link in the comments:

Linkedin Post Types

Guy Noted his LinkedIn post with the link in the comments section received three times the views over traditional link posts. (Views on personal profiles are equivalent to impressions on business pages.)

These two claims inspired the Social Media Lab to run a small experiment to see if they could verify this technique.

https://www.agorapulse.com/social-media-lab/linkedin-comments-link/

In conclusion, it was found that Hypothesis: LinkedIn is not punishing posts with the phrase “link in the comments.”

Data Testing LinkedIn “Link in Comments” Strategy

Data collected found impressions 169.29% higher on posts with the link in the comments, thus there is no punishment by LinkedIn using this technique.

But we need to delve deeper and what can happen if someone comments on a post and leaves an external link of their own. what would happen to your post?

In 2017, Facebook announced a change to its algorithm designed to reduce the reach of posts with click-bait and low-quality links. At the time this followed Google’s lead of penalizing lower quality content and intrusive ads and pop-ups that affected the user experience. However, in 2016, an update to the Facebook algorithm aimed to rank posts with engaging links higher in people’s feeds.

The topic of external links on social platforms is a hotly debated one.

If your link is ‘good’ (i.e. not click-baiting spammy rubbish) then will it affect your post’s reach or not?

External links act like backlinks although like any link you will find on the internet the link basically acts as an exit for users who are then directed elsewhere on the web.

Will the link damage your credibility, well let just say if the link posted does not match your niche and looks spammy then you have every right and are in control to remove the comment.

Going back to this morning I have been following a Super Yacht Hospitality Event Organiser for a few years and his content sometimes, very funny and sometimes crap has always caught my attention. I was planning on booking a VIP weekend for my 60th Birthday but it looks he has now lost a customer. He metaphorically speaking bit his nose to spite his face.

It turned out he had a bee in his bonnet because he went on a rant stating my link posted by me was and I quote”needy” in which I hit back stating his posts “Buy from me now as I have to feed the kids” were needier than my link, obviously this hit a nerve because he called it tongue in cheek humor and he could write what he wanted.

I tried handing an olive branch to keep the peace and even asked him to send me a banner so that I could advertise his business for free. I told him the link I sent him was not selling anything and that if he put a link in my comments I would not be so upset. I even tried to be the bigger person and apologized several times.

When I told my daughter who is studying marketing management at Cardiff University that he had blocked me, her words were his loss. She knew my plans for my birthday where I was planning on having a weekend on a Super Yacht. I guess I will have to look for another organizer and promote them instead.

What people fail to realize especially if they do not know me that well is if you cross me you do not get a second chance. I will not mention this person’s name or the company he represents but all I will say is he will see my posts including this one as he and I have mutual connections and he will know this post was about him.

What you should also do is act professionally and not draw attention to yourself. If the commentator shared a link that was found to be beneficial to you and your network, you should not bite the hand that feeds you and you should be civil. I was offering free advertising and trying to help him.

What you should not do is block the person, accuse them of hijacking your post, because “a happy customer will tell their friends and family whilst an unhappy customer will tell the world”.

By criticizing the commentator you stand to lose business especially if they happen to work in the marketing industry and maybe contemplating buying your product or service further down the line.

LinkedIn has stopped penalising posts with external links in 2020

It appears that LinkedIn has now stopped penalizing posts for containing external links.

In Summary

No one really knows for certain how social media algorithms work at any given time, and we also don’t know if or when LinkedIn might return to penalizing external links. There’s a lot of guesswork and bet-hedging that goes on in the social media community, all of which muddies the waters for therapy business owners who just wish social media could be simpler!

#socialmedia #socialmediacomments #socialmediabacklinks #eternallinks #socialmediacommentating #socialmediacomments #comments

How To Get More Clients

Mon, September 06, 2021 / RENATA BARNES / 0 Comments

How To Get More Clients

Regardless of what industry you are in, you always want more business. However, for startups, it is even more daunting when your phone does not ring or you have tonnes of emails with people selling you things but you have no inquiries.

So you have got a business plan and you think you have it all worked out but you still have no customers so what do you do?

In this article, I will list some ideas that you may not have thought about.

But first, we have to establish the difference between a small business and a large powerhouse. With a corporation or business that has been established for many years their brand name is well known and people will always choose a well-known brand over a lesser-known one.

If you are just starting out or are struggling to get business through the door, you may have to adopt different strategies to get you noticed. If this is the case you need your business to be in the news you need to be consistent and not hide behind your brand but instead be out there flying your flag high.

A more established company will have more money to spend on advertising and on staff and employee incentives. These companies use marketing agencies to help them get more exposure and will encourage their staff to publicize their company, products, and services

If you are a small business for example of 1-10 employees and your advertising budget may be on a shoestring, you have to invent ways to advertise your brand on next to nothing.

So here is a list of things to do to increase business.

(Some are free and some are pay per click or editorial or offline advertising suggestions)

  1. Start a podcast, talk about your company, conduct interviews with people that are making the news in the same industry as you.
  2. Start a Vlog and set up your own YouTube Channel.
  3. Consider Video Marketing, design your own videos or hire an agency.
  4. Start a Blog and write regular content. Do make sure the domain name has the exact match searchable keywords and phrases.
  5. Perform a SEO audit report and see how you can optimise your website/blog to perform better.
  6. Get backlinks.
  7. Get Like for Likes on social media groups and pages.
  8. Guest blog for free on other peoples blogs or comment on their articles. Some companies even pay you if they find your articles useful.
  9. Network with other businesses, LinkedIn is a good place to start and if you have networking events in your area consider going to one or two and start making acquaintances.
  10. Make use of all your social media platforms. Create business pages and join groups and like, comment and share your blog posts and interact with other business owners, don’t forget to use hashtags and if permitted backlinks to your page or site.
  11. Set up a business forum in your niche through WordPress, they have plugins that are already designed for you.
  12. Join Business Forums and interact.
  13. Set up a (chat) on your website and blogs so that you can interact with your visitors (www.talk.to is free). Remember to have the chat bot on during office hours.
  14. Share Banner Ads on Social Media, Platforms, Pages and Groups.
  15. Advertise in Business Directories (most are free).
  16. Advertise on Classified Ads (Some are free, like Gumtree, Craiglist and FreeAds).
  17. Interact with local communities, some have websites (Quora, Reddit) aswell as Facebook groups.
  18. Set up a local workshop.
  19. Do Public Speaking.
  20. Offer free business consultation if you are in the industry of helping business grow.
  21. Offer to advertise other peoples businesses, products and service on your site free of charge for a limited time.
  22. Sell your advertising space to business owners.
  23. They say the money is in the list, set up a newsletter and send out information to your contacts. Offer incentives to get people to sign up to your newsletters.
  24. Consider Affiliate Marketing where you get paid if someone clicks an ad you are displaying on your site or through an email list or newsletter.
  25. Pay people to advertise your business through companies such as ‘Clickbank’ ‘Rakuten Linkshare’, ‘Shareasale’.
  26. Write an ebook that you can offer your customers in exchange for their email.
  27. Set up an event such as a conference, auction, or networing seminar.
  28. Sponsor an event, this could mean you may have to either pay/domate or offer your services for free. This will give exposure to your company and your brand.
  29. Organise an open house and offer wine tasting or set up a stall and sell your products and services. The series on Netflix “Selling Sunset” hosted parties and a wedding in a few of their luxury properties they were selling to VIP guests, multi-million dollar real estate.
  30. Set up an auction or fashion show and get other businesses to donate something and charge an entry fee for the evening of the event with your brand name in the limelight.
  31. Partner with a small business, offer your products and services at a discounted price and ask them to do the same in exchange. They may be a Web Designer but may not offer marketing, whilst you as a marketing agency could offer your service in exchange for leads and visa versa.
  32. Public Relations – make an announcement on PR Agency websites where journalist can write about you.
  33. Create a Google Business Page and update regularly just like you would a blog.
  34. Set up a contest/competition.
  35. Offer Discounts and Incentives to all you current and prospective clients.
  36. Upsell to your existing clients.
  37. Offer Free Trials and Demos.
  38. Wear your insignia and get your employees to wear branded apparel.
  39. Send out compimetary useful merchandise with your company logo, website and telephone number.
  40. Ask for referrals, offer you clients incentives that if they refer you, you will give them something in return, it could be a product, service or discount.
  41. Get your family and friends to spread the word.
  42. Consider leaflet drops to businesses or homes depending on the industry you are in.
  43. Sell a course online to educate people in your industry.
  44. Sell merchandise with your company name.
  45. Set up a Wikipedia page.
  46. Set up a Crunchbase profile.
  47. Pitch your business to angel investors, private equity firms to raise funding and spread awareness. Angel investors may put you in touch with some of their contacts if they think your business is viable, in exchange for a commission on every introduction.
  48. Set up a squeeze page using click funnels to your offer.
  49. Consider advertising your busness on other sites (rate card advertising prices will apply).
  50. Google Ads not only help with ranking they will get you on the first page of Google instantaneously providing you meet the bidding price of your daily budget.
  51. Facebook Ads, can fine tune the audience you wish to target.
  52. Instagram Ads – Instagram has over 500 million users per month.
  53. Start following people and businesses in your niche on Instagram and interact with their posts.
  54. Newspaper Ads.
  55. Editorial Publication Ad Campaign.
  56. Guerilla Marketing, do something outlandish but first get permission from the local council and the police. If you are a web designer set up a office type table and chair in a busy high street and when people ask what you are doing you can hand out your business cards. Baroness Michelle Mone did a stunt promoting her ‘Ultimo Bra’ brand back in the day when she was starting out by having actors dressed up as plastic surgeons protesting that ‘Ultimo’ was putting them out of business. The day of the event all her bra’s got sold out. Hire a plane or drone with the flogo and have your advert flown sky high.
  57. Promotional giveaways, you can do this digitally or can set up a physical stall, you can giveaway products and services but do get permission first if you plan to do it in a public place.
  58. Make the most of trade shows by either networking or setting up a stand an expo.
  59. Create your own App.
  60. Billboard advertising is another way to attract business, such as bus stops and on sides of buildings.
  61. Advertise on Publish Transport on the side of buses and taxis.
  62. Send your products and services to influencers and celebrities and ask them to endorse your brand.
  63. Advertise your business on Black Cabs if you are in the UK and Yellow Cabs in the States.
  64. TV & Radio Advertising.
  65. Help non profit organisations by donating or marketing, either way the charities will advertise you.
  66. Go physically into businesses that are in the same niche as yours and if you are a pet sitting/dog walker business go to your local vets and ask them to display your posters or brochures. If you are selling cruises get your local high street travel agents to display your information.
  67. Offer your services for free for the first month or so, get people to sign contracts as they could take you up on the offer and then walk away once it is ended. Or if you are selling a product why not “try before you buy” type of offer.
  68. Ask businesses if they would like free exposure to their products and services and display, their merchandise in your establishment, moreover they may also do the same for you.
  69. Go to cafes and grocery stores where they have message boards and display your information, or if you are more high end, visit hospitality venues and advertise your products and services there. Give them incentives to market your business such as an exclusive discount and mention their name in the print.
  70. Start a directory of businesses in your niche and offer both free and paid listings. When constructing the directory contact each business owner and tell them they have a free listing. This will give you the opportunity to explain who you are and offer them more exposure with more prominent paid advertising. Instead of waiting for the mountain to come to Mohammed, get Mohammed to go to the mountain.

Note From The Editor.

When promoting your business try to expand your products and services, it is good to have your fingers in many pies.

As well as the above-mentioned hints and tips, re-train your mindset and stay focused and positive. Be assertive with yourself and do not allow any negativity to get in your way. Just before you go to sleep visualize your ultimate goals and desires and imagine yourself already have acquired your wealth, do this every night for 30 days and see changes manifesting. Research neuroscience and the power of thought.

Do some research into neuroplasticity and a book that is highly recommended read is Napoleon Hill “Think and Grow Rich”

Further Reading:

https://blog.wishpond.com/post/59612395517/52-tips-how-to-market-on-instagram

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Pros and Cons Hiring a Contractor vs Employee

Tue, August 10, 2021 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

Pros and Cons Hiring a Contractor vs Employee

When businesses start up they may invariably decide that you need extra help.

Most small businesses start by hiring outsourcing their work to agencies and freelancers, but eventually, they may decide to hire staff instead to make things more permanent. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of hiring employees vs. independent contractors and how starting out can save you money hiring companies rather than employing staff.

Hiring Employees

Hiring employees, a business owner is obliged to pay a wage regardless if there is any work or not. The perfect example is being furloughed during lockdown; this was a headache for most business owners unable to trade.

An employee is basically a person who works for a person or company whereby the employee is under the control of the employer and has to work a certain number of hours each week.

The advantages of hiring an employee are you have sole control of the employee’s work schedule which would mean the employee only works for you and is trained and guided by you. You have few restrictions or limitations on what you can assign to the employee or about your ability to terminate the employee without paying out a contract.

However, by employing a staff member, you have to abide by the laws and regulations of your given country. You cannot hire and fire unless it is legally warranted. You have to abide by the payment of wages or salaries, overtime, and other work rules.

You must adhere to comply with payroll tax requirements, including paying National Insurance and Taxes, Pensions. (This part is an example for the UK, other countries have different payroll rules).

Hiring Independent Contractors

By hiring an independent contractor, you pay for a job or assignment. You do not have to worry about paying for holidays or sick leave. You do not have to worry about paying wages and P.A.Y.E.

The advantages of hiring an independent contractor are you assign a job to meet a deadline and once the job is completed you have no other obligation to the person or company you hired. You can assign duties to an independent contractor and impose a deadline, but you cannot tell that person how to get the job done. You can however ask the independent sub-contractor to sign a non-disclosure agreement to ensure your trading information is not shared with their competitors.

An independent contractor sets his/her/their own hours and fees which are agreed by the client and he/she can work for other companies as well as yourself. An independent contractor often provides his/her/their own equipment and tools i.e., computers, cameras, software, and may come to your place of work or work remotely based on their terms and conditions.

However, when you are doing your tax returns (HMRC UK) you should also include that you have paid sub-contractors.

To be defined as an independent contractor the following must apply:

  • He/She/They consult for multiple businesses.
  • He/She/They control the hours worked.
  • He/She/They choose where they work.
  • He/She/They are ineligible for employment benefits from your business.
  • He/She/They work independently and choses their location where to work.
  • He/She/They decide how they will complete the work.
  • He/She/They incur costs that relate to the comletion of the assignment.
  • He/She/They are experts in a chosen field with the relevant qualifications and experience.
  • He/She/They are responsible for paying self-employment tax.
  • He/She/They are not entitled to workers’ or unemployment compensation benefits.
  • He/She/They are not eligible for overtime pay.
  • He/She/They are not entitled to holiday pay, sick pay or maternity leave.

Disclaimer

This post is meant for UK Businesses and in other countries, federal laws will be different, so you must check the rules and regulations appertaining to your location.

#employee #independantcontractor #subcontractor #selfemployed #outsourcing #hiring #staff #payroll #furlough #furloughed #employment #contractor

Wales Independent Marketing and Brand Company

Wed, July 14, 2021 / KATIE CONROY / 0 Comments

Do you need more traffic to your website? As a Wales independent marketing and brand company, Cymru Marketing offers worldwide digital marketing, including outbound marketing, blog posts, and social media advertising. Contact us today!

Photo courtesy of Pexels

About the Author: Katie Conroy is the creator of AdviceMine.com. She particularly enjoys writing about lifestyle topics and created the website to share advice she has learned through experience, education, and research. 

Early Steps To Take for a Long-Lasting Business

Starting a new business means juggling many responsibilities — not only for your livelihood but for that of your partners and employees. Administrative duties aren’t the most glitzy or appealing parts of the business. But if you develop effective and reliable methods to get them done — like these from Cymru Marketing — you’ll be closer to launching a successful business.

What, exactly, are the least appealing but most important behind-the-scenes tasks you need to do for your young business?

Banking Matters: Accounting and Payroll

From the moment your business launches and years into its lifecycle, you want to have organized, thoroughly documented financial data. As SmallBizDaily points out, accounting information helps you analyze your business’s performance, and it’s important for filing taxes — errors or missed deadlines in your business’s taxes can result in penalties. As your business grows, so will your accounting needs, so you may decide to hire an accountant or use software to take care of the books.

Similarly, a meticulous payroll system will serve you well both in the early days of your business and after it’s fully established. If your payroll taxes aren’t managed correctly, you may incur penalties, so look for a service that offers penalty protection.

The ideal small biz software apps will also streamline other payment processes to save you time, like employee time tracking, fast direct deposit, and automatic payroll calculation with all the payroll forms applied correctly.

Getting Your Start-Up on Its Feet: Funding Options

Accounting and payroll are financial processes that come into play only when your organization has actually secured funding. Funding is perhaps the most basic requirement of having any kind of business, notes Think Latitude, so even if it’s not an appealing part of the work, it is a priority. There are many ways to go about financing your enterprise, each with different advantages.

If you’re starting a business that has a chance at explosive growth, you may consider seeking out venture capital funding from investors. If investors choose to work with you, they can be a huge help in providing the money (“seed capital”) you need to launch your business. They’ll also most likely become members of your company or have some portion of ownership in the business.

Other strategies for funding a new business are crowdfunding, an internet-based effort, or self-financing, which means that you pay the expenses of starting the business yourself and own the business in its entirety.

The Organization at Its Core: Choosing the Operational Structure

One way to approach the need for funding, and the structure of your business as a whole, is by choosing the type of operational structure you’ll be running. Several options are available, including forming a limited company, a sole trader, a partnership, or a limited liability partnership (LLP).

Each type of organization comes with its own set of pros and cons, all dependent on what’s the best fit for your business. For instance, the LLP structure offers both immediate and long-term advantages: It limits personal liability in cases of debt or bankruptcy and is pretty easy to create and operate either on your own, with a lawyer, or through a service.

Starting a business is one of the most exciting career steps you can take, and streamlining the chores of getting started leaves more room for you to enjoy yourself. When technical tasks aren’t stressing you out or slowing you down, you can focus on perfecting the product or service that you set out to share with the world, celebrating what you’ve accomplished alongside your team, and maybe even taking time off.

#startups #startupswales #businessconsultation #consultation #startingabusiness #newbusiness #smallbusiness #marketingcardiff #cymrumarketing

How To Increase Business & Followers.

Mon, February 15, 2021 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

I noticed today a post on LinkedIn from someone that was connected with me but was not an internet marketer per-se, stating “How to increase followers from 30K to 225K followers” in five minutes per day by commenting #yes

The first thing that came to mind is he has no authority to advise considering he is and what I saw was a clever click bait hack and nothing more. This is a disappointment when people are genuinely looking for answers and come across someone just looking out for him/herself, simply having people click the post for the post to go no where.

Therefore I have taken upon myself to write this post to help individuals increase followers/business. This method can be applied to all social media platforms:

1: Optimize Your Profile Pages, optimise your cover photo and also your profile picture. Make your profile picture look professionally done. Remember to be aware of your background in the photo. A picture says a thousand words. Try to get a professional head shot done at a local photographic studio (when they are open again) or get a friend to take a photo without any distractions in the backdrop.

2: Start with connecting with people, most social media platforms say only connect with the people you know, but what if you have a genuine enquiry, the best thing is to find their email addresses to write to them first before sending them a connection request, especially of you do not know them.

3: Write articles on your pages and link back to articles you have written on your blogs and share these articles with your connections.

4: Make your post intriguing only give a little away and entice the reader to click you post for more information.

5. Share photos on your social media platform pages, instagram is good for this or do infographics and add titles to your posts.

6: Be creative and publish videos, add captivating content that people will be willing to watch. Add humour, funny videos attract peoples attention.

7: Go Live. Livestreaming is not for everyone but if you are happy broadcasting an event or milestone as long as it has good content you will get people watching.

8: Advertise your brochures and share your pdf’s on your business pages.

9: Use hashtags when closing your post text.

10: Don’t forget to tag your connections and companies that may find your post useful.

11: Give your followers valuable advice. Everyone is a guru these days and some can be better at it than others but you only have one chance of being an expert in your niche and the more followers you have the more well known you will become.

12: RSS feeds are a good way of finding trending posts, create “breaking news” posts that perhaps people outside your region may not have heard of. Do not copy posts word for word as that is called plagiarism and you will be penalised by search engines. For me I always use one of my blogs to write articles which I then share with my connections and although I may read something I will scramble it into my own words, even giving my own perspective.

13: Be consistant and active everyday on all your social media platforms. I am perhaps the world worst as I only seem to hang out on LinkedIn because most of my work is B2B but recently I have been asked to do B2C hence I need to alter my mind set and concentrate on Facebook pages and groups more.

14: Create viral posts this could be something like a give away or a competition with a deadline.

15: Join groups on your social media platforms.

16: Create your own groups for your different niches.

17: Create your own business pages on all your social media platforms, keep your professional and personal pages seperate.

18: If you have an event coming up or thinking of creating one, social media is a good place to advertise and market yourself.

19: Once you have a following on your social media platforms do reach out and collaborate with your connections.

20: Set the buttons on your profiles to a “Follow” button.

21: Create a call to action in every post.

22: Promote your social media profiles everywhere, including your website, blogs and email signatures.

23: Cross promote your profile on your other social media channels. For me I have on default business card website that I point people to, this saves time typing out each social media platform I am connected to.

24: Pay per click advertising campaigns are not only good with Google & Bing but they are also is a good way of connecting with people through your social media platforms. Facebook & Instagram is a place where you can connect B2C, this is good if you are targeting a specific category or people. You can fine tune your specifications to the location, age, gender and interests.

25: Try to update your profile page frequently, a stagnant page is boring and will show your audience that you are frequesnt at updating. If you have new services, always keep them updated.

26: Always reply to comments, no matter how trivial, ignoring a comment makes the person who wrote it worthless. Obviously if you have hundreds of thousand of comments pick out the ones that stand out and thank everyone in a generic comment.

27: When people share your posts and pages, thank them.

28: Get your biggest fans to endorse you, this applies to LinkedIn more so than any other social media channel and visa versa, you will be amazed how may people who you endorse will endorse you back. The same goes with review ask your customers to write a review about your brand.

29: If you have businesses that wish you to promote them, do offer to write recommendations, this gives you exposure aswell as exposure for your client, but if the businesses wish more exposure you could offer other marketing strategies which you could potentially charge for the service. I do this free of charge by adding banner ads to all my social media pages and groups I am connected on. This is short lived advertising but for a permanent fixture on my blogs I charge a monthy/yearly fee.

30: Exact match searchable keyword and phrases are so important not only in your domain name but on your website, meta tags and social media pages. When choosing a Facebook page for example use words that people would use to search for your product or service rather than your unknown brand name. Your brand name will become popular over time and it will not be an overnight success unless you spend a lot of money on advertising, I just do not mean Google Ads I mean in publications, newspapers, radio and TV.

31: Make your social media profile searchable, make them public.

32: When commenting on other peoples posts, do not get personal and do not get into trolling arguments if someone does not see the value of your comment. Be professional and do not sell things on peoples posts. You could add a backlink to your company as a signature or hashtag but thats it, don’ be the pushy sales person.

33: Give incententives to get people to share your posts. This could be a free e-book or a discount voucher.

35: Become an influencer.

36. Become a public speaker.

37: Create educational webinars, podcasts, tutorials, use youtube and share your content on all social media platforms.

38. Create a SEO link wheel, of your websites, blogs and social media platforms.

39. Start a blog and add RSS feeds so that in engages people’s interests.

40. Have a subscribe widget or pop up so that you can capture peoples emails and then send them updates or newsletters. Do not install the popup until a person is about to exit your site and not before. I believe it is off putting to have a subscribe popup the moment you attempt to access a site. You need to earn my trust and loyalty before I give my email away.

41. Integrate a chat widget into your websites and blogs so that when visitors visit your sites you can engage with them.

42: Guest blog on other notable websites.

43: Become a podcast interviewer. Invite people to join you in a discussion.

44. Write a book about you and your niche and publish your services and products.

45. Leave business cards on noticeboards in supermarkets, cafes (when they open again).

46. Make flyers and post them through peoples doors.

47. Consider giving out freebies, such as buy one get one free.

48. Start a competition.

49. Consider getting people to market you using affiliate links. https://rakutenadvertising.com/en-uk/

50. Advertise in Magazines and in Newspapers.

51. Offer to do something for free, this could be free web hosting in my case or free marketing or promotion.

52. Wear promotional clothing.

53. Give away promotional merchandise.

54. Word of mouth advertising get all your family and friends to promote you and get their family and friends and before you know it you have a network of connections.

55. Do outbound marketing, like picking up the phone and calling or writing snail mail letters.

56. Enlist the help of other advocates in your industry, find a mentor.

57. As your employees to engage in your social media pages, make them contributors.

58. Post your articles at ceratin times of the day. I find that during working hours people are busy getting on with business. So you have to pick times that appeal to your network browsing times, otherwise you posts may not get a look in. However according to LinkedIn’s their busiest hours are in the morning and midday from Monday to Friday. This will ensure your post to get maximum reach.

59. Add multiple admins to you pages and ask your colleagues to help you.

60. Join all the social media platforms and follow companies and people of interest.

Sending Emails to CEO’s

Mon, February 01, 2021 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

Sending emails to ceo’s.

My Pet Peeve is that I have emailed some CEO’s directly of late and have other people email me back, not the CEO themselves.

If I have taken the trouble to seek a CEO’s email out, as some are difficult to get hold of, you would think they would have the decency to reply. Instead I get emails from other people underneath them.

If I wanted the opinion of another person I would no doubt have seeked them out also.

If I get emails directly, I do not portray myself to be “so very important” that I cannot answer my own emails. I most certainly would not employ someone to open my emails and filter what is worth me reading, I would somehow use the money paying someone instead to go use.

Yes I hear you, the CEO has created a job for someone, I will no doubt agree but surely making an employee more proactive and getting them to find more business is better than someone just responding to emails all day.

Why do CEO’s act like they are from another planet. Nearly all started out the same way as most of us and only a few were born with silver spoons in their mouths.

I am not talking about A-Lister Celebrities, who potentially have millions of fans emailing them, in which they may need help answering all the fan mail, I am talking about owners of companies, who also think they are untouchable and think because they have risen above the clouds they are essentially no longer human and have minions doing the work for them, whilst they sit back and reap the rewards.

To employ someone to respond to emails is basically lazy and pretentious, which I certainly I am not.

By getting someone else to respond on your behalf it like saying “Look at me, I am SO VERY IMPORTANT AND BUSY and you are an insignificant person to me, in which I will not respond directly and will get someone else to respond on my behalf”.

Obviously I have enough common sense to filter out what is in need of my attention and what is not. If on the other hand I had an email that may need investigating and I was too busy to do the work myself I would get someone to do the work and then write it out but I would still send it from my inbox as courtesy.

It really gets to me, the biggger the company the less they care about their customers and its all about how much money they make rather than seeing a customer happy.

“Without customers, followers and connections you would not be living in your fancy houses driving your fancy cars”.

I know enough that even if my emails have not been read by the CEO’s I always have my platform to fall back on if I get a lame response from someone underneath them. Never judge a book by its cover or underestimate anyone.

“No matter how successful you are, remember where you came from and the strugggles and sacrifices you made getting where you are today”.

No matter how important you may be and even if you are one of the fortune 500 it is always good to show empathy to your followers, connections and customers, otherwise you have the misfortune of alienating yourself from the rest of the world. Showing people that you care will only entice more worshippers.

When contacting CEO’s evaluate is your email worthy of a response as CEO’s are busy people and although I made light of it earlier, they do not all sit in swanky restaurants sipping cocktails all day, they actually do work and jolly hard too, so you need to ask yourself does your email warrant a response.

I personally have eleven inboxes open on my phone and every few hours scroll and mark the ones that need my attention.

Finally, if all CEO’s thought they were untouchable we would not have LinkedIn and the ones that do and do not connect with you after you send them a message may find they have missed out on an opprtunity to get more business and added exposure and as I see it, thats their loss not mine.

Royal Mail VS Courier

Sat, January 16, 2021 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

Royal Mail Poor and Costly Service.

As my readers are aware by now I own several blogs and today I posted on: https://disabledentrepreneur.uk/royal-mail-vs-courier

I am a marketing influencer consultant with a following of nearly 10K people on LinkedIn.

My concerns are that my daughter who suffers with Multiple Sclerosis is on the verge of a replase because of Royal Mail due to unnecassary anxiety and stress.

Now I have reached out to the CEO Stuart Simpson regarding the problem my daughter is faced with for comment.

The post should be titled “Royal Mail VS Carrier Pigeon”.

Hopefully we will be able to resolve this issue quickly without any fuss.

I will be updating this post at the bottom of this page as soon as I get a response.

My concerns are not only about the value of the parcel and deadline but also by far the most important my daughters health. Obviously the parcel is worth a lot of money for my daughter to be up in arms worrying.

If a company has a laid back attitude and says they will respond within 10 -35 days, that is simply not good enough.

If you have a problem fix it thats all I can say, employ more staff if you have to….

There are plenty competitors out there including possible startups so it would be worth evaluating logistic strategies to stay ahead of the competion.

Regarding cost.

If you are sending letters, then Royal Mail is an option, but email is far easier, quickerm cheaper and more secure. However, if you want to send parcels that are larger and heavier, a courier is without a doubt the most cost-effective option every time.

I remember sending parcels abroad that cost more than the content I was shipping using Royal Mail.

Royal Mail vs Couriers – Which One Works for your Business?

Chat Widget.

Even I have a chat widget on all my sites, it is not hard to implement and it gives confidence to the user that their question will be answered, without trudging through countless web pages. I personally detest when a company does not tell you straight but points you to a tutorials or web pages and has no chat widget.

Standard of Care.

When a company enters into a contract between the consumer and service provider they have to duty of standard care which may be expressed in the contract or be implied by statute.

The contract may impose an absolute obligation on the entity to perform. However, in the case of giving advice or providing some other professional service, the implied duty of reasonable care and skill is likely to apply (Section 13 SGSA 1982).

For example, when acting on behalf of a client in litigation, the solicitor is not guaranteeing success. The duty on the solicitor is to act with the care and skill that the client is entitled to expect from a professional. Similarly, when supervising the construction of a building, the surveyor is under a duty to act with the requisite care and skill. An additional absolute duty may be placed on the professional (for example, a surveyor may have contractually undertaken to spend a set number of hours each day at the site). The nature of any contractual obligation needs to be examined in each case.

Obviously the care expected between the consumer and the service provider is to ensure that the service is met and in the case of Royal Mail logistics are delivered from A to B., failing to do this, the consumer is entitled to monetary compensation.

https://www.humphreys.co.uk/personal/negligence-general/

FINAL THOUGHTS!

I understand the sheer volume of letters and parcels sent everyday can be overwhelming to comprehend and my daughter and I am are a drop in the ocean as far as Royal Mail are concerned. But if Amazon who I am an affiliate are on the ball there should be no excuse for Royal Mail.

Here is the compensation page it mentions nothing about if someone falls ill because of a direct consequence (Domino Effect) of Royal Mail’s actions.

UPDATE

19/01/21

I had a response back from the CEO of Royal Mail who said they would look into this for me. This does not solve the problem that even though I received the email 24 hours ago no one has bothered contacting my daughter and I.

Out of frustracion my daughter phoned Royal Mail today and was put on hold for an hour and ten minutes.

People should not have to wait this long to be put through to have a person on the other end obviously over worked and very stressed, having a tone in her voice and then saying that they are aware there is a backlog of deliveries in Cardiff Sorting Office (UK).

This news is no good to the customer who has a deadline to return a package.

What Is Royal Mail Doing?

Even a carrier pigeon can deliver faster than what they are doing right now.

They should never make excuses as with every obstacle there is always a solution.

Tell me something if there are so many people out of work because of lockdown surely they can employ people or use online virtual assistants to answer calls and message with online chat. They would not have to physically employ staff just hire a service provider that can alleviate the problem of answering calls.

As for the backlog of deliveries what is wrong with their logistics again they could outsource the work to other couriers.

Obviously I do not know how a sorting office runs as the closest I have been to one was to collect parcels but again there is always a solution to every problem.

I would like to know what Royal Mail will offer my daughter for all the stress and worry she has endured which is detrimental to her health?

Will I be promoting Royal Mail in future?, who knows we will have to wait and see in another update. I still have not shared this post on my social media pages as I am still waiting on a soultion to this problem, although the clock is ticking.

https://www.royalmail.com/retail-compensation-policy-loss

Making Waves – Public Relations.

Wed, January 06, 2021 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

Making Waves – Public Relations.

I was told today by a company that shall remain nameless as well as their industry that I should not be making waves, meaning i should not be writing news articles about a partiular topic.

My answer to that is, this is my job, I announce to the world what is on my mind, fact check everything and make companies more aware the latest news, reviews and regulations.

If a company goes to me and says do not make waves and argues with me that I should not be writing certain articles even though it does not directly involve them, means they either are afraid of something, have something to hide or do not like being told they are wrong.

The name of the game of business you have to listen and you have to learn.

I make it my job to know the facts and the law and hope that the information I write is useful.

Should a person not take my advice, that is there problem not mine.

When a company tells me I cannot do my job or question my motives I have to ask why?, there is also freedom of speech and anyone can write anything as long as it is not fake news.

Making waves allows people to notice what you have to say, as long as it is for the right reasons and done properly, you should not be stirring up a hornets nest if you do not want to get stung, as there is an element it can backfire. But providing you have all the evidence to back up your claim there is no reason to let your ideas, thoughts and comments be not known.

Are you a Spineless Jellyfish.

If you are a Spineless Jellyfish a person who is hard working, works by the book, but is underappreciated because they don’t speak up, then they will never get noticed.

Are you a Tuna.


However a Tuna Fish in the ocean of businesses may have the ability to stand up for themselves, may have a good network of friends and colleagues but won’t stand out from the school of fish as much as you would desire. In this case they need to brush up your public relations skills.

Are you a Shark.


Finally are you are a shark – like me and are one fearless fish in the sea! You have a presence that is well known however you want to to make a ripple in the waters, not create a crushing tidal wave.

So for the company that told me not to make waves they have missed the boat because i was going to give them a free marketing boost, especially seeing I found they have been in business for many years and are still not on the first page of Google organically. The other things is they have a hyphenated domain name, which is a no no in the world of SEO and have no cookie banner.

Always remember you do not who you are dealing with and where people make assumptions, this is wrong as the next nerdy person you speak to could be a Fortune 100 CEO of a Big Tech Company.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR is the act of story telling.  It spreads awareness of the brand, the product or service. PR is trying to influence an audience, to trust your brand, product or service and help to promote your idea and get the end user to purchase your product, support your position, or recognize your accomplishments. The Public Relations Society of America PRSA say “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Public relations is a communication strategy that builds public awareness and mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and the consumer.”

Advertising is paid media, public relations is earned media.

Our Fees.

Hourly Fee – £300.

Half Day Fee – £1,100.00

Full Day – £2000.00

20% Discount the more days you do.

***(Pricing excludes printing costs, distribution of materials and advertising costs).

We can commit to anywhere between 5 and 10 days each and every month for each campaign.

We believe having a large network of journalists, bloggers, influencers aswell as Fortune 100 Billionaires, Millionaires, Royalty and Law Makers, our news articles will spread awareness and will get noticed.

***We offer a free 30 minute consultation and ask our clients to point out their failures and their weaknesses so that we can construct a solid platform to work from. Knowing what the core problem is will help deliver strategic plans to put a company back on the right path.

PR Role is:

  1. To build strong relationships and networks with colleagues, clients and the media and answer enquiries from the media and other organisations.
  2. Monitor the media, including newspapers, magazines, journals, broadcasts, newswires, social media sites and blogs, for opportunities for clients.
  3. Research, write and distribute press releases to targeted media collate and analyse media coverage.
  4. Write and edit in-house magazines, case studies, speeches, articles and annual reports.
  5. Prepare and supervise the production of publicity brochures, handouts, direct mail leaflets, promotional videos, photographs, films and multimedia programmes.
  6. Undertake photo opportunities and coordinate studio or location photography.
  7. Organise events (such as press conferences, exhibitions, open days and press tours), source speakers and seek out sponsorship opportunities.
  8. Maintain and update information on the organisation’s website.
  9. Manage and update information and engage with users on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
  10. Prepare regular client reports and attend client meetings.
  11. Commission market research.
  12. Undertake research for new business proposals and present them to potential new clients.
  13. Foster good community relations through events such as open days and through involvement in community initiatives.
  14. Manage the PR aspect of a potential crisis situation.

Final Thoughts.

I try to help people as much as I can, but if they do not want to be helped then its up to them.

The tradesperson that I dealt with today and was representing the company basically ruined any chances the company could have had for free marketing, because of his dictatorship, aswell as not knowing exactly my job role.

Never assume anything and do take into account when you speak with someone you may not always know who you are talking to.

Always take an opportunity when it comes knocking on your door because like the company today they missed the boat even though I was not selling them anything, just giving them free advice, I was going to suggest helping them, but the dialogue did not happen and never will.

Also never judge a book by its cover!

Reasons Why You Will Never Be Rich.

Sun, January 03, 2021 / CMJUK / 0 Comments

This Is Why Most People Will Never Be Rich

  1. You are too complacent and too set in your ways to make changes. You like to play it safe.
  2. You have no ambition.
  3. Your attitude to money is wrong *What ever will be will be”.
  4. You believe high brand items and fancy cars will make you look rich, hence you give a false perception of yourself so that people think you are rich.
  5. You are very materialistic, you spend more than you earn because you want the best of the best and you want to look your best even though you cannot afford it.
  6. You do not respect money, you will squander money on trivial things.
  7. You value going to the pub over education (entertainment instead of learning something new).
  8. You’re afraid to take risks.
  9. You don’t have a plan of action. You do not know how to execute an idea.
  10. You have not set any goals.
  11. You spend more than you make.
  12. You do not have a budget.
  13. You do not save money, save 10% of your earnings.
  14. You do not invest.
  15. You do not consilidate your debts and eliminate them entirely.
  16. You do not perservere.
  17. You give up to easilly.
  18. You think investing is risky but fail to realise that not investing is the biggest risk of all.
  19. You put your eggs in one basket, meaning you do not have several income streams.
  20. You complain about not having enough money rather than doing something about it.
  21. You live for today & and have no plans for tomorrow.
  22. You believe money will just fall into your lap.
  23. You don’t think you have what it takes to succeed.
  24. You think you need to be lucky to have money including gambling or expecting to win the lottery.
  25. You’re scared of failure.
  26. You don’t have access investment strategies & high quality mentors.
  27. You want to get paid based on your time rather than on your value.
  28. You’re surrounding yourself with the wrong people.
  29. You want to get rich quick rather than doing any work.
  30. You don’t understand the fundamentals of a budget – spend less than you earn.
  31. You think money is the route of all evil.
  32. You take things to heart and not not do well with criticism.
  33. You do not have a passion and do not love what you do.
  34. You do not know how to solve problems, people need help with problem solving, you do not know how to get over obstacles or mistakes.
  35. You do not have patience, you expect to get rich quick.
  36. You do not have a mentor.
  37. You do not have a network of like minded people.
  38. You do not test your product or service with consumers.
  39. You do not take care of your mental or physical self.
  40. You work for a company but you do not own shares.

FINAL THOUGHTS.

How To Become Rich.

  1. You need to able to persuade, negotiate and sell.
  2. You need to be able to read people, know which people to trust.
  3. You need to share your knowledge, if people can see how you make money they are more likely to invest in you.
  4. Rich people master leverage, know how to delegate and crowd source.
  5. Grow a Network with like minded people and get a mentor.
  6. Master Energy Management. Sleep well, take care of your mind and your body.
  7. Learn to probem solve not only for yourself but for other people.
  8. Critical Time Path (CTP), know how to delagate your time management productively.
  9. Know how and when to take risks and manage money, including budgeting and investments.
  10. Be assertive, confident, focused and determned.
  11. Learn something new every day and share it with others.
  12. Retrain your brain.

How To Treat Your Customers With Respect.

Mon, December 28, 2020 / CMJUK / 0 Comments
Customers

How NOT to Treat Customers Like They Do NOT Matter!

  1. Do NOT IGNORE Your Customers
  2. Do NOT LIE to Your Customers
  3. Do NOT FAIL TO HONOUR a Promotional Price or Goodwill Gesture
  4. Do NOT EMPLOY Staff Members that are rude or have attitude.
  5. Do NOT TREAT Customers Like Numbers
  6. Do NOT IGNORE Feedback
  7. DO NOT ARGUE with customer complaints
  8. DO NOT FAIL to Seek Clarification
  9. DO NOT WITHHOLD Empathy
  10. DO NOT AVOID Taking Responsibility
  11. DO NOT MAKE Promises You Can’t Keep
  12. DO NOT FORGET to Follow Up
  13. DO NOT MAKE Your Customers Feel Stupid
  14. DO NOT ASSUME That You Have Resolved Problems
  15. DO NOT FAIL to Set Expectations
  16. DO NOT RUSH the Support Process
  17. DO NOT AVOID Putting in Extra Effort
  18. DO NOT TAKE Your Customers for Granted
  19. DO NOT LIMIT Your Support to a Single Channel
  20. DO NOT BE Indifferent

“A happy customer will tell 10 people about their experience but an unhappy customer will tell the world”.

Failing to do good customer service do you no favors and only gives you a bad name.

If a company like Argos which caused me no end of problems over the Christmas Period, fail to keep to their end of the bargain to send a £75 e-voucher as a way to say sorry, then all I can say is companies such as Amazon will eventually swallow up their business as most manufacturers and retailers are already using Amazon to sell their products.

As it so happens I am an Amazon Assoiciate Affiliate.

What a company should not do is upset the wrong people in fact they should upset anyone at all, but unfortunately they do.

When a company shows that they are willing to say sorry the customer is more likely to tell people what the company has done to make amends.

Promising a goodwill gesture, then retracting it, and also ignoring the customer’s emails does not say much about the company.

With businesses closing their doors for good because of the current economic crisis, you would think that smaller companies to Amazon would go above and beyond their call of duty.

Being honorable, transparent, and courteous gives people a reason to trust and in turn, the customer will recommend your products and your services. Doing one or more of the things listed above does not show you as a company in good light.

“Respect each and every customer as if they were your only customer”.

“Not only am I an Amazon Associate I am also an Amazon Customer and have opted to use Amazon Prime which cost £7.99 per month, this gets you free deliveries and Amazon Video two services for the price of one”.

My next big purchase is going to be a tabletop dishwasher. I find standing and washing dishes by hand not only tedious but it affects my back and I end up in agony.

Argos Saga: https://www.cymrumarketing.com/argos_appliances_disclaimer_and_hot_zones/

#customerloyalty customerrespect #leadership #brandcredibility

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