About You
Enough about us, what about you? Small Business Big Marketing is a place for sharing your marketing ideas and success stories. As Small Business Owners we can often feel a little detached from the rest of the world, particularly if you work alone. Let’s change all that.
We want to hear from you. Who are you, what do you do and what’s your best business marketing tip? Please leave a comment below.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:33 am
Hi Tim & Luke.
I really like your website – simple, relevant, and easy. I can’t remember how I located it, but I have been searching for businesses that offer web design and internet marketing tools for SMEs – not for me, but for owners of websites.
I’ve got a background in IT, web design, consulting, and running my own small business which is in none of these fields, and am currently looking to get back into the ‘web design’ field.
It seems to me that every (decent) web designer offers the same products ie a CMS with a variety of plug-in tools. There’s plenty of stuff out there for every budget.
A core problem that I see repeated through the majority of these service providers is the lack of integration with other marketing activities. “Here is your website, and your email marketing tool – go for it!”
So, they try to spend some time learning the CMS editor and change the text on their site – normally making it look terrible through awful formatting.
They then try to write some newsletters which generally miss the point they are trying to make, or end up as dressed up advertisements.
So, in order to improve, then there are plenty of resources on the web about good design, and how to write well, and how to target people, how to measure etc. All of this takes an extreme amount of time.
Why the hell is the business owner doing all of this? (And normally doing it pretty badly). They should be concentrating on their business!
Your website is the first one I’ve seen where you highlight the problem with owners writing content. But I think the broader point is they shouldn’t be wasting *their* time becoming a marketer/publisher/advertiser.
If a business owners is serious about their online presence, I believe it should be as a tightly integrated part of their existing marketing strategy, and left to experts. The experts shouldn’t be just website designers though. You need the services of a copywriter to get the content succinct. You need the services of web designers to ensure it keeps looking right, and using latest technologies. You need advertising experts to relate it to other media, and keep it appearing in the right places. You need a marketing manager to manage after it all.
I think many business owners are getting distracted by the great tools they have bought, and possibly causing more harm than good.
How do you achieve such a service for small businesses with small marketing budgets? I’ve been looking online for them – most are “web designers” offering CMS/email newsletter providers. I looked in yellow pages for advertising agents / marketing firms – most offer graphic design, but can also setup a CMS and make it look pretty.
Where are the businesses offering *real* integrated marketing services for small businesses? Is it simply not possible to offer such services affordably?
You two seem to have the background that would make such a business work. What am I missing?
Cheers
Trav
June 11th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Your blog has some great information for small businesses. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge!
June 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hi Guys
Just wanted to say you are doing a good job and I like the format. Light and entertaining. Would be good to educate your audience more on social marketing as it is affordable and effective especially for small biz.
My blog has heaps of information on social marketing and tools if you need an expert.
http://macinnismarketing.wordpress.com/
Well done!
Dan
August 18th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
OK so I can talk under water with a pie in my mouth, but that doesn’t mean I’m any good at marketing..
Yes, I can get on twitter and tweet to my tweeples about me, the world and my business..
But if I don’t know how to structure my content in any of my mediums then I’m wasting my time….
Tim and Luke, thankyou for sharing your time and knowledge on marketing/PR. You did say (not verbatim) in order to win/maintain customers you must give them something, and I feel that I have already gained so much from you…..and it has all been free…
God, I have so many questions….don’t we all.
Anyway, enough about you, it’s my turn.
I’m Rebecca Mavin an Australian Country Bumpkin Expat, mum of two, now living in the big smoke of The Hague, The Netherlands.
How did I get here…. Well it certainly wasn’t the marijuana or legal sex that lured me here….
My husband works for a UN organisation here in The Hague.
What do I do… Upon rising I lay around watching my maids and nannies clean up after my children. I then take a leisurely stroll of a morning and get primped and preened for the heavy day ahead.
I return home to where Fabio has served up a mouthwatering bowl of strawberries, with his hand fan gently swaying, the breeze lightly caresses the aching botox holes in my face…
….Really, the same as any full time mum, home-economist and entrepreneur does…
After the birth of my first born, 3.5years ago, I wanted to find a product that would allow me to dress my son in a bodysuit (onesie, romper etc) without the unsightly ‘tucked in’ look or wear a tshirt that would not ride up his back or over his face while, sleeping, rolling or playing. (Drum roll please………) That is when I researched and designed the market first teesuit®.
After the years of roadtesting and researching I am slowly coming to the point of manufacturing. teesuit® will be made with Certified Organic Cotton. Supporting our Australian Organic Cotton Farmers and Sydney Sweat Shop Free Manufacturers…
I have so much to learn and I am thoroughly enjoying the ride, even though I am 10,000 miles away.
My marketing tip…(if you could call it that)…is! Don’t be afraid to let the ‘YOU’ come out… It’s your baby, you want to see it work, you gave it legs.
Don’t try and impersonate The Don, give yourself credit, you are unique and that’s what sets us apart!
With love from the land of Clogs, Tulips and Cheese.
Cheers,
Rebecca – teesuit
PS. Tim and Luke you make me homesick…. I was a huge fan of Hamish and Andy….I guess now I get the best of both worlds from your podcasts – Business with Hamish and Andy….
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Hey guys,
Really like the interview with both Luke Harvey Palmer and Martyn Thomas. This idea of building communities and earning trust by giving is part of my philosophy. The Pay it Forward concept is now starting to gain a groundswell which is terrific.
Thanks for sharing.
September 18th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Really enjoying your podcasts! It’s great to finally find a site and podcast that is relevant and thought provoking for small business.
I’m in marketing and passionate about small business. I believe that small business need the most help but its the most simple things that make all the difference.
Look forward to hearing and reading more.
November 4th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Hi Tim and Luke,
Thanks you so much for all your work on the podcasts. As a business student, it’s great to hear you guys talk about what my professors discuss in class. Your interviews have helped me out a great deal for a university assignment I had to make, and I’m sure they’ll be extremely useful once I set up my own business over the years to come!
Thanks again!
Cheers,
Bjorn van Sinttruije
Photographer / Student
December 14th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Learning bodybuilding from the broscience is like learning about sex from pornos. You might get the basic idea, but you’ll miss a lot, and get some strange ideas. Better to talk to someone who’s done it, and done it well.
January 4th, 2010 at 1:55 am
Just discovered your podcasts today & am really enjoying them!
Thanks for sharing small biz stories & your insights.
Heather Smith,
MYOB Certified Consultant; MYOB Trainer – BRISBANEMYOB Training
January 5th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Hi Tim & Luke,
Love the podcast and especially appreciate all the interviews. Learning from people who have been there and done it and who have interesting stories is fantastic.
I do have a request, if possible;
In a future podcast would it be possible to go through the steps of starting a business from scratch.
e.g.
When does my business, go from a hobby to a business.
What advice should I seek.
Do I need a business account.
invoicing. etc etc
If you could do a podcast on this type of subject and share your knowledge of starting out, would be much appreciated.
Regards
Kaine
January 9th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Hi Guys
Love the show! you are doing the fantastic job! Considering all my websites being suspended by google, took your advice and managed to draw visitors to my sites via social media, Twitter and Facebook!
Also used wordpress to design the site and outsourcing my SEO!
Thank you
Maj
January 20th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Hi Luke and Tim,
having just purchased my very first iPod (groan, I feel so old!) I downloaded iTunes, and discovered podcasts!! Besides one very funny, nationally syndicated afternoon radio show, yours was the next podcast I gravitated towards, and I have spent today listening to several back-editions.
I am approaching ‘launch-day’ for my consultancy firm, and, with a diminishing start-up budget, eagerly lapped up the great ideas from your show. This led me to your website, and voila!
I hope you are still offering ’spotlight’ shows in a couple of months – I’d like to hear your insights on my marketing efforts at that stage.
Cheers, Al
January 28th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Which rock was I hiding under in 2009.. How could I miss this rising star podcast.
Just listened to your final show for 2009, and I love the no BS approach to Marketing you take on. You are so right there is so much Bull and fluff in fact some marketers make BS float with the hot air the inject.
Really looking forward to freshening up my ear buds in 2010 on the e88 with your podcast..
Cheers
James