In this podcast, Alex Gibson from ‘The Persuaders Marketing Podcast’ interviews Don Farrell from email marketing specialists ‘Circulator’ to gain a ‘best-practice’ insight into why email is still a very popular form of marketing for SME organisations.
Listen to this podcast »
Monday 15th March 2010, 9:00 am
Podcast – Martha Rogers
Friday 12th March 2010, 2:39 pm
Expanding your customer base outside the bounds of Ireland.
Go further than the UK.
Embrace the selling opportunities exist within the EU. The recession does not mean you sit and wait for it to end and just “hang in there”.
Many Europeans have English as a secondary language but it is not enough to assume that they will click on your website and hope they will read it in English.
Remember, they will search using terms in their own language. If you have some aspect of your website translated and localized into a European language, then there is a stronger possibility that non-English speaking traffic will access your website.
It also shows those potential clients that you recognise them as potential users of your products and services. Maximize the potential of your website to attract new business by translation some or all of it in to 1 or multiple languages.
Tom Guckian
TMG Translation
www.tmgtranslation.com
Thursday 11th March 2010, 2:32 pm
How to keep on top of your office administration!
Running a small business can be a very rewarding experience, and with record numbers of startups recorded, the urge to go it alone is as strong as ever. On the other hand, starting up can bring with it a number of stresses which the permanent employee is blissfully unaware of.
One potential area of stress can arise when your administration has been left to the last minute, or seems out of control. Here are some tips for keeping on top of your small business administration.
1. Tidy up - Simple as that. There’s nothing worse than trying to run a business from an untidy room or office. Mess brings stress and should be sorted out as your first priority. Ensure that all work surfaces and desks are as clutter free as is possible, and if you are working from home, try to keep an area of your home dedicated purely to running your business. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday 10th March 2010, 3:54 pm
Strategic Volunteering
I came across this interesting post on corporate philanthropy and volunteering.
The author makes the point that too often corporate volunteering equates to little more than unskilled labour. How right he is. While it might be good fun for a group of your employees to get together and paint a school or tidy up a park it probably isn’t the best use of their skills and time (unless of course you run a painting and decorating company or a landscape designers in which case they are the best people to do a really good job!).
Linking volunteer effort with your organisation’s core skills means that you offer far more value and better outcomes to the non-profits you wish to serve. It’s also more likely to lead to skill development for your people - one of the sound business reasons that companies get involved in volunteering.
So when designing volunteer programmes think about the skills and expertise your company offers before agreeing to a volunteer day.
Gráinne Madden
GMJ Associates
www.gmjassociates.com
