What is PPC advertising? PPC or pay per click advertising is a way of generating traffic to your website by paying a third party to display ads. Typically when people mention PPC they’re talking about Google Search Ads, which are the text ads that appear when someone searches in Google. For small businesses, they provide … Read more
There’s a certain pressure as a creative company to maintain a good flow of ideas. And not just any ideas, those that stand out or break the mould. Ideas that surpass mediocre. And for me personally, especially as a marketer rather than a designer, illustrator or artist; honestly, I find it hard. After 20 years … Read more
Some years ago, on a business trip to Boston Massachusetts, I woke up first morning, to snow. Or, at least, that’s what the radio announcer was telling me. So, what did I do? Well, I dashed to the window to see for myself. I’d arrived at my hotel late the night before, it was dark … Read more
Word of mouth, as a term, has been a part of our vocabulary for 500 years and is now widely recognised within the business community as “the process of telling people you know about a particular product or service, usually because you think it is good and want to encourage them to try it.” So … Read more
Are 4 e’s the new marketing mix? The other day I was guest speaker at an Enterprise Nation event and in my talk, I briefly touched on a new approach to the fundamentals of value, the pillars of building a customer relationship. Something called the 4 E’s. We do like a group of considerations, a … Read more
You’ve probably heard of affiliate marketing, but you may not have considered adding affiliate links to your website to create a new revenue stream. But affiliate marketing can be an effective way of maximising your existing audience and earning commission from sales of relevant products and services. And it can all be done through your … Read more
Artwork by Paul Martin at Martin Studios Whenever I begin advising small organisations or artists on their online marketing, I come across one particular challenge more often than any other: over-ambitiousness. Usually of course, ambitiousness is a quality we should strive for but it can also lead us to set unrealistic goals for ourselves- a … Read more
Ever entered an awards programme? Over the years I have written many awards applications for different companies. Lots have won; hooray, many have been finalists; yay, for some I advised that they should gather more results and submit next year instead; they simply didn’t stand a chance and the entry fee was a waste of … Read more
I recently had a few experiences where people asked me to look at their business card and then look at either their website or their Facebook page and give some feedback on the design and branding. My advice for them was to ensure that their business branding on their cards, flyers and other printed marketing … Read more
When we decided to create our #ShakeToCreate competition, there were lots of reasons behind it: we wanted to ‘give back’ with our skill set and ‘pay it forward’ with our time, in return for the opportunities we have had and the support we have each been given over the years we knew 50 hours of … Read more