Need a Business Idea – 12 Habits that will help you develop more

Professional

1.  Ask your customers what they would like to see next from you.

2.  Brainstorming ideas with your staff and hold Stop Start Improve (SSI) meetings.

3.  Office redesign to encourage more collaboration.

4.  Staff suggestion box.

For more professional ways to increase the number of ideas you generate read this post

Personal

5.  Physical exercise – Force yourself to take breaks. Exercise works very well as a counter balance to the mental exertion necessary to drive your business forward each day.

6.  Read fiction – specifically a book that is not about business or even have a business backdrop.

7.  Visit a gallery or exhibition

8.  Go for a drive off the beaten track away from your normal routes

9.  Spend quality time with family members

10. Take a trip and lose yourself in nature

11. Disconnect completely  – No wifi  – laptop and phone off !

12. Take some time off – Easier to say than to execute but you must do it.

Do you need help generating ideas or implementing them for your business? Feel free to give us a call on +44 845 2264 247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.com –  We look forward to hearing from you.

We are a leading marketing agency in London.We hope you have found this information useful.

Best regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

The post Need an idea? – 12 habits that will help you develop more appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

There are many businesses with a similar positioning and essentially saying the same things.  To rise above this uniformity you need to strive to be different in your marketing communications. It is easier said than done but here are 4 tips that will help you on your way.

Innovation Marketing –  4 tips that will help you on your way

1. Innovation – Make innovation core to how your company operates. Even if you are a service provider rather than a manufacturer of products you can still innovate. Encourage all of your staff to generate ideas.  Read this related post for ideas. – SME owners – 12 ways to encourage innovation within your business

 2. Re- Positioning. – Anthony Robbins captures this brilliantly in his ‘Billions to Bankrupt’ training series when he asks business owners to ask themselves what business are they in? Then also what business should they be in? The two being very different. Apple used to be known as Apple Computers but are not anymore – this change in positioning was fundamental to their subsequent success.

3. Topicality – As a business owner or entrepreneur you will have your core messaging relating to your business and brand. One way to deliver more imaginative communications is by keeping a watching brief on topical opportunities (sometimes provided by internet trends (related video post ) to promote your business. A good communications piece with a topical backdrop can have a massive impact on your target audience.

 4. Guerrilla Marketing – Guerrilla Marketing is a form of marketing that relies on innovative or unusual marketing tactics to gain maximum attention for a brand often when competitors have more marketing dollars. The term Guerrilla Marketing was first popularised by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book of the same name published in 1984 and is clearly inspired by the term Guerrilla warfare. This a great approach for SMEs to adopt as it allows them to punch above their weight in marketing terms.

Do you need help avoiding ‘safe’ marketing? This is what we do – so feel free to give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247 or drop us an email via  mail@marketingfundamentals.com – We look forward to hearing from you.

We hope you have found this information useful.We are a leading Content Marketing Agency in London.

Best regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

The post Don’t make your marketing too safe – 4 ways to avoid boring your leads & prospects appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Innovation Marketing –  4 tips that will help you on your way

1. Innovation – Make innovation core to how your company operates. Even if you are a service provider rather than a manufacturer of products you can still innovate. Encourage all of your staff to generate ideas.  Read this related post for ideas. – SME owners – 12 ways to encourage innovation within your business

 2. Re- Positioning. – Anthony Robbins captures this brilliantly in his ‘Billions to Bankrupt’ training series when he asks business owners to ask themselves what business are they in? Then also what business should they be in? The two being very different. Apple used to be known as Apple Computers but are not anymore – this change in positioning was fundamental to their subsequent success.

3. Topicality – As a business owner or entrepreneur you will have your core messaging relating to your business and brand. One way to deliver more imaginative communications is by keeping a watching brief on topical opportunities (sometimes provided by internet trends (related video post ) to promote your business. A good communications piece with a topical backdrop can have a massive impact on your target audience.

 4. Guerrilla Marketing – Guerrilla Marketing is a form of marketing that relies on innovative or unusual marketing tactics to gain maximum attention for a brand often when competitors have more marketing dollars. The term Guerrilla Marketing was first popularised by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book of the same name published in 1984 and is clearly inspired by the term Guerrilla warfare. This a great approach for SMEs to adopt as it allows them to punch above their weight in marketing terms.

Do you need help avoiding ‘safe’ marketing? This is what we do – so feel free to give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247 or drop us an email via  mail@marketingfundamentals.com – We look forward to hearing from you.

We hope you have found this information useful.We are a leading Content Marketing Agency in London.

Best regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

The post Don’t make your marketing too safe – 4 ways to avoid boring your leads & prospects appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

It would be wonderful to have a dedicated R&D department but for most SMEs this is a dream rather than the reality. However, there are ways you can encourage innovation within your business without a big budget.

Business Innovation & Skills – 12 Ways

1. Implement weekly brainstorms for all staff and encourage cross departmental communication.

2. Create an employee suggestion box and promote its use.

3. If applicable arrange regular competitor site visits – works well for retail/restaurants/hotels etc – Have a staff member report back to the group.

4. Give someone the responsibility to compile competitor analysis reports/summaries.

5. Take staff to hear business speakers or to industry workshops.

6. Organise a Company away day – a fresh environment often leads to fresh ideas.

7. Hold Stop, Start, Improve (SSI) meetings with staff – What should we stop doing? What should we start doing? What should we improve?

8. Create a positive and encouraging work environment. Flat structure with lots of positive energy and open-mindedness.

9. Consider a re-design of the workspace to make it more conducive to creativity and innovation.

10. Encourage thinking time as well as the normal implementation or ‘to do’ tasks.

11. At company meetings encourage discussion of companies that do innovation well such as Apple, Google and Facebook.

12. Encourage people to try and ‘allow failure’ –

‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’ – Michael Jordan

We hope you found this information useful. Need help implementing? Give us a call on +44 845 2264 247 or email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com and we will respond quickly.

Kindest regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

The post SME Owners – 12 ways to encourage innovation within your business appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.