The biggest marketing mistake made by Kiwi businesses...

One of the biggest marketing mistakes I see happening with small to medium businesses in New Zealand is the lack of consistent and persistent marketing.

I am not sure whether people are waiting to create a killer advert that just wins clients over or they are just too busy to do this vital activity for their business.

Now, the most important thing for your business is to make sure you have a great product and/or service. The second most important thing is to market what you do to potential clients.

I know many smaller businesses fall into the trap of getting too busy (generally with non-revenue making activity) and wonder why they just seem to get by? If you ask them if they market themselves persistently and consistently using media and or other means that reach out to potential new clients, you will find many of these business owners are inconsistent and not at all persistent. I am not sure if it is a Kiwi culture thing, but I do know that if they could change this one thing magic would start happening with their business.

When I ask most Kiwi business people how they get customers the number one response I get is ‘referral business’. When I dig a little deeper you usually find the reason why they just get referral business is they do very little else. Now network and building contacts that provide you with referrals is a great way to build your brand and build your business the challenge here is you can only do so much of this.

Networking along with weekly (Ideally 2-3 times per week) marketing campaigns that not only introduces your products/services to new customers but also reinforces to previous customers you are still around and ready to help them is where success can be found.

There are a number of ways to market your business and it can take some time to work out what works best for your unique needs. However, once you have found the right marketing approach stick to it. be consistent with your messaging and persistent with your frequency to make significant gains in growing your brand and eventually growing your business.

Hope you found this useful. Hope I have inspired you to advertise 2-3 times per week.

I wish you all the success you deserve.

Cheers
Tony C

Tony Cutting
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Consultant

www.tonycuttingdigital.com

What experience does your customer receive?

Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash

People think marketing is about good-looking logos, clever advertising creative or simply their product or service.

What happens when we ask the question ‘what experience does our customer receive when they engage with us?’ This is the question that will lead to (I hope) a winning formula for your business.

The world has changed, and your customer will use the same digital approach you took to reach thousands of potential customers to tell the same people what buying from you really is like.

Careful consideration is needed when looking at the experience a customer has when they first get introduced to your business, their experience while buying and their experience when being a repeat or loyal customer.

In the digital age the goal to convert customers into advocates has never been so important. Reviews on Google, Social Media and most industry related portals can be the making or killing of a business.

The key to being successful is to provide not just a great product or service but to provide outstanding service (appropriate to the product or service you provide). Sometimes it can be a simple thing that you do for your clients that will set you apart from your competitors.

If you are struggling to find a solution find help. This is so important. Especially now with many businesses focused on volume and systems and not even thinking about the journey the customer has with them.

So have a look at what happens when a customer buy’s from you. Happy customers become you best sales people. Attention to this will not only give you a great business now but provide the key to your success long into the future.

I hope you found this helpful.

Tony C

Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital
w. tonycuttingdigital.com

Making great businesses shine

Where is your happy place? Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST

My happy place - I love marketing and love making my clients businesses shine. However, I only want to work with good businesses who want to be great.

I made a conscious decision to seek out clients with great products and services. As a digital marketing specialist, you are pushing sh*t uphill working with clients who don’t have a great business or at least have no desire to become great. When it comes to digital there is no place to hide which I love. It truly creates an environment where good businesses and business people can do well. Meanwhile, ‘shonky’ operators waste precious time dealing with poor reviews and losing customers simply due to being called out on Google and Social Media.

Also, don’t we all want to do something that adds true value to the work we do?

Unfortunately, marketing is to blame for creating many issues in the world, some lethal when you think of the effect of fast food, cigarettes and refined sugar.

Outside of the ‘evil’ businesses I break businesses into two groups;

1.      Those who want to be great (and make money)

2.      Those who want to make money.

I choose to work with those who want to be great and make money. The fact is if you are in business you need to make a profit, or you won’t be in business very long.

So, what does a great business look like?

For me great businesses are driven by people with their heart in the right place. They have good products and/or services, but they are striving to become great. Generally, for me that means products and services I would personally use or recommend to my family or friends - as I often do.

They work on developing their business skills, upskilling and developing their staff, but most of all developing a culture in the business focused on the customer. They strive to the best and through this journey they become great.

Simply put. Good businesses who focus on what their customer (and audience) wants can become great businesses. Yes, there is a lot to learn and becoming great can take some time but when you get there not only will you grow a business that thrives, you are probably providing a product or service you customers love and are more than willing to talk about. Marketing job almost done.
.

Focusing helping businesses become great

My mission for Tony Cutting Digital is to help good businesses (or great ideas) turn into great businesses. To help this happen I setup my own business networks and marketing collectives so local businesses can learn from each other as well as learn how to help each other thrive.

In terms of my skills, as a business coach and digital marketer I spend 20% of my working week learning and 80% of this time building my business or delivering services to clients. I am growing a good business and hope to one day have a number of great businesses as my clients.

If you are interested in working with Tony Cutting Digital, please feel free to contact me. However, if your business is not committed from moving from good to great please give some other marketing person a call.

Have a great day

Tony C
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital
w. tonycuttingdigital.com

Is your business surviving or thriving?

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

In New Zealand we are known for our ‘number 8 wire’ mentality. We are great at survival. “She’ll be right, I can do that”.

What we tend to be is poor at thriving. Knowledge as we all know is a powerful thing. Unfortunately, a little knowledge can leave us vulnerable especially to competitors who use their smart thinking to engage people with exceptional knowledge to do tasks that are not “core business”.

The investment return of this approach is simple. Having smart people to call on in areas you are not exceptional is the entrepreneurial skill used by business owners to ensure their business thrives rather than just survives.

Yes, gain knowledge so at least you have the baseline to understand great from good.

However, invest in knowledge and skills from specialists and significantly increase your businesses chances of thriving.

Spend your time learning your craft, and learning how to manage these assets, that is how ensure you have the essential skills that builds your personal brand and respect from your customers and staff. Forget about the ‘number 8 wire’ attitude and get great at what you do. hire resources that add to your skills and practice the same approach as you i.e. they focus on being great at what they do.

By adopting this tactic anyone who really wants to thrive will.

I hope you found this helpful.

Tony C
Personal Coach / Digital Marketing Specialist
e. hello@tonycuttingdigital.co.nz
m. https://m.me/tonycuttingdigital w. tonycuttingdigital.com