500m users on Facebook puts us at tipping point

Written by Administrator | 24 July 2010

mark_zuckerberg Fantastic; 500 million users on Facebook places the UK and the rest of the world at that amazing point in history that something so simple has become a way of life for the human race. And in such a short space of time.

The bottom line, Facebook illustrates how we now communicate. Through a combination of fun, curiosity (or being nosey), uploading and looking at videos or images to see what others are doing and writing and receiving short messages, it taps into our need to feel connected to others to get us through the day.

On Facebook we give permission for other people to connect and interact with us by allowing them to read and write on our walls (If you don't get this, please, please call me and I'll explain what this is all about).

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Networking Not working?

Written by Nigel Maine | 16 July 2010

"Help" I hear you say, networking is not working, but what's the alternative?

Well, the business world has changed and there's nothing we can do about it. The trouble is, the professionals who we have to relied upon for direction are still living in the world of the 80's and 90's, telling young business people that the way to generate new business is through the following activities:

cold calling
networking
Email
eNewsletters
and referrals

You're probably thinking, well what's wrong with that! Well, if you're actively involved in running a micro or small business, you'll know that none of these provide a return on investment that you could take to the bank. It's tough out there for many businesses and it's not getting any easier.

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Using Twitter For Business

Written by Kent Huffman | 21 June 2010

Twitter. It’s all the rage in the social media world these days. But how can you best leverage it for tangible business-to-business marketing purposes? One way is to build your own community within Twitter.

After getting to grips with tweets and retweets etc., I decided to treat Twitter as I would any other important marketing initiative—by first developing a well-defined strategy and a set of related tactics. Over the next couple of months, I created and then tweaked (no pun intended!) the strategy and honed the tactics through trial and error. I then boiled everything down to a seven-step process that you can use in your own B2B community on Twitter.

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Graphic and Web Design for Business

Written by Nigel Maine | 21 June 2010

Genuine Desire or Just Design?

The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman: The Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman, correctly titled Eames Lounge (670) and Ottoman (671), were released in 1956 af ter years of development by designers Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller furniture company. It was the first chair the Eames designed for a high-end market. These furnishings are made of molded plywood and leather. Examples of these furnishings are part of the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art. Market & Motivate, Watford, Hertfordshire

The importance of design is often under-estimated by many businesses. We all know what we don't like the look of, but how does your business comes across to new and existing customers. Design encompasses so much, from the look and feel of your business cards and letterhead to the first impression of a web site, even down to the clothes your sales people wear.

Remember the 80's and 90's; white socks, shiny suits and "loads-a-money", you get the picture. But nowadays, perhaps it's the wide knot ties and pointed shoes that's a giveaway.

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Collaborate and Win

Written by Administrator | 11 June 2010

Consider this; we're all bombarded with approximately 3000 marketing impressions every day. It takes approximately seven to nine marketing impressions, before a potential customer feels comfortable with a company or product.

In business terms that means a phone call, email, letter, flyers and web visits etc. Here's the kicker! only one-in-three impressions actually gets through due to firewalls, gate-keepers, wrong addresses and so on! That means your efforts must be multiplied threefold. You need to make 21-27 marketing impressions to keep on target!

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Why is it so difficult to sell on line

Written by Nigel Maine | 06 April 2010

Selling to one person at a time online Like most businesses, you have a web site and of course, access to the internet at work, at home and possibly on the bus, on holiday and anywhere else you may like to choose - so, let's face it, you're connected like the rest of the commercial world.

So, why is is so difficult to sell on line when everyone is connected and has access to such a great resource.

Surely there would be set precedents or rules that everyone should follow to make sure their web sites sell every time when someone visits? Answer = No!

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How to generate more interest in your business

Written by David Meerman-Scott & Steven Woods | 23 March 2010

Interview with David Meerman Scott -

About The Author

Nigel Maine - Market & Motivate CEO & Developer of salesXchange

With over 25 years experience in sales and marketing, Nigel has a passion for helping micro and small businesses survive the challenges they face in todays fast-paced economy, starting with good, sound advice.

To complement his approach, Nigel has authored a book called The Business Technology Handbook and is the developer of salesXchange, a revolutionary marketing framework for small businesses.

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Content Marketing Playbook

Written by Nigel Maine | 22 March 2010

I came across this web site over the weekend and thought that their Content Marketing Playbook was a very simple and easy document to get your head round when you're trying to think about your next move when it comes to getting your business "better known".

Creating content can be a bit of a problem for some businesses and I believe that it needs to be tackled on two fronts:

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What influences a business owner to invest in new products or services?

Written by Nigel Maine | 18 March 2010

Here's an interesting one! Click here to visit the LinkedIn Poll

I recently had an online discussion with a number of telesales "professionals" who advocate that telesales continues to be the most effective way of generating new business. Personally, I disagree, I think its out dated, intrusive and a complete waste of time.

Making 100 calls to get through to one decision maker is not my idea of fun or time well spent.

Business owners have so much information at their finger tips, that they can pick and choose their suppliers and they certainly don't need a telesales person to tell them how to run their business or to help suggest products or services that are not relevant.

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Vote in the Poll

The Business Technology Handbook Is Finished!

Written by Nigel Maine | 16 March 2010

Well, I have to say that I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself. It was quite a slog, and what started off as a White Paper in late 2008, written for a small number of businesses ended up being a 350 page (well, I was going to say epic, but I think that’s going too far), fully blown business book called The Business Technology Handbook.

It was quite strange really. It seemed to be a logical idea at first. Write about how technology affected businesses and then illustrate a number of ideas and solutions to help the businesses I was writing for.

Now its finished, except for the front and back covers, suppliers list and the index page (I thought that the publishers could do that – I hope), I guess the real work is about to begin, i.e. Getting it published.

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