Articles in the Category 'Just a thought'
Babies and books…
A short note from Bryony explaining why we are currently not taking on any new consulting work, and why the blog is quieter than usual. Read more »
Published on 15 March 2012
Detox your marketing… social media
Three toxic social media techniques that are more likely to have people clicking 'unfollow' than generating you great word of mouth. Read more »
Published on 25 January 2012
De-tox your marketing… email
Three toxic email marketing techniques to avoid if you want to draw people into a sales conversation with your small business. Read more »
Published on 17 January 2012
Don’t make marketing your New Year’s resolution
A call to business owners not to make marketing a short-lived promise in 2012. Taking a yo-yo diet approach to marketing your small business will not achieve long term sales results. Read more »
Published on 11 January 2012
Top 10 Small Business Marketing Tips of 2011
From how to guides to real life marketing experiments, this year's Top 10 Tips from Clear Thought gives loads of advice on making the most of your marketing efforts. Read more »
Published on 3 January 2012
Marketing my small business… over to you
An invitation to feature in a series of interviews with small business owners on what marketing really means to them, out there, in the real world. Read more »
Published on 16 August 2011
DO sweat the small stuff
Your small business brand is made up of all the little things that come together to form a picture. Paying attention to the small stuff can make a big difference. Read more »
Published on 9 August 2011
Buyers are not your enemy
Marketing that delivers long term sales results is marketing that gets to the heart of how real people really buy things. Dropping the dehumanising language of traditional marketing could be a great first step. Read more »
Published on 24 May 2011
Are you sacrificing relevance for convenience?
Social media marketing automation can save you hours and make getting the word out very simple - but do too much of it and you risk representing your small business as a robot. Read more »
Published on 4 April 2011
Pricing experiment – was it worth it?
What did we learn from running a ~ pay what you think it's worth ~ workshop for small businesses? From making money to testing concepts - find out what we learnt. Read more »
Published on 10 March 2011
Who do you connect with on Linkedin?
Do you have specific criteria for people you choose to connect with on Linkedin? By choosing only to connect with people with whom I have a genuine professional relationship - am I maintaining my integrity or missing out on great new people? Read more »
Published on 18 January 2011
Plan ahead to keep your marketing content current
Keeping your marketing content fresh and up-to-date is essential for marketing effectiveness. Here's a list of thought starters for every month of 2011. Read more »
Published on 4 January 2011
Top 10 Small Business Marketing Tips of 2010
From how much to pay a marketing consultant, making effective use of your business card as a marketing tool, to writing an effective marketing brief, and more - here are the top 10 posts from the Marketing Clear Thinkers in 2010. Read more »
Published on 20 December 2010
The marketing confessions of a window cleaner
Listening for sales opportunities is a key small business networking skill. If you're prepared and interested, your next sale could come from anywhere. Read more »
Published on 13 December 2010
Is social media participation determined by personality types?
We asked Neil Denny, Lawyer and social media trainer, why some people immediately love the medium whilst others are more reserved. Some great insights for social media success as part of your small business marketing. Read more »
Published on 23 November 2010
Why marketing is a load of rubbish
What you mean to say is not always what people hear. What might make perfect sense in a room of discipline experts will often sound like gobbledygook to the rest of the world. Read more »
Published on 4 November 2010
How to lose business and irritate people
Have you ever asked yourself if what you're doing actually winds people up and puts them off your business? Cheryl kicks off with her list of pet hates... Read more »
Published on 20 October 2010
It’s not you, it’s them (usually)
If you put yourself up to scrutiny, you will uncover a few of the world's nasty people. Learn to separate constructive feedback from cruelty... because it will happen. Read more »
Published on 4 October 2010
What your domain name says about your business
In this guest blog, we asked Peter, MD at small business ISP, Gradwell, to talk to us about how choosing a compelling domain name can help you to send out the right message about your business. Read more »
Published on 19 May 2010
My First Blog – the experiences of a first time blogger
Remember sitting down to write your first blog? Or, perhaps the whole process seems too scary to start? You are not alone. In this blog, a first timer shares her experiences. Read more »
Published on 14 April 2010
Clear Thought’s Top 10 Blogs of 2009
Clear Thought's Top 10 blogs for small business marketers in 2009. Essential marketing advice for any small business. Read more »
Published on 22 December 2009
What are your social media rules?
In this Blog, Bryony Thomas shares her own rules for keeping social media authentic and manageable. How to you keep the professional, professional and the personal, personal? Read more »
Published on 20 November 2009
10 ways in which marketing is like exercise
We all know that to loose weight takes time and patience, the same is true of marketing. It takes time for your marketing efforts to gain momentum, give up too soon and you'll have wasted effort. Expect results too soon and you'll be disappointed. Essential marketing advice for any small business. Read more »
Published on 12 November 2009
The Jamie Oliver approach to marketing
This article compares the way that marketers like to feed sales people with leads based on life-time-value to Jamie Oliver's crusade to get kids eating healthy food. Do you need to wean your sales team off a metaphorical diet of chips and turkey twizzlers. Essential marketing advice for any small business. Read more »
Published on 2 October 2009
A reflection on our first year in business
Published on 5 August 2009
So, if you’re not an agency… what are you?
Outlining the Clear Thought business model, where we work on the client's team to equip them with the marketing strategies, suppliers, skills and set-up that they need to become bigger businesses. Quite different from a marketing agency. Read more »
Published on 23 July 2009
So, you want to be a rule breaker?
Thoughts on why design conventions make your life easier, particularly in an online setting. Essential marketing advice for any small business. Read more »
Published on 11 February 2009
Kicking off 2009 in style
2009 kicked off well for Clear Thought Consulting;exciting consultancy projects, a business push on the SPAN front, CIM students to inspire, partnerships forging with local marketing specialists and plans afoot for Bristol networking. Read more »
Published on 8 January 2009
No risk, no point…
Why marketing to the lowest common denominator is a waste of time and money. Effective marketing often means taking risks. Read more »
Published on 3 December 2008
Really good design should go completely un-noticed
A short musing on how really brilliant design often goes un-noticed - it just feels right. Have you ever noticed the carpet pile running in the same direction? No? But does a tidy room feel better? Yes? Read on. Read more »
Published on 10 November 2008
What’s more important to marketing success – science or creativity?
This article looks at the careful balance between science and art in truly excellent marketing. Read more »
Published on 5 November 2008
Necessity, the mother of invention?
Will tough economic times force people to think more creatively? Read more »
Published on 4 November 2008
Move over short copy
A short musing on the relative roles of long and short copy in contemporary marketing practice. Read more »
Published on 3 November 2008
