Articles in the Category 'Marketing'
What should you include in a professional profile?
A key paragraph introducing your company is a must – but don’t ignore the professional profiles of your key people. Anyone who is out there networking, making calls, or working with clients is representing your business. A well written pr... Read more »
Published on 7 September 2010
What makes a good business blog?
One of the things that can really hold a business back from making effective use of social media is a lack of content. We recommend posting a new blog article at least weekly – it gives you stuff to Tweet, updates for your LinkedIn status, fres... Read more »
Published on 1 September 2010
5 things to think about in the run-up to Christmas…
‘The early bird catches the worm’ So the Summer holidays aren’t even over and people have started complaining about ‘Christmas party advertising’ and festive wrapping paper. Bah humbug. Whatever your thoughts or beliefs on the holiday se... Read more »
Published on 17 August 2010
Brand guidelines, why are they so important?
This is a guest blog by Andy Fuller, graphic designer and owner of Designbull Ltd. Clear Thought asked Andy, what is the importance of brand guidelines to small businesses? Have you ever received a business card from someone at a networking event and... Read more »
Published on 12 August 2010
Squeeze every penny from every marketing pound
Bryony will be giving a talk called ‘Squeezing Every Penny from Every Marketing Pound’ at the womenmeanbiz networking lunch on 3rd September 2010 at the Aztec Hotel in Almondsbury. This event is in the past. The presentation slides are n... Read more »
Published on 9 August 2010
Getting the most from business networking (3/3)
Part 3 – Key things to do after a networking event: Ok, so you’ve been to a breakfast meeting, a networking lunch or seminar, and you met some interesting people – what should you do now that you’re back at your desk? These ar... Read more »
Published on 5 August 2010
Getting the most from business networking (2/3)
Part 2 – Making yourself memorable at a networking event: This is a guest post from Melissa Kidd of Coaching Creatives. Melissa coaches people to develop the right relationships and a memorable message to improve lead generation. Networki... Read more »
Published on 4 August 2010
Getting the most from business networking (1/3)
Part 1 – Six things to do before a networking event: Networking, in the real world, you know face-to-face, should definitely form part of your small business marketing strategy. But, we’ve all been there, at some evening seminar, networkin... Read more »
Published on 3 August 2010
“Three” is the magic marketing number: Part 3/3
In parts one and two of the ‘rule of three’, we looked at what the rule is and the concept and application of it in marketing. Now, to help you apply the principles day-to-day, in the final part of this blog series, here’s a couple more ex... Read more »
Published on 23 July 2010
Stock shots versus a real photographer
This is a blog by Bryony Thomas, which originally appeared as a guest blog for Amango Photography. Clear Thought works specifically with smaller businesses who need to make the most of their marketing budgets. With this in mind, Amanda Thomas of Aman... Read more »
Published on 19 July 2010
Tech Startup School – Autumn 2010
Bryony Thomas, Chief Clear Thinker at Clear Thought Consulting will be hosting the ‘Social Media for Marketing’ course as part of this unique event series that aims to help aspiring and early-stage tech entrepreneurs start or grow their o... Read more »
Published on 15 July 2010
“Three” is the magic marketing number: Part 2/3
In last week’s blog, What is the Rule of Three in Marketing? I looked at the concept of the rule and Krugman’s (1984) three exposures model. This week, it’s all about situations and examples in which the concept can be seen in practice. ... Read more »
Published on 14 July 2010
How much should you pay a marketing consultant?
Saw a great Tweet from Trevor Levor this morning, quoting Red Adair “If you think hiring a professional is expensive… try working with an amateur” – it made me smile, and think of practically every new business meeting I’... Read more »
Published on 7 July 2010
“Three” is the magic marketing number: Part 1/3
Over the next three weeks, I will be blogging about multiples of three and their relevance to you and your business in the world of marketing. Rules of three are everywhere, from social media, to traditional marketing campaigns, to networking. Look... Read more »
Published on 30 June 2010
Three reasons NOT to blog
Blogging is a great way for small businesses to get decent content out there. For small businesses with modest marketing budgets, blogging should be a central activity. Indeed, blog posts can be used, and re-used, throughout the sales cycle: Aware... Read more »
Published on 21 June 2010
5 tips for effective note taking
Because we can’t all have our own personal court clerk. I’ve never seen one of those stenotype machines (if that’s what they’re called), but a court recorder possibly is the most efficient note taker I can think of. And, according to my stepd... Read more »
Published on 15 June 2010
Coordination equals colours; Integration means business
Don’t run expensive marketing taps into leaking sales buckets. Marketers are always banging on about integrated marketing, indeed there are qualifications and companies bearing the name. However, so many ‘integrated’ campaigns I see... Read more »
Published on 1 June 2010
The anatomy of a Tweet – what do all those symbols mean?
So, you’ve been told that Twitter is a great way of marketing your small business on an even smaller budget… but when you log on it all looks like gibberish. As a relative newbie to Twitter myself, I thought I’d jot down what I’ve learnt so f... Read more »
Published on 28 May 2010
What your domain name says about your business
This is a guest Blog from Peter, MD at small business ISP, Gradwell. With building an online reputation being vital to creating a professional image, we asked Peter to talk to us about how choosing a compelling domain name can help you to send out th... Read more »
Published on 19 May 2010
Mind your ‘I’s and ‘We’s – 3 reasons to present your company as a team
There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’, but there is a ‘We’ in ‘well done’. Sorry about the world’s worst cliché, but I was recently talking to a business owner who was frustrated by a member of his team always using ‘I’ instead of ‘we... Read more »
Published on 12 May 2010
Three ways we use Twitter as a business tool
In the last six months, through Twitter, we have: Hooked up three people we hadn’t previously known with new paying clients. Met up with somewhere in the region of 20 local experts who are now on our referral list. Received two good quality leads... Read more »
Published on 5 May 2010
How to use public relations to support every stage of the sales funnel
Most people initially think of public relations as a technique for generating awareness for their products or services. This is absolutely true, but if this the only way that you’re using your public relations effort, you’re missing a trick in sq... Read more »
Published on 28 April 2010
My First Blog – the experiences of a first time blogger
Writing my first blog; a process easier said than done it would seem? Having read blogs spanning topics from marketing in the 21st century, to viral marketing, to agency life, I thought to myself, yeah, writing my first blog, no problem! But now, I f... Read more »
Published on 14 April 2010
10 signs that you could do with strategic marketing advice
There are hundreds of potential marketing advisors for a small business owner. From design agencies, PR specialists, telemarketers, SEO experts, social media bods, media planners, and on, and on. It’s difficult to know who to talk, when and why... Read more »
Published on 5 April 2010
Copywriting: Seven reasons why medium matters
This is a guest Blog from Emily at Emily Cagle Communications Ltd. With more and more content being re-used in multiple mediums, we asked Emily to talk us through the key differences for copywriting in an online and offline context. So you’ve been ... Read more »
Published on 31 March 2010
10 tips for proofreading marketing content
“If proofreading saved you time, money and your reputation, wouldn’t you find time to do it?” So, first question – why proofread? Discovering a typo on your website is an irritant, and even an embarrassment if spotted by a customer. It als... Read more »
Published on 29 March 2010
How to achieve your company goals and targets, in five easy steps
This is a guest post from Heather Townsend, The Efficiency Coach. Sales and marketing is a goal-centred discipline, and with a new financial year in sight, we asked Heather to give us some pointers on making them real, and getting the whole team o... Read more »
Published on 16 March 2010
Key types of marketing content – tips and definitions
Content marketing, or thought leadership, is a real buzzword at the moment. The idea being that you create high quality content that your audience finds useful, to demonstrate your credentials and move people through the sales process. But, as a mark... Read more »
Published on 14 March 2010
Bry’s Business Book of the Month: ‘The Manager’s Book of Checklists’
Welcome to the first of a regular blog; Bry’s Business Book of the Month, in which Bryony Thomas will recommend a business book. She will have chosen it from her bookshelf. So, not necessarily a brand new book, but one that she has enjoyed and ... Read more »
Published on 22 February 2010
Mind your Meta Data – how hidden web copy impacts social media success
Making your website marketing-ready is one of the keys to make the most of free. A site that doesn’t have the basics right can seriously limit your ability to maximise the social media and online word-of-mouth opportunities that now exist for b... Read more »
Published on 16 February 2010
Your marketing questions answered
“The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask” Any questions? Call me ancient, but I still like some of the old fashioned terminology and methods used in the modern and online world of marketing today. But what does it all mean, and wh... Read more »
Published on 16 February 2010
Content marketing – why you need to ask permission
Active choices build good relationships. Content marketing is a bit of a buzzword at the moment. As someone who was working on whitepapers for Oracle and others nearly a decade ago, I find the supposed newness quite amusing. However, far out-weighin... Read more »
Published on 28 January 2010
10 ways to weave a little marketing magic into everyday activities
“Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees” ‘Business-as-usual’ is the term that we all use for the things we do every day while doing our job, or running our businesses. With some clear thinking and a little bit of planning, these thi... Read more »
Published on 15 January 2010
10 marketing resolutions for the new decade
“You’ve got to keep up with the Joneses” Times are changing. If you’re still doing the same marketing activities that you were doing three years ago (print and broadcast ads?), then perhaps it’s time for a bit of clear thinking. What will y... Read more »
Published on 6 January 2010
Clear Thought’s Top 10 Blogs of 2009
Taking a look at our stats, and based on unique views of these posts, the Top 10 Clear Thought Blog posts of this year goes like this… 1. 10 things to include in a marketing brief Handy tips on writing a brief for marketing that sells – w... Read more »
Published on 22 December 2009
One piece of content, 20 ways to use it
If you’ve created a piece of marketing material, here are 20 ideas for squeezing every last drop of value from it. Most of which take time and energy, rather than money, so that you can make your marketing budget go further. With a nod to John ... Read more »
Published on 11 December 2009
How to write a marketing brief in 10 simple steps
“If you don’t say what you want, you won’t want what you get”. There’s a skill to writing a marketing brief. If you get it right your supplier will deliver first time – no surprises. If you get it wrong (or worse still don’t provide on... Read more »
Published on 26 November 2009
What are your social media rules?
What do you do online to manage your reputation? Your digital footprint follows you everywhere. I regularly Google people, look them up on Twitter, and always see if I can find someone on LinkedIn before I meet them, so people must be doing the same ... Read more »
Published on 20 November 2009
How to create professional sales tools from your desk
Every business needs sales and marketing collateral. Stationery, product literature, case studies, press releases, direct marketing, customer comms… the list goes on. Whether you choose to go paperless (PDFs and downloads) or use hard copy (traditi... Read more »
Published on 16 November 2009
10 ways in which marketing is like exercise
I was talking to a business owner the other day, who despite having a £4 million turnover has no structured marketing budget. The business dips in and out of marketing and tends to spend according to what looks like a good idea at the time. He descr... Read more »
Published on 12 November 2009
B2B Social Media: Be There, Be Relevant, Be Proven
Our clients, and most people we’ve met and talks and events recently, have asked the same question: Is social media appropriate for business-to-business marketing? Unequivocally, the answer is YES. In the last year, 40% of Clear Thought’s... Read more »
Published on 17 October 2009
The Jamie Oliver approach to marketing
I recently attended the B2B Marketing Lead Nurturing event (30 Sept 2009). I have a bar by which I measure the success of any speaker event I go to, which is that if there’s one thing I take away and implement in some way, it’s been a good event.... Read more »
Published on 2 October 2009
22 Sept: Harnessing the power of the internet
I’m currently preparing my talk for the Bristol Enterprise Network event on the 22nd September on ‘Marketing: Harnessing the Power of the Internet’. Such a vast topic. For my talk, I’m focussing on generating online word of mo... Read more »
Published on 2 September 2009
Treat your website like a member of the team
When I was getting my website built recently, Claire Sully, MD Tickbox, advised me to think of my website as an employee. It was great advice and has helped me enormously with my own site, and also in helping clients to understand more fully whatR... Read more »
Published on 24 August 2009
So, if you’re not an agency… what are you?
We’ve been getting a few puzzled looks when we say that Clear Thought Consulting isn’t a marketing agency, so we thought we’d clarify the business model a little for those who might be interested. So, we work with smaller businesses... Read more »
Published on 23 July 2009
What shape is your marketing budget?
The questions I most often get asked about marketing budgets are: How much should I spend as a percentage of turnover? Should I benchmark against competitors? How much shall I spend on each discipline (PR, DM, Events, Ads, etc.)? All totally reason... Read more »
Published on 9 July 2009
A typical thought leadership campaign
One of the key strengths at Clear Thought Consulting is in conceiving and running thought leadership programmes. I’m often asked what these entail, so here’s a quick run-down of the basics. Thought leadership is about being front of mind ... Read more »
Published on 3 June 2009
Making marketing pay
Being asked to prepare a talk for the Bristol & Bath Marketing Network on ‘Making Marketing Accountable’ has given me some space to reflect on my key learnings on making marketing pay. It was a 20 minute talk at a reasonably high leve... Read more »
Published on 27 March 2009
So, you want to be a rule breaker?
I’m currently working on two, very different, business-to-business websites, and have been knee deep in information architecture (IA) and web design for the last six weeks or so. Having come across the same questions time and time again… ... Read more »
Published on 11 February 2009
Ads I’m loving at the moment
I’m loving www.comparethemeerkat.com – comparison sites are all much of a muchness, so coming up with something really distinctive will have been a creative challenge indeed. I can’t for the life of me work out what the creative bri... Read more »
Published on 13 January 2009
No risk, no point…
Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Truly compelling messaging is almost certainly going to upset someone… providing that you’ve identified the people you want to inspire and the message works for them, does it matter if you ups... Read more »
Published on 3 December 2008
Capitalising on marketing moments
This is what those in the PR trade call an ‘issues jump’. And, with support from a nimble marketing communications team, this is an activity that can be hugely fruitful. You won’t know what they are until they happen, but there are ... Read more »
Published on 19 November 2008
Really good design should go completely un-noticed
I spent six hours this weekend clearing junk from my house. It felt great. I sorted through piles of boxes, threw out unwanted clothes and re-organised a load of storage. Then, my Dad came to visit and commented on what a lovely home we have. Now, he... Read more »
Published on 10 November 2008
What’s more important to marketing success – science or creativity?
Marketing is increasingly viewed as a science, where sophisticated modelling and data-driven decision-making are taking centre stage. Against this backdrop, has creativity become a less important marketing skill? It has certainly been argued that mar... Read more »
Published on 5 November 2008
Necessity, the mother of invention?
Will an economic downturn curb the enthusiasm of companies to spend on decent creative, or will it force people to be more inventive? The recent Honda live ad, where they booked the entire ad break for a live parachute jump was pretty innovative. You... Read more »
Published on 4 November 2008
Move over short copy
Long copy rules. For many a year the short copywriter has been king – writing those catchy lines that grab attention, particularly in advertising. In an online world, this is less important than depth, quality and quantity. Well written article... Read more »
Published on 3 November 2008
What to say when – managing marketing content through the sales funnel
Many businesses fail to move people through the sales funnel from awareness to action, not because they have their content wrong, but because they use it at the wrong time. By mapping your content against your sales funnel you can determine both the... Read more »
Published on 29 October 2008
