Brands are one of the most valuable assets an organisation will ever invest in. Just ask Apple. Forbes has valued their brand at a lazy $145.3 billion USD. It is the most valuable brand in the world.

It took years to get there and they have spent billions doing it, and it is more than twice that of their nearest competitor – Microsoft.

If it has a value to Apple of that much, it must mean that they own it?

According to their lawyers they probably do, but in reality they don’t. It is owned by all of us. A brand is nothing more than a perception that is created in the minds of consumer that is based on their interactions with that brand.

Be it advertising or PR exposure or direct experience with the company through its website, retail outlets, products/services and staff, these interactions are what create those perceptions. Companies can heavily influence how the brand is perceived through the strategies they implement, but it is ultimately owned by their consumers.

Given this, how much time and resources does your small business invest in your brand versus other business functions?

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review has suggested that a lot of businesses have got their priorities in this regard all wrong and it has had disastrous consequences.

They are investing time and money into areas of the business that are not revenue generating but compliance and organisational focussed, which is great to manage risk and increase efficiency.

However they are doing this at the expense of efforts directed at strengthening their brand, which will drive growth.

It is a similar story in small business.

Your brand is one of the few things that you can really have an influence over. You decide what tone, images and words to use and what values your brand stands for. But while a brand can have physical attributes they are predominately communicated through emotional connections.

In small business, your brand is much more personal. It is your smile, the level of service you provide, how quickly you respond to queries. How genuine you are in your interactions. How quickly you can rectify a problem.

You don’t need to be a billion dollar company to have a strong brand, in fact brands are far easier to control in small companies as there is less functions and touch points to manage, but they are just as important.

If you would like to know more about how to build your brand, feel free to .

Recently I was chatting to a friend of mine about running a small business

and how tricky it can be to find time to develop ideas, research and write content for blogs. His reply to me was ‘you don’t find time, you make time’. And he was dead right.

How many business blogs are out there whose last post is more than 6 months old (or a lot worse in some cases)? It shows that they either haven’t prioritised this activity or do not have a view on their industry that they wish to share. Why would you have a blog in the first place? It does more harm than good if it is not curated frequently.

Blogging is an important part of brand building and lead generation.

And here are 5 reasons why:

1. Small business with blogs generate 126% more leads

2. Interesting content is one of the top reasons people follow brands on social media

3. Websites with blogs have 97% more indexed links

4. B2B marketers using blogs generate 67% more leads

5. SEO: websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages and 97% more indexed links. (source: Ignite Spot)

There are loads more stats that support the use of blogs and content marketing, but in the meantime here is a few tips to help create content for your blog:

Find a topic that is timely and relevant for your target audience. For example, if your business sells alternative health products, don’t write about IT.

Tackle an issue from a new angle or fresh perspective to make it interesting, or even argue against conventional thinking and be contrary – provided you have the facts and references to support your case.

Provide solutions for common problems that your readers may face. Supply a case study of how you solved a problem for a customer. Make sure you include results. Ask happy customers for testimonials to lend further weight.

Use pictures, video, graphs, charts or infographics. Use dot points instead of slabs of text. Readers prefer a visual medium and white space.

Keep it short. Between 300 – 500 words. We lose attention fast these days.

Be creative and write a snappy headline. Test a few with friends to find the best one. Lists and how to's work well.

Good luck with your blogging and happy writing! If you need any further advice, feel free to

How often do you email your customers and clients?

I bet it isn’t frequently enough because you are worried about bothering them, getting unsubscribes from your hard won email database or you don’t have the resources to put a consistent strategy in place.

Recent research in the US suggests that 60% of all people want promotional emails once a week and 28% want to receive them more often than that.

While understanding that this is US data, one might wonder if we underestimate the local appetite for well-targeted eDMs that deliver real value to consumers.

Email is a prime channel for small to medium businesses as it is cost effective, efficient and, if done correctly, can deliver substantial ROI. But as with all engagement you have with your consumers or clients, it is a matter of value exchange.

When someone buys something from you, they give you money in exchange.

When you ask someone to invest their time viewing one of your emails (or engaging in any of your marketing communication activities for that matter) you must give them something in exchange.

Something that will make their life easier or solve a problem that they are having. The ‘what’s in it for me’?

So while customers might want more emails from you, the key to not annoying them is to ensure that they are delivering real value.

This doesn’t mean that you have to continually discount your products or services to get a response to your email, but you could consider the following:

Discounted add-on salesFree samplesGift vouchers when you spend over $X

Or for B2B marketers

E-books or other educational toolsA ‘freemium’ style product or service that only offers the basicsInvites to networking breakfasts, seminars or webinars

Of course these are just some basic examples. You will never know which will work the best unless you test and email provides the ability to do just that.

There are many different ways you can provide real value to your clients or customers via email and that if done correctly, they will love to hear from you more often than they are.

If you would like to know more about hoyou can use email to reach your customers, please feel free to

If you really understand your target audiences, you can develop marketing mixes that are superior to your competitors.

In basic terms, the marketing mix relates to how you apply the 4 Ps of marketing – Price, Product, Place and Promotion.

The application of these can provide your company with a breakthrough opportunity.

These are opportunities that enable innovators to develop marketing strategies that are difficult to copy by competitors and are more likely to be profitable for a long period of time.

Recent times have shown that many companies can achieve these breakthrough opportunities by how they manipulate the 4 Ps.

A classic example is UBER. They have completely disrupted the transport industry by how they developed their Product (any car owner can become a taxi driver) and Price (a sliding scale versus a fixed price). This is completely different to the traditional taxi industry that applies a rigid cost structure and highly regulated taxi licence process.

Another example of an innovative Product strategy is Canva.

Until recently design was best carried out using complicated and expensive software. The owners of Canva developed products that were easier to use, which opened up their product to a whole new audience that were having difficulty using software such as Photoshop and In-design.

There are also plenty of companies that have used Place to their competitive advantage. Some time ago having bricks and mortar shop fronts was seen as essential to running a successful retail business.

And then Amazon came a long and changed this perception. Now many businesses can run successfully without a physical presence. Even services as traditional as legal advice is being delivered online only, without the need for an office.

The fourth P – Promotion has been used frequently to create that breakthrough. In the olden days, Tupperware used direct selling via Tupperware parties. At that time, this was seen as a breakthrough. Taking a product directly into the home of housewives and turning it into a social occasion with some talk of the product was a massive shake up.

More recently the Ice Bucket Challenge utilised by ALS/MND charities used the viral nature of social media to drive home the paralysing effect of the disease as well as challenge people to donate money. It gained so much attention that each year the AFL contribute to the cause by having celebrities dive headlong into a large pool of ice water.

Another great campaign was devised by Metro trains. ‘Dumb ways to die’ was a catchy little tune accompanied with some cute animations and black humour. It was shared online repeatedly and the song hit the top 10 in iTunes downloads. Accidents on Metro trains dropped 21%.

The above are some examples of how a marketing mix can be utilised to devised strategies to give organisations a competitive advantage and stand-out from the competition. The task of integrating the 4 Ps is the responsibility of the individual who manages the marketing, however those in the organisation who are responsible for product development, pricing, promotion and place all need to come together as it is critical that each marketing mix decision work well together.

If you need you need any assistance with your marketing mix, please feel free to

Writing a marketing plan for your business is one the most important tasks you will undertake as a business owner or manager.

Yet you may have no experience in marketing or might not be a natural writer.

So where do you start? To help, here is a brief list of the areas that make up a detailed a marketing plan:

1. Executive Summary: Usually written last, this is a single page summary of the plan that includes the main points. Keep in mind that this may be all that some people read, so it should be concise but sell your plan on how it will achieve your objectives.

2. Marketing Objectives: Setting marketing goals is the first step of developing your plan. By aiming for targets, you can assess and measure how you are performing as you conduct your planned marketing activities. Your marketing objectives should be set in conjunction with business objectives and they should support the wider business strategy. Your objectives should follow the SMART format. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant/Realistic, Timely).

3. What is your Current Situation: This is where you provide information on the current position of the company. List the details of the company background, financial history, structure. What is your vision, mission and positioning statement? Include details of your brand values and platform. This is where you can include your SWOT analysis. It is also where you include all your product and service details, including margin, growth potential, markets etc.

4. Target Market: What are their demographics/psychographics? List your segments then identify which are the most relevant and profitable to your company. Here you can set the sales targets for each of your segments. Once you understand your market and segments, you can then define the customer value proposition.

5. Competitor Analysis: Where do you sit within your competitive set? Do you know who your direct and indirect competitors are? What do they sell, where do they sell it, how do they sell it and for what price? Once this is complete, you can determine your positioning against the competition and define your unique selling proposition. In this section, you can also detail any market research insights you might have available.

6. What is the Marketing Strategy? What strategy will you employ to meet your marketing goals? How will you utilise the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) to achieve your stated objectives? Include details of the tactics the will be employed, executions, timings, budgets and expected results.

7. Budget/ Proposed Investment: No marketing plan is complete without details on the finances. This is a costing of all the strategic and operational decisions that allow the implementation of the strategy. It is also how the plan will be measured. The return on investment is a key performance indicator (KPI). If your plan is not returning a positive result on the money invested then new strategies and tactics will need to be considered. This section should include forecast sales numbers, margins, resulting revenue and profit. It will also include a detailed budget of your marketing activities so you can plan how much you will spend during the plan period.

8. Conclusion and Appendices: this is where you summarise and evaluate your plan. In the appendices you can include any data or full details of the information that you have included in your plan. This is available for people to review should they wish.

These areas sum up the main components of any marketing plan. A full template and guide has been prepared to assist you further with your planning activities.

Feel free to should you have any further questions or need any assistance developing your plan.

Running a business is hard work. For many it is a 24/7 job and far more time consuming than most paid employment. Of the many hours that small business owners work, what proportion do they dedicate to marketing activities?

Research from the US suggests that owners of SMEs dedicate on average 20 hours/week to their marketing efforts – split between them and another resource. While, in Australia, data suggests that over 1/3 of small businesses do not even have any online presence, thereby missing many marketing opportunities.

Marketing is often not on the radar as many businesses owners find themselves focusing on managing the day-to-day, and any coordinated marketing efforts fall completely by the wayside.

Which, given how hard small business owners work, is completely understandable.

One way to shake up the business is to adopt the marketing concept. This implies that an organisation aims all its efforts, in a coordinated and integrated manner, at simultaneously satisfying its customers and achieving its own corporate goals.

While some businesses continue to seek out customers for its products, showing little interest in their customer needs, businesses that that adopt the marketing concept aim to identify what their customers need first and then aim to satisfy them.

There are three components to the marketing concept:

Customer satisfactionIntegration (or a total organisation-wide effort)Profit as a corporate goal

1. Customer satisfaction

As obvious as this sounds, making this a key part of your business sometimes requires some fundamental changes. First of all, do you understand how happy your customers are currently? How many are genuine loyal customers? How many switch or have multiple vendors they source from? How many are once off and never return? Is your business easy to deal with? Are your salespeople more focused on getting the orders, but then fall down on the delivery? If you can gain a measure of your current customer satisfaction, you can then understand what changes to you need to make to improve it.

2. Integration

When people are working day-to-day, it is difficult for them to find time to be aware of what others in the organisation are doing. But given each department is an input to another, then it is the best interest of the business as a whole that opportunities for increasing cooperation and performance be identified. How many people inside a business beside the marketing manager or the business owners would be aware of the marketing plan, marketing objectives or any marketing activities the business is undertaking?

Each department is still required because specialisation still exists, however the total effort should be guided by the needs of the customer, not the particular requirement of the departments.

3. Profit as a goal

There is no better measure of success than profit. This is the ultimate indicator of customer satisfaction as satisfied customers tend to be prepared to pay more and come back often. Ultimately customers vote with their feet. And it is a measure of how well the company is doing in every facet where profit is maximized. Costs are as low as possible without sacrificing customer satisfaction. Margin on the product is as high as possible before customers seek other solutions or buy a competing product. The balance of these will determine long term success.

Businesses, like people, have a survival instinct. The marketing concept is designed to ensure that, they not only survive, but they out-perform their competitors.

If you need any help with your marketing efforts, please feel free to

In 2014, Apple’s marketing budget was almost USD$833 million. In that year, its revenue was almost USD$12 billion and as a result of its marketing efforts it is the world’s most trusted brand, it has a market capitalisation of USD$700 billion and its revenue is growing at 7%.

As you might imagine, managing the marketing function of the behemoth like Apple would be extraordinarily challenging and would require a massive amount of planning.

However, you also might be surprised to learn that they basics of a strategic marketing plan are quite simple, no matter what size your business or budgets are.

Put very simply, marketing strategy planning focuses on finding opportunities and then developing strategies to leverage those opportunities to maximise profit.

The plan requires two fundamental components.

The target market – A group or groups of customers and prospects that display very similar attributes who are attractive (and profitable) to your company A marketing mix (commonly known as the 4 Ps) – a set of controllable variables that can be manipulated in such a way as to position your company to be as attractive as possible to the target market.

These 4 Ps are Product, Place (distribution), Price and Promotion. I.e. a typical marketing mix will include some sort of product (or service), offered at a price, with some type of promotion (ads, email, mail, PR etc.) with some means of it being available to the market (franchise, distributors, shops, online).

At the centre of how these 4 Ps are planned and executed is the customer.

An effective marketing strategy involves a process of selecting specific target markets and marketing mix that represents the most profitable opportunity.

To do this, you will require an understanding of the needs of your customer, the wider market environment as well as the company’s objectives and its available resources.

Unless you are an Apple, your marketing budget is finite, so there will be many more options available than your company can engage in. Therefore a SWOT analysis, which identifies a company’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats can assist in narrowing down the options. A business owner or marketing manager can develop a strategy that capitalises on core strengths, attacking opportunities, rectifying any weaknesses and avoiding any threats.

If, like many businesses, your company is selling products to a target market that other companies are already servicing, then your marketing mix will need to work to develop a competitive advantage. This could be a better product, cheaper price, greater accessibility, or a memorable promotion.

Whether you are an Apple or a sole proprietor, the basics of a marketing planning process are the same.

To assist in developing your plan, we have created a marketing template and guide to follow, as well as step-by-stepSWOT analysis template.

If you need any further help with your strategic planning, please feel free to

Successful businesses aim to build lasting relationships with their customers. These relationships are based mutually beneficial exchange of value. For the customer it is a solution to a problem at an acceptable cost, for the business, it is revenue and profit.

The strength of these relationships are important because a business will inevitably face competition. A strong relationship will mean there are high barriers to exit from your business.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become synonymous with technology, with large companies investing heavily in software that controls the CRM process. Small business cannot afford the outlay, but that doesn’t mean CRM should fall by the wayside. You should still have CRM strategies in place to ensure you maintain strong relationships.

Here a number of ways that you can have great CRM processes without breaking the bank:

Collect as much data on your customers as possible so that you can paint a complete picture. This includes all basic demographic information, but also purchase and transaction data as well as lifestyle information. Use this information to create customer profiles and segments. Create an e-newsletter and send it out frequently. You might be surprised to know that your customers will want to hear from you if you have interesting things to say or you can provide them with added benefits. Give your customers the option of how often they receive the email – weekly, monthly or quarterly. Treat each customer as individuals. Who likes receiving an email or letter addressed ‘dear valued customer’? At least use my name if I am that valued. Being able to segment your customer base down into as many unique groups as possible will help as well, that way you can target your communications to be as specific as possible. Know what keeps your customers up at night. A key factor in having a strong relationship is having a high degree of customer satisfaction. You can only really satisfy your customers if you understand them. This means their entire lives, not just where your product interacts with them. Make it easy to do business with you. Don’t hide behind a website without any contact details, don’t have restrictive office hours that mean you are never available. Make sure you take all major payment methods (no “I’m sorry, cash only” – keep it accessible and easy for the customer). Present a unified face to your customer. Providing your customers with consistency, no matter who they are interacting with or by which channel provides them with a degree of re-assurance. Your business processes should allow ease of access to customer information by all. I have heard many times of sales reps keeping customer information on sticky notes. At the very least it should be in a shareable spreadsheet. Be proactive, not reactive. There is no quicker way to lose a customer than to have your product superseded by a superior version. Just ask Kodak, Nokia or Blackberry. While they are large corporations, the lesson still applies in small business. Rather than wait for the market to move, be a step ahead. This applies to all aspects to your business practises, such as sales, marketing and customer service, not just your product or manufacturing.

Using these simple strategies, you can have great CRM systems in place that will help you create, manage and grow customer relationships. You will keep your customers satisfied, provide them with great value and they will keep coming back.

Remember, a business that keeps the customer at the centre of everything they do will be more profitable.

Customers are damn hard to find and can cost loads of your hard earned money, so when you get one, you want to make sure that you give yourself every chance of making that sale.

There are a number of ways you can do this quite easily, which means that you can increase your revenue without spending a cent more on advertising.

1. Build trust in the site

When prospects land on your site they immediately make judgements about who manages the site and how trustworthy they are. There are a number of cues that they look for, that if you respond to, mean they are more likely to stay and purchase from your site.

Professional design and UX – having a well-designed site also shows your prospects that your company is serious about the business and have the resources to support it.Customer reviews – having the support of other buyers from your site also helps create trust.

2. What and where are your calls to action?

Everything your customer needs should be in brightly labelled in plain sight, above the fold. Your customer should never have to hunt to find anything in your store. This includes shopping carts and check outs. These actions should never be text links.

3. Show me the product

Very few people buy a product sight unseen, so having as many great shots of your products available is vital to selling online. This means big images, with lots of white space, on loads of different angles – the more the better. Along with the ability to zoom in and expand.

This also includes video – if you can produce video, go for it (remember the lesson above about having a professional website), however a more cost effective way is to ask users to supply video with their reviews. This way they don’t need to be professional and will have the authentic feel.

4. Don’t create unnecessary barriers

Everything on your site should make it easy for your visitors to do business with you. Some really basic ways to do this are:

Don’t make shoppers create an account on your site if you don’t need to.When asking for information, don’t make every field mandatory – just the basics. If they want to add more, let them.Offer free shipping where possible.

People are busy, and once they have found want they want, don’t stop them buying.

5. Don’t make people think

Thinking is your enemy. Visitors to your website need to understand where they’ve come from and where they’re going. Otherwise they will feel lost and confused. If they have clicked on an ad somewhere, then the landing page needs to respond directly to the key outtake of that ad. Don’t advertise one product and then have other products listed. People will click straight back out.

6. Don’t leave full shopping carts sitting around

Your customers will leave with a full cart for all sorts of reasons, but you don’t need to leave them alone. If you have collected email addresses, you can send them reminders about their products. Be sure to test messages and frequency so you can maximise the conversion. Even a small incremental difference will make it worthwhile to your bottom line.

By following these simple tips, you can make sure you give yourself every chance to convert your hard earned customers. Then you can look at how you can start to attract more.

If you like to know more, please

There is an old adage in marketing that I have heard countless times: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half’. This is credited to a very successful American merchant, John Wanamaker, who lived from 1838 to 1922.

In the century or so since he passed away, lots has changed, particularly so in the last 10 years which makes tracking your ad spend and marketing budget a much simpler task.

Sales conversion is one important metric to track.

Let’s start with a traditional sales funnel and imagine that you are running an online fashion retailer for children and teenagers. Give or take, the steps are similar no matter what your business is.

Suspects – Anyone in your target market. They have a need for your product/service. They may or may not be aware of your brand. Sometimes it can be difficult to identify how many suspects there are. Research can help and the ABS is a good start and can provide lots data for you. In our case, there are 6 million families in Australia – 45% are couples with children and 16% single parent families. That gives you a total audience of 3.66 million families to target.

Prospects – These are people are aware of your brand and have shown an interest in your product/service. In this case, prospects could be the number of visits to your website each month. For this example, let’s say you get 100,000 unique visits/month on your home page.

Leads – These are people who have had some level of interaction with the brand. For example, a parent may have clicked on some items of clothing on the website or made a wish list. Say this happens 15,000/month.

Qualified Leads/Opportunities – These people have almost made a purchase, but not quite. They may have placed items in a shopping cart but not completed the transaction or joined the email list. On our example site, this happens 2,000/month.

Sales – This group have made a purchase. A now your job is the keep them coming back! Our site makes 650 sales per month.

As you can see from the triangle, the numbers diminish as you work your way down to a sale.

Now overlaying these stats with the conversion rate shows how many you need in each previous step to fill up the funnel.

The conversion rate in isolation is meaningless, but once you have established it, it becomes a benchmark to measure success by.

By understanding the conversion rate you know what’s working and what’s not and where you are losing customers.

It also means that you can determine your RIO and predict your sales. If conversion remains the same, you know how many prospects you need to attract to sell more products.

However, there are two ways to increase sales – add more leads into the funnel (which may cost $$$) or increase your conversion of leads (which will cost less $$$).

Measuring conversion rates is a fairly simple process and a good start to understanding which half of your budget is working.

If you’d like to know more, please feel free to .

Customer value is an important concept in marketing. In fact, one definition of marketing can read ‘that it is a process for creating, communicating and delivering value to its customers’. However, customer value is a tricky concept to quantify and measure. Put simply, it is the difference between the benefits a customer perceives from the product/service and the costs of obtaining those benefits. Ultimately the product needs to have high perceived value and low perceived cost.

Customer Value = Perceived Benefits – Perceived Cost

This doesn’t mean low cost products have the highest customer value as the benefits and cost include emotional inputs, not just financial measures. For example, a luxury car can still deliver high customer value despite being expensive to purchase because of the emotive drivers behind the purchase – i.e. status, success etc.

So how can you create customer value?

1. What problems will you solve for your customers?

What motivates your customers is a key question to understand to determine what value means to them. Ultimately all products and services solve a problem – how big the problem is, is one determinant of value.

2. Determine your value proposition

Once you have identified the problem and determined how you can solve it, you can place a value against it. What is the cost of the product – this is the RRP, plus any ongoing costs, plus the cost to access and use it. What is the difference between this and the benefits it creates?

3. Segment your audience to maximise value

Being able to identify what value each of your different groups of customers and prospects place on your products is an important part of segmentation. That way you can understand what they are worth and potentially worth to your bottom line. The most important segments are those who have both the highest current value and potential value. Also equally important is to identify those ‘like’ customers and migrate them up.

4. Determine the optimal offer

The more value your satisfied customers perceive from your products and the more you can build in, the more willing they are to pay for it. Whereas unsatisfied customers will move elsewhere even at a low price. It is important to find that balance between maximum profitability and volume of sales that create the win-win for customers and company.

5. Focus your investments where it matters most

Make sure your best customers feel rewarded. They will be the advocates for your products and help demonstrate the value they provide to others. Any new products or services you create should be offered to them first as they are most likely to respond.

If you need any assistance creating value for your customers, please feel free to

Bill Gates is currently worth USD$90 billion. Mark Zuckerberg is valued at USD$ 69 billion. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is worth USD$ 89 billion.

These are staggering sums of money. The list goes on for the .com billionaires – Ben Silberman (Pinterest), Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Sergey Brin (Google).

Besides their billions, these people all had one thing in common, they believed in their idea.

However, having a great idea is not enough. There are many reasons why people achieve such great success – imagination, timing, funding, a great team to back you and an enormous amount of luck are just part of it. Aside from those, persistence, the willingness to carry on despite setbacks and believing in yourself are vital.

Let’s have a quick look at those names again.

Bill Gates – It took him 6 years after founding Microsoft in 1975 to win a contract with IBM to develop their PC operating system. It was a further 5 years before Microsoft went public, after which he was valued at $350 million

Ben Silberman – The founder of Pinterest is worth USD$1.7 billion. Pinterest was the eventual outcome of a failed app that began in 2008. It took 4 years before it became a success.

Sergey Brin – Founded Google in 1996. 8 years later it went public in 2004 and was valued at USD$ 23 billion. He is now worth USD$ 43 billion.

Jack Dorsey – After becoming fascinated with short messaging, he began Twitter in 2006. It went public in 2013 and he is now worth USD$ 2 billion.

Jeff Bezos – After founding the company in 1994, he took it public in 1997 and become a multi billionaire.

Despite their reputations of being overnight successes, none of them actually were. It’s actually a very long road. And these are widely recognised as being some of the fastest growing companies, so to match this pace would be an achievement in itself.

The world loves to hear about the success stories, which help motivate us and give us all something to aspire to. However, you don’t hear about the hard work, the late nights, about having two jobs or the houses and relationships on the line. This is as much a part of the story as the final outcome.

If you believe in what you are doing deeply enough, and you are completely committed to achieving your goals, then everything you do, the failures and the setbacks, will all become part of your own success story. It just takes a little time to become an overnight success.

As small business owners, we know how efficient you need to be with marketing spend. Therefore defining your target audience as accurately as possible is an important exercise, that way you can better plan your marketing activities. Targeting ‘anyone who will buy my products’ is not an effective strategy. Target audiences such as ‘furniture shoppers’, ‘small business owners’ or ‘sports enthusiasts’ are not accurate enough.

There are a number of basic ways to slice up your target audience:

1. Demographics

Age, gender, race, income, religion, occupation, family size, geographic location

2. Psychographic segmentation

Lifestyles, interests, opinions

3. Product usage

Season, occasion, usage volume and type

4. Brand preference

Brand loyal, brand aware, unaware

The best way to define your audience is to use characteristics from all of the above and paint as detailed picture as possible – even give audiences a name.

For example you may run a fashion label, then your target audience may be:

Sarah - 25-34 y/o active single professional woman with a high disposable income. She is a member of the local gym and attends yoga once a week. She shops regularly and is a high volume spender who will shop based on each season’s style and fashion. She knows what brands she likes and will stick with them.

There are a number of ways that can help you identify your various target audiences.

Sales data will reveal if any seasonality occurs. You can also bolt on a CRM program to help you collect detailed customer information. Reviewing your competitors activities can provide some insights into your own business Market research can provide in an in depth picture of who your customers are. There are many cost effective ways to collect data, from online survey panels to running a basic poll on Facebook. Running quick and simple test ad campaigns on Facebook and Google can provide data on what audiences, messages, images, and times work best. This adds to the collective portrait of your target audience.

These steps will help you define your target audiences, enabling you to prioritise your marketing activities and budget.

If you need any assistance understanding your market(s), please feel to

Last night I planned a topic for my scribblings – it was going to be about the importance of mentoring and finding great mentors that motivate you and support your growth. But the morning arrived and as I flicked through some articles I skimmed one which said you shouldn’t be looking for mentors you should be looking for cheerleaders.

So I thought about that and I realised that the sweet spot is really people that do both.

Our careers and our business success is shaped by so many people along our journey, our managers, our mentors, our colleagues, those that mentor us but don’t even realise they are doing it, those that mentor us by showing us what not to do, and of course, our cheerleaders.

Early in my career, I benefited from meeting some remarkable people, some achieved so much and started with very little, some were always willing to take the time to listen to my hopes and dreams even though it would have very little, if any, impact on them and some started out as formal mentors and turned into lifelong friends.

In the five years since starting this business, I have realised that it is the cheerleaders that can have the biggest and most surprising impact on your success. It has been my cheerleaders that have referred the most work, always believing in my capabilities and what I can deliver, always willing to have a chat or catch-up, always encouraging me to stretch.

I owe everything I’ve achieved to those who have encouraged me and believed in me even when I couldn’t see the plan clearly. My cheerleaders. Especially those that I least expected to be cheerleaders.

So I guess my thoughts today are multiple….

Always take the time to ‘mentor’ people, even if not in a formal capacity. It is a real privilege to have someone trust you with their dreams and aspirations and there is something remarkably fulfilling about seeing them achieve those dreams. A deep and heartfelt gratitude to all of my cheerleaders – even those that don’t know they are one of my cheerleaders, those that support and encourage in the quiet ways as well as the loud! And that we should be excited about the future. The people we’re yet to meet, the opportunities we’re yet to experience, the people that will cheer for us and, with some luck, those we’ll have honour of cheering for.

In a world where our every move is shared and commented on, liked, favourited or Tweeted, it surprises me that businesses still don’t fully appreciate the importance of customer service.

Far from being a thing of the past, information about customer experience, or lack there-of, is at everyone’s finger tips. In such a competitive environment I find it hard to understand why some businesses continue to ignore the basics.

I frequently read about businesses who say they would love referrals or more business and I meet business owners who say the same. With the people we meet, we always start with the basics. Before you start spending money on marketing or trying to win more business, let’s take a look at your customer/ client experience. Do people leave you/ your staff/ your store/ your service feeling appreciated and looked after or do they leave wondering why they wasted their time with you at all?

Remembering that a dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience and around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people (White House Office of Consumer Affairs), it may just be worth taking customer service seriously.

Customer experience is a critical part of every business’ overall business and marketing strategy. For something that fundamentally costs businesses nothing if done well and costs them an awful lot if done poorly, it makes sense to regularly check to see where your customer service can be improved.

When looking for the above statistic I came across a few others which I found so compelling I’ve included them below:

A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price- or product-related – Bain & Company. For every customer complaint there are 26 other unhappy customers who have remained silent –Lee Resource. 96% of unhappy customers don’t complain, however 91% of those will simply leave and never come back – Financial Training services. 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated – McKinsey. It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience – “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner. A 5% reduction in the customer defection rate can increase profits by 5 – 95% – Bain & Company.

So what should businesses look at when determining the quality of their customer service? Here are some things to think about:

When looking at customer service it’s worth looking at how your team works together and how engaged your team is with the business. It is known that engaged staff provide better quality customer service – so if your staff are happy, your customers will be happier.

How do you communicate with your customers/ clients? Often enough? Too often? Do you keep them informed of delays with their product or service? Do you reply to emails and calls within a reasonable timeframe. People are often happy enough to at least get acknowledged on the same day even if you cannot provide a solution immediately.

Are your team always friendly, approachable and accessible? Do they strive to provide solutions even if that means spending a little more time with the customer?

Where does your business add value to the customer/ client? How do you go above and beyond? Why should they choose you/ your business over anyone else’s? What is it that you do better than anyone else?

Many things come into play when looking at how customers engage with a business, it may include the values of the business/ how they go about providing their product/ service and what it truly means to be a customer of that business.

Of course, good customer service is partly defined by the industry in which you operate, but a large part of how your business defines it will be determined by what good customer service means to you and your staff.

So before making any decisions on where to take your marketing, we recommend looking at your customer experience. If it’s good, there will be ways to capitalise on it…if it’s not, well, it might be a good and cost effective place to start!

We’ve often blogged about how to capitalise on the ever-connected world we live in to improve business results and marketing ROI. However today’s article takes a different tack.

It is about improving results by turning off from the ever-connected world – but don’t worry, it doesn’t take long!

Meditation and mindfulness are having a real ‘moment’ and when you read about the benefits it’s easy to see why: enhanced productivity, better concentration, deeper sleep and increased resilience. These are just a few reasons why companies, sporting teams and individuals are eager to partake.

It also helps that the practice has been made popular with high profile devotees such as Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post. But no matter how you’ve heard about it, it may be time to take action.

Given the extreme pressure in which most people work under, which is now a 24/7 phenomenon, Mindfulness is now being taught and practiced in a growing number of organisations worldwide. The aim is to improve personal and professional effectiveness and overall organisational productivity.

So what is Mindfulness? Put simply, Mindfulness is being in the present moment, on purpose with no judgement. It is cultivated through awareness and paying attention.

Most people live in a constant state of stress and exhaustion and in continual partial attention. We are on auto-pilot and constantly multi-tasking.

Meditation and mindfulness allows you to press the pause button and contact the stillness. In this quiet space, the right decisions are made, the brain is more focused and gains clarity. New ideas are generated and problems are solved - innovation is the result.

It also increases resilience as meditation is training for the mind. It also allows you to be more calm and relaxed, which results in responding to a problem rather than reacting as in times of stress, our emotions can hijack our actions.

Need a little more motivation? According to a recent PsyBlog article, from around the late twenties, people’s brains start to reduce in size and weight. The article sites a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, which imaged the brains of 50 meditators and 50 non-meditators, who were aged between 24 and 77 (Luders et al., 2015).

The study showed that meditation conserves the brain’s grey matter (used for processing thoughts) against age-related degeneration.

If you’re still not convinced, other benefits include increased motivation, improved decision making, improved relationships and better listening skills. And that is certainly not the full list. So far, there is no downside to at least giving it a go.

There are many different ways to incorporate mediation or Mindfulness into each day and the best way of doing so is different for everyone.

So if you’re stressed and exhausted, find a way that suits you and incorporate it into your daily routine. If you can’t commit to 20 min a day, start with 10 or even 5 and build up slowly….you may be surprised as to how quickly you get addicted and just how much your results improve!

What if we saw fear for what it is...? A reminder that we’re about to do something that we’re not comfortable with.

Sometimes there are things that really warrant fear, people who live in extreme situations or are very unwell – I’m not talking about fear in that context.

I’m talking about the type of fear that stops people living the life they want, or achieve the life they deserve. The fear that stops people loving fully, taking chances, backing themselves to succeed. The fear that keeps people playing small…just in case.

There are 3 universal fears that apply to us all:

1. Fear of being ‘found out’ or of not being enough. 2. Fear of not belonging. 3. Fear of not being loved.

These fears play out in how we make decisions and can affect our behaviour. Many people may think that they are the only ones with these fears and may even think they are strange for having these thoughts. These fears are normal and we all have them on some level.

Beyond those termed ‘universal’ fears, many things create fear in us, and, in turn, create our view of ourselves. For example the importance we place on other people’s opinions of us/ what we have to offer. Sadly, much of this is formed long before we’re old enough to know what’s going on and stays with us throughout our lives through our beliefs, values and the way we look at the world. But that doesn’t mean you can’t move through it.

Fear holds us back from what we’re truly capable of. The success we deserve. The relationships we deserve. The life we deserve.

But what if we got excited by fear? What if we used it to catapult us to greater heights rather than paralyse us?

Unfortunately the way to move beyond fear is to push through it. To practice it. Now hear me out, the idea isn’t quite as crazy as it sounds. If you put yourself in situations that cause mild ‘fear’ and you do it often, you will start to get more comfortable with it – and the fear will diminish over time. Could that not be applied to a number of situations that could, step by step, get you where you want to be?

Another thought may help. Fear is a future based emotion. We don’t fear what has already happened, it’s impossible!

So, are you going to stick to the paralysing fear thing and let it hold you back? Or take a shot at getting what you want?

It’s your call…

Ever wonder how marketing business to business is different from marketing business to consumer? As the table below summarises, there are 6 different factors that you may need to consider when developing your marketing plan.

Rational versus emotional benefits

Sell the sizzle, not the sausage is a term used by marketers since the concept emerged mid last century. But when it comes to B2B v B2C, businesses will put a lot more effort in to rationalising the purchase. When communicating to businesses, emphasise the rationale side of the equation. This usually boils down to such factors as saving money, time, resources, etc. While the opposite is true for consumers. Emotions play a much larger role in decision making. Feelings of acceptance, love or being part of a movement will play a greater role.

More versus less customers

Unless you are operating in a niche field, the number of customer B2C products can target may number the millions. For businesses this is usually far less. For example, how many companies need those giant mining trucks? This is offset by the respective margins B2C v B2B products may have. One sale of a product to business may have a large enough margin to keep the business sustained for months.

Complex versus simple decision making

When a consumer buys a new pair of shoes, how long do they spending making the decision? They might go to one or two shops, try on a few different brands, and then they buy the one they like best. Might take a couple of hours – tops. Businesses can take months to purchase a new product or utilise a service. They might have to prepare a committee, issue requests for tenders, review and then met with vendors, submit a Cost Benefit Analysis, get approval by various levels of management. This process can take a long time.

Complex versus simple products

One of the reasons businesses take longer to make purchases is that the products are much more complex. While the mining truck example above is unique, businesses are generally purchasing more complex products. When a consumer purchases a printer to use at home, they might consider a colour ink jet model that prints 25-30 ppm for a couple of hundred dollars. An office might look at a printer/photocopier that prints over a 1000ppm and costs $25,000.

Impersonal versus personal relationships

Who knows the name of the person who sold them the last pair of shoes? What about the person who sold you your last mobile phone? While consumers might have a high level relationship with some of the brands they interact with, it will not be to the same level as a B2B relationship. For example, when a company buys a financial product with a bank, there will be a personal relationship between two. The company will expect the bank to understand its business and proactively provide advice and strategies on how to maximise profitability.

Complex versus simple communication

When crafting an ad for those new shoes, what are the top 2 – 3 things you will say? All leather for increased comfort, comes in a range of colours, available at the following distributors for $99.95. Along with a nice shot of the shoes, your job is essentially done. What do you say about a new printing press that costs millions, requires you to lease a new factory to install it in and a legion of people to fit it out for you? This requires a much more involved communication strategy.

While the fundamentals of a marketing plan that target businesses remain the same as consumers, it is important to note the differences above when considering your options. While not everyone sells large mining trucks, or printing presses, understanding how a business makes decisions is important.

If you need any help with your B2B or B2C marketing plans, please .

Developing a marketing plan is a time consuming exercise for any business to undertake. Big businesses dedicate many resources to their marketing planning efforts, however for small businesses, it is often undertaken by the owners after a long day at work. It can also be confusing, with a myriad of strategies to employ, and lots of jargon to navigate.

However a marketing plan is just like a GPS for your business, it will help you get to where you want to go more quickly and efficiently than you would otherwise.

To help kick start the process, here are 7 good reasons why you should prepare a marketing plan.

1. It helps you set objectives

Your marketing objectives will help you achieve your overall business objectives. Articulating your goals and writing them down will force you to be specific about what you want to achieve. There is plenty of research to suggest those who set goals are more likely to be successful.

2. It helps you understand your business environment

A review of the environment in which your business operates will be part of the marketing plan. This will include key areas for growth, your competitors, your strengths and weaknesses as well as the factors that are critical to success. To provide this information you will need to do some research and by doing so, you will be able to better position your business.

3. It helps prevent rushed decisions

A rushed decision is unlikely to be a good one. By planning your activities, you are less likely to be forced into responding to the actions of others. This could including activities by your competitors, changes in business factors, such as lending rates, or legislative changes made by government. Your plan could detail contingencies that could mitigate against such risks to your business.

4. It helps you obtain financing

Banks and financial institutions will look more favourably on businesses that have comprehensive marketing and business plans. They can see that you are serious about your business and you have a clear pathway to succeed.

5. It helps you determine what makes your business unique

Why should someone buy your products/services over another? Why is the value that you provide to your prospective customer more than your competitors? How do you solve their problems in a better/more efficient/cost effective manner? A marketing plan will step you through the process of being able to articulate and then communicate how your business is better than the competition.

6. It helps you describe your ideal customer

What would you rather do? Advertise to many customers who may buy your product, or communicate to a fewer customers that will buy your product? But the trick is to understand who those customers are and describe them in detail. Once you have done this, you can focus your marketing efforts on that segment, rather than spreading your budget across a wide range of groups.

7. It helps deliver greater profitability

The final reason is the most important. A marketing plan will give you an action plan, which details what activities your business is going to undertake, when you are going to do them, who is going be responsible and what it will cost. This approach will get you better results and greater ROI as all your efforts are co-ordinated and aligned. It will eliminate the random activities that cause additional stress, waste your money and don't deliver sales.

There are many reasons to prepare a marketing plan, and these are just 7 of them. To help prepare your marketing plan, Aspire has prepared a template and guide that you can download.

Otherwise, feel free to contact us to assist in preparing yours.

S.W.O.T. is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

A SWOT analysis helps you get a sense of your business environment and assists in developing a strong business strategy by making sure you’ve considered your businesses strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats it faces in the marketplace.

Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the company (think: reputation, patents, location). Opportunities and threats are external (think: suppliers, competitors, prices).

Existing businesses can use a SWOT analysis, at any time, to assess a changing environment and respond proactively or simply assess their progress as a business.

New businesses should use a SWOT analysis as a part of their planning process. There is no “one size fits all” plan for your business, and thinking about your new business in terms of its unique “SWOTs” will put you on the right track and save you a lot of headaches down the track.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself when preparing your SWOT.

Strengths:

Do you consider you and your team strong? Why?What do you offer that makes you stand out from the rest?What unique resources do you have?Do you have any specific marketing expertise?Do you have a broad customer base?

Weaknesses:

What can be improved?In what areas do your competitors have the edge?What necessary expertise / manpower do you currently lack?Do you have cash flow problems?Are you relying primarily on just a few clients or customers?Do your products have a low margin?

Opportunities:

What trends (technological, environmental, social, and political) do you see in the industry?What external changes present interesting opportunities?What have you seen in the news recently that might present an opportunity?What are your competitors not doing that you can? What does your customer data tell you about how your revenue is generated?

Threats:

What obstacles do you face?Are there existing competitors copying your business model?Is your product / service easily replicatedWhat challenges can be turned into opportunities?Are external economic forces affecting your bottom line?

You can download our SWOT template herethat will help you get you on your way, or feel free to contact us if you need further assistance.

Are you the type of person who is a natural writer, someone who can turn ideas into copy quickly and efficiently? If you are, then planning your blog content may not be necessary.

If, like the rest of us, you need to put lots of thought into your posts and write many drafts, then planning your content is an important part of publishing. Here are 5 good reasons to spend a few minutes planning your posts.

Maximise your ideas

An idea is good for one blog, or it can be good for many. When you have an idea for a post, write it down straight away. It could come while you are meeting clients, or in the middle of the night or ideas might even spring from something that you have read or watched – you don’t want to forget it. Then, when you have time, start to brainstorm other concepts, themes, headlines and sub-heads that stem from that idea. This way, one idea is far more fleshed out and can be used to create much more content. It may even be helpful to create a blog ideas folder in your email folders and save ideas in there for when you’re ready to get writing.

Getting it right

How many times do you need to write something to get it right? Good writing takes time to perfect. Many drafts and rounds of proof reading are required. Time is needed to identify poor grammar or typos and ensure you are making your points as clearly and simply as possible. Rushing your writing means you will not produce your best work.

Avoid ‘getting things off your chest’

Experienced bad service somewhere? Has a client bugged you with a ‘small’ request that you then spend hours on. Leave the ranting to the tabloids and ‘shock jocks’. Your content should be well thought-out and argued. Planning your content in advance means that you are less likely to type with a temper. And remember, if you are having a bad day for whatever reason, always sleep on a draft before you publish.

Opinion versus research

Ever heard the expression ‘you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts’? This is a quote from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a 4-term US Senator. The internet is full of opinions, but what makes an opinion more powerful is if it is supported by factual evidence. That is where research comes in. Good content is supported by good research. Planning your content in advance allows you to spend the time researching.

Your content will fit your business strategy

You have a business plan that details your business objectives, what product and service you are selling, at what prices to what people. Unless you are creating content for purely personal reasons, anything you write should support your overall plan. It should be as targeted as all your communications activities are and support your products, services, brand values and position. It should be taking you closer to achieving your objectives.

To assist in your content planning process, Aspire as created a template available to download.

Should you need any further help, feel free to .

Ever sat at your computer and struggled for an idea for your next blog post? And if the next topic is hard to find, what does that mean for the next few post or next few months of posts?

To help here are a few tips on how to generate some ideas.

What are some common questions that your customers or clients are asking you?

Do you hear the same questions from your customers and clients? Make a list of them, no matter how large or small? See if you can group them in to common topics or subject areas. See if you can answer them one by one in a post.

Who is of interest to your audience?

Find out which people or businesses are of interest to your target audience. These could be from a business point of view, but may also include a popular sporting identity, or other celebrity. It doesn’t necessarily need to tie back into your business, however it would be good if it could have a theme. I.e. how they achieved their success, or what they look for when it comes to good customer service.

Identify what others are saying in your industry.

What are the top media sites and who are the key journalists in your industry? Start following them on social media. Visit their websites and subscribe to their newsletters. You can either share their thoughts with your followers, or summarise their articles, views and opinions and provide your own take.

Test and review products and services.

What are some of the products, services or tools that businesses and individuals use within your industry? You will be surprised how many organisations will loan you products if you are going to review them. You could even try mystery shopping some retailers and then write about your experiences.

Who are the thought leaders within your industry?

Every industry has their ‘go to’ people for media interviews. They will often appear interviewed in mainstream media, in press, radio and TV as providing an independent opinion. No matter how big or small your industry is, it will have those positioned as ‘industry experts’. Identify those in your industry, make a list and seek to interview them yourself.

Are there any controversial topics in your industry?

Medicinal marijuana, Australian republic, rising interest rates, falling Aussie dollar, Grand Final day public holiday, Trans-Pacific trade alliance. On any given day, week or month, there is no shortage of controversial topics. The ones listed above are of national significance, but each industry, no matter how small, will have its topics that are open for debate. Do your research and offer your opinion.

To make this process easy, we have developed a template that you can use. Otherwise, feel free to

There is no shortage of information about providing feedback out there. And many managers have, at some stage, been trained on how to provide feedback. Yet not much is said about learning how to receive feedback, which is the most important aspect.

How many times in life are we told things we don’t want to hear? From early in our school life and right through our careers, receiving feedback and doing so while maintaining the appropriate level of decorum is hard for most of us. Emotions run high, we immediately turn defensive – it’s an automatic reaction and part of being human.

But in recent years I’ve learnt one thing through studying human behaviour and that is we are 100% responsible for our communication. Not only what we say, but our body language and even how others understand what we say.

That led me to develop and coach people through feedback they have not liked to hear by empowering them.

When receiving ‘negative’ feedback, I prompt people to think about a few things:

If I take the emotion out of it, is the person actually right?Even if they are not right, how may I have contributed to this perception?How does being aware of this help me improve/ achieve what I’m striving for?What needs to change? What is the risk if I do nothing?

Some feedback may never be nice to hear, however using the steps above will help you process it in a positive manner and achieve better outcomes.

The impact of mobile phones on shopper behaviour has been well documented. Ever since marketing emerged as a concept mid-last century, brands have been seeking ways to connect with consumers.

The advent of powerful smart phones has provided many new ways for this to happen.

In reality, consumers are a demanding lot. When they have a problem, they want it solved. And the organisations that are able to solve them the quickest, or the cheapest, or in a manner that improves the consumer’s perception of themselves will generally win the day.

Mobiles are helping consumers solve their problems faster than ever. More people are using mobiles for search than desktops. And brands that are responding via their digital strategies are capitalising.

According to Google and research in the US, here’s 4 moments that marketers should be aware of:

1. ‘I want to know’ moment

65% of online consumers look up more information online versus a few years ago and 66% of smartphone users turn to their phones to look up something they saw in a TV commercial.

Ensuring your site is mobile optimised means that you will be found and accessible when people are searching for information

2. ‘I want to go’ moment

There has been a 2 fold increase in search for business that are near the users. Geolocation allows users to find the business near them. 82% of users also use a search engine when looking for a local business.

When a potential customer finds your business on their mobile, are they able to find your address or contact details easily and obtain directions to your business?

3. ‘I want to do’ moment

91% of users turn to their phones for ideas while doing a task. And more than 100M+ hours of how-to content has been watched on YouTube.

Video is a powerful business tool. Not only does it help from an SEO point of view, demonstration videos are one source of content that gives you an opportunity to show your products and services to a receptive audience.

4. ‘I want to buy’ moment

A potential customer has found you online, found your business outlet, viewed your products and services in a video, and now they are ready to purchase. 82% of users will consult their phones while in a store deciding what to buy.

There are four great reasons to ensure that a) your business website is optimised for mobile and b) you are aware of how consumers shop with mobiles to ensure you are maximising your conversions.

If you’d like to chat more about how your business can take advantage of these ‘moments’ please feel free to .

If you’re not branding yourself, you can be sure others do it for you’ – unknown.

Personal branding is by no means a new topic, but certainly one worth being reminded of from time to time.

The purpose of branding is the same whether for a person, product or business – it’s about differentiating yourself in your market in a way that makes people want to work with you, promote you, recommend you and pay you more money. And sadly, simply being a hard worker won’t cut it.

A brand can be defined as a promise kept and a personal brand is no different. It’s based on your image and personality, what you deliver and also your reputation.

It’s easy to get on with your to do list and not pay too much attention to your personal brand – after all, you have ‘real work’ to do. But the fact of the matter is that unless you consciously work on your personal brand – unless you stand out, you may never achieve anything other than mediocrity.

And if you’re running a business or leading a team, it is not just your personal brand you need to think about. Employees are the best advertising a company has, because a happy employee is an asset both within and outside a company. Thank about it. What are some of the first questions you ask someone when you meet them? - What do you do? Where do you work? Do you like it there?

So what are some of the things to consider when developing or perfecting your personal brand?

Keep it real – if it’s not genuine, you can’t maintain it and it’s not a promise you can keep! Find your own style.Make sure your brand is consistent across all of your communication, in person, in emails, in documents you write, across social media platforms, the images you use i.e. on LinkedIn or other social media platforms etc.Identify your uniqueness and your strengths. What do you deliver? Self-promotion done tastefully and respectively is fine but don’t overdo it – you may come across arrogant.Be generous with your time/ knowledge/ skills and find ways to provide value in all that you do.Own your space – once you’re clear on how you want to be perceived and what you want to be known for, go ahead and own it.Be clear on your values and your goals.Get yourself out there.

Personal branding is an aspect of business life that can easily be ignored but is so valuable when done well. What does your personal brand say about you?

Staff turnover costs money, but retaining staff who are not performing or right for the organisation can be even more costly. Numerous problems stem from not hiring the right people in the first place. Lost productivity, extra training and coaching costs, legal liability, and staff dissatisfaction are just some of the issues facing organisations that have in place poor or ineffective hiring practice. And sadly, that isn’t dependent on the size of an organisation!

Recruiting can be an expensive, complex and time consuming exercise – so it’s important to get it right. From advertising the role to conducting the interview, a range of procedures need to be followed to ensure that the right candidates are placed.

There are many ways to minimise the risk of a poor hire and here are a few to consider:

Clearly define the role. Attracting and keeping the right people is essential in building organisational success and growing a business. The first step in preventing a bad hiring decision is to establish what is required of the role, what skills, knowledge and abilities are required to meet the needs of the role and making sure all requirements are clearly defined and understood. The position description (PD) should include the tasks and performance outcomes, identification of reporting relationships and key positions with whom the employee will interact and communicate and how performance will be measured. The process of developing a PD will not only assist the candidate, it will assist the person interviewing for the role too! Establish the success factors for the position before starting to interview. Success factors are the behaviours necessary to perform the job successfully and to excel within the organisation’s culture. Success factors encompass both the job requirements and the cultural aspects of your organisation. Develop a set of questions and use the same questions for each candidate. Of course the conversation may go in different directions for each meeting but by using the same set of questions you’ll be in a better position to compare candidates and make a final decision. Make sure you include role specific questions in the mix to help identify if people have the right skills and attitude you’re looking for. Wherever possible, it’s a good idea to have a short list of candidates interviewed by more than one person. Involve 2-3 managers or Directors (if your organisation has that many) and then discuss the candidates afterwards. This helps access a broader range of insights and viewpoints. Conduct thorough reference checks. Even if you think you couldn’t find anyone better, always, always, always conduct reference checks, at least two of them! Include a probation period in the employment contract (if the type of employment allows it) and make sure you use it. Keeping someone who is not right for the role is a very costly exercise, not only financially but culturally too.

For businesses who do not have set procedures and templates we have developed templates that can be used in the recruitment process and are available here. Take them, change them and make them your own and of course if you need any assistance feel free to .

“Low self-confidence may turn you into a pessimist, but when pessimism teams up with ambition it often produces outstanding performance.” - Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

A recent article in HR Monthly (AHRI Publication) was a breath of fresh air.

In a world where your outer shell sells you and decides your fate, it was refreshing to read this very well-articulated article where Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, an international authority in personality profiling and psychometric testing highlights that his research shows a less-confident person is likely to be more successful in business settings than someone who is overconfident.

The article presents some interesting points on toxic personality traits and the benefit of having a little humility….a great read for many, many leaders or those who just seem to think too much of themselves…

Is over-confidence poisoning business?

By Amanda Woodard, HRM Online

Written on December 4, 2015

It was with an air of quiet confidence that Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic took to the stage at AHRI’s National Convention earlier this year. But confidence, or rather an excess of it, is a human attribute that Premuzic doesn’t have much luck with. In fact, he has been arguing for some years that the rise of narcissism and the overestimation of our abilities is putting the wrong people in the top jobs.

Premuzic, a Professor of Business Psychology at University College London (UCL) and Visiting Professor at New York University, is an international authority in personality profiling and psychometric testing. Some of his research findings are counter-intuitive. They show that a less-confident person is likely to be more successful in business settings than someone who is overconfident. What is the reason for that?

“The consequences of most traffic accidents are caused by over-confident drivers. Most incidents of cheating are the result of over-confident individuals who thought they could get away with it. The same applies to financial gambling and individuals who have played fast and loose with other people’s money,” explains Premuzic.

It turns out that having a high opinion of oneself is not uncommon. “Generally people think that they are more skilled, more good looking and more clever than they actually are. Idiots and geniuses don’t differ very much in the estimation of their abilities,” he says. Society tends to glamorise entrepreneurs, he says. Many of Premuzic’s students for example, tell him that they don’t want to go and work for so and so, they want to start their own business. “Yet their chance of success is very slim, only five per cent. Yet they have over-confidence in their abilities.”

Strong language

Although the foolish, self-regarding neighbour might be an annoyance, the alpha over-achievers with Teflon-coated self belief at the helm of a major corporation are more of a problem. In a position to exert enormous power and influence, not only are millions of dollars at stake, but so too the future of employees.

Premuzic reels off a list of some notorious narcissists of recent times whose infallible sense of self only makes their fall from grace more keenly anticipated. Think of Donald Trump, Tony Blair, Sepp Blatter, Gina Reinhardt. How many of them would agree with the maxim that if you think you are great, you can achieve anything?

Premuzic believes that in workplaces, self-confidence has become confused with competence. “It’s impossible to talk about weaknesses in business anymore. Instead, they have become ‘developmental opportunities’. Some US companies have already eliminated negative thinking and vocabulary from assessments.” Added to this is the self-help industry which has hijacked leadership development, says Premuzic. “It’s marketed as making people feel good about themselves even though it achieves the opposite. In reality, the whole self-help industry is mostly having no effect at all.”

Even though more and more money is being spent on leadership development, people’s confidence in leadership has been going down he says. Working as a consultant over the past 15 years, Premuzic has witnessed how major corporations can become handicapped by what he calls the “toxic assets of personalities”. These are highly functioning people whose confidence might have advantages in the short term, but who are trapped in what he calls an “optimistic bias” that makes them receptive to positive feedback while ignoring the negative.

“Low self-confidence may turn you into a pessimist, but when pessimism teams up with ambition, it often produces outstanding performance. To be the very best at anything, you need to be your harshest critic, and that is almost impossible when your starting point is high self-confidence,” he says.

Characterising the derailers most likely to be found among dysfunctional corporate managers,Premuzic describes the first as mischievous, a Machiavellian manager, who takes advantage of people and situations. Second, is the colourful, histrionic and thirdly the bold, vain and entitled figure. One thing they have in common is that, on the whole, they tend to be male.

Women are often more insecure and don’t advertise themselves, observes Premuzic. “Most decision-makers think this is a problem. But why is it a problem to question oneself and have some self-doubts? Take a look at the banking crises of recent years and perhaps we need more people who are less risk-taking in leadership roles. The assumption is that it’s good to put yourself forward, to think of yourself highly. But it’s exactly the other way round.”

Dark side of social media

Where do the roots of this narcissism in society begin? Have we always been so self-regarding – or has the advent of social media amplified it?

Premuzic thinks that it’s a trend particularly noticeable among Gen Yers and millennials, which begs the question: Can we blame their boomer parents – or even the grandparents?

“Over-protective parenting is one factor. When societies prosper, there’s not just economical investment, but emotional investment. If things are easier for young people, it’s bad in another sense because the gap grows between aspirations and work ethic.”

Social media is making this worse, he believes. “Social media is like throwing gasoline to the fire. Everyone has a presence online and it creates a kind of neurotic narcissism whereby people need feedback and reassurance to reinforce themselves.”

Although we live in a world that worships those who worship themselves – from Donald Trump to Lady Gaga to the latest reality TV ‘star’ – nevertheless, when employees see that arrogance in their bosses, they react badly.

“According to Gallup, over 60 per cent of employees either dislike or hate their jobs, and the most common reason is that they have narcissistic bosses,” says Premuzic. Disengagement at work in the US is costing $300 billion in lost productivity each year. “If managers were less arrogant, fewer employees would be spending their working hours on Facebook, productivity rates would go up, and turnover rates would go down.”

Lower self-confidence reduces not only the chances of arrogance, but also of being deluded. Indeed, people with low self-confidence are more likely to admit their mistakes – instead of blaming others – and rarely take credit for others’ accomplishments, says Premuzic.

Lessons in humility

Trying to tell someone whose self-belief is sky high that they’ve got it wrong sounds difficult, but Premuzic says retraining decision-makers can be done so that they become aware of the negative consequences of confidence.

“Valuing humility and modesty and promoting people on actual competency has tangible business benefits,” he says. “Through coaching, leaders can be taught how to inhibit certain behaviours at critical moments and to accept negative feedback.”

As someone who has had to burst the balloon of many an egotist, how does he rate his own self-confidence on a scale of one to 10? “I’m a seven,” he insists. “It used to be higher. I’d go into a lecture theatre and think I was great. Now I’m not as happy with myself as I was before, but I think the end product is better.

“You have to ask, what is your priority? Is it to feel good about yourself or do you want to keep improving? It may hurt, but it will help you more. It’s like that ugly Christmas jumper that your grandmother knits for you that you have to wear. It’s itchy, embarrassing, but it teaches you to be a better person.”

Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic will be a keynote speaker at the 2016 AHRI National Convention, August 3rd to 5th in Brisbane.

This article is an edited version. The full article was first published in the December/January 2016 issue of HRMonthly magazine as ‘Doubting Tomas’. AHRI members receive HRMonthly 11 times per year as part of their membership. Find out more about AHRI membership here.