If you’re a start-up or a family enterprise and you’re mindful of the bottom line, it can be hard to think of giveaway ideas for small businesses. But the good news is that you don’t have break the bank, or leave yourself out of pocket when you give something away.

In this blog, we share our top five giveaway ideas for small businesses.

Why does giving matter to small businesses?

Giving is an essential part of any business’ marketing strategy. When we give things away, we reinforce our brand with our customers and clients. We interact with those people in a different way from usual, strengthening the professional relationship. This can be a very effective way of getting customers further down the sales funnel. It can also help you appeal to different markets who respond to different approaches.

Think of giving as lighting one candle off another – the second candle gains but the first candle loses nothing.

Top five giveaway ideas for small businesses:
  1. Promotional items

An on-message promotional item can be a great addition to your marketing toolkit. Trainers and coaches can give out branded pens and paper so their clients can take notes. Trades often prefer a branded fridge magnet to a business card – their customers don’t have to rummage when they need a plumber quickly! Events organisers sometimes give out branded bottle openers while travel agents give out branded luggage labels.

Get Ahead has a number of suppliers in our network of contacts – if you need a recommendation for branded items, please ask!

  • Your own products or services

Obviously, we’re not suggesting that you just give away all your hours and stock! Instead, think about how you can use a giveaway strategically. Who is likely to respond positively to a free software trial – will it make them more likely to buy a subscription at the end? Yes, they’re using your software for free for a month, but if they turn into loyal customers then the freebie was a valuable investment. Remember to research likely groups and target them strategically so you get the best outcomes from giving away your own product or service.

  • Expertise

Yes, it is possible to write a blog or a newsletter without giving away your trade secrets! Instead, give away a small amount of useful knowledge that will help your clients get more from what they already buy from you. For example, letters from your bank often feature a market or finance update. By sharing these insights, banks can help customers to make their money work harder, in turn promoting more of the bank’s products.

Think about what ideas you could share that would help you and your customers at the same time.

  • Discounts

Even if you can’t afford to give something away completely free, consider whether you can afford to offer a discount. Do your sums and work out what percentage you discount from the price of your product or service. You can also give a discount in exchange for something, like signing up to a mailing list. Discounts like this can be excellent investments: once customers or clients have joined your community, they’re more likely to buy from you again in future.

  • Referrals

This one isn’t a traditional sort of giveaway, but it makes a real difference to others, grows your network and establishes you as someone worth working with.

When you’re networking, be ready to praise others in the network whom you’ve worked with. And if there’s a request for a recommendation on LinkedIn, for example, don’t be afraid to put others forward – they’ll really appreciate it!

Marketing strategy support with Get Ahead

If you think that giveaways could play a bigger part in your marketing strategy, Get Ahead would love to help you make it happen! Explore our marketing pages to find out more, or contact your local regional director today.

 

Content writing services are an important part of any marketing strategy, particularly in the internet age. Written content is essential if search engines are going to find your website or social media pages. But did you know that it’s a great way to convert customers too?

In this blog, we talk to Charlotte, one of Get Ahead’s longest-serving copywriters, about content marketing, why it matters and how it works.

What is content marketing?

Charlotte: Content marketing is a way of showcasing your products and services so that potential customers can gain a deeper understanding of your offering.

Blogging is my personal favourite – a 500-word blog is a great way to explain what you do while also sharing more detailed insights than you can on a web page or LinkedIn post. But there are loads of different types of content marketing to choose from, including video, newsletters, social media posts, ebooks, white papers and more.

Every piece of content is an opportunity to reinforce your brand, your message and your ethos. I often think of content marketing as like having coffee with a friend. You sit down with your friend (the potential customer) and talk in a chatty, human, real-world way about what you do and why it matters. You’ll both have a laugh, maybe a cry, but most importantly, you’ll reinforce your emotional connection. This means that in future, when the potential customer needs what you offer, they’re more likely to come to you because they understand what do and feel a connection with your brand.

Why is content marketing more effective than a hard sell?

Charlotte: We all know that a hard sell rarely works. If you’ve ever been pressured into buying something, you probably know that it didn’t work out in the long term. Think of the car you sold on after a few months, or the subscription you’ll be cancelling at the earliest opportunity.

Some business owners are so averse to hard selling that they end up avoiding marketing altogether. This is a mistake, because your business won’t grow unless you market it. Instead, I always encourage my clients to consider content marketing. With content marketing, you give the customer all the information they need but the decision to buy always rests with them.

How does content marketing convert customers?

Charlotte: Content marketing converts customers because it gives the buyer the chance to make up their own mind. Through the content you create, the buyer can build up their own view of your business, products and services. They can find the answers to their questions and decide if yours is the business they want to deal with. And if it is, they can reach out to you and become part of your community of customers or clients.

Because the customer has arrived at this decision for themselves, they are more likely to develop a loyalty to your business. This means they’ll probably keep buying from you into the future and recommend you to the rest of their network. This is great news for your business and puts you on track to become a market leader.

Outsourced content writing services

If our blog has set you thinking about finding content writing services, Get Ahead can help. Charlotte and our other content experts love digging deep into clients’ businesses, finding out what makes them tick and how to communicate that in a way that resonates with the ideal customer. Check out our Resources section to see how content works in practice, or contact your local regional director for a supportive chat.

 

If you sell products on Amazon, you’re probably aware that it’s a great opportunity but one that’s hard to stay on top of. Continual changes and paid advertising are just some of the challenges AMZ retailers face on a regular basis, all of which can eat into your time and profits. 

Fortunately, help is at hand. At Get Ahead, we understand the opportunities offered by Amazon, but also the challenges. We’re committed to supporting businesses of all sizes, helping them secure an efficient, affordable solution for their needs. That includes helping you sell products on Amazon! 

In this blog, our virtual expert Leo shares some of his insights as we look at ways to support you with your Amazon shop. 

Why do retailers ask for support with Amazon selling?

Leo: Most retailers want to sell through Amazon because it’s the largest online marketplace. It’s a no brainer! Unfortunately, the size of Amazon also creates problems. Sellers have to compete to have their products seen by shoppers, which involves including the right keywords in the right places and other strategies. Without proper attention, pay per click (PPC) advertising might not give value for money. In addition, account management can be really complex, especially as Amazon continually changes its rules and expectations. 

For many of the sellers I meet, these problems translate into neglected Amazon accounts and listings. Some retailers know they should be on Amazon but haven’t even been able to get started. Usually, retailers know they need to take action but ultimately it’s too daunting. And because of the time involved, taking action with their Amazon account doesn’t seem worthwhile. Instead, retailers are getting on with selling through easier channels.

I completely understand why retailers do this. But I also know that, by neglecting their Amazon accounts, they’re missing out on considerable sales. 

Sell products on Amazon with support from Get Ahead

Leo: I’ve been helping retailers get the most out of their Amazon accounts for a number of years. And now, a collaborative team made up of myself, Get Ahead regional directors and our retailer clients, Get Ahead has put together a package to simplify the Amazon process in an affordable way. We’ve also come up with optional extras so you can get exactly the right support for your needs. 

Our basic package has the following features:
  • Daily account monitoring      
  • Bid adjustments   
  • Brand registry support  
  • Budget adjustments      
  • Unlimited campaign launches   
  • Unlimited keyword research   
  • Unlimited ASIN research 
  • Stock management – weekly     
  • Account health compliance and support 
  • Keyword tracking  
  • Competitor analysis     
  • Reports analysis and implementation   
  • Email communication (up to 24 hours response time)    
  • 1x Monthly Loom video update – For Ads and Account Management
  • Listing optimisation    
  • Graphic design – product images, A+ content 
Retail clients also have the option to add on:
  • Monthly in-house visit
  • 1x weekly Loom video update  
  • 1x bi-weekly Loom video update  
  • 1x weekly video/telephone call
  • 1x bi-weekly video/telephone call
  • 1x monthly video/telephone call
  • Brand storefront 
  • Close communication (WhatsApp, Skype, Slack, etc)
  • Other support as required

Like all Get Ahead services, you can turn support on and off as you need to. However, I would recommend committing to the basic package for at least three months to give it the chance to take effect. 

Get in touch to find out more

If you know you need support to sell products on Amazon, you’re not alone. Fortunately, we can help. Explore our site to find out more about how we work, or contact your local regional director today for an informal chat.  

Email marketing is a valuable tool and one we should all make time for. Only when you take email seriously and interweave it with the rest of your marketing will you start to see the results you are looking for.

In this blog, we look at how you can fit email marketing into the rest of your marketing plan.

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Email marketing doesn’t have to be a headache. With a good stock of content and the right software in place, you can deliver consistent, on-brand email marketing to boost your conversion rate.  

Here are some essential tools to underpin successful email marketing.

  1. Strong brand and tone of voice

With a strong brand behind you, you can feel confident that all your communications will be on-message. Knowing what you want to tell people helps you and your marketing team choose an effective approach and build confidence in your brand.

Tone of voice guidelines can help you keep your language consistent, help you create the right feel and communicate with the most likely prospects.

  1. Approved mailing list

Since GDPR guidelines came into force, businesses are no longer allowed to add people to mailing lists at random. This is a good thing, as you’re much more likely to convert someone who already cares about your business than someone you contact out of the blue.

To get the most from your mailing list, check that whatever tool you use to add people is effective. Make sure people understand what they’re signing up to – this will lower your unsubscriber numbers and could improve your interactions too.

There are a number of ways of attracting new subscribers to your mailing list. A pop-up on your website or a special offer customers can unlock by signing up are both very effective. The most important thing to remember is your customer or client profile – that way, you can create a sign-up that is likely to capture the right kind of people.

If you have an old list, it’s worth checking that it’s GDPR compliant. A complaint or a high deletion rate could damage the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign.

  1. The right email marketing software

Sending individual emails is delightfully personal but not practical for an email marketing campaign. Depending on the size of your mailing list, your everyday email platform (e.g. Outlook) might have the capacity to send mass emails. However, most businesses with regular email campaigns invest in purpose-built software like Mailchimp or HubSpot. If these big names don’t meet your requirements, there are many alternatives with a variety of pricing structures. It’s worth doing some research – our expert email marketers here at Get Ahead can help you find the right product for your needs.

  1. Really good content

It can be hard to think of fresh email content every week, month or however often your newsletter goes out. But if you harness the power of your existing content, you might find the whole process easier! We love repurposing our blogs in our monthly newsletters – sign up and you’ll probably see this one soon. Photo galleries and videos also work well. Repurposing content means value for money and also helps your messages to stay consistent. Remember to keep your customer or client at the heart of your campaign and share the content they’ll want to see.  

Outsource your email marketing

Our team of email marketing experts and content creators would love to help you with your next email marketing campaign. Get in touch with your local regional director today, or explore our site to find out more.

Email marketing is a great tool. If you’re on the Get Ahead mailing list, you’ll be used to receiving our monthly messages. But you might not know how much effort has gone into refining our emails over the years! We love our current structure, but we know it’s always good to be open to different ways of communicating.

In this blog, we share seven of our favourite ideas for email marketing.

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You’ve fulfilled your dream of working for yourself and being your own boss. This is great news – we’re thrilled for you! But we also know that working alone can be tough. This applies to people in many professions, but particularly business coaches and life coaches, who give so much support to others that they sometimes neglect their own businesses.

In this blog, we look at ways to make working for yourself as fruitful and efficient as your business deserves.

The advantages of working for yourself

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LinkedIn always goes a bit quiet over Christmas, with many of us closing for business until New Year. When we all reopened for business, however, Get Ahead hit the ground running and we were pleased to see our first posts of the year getting good traction. Our social media managers are always encouraging Get Ahead clients to be consistent in their posts and we’ve seen for ourselves that it works in practice. In this blog, we look at why it works and how to achieve it for your business.

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Email marketing is a valuable tool for any business, large or small. Studies show it’s one of the top ways of driving conversions, as well as being a great means of building your brand. Let’s take a closer look at why email marketing is so effective for businesses…

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Virtual assistants can provide invaluable services to businesses at the best of times, and especially so right now, when many people need extra support to keep their businesses running smoothly during lockdown. Remote, flexible working is the comfort zone of the virtual assistant, and that’s why we’re well placed to help you adapt to these extraordinary circumstances. Want to know more? Here are 5 key ways a virtual assistant can help you during lockdown.

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