What should be on my business card?….

….Asked a fabulous business woman this morning on Twitter, and since I’m stuck in bed having used up too many spoons (ask @ClareLauwerys about that – its to do with your health and ME) after a great night of partying Friday night as we were finalists in the Colchester Business Awards (no shiny awards but 3 categories – Excellence in Marketing, New Company and Highly Commended.)

So I have the time to answer personally.

So what should be on your business card. A great place to start is to ask people who you know will give you a genuine answer. Your Nan maybe your biggest fan but her critique of your business card may not be as sound as a fellow business woman at a networking event. So take along your current one and be brave.

The thing to remember is your business card needs to be a key to people wanting to know more. You know how the 60 second elevator pitch is “What you do to get someone to want your business card” Well your business card is the “What you do to get people to want to keep it and use it”. And that means creating a desire to keep in touch, and to keep up to date on all you do.

Things to consider are:

If you are using social media effectively make it easy for people to connect with you and have your links there – especially if your picture doesn’t give it away.

Testimonials are great – but not too many.

What your clients get – remember this is not what you do – this is what they get. You don’t walk into the butchers and say “Hey I would love a dead pig sandwich please do you?” So saying what customers get can be very powerful.

A great tag line is great – but only if it adds meaning – for instance ours is “As Passionate About Your Success As You.” And BWN business women KNOW it! So what is powerful for you?

As the fab business woman that contacted us via Twitter said “Less is defintely more” but if you are struggling to work out which words are most powerful – list them all and then get feedback from other people – You are always welcome to use the BWN social media to gain feedback (you can access that on the home page of the website.) Business women do love to support the success of each other, and in doing this, you are still raising awareness to you and your brand and what you do. So before your new business cards are even printed, people will be knowing you and your business.

Pictures and images – are they relevant? As pretty as a beach or a flower is, does it have any obvious meaning to you and what you do? If not is it taking away from your overall message?

Most importantly ensure your contact details are clear and obvious and Tiny writing is a hate – so don’t do it.

Hope that helps – for more ideas just get in touch – thats our job!

My names Mandie Holgate and I am the coordinator for Essex – There are other fabulous coordinators in our team and we are looking to grow across the UK, since we know what The BWN genuinely results in more business, more skills and more confidence.
So do get in touch anytime – mandie@thebusinesswomansnetwork.co.uk 07989935556

Are You in Love With Your Website?

As the title asked, seriously are you in love with your website?

Unfortunately the question is not if you are in love with your website but are your customers?

And more importantly, your potential customers.

Many of you already know that it takes about 3 seconds to work out if the website you are on is going to be useful so what are you doing to ensure visitors fall in love at first site?

Is it interactive? (Blogs, ideas, newsletter sign up, questionaires, reports, eBooks – can people easily learn more without having to talk directly to you – remember people want to buy when they are ready.)

Is it automatically interactive? (You need to be off earning the money, and that can’t happen if you are constantly replying to people – autoresponders will be a godsend.)

Can they get free stuff from you? (Getting known as the thought leader in your field is an ideal way of ensuring that when people are ready to buy its you they buy from.)

Are your contact details easily found? (You will be surprised by how lazy we all can be, and how easily we get turned off of the idea of picking up the phone or getting in touch.)

Is your social media links easy to access? (And tempting enough.)

Is your website too wordy? (Something that is too wordy will numb the pants off of your audience – sorry I never did go to subtle school, but short punchy relevant sentences are key – think inside your favourite customers head, what were they saying to you before you saved the day? They are the words you need to be using.)

If you have products and services are they even best served by words – many bypass Google altogether to get their answers, heading straight to YouTube and as fabulously corporate as it is to have a £1000 professional video, capturing your passion, energy and talent on film is a great way to bring you into someones office or home. Remember when surfing the net not everyone wants to read a ton of words – images and video are key.

And lastly if you don’t know the answer to these – ask your potential customers – What do you think of my website? Remember if you don’t ask you don’t get, so asking what people think is the key to knowledge and the key to finding out what & how people will fall in love with your website……and that leads to falling in love with you and all that you do and that leads to sales – Love it!

(This blog came out of my thoughts after 2 coaching sessions with clients this week and as I prepare for The Marketing Business Clinic this morning – hope you find it useful – for more ideas feel free to get in touch mandie@thebusinesswomansnetwork.co.uk 07989935556 – because I just love hearing from you!)

An Idea to Get The Obstacles Out Of The Way Of Your Success

In life you know how you get so used to something and then you cast your mind back and you can’t remember when that first came into your life?

Well that’s what it’s like for me with my best friend. If you knew me, you would know that my best friends in life tend to be my hubby and family (sad but true) but years ago this woman came into my life and just always seemed to be there. And today I thank the universe for that.

But then today is a special day. 3 years ago today Clare right now was having a lung transplanted – that’s tough enough, but when you take into account the numerous false starts Clare had before she finally got the transplant and how Clare couldn’t walk anywhere without an oxygen tank and a rather groovy granny scooter you really appreciate how lucky we are to have this fab woman around.

Clare was there when I was seriously ill with depression, when I had my 2nd child, when I set up the BWN. Clare designed and loving created the BWN website – she stood by me as the BWN grew (and along the way I ensured that everyone knew how amazing her websites are – actually to the point whereby recently she told me to stop sending her clients – love effective networking.)

But why am I telling you this?

Well recently I have been working on a national level looking at the issues that affect women in business. And ensuring that the Home Office and the Bank of England know the issues that affect busienss women. Childcare, broadband, fuel costs, old boy networks, glass ceilings, lack of opportunities, sexism, racism the list is long. But when you meet business women like Clare you realise that if you have passion, determination and dedication it doesn’t matter what obstacles there are. You find a way forward to success.

However big the obstacle you find a way to get the results you want.

If you want to interact and know a fabulous business woman (who also happens to be your IT Fairy and all-round whiz with all things IT) then connect with Clare Lauwyers @ClareLauwerys. I guarantee a business woman that will motivate, inspire support and be there for you – now who wouldn’t want one of those?

On that note who motivates, inspires and supports your success? Knowing those things can be critical when you are having a tough time.

A bit of a girly blog today, but hey business women are allowed to be business women on their own terms the way they want to, and that includes supporting and acknowledging their way to success.

Thank you Clare.

Transparency – The Latest Buzz Word?

In various meetings, seminars and sessions with clients this week. A word has cropped up time and time again…..

Transparency.

But what is the big deal?

Why are we all using this word?

I found myself thinking about this, and I think this has something to do with it.

We have been through a time where clever marketing got us to buy things, then marketing got cleverer and still we bought things. Now as we are told the world is ending, banks are collapsing (mmmm who was it that announced over a billion £ profit this week in the banking world?) countries economies are toppling, the air is polluted…..”Run for the hills, we’re all gonna die” well you get the idea.

The fact is in the current nervous climate we want things transparent. We don’t want to be sold at. We want the facts.

What will it do?

How will it do that?

Will it make a big difference to my life, my business, my hair, my health……?

And so transparency becomes so important to us.

How many times has someone phoned you and rattled on about a million things, not cutting to the chase of what they want, what they want you to do, and how and when they want it to happen?

Wouldn’t it be great if people were more honest?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was no hidden agenda?

I think that is why honest marketing, clear talking and transparent ideas and actions are the order of the day.

And if you can get that into your marketing, your business ethos and the way you engage with people, they are far more likely to interact with you. And we all know where that can lead don’t we.

They want the real you, they want to know that the people they chose to work with care and will do their best, and the best way to show that is with transparency.

And a point to remember is, if you come up against people and businesses that are not prepared to be transparent then, you start to question what are you hiding? What aren’t you telling me?

When people feel like they have the whole picture, with no hidden agendas they relax, they get to like you and your products and that is taking you well on the way to a sale.

So get clear, transparent, see through,  honest and straight talking in your business today.

(And a little note on the collapse of the universe – its highly likely business women like you and I will still get up tomorrow, get ready for work, make a difference to the people we work with and drink another cuppa – don’t buy into the media madness – its just a thought, but I know how powerful they can be!) 

mandie@mandieholgate.co.uk 07989935556

Mandie Holgate shared this with us, our Essex coordinator, if you are a coordinator for The BWN or have the Business Premier Pack and you have something useful or interesting to share with business women send it to info@thebusinesswomansnetwork.co.uk and we will link it to your website too.

What is it you really do for customers?

Business Premier Pack Owner Samantha Fricker from frameworks shares with us what they really do….

 

I attended a fantastic event hosted by the Business Womans Network on Monday and after listening to Mark Rhodes (a truly inspirational speaker) got chatting to a number of people about the qualities that make businesses exceptional. 

 

One lady commented that Framewerks “preserves memories”. Now this got me thinking. I know that we don’t ‘just’ frame pictures but do we preserve memories? 

 

An example could be a recent wedding dress we were asked to frame. The customer got married last year and didn’t want her dress or the memories it held to be lost in the back of her wardrobe, but also didn’t have the wall space to hang the whole dress. 

 

The Framewerks team love a challenge when it comes to framing unusual items and came up with a solution to remove the skirt from the dress and focus on the detailed top part of the wedding dress. 

 

We advised a contrasting mount board to show the dress to its full advantage and used Schott Miro Guard+, which is anti UV and glare and therefore preserved this customers memories for years to come. 

 

I love a happy ending! 

So what do we do? Well it seems we do preserve memories!

 

Thanks for sharing Samantha, and I know your history wall allows businesses to do the same for all to see – love it!

To learn more about Samantha and Framewerks either get along to a BWN event or click here