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Marketing Consultation and Planning on the Digital Spectrum

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The Clothes Do Make the Man

the clothes do make the man

Do looks matter? Does it matter what your brand looks like? I mean, is it not just all about what your business does? Isn’t that all that matters? Hmmmmmm…

The simple answer is: Yes. Looks matter. We are simple creatures. We judge books by their covers. And the clothes do make the man. Just like clothes tell us a lot about the people wearing them, your brand identity or the look of your brand tells people a lot about your business, products and services.

Here’s an example. What can you tell me about this woman?

What about this one? [Read more…]

Do you stick things on your walls?

I am tidying up. What about you? It is something one must do regularly. I have to admit I don’t do it enough, but occasionally I get a kick in the butt and I do try to go over my strategy once a year.

It really is something you should not need a kick in the butt to do though. Every time I do this, it reminds me how important it is to set things up in a clear way, planning things out. It’s a bit like moving house. It’s cleansing. Throw out stuff you don’t need, realise what you do need. Out with the trash and in with a trip to Ikea and all the consequent organisation! :)

One of the very useful things to come out of this process for me was a marketing clean up. I try to do that regularly. OK, as I have said sometimes before, I am on wayyyy too many social media, more than I would recommend for most, but that’s just because I am in marketing and want to know what they are all about. Apart from that, things are pretty clear. I am constantly learning more and more about what works and what doesn’t.

It is really useful to set things up visually. [Read more…]

One bite at a time!

Today has been a bit of a bummer. Things are getting really hectic after the summer holidays, my to-do list is about a mile long, I am blogging way too late and sending the blog out, well, God knows when!

What now? [Read more…]

7 Superhero Lessons in Branding

7 superhero lessons in branding ím

I have a little boy. Like many boys, he is a guys-guy and loves each and every superhero he can find. Sometimes I worry that he will become like the characters in Big Bang Theory – which I can live with as long has he is like Leonard and not the others lol! Anyway, I know more about superheroes than a woman my age normally would, although I don’t know all that much. The other day, however, I realised something: Superheroes are awesome at branding! Sure, they get help from the marketing geniuses behind the scenes, but still – awesome!

Here are 7 things that superheroes totally get right when it comes to branding! [Read more…]

What happens in an hour?

what happens in an hour - thoranna.is

One hour. 60 minutes. 3600 seconds. That’s one session at the gym. That is one TV show (with loads of ads). That’s one massage session – and not nearly enough! You can’t really do that much in an hour. Do you sell your time? Whether as a consultant, trainer, masseuse, teacher or whatever. Does it all work out? Do you buy an hour from someone? How much do you get out of that hour?

For a long time people have sold their time. When you get paid overtime you are getting paid by the hour. You get an x amount for your usual hours and y per hour above and beyond that. And if you have an employment contract with your company, that works. But if you are freelance, you need to sell quite a few hours and you have to sell them for a fair amount – and still have time to market yourself, keep your books etc. If you take a holiday, if you get sick, you don’t get paid. Summers tend to quiet down and so does the holiday period … if you trade hours for dollars you know what I am talking about.
How can you make more of your time? How can you take what you do, wrap it up and sell it more as a product rather than time. How can you continue to sell even though you take a holiday or come down with the flu? Can you teach people something related to what you do, write a book, create an online course, a DVD course or even an audio book? Can you sell other things related to what you do? A gardener could do a DVD course about yard maintenance, a masseuse could write a book about how to keep your muscles supple and how to relax, an arthritis specialist could publish a book with advice for arthritis sufferers and a personal trainer can sell training videos online. There are various ways to wrap up what you do and sell it – how can you make your service or knowledge into a package that can be sold?

[Read more…]