TLC Business Hampshire Business Awards

TLC Business’ 5 top Hampshire businesses to watch out for
The team here at TLC Business has selected 5 Hampshire-based companies that we believe deserve recognition for the way they have gone about their marketing to build successful and growing businesses.

It was a difficult process settling on just 5 companies because Hampshire contains many fantastic businesses, however, after much deliberation the team came up with these five businesses. Let us know if you agree with our choices.

Our First award goes to….
 
1. Plum Baby – All Round Performer

Plum Baby is passionate about two things in life – children and good food.

They follow their ‘Plum way’ to deliver organic food that is not only tasty for growing tots but contains no additives or unnecessary fillers. They deliver ‘real food for parents that want the best for their little ones.’

The company was launched in 2006 by Susie Willis, a former chef and mother of three.  Having been bought out by Darwin Private Equity early this year, Susie Willis will stay on board as Creative Director to ensure that the ‘Plum Way’ is followed in the future.

Plum Baby is now on track to achieve a retail turnover of £15m in 2010. Even IKEA have selected Plum as their recommended baby food partner.

Plum Baby


2. The Hambledon – Excellent Press Coverage

 The Hambledon has been described as a hub of pure chic and we here at TLC Business agree.  Set up ten years ago, the Hambledon is an independent boutique nestled in the heart of Winchester.

The Hambledon has gone on to feature within Vogues ‘Britain’s Best Boutiques 2010’, as well as Drapers, The Telegraph, Red and The Times.

 “The Hambledon in Winchester. It’s great to see a shop like this outside London. The owner has an excellent eye and buys toys, furniture, clothes, and kitchen stuff that you don’t see anywhere else” Telegraph Magazine

Over the years The Hambledon has grown to be a popular shopping haunt and I’m sure 2011 will bring further success.

The Hambledon

3. Caracoli – Experience in Service

Caracoli has to be one of TLC Business’ favourite places to eat within Hampshire.

Caracoli describe themselves as a high-quality coffee house with a passion for great food and drink. The General Manager of Caracoli has extensive experience in the hospitality trade, having been General Manager of Hotel du Vin both in Winchester and Henley-on Thames. Not only do you get great food in a great atmosphere but you also receive brilliant service.

Caracoli is making a name for itself in 2010 having received two gold awards this year in the Great Taste Awards, accredited by the Guild of Fine Food.

Caracoli is not only a one to watch but also a one to try….yummy.

Caracoli

4. Wickham Vineyards – Top Quality Produce

Wickham Vineyards has placed itself firmly on the wine making map, by producing some of the best wines in the country. Founded in 1984, Wickham has gone on to scoop major awards across the world of wine in 2010.  From the United Kingdom Vineyards Association to the International Wine Challenge, Wickham is making a real impact not just in the UK but increasingly, within the international wine market.

The well established Hampshire vineyard grows a variety of different vines which include Pinot Noir, Rondo, Triomphe and Dornfelder for the reds and Bacchus, Reichensteiner, Faber Schoenburger Seyval Blanc for the whites.

Wickham definitely deserves an award for its top quality produce.

Wickham Vineyards

5. Charters Estate agent – Excelling the Competition

Our final award, for one of our Top 5 Hampshire companies to watch out for is…

Charters estate agents in Winchester.

Having just celebrated their first birthday, Charters has been ranked among the top 5 estate agents in Hampshire.

Charters were awarded third place in the regional round of the renowned Estate Agent and Letting Agent Awards 2010. The award is based on what consumers really think and it looks like Charters know their client base very well.

Top three in 2010, maybe 2011 will bring first place? Let’s wait and see.

Charters

We think you’ll agree that all our choices are inspirational businesses and highlight the high quality organisations that exist within the county.

Let us know your thoughts and any businesses you think deserve to be in our top Hampshire Businesses list.

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August’s Top Marketing Tips

  1. Think ‘Gorilla’! Basically do things differently. Whilst there is no substitute for the tried and tested traditional marketing methods, there is certainly room to support them in your marketing mix through less conventional methods. If you are feeling inspired to do things differently, make sure you use your imagination when thinking up attention grabbing campaigns. Most of the guerrilla marketing campaigns in our blog were very inexpensive. They just required a little bit of imagination and energy.
  2. Use online press releases. There are many site out there on the web, such as PR Log, that will let you upload your own press realises for free. These serve two purposes. One, it lets you communicate your news / story on the web and if it is interesting it might get picked up in other sources. Two, it can increase your web visibility and if you insert a link back to your website, it can drive traffic back to your website and potentially enhance your SEO credentials.
  3. More free data! Last month we directed you to a free source of 200 records of targets of your choice to expand your database. This month we’ve found another 100. The nice people at Market Scan are offering 100 free records of your choice to supplement your current database. Visit FREE DATA to register and claim your 100 free leads.
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Guerilla Marketing for SMEs

The concept of Guerilla Marketing has captured our attention this month. It inspired us to create our ‘Gorilla Marketing’ concept and remains a strong influence on our marketing philosophy. We thought it would be interesting to explore the concept closer and outline how the ‘guerrilla’ ethos could be employed in your business’ marketing, whilst staying the right side of the law!
Guerilla Marketing – a definition
The term ‘Guerilla Marketing’ was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in 1984 to define a form of marketing that took its inspiration from ‘Guerilla’ fighters in combat.

Mr. Levinson states that the ‘soul and essence of guerrilla marketing’ is in:

“Achieving conventional goals, such as profits and joy, with unconventional methods, such as investing energy instead of money.”

Inherent within the term are the obvious connotations of a ‘David versus Goliath scenario’, with the smaller, more agile entity, competing against it larger and wealthier competitor/s, utilising unconventional and less costly methods of marketing to engage with their target audience.

Equally relevant, is the relationship between the guerrilla marketer and the landscape in which they operate. ‘Guerilla’ fighters traditionally utilise their superior knowledge of the land to gain an advantage over their less knowledgeable counterparts. They live, breath and sleep the land and therefore have a deeper understanding of it and can use this to their benefit in combat.

Guerilla marketing – the implications for SMEs
Extending the analogy of guerrilla warfare into the sphere of marketing and business has great potential for SMEs.

Typically, SMEs have far fewer resources available to them than their larger corporate competitors. In the battle to engage with their target audience, SMEs can’t compete by pouring money into elaborate and expensive marketing campaigns. Instead they need to invoke the ethos of the guerrilla fighter and think differently, unconventionally and leverage their greatest assets, their size and closeness to the land, in this case the marketplace in which they operate.

SMEs often command a far greater understanding of their immediate marketplace. They can enjoy close relationships with all their clients. Management are never far from the customer and can listen to and interpret their needs and respond quickly to demand, without the need to navigate through the extended chain of command that exists within their larger competitors. Perhaps the SMEs greatest weakness, its size, can also become its greatest strength. Lower overheads, the ability to respond quickly to changing market conditions and the entrepreneurial spirit inherent within the SME can give the organisation an edge over the larger players in their marketplace.

Guerilla Marketing – how it works
Guerilla marketing involves investing energy and imagination, rather than money into your marketing. It is about capitalising on the landscape in which you operate to its maximum potential and employing human psychology to promote greater awareness of your business, products and services.

Guerilla Marketing was invented for SMEs and entrepreneurs. It is incredibly effective in local or regional markets.

The objective is to create a buzz about your product or service, to make it remarkable, unusual, noteworthy, standout and imaginative. The essence of guerrilla marketing is to get your target audience talking about you and generate word-of-mouth referrals from there.

As with most marketing, the smaller the group you target the more effective the marketing.

Whilst being unconventional is crucial, it is important you stay the right side of the law. Graffiti and street stunts are commonplace in the guerrilla sphere but could see you gain press for the wrong reasons, as you fall foul of the law.

Perhaps most importantly, a sense of humour is vital in Guerrilla Marketing.

It is easy to take oneself too seriously, so make sure you have some fun with it.

To give you some ideas, here’s a few examples we like.


Taxi sign – Guerilla marketing by mediafun

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Great Marketing Seminar Yesterday

Room-shotThank you!We wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who took the time to attend our marketing and sales seminar yesterday. It was great to meet such a wide variety of exciting businesses. The feedback has been great and we will be running a variety of these type of events over the rest of 2010.

TLC Business Marketing Formula – PIPE
Thursday’s seminar started with an overview of TLC Business’ marketing formula for success – PIPE, followed by a look at some top marketing tips, including email marketing, social media and blogging.

How to grow a business & NLP
The audience were then given insight into: ‘How to grow a business’ by award winning Action Coach, Kevin Stansfield.

Kevin rounded off the morning with a quick look at how NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) can be employed to improve your conversion rates and improve one’s rapport building skilled.

Copy of presentations
To access a copy of each presentation click TLC Business ‘Marketing Matters’ Seminar and 5 Steps to growing a business.

Feedback
“Impressive performances by both presenters. Provides plenty of food for thoughtand a couple of ‘must dos’ immediately.”

“Excellent use of a morning”

“Brilliant”

“Excellent speakers clear and easy to understand. Made me think a lot.”

“Excellent information and balanced presentation”

“Very good: aimed at right level and right amount of content given time. Thank you!”

Your suggestions for future events
It would be really useful if you could let us know what type of topics you’d like us to cover in our future seminars, so we can make sure we give you the information that will be most beneficial to helping your business grow. Please email your ideas and suggestions to rob@tlc-business.co.uk.

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Want to see something amazing?

This amazing video still blows our minds. If you’ve got the time, watch it to the end.

 

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July’s Top Marketing Tips

We have some great top tips this July: a source of free data, a tool to find out which page on your website your target audience prefer and a free opportunity to review your marketing over the summer.
Top Tip 1 – As many of you know, data can make or break a marketing campaign. It can be very difficult and expensive to source good quality data. Well, the good people at Corpdata have decided to try and help kickstart the economy by giving every business the opportunity to create their own target list of 200 potential customers for FREE. All you have to do is open an account for free, choose the types of businesses you’d like to include in your list, then download 200 records for free. That can’t be bad. Visit free data offer to download your free 200 records.

 

Top Tip 2 – Trying to get into the minds of your target audience can be tricky. Knowing what they like and don’t like can take a lot of time. Well Google have made it easier to work this out when it comes to your website. Their free website optimizer tool allows you to split test different pages on your website so can see which layout, copy or imagery is best received, very useful for improving your conversion rates.

 

Top tip 3 – If you haven’t taken your free Marketing MOT yet, the summer is the perfect time to do so. Many businesses experience slower periods during the end of July and August. This provides a great opportunity to take a look at your Marketing, review how successful it has been and explore areas for improvement. TLC Business’ free Marketing MOT does just that and gives you a whole host of ideas and suggestions on how you can improve your marketing performance. For more information or to book yours, visit our Marketing MOT page.

Hope you find these useful and do let us know how it goes.

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Paul the psychic Octopus and Marketing for SMEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv3ZeoHICQ0
We’re sure you’ve all heard of the remarkable tale of Paul the clairvoyant octopus, who correctly predicted the winner in all 8 of the matches he was prompted to, at this year’s World Cup.

Whilst his feat is certainly unlikely and many seem convinced of his psychic abilities, the cynic in us here, feels fairly confident that it was merely coincidence.

But what has psychic Paul the octopus got to do with marketing, I hear you ask?

All too often, SMEs leave their marketing success to chance. They might as well let psychic Paul loose with their marketing budget and see what happens. Would you feel confident in putting your marketing fate into the ‘tentacles’ of a clairvoyant Octopus, regardless of his past success at predicting the future?

If the answer is yes, then good luck to you. If it works, you’ll have a great press release on your hands! However, for those of us that would like a more stable foundation on which to make our marketing decisions, there is no substitute for proper marketing planning and preparation.

We keep shouting about it and that is because we believe that investing time, energy and money (sometimes) in this area will reap significant rewards down the marketing road. SMEs are notoriously keen to shun planning and preparation, in favour of pursuing ad hoc business interests. This attitude is a major factor in why many businesses are finding their marketing does not deliver the return on investment they expect and their business needs.

So what can you do about it?

3 crucial areas that you need to know about before you embark on any marketing campaign are:

  1.  What is your market? Not what you think it is, but actually research who your service / products appeal to? You may be surprised at some of the market segments that are interested in what you do.
  2. What are your customers / potential customers’ needs? Why are they buying / would they buy your products or services? What needs are you satisfying?
  3. Who are your competitors and what are they doing? Again, not just those you are immediately aware of. You need to research a bit further, consider your indirect competitors too.

Only once you have this information as minimum, should you consider formulating a marketing plan.

It has been proven that there is a direct link between the long-run profitability of a business and its ability to get a clear understanding of its customers’ needs. It makes sense really, if you know what someone wants and why they want it, it should be fairly straightforward to offer a service or product that meets that need.

The crucial next step is giving them a reason to get it from you. Here’s where knowing what your competitors are up to becomes vital. Armed with this information, you are in an ideal situation to position your company’s offering in a unique and competitive way that creates a compelling case for why your customers / prospects should use you.

As the old adage goes, fail to plan and plan to fail. This can certainly apply to marketing. A bit of planning and preparation will significantly push the odds of marketing success in your favour, giving you facts and figures on which to make your marketing decisions rather than the whim of a psychic octopus called Paul in a German aquarium.

Free Marketing MOT for Hampshire Businesses
As part of our quest to get SMEs planning their marketing more, TLC Business allocate a limited number of free marketing MOTs to businesses based in Hampshire that want to improve their marketing’s performance. Many businesses have benefitted from one already so don’t delay and book your MOT today. Visit our marketing MOT page for more information.

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Old Spice is back!

Remember Old Spice? We didn’t even realise it was still around. Their new viral campaign is making waves on the web and has brought the brand back firmly into the public conscience. Here’s why…

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Gorilla marketing

Gorilla Marketing is TLC Business’ new marketing concept for SMEs that want to do something different. Whilst there is always a place for traditional marketing activities, ambitious businesses that are keen to standout from their crowded marketplace by being unconventional, creative and imaginative should consider Gorilla Marketing. You don’t need a big budget, just imagination, ideas, energy and hard work and that is where TLC Business can help.Vist our Gorilla Marketing page to find out how you can book your free 1 hour ideas sessionand start benefitting from Gorilla Marketing immediately.

 

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Free Marketing & Sales Seminar

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker.
Successful businesses don’t happen by accident, they are actively created. The same applies to marketing and sales. Businesses that excel in this area utilise marketing and sales models to maximise their chances of success.

Learn how to create the business you want, through improving your marketing’s effectiveness, generating more leads and converting more enquires. If you are an ambitious organisation keen to break through that £1,000,000 turnover barrier then this seminar is not to be missed.

Learn:
• Why so much of your marketing is ineffective
• Where to spend your money most effectively
• The 5 ways that you can grow your business
• NLP tips to improve your sales conversion rates.

TLC Business is hosting this event alongside Kevin Stansfield, from Action Coach Southampton. Kevin is one of the UKs top business coaches, as well being an experienced NLP and Emotional Capital practitioner.

Price: Free
Date: Thursday 29th July
Time: 10am – 12:30pm
Location: Langdowns DFK, Fleming Court, Leigh Road,
Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO50 9PD
Format: Seminar followed by buffet lunch and networking.

Places are limited and going fast so book your ticket today.

To register call 01962 600147, email Rob at rob@tlc-business.co.uk or visit TLC Business’ events page.

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