by Amanda Daniels-Allen | Dec 22, 2014 | Customer Journey, Experience and Service, Koogar, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) |
OK, so after the 6th person asked me if I had seen “The Apprentice” I just had to watch it.
Lots of people had been talking about it and most of you may know I don’t watch TV so I had to fire up BBC iPlayer to find the 2014 Finale of The Apprentice to watch Mark E Wright (24) and Bianca Miller (25) battle it out to become Lord Alan Sugars’ 1st business partner.
*I will admit, I didn’t watch all episodes, just the final with Mark and Bianca.
During an annual catch up with a group of friends a 7th person asked me if I had watched The Apprentice and sat back as I gave my opinion of the final episode, knowing that she would have sparked something in me.
The conversation started… “I have been doing this for 8 years as Koogar (15 years in total) and I’m wondering why is now the right time for Lord Sugar to be investing money into this type of business?”
Is it because he didn’t feel the tights were a good option? Or has he suddenly realised the “Internet thing” is catching on?
True Skin
Bianca’s idea for “True Skin” was a great one and being from ethnic minority myself I have worn “tan” tights to work (which were a VERY milky tea colour / white), so I could relate to this issue and that others darker than me would most certainly have. However to ask for £20-£35 a pair they would REALLY need to be special tights.
Bianca was going for the higher quality client which is fine if you have a brand that matches their expectations, not a brand that could be seen to be equal to a cheap brand on the high street that does not portray the value of the garment inside the packaging.
Remember the 3-5 second rule. We all make a decision rather quickly and if we see a price range and a product or service that is not congruent with each other, we will leave it to one side for someone else. Understanding the people you’d like to sell to is key, I would argue the most important thing when it comes to marketing and pitching your idea to an audience.
Branding is about setting the levels and expectations for your audience and also working out how much THEY value your product or service. It not just about giving them something you think they need, which most certainly helps but it’s the EXTRA little things that people remember.
I do appreciate Bianca only had one focus group and not a lot of time to create the brand and packaging. Displayed in the right way and in the right place I would certainly buy a pair.
Climb Online
Climb.media – A brain storming suggestion for the company.
What a great domain name for a company… said in a slightly different way could bring out lots of different connotations…. This did make me chuckle!
My 1st impression of Mark wasn’t much at all in all honesty, he didn’t look passionate about anything during the session and even when he said he was stressed he just looked laid back and not really bothered, although as individuals we display these feelings in many different ways. His knowledge of the industry came across as basic / old to an extent and he wasn’t doing anything new, which Lord Alan noted in the boardroom so I’m not sure what was so special?
The saying “getting people to the top of the Search Engines” is a vague and overused term which a lot of business owners have heard, maybe tried before (with one of the telesales companies calling them and pushing them into a contract they might not be able to get out of) and have also realised that it is not possible unless you put a decent budget behind it and not just a couple of hundred pounds over a few months. Search Engine Optimisation (S.E.O) is a long game and you need a strategy to go with it. Having all the right marketing elements (on and offline) to back up your online presence is essential. That said this is an issue that most business owners and marketing managers want to conquer and it is up to us (as Digital Marketeers) to educate our clients, set their expectations and show them there is another way without using outdated lingo.
Mark set the starting budget of £400 for businesses he wanted to work with, which is a good place to start as you are qualifying your lead right from the outset. However, you have to back it up with some actual wins you have delivered to your clients. He was obviously going for the business that has that budget to spend but the video for me didn’t display it well with a builder and various other business owners hanging off a climbing frame. If you are going for a bigger business you have to been seen to be equal to them.
His business model was a sound, by taking people on as the company grew ensuring each person is sustainable by either coding or selling. Again, I understand that Mark had a tight time frame to deliver his pitch in and think with some tweaking he could do well!
Congratulations for Mark and Bianca for being in the final of The Apprentice 2014 as it was no mean feat. Koogar have started following Mark Wright on twitter and we wish him the best of luck with his new venture. He sure has the capital to start him off well!
What did you think of the finale? Did you think the right person won? I’d love to hear your opinion…
by Amanda Daniels-Allen | Dec 3, 2014 | Brand, Koogar |
Updated on 16/10/2018: The Koogar Academy was launched in January 2018 and had an exceptional take up…
Are you looking for #marketing help where you can attend a masterclass every month to learn a new skill or aspect about your business, find your purrfect clients or the right activity that gets you the results you’ve been looking for?
Start of the original blog post
Would you mind filling in our survey?
We have big plans for this resource area and we need your help!
Koogar is finally getting round to creating a special resource area (The Koogar Academy) for Business Owners and Marketing Managers who want to keep one step ahead by constantly and consistently tweaking their businesses marketing!
Fill in the survey here – http://surveymonkey.com/s/S6BHYV7
This site will have a number of member levels where you can either get content you want and have a 1:1 session with Amanda (where you will get a tailored path) or take it to the next level where you get the 1:1 and content as well as can becoming involved in Webinar’s, Interview’s and Q&A Sessions that will take place monthly.
We want to hear from you and what you would like to see in this group. What would you benefit from having access to?
We want you to become part of our Pride, our community even more so and we feel this resource area will help you do so!
#koogarpride
Fill in the survey here – http://surveymonkey.com/s/S6BHYV7
If you have any additional ideas, suggestions or even questions, please email Amanda at info@www.koogar.co.uk. Thank you in advance!
by Amanda Daniels-Allen | Nov 12, 2014 | Guest Blogs, Marketing Strategy |
Guest Blog by Sallie Bate of The Coachworks
Time Management, the wonderful enigma. Of course, you don’t need it explaining that it is impossible to manage time, only to manage yourself and your time better. A lot of business owners ask me for support with their time management. Below, I have outlined some basic tried and tested methods to make sure you are spending your time on the right things. Please believe me, I am no Time Management Guru, in fact I have always struggled with my time management, here are some ideas that have helped me get to where I am today:
Focus on your HPA
Amanda calls the important things you need to do; H.P.A’s (High Payoff Activities)
It may seem basic, but the amount of business owners who get caught up in the minutia of day to day activities at the expense of focusing on their High Payoff Activities is amazing. Often focusing on the right tasks is the difference between a business thriving and a business collapsing. It doesn’t matter about the colour of your paper, if your clients are starting to wane.
It goes without saying that each of the tasks that you perform must have a direct link back to increasing the profitability of your business. However, of these tasks, there will be some that can be done by other people, actually let me correct that, there will be a lot that can be done by other people. Write down your plan for this year, and then write down your key performance indicators. How much time are you spending on tasks that are unrelated to these key goals/indictors? How would your business grow if you just focused on these tasks?
Time Management is my responsibility
When coaching a client on Time Management I use this phrase:
“When I give you my time, I am giving you a portion of my life that I will never get back. Don’t waste it.”
It’s a powerful phrase.
Too often we believe that our time is not ours, that people take our time and we have limited control over it. In fact the secret of good time management depends on exactly the opposite. Good time management depends on 2 things: taking responsibility; and being disciplined. Without these you will always struggle. I don’t want to hear you say “yes, but…” that won’t help you. Taking responsibility means that you need to realise that you have choices, and that your choices got you to this point, if you don’t like where you are you can choose to change. As Jim Rohn once said: “If you don’t like where you are MOVE, you are not a tree.”
So what choices aren’t working out for you? What other options do you have?
A task written down is worth two in your head
I have always used a “to do” list, but many people I coach, don’t use them. Crazy right? Surely you can’t function without a proper to do list? I wasn’t blessed with a great memory, I’m in awe of those people that say, “Yes, I’m free Sunday, I’ll see you at 12”, and they actually turn up! In a business scenario your to do list is crucial, not just for remembering things, but as an analysis tool to ensure you are doing the right things.
After coaching someone I always look for the impact that my coaching has had, between you and me, if someone doesn’t have a to do list and makes that one of their action points I love it, because I know that they will see significant results straight away. That’s how powerful a to do list is.
Some to do’s and to don’ts:
- Do write tomorrow’s list before finishing work today, you are in the best frame of mind to plan significant actions at this point.
- Don’t write things that you have completed already, it’s wasting time.
- Do deal with repeat offenders: If an item is always on your list and is never tackled make a choice: remove it from the list, delegate it or get it done.
And finally
Don’t go it alone, if you are struggling with your performance or if you simply know there is a better way of doing things then get support. A good coach will support you in this. Please contact me, I’d love to hear from you.
by Amanda Daniels-Allen | Nov 6, 2014 | Koogar, Mindset & Inspiration |
Since 2006 Koogar’s mission has been to…
Creatively implement a customised marketing solution for our clients, using the technology they need and will use to help them build an authentic brand and experience for their audience.
At Koogar we plan, we design and we deliver!
Gone through the past 3 year recession, the Koogar team have come out the other side unscathed and re-energised, having created a new option for businesses who want more than the standard bolt on service.
Prime Collection will be released before Christmas. It’s aimed at a select group of businesses who not only want to take their company to the next level but also see the value of working with a single provider who can pull everything together for them.
Amanda Dodd (nee Daniels) is the Founder and Creative Director of Koogar and this week the team celebrate Koogar’s 8th birthday on 6th November 2014. Koogar is an Integrated Marketing Agency based on the Wirral and are experts in digital.
The companies who work with Amanda and her team can now choose one of Koogar’s Collections and over 12 months, transform their marketing plan together.
Amanda says, “We say ‘together’, because Koogar want you to stay in control of the marketing elements by helping to make decisions and building your marketing expertise. The benefit to your company is that you have experts on hand who are not only tweaking and enhancing your ideas, we implement them too. Koogar will, ensure your message is reaching the audience you want it to.”
You may notice Amanda and her Koogar car in your area this week as she visits many of her clients in the Northwest celebrating 8 years in business.
Visit www.create-a-beautiful-experience.co.uk and download your FREE copy of Amanda’s ebook “Create a Beautiful Experience” to help you create a journey for your audience which in turn allows them to experience you and your brand.
by Amanda Daniels-Allen | Oct 29, 2014 | Guest Blogs |
Ive written a guest blog for Northwest Women’s Enterprising Day as this year I have been selected to run 2 sessions called “Create a beautiful experience on and offline” during the event (21st November 2014).
You can buy your ticket on Eventbrite. I have attended for the last 4 years and its a great and inspiring event! I hope to see you there so do coming along to one or both of my sessions!
Guest Blog by Amanda Dodd
Social media is the new and shiny object that marketing magpies are going after, but it’s not the answer to marketing. To a point it’s the glue that binds everything together but you do need other things to be wrapped around it.
Print, advertising and direct mail are all still necessary but we have to be a little cleverer to use them in a way that we can track the response we get from them. Giving calls to action at each point in time ensuring people make the next move. I know you may have tried it in the past but I just want you to look at it again from a different perspective.
Standing out from the crowd is every business’s objective as well as getting more customers but when we follow fashion all we are doing is blending in and our customers “to be” will not know the difference! So how do we make it easier for people to find us and know we are the right business for them?
Simple, create a beautiful experience on and offline!
Visit Northwest Women’s Enterprising Day to read the rest of the article
by Amanda Daniels-Allen | Oct 15, 2014 | Guest Blogs |
Guest Blog by Melissa Bragg of The Edge Magazine, Wirral
‘Half of my advertising works, I just don’t know which half’ – this is a famous quote oft trotted out by people in media sales, and I don’t mean to be predictable, but it fits this blog because it’s true. It was said by John Wanamaker, an early retailer considered to be a pioneer in marketing. His biggest store Wanamaker’s was Philadelphia’s first department store and he attributed the successful growth of his business to marketing.
Since the days when Wannamaker was planning his marketing spend, the media landscape has changed dramatically with local and regional radio and television now viable options alongside the traditional print platforms, and of course there are many online platforms for advertising: high traffic websites, search engines and on social media platforms such as facebook. Online analytics equip us with detailed data so we can make a more informed choice than ever before about where we place our marketing budget, but have we addressed the conundrum of identifying the half that may not work?
Successful marketing including advertising isn’t about guesswork, it is a science and there are basic principals that you should stick to when planning your advertising – no matter what platform you choose.
Target your message
There are so many niche platforms designed to appeal to a wide range of audiences so by choosing one relevant to your target audience you’ll ensure that your message is actually seen and seen by potential customers with an interest in your product.
Talk to your current customers to research which available media channels reach them. Make sure to ask about the whole spectrum of platforms they engage with so ask what publications they read, do they receive trade publications, what radio station they listen to, do they ever click on the sponsored results on Google or Facebook, can they recall any ad they’ve seen on the side of a bus etc
Make your message appealing
Reaching the right audience is only half the battle – then your space has to do the talking and it needs to be effective.
Textbook rules are:
- Keep it simple – you’re just looking to get people interested in finding out more – not go through the whole sale process there and then.
- Open with a desirable attention grabber
- Don’t be cryptic, make it clear what you do
- Mention the benefits of your service – not just the features
Stand out from the crowd
Keep your branding consistent. If your ad can be recognised before they’ve even read it, your message will be twice as effective.
A picture really can say a thousand words – and will enhance your marketing message too.
Use PR to present yourself as the expert
Things have moved on a lot since the PR’s heyday and today’s readers are far too savvy to fall for the bland, generic ‘business does business’ news pieces written in the past. It’s essential for good PR to add reader value, publishing something that will broaden the reader’s knowledge rather than just reporting that you have customers or you have done a deal. Use your advertising space to write a good piece of native PR in your field of expertise, giving readers the benefit of your knowledge and ensuring they engage with you for further help in your field. The only downside is that to be effective this has to be written by you – you’re the expert, not a PR firm. You couldn’t get someone to do your job for you, and similarly you won’t find someone to write decent native PR for you – they’re not the expert in your field.
Design a mechanism to monitor response
Can you include a sweetener to entice people to get in touch which will allow you to monitor your response? Insurance backed guarantee? Extra discount for early booking? Free report or anaylsis? Every little helps! People will only volunteer to tell you what they are responding to if it benefits them, and even then, the genuine response route can get skewed. They may tell you they contacted you from your website, but what lead them to your website? So ideally offer a discount / freebie / extra when they mention your advert / post / tweet etc.
More effective, but not always possible is to set up a brand new telephone number or web page to respond to – you’ll definitely know that those responses originated from your marketing activity.
If this isn’t feasible, ensure you religiously track your analytics in the days and weeks following your campaign. Even if the phone doesn’t ring the week your ad comes out, if your website traffic increases measurably that’s due to your marketing activity and it’s all helping to achieve your marketing objective of publicising what you do to potential customers.
There can be do doubt that marketing is imperative to the growth of a business. If you don’t work to secure a bigger share of your market, you won’t stand still, you’ll effectively go backwards as your competitors increase their market share. Advertising is a highly effective way to communicate to potential customers how great your company is and how your products and services will benefit them. However to be effective it needs to be well written, well designed and well planned – no half measures.
