Romford Accountants: Accountancy Firm Roles and Responsibilities
If you own or operate a business in the UK, especially in Romford, then you know how time consuming it is to not only run your business but to also make sure all of your financial bases are covered. I want to help you understand some of the common roles and responsibilities a Romford based accountant / accountancy firm may face in a given day.Good accountants / accountancy firms will provide advisory services in addition to crunching numbers. They can help you choose the most optimal business entity structure for your needs, create an operating budget, or even what financial software to use. Th

Branding a Small Business Without Paying A Dime
As a young entrepreneur I was always looking for ways to brand my small companies. I didn't want to hire a firm and I was always open to learning. These are some things I've learned along the way that you might find helpful.My top 5 ways of building a brand for your small business - without paying a dime.Build a Website A website is something that almost any small business owner can build and maintain on his/her own without too much difficulty. There are a dozen or more free services out there that will not only give you free hosting but help you build a website as well.This is the second of a two-part article on overfilling your marketing funnel and client pipeline.

Last week we discussed that, in order to quickly fill your funnel and pipeline, you will want to have these 5 tools:

1. Unique Selling Proposition
2. Attention-grabbing, memorized elevator speech
3. Client attractive website
4. Effective business cards
5. A “full practice mentality”

Now that you have those, you want to implement strategies that will result in clients coming TO YOU rather than you having to chase after them.

1. Brand yourself.

Branding isn’t just for megacompanies like Coca-Cola or Pepsi. In order to build a relationship with your prospects, you want to brand yourself and remain consistent in that brand.

Do you have a logo? A tagline? Your photo? A certain masthead? Specific colors and fonts? What feelings do you evoke when someone looks at your materials? What feelings do you WANT to evoke?

They used to say it took between 7 and 10 times of someone seeing something before they had any recognition of it. In today’s information age, I’m sure the number has increased – make it easy on your prospects by branding your business.

2. Niche yourself.

Some people are huge proponents of niching while others feel it doesn’t makes a difference. The truth is “it depends” on the type of business you’re in. You will find that your clients may begin to niche themselves over time

Perhaps most of your clients are women or men. Maybe they are primarily in real estate or a certain age group. Perhaps they all have children or maybe they are predominantly entrepreneurs.

A “niche” is any defining feature of a group. It does not need to be the industry they serve or the business they are in as long as you can group them.

3. Keep in touch.

Whether you send an email or printed newsletter or holiday and “just because” cards, find reasons to keep in touch with your target audience.

Offer to speak at their events and let them know whenever you do something new. Ask for their referrals.

4. Create materials that “pull”.

All of your marketing materials should talk about what you can do for your prospects and what you HAVE DONE for your clients – results-based testimonials are great for this.

By showing how you solve problems, you will draw prospects into your funnel rather than always selling and turning them away. You wan to focus on the results and benefits, not the features of your services.

5. Tell everyone.

You want to tell *everyone* what you do – get in the public eye as much as possible using press releases, writing articles, attending networking events, etc. to insure that your business does not remain the “best kept secret”.

Just starting? Send a letter (or email) to your friends and former colleagues letting them know that you have just launched a business and directing them to your website or to call you for more information.

Make your marketing easy by creating systems for as much as the above as possible and, once you’ve created your brand, you want to consistently brand EVERYTHING you do, say and produce.

Even now, when my business continues to grow by leaps and bounds, I keep my marketing funnel full by insuring that I perform at least one marketing-related activity every single day. Consistency is key.

SANDY NOTE

In preparing for the launch of my new home study system (I’m not quite ready to share details) and finishing up my website copy in addition to working with my coaching clients, I’ve been working more hours than usual.

It caught up with me this weekend when I realized that I hadn’t met a personal deadline. In stopping to reflect on what happene

consistent in that brand.

Do you have a logo? A tagline? Your photo? A certain masthead? Specific colors and fonts? What feelings do you evoke when someone looks at your materials? What feelings do you WANT to evoke?

They used to say it took between 7 and 10 times of someone seeing something before they had any recognition of it. In today’s information age, I’m sure the number has increased – make it easy on your prospects by branding your business.

2. Niche yourself.

Some people are huge proponents of niching while others feel it doesn’t makes a difference. The truth is “it depends” on the type of business you’re in. You will find that your clients may begin to niche themselves over time

Perhaps most of your clients are women or men. Maybe they are primarily in real estate or a certain age group. Perhaps they all have children or maybe they are predominantly entrepreneurs.

A “niche” is any defining feature of a group. It does not need to be the industry they serve or the business they are in as long as you can group them.

3. Keep in touch.

Whether you send an email or printed newsletter or holiday and “just because” cards, find reasons to keep in touch with your target audience.

Offer to speak at their events and let them know whenever you do something new. Ask for their referrals.

4. Create materials that “pull”.

All of your marketing materials should talk about what you can do for your prospects and what you HAVE DONE for your clients – results-based testimonials are great for this.

By showing how you solve problems, you will draw prospects into your funnel rather than always selling and turning them away. You wan to focus on the results and benefits, not the features of your services.

5. Tell everyone.

You want to tell *everyone* what you do – get in the public eye as much as possible using press releases, writing articles, attending networking events, etc. to insure that your business does not remain the “best kept secret”.

Just starting? Send a letter (or email) to your friends and former colleagues letting them know that you have just launched a business and directing them to your website or to call you for more information.

Make your marketing easy by creating systems for as much as the above as possible and, once you’ve created your brand, you want to consistently brand EVERYTHING you do, say and produce.

Even now, when my business continues to grow by leaps and bounds, I keep my marketing funnel full by insuring that I perform at least one marketing-related activity every single day. Consistency is key.

SANDY NOTE

In preparing for the launch of my new home study system (I’m not quite ready to share details) and finishing up my website copy in addition to working with my coaching clients, I’ve been working more hours than usual.

It caught up with me this weekend when I realized that I hadn’t met a personal deadline. In stopping to reflect on what happen

ts are women or men. Maybe they are primarily in real estate or a certain age group. Perhaps they all have children or maybe they are predominantly entrepreneurs.

A “niche” is any defining feature of a group. It does not need to be the industry they serve or the business they are in as long as you can group them.

3. Keep in touch.

Whether you send an email or printed newsletter or holiday and “just because” cards, find reasons to keep in touch with your target audience.

Offer to speak at their events and let them know whenever you do something new. Ask for their referrals.

4. Create materials that “pull”.

All of your marketing materials should talk about what you can do for your prospects and what you HAVE DONE for your clients – results-based testimonials are great for this.

By showing how you solve problems, you will draw prospects into your funnel rather than always selling and turning them away. You wan to focus on the results and benefits, not the features of your services.

5. Tell everyone.

You want to tell *everyone* what you do – get in the public eye as much as possible using press releases, writing articles, attending networking events, etc. to insure that your business does not remain the “best kept secret”.

Just starting? Send a letter (or email) to your friends and former colleagues letting them know that you have just launched a business and directing them to your website or to call you for more information.

Make your marketing easy by creating systems for as much as the above as possible and, once you’ve created your brand, you want to consistently brand EVERYTHING you do, say and produce.

Even now, when my business continues to grow by leaps and bounds, I keep my marketing funnel full by insuring that I perform at least one marketing-related activity every single day. Consistency is key.

SANDY NOTE

In preparing for the launch of my new home study system (I’m not quite ready to share details) and finishing up my website copy in addition to working with my coaching clients, I’ve been working more hours than usual.

It caught up with me this weekend when I realized that I hadn’t met a personal deadline. In stopping to reflect on what happen

E DONE for your clients – results-based testimonials are great for this.

By showing how you solve problems, you will draw prospects into your funnel rather than always selling and turning them away. You wan to focus on the results and benefits, not the features of your services.

5. Tell everyone.

You want to tell *everyone* what you do – get in the public eye as much as possible using press releases, writing articles, attending networking events, etc. to insure that your business does not remain the “best kept secret”.

Just starting? Send a letter (or email) to your friends and former colleagues letting them know that you have just launched a business and directing them to your website or to call you for more information.

Make your marketing easy by creating systems for as much as the above as possible and, once you’ve created your brand, you want to consistently brand EVERYTHING you do, say and produce.

Even now, when my business continues to grow by leaps and bounds, I keep my marketing funnel full by insuring that I perform at least one marketing-related activity every single day. Consistency is key.

SANDY NOTE

In preparing for the launch of my new home study system (I’m not quite ready to share details) and finishing up my website copy in addition to working with my coaching clients, I’ve been working more hours than usual.

It caught up with me this weekend when I realized that I hadn’t met a personal deadline. In stopping to reflect on what happen

>Make your marketing easy by creating systems for as much as the above as possible and, once you’ve created your brand, you want to consistently brand EVERYTHING you do, say and produce.

Even now, when my business continues to grow by leaps and bounds, I keep my marketing funnel full by insuring that I perform at least one marketing-related activity every single day. Consistency is key.

SANDY NOTE

In preparing for the launch of my new home study system (I’m not quite ready to share details) and finishing up my website copy in addition to working with my coaching clients, I’ve been working more hours than usual.

It caught up with me this weekend when I realized that I hadn’t met a personal deadline. In stopping to reflect on what happened, it suddenly hit me – I haven’t taken any “Sandy” time since early May. DUH!

Those who know me well know that I LOVE Whole Foods Supermarket and go every month (the closest one is about 45 minutes away) – I haven’t been in a few months. My precious Sasha (that’s her to the left) may need hip replacement surgery so we haven’t been going for our early morning walks and “date night” with DH has been replaced with “band practice night”. :-)

No wonder my creative juices weren’t flowing as smoothly as usual! I’ve taken away some of the things I enjoy most and forgotten to replace them with other fun stuff!

If you find yourself busy, but not productive or otherwise being held back, take a few minutes to reflect on the “why” and address it as necessary.

I hope you enjoy today’s fresh new article -- the second part of how to overfill your marketing funnel and client pipeline.

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