Awards Fever Grips Business Community of Drogheda

Yesterday I had meetings in Drogheda and I met with some business owners. Well the beat on the street is certainly one of excitement.

As this is my first year as a short-listed company, I can certainly share in the excitement. And I have two clients in for awards aswell.

The Drogheda Excellence Awards will be held on Saturday night at the 4-star City North Hotel and over 300 guests will gather to celebrate the short-listed companies and winners of 10 award categories.

I spoke to five companies short-listed for various awards and the excitement of the awards coupled with the nervousness of interviews is palpable.

Today I’ll have to spend time preparing for my interview. These awards should be recognised in itself. A completely impartial judging panel of 6 judges adjudicate the written award application forms. Size does matter because the form is only four pages long with six questions asked. It doesn’t allow for long-winded answers. The form makes up 70% of the award with the interview or mystery shopper evaluation making up 30%.

Best eat that frog - and print my application form.

If anyone has any tips on how to overcome nerves in an interview talking about your company, please feel free to share them. Many, many thanks!

What’s the difference between Marketing & Advertising?

While networking earlier in the week, I got the age-old comment “So you’re in marketing. I tried advertising but it didn’t work.”

I spent the next 30 minutes explaining the difference between marketing and advertising and then asking what why his advertising didn’t work.

It’s a comment that I get frequently. So I’m throwing it out there -

What do you think is the difference between marketing and advertising?

This is my understanding:

Marketing takes in the whole process of getting and keeping customers. It is at the core of every business success. It takes in promotion but also covers understanding the environment in which a company operates, the effect of competitors, pricing, product choice, consumer behaviour, political changes and the list goes on.

Advertising is just one way to promote a business to a mass audience and it’s generally paid for.

What is your understanding of it?

Sign up for ‘Countdown to 2010′, a 10-week marketing programme to kick-start your new year

It’s never too early to plan. I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the calendar and realised that we only had 11 weeks left in 2009 (including this one!!).

Too often, us business-owners are so busy working in the business that we don’t focus enough on the business. Time has a funny way of flying by and suddenly, one week, one month, a half-year has flown by and we don’t even realise it.

As I set myself my own goal of working on my marketing plan for 2010, I thought it would be a good idea to share some key goals or initiatives that I’ll be looking at with other business-owners. We all have to plan, we all have to market and if I can help you market your business in a small way, then happy days. A rising tide raises all ships.

Countdown to 2010

Over the next ten weeks, you’ll get ideas, direct to your inbox, on a variety of marketing related topics that will all fit together for your overall marketing plan. Some of the topics include:

• Pricing - Stop under-valuing and start offering real value
• Promotion - Get the basics right for your 2010 campaigns
• Copy-writing - Engage with your audience to get results
• Social Marketing - Connect with social medium such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
• Distribution - Deliver your product or service in the most effective manner

Many people’s eyes glaze over when I talk about strategic marketing or marketing planning, but if you break it down into bite-sized pieces, it’s easier to conquer. A journey is started by taking the first step.

How to Subscribe

So take the first step to planning  your marketing for 2010, by subscribing to ‘Countdown to 2010‘.

Remember a rising tide raises all ships. If you work on your marketing plan prior to 2010 and are ready to get going on Monday, 4th January (allowing lots of time to recuperate from celebrating the old and new year!), then you’ll be in a great place for 2010.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, subscribe HERE. You’ll get your first email on Wednesday, 21st October and weekly thereafter.

Privacy note: Your data will not be shared.

Home is…familiarity

As we only live 25 minutes from the airport, our family take it in turns to drop and pick up each other to the airport. My Dad was due to pick us up from our little trip to Spain. I knew that he’d be waiting for us at Area No. 2 (He’s always early or on time!). I knew he’d have the radio on and wouldn’t turn it off until I got hoarse shouting from the back seat.

And as we drove up the hill toward the house, I don’t know what reminded me of the Dennyis challenge, my mind works in mysterious ways! Maybe it was the steepness of the hill, maybe it was the discarded tayto wrapping that made my blood boil or maybe it was just familiarity that made me think of what home is.

I missed the launch of the Denny ‘What is Home?’ campaign,  their nation-wide search to finding out what home means to the country of Ireland. Craig Doyle was there as celebrity ambassador and gave his own version of home: “For me, it’s my real life outside of work, a return journey, a house full of screaming kids, a window frame the dog chewed and I got blamed for. It’s happiness and warmth.”

It was after midnight when we got back home. My mum had sandwiches made for us (you got to love Mums!) and it was great to know where to reach for the plates, the teabags, the milk while sleep-walking with the tiredness.

Home means lots of things at different times and for me that night, it was familiarity. Denny is set to film real people and real homes as part of its search to find out what really makes a home today. I think it’s a great idea - everyone is different yet it will be interesting to see the commonality between families and homes.

Anyone who wants to invite the Denny crew to their homes can do so by calling 1850 887 00 or 0844 544 3545.

They’ve also set up some interactive channels for people to share their stories about home - check out their page on Facebook, connect with them on Twitter and Flickr.

And what’s great about this campaign is that Denny is donating €1/85p to the Simon Community when every individual shares their thoughts on what home is online, by text or in person. Everyone is welcome to upload photos, videos and comments to www.homeis.ie, texting 51444 (ROI) or 81515 (NI) or by popping into one of the Denny houses. Denny is taking the campaign nationwide with their Home on Wheels tour.

Visit www.homeis.ie to share your thoughts. It’s a bit of fun and your contribution will help make a difference with the Simon Community.

Go on…what is home to you?

Irish Businesswomen Show Anything is Possible

Before I sojourned off to Spain, I was a guest of Patricia Rooney, General Manager of Murphy Environmental Hollywood Ltd at the Women Mean Business Conference & Awards at the Shelbourne Hotel.

The theme of the day was ‘Anything is Possible‘, inspired by leading businesswomen JK Rowling who said “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve” and Oprah Winfrey who said “If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race”.

This theme was carried through the entire day, especially at the networking session prior to lunch. Perhaps it was the sunshine streaming in through the windows, but there was a palpable air of positivity - things are on the rise.

The women that I spoke with were sustaining their businesses and creating opportunities while acknowledging that things aren’t as good as before. There was realism mixed with positivity and it was quite motivating.

Awards Ceremony

After lunch, the awards ceremony kicked off. Patricia Rooney, my host, was nominated for Businesswoman of the Year award. A well deserving nominee, of all the women I know, she has an unlimited supply of energy. The passion she brings to Murphy is obvious to see given the success of the business which she started from scratch and as President of Drogheda Chamber for the past 15 months.

Unfortunately, she didn’t win and the award went to Cathriona Hallan, MD of Microsoft European Operations Centre.

I met up with Veronica Canning, author of Shoeisms who was a finalist in another category, the Accenture WMBig Idea Award. Another deserving nominee, and unfortunately, she didn’t win either.

It got me thinking about awards. It’s always a little bit disappointing when you don’t win. Human nature being what it is - our the competitive spirit compels us to win. However, over 200 people applied for these awards. 15 people got short-listed. That’s a fantastic achievement in itself.

Perhaps award ceremonies should acknowledge the finalists a bit more - at the end of the day, there is only one official winner. Yet those 11 women who didn’t take home an award are winners. They beat 185 other women to be short-listed and recognised for their achievements.

I’m sure that we will see a lot more from the award winners and the short-listed candidates in the future. I’ll certainly be looking forward to reading more about them in the new Handbag-sized Women Mean Business magazine.

Congratulations to all the winners who have motivated the rest of us to believe Anything is Possible.

Click here for more details on the winners and finalists.

Outvesting - Got €50 for a Start-up?

I’m on twitter every day - sometimes to share interesting information that I’ve come across, sometimes I just read what others are saying.

One interesting tweet that I saw and acted upon came from @Eirepreneur. He spoke in less than 140 characters about the idea of outvesting.

Definition: out-vĕst’ing/ The act of committing money to a business while expecting to get nothing in return, other than the satisfaction of giving a leg up to Irish entrepreneurs.

So James put forward the idea of 100 business owners pledging €50 each, getting the €5,000 and then looking for submissions from start-ups for the cash. What a great idea.

€50 buys you what in Dublin today? An early bird dinner, a pair of jeans? (depending on where you buy them!), a round of drinks for about 8 people or a trip to the doctor/dentist.

Donating one little brown note can make a huge difference if you add it with 99 other brown notes. This will be an enormous help to a start up. If I had that money when I first started, it would have been a huge benefit to me.

I’m in. Are you?

If you want to be, check out http://outvesting.org/. If you’re on twitter, follow @outvesting and the hashtag #outvesting.

Featured Friday: Photographer Insurance Package by Heritage

Due to the success of last week’s Featured Friday - Swine Flu Tool-kit by Healthforce, we are back with another Featured Friday.

This week it is Heritage Insurance Group.

A fellow member of the BNI Abbey with me, Derek Balfe impresses me every time I talk to him. Derek along with his partner Stephen Brack set up Heritage Insurance Group, a commercial insurance brokerage in 2008, during  the early stages of a recession.

They have done extremely well over the last year. As other small businesses have gone to the wall, Heritage has taken on new staff members, introduced a new division to the company and sales continue to grow.

They are an academic dream, a living success story. Their success is due in no short measures to their dedication and undying focus on the customer. Invariably they get cheaper rates on all types of commercial insurance but they take the time to listen to their customer’s needs. That’s the huge difference between them and other brokers. If you don’t need certain coverage, then you don’t need to pay for it. You pay for exactly what you need.

They get you a quote based on your needs and budget, not just budget. They check the small print!

Photographer Insurance

Just lately, they’ve launched an insurance package specifically for photographers & videographers - both amateurs and professionals.

They can get a quote for  you to cover your equipment, liabilities and professional indemnity insurance - all in one page.

Derek and Stephen will be at the Photovision show this coming Tuesday, 8th September, where over 1000 photographers will be in attendance. If you are one of those photographers, I recommend that you pop over and say hello. Two nicer guys you wouldn’t meet…even if they are in insurance!!

Go to www.camerainsurance.ie for more information on this particular package.

For more information on the other range of commercial insurance they cover - visit their website at www.hig.ie. They’ll be around for a long time.

***Ends***

Happy Autumn! Plans are Afoot….

It’s official - Autumn is finally upon us. We have dew on the cars in the mornings, the nights are drawing in, the leaves are starting to fall from the trees and the children head back (excitedly!) to school.

Shelley once wrote “There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been.”

Autumn is a great time to start afresh - bring balance back to life. With this in mind, I’ve decided to do something different. Each day, I’ll write a blog on a certain category.

Monday: Monday Makeover

A makeover of an ad, sales letter, article etc to help business owners or marketing execs to engage better with their readers.

Tuesday: Thesaurus Tuesday

I’m often asked for another word as a business-owner might have used the same word over and over again. So this little blog will feature one word and how we can use another word to have the same meaning.

Wednesday: Word of the Week

Words fascinate me. The spelling, the pronunciation, the meaning, the double meanings. Similar to Thesaurus Tuesday, it will be a little bit of fun with one chosen word.

Thursday: Good News Thursday

I’m finding it difficult to get good news but I shall continue to look…even if it’s just one story!

Friday: Featured Friday

I go to many networking events, I follow many great companies and entrepreneurs. Fridays will feature a company that has inspired me, inspired others, has a great idea or product or is using a different way to market their business.

It will be a day to celebrate others.

With the new season upon us, what are you going to do?

P.S. Yes I  know that technically Autumn started in August…but I like to think that August is part of the Irish summer.

Things I learned last week

I got to thinking about setting goals for this upcoming week as per advice from a variety of coaches. I decided that in order for me to set goals for the upcoming week, surely, I should look at what I learned from the previous week.

These are my findings:

1. Four day work weeks are extremely busy ones - I need to set a more realistic to-do list on four day work weeks.

2. Twitter outage can reduce a grown woman to pulling her hair out.

3. I can become a social media expert in four days.

4. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have two very, very distinct corporate identities. Check out this fascinating article on their logo development and comments afterward.

5. 121 Network is a great place to meet great people, like Fred and Facundo from Channelship, Aisling from Strata3, Paula from Simply Digital, Anne-marie from What she wears, Una from Codega. The Westin was just buzzing.

6. There are over five ways to shorten a url - each with their own pros and cons.

7. There are three ways to schedule a tweet - but haven’t decided if it’s a good idea or not.

8. You can’t find everything on the Internet - Fell in love with a pair of blue/teal Manolos and can’t find a pic of them on the Internet, despite help from @styletonic.

eCommerce Position Available in Dundalk

I got talking with my friend Lindsay Browning who has been hired to fill this great position in Dundalk. Usually I don’t post job offerings like this – I tend to keep them in the ‘SMEs are still hiring‘ section of Good News Thursday.

However, it is such a good job that it might just suit some of you readers out there – so if you’re interested in finding out more or talking to Lindsay, just drop Lindsay a mail at browninglindsay (at) hotmail (dot).com

The best of luck!

Director of Ecommerce

Summary: As Director of Ecommerce you will strategically manage all online sales initiatives in order to drive profitable incremental sales while exceeding budgeted revenue and customer acquisition targets.

This position requires excellent strategic thinking in all marketing disciplines to ensure that we are investing in the areas most likely to return the highest ROI for our advertising dollar in the long term by creating and executing a fully integrated online marketing program.

This includes the ability to thoroughly understand web analytics, across multiple brands and microsites, and use those results to properly manage the total online experience including; conversion rates, check out success, Email campaigns, web promotions and rules based marketing.

You will be championing the development and deployment of a new and improved customer web experience. In this role, you will envision the strategy, define requirements, and drive process change and the rollout of the new web platform. You must create partnerships across the business, and particularly with Information Technology.

You must also continually search for new creative ways of increasing response and conversion rates for all online media and act as the National Pen online champion by always pushing to improve the overall web experience. This includes identifying external best practices for benchmarking and improving our results.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Directly supervises the Ecommerce Department and carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Education, Experience and Skills:

B.A. in marketing or related field plus a minimum of 4-5 years of hands-on Ecommerce management experience in a highly transaction, direct response environment generating annual sales of at least €6.5m

• Strong quantitative and analytical skills with exceptional web analytics and reporting capabilities, and the desire to delve into data.

• Thorough understanding of Rules Based Marketing and customer contact strategy techniques.

• Strong creative skills with a good eye for design and copy.

• Exceptional communication skills and able to effectively communicate results, successes and improvement strategies to senior management team

• Organized with a strong sense of urgency

• Proven knowledge of site structure, navigation, page construction, content, keyword list development techniques, spiders, and link-building strategies.

• Proven track record in growing web traffic with experience developing a personalized web experience to drive higher traffic and conversion.

• Experienced with Search Engine Optimization initiatives including the management of relationships with paid search vendors and improvement of natural search through site design

• Experienced in Email Marketing including email address acquisition, determining the optimum schedule of Email campaigns, and testing email designs and offers.

• Familiar with social marketing campaigns and able to gain positive exposure on external social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

• Able to manage data feed programs supporting 3rd party affiliate search engines and shopping sites with daily product, inventory, and pricing updates.

• Hands on experience maintaining pricing, images, text, and content on web sites

• Good understanding of ecommerce infrastructural technologies, web site development, reporting, email campaigning and requirements analysis. Prior experience working directly with developers.

Experience with Scene 7 imaging strongly preferred.

Why not contact Lindsay on the above email address to find out more?