30/03/2012 by admin.

I’ve been to several conferences in the last few weeks where the economy, future of the area and business can get ready for future opportunities.

What I have heard has really inspired me, not only as a Scottish business owner, but as a person living, working and bringing up a family in Dundee.

Visit Scotland are involved in a concerted campaign over the next 2 years to bring to life a series of milestones to drive tourism and interest in all things Scottish. From large scale events like the Commonwealth Games & the Ryder Cup to marketing around projects such as the Jubilee, Disney’s new film Brave and the themed years culminating in the Year of Homecoming 2014, there are plenty of opportunities for business to hook into, to help their own marketing work.

Dundee and Angus is a thriving location, and as the sunniest City in Scotland, its easy to see why large capital projects like the Dundee Waterfront and V&A at Dundee are taking place.

Having a bold, forward thinking strategy for a region is just the catalyst that is needed to bring inward investment and attract companies such as Malmaison to open a new flagship hotel.

There are many success stories in the business world too, from BrightSolid’s relaunch of Friends Reunited and their CEO Chris van der Kuyl receiving an award this month from the Institute of Directors; Mackays making amazing jams & preserves in Arbroath, Insights winning Customer Focus award at the Scottish Business Awards, Michelin going from strength to strength at its Dundee plant and many many small businesses continuing to do well in the region, we have much to be proud of and aspire to.

At an Economic Summit in the city yesterday, David Dorward Chief Executive of Dundee City Council led several public and private organisations in an event aimed at ‘laying the foundations for future prosperity in our communities’. Nearly 300 people from local businesses, the education sector, the Chamber of Commerce, the public sector and local & national politicians were in the room to discuss the economic future and positive future developments in Dundee.

And at a National Convention for Youth Employment hosted by Dundee College a large audience heard from Michael Moore MP, Secretary of State for Scotland; Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work & Pensions plus John Swinney & Angela Constance both MSPs about the issue of how we tackle the future of our young people and ensuring they are well prepared.

However….here is my own personal take on things with a note of caution:

POINT 1: At all of these recent events very very little was done to engage pre, during or after the event via social media. More than 66% of adults use one or more social media platforms - and its widely unknown that 46% of facebook users are aged 45 or older! I certainly found no official event or host organisation use of social media on the day - if they did, they certainly didnt promote it at the events.

At the summit yesterday, there were a handful (less than 10 of us) on twitter using #DundeeEconomicSummit - with a room full of business professionals, I find this quite disturbing. As leaders, engagers in the community and business people, how do we expect to be able to take the brilliant messages & optimism that was in that room and share it if we don’t use a communication tool which is used by so many? There are some very good pieces in the local newspaper today - but I wonder how many of you have seen that?

POINT 2: what is the take-away concrete action from any of these events to keep the audience engaged with the process and build on all the positive things that happened? Apart from yesterday, where we were invited to email someone (without being given their address) if we felt we’d like to take part in ’something’ in the future, there were absolutely no real next steps for the audiences - no dates to diarise, no websites to look up or register with and absolutely no social media platforms to receive ongoing specific news from.

So in summary - I’ve been very lucky to have attended some exceptional and really inspirational events in the recent weeks but afterwards am simply sent on my way and little by little, as the day job creeps back in, that enthusiasm & energy seeps away and we go back into our individual roles, losing the power of the larger group and movement for future good. So I guess its up to me to make my own next steps count!

Thanks for reading…….Alison

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09/10/2011 by admin.

As a business owner, its really really easy to be busy with doing the work, keeping clients happy & meeting project deadlines. But there is also the running of the business to be done, and all the necessary (but not so exciting) jobs that come within your job description. For me, I absolutely love the project based side of what we do, the variety of clients that we are working with and meeting so many different people.

But what don’t I like…..book-keeping, filing, and the admin side of what it takes to keep a successful business running. And while I am sharing (hee hee) I will also admit to being in love with social media (facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc etc etc) - and I would like to share a blog post that totally kicked me in the guts recently - in a good way!

I first found Jeff Bullas via twitter and he has a prolific blog which I look out for, and thoroughly enjoy reading. But this one in particular made me really think.

Titled ‘The Secret Behind Every Successful Blogger’, I was intrigued to read more - but what I actually discovered was a re-connection with why I do what I do.

Here is an excerpt from the blog that I connect with in every which way:

“Find Work That is Play

I came across a quote by the famous economist Dr. Paul Samuelson that encapsulates one of the secrets to success in life.

“Never underestimate the vital importance of finding early in life the work that for you is play. This turns possible underachievers into happy warriors.”

Most of us do not have the privilege of discovering this early on in life but stumble upon it in later years. There is no rhyme or reason as to when or how it occurs, it could be an ephiphany or it maybe a slow awakening but if you discover it grab it with both hands, do not ignore it but embrace it with all the energy and optimistic obsession you can muster.

Work that is play is the combination of innate ability and aptitude that combines with passion to create a synergy that lubricates life’s journey.

Sir Ken Robinson in his book “The Element”  says this about discovering being in your element, “it is the place where the things we love and the things we’re good at come together”

Questions You Should Ask Yourself

So how do you find this element? What questions should I be asking to discover work that is play?

Here are some questions you should be starting to ask yourself.

• What comes easily to you?
• What do you read about till 2.30 in the morning
• What gets you up at 4.30am?
• What do you enjoy doing?
• What kind of things do people compliment you on?
• What activities give your spirit energy?  “

I feel very privileged to be running a business, doing a job that I love, surrounded by a brilliant team and meeting lots of interesting people on a weekly basis in our local business community. Of course, sometimes the humdrum does get in the way and I have to force myself to work on some of the tasks which aren’t at the top of my list - but they don’t overwhelm the good feelings.

So I can honestly say that nearly three years on in my business, I’m still motivated to get up at 6am, work through til 10pm if need be, and often get that tingly excited feeling inside which TOTALLY reminds me that I am very lucky to be in the position of running a successful business: helping people realise that perfect event, or rediscover their business goals & vision and create a marketing plan that gets them on track.  I hope you enjoy reading Jeff’s blog and top up your Mojo levels!

And if you’re using twitter (@alisonhendo), facebook or linkedin, say hello!

Alison x

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02/06/2011 by admin.

Morning,

I’ve been inspired to write this post today on the back of yesterday’s Apprentice antics in the UK. Some of the core issues were part of the work I had been doing with a client in the morning, looking at his target audiences and working out how to effectively market his service as ‘products’ that they could identify with.

The task was about creating a new pet food product, marketing it and being judged on the concept & campaign execution.

And to be honest, what both teams did in the short timeframe was really very good - although they did have design agencies and lots of people to help with voice-overs, recording TV adverts etc.

However in my opinion, the biggest mistake that one of the teams made was simply taking too wide a strategic view on what they were doing - FOR THE TASK!

Their product was food for Every Dog - however their strategy was much bigger than this…..it was to build an ‘Every’ brand which they could see stretching off into the sunset….Every Cat/Every Fish et al. You could see the twinkle in @lord_sugar’s eye at the prospect of such an idea, but for the task at hand they were simply setting themselves up for a fall.

Another thing that went against all marketing principles was during their research when someone in their focus group told them he thought they were aiming too wide.

And I can’t believe that the naff product itself escaped mention on the show - it had no shelf appeal whatsoever. What did work very well for them was the execution of their TV advert - and I also liked the billboard…..but again, the problem with all of that was nothing really tied together - they certainly hadn’t integrated their marketing!

And the other group went for a product that would help owners keep their cats weight under control. They quickly realised that a huge proportion of the moggy market is overweight - we’ve all seen those cats who look like they could do with a treadmill session!

So they opted for a product which would make cats healthy, happy and used a play on words to call their product CatSize(Cats eyes….twinkle in the road, geddit?). Their packaging was very good - looked great, had a nice little tape measure along the top to tie in the theme etc. Their advert was sort of wishywashy but you could see that they had the (fish)bones of a really great idea, had executed their product well, and overall they won.

Neither of the project managers this week managed their teams very well - both were head strong and utterly sure that their ideas were the best of the bunch, when they had strong people in their teams who they should have trusted to deliver for the team. I wonder if part of the problem with these tasks is that there simply isn’t enough time to nail the idea, test it and create the campaigns…..there is often a total shift in strategy mid way through a task. But a PM needs to be in control and take these tough decisions, just like a business owner needs to.

***************

Anyway, with my client yesterday we did some segmentation work - splitting his audience into groups of similar people, with similar needs so that we could tailor the messages, and understand how best to market to them.

It is very important to create a picture of your ideal customer within the segments, know what their issues are, look at how you can grab their attention, talk to them in the right language and communicate via the best media for THEM.

Of course, when you are running a small business, you simply want to sell to everyone - but look back at the people who have bought your product already…..they like what you are offering. So doesnt it make sense to go out and find some more of these people? And if you know your existing customers well, you can understand all of the things that you need to do to get more of the same - simple!

In my client’s case, there were four stand-out segments - a couple of whom were regular, straightforward business, and one or two were very niche, but big ticket pieces of work. So we will build a plan to target more of two of the segments, who will bring in smaller, regular work, to keep the business busy - and create some specialised marketing to go after the other work which could bring in a couple of really big and interesting jobs.

And then we also talked about a new product he is thinking of bringing to market, and looked at making it work smarter for him: expanding on what he was planning, but making it an easier sell!

An interesting day all round - and a good example of why I love marketing!

Have a good day,

Alison

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12/05/2011 by admin.

I came across this video and wanted to share it with you…..anyone who knows me, knows that I smile A LOT - so its good to know that its actually scientifically proven that it helps me generate good feeling in others, and should make me live longer!

Smiling stops you frowning, reduces stress hormones in your body and has the same effect as really nice chocolate - now doesn’t that sound good to you?

Hope you enjoy the video

Alison x

Posted in Fun, Uncategorized | No Comments »

11/04/2011 by admin.

Hi there,

We’re in the process of doing some research for a local visitor attraction, and would really really appreciate you taking 5 minutes to complete an online survey.

Here it is…..and you can even leave your details to be entered into a prize draw to win a meal for four including wine!!

Thanks for helping out,

Alison x

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03/11/2010 by admin.

I’ve been doing a review of a week-long exhibition that I ran recently where we had 25 businesses involved in promoting their products & services to the public and it has made me think about the whole process of running an event.

I have a very clear strategy in my own head for how I believe a successful event is put together - to be honest it runs exactly on the same principles as any other promotional activity.

When you put together an event, you have to be very careful to consider all of the elements of what you are running - what equipment do you require, what is your programme to be, who is the intended audience, what is a successful outcome. You need to run an event with the same principles in mind as any project - you should break it down into the various key deliverables and then create a time plan, with actions, owners, deadlines etc.

You have various stakeholders to consider - the person who has instructed you to run the event, the attendees, the suppliers & staff at the venue itself, any speakers you may have - all of these people will need to have their needs met in different ways.

And when you are thinking of marketing the event, then think of the AIDA process: Attention - Interest - Desire - Action. You need to create a hook, a real buzz to begin the process of showing people why they have to attend your event. You have to know how & when to communicate with the prospective attendees to attract their attention, the desire to visit. You then need to continue to promote the event and add extras to convince them that they need to take action and come along.

And of course, you have to be clear from the beginning about how you will measure the success of the event. Is it number of attendees, is it profit, is it satisfaction of attendees, is it media coverage? There could be a combination of these factors, but you must be clear what you will measure success on, otherwise you can’t gauge Return On Investment. The investment may not be cash, it may be time, it may be a different resource - as long as you know what you are putting in, you can tell whether you have reached the outcome that you wanted.

Events are an exciting thing to be involved in, I love the buzz that I get from being creative, putting on a great programme and delivering an excellent event which is seamless to the outside world.

I don’t think I’ve ever done an event where something didn’t go wrong - the main thing is not to be fazed by that, but to think on your feet, find a solution to whatever has happened - and keep it away from your stakeholders during the event. Afterwards, it can be good to share what happened, because the chances are they may have realised something was different but not known why - so show them that you had the ability to be aware of what was going on, and took action & ownership to solve the problem before it impacted the event itself - this is a great ability to have - not everyone can do it.

Events are fun, always throw up something unexpected and you have a great sense of achievement when they actually take place. There is a lot of work involved in putting together an event, and when people enjoy it, its a brilliant feeling.

Alison

x

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31/10/2010 by admin.

Afternoon everyone, I’m writing this having enjoyed my extra hour this morning reading the Sunday papers and indulging in a few cups of tea!

Because I run my own business, I’m always juggling my work time and prioritising what to do next.

I am Chair of the Dundee & Angus businesswomen’s network group: Women Ahead and today am fitting in some work for the group which I never get a chance to do during the week.

Our latest event led to me being seated beside one of the leading women in UK business: Lady Susan Rice who is Managing Director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland.  She gave a Masterclass presentation to a joint lunch that we ran with the Chamber of Commerce and was an inspiring speaker. We heard about her career path and the qualities she believed had helped her to her success in business. I was inspired by her speech and a couple of the things which struck very true for me were:

• in business, HOW we get there is as important as the end goal
• we need to be ADAPTABLE, THINK FOR OURSELVES & ENGAGE with others
• we need to be INNOVATIVE & ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS
• we need to SEIZE OPPORTUNITIES & be QUICK where possible

So here I am, at my desk on a Sunday, updating the Women Ahead members’ database, sending some thank you emails to attendees and updating the website with new events. Being Chair of the group has expanded my own network, let me help the group by adding my event management skills to the mix of committee members and I willingly give my own time to forming a great programme of events for the members. We also raise money each year for a chosen charity, and this year we are supporting Breast Cancer Care.  In August, we held a Strawberry Tea where we raised £1500 PLUS Gift Aid, and we are in the middle of planning our Awards Event where we will add to the charity kitty by holding a raffle & auction.

Anyway, enough from me - I only came onto my blog to accept a comment on a previous post! I think that what is important in this tale is that you never know how you will get your next shot of inspiration when you run a small business, especially if you are working on your own. Its vital to attend events and network, you never know who you will meet or what you will pick up that will drive your business forward.

I hope you have a great Halloween,

Alison x

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28/10/2010 by admin.

I am going through the process of updating my own marketing plan (its ALWAYS much easier to be objective and create marketing strategies for other people!) and it has made me think about & question some of the things which I do routinely to promote my business.

So I’m going to put these down into a list - its by no means a top 10, must do action for every business, but I hope that reading this will give food for thought and encourage you do make conscious decisions to try something new to add to what you do already.

The important thing is to make sure you are consistent, use a few of these things together to give an integrated marketing approach and plan ahead to target the right audiences.

2011 is coming up on us very fast and November is traditionally a busy month in business - do you have an eye on what will happen to your revenue in the New Year? Now is the time to lay those foundations and get your marketing plan written now so that you can be ahead of your competition and hit the ground running after the festive period.

1. IDENTIFY your target audiences
2. UNDERSTAND what messages will work most effectively for them
3. attend some NETWORKING events to promote your business to the right audiences
4. create an OFFER which you can promote to your audiences
5. use ONLINE marketing tools: website, blogs, facebook, twitter, articles
6. use your EMAIL SIGNATURE to promote the main message you are communicating
7. arrange some FACE-TO-FACE meetings to explore future orders
8. think about what news your company has which would be interesting to send as PRESS RELEASES
9. find out if there are any opportunities to give PRESENTATIONS to groups
10. be CONSISTENT, communicate REGULARLY and be CLEAR about your story

If you are clear about what you are going to do, then it makes it much easier to follow through on your actions and create the momentum that you need to have a brilliant 2011.

We’ve only got 10 weeks of 2010 left, so make the most of it and PLAN AHEAD

Cheers!

Alison x

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22/10/2010 by admin.

Morning, its a dreich day in Dundee this morning, but I am looking forward to a business lunch with someone I respect immensely in the local business community. My thoughts as a small business owner are turning to 2011 and what that will mean for my business. I know that I need to drive it forward and be in control - something which I have come to realise is a strong motivator for me now that I run my own company.

I’ve been telling my ‘how I came to be in business’ story a lot over the last 18 months or so and sometimes the conversation comes round to how I chose the name. So that has inspired me to blog about it.

I knew when I launched my business that I wanted a strong brand which would stand out from the crowd. I was also very aware that I should consider having the kind of name that ‘does what it says on the tin’ but lets face it, Alison Henderson Event Management & Marketing Consultants makes a horrific web address, and an even worse email one. I’d need to give out 12-inch rulers as business cards!

So we sat down as a family (me, my husband Jimmy & my son Fraser) and had a bit of a think. We came up with loads of names and one of them really caught my imagination. For all of you out there with children, I’m guessing you are more used to the whole intertwining pinkie finger thing which is a binding promise to your child to take them to the cinema/football/park or whatever kind of activity you promised to do, that you double-promise to follow through on. Well, my husband ALWAYS did this with our son (it was their thing) and I loved the whole concept of it. Of course we could always have called the company ‘Cross Your Heart’ (for all you oldies out there who remember Playtext bras!) but its not got quite the same ring to it.

I knew that for me it symbolised how I would follow through on promises to my clients and it had a very strong and quirky feel to it.

So I began the process of working on the branding with my designer. I gave him a design brief (because its so important to be clear to your designer on what you want) and we began to design the logo, colour palette and business cards. I’ve never been a pink girly type of person so in the beginning I wanted greens & blues (?) but to give him his due he persuaded me to also look at a pink/grey/silver option. We also looked at quite a few font types - you need to carefully choose your business fonts to fit in with the messages you are portraying in your brand communications.

So after a couple of revisions to my branding, we were done.

When the file went away to the printers it was agonising: what if I didn’t like what we had come up with?

It was like the birth of a baby - a bit of fun at the beginning (just as well it started with my husband!), an incubation period with the designer where the brand grew and changed shape, then the birth of a brand with the delivery of my first business cards. I was (and still am) so excited by the whole process.

When I collected my cards, the printer said that they would display the cards on the wall in the shop because they were one of the most striking cards they had ever produced!

What is great about the business brand, is that it makes people interested in what you do, want to know more and it stands out from all of the other business cards in a pack. There is one big drawback: I’ve never won a business card draw….it must be subliminal. But I can live with that.

What’s also very important for me is that I have a strong brand which I can use to create a suite of sub-brands when I am ready to do so.

I also love to work with businesses: bringing their brands to life, helping them create strong strategic marketing foundations and marketing materials which have punch! I am very fortunate to work with a really amazing & talented bunch of people who are very good at understanding what design & print that I need for my clients. They run their own small businesses and understand the challenges that we all face, which makes them adaptable, quick to respond and deliver when they say they will.

Sometimes a client will wonder why I place so much importance on setting out their brand values, creating a mission statement and understanding what makes them tick. But a business which understands what it believes in, where it is going and how to describe itself, creates an immensely strong impression to the outside & inside world. We all need a vision!

Posted in Business, Marketing, Blogroll | 2 Comments »

09/08/2010 by admin.

Social Media is definitely a very good way for small businesses to take news about their business out to the wider community.

There are pitfalls that surround using social media of course - here is the summary from my 14 page ebook that was sent out for free to my PREVISION marketing group members.

The thing with social media is that of course it doesn’t cost you much in the way of hard cash to do - but how much time are you spending on it that you could be working at your day job and earning money?

You need to have a balance - and of course, make sure that the people who are connected with you via social media are your target audience, not just your pals!

Do:

• Make sense
• Be consistent
• Be knowledgeable about your subject
• Keep going with a platform that you have started
• Do regular updates on EACH of the platforms you have begun
• Create tags to help define your content
• Have a strategy
• Do cross reference your other social media where possible
• Understand who your audience is and which platform you will find them on
• Collect encourage feedback & reviews from your customers to publish on social media pages
• Have a call to action

Don’t

• Make spelling mistakes
• Have links that don’t work
• Steal content from someone else
• Spam people with the same messages over and over again
• Buy lists of followers, or use software to generate lots of followers
• Send out endless drivel about your personal life
• Be negative about other businesses
• Share very personal information that could leave you open to identity fraud, or burglars!

Just remember and include some of yourself in your updates, have fun but remember: you are doing this for business so have a strategy!

 Alison x

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