Helen Dowling
Free
Exceptional Thinking - Marketing Services Expert
Helen Dowling Quick Facts
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides help and advice to small business owners on their marketing. For 50 free ideas on marketing and promoting your business, go to http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk/50ideas.htm
Exceptional Thinking specialise in getting marketing done. Whether you want us to do it for you or you want to do your own marketing with our support, we have flexible packages available to suit your needs.
Helen started the business back in 2003 and is Exceptional Thinking’s main driver. She is a professional marketer and specialises in working with small businesses. She has recently won Midlands Networker of the Year in the Midlands Business Awards and been nominated as a finalist in several awards including Cotswold Life Awards and the Barclays National Business Plan Awards. Helen also sits on many panels including being one of the experts on the Business Startup Community.
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
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Y is for Yo Sushi
Well, this article isn’t exactly about Yo Sushi! It’s about the fact that if you pay attention to the big companies around you, it’s very likely that you’ll find ideas that you can apply to your own business. Remember, big companies can afford to do things – they can afford to hire the best marketing consultants; the best design agencies; the best social media experts; the best advertising companies.
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Is your marketing company being 'fluffy'?
Many of the people we speak to currently use a marketing company that they may have been with for month or years and if they’re working well for you, then that’s great. However, more often than not, we find that the activities the current marketing company are doing don’t result in lead generation. The activities are more around social media, PR or writing blogs. These ‘awareness/brand building’ activities are great if that’s what you’re looking for, but if you really want meetings and appointments in the diary, then they won’t necessarily result in this.
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The Secret to Writing Great Copy
How many times have you read something – maybe on a website or in a sales letter and thought “that doesn't make sense” or found it hard to concentrate because the way it was written wasn't very interesting? Well, let me tell you something. When I first started my business, that’s how the information that I wrote down used to be all the time. It was full of jargon, didn't make sense and was written in business English – great for reports, but not for getting the sale in through the door.
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Q is for Quick and Easy Ways to Get Customers Fast
When you’re frustrated with marketing and you just need customers fast, here are some simple and quick things you can do to bring new customers in. 1. Talk to your past clientsr Have you kept in touch with your past clients? Maybe they’re looking for your products and services right now. Drop them a line (either by phone, email or post) just to see how they’re getting on. When you’re looking for customers fast, your past clients are often a great source of leads. 2. Analyse what’s worked in the pastr
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What to do on Linkedin
So, you’ve joined Linkedin on the promise that it’s a great business tool and you’ll definitely get clients from it, right? Now what? You know that clients coming from this medium won’t happen on their own, but what should you do next? This is such a common question – what should I be doing on Linkedin and more importantly how do I get business out of it? – that I thought it was important that I gave you some tips.
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M is for Marketing Strategy
Do you have a marketing strategy in place? No, by this I don’t mean a marketing plan (although that’s great if you have one of these). I mean a marketing strategy – something that tells you end to end where each of your marketing fits in. When I talk to small business owners they usually tell me about various marketing activities that they have planned for their business. That’s all great and I’m not knocking that at all, but all this will do is bring you in potential customers for your business.
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T is for Time to do Marketing
As small business owners, one of the things that we’re short on is time and particularly time to do marketing. Marketing is just one of those things that goes by the wayside when everything gets busy isn’t it? Here’s the problem though. If you only do marketing only when things gets are quiet and then don’t do any when you’re busy with other work, it will lead very quickly to peaks and troughs in your business. The trick to sorting this out is to do marketing all the time even when you’re busy. Not so easy if you don’t have any time though…. So how do we sort this out?
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How to dig yourself out of the hole
When I first started my business, I had a business mentor who told me the following quote. I’ve never forgotten it because it’s so true for many, many business owners. He said: “Show me an entrepreneur and I’ll show you a manic-depressant.” How true is that? One moment as a business owner, you can be on top of the world and nothing can go wrong. The next, you’re down in the doldrums thinking that a job could really be great right about now. And all it can take to change your mood is literally a phone call or an email.
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Why Does The World Stop At Christmas?
Within the next week or so, offices across the country will be closing for Christmas and not re-opening their doors until 3rd January 2012. While that’s only a couple of weeks, no-one will really get going again until the second week in January, so it almost feels like there is a month off for everyone. Why is this and how can you stop it having a major impact on your business?
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Outsourcing to a Marketing Company vs Employing In-House
So, you’re thinking about outsourcing your marketing. You invite two or three potential suppliers into see you, all of which provide you with a quote…and then at some point you start asking yourself whether you should employ someone in-house instead. When you’re faced with this dilemma, it can sometimes be helpful to breakdown the advantages or using a marketing company vs employing in-house so here’s a quick comparison. • Experience
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Would you like meetings with Travis Perkins?
We're seeing some AMAZING results with our LinkedIn package and it's becoming really PREDICTABLE! In other words, we know that if we do x, then y, then z, it will lead to meetings and leads for our clients. How would you like meetings with Travis Perkins, Be ard Matthews, Edinburgh Council - all of which we've got just in the last week for our clients? Here's how our LinkedIn package works: • We will carefully research 20-40 target companies on LinkedIn for you every week; • We will send these over to you so you can check they are the right targets;r
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B is for Blogging
Over the last few years, there have been lots of new ways to market and promote your business springing up. One of those ways is to create a blog for your business. A blog – short for web-log – is an on-line diary. You can set one up for free at www.blogger.com or for those who are more technically minded, set one up at www.wordpress.org. When you’ve set one up you can use it in whichever way you choose. Here’s some examples: Articlesr If you write articles (which are a great way to promote your business in their own right), you can post them in your blog.
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