Vanilla Recruitment is delighted to present a free goal setting seminar in conjunction with Alastair Campbell of The Ideal Marketing Company at the Angel Hotel, Market Harborough

When we run our own business or department, it is very easy to become absorbed in day-to-day tasks without taking the time to look at the ’bigger picture’. This interactive seminar covers a simple process we can all learn to make sure that life doesn’t pass us by and how we can achieve the things that are important to us. You’ll learn how to focus on the priority areas at work – as well as having more time with friends and family. And finally you’ll discover why the great philosopher Bruce Forsyth was trying to tell us the key to a successful life – we just weren’t paying attention.

What is the cost? The seminar is sponsored by Vanilla Recruitment and The Ideal Marketing Company and is free to attend.

When is it? January 27th from 10.00am till 12.30pm. The seminar itself starts at 10.00am with the opportunity to register and network from 9.30am and also afterwards.

Where is it? The Angel Hotel, High Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire

Tea, coffee and soft drinks will be served upon arrival.

Vanilla Recruitment is hosting this event and would welcome you to attend for no charge and bring up to 2 guests. The event is likely to be fully booked so it is important to register your place in advance to avoid disappointment.

To reserve you place see www.vanillarecruitment.co.uk or call 01858 898 058

The Angel Hotel

My talk will also cover how business owners can make the most of theMarketing Mentor programme for free.

This year the organisers are thinking about people who have been made redundant as the following news release indicates.

Redundancy need not mean Redundant – say Franchise Show organisers

As more of us begin to revaluate career options with lingering uncertainty in the workplace, starting up your own business – via a franchise – has long been a route considered by individuals looking to re-invest redundancy pay off.

And most franchising companies will tell you that, although a bolt out of the blue, being made redundant can be the making of you. You could well end up happier, and better off, than someone else’s wage slave.

But are those claims slick sales talk from franchise companies who want you to invest in them? Or is there hard evidence to reassure those who do lose their job that using their pay off to fund a business will “pay off”?

Well the organisers of the East Midlands Franchise Show, arriving at Leicester Racecourse in Oadby on June 20th, claim that 9 out of 10 franchisees report profitable business a couple of years into their licence.

And to reinforce the point, the low level of commercial failure is something that the high street banks have picked up on. In this immediate post credit crunch era, some high street banks have even set up specialist franchise teams keen to invest in what the have judged a “safer bet” – and offer preferential banking terms too

So if the worst happens, why not just set up alone? Why not use the capital you would have to pay the franchise fee and instead launch your own copycat idea?

Marcus Remfry, of franchise show organisers Job Done Marketing, gives as good an explanation as any;

“A good franchise will have a good brand, strong national marketing, good support for the new franchisee and most of all – a ready made, proven manual of how to run the business. None of that is there for a stand alone new business.

Those factors make franchising work. It is a far safer bet for the new business owners to succeed – and make their investment work for them

In addition, the clue is in the attitude of High Street banks. Cutting back on almost all forms of lending is in the news constantly, but some have set up specialist franchise teams to invest in, what they see, as a safer business opportunity”

So if you are one of those facing the push from work, it may just be the push you need to succeed. There are five million self employed Britons working today – and in times of economic slowdown, that tally could rise. Considering all career options – including creating your own career in your own company – is one avenue many will consider more and more.

Background:

The East Midlands Franchise Show 2009 takes place on Saturday June 20th at the Leicester Racecourse Conference Centre, Oadby, 4 miles south of Leicester city centre.

The show is free to attend – no tickets required – and there are specialist career and start your own business seminars taking place throughout which are also free to sit in on.

There are 36 exhibitors with full and part time business opportuntites on offer – a list of whom is available online at www.eastmidlandsfranchiseshow.co.uk.

Redundancy need not mean Redundant – say Franchise Show organisers

As more of us begin to revaluate career options with lingering uncertainty in the workplace, starting up your own business – via a franchise – has long been a route considered by individuals looking to re-invest redundancy pay off.

And most franchising companies will tell you that, although a bolt out of the blue, being made redundant can be the making of you. You could well end up happier, and better off, than someone else’s wage slave.

But are those claims slick sales talk from franchise companies who want you to invest in them? Or is there hard evidence to reassure those who do lose their job that using their pay off to fund a business will “pay off”?

Well the organisers of the East Midlands Franchise Show, arriving at Leicester Racecourse in Oadby on June 20th, claim that 9 out of 10 franchisees report profitable business a couple of years into their licence.

And to reinforce the point, the low level of commercial failure is something that the high street banks have picked up on. In this immediate post credit crunch era, some high street banks have even set up specialist franchise teams keen to invest in what the have judged a “safer bet” – and offer preferential banking terms too

So if the worst happens, why not just set up alone? Why not use the capital you would have to pay the franchise fee and instead launch your own copycat idea?

Marcus Remfry, of franchise show organisers Job Done Marketing, gives as good an explanation as any;

“A good franchise will have a good brand, strong national marketing, good support for the new franchisee and most of all – a ready made, proven manual of how to run the business. None of that is there for a stand alone new business.

Those factors make franchising work. It is a far safer bet for the new business owners to succeed – and make their investment work for them

In addition, the clue is in the attitude of High Street banks. Cutting back on almost all forms of lending is in the news constantly, but some have set up specialist franchise teams to invest in, what they see, as a safer business opportunity”

So if you are one of those facing the push from work, it may just be the push you need to succeed. There are five million self employed Britons working today – and in times of economic slowdown, that tally could rise. Considering all career options – including creating your own career in your own company – is one avenue many will consider more and more.

Background:

The East Midlands Franchise Show 2009 takes place on Saturday June 9th at the Leicester Racecourse Conference Centre, Oadby, 4 miles south of Leicester city centre.

The show is free to attend – no tickets required – and there are specialist career and start your own business seminars taking place throughout which are also free to sit in on.

There are 36 exhibitors with full and part time business opportuntites on offer – a list of whom is available online at www.eastmidlandsfranchiseshow.co.uk.

Marketing seminar at Hothorpe Hall

Free Evening Marketing seminar – Low Cost Marketing Ideas to Weather the Economic Storm

This new seminar gives you practical, low cost ideas on what you can do to keep you existing customers coming back and win more new business – despite the economic storm that is gathering around us.

This event is free to any business owners or people with a marketing function within a company. It is aimed at small businesses with limited marketing budgets who want to make their funds stretch as far as possible – typically employing less than 50 staff.

Date : Tuesday April 28th 2009
Time : 6 for 6.30pm till 8.30pm
Location : Hothorpe Hall, LE17 6QX (near Market Harborough)
Cost : FREE

What will this free marketing seminar cover?

During the seminar I’ll cover 12 of the key main low cost marketing areas to help your business. These ideas cover making the most of existing customers as well as seeking cost effective ways to win new business. Previous slow-downs have shown that companies who cut their advertising lose their share of the market, whilst those who continue to market themselves do far better in the long run BUT only if they undertake the right marketing activity.

Why should I attend?

If you are the owner or manager of a small company, you’ll be only too familiar with these problems -

• Fear of Failure – too many small companies go out of business because they don’t understand how to market themselves. Out of the ones that survive the early years, few rarely go beyond ‘making a living’ for the owners
• Small businesses don’t have big budgets to spend on marketing
• Business owners don’t have enough time to attend lots of courses & seminars
• Lack of ideas and fresh ways to attract customers
• Not enough time to put any existing marketing ideas into place.

This seminar is aimed at companies who want to grow, but don’t know the best way to go about it and have limited marketing budgets to spend.

How will this Marketing Seminar help me?

‘Low Cost Marketing Ideas to Weather the Economic Storm’ will give you lots simple, practical ideas to introduce to your company straight away. You’ll also learn about the Marketing Mentor Programme and how it can give your business:

• Have a clear sense of direction in your business – where it is heading over the next 5 years and how it is going to get there
• Generate enquiries though successful direct mail and e-mail programmes
• Read about the success of your business in the local / trade and national press
• Convert more leads to appointments, and more appointments into sales
• Produce a brochure and leaflets that people read rather than toss in the bin
• Create a website to get noticed by Google, and visited by prospects
• Become the ‘go to’ company within your target markets
• Convert more customers, launch more successful products and keep more customers happy
• Receive more warm leads and find out how to close more sales more easily
• Keep your customers loyal and buying from you again and again
• Increase your profits by creating a simple sales strategy that makes sure even a junior sales person can increase their average order value
• Decrease significantly the chances of losing major contracts and improve the chances of extending the work you do for your best clients
• Make networking work for you and excel at exhibitions
• Have your company and products stand out for the crowd
• Learn how to make your advertising results increase 50 fold
• Ensure your customers stay with you for longer and spend more with you than ever before
• Stay ahead of the competition and maintain the lead in the market place

You will also be told about marketing funding that is currently available from the Government to help with your marketing. If you employ one member of staff or more you are likely to be able to receive this funding for your business.This funding will entitle you to a free place on the Marketing Mentor programme (worth around £3,500) and details will be explained on the night about how to apply and when the next seminar will run.

How do I book a place?

Free places for the marketing seminar are limited, but to check availability please e-mail seminar@idealmarketingcompany.com or call 01858 44 55 43 for more information
You can reserve up to 3 places for yourself and friends / colleagues.

Marketing Seminars Leicestershire

Thank you to Claire from Creative Leicestershire for organising last night’s marketing seminar at Stephenson College. Around 20 companies attended for a talk I did on low cost marketing ideas for smaller business owners. A number of them spoke to me afterwards and I’m pleased to say that all of them appear to have qualified for the Train to Gain grant which will give them a free place on the Marketing Mentor programme. I look forward to seeing them again in a month or so at one of the seminars at Hothorpe Hall.

Find out if you qualify for thr marketing Mentor programme by e-mailing charlie@themarketingmentor.co.uk

There is no catch – the seminar is free and lasts for about 1 and a half hour.  The first 10 people on the night will also be offered the chance to have a free one month trial of the Marketing Mentor programme -again no catch.

The seminar takes place in Leicesteshire and at the moment we have people traveling from London, Watford, Derby, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottinghjam and Northampton to see this new marketing seminar. If you want to claim one of the few remaining places, please have a look at the seminar page of this site for details and then e-mail how many places (up to 3) that you would like to claim.

This marketing seminar on how to market during the difficult times we are facing will give you plenty of practical ideas to take away and use straight away.

Dark times ahead?

It’s been an amazing week but not in a good way for the ecconomy.  Talking to some friends last might we all agreed that that none of us can belive what happened to the economy this week and that 2009 is looking grim for lots of people.  However, all of our companies are doing really well at the moment with a full ‘order book’ and many new enquiries.  The reason?  We all spnd time marketing on a regular basis.  We look to the future, try to find new trends, offer great customer service and are always looking for better ways to find new clients.

These are serious times with even more serious times ahead.  The only way to cope is to have a plan for your business and your marketing. I’d like to think that the Marketing Mentor is going to make a big difference to a lot of companies out there over the coming months.

Marketing Mentor monthly phone session

On Wednesday afternoon I ran the monthly telephone conference session of the Marketing Mentor programme – but this was was different from the norm.  For the first time I co-hosted the call with sombody.  Steve Hawkins from web design company wwwcCagedfish.co.uk joined me.  I have worked with several times in the past and found their company to create some very impressive results.  They also know a huge amount about how to optimise a site for search engines. He has been mentorong me on internet marketing for a while so I thought it would be best if we shared this months session.  Which I’m pleased to say seemed to work really well.

Thanks Steve for all your input.  I’ve already had (less that 24 hours later) feedback on how well it worked for 3 of the people listening in and the results they have achived.

Call 01858 44 55 43 for details of how to obtain a one month free subscriotion to the marketing mentor programme.

Decrease Costs During a Recession