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We’d like to take this opportunity to announce that we’re working with Kirsteen MacGregor and Hidden Heart, she specialises in upcycling furniture taking abandoned pieces and giving them new and amazing life, such as this Jewellery Box

Which amazing and gorgeous, click through to see it in all its fantastic detail and loveliness (okay I admit I’m totally taken with this piece, I love snowscapes and the tiny footprints leading to the door I adore. In one painted box it pretty much tells the entire story of Red Riding Hood).

Kirsteen has everything sorted with her wonderful designs and we’re sure she’ll be a success no matter what, but what we’re doing is helping out with her website, and helping out with her social marketing, just lending a hand and offering our advise and experience.

So, please check out Hidden Heart and find the full array of her work on her website (www.hiddenheart.co.uk),  Facebook and Twitter.

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There are several books and online articles out there that compare the management styles and strategising techniques (amongst other, more obscure, traits) of various fictional characters and apply them to real-life scenarios.  Some franchises do a roaring trade in self-help style comparisons, take Star Trek for example.  Many a blog and book have been written on the merits of Kirk’s characteristics or how to follow Picard’s methods for conflict resolution, each containing advice that you can genuinely use in your own business.  Having already pondered and concluded on which incarnation of the Enterprise I’d like to live on, I started to think about other franchises and fictional characters that would make good start-up business partners.  That got me wondering how many of you would pick the same ones.  So, here are five shouts for fictional characters that would have something to offer a start-up company.  Let us know who you’d pick or who your own ultimate start-up partner would be in the comments!

 

1. Samwise Gamgee

Don’t make the mistake of thinking this one only works if you’re opening a garden centre, there’s a lot to be said for loyalty and compassion in the often cut-throat world of business.  Unwaveringly seeing a goal through to the end, no beef with uphill struggles, resistant to the pull of evil distractions…is Samwise your ideal new business partner?

2. Daenerys Targaryen

Perfect credentials for a start-up partner because, well, she’s started from scratch a few times.  Daenerys knows how to corral entire armies so the work force of a small or new business would be like water off a dragon’s back to her.  She’s not afraid to make difficult choices and shows outstanding resolve when times are tough…does she have what you’d want in a business partner?

3. Batman

Not much of a team player but he’s got plenty of capital and some truly ingenious inventions.  He’s certainly a charitable enough fellow and never afraid to stand up for what’s right, with a strong moral compass that will keep your company heading in the right direction, Batman could be a great choice for partner, plus you can car pool to the office in the Batmobile…

4. Han Solo

Every business needs a scoundrel, someone to push the boundaries and take your start-up to the next level, a risk taker, someone who always has a few cheeky manoeuvres up their sleeve, someone with influential friends and of course he’d probably bring Chewy down to the office every once in a while…

5. Lisa Simpson

There’s a lot of goodwill attached to that name.  Someone who is happy to do their homework could be extremely useful for a start-up, all that research would be taken care of and she’d probably nag you to keep on top of your own tasks too.  She could create a sense of calm and well-being by busting out some funky sax music while you enjoy what would likely be a very healthy vegetarian packed lunch.

Some of you may be aware of the Boaty McBoatFace story that has been apppearing in the press in recent weeks. The basics of the story are that the UK Government is launching a new science ship to operate in the Antarctic ocean, and they had an online poll to decide what the ship should be named.

Now their first mistake wasn’t to choose a list of names, and get the public to vote for their favourite, it was to allow the general public to choose their own name suggestions. This led to the suggesting of the name “Boaty McBoatface” as the name for this science vessel, a name which hooked into the public consciousness and led to it getting four times the votes of any other suggestion, and becoming a popular meme, with buses in Glasgow having “Bussy McBusFace” on their boards when not in use, trains in Newcastle’s Metro system having the similar Trainy McTrainFace on them, and many others.

Now after winning the public vote, did the academics and bureaucrats in charge of this poll let the public decision stand? Of course they didn’t, and while there were some fairly reasonable reasons for not going with that name, I personally think they missed a massive opportunity, wasted public goodwill, and wasted a wonderful public relations opportunity.

So, imagine for a moment, the world where they launch the UK science vessel, Boaty McBoatFace, imagine the school outings to see it launched, imagine painting a big cartoon smiling face on the front of the ship. The toy opportunities, the interest you’d get from young kids in science when it’s fronted by a large smiling ship. The joy from people as it returns to port, taking the family to see the silly named, but joyful Boaty McBoatFace. Hell, you could even do a merchandising deal with MacDonalds to get toy ships in Happy Meals, which might not be good for the health of the nation, but better to get some of that money going to – and promoting science rather than to promoting the latest animated movie.

With good planning this could have been a coup, getting and keeping exposure far beyond that a science ship would normally get. And the public would have remained engaged and have formed a connection with the ship they named. Whereas now, the ship has been given a different name, and it will forever be the ship that the public never got their will to name Boaty McBoatFace.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the ship has been named the Sir David Attenborough (the favoured name of the man who actually suggested Boaty McBoatFace), a fine name for a science ship and a fine thank you to a man who has brought natural science to the masses for many decades, and if they’d just made it one of many options, instead of letting the public suggest their own, I’m sure it would have won, I’m sure that a public wave of support could have rallied behind that name, and the beloved celebrity the ship has now been named after.

Their reason for discarding Boaty McBoatFace has been stated as, the ship will be operating in dangerous seas, and reporting any bad news related to Boaty McBoatFace would disrespect those serving aboard and risking their lives in the name of science. While perhaps a consideration, in my mind, reporting that 3 sailors were injured aboard Boaty McBoatFace in an accident, or 3 sailors were injured aboard Sir David Attenborough in an accident, doesn’t improve the situation greatly.

What can we learn from this . . . Firstly, never underestimate the silliness of the general public and how they love to bring a little chaos and disorder to public institutions. Secondly, never discard something just because you think it doesn’t provide enough gravitas, or take your idea seriously, maybe, just maybe, that sense of fun might add a whole new level to your endeavour. Thirdly, if you don’t want silly suggestions, sometimes the only way to avoid them is to not give people the choice of giving them at all. Fourthly, if someone suggests something and everyone else says it’s good, perhaps it really is good and you should be flexible enough to accept that your ideas aren’t always the best.

This of course is only my opinion, please feel free to comment below and let me know whether you think I’m right, or wronger than a very wrong thing.

Thank you for reading.

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When selling a product or service it’s important that your branding and design say the right thing about your business.  Sometimes you will have to say a lot with very little space.  This got me thinking about the how difficult this can be in industries like alcohol where ads are restricted and the market is so competitive.  Wine labels, for example, are small and have to provide certain information, while showing the consumer why they are unique.

I regularly succumb to the manipulative powers of strong branding and choose a wine based on the label.  However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, when the image or style of the product is effectively conveyed in the packaging it can help consumers to make choices.

Continue reading “A Small Space For Branding Is Nothing To “Wine” About”

1. Be sure you are connecting with the right people

There are many social media platforms out there for your start-up to use.  Before you venture into social media you need to know your target demographic.  Create a table of the people and businesses you want to target and split them into categories based on age, interests, business type, etc.  Then do some online research to find out which social media channel each group prefers, this way you won’t waste time or resources on the wrong platform.

2. Don’t spread yourself too thin

Once you know which platforms are best for you, focus on one to begin with.  Once it’s up and running and you’re happy with it you can start to add the other platforms as appropriate.

3. Keep social media social

Whenever you receive a share or follow make sure you publicly acknowledge it.  They’re showing an interest in what you do and helping your business grow so it’s nice to be able to thank them in whatever small way you can.  Shares, likes and follows are a great way of doing this.

4. Connect your content

Once you’re comfortable you can start to build on your social presence by using other social media platforms, so these should be linked.  For example if you write a blog make sure it’s linked to, and shared on, your other social media outlets.  Don’t forget to remind them at the bottom of the blog where they can find you on other platforms.  It is also a good idea to link your social media through a website to keep your ranking high, and also avoid being lost if the algorithms change on one of your chosen social spaces.

5. Keep a cool head

We’ve seen businesses ruin their reputations overnight by getting caught up in arguments on social media or responding aggressively to trolls.  It’s rarely worth letting it get to you and it’s never worth publicly losing your head over it.

 

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So, you’ve set up a business, you’re making hats, or making beer, or selling on your knowledge and experience, you know about the internet, but how does it relate to you. Why do you need a website, why should you pay out for this perhaps superfluous service, and why would you pay someone to do this for you.

Well today we’ll concentrate on the first of these.

Google,

Google is hugely massively successful and becoming integrated into part of almost everyone’s lives. How do you find out about almost anything these days? You Google it! So getting your name out there is essential, whether you’re selling worldwide, or just selling locally. When people are searching for the needs they’ve got you can fulfil, you want to be there to be the answer to their question. So if you’re a pizza restaurant, and someone is asking where they can get pizza, you want to be there online, saying come here, this is what I can do for you.

Branding,

While you could rely upon social media to communicate with your customers, having your own website is the ideal way of getting your brand out there. A place to group together all of your products and services, and organise and present them in the best possible way. Creating the one stop shop for all a customers needs to deal with you, from customer service, questions, online shop and product information.

Communication,

Don’t get us wrong, Social Media like Facebook and Twitter are incredible tools for communicating with your customers, the best way is to have your own website. This gives you full control, but also allows you to create a non-time related way of communicating, putting important information always in a prominent place rather than letting it get lost in the history of more recent postings as can happen on the social networks.

Competition,

You can bet your competition are out there, even if you’re the first in your town with your product, if people can’t locate you, then there are others further afield who can be easily located and are more than happy to snap up customers for themselves.

Increase Revenue,

This is the biggie, and I should probably have led with this instead of burying it back here, but if the others haven’t swung you over, then this one should. According to the Small Business Association, small businesses that have websites average around 40% higher revenue than  competitors who do not have websites. That’s an extra 40% of business you could be doing, an extra 40% money in your pocket, an extra 40% that if you don’t take, your competitors will.

If you’re interested in getting in touch about getting a new website, or redesigning/refreshing an old one, then our contact information can be found here.

 

I was having a conversation with a client today, and I found myself reciting the above phrase, an old one from the dawn of web development and design which still holds true to this day.

Content is King is the number one rule of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and is the cornerstone of building any successful website. What it means is that putting useful, interesting and unique content onto your website beats any other technique for driving traffic to your website.

While the algorithms which power Google can be fooled by various techniques and tricks, these fixes will only ever be temporary, What Google is designed to do, and what it has a moderately sized army of engineers making it do, is to find relevant content which matches any search entered into it. So to get to the top of the search rankings, all you need to do, is have relevant content on your website.

And in the long term, the tricks and techniques used to fool Google and bring sites without their own relevant content to the tops of the searches will work against those sites, because as soon as the Google Engineer Army discovers one of these techniques is getting used, they add filters to the Google Algorithms which lower the ranking of these sites. Meaning that anyone using these techniques is fighting a constant war to keep their unwarranted ranking on the search engines. Whereas anyone with a warranted ranking has nothing to worry about, and as more people recognise them as a source of good content, their ranking will only get higher and higher, as the Google rankings take this into account.

For every business one of their key assets is the staff that they employ.  It’s important to know your team, their strengths, and weaknesses, and how you work best together.  Letting people’s strengths flourish while making sure their weaknesses won’t hold them back is just all round good for business.  The right personality in the right position can make a huge contribution to your success.  Sometimes we can mistake a missed opportunity for a failing in a team member, poor performance as a result of laziness or incompetence, when potentially that individual could perform much better if they had a more suited role.  There many surveys and questionnaires designed to help employers assess their staff and measure how that affects their business.

At Scruffy Dug we have all taken the Myers Briggs test, which determines personality types and offers insight into how each type works (there are many sites where you can take the test for free, we used www.16personalitytypes.com ).  From how different personalities approach certain tasks to what type of activity they are likely to excel in to how they are likely to interact, the results cover a wide range of areas, personal and professional – often with unnerving accuracy.  Although there were a few points in each of our results that didn’t quit hit the mark, and many points that weren’t anything we didn’t already know…or at least suspect, the test was nonetheless useful.  In many cases it confirmed what we already knew about the areas we perform best in, and sometimes it’s just nice to know you’re on the right track.  It also allowed us to get a glimpse inside each other’s heads, helping us establish how to interact with each other effectively.

Although I wouldn’t advise basing all personnel decisions on a survey it’s always a worthwhile exercise. It’s good to take a step back and look at the skills you have available, it gives you a basis for structuring your business and it’s a good jumping off point for getting the most from your team.  It can also be a fun exercise and a good ice-breaker when team building or performing quarterly reviews.

With the results being just as candid on negative as they are on positive character traits there’s always the chance of a chuckle…and possibly the odd awkward moment if a colleague claims, “what? I’m nothing like that!”

It’s taken as read that everyone has confidence in their new product or service when starting up; it’s a given that you’ll need to be confident whenever you meet someone and tell them about your business.  What often comes as a bit more of a surprise though is finding that you need confidence on your social media platforms and that it can sometimes feel, well, a little unnatural and alien.  First of all managing your online business presence can be an altogether different ball game from running personal social media accounts. The responsibility of getting a message across clearly, creating the right impression and showing the personality of a business can make us retreat into our shells.  As a generally outgoing person and regular twitter user I was surprised to find myself struck by bouts of shyness when it came to putting our business out there.  But effective social media can be pivotal to a new business so you can’t fall into this trap.  You need to feel at ease in order to come out of your shell.

First of all remind yourself why social media platforms are so pivotal.  When networking and social media are used effectively, you are utilising free sources of promotion.  In a previous blog post we pointed out how one tweet can ruin a business and in turn one good tweet can make a business but what’s more likely is that 100 good tweets or Facebook posts will be able to create a continued success.  What a business starting out needs to know is how to use those platforms correctly.

To effectively communicate in social media environments it’s important to be relaxed.  These are spaces to open up conversations about your business, so engage with people.  It’s important to do this in the right way, keep the tone friendly and informal and don’t be afraid to show off the personalities that make your business unique.  You don’t want to have to explain your company over and over, so have a clear profile.  It’s also important to work ahead of time to be able to put across what your business is succinctly so that you are free to engage enthusiastically without bogging yourself down in long-winded speeches.

We will go on to look at customer service in more detail in future posts, but in social media you have a direct, frontline platform to show your customer service skills.  Look at how other people use the platform and mimic the style.  You can and should be conversational in spaces like Facebook, but your company’s Likedin profile would seem strange if full of emojis.  Work with the limitations you’re presented with too, not against them.  Twitter restricts you to 120 characters, which breeds a temptation to link to external sources.  This is fine, but use links sparingly.  Instead find a way to make your message more concise.  They’ve just given you a chance to work on a great elevator pitch and make your message clearer.

Social Media provides a great place for you to build confidence in talking about your business.  It helps you with your customer service, networking and building business communities, which we will talk about at a later date.  Don’t hide from your customer base, let them get to know you. Shed the shell and get out there.