Congratulations to Paul Faix of Fortix for a string of award wins in the last 2 months.  Winner CEBA Small Business of the Year 2010, Winner CEBA Best Service Based Business 2010, Winner CEBA Best Commerce and Industry Business 2010 and Finalist Telstra WA Innovation Award 2010.  Well done Paul, Ann and the team at Fortix.  These awards reflect your true service based mentality at Fortix. 

Crack the Code of Marketing Workshops in May were popular so I will probably run another full day workshop in October.  If "Marketing For The Impatient" and "How to Market Yourself For Free" topics appeal to you, then register your interest with Sherryn on sherryn@marketingtalk.com.au

Congratulations to Karen Kotze, owner of the The Bodhi Tree in Mt Hawthorn. Karen won the WA Telstra Sensis Award for Social Responsibility and it is exciting to see she achieved this soon after her cafe and bookshop turned one. A well deserved winner, and a favourite cafe for me on the corner of Oxford Street and Scarborough Beach Road. Well done Karen!

Have you thought about value adding free resources to your product offerings? Everyone benefits from knowledge and the goodwill it generates is excellent branding for your business. Create some items you can leave behind when you visit clients, add some as tips on your website or blog and others as checklists or FAQs related to your product offering.  A sound marketing strategy, and free resources are often known as white papers.  What could you write about that will promote your business?

Having a great week meeting entrepreneurs. Spoke at Welshpool BEC last night about 10 quick marketing strategies to rev up your business.  This afternoon at the Real Logic training sessions about branding, your database & networking. 

So many interesting people with great businesses in Perth.  

You can generate a lot of publicity from winning an award.  Start with submitting a nomination for your local awards within your region.  Allow yourself plenty of time to write up your award and make sure you have other trusted people to look through your content with a fresh eye.  It needs to show a rounded view of your business, your team, your achievements and how you measure them.  Even going through the process is a chance to verbalise your past and present directions.  It is not out of your reach; 11 out of 12 submissions that I have worked through with clients in the last 18 months have won their divisions.  So give it a go!

Another group of small business owners and tradespeople have learnt how to market themselves for profit and success.

Here is a photo of some of the participants who workshopped the quick fixes to ignite their business and the best FREE marketing tactics they can apply.  Contact Sherryn if you would benefit from marketing/sales industry training at your workplace or to ask her when the next pubic workshops are planned.   

Now 24 more business owners have cracked the code of marketing. Thoroughly enjoyed myself yesterday sharing simple yet effective ways to market yourself on a tight budget, and strategies that will give you instant results. Can't wait to hear how everyone puts it into practise now.

Looking forward to "cracking the code" of marketing next week with 25 more business owners, tradespeople, start up businesses and sales staff. Nailing the DIY short cuts and heaps of ideas to market yourself for free is the order of the day!  Can't wait!

2 days of instant impact marketing ideas were shared with 10 business owners this week in Bunbury.  Businesses included migration, customs, electrical engineering, IT, plant maintenance, business broking, records storage and government agencies. 

We covered niches, branding, target markets, getting 10% more from your website and search engine optimisation, customer mentality, copywriting and ad formats, the acquisition value of networking, managing a sales visit and getting customers to take action, creating a point of difference, database development and finished with being a socially responsible business.  A great group and lots of fun.