Maria Anderson – Best Small Business
October 31, 2011
Member Maria Anderson and her company, Sustainable Marketing, have been named a finalist for The Commonwealth Bank 2011 Business Achievement Awards in the following categories:
- Best Small Business
- Professional Services including Property
- Business Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Environmental Sustainability in Business
Maria says that she is very excited as they are finalists in all categories that they applied for! Good luck to Maria and the Sustainable Marketing team!
Maria Anderson is a contributor of our new 21 Easy Ways to Market your Business Online eBook. Download for free from the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.
Eleni Mitakos in Woman’s Day and Women’s Weekly Magazines
October 31, 2011
Australian Businesswomen’s Network Member Eleni Mitakos of Galmatic has recently been featured in both Woman’s Day and Women’s Weekly.
Click article to read full size.
Suzi Dafnis shares how Steve Jobs inspired her in Smarter Business Ideas
October 31, 2011
Australian Businesswomen’s Network Community Director Suzi Dafnis shares how Steve Jobs inspired her in a recent article on the Smarter Business Ideas website.
Says Suzi: Steve Jobs has been, and will remain, an inspiration to me.
Other inspiring entrepreneurs include Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of Google, Dame Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, Jake Nickell, founder of Threadless, Sean Greenley, Olympic champion and Sir Richard Branson.
Read the full article on Smarter Business Ideas.
Kristy-Lee Johnston named finalist in NSW Business Chamber Annual Awards
October 31, 2011
Member Kristy-Lee Johnston of Footprint Recruitment has been named a finalist in the 2011 NSW Business Chamber Awards!
NSW Business Chamber annually celebrates the vision, leadership and commitment of its members through the Annual Awards.
The Excellence in Small Business Growth Award recognises a company that has attained significant growth and is able to demonstrate the specific strategies and processes implemented to achieve profitable and sustainable growth in the financial year to 30 June 2011.
We congratulate Kristy-Lee and wish her well for the announcements on 18 Novbmer at the Sydney Town Hall.
Article by Kate Tribe in Dynamic Business Magazine
October 31, 2011
Australian Businesswomen’s Network Member and Owner of Tribe Research, Kate Tribe is featured in the October 2011 issue of Dynamic Business Magazine. She writes an article entitled, The Old Fashioned Things that Make a Big Difference. Kate discusses five things that you can do to help stand out and stay front of mind in your customers’ minds:
- Identify a core market and a unique way for them to remember you
- Slightly change marketing that can be lost in a seasonal flood
- Think laterally about your brand messages and fun ways to communicate them
- Word of mouth isn’t just through your customers
- Supporting businesses that are in your market
Kate Tribe says:
New technology and social media are great but maintaining some old fashioned thoughtful gestures can make a real difference to the way customers view your business and its brand.
Kate Tribe has also been featured in a recent new.com.au article, Business slow on the uptake of mobile web and in Smarter Business Ideas on how to network like a pro.
What will the SME of the Future look like?
October 31, 2011
Suzi Dafnis shares her thoughts on the SME of the Future in the 200th Issue Special of Dynamic Business, September 2011.
Bring on the new age! The SME is in a great position right now. Niches abound and it’s easier than ever to start and grow a business, even while still employed.
Also featured in Kate Conroy, AdWords Product Specialist for Google Australia and NZ and guest speaker in our upcoming Google AdWords for Small Business webinar on 16 November. Register for the free webinar here.
Doing the ‘Right’ Marketing Research
October 31, 2011
Ellen Baron and Kristin Hickey, the managing partners of the market research company Ruby Cha Cha discuss the importance of partnerships. The multi-award winning team at uses innovative market research to provide insights and create business stories that allow their clients to solve marketing challenges.
In Part 2 of this interview, we learn:
- the role that research should play in a company’s strategy
- the biggest mistakes people make when doing their own market research
- the types of business issues that good market research can help illuminate
Watch this interview on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.
Watch Part one of the Interview here.
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About the In Her Shoes seriesIn Her Shoes is a regular video series presented by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and BNet.com.au. Each interview features an inspiring businesswoman and her strategies for success. New episodes are released regularly. Become a Community Member for regular updates. StartUp and Growth Members get updates automatically. Become a Community Member with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. |
Video Interview with Catherine Fox of AFR Boss
October 29, 2011
Catherine Fox is the Deputy Editor of Australian Financial Review’s BOSS magazine and writes a weekly column, ‘Corporate Woman’ for the newspaper. She joined the AFR in 1989 and has held a variety of positions, including marketing and Smart Money editor.
In this Part Two of this interview, Catherine explores and busts the last 4 Career Myths:
- If women just behaved more like men at work and stopped being so emotional they would succeed.
- Programs and targets for women in the workplace are unnecessary and unfair
- Women are scarce at the top because there’s not enough of them in the pipeline
- Time will heal all
Watch Part Two of Catherine’s Interview Here:
Watch this interview on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.
Watch Part 1 of the Interview here.
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About the In Her Shoes seriesIn Her Shoes is a regular video series presented by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and BNet.com.au. Each interview features an inspiring businesswoman and her strategies for success. New episodes are released regularly. Become a Community Member for regular updates. StartUp and Growth Members get updates automatically. Become a Community Member with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. |
Are you making champagne promises – and delivering beer?
October 28, 2011
By Vivienne Kane, Minuteman Press Prahran
During a recent day long business event, I lunched at a local café with a group of fellow attendees. We chose this café from several less likely looking contenders; it was brightly signposted and touted itself as an organic, vegetarian, healthy-eating venue.
The menu read well and we ordered enthusiastically, visualising plates brimming with fresh, vibrant and tasty food.
Imagine my disappointment when I was delivered a pallid Turkish roll with minimal filling and even less taste – accompanied by a cup of watery coffee. My fellow diners were similarly underwhelmed.
The gap between expectation and reality was huge.
What picture are you painting for your prospects – and do you deliver as much or more? Does your product do everything you promise in both your marketing materials and at point of sale? If you’re a service provider, are you clearly communicating exactly what you will supply – and ensuring that you do? That may involve a service contract and/or performance guarantee – or at the very least an information document that specifies what you will do, when it will happen, and how much it will cost.
To make a decision about their purchase, customers want:
- An agreed output (or product)
- No surprises
- Value for money
If the customer isn’t happy with any of the details you present, the time to discuss is at the start, not after you’ve delivered. The outcome should benefit both of you – and hopefully exceed their expectations so they come back for more – and recommend you to their friends.
Rubbery promises (or rubbery pricing) are risky business. Do you need to tighten up?
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY VIVENNE KANE
- Are You Creating Cranky Customers?
- The Customer is Always Right – Even When They’re Wrong
- How to Teach your Customers to Come Back
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Vivienne Kane – Minuteman Press PrahranAs the owner and operations manager of Minuteman Press Prahran, a franchise print supplier, Vivienne works with small business customers every day. She runs the business, and their online specialty division CalendarPrint, with her husband Nicholas and their talented staff. With a customer base which often has little experience in buying print, Minuteman Prahran’s point of difference is making the process as painless as possible. Vivienne is a strong advocate of clear and reliable communication as a key tool in winning and keeping customers. She started her professional life as a Speech Pathologist, and enjoyed a variety of roles in administration and community groups before establishing Minuteman Press in 2000. She has three Gen-Y adult children, is an almost an empty nester, loves travel and is a member of two book clubs.
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ProBlogger Training Day – Top tips to improve the performance of your blog
October 27, 2011
By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
Last Friday, Australian Businesswomen’s Network members and bloggers Yvette Vignando, Vivienne Kane, Alycia Edgar and Johanna Baker-Dowdell and I (along with over 300 others) attend the ProBlogger Training Day in Melbourne. The one-day event was been created for bloggers of all levels to come together to learn and network – with the goal of building better blogs.
We decided to put together our top take-aways from the day – ideas that resonated with us and that we think you will find valuable.
“Create a profile of who your ideal readers would be.”
Attending blogging conferences is always enriching for me especially because of the variety of people I meet there with interesting niches and fascinating blogs. But the ProBlogger conference had an extra edge for me because some of the speakers were also at the top of their game when it comes to blogging and monetisation of a blog.
Reflecting on the messages and information that would be especially relevant to the general blogging community, these are the ones that stood out for me:
- Be careful to value your blog and its niche when dealing with requests for PR. Phoebe Montague (aka Lady Melbourne) stressed that it is not usually a good idea to use your blog to work for free or very little. So for example, instead of reviewing a product worth $50 in return for keeping the product, consider charging a fee (perhaps double that) for the review – the income pays you for your work.
- It’s not always possible to write with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in mind, but make sure you write on your main topics regularly to keep your Blog optimised. (And by the way, although we don’t use WordPress for the happychild.com.au blog, we were told that there is an Editorial Calendar plugin for WordPress that could be useful.
- Create a profile of who your ideal readers would be and then use it to create posts that are relevant to them.
- “Branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” Try to understand what your blog’s brand is and make sure that this clarity is reflected in what you write.
— Yvette Vignando, happychild.com.au
“Motivate your readers to come back.”
The most important points for me from the morning sessions were:
- Don’t assume your reader is you – it’s probably a much broader audience than that.
- When you write, write as though you are speaking to one person – make it personal.
- Your “voice” and content should differentiate you – be authentic.
- Motivate your readers to come back – ask questions and be a problem solver.
— Vivienne Kane, Minuteman Press Prahran
“Nothing is more important then being yourself”
When trying to attract readers, nothing is more important then being yourself, including sharing personal insights, anecdotes and your own photos. Productivity can be an issue if you’re blogging as well as working, so write posts in batches and use comments and questions to help source new topics.
When putting together a strategy for blog content, brainstorm ideas and then ask readers which topics appeal to them.
— Johanna Baker-Dowdell, Strawberry Communications
“There is a fine line between giving away too much and devaluing your paid products and services.”
A comment by special guest Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week: “a lot of teaching fails from too much information, not too little,” rounded up my learnings at the ProBlogger event.
Sonia Simone of Copyblogger, in an earlier session, had spoken extensively about tribes and the know, like and trust factor with some great information, but the message I truly received from this uber-intelligent person was this:
If you start to develop a tribe, people will pay to be a member, for access (without trolls). People will also pay for exclusive access to you, advanced training and Q&A sessions are like gold.
In other words, while freemium is a great model from a marketing perspective, there is a fine line between giving away too much and devaluing your paid products and services.
Sonia summed it up beautifully (IMHO) — “How can you become their latte so they can’t live without it?”
Put the really juicy stuff behind the paid wall, value those that are paying money for access, but still provide great free content as a marketing tool.
— Alycia Edgar, Coastal Accounting Services
And me…
“Always make it clear what you want people to do.”
- Put more YOU on your blog and in your posts.
- To create trust – show up, pay attention, don’t lie.
- Don’t dilute the sales funnel with distractions. Focus the message.
- Sometimes selling does not involve money – often you’re selling a concept.
- Your readers cannot find your old content – so repackage content to make it more readily available.
- Always make it clear what you want people to do.
— Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
I really enjoyed the day.
The speakers were first class (I’d recommend you put the next one in your schedule if you want to be a better blogger or just create better content for your social media and your website).
You can read more about the Problogger Training Day here.
And I also recommend you subscribe to Darren Rowse’s Problogger blog here.
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