Welcome to this issue of Women in Business

This month I had the great opportunity to attend the world’s largest new media and tech conference – an incubator of cutting-edge technologies. Over 10,000 people attended sessions hosted by first-class thinkers in social media, new technologies, new thinking, content strategies.

I also had the chance to meet one of my favourite podcasts hosts, Aliza Sherman – aka – The Digital Marketer who I’ve interviewed for this week’s newsletter. Watch the interview here.

Also in this issue…
Tips for marketing on a small budget
How the MentorNet program’s marketing module was the salvation for one business owner

… and lots more.

Click here to read our current newsletter.

Enjoy this issue. Please let us know your thoughts, and add a comment here.

Meet Marketing’s No-Bull Maven

Hello and welcome to the herBusiness program where we interview inspiring businesswomen and entrepreneurs.

Today’s guest is Sharon Williams, CEO of Taurus Marketing.

Sharon Williams is a pioneer in the Australian agency industry and proof a small business can influence and service the big end of town. Taurus started out of Sharon’s living room in August 1995, just two weeks after the birth of her first daughter. She is celebrating her 15th year of business.

Sharon appears on Kochie’s Business Builders as Channel 7’s marketing and PR expert and is a regular media spokesperson on broadcast media such as SBS and ABC News.

Last year Sharon also became Ninemsn’s leading SME blogger with her weekly blog ‘The Bullseye’.

In this interview we discuss:

• The role of social media in your marketing mix
• Why personal branding is more important today than it has ever been
• We also look at the trends we’re seeing in marketing and some tips and
• Give you some strategies to kickstart your marketing

Enjoy this interview with business woman, Sharon Williams.

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More About Sharon Williams

Sharon Williams – CEO and Founder, Taurus Marketing

Sharon Williams is a pioneer in the Australian agency industry and proof a small business can influence and service the big end of town. As the founder and CEO of Taurus Marketing, this year Taurus is celebrating their 15th year of business. This alone stands as a substantial accomplishment within the marketing and PR industry which was hit hard by the recession last year. Taurus has grown to service industry leaders from ASX listed QBE’s global CEO Frank O’Halloran to make-up King Napoleon Perdis.

Starting out of Sharon’s living room in August 1995, just two weeks after the birth of her first daughter, Taurus has expanded consistently year-on-year since inception, and is now one of Australia’s highest profile, privately owned integrated marketing, creative, and public relations agencies.

Sharon was instrumental in helping the KAZ Group go from media obscurity in 1995 to one of Australia’s highest profile and largest information communications technology companies. Last year, Sharon’s vision and expertise saw Taurus launch its new trademarked personal branding service TaurusProfile™ a product that builds the personal profile of CEO’s, business leaders, politicians and celebrities in order to serve business growth.

In 2009, Taurus was engaged to manage the PR and assist the social media strategies for the Bible Society’s Jesus.All about Life campaign. For the first time in the history of the Christian Church in Australia, the campaign utilized modern and traditional media through online, print, outdoor, radio, press and TV advertising to take its message to the community. The Taurus team were delighted to take this ground breaking campaign on board and the results suggested this with over 500 pieces of media coverage gained attracting over $2million worth of media exposure.

Sharon is a highly experienced and entertaining public speaker and trainer on marketing, PR, social media and business issues. Frequently speaking overseas and in Australia her presentations have won praise at conferences, expos and in-house workshops. Sharon has also been the resident marketing expert on Channel 7’s Kochie’s Business Builders, is a regular media spokesperson on broadcast media such as SBS and ABC News. Last year Sharon also became Ninemsn’s leading SME blogger with her weekly blog ‘The Bullseye’.

More recently, Sharon was invited to join both the NSW Council for the Australian British Chamber of Commerce and is also on the American Chamber of Commerce Women in Management committee.

A true testament to Sharon’s belief in a healthy work life balance Sharon is a devoted mother who lives in Sydney with her family and three children. Her love of the beach and swimming gained her an Australian Surf Life Saving Association bronze medallion and on Sunday’s you might catch her patrolling one of Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Website: www.taurusmarketing.com.au
Phone: 02 9415 4528
Blog: The Taurus Marketing Blog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/TaurusMarketing
Member Directory Profile: See Sharon Williams’ profile

What change have you made to your marketing strategy in the last three months that made the biggest difference to your results?

We asked our community this question for the current issue of our Women in Business eNewsletter. A compilation of these answers was published for our community of women across Australia to learn from. Click here to read our current newsletter, and click here to read the answers we received.

Please let us know your thoughts, and add a comment here.

What Role Does a Business Plan Play in Determining Your Day to Day Business Activities?

We asked our community this question for the current issue of our Women in Business eNewsletter. A compilation of these answers was published for our community of women across Australia to learn from. Click here to read our current newsletter, and click here to read the answers we received.

Please let us know your thoughts, and add a comment here.

How does your work/business help you fulfil your vision for your life and lifestyle?

We asked our community this question for the current issue of our Women in Business eNewsletter. A compilation of these answers was published for our community of women across Australia to learn from. Click here to read our current newsletter, and click here to read the answers we received.

Please let us know your thoughts, and add a comment here.

What would make your website more effective?

In the May edition of our Women in Business eNewsletter we asked members what the biggest frustrations were about website effectiveness.

In a short survey participants said:

• 25% – Traffic and getting enough targeted visitors
• 37.5% – Conversion
• 0% – Navigation/Structure
• 37.5% – Cost/time to make updates

(Participants could choose more than one option.)

You can read the responses here.

Do you have tools and resources you can suggest to make website management and effectiveness easier for small business? Then please add them here in our blog as comments.