​Reviews and testimonials are valuable and crucial to the success of any small business.
 
Each review acts as a word of mouth referral about your business, and potential customers will actively seek out reviews from previous customers to ensure that they’ll be getting a good product/service.

Did you know that simply having readily available reviews from past customers can build a potential customer’s trust and lead to increased sales?

The key thing to remember is that your reviews should be everywhere, and there’s no limit to how and where you can use customer reviews to market your business.
​
Try these top tips to make the most of your small business reviews: 

Do you have an amazing product/service? Do you want to generate more sales, draw in new customers and encourage past customers to return?

Of course you do! That’s why you need a solid marketing plan!

Marketing plans don’t have to be long, time-consuming or difficult to produce. They should be simple and effective. You can even find free tools online to help create your small business marketing plan.
​
Whilst building your plan, remember these simple marketing tips to help give your small business a boost this year and get you moving in the right direction.

Does your brand need a new lease of life?

Look at some of the big household names; Netflix, Starbucks, Google, Domino’s and Apple as just a few prime examples.
​
At some point in time all of these brands went through a refresh and a logo overhaul that updated their branding, keeping it current. Just remember that changes to branding don’t need to be drastic. Something simple can make all the difference, whilst retaining your identity. 

I know what you’re thinking, “Not another New Year resolutions post!” You’re right, they’re everywhere at the moment. We’re three weeks into 2018 and we’re being hit left, right and centre with New Year resolution suggestions for our personal life, work life, family life etc. It’s a little overwhelming.
​
The thing is - these articles all have a point. The New Year is the perfect time to reassess your business goals and strategies, to reflect on what you learned over the previous year and to implement new ideas that can take your business forward. 

Far too many businesses start blogs for the sake of starting blogs.

Unfortunately, this means the web is awash with ghostly wreckages that were once big content marketing ideas.

Using a blog to reach a wider audience is something every business should do, but this form of content marketing it’s just as adept at speaking to an existing customer base.
 
If you’re unsure, here’s seven ways to communicate with your customers via a blog:

When it comes to LinkedIn, it’s not enough to simply create your profile and then leave it to do its own thing.

Whilst having a fully completed LinkedIn profile is certainly the best place to start, you must do more in order to truly benefit from all that LinkedIn has to offer.

In the past, we’ve discussed the importance of posting regular status updates to your LinkedIn profile and how and why you should be posting articles on LinkedIn.

​Today, we’ll be focusing on LinkedIn groups and how to use them to improve your visibility. 

Instagram is one of fastest growing social media platforms available today. With over 100 million new users in the last 6 months alone, it's hard to believe that some businesses aren't utilising it as part of their social media marketing plan.

We've put together our top 3 reasons why you should use Instagram for your small business:

How much time each day do you spend actually making money? Now how much time do you spend answering emails, posting to social media, writing this weeks' blog post or doing other unpaid admin tasks?

You can save yourself money today by outsourcing one or more of these tasks that take up more time than you think:

Did you know that for quite some time now LinkedIn has given you the ability to publish articles?

The idea behind this move is to encourage as many professionals as possible to share their expertise and ideas with other users.

The launch of this feature has been so popular that LinkedIn has reached over a million posts since it's inception which is why I've put together the following tips to help you grow your audience and generate better leads by becoming a publisher on LinkedIn.

Social Media is imperative for any business hoping to survive in today's digital age but as highlighted in last week's article, "Your online reputation can determine the success or failure of your business and a single negative review or experience can severely damage your reputation."

It's impossible to please everyone and it's quite probable that at some point over the course of your business you will receive at least one negative social media comment or review. 

Our aim with this article is to teach you how to deal with these comments in the best way.