up-to-date

Up-to-date details

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Everything seems to change faster these days, although in reality fashion has always been fickle. Nevertheless, when you publish business information with technical details, prices, dates or statistics, these seem to need updating almost as soon as you look away.

At least with web sites you can often alter details fast. Details to review regularly could include:

  • range of products – have some been withdrawn or are new ones available? Have specifications changed?
  • prices – have these gone up or down and what about the rate of VAT applicable?
  • dates – do adverts for events now passed need deleting or archiving?
  • special offers – are these still applicable or should details be removed?
  • copyright notices, terms and conditions – are these up to date?
  • employee names and titles – are these current? Has anyone left or joined who needs to be deleted/added?

While it is usually easy to amend web sites, printed material can cause more of a problem. If you produce a large annual brochure, it could be expensive to reprint and distribute an amended version just two months after launching the original. Such publications need careful planning to consider the options of a separate, smaller price list that can be reprinted at minimal cost without reproducing the whole brochure.

What is most important is to have up-to-date information available at all times and to show that you review and amend your material regularly. Changes to information also present opportunities to communicate with potential and existing customers to tell them about new products, events or special offers. By letting people know you have updated your web site you can attract more visitors to it and generate more sales.

After our last blog, are you focusing on what you can actually do now to develop your communications?

z2zine tomorrow: Choosing communications providers

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Marketing in a cold climate

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Although we seem to be surrounded by bad economic news, life has to go on. With reports of job cuts, marketing and advertising cuts, and sales slowing down, it’s easy to panic.

It is wise to control expenditure, but at the same time businesses have to continue marketing and selling if they are to survive, let alone thrive.

There is so much that any business can do. Much of it is common sense and costs little:

• Keep your web site and marketing material up-to-date.

• Identify products and services that are more likely to be required by customers: what do you provide that they cannot do without?

• Focus on any of these areas that are most profitable to you.

• Package products and services so that they are more attractive in a difficult market.

• Keep in contact with existing customers to retain them and/or increase your sales.

• Explore other ways of applying your products, services and expertise. It could be just a case of adding new pages to your web site, a public relations campaign or approaching customers in different sectors.

Whatever happens, your business needs to remain visible and able to reach any customers looking to purchase.

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