Date: June 2011

I don't know if there has been a full moon or what, but positivity has gone out the door. Looking at a glass half empty rather than half full, seems to be the flavour of the week. Is it because everyone is so frantically working hard for end of financial year? Getting figures in, reports done and clients to bed?

It's hard to shake it when a negative spiral heads your way, but if you identify it early, it can mean the difference between whether you smile today or not. And we all know how good it is to smile.

A few months back, a beauty products company, Botani, approached Marketing Eye to do their marketing over the next 12 months.

When it comes to beauty products, there seems to be a lot out there in the market. I lived in a building where Michael and Lindy Klim lived for a quite a few years, and they brought out Milk beauty products for men and babies. I know a few others who have done the same.

What pb Human Capital said about Marketing Eye's development of their company website:

"We first heard about Marketing Eye some years ago, and were consistently impressed by the quality of Mellissah's blogs, her marketing & design ideas and forever upbeat attitude. When we wanted a new and updated website, we made sure we spoke to her. To be honest though, we still did our due diligence and met with three firms before making our decision.

Mellissah is exactly the same in person as her social persona. She's great! She blew us away with her ideas for our website which fit neatly into our social networking strategy, our ideal brand image, and the look and feel of the company as we really are. When you couple that with the price (which was amazing, but not our only criterion), we simply had to use Marketing Eye.

The process was seamless, we had an incredibly fast turnaround, and the result was everything we'd hoped for. We're stunned. The website is excellent. It's exactly what we had conceptualised. I would absolutely recommend Marketing Eye to any business - small or large - that needed an expert look at their design and marketing strategy."

With only days until the end of the financial year, in most companies, there is a sense of need to get more sales in to improve the yearly results.

If you are struggling to find ways in which to bring in 'last minute' sales and want a refresh - try some of these helpful tips.

1. Ring your entire client base and see what other services you can give them in this financial year so that they can achieve their business objectives.

Let's get straight to the point. There are many challenges that small businesses face when it comes to marketing - and much of it is internal.

Small businesses:

1. Argue, challenge and brainstorm in June and December each year about what they are going to do for marketing in the year ahead. . . and end up doing nothing.

Whether you are a big business or a small business, "none of us is as smart as all of us" (ref: Kenneth Blanchard, The One Minute Manager).

Truth be known, I don't think I am very smart at all, but collectively with the talents of my team at Marketing Eye, we help small businesses grow and most of our work is pretty awesome (if you ask me!).

Creating the perfect culture is impossible if everyone is not on the same page. I always look at big banking firms investment banking arms and admire how hard everyone works, they get paid well, and at the end of the day or deal, they all go for a drink together. It's a culture to admire in many ways. Maybe not the unhealthiness of long hours, stress and then washing it away with alcohol, but more so the fact that they work as a team to achieve a result and then at the end of the day, can go out and enjoy themselves.

It's Sunday, and like most Australians, I am enjoying the day, relaxing, reading the papers and eating with friends and family.

Reading The Sunday Age is always a treat, especially when I get through the paper, start to finish. It is full of interesting stories on people, places and world affairs.

For some light reading, I often pick up the Sunday Life Magazine, and flick through. Having Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover helps, as I am a BIG fan of her acting, singing and sense of style.

Not knowing if your marketing investment is working for you is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to building your business. Each year, millions of businesses put away funds for investment in marketing services. Many don't know whether their investment is working or not. Marketing Eye provides companies with a marketing manager who helps identify your target audience and develop campaigns to generate leads and create sales results.

30 DAY OFFER     Build it and they will come.       Marketing Eye builds websites that are on-brand, engaging, response driven, simple to navigate and that bring your brand to life in the minds of your customers. Created in a hassle-free environment, we drive our clients to better understand what makes their customers tick and importantly, buy. Not only are our websites award winning, they are only.       $3,990       Offer valid before June 30 2011. >> Read More

At Cebit this week, you can imagine my horror when I saw this well-meaning company, invest in a poorly designed banner and booth. What do you think of this banner?

Cebit was a clear example of how to waste alot of money investing in having a booth at a tradeshow and half putting it together. Here you have an opportunity to showcase your brand and value proposition to companies that will potentially be your customers. So throwing together a couple of banners is not a good idea if you want people to trust your brand and think that your company is professional and someone that they should do business with.

What's your thoughts?

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