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	<title>Simon Says Marketing &#187; Business</title>
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	<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com</link>
	<description>The Marketing Blog for Simon Says Media</description>
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		<title>Testimonials &#8211; The Best Free Advertising For Your Company</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/06/testimonials-the-best-free-advertising-for-your-company/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/06/testimonials-the-best-free-advertising-for-your-company/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:32:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Free Advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eastcote Signs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free advertizing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[testimonial strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Testimonials]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=447</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Testimonials are a wonderful thing. They let you have real people tell prospective customers how great you are. You are able to attach your credibility and reputation to that of your happy customer. In many ways they help sell your product or service better than anything you could do yourself.
Untapped Goldmine
Many companies have delighted customers [...]]]></description>
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<p>Testimonials are a wonderful thing. They let you have real people tell prospective customers how great you are. You are able to attach your credibility and reputation to that of your happy customer. In many ways they help sell your product or service better than anything you could do yourself.</p>
<h3>Untapped Goldmine</h3>
<p>Many companies have delighted customers who would be more than happy to write a testimonial. This is something I&#8217;ve personally experienced over the last couple of days. Having spoken to <a href="http://twitter.com/pappatron" target="_blank">Michael Cotton</a> at <a href="http://www.eastcotesigns.com" target="_blank">Eastcote Sign and Display</a> and his customers, I realised that there was an untapped goldmine out there for his company. His customers keep coming back for a reason &#8211; they&#8217;re a great company to work with.</p>
<h3>Quick and Easy</h3>
<p>Together, Michael and I drew up a list of 11 regular customers. Leaving Michael to continue making signs, I went off to contact his customers. So far I&#8217;ve spoken to six customers on the list and received two testimonials back. In less than 48 hours.</p>
<p>In under two days we have some material to improve the marketing message for Eastcote Signs. We&#8217;ll be adding these and the other testimonials to the website in due course.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also important that you thank customers who help you so I&#8217;d like to extend Michael&#8217;s and my thanks to Saida at <a href="http://www.brent.gov.uk" target="_blank">Brent Council</a> and Paul O&#8217;Brien at <a href="http://www.jbconstruction.com/" target="_blank">J&amp;B Construction</a> for their prompt action.</p>
<h3>Great Free Advertising</h3>
<p>Michael&#8217;s testimonials have given him great free advertising &#8211; he hasn&#8217;t had to pay anyone to develop any slogans or hire actors to pretend to be customers. The messages speak for themselves.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s one of the testimonials received:</p>
<table style="background-color: #f5f509;" border="1" cellpadding="10">
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<tr>
<td>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><em>&#8220;Eastcote Sign &amp; Display have produced a number of banners for  Brent Council including lamppost banners, posters and also print all  the adverts that appear on the side of Brent Council buses.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><em>The  service, quality and price is very good and I look forward to working  with them in the future.&#8221;</em></span></p>
<p><br class="spacer_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Saida Ladha<br />
 Business Development Manager<br />
 Brent Council</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>If Michael had asked for the testimonials himself, then getting great advertising like what you see above really would have cost him nothing.</p>
<p>Our next step is to implement a strategy where all customers are regularly asked for their feedback, in order to help promote the company and to identify areas of improvement.</p>
<p>A small amount of effort in a new direction can yield spectacular results. In this case, a few phone calls and emails has rewarded us with some great advertising for Eastcote Signs.</p>
<h3>Too Busy? Outsource!</h3>
<p><strong>Do you wish you had comments like this about <span style="text-decoration: underline;">your</span> company on <span style="text-decoration: underline;">your</span> website?</strong></p>
<p>Some business owners, like Michael, are too busy to take care of testimonials themselves. That&#8217;s where we can help. Just like we&#8217;ve done here with Michael, we can have great customer testimonials for your company in just a few days.</p>
<p><br class="spacer_" /></p>
<p><strong>Call us today on 020 3358 3321 to kick start your testimonial strategy.<br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316" style="border: 0pt none;" title="Simon" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Simon-Signoff.png" alt="Simon" width="150" height="63" /><br />
 </strong></p>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Successful Business: Lessons from Seinfeld and Facebook</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/06/successful-business-lessons-from-seinfeld-and-facebook/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/06/successful-business-lessons-from-seinfeld-and-facebook/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:37:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[7 universal laws of social marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Connection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Experian Hitwise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Glazer-Kennedy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hitwise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Independent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jerry Seinfeld]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maritza Parra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seinfeld]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Time Warner]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=438</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
How can your business learn from Seinfeld and Facebook to make you more money?
When it comes to the attention of internet users, social media is fast  catching up to search engines or even overtaking them.
According to Experian Hitwise (via The Independent), in the UK in May 2010, &#8220;search engines accounted for 11.33 per cent [...]]]></description>
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<h3>How can your business learn from Seinfeld and Facebook to make you more money?</h3>
<p>When it comes to the attention of internet users, social media is fast  catching up to search engines or even overtaking them.</p>
<p>According to Experian Hitwise (via <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/social-networks-overtake-google-in-uk-web-hits-1994923.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>), in the UK in May 2010, &#8220;search engines accounted for 11.33 per cent of internet visits &#8230; while social networks accounted for 11.88 per cent.&#8221;  Experian found that in the USA, &#8220;for the seven days to 13 March,  Facebook received  7.07 per cent of website hits in the country,  overtaking Google which  had a 7.03 per cent share.&#8221;</p>
<p>Specifically in the UK in May, Facebook attracted 7% of total hits in the UK whilst  Google accounted for 9.2% of hits.</p>
<p>As fellow <a href="http://dankennedy.com" target="_blank">Glazer-Kennedy Insider&#8217;s Circle</a> member, <a href="http://twitter.com/maritzaparra" target="_blank">Maritza Parra</a>, says in her<a href="http://www.socialmarketingblueprint.com/" target="_blank"> &#8220;7 Universal Laws of Social Marketing&#8221;</a>, successful use of social media in your marketing is all about your followers knowing, liking and trusting you. As Dan Kennedy describes it, you want to be influential with your followers.</p>
<h3>Connecting with people</h3>
<p>Maritza explains one of her seven laws, connection:</p>
<p>&#8220;People are hungry for connection in all its forms. They are just as hungry to feel a part of something greater than themselves.</p>
<p>&#8220;One of the strongest human needs, after air, food and water, is a sense of belonging. This is one of the reasons that Social Media is so popular and so powerful. Social Media in all its many forms provide a sense of belonging to something greater than yourself.&#8221;</p>
<p>When you create that connection with customers, contacts and prospects, selling what you have to offer is much easier and more profitable than the alternatives like cold-calling or waiting for the phone to ring. As the statistics from Experian Hitwise show, people are looking for that connection in growing numbers.</p>
<h3>What does this have to do with Seinfeld?</h3>
<p>The Independent newspaper also <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/seinfeld-not-that-theres-anything-wrong-with-repeats-1995022.html" target="_blank">reported </a>today on the earnings that repeats (re-runs) of Seinfeld have netted Time Warner since the show ended 12 years ago. The company has earned an astounding $2.7 billion from Larry Seinfeld&#8217;s &#8220;Yada Yada&#8221;, whilst new shows featuring Seinfeld and his old co-stars, Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss,  have failed to hit the mark. Seinfeld&#8217;s new show on NBC, &#8220;The Marriage Ref&#8221;, has been panned by critics, yet it has been booked for a second season. Perhaps NBC are hoping that Jerry Seinfeld can work his magic to ultimately produce another winning show.</p>
<p>Seinfeld (the show) had a connection with its audience that still banks top dollar today. The show ended just as the internet was coming into its own, long before the advent of Facebook or Twitter. Despite Seinfeld&#8217;s lack of internet connectivity, the connection that audiences had with the show translates even today into major revenues for the rights holder. Somehow Seinfeld got it just right, giving people what they were looking for, at least in terms of entertainment programming.</p>
<p>Seinfeld was great at generating water-cooler conversation the day after each episode aired. It created a whole community of people who wanted to share their love of the show with others. Many of these people are tuning into the same show a dozen years later to recapture the enjoyment they had, to reconnect with that experience. And to have a good laugh (TV comedy isn&#8217;t what it used to be, sadly.)</p>
<p>Both Seinfeld and Facebook demonstrate that the money lies in connecting with your audience. In your business it doesn&#8217;t have to be about Facebook specifically, or writing a muli-billion dollar sit-com. Something as simple as responding to customer feedback about typos on your website shows that you care and increases the depth of your connection with them.</p>
<p><strong>What can </strong><strong>you do to increase </strong><strong>your connection with your audience and your customers?</strong></p>
<p>Simon Says Media works with companies and business owners to develop their &#8220;Secret Sauce&#8221;, connecting them with their customers for lasting, profitable relationships.</p>
<p>Call us today on <strong>020 3358 3321</strong> to find out how we can help you connect with your customers.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316" style="border: 0pt none;" title="Simon" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Simon-Signoff.png" alt="Simon" width="150" height="63" /></p>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>A Jug Shouldn&#8217;t Need Instructions</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/06/a-jug-shouldnt-need-instructions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/06/a-jug-shouldnt-need-instructions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:19:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bad service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[curry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[F Word]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gordon Ramsay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instructions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jugs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restaurant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restaurant manager]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=428</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Two weeks ago I had lunch with my aunt at a restaurant that I won&#8217;t be returning to.
We met in central London to have a lunchtime curry and found a place amongst a wide choice in Drummond Street, near Euston station.
The food was tasty if a little too spicy, especially for Aunty. That is not [...]]]></description>
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<p>Two weeks ago I had lunch with my aunt at a restaurant that I won&#8217;t be returning to.</p>
<p>We met in central London to have a lunchtime curry and found a place amongst a wide choice in Drummond Street, near Euston station.</p>
<p>The food was tasty if a little too spicy, especially for Aunty. That is not why I won&#8217;t be going back.</p>
<p>The waitress brought out a jug (pitcher) of water and when my aunt tried to pour the water into her glass, it ended up all over the table. I&#8217;ve never seen a jug before that had such a small lip and bizarre shape. The waitress, who&#8217;d been there for only 2 weeks, knew that the jugs were poorly designed. It&#8217;s not because of the jugs either that I won&#8217;t go back to this restaurant.</p>
<p>When the bill came, my aunt decided to treat me by picking up the bill (nice aunt!) so I covered the tip. She found the credit card terminal confusing as did I &#8211; until this point I&#8217;d never seen a card terminal that required the payer to confirm the amount they were paying by pressing the green button <strong>first</strong>. I have my own credit card terminal for my business and I&#8217;d never seen this type of operation before. It took 2 goes to get the payment made. It&#8217;s not because of the credit card terminal that I won&#8217;t be returning.</p>
<p>I saw the manager on the way out and decided to mention these couple of niggles. First I mentioned the strange jugs that were great for spilling water everywhere.</p>
<p>&#8220;You need to know how to use them,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a jug,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I shouldn&#8217;t need instructions on how to use a jug.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;You want instructions?&#8221; he asked.</p>
<p>&#8220;No, I want a jug that doesn&#8217;t need instructions,&#8221; I said.</p>
<p>&#8220;What do you want?&#8221; he asked.</p>
<p>&#8220;I want you to change your jugs!&#8221; I explained.</p>
<p>Silence.</p>
<p>Then I queried him on the credit card terminal, telling him that I had my own credit card terminal and I&#8217;d never seen one operate like the one they were using.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the law and that&#8217;s the way it is,&#8221; he explained.</p>
<p>Really.</p>
<p>Very calmly and politely I said to the manager &#8220;I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll be coming back.&#8221;</p>
<p>This is where the manager should have asked me why I wouldn&#8217;t be coming back. I didn&#8217;t like his attitude. His job at that point was to convert me into a returning customer and which he failed to do because he said <strong>NOTHING</strong> and let me walk out of his restaurant.</p>
<p>I would say I was so polite that it wasn&#8217;t really even a complaint, just a friendly chat. Even so, every complaint is an opportunity for a company to impress their customers by resolving any issues that are raised and demonstrating that they value their customers.</p>
<p>This manager didn&#8217;t try and clearly didn&#8217;t care about my custom, so why should I care about his restaurant?</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll go where I know I&#8217;m welcomed and appreciated. There are plenty of restaurants in London.</p>
<p>This particular restaurant was even nominated for Gordon Ramsay&#8217;s best local restaurant on his &#8220;F Word&#8221; programme. It&#8217;s pretty clear why they didn&#8217;t win.</p>
<p>The lesson here is that in today&#8217;s service economy there is plenty of competition and if you&#8217;re not doing everything you can to convert first-time customers into repeat business then you are not just missing a trick, you&#8217;re running a business that is doomed to fail.</p>
<p>Simon Says Media works with clients to help them attract new customers and to retain them. We can help your business ensure that you don&#8217;t let customers walk away, never to return.</p>
<p>To help your business, call us on <strong>020 3358 3321</strong> to find out more.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316" style="border: 0pt none;" title="Simon" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Simon-Signoff.png" alt="Simon" width="150" height="63" /></p>
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		<title>Secret Sauce &#8211; Sell Benefits, Not Features</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/05/secret-sauce-sell-benefits-not-features/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/05/secret-sauce-sell-benefits-not-features/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 May 2010 08:06:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[attraction marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Benefits not Features]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discerning customers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Features]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guarantee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guarantees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Secret Sauce]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=399</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
What is the secret sauce in your business?
Many businesses make the mistake of selling the features of their business rather than the benefits to their customers.
A kitchen company that has 136 different types of kitchen to choose from doesn&#8217;t impress me as much as one that promises me that they can supply my ideal kitchen [...]]]></description>
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<p>What is the secret sauce in your business?</p>
<p>Many businesses make the mistake of selling the features of their business rather than the benefits to their customers.</p>
<p>A kitchen company that has 136 different types of kitchen to choose from doesn&#8217;t impress me as much as one that promises me that they can supply my ideal kitchen with perfect layout, materials and colours.</p>
<p>An engineer with 30 years experience doesn&#8217;t offer me the same reassurance as a guarantee that something will be repaired perfectly on the first attempt.</p>
<p>A company&#8217;s membership of a trade association offers vague benefits when compared to a satisfaction guarantee, backed by a trade association.</p>
<p>A business can have secret sauce in many ways. A simple way to start is to take your features and turn them into benefits. This will help you stand out from your competitors and move away from pure price competition. Lowest-price customers will always shop for the lowest price.</p>
<p>More discerning customers will be looking for other benefits associated with dealing with a particular company, rather than a rock-bottom price-tag. These are the customers that will appreciate you going the extra mile with what you do; Turning features into benefits will help you attract them.</p>
<p>What are the features of your business and how can you turn them into benefits and secret sauce?</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316" style="border: 0pt none;" title="Simon" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Simon-Signoff.png" alt="Simon" width="150" height="63" /></p>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Customer Service As Your Slogan &#8211; Or Why Most Companies Really Screw Up</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/05/customer-service-as-your-slogan-or-why-most-companies-really-screw-up/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/05/customer-service-as-your-slogan-or-why-most-companies-really-screw-up/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 May 2010 07:58:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[guarantee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[outstanding customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prompt response]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rural broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[satellite broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[screw up]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[service delivery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[small business marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=393</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
I&#8217;ve just got off the phone with a friend and client, Richard Dix of Rural Broadband. We were discussing the new services he&#8217;s offering in satellite broadband and ADSL connections and how to plan for possible problems that could arise.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but not planning for problems with any product or service is actually [...]]]></description>
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<p>I&#8217;ve just got off the phone with a friend and client, <a href="http://twitter.com/RuralBroadband_" target="_blank">Richard Dix</a> of <a href="http://www.ruralbroadband.co.uk" target="_blank">Rural Broadband</a>. We were discussing the new services he&#8217;s offering in <a href="http://www.ruralbroadband.co.uk" target="_blank">satellite broadband</a> and ADSL connections and how to plan for possible problems that could arise.</p>
<p>It may sound counter-intuitive, but not planning for problems with any product or service is actually planning for failure &#8211; the failure of the experience you will give to customers.</p>
<p>It was apparent as we went through different examples that most companies don&#8217;t have a system to respond to and solve problems as they crop up. Either specific and known potential problems or the unknown, yet to be experienced snafu.</p>
<p>Richard is differentiating his business by offering oustanding service, a pleasurable customer experience and prompt responses, all backed by a guarantee. So we were exploring how that should be reflected in prepared responses to possible problems, both how to fix the problem and to restore the experience of the customer.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m always impressed by any individual or company who tells me how they&#8217;re going to fix a problem and what they&#8217;re going to do to make me a happy customer. That is outstanding customer service and yet we see so little of it. Richard is putting procedures in place to ensure this is what he will deliver consistently.</p>
<p>Companies that really screw up are the ones that either have no idea that they&#8217;re ruining their customer&#8217;s experience or they do know and, for some reason, don&#8217;t care (perhaps they have a monopoly). So they take their time fixing problems or they don&#8217;t even try and certainly make no effort to make amends to the customer. I bet this sounds familiar to many of you.</p>
<p>A company that delivers outstanding customer service has a unique sales message to deliver. Why not make it central to its marketing?</p>
<p>A great company slogan would be &#8220;If we screw up, you&#8217;re next month is free&#8221;.</p>
<p>This would tell me all I need to know &#8211; the company is looking to solve problems because they will cost them hard cash which they will put in my pocket if I have a problem . When a company lives and breathes this service, not merely scripting the response, it will have my undying devotion.</p>
<p>Do you know of any companies that make such a promise?</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316" style="border: 0pt none;" title="Simon" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Simon-Signoff.png" alt="Simon" width="150" height="63" /></p>
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		<title>The London Eye Doesn&#8217;t &#8220;Get&#8221; Twitter</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/02/the-london-eye-doesnt-get-twitter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/02/the-london-eye-doesnt-get-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:49:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anniversary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Tickets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leverage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London Eye]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[re-tweet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=363</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
The London Eye celebrated its 10th anniversary on Tuesday 19th January. To mark the occasion, they offered the chance to win 10 pairs of tickets if you tweeted @TheLondonEye #LondonEye10 between 9.50 and 10.00 am on the day. I was one of the lucky people who won a pair of tickets.
Considering that Twitter is an [...]]]></description>
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<p><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-366" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/London-Eye-300x140.jpg" alt="The London Eye" width="300" height="140" />The <a href="http://www.londoneye.com/" target="_blank">London Eye</a> celebrated its 10th anniversary on Tuesday 19th January. To mark the occasion, they offered the chance to win 10 pairs of tickets if you tweeted <a href="http://twitter.com/TheLondonEye" target="_blank">@TheLondonEye</a> #LondonEye10 between 9.50 and 10.00 am on the day. I was one of the lucky people who won a pair of tickets.</p>
<p>Considering that Twitter is an instantaneous medium, I was pretty surprised that it took until 3.40 pm for the folks in the press office at the Eye to announce who had won. Surely it needn&#8217;t have taken so long to pick 10 winners. The competition was a pretty swift affair with a 10 minute window, yet it took them nearly six hours to figure out and notify who would be the lucky recipients of a pair of London Eye tickets. In the Twitterverse, that&#8217;s a lifetime!</p>
<p>As requested, I emailed over my name and address, along with my Twitter name and waited for a response. And waited.</p>
<p>On Thursday I emailed them to enquire whether they&#8217;d received my email, prompting a response on Friday to say that they had and that the tickets were in the post. In fact they arrived later that day in the lovely card you see above. I&#8217;m delighted with my free tickets and waiting for some great weather to use them.</p>
<p>I asked by return whether they were going to make any further PR hay with the giveaway and, again, I didn&#8217;t receive a response.</p>
<p>Being the proactive chap that I am, earlier today I called the lady in the press office at the <a href="http://www.londoneye.com/" target="_blank">London Eye</a> who sent my tickets over. To save her dignity, I&#8217;ll call her Marjorie.</p>
<p>It seems that the folks over at the London Eye Press Office don&#8217;t really understand Twitter.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a transcript:</p>
<p><br class="spacer_" /></p>
<p><br class="spacer_" /></p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Hello London Eye Press Office, Marjorie Speaking.</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> Hello Marjorie, Simon Aronowitz speaking, one of the lucky 10 people on your 10th anniversary.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> [downbeat] Hiya.</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> Hi! [Pause] Happy Anniversary!</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Oh thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Simon: </strong>I was wondering what you were going to do about the ten people who won, whether you were going to use that as a PR opportunity, whenever people turn up with their tickets.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Erm, I don&#8217;t think we are because we&#8217;ve got a lot of planned activity happening in March. So that was more of a message to let people know that the Eye was re-opening after its maintenance work and it is our anniversary year. I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;ve actually got any planned activity as such planned for them.</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> I think you&#8217;re missing an opportunity. You&#8217;ve got 10 happy people there who are going to turn up and be absolutely delighted that they got free tickets and you&#8217;re going to do nothing about it.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Well I think it was just more of us just saying thanks and getting the message out though, as opposed to&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> Oh yeah, but leverage it! Leverage it! Social media, it&#8217;s all free!</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Yeah, of course I know but like I said I think we&#8217;ve got a lot of activity at the moment, so I think we&#8217;re just concentrating on that.</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> Sure, although that&#8217;s March. I mean, I might turn up in April &#8211; you might have a quiet month in April, it would give you something to talk about.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Er, yeah, maybe. I can suggest it, but I&#8217;m not sure obviously how far that would go. The story is more about us celebrating our anniversary and giving out complimentary tickets because obviously we do it with quite a lot of charities and whatnot.</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> Sure, but as I say, if it&#8217;s just a tweet, if you&#8217;ve got a picture of happy me in May with my guest cos we&#8217;re enjoying our free tickets, you&#8217;ve got one more tweet of someone happy where, you know, you tweet that and it&#8217;s about me, or a two-line blurb on your website and you tweet about it, I&#8217;ll re-tweet it and I&#8217;ll tell everybody else all over again about the London Eye. I mean, that&#8217;s what social media is all about.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Yeah, okay. Erm, well thank you for the suggestion. Like I said, it&#8217;s noted. Obviously we&#8217;ll see. We have all you guys&#8217; contact details so if we do anything, obviously we&#8217;ll be in contact. Okay?</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> Although, I think you probably want to invite the nine other people as well as myself to let you know when we&#8217;re going to be down there because I would never miss a trick if it was <strong>my</strong> organisation.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> But we&#8217;re not using it for media purposes, as I said. It&#8217;s more of a thank you and just a treat. We obviously wouldn&#8217;t exploit them for media purposes.</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> But even then, you see Twitter is all about narcicism and egotism, so if you say &#8220;Please let us know when you&#8217;re coming down, then you can tweet and say &#8220;<a href="http://twitter.com/supportlounge" target="_blank">@supportlounge</a> came down to redeem their free tickets&#8221;. That&#8217;s all about Twitter. It&#8217;s a two-way conversation, it&#8217;s feeding into it.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Okay, well like I said, thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely feed back to my team and see what they think about it.</p>
<p><strong>Simon:</strong> Okay, you&#8217;ve got my details.</p>
<p><strong>Marjorie:</strong> Yes we have, thank you, bye.</p>
<p><br class="spacer_" /></p>
<p>Am I being harsh, or are The London Eye missing a trick?</p>
<p><br class="spacer_" /></p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-316" style="border: 0pt none" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Simon-Signoff.png" alt="Simon" width="150" height="63" /></p>
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		<title>Interview With Erik Qualman About Socialnomics</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/01/interview-with-erik-qualman-about-socialnomics/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/01/interview-with-erik-qualman-about-socialnomics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:49:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Erik Qualman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interview]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Deere]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Simon Aronowitz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socialnomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=343</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Last week I interviewed Erik Qualman, the author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live And Do Business.
We discussed how the internet has moved beyond search and how businesses are using the latest technologies in social media to keep in touch with exisiting and prospective customers.
If your business hasn’t started to explore [...]]]></description>
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<p>Last week I interviewed <a href="http://www.twitter.com/equalman" target="_blank">Erik Qualman</a>, the author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live And Do Business.</p>
<p>We discussed how the internet has moved beyond search and how businesses are using the latest technologies in social media to keep in touch with exisiting and prospective customers.</p>
<p>If your business hasn’t started to explore how it can use social media to its advantage then you really need to listen to this interview</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Erik-Qualman-Simon-Aronowitz-SimonSaysMarketing-com.mp3">Erik Qualman on Socialnomics</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left">To get a copy of Erik&#8217;s book, go to <a href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=sisame-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as1&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&amp;asins=0470477237" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a> or <a href="http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=supploun-21&amp;o=2&amp;p=8&amp;l=as1&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;md=0M5A6TN3AXP2JHJBWT02&amp;asins=0470477237" target="_blank">Amazon.co.uk</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: left"><a href="http://www.socialnomics.com" target="_blank">Erik&#8217;s Website</a></p>
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		<title>Erik Qualman Interview on Socialnomics Coming Soon</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/01/erik-qualman-interview-on-socialnomics-coming-soon/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2010/01/erik-qualman-interview-on-socialnomics-coming-soon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:53:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Erik Qualman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[LinkedIn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Simon Aronowitz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Socialnomics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=325</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
Earlier today I interviewed Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live And Do Business. You can find his website at Socialnomics.com
If your business hasn&#8217;t started to explore how it can use social media to its advantage then you really need to listen to this interview. We discussed the value [...]]]></description>
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<p>Earlier today I interviewed <a href="http://www.twitter.com/equalman" target="_blank">Erik Qualman</a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470477237?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=sisame-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0470477237" target="_blank">Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live And Do Business</a>. You can find his website at <a href="http://www.socialnomics.com" target="_blank">Socialnomics.com</a></p>
<p>If your business hasn&#8217;t started to explore how it can use social media to its advantage then you really need to listen to this interview. We discussed the value that social media can bring to businesses both large and small, how every business can use the principles of Socialnomics and how easy it can be to get started.</p>
<p>I have to edit the recording down slightly and will be posting it online in the next couple of days.</p>
<p>To be notified when the interview is posted online, fill in the form below and we&#8217;ll let you know as soon as it&#8217;s available.</p>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-316 alignnone" style="border: 0pt none" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Simon-Signoff.png" alt="" width="150" height="63" /></p>
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		<title>10 Great Ways To Differentiate Your Company For Christmas</title>
		<link>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2009/11/10-great-ways-to-differentiate-your-company-for-christmas/</link>
		<comments>http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/2009/11/10-great-ways-to-differentiate-your-company-for-christmas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:02:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Simon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Entrepreurship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[10 Great Things]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[10 Great Ways]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chanuka]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chanukah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christmas Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Differentiate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Great Free Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hannuka]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hannukah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hanukkah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ideas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Simon Says]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/?p=59</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
			
				
			
		
I&#8217;ve put together this list of 10 Great Ways To Differentiate Your Company For Christmas.
Some of these ideas will cost you nothing. Others, a small amount of money or time. To help you on the way, we&#8217;re also giving away some Great Free Stuff &#8211; look out for this emblem &#8211; and we&#8217;ve got some [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.simonsaysmarketing.com%2F2009%2F11%2F10-great-ways-to-differentiate-your-company-for-christmas%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.simonsaysmarketing.com%2F2009%2F11%2F10-great-ways-to-differentiate-your-company-for-christmas%2F&amp;source=SimonSaysMedia&amp;style=normal&amp;service=bit.ly" height="61" width="50" /><br />
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<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-129" style="border: 0pt none;margin-left: 10px;margin-right: 10px" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Great-Free-Stuff.gif" alt="Great Free Stuff" width="140" height="140" />I&#8217;ve put together this list of <strong>10 Great Ways To Differentiate Your Company For Christmas</strong>.</p>
<p>Some of these ideas will cost you nothing. Others, a small amount of money or time. To help you on the way, we&#8217;re also giving away some <strong>Great Free Stuff &#8211; look out for this emblem</strong> &#8211; and<strong> </strong>we&#8217;ve got some <strong>great exclusive deals</strong> for you.<strong><br />
 </strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s not too late to start doing something for Christmas. Simon Says Media will be implementing each of these ideas and we&#8217;ll be showing you videos of how we bring some Christmas cheer to our clients and contacts as we do each of them. Of course you don&#8217;t have to do all 10 like we will and it only takes one to start having some fun.</p>
<p>How many can you do with your company?</p>
<h3>1. Make your website festive, change your logo or masthead*</h3>
<p>You can make this <strong>really simple</strong> by <strong>just adding some snow on your logo</strong> or adding a Christmas tree or snowman to the masthead on your website. Add a santa hat somewhere. We like santa hats&#8230;</p>
<p>Or go further, have a whole Christmas theme designed for your website. If you&#8217;re in retail or have an online store then this is a great idea, especially if you stock seasonal product lines.</p>
<p>We love <a href="http://www.shapesinspace.com" target="_blank">Mark</a>, our graphic designer who has created a Christmas logo for us:</p>
<p style="text-align: center"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-121" style="border: 0pt none" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/simon-says-xmas_logo.gif" alt="Simon Says Media Christmas Logo" width="200" height="100" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left">If you want to Christmas-up your logo we can have Mark do it for you. See this page for more information.</p>
<h3>2. Make your phone messsages festive*</h3>
<p>This one can cost you zero &#8211; can you say &#8220;Merry Christmas&#8221;? Brilliant! <strong>You can change your phone messages for free</strong>. But even better, we&#8217;re giving you some <strong>messages with festive music that you can use completely free.</strong></p>
<p>You can update your incoming announcement, your hold messages and music and even your voicemail to take account of the holiday season. Let your customers know that you&#8217;re paying attention.</p>
<p>I had fun recording seasonal messages with a client for the Simon Says Media phone system. Monica runs <a href="http://www.focalvocal.co.uk" target="_blank">FocalVocal</a>, a training company and she has previously recorded professional voice-overs. We&#8217;ll have a video coming soon of us putting our phone messages together.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s one of our message:</p>
<script type='text/javascript'>wpa_urls.push('\u0068\u0074\u0074\u0070\u003a\u002f\u002f\u0077\u0077\u0077\u002e\u0073\u0069\u006d\u006f\u006e\u0073\u0061\u0079\u0073\u006d\u0061\u0072\u006b\u0065\u0074\u0069\u006e\u0067\u002e\u0063\u006f\u006d\u002f\u0077\u0070\u002d\u0063\u006f\u006e\u0074\u0065\u006e\u0074\u002f\u0075\u0070\u006c\u006f\u0061\u0064\u0073\u002f\u0032\u0030\u0030\u0039\u002f\u0031\u0031\u002f\u0054\u0068\u0061\u006e\u006b\u0079\u006f\u0075\u002d\u0066\u006f\u0072\u002d\u0063\u0061\u006c\u006c\u0069\u006e\u0067\u002d\u004d\u0065\u0072\u0072\u0079\u002d\u0058\u006d\u0061\u0073\u002d\u0048\u0061\u0070\u0070\u0079\u002d\u0048\u0061\u006e\u0075\u006b\u006b\u0061\u0068\u002d\u0042\u0065\u0073\u0074\u002d\u0057\u0069\u0073\u0068\u0065\u0073\u002e\u006d\u0070\u0033');</script><a class='wpaudio wpaudio_url_0' href='#'>Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Best Wishes</a>
<p>And here it is without Hannukah:</p>
<script type='text/javascript'>wpa_urls.push('\u0068\u0074\u0074\u0070\u003a\u002f\u002f\u0077\u0077\u0077\u002e\u0073\u0069\u006d\u006f\u006e\u0073\u0061\u0079\u0073\u006d\u0061\u0072\u006b\u0065\u0074\u0069\u006e\u0067\u002e\u0063\u006f\u006d\u002f\u0077\u0070\u002d\u0063\u006f\u006e\u0074\u0065\u006e\u0074\u002f\u0075\u0070\u006c\u006f\u0061\u0064\u0073\u002f\u0032\u0030\u0030\u0039\u002f\u0031\u0031\u002f\u0054\u0068\u0061\u006e\u006b\u0079\u006f\u0075\u002d\u0066\u006f\u0072\u002d\u0063\u0061\u006c\u006c\u0069\u006e\u0067\u002d\u004d\u0065\u0072\u0072\u0079\u002d\u0058\u006d\u0061\u0073\u002d\u0048\u0061\u0070\u0070\u0079\u002d\u004e\u0065\u0077\u002d\u0059\u0065\u0061\u0072\u002e\u006d\u0070\u0033');</script><a class='wpaudio wpaudio_url_1' href='#'>Merry Christmas, Happy New Year</a>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-129" style="border: 0pt none;margin-left: 10px;margin-right: 10px" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Great-Free-Stuff.gif" alt="Great Free Stuff" width="140" height="140" />To make it really easy for you to do this with a professional quality message and have some fun at the same time, we&#8217;ve made a special recording that <strong>you can use for free</strong> and we&#8217;re including the music too.</p>
<p>&#8216;Jingle Bells&#8217; licensed by Chris Worth Productions <a href="http://www.chrisworthproductions.com" target="_blank">http://www.chrisworthproductions.com</a>. Thanks Chris.</p>
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<p>Even if the only phone system you have is voicemail on your cellphone you can still use this. Turn up your speaker volume, hold your phone near the speaker (avoid interference) and play it down the phone from your computer to record it as your voicemail greeting.</p>
<p><strong>Use our free recording</strong> as a template to get all your staff involved. We&#8217;ve produced a another version with gaps so that your staff can shout your company name and &#8220;Merry Christmas&#8221; for use in the recording.</p>
<p><strong>We&#8217;ve made it really easy for you</strong> to do &#8211; we&#8217;ve put a video on the recordings download page which shows you how to customise the free recording.</p>
<script type='text/javascript'>wpa_urls.push('\u0068\u0074\u0074\u0070\u003a\u002f\u002f\u0077\u0077\u0077\u002e\u0073\u0069\u006d\u006f\u006e\u0073\u0061\u0079\u0073\u006d\u0061\u0072\u006b\u0065\u0074\u0069\u006e\u0067\u002e\u0063\u006f\u006d\u002f\u0077\u0070\u002d\u0063\u006f\u006e\u0074\u0065\u006e\u0074\u002f\u0075\u0070\u006c\u006f\u0061\u0064\u0073\u002f\u0032\u0030\u0030\u0039\u002f\u0031\u0031\u002f\u0043\u0068\u0072\u0069\u0073\u0074\u006d\u0061\u0073\u002d\u0054\u0065\u006c\u0065\u0070\u0068\u006f\u006e\u0065\u002d\u004d\u0065\u0073\u0073\u0061\u0067\u0065\u002d\u0054\u0065\u006d\u0070\u006c\u0061\u0074\u0065\u002e\u006d\u0070\u0033');</script><a class='wpaudio wpaudio_url_2' href='#'>Customise This Free Recording</a>
<p><span style="font-size: large"><strong><a href="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/great-free-stuff/get-your-free-christmas-phone-messages/">See this page to get your free telephone recordings in MP3 format and complete instructions on how to use them and customise them yourself</a>.</strong></span></p>
<p>Monica has agreed to provide her services to you, just for this holiday season. <strong><a href="http://www.simonsaysmedia.com/2009/11/well-record-your-christmas-telephone-messages/" target="_blank">If you want us to record some customised messages for your phone system, see this page for more information</a>.</strong></p>
<p>You&#8217;ll have to get in quick, because we stop accepting orders at the end of business on Tuesday 8th December 2009.</p>
<h3>3. Have a product, service or special offer just for Christmas*</h3>
<p>It&#8217;s really easy to <strong>offer something different for Christmas</strong>, often just by repackaging what you already offer. The limited availability as well as the seasonality gives people a reason to buy today.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re offering Christmas telephone messages with great on-hold music as a  special seasonal service for a limited time.We&#8217;re also offering to customise your logo for Christmas, just for this holiday season.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>What are your customers looking for this Christmas and how can you provide it to them?</strong> Don&#8217;t know? <strong>Call your customers and ask them!</strong></p>
<h3>4. Have your company van decorated with a santa hat, tinsel, fairy lights, giant Christmas tree etc*</h3>
<p>If you have a Christmas tree at home then you probably have a family tradition of decorating the tree. Start a tradition in your company of <strong>decorating your company vehicles for Christmas</strong>, whether it&#8217;s the boss&#8217;s car or the fleet of delivery vans.</p>
<p>Have employees make suggestions on the design to <strong>involve them in the whole process</strong>, after all they could be driving the thing around!</p>
<p>This is a great idea if you want to get noticed! <strong>Have some fun</strong> &#8211; keep it simple or go crazy. For added benefit, why not <strong>film the whole thing</strong> (one more idea for number 6),  post it on YouTube and share it with your clients.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-129" style="border: 0pt none;margin-left: 10px;margin-right: 10px" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Great-Free-Stuff.gif" alt="Great Free Stuff" width="140" height="140" />We&#8217;re <strong>giving away free vehicle graphics </strong>for Christmas. One of our clients, <a href="http://www.eastcotesignanddisplay.co.uk" target="_blank">Eastcote Sign &amp; Display</a>, has agreed to produce 25 pairs of self-adhesive Christmas trees and 25 pairs of santa hats for us to <strong>give you  for free</strong>. Michael has even agreed to pick up the shipping cost so that it <strong>costs you nothing</strong><strong>. Thanks Michael. </strong>Merry Christmas!</p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium"><a href="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/great-free-stuff/get-your-free-christmas-vehicle-graphics/"><strong>For your chance to </strong><strong>win a pair of either santa hats or Christmas trees, complete with an applicator and instructions, see this page</strong></a>.</span></p>
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<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-258" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Michael-Eastcote-Signs-Christmas-Vehicle-Graphics.jpg" alt="Michael - Eastcote Signs - Christmas Vehicle Graphics" width="270" height="209" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center">Michael at Eastcote Signs designing<br />
 your Christmas vehicle graphics</p>
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<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-259" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Chris-Eastcote-Signs-Christmas-Vehicle-Graphics.jpg" alt="Chris - Eastcote Signs - Christmas Vehicle Graphics" width="278" height="209" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center">Chris at Eastcote Signs preparing your free<br />
 Christmas vehicle graphics</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium"> </span></p>
<p>Actually it&#8217;s not that complicated, you don&#8217;t really need instructions, just peel and stick. We&#8217;ll give you the instructions anyway. We&#8217;re throwing in the applicator in case you get bubbles.</p>
<h3>5. Have a Christmas dinner or party for staff and clients*</h3>
<p>Some companies are cutting back on their Christmas parties or abandoning them altogether. Do you want to be the boss who cancelled the Christmas party? Instead of the cost, think about the benefit from good-will you will generate by saying thank you to all your staff and clients for another year of great business.</p>
<p><strong>Parties don&#8217;t have to be expensive, even a round of drinks for everyone at the local bar can be enough to start the festivities.</strong></p>
<p>If the business year has been great for you then <strong>be a great boss </strong> and pay for the taxis home for everyone. <strong>Be a generous business owner</strong> and pay for the cab-rides home for someone else&#8217;s Christmas party as a present to that company.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re having a party, think about your seating plan. Can you <strong>seat staff and clients together</strong> so that they get to know each other, strengthening your relationship with each other?</p>
<p>Use your party as an opportunity to network for your benefit and for that of your guests. Introduce clients to one another and enable them to find new opportunities at your party. Don&#8217;t over-do it though, it&#8217;s supposed to be a party.</p>
<h3>6. Make a Christmas video message or music video to send to clients, involve your staff*</h3>
<p>Give your staff the opportunity to be creative and let their hair down a little for the good of the company. Encourage them to have some fun with a video camera to make a message you can post online and send to clients and contacts.</p>
<p>Video is a great way of raising your company&#8217;s profile and by sending a link of your video to your clients you show that you have taken the time to think about them. Use the video to highlight your Christmas special offers &#8211; don&#8217;t miss the opportunity to make a sale &#8211; but above all, <strong>make it fun</strong>. Be sure to <strong>include your company name and your website</strong>.</p>
<p>You could record a message from all of your staff, or if you&#8217;re more adventurous you could try making a music video to a Christmas song &#8211; here&#8217;s a great, simple example where they clearly had a lot of fun making it:</p>
<p style="text-align: center">
<p>You could be having fun like these guys. <strong>Send us the link to your video</strong> when it&#8217;s online.</p>
<p>Do you want to make a Christmas video but not sure where to start? That&#8217;s one more seasonal service we offer. See this page for more information.</p>
<h3>7. Wear a santa hat the entire season or customise your uniform*</h3>
<p>Did I say we like santa hats?</p>
<p>When you turn up for a meeting wearing a smart suit and sporting a bright red santa hat, everyone will know that your business is celebrating the Christmas season.</p>
<p><img class="size-full wp-image-292 alignright" style="border: 0pt none" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Free-Santa-Hat.png" alt="Free Santa Hat" width="132" height="97" />Alternatively you could find a way to customise staff uniforms for the season although perhaps only sales assistants with a great sense of humour will appreciate dressing like one of Santa&#8217;s elves for several weeks.</p>
<p>Santa hats are inexpensive and a few pounds or dollars can buy you a bag of them. Hand them out to members of staff and clients and spead the Christmas cheer.</p>
<p>You can buy cheap santa hats here <a href="http://www.novelties-direct.co.uk/home.php?cat=733" target="_blank">in the UK</a>, or here <a href="http://www.centurynovelty.com/items_147.html" target="_blank">in the USA.</a></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-129" style="border: 0pt none;margin-left: 10px;margin-right: 10px" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Great-Free-Stuff.gif" alt="Great Free Stuff" width="140" height="140" /></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium"><a href="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/great-free-stuff/win-a-santa-hat/" target="_blank"><strong>We&#8217;re giving away 50 santa hats &#8211; click here for your chance to win one</strong></a></span>.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t forget to <strong>send us a picture of you wearing your santa hat</strong> at work.</p>
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<h3>8. Form a staff choir and go sing Christmas carols at your clients&#8217; premises*</h3>
<p>This one has made a lot of clients laugh at the suggestion, but none of them dismissed the idea.</p>
<p>Plan the hot mulled wine and mince pies, go and have some fun. Think your clients don&#8217;t want you turning up? Try it! Or bring some cheer to the residents of a local retirement home.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, film it and put it on YouTube. One more idea for number 6.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve got a great video coming up for this one. Subscribe to our email list to be notified when the video is online.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.christmas-carol-music.org/Index_of_Titles.html" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-129" style="border: 0pt none;margin-left: 10px;margin-right: 10px" src="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Great-Free-Stuff.gif" alt="Great Free Stuff" width="140" height="140" /></a></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium"><strong><a href="http://www.christmas-carol-music.org/Index_of_Titles.html" target="_blank">Download free sheet music for Christmas carols here</a></strong></span>.</p>
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<h3>9. Call customers to wish them a Merry Christmas*</h3>
<p>If you can spare the time, this is a great way of connecting with customers for Christmas. Phone your customers and after passing on seasons greetings, take the opportunity to ask them how their business is going, what they need and how you can help them.</p>
<p>If your business follows an environmentally friendly policy, this is a great way of letting your clients know that you&#8217;ll be saving trees by phoning instead of&#8230;.</p>
<h3>10. Send clients a Christmas card*</h3>
<p>Sending a Christmas card is a great and relatively inexpensive way to say hello, seasons greetings, thank you and we&#8217;re thinking of you, all in one go. Sending a Christmas card is also the first item on our second list, 10 Great Things to Send Customers (Or Contacts) For Christmas, which also includes links to exclusive great deals and your chance to win more Great Free Stuff. Subscribe to our email list to be notified as soon as the list is online.</p>
<p>You can get your Christmas cards customised for each of your clients using Variable Data Printing (VDP) and have them fulfilled, saving you the task of writing, licking and stuffing. Of course we like hand-written cards, but it takes time to write them out and if your client list is extensive, VDP and fulfillment are your options to <strong>ensure it gets done</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>The Print Concierge</strong> are experts in the VDP business and we&#8217;ve set up an exclusive great deal with them, <strong>just for you.</strong></p>
<p>As well as giving you free customisation on your holiday cards, be sure to <strong>tell them we sent you to get an extra 10% off</strong> their already crazy prices.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: medium"><a href="http://theprintconcierge.com/Services/Printing/SimonSaysYouMustMarketThisHoliday/tabid/138/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Click here for more information on The Print Concierge&#8217;s special deal for readers of Simon Says Marketing</a></span>.</strong></p>
<h3>11. *Don&#8217;t forget Hanukkah</h3>
<p>I know it&#8217;s only supposed to be a list of 10, but this one is important as an extra.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s Christmas but Hanukkah<strong>**</strong> is also coming up. Or Chanukah (either spelling is acceptable). Don&#8217;t let your Jewish clients and friends feel left out of the seasonal mood. How can you adapt these 10 ideas for Hanukkah? I&#8217;ll admit I&#8217;m not sure about the hat and uniforms, but we&#8217;ve mentioned it in our hold message &#8211; very simple.</p>
<p><strong>**</strong> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah" target="_blank">Hanukkah</a> is a Jewish festival which celebrates the miracle of the oil for the eternal lamp burning for eight days in the Temple after its desecration, when normally it would only last for a single day.  The festival starts in 2009 on the sunset of Friday 11th December and lasts for 8 days.<br class="spacer_" /></p>
<h4>Quick Great Free Stuff Links:</h4>
<p><a href="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/great-free-stuff/get-your-free-christmas-phone-messages/">Download free Christmas telephone messages</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/great-free-stuff/get-your-free-christmas-vehicle-graphics/">Get free Christmas vehicle graphics</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.simonsaysmarketing.com/great-free-stuff/win-a-santa-hat/" target="_blank">Win a santa hat</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.christmas-carol-music.org/Index_of_Titles.html" target="_blank">Download Christmas carol sheet music</a></p>
<h4>Other Quick Links</h4>
<p><a href="http://www.simonsaysmedia.com/2009/11/customise-your-logo-for-christmas/" target="_blank">We&#8217;ll customise your logo for Christmas</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.simonsaysmedia.com/2009/11/well-record-your-christmas-telephone-messages/" target="_blank">We&#8217;ll record your Christmas telephone messages</a></p>
<p>Buy cheap Santa Hats <a href="http://www.novelties-direct.co.uk/home.php?cat=733" target="_blank">in the UK</a>, <a href="http://www.centurynovelty.com/items_147.html" target="_blank">in the USA</a></p>
<p><a href="http://theprintconcierge.com/Services/Printing/SimonSaysYouMustMarketThisHoliday/tabid/138/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Get a great deal on customised Christmas cards and postcards &#8211; <strong>Extra 10% off with The Print Concierge</strong></a></p>
<h4>You&#8217;re going to do all of these? Tell me more!</h4>
<p>We&#8217;d love to tell you more. Yes, all ten ideas will be implemented by Simon Says Media; we&#8217;ve already started and we&#8217;ve been filming along the way. Subscribe to our email list and we&#8217;ll let you know when we release each video. We&#8217;ll also let you know when &#8220;10 Great Things To Send Your Clients (Or Contacts) For Christmas&#8221; is posted to this site. And we&#8217;ll keep you informed when we post other great marketing and business tips.</p>
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