THE RIVER MAGAZINE | Spring 2018 19 ONCLOUDS e: info@onclouds.com w: onclouds.com handling their own marketing alongside their regular workload often create haphazard, directionless material that fails to inspire and often actually works against them. It’s not wildly dissimilar to the trap the President of the United States is regularly falling into with midnight tweets, brags and squabbles. The River Magazine and its sister company Onclouds are currently offering a unique mix of campaigning, a combination of local press exposure with an array of online marketing and advertising too. Onclouds delivers fresh and lively content to social media pages, website blogs and maintains company profiles on business directories. Offers and promotions are boosted to wider audiences with selective advertising and all of this can run alongside regular inclusions in the local lifestyle magazine, The River. For start-ups, small and medium sized businesses a complete, hassle-free and professional marketing service typically ranges from £50 to £500 per month, allowing business owners and employees to concentrate on what they do best, while someone else takes care of making the right impression online. For more information call 020 7193 7833 and ask for Janine or Chris TIPS FOR DIY MARKETING If you are new to marketing here are some quick tips for creating a simple, effective strategy. Create a grid, on a big piece of paper or a spreadsheet and keep it somewhere that’s easy to see. WHEN Plan ahead – what are the key dates for your business and customers in the next 12 months? What are the products/services that should be promoted at these times? Consider how far in advance you should start promoting these. Allow enough time for your customers to warm to your ideas before they make their buying decisions. WHERE List all the places in print and online that you should be reaching out to your customers, both new and existing (press, social media, business directories, by email or post). Don’t over-reach or over-spend, be realistic in what can be achieved. WHAT Draft appropriate messages for each place you have identified and for all of the key events you have thought of, adjusting the style of message to suit each ‘channel’. Continue to pencil in extra messages for the remaining squares in the grid as appropriate. See‘The Sizzle’below for things to remember when developing what you say. THE SIZZLE Selling ‘the sizzle not the sausage’is all about emphasising the experience; the sensory, emotional effect your product or service has on your customers, rather than the details and facts of what you offer. Essentially any communication must be written with the reader in mind, what it will mean to them and how it will make them feel. When you’re planning your messages, check out some of the kinds of things your competition do well or other businesses who’s marketing you like. Bear these in mind when you start creating your own. You don’t want to copy anyone else’s material – you want to make it your own, but you do want to learn from successful campaigns and avoid basic mistakes. P H O T O B Y M AT T H E W Y O H E AT E N . W I K I P E D I A A rare breed - born entrepreneurs and instinctive marketeers, Steve Jobs and Estée Lauder