How social networking can help with your marketing

The power of Web2.0, the interactive side of the internet, opens up a huge potential to publicise and expose your business to a larger audience than ever before. No longer is the world a huge place, with the rise of social networking it seems like it’s just outside your back door!

Social networking for business began with blogging, a medium which enabled organisations to write about their business in other ways, to advertise their expertise, explore new concepts, ask their audience, invite feedback and responses, and publicise their events and activities; and because it was open to all who wanted to view it, especially through the search engines, good blogs could command a wide readership, and using RSS could be followed on a regular basis without unnecessary researching.

Then there were social networking sites, with the ability to collect and make friends and communicate with them in a relaxed and convivial style, even from the other side of the world. My friend in China would be lost without Facebook! There are now a myriad of different websites, each communicating, emulating, competing and evolving as technology moves continuously and rapidly forwards.

Certain sites, such as LinkedIn, Plaxo, FriendsFeed and Ecademy (to name but a few) have adapted their services for the business world by seizing this opportunity for business networking, whereas Facebook provides for all kinds of social networkers, and indeed some applicants use their profiles for many different activities. In fact for Facebook it is suggested that you apply as an individual, rather than for other sites in which you would join as your business name. Twitter, the ‘micro-blogger’, has taken the world by storm because it appeals to the quick-fire responses of 140 characters combined with a desire to know what everybody else is doing in ‘real time’.

The need to network for business using Web2.0 should not be seen merely as a trend. Although it may be seen by many as a ‘time waster’, I think it does depend on ‘how you use your time’ to achieve results. Social networking is about increasing your following (aka collecting friends) to find other like-minded or interesting people, learn what each other is doing (this is certainly come to the fore in Twitter), a place to express and publicise your activities, form groups and forums for more interaction, ask questions and receive answers (LinkedIn has excellent facilities for this), publish your blogs and advertise through marketplaces (using Ecademy’s extensive SEO properties), republish your articles for a wider readership (though there are sites designed for this), and learn much more quickly about what’s going on in this ever-increasingly fast world.  If your business is one of the first to hear of a particular subject and is then able to rapidly respond to it, what difference would that be against your competitors?

It is also the concept of RSS and feedburning that has contributed to wide social networking use. Think of the implications if your posts could be automatically reproduced in other social networking sites just by pressing one button, combined with the ability to enable your blog posts, articles, weblinks and other relevant material instantly accessible to a potential huge readership throughout the world. Many businesses have benefited from an increased traffic to their websites and blogs, plus other media such as audio and video, with the chance to explain, educate, publicise, inform, request material, gather information, become established as an expert in your field, and achieve more sales – surely this is a phenomenon of the 21st century we cannot ignore.

Create your unique selling proposition

Guest blog post by Jessica Swanson of Shoestring Marketing

In order to succeed in your small business, you simply cannot be like everyone else; you need to stand apart from the crowd. Always keep in mind that you don’t want to be ‘just another fish in the sea’. You want to be the biggest, brightest and fastest fish in the sea!

So how do you accomplish this? You create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). A USP differentiates you from your competition and gets you noticed.

Here are a few examples of companies with clear, concise and memorable USP’s:

Head and Shoulders: We get rid of dandruff

Dominos Pizza: Pizza in 30 minutes or less – or it’s FREE

FedEx: When your package positively, absolutely has to get there overnight.

M & M’s: The milk chocolate melts in your mouth not in your hands

Olay: For younger looking skin

In order to be effective, your USP must contain the following three components:

1) You must offer your customers a specific benefit (if you buy this product, you will receive this benefit).

2) Your offer must be unique and different than your competition.

3) Your offer must be compelling enough to pull in new customers.

Once you create a USP that truly stands out, you will find prospects and customers lining up at your door! With all of the competition out there, you must find a way to make yourself unique.

Use The Following 7-Step Formula To Create Your USP:

Step 1: Describe the Benefits of Doing Business With YOU

Describe 3 benefits that customers will receive by doing business with you. The reality of the situation is that your customer doesn’t care if you offer the best quality, service, or price.  These are simply features of your business or service.

Your customer only cares what your business can do for him/her. For instance, will the customer be happier, healthier, wealthier, or smarter if they use your product or services? 

Take some time to write down three benefits that your business/ service offers to your customer/client.

Step 2: How Are You Unique?

Remember, you MUST offer your customer something that others DO NOT offer him/her. Basically, your USP separates you from the competition so that the prospect feels that clearly the best option is to do business with you (as opposed to your competition).

Write the different ways in which you can differentiate yourself from your competition. What unique qualities, attributes or skills do you have to offer?

Step 3: What Problem Can You Solve?

At this very moment, there are numerous problems in your industry that customers would like to see solved.
•    How to write great ad-copy
•    How to reduce your mortgage
•    How to train your dog in 7 days or less
•    How to find a date in 30 days
•    How to find inexpensive health insurance
•    How to find leads…
Obviously, the possibilities are endless!

Start by identifying pressing problems that exist in your particular industry. Brainstorm various ways that you could help solve or alleviate these problems.

There are always ways that you can help solve your customers’ problems, you just need to be creative. However, always make sure that you can deliver on your promises!

Step 4: Be Specific And Offer Proof:

Do not simply proclaim that you are “the best.” This means virtually nothing to your customers. Remember, people in today’s world are often skeptical and need specific examples and proof that you can fulfill your promises.

Tell your prospects exactly what they can expect by doing business with you. Do not be vague or ambiguous. The more precise and accurate you are, the more your prospects will trust you.
In addition, you should also offer testimonials from satisfied customers. This is important proof that helps your prospects believe that you will deliver on your promises.

Step 5: Use Your USP In ALL Of Your Marketing Materials:

Variations of your USP should be included in ALL or your marketing materials such as:
•    Advertising and sales copy headlines
•    Business cards, brochures, flyers, and signs
•    Your “elevator pitch”, phone, and sales script
•    Letterhead, letters, and postcards
•    Landing Pages and Websites
•    Newsletters and Ezines
•    Social Networking Sites and Other Internet Marketing Efforts

Final Step: Write Your USP!

After going through some of the above steps, take some time to write out a USP for yourself that you will use in conjunction with your business. Your USP should be clear and concise. You want your prospects to see the benefits and unique qualities that you have to offer so that they feel compelled to do business with you!

Once you discover your Unique Selling Proposition, your business will never be the same!

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Jessica Swanson, ‘The Shoestring Marketer’, has helped entrepreneurs, all over the world, explode their businesses using cutting-edge, proven, NO-COST internet marketing strategies. To receive your FREE Marketing Kit,  which has helped thousands of entrepreneurs, just like you, learn the exact techniques for marketing their businesses for NO-COST, visit: http://www.ShoestringMarketingKit.com

Do they waste so much on marketing?

Sometimes it astounds me how much companies are prepared to spend in order to ‘market’ their products or services.

I usually enjoy getting packages through the post, especially when I know I’ve ordered something, like a book I’ve been recommended or a new gadget, and our postwoman rang the bell this morning to give me a surprise package. But it turned out to be a business card box containing one business card and a toffee rattling around in it from a printer who was touting his wares.

Eh? Another cryptic stance at some marketing which doesn’t ring home. I didn’t recognise the name, so this kind gesture was lost on me, though it did raise a smile. What a waste of postage and jiffy bag (though a good box for me to put bits in). Was I supposed to ‘feel’ the card and appreciate the ‘quality’ of the printing, but then don’t they all have that?

The other day we had a full set of Next Directory catalogues left outside our house. My daughter was delighted, but we hadn’t got a clue who they were meant for, the most likely recipient having moved away. We are amazed at a) how many hardback catalogues there were, b) the weight of the numerous pages, c) the sumptuous print quality and d) the cost of postage! We also wondered if Next really managed to recouperate the cost of producing these luxury products from its directory subscribers at such an obvious outlay. I knew someone who was involved in maintaining the quality production of these volumes, and it was not taken lightly.

Staples also provides another communication to plop onto our doormat. This arrives in various forms, from a very thin 16 page magazine to a fully binded catalogue. OK, the production certainly isn’t as high quality as the Next Directories, but the frequency is astounding (and noted they do use some clever marketing and upselling tactics), which again leads us to wonder if all this production actually makes it worth while? Obviously, or they wouldn’t be doing it – would they?

The purpose of this post is to question whether these companies calculate that their activity is successful in bringing in enough sales to make it worth while. What I mean is, does the quality of the Next Directories guarantee more purchasing power from its subscribers, or the frequency of the Staples magazines jolt more positive responses? And because these established businesses are doing it, and giving the impression that it works, is it the right thing to do for your business?

My reply is ‘no’, because unless you have an established name like Next or Staples, it would be a waste of money and effort. It is much better to market your organisation through relationship and expertise building, providing value and good advice to exactly the right target market at exactly the right place and time. This may be slow at first, but if you can maintain a good base of satisfied customers, ask for referrals and other viral marketing tactics, broadcast your successes and valuable tips where many can see them, publicise snippets of what you can do on social networking, and create a thoroughly interactive website used in conjunction with focused promotion campaigns, then you can market your business without wasting money.

Hold a blogging house party!

Recently I’ve been working hard persuading lots of business women to take up the blogging challenge. One in particular took the bull by the horns and has produced the most amazing blog (visually) within hours after I told her how to create one.

But the trouble is, now that she has created this wonderful masterpiece, that’s it. She’s stopped. She’s put up two posts and nothing else.

It’s like moving into a new house. You could spent a lot of time redecorating it and putting in a fabulous kitchen, trendy bathroom and filling the rooms with stylish furniture, and final touches like matching cushions with the curtains and pictures of your family on the mantlepiece.

But then you just sit outside in the garden and look at your new house. You don’t actually live in it!

But you have to get in and start making it your home with your personal knicknacks, mud on the hall carpet, soap scum around the bath, fridge magnets galore. Then you hold a huge house party (after you’ve cleaned up) and invite all your friends to come and enjoy your house with you!

The same is with your blog. You need to go in, live in it for a while (create lots of posts), personalise it, and then invite all your friends in (ask for feedback and comments). This is how you will get used to having a blog, find out its value, enjoy linking to lots of relevant sites, encouraging new readers, feedburning it to social networking, venting your spleen and exploring the reaction from a brand new idea, outrageous statement, superb source of information, or whatever.

Isn’t it depressing to visit a lonely, underused, neglected blog? Don’t let yours become like that!

Get decluttering to clear the way forward

Marketing is all about raising awareness and forming relationships with potential customers. It is also analysing what your customers want and need, and providing a solution within your products and services.

During a credit crunch it is wise to focus on the areas that sell well. Declutter and remove the things that aren’t necessary or are clogging the most important areas of your business, and start to highlight and expand on your most profitable products or services.

Set up a survey or questionnaire with your past, existing and prospective customers to get feedback on your business or premises. Hold a competition, send a Christmas card, or throw a party for your best customers and friends to give that New Year positive feeling and get a sure-fire response.

Capitalise on the areas that show your business off to its best advantage. Really stop and think how you can describe your business in as simplest terms as possible, and then market that profitable area as much as you can. Really think about your customers’ wants and needs, and create a solution within your products or services.

Keep up to date with the latest trends, and move your business along with them. You don’t need to be ultra-techie, just adjust what you are offering to match the current state of affairs. Be aware of what other people are thinking.

Don’t forget how busy people are nowadays – can you think of a way to make them stop and look for longer? All you need to do is to get them to cross your threshold…

Display your knowledge, and offer something for nothing that won’t undermine your business. It gives a good impression, sets you up as an expert, and gets your customers on your side. And keep promoting a positive, successful attitude with good benefits, quality and value for money.

Get your adverts to sing!

A client of mind proudly showed me one of her advertisements which had been placed in a magazine. This was relevant to me because I had designed that advert for her. Her comments were that the quality of her ad seemed to be much better than the other ads, why did her colours ’sing out’ more, and what caused the 3D effect?

Very simple, I had converted the images in the artwork into CMYK before I created the pdf and sent it to the magazine editors. CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black, and these are the colours printers use for their inks. By combining these colours together in a myriad of ways, they can create every colour under the sun.

The other ads looked flat and uninteresting because they were still in RGB, which stands for red, green and blue, the ‘light’ colours used on television screens and, of course, computers. If a publisher has to print a piece of artwork still in RGB, it appears flat is because the printer’s machines have to convert RGB into something more usable, and the colours aren’t compatible with CMYK. You don’t get a sense of ‘depth’, vibrancy and trueness of colour if the pdf is not properly prepared for printing.

Another factor was that the ad was exactly the right size for the space so there was no distortion, and suitable margins were allocated to navigate the eye into the ad, not away from it. I have written before about allowing sufficient white space in artwork, and my client also noticed that as her ad had a white background the content was therefore much easier to read. The ad was not cluttered by trying to fit everything in at once, and as she had booked a series of ads over a number of months, she had maintained the interest of her readers (and hopefully potential customers) with something different in every issue.

Another technique I had used for the copy or words of the ad was AIDA, the marketing method which means ‘attention, interest, desire and action’. Her advert began with a question which marked out her customer’s pain, and the sub-headline stated the solution which her company provided. Bullet points highlighted the benefits she could offer, and a call to action combined with clear, obvious contact details finished everything off nicely.

If you are thinking of placing an advertisement in a magazine or journal, and want it to stand out above the rest, then all you need to do is go ask Alice!

What goes into a newsletter?

When you write about a specific subject in your newsletter, the best way is to break it down into its basic components, and explain it simply using everyday language. This exercise is more difficult than it sounds, because the idea is to make it not only interesting, but to appeal to as many readers as possible to gain their trust and form relationships with them. By breaking down a subject, it will then lend itself to a number of other subjects which will become fodder for future articles.

Do a postcard campaign to gain interest and increase your readership. This is cheaper than creating a large quantity of the first edition of your newsletter and potentially losing most of them to an uninterested audience. The postcard campaign would have to be run over a series, as in today’s society not everyone responds immediately to information, they may need to be coerced into your way of thinking, seduced into the benefits of your profession, and stimulated by fascinating facts that they may not have thought of before. Sometimes it can take several goes to gain a follower.

Please don’t bore your readers too much about your business (this may sound unkind, but people are notoriously self-centered, and only think in terms of what is in it for them). You could easily explain the various features of your company through the benefits it offers, by writing about successful case studies, funny stories with good endings, witty and entertaining information articles about certain subjects you want to get across, special offers that cannot be resisted, competitions to raise awareness, ‘try before you buy’ offers to get them across your threshold…

Selecting certain pages for particular subjects is a good idea, because if you are going to make your newsletter a regular feature, people will like to look at a particular page first (like as for the local newspaper the sports section, the horoscopes, the letters page, the classified ads, for example) before reading the remainder of the newsletter. Keeping a consistency will help your readers in gaining confidence, and they will then look forward to the next issue. It’s like a supermarket that always has its basics like milk and bread, but the way there will offer all sorts of more provocative products to entice their interest.

But it is all very well giving them all this wonderful information if you don’t get anything in return. The idea is to get more people to try what your organisation has to offer. Therefore you must provide special offers that have a time dependent call to action. These must be worth the reader’s while, maybe even a lost leader to get them to sample what you have to offer them. Usually if you do a really good job, it will sell itself and you will get more customers. I say time dependent because if you leave it open ended, the lack of urgency will disappear from their busy minds and the opportunity will be lost or forgotten.

Why not create a blog as an archive medium for all the really important or successful features and articles of your newsletter. Because it is a blog, it would be frequently visited by the ‘internet spiders’ compared to that of a website, which can wait weeks for a visitation. The more frequent the postings, the more often the spiders visit. These postings could have links to your website or any other internet based information, which again would raise awareness and click value of your website, because it is not only spiders who roam the web and click on links but people too.

Create a sign-up form on the homepage of your website to increase your newsletter membership. You could have past copies in pdf form on the newsletter page, which readers could download if they’ve lost their original copy, or interested future subscribers to see what it is like. Again the spiders trawl the pdfs, so more info is passed onto the internet, encouraging more visits to your website, blog and sign up forms, especially if you include web links in the newsletter.

Using images to support description

Selecting the right kind of imagery for your promotional literature is just as important as choosing the right words. This was brought home to me when I visited a client recently who was very keen not to have the same kinds of pictures as her competitors, so that her publicity stuck out from the crowd. Her choice searched more into describing how her company would help her customers, not blagging on about her profession and the features they had on offer. These pictures’ poignancy sparked off a series of unconscience thought that stimulated her customers’ reaction and encouraged them to realise they needed her services. Very clever, especially as this concept had already proven its success!

Presentation Presents

During BNI meetings each member has the opportunity to give a 10 minute presentation to enable them to further explain their business to their fellow members and therefore generate more referrals and leads. Today we had an excellent presentation from Emily Wallace of Interlink Express, which included a very quick brainstorming session to help her extend her company’s services and provide a series of straplines for future networking.

One of the things she gave out to us to thank us for listening and to draw attention to herself and her company were little chocolate bars. They in fact were only Milky-Ways, but I thought wouldn’t it have been more effective if she had had her company’s logo, details and strapline or message on the wrapper (see my last post), as after the chocolate had been consumed, the wrapper would be kept and noted for future use or referrals.

Don’t miss a trick when it comes to promoting yourself for future retention through gimmicks.  Little presents like chocolate are nearly always appreciated (unless you’re losing weight or suffer from migrane) but you can always give it to someone else if you like (and keep the wrapper).

Wrapping up your publicity

At a recent business fair I met Graham Harding whose business is creating personalised wrappers on chocolate bars. Take advantage of this ‘blank canvas’ as an alternative method to promote your business, as this is a great way to thank or acknowledge your clients or staff while broadcasting your corporate image. The chocolate tastes good too.

At a seminar I attended recently, one suggestion made to publicise your company was to get your URL out as much as possible in many different ways (the list provided was varied, poignant and in some cases amusing), so chocolate bar wrappers could take their place alongside USB sticks/creditcards/keyrings and pencils made out of recycled plastic cups, baseball caps put on backwards and blinds for your office windows, car stickers using strange shapes and coffee cups with your strapline inside…

Don’t divorce yourself from design

My friend Annie O’Neill (The Divorce Coach) took advantage today to have a free health check on her paper publicity.  She had produced three A5 four page leaflets, one which covered everything, and two others that concentrated on specific areas.

I advised her to have a large, relevant headline and her name and website address clearly on the front page.  This is so that the reader immediately understood what the leaflet was about, and even if they didn’t open it, they knew who the author was and how to find them on the web.

Inside I suggested the text should be put into columns. This is because quick reading benefits from shorter lines, especially as the leaflets were to provide information purposefully for fast scanning to see if it is relevant to the reader.  Sometimes putting benefits into bullet points is applicable here to facilitate the scanning process.

All the images should be relevant and colourful to draw attention to themselves.  Sometimes the pictures say as much as the words (as well as their captions which are also as important) and good quality in both content and presentation provide that professional edge for a good impression.

If your budget allows, getting your leaflets properly printed certainly contributes towards your public image.  But if you are unable to do this, make sure of the quality of the paper, the clearness of the font (typeface), the crispness of the printer’s performance and the colour control to ensure a better publication.

Don’t forget, if you want to know more, or to book your own health check, go ask Alice!

Postcard Possibilities

Having browsed through my blog list, I came across this posting about postcards, which I would like to share with you: http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/profiting-from-postcards/

I’ve always liked postcards – they’re such a versatile media to work with. You could pack all your details onto both sides, or design them so they can be popped into the post with the traditional stamp in the corner. They can be enclosed in a C6 envelopes (found in a myriad of colours to match your design) or just have your details on one side to leave on side-tables or counters as walk-past publicity.

Why not try the concept from the post above? Setting up a serial of postcards spread over several weeks to get your message across in small bite-sized pieces is an effective way of drawing attention to youself – I was once bombarded in the same way by a printer touting for my custom and I certainly knew who they were when they called me later to see if I had received them. They succeeded in making an impression because I have remembered them to make this post now!

And watch out for my own new postcard design, just getting it ready to hit the streets very soon!

Is your networking up to scratch?

Take a look at your networking material, whether it’s your business card, leaflets, brochures or whatever, and consider these few pointers:

What kind of material (card, paper, plastic) is it made of?  Does it look cheap or expensive? Does it reflect the quality you want to portray?

What colours have you used? Are they appropriate to your product/service? Don’t use your favourite colours if they are not suitable to your business.  Also, be aware of how legible they are, eg red or yellow on a white background (does it disappear?), pale text on a dark background (may be trendy, but how easy is it to read?), combination of opposite colours (jumpy or what?).

How unique is your card?  If you got it off the internet, do you run the risk of meeting someone else at a networking event with the same design? Alternatively, if you designed it yourself, is it instantly recognisable as being produced by a home printer? Is it bland, ordinary, uninteresting, boring?  Could it catch a prospective customer’s eye?

Does it say what’s in the tin? How many times have you taken a business card home and you can’t fathom or remember what the company is about? If your business name doesn’t reflect the nature of your product/service, do you have a strapline or description to help the recipient? Does your logo also help in recognition?

Now for the action – if you (or somebody else you know) are not providing positive responses to these questions, and you would like to have marketing material that is professional, attractive and effective, then – go ask Alice!

Does your home-cooked marketing still taste good?

I attended my first NRG networking session and one requirement is to make a 2 minute elevator pitch, using their ‘meeting aid-memoire’ as a guide to content. As well as stating your name and business, think about a typical client, the problems they may have and what solution you can provide for them. Adapt it into a story about one of your successful clients: describe their symptoms before they worked with you and how this affected their business, then elaborate on what you did to help and the effect it produced. Try and relate an actual scenario, it comes across better and is probably more realistic.

This is my example: A friend of mine recently bought a franchise, and realised he needed to have some stationery done. He got himself a new laptop and a reasonable printer and started to experiment with creating his own. His first brave attempts certainly saved his bacon at networking events, but he soon realised that his competitors had better quality business cards, snazzy brochures promoting their wares, and were stealing a march with their leaflet drops. He really needed to have better quality and properly printed publications. So after working with me, he then hit the networking circuit armed with a box of professional business cards sporting a polished logo, a modern colour scheme highlighting his corporate identity with matching business stationery, a wodge of well-designed leaflets containing relevant pictures and catchy headlines, and a pile of punchy postcards displaying special offers and call to actions. We’re now working on his new website to further his publicity.

This true-life story has already convinced one person that her self-produced publicity has now passed its sell-by-date. Perhaps yours could do with a pick-me-up too?

How to encourage your target market

I’ve been talking to my daughter Josie about marketing and how products are sold to customers. She is very astute and keeps on referring back to my business. Her main question is: ‘Who, exactly, are your customers, Mum?’ and I’m afraid I had to hesitate! All the marketing advice out there says work out who your customers are and then build your business around them. I suppose I have to find potential customers to match each of my products (at least I’ve pruned those down in recent years) – not exactly the right way to go about it.

I can say I am looking for organisations who want to have information, publicity and promotional material in paper form using graphic design, eg membership organisations who would like to have a well designed newsletter or magazine to promote themselves to their existing and prospective audience, or small businesses who would like to have some paper marketing material to promote their services or products in a colourful and eye-catching form to their target market – but how do you say that in only a few words?

Josie and I have been Christmas shopping and one place she took me was the Build a Bear shop in the Oracle in Reading. A fascinating place as regards marketing goes – and I got Josie to try and analyse them for me. She was aware of the range of different bear skins to choose from, the fun idea of stuffing them yourself, going to a computer to name your bear and get a certificate for its ‘birthday’, and then choosing your outfit for your bear. She recognised the fact that the rich range of outfits would encourage bear-owners to come back ‘for more’, the upselling of other products in the form of accessories for your bear or finding a ‘companion’ for it, and the layout of the shop encouraged young prospects to enjoy their time there with bright colours, ample space and fun activities during their stay. When she asked me where were the same ideas in my business I realised I had a lot of thinking to do!

Obviously I can’t be the same as a bear shop, but I can make the process of visiting my website a more enjoyable experience. Why not offer an insight into graphic design, the different styles of paper marketing material, the potential of each commodity in relation to small businesses or organisations? I need to encourage my visitors to my website to ‘do’ something rather than just ‘surf’ and disappear, through offering freebie information packs and a well-written newsletter explaining and reminding its readers about my services. Undergoing research to find out more to impart to my readership, and to enhance my own experience and design work, will, of course, benefit everyone. What a positive way to look forward to the New Year!

Simple Soup Solutions

We’ve all heard the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth”, so does that mean the broth contains too many ingredients? If your stew-pot had all your favourite foods mixed together, do you think it would taste nice? Could you define any of the individual foods from the concoction?

Usually simple procedures are the most effective. Soup made from mushrooms with a hint of garlic and a sprig of fresh parsley is extremely tasty, and you can appreciate that it is mushroom soup and not a disgusting mess.

Now take a look at your promotional material. Is it easily digestible? Does your message present itself effectively? Would an alien from outer-space understand exactly what your company is all about? Is the meaning of your literature obvious at a quick glance? Are the contact details easily accessible? Is your logo clear and your strapline relevant and punchy? Are the benefits of your product/service instantly desirable?

Select your ingredients with care, because the proof of the pudding (or soup) is in the eating.