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Anyone who has ever applied for a marketing role will tell you that the competition is pretty fierce. Hundreds of applicants for one job… I havent forgotten :
With that in mind, having a CV that stands out isnt such as bad thing, from a content and design perspective.
Which brings me to Loft Resume’s – a service where anyone with a CV and internet connection can get a text only CV turned into something much more interesting.
Starting from $99, I think it’s money well spent. What’s your view?
These ‘Polaposts‘ polaroid postcards are a great and low cost direct mail idea.
Polaposts turn regular photos into mailable Polaroid prints by fitting them into a white bordered sleeve. A built-in seal keeps your print from slipping out and a writable backside makes for easy message scribbling. Just snip your photos to fit, slip ‘em inside then send them on their way. Great idea!
Wonder who has a polaroid camera in my world?
One of the topics that is ‘top of mind’ in my world is productivity. It’s been recently featured on the home page of BRW and as a small business owner, being highly productive is business critical. In many ways, I am fortunate that I can churn through lots of work, which is great for my business!
The topic deserves further exploration, therefore I hope you enjoy the next few blog posts as I explore the issue of productivity and hope we can both learn something and pick up some tips along the way.
According to BRW Magazine, Australia is in a ‘productivity backwater’ with many larger organisations including Qantas and Toyota struggling to cope with low productivity. For a small business, productivity problems can very quickly bring a business grinding to a halt.
So what exactly does ‘productivity’ mean? Put simply, it’s the act of getting more done in less time, or at less cost. It’s not about working longer hours, it’s about getting as much as you can out of every hour you do work. If you are self employed or are a one person business, your productivity has a direct impact on your wage and this can be a great motivating factor.
For businesses with employees who are paid a regular wage, productivity can be a major issue as staff that are paid potentially to ‘just be there’, no matter how much work they get through and without the right coaching, employees can often lack the motivation to be highly productive.
Increasing productivity, both for yourself and your employees is the holy grail of running a business but with some understanding of how the process works and a few suggestions, you could find yourself on the path to a more productive business.
Next post in this series - How does Australia compare to the rest of the world on productivity?
I have to confess I am still learning twitter. While researching ‘best practice’, I’ve stumbled across a few different tips which I thought I would share for anyone else who feels they could improve their twitter technique and benefit from more followers.
To be effective, you need to tweet regularly and consistently however, there are a few dos and don’ts, which may help if you’re struggling to come up with the perfect tweet.
Do:
Don’t:
Using twitter to its maximum advantage does take a bit of work and careful thought. I’m still figuring it all out myself but using twitter effectively can be a huge boost to your business, so it is well worth taking the time to write good tweets.
I am sure that many of the readers of this blog will agree that finding high quality stock photography is not as easy as it sounds. You know those istock photo images I am talking about…
The good news is that a new service has recently been launched that may just be the answer to this very common dilemma.
ImageBrief is a crowdsourced marketplace connecting professional photographers to image buyers in publishing, advertising and design. It’s really easy to use and now has a permanent place in my bookmark list.
Where do you source your stock images from?
Jo Macdermott is Head of Business and Owner at Next Marketing. She is dedicated to helping business owners and Marketing Managers do great Marketing and get a better ROI for their Marketing budget. Jo is also a CPM certified marketing expert.
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