Business Marketing

Business Marketing

Business marketing requires a clear message about the business and products and services. Branding all the marketing correctly and advertising offers and events on social media.

Setting up emails in Outlook

Adding emails to your laptop - Outlook

You can add your email accounts to Outlook, but also take advantage of Gmail and Yahoo for sending and receiving business emails.

There is the classic version of Outlook and the New Outlook and they work rather differently so check which one you have.

Follow these steps to add an email account to Outlook so you can view, send and receive work emails and add a work signature.

Add an email account - New Outlook (Classic is being removed)

  1. In Outlook select the settings cog at the top right of the page.
  2. Select Email accounts under Accounts.
  3. Select Add Account
  4. Type in your email address and click Continue.
  5. Select advanced to manually enter the details.
  6. Select POP for Windows, IMAP for Apple
  7. Paste Password when it asks for password (typing can result in spelling mistakes)
  8. mail.****.com
  9. Port 995 for POP (993 for IMAP)
  10. SSL/TLS
  11. SMTP username - email address i.e. sales@.....com
  12. SMTP password (paste it control V)
  13. SMTP Outgoing server - mail.**.com
  14. SMTP Port 465 - if it says 567 you will need to change it
  15. Secure connection - SSL/TLS
  16. Continue
  17. Once all the settings have been added correctly the server will connect.
Outlook email set up

Go through all the steps and if it does not connect the first time, delete completely and start again.

The server maybe busy so it may not work first time.

Summary

Outlook is incredibly easy to use and as long as you give Outlook the correct server information it will connect to the server.

You can add as many as you want, just go through the same process.

You can also use Gmail to send and receive business emails.

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Adding emails to Iphone

Setting up emails on IPhone

Adding emails to your Iphone

Do not miss a single email by having your emails come directly to your mobile phone. The benefits of having work emails on your mobile are that you will be able to respond to urgent messages and quote requests promptly. Here is a demo to walk you through the steps to add emails to your IPhone. The settings require SSL and server authentication, also you may need to include the correct ports. Once the set up process is complete, you can send and receive work emails via your mobile phone.

3 steps to connect email to your Iphone

You will need to add a new mail account following these steps:
  • Settings
  • Mail
  • Accounts
  • Add account
  • Other
  • Add mail account

Go through the steps on your Iphone

You will be asked to add the details given you by your host provider here. Add details as per below you will need the password. Email set up

Add server information

We use IMAP for iphones (the emails will stay on the server) I use POP for desktop email delivery (downloaded to PC) Email Server settings Once the details have been entered correctly, the Iphone will connect to the server. You will see ticks and then the Iphone will show the new mail account has been added.

Summary - sending and receiving emails on Iphone

You do not want to miss that next service enquiry or an important message from a customer. Having emails on your mobile phone will save time and increase service response times. It is easy to do and you can have as many emails on your phone as you need.
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Vet website design

10 Veterinary Websites For Veterinary Surgeries 2022

Looking for inspiration for Veterinary websites in the UK for your next website project? Here are some nice, clean modern Veterinary Clinic designs.

Veterinary Services have been in demand since lockdown period as owning a pet became more viable. I even heard on the radio that people are walking away from jobs if they can't work from home, just so they can be with their pets.

Pets offer a great source of comfort, dogs keep us fit, and the love most animals give is really priceless.

There is an estimated 12.5 million dogs in the UK, according to PFMA. All these dogs will require vaccinations and regular health checks. Vets are in demand, with some reports suggesting their is a Vet shortage in the UK.

Below is a list of 10 modern, clean and useful Veterinary websites that will gain new clients and offer great online services.

Your website and other digital marketing practices will ensure your business is competitive and giving customers the right information. The website designer will focus on user-ability, accessibility, functionality and branding.

The main design is a horizontal menu, white space contrasted with bold colours and clear fonts and buttons.

WordPress

1. Cobie Vet Care, Eastbourne

Website is nicely branded in Blue and Pink with a lovely image on the homepage to get that instant connection.

Contact form on the home page for all enquiries with a map in the footer.

Contact details on every page and the menu and drop down content directs people to the correct information.

Good inbuilt SEO with all the meta tags and descriptions correctly reference.

Corbie veterinary care

2. St Anne's Vets, Eastbourne

Bold and clean design with good use of space and colour, images and graphics.

Sliders are no longer necessary on a website, they can date and some may slow a site down, but this slider only has 2 slides with nice images.

This is a Group of 4 Veterinary Practices so its designed to offer information on all four locations, they even have a virtual tour so you can see where your dog will be operated on.

The site includes recent customer reviews which offers useful information to prospective clients.

St Anne's Veterinary Group

3. Coastway Vets

Group of 6 different Veterinary Surgeries so this is a big concern and a very well established business.

Good use of colour, graphics and images offering customers a good feeling about the service they should expect.

Coastway Vets

4. Tower Veterinary Group

Meeting the team on the home page seems like a nice idea, and it is, the problem being is that staff change often and this image is now probably out of date.

However, the site offers useful information, testimonials, a registration form, emergency contact telephone number action button and is easy to navigate.

I would use more colour and more images on the site but the SEO is good as it was found very easily.

Tower Veterinary Group

5. Chester Gates Vets

Another website made with WordPress that offers a nicely put together design with a puppy on the home page and colour branding throughout.

They have used two menus which is a good idea for some websites to give visitors main content and secondary content at a glance.

I chose this website as it is a good example of what can be achieved using WordPress.

Chester Gates Veterinary Clinic

6. Abingdon Veterinary Clinic

This theme offers a nice layout with a 4 slide slider which is very inviting to visitiors.

The theme is fresh and the colours compliment each other well. The grey and green works really well, easy on the eye.

The mega menu is horizontal, rather than vertical which is nice and unique.

Hover effect call to action buttons work well and I like the compact style on the homepage.

Abingdon Veterinary Clinic

7. Goddard Veterinary Group

Love the image on the home page and they are using transparency in the header which looks nice.

They have added the Facebook and Twitter feeds on the homepage, this is often done as a tool to keep people informed of up to date news in real time.

They also have a branded chat feature, so people can chat to reception.

Good use of background graphics as too much white back ground can be boring.

Goddard Veterinary Group

8. The Kingston Veterinary Group

The video of the Highland Terrier is a nice touch. with the call to action buttons and welcome message.

The homepage has customer reviews and links to the four branches.

There is a link to another website selling pet supplies, so you could add an ecommerce subdomain to the website.

You can order repeat subscriptions on the website and all the information you need is easy to navigate.

Kingston Veterinary Group

9. Wolfe Vets

The colour branding looks nice but the font on the menu is a bit small and probably wouldn't pass W3C accessibility guidelines.

There is a testimonial slider but it could do with a heading to introduce the content.

The facilities would look nice with graphics.

At the bottom of the page there is an Instagram feed which feeds in all the photos of animals coming into the practice.

Business websites do need to display policies and procedures but I personally wouldn't put this on the home page, this could be on a separate page and linked to.

Wolfe Vets

10. Norwood Veterinary Group

Finaly, Norwood Road Veterinary Surgery is a good example of clean and crisp site with content in all the right places.

The homepage contains reviews and an introductory video for visitors and prospects.

You can request a video chat with the vet using VetsNow.

Good use of graphics and the ability to pay online is also a really useful feature.

Norwood Road Veterinary Surgery

Summary - Veterinary website design

We use WordPress for a lot of our website projects as it is highly versatile and easy to work with both from a design point of view, and for the business to manage.

Getting nice images of the animals and staff in their uniforms sets the tone of the business, images of puppies and smiles hooks people in.

The branding trickles down from the logo design, so the logo is a dominant feature of the website. The main menu can be on the side, but works better if it is horizontal so people can see exactly what menu options to choice.

If you you want like a quote for a new website get in touch.

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Digital Marketing Trends

10 Digital Marketing Trends for 2022

Before we kick off the New Year we need to think about the current Digital Marketing Trends for 2022.

Every year it is worth reviewing your Business Plan or your business objectives as they should be evolving as your business grows.

You may find the some of your services are no longer relevant or you may find your customers needs are changing.

Writing down a Strategy with goals and objectives may require some research but do not be afraid to drop some services and add some new services, we need to be relevant and helpful to our customers.

1 Be Strategic

Focus on what drives business

Think strategically and focus on what will drive business growth.

2 Use LinkedIn

Good new business Channel

LinkedIn is a great place find customers, the platform is growing and being developed all the time. Professional business owners will be on there looking for resources and collaborations.

3 User Experience

Quality SEO

SEO becomes more about giving a good user experience than technicalities.

4 Customer experience

Word of mouth

Gain reputation by offering a good experience for customers at every stage of interaction.

5 Optimized websites

Mobile friendly and fast

Websites are used more and more on mobiles so they must be optimized for all devices.

6 Algorithm-driven

Focus on what customers want

The algorithm is King, so you must make content people want to see or it will be less visible.

7 Data Insights

Understand your customers

Analyse the data to understand your customers wants and needs.

8 Visual content

Graphics, infographics, videos

Tell stories and offer useful information using visual content.

9 Personalization

Unique Tailor-made

Marketing is becoming more personalised, bespoke content for specific customers.

10 Keep it simple

Do fewer things better

Dominate in one area of business. Simplify your service offerings then do it well.

Conclusion

Happy New Year. I actually love the New Year and will usually make a list of 'resolutions or intentions' to focus on which usually around reading more, exercising more and drinking less.

However, when it comes to growing my business I look to see what the trends are and what customers are looking for.

My role is to supply businesses with marketing services, so it is important to know what they want.

Follow us on Instagram for lots of great tips and news, or contact us if you have an enquiry.

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Black Friday

5 Best Black Friday Deals for marketing your business

5 Best Black Friday Deals with big savings

Black Friday is a good opportunity to buy the software and tools you need to run your marketing campaigns.

Content Marketing is something every business should be investing in with the right tools to create impactful posts and stories.

Upgrade your website or ramp up your marketing activity using these 5 software tools below.

1. Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe Creative Clouds offers all the tools you need to start creating beautiful websites and gorgeous social media content.

Edit photos, create wireframes to design websites, create colour pallets, custom lettering and so much more.

Adobe Creative Cloud is a package of lots of useful tools used by Graphic Designers and website designers and includes: Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and more.

The offer today is 39% off and ends at the end of today.

Find out more

2. Canva

If you have not used Canva yet then start creating content today! What are you waiting for? The platform is free to use for general use creating nice Instagram posts and website content but for those wanting something more eye catching and effective the pro version is really cheap for what you get to do with it i.e. create business cards, create videos, merchandise etc.

Canva's is offering a flat 50% discount today! They are an awesome company and really want everyone using their tools to achieve real success, so they offer lots of training and support.

Find out more

3. Theme Forest

You can create a website from scratch using Adobe Creative Cloud wireframe functionality or you can pick up a pre-designed website theme that you can use as a base for your next project.

These themes are great for small project purely because they come with lots of additional functionality that wireframes do not.

Themeforest is my go-to for all website themes because of the variety and extension library of work. The developers on here are very supportive with their licenses.

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4. Hosting

Green website hosting means powering data centres that store the websites with green renewable energy.

This may not seem a big deal, but I read one statistic that data centres in the USA use more electricity than the whole of the car industry. To tackle climate change the hosting companies should be working hard to tackle this.

Website hosting with KM Web Design and Solutions is £10.00 flat rate for all businesses but today I am offering 50% discount with code Host2611.

Below is a list of features included in websites hosting:

  1. Website will be secure
  2. Website activity and performance will be monitored
  3. Plug-ins will be updated if WordPress
  4. WordPress and themes updated
  5. Website support and assistance

Annual website hosting for just £60.00

Find out more

5. Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes offer another way to make beautiful and lasting websites for all types of businesses.

Black Friday is the time of year when they offer their biggest discounts. Membership gives you access to lots of great website content.

Highly recommend Divi for those starting out in website design.

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Summary - get the best deals

One think a successful business must always do is keep the costs down. This is a mentality that I have always had and has kept me in business for so long. Costs can easily spiral and those costs affect profit margins.

You can not run successful a business without marketing and good marketing needs investment. For small businesses and freelancers this can be expensive.

Black Friday may not be popular but it does offer a lot of benefits to cost savings.

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