In this example from Ford, they've got Alesha Dixon singing a song and essentially saying how much she loves the car.  Sadly the star of the advert is Alesha and the car is relegated to a bit-player.

While this will be attractive to most red-blooded males, it's all for the wrong reasons.  People will be asking, "Who's the singer" or, "What's the song", instead of the attention being given to the car.

In the next ad, Ford have managed at least to get lots of "Focus" badge shots so you do know what the product is.  The angle of this ad appears to be associating Focus with energy and drama.  Still not selling to any particular needs that a client might have, just creating a beautiful arty short film that they hope might sell cars…

A great pity, because Ford could be using the same expensive ads to tell us all about fuel efficiency and mileage, two very topical subjects at the moment.  In this final ad for the Focus, Ford explain fuel efficiency cleverly.  It's for the North American market, so 35mpg is good fuel efficiency and a clever angle.  Obviously in the UK market, the ad would need to use a car with 50 mpg or more to be impressed, which they do have.  This is a much better angle. 

I wish I knew the actual results from each of these ads, although I'm certain I could predict which sold the most cars…

This then, is the angle of your advert - how do you burrow into the consciousness of your potential customer and make them want to have your products?  What advertising are you doing at the moment, and what's your angle to keep you in the mind of your customers?

One business coaching client has a restaurant and since August we've worked on increasing sales, with great results - a solid 30% increase now.  This has been by a combination of different tactics and we're really pleased with the results.  Now he wants to fill the restaurant over Christmas lunchtimes (he's normally closed at lunch).  So how can he do it?

Well, he's short of time because they're a small business.  So here's what we're doing.  He noticed that he gets quite a few customers referred by a local hairdresser. 

Obviously when the stylists are chopping they're chatting too.  His restaurant serves really high quality food in a great atmosphere for a fair price, probably making it the best restaurant around for a good 20 miles.

So, thinking laterally, if one hairdresser likes to talk about it, maybe others would too?  He's going to invite them in for a free meal, which will cost very little because the raw food costs are relatively small. 

Hopefully after they've experienced this great food for free, they'll want to talk about it none-stop to their customers too.  He'll also put leaflets into the salons to remind them and for customers to take away.

What better way to drum up business than feeding the word-of-mouth community - quite literally in this case!

So, here's a thought for you…

What businesses are there around you who serve the same kind of customers that you want?  And what morsel can you offer to make them want to talk about you non-stop?

There's no shortage now of TV programmes to watch and learn about business development.  In the last week alone, there's been…

• All Over The Shop with Geoff Burch on BBC2, where a business coach helps retailers in various cities to improve their shops and hopefully increase sales
• The final show of Natural Born Sellers with John Caudwell on ITV, in a show-down to pick the top salesperson after a series that had them selling furniture, hot-tubs, double glazing and finally shares in a racehorse
• Dragons' Den, now staple watching for entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs everywhere
• Neil Morrissey's Risky Business on C4 - or as the Daily Telegraph prefers, "Men Brewing Badly" - a documentary about actor Neil Morrissey's move into the pub and brewing game with friend and business partner Richard Fox

I'm sure I must have missed a few out - Business TV makes compelling viewing for me, and obviously thousands of others judging by the popularity of the shows.

I've got to say though, that Morrissey Fox beers have an uphill battle, even though they've won over Tesco's for a national launch in 500 stores.  Unless they work hard at building their brand into a respected beer with real credibility, the free PR they're getting now will serve to help them sell a lot of beer at launch before they disappear into the history books as a fad.

Still, it made fun viewing and I shall certainly be watching further episodes if they're forthcoming.

Make a point of singling out a show to watch and pick up a tip or two that you can use in your own business.  Just having a better attitude towards your customers than Morrissey & Fox have would be a great thought to take away, if nothing else!

This came back to my mind this evening while I watched "All Over The Shop", the BBC2 programme featuring business coach Geoff Burch visiting retailers in a selected city (Bristol this time) to give them tips to improve their fortunes.  Of the three shops I saw him visit, one of them did very little, even though the changes suggested were clearly going to improve his sales.

He understands the ideas, but he's just not taking action.  He had four weeks after hearing Geoff's advice to take action.  He did almost nothing.  The results he'll see will be almost nothing.

In the meantime, a coffee shop/cafe with books all around had taken huge action by comparison, becoming far cleaner and a much more inviting and pleasant shop to buy from.  The smell of chips and old cooking oil had gone, replaced with fresh paint and coffee smells.  Fresh panini and salad were on display in a clean, glass-fronted display counter and the feeling was of a transformation clearly under way.

What ideas have you had for your business, but not carried out yet?

Decide on a course of action, then do it.  There's a lot to be said for the Nike way - "Just Do It"…

You can watch All Over The Shop if you missed it, using the BBC iPlayer.  Recommended viewing for retailers, even if Geoff's advice sometimes puts the shop owners on the defensive, he is clearly trying to help them make a difference.  You might pick up a good idea or two for your own business, too.

Since then, that entry has received quite a few comments, but I've also received calls from several clients and emails from other readers telling me that they had decided to stop procrastinating and take that tough action this week.

To their great relief, they found that putting the tough things behind them gave them more energy, more motivation and took away a load of stress too.

So, what's the next thing on your list to get done, so that you can enjoy less stress and a better business?

Here's an idea for you - how about getting into online networking - or social media as the Internet Marketing crowd are calling it?  It works, it's simple enough to do and it's fun.

I came across a great blog entry about not getting overwhelmed by all the choices, but just picking one and going with it, by Marie at the Training Marketer blog.  There's a really neat video explaining why online networking and social media is so powerful for us as small businesses.  I'd love to be able to do a video as cool as that!

Lee

Nigel has too much overhead in his business - too many people, inefficient systems, expensive offices.  But when he needs to cut back, what does he do?  He trims away at the edges and fails to address his key issues.  He never actually fixes the basic problems.  Worse than that, he sees these problems as assets to the business, key things that help him.

Well, to every Nigel out there - what use is a business that never makes money???  If you want to improve it, you have to be harder.  If you don't make money, you may as well pack up because you are running a hobby, not a business!

To Improve Business - Cut Once, Cut Deep…

This is a tough thing to do.  You have to overcome the emotions attached to so much history with people, things, services etc and make the decisions that will make the difference in your business.  It's no use "being loyal" to your staff if they are dragging your business down with costs and lack of performance.

And the thing is this - if you cut deep, you make big changes.  If you make small, tiny cuts, you change nothing significantly and the costs will creep back on.  Big changes get big results.  Little changes get little, if any, results.

The biggest reasons you don't make these big decisions are sentimentality and fear of change. 

If you fear change think about this - if you don't make changes now, you might not have a business to change in a year's time.  Which do you fear the most?

If you feel bad about letting a member of staff go, how bad will you feel if the whole business fails, and you have to tell everybody you employ that they have lost their jobs?

This is the big, hard stuff you have to deal with as a business owner.  Lots of people don't do it until too late - make sure you face up to this stuff early and meet it head on.

Make A Decision To Improve Your Business - It's Better Than Avoiding The Problem

Your business coaching action for today is to take 30 minutes to look at your business and decide what you can do to improve your profits.  It maybe that you don't use your fax anymore and you can cancel the line.  Or perhaps you could get rid of some old stock that's been sitting around for years.  Or, perhaps you have a member of staff who you know, in your heart, has to go.  You just haven't faced up to it yet.

Just take a decision - you'll feel better when the dust has settled.

This has to be the most creative use of billboard advertising I've ever seen - really clever and very effective too - respect to Drew McLellan for picking it up for his marketing blog .  It's a love story played out over several weeks on a roadside billboard to the general public and turned a bar into the talk of the town.

Marketing is all about getting noticed - for the right reasons.  Doing something out of the ordinary to get your business noticed is a great strategy.

How could you do something just as innovative for your business?  If you've got a board at the side of the pitch of your local sports team, just imagine how you could spice it up by changing it every week for a couple of months.

In the past month or two, several coaching clients have done some really smart marketing campaigns to increase the attention they're getting.

One client emailed out a £5 off voucher to all past customers to give as a gift to their friends.  Perhaps not wildly original, but highly effective - they got hundreds back.  And of course, a new customer is worth not only the value of the first sale, but the value of all the sales afterwards, if you look after them.

Another client, Couraud in London, offers a specialised 360 feedback service for developing managers and leadership.  They put together a campaign to give feedback on the heads of our political parties.  Nicely topical, they got a reasonable response and it was all for free.  I'll be interested to see what PR they can pick up from this too.

In these days of watching the bottom line and worrying about tomorrow's sales, do something different today and make a difference to your business.

This strategy comes from evolution.  When a hungry beast is out hunting for food, it looks for movement to find its next meal.  The trouble is, the car isn't a hunter, it's a modern invention that evolution has not yet caught up with.  By standing still, the rabbit is at a much higher risk of kicking the bucket.

The same is happening in businesses up and down the land.  As a business coach I see it all the time.  People are caught in the fear of the continuing banking turmoil and getting frozen by fear.  If you stand still, you're giving yourself the worst possible chance of survival. 

No News Is Good News

If you read the newspapers or blogs about business and the economy, you can easily become depressed by how awful things are and how bad they could become.  Reading an article about the economy already in recession there's a call for cuts and help from government for small business.  Unfortunately a great big hand is unlikely to reach from the sky and inject £100,000 into your business…

So how exactly is reading the news helping you?  What does it add to your day apart from an unhealthy dose of paranioa, fear and frustration for the economic mis-management wrought large by short term thinking of the banks?

If you find yourself feeling miserable about the economy on a daily basis, here's a prescription to help you.  Stop listening to the news on the radio, tv and cancel your daily newspapers.  Find a good book or audio-book on business and use your time positively with that instead. 

At worst you'll avoid being depressed.  At best, you'll discover something to boost your business and yourself.  And you might even feel good about yourself too…

Get Out Of The Headlights

It's time to behave differently to your competition.  Do something that will make you stand out to your customers and they'll come to you instead.  Fear is nature's way of telling us that there's a potential threat to us.  That's useful - we need to know that some kind of different action to normal is required.  Just don't be caught by your natural response and do nothing, or you'll be another piece of economic road-kill.

Here's a definition of fear you can use to remind you of it's root…

Freeze
Expecting to
Avoid
Risks

This old definition is fine if you're out hunting for dinner and keeping yourself safe from sabre-tooth tigers.  It won't help you to make more sales and drive your business forwards through the slowdown, though.

In his great book about how to achieve multi-million pound wealth from business, Felix Dennis, the multi-millionaire founder of Dennis Publishing, suggests living a day without fear to see how much you can achieve.  So what could you achieve if you did that?  What do you avoid because of rabbit in the headlights syndrome?

The Credit Crunch & Your Business

Here's a different way of thinking about the state of the economy and how it will affect your business…

You don't have a crystal ball.  You cannot predict what's going to happen in six months' time and you can't personally impact the economy in any real way.  And as far as predictions go, you can't reliably predict what will happen even as close as next week.

But the interesting thing is this.  If you keep doing all the right things today to strengthen and improve your business, increase your profits and become more successful than you are now, whatever happens in 6 months or a year will be far easier for you to face if you've done something every day, week and month until then to improve your business.

Meanwhile let your competition stay frozen in the headlights.

• £2,000/month basic salary (including employer's NI and other costs)
• £1,000/month overhead costs (fair share of office, admin etc)
• £1,000/month for lead generation.  That's the telemarketing, advertising & other associated costs for getting enquiries that the salesperson takes on.

As a result of his business coaching programme, he's learnt about direct response marketing.  That's marketing where you go out to generate sales directly from your advertising, rather than just trying to build your brand.

The first stage of the process is to identify your target market.  It's a topic I frequently write about because over 90% of companies simply don't do this at all and it is critical to your results.

You've probably heard the saying that birds of a feather flock together and this is true for your customers too.  A month or so ago we started collecting names and addresses of existing customers to build a customer database.

The beauty of building a customer database is that you can keep in touch with people who have already bought from you. But, you can also find out who their neighbours are and promote to them too.

If Bertie promotes his coffee shop to the streets and areas that his existing clients come from, he'll be talking to a far more receptive audience than than just blasting out a general advert to the whole town or city.

This is one incredibly simple way to identify your target market. Once you've done this it becomes a simple matter of tailoring a message to suit your audience.

If you try this out, make sure to include some kind of offer in your advertising so you can measure how effectively your advertising campaign works.