Take a fresh look at your business for 2010

Following the recent launch of our Faculty of Business and Management, Canterbury Christ Church University offers a FREE breakfast workshop on Tuesday 19th January at Hall Place Enterprise Centre, Canterbury, to all business owners who want to gain a competitive edge and boost their business in 2010.

What does your brand say about your business?

Your customers make their decisions based on a complex range of factors, many of them emotional. The impressions they form based on what they see, feel and hear about your company can make a real difference to the value they place on what you do, and to your success. Your brand is not about having a clever logo or spending lots of money – it is about being clear, consistent and professional in everything you do. Come along to our brand clinic to learn from branding experts and through peer review what your brand says about your business and how you can make it work more strongly for you.

Led by Sharon Wilding from Purple Edge, and presenter for the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and Joanna Wood, marketing consultant and lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Management, our workshop will help you to understand how to:
• identify your brand values
• harness the power of design
• apply your brand consistently
• create your action plan for maximising the power of your brand

Join us from 7.45am to 10.30am (breakfast provided), on Tuesday 19th January 2010 at Hall Place Enterprise Centre, Harbledown, Canterbury CT2 9AG.

Places are limited so please book early.

To book a place email business.services@canterbury.ac.uk or call Fontemaria Totaro on 01227 782666.

www.canterbury.ac.uk/business-services

Last night’s rearranged venue for our June meeting was, as usual, great (and thanks to the Red Lion for taking us on at the last minute). And even better that with the lovely warm weather we’re having at the moment we were able to sit out in the garden.

So, the networking was a bit loud as we all sat round a big table and shouted! At one stage I had to get a few of us to do a musical chairs impression and all move down one so that Chris from Copy-Link in Folkestone could get to the opposite end of the table to talk to Jane of ABC Simple as… and Julie from Hestia Property Services!

Simon, my husband, was kept very busy shooing away a persistent seagull from our lovely buffet. Just realised that we should have taken some photos to put on here – we always forget! You’ll just have to imagine a lovely summer’s evening in Hythe.

Much of the evening was taken up with a spirited discussion about online marketing for small businesses, particularly about Twitter and how to use it. Alan from The Icelab and I were kept very busy sharing our knowledge and Chris from The Eye Centre was off to try out Tweetdeck (and get ready for his open day in Hythe on Saturday) and Sheila from Mini Bills was thinking about starting a blog! Jaci from Estate Legacy Services is looking forward to making some changes to her website this weekend too, as one of the people on my online marketing coaching programme. Hayley and Jodie from Foreman and Jones have a new website that we are helping them to put together and Hayley tweeted later to say that she is working on it today – so watch this space!

We were all pleased to meet Maggie who is looking after business development at the lovely Boys Hall in Ashford. We are talking about having a future meeting there. We held one there when we first started and some of us remember having a lovely tour round the Jacobean property. Gordon our very own toastmaster and Graham from Coffee Break Massage who also has a business playing the harp at events were both pleased to do some networking with Maggie as she was telling us that they have held 40 weddings there this year and obviously both of them are potential suppliers (Graham with his harp business, not the massages for weddings – although I can see that he may also have a market there!).

We had a late entry in the form of Trevor from the Microwave Service Company in Sellindge, which started up another conversation about online marketing as some of Trevor’s business happens online. So we were the last to leave following an interesting conversation about what keywords would be useful for Trevor to optimise his site for – what do people search for online when their microwave has broken? Answers on a postcard please!

I think that’s a mention for everyone, but I’m sure you’ll let me know if not! It’s 7am the next morning as I write this and I’ve already had a couple of messages saying what a great night it was last night, so I think we all agree it was a good turnout and lots of fun.

Our next meeting is being hosted by the South Kent Gateway in Folkestone.

Photo Credit MASH DnART