Well where did the year go?

I can remember being young (just!) and my parents telling me that time seems to go quicker as you get older – it’s true isn’t it? I think we all cram so much into our lives that the days and weeks whizz by….remember when six-weeks holiday in the summer seemed like a lifetime?

Lisa and I always get together in December to review our year in business and plan for the next 12 months. We shared so many highlights with each other and realized just what an amazing 2013 it’s been for One to Three!

To round off our working year (we’re finishing up soon to spend time with our small people) we wanted to share our highlights with you – getting it all down on paper is really therapeutic and makes us do a little jig of delight!

We love working with our ongoing clients – AB Walker, Companion Care Vets and Forest Laboratories are among the businesses who’ve been with us right from the start –but getting to know new companies has been a definite highlight of the year.

There’s been too many to mention everyone by name (almost 50 companies have used our services this year!) WOW

  

Working with small businesses such as RedLeopard and Creative Dynamic Print we’ve formed firm relationships based on a mutual desire to succeed and a real passion for what we, and our clients do.

We’ve worked with larger organisations including Lavendar and Stone – the divine chain of beauty salons that use us to manage their social media marketing. With four salons in the mix and endless topics to discuss they are a client that allow us to indulge our ‘girly’ sides!

2013 saw us working with large, established marketing agencies for the first time. Lisa delivered an SEO workshop to the Eclipse Marketing team and we are already planning a social media workshop for 2014 where Claire and Lisa will cover the benefits of using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest. Who’d have thought ‘little old us’ would be called in to train the staff of a multi-million pound agency?

In fact our SEO workshops were brand new to 2013 and have gone down a storm. Between us we’ve delivered over 30 social media workshops and the best part about this, is knowing we’ve empowered small businesses to take control of their online marketing.

Networking has played a huge part in our business once again and huge thanks go to the Women in Business Network and the Athena Network for providing us with endless contacts. Claire presented at two Athena meetings in the Autumn, delivering an introduction to LinkedIn and Facebook training session.

Talking of presenting, Claire also visited Basepoint, a serviced office complex in High Wycombe in November and gave a social media taster session to some of the tenants – a workshop has been booked for 2014 and Claire has been added to the recommended speaker list for the Basepoint Group!

This blog really could go on and on as there have been so many memorable moments but the one we’d like to end on is that we get to work with each other every single day.

Lisa and I are the best of friends – we have never fallen out, our work ethic is the same, our creativity, when together, knows no bounds and we know that our joint ambition to run a successful business where honesty, hard work and friendship are key will see us right for a successful 2014!

We are SO lucky to be able to say we love what we do. 

Thanks to everyone who has worked with and supported us in 2013.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

x

Our Top LinkedIn Tips.....

We have been doing lots of LinkedIn work this month, helping networking colleagues to make the most of their LinkedIn profiles and to really make their connections work for them and their business objectives.

Are you LinkedIn? 

If not....why?!?! It's SUCH a good social media tool for businesses and the free account is packed full of features and functions.

If you are....do you thin you are using it to it's full advantage? 

We've developed the following 'top tips' to get you started....happy networking!

CONNECT

Stating the obvious?! Perhaps but once you’ve signed up to LinkedIn you need to connect with people, businesses and groups.

After every networking meeting spend some time working through the business cards collected and search for the individuals on LinkedIn. If they’re on there, send a request to connect.

DON’T send LinkedIn’s generic “I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn” request – be more personal. As an example a recent request I sent said….. “We met at the charity evening in Burnham last week, it was great to meet (and compare our love of all things Mint Velvet)…..it would be great to connect here on LinkedIn.”

INTERACT

Once you have connections – interact with them by perhaps commenting on their status updates.

LinkedIn will notify you of any job changes that your connections have – congratulate them, ask them about their new role. ENGAGE!!!!!!

  

JOIN

Groups are a great part of LinkedIn and one of my top tips is to join groups relevant to your industry.

I am a member of the CIPR and social media marketing to name just 2 and I regularly join in discussions within these groups and have connected with other members and in fact have a meeting with another member in a couple of weeks to discuss a collaboration.

  

You can start a discussion chain – it needn’t be an in-depth analysis of your industry – I asked the question which e-newsletter provider do you prefer, a client asked me to do a quick poll…..had around 8 replies and some really useful feedback for the client

SHARE

LinkedIn (like all social media) isn’t about selling. It’s about awareness and it’s about sharing. So share your knowledge, share your expertise. Try to post an update at least once a week – link back to your website or other sites that may be of interest to your connections. Make people want to look out for your updates because they are useful, insightful and helpful.

RECOMMEND and ENDORSE

If you work with someone and enjoy how they’ve helped you – write a short recommendation  or endorse them!

Don’t be shy about asking for recommendations! No-one will mind being asked. The worse that can happen is they won’t reply! The best they’ll write a glowing paragraph about working with you!

If you are asked to recommend someone and are happy to – make the time to do it. It need only be a sentence or two but this is the life-blood of LinkedIn and if we all used it ‘properly’ it would be an even more powerful networking tool!

One tip – don’t be too ‘trigger happy’ with the endorsement button.

YOUR PROFILE

I’ve tried to save the most important ‘til last!

Complete your profile – get it to 100%

It is important for you to spend time building your profile.

This is going to be the first thing people see when they find you on LinkedIn so make the first impression the right impression!

Aim for:

-       A well-written summary of who you are and what you do – you’ll only have around 150 words so get it right!

-       A professional picture (not a blurry holiday snap) for your profile – and whatever you do don’t leave it blank or use a picture that is 10 years old!

-       Fill in as many of the profile sections as possible and revisit to update when you

have taken on a new project or gained a new qualification

WIBN Conference 2013 - our highlights!

Hanbury Manor was the setting for the first ever WIBN conference and it was exciting to see almost 150 women in the room....what a force to be reckoned with!! Both myself and Lisa attended, as WIBN members we  ere excited to be part of this conference and it didn't disappoint.

The first guest speaker was Helen Roberts, MD of CPG Executive Consulting Ltd. Her biography shared that she set up in business aged just 25 and made £1million in her first year trading! Wow!!

Her presentation shared with us her belief that hard work, planning and positive mindset are three key ingredients to business success.  Can't argue with that!

She recommended we all change our mindset to be positive not negative and plan! Have a business plan in place, draw up a marketing plan (oh we know people who can help with that!!) and know what makes you different.

She told us to delegate where we needed to, communicate and be courageous. Don't stop developing personally or professionally - live life to the full and continue to learn and have vision for what you want out of life.

How can that fail to inspire?  

A quick coffee break and a chance to chat with other members from around the UK before the wonderful Jennie Bond took the floor.

WOW!!!

She commanded the room, was fascinating - she really has worked her way up the media ladder from cub reporter in Richmond to sub editor at the BBC and then Royal correspondent. I loved her honesty - she said the Royals didn't really interest her when she got the job (!) but for 10 years she followed them around the world reporting on every step they made. She shared the relationship she built with princess Diana (now there's an off the record note book I'd like to read); she shared a gaff she made whilst speaking with the Queen....the room was enraptured! She also shared the juggle of this International career with her role as a Mum - her husband took on the role of 'house-hubby' and they are clearly a great team.

Jennie Bond quit as royal correspondent because she wanted a new challenge, she felt she had done all she could and admitted that although she had a financial cushion she was scared......but what a good feeling being scared was.

Her big leap was taking part in I'm a Celebrity

......she said she loved it. Her husband didn't want her to do it....her daughter did and she thought "why not."  (The picture to the left shows her underground surrounded by rats and snakes - yuck! But she did the challenge!) She explained how this u-turn in her career saw her suddenly being viewed differently by the media and TV execs and she now works on programmes very far removed from her serious news days (she even appeared on Stars in their Eyes as Blondie!) But she is  loving it.....and making more money than ever before. Has she sold out?....I say NO she has pushed herself and is reaping the benefits, good for her!!!

Her message to the room was don't be scared of being scared, of change! Step out of your comfort zone and you may achieve great things!

Lisa and I got to meet her after her speech and she took the time to have a photo taken with Lisa and I?..a genuinely nice, inspiring lady (who looks amazing for 63!!) 

More open networking over lunch and some great connections were made in the room with much business card swapping!

The day was rounded off with the panel discussion where experts in finance and law answered questions from the audience.

For those of you who attended I hope you had as great a day as we did and for those of you who didn't, I urge you to consider attending if another event is held in 2014 ........even if just to take time out for you and be inspired by all of the business women in the room.

I can promise you won't come away disappointed!

Claire x

Twit-ter-woo!!!

If you’re fans of Hootsuite (and if you’re not…get yourself over to Hootsuite.com for a look around!) you may have heard the news that Pinterest and Gmail are now available on your Hootsuite dashboard.

The official word from Hootsuite is this:

Gmail app:“Monitor and manage email alongside your social communications with the Gmail app for HootSuite! Monitor multiple Gmail accounts, preview messages, publish, and more all from the HootSuite dashboard. Achieving inbox zero just got a lot easier.” 

The Gmail app is currently £1.49 per month and a 2-day free trial is on offer.

Viraltag for Pinterest app:“Pinterest management for brands and publishers are now available in the HootSuite dashboard! Pin, schedule and analyze Pinterest content with the ViralTag app for HootSuite. Easily distribute social content to Pinterest from the ViralTag stream, view key metrics including Clicks, Likes and Repins, search for pins and more.:

The Viraltag app is currently £3.49 per month and a 2-day free trial is on offer.

So what do these changes mean to you? Well we say, they can’t be a bad thing. Having that Hootsuite screen as your main communications dashboard works wonders for many of our clients. Our advice would be, give the free 2-day trials a go and make a decision based on how much value these apps will add to your day to day management and think about the time you’ll save not switching screens and logging on.

We love the functionality of Hootsuite  - for FREE you can have your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare and Mixi profiles all in one place - We’re sure you’ll be experts in no time…and if you need help you know where we are!

x