Archive: 14th January 2021

Guide To Support For All Artists Covid-19 Crisis

Guide To Support For All Artists Covid-19 Crisis

Initiatives and Funding 2021

As we enter Lockdown 3, the arts sector continues to be the most aversely hit sector as thousands of jobs have been lost with the cancellation of thousands of gigs, exhibitions, festivals and on off closures of galleries and museums. So here at Positive Sales and Marketing we wanted to provide some glimmers of hope to this sector through our Guide To Support For All Artists Covid-19 Crisis.

Sacha Lord has been a prominent campaigner lobbying Government to cease penalising the hospitality industry over the spread of the Virus. Also tied in with Brexit a petition failed to persuade Government to waive visas for touring musicians. So times are now tougher than ever for our beloved musicians, artists, writers and poets.

There was £160 million given to the Arts Council at the beginning of the crisis which has now been allocated. So what can you do if you are in the arts as we enter 2021? One thing we do know, not retrain in IT!

 

Glimmers of hope for UK artists

 

National Lottery Project Grants open for applications until April 2021 – for indepdent practitioners and freelancers

Developing your Creative Practice  – open until 18th February 2021 – for individuals and freelancers

United We Stream

United We Stream was launched in April 2020 and has gone from strength to strength finishing the year on a high. 40 million people streamed their 24 hour New Year’s Eve virtual Hacienda party which was a great feat of imagination and a wonderul jewel glistening in the mire of 2020 mixed memories.

Funded through donations and organised events, money is sewn back into supporting our hard hit night-time economy. For those who are in Greater Manchester and are an individual or freelancer for the night-time economy you can apply to the Solidarity Fund.

 

Social Enterprises and Charities

If you are a creative that operates through a social enterprise or a charity, there is further advice, guidance and possible financial assistance through Good Finance and Social Enterprise Org.

 

Other Help and Guidance

 

Finally, it is up to us individually to support our local cultural heritage, by buying from our independent retailers and donating to live-stream events.

A new and exciting virtual world of culture is emerging, in which we all have an equal voice, let’s use it to our advantage. Please share this Guide To Support For All Artists Covid-19 Crisis with anyone you know of needing guidance at this time.

 

 

Guide to Digital Marketing in Lockdown 3

Guide to Digital Marketing Lockdown 3

16 lockdown 3 digital marketing tips

Digital marketing is still a mystery for a lot of small businesses.  It is one of those parts of being a business owner that can be confusing and perplexing.  After all you have a trade and customers to serve, taking time out to learn the intricacies of Facebook or Instagram can be a drag, especially for those of us of a certain age. Hopefully our guide to digital marketing in Lockdown 3 will help you overcome your social procrastination

 

  1. Make sure you are listed on Google My Business and Bing Places – set up Google My Business first then pull the information through to Bing at the push of a button
  2. Twitter is the new Costa – if you are business to business get on Twitter to find local businesses to network with and have a chat, people have a bit more time on their hands. Social media is for being social, so look beyond posting and have real conversations.
  3. Business to consumer – if you are selling to the general public make sure you have a Facebook business page, keep it fed with interesting news articles, what you are up to, photos – show your customers how great you are don’t just tell them.
  4. If you have a social element to what you provide set up a Facebook group from your business page, great way to build your audience
  5. If you are Business to Consumer invest in Facebook and Instagram advertising – minimum £100 per month per campaign. Very cost effective because of the laser focused targeting and analytics you get on your ads
  6. Invest in a website and start to blog to show your authority, particularly if you can’t trade at present, utilise this time to build your brand awareness
  7. Sponsor local causes – communities come together and there are a lot of initiatives to help communities, are any looking for sponsorship or donations – be a philanthropist
  8. Public Relations (PR) contact local online newspapers, magazines, community blogs and send them an article about your business, it has to be newsworthy, not just a plain sales ad, what have you done that’s interesting?
  9. Collaborate with other businesses online that are complimentary to your own, you may be able to join forces and do joint ad campaigns or offer reciprocal referrals. Make an objective to make one new associate a week. Twitter is a great place to network.
  10. If you already have Google My Business make a schedule to put on one new post every week and update images every week, audit your profile to make sure it’s complete. GMB is very important in your SEO, is your shop window and first impressions count.
  11. Build up your citations
  12. Take time to cleanse your Linked In profile, have you set up a Linked In company page? Are you making use of showcase pages? This is best for you if you are business to business.
  13. Instagram is becoming more of a visual platform – be bold and try posting short videos to bring your brand to life – engage with your audience – carry out product/service research.
  14. Look at boosting client engagement on your social profiles – run competitions, encourage user generated content (your clients interacting with your product)
  15. Take learning opportunities, if you have gaps in your skills and knowledge on digital marketing look at online courses
  16. Offline – it seems a world away before we can go to events and mingle but those days will return, plan your post covid offline strategy – events, expos, fairs, pop up shops.

Many business are booming right now because they keep engaged with their clients and people are sat at home with the same needs but different ways of accessing them. You can even make this Guide to Digital Marketing Lockdown 3 your New Year’s resolution list!

We would love to hear from you for an informal chat to help you with your content, website or professional development, please get in touch.

Directories for SEO 2021
SEO

Directories for SEO 2021

Directories for SEO 2021

Are directories still relevant in the SEO strategy race in 2021? Why do we ask? Since the inception of the internet, links in and out of your website have always played an integral part to your website’s optimisation. As search engines evolve, they don’t have the same significance these days, but they certainly can’t be ignored. Looking at how users search for information, directories are more significant in allowing you to advertise to your target audience rather than gaining ranking on Google.

This blog examines the advantages of using directories, the different types you should look for, paid vs free and top tips to avoid mistakes that could penalise your site.

Directories and why they matter

Have you got your business listed on a directory site? In the olden days most businesses made sure they had a listing in the Yellow Pages, now in the online world the choice is infinite. But with so many other platforms on which to showcase your business, why would you use directories in this day and age?

The Benefits of using an online directory

  1. Targetted advertising – Directories are usually constructed to serve a particular niche or geographical area because the two main reasons people will be searching are to look for local services or to research something in a specific sector. Directories provide a one stop shop for users so they don’t have to waste hours trawling the internet, some also offer supplementary information and blogs readers may find useful. Therefore you are likely to be seen by your target clients if you are listed on a directory.
  2. Increases the visibility of your website –  as directories have good traffic more people will find out about you
  3. Cost effective advertising – Some directories charge a fee to advertise as they have enhanced features and are a good source of information for your clients. Given that users will value these sites, this is a cost effective method of advertising as what you would pay for a year, you would normally pay for a week in a hard publication such as a newspaper or magazine.

Directories and Search Engine Optimisation

When you have a business website you want it to be as noticeable as possible to online searchers. The more times your business and website are listed on multiple sites, the more traction they are gaining and the business becomes more visible to the search engines. This is a term called ‘link building’ or to give it its technical term, citations. This is a strategy that can give you more prominence in the search engine results pages. But before you go gung ho with listing your name on as many different directories as possible, exercise caution as you could come unstuck, here are some top tips.

Quality

10 Directory Listing tips

The search engines now focus on quality when assessing your online portfolio. As well as your own channels on social media and your website, they will look at where you link to on the wider internet and the nature of those links can affect your ranking. Therefore, it is imperative that if you are using directories as a link building strategy that you follow these simple guidelines.

  1. Only link to reputable sites – directories need to demonstrate that they are not just set up for the purpose of link building, they have to have a purpose, providing information or serving a specific need.
  2. The main categories you should consider are – local directories – these serve your local community and are ideal for local pubs, restaurants and shops. They are usually set up for the community to access key information so are very credible for the search engines. Sector specific directories – these are good if you want to be found by users searching a particular niche such as counselling, hair salons or accommodation.
  3. NAP consistency – wherever you list your business online, make sure you are consistent in the use of your Name Address and Phone number, this is known as NAP consistency. Don’t list a landline on one directory and your mobile on another, or list your address differently by missing a line out. This will cause problems when Google is indexing your information.
  4. Don’t suddenly link to lots of sites all in one day, stick to around 10 listings per month, otherwise Google will see this as spamming activity.
  5. Although NAP have to be consistent, you can vary your descriptions between directories as you don’t want too much duplication.
  6. If relevant, don’t forget to include Google My Business as part of this strategy
  7. Keep a log of where you have listed your business so you can update all entries should any data change and to avoid duplication.
  8. Don’t just focus on free sites, paid sites can offer value for money.
  9. Here is a list of the UKs reputable generic business directories , also focus on sector specific ones too.
  10. Self Catering Scotland is a blog directory for the self catering accommodation sector in Scotland offering interactive listings

Positive Sales and Marketing can help you with Search Engine Optimisation, content writing, getting a website or training you on online marketing. Please get in touch, we would love an informal chat with you about how we can be of assistance.