gumption blog

brand tips

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:42:00 GMT

Post your tips on branding here to help others and we'll give a web link back to your site as a reward!

Here's a quicky... and a classic. A brand is not a logo or the colour of your web site.

A brand is the personality, tone, thought, feeling, character of the business - often about the business owner him/herself. Once you understand this, it can manifest itself into everything you do, the font you use, the choice of words, imagery, humour, promotional channels, etc, etc. Also, it usually takes a long, long time to develop a brand that can truely command the premium price you want for your service. And what's more, when you start out you'll never really know if you'll ever get there! One step at a time...

welcome & plug yourself here

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:05:00 GMT

Please click on the title of each blog to see the comments or add your own. We may even reward you with a free web link if it's really interesting!

Please also stay close and spread the word for us - click on Recommend below to tell your friends, RSS to receive regular feeds or follow us on Twitter @GumptionCentres.

We hope to inspire and provoke fresh thought.

general marketing tips

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:04:00 GMT

Please give your general marketing tips here. Anything from branding, design, customers, selling, segmentation to PR. We may give you a free web link back to your site as a reward! Here's a quick one...

Most companies make the classic mistake of only outlining their services in their promotional materials. But that's about you. The customer wants to read about them and how they can benefit and without thinking too hard about it. If you can show typical/target customer types experiencing the benefits of your services, readers will engage more and you'll get a better response.

Gumption is no different. We're now in the process of gathering lots of testimonials from lots of happy customers. It's better for us that their story is told.

web tips

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:10:00 GMT

Give your Web Tips here and we'll give you a live link back to your own site as a reward!

External links to web sites that come from well ranked, relevant sites usually take a long time to build. But they are extremely important to help you to get higher up the Google rankings.

If you want a free web link from us, add your tip here!

new victoria place

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:21:00 GMT

This project is now just subject to final planning permission.

"While the loss of the Odeon's turrets and façade would be regretted, we are satisfied that the benefits of the proposal would outweigh the harm which it would cause. English Heritage would therefore support the revised scheme."

Check out the PLANS. On balance, we think it has to happen.

networking tips

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:04:00 GMT

At networking events, many people are reticent to engage because they are used to being sold too. Once you introduce yourself, give them all the focus and ask what you can do for them.
It will help the conversation flow much better and they will eventually want to know more about you.

There's nothing more off-putting than somebody launching into a sales pitch of their latest new widget.

Just be human!

what is teletracker?

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:04:00 GMT

Hot off the press!

We've been developing Teletracker for about 10 months out of frustration of not knowing which adverts or promotional activities brought us sales enquiries. And it has been a busy time!

The concept is very simple: Put a different Teletracker number on each advert (or just use one on your web site) and watch them compete, in real-time, for your continued spend. There are lots of graphs & charts to help you make a judgement about the success or failure of your campaigns.

We've got millions of numbers in our database and even the 'memorable' ones are the same price, so don't get ripped off elsewhere! There are also big discounts for volume users. Please take a look at the TELETRACKER pages & images for more info, then you can start tracking your sales calls at the ONLINE CONTROL SITE.

Please post your questions here.

does westfield care?

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:32:00 GMT

Welcome to the "Westfield Shopping Experience"!

With their focus on opening Westfield Stratford in time for the London Olympics http://uk.westfield.com/stratfordcity, it's probably going to be some time before they're back in Bradford.

Yes, we also have the credit crunch, but whatever the reason(s), we believe they have a moral responsibility to carry out some interim landscaping to this central location in our city centre. The costs would be negligible for such a global company.
Was this just an over-sight by the top execs in Oz or maybe they simply don't care?

our £25m back garden

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:06:00 GMT

We love the park concept of making Bradford city centre more welcoming to families and our visitors. It's also Gumption's back garden too!

One plea - as a dad of 3, I just hope they include an enclosed playground for little kids too. We'll be shopping in Bradford much more (Westfield or no Westfield).

Click HERE to see the video and tell us what you think.

so what's next

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:05:00 GMT

Okay, we somehow gathered 130 people to the first www.bradfordnowhere.com event last month and expect 200 at the October event.

But what should we do to channel these fantastically positive-minded people into a trading unit, or should we just leave up to people to 'use their gumption' and get together?

Thoughts?

working from home?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:49:00 GMT

We're developing a national virtual office service and want to get it right. Please take a look at our virtual office pages and tell us what else you'd like us to build in.
The new virtual office site will be launched in the autumn and include other credible business addresses across the UK, book a meeting room & hotel, helpful toolkits, etc.

What's the one thing you need?

We won't publish your details if you ask us not to.