Sam Amps, Curriculum Lead Marketing and Social Media, Truro and Penwith College Business

Make Sure Your Marketing Measures Up!

From updating your website to feeding your Social Media channels, paying for ad space in the paper or smartening up your signage, marketing takes time and money and you want to make sure that it is delivering on the investment.

For small businesses, there are many choices to be made. What to do and when? When to pay and when to rely on organic sharing? If you’ve got small budgets and big ambitions, understanding which channels and messages will work for your audience is crucial.

Our students often find that taking some time to research their market and come up with a well-informed plan of action, can make a real difference to the impact the marketing has on their business.

Marketing Apprentice, Poppy Faithfull told us:

“For me, the importance of planning aims and objectives before carrying out tasks has been invaluable. It allows me to manage my time, which is important when you have a long list of things to do! It also gives the ability to measure the success and highlights areas for improvement in future. And of course, it reduces the risk of costly mistakes”

Social Media in particular can quickly use up time and money if you approach it without some research and a plan. Emma Sixton of Sam’s took a Social Media Award with us and discovered:

“By using the analytics that I did not realise were so in depth, I have become more aware of who to target and when to engage, saving time and getting better results… If you are not using social media, you should. Even if you think you understand it, there is so much more you can learn and this knowledge will help you generate sales.”

If you can’t make it to a course yet, check you have the basics in place. Do you know who you’re targeting and what it is they need from you? Do they pay attention to the channels you’re thinking of using? Once you know that, putting your action plan together will be a whole lot easier. From there, it’s just a case of getting those communications out there, building some conversation around your brand and making sure all your hard work is bringing in some business.

To find out more about Marketing and Social Media training at Truro and Penwith College Business, come along to our Marketing and Social Media Event on 29 April at 8:00am in Haven House. There will be a short talk on “Your Marketing Plan in Half an Hour”, to get you started on the key elements you need to consider when planning on how to develop and promote your organisation and a chance to hear from former students about how they have benefitted from our training. Visit the events pages of the College website to book your place www.truro-penwith.ac.uk/events