Issue 2: A New Perspective
Familiarity can create complacency and blindness.
Focus and Blindspots
If you’re reading this, congratulations! You’ve made it to issue two of this Big Pond newsletter series. This week’s theme is what people see - and don’t see - around growth marketing.
Want more sales & leads? Then read on.
Famous illusionist Derren Brown has documented all manner of mind-bending feats on audiences. What looks like magic is often clever behavioural science.
The art of suggestion is partly down to how we perceive what we think is real.
Inotherwords, what we perceive becomes our reality, no matter how wrong that perception might be. Rumours, misinformation and false beliefs can run wild if unchecked. Lies travel faster than truth.
For example, McDonalds have had to run ads reminding people they use real chicken in their chicken nuggets!
At local level, it could mean people get the wrong idea about your business because they have to make a guess about your price and quality level from what they can see (your brand), whether that’s in the real world or the digital one.
For the service industry this can leave you at the mercy of review sites (hello Tripadvisor), or what someone sees from the high street. Constructive feedback from customers is how you can see what others see. Without a constant feedback loop, business owners become blind to changes in customer perception.
To prove my point here’s a link to an eye-opening video. When we’re focused on one specific thing, you’d be amazed at what else the mind will completely ignore.
Now ask yourself what else you might be missing out on when you’re overly focused on a specific area of your business. Is your time and skillset more valuable than the basic tasks you find yourself doing?
Delegating lower value tasks to free up your time, and concentrating more on higher value tasks is just one example of changing your line of sight.
Want more sales & leads? Create a process asking for customer feedback & referrals.
COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow
From US President Biden’s car being pictured driving past Greggs in Finnieston, to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer hosting - and tweeting! - his show from Edinburgh, all eyes around the world are on Scotland. For local business, there is a part to play in the climate change story.
At Big Pond we’d like to draw your attention to the Federation of Small Business (FSB) who have launched a sustainability hub.
In a nutshell, this about reducing your carbon footprint in ways that could save you money. And saving money is a good thing, right? So check it out.
Community Effort
Local communities pulling together in the face of adversity isn’t just a feel good story. There are real world positive consequences to our actions. From the Muslim owned takeaway providing free meals on Christmas Day, to mental health charity fundraising walks - the opportunity to do the right thing and make a difference is never far away.
With that in mind, our team was devastated to hear about the recent incident in Kincaidston. The destruction was heart-breaking to see, and our thoughts go out to everyone affected.
If you can contribute anything at all to the local fundraising efforts, here's where to do it: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kincaidstonexplosion
To learn more about what happened, the Daily Record has covered it.
What We Learned: Latest in Google Shopping
Triple check for errors before Black Friday arrives!
Want to sell more products? That’s where your product feed comes in.
As Google continues the slow boil user control from manual to automate-all-the-things, we’re going to see more tactics with the word ‘Smart’ added to the front of them.
Smart Shopping may not be new but it continues to be one of the best ways to reach new customers who search using non-branded terms. Now is the time to check if you have a product feed up and running, and to triple check that it’s optimised for your product catalogue.
As you can see from the image, new targeting options are becoming available. We’ll keep our finger on the pulse and let you know what we think works well, and what Google need to put back in the oven. Store visits is definitely one to watch!
News
Push for sustainable office furniture drives sales at Ayrshire firm - LINK
Google research predicts 71% of Edinburgh SMEs will expand next year - LINK
Social enterprise Social Good Connect has won Young Business of the Year (Dundee Business Awards) - LINK
Mackie’s goes under the microscope to test ice cream improvements - LINK
Shop local this Christmas as sustainable design event, HAAN, returns to Aberdeen - LINK
Creating Personas from User Research Results - LINK
How to create QR codes quickly for free - LINK
How Skyscanner’s Team Turned Marketing Into Growth [Senior Marketing Level Insights] - LINK
Free online course to learn responsive web design skills - LINK
And finally…
This might be the best how-to ecommerce tweet of the week.
Until next time - good luck!
Andrew @ Big Pond
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