Frankly Speaking MONEY FOR
NOTHING – BUT THE KICKS AIN’T FREE
By Frank McKenna Downtown Lancashire in Business
In the 1960s and 70s, inflation was the scourge of UK politicians. It led to the country falling into rapid decline and won us the tag as ‘the sick man of Europe’.
The Prime Minister understands its paralytic impact on the economy and has made it his personal mission to get the sky-high rate under control.
However, was it Sunak who actually caused this explosion in the first place?
Brexit, the Bank of England, the pandemic, and Liz Truss have all been blamed for the recent spike. But maybe it was Rishi’s desperation to enhance his personal brand and score popularity points that has led us to the position we find ourselves today – which, to remind you, is worse than any
comparable economy.
On its own, the furlough scheme was generous. The UK paid 80 per cent of people’s salaries, whereby France, for example, paid 70 per cent.
Combine that with mortgage holidays, eat out to help out, the endless printing of money, and poorly managed and reportedly often abused business loans, and you can understand why there has been so much cash circulating in the economy.
It is ironic that a collection of policy options that were meant to elevate him to the office he has assumed far sooner than he expected may now result in him losing said position much sooner than he’d want.
DEVO TALKS SEEN AS ‘POSITIVE’
It appears the clock is ticking. Lancashire has reportedly been given a three month deadline to come up with a framework needed to get the county its long-desired devolution deal.
Whitehall officials have set a September target following a meeting with senior officers from County Hall and Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen councils, according to the BBC.
The meeting, which took place in Lancashire last month, was described as the beginning of a “conversation” about the possibility of creating a combined county authority (CCA) and securing a deal.
There was “positive dialogue” according to a statement issued by the three council leaders after the talks. They centred on what a devolution deal for the county might look like and how it might build on the collaboration in place and boost delivery of the ‘Lancashire 2050’ strategic framework.
County leader Phillippa Williamson, Blackpool leader Lynn Williams and Phil Riley, leader of Blackburn with Darwen, issued a joint statement.
There was no mention of a deadline, how a CCA would work in Lancashire and what role its district councils would play in any new local government set up. Lancashire Business View sought confirmation of the September deadline but received no reply before going to press.
The three leaders’ statement said: “This meeting was an important first step to allow us to set out how a devolution deal could work in Lancashire and the many benefits it could bring.
“To get to this stage has been a real partnership effort, and we feel that together we have put forward a really compelling proposition.
“As council leaders our commitment has always been to deliver great things for all the residents of our county.
“This is underlined through the Lancashire 2050 framework, which is designed to ensure Lancashire’s 15 councils are aligned on key county-wide issues such as economic prosperity, skills and employment, transport and infrastructure, environment and climate, and housing, all of which will benefit the whole county.
“Now we are looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting down to the hard work of progressing this devolution plan, working closely with our district colleagues and other key stakeholders.”
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
YOUR NEW WEBSITE FREE OF CHARGE
A SIMPLE STEP TO GET MORE
HOW YOUR NEWW TO MAKE B2B WEBSITE
B2B LEADS ONLINE CAN COST NOTHING
When we speak to marketers and business owners about new website projects we’re often asked how much budget might need to be set aside.
So today I’m sharing a simple mindset you can adopt to help improve your own flow of leads.
Our agency, Bespoke, has been generating B2B leads online for over 20 years, and I’m aware of how difficult many people find what can actually be a relatively straightforward task.
A sensible question of course, but I’m always surprised how infrequently we’re asked what return the website would be likely to generate - to me it’s the key question to ask.
The purpose of a B2B website is to promote the business the right way with the right brand, the right key messages, and with content that aligns with the problem their target customer wants to solve.
This first step to better performance is simply changing the name of the activity.
Many people that contact us at Bespoke tell us about the marketing activity they’ve been doing. They have a marketing plan, and number - a number of leads or an amount of sales - but not all websit s are equal of course.
The outcome of the website will always be a perhaps have hired one or more dedicated in-house marketing staff. Yet still not much in the way of results.
Many clients we work with are generating hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds of business each year from their websites.
Leads often flow after we rename the activity as lead generation, and begin tracking numbers of leads on a board on the wall. Lead generation is an outcome. Marketing is an output. The language influences how we approach the task.
Steve Brennan Co-founder & CEO ounder and ceo
But with different design choices, different key messages and different functions revenue could halve, or double!
So the key metric for a new website project is actually what is it expected to generate - even just an extra £50,000 of revenue per year is enough to render the question of whether the project costs £20,000 or £40,000 meaningless.
Because a website generates a return it’s an investment just like any other.
We should buy a website like we buy stocks and shares - choosing the one with the highest expected recurring return.
We’d never buy stocks and shares because they’re the cheapest we can find, so we should never buy a website that way.
By way of example, for many businesses there’s lots of marketing activity, and reporting is focused on that activity. Hours spent and tasks completed are counted. New social posts, blogs and videos are celebrated. Everybody feels busy, they’re working hard.
For those with a steady flow of leads, there’s a quite narrow focus of very high quality activity. There’s deep research and deep understanding of tactics. Campaigns launch and leads flow in. Everybody feels calm, highly skilled, and in control.
There’s more to this of course, but everything starts with the right mindset.
And the simple maths is - for any established B2B business switching to a website that generates a good flow of additional new business will likely make the website project effectively free of charge anyway.
Renaming marketing as lead generation is a simple step you can take today to move towards a consistent flow of exactly the quality and quantity of leads you need.
For further information call Steve Brennan Tel: 01772 591100
For further information call Steve Brennan Tel: 01772 591100
www.bespokedigital.agency
www.bespokedigital.agency
17
IN VIEW
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
