Networking boosts brand exposure, builds your contact list, connects you with industry big wigs, aids in lead generation and provides you with a support network of like-minded people around you. You don’t need us to tell you the benefits of networking at this point. What you might need though is our guidance on what you should and shouldn’t do to be the person in demand at these types of shindig. 

Nobody wants to be the one left shuffling in a corner, picking the label off a lukewarm beer bottle before eventually leaving with a pocket full of business cards, all of which have your own name and contact details all over them… 

To avoid being that person, check out our list of networking dos and don’ts: 

DO rehearse a bit of blurb about yourself beforehand

Don’t waltz in and start reading off a script but do having a short spiel ready to go, in the back of your mind, about who you are and what you do will set you off on the right foot. Ending up tongue-tied and red-faced at the first hurdle isn’t a good look on anybody. 

DO have some strong conversation-starters up your sleeve

Awkward silences and small talk aren’t exactly the most alluring tactics either so keep some conversation topic ideas in the back of your mind too. Maybe tell them about a fantastic book you read recently, or ask them if they have any great podcast recommendations for you to try. If other attendees in the room can see people are engaged in conversation with you, they’ll want to strike up a dialogue with you too. Just avoid topics which revolve around the weather or politics – save those for the family dinner table. 

DO make an effort with your appearance

We’re asking you to keep a lot of things stored in the back of your mind here but one thing you can box off before you even arrive is what you look like and most importantly, how great you feel. When you feel good about how you’re presenting on the outside, this then permeates through to the inside and radiates back out in your personality and confidence levels. First impressions are worth their weight in gold when it comes to business so just make sure yours is conveying the right message about you. 

DO be genuine, authentic and listen to what people have to say

Whilst it’s great having plenty of interesting things to say about yourself, it’s also essential that you remember to listen to everybody else too. Not just listen to respond either – genuinely take interest in what they’re saying, ask questions, be curious and get to know them better because you never know where the conversation might lead. 

Now, moving onto some things you absolutely should not do at a business networking event: 

DO NOT use the free bar as a crutch for any nerves or anxiety

Putting yourself out there and socialising with a whole group of strangers is not for the fainthearted – granted – but the solution doesn’t lie at the bottom of a fifth glass of flat Prosecco. Enjoy a tipple or two if you like, to loosen those tense spots and calm the nerves, but stay focused and keep a clear head.

DO NOT going in with the hard sell approach

Networking isn’t a plan of attack or a chance for you to steal the limelight. Instead, see it as an opportunity to spread your wings, expand your horizons,  mingle, see what’s on the table… Whatever cliche analogy you want to choose, just remember to take the softly-softly approach here because the hard sell will only see you scowled out the back door. 

DO NOT forget your business cards

It’s easily done – you leave your business cards by the front door and end up scribbling your email address on the back of an old petrol station receipt. Stay polished and professional by keeping a stock of well-designed business cards in your pocket so you can share your contact details readily and without kerfuffle. 

Do you have any of your own tips on how to quash those networking nerves, spark more engaging dialogues and make sure you stand out from the crowd? Leave them in the comments or come and share them with us over on social media.

The post How to Be the Person in Demand at Networking Events appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

There’s pretty much a podcast out there for everyone. So, naturally businesses have joined the podcast world, looking for opportunities to boost their reach and promote their services. 

While there’s certainly a place for businesses in podcasting, the way you approach it is crucial. Stepping into podcasting with the sole goal of promoting yourself never ends well. You need a strategy before you start off and that’s what this post will help you with.

Why podcasts are great for businesses 

The great thing about podcasts is that most people can easily access them and they are a convenient way to digest information. Your audience doesn’t need to sit down and read a long blog post, they can just switch on a podcast while doing something else such as driving, exercising or cooking. 

From a business perspective, you can increase your reach, build trust with your audience and position yourself as an expert in your industry. 

Determine your value

Your value as a business may be a simple case of providing much-needed services but podcasting is another world entirely. You need to be able to provide additional value aside from your usual services. 

That information also needs to be useful or interesting, something that people will want to come back to. Overly promotional podcasts about your business generally don’t do well unless you’re already a massive, well-known brand. 

Wanting to promote yourself isn’t a bad thing, it just can’t be the only reason you’re doing this. What are you going to bring to the table to enrich your listeners’ lives? 

For example, if your business is a gym or related to health and fitness, you could create a podcast about healthy living, diet tips or exercise tips. 

Determine your audience

Before you start chatting away on your podcast, you also need to determine who it’s actually for. This means doing some market research and also looking at your customers. Who is this podcast designed to help? What does your audience want to hear?

It’s all too easy to create a podcast that’s interesting but doesn’t really appeal to your target business market. 

Choose your topics/niche

It may be tempting to cover lots of different topics but what your audience needs is consistency. Instead of trying to cover everything, choose a niche or a select few topics to cover during your podcasts. Explore these topics in detail and try not to sway too much from the subjects that people have subscribed for. 

Plan podcasts and schedule

The best podcasts are not just mindless rambling. It’s a good idea to have a podcast schedule and plan put in place so you can cover subjects in detail. Try to determine how often you will publish a podcast and how long they’ll typically be. 

Also spend some time determining your format. Is it going to be a CEO giving tips or will you feature interviews, have co-hosts or switch things up?

We hope these beginner podcast tips have helped. These are just some of the things to consider before investing your time in creating a podcast. Once you’re happy you have a solid plan, it’s time to decide on what equipment you’ll be using and where your podcast will be hosted (e.g. Spotify). 

Have you ever created a podcast or been interviewed on one? What other tips would you suggest for others? Let us know in the comments below. 

The post Getting Started with a Business Podcast appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

Post-COVID lockdown anxiety is becoming ‘a thing’ and we’re all still stuck in that limbo between venturing outdoors more and contemplating the return to work, but still not wanting to overstep the guidelines or take things too fast. It’s a stressful time with uncertainty at the helm so it really is crucial to check in with your mental health on a regular basis and do everything you can do support its vitality. 

For some people, self-care comes in the form of a takeaway in front of the TV and for others it will be a 10k run followed by an hour-long yoga session. Another popular way to escape real life for a while and do something good for the old brainbox is to get lost in a good podcast series. If that sounds like just your cup of tea then you’re in good company here and if you’re in the market for some recommendations then we’ve got you covered. 

Here are five inspirational, empowering and uplifting podcasts that you should be listening to right now to help keep your professional motivation pumping and your soul in good spirits:

How I Built This – Entrepreneurs building empires 

This popular podcast chronicles some of the world’s most prolific household names and how they came to be – from the brains behind the operation to the very first brick that was ever laid in their foundations. 

Episodes share the biographic stories of big brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Spanx, Bumble, Air BnB and Buzzfeed and if you’ve lost your mojo or your entrepreneurial drive then this is a surefire way to find it again. The series gives invaluable and honest insight into things like branding, marketing, dealing with the media and how to accelerate success once you’ve hit the nail on the head. 

Listen to How I Built This

Happier – Habits, happiness and human nature  

If you’re already a regular in the realms of podcasting then you’ll most probably already have stumbled across Happier with Gretchen Rubin at some point. Rubin is an American award-winning author and speaker who specialises in the art of achieving true happiness through healthy habits and the changes you can make to your life. 

Decorated as one of iTunes Best Podcasts, Happier is a treasure trove of tips, including advice around money, working from home, the food we eat, how we parent, how to manage our employees – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. 

For freelancers or self-employed business owners, it’s also a great way to keep in touch with the conversation topics that office-based workers chat about all day long and take for granted. 

Listen to Happier 

Stuff You Should Know – Learn something new every day

Otherwise known as SYSK, this podcast and video series is about as eclectic as it gets. The tagline reads: “If you’ve ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further”, which should give you a good idea about the real scope of its topics. 

So, whether it’s an icebreaker conversation-starter at your next networking event or just keeping your brain active with extra knowledge, every day’s a school day when you’re tuned into Stuff You Should Know. 

Listen to Stuff You Should Know 

ONEOFTHE8 – New kid on the block 

Only launched within the last couple of months, ONEOFTHE8 is a fresh face on the podcasting scene but is already making quite the impact nonetheless. Dedicated to celebrating and giving a platform to ‘real life stories from real world people’, each episode showcases a different guest, all from a whole plethora of walks of life. 

From a Delhi-born philanthropist who moved from Manhattan to Manchester; to a mother who left her high-flying job in fashion editorial to create designer plant pots; and a renowned tennis coach and motivational speaker who lived through South Africa’s most brutal civil war. 

If you want to feel inspired and have your faith restored in humanity, this is a must-listen and one to watch. 

Listen to ONEOFTHE8

Have you listened to any spirit-lifting podcasts lately that you think our blog readers and clients should know about? Share them with us on social media using the links below.

The post Uplifting Podcasts You Should Be Listening to Right Now appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

However, there could be a better method than influencer marketing. Brand advocacy is something similar but differs in a couple of ways from influencer marketing. 

What is a brand advocate? 

Brand advocates, unlike influencers, are genuine users or customers of your business. A relationship with an influencer is a clear transaction. You pay them and they promote your business. With a brand advocate, it isn’t necessarily about the money.  

Brand advocates are already customers of your business who are happy to tell others about their experience.  

How can brand advocates benefit your business? 

Brand advocates and influencers are effective marketing tools because they offer personalised recommendations to others. People are far more likely to use a product or service if it has been recommended to them by someone trustworthy.  

However, we’ve got to the point where even influencers are seen with a certain level of scepticism. We all know how it works now and so the recommendation will always feel a bit less than genuine.  

With brand advocates, as these are already customers with real experiences, the recommendation holds a bit more weight.  

Where can you find a brand advocate? 

Customer details 

The first stop to find a brand advocate is to dive into your customer data. If you have salespeople, you should speak with them to find customers who are especially happy with the service and then contact them yourself to ask for a review.  

Customer reviews 

If someone leaves glowing feedback about your business, it could be worth approaching them over a brand advocate deal. In some cases you can even find customers with negative reviews, resolve them and hopefully turn them into happy customers.  

Social media 

It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on your social media accounts to try and identify potential brand partners. Is there someone who regularly interacts with your posts or shares them a lot? Perhaps they would be willing to help you promote your business a little more. 

How do you approach a potential brand advocate? 

The first step is to make a personal connection. If you’ve found them on social media, spend some time responding to their messages or send them a direct message thanking them for the support.  

Sometimes an upfront email is best. Make sure you say you’re grateful for the support or customer reviews and ask them how they feel about becoming a brand advocate. 

Even if a brand advocate is happy to give you a shoutout on Twitter, it’s nice to offer them something in return for their time. Perhaps a freebie or a discount on future purchases could be a way to say thank you. 

When to use brand advocates 

If you have a couple of interested people on board, the next step is to integrate them into your marketing. Ways you can get the most out of your brand advocates include: 

Deals and discounts 

If you are running a discount on purchases, reach out to your brand advocates to let them know and ask them to share it with people they know or on social media. This will benefit the brand advocate because they can get some money off and it will also benefit those they share it with. 

Free samples 

If you sell products, give your brand advocates a freebie which they will hopefully share their experiences over social media or on a blog or Youtube channel if they have one.  

Working with a brand advocate doesn’t have to be overly complicated but it’s important not to ask for too much. You can’t expect them to spend too much time promoting your business for you but every little shoutout or retweet helps. 

Have you ever used a brand advocate or influencer marketing? What was your experience like? Let us know your thoughts below.  

The post What Are Brand Advocates and How Can They Help Your Business?  appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

Assess the Reasons Why People Leave

If you are experiencing high staff turnover of remote workers, it’s a good idea to sit down and draw up some reasons why that could be.

You might not even be looking for just one problem. The problem could be with the way the business is run, how remote workers are managed or simply that the worker in question isn’t suited to remote work.

Common problems with remote teams include lack of guidance, loneliness, poor communication or poor work-life balance (flexible hours can sometimes feel like all-hours).

A good method to fix this is to assess your own process of hiring remote workers and see if there’s any room for improvement. Do new remote workers get all the information they need? Do they know who to turn to if they have questions? Or are they just left in the dark?

Next, look at how you manage your team. When was the last time you spoke to your remote workers beyond email? When was the last time your team got together over a video call?

On the other hand, are you expecting daily video chats? Do employees look unmotivated or overwhelmed if you’re expecting them to constantly be online and available for a call?

It might be worth directly asking employees or even sending out an anonymous survey to your remote workers for some honest feedback. No one will have a better idea of how the team feels than the team itself.

Keeping Employees Happy and Informed

Remote work is a great incentive for many people. However, after a while the novelty can start to wear off. It might not be enough to simply let employees work from home.

Set Flexible Hours

It’s tempting to set the same working hours for your remote workers as you would in an office. However, this can sometimes take away the benefits of remote working. Instead, many businesses are finding flexible working hours much more beneficial. This allows employees to choose the time of day to work that suits them best and it allows them to fit in personal errands throughout the day.

Lots of business owners struggle to trust their employees when it comes to remote working and your employees will definitely notice if this is the case. Ruling with an iron fist is a sure way to lose staff.

Communicate and Find a Balance

Communication is key to any office, remote or otherwise but it can be difficult to find a balance with remote workers. As the boss, it’s your responsibility to prioritise communication across the team. Most businesses will set up a weekly video call with the team which helps get everyone on the same page.

This is a great way for employees to feel up-to-date with all the latest business news and helps them feel less isolated from the team.

Offer Personal Support

One downside of remote offices is that all the communication quickly becomes about the business and nothing else. Employees end up missing out on the general chit-chat of office life. It’s also hard to tell if one of your workers is struggling or dealing with personal issues.

It might be worth spending some time each week to reach out to all your remote workers to ask them how things are going and whether they need help with anything.

Are You Hiring People Who Are a Good Fit for Remote Work?

Remote work is simply not for everyone. Some people love it, some people hate it. Some people struggle with the loneliness of remote work and end up leaving.

When hiring new people, it’s definitely worth spending some time getting to know candidates and assessing whether they’d be well suited to remote work. If you want to reduce turnover, this is an important step in the recruitment process.

Have you struggled with remote worker retention? What strategies would you recommend to keep remote workers happy? Leave your thoughts below.

The post Hiring and Retaining Remote Workers appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

When scrolling through Facebook you’ll probably see hundreds of businesses offering clever content marketing pieces to engage their customers; from colouring sheets to live webinars, businesses are now more prepared than ever to add value for their customers and build a connection with them.

Responsive and adaptive marketing is the key to their success, so let’s take a look at some of the content marketing themes your business should be considering right now. We’ve conducted some trend analysis on Pinterest, which is a great way to get inspired by content marketing success stories.

Below are some of the key themes Pinterest has highlighted based on huge increases in search traffic, so let’s review what they are, and how you can utilise them for your marketing.

Escapism and Optimism

The pandemic will be played out in stages, and right now we’re starting to see the first signs that things will eventually get back to normal. Even though we’re facing the unpleasant reality of a ‘second wave’, many people are hopeful that a vaccine is on the horizon and governments are slowly starting to lift restrictions.

Trends indicate that people are looking to find escapism in lockdown, and generally ways to entertain themselves and their family without going out. Rather than resigning to the couch, people are experimenting with new skills, self-development, self-care and challenges.

They’re also planning ahead, trying to understand what they need to prepare for when the next stage arrives. Facemask sewing tutorials, guides to getting their business ready and queries about homeschooling are all trending as people weigh up their options.

So what marketing content should your business be making to make the most of these trends? Here’s some ideas.

Design a home workout or meal plan

If you’re a business who is in any way affiliated with food or health, this is a great idea. Design a graphic or a downloadable PDF that has workouts or meals planned day by day – you could even include a shopping list and a discount code for your website.

Come up with a beauty guide

Beauty businesses may suffer the longest in this pandemic, as salons aren’t expected to open until at least the 4th July. In the meantime, you’ll need to pivot your business. Create an at-home maintenance guide and support it with video tutorials. Start stocking your favourite products and ship them to customers in specially designed ‘bundle’ deals for each beauty concern. For example, you could create a manicure kit or a ‘back-to-work beauty blitz’ package.

Set a challenge for your followers

People are bored, there’s no doubt about it! A structured challenge will be a welcome relief to anyone at this stage, and creating a challenge is something almost any business in any industry should be able to do. Sell sewing supplies? Start a 30-day skill challenge! Sell books? Challenge your followers to share a different favourite book every day. Sell web development services? Offer a 7-day ‘Learn something new’ tutorial, where users need to share their results at the end!

There really is no limit to the options you can explore with this idea.

Offer a free resource you normally keep secret!

Did you notice Hilton shared it’s famous cookie recipe to all recently? Wagamama’s even created a full video tutorial about how to cook their katsu curry from scratch.

You might worry that these things are invaluable brand assets that shouldn’t be shared, just in case they lose their value, but the fact is you’re helping to cement the iconic status of one of your customer’s favourite products that will be likely to go viral – after all, people love a secret!

Don’t worry, people aren’t going to start making everything at home, we can guarantee that when all this is over, people will be delighted to pay you to do it for them!

Recovery and Rebound

In a few months time, when the lockdown is lifted and we all start returning to work, we anticipate that content will need to start focusing on helping people prepare for recovery. Businesses who create this kind of content will notice readers are eager to get hold of it and share it.

Content for this phase of the pandemic will need to be helpful, highly informative and reliable. People will be looking for advice they can trust and assurances from their favourite brands. Here are some ideas we’ve put together that might help:

Set up a virtual support group

Perhaps you offer a service that people can’t engage with so easily during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe you run a HR firm or an education service. Why not offer an exclusive Facebook group for your clients to sign up to in exchange for tailored knowledge and advice? Or you could host a weekly Zoom networking event where people could ask an expert their burning questions.

Clients will appreciate the extra care and attention they receive during these troubling times, and you might find even after lockdown this offers new opportunities for your business.

Offer a ‘Boost’

A boost can come in many forms, but in essence it’s something designed to get your customers going again. If you’re a restaurant you might offer a special voucher designed to encourage people out, or if you sell stationery you might offer a ‘back to school’ pack.

Incentivize your offering even further with complimentary digital downloads, you could collaborate with another business to offer educational eBooks, or send business customers free PPE. Give your customers the equipment and skills they need to stimulate their recovery. It can only benefit you in the long run.

Just make sure whatever you do, it’s designed to be safe. Customers are going to be hyper-conscious about ensuring businesses are keeping them safe and not putting profits before health.

Share your post-pandemic process

Information is key. As soon as you know, keep your customers informed. List opening times in an easy to access way on your website or app. Share lots of photos on social media to show off your safety precautions – make customers feel at ease!

You might even create a video that shows the proper process for visiting your shop safely.

At this point you may still want to market towards the vulnerable who are still in lockdown, so sharing information that shows how you are going the extra mile for these people will always go down well.

Do you have your digital marketing plan in place ready for lockdown to be eased? Make sure you follow us on Twitter to be the first to know about any new articles, we’ll be publishing lots of helpful digital advice for Wirral businesses, so stay tuned!

The post How To Market Your Business During and After COVID-19 appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

A fine example of real PMA deterrent is when your order book is empty and the workload runs dry. When this happens, it can be hard finding the motivation to bounce out of bed every morning with a go-get-‘em attitude. That said, there is a silver lining in this situation if you look hard enough.

With little or no deadlines to be chasing, you’re left with a whole load of unwelcome free time and a choice to be made. You can either wallow in worry and just hope to come out the other side, or you can use the opportunity to your advantage by investing some time into upskilling yourself.

In this article, we show you a few simple ways you can go about upskilling to ensure that you’re spending your downtime more wisely.

First though, let’s explain exactly what we mean by ‘upskilling’…

What is upskilling?

Upskilling is the active attempt at expanding your abilities through training and acquiring new skills. Literally, it involves educating yourself in something new so that you can add additional tools to your offering. Theoretically, it’s the ideal way to stay ahead of the competition and avoid standing still in a marketplace that is constantly evolving.

How does one go about this so-called upskilling?

Here are ten great ways you can upskill yourself when you’re left with a little too much spare time for your liking…

Practice makes perfect

Finish something you started or brush up on loose knowledge by getting some valuable practice time in.

Take an online training course

There’s plenty of them out there – all you need to do is find one that suits your budget and preferred way of learning.

Head back into the classroom

If you’re more of a hands-on learner, consider looking for a face-to-face class rather than an online course. You can also hire a training room with a group of other people.

Attend a seminar or workshop

This is a great way to sink your teeth into something new and learn from those with personal experience.

Lose yourself in YouTube tutorials

Alternatively, become your own teacher by delving into the plethora of tutorials and how-to videos available online.

Shadow somebody more senior

If there’s somebody above you who possesses the skills you’re after, ask them if you can shadow them for a while to absorb their knowledge in practice.

Willingly subject yourself to a management course

The rules and recommendations around business management are changing all the time – it’s in your favour to make sure you stay up to date.

Invest in your general wellbeing

Working on your physical health, meditating, doing some yoga or simply taking a well-earned break is a valid way to improve yourself professionally. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.

Review your sustainability practices

All businesses today need to show some sort of responsibility to becoming more sustainable. Now is the ideal time to address this if you’ve been letting it slip down your priority list.

Revaluate your outsource connections

Perhaps you’re not happy with your freelance web designer, or you’ve been meaning to change your accountant for a while… Now is the perfect time and while it might not be a direct upskill of your own, it will certainly upskill your business.

How do you approach having more free time when the order book is empty? Are there any skills you’d like to work on given the luxury of more spare time? Let us know in the comments or by using social media.

The post Upskilling: How To Spend Time Wisely When Work Runs Dry appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

There’s absolutely nothing standing in between a conversation between you and them anymore. Except, of course, where the challenge of time zones comes into play…

This isn’t so much of a problem when it’s a friend or family member and you can send them a whole procession of alarm clock emojis until they wake up. However, when it comes to your business clients, you’re forced to play it much cooler than that which, at times, can prove a bit problematic.

Trying to communicate across timezones can be tricky at the best of times (pun intended) but where maintaining professional relationships and trying to conduct a project are involved, it’s a whole other ball game.

In this blog post, we offer some pearls of wisdom on how you can best manage your communication with clients in different countries or continents. As – when managed well – there is no reason why geographical distance needs to have any real negative impact on relationship-building or rapport.

Be willing to work some unsociable hours 

That’s the trouble with working between timezones, it won’t always align nicely with your social calendar or sleep schedule. In order to find a happy medium where both parties can participate at a reasonable hour, you’ll need to stay flexible and willing to operate outside of Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Showing willing to do this from the start should earn you some extra brownie points too.

Make time for ‘face-to-face’ conversation

Phone calls are foolproof, emails are efficient and instant messages are even better but if you want to build a strong relationship between you and your overseas client, you’re going to need some face-to-face time.

We’re not suggesting you hop on a long-haul flight every time you need a brief signing off but make use of things like video conferencing and video calls regularly to bolster the connection and feeling of familiarity.

Set up some shared digital project management tools

Using an online task management tool like Trello or Monday means that anybody with permitted access can log in at any time to see where various parts of the project are up to. So, while you’re sleeping soundly, your client can look to see what has been ticked off the to-do list that day and respond ready for you in the morning.

Have a multilingual member of staff at arm’s reach

This doesn’t need to be a full-time employee but having somebody qualified in translation available at short notice is a great service to offer to international clients who speak another language. This can just be something you outsource as and when you require it, or if you feel a language barrier is holding your communication back in some way.

Leave some room in your budget for travel

These days, pretty much everything can be done remotely with the right software and technology but there’s still a lot to be said for real life interaction. If you are going to commit to chasing custom across the continents, we recommend setting aside a bit of cash for travel so that face-to-face meetings are an option, even if they aren’t a prerequisite.

Are you a small business owner with a client base around the world? Let us know how you keep communication in check by joining the conversation on social media.

The post Managing Communication With Clients in Different Timezones appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

This week we spoke to Inspirations, a business that many of you will know on the Wirral! We’re sure it’s at least a part of everyone’s Christmas calendar to take a trip here.

As a retail business that traditionally made most of its sales from people flocking through the door for it’s seasonal displays, so we wanted to know how they’d adapted since lockdown hit.

Hi! Could you introduce your business to our readers?

Inspirations Wholesale are a Wirral-based business who specialise in providing beautiful products for your home or business, as well as offering floral supplies. We source products from all over the globe to bring everything from homewares and furniture, to artificial flowers and home fragrance products to our customers.

We are best known for our Christmas range as we are one of the largest stockists of Christmas product lines in the North West, if not further afield. We can source almost anything with our vast global supply chain and Wirral has been our home from the very beginning.

One of the founders of Inspirations, Paul Reeves

What’s the story behind Inspirations, how long has the business been going?

Inspirations Wholesale was founded in 1999 by Husband and wife Paul & Kate Reeves. Paul worked engineering and Kate was an interior designer, they began the business as a side line project from the garage of their home.

They never dreamt the business would grow the scale it has. They have put their life’s work into establishing the business and now Inspirations is firmly a part of the Wirral way of life. With a 30,000 sq.ft. warehouse situated on Old Hall Road in Bromborough, full of beautiful products, Inspirations employs over 25 people from all over the Wirral and has grown from strength to strength for over 20 years.

What challenges has COVID brought to your business?

In truth as a result of COVID-19 the business took a dramatic downturn. We immediately felt the impact from the downfall in the amount of customers that were visiting our store. Our footfall began to drop as soon as news of COVID-19 reached the area and we were truly worried about our business’s future.

We are not a UK wide business, we are only based on the Wirral, so we rely solely on the local people from Wirral, Liverpool, Chester and North Wales to visit our store and support our business, but understandably now was the time to worry about safety and we felt the impact of that straight away. We closed our doors as we felt it was the safest way we could look after our staff and our customers and we began to trade solely online.

How have you adapted to these challenges with a digital strategy?​ Are you investing more time in social media?

Luckily for us we had already implemented a strategy to improve our social media presence and we had also recently invested in a brand new website mid-2019. With regards to adapting we had to sharpen our skill set in both these sectors. In fact we continue to do so.

We are trying our very best to improve the amount of products we can offer on our website. We have had some truly tremendous support from some amazing people on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook and for this we will be forever grateful. We now have a dedicated team working daily on our output and we hope to give people the vision from our photography that they would ordinarily get from our in store displays.

Our website www.inspirationswholesale.co.uk and our social media platforms have allowed us to stay in touch with those that loved us in the beginning but it’s also allowed us to show our ranges and our visions to many new people. This has been a lifeline for us to date and we hope to continue the grow this side of business and are improving our skill set every day.

Do you think the changes you’ve made will have a positive effect on your business going forward?

I honestly do, I’m not sure things will return back to what we remember pre-COVID – not least for some time anyway. Where we grow in strength and knowledge on social media platforms and web-based sales, we can only benefit from in the future.

We can reach a larger audience and show the whole of the country our visions and products which is amazing, so we hope this will have a very positive effect on our business. We believe this has added another string to our bow, but we are also aware that we may have lost one at the same time, with people less likely to attend the store as they used to. We anticipate things won’t get back to normal for a while at least, but we hope we can get back to trading very soon.

What advice can you give to businesses struggling to adapt?

My advice would simply be to utilise the freedom to share your products, visions and services through any online platform possible, and if you can, adapt your stock range or services to meet the demands of people. What people want now is no doubt very different to what they may have wanted, should we have never come across this pandemic. Social Media feels like scary place to get involved in at first but it is a new way of life.

It will be so important for you moving forward and whilst the opportunity to use these platforms for free is here, don’t miss out. We honestly grew our own fan base from 1500 followers to over 20,000 followers in just 6 months. That’s 20,000 incredible people who get to see our range and our offers every single time we post, and for this we are truly grateful. If you’re new to this social media world, or have only just started your own page, then find a business that is within your sector that has already established itself on social media platforms (because there is always one I promise) and look at how they post, how they put information out there and how they use imagery.

You can learn so much and ask for support from your customers, ask them to share your business and offers. We are here for Wirral and the local communities and since we have started out on social media they have really been there for us to.

What’s next? What’s the plan for when this is all over?​

I’m sure that much like everyone else, we are looking forward to going back to some form of normality. We are anticipating a change in shopping behaviour, so we will be reacting to that by increasing our capacity to deal with online and telephone orders. We have so many products to share with our customer base, so we can’t wait to see people walking around our store again with all the safety and social distancing measures in place.

As a business we carry over 55,000 products at any one time so as you can imagine we can’t possibly share all that on the website alone. We have stunning homewares, realistic flowers and home fragrance products, as well as indoor & garden furniture to showcase from our store right now. We will put on some incredible offers on to help people get what they can just in time for the summer to arrive.

After this we will move swiftly onto Christmas, we absolutely love Christmas and this year our range will be bigger and better than ever before. With all of the following seasons to come completely covered in our stock range we hope to get back to normal as quickly as possible and can’t wait to share this journey with our amazing and loyal customer base.

As a business that has staff, how have you been managing? Have you kept staff busy or found a safe solution to help your business survive?

This is a very difficult time for all of us and we as a business are still navigating our way through the best solutions we can, we are currently implementing as much as we can to ensure staff and customer safety is our utmost priority.

At the moment we are only trading online so we have a very small task force in however we are working on plans for social distancing , time management and safe working for all . This is going to be challenging for all business types so we are always learning and always looking for the best solutions out there that we can implement into our business.

Tell us more about your work with the Johnson Foundation, now seems a great time for businesses to invest some time in charitable work.

First of all I’d like to say a personal thank you to the Johnston foundation for the work they do. They are an incredible group of people working hard every day and yes you are right. Now really is the time that we can all look at what we do for those around us. It was an honour to work with the Johnson foundation in producing the hampers for our local heroes and to think we had a small part to play in putting a smile on so many people’s faces is something we can be very proud off.

During these times of need so many people have really gone above and beyond to support the local community. These are incredible people and the more you learn of the good acts they have taken the more you want to be part of it. There’s no better feeling than to know you have helped someone in their time of need and the Johnson Foundation have allowed us to be part of this very special project.

Shop online with Inspirations at InspirationsWholesale.co.uk, or connect with them on Facebook or Instagram.

Interested in more interviews with Wirral businesses? Don’t forget to follow us on social to get the latest updates!

The post COVID and My Digital Business – Inspirations appeared first on My Digital Wirral.

The best method is to come up with multiple options and use a domain name search to find those that are available, from there you can test your favourites using the tips we’ve provided below. It’s essential to avoid these common mistakes, or else you might have a few expensive regrets later down the line:

It’s too specific

While a domain name should ideally be specific to you, your brand or industry, you can also be too specific. An example of this is for an eCommerce store to put the name of a product in the domain name or for a travel blog to list a particular country in the domain.

If the time comes when your business expands and you want to focus on different things, your domain could feel outdated, irrelevant and confusing.

It’s way too long

Short and snappy domains are often better. Think of the big brands out there, almost all of them have one or two words at the most (e.g. Google, Facebook, Netflix, Spotify.)

If your domain name is too long, it’ll be difficult to remember and easy to misspell. The last thing you want is to tell people about your website and for them to struggle to find it. Or worse, find a similar website that ends up being a competitor.

It spells out another word when joined up

A domain name with two or more words can cause an easy-to-miss mistake. When the words are joined up in the URL, they could inadvertently spell out another word between them.

The best-case scenario is that it spells out a word that causes confusion. The worst case is that it spells out something inappropriate or offensive. Always check what your domain looks like with the words joined up.

It isn’t relevant to your business

This can often become an issue if you change your business’ direction after purchasing a domain. Imagine buying a website domain called ‘Only-Pens’, but later deciding you’re really missing out on the pencil market…

When you’re choosing a domain, make sure that it’s relevant to your brand or industry. Ideally, if you can get a keyword in there that’s related to what you’re offering, this is even better.

This will help your website appear more relevant in the search engines when people are searching for your keyword.

The extension isn’t the best choice for you

A common problem people find is that they can’t find the .com domain that they want, but the .biz or .net is available so they choose that instead. This can lead to a couple of problems.

First of all, if you’re picking a similar name to an established brand that has the .com, they may try to force you to shut your website down one day. Or they may try to buy your extension of the domain which puts you back at square one.

The other problem is that other extensions can be difficult to remember if you’re telling people. People generally expect a .com or .co.uk extension and are less likely to remember .biz. They may automatically look for the .com version when searching for your website and end up on another website.

Make it as easy as possible to find your website

Some of these issues can be rectified. However, if your domain choice makes it difficult for users to find your website, this could be one too many hurdles for a customer to jump over. People generally won’t spend too much time searching for a website. If it’s difficult for them, they’ll go elsewhere. Remember, convenience is king!

Once you’ve found your perfect domain name, it’ll be time to start looking for the ideal platform to host your website, so don’t forget to check out our guide!

Have you seen any domain mistakes from other businesses? What other tips would you give? Share your thoughts below.

The post Common Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Domain Name appeared first on My Digital Wirral.