Starting a new business is a bit like going on a first date. You have prior knowledge of the person you are meeting and an expectation of things in common. You choose a look that you feel comfortable in and think will be attractive to them. You look forward to sharing your ideas, skills and passions with them. But at the back of your mind is a nagging fear that it will all go wrong and you would be better off cancelling and staying home with a cup of cocoa and a good book instead.

What if there was a way to ensure it was the beginning of your happy-ever-after instead?

Good news! There is a lot you can do in the preparation stage of setting up a new venture that will help make that happen.

Carolyn Brown - Copywriter

I am a freelance copywriter and compose various blogs, newsletters, social media posts and website copy for Muritai Group’s clients. Basically, any form of written material that requires sentences to be constructed in a way that is engaging and informative - I can do it.

 Jayden Ford - Marketing Coordinator

In my role as Marketing Coordinator at Muritai Group, I am able to help businesses thrive through creative solutions that are backed by up by research, understanding, and strategy. No day is ever the same, however, a large part of my role involves using digital content and social media to connect my clients with their ideal customers which helps them to achieve their business goals.

Four weeks down and the signs are positive that in a few weeks’ time, we may be able to return to our premises of work and interact face to face our customers again.

It has been a tough few weeks, so before I dive headfirst into the topic of this week’s blog, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the sacrifices we have all made in order to protect our vulnerable and break the chain of COVID-19. Our efforts have not been in vain, well done.

We know times are tough for business right now, so the content of this blog is dedicated to providing vital links of support that can help your business weather this storm. Some you may have already seen as they were mentioned in our last newsletter, but others have only been announced this week.  

Like many office-based businesses, getting ready to break the chain of COVID-19 was a mad scramble to ensure everyone could carry on as normal (that is, to paraphrase Prince Charles, whatever normal is) and keep working with our clients to ensure that their brands will stay in their customers’ minds while their products/services are temporarily out of action. Stationery, whiteboards, office chairs and computer screens all made their way out of the office in an organised rush before the call to stay safe, stay home came into effect.

Most of the Muritai team have had to create a space in their homes to accommodate our new office and adjust their mindsets in order to create mental separation between home and work, now that there isn’t a physical one. We turned to the internet for advice, where a Google search for “tips for working from home during COVID-19” turned up two hundred and ninety-five million results in the first instance. The gig economy sure has created a lot of experts in a short time!

Each of us at Muritai, however, has a different living situation and personal circumstance and we have quickly discovered that the standard tips for working from home do not necessarily work for everyone. Which is why we thought we would share with you a couple of the things that work for each of our differing needs:

In our previous blog “Your cheat sheet of 30 killer content marketing ideas”, we have focused on how to start a conversation with your customers and provided you with suggested topics to keep them interested in what you have to say.

Which is great, but none of that matters if your writing skills are so poor that the reader can’t make sense of what you have written and stops reading straight after the first couple of sentences. 

Here are our top tips to improve your writing and ensure that your readers come back for more.

Welcome back! I know you are eager to read the last 15 killer content marketing ideas, so I won’t keep you waiting any longer! 

Let’s continue, shall we?

Content either make or break your marketing. Great content can help you earn the right to your audience’s time while average content will be dismissed and ignored. Good content connects directly with your ideal customers’ wants and needs and provides them with reasons to believe in your business.

If you’ve struggled with writers' block and can’t think of any good content ideas to write about, then stress no more!

In this two-part series blog, I’ll share 30 killer content marketing ideas with you; 15 ideas first and then the rest in part 2.

Ready? Let’s dive in! 

CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve won a business award; the ultimate recognition of your hard work and dedication. Amongst the celebrations and high-fives, now is the time to let the rest of the world know too.

Let your customers share in your moment of glory. After all, they are partly responsible for your success, as without them you wouldn’t be in business for long!

So where do you start and how far should you go in spreading the news?

Here are our top ten ways to publicise your award:

Make your profile stand out from the crowd with these five simple changes:

• Use your headline to its full potential

  Your headline gives you opportunity to describe who you are and what you do, but in just one line. This isn’t always easy so it’s not surprising that most people end up with their current job title as the default option. Read HubSpot’s 4 tips for an effective LinkedIn headline. 

In our blog about Retaining Customers, we discovered an existing customer is likely to spend on average 60% more* than a new customer. That’s a stat hard to ignore! Keeping your existing customers happy so they buy from you again and again is a key strategy for increasing profitable sales in any business.

One such strategy is to recognise your customers who repeat purchase with something they want and value. A great way of doing this is by creating a simple and straightforward rewards programme.

There is a reason why traditional stamp card loyalty schemes are in most coffee shops – they work! Now days we are starting to see how technology can improve loyalty programmes such as these with quality data. Designed with ease of use in mind, here are our top 2 loyalty apps for small business:

•  Goody

Goody gives you everything you need to create loyalty programmes that connect with your customers through your online store.

Every time your customers make a purchase at your business, they earn and accumulate points that can be redeemed for rewards. Because you know them best, you can create goodies that you know your customers will love - and that work for your business too.

• The LittleMonkey Loyalty App

Based in Wellington, LittleMonkey have created a fully customisable app to suit your business’s needs. Unlike other options this one is branded to you and more importantly lists your company name in the app store, which means your customers are linked directly to you and not a third party.

Bonus tip – got heaps of loyalty cards in your wallet? Download the Stocard App and never have to go hunting in your wallet again! This free app securely stores your loyalty account numbers in one place, clearing up space in your wallet.

*Manta's and BIA/Kelsey's joint report "Achieving Big Customer Loyalty in a Small Business World"

Keeping your existing customers happy so they buy from you again and again is a key strategy for increasing profitable sales in any business. In fact, an existing customer is likely to spend on average 60% more* than a new customer. That’s a stat that’s hard to ignore!

Your customers have choice; they can choose to stay with you or buy from somewhere else. That means your goal is to be the best option for your customers. It sounds obvious but if you are the best option, your customers won’t want to buy from someone else. 

It's Maori Language Week!

This year is all about showing New Zealand that there is a place for the Māori language in all areas of life, from our sports fields and stadiums, to the news and the ever-growing realm of social media. This annual campaign is about raising awareness that New Zealand has its very own language and encouraging the use of it, with simple phrases every day, week and month of the year.

To celebrate, we thought we would share a few phrases you can use in your everyday business interactions

You’re doing well, your marketing is working and you’ve got a potential customer who is interested in what you do... what’s next? To be seriously considered you have to build trust and prove that you can do what you say you can do.

What is the best, easiest and cost effective way to do this? Testimonials!

This simple and FREE marketing tool is often overlooked, but can help to seal the deal when a customer is making a purchase decision.

You’ve got my attention – but can you hold it?

Captivate your customers in three simple steps.

Think for a moment about your ideal customer. How do they look for your product or service? Are they searching online, are they talking to friends, are they walking down the street?

Once they have found you, how do you hold their attention and get them interested enough to find out more?

It is not enough to talk about what your business does or the promotion you have at the moment. You need to be more inspiring than that. You need to be relevant, interesting and credible to be ultimately considered.

Marketing is critical for every business because if the customer doesn't purchase your goods or services, nothing else matters! Marketing is not just advertising, it’s not just selling and it’s not persuading people to buy things they don’t need.

Marketing is the whole process of taking your goods and services to market and getting them into the hands of your ideal customers. That means marketing is about winning the hearts and minds of your customers and ideal clients. Reaching the right people with the right message in the right place at the right time!

It all sounds pretty simple but business owners often complain that their marketing fails to deliver the results they want.

For marketing to be successful so your business thrives, it must have the right why, who, what, how and do. A brief explanation of each component follows:

Last month we learnt that the secret to marketing plans that work is the science of what makes your customers buy.

Successful marketing meets your customer at every step of the buying process so that you retain as many prospects as possible, capture your customers and generate sales. The best marketing plans create strategies to make sure customers notice you, like you, trust you, try you, buy you and then love you.

The first essential step to creating a marketing plan that works is to get customers to notice you and become familiar with your brand.

There’s no denying that John Harrington, founder of Harrington’s Brewery knows a lot about craft beer. So when John and Derek McCullough, both long-time Mt Pleasant residents, got together to think of ways to raise money for the rebuild of the Mt Pleasant Community Centre, the conversation soon turned to beer.

From there, the idea of producing a Mt Pleasant series of beers was born, using the best and most popular of Harrington’s award winning craft beers.

Muritai Marketing, as local residents ourselves, decided to get behind this community initiative. On the 25th November 2015 to much fan fair, we launched four beers - Broad Reach, Ziraffe, Muddy Duck and Road Cone Red - under the by-line of ‘Good beer doing good.’

Combined with Mike McGurk’s stunning beer label designs, the beers are set to become a popular way to raise much needed funds to complete the centre.

Believed to be the first social enterprise initiative of its kind in New Zealand, every beer purchased equals a gold coin donation to the Mt Pleasant Community Centre rebuild. Timed to coincide with the summer time BBQ season these beers are a ‘hopping good’ Christmas gift for business clients and craft beer lovers alike.

Cup week kicked off with Sculpture on the Peninsula, the South Island’s largest contemporary outdoor sculpture exhibition held at Loudon Farm, 6 – 8 November.

With more than 70 exhibits covering several hectares of farmland, Sculpture on the Peninsula is a testament to the way imagination can transform the landscape. And for sponsors, Fox and Associates, land surveyors and land development specialists, it’s a sponsorship that’s perfectly aligned to their mission; creating legacies with land.

Cup and Show week has wound down to a close. And what a week it was, especially for the girls.

It started the week earlier with Michelle Payne on Prince of Penzance becoming the 1st female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. Along with her brother and strapper, Stevie and their eight siblings, the win became an extraordinary family story.

The following week, women dominated with:

• Kerryn Manning becoming the 1st female driver to win the New Zealand Trotting Cup
• Lisa Allpress on Jimmy Mac winning the 152nd New Zealand Cup
• Sam Spratt on Addictive Habit winning the Couplands Bakery Mile