London, UK ( Pressreleasepad ) August 7, 2009 – It’s certainly something lots of marketing experts are talking about, but just how small businesses should go about building an online community is harder to understand. Ben Dyer has built a 10,000 member community for his business and he shares the lessons he’s learned in a new article on Marketing Donut.

Dyer says that while a community is a powerful way to engage with your customers, building one requires patience and perseverance.

“For every community I have seen fail due to lack of traffic, two have the plug pulled because of a perceived lack of progress” he says.

Dyer says the other key ingredients of success are: leadership, ground rules, taking criticism on the chin, and making sure the community caters to everyone, not just the “fanatics”.

“Running a community is hard work, but it can be a fantastically rewarding experience for both you and your customers. The reality is that if you have a successful company, product or service, your customers will be talking about you anyway. What you need to decide is whether you are willing to facilitate the conversation.”

Backed by Google and Royal Mail, Marketing Donut is a free marketing resource that’s been developed specially for small business. Practical and no-nonsense, Marketing Donut covers all aspects of small business marketing, from branding through to internet marketing, from direct marketing through to generating PR for your business.

Further information:

* The Marketing Donut is at http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk

Contact details:
Mick Dickinson
BHP Information Solutions
tel: 0117 904 2224
info@marketingdonut.co.uk

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London, UK ( Pressreleasepad ) July 17, 2009 – Making your most valuable customers feel valued with a carefully-selected gift could deliver the same return as a direct mail to 1000 people or an advert in the local newspaper, says a new expert article on free small business marketing resource Marketing Donut.

“Merchandising might seem like an unnecessary cost during the recession, but if you set clear objectives and select the right merchandise for your target audience, it can generate a valuable return on investment,” says the article on Marketing Donut.

The article says merchandising delivers benefits such as: connecting with customers, raising awareness of the business, and driving sales.

Marketing Donut expert Andy Preston says that with merchandising it’s important to be clear about what you want to achieve. “For example, do you want customers to sign up to your newsletter and communicate with you more, or to drive new customers to your website and increase online sales?”

It’s also important to choose an item of merchandise that’s appropriate for your business.

“So if you’re in financial services you could portray your reliability with something practical, and if you’re in the leisure sector, you should create something fun. For example, a go-kart business could distribute wind-up mini racers.”

The article also has advice about choosing suppliers and methods of distribution.

Marketing Donut is a free marketing resource that’s backed by Google and Royal Mail. It’s got thousands of expert tools and information covering all aspects of small business sales and marketing.

Further information:

* The Marketing Donut is at www.marketingdonut.co.uk

Contact details:
Mick Dickinson
BHP Information Solutions
tel: 0117 904 2224
info@marketingdonut.co.uk

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As Bulgaria morphs from a world ranked investment hotspot to the lifestyle choice of thousands, a new advice and assistance website service is launched at www.bulgariagateway.net

An estimated 58,000 Britons now own property in Bulgaria and this number is continuing to grow. Recent research findings from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPRR) shows that some 350,000 people are planning to leave Britain over the next year and over half of UK homeseekers aged between 18 and 35 would consider buying abroad, with low prices identified as the main driver of their purchase decision.

Because of the financial stability and positive GDP established over the past decade, Bulgaria has managed to withstand today’s global economic challenges better than just about any other country in Europe. That said, the property investment bubble of the past few years is now well and truly burst and the housing market has returned to its proper position – namely, thousands of village houses, city apartments and resort properties for sale at realistic and sustainable prices. In short, there are still few other places in the world that offer the same sort of housing and lifestyle opportunities as Bulgaria

In their recently published Market Overview for H2 – 2009, Colliers International noted a number of key local factors, including:

• average monthly salaries increased by 3% in Q1 2009
• at 7.1%, annual unemployment in May 2009 was just 0.8% up
• year-on-year inflation in May 2009 fell to 3.9% from a high of 7.8%
• property sale prices fell by an average of 10%

The overall projection of the report was that, given the moderately positive outlook and the fundamental health of the Bulgarian economy, the residential market is expected to start recovering in the first half of 2010. In other words, the people of Bulgaria are currently enjoying a relatively comfortable financial position, reasonably stable employment opportunities and rising income levels. Add the foreign buyers purchasing homes for emigration into this equation and, despite the impact of the global economic downturn, it’s easy to see why Bulgaria’s residential sector is currently outperforming that of most other European countries.

It is no longer the dream of a holiday home in the sun that is driving property purchase. The trend to buy a home abroad has now moved to a new level with more and more people buying with the intention of emigrating. The number of Britons living in Bulgaria has doubled in the past year, with more than a thousand British families given long-term residency here.

And for those who may be thinking of joining them, there is now a new website service available at www.bulgariagateway.net. While there is a wealth of detailed advice available about finding and buying the right property in the right location in Bulgaria, there is very little information about what life here is actually like. So, whether you are planning a trip for a relaxing holiday break, a travel adventure, a property purchase – or if you are thinking of moving here permanently – Bulgaria Gateway offers the ideal starting point with accommodation, resources, services and a single source of advice and assistance for everybody visiting Bulgaria.

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Bulgaria Gateway Ltd :  Tel: 00359 (0)884 271688