Simon Weiner FCCA FCMA CGMA AI Agents

These income-based marketing claims keep getting WILDER. This advert from Boss Babe stopped me in my tracks yesterday. "Learn the one tool you need to increase traffic, drive sales + automate your systems to scale to 6-7 figures" OK, I'm listening. The ad continues... "*even if you'ure unsure of your offer, have zero followers + get a headache from tech*)" This. needs. to. stop. Scaling to six figures is REALLY hard. It's really hard even when you have an amazing, proven, tested offer. When you have a loyal following base. When you're tech savvy. I know because I've done it, and, been privvy to many many business owners in the same position. It takes grit, time, and loads of help. Getting to six figures (let alone 7!!) is actually impossible without those three things Boss Babe is telling you don't need. And the claim there is ONE tool (theirs) that would solve all of those things is mental. Everyone know about this if that's true and save us all a lot of headache. What a mad world the online marketing space is, preying on the financial insecurity so many are feeling in the midst of economic downturn, layoffs and the increased competition in the online space. It frustrates me as a coach when so many are fed these blatant lines from courses and schemes that make business success sound obvious and easy, and then they feel badly and are not kind to themselves when it's inevitably hard. Or give up. This applies to other industries outside the 'girl boss' coaching one too. I'm just fed a lot of those adverts. This is why I don't make specific income promises in my marketing for my programmes. I will reference money, as its a key goal for clients, but I cannot promise it. Making money comes down to ... 1/ Having a legit skillset and ability to solve others' problems (and being really good at it) 2/ Having the mental fortitude to keep going before results have been proven 3/ Creating goodwill, community and connections amongst contacts and prospects A coach or course can *teach* these principles, and explain that doing them will grow your income. But no one coach, course or tool can do these steps FOR you. Rant over and out...

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Below is a screenshot of the SNP500 over the last 5years. Why am I showing you this? Because SEO is the same. It's a trend line. But the trend line for #solar installers shows the increase in the number of visitors to your website. The more visitors, the more leads. However, just like the SNP500, it requires time to see significant gains. No one invested in the stock market, for a year later, to become a millionaire. You invest with the future in mind. Do the same with your website, and you'll be getting more leads than any of your competitors. Be consistant.

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UK Small and Medium Enterprises are changing the business landscape, and digital marketing emerges as a key driver for growth. According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK has one of the highest digital adoption rates in Europe. Still many SMEs are not taking full advantage of the strategic growth levers directly linked to digital marketing. It’s cost effective. Digital channels offer more flexibility and lower to no entry costs compared to traditional media. You can easily track and measure. Analytics tools allow businesses to track the effectiveness of their campaigns in real time giving you the data you need to align your marketing strategies to real, tangible results. Incomparable reach. With over 62 million internet users in the UK, digital marketing provides an unparalleled reach. Extensive network. LinkedIn has over 32 million registered users in the UK, making it a prime platform for B2B marketing and networking. Business focus. With a majority of professionals and business decision-makers active on the platform, LinkedIn allows for targeted and effective B2B marketing campaigns. Get your digital marketing going, the rest will follow. #DigitalMarketing #SMEs #BusinessGrowth #UKBusiness #LinkedIn

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🔍 Have You Optimised Your Business to Become the Only Person Your Clients Want to Work With? 🔍 You’ve already put in the hard work to build your expertise and grow your business—but is everything really aligned to attract and convert the right clients? It’s easy to miss key opportunities when we’re so focused on the day-to-day. That’s why I’ve created a simple tool to help you spot the gaps and unlock new growth. My LinkedIn Profile Scorecard is designed specifically for professionals like you, and it takes just 3 minutes to complete. Here’s what it covers: 1️⃣ Professional Branding & Visibility How well does your online presence attract attention and showcase your expertise? 2️⃣ Expertise & Credibility Does your profile clearly communicate your career journey and why you’re the right choice for your target audience? 3️⃣ Client Engagement Strategies Are you effectively guiding prospects through their decision-making process? 4️⃣ Sales & Conversion Process How well are you managing sales conversations and hitting your income targets? 💡 If you’re curious about where you stand, why not give it a try? The Scorecard offers personalised insights, helping you see exactly where to focus for impactful growth. 👉 Take the LinkedIn Profile Scorecard now and find out where your next big opportunity lies. https://lnkd.in/gi_ss_VP #BusinessGrowth #LinkedInStrategy #PersonalBranding

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🚩 A Common Post-Funding Pitfall Pumping more money into existing strategies without prioritising the new strategies needed for the next stage of growth. Scaling requires fresh thinking, not just more of the same. Catch the full discussion on the Marketing Trends Podcast: https://lnkd.in/e_JfxnzS #MarketingStrategy #BusinessGrowth #MarketingTrends #ScalingSmarter

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6 STEPS TO PLANNING A PROFITABLE WEBSITE Planning an effective website that won’t drop a tonne of content on your lap is hard but, following these 6 steps will get you thinking about your website as an extension of your business to easily plan a profitable website that will make you money. See the steps here https://lnkd.in/eiC3kwB8 #businessowner #architects #thanet #contractor #generalcontractors #gassafe #niceic #roofingcontractor #flooringcontractor #generalcontractor #kentbusiness #business #businessowners #contractors

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I once wrote 80+ blog posts for a massive UK manufacturing brand. But no one saw them. I wrote what they wanted to say, not what their customers wanted to hear. Here’s the problem with blogs nowadays: A lot of businesses have blogs no one reads. They’re scared to invest in SEO and proper research because it costs time and money. - They write for themselves, not their audience. - They skip the research and rely on 'gut instinct'. - They treat content as a checkbox, not a strategy. Every day it’s the same thing. Glance at a B2B blog and you'll see plenty of massive posts about products, awards, and company updates. These have their place, but they can’t be the only thing you write about. The result is this: 99% of blogs are a waste of time. (aka, missed opportunities) If you’re a marketing manager reading this and you’ve been: - Publishing posts that make your team feel good. - Ignoring keyword research and customer pain points. - Wondering why your traffic isn’t growing… And you’re asking yourself: “Is blogging even worth it anymore?” Well, I have news. Yes, it is. All you need to do is write for your customers first. - Use keyword research to align with what they’re searching for. - Write with their needs in mind, not just your company’s. - Promote the content so it actually gets seen. But remember: You will get ignored if it’s not valuable. You will get lost in the noise if it’s not optimised. You will waste time and money writing content with no purpose. We’d all have blogs that really work if everyone focused on value over vanity. (If we stopped writing for ourselves and started writing for our customers) Start thinking strategically, and watch your blog finally do what it’s supposed to: bring you leads. Play the game. Want help playing? Drop me, Emily, a message.

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Imagine if you could SEO your way to the top of Google search? Imagine if you could get found online by your ideal client without having to spend hours in groups? Kate Toon's digital education businesses The Recipe for SEO Success and The Clever Copywriting School have helped more than 8000 small business owners grapple the Google beast and write better content. She has lots to say on the topic of SEO and I invite you to join me in this fun, irreverent and value packed conversation... Head here to find out more: https://lnkd.in/gt3gmiS2

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This simple content strategy helped us get our accounting client ranking above actual HMRC in Google search results: ☑️ Context: Our client was an accounting firm in London. We created a content strategy to position them as a go-to expert for accounting resources to differentiate them from thousands of other accountants. ☑️ The blog post: What does each box mean on your VAT return? A clear post answering a specific question they get asked by their clients. ☑️ The content strategy: Creating a series of evergreen blog posts that answer the main questions they get asked from their clients and to offer huge amounts of value to their audience to build trust and position themselves as the experts. ☑️ The results: This blog post was published back in January 2023 and is still ranking as the top result above the official HMRC page about filling in and submitting your VAT return. If that doesn’t scream AUTHORITY then I don’t know what does 🤣 ------------ Do you ever create content answering your clients’ most frequently asked questions? Give it a go and see how you get on. #contentmarketing #marketingstrategy #b2bmarketing #outsourcedmarketing

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AI isn’t just the future of marketing, it’s the game-changer you can’t afford to ignore. The marketing world is being reshaped by AI. But how can you harness its power to drive your business forward without being left behind? In this episode, I sit down with John Hubbard, a former plasterer turned marketing maven and AI aficionado. We dive into John's fascinating journey from running a plastering business in 1993 to becoming a fractional CMO and an AI systems specialist. As AI reshapes the marketing world, adaptability becomes your greatest asset. John shares his unique insights on leveraging AI to grow your business, along with the innovative systems he’s developed to give himself and his clients a competitive edge. Packed with practical tips, actionable strategies, and real-world examples, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone who wants to stay ahead in today’s rapidly changing marketing landscape. 🔥 In a world where AI is rewriting the rules, the future belongs to those who embrace it. TUNE IN NOW: https://buff.ly/4eg9kJH #marketing #businessowners #businessgrowth #businesspodcast #ai

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Here's WHY 95% of clients don't see ROI... After working with thousands of clients, I've discovered that 95% of the time, it's not about affordability but the perceived return on investment! 💰 📽️ Catch this clip from my 'Above the Noise' episode on handling price objections with confidence. https://lnkd.in/eUN5aQqX Watch now for powerful insights! 👀 #investmentmindset #moneytalks #clientinsights #entrepreneurtips #growthmindset #financialfreedom #businessstrategies #valueproposition #coachingtips #moneymatters

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Ai tools are battling it out for pole position. It reminds me of the videotape format era when VHS and Betamax battled for mainstream adoption. Businesses will be struggling right now to know where to invest their time and energy and which systems to go with just like when video was introduced. The big question for business owners today is “Which AI system should I invest in, and how deeply?” Here’s my take… 👉 Focus on your core business first Before diving into AI, make sure you’re clear on what your business does best and how it adds value. Without that clarity, you risk wasting time and money upgrading a model that may no longer serve you. 👉 Communicate your vision clearly If you can’t explain your strategy to your team, they won’t buy into AI or any other changes you want them to make. Get them on board by making your vision clear and actionable. 👉 AI is about growth, not just efficiency This tech isn’t just for automating tedious tasks so your team can do more. It’s about making work more enjoyable, meaningful, and ultimately strengthening your business from the inside out. And that starts with your company culture. We need to not just upskill people but “re-skill” teams for Ai. That starts with showing them Ai’s potential, not just freakiung them out with what could go wrong. Yes, we need safeguards to prevent the bad people from abusing the system, but that shouldn’t stop us from using Ai as a force for good growth. And when it comes to "which system should I use?" 🐁 Remember that it's the second mouse that gets the cheese, once the first mouse has been caught in the trap! Just saying… #ai #innovation #businessgrowth #teamtraining

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“Simon, this test has no impact if we are only changing copy” This is how I tactfully refuted a client pushback against a copy test. Looking at the homepage for this finance and edtech SaaS website, I was proposing to build a follow-up variation to a prior test. Stakeholders pushed back and said they thought more relevant to go in a different direction. As a reminder to everyone, none of us is entitled to claim a test has no impact. The only ones who can make that statement are our users, when exposed to the experiment. This reminder is important because it resets our thinking into collecting supporting data in favor of Variation A or B. Here’s some data that informed our prior test on the homepage. - The homepage has 50,26% bounce rate [Analytics] - The homepage produces the highest amount of member registrations. [Analytics] - Less than 25% of visitors scroll past the 2nd section [Scrollmaps] - All CTAs under the fold are barely clicked: (0.1%), (0.1%), (0.2%), and (0.0%). [Heatmaps] - Leveraging the value element of motivation prompted action and increased sign ups by 4.49% [past winning test] And this is what we learned from our prior test - Variation A was flat while variation B validated an uplift of 7.99% to registrations. - Both variations performed as well or better than the control. - Appealing to the community drove engagement. When exposing this to my client team, I emphasized the fact that finding a winning variation is not the end of optimization. It’s possible we only scratched the surface. We found a clear direction to test into. Two different variations, and both of them were at least on par, one was significantly better. So in comparison to testing new and unknown site areas, this headline has proven to have some upside per prior testing. This is one hell of a case to double-down on the hypothesis before deciding to pivot. This is your reminder that sometimes, teams want to test big swings and what they perceive as impactful tests. But in reality, the biggest driver to our decisions remains the data we collect and improve over time.

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😬 Trump’s tariffs What UK brands need to know. ➡️ The proposal: 10% blanket tariff on all U.S. imports, up to 60% for countries like China. ➡️ The goal: Boost U.S. manufacturing and reduce foreign reliance. ➡️ The impact on UK brands: Heavily reliant on U.S. customers? Margins could take a hit. Ship directly to the U.S.? Costs are going up. Source from China? A 60% tariff is no joke. What about the de minimis rule? The $800 threshold for duty-free imports may drop, making small, frequent shipments to the U.S. more costly. How brands are preparing: Big players are opening U.S. warehouses and diversifying suppliers. Smaller brands are scrambling to stay ahead with creative shipping strategies. Opportunities amidst the chaos? Tariffs might force action on long-term plans like U.S. operations or supply chain tweaks. The U.S. remains too lucrative to ignore, but smarter planning is key. What can brands do now? Diversify supply chains – Look beyond China. Set up U.S. distribution – Warehouses or local logistics partners. Run the numbers – Model scenarios to stay nimble. Trade might not be glamorous, but staying ahead of these changes could save serious headaches.

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