Find out how we have worked with the Grapevine to deliver all aspects of their marketing campaign to successfully launch it both in Selkirk and now in Galashiels. This has included development of the brand identity and signage for Grapevine, a contemporary new website for the County Hotel and the Grapevine, organisation of the launch event, a Press and PR campaign as well as a dedicated social media campaign. More...

"Right from the branding through to the website, the launch and ongoing support, the team have been unique and tenacious in their approach and friendly manner. An amazing experience leaving me delighted with the results and excited about the future. I would recommend Bright Light Marketing to any business needing that total marketing solution at an affordable price."

Caroline Dunn More...

Don’t market your business like your competitors – stand out from the crowd and get noticed.

We hope these three tips will give you food for thought and assist your business in attracting new customers over the Autumn period and beyond.

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"Working with the team at Bright Light has been a fantastic experience.  They very quickly understood exactly what we needed and were able to transform that into a brand identity supported by a promotional campaign that was incredibly effective. I look forward to continuing to work with them through the development of our exciting new business."  Iain Burke

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In the past year promoting your business on Facebook has changed. You can still start a business page and communicate with customers and potential customers without taking advertising but it is becoming increasingly difficult to increase your page likes or ensure that you are seen by as many potential customers as possible without taking advertising. More...

Bright Heat Stoves is the brainchild of father and son team Hamish and Fraser Hunter from Stow.

With such a good concept, it was clear from the beginning that there was a strong business case for the new venture. But to capitalise on the potential, Hamish and Fraser needed help to raise awareness and successfully launch the business in the market place from scratch
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For the past few years there has been a massive rise in the use of social media not just for personal use but increasingly it is a vital tool for any business to target all of their customers and not just the young and trendy ones. If we had a £1 for every time someone said to us that they don’t use social media as it’s only for young people. More...

Ultimately the test of a good plan is ‘Does it work?’  Your objective might be to successfully launch a new product, sell more to existing customers, reach new markets, and reposition your business in the marketplace or all of the above!
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Quite simply a blog is a website or part of a website which features articles, often themed articles, in chronological order. A blog enables you to include longer, more detailed articles than you can on the likes of Facebook and Twitter and allows you to incorporate photos and videos as well as using it as a way to really tell the story of your business.

Once you know the purpose you want your blog to serve, a blog is an excellent channel to communicate with your customers and there really is no limit to what you can communicate to them.

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Do you know your Trending from your Blogging? Your Strapline to your SEO?

If not, don’t worry help is at hand.  More...

Pubs have always played an integral role within Scottish tourism. Where an average of 30% of visitors to Scotland will visit a pub during their stay.  More...

We certainly don’t have crystal ball but we have been working on a number of Marketing Plans recently and as part of the process have been carrying out extensive research into future trends for the next year and beyond.

So what does that mean for you? We have argued for all the clients we have been working with it means Opportunity for you to build your business. More...

What direction is your business going in? And do you have a map to direct you or just take to the road and see where it leads you?

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service sells itself.” More...

What is a Blog?

Five reasons why you should use blogs as a key communication tool for your business. More...

We recently held a first in what we hope will be a series of breakfast seminars. Our first topic was how to make the most from LinkedIn.  More...

Not everyone can express themselves in words as effectively as they would like and as a result can fall into the same common traps.

Be bold and focus on specific themes and products.
Avoid using jargon and clichés.
Be confident and friendly in tone.
Use clever and creative copy that grabs the attention of the customer. More...

And the simplest way of promoting your blog and indeed your website is to use social media to do so. Add your blog article to your Facebook business page, tweet the article and don’t do this once do it over and over again over the course of a couple of days and once you have built up a library of articles you can regularly choose one to tweet about. More...

Although you know you should have a Marketing Plan and more importantly follow it. Sometimes it’s easier to just do a bit here and a bit there when you have a spare moment. But how effective is that? More...

The Lavender Touch Charity approached us to help them take an innovative new sleepwear product to market and create a memorable trading name and contemporary brand identity for the product. More...

Are you planning to expand your business or even start a new business venture in the New Year?

Either way you will find yourself very busy and no doubt feel that there aren’t enough hours in the day. So in one way we hate to burden you with more work but really we have to - what have you done so far to communicate your development? Many businesses neglect to do this this, leave it to the last minute or start the business and then wonder why nobody knows about it. So we would advise that the sooner you start communicating the better. More...

It is our belief that Social Media is one of the most cost effective and targeted ways of promoting your business. Like any marketing communication tool you need to realise it will take time for you to be established, Rome was not built in a day and you need to start the process by asking yourself a few simple questions. More...

How you research your price.

As with any major business decision, the key is to carry out lots of research into the subject before you set your price and look at how you are going to then market your product. When we were looking at the pricing of 5 star self catering we looked at two main areas. Firstly current customer perceptions on price and secondly the competitor market. This approach is one that we carry out when we prepare Marketing Plans for all clients and allows a comprehensive look at the marketplace of the product we are working within.  More...

“How do I successfully market a small business on a budget ?”

We loved this question from a follower of Bright Light Marketing’s Twitter account and one of our original goals of being in business was to get small businesses noticed. When we first set out in marketing it was very hard for a small business to compete against the bigger companies who had the ability to out spend you, back in the days when the key communication tools tended to revolve around advertising, direct mail and Press and PR. Today things are very different with the plethora of marketing communication tools that are now available to you. In some respects it is perhaps more daunting as which tools do you choose and where do you start? However we would argue that small businesses now are able to effectively market themselves and compete with the big guys. Firstly we believe that people are starting to believe that small is beautiful and that people want to buy and work with companies with integrity, who are experts in their field and who do not have complex management systems with dare we say it ‘big bonuses.’ People buy people and you need to ensure that people buy from you. So how do you do it?  More...

As marketeers we think that marketing should contain as many communication tools as you can afford to get your message across. However one essential tool in your marketing armoury is sending out regular e-newsletters to your customers. It can bring you instant business and is a great way to generate sales as well as a vital tool to keep your customers aware of your businesses. More...

So in this newsletter we thought we would ask you 5 key questions and give you 5 key tips on how to make sure that you not only get enquiries but that you convert them into loyal customers.  More...

Many people will have already ditched their New Year resolutions while others are bravely carrying them on. But what about your work resolutions? How have you done with them? And have you communicated with your customers in 2011? If not why not? We offer up three common excuses.  More...

Roulotte Retreat is a new company in the Scottish Borders where you can sleep in the first ever Roulottes in the UK. Roulotte Retreat opened up at the end of 2010 and are about to start their first ever full season. Despite setting up from scratch Roulotte Retreat have already got forward bookings for 2011 and have benefited from extensive press coverage including The Independent, Scotsman and The Telegraph as well as raising awareness via Social Media particularly by using Twitter.  More...

So what are people likely to be doing with their time and hard earned money in 2011?

The current economic climate has created different trading conditions for us all as we move into a new economy which is less focussed on materialism and more about a new set of values for customers.

As a result here are some of the latest trends in consumer behaviour that are likely to shape consumer behaviour in 2011 and how they could affect your business.  More...

You don’t need us to tell you about tough trading conditions in the market place and the fact that consumer confidence is still incredibly fragile. And if we listen to the doom and gloom merchants in the media then we might as well all shut up shop now ! However we must look on the bright side and take action to grow our businesses both now and for the future. We firmly believe that those companies who really focus on their customers and plan ahead properly will not only survive these tough times but become much stronger and be better positioned in the coming years.  More...

No matter how great your product is, sometimes we need to take a look beyond our front door and be prepared to work with others.

An excellent example of working together is the Summer 99 campaign which the Tontine Hotel in Peebles has recently launched.  More...

We’re not one’s to name drop but ……. we just wanted to let you know about some of the exciting new clients we are currently working with. It’s been a very busy start to the year and we are marketing some really interesting and highly original new projects. More...

Don’t worry we are not asking you about this seasons hot colours or the must have fashion accessory !

Much more importantly we thought that you’d like to be kept up to date some of the latest trends in consumer behaviour and have a look ahead to what people are likely to be doing with their time and hard earned money this year.

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