Local accountancy firm Harding Lewis Limited hosted a free marketing advice seminar on 10 November at the Claremont Hotel. The event featured a presentation by renowned marketing expert Steve Hackney on: ‘Double Your Business in 30 Days or less with These 8 FREE Marketing Strategies’. Steve is the Marketing Director of UK based marketing agency the Academy For Growth. Steve outlined the 8 free simple and easy-to-apply strategies for small and medium-sized owner-managed businesses. Steve explained: “You can reduce the risks a buyer faces in purchasing your product or service if you offer a guarantee. This begins to eliminate the barriers to the sale until the customer is completely confident in buying your product.” He continued: “The offer is what prospects get when they respond to your marketing piece, combined with what they have to do to get it, so you should ‘make them an offer they can’t refuse’, referring to the key scene from The Godfather.” His overall message of the evening was “It’s easy for big brands to grow by building the brand. But smaller companies have the disadvantage in that it costs too much, so building the brand is not something a small business can focus on. So we have to be smart with all our marketing.” The event was an introduction to ‘Business Growth Systems’, a programme developed by Steve that focuses on proven, effective measures which aim to help companies expand their client base and their profits. As the Academy’s exclusive partner on the Island, Harding Lewis is the only local accountancy firm to offer these services to its clients free of charge. Nearly 100 guests were in attendance and the feedback was very positive. Mike Mercer from the Isle of Man Business School described Business Growth Systems as “very informative giving very simple, easy to use strategies you could implement in your day to day marketing activity”. Martin Sewell of Manx Workshop for the Disabled remarked on the seminar: “I was looking for reassurances, reminders and revelations – I got all three” and Sylvia Harrison at Signed Sealed and Delivered said “I came home full of enthusiasm and new ideas for our business!" Andrew Gerrard, Managing Director at Harding Lewis Limited, was pleased with the success of the event: “It was brilliant to see so many people at the event and it was an extremely informative seminar. I hope that all of the attendants found it helpful and I believe that the ideas discussed will have useful practical applications which will foster sustainable business growth. I am very pleased that we are able to provide such a service for our customers completely free of charge, and trust that it will assist them greatly”. For more information about the free marketing service offered by Harding Lewis, contact Andrew or Lindsey at Harding Lewis on 679 524. ENDS