I recently came across some interesting research which if you are based in the UK you might find of interest.

Earlier this year, insurers Hiscox published the Hiscox Wealth Review for 2008 and identified that some 10% of the UK population, nearly 2.5 million households can now be  identified as wealthy.The report states that:

An average ‘Working Wealthy’ household in Britain earns £88,000 (close to triple the average household income of £33,000), takes two foreign holidays a year and has over £20,000 worth of disposable annual income.  Despite this over 90% of them do not consider themselves at all wealthy. 

However, this population described as the ‘Working Wealthy’ say they would need to earn around £150,000 per household, have paid off their mortgage, own more than one property or a holiday home and send their children to private school before saying they are well off. 

The report uncovers that:

• Four in ten go on more than one foreign holiday a year (38%)
• Almost a third own a luxury home entertainment system (29%)
• Almost a quarter have savings of more than £25,000 (23%)
• 15% own a piece of art work
• 14% own more than one property.

Here are the persona’s for the ‘Working Wealthy’ as defined in the report:

The Home County Happies

• A wealthy mature professional couple in their 40s and 50s, living in a 4-bedroom house in the Home Counties
• They are likely to have more than two cars, go on more than two foreign holidays a year, and are interested in golf, arts and charity
• Often with a second home, their children will have expensive possessions, such as laptops, and they spend a lot on private education
• Women likely to shop in Waitrose; men most likely to own an Audi  

The Shire Squires

• A wealthy professional living in a small village with his/her partner but commuting into a city for work
• Likely to be over 45, they live in a detached four-bedroom home in a small village, with two or more cars to help them with their hobbies of antiques, arts and nature
• They may have benefited from dramatic rises in the property market of the 90s
•  They spend their money on home entertainment, household appliances, restaurants, hotels and clothes, in that order
• They lead a comfortable lifestyle

The Urbanite Professionals

• Often categorised as the ‘late to start a family’ earner, the young professional has a high income but won’t necessarily think so, as they compare themselves to higher ‘city-esque’ earners
• Regularly drinking lattés, they can afford to indulge in expensive disposables, from fashion, wine, electronics to art
• They may also have benefited from an inheritance of antiques, art or jewellery, and are likely to go on annual ski-ing and/or diving holidays abroad
• Women shop in Whistles; men shop in Reiss

So if you are considering your target market for your products and services, consider how you might want to include the information from the Working Wealthy report to support you developing the persona’s for your core clients, customers and patients - does it give you a better understanding of what motivates them to spend and what their priorities are?

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As you might be aware, I’ve been a key note speaker at Bank of Ireland series of workshops called ‘Starting And Growing Your Own Business’ for entrepreneurs in Ireland. 

These have proved excellent events to connect to resources and advice from experts about how to start and grow your business - and of course the opportunity to network with fellow entrepreneurs.

I’m on the panel of speakers and talk about ‘Marketing On A Shoestring Budget’ so that you attract more clients and more profit.

The events are free to attend.

Here are the dates for the next events in the series (venues will be detailed as soon as they have been confirmed).

If you do plan to attend let me know - I look forward to seeing you there:

• Monaghan - Tuesday 13th May 2008 - The Westenra Arms Hotel, Monaghan
• Limerick - Tuesday 20th May 2008 - The Hlton Limerick Hotel, Ennis Road
• Wicklow - Tuesday 27th May 2008

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Are you looking for resources to help you start of grow your small business? Do you need to attract more clients, find financial advice or want to know the next step you should take to thrive through a downturn in the market?

Well the BT Small Business And Franchise Show is back for 2008, Ireland’s premier exhibition for anyone running a small or medium sized business or considering franchising is going to be back in town.

The BT Small Business And Franchise Show takes place at the Industries Hall, RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 on Friday 9th May 2008 from 1pm to 7.00pm and on Saturday 10th May 2008 from 11am to 5.00pm. Tickets are available at the Door €10.00.

As with last year, you will find me at the BT Small Business and Franchise Show on the Business Clinic stand where you can pop along to access free advice. I’ll cover any questions relating to branding and marketing online and offline so if you are planning to be at the show, do come along and say hi!

And this year the show is also going to be taking place in Cork on the 16 and 17 May 2008 and in Belfast on the 14 and 15 November 2008.

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If you are looking to build your reputation and brand online and attract more clients, then you’ll be interested in the forthcoming online marketing bootcamp taking place between the 22-24 April 2008 in Dublin.

The Online Marketing Bootcamp being hosted by iQ Content. Make sure that you read to the bottom of this post to find out how you can avail of a 10% discount on the registration fee.

The online marketing bootcamp includes workshops on the following areas:

• Search engine marketing 202: More advanced techniques for enhancing your website’s search engine visibility
• Content strategy: Getting your content mix right to drive traffic, engage customers and increase conversions
• Writing for the web 101: Creating great content – the fundamental techniques
• Writing for the web 202: Beyond the basics – writing to convert and persuade
• Accessibility for web managers: Planning, procuring, delivering and maintaining an accessible website
• Information architecture that works: Essential techniques for structuring and organising your website
• Killer web applications: Designing usable and effective web applications  
• Personas – Getting into the head of your customers: Tools and techniques for understanding your customers
• Practical user testing: Planning, conducting and reporting on user tests
• Web analytics 101: Fundamental techniques for measuring the success of your website
• Web analytics 202: More advanced techniques for measuring the effectiveness of your website
• Website healthcheck: How to evaluate the effectiveness of your website and benchmark it against your competitors
• Kick-start your web strategy: Defining and implementing an effective online strategy
• Web governance: Getting your organisation organised – people, teams and processes
• Web project management: How to deliver a successful web project
  Email marketing: Planning, creating and delivering effective email newsletters
• Online advertising: Conceiving, creating, implementing and measuring an effective online advertising campaign
• Search engine marketing 101: Driving more traffic to your website – the fundamental techniques.

You can attend for 1 day, 2 days or 3 days and as I’m speaking at the event, you can use the special code I’ve been given by the event organisers and can therefore avail of a 10% discount - please note this is not an affiliate link - I asked the organisers if my community of readers could benefit in some way and am delighted that they made this discount available.

All you need to do is put in the code ’speaker’ when making your booking to access the 10% discount.

I’m speaking at the session on the Wednesday afternoon - the iQ FutureNow Seminar where we’ll be covering emerging trends and technologies that you need to start thinking about.

Do let me know if you plan to be there won’t you. I’m trying to clear my calendar as much as I can as  know the content that will be covered at the online marketing bootcamp will be outstanding.

Make sure that your coaching practice isn’t left behind online - you can deinately ensure that your coaching practice rides the recession by developing a strong grand online and so that you can generate more leads and attract more clients.

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