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#MarketingTitbits – Hootsuite, shopping and Science World

1. Hootsuite – for begginers
If you haven’t heard of Hootsuite already then it is about time that you did. The social media management site now has 7 million users in over 175 countries around the world. It is basically a website that allows users to integrate all their social media channels and control posts across them; particularly handy for businesses.

This week, we’ve found a great article on Mashable entitled ‘A beginner’s guide to Hootsuite’. If you don’t already have Hootsuite or a struggling with it then we suggest you check it out. To read the article click here.

2. How is shopping changing in the future?

The way that we do our shopping is changing rapidly. More people shop online now than they ever have before, especially the generation of 14-19 year olds. This week we came across a very interesting article in Marketing Week that explores how the face of shopping is changing and how brands can and need to keep up with it. To have a look at the article click here.

3. Wonderfully creative adverts from Science World Vancouver

The Science World Museum in Vancouver is notorious for its slightly controversial exhibits –Body Worlds and The Science of Sexuality exhibitions being just two examples that courted controversy. This risqué and alternative attitude extends into their marketing. They are now known across Vancouver for their innovative and attention grabbing campaigns. They have amassed a vast array of eye-catching and intelligent adverts that have been used around the city to raise awareness. We think they are brilliant, so thought we’d share some with you. To have a look at some of them and get inspired click here.

What your SME can learn from social media

Last month, we introduced the first instalment of our three part blog, ‘What SMEs can learn from big businesses’. Part 1 highlighted ‘Guerrilla marketing’ and how larger organisations are adopting innovative campaigns in order to raise brand awareness and create that vital social buzz.  This month, part 2 focuses on social media and how more and more companies are including the likes of Facebook and Twitter into their marketing mix to help grow their business and attract potential customers.

Out of the total 7 billion people living on the planet, 1.5 billion use social media. From Twitter and Facebook to Google+ and Pinterest, social media has now become ingrained into our contemporary lifestyles, making it easier to engage and share content with individuals online, no matter what the social and geographical boundaries. But social media is no longer just influencing our personal lives; one in three businesses now use social media, with 58% of consumers ‘liking’ at least one brand on Facebook.

Companies are now harnessing the power of social media to build their brands within the landscape of status updates, pins and tweets. To create successful social media campaigns, an investment of time is essential. However, this alone is not enough. A note of caution – it is easy to rush into tweeting and posting pictures, without really understanding why you are doing it and what you hope to achieve. Like any marketing activity, researching, planning and implementing strategies are critical to turning a great idea into great results.

Here are some good and bad examples how some well known companies have used social media to engage with their audience.

1. In October 2012, Cisco, the multinational networking equipment giant, wanted to make sure that they were listening to their customers and responding to questions and queries in ways that were relevant and accurate. With this in mind, Cisco launched their Social Media Listening Centre. On a daily basis, the centre monitors around 5,000 social mentions across 70 company-related platforms, from Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn and YouTube, to company blogs and forums. According to a recent independent evaluation of these listening activities, Cisco achieved a 281% return on their investment over a 5-month period, amounting to an annual cost benefit of over just over £991 million. This was calculated by comparing what Cisco spent on implementing and training staff to use social marketing tool with the benefits received, the avoidance of marketing and customer service costs to achieve the same results, along with indirect benefits, such as increased staff productivity. The results indicated that the new centre helped Cisco employees deal with more enquiries at a faster rate.

2. To celebrate their 100th anniversary, Oreo posted 100 adverts on their Facebook page over 100 days. During the campaign, Oreo’s Facebook friends went up from 26million to 27million and its Facebook interactions increased by 195%. The posts included relevant topics, quotes about Oreos, humorous cartoons and even Oreo themed recipes. The time invested in developing their Facebook campaign paid off as Oreo won the top Studio Award prize from Facebook.

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3. However, interacting closely with consumers online can backfire if you have not planned your campaign successfully.  Earlier this year, Tesco posted on their Facebook page “Click LIKE if you love getting your groceries delivered.” Alongside people liking the post, there were numerous comments from customers explaining their bad experiences with Tesco’s home delivery service. Tesco did not ignore or delete the comments, instead they responded to every single user, asking for details so they could look into each case and try and solve the problem.

4. Unfortunately, Waitrose’s attempt at #hashtags wasn’t exactly what they had planned either. In 2012, Waitrose invited customers to complete the sentence ‘I shop at Waitrose because… #WaitroseReasons’.  What Waitrose thought was a great way to showcase the affordability of the brand backfired, with Twitter users mocking the brands position within the market and their target audience. For example, ‘I shop at Waitrose because it makes me feel important and I absolutely detest being around poor people #WaitroseReasons. ‘I shop at Waitrose because I was once in the Holloway Rd branch and heard a dad say ‘Put the papaya down, Orlando!’

For a company embarking on using social media as part of their marketing, the seemingly endless choice and possibilities can see daunting. However, adopting the right platforms to represent your brand is important.  Twitter and Facebook are good for creating conversations with customers and responding to queries, complaints or praise. For the brands that are more visual, sites like Pinterest and Instagram provide an array of creative opportunities. The key to successful social media isn’t just about how many fans, followers or mentions you have, instead the secret to building your brand is the interaction between your business and your online community. For your campaigns to run smoothly, creating a social media strategy is essential. It will help your brand stay in the right direction, generate a return on investment, as well as increase your visibility online.

What SMEs need to know to market effectively in 2014 – seminar summary

Image3-2Last week, TLC Business hosted our annual marketing seminar at Southampton Science Centre. This year we focused on ‘Marketing for SMEs in 2014’. The guests were treated to a working lunch, tackling a range of hot topics on marketing for SMEs. As promised, we have created a blog outlining some of the main themes we explored on the day, so you don’t miss out!
Digital vs. traditional marketing

15 years ago the term ‘digital marketing’ did not even exist showing just how fast technology is moving and how important it is for marketers to keep up. The debate of which type of marketing is more important has been around for just as long and every marketing professional will have their own opinion.

The statistics around digital marketing channels are compelling. B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads than those that don’t. So if you’re not already blogging, perhaps you should be thinking about it. Regarding social media, 52% of marketers said they have found a customer on Facebook and 43% on LinkedIn.  In terms of influence, surveys have found 63% of readers are more likely to be influenced by blogs over magazines. These are just 3 examples from a plethora of impressive statistics as to the effectiveness of ‘digital marketing’.

However, despite all the focus on digital marketing, in 2013 digital budgets are forecast to account for just 20% of overall marketing spends and TV, press and outdoor advertising was up 3.4% in the third quarter of 2013.

So what did we conclude? Two main points:

1. If you’re not at least planning on how to use ‘digital marketing’ in your business you should be, because your competitors are likely to already be reaping the rewards.

2. We would argue that the term ‘digital marketing’ has become extinct in any case. So intrinsic are digital channels in one’s overall marketing mix that to imply it is somehow distinct from ‘marketing’ in general is outdated. Digital is so important that it cannot be left out!

The rules of SEO

Over the last few years Google have released a number of different algorithms that enable you or I to find what we are searching for on Google. Famously coy about what companies need to do to enhance their search engine rankings, Google has worked hard with its algorithm updates to eradicate the contrived methods of SEO practitioners to artificially inflate a website’s search engine rankings.

First came Panda. Panda dealt with dubious content pages and demoted websites that attempted to dupe Google about the relevance of pages. Next came Penguin. Penguin came down hard on iffy link building, resulting in a number of big names plummeting down the rankings . And now to Hummingbird. Released towards the end of the summer this year, Hummingbird (birds famed for being precise and quick) moved the goal posts (albeit slightly) once again. Hummingbird has responded to the change in the way that Google’s users now search. It seems we are asking questions more rather than searching for terms that might link to information they want to find. Put simply, Hummingbird ‘thinks’ and ‘acts’ more like a human and recognises the intent (semantic meaning) behind the search phrase.

The best way we have heard the subtle shift in intent from Google described is the following; currently we have ‘search’ engines – Google wants to become an ‘Answer ‘engine.

It is helpful to keep this in mind when creating your content. Consider creating tutorials, ‘how-to’ guides, explanations and general content that provides solutions to challenges in your industry or that your target audience might be experiencing.

How to make your marketing work more effectively

The first rule for making your marketing work more effectively is to know your market. Do you know what competitors are out there and what they are doing.

What about your target audience? Have you established they actually want and value what your business provides? Have you reviewed the demographics; where are they located, what segments exist, what type of marketing is most influential to them. For instance, a 20 year old might find social media marketing a lot more influential than a 70 year old.

The future is never clear and forecasts, even from experts, might never come true. Despite this, it is still important to look to the future when thinking about your marketing. What changes are taking place in the marketplace? How are consumer purchasing habits changing? What technology is becoming available to utilise in your business or your marketing? A lot of the time the information you are looking for is already out there, it is just a question of finding it!

Moving with the times

The pace of change in the marketing sector can feel daunting at times, leaving some to cling to old familiar channels and ignore potentially effective ones in the process. Making an effort to ensure you move with the times is very important. It might not always be appropriate for your sector or audience but the very nature of establishing that is a useful process in itself to better understand your audience.

The annual B2B Buyersphere Report was reviewed and illustrated the different types of social media that are being used by B2B buyers currently. Somewhat surprisingly, Google + came out on top, indicating that perhaps Google’s social media offering is beginning to gain traction.

The presentation looked at the rise of ‘Moment Marketing’, where marketers respond to real life events, in real time. Nestle, Nandos and Paddy Power demonstrated great examples of mastering this. Most importantly, SMEs, through leveraging their social media networks, can compete on an equal footing with corporate giants in the ‘Moment Marketing’ arena.

Mobile marketing was a hot topic; with staggering statistics about the adoption of smartphone – by the end of 2013 there will be more smartphones on the planet than people.

The significance of this for marketers is that more and more interactions between companies and their target audience are taking place on mobiles.

The knock on effect of this is that it is imperative that businesses design their website and content (such as emails) to be mobile friendly.

Equally significant is the rise of ‘People Power’. Mirroring the rise of social media, the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter now give the average Joe in the street a platform to reach a global audience. Marketers need to accept and embrace this rather than fear it. Businesses might not be able to exert the same control that they are used to in more traditional marketing channels but they are able to reach a far wider audience and engage in ways previously unheard of. Social media represents a massive opportunity for businesses and can no longer be ignored.

Top tips all SMEs should know

The event was rounded off with a few key tips that all marketers or those running a business should take away with them. These encompassed:

1. Knowing your audience and the market research tools you can use to do this

2. If you read two books, we recommend ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’ and ‘The E Myth Revisited’

3. Embrace email – the stats all show it works

4. Make sure your content is up to scratch

5. Get yourself on social media – whether you’re there or not we guarantee your competitors and customers will or soon will be

6. Go mobile

 

#MarketingTitbits – Small Biz Saturday, Cow Waterbeds, Stats

SBS-Waterbeds-stats-small1. Small Business Saturday comes to the UK
Small Business Saturday is already a $5.5 billion phenomenon in the United Sates, which began in 2010. Despite this, it has only just made its way over to the UK. It’s UK debut was last Saturday (7thDecember) and it hopes to raise the profile of local UK business, encouraging shoppers to consider local businesses when purchasing.

The idea was launched by American Express who helped to introduce it to the UK. They worked hard with digital marketing alongside local authorities to promote it throughout the UK. James Caan and David Cameron are backing Small Business Saturday and we think it is a great concept! To read more, click here.

2. What you can learn from a cow waterbed company

Dean Throndsen is an American dairy farmer who has dedicated his life to the comfort of cows. Dairy cows lie down for up to 14 hours a day and in the past it has been difficult to find a way to protect them from the weather as well as giving them the ability to lie down, without getting sores on their legs.

Dean then came up with the ingenious idea of cow waterbeds. They are long lasting, practical, comfortable for the cows and hygienic. Now, we’re obviously not suggesting that you start up your own cow waterbed business, although it might not be a bad idea. We found a great article from Entrepreneur about the things that you can learn from DCC Waterbeds, to read more click here.

3. 20 impressive social media statistics

Last week we found a great article from Econsultancy, which highlighted 20 mind blowing social media statistics from 2010 compared to 2013. Did you know in 2010 Twitter had only 75 million users, it now has 883 million. To read the other 19 statistics, click here.

#MarketingTitbits – Snapchat, Christmas, trends

snapchat-xmas-trends-smaller1. The brands that are rocking Snapchat
Over the last few years we have seen an increase in the number of video and photo sharing apps and social networking sites. You are probably already familiar with the likes of Instagram and Pinterest but apps such as Vine and Snapchat are being widely used by people all over the world and if you’re not already using them, you should consider it. We found a great article from Mashable to give you some inspiration that showcases 8 brands that are doing Snapchat really well. To have a look, click here.

2. Christmas Marketing: the best of 2013

Each year, for many people, the beginning of the run up to Christmas is marked by the first time they see the Coca-Cola ‘Holidays are coming’ advert on the television. More recently, the release of the John Lewis Christmas Advert seems to have become an integral part of the festive traditions. Whether you love it or hate it, Christmas inspires some creative and inspirational marketing campaigns. Have a look at some of the best Christmas marketing of 2013.

3. The biggest trends of 2013 – as announced by Facebook

Every year Facebook reveal the biggest trends of that year by gathering data, which is measured by the number of posts that mention a topic, including related hashtags. The worldwide top 10 for this year is as follows:

10. Nelson Mandela

9. Tour de France

8. Boston Marathon

7. Miley Cyrus

6. Flood

5. Harlem Shake

4. Typhoon

3. Royal Baby

2. Election

1. Pope Francis

This looks very different to the top trends of 2013 for the UK. In the number one spot came Andy Murray, with the computer game Grand Theft Auto 5 coming in at number 10.

#MarketingTitbits – media mentions, coding, Twitter

media-coding-twitter-smaller1. The companies with the most media mentions in 2013
 Each year, Dow Jones publish their Global Dow Index which includes a list of the companies with the most media mentions for that year. Unsurprisingly US tech giants topped the list with Google being number one, Apple coming in a close second and Microsoft coming in a close third.

To have a look at the rest of the list from Mashable, click here.

 

2. Become a coding expert and a better marketer

 Learning to code is rapidly becoming an indispensible skill; it can open up a whole world of new opportunities, and can make you stand out a mile when looking for a new job. There are many online courses that offer to teach you everything you need to know to become an expert coder, some free and some paid. We think Codecademy is one of the best free websites that can teach you about all different types of coding and how to use them.

To read more about why and how you should learn to code,click here.

 

3. How the top 100 brands use twitter

If your business isn’t already using Twitter then it’s about time you thought about it. It has been one of the fastest growing social networking sites since its launch in 2006. If you don’t yet use Twitter to connect with your customers or if you’re simply in need of some fresh inspiration, have a look at this article which highlights how the top 100 brands use Twitter.

To read more, click here.

Google top brand for 2010

The Brandz report for 2010 has just been published and it is no surprise that Google are top with their brand value increasing 14% over the last year, to a huge $114 billion.
The top 100’s total brand value exceeded $2 trillion! That is just shy of the $2.2 trillion GDP forecast for the UK in 2010 from the IMF.

Indeed in a period of extreme economic hardship and uncertainty, the overall value of the Brandz top 100 increased by 4%. However, part of this increase could be attributed to the inclusion of Oil & Gas companies for the first time.

The big gains, as you would expect, lay in the technology industry and highlight the massive importance of innovation in this sector. Brands like Blackberry weren’t even in the top 100 5 years ago, however, now it ranks 14, with a brand value of just over $30 billion dollars.

The report highlights the importance of defining a brand on more than just product and service excellence, it needs to be founded on deeper ideals and values:

‘The biggest share price gains will be made by brands which aren’t afraid to stand for something. They will go beyond the functional, to represent an ideal, which appeals across products, categories and cultures.’

One of the most interesting areas of the report focuses on the role of Social Media and brand building. Those of you still questioning the importance of social media as part of your business’ marketing mix should take notice. Widespread adoption of this medium by many of this year’s top 100 brands, shows it is here to stay.

The report cites examples of brands as diverse as HSBC, Ford, Evian, Coca Cola and Starbucks, all employing social media campaigns to compliment their more traditional marketing methods.

The WPP study makes an interesting read and provides insights into brand building, relevant to even the smallest organisation.

To access the full report visit: Brandz Top 100 Most valuable global brands 2010.

June’s Top Marketing Tips

Top marketing tips:

  1. Conduct a client survey: – Some businesses are reluctant to undertake a client survey in case they don’t like what they find out. For those that are keen to understand their customers better, it might just be the best thing you do for your business. The benefits are plentiful. 1. If clients aren’t happy with some aspect of your service or product, better to find out early and have an opportunity to rectify it. 2. Showing your customers that you care will build loyalty and foster a stronger relationship. 3. Are you struggling for ideas as to how you can improve your service or develop that new wonder product? You customers have the answer. All you need to do is ask the right question.
  1. Data capture tool: – If you are like us, you’ll hate spending time typing in or copying and pasting the contact information of various prospects when building a database. Inspired to find an alternative solution, we stumbled across a piece of free software called Contact Capture. Now all you need to do is highlight all the information you want to gather, press a button and hey presto it is organised into a workable format, ready for exporting into your CRM or database software of choice. It is particularly good when consolidating different excel spreadsheets! You can find a link to this software on tlcbusiness.wpengine.com/cool-stuff.
  2. Consolidate your social media: – for those of you out there that are already hardened tweeters and social networkers you’ll probably know this already. But for those of you that are irritated about having to waste time updating Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn accounts, why not use Ping.FM to update your social media status on these three platforms and more. It is free, easy and saves you time. What more can you want? Enjoy.

 

Hope you find our top 3 marketing tips useful. Do let us know what you think and any areas you’d like more info on.

 

Marketing Trends 2011

In 2010, TLC Business talked about the impact of social media on your business, how lead generation can help you generate new clients and how an SME can go green. So with 2010 nearly behind us, what marketing trends can we expect for 2011?
We have produced a shortlist of what we think will be making the marketing headlines next year, the news we will be reading, blogging and tweeting about.

The age of Social Media

The past few years have seen people and businesses experiment with Social Media tools. Social Media in 2011 will no longer be considered new. In 2011, we will see businesses include Social Media in their marketing strategies, taking full advantage of the social networking opportunities on offer.

SMEs that use Facebook to market business-to-business campaigns will receive a new set of tools from the social media giant. Facebook Pages has released new analytic tools to assist small businesses in better gauging their traffic by posting impression counts. The change will allow small businesses that receive less than 10,000 “likes” to monitor the success of posted content and give SMEs an edge against competitors. Additionally, small companies will be able to see who viewed their posts and post feedback. In turn, they will be able to create better targeted Facebook advertising campaigns.

Not only will businesses be able to take advantage of the growing capabilities of Facebook, shopaholics will also benefit from the power of the Social Media tool. Facebook are capitalising on the fact that many online shoppers like to review, network and interact as they shop. Online storefronts are adding networking platforms to their virtual operations, while marketers are aiming to include social media sites in their sales strategy. With the help of Facebook, you can now take your shopping experience to the next level.

However, unlike 2010, 2011 may not all be about Facebook and Twitter. Google’s top secret foray into social media, ‘Google Me’, has been delayed until March / April 2011. The top-secret plan is rumoured to be a Google branded social platform. According to Google, it won’t be a social network the way people think of Facebook, but rather social information about who your friends are and the people you interact with.

“We are always experimenting with new ways to improve our products, and we have already confirmed that we are focused on incorporating social elements across Google, but we have nothing new to announce”

So what does Google have up their sleeve? Well, we will just have to wait until Spring 2011 to see whether Google’s latest attempt will be a triumph or failure, like Wave and Buzz. Only time will tell.

What we can say now, is that Social Media is only set to grow even bigger than before. If your business isn’t on Facebook or Twitter, it soon will be.

Keep an eye out for more 2011 marketing trends.