It was with more than a little sadness we heard on Wednesday of the decision to stop publishing The Gloucestershire Echo and Gloucester Citizen as daily newspapers and instead to publish them as a weekly paper. Now to put this into context I am of a generation that I still recall as a child rushing […]
The countdown is well and truly on for this year’s Gloucestershire Business Show on the 17th and 18th May at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse – 9.30am-4pm each day. This has got to be the biggest and best business event in the county now in its third year – with over 140 exhibitors, a number of […]
In the ideal world, everything you ever do on the Marketing front will be a rip roaring success. But from time to time things can go wrong for even the best marketers – but then is the time for a calm head and to ask yourself some questions (or ask somebody like us), to help […]
Our top 10 tips for making sure you make the most out of your website and what it can do for your business. The chances are that if you are reading this and you either work in a business or run a business yourself, then that business will have a website. The possible exceptions might […]
As we approach 2017, here are our 12 predictions for the Marketing industry in 2017. 1. The percentage share of Marketing budgets devoted to some form of digital marketing will increase. 2. There will be a rush to make website https as Chrome rolls out its planned changes to mark non secure websites as insecure. […]
In a year of such major political events, it is all too easy to overlook some of the main events in the world of marketing. We list here a light hearted look at twelve marketing things that happened in 2016 – one for each month of the year. January John Cleese returned as Basil Fawlty […]
Here at Prestbury Marketing we have always been firm believers that businesses should play an active role in supporting their local communities. This belief is not just based upon a gut feel that it is the right thing to do, but more the fact that we believe that “doing good is good for business”. The proof in the pudding is that several of our clients have come to us through a mutual involvement in supporting a charity or cause. We also find that the support we give boosts our profile significantly.
One of the causes that we support at this time of year is Hamper Scamper, a gift and food hamper collection and distribution appeal organised by our charity client County Community Projects (CCP). The appeal has gone from strength to strength. The origins of Hamper Scamper go back to 2007 when Zurich, a charity partner of CCP asked them for their help in organising a food donation collection amongst staff to give to local disadvantaged people. They collected enough food for 10 hampers that CCP distributed for Zurich. Fast forward to 2016 and CCP collected hundreds of gifts for children in the county that might not otherwise have received a Christmas present. They also collected enough food to make up hampers for over 1,100 families or individuals who in one way or another are struggling.
Thanks to amazing support from The Regents Arcade and Cheltenham Borough Council, the home for this year’s appeal was the former BHS store in the arcade. The venue was ideal, not least because of the increased visibility it gave to the appeal but also the large area it offered to work in. The Prestbury Marketing team were fortunate enough to be invited along to help for half a day this week, joining our clients Officeworx and Smart Computers. It was a hard working, non stop morning of filling large Hamper Scamper boxes with food items, to keep up with the constant stream of volunteers and community groups, calling in to collect their hampers for distribution to the disadvantaged. It was also incredibly rewarding and satisfying to see the sheer scale of generosity of individuals, organisations and businesses that had donated food items. We were delighted to have donated a car load of items that we purchased for the appeal as well as a collection from our recent business breakfast that all the attendees generously contributed to.
We were also delighted to see many of our clients supporting the appeal. We have already mentioned Officeworx and Smart Computers, but we also know that Printwaste Recycling and Shredding, Circle 2 Success, Questline and The Royal Oak to name just a few, also got behind the appeal.
Hamper Scamper is a great way to support your local community and the team behind it, ably led by CCP’s Chris Knight deserve huge praise. We only hope they get the sense of satisfaction of a job well done – they deserve it. It is great to know that this Christmas for over a thousand families, will be a brighter and happier one as a result of Hamper Scamper.
If your business is looking to get involved in your community or to adopt a charitable cause, we can help guide you through the process, to make it as easy as possible and to maximise the benefit of the arrangement for both parties. You can find out more about this service here.
Social media isn’t just there to grow your brand and connect with old friends, when done correctly, the big platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram can play a key role in creating new business leads and attracting new customers.
Let’s take a look at how Trumps triumphant yet surprising win in the USA presidency last week has been marked as ‘the first true social media election’ of all time. We know that social media is forever growing in users; since the USA election in 2012, Facebook now boasts more than 60% monthly active users along with Twitter’s influx of more than 185 million users. This substantial increase in active users made social media the obvious option for reaching voters and creating global conversation. The Wall Street Journal summed the situation up nicely when it said the “traditional media” and the Democratic and Republican parties have lost “dominance” of public opinion to the “digital revolution.”
Trump and Clinton succeeded by getting people to talk both about and with them. Both candidates had an on-going relay in campaign messaging, barely missing a day without updating Twitter. The power of social media has had a similarly positive impact on helping businesses create leads and reach new consumers, just like Trump and Clinton searching for voters. We see typically between 5% and 15% of our clients web traffic coming from social media to see whether you are achieving this you do of course have to monitor the evaluation tools of each form of social media and google analytics.
Some of the key features on social media can allow businesses to create free engaging content, set up paid for adverts, upload 360 degree imagery and post live footage in order to potentially reach thousands and thousands of people.
We’ve listed a few pointers to help your business shine on social media:
1. Keep content regular – It is important that you’re constantly posting on social media, we don’t mean every minute of everyday but enough to ensure your business is being seen and your content is fresh in users mind.
It can take a little while for you to build social media followers, it never happens in an instant but the more engaging content you upload the more interaction you are likely to receive thus driving website traffic and increasing likes, comments, click through’s and shares. Focus also on growing a relevant audience and not just chasing numbers for numbers sake.
What level of frequency should you aim for? We suggest you begin sharing up to two Facebook posts, 10 – 30 tweets and 3 – 5 Instagram posts a week.
2. Be engaging – The most engaging content on social media requires images, videos, links and graphics to be uploaded with your posts. This will increase the chances of your content being seen as users are more likely to interact and click play to watch short videos than they are to engage with words on there own.
3. Do your research – These days you’ll find the majority of businesses are using social media and moving their marketing budget towards digital and social media advertising but we are a big believers in doing research first, then testing and evaluating..
We recommend you distinguish where your audience is online, what platforms do they use? What is their daily routine, the times when they are online? Can you find key hashtags being used in your industry? Are there any popular conversations or weekly Twitter chats you can join in on?
4. Stay connected and honest – As well as posting your own content and driving traffic to your website, the key to creating new business leads on social media is to keep up to date with users in your industry, stay connected, follow competitors and find the top influencers that can help your content be seen by others.
Building an honest and positive brand reputation online is crucial. Once your live on social media pretty much all your content can be seen, reviews can be read and follower stats can be found. Consumers look at social media accounts when deciding on a purchase, make sure you are delivering content that says what’s exactly on the tin. Also finally, don’t forget the value and benefit of watching social media, it is not just enough to post and share, you need to respond to and interact with your customers.
We offer various levels of social media management as well as social media training, so if your social media marketing could do with a boost please get in touch.
Last month Chrome came out and announced that all websites that are not HTTPS, will from January next year start to be flagged by them as not secure if the sites either require passwords or take credit card details. The move has been designed to “encourage” firms with HTTP sites to turn them into HTTPS […]
When two mega brands like Unilever and Tesco clash, it is always going to be interesting and this week was no exception. Both brands hit the headlines this week, prompted by an attempt by Unilever to raise the wholesale prices it charges Tesco by about 10% of some of its household name brands (Hellmans Mayonnaise, […]
With over one billion users worldwide and continuous updates to its core features, LinkedIn remains the go-to platform for professionals looking to connect, learn, and grow their businesses. Long gone are the days when it was just a platform to find your next job. But with ever-evolving algorithm updates and shifts in user behaviour, making […]