Are the days of heading to the local flyer printing company to collect a couple of boxes of flyers to advertise your business, before heading onto the local high street to distribute them, gone for good? Are today’s electronic generation still responsive to traditional marketing methods such as leaflet distribution or is online and TV advertising the only viable method to promote your products and services? We spoke with established leaflet printing company, Circle Services, to gather some of their thoughts on the topic and, as such, have put together a look at whether flyer marketing is still effective and if it’s still worth businesses investing in some decent quality leaflets.
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Jan 152013
When we first talk about the marketing mix; most people generally assume we mean the likes of the 4p’s (product, place, price, promotion) and, to a certain extent we do, however, in 2013, it goes a lot deeper than that! When we talk about a modern marketing mix, what we mean is the mix between online and offline marketing methods and the mix even within those areas. A successful business in 2013 needs to have a marketing mix made up of both of online and offline activities and with this in mind, we thought we’d take a quick look at the types of activities businesses need to be undertaking.
Online
First things first; no business can ignore the online marketplace in 2013. By utilising a combination of SEO, PPC, social media and banner advertising methods, businesses need to ensure they are seen everywhere their potential clients are looking. No two potential customers are going to look in the same place for a potential supplier or service provider and, as such, businesses need to ensure that whether someone prefers Google organic search, Google Ads, social media or other forms of advertising for finding suppliers and service providers; theirs comes up!
Offline
On the same front; there is still many potential clients for many businesses who will not use the internet as their first port of call for finding a product or service. Newspaper, magazine and TV advertising (as well as the likes of radio and leaflet advertising) are still very valid methods of advertising and should never be overlooked by any businesses! It’s all about adapting to the way your target market finds products and services and tapping into this.
We had a quick chat with Dave from Vita Spa Hot Tubs to discuss their broad and varied approach to marketing and he outlined, “we’ve tried all sorts over the past few years, but our successes have been through a combination of online and offline marketing. We run everything from SEO and PPC to magazine advertising and find that each is effective at drawing in its own part of the market without stepping on the other parts toes!”
Above all; a marketing mix needs to be varied and in 2013, that means a mix of both online and offline activities!
Jan 092013
Owning a business is a fantastic experience. If you’ve worked in many unriveting positions before, running a business is completely different. There are many ways which can promote it so that profit margins increase considerably. Here are a couple of ideas to consider which can promote your business to a wider audience.
Have a website designed
Every business should have a website and it will be difficult to find a company that doesn’t have one. Although there are many platforms which enable you to create a new website for free, it won’t be designed properly unless you have prior experience of doing so. It doesn’t cost a lot of money for a web designer to create an effective website and can be done in a couple of days.
Utilise SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can help a business so that it becomes synonymous with particular keywords. Web experts believe that after the third page of search results, web users don’t continue looking. SEO can help a business to have a top ten ranking. Just like when creating a website, SEO content should be written by a professional copywriter. This is because they can create content that abides by Google’s Penguin update which stops websites that use keywords too often from having a high search ranking. Therefore, Google won’t classify the content which is on your website as ‘junk’ and it can have a very good search ranking.
Start social media accounts
Facebook is very popular and has more than a billion unique accounts across the world. Pages can be created on Facebook which promote a company’s services. Detailing your website address, status updates should be made regularly and can inform followers about any promotions. Incentives could be offered to those who ‘like’ your page such as a 10% discount on a specific range of items. There are many groups on Facebook whose sole purpose is to help businesses promote themselves. When links are put onto such groups, your page could be viewed on many occasions. As it doesn’t cost anything to join Facebook, setting up an account is definitely worth it.
You can also utilise other social media websites in order to promote your business, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Enabling you to connect to likeminded businesses, LinkedIn is the business equivalent of Facebook because it enables you to network. Twitter is just as popular as Facebook and it has hundreds of millions of unique accounts and it can help you to promote your business. Just like Facebook, it is free to join Twitter and LinkedIn. The symbols of these social media websites can be posted onto your homepage. Therefore, web users will know about the many ways in which they can contact you.
Create business cards
Although having a website and joining social media websites can promote your company, business cards can be used when networking face-to-face. Business cards should be with you when you attend exhibitions, conferences and any other opportunity which enables you to promote your goods and/or services. Although a professional designer can make business cards, there is an application on Microsoft Word which enables you to create a basic design which includes relevant information such as your company name and website address.
As evident from the aforementioned, promoting your newly formed company doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.
Author Bio
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If you run a successful business; it won’t be long before you outgrow your current office premises. Perhaps you’re already nearly there and are finding it difficult to accommodate all the new staff you’re having to take on to cope with the demand for your work…maybe you’ve got desks rammed together to save space, cables everywhere without being in cable clamp systems, or perhaps you’re just running out of space full stop? In this instance, it really is time to find a new office premises and make the move to pastures new.
Of course, if you’re planning a move, however, you need to be sure that the increase and growth in work levels is going to continue. It’s no good moving offices to accommodate new staff and to present a more corporate office to clients if the work is going to drop away after 6 months or so. In that instance, you’d be much better off hiring some temporary office space for a short period, or even considering the likes of a temporary modular building.
If you are confident that the work increase is permanent, however, it’s time to make that move and find yourself suitable business accommodation. Most major UK cities will have a wealth of office facilities and chances are you’ll find something suitable. Of course, this is if you’re looking for rented offices, often in a shared block. Another alternative, of course, is to have a building converted for your own personal use. If business is going well, it may make financial sense in the long run to have a place of your own which you can do up exactly as YOU need to!
Whichever way you choose to go, an office move shouldn’t have to be stressful and it shouldn’t have to cause too much disruptions. It may do for a few days but, in the long run, it’ll be well worth it as your business continues to grow!
If you’re in the process of building your brand, you’re most likely utilising a range of advertising and marketing methods to ensure that your brand not only grows but attracts repeat customers and brings in significant sales. The task of brand building can be one which is difficult to get off the ground, however once everything kicks in, you should see it start to ‘snowball’ and gain momentum. As such, we thought we’d take a look at the impact which promotional gift products can have on your companies brand building campaign and why you should be utilising them if you aren’t already.
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There’s no question about it; in 2012 every business needs to have a website. For many, a companies website is their main connection between them and their customers. As such, it’s very important that companies websites perfectly represents them and gives off the impression which they want clients to have of them. It’s a common misconception that a website has to cost a fortune and, in all honesty, a fantastic website can be purchased for less than £1,000. Of course, companies need to focus on ensuring they get the best website for their needs, be that an e-commerce site or a simple portfolio site, rather than focusing specifically on what it costs. Think of a website as an investment…in order to get the best return out of it, a decent initial investment needs to be put in place in the first place. We discussed the main concepts of a business’ website with Yellow Duck Web Design, a leading digital agency specialising in web design Essex.
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Sep 072012
A little bit more of a look at personal advertising here, as opposed to the general business advertising techniques which we look at; but something we hear a lot is people struggling to find flatmates and house mates. In 2012, it shouldn’t be difficult to find flatmates with a wealth of online flatshare finding website available. As such, we thought we’d take a look at the best methods of advertising for flatmates to ensure you’re not left with an empty room for long!
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Whether you’ve just started a business or are in the process of launching a brand new product; planning an implementing an advertising campaign is one of the most important things you’ll do. At the end of the day; it’s no good having your products and services available if no one knows about them! As such, you need to spend time putting together an advertising campaign which takes in aspects ranging from online marketing (SEO and PPC) through traditional print advertising and potentially tv advertising as well.
All in all; it’s absolutely vital that you put time, effort and money into your advertising campaign to ensure its success. Think of it this way…you need to spend money to make money and so long as you see a strong return on investment, it’s all worth it! However, when starting to plan an advertising or marketing campaign, things can sometimes be a bit confusing. As such, what’s the best way to go about it all?
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The first question you’ll all be asking is … can it actually be done? Well as a simple and straightforward answer…of course it can! When a company employs an advertising agency, a lot of the time they’re not employing your offices or your receptionist…they’re employing YOU, the advertising professional. If you’re good at what you do; most clients couldn’t care less whether you work from home or from a multi million pound office. As a matter of fact; if its the former, many may prefer it as, if you have a million pound office to run…it’s your clients who are paying for it!
More than anything; if you’re looking at running an advertising agency from home…you need to ensure you’re organised. You need to ensure you have a dedicated working environment from which you can make phone calls and get on with your work without distractions. One solution we’ve come across is Oeco Garden Rooms. These dedicated garden rooms offer a brilliant solution to those looking for a home office … they allow you to work from home; however also allow you to escape distractions that a spare bedroom comes complete with! With such products available from this garden office company, you have no excuse not to have your own luxurious office in the comfort of your own home!
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