2010 Colour Calendars: Shoving your brand message under customers’ noses every day

2010 CD colour calendar

A5 desk 2010 calendar

Are 2010 calendars the new marketing value proposition for corporates, charities and schools? Smart marketing managers and fund raisers are looking for a promotional product which have lasting impact and value for a whole year.

2010 promotional calendars will act as targeted advertising for a few pence a day. Which is everthing you need when cost saving over the next year but still keeping up a strong marketing effort.

Custom designed calendars will inspire your customers and refresh your brand message every month with a new picture. A successful desk or wall calendar design deliver brand presence which will remind your customers of your name, contact details and message every day.

It makes sense to already be under your customer’s nose when they are thinking about using services that you are great at delivering.

Get your own 2010 colour calendar and start marketing every day. Whether you want calendars for your business, family, charity, team or school, it’s easy with Flare Calendars.

A calendar works hard for your business all year round.

What other smart ideas have you got to market your company, charity or school this year? Please share your ideas with everyone.

Let the Social Search Wars Begin

Social search engine integration is an inevitable evolution in the social world.Google Labs has launched their Google Social Search which displays results from your friend’s Twitter, blogs, Flickr and many other social network feeds. Results are displayed at the bottom of the Google search page but limited to people in your social circle who have connected their social accounts with their Google profile. You may join this experiment at Google Labs .

Ever the rival Microsoft announced deals with Twitter and Facebook to add social updates in Bing.

This kind of integration is an inevitable evolution in the social world. The question is which of the two will be the dominant tyrannosaurus and who will end up as lunch?

Google’s Flippin Fantastic News App

Another nail in the coffin for newspapers as Google launches Fast Flip the new way to flick quickly through current headlines.
Currently to be found in Google Labs this is a great way page through snapshot items faster than sending the dog down to the local newsagent to pick up your copy of the Daily Read. We’ve been playing with it in the studio this morning and we’re pretty impressed. There are multiple ways of searching categorised news feeds by popularity, sections, topics and sources etc. You are presented with large images which you may scroll through and click to read the original article. This visual viewing experience kind of replicates the way you would naturally read through a magazine.There are even mobile apps for the iPhone and Android devices.

Google’s Flippin Fantastic News App

Looking at the news sources I guess the newspapers have resigned themselves to partner with Google to present their content. Good on them. No doubt they are continuing to look for new ways to monetise their offering online. I wonder how long it will be before other papers and magazines offer content through Fast Flip?
Look out for how Google develop this app. I would think they are already thinking about adding social book marking with the ability for content and source customisation and localisation. It would be good if there was an audio link which read the article to you.

Well done Google it’s flippin fantastic.

Most Expensive Cities for Parking

I came across a Twitter comment this morning which read ‘£2.40 for 30 minutes of parking…bargain’ (@rphwrk). It made me wonder which council or rouge parking company were charging so much. Working in a web design company in Wokingham we’re quite lucky as we can deal with most clients over the phone; however there is obviously the need sometimes for a face to face meeting. I’ve found quite a variety of parking prices which at the time seemed expensive enough. I wondered where the most expensive places to park in the World are so I took a quick look around and found a report by Colliers International.

Do not park here

Here are the top 10 most expensive:

Monthly Unreserved parking rates

1. London – City $1,020.29
2. London – West End $955.51
3. Amsterdam $805.36
4. Hong Kong $748.20
5. Sydney $587.72
6. New York – Midtown $550.00
7. Brisbane $529.19
8. Tokyo $525.00
9. Perth $517.16
10. Zurich $515.74

Daily parking fees:

1. Amsterdam $70.77
2. London – City $56.68
3. The Hague $56.62
4. Vienna $56.62
5. Oslo £55.69
6. Tokyo $52.50
7. London – West end $51.82
8. Copenhagen $47.28
9. Sydney $44.10
10. Helsinki $41.05

Chennai in India is the cheapest place to park at $0.96 for the day. Though there are probably lots of places with free parking and broken meters.

Personally we’ve reduced our travel in favour of shopping online or take the train into places like London. It seems that with London parking prices being top of the list combined with congestion charges, petrol prices and heavy traffic; the train seems to be a logical option That said the train ticket prices are also becoming more expensive, however that’s another story….you just can’t win. Here’s to councils, NCP and the train companies trying to help local businesses by keeping their prices in check. If they don’t; long term ecommerce the towns will lose their shops, the large outlets and ecommerce will be the victors.

Social media – the mind-boggling truth – do or die!

I came across this video through Twitter yesterday and it really is an eye opener. Recently at Flare we seem to be introducing clients into expanding their marketing horizons. Most of the time it means starting at the basics to bring them out of the dark ages and see exactly what’s going on around them. The education starts with what do them know about social networking the standard answer is ’I've heard of Facebook and heard something about Twitter’. If we’re lucky then they may even have a Facebook account. The next stage is to explain why and how they should begin to use the multitude of social media channels that are out there. They usually follow up with it’s not something we need. My reply is to show them what their competitors are doing right now. It’s a bit of a no brainer – you either do or die.

I thought this video really gives clear statistical data as to the scale of what’s happening and I will now be showing it to those who need educating…enjoy:

Social networking the trendy new social environment for business website promotion

Social media marketing has brought about an increase in the arsenal of marketing tools which are now available to savvy business owners. Web designers should be encouraging companies to look at new techniques for website promotion through social interaction which could help them raise awareness, increase sales and drive response. This is not to save that you should just go hell for leather and sign up to all the latest trends in social networking. There are so many to choose from that it can end up being spread too thin if not managed as carefully as you would with any other marketing campaign. It really does take time to research, create an effective social networking strategy and engage in the right networking communities, sites, blogs etc.

Ultimately you need to think ‘what do I wish to achieve from incorporating social networking into my marketing campaigns?’

• Do you have a website that you would like to promote?
• Do you wish to meet other like-minded people sharing the same interests?
• Do you wish to boost company sales or create a profitable internet business?
• Do you monetize your site’s popularity & traffic?
• Do you make announcements which an ever eager audience would love to hear?
• Do you take advantage of any niche online community websites?

When participating in social networking groups, be careful to not over indulge on self-advertising. This is frowned upon and generally not good form. The object is to participate in the forums and comment on blogs – take part, join in…get socially connected. It will take time and effort to gain the attention you are looking for which ultimately will help deliver more traffic and enquires on your website.

Small businesses and SMEs can take advantage of social networking websites which does make good business sense. It may be time to review your marketing strategies, shake down the traditional campaigns in Yellow Pages and trade magazines. Before you sign up again, look at where your sales are coming from. Are they really working? Is it time to look at new methods of marketing? You’ll be surprised how some time; planning and a little effort can help you capitalize on this popular trend.

10 Marketing strategies for tough times

1. Reach out to new customers.
   Identify your ideal customers, create a small business marketing plan and take action to attract them through strong marketing messages which will increase your advertising’s effectiveness and credibility. Capture feedback which will determine a positive path to attracting the right kind of customer.
2. Keep in touch with existing customers.
   You already have a great relationship which has to be nurtured even if its just to see how things are going. By doing so you’ll be in their mind when they do need to buy your services. More effort should be focused on existing customers as compared to getting new customers.
3. Seek referrals from people who love you.
   Your happy customers would be only too pleased to recommend you to some new prospects – all you have to do is ask for them. Prospective customers would be more confident and receptive to a receive a referral from someone they know.
4. Attract business from markets in which you excel.
   Capitalize on your strengths and opportunities in areas which you already have proven experience. Businesses in these markets may already have heard of your company’s reputation and would favour discussion with a company with familiarity of their industry.
5. Establish the return required from your marketing investment.
   Determine the investment required to set up successful marketing initiatives and what a profitable return would look like.
6. Use a multi channel approach to marketing.
   Re-evaluate current marketing strategies and pinpoint strengths and weaknesses. Once you’ve recognised your target audience, integrate a marketing strategy framework which will set you on a planned marketing campaign and speed up your road to prosperity.
7. Embrace web marketing
   Raise your visibility on search engines by optimising your website. Add fresh content regularly and build up keyword phrases to attract, sell to and keep customers. Set up a blog, create press releases, and enter into the social networking arena. Establish good email marketing and social networking techniques to spread the word and build up a steady following.
8. Create strategic alliances
   It’s difficult to be a jack of all trades in today’s current economic climate therefore there is strength in building relationships with other companies to work on joint ventures. This brings in business and can also help you increase your service offering portfolio without having to waste valuable resources and increasing staff.
9. Re-evaluate your pricing strategy
   Consider what your competitors are offering, how they marketing their businesses, current economic factors and promotional goals. Inject a sense of urgency into marketing pieces by using incentive deadlines for promotions to avoid procrastination to closing a sale.
10. Measure the success of everything.
    Track your leads and sales revenue which will help you establish sensible marketing budgets in areas which actually worked for you historically by doing this you will avoid costly marketing strategies without return on investment.

Top 10 considerations when choosing a web agency

It’s difficult to see beyond the gloss and glittering promises when you’re responsible for delivering a new website which will deliver on multiple commercial levels. Web agencies are renowned for bad working practises, poorly managed projects and false guarantees.

Here are 10 considerations you should seriously think about when evaluating an agency.

1. Invisible outsourcing
   Find out who will be building your website. Meet the design and programming team. Do they have the technical capabilities in house to complete the work or are some aspects of the project being outsourced? We’re not suggesting that partnerships between companies don’t work or that outsourcing is a bad thing. These can be based on a solid working relationship which works well for all concerned. But it’s amazing how many companies outsource without telling their clients. Open and transparent working relationships ultimately work better.
2. Cheap as chips
   Normally if you’ve received a cheap quote for web development there is a reason. Have they fully understood your requirements? Watch out for companies who outsource to cheap website developers abroad. This can lead to sub standard project management, design and development issues. The web company can quickly lose control of the project and potentially deliver a site which doesn’t meet your requirements.
3. Half baked solutions
   Check out the deliverables in the proposal. Are they exactly what you believe them to be? Should there be any doubt you should insist on a full technical specification and wireframe documentation to map out clearly the website functionality. This is especially important for complex website builds.
4. Stumbling on functionality
   Did the agency develop the system themselves? It may be that they are using a cheap off the shelf solution which they haven’t created themselves. This can be costly and restrictive when you ask for functionality that they are not capable of integrating into the system. Review the source of programming code and any licence fees which may be due.
5. Watch out for the extra charges
   Hidden costs can hit your financial planning like a steamroller. Avoid agency pricing structures that are not clear. A good agency will offer fixed rates and plans for budgeting for ongoing work.
6. Don’t be fooled by the jargon
   It’s easy to get excited or overwhelmed by all the trendy web and social networking terms. Think about how the agency will deliver sales and profit and try to cut through all the techno speak. Look for plain speaking companies who will help and guide you through the jargon maze.
7. Getting the right marketing mix
   Your website is only the window onto the world. You’ll need to market it effectively. Can the design agency offer you a complete marketing mix and have you determined a sensible budget? Does the agency understand your goals and have the resources to plan a strategy. email marketing from design and construction to successful delivery, engaging print and advertising campaigns, search engine optimisation and social networking strategies including blogging and news feed syndication.
8. Bending time around you
   Agencies should direct the flow of work and ask you to meet some deadlines to ensure smooth development. This will help them deliver the project on time but you may need them to be flexible with you, after all it’s your project.
9. Creative copy for commercial return
   Insist on a copywriter to create the web content. Unless you’re a natural wordsmith or have loads of time to spare there is a fair chance that the text you supply could either jeopardise the final commercial focus or increase the project timescale since you may be too busy to create the content. There is no doubt that money spent on a professional will be paid back many times over.
10. Love long term partnerships
    Agencies should be focused on creating sites which deliver commercial return and building a long term partnership. These relationships will be built on trust between the agency and their clients. They should both be accountable for the creative content and commercial objectives which will yield tangible results. Talk to their clients to get feedback of the true experience of working with them.