Blog, Tips, Hints and Views from Bridge Creative, marketing and PR consultants north west
Views from The Bridge
PR probably matches technology as being one of the fastest changes markets
In today's world of cyberspace and interactive technology it has never been a more exciting time for the PR companies and their clients.
PR has come more into its own in this recession than previously has been the case. And if you look at how publicity is being generated via the internet, on-line strategies are vital. So significant is the impact, that you are now seeing newspapers starting to charge a subscription to view the news on-line and supermarkets building new stores, not for public use, but where the shoppers are actually staff, filling the baskets for the on-line customer.
With PR, like everything, accountability is a priority and the ability to evaluate success vital. Whereas this has been quite difficult in the past, nowadays, undertaking online activities such as e-shot campaigns can give you valuable feed back on potential sales leads. Web sites also have moved on from just being a shop window. PR can provide you with great content to get your website noticed which will in turn increase your customer base. Rather than focussing on your products and services, you simply talk more about how you solve or can solve problems/provide advice (what is called an 'expert opinion'). By using appropriate key words and phrases people will find you, not by looking for you by name (as more often than not they probably won't know you or know what you do), but by finding the company who has what they need.
Constant updating of news items, expert opinion pieces and articles all help with link building which in turn is valuable to search engine optimisation to get you up the page ranking. And of course press releases get distributed to on-line newspapers and trade magazines as well as the printed versions (yes, these must not be forgotten as there is still a huge readership and benefit to be had). Add to these tools such as corporate web videos uploaded onto your web site and on Youtube, and not forgetting blogging, then PR campaigns become more powerful than ever.
But we shouldn't forget the traditional aspects of PR (now called "off-line PR"!). These still will form a vital part of a marketing strategy; however their application has possibly become more sophisticated because of the more contemporary methods that are available. As PR is all about communicating to the right people at the right time, so activities such as events, competitions, networking, newsletters etc still have a place in a PR campaign. It is how they can be implemented that has altered and made things so much more accessible for companies of any size or any industry to benefit from.
There is an important connection between traditional methods and what can be achieved through new technologies and today's PR companies need to know how and when to use them, whether in tandem or exclusively use one or the other, to the benefit of a campaign.
For me the jury is still out on Twitter. However, used in the right context undoubtedly social networking of this kind for some business sectors has been proven to get successful results.
However, a word of warning. With the increase of on-line social networks the ability for complaints to be aired, whether justified or not, is very worrying. In the past a customer would write an angry letter to the managing director who would take the necessary action and the problem would be solved, with any potential for damage being kept relatively low.
Today, a customer or in fact anyone with a grievance to share, can easily start a negative blog about your company or post a new topic on a public forum to rubbish your business and your brand. It is also easy for competitors to stir up negative comment. Either way, your company's reputation is at stake.
In retaliation, the last thing you should do is provide tit-for-tat response, which is so very tempting and easy to do with these online forums, but once started where do you stop? It will undoubtedly end in tears. And you also need to be on the look out for well-meaning staff who may very well start posting comment. Whilst seeming to be helpful, such response can clash with any counteraction you may have begun to introduce.
All I can say, without going into detail, is that if this happens the best strategy is to increase positive publicity as this will eventually out rank the negative publicity both on-line and off. Do call us on 01695 624966 if you would like to talk further about this or any of the activities I have talked about.
Author: Bridget Patmore - Director of Bridge Creative
Take a look at our Business Positioning Worksheet; designed to help you take a close look at your business and, after a refreshing summer break, it will help you get motivated to push your business forward successfully into 2010!
No time like the present to take a break: Visit www.howstuffworks.com . This site is absolutely stuffed full of interesting facts, quizzes and things you need to know. A great peruse.
'CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS NEVER BEEN SO IMPORTANT'... is this stating the obvious?
Well... can you answer the following questions... honestly?
• What do your customers know about you?
• How do your customers know this?
• What have your customers read about you?
• Does your advertising campaign dovetail with any publicity you have sent out?
• Do you back this up with customer communication?
• How do you communicate with your customers and how often?
• What are your customers' impressions of how you deal with them?
• Do you ever ask your customers?
• Do your customers feel you are giving them value for money?
• How do your customers rate you against the competition?
• Do you know who your competitors are from a customer perspective?
• Do you evaluate the answers to all the above and act on the results?
All these questions at the outset look to be so simple, you may take them for granted... but dig deeper and getting this type of feedback on a regular basis is vital for business growth and development.
We don't take anything for granted and understand the difficulties businesses can face in getting this information. We can help you develop and keep both you and your customer happy through helping you to research and monitor attitudes to your organisation, feedback the results and put together effective marketing strategy based on these results.
So how did you get on with the questions? Call us on 01695 624966 and we can help you fill in the gaps.
E-SHOT MARKETING... SUCH A COOL TOOL!
Apart from texting, I think e-mails are the next best thing to keep in touch but using them as part of a sales strategy has to be done properly. Getting it wrong can actually be detrimental to your business. Attachments can fall foul of spam filters and if too big can clog up the recipients in box. Messages can bounce back for some unknown reason and if you are sending messages cold... well you may well get a chilly reception! So, wouldn't you like to be able to track an e-mail; see who opened it and who didn't; why didn't they open it; what time did they open it; did they click through to a given link?
With the need to provide more and more effective sales and marketing tools for clients, we have launched an e-mail marketing solution that can be linked to your website to give you a choice of bespoke templates and management of e-mail address lists. Plus it will give you progress reports, timed messages and the necessary feed back to create sales opportuities.
E-MAIL DATA CAPTURE
Direct e-mail marketing is a low-cost, high yield avenue that you should seriously consider, especially when times are tough. However, you need to start by building a quality e-mail address list. A good option is to rent a list but finding the right list for your needs can be a bit daunting, time consuming and expensive. But you can begin to build your own resource via your web site. Data capture on your web site is an important first step towards building a permission based email list. To do this you can include the low cost option of an ‘Opt In' button on your web site for people to receive future marketing material. You will have seen these opt in buttons on many sites and there is no reason why you shouldn't do the same as long as you are able to provide something that you know your customers and potential customers will want. What should this marketing material be? Well, for example, we come across businesses that say that they are including news on the latest legislation of interest to their industry on their web site. This type of news is important and therefore of interest, so why not encourage people to opt in to receive directly the latest on legislation and include other news on product updates, offers etc - just be clear what they will be opting in to receive. You may wish to provide an incentive to those who sign up - such as entering into a competition. But do let those who have opted in know who has won so they know the competition was real.
Adding an ‘opt in' option can also link to e-mail marketing systems so e-mail addresses are automatically added and managed. You can then build on this data capture by finding out more about your customers and to do this there is no better way than to ask. Sending through a subscriber profile questionnaire with the chance to win something worthwhile really can generate valuable response.
If you decide to go down the electronic direct marketing route, take three steps first:
1) capture data and permission from your customers
2) find out more about them
3) keep the big picture in mind when developing promotional messages and provide information not just on your company and products but what is happening in the industry, for example.
And of course you can always ask a customer if they would like to receive monthly email updates when they call you by phone!
TESTING YOUR E-MAIL CAMPAIGNS
Test e-mail including subject lines, content and images. The subject line is the most important piece to test because it's the initial eye-catcher. Create two different versions of the subject line-and send each sample to 5% of the total subscriber list-to determine which one has a higher open rate. Try a personalised subject line versus a non-personalised one; or test your company's brand in the subject line for one but not the other. Repeat similar tests with the content and images within the body of the message. Once you identify something as a champion, continue to challenge it and always look for ways to improve and optimise.
Test the offer within the e-mail. Testing two different offers in a campaign enables you to gauge which one inspires more people to take action. For example, one e-mail may highlight a discount while the other entices subscribers with a longer warranty. Adopting the more effective offer across the board can translate into higher purchases or lead conversions.
Compare audience response. Some messages resonate better with women than men, or young people versus older readers. Test your e-mail content with sample groups of the different population segments that comprise your database. If one group within the list favours a particular message or image more than another, consider sending different versions of the campaign to the varying subgroups. The more diverse your audience is, the more likely you will need to customise to maximise your message.
Test frequency and time. Test the day and time of day to send e-mails to sample groups among your database to determine the highest open rate. For example, if research in your field finds Tuesday is the best day to send, try sending your e-mail to half your subscribers on another day. A comparative analysis of the results could lead to different sending patterns. Test all these segments often because this is real-life feedback from real subscribers and not a mini focus group of hypothetical people.