Full Service Creative Digital Design Agency

The Number One Recession Tip

Friday, January 9th, 2009 | Branding Tips, Impact @ Play, Miscellaneous | No Comments

Martin was speaking to a client the other day and asked how business was and if the recession had affected was affecting him, our client replied…

“I’m not taking part in the recession!”

Great, I love it. If every business shared this enthusiasm, no business would be finding business hard.

So when someone asks if you have been affected, just reply - “I’m simply not taking part”

Tags: recession, tips

Marketing Tips To Avoid The Credit Crunch!

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 | Branding Tips | No Comments

We have all read the papers and listened to the news and lately all we seem to hear is all doom and gloom. Whichever way you look at it, true or not, the bad media is beginning to scare people into holding back their spending which is affecting everyone.

Our view on the so called ‘Credit Crunch’ is that your product or service will still be in demand, although people will be less cautious on how much they spend and who they spent it with.

So whether your business is online or offline here are a few tips to help beat the credit crunch.

1.       Build & Develop Trust – As people are becoming more wary about using new businesses, try to introduce trust to your business. A key way of doing this is to make your business more approachable, being more open with prospects about your business. Also try adding testimonials to any marketing. People trust other client’s opinions; this will go a long way.

2.       Keep Communicating! – You need to keep your brand under your client’s noses at all times, if your competitor is thinking like you, they will be doing the same, keeping on top of your marketing and email communications is vital. Try sending out regular updates on your products and services via email or direct marketing.

3.       Build Customer Loyalty – If your business has a large client base, or even a small client base; why not reward their loyalty. Provide discount vouchers and promotional codes for just being a customer, surely this will build loyalty and it is always better to receive something rather than nothing.

4.       Special Offers – If possible try to introduce special offers to entice in new customers. Everyone loves a deal. Keep these deals fresh and rotate them to keep interest. If people are looking for the best deal, you are sure to be able to provide it.

5.       Fantastic Customer Service – In these so called hard times, aim to offer your customers with the best advice and service. Sometimes you might have to go out your way to win that client. But it will worth the while in the end.

6.       Don’t follow your competition – If your competition begins holding back on their marketing spend – this is your opportunity to take their enquiries.

7.       Be Consistent – Do not begin pulling advertisements and marketing spend, if you withdraw your marketing how is anyone going to notice your business? And on the other hand your competitors might begin stealing the enquiries you should have received.

8.       Don’t Be Static – Try not to be complacent, keep your marketing fresh and rotate adverts to entice your prospects.

This should assist in killing some of those bad vibes, however nobody knows your business like you do, and I’m sure with your knowledge of your market, you should be able to battle through the hype, like you didn’t even notice there was a little economic slowdown!

Tags: , credit crunch, tips

Brand Advertising Tips

Saturday, May 24th, 2008 | Branding Tips | 1 Comment

Advertising Tips
Impact Media have compiled 5 major tips when organising your advertising solutions.

1. One of the most successful rules of advertising is AIDA. What is AIDA?
A – Attention
I – Interest
D – Desire
A – Action

Make your advertisement attractive to gain ATTENTION which will possibly lead to an INTEREST in your product or service. Being interested in the product could lead to your product / service being DESIRED, and that desire could leave to an ACTION of making a sale or following the advert instructions.

This is a very popular formula, which have been tested and proved for years. Do your advertisements follow this rule?

2. There are 2 main types of advertising; direct response advertising and brand advertising.Unless you have buckets of extra cash to spend try and steer clear of brand advertising, as this is more aimed at creating brand awareness for large companies who can afford to throw money away in expensive TV advertisements!

If you are a SME then direct response advertising is best suited for you. Direct response advertising relies on an immediate action e.g. someone making a purchase or contacting you for more information. Using your tailored marketing strategy you can create the response you require which will best suit your business. One of the key aspects of direct response advertising is seeing the results. If you have had purchases / enquiries then its working if you haven’t then you are doing something wrong!

Of course it might not be the advert which is not bringing home the bacon, but where the advert is positioned! See part 4.

3. Recording results is a vital piece of your marketing strategy. Knowing what it working for you and what is not will save both time and money.
• Try and monitor your calls with a simple “How did you hear of us” or “where did you get our number” In any electronic communications try and place an additional field in your contact forms asking visitors where they found your number.
• If you have the availability of an additional phone line, why not trial different telephone numbers targeting different adverts? When calling this number you know exactly where the enquiry has come from.
• If you have a website, try and direct visitors to a specific landing page. Your website stats should tell you how successful your advert has been.
How can you possibly know if your advertising is working if you do not monitor where each enquiry is coming from.
 

4. Advert positioning! Knowing where to place your advert is vital. You wouldn’t advertise a restaurant launch party in a car magazine!

Knowing your target audience is vital, finding out what publications they read and what websites they are most likely to visit will assist in placing your advert.

If you are placing an advert in a printed publication – only place adverts on the right hand page! When you read a magazine or a newspaper, as you flip the page your eyes are attracted to the right hand page as to the left. Statistics will show that your advert has more chance of being seen on the right hand page that on the left! Try this out!

5. There are many different ways to advertise your business; you shouldn’t rely on one source for all your business. Try creating other advertising channels alongside your current advertising methods and monitor the progress. Main areas in which people advertise are listed below.
• Newspaper & Publication advertisements
• Search Engine Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Create your own referral scheme
• Direct Mail Campaign
• PR campaigns – Get noticed by the local newspapers to reap free advertisement.
• Telephone Marketing

Tags: advertising tips, Marketing

Is Your Business Achieving Without Design?

Saturday, April 12th, 2008 | Branding, Branding Tips | No Comments

Some businesses achieve fantastic goals without the use of design, this is true. Your business could have a great market share within your industry and you are more than happy with your business’ turnover.

But how much better could your business be doing, with the assistance of design?

In a survey carried out by The Design Council

“Investing in design pays off for UK businesses.The more they use it,the bigger their profits and turnover,the better their quality,productivity and competitiveness – and the more likely they are to be growing, not standing still.”

“Nearly half of businesses where design is integral have seen turnover,profits and competitiveness increase,and more than seven out of ten say design has increased the quality of products and services.Growing businesses are far more likely to be getting these benefits than companies with static or shrinking turnover.”

Even if your business is achieving fantastic profits already, think of the small investment that can be made that will generate an increase in sales and surely a fantastic return on investment.

One of our clients J.E Putney & Sons were a established business for well over 10 years. The business was progressing well and possessed no company image. When the director approached us, he was looking at changing the business and creating a company logo to represent the business. Since the logowas created in 2005, J.E. Putney and sons have invested in a company website, vehicle livery, business marketing material and stationery and promotional products and incentives.

Only a week ago, the director came in to see us and told us that getting his business branded was the best thing he had every done. As the company is now getting recognised in areas and industries that previously they had never targeted. The website alone has produced a massive increase in the business turnover, as the company are appearing in searches both regionally and nationally.

This is a perfect example of how design can benefit any business. Even if your business is working well, making a small investment in design would make a significant difference.

Tags: , brand, Design, website

Branded HTML Emails

Sunday, October 7th, 2007 | Branding, Branding Tips | No Comments

Every email message sent from within your company should be effectively branded. We offer simple approaches that will immediately improve your brand recognition, make your email stand-out, effectively distribute your contact information and provide direct links back to your website.

In the 21st century, a company’s most common use of business to business communication is made through email, so why settle for sending standard emails? Branded HTML emails or also known as email letterheads provide an ideal solution for displaying your company’s contact information and increasing brand awareness for your business.

Assist your brand, ask us to supply your workfoce with HTML email footers or simply try and create them yourself. These can be a bit tricky - as due to receipients spam filters some email footers are blocked, leaving your hard efforts wasted and your message not even getting delivered. With little outlay you can have your brand reaching people day in day out using the power of email!

Tags: , brand advice, branded HTML emails