Farewell Shooey..

A revered hush fell over us today as we waved goodbye to our office mate David Schoolheifer.. After years of imparting his wisdom to the team and eating a selection of the finest processed meats known to man..David is moving on.. We waved him a sad farewell (and then immediately rearranged the office..!) Fear not though, there is time for longer, more emotionally fulfilling goodbyes next wednesday when he returns to the office for lunch with the team.

Top 10 Social Networks

Surely I can't be the only one staggered by the revelation that 65% of the UK visited Facebook in May!?!?!?

See full details here - http://www.clickz.com/3634585

Now all we have to do is work out how to use this information for good instead of evil!

Twitter

We go round the houses on the whole twitter debate here - I'm a strong believer in it but others are yet to be convinced..today I stumbled across an interesting article on whether Twitter can offer you any lasting value:

http://www.clickz.com/3634468

My opinion is that it's a strong tool in terms of understanding what others are doing, in keeping up to speed on what people are saying about you and frankly, if everyone else is doing it then we need to understand how it works and why we should use it if we are going to advise our clients accordingly..

What Social Media can and can't do for you

Those clever people at ClickZ turn the spotlight on Social Media and its cunning ways in helping and occasionally hindering, your business..see what they've got to say:

What Social Media Can and Can't Do for You ROI MARKETING
By Bryan Eisenberg, ClickZ, Jul 17, 2009Columns Contact Bryan Biography

Unless you've been living under a rock, you don't need me to tell you that social media has legs. And it's getting leggier by the minute.

Many companies don't fully understand what to do with social media. They don't see the path to benefit from it. Others have tried using it and walked away not seeing the value of social media. Others still don't get it at all, and have left themselves completely to the mercy of the online mobs.

Most of us are somewhere in between.

Social media is at its best when used as a tool to listen and interact with buyers in the early-to-middle stages of their buying cycle. This is the time to focus on providing consumers with content that matters to their buying process. While it's possible to direct sell and find customers "in the market" today, it's also difficult. Most of today's companies are overly obsessed with late-stage buyers; thus, this kind of thinking seems to them less valuable.

What It Can Do
Relationship building, goodwill, and improved customer service are what social media can do for you. Also, social media can:

* Help your company communicate with early- and middle-stage buyers more effectively and push them closer to a sale.

* Help your customers communicate the bad and the good, with you and everyone else they know.

* Help you listen to what potential buyers in your sector are talking about. Help you find opportunities to delight customers.

* Push you to become more focused on the customer.

What It Can't Do
If you think putting up a Twitter account or a Facebook fan page will build huge gobs of closable traffic overnight, you're kidding yourself. Relationships need nurturing. Social media can't:

* Drive hundreds of thousands of new qualified visitors (yet) to your site or store.

* Let you take control of the customer dialogue about your company. Those days are long gone.

* Be your primary channel for marketing your mid- to large-sized company.

Some Practical Steps for Getting More From Social Media
* Reward customers who talk about your company in social media, both good and bad.

* Remember, bad word of mouth can be good for your brand too.

* Quit talking about yourself all the time. It gets old, really. Talk about your customers. Heck, just share a joke to break things up so you aren't "wewe-ing" all over yourself.

Unconvinced that social media has legs or is a match for your company? Test it. Offer a social media specific promo code and see if it gets traction. Use social media to take an interest in your customers needs. For instance, are you selling items in a vertical sector? Search for "follow" and "friend" people in that space. Add value to the conversation about their needs. (Early-stage buyer prospecting.) Use it to meet people. Meeting people is good. Where's the Value for You?
Social media isn't everything people are hoping it will be, yet. Still, there's value in participating and investing resources to be a part of the online 2.0 conversation. Just temper your expectation, and use it for what it's good for.

Holiday Countdown

Fresh from my jaunt to Portugal (nope.. still no idea exactly where..) I come back to the office to find that Dan and Ian are already on their own holiday countdown..both head off to sunny climates later on this week (Dan will be making an honest woman of Polly before his jaunt) so it looks like Gus and I will be holding the fort - cue party hats, spraying each other with silly string and eating cake every day!

Companies Monitor Their Reputation Online

Shockingly..only 37% of businesses are monitoring what is being said about them!

http://tinyurl.com/m62faa

This really surprises me..it seems like such an obvious way to monitor and influence your company reputation that I have to wonder why more companies aren't placing importance on this..

Interesting Email Points

As lead "email" bod in the office..I'm always on the look out for interesting articles and tips on how we can imrove our email communications and today I was chuffed to come across the following article...http://tinyurl.com/lvltrx

Reading this makes me wonder..should we be "old school" and maintain an air of professionalism with our email communications..or is it time to let down our defences and start to introduce some personality into our work!? I'm thinking that confidence in our brand and product should lead us to the latter.. There is no reason why you can't combine professionalism with a bit of personality if you get the copy just right..

Thoughts?

Healthy Office Snacking

There once was a time when "friday treat" had me giddy with excitement..that's right, I'm obviously still a kid at heart because the promise of Haribo star mix or crispy cakes could really turn a rubbish day around..now however, I'm able to be a bit more sensible about my snacking with the discovery of the Graze service.. i'm not going to lie, i've been bandying this about for a while now and (despite my colleagues thinking i'm being taken for a ride on the snacking front) i'm really enjoying it!

Essentially Graze is a delivery service which provides you with healthy alternatives to snacking..so, without even getting up from my desk..I get to feel all "holier than thou" (which obviously frees up considerable room for more booze in the evening!)

Try it yourself and let us know what you think:-

www.graze.com

You can get a free Graze box and another half price when you use this promotional code:
82V2JJVA

Happy grazing!

What can we learn from Spam Emails?

I've just been reading a really interesting article on spam emails. The author makes some interesting points on how we can learn from these, even the suggestion that you should purchase a Russian Bride in an email has its merits apparently!

What especially caught my attention was the note that, as marketeers we've lost imagination and passion for our emails.. we play it too "safe" - the world has gone PC mad and with the world in a recession spiral, we worry about causing offence with our subject headers and copy..but are we worried to the detriment of our content?!?

Read the article here - http://www.clickz.com/3634277

Ian is "man-handling" the Monster

Our esteemed leader Ian Humphreys is putting his best foot forward this September to take on the Monster Challenge at Loch Ness on September 12th. He has been training like a fiend and it apparently confident of a win!

You can pop your hands in your pocket and sponsor him for an excellent cause here:-

http://www.justgiving.com/humphreys-family/

To find out more about this event and how you can take part, visit the website - http://www.firstmonster.com/

Over the Moon!!

We are currently producing a campaign for the Nightflyer overnight coach service from Glasgow to London (and back again!!!). The campaign will involve a original illustration create here in house by our very talented studio!!! So we thought you might like to see how it came together. A rough version was drawn up for positioning, then this was finalised and signed off by client. Then the studio scanned this in and started to colour it up in photoshop. We wanted to try and create a Nursery Rhyme feel. After this was done the original was replaced, copy was flowed in and the different elements created!

Have you signed up to take on the Monster?!

If you haven't done so already - dust off your cycling gear and prime yourself because the Mini Monster is coming to a city near you.. Its a great family day out and a cracking way to raise money for Save The Children. We have forthcoming events in Manchester, Leeds and Bristol so grab yourself a team and get involved!

To sign up or find out more visit: http://www.firstmonster.com/

Miller is getting married

The office is buzzing inthe lead up to Designer Dan's special day..thats right - his lovely lady will be making an honest man of him in the not to distant future.

I'm thinking that it would be rude to send him off into marital bliss without the opportunity to take him out and get him jam faced..and when I put this to him his response was "Kat got a monkey..I'm not going anywhere unless I get a monkey" - I have to wonder whether he might already be jam faced..no wonder he's been singing at the top of his voice and generally in very high spirits...

(Incidentially - he isn't always dressed like a pirate...)

Win £2000 worth of gorgeous bespoke jewellery..

If you haven't already entered our fantastic competition with Wharton Goldsmith, fear not - there is still plenty of time for you to get your entry in for your chance to win. The prize is £2000 of gorgeous bespoke jewellery made especially for you by Wharton Goldsmith's instore workshop!

Enter now http://www.whartongoldsmith.com/competition.aspx

Good luck!

Marketing has become personal (again)

Really interesting article from those clever people at ClickZ Experts on how a personal approach can help your relationship with your clients and customers alike..

When the Big Guys want to look like Small Players, they make deep investments, mostly in social media. If you look at Coca-Cola's Facebook Page, for example, it doesn't look remarkably different from any other Facebook Page, even those created by tiny companies.
On that Facebook Page, Coca-Cola -- one of the largest companies in the world and possibly the most recognized brand on the globe -- is presenting itself as not just small but also personal and approachable. In fact, if you are a fan of its page, you can write on its wall. Coke has videos of its fans and simple pictures of people enjoying a Coke. These aren't professional, glossy images but the sort of pictures we've come to expect online: a bit grainy, not well lit, and very real looking.

The rule, and indeed the opportunity, of the new medium is to make your marketing personal. You need a bit of guts to do it. We all have a natural tendency to speak and act in ways we feel are professional when doing business, and this is true online as well. But social media is the single most important media space for brands right now, and its nature is different. If you are a big brand, you don't need to pretend you are small, but you do need to find ways to become approachable, engaging, and personal in the way that small brands do.

Let's Get Small
There are a few rules to follow when you try to get more personal in your marketing. Use these methods and you can start putting some real faces next to the brands consumers think they know:

Start with the current fans.This is really the great story of the Coca-Cola page. It was started by two guys who simply loved Coke, not by company itself. They amassed a following of brand loyalists, totally on their own. The company came to these guys and asked for the opportunity to help them out and keep them involved. Exactly what you would do if you were an actual human being, not a great big company more concerned with protecting its trademarks than in connecting with consumers.

Have a person be the face.People connect with other people, especially in social networks. Certainly, people will become fans of brands and visit brand pages. But the great opportunity here is to dive at least one level deeper and provide your fans with an actual individual they can feel a real bond with.

Read more....http://www.elabs6.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=302678&mlid=6583&siteid=506638&uid=39d2270463

Guerilla proposes

A Proposal Ring to new client Wharton Goldsmith. The result an innovative boost to their Jewellery business The Wharton Goldsmith proposal ring.

How it works:

• Visit the show room

• Buy a proposal ring for £99

• Propose

• Come back with your fiancée

• Choose a ring of her choice

• Get double the cost of the Proposal Ring off the cost of the ring of her choice

Simple, innovative and very measureable.

http://www.whartongoldsmith.com/proposal/

New web site

Ok everyone, the new site is up and running, so go ahead have a look and let us know what you want done!! We will sort out all your tactical marketing needs!
www.guerilla-marketing.co.uk