Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

« Older Entries

Christmas at the oldest hotel in England has gone 21st century!

Monday, September 12th, 2011

If you are planning on getting away from it all over the festive season with a traditional Christmas atmosphere, The Old Hall Hotel in Buxton has some special events going on in 2011, and is believed to be the oldest hotel in England, once home to Mary Queen of Scot’s.

But the marketing team at The Old Hall didn’t want to do the usual Christmas brochure this year, they wanted something a bit special, just like their hotel. So, working with their marketing company, First Impression, a special Christmas campaign was created. A whole Christmas experience from the minute potential customers open their Christmas parcel, the magic begins.

The Christmas present entices you to their new animated Christmas site, with hand drawn illustrations by a local student. Father Christmas in his sleigh flies over the roof tops of the distinctive Buxton buildings, leaving you more presents to open. Christmas begins early at the Old Hall Hotel like most hotels, catering for Christmas parties and events and this year there are packages for people wanting to get away from it all. And then of course, there’s the Christmas period itself, from Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve parties through to the festive meals themselves.

With such a marketing campaign interest is expected to be high so they’ve enabled bookings to be made directly from the Christmas site. And what is really exciting for the oldest hotel in England, if you have an iphone, blackberry or android device you can access a special version of the Christmas site on your mobile directly through a QR code on the Christmas present.

For those who still prefer a more traditional brochure, you needn’t worry, The Old Hall Hotel have catered for your needs too, designed in the same format as the Christmas website so the whole campaign works together perfectly.

See the Christmas website for yourself at www.christmasattheoldhall.co.uk

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

Colourful Marketing Partnership for First Impression

Monday, July 11th, 2011

Colour Mobile VMS Logo

Since becoming one of our marketing partners, Colour Mobile VMS has seen their business literally take off, with orders and interest from major players such as BAA and Metropolitan Police.
Colour Mobile VMS is the official distributor in the UK for innovative five colour variable message signs. They are approved by the Highways Agency to be used to manage traffic and regularly appear at festivals and major events to inform and control crowds. MD Tony Price said, “Everything positive that has happened to my business has been off the back of First Impression’s work. I have had a lot of good coverage in the trade press and my competitors are very aware of us now. The presentation they created for the Yorkshire Business Angels attracted an offer of £1m potential funding, which I have since turned down because other partnership opportunities have emerged.”
Colour Mobile exhibiting at Traffex
First Impression supported Colour Mobile VMS at the Traffex exhibition in Birmingham earlier this year, with subsequent orders and interest from just the right people. Helen Duncan said, “We are delighted that Colour Mobile VMS is having so much success. We believed in Tony and his products from the start, which always makes it much easier for us as a marketing company. But it also proves that targeted marketing activity can make a very big impact to a company’s business, no matter what size of business you are.”
Colour Mobile VMS continues to invest in our marketing activities and we now have medium and long term plans for the future growth of the company. To find out more about Colour Mobile VMS see www.colourmobilevms.com

Posted in Design, Marketing | No Comments »

How a marketing company can help you move your business forward

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Smart businesses know that it is a continued level of targeted marketing activity that will keep them ahead of the competition and in their customer’s minds eye. Cutting back and reducing activity is not an option.

If your company isn’t big enough for a dedicated marketing person, you’ll find that the marketing often falls on your own shoulders. And then it only happens when you can find the time to do it, or it is reactive in response to competitor activity or when you need to launch a new product.

First Impression has launched new retainer marketing contracts to help customer’s spread their marketing spend across a twelve month period. But it’s not just about spreading cost, it’s about making sure that the activity happens and that it just doesn’t end up at the bottom of a very long to do list. And that it is targeted, relevant and part of an overall strategic plan. In our experience although a customer’s marketing spend may increase, so does the return on investment. That’s what marketing is all about; it’s about a return on investment, not a cost.

Bringing on a marketing company to support your marketing activity has many advantages but there are four key ones:

  • Targeted activities against a strategic plan
  • A better return on your investment
  • More creative ideas and structure
  • Leaves you free to run your business

A big advantage of working with First Impression is that you have a team behind you – marketing and sales professionals who can help you with ideas and structure the plan, talented graphic designers who can protect and grow your brand, copywriters who can develop your message and web developers who can ensure you are making the most of the internet. But First Impression will also look after all of your marketing needs, from advertising and PR opportunities, exhibition support, social media and internet marketing.

You only have one relationship to manage and we get to understand you and your business. In effect, we become your virtual marketing department, there when you need us, but we are working for you constantly, keeping an eye of your competitors and opportunities to move your business forward.

A retainer contract can start from as little as £800 a month, but for those companies looking to grow their business, they should be spending at least £1,000 a month. Customers also benefit from a free quarterly review to check that their marketing is on course, to review activity and results and agree the way forward for the next quarter.

If you would like to discuss how a marketing retainer could work for your business contact Martin or Helen Duncan on 01457 857111.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »

The Noob Guide to Online Marketing

Friday, February 25th, 2011

I recently discovered a great resource on SEOmoz entitled the ‘The Noob Guide to Online Marketing’. This great post features a 15,000,000 pixel infographic which provides a 6 month action plan for your online marketing efforts.

The infographic features ‘The Wheel of Marketing’ which highlights  8 of the core components of an Internet marketing campaign, these include….

  • Social media marketing (SMM)
  • Email marketing
  • Lead Generation
  • Organic search marketing
  • Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
  • Analytics
  • Content marketing
  • Paid search marketing (pay-per-click or PPC)

This is a great starting point for an internet marketing campaign and can be printed out to keep you on track throughout the campaign.

You can read the full article here or jump straight to the infographic (warning – the image is very large so you may need to zoom using your browser or save the file to your desktop).

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Marketing, search engine optimisation | No Comments »

Spread the love – keep in touch with your customers

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Many businesses spend so much time looking for new clients, they forget the ones they already have. And yet your existing customers are the most important people to your business.

Indifference or lack of interest is said to be one of the main reasons a customer will go somewhere else, higher than poor service or cost! And yet we still ignore them.

We all know that it is 8 times more expensive to find a new customer. It is said that only 2% of new sales comes from the first contact with a client and a staggering 80% of new sales comes from the 5th to 12th contact! That proves how much effort is required to win someone round. So let’s not forget our existing clients.

It doesn’t take alot of effort to keep in touch. Here are our top tips to keep your clients feeling loved…

  1. Service excellence 100% of the time.

    Sounds a bit obvious doesn’t it. Companies often really pull the stops out with a new client and go that extra mile to impress, but do you keep that level of service up? When that client reorders or wants more from your business, do they honestly get that same level of service that impressed them the first time around? The problem with bending over backwards in the first instance is, you are setting a precedent and you are going to have to maintain that level going forward with that client. If you have reduced lead times or squeezed a customer in last minute to hit their deadlines, or whatever it is that has impressed your client the first time around, make sure they understand your standard terms of operation and that this is unprecedented.

    If you are aiming for service excellence 100% of the time, make sure this applies to your existing clients as well as new ones. They can often fall through the net.

  2. Stay interested in their business.

    Even if you haven’t got any work with a client at the moment, stay interested in their business. Set up google alerts or follow them on twitter so that you know what is happening in their business. Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to pass on to them, tenders, grants, referrals, other suppliers that might be useful, anything that shows you are still thinking about them, and care about their business.

  3. A phone call still works.

    If you haven’t heard from a client for a while, or even if they have been ordering from your business but haven’t been dealing with you, pick up the phone. You don’t have to have a reason, just a friendly, ‘Hi, haven’t spoken for a while, and wondered how things are going with you and your business.’ It’s not a sales call (although never be surprised when a customer asks you for something when you’ve made one of these calls). Your customers will be delighted to get such a call. It makes them feel wanted and that you do care.

  4. Keep in touch with a newsletter.

    It’s a well known fact that companies who keep in touch with their clients with a regular newsletter retain their customers better than those who don’t. Make sure your newsletters are full of interesting topics, relevant and useful so that customers want to receive it. Never underestimate the power of your newsletter to spread brand awareness and keep in your customer’s mind. If you are not communicating with your clients, be sure your competitors will!

  5. Make time for your clients.

    Make time to meet your clients on a regular basis. Listen to what they have got to say and understand what is happening in their business. Don’t always be too quick to suggest your products and services. Clients will trust you a lot more if you are not always trying to sell them something.

  6. If it goes wrong, resolve it fast.

    Things will sometimes go wrong, this is life after all. But when it does, be quick to accept blame and a resolve for your client. Clients will rarely move away because of a mistake if it is dealt with efficiently and to their satisfaction. It’s a good test of any company’s customer service of how they deal with complaints, so make sure you have good systems in place to resolve issues quickly.

  7. Deliver on time, on budget, every time.

    Doing what you say often doesn’t get you any rewards but if you don’t hit a deadline, you’ll know about it. I’m often amazed at how many companies fail to deliver what they say they are going to do. So there is definitely an opportunity for those of us who do deliver to maximise our opportunities!

  8. Use your marketing tool kit to best advantage.

    Think how best to communicate with your clients. In truth a mix of marketing mediums is going to work best. As a marketing company ourselves we use most methods, we blog, we twitter, we use email marketing, we use our website, we network….and we still use those more traditional methods of direct mail and telephone. All work. But as long as you are staying in touch, keeping in front of your customers, they’ll still think of you when the next piece of work comes along.

If you need help keeping in touch with your clients First Impression can help. Give us a call on 01457 857111 to have a chat about your business.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries