Olympic Guidelines for Business Promotions
The Olympics is a very tempting time for marketers to offer competitions and promotions loosely aligned to the games… but beware!
Thanks to the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act (2006) and the Olympic Symbol (Protection) Act (1995) any such use is not a civil matter (as is usually the case with copyright infringement etc.) but a criminal one – your competition could be breaking the law and there is a team of LOCOG “Brand Police” who are very actively seeking infringing adverts, events and promotions.
We’ve produced a simple set of guidelines, based on the LOCOG brand guidelines, to try and help*
Read MoreThe Lowdown on the ‘Improve Your Resource Efficiency Programme’
I had one question in mind when I attended the ‘Improve Your Resource Efficiency’ seminar: do we qualify for a grant? Unfortunately, the answer was more complicated than a mere yes or no.
Wessex Enterprise explained that applicants had to meet certain eligibility criteria:
- Less than 250 employees (or a group with no more than 250 employees)
- Annual balance sheet not exceeding €43 million
- Annual turnover not exceeding €50 million
- Not be more then quarter owned by firms that do not comply with the above criteria.
Grants could be used for: lighting upgrades, new heating systems, compressors, recycling equipment, CAD design software, testing & monitoring equipment, consultancy / training / certification for environmental management or other projects. These grants are issued on a 50% match fund basis (minimum of £1000 threshold and maximum of £40000). Investments must be in Dorset.
The bottom line was that the amount you qualify for depends on the difference between your current carbon footprint and your potential post-grant carbon footprint. The potential difference needs to be comparatively substantial, which unfortunately limits the options of a smaller enterprise [especially those that do not have high consumption or high wastage].
Wessex Enterprise does offer 12 hours free support, which can be used to benefit the business in developing an environmental policy, guidance on developing an environmental management system, legal compliance check, resource related research projects, etc.
Read MoreBrand love gets social with our expanded social media services
Following our recent acquisitions, we’re very proud to announce our updated and extended social media services!
We’ve expanded our training workshops to include:
Introduction to Social Media – designed for decision makers who need to understand how social fits into their business and how to begin to create a SMART strategy to do so.
I’m on LinkedIn, But… – understand how to take your LinkedIn profile to the next level as a powerful networking tool.
Twitter 101 – learn to make best use of this powerful communication tool for your business.
Better Blogging – covering both technical how-to (using WordPress) and best practice content creation.
Facebook for Business – designed to enable you to utilise the world’s largest social network for real business benefit.
We’ve also launched 2 new services:
The Online Social Impact Audit provides a reference point to identify areas of improvement and forms the starting point for any social media campaign or strategy development.
Maximise the number of people who hear about and interact with your event, product or brand launch with our Social Media Event Amplification.
Our Social Media Management page has been updated to reflect changes to our offerings also.
We’re offering an Introduction to Social Media breakfast session for only £25+VAT.
Come and join us on the 26th October at 8am (for an 8:30 start) for some breakfast and an overview from our Social Media Strategist, Luke on:
- Why social networking matters to your brand
- An overview of the key sites
- Some future trends to look out for
Call Steve on 01202 888192 to reserve your place.
If you’d like more information on any of our social media services, please call Luke in the office.
Read MoreUsing You Tube for brand building and marketing
The popular video sharing website and social network YouTube has recently released what you could describe as a book of ‘Commandments’ for what the team at YouTube believe are the most successful and effective ways to help its users generate better quality content and drive more traffic to their channels.
This extensive guide dubbed the ‘Creator Playbook’ gives YouTube users a distinct structured list of the best strategy to maximise the potential of their online videos. It also explains how to promote your marketing material through other social media networks and is designed to be accessible to all users, mapping out a tick list agenda to optimise the opportunities that Youtube offers.
So, just what is it that makes the largest online video destination and second most used search engine such a valuable brand and marketing tool? One reason I can think that video marketing is so advantageous and so powerful could be linked to the fact that 90% of our day to day communication is non-verbal. This implies that messages are most likely to be understood when given out and received usingbody language and self-expression. Unlike written words in printed media and websites, and spoken words in radio advertising, video and television marketing have the additional messages which are transferred by eye movements, visual cues, and overall body language, which makes YouTube a great channel to add more depth to your brand strategy.
You can download the YouTube instruction ‘bible’ here:
http://youtube.com/creators/playbook.html
While you’re waiting for it to download I can give you a few of my own ways to use make the most of your ‘home generated’ content which are often overlooked.
Firstly, it’s important to take an honest and value based approach to using YouTube to raise awareness of your business. The direct selling route is not always necessary. Ultimately if your videos are interesting, informative, innovative or humorous then your audience are more likely to value them and share it, spreading awareness of your brand without any legwork from you. If a key factor to your video strategy is sharing then make your videos focussed and simple with a more subliminal marketing message. People are unlikely to share your video if they think they are being pitched to!
Make use of the close integration that YouTube allows with other social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Before you know it you can quickly and effortless have your video posted across platforms and embedded in your website and emails. YouTube video’s are viewed for an average of 2.9 billion hours a month so make sure you get a look in and use it as part of your overall strategy.
Customise your own YouTube channel (Like ours here: http://www.youtube.com/user/rtmediauk) to compliment your branding and to set up playlists with your personalised content. No lack of equipment or technology should stop you from producing original, creative content for your YouTube channel. Consider interviewing clients, or experts on a variety of topics which are relevant and authentic, and make sure an element of your brands personality shines through and reflects what your all about. You should maintain communication with your audience with regular updates and new posts.
Be Tag savvy. Remember…search engines like Google can only determine the content of your video if you tag it and your YouTube channel. Think carefully about the words and phrases you use for titles and descriptions. Link your social media accounts and make sure they are on your own website as well to encourage sharing and remind people to subscribe.
Check out RT Media’s You tube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/rtmediauk
Read MoreThe Time For Change is Near
There are some things we just come to accept after a while, no matter how inadequate and cumbersome they may be.
What am I referring to? The Facebook Business Pages.
Earlier this month I was listening to Radio 1 while they were trying to boost the number of ‘likes’ on their Facebook page to over 1.5 million. I picked up two interesting points from their chatter. Firstly, they were trying to see if there was a way that they could set permissions for a video so that only people who ‘liked’ the page could see it, as a loyalty reward. They established that this could not be done (it is possible, but not by any means easy) and moved on to uploading the video itself. They struggled for ten minutes to get it to display on the page, with Aled Jones stating that as he couldn’t sign in as the Business Page itself, only his personal account, the video was ending up on his profile.
This was not a very significant event, nor was it something we didn’t already know about Facebook Pages. It did, however, make me consider just how long we have put up with the difficulties of the Facebook business pages and that Google+ as a competitor is long overdue.
Despite its very recent invite only launch, the number of Google+ users has grown at a rate greater than that of Facebook at its’ launch. Google have also been continuously updating the selection of features on offer, with the game sections which was released last month.
However, the benefits of Google+ are likely to be had within their much anticipated Business offering. Where other social media platforms have struggled, Google+ Business is rumoured to be a tailored business social solution, rather than a business add on to a social platform.
Google+ are still in the development stages of the business pages, and brands have been advised not to try and create their pages under personal accounts. This indicates that they intend to offer something that is quite different for businesses from the individual accounts. They are even going as far as policing the network to shut down any business accounts that are set up prior to the launch.
Although nothing official has been released, experts have predicted that Google+ business will excel above Facebook in its usability, features, search functionality and analytics tools – most of these are native to the success of Google.
Google+ looks set to have the potential to be the leading social media platform for businesses, and I for one cannot wait for the launch.
Read MoreBranding Gets Social with RT Media Acquisitions
Dorset based strategic branding and digital agency, RT Media, has completed the acquisition of two Bournemouth based companies – social media training and consultancy business, SocialTech, and creative agency, Ozone Creative Solutions.
Ross Thornley. founder of RT Media, explains: “We recently carried out a strategic review within the business with a view to increasing resources, skills and generating growth. Both SocialTech (http://www.socialtech.biz/) and Ozone complement our existing capabilities and will further enhance our offering, expanding our branding expertise into all online communications and leading to a wider solution for our international, national and regional clients.”
Ross Thornley with Tony Ridgway and Luke Williams
Founded in 2008, SocialTech has built a reputation as a leader of social media training and consultancy. Its clients include Channel 4, E.ON, Condé Nast and Dorset Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI).
Luke Williams, Director and founder of SocialTech, comments: “I’ve always held the team at RT Media and the outstanding quality of their design work in the highest regard. When the opportunity to merge our businesses became available it was an obvious fit, in terms of culture and approach, and as a logical extension of their brand communication to offer an extended range of services.”
As a total creative resource, Ozone Creative Solutions brings expertise from its impressive folio of advertising, direct mail, sales literature, Point of Sale, interactive CD and online design work to RT Media. Its ‘straight talking’ and ‘clear creative thinking’ approach is also a natural fit for RT Media, as Tony Ridgway founder of Ozone, comments:
“Our view has always been to get the job done, and get it done well. The team at RT Media has a similar approach; they like to get under the skin of a client’s and challenge them to really know what is actually required to achieve the objectives. We have already started collaborating on several campaigns and new business wins, which has shown us just how much potential we have, working together.”
Steve Mills, Business Development Manager at Nutrichef said “As a long standing customer of RT we were asked to be one of the test clients they worked with pre-merger to support the re-launch of our new web site. Adding the social media knowledge from SocialTech to the branding expertise of RT worked very well, dramatically extending our reach online.”
Ross adds: “This is a coming of age for RT Media. Integrating the three very like-minded, skilled and professional teams has given us a very strong platform for growth. It is a new era, both for us and for our clients, who will most certainly benefit from having this level of resource for their campaigns.”
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