Business Vitamins are really pleased to announce we've published yet another website! There's nothing like local business, and these guys (Danbred International) are "quite literally" a stones throw away, being based in our home village of Bacton, Suffolk.
It's not all old fashioned farming up here though, oh no. DBi are seriously high-tech, involved with the importing and development of Danish pig stock to produce top quality British farmed pork. Follow the link above to read more - warning - you might want to dig out some of your 'A' level biology notes beforehand... as I said, VERY technical!
Business Vitamins managed all the design, build, contributed to the photography and also assisted in writing some of the copy. The project tied into the creation of a folder and a number of small brochures, designed to promote different aspects of their business.
The website also includes a discussion forum, hosted on the DBi web server.
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'Your Telemarketing' is a new business recently launched by telemarketing expert Laura Morrison. Offering a range of telemarketing services from cold-calling to database cleansing (and much more..), Laura was keen to establish her business as having a very distinctive and recognisable look.
Working from a new brochure design, Business Vitamins ensured the new website had a consistent look and feel about it. We built the site using static HTML but included a client managed news section using a simple content management system.
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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Another website by Business Vitamins goes live!! Midsomer Training offers covert surveillance training and anti-surveillance techniques to a number of public sector organisations such as the Benefits Agency. Whilst it was clear that such organisation aren't going to simply go to Google to choose a new training partner, Midsomer Training realised the importance of "looking the part" on-line.
Although only requiring a modestly sized website, they wanted a bespoke design that set them well apart from other (inferior!) training providers.
Business Vitamins managed all the graphic design and built the website, as well provided all the hosting and domain purchasing services.
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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GL Building Services is a small family owned and managed construction business based near Newmarket, Suffolk. The owner of the business was proud to have been selected by Forest Heath District Council as an approved provider of extensions and small building services - but had no website to link to from the Council website.
Business Vitamins were selected to design and build a new website. Working with another local service provider who wrote all the website copy, Business Vitamins created the new website in double quick time and set up all the hosting and domain registration as well.
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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Business Vitamins are pleased to annoucen the launch of the new Hardcastle Burton (.eu) website. Specially designed to target prospects in Germany and Holland, the new site has been crafted to appeal directly to the northern European market.
Business Vitamins designed and built the entire website as a bespoke website design, specifically tailored to our clients exact requirements.
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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I’m not a Wayne Rooney fan.
This stark outlook has nothing WHATSOEVER to do with football, which I regard as nothing more than a noisy, slightly irritating distraction at best. I’m sure our Wayne is a very good footballer and well worth every penny of the £squillions paid for his services by whoever he plays for. (Seriously, I’m not making this up; I actually don’t know who he plays for).
The reason I’m not a Rooney fan boy is because a certain red-topped Sunday newspaper chose to splash 5 pages about Rooney’s (alleged) dalliance with a “woman of easy virtue”.
This highly important news, deemed significant public interest by the news editors, was the major reason the story we WANTED to be featured toward the front of that same paper in that very edition, only made it to page 35! Don’t get me wrong though, the public affairs consultancy who “leaked” the original story did a genuinely fantastic job and the client was delighted with the resulting coverage we spun from the original story.
Sigh, I need to get over it. It’s not Wayne’s fault really. I should remind myself that the world of PR is subject to the vagaries of “news” (or in this instance, meaningless drivel about a 25 year old sportsman that may or may not have had sexual relations with someone other than his wife).
In other words, breaking news will affect the publishing schedule of newspapers (red top or broadsheet).
One thing is certain though. Whatever the news today, it’ll be fish and chip paper tomorrow!
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Over the last few weeks, we seem to have come across an increasing number of companies whose name really doesn’t tell us anything about their business activity. Whilst not a crime, it could present a problem when that business is trying to get their message heard. What amazes us more however, is the number of companies that don’t have a strapline either.
Today, we all search online to look for new suppliers at some time or another. So it goes without saying that our corporate profiles are very important. We need to tempt a prospect, particularly if they are online, to click through to our websites or call us for more information. When presented with the choice of let’s say 10 potential unknown companies, I know I would look at the company whose name and strapline told me exactly what they do.
We all have competitors and need to stand out from the crowd, so the use of a few little words after your company name can make all the difference.
For example, at Business Vitamins, we use "Energise your business through marketing". Perhaps just a touch more well-known examples would be:
- Carlsbergs "Probably…"
- HSBC’s "The Worlds Local Bank"
- Orange's "The Futures Bright"
- Hondas “The Power of Dreams"
- UK National Lottery "It could be you"
- ..and of course Nikes’ uber memorable "Just Do it!"
Having a strapline has many uses. You can also register your strapline as a URL and use it as a tracking device for specific marketing campaigns but that’s a whole other blog post!
Most importantly, your strapline is the key to your branding. It underlines your brand promise which if managed correctly, can improve customer loyalty. Your brand has the power to differentiate your products and services from your competitors - even when those products and services are exactly the same. Audi A3 or VW Golf anyone?
Research has shown 70% of customers are willing to pay a premium for their brand of choice, a strong brand is your most valuable asset.
So why wouldn’t you take some time out to come up with a great little line that could win you new business?
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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Business Vitamins publish another bespoke website, for Norfolk based NICE - Nationwide Industrial Compliance & Education. Simply, this company provides top level training and consultancy support to local businesses and authorities regarding industrial cleaning. They wanted a bespoke design that positioned their business as "a bit different" from the rest.
Business Vitamins provided all the graphic design and web building, as well as writing most of the copy. The client was particularly pleased with the partner logo cloud - an innovative way in which to avoid any political issues surrounding which of their partner organisations gets listed first!
Business Vitamins publish a new small business website today. Days Sports is a family owned and managed business, based near Bury St Edmunds. They offer a number of service lines including personalised sports clothing (for sports teams), and personalisation of gifts for corporate customers and also events such as weddings and christenings.
The team at Days Sports needed a simple but professional website that clearly communicated their value proposition to new and existing customers alike. Additionally, they had a number of catalogues (in PDF format) which we embedded in their website as page-flipper catalogues - this added an extra level of interest and interaction to the site.
Business Vitamins managed all the design and build of the entire site as well as provided all the copywriting too.
Peter Jones of Dragons Den fame has openly said ”networking is the most cost effective route to market there is.”
I’m not so sure…
Networking is very important indeed. It provides a very enjoyable way to extend your reach, get your name out there and meet potential new clients and suppliers alike. But I believe networking is simply part of a wider activity mix designed to reach a target audience in a number of different ways.
In the interests of pseudo-science, here are some numbers I’ve quickly calculated:
Let’s assume a networking event is 2 hours long. It might take half an hour to get there (and back), so the whole event ‘door-to-door’ is 3 hours. Sound reasonable?
Let’s also assume you’re unlikely to meet someone for the first time, for them to decide you’re brilliant and write you out a purchase order on the spot. Perhaps it takes a handful of times (perhaps 4 or 5?) of meeting people at a regular networking event to build a relationship (and trust) before you’re likely to get either a single direct lead or a referral, let alone close some business!
So, that’s around 15 hours of your time, in total. Stay with me…
The next bit is rather specific to each and every one of us, but let’s say you charge your time at £25/hr. Some people will charge more, some less, but at £25 that networking time has cost around £375.
What’s the alternative? We recently managed a direct mail campaign for a client - the TOTAL cost of which was £770, including design and distribution. That client received 67 leads. Of which, upon qualification, c60% were high quality, real, closable leads.
A one off perhaps? No. We’ve managed similar numbers three times in a row now for the same client.
So how cost effective does networking look now Peter? Who said direct mail was dead…
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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We all know that if we continue to consume the earth’s resources at the current rate, the planet is in serious trouble. Whilst many of us recycle as much as possible, how many of us think about sustainability and our obligations to future generations when we go about our business activities?
Typically we think of only larger companies having Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies. But we can all do our bit, even those of us who are working in ones and twos. If you have already implemented recycling for your waste or changing your paper stocks where do you go from there? Looking at the sustainability of your marketing could be a great way to further your green credentials.
For years, marketing has been seen as the black sheep of the business family when it comes to the environment. The bad boys that encourage excessive consumption as new products are launched without a thought. But things are changing. Business owners must now consider the impact and resources their marketing campaigns use.
For those of you that feel sustainable marketing is just too difficult to undertake, consider the business argument. Consumer’s expectations change. Increasing numbers of us buy from companies and brands that are aware of environmental issues and are actively combating the drain on our global resources. Despite the recent economic downturn, ethical spending is up. So by increasing the sustainability of your marketing, you might also attract a new ethically aware customer base. It could also differentiate your brand from competitors, increase your customer retention and brand loyalty. Who would sniff at that?
If you want to begin to look at sustainable marketing for your business, where on earth do you start? My advice would be with a Sustainable Marketing Audit to look at the impact your product or service has on resources. This will allow you to gauge how environmentally friendly you are now and give you some ideas of where you can focus improvements.
First, write out the headings that cover the classic marketing topics of the four P’s: Product, Place (and distribution), Price and Promotion. Next, take each heading, and with your product in mind, decide whether you can or have the ability to apply the three R’s a) Reduce b) Reuse or c) Recycle.
For example, under Product you may ask ‘What is my product made from? How is it packaged? Or how will it be disposed of?’
Or under Place ‘Where is my product made? How is it transported?’
For Price you could consider ‘Does the price include a warranty for repair? Are pricing incentives being used to encourage over-consumption?’
For Promotion, ‘Are the product attributes being accurately communicated to the customer? ‘What resources are being used to communicate the products features?’
While these are only the first steps in setting up a sustainable marketing policy for your business, from small acorns large oak trees grow. And after all, isn’t that what this is all about?
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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A small business site for a recruitment business looking to expand into the Suffolk region from Hampshire. They wanted a crisp, clean design, with bright images that was very focussed and to the point. They also needed the ability to edit the vacancy section - we used a hosted content management system that was simple for their (non-technical) staff to use. In case you're wondering, the use of fishes was due to how they could be used for future marketing campaigns.. “Feeling like a fish out of water?” etc.
I’m not a film critic who claims to have “seen them all” or plays “hard to impress”. I was, however, astounded recently by something that in many films is usually an overlooked detail.
Subtitles. Oh yes, those slightly annoying words for those of us forced to read them when we don’t speaka-da-lingo. We spend hours with our eyes flicking between the action / drama / suspense / romance visuals and the written dialogue kindly transcribed into our mother-tongue for our reading pleasure. We need them, yet it’s a chore to read them.
Until recently. I spotted a film on TV that ticked enough boxes to suggest it might be worth watching. The nagging worry was that it was Russian! And with the greatest of respect to our Russian comrades, Russia has hardly been the epicentre of cinematic genius to rival Hollywood, Elstree, Ealing, New York and of course BBC Television Centre. But hey, in for a penny in for a Rouble…
Within minutes my wife and I had to rewind the film back a few seconds to check what we saw wasn’t the result of some bizarre collective hallucination. Yes, we DID see the man’s hand move in front of the words. There look, he’s done it again!
Anyhow, for the next two hours we were REALLY watching the subtitles (sad actually!), in awe of the ideas. I’m telling you, the production meetings for subtitling this film must have taken almost as long as shooting the footage.
Subtitles rippling to mimic watery scenes. Subtitles blowing away like smoke or autumnal leaves. Capitalised key words when they were SHOUTED LOUDLY!!!!! N**ghty words in RED from time to time. And many more simple effects, that genuinely added something to the whole film experience. They didn’t distract. It wasn’t a chore to read them. They “leveraged additional value” in finance-speak!
So… what mundane, chore-like, overlooked detail in your business can you change so radically that not only does it add value, it sets you apart and makes your entire business more memorable?
Answers in the comments box please..Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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Holovis are a VERY specialist technology company, based in Leicestershire. They were looking for a site which closely matched their existing corporate ID (very black, with dashes of yellow & blue). They build hardware for virtual 3D worlds, so wanted certain elements of the site to have a strong sense of depth. Check out the portfolio page as well as the partner page!
Also, Holovis had a very text heavy site before, which they didn’t necessarily want to lose. To sharpen up the design we created a ‘tabbed browsing’ system for the solution pages allowing the user to view more information as required, rather than be presented with long (boring) pages of text.
Business Vitamins is on Twitter. Yay. And?
Well, we rather like it actually. Let me divulge our Twitter strategy, which, by the way, is no great secret and you’re quite welcome to copy it, refer it on and claim it as your own or simply ignore it.
Here it is…
Ready?
We use Twitter to engage with people who we think might either become clients or might be in a position to refer us to new potential clients.
That’s it. Good eh? Not what you were expecting? No great mysterious cloak & daggeresque dark art? Nothing complicated or overly computery-utery? Nope, not here.
So how do we do this? Very simple really:
1. We signed up (free); we created our background (free); we downloaded Tweetdeck (also free).
2. We searched for local businesses and started following them.
3. We “tweeted” a few snippets of news and local interest information.
4. In doing so we acquired some followers , who, no doubt were searching on some of the keywords in our Tweets – ahhaaa…, did we choose our Tweets carefully?? ;-)
5. We followed people we met through local networking groups and Twittered with them directly.
6. We were ourselves - tough going, with only 140 characters!!
7. We Re-Tweet interesting Tweets that we see.
8. We suggest other Tweeters to our followers.
9. We allow about an hour and a half a week for all of this. Give or take.
So there you go, in less than 9 steps, and in four months we have about 400, extremely well targetted followers.
Let me tell you what we don’t do:
1. Participate in Twitter because we feel we should.
2. Start Tweeting with no strategy.
3. Always Tweet about our business.
4. Always Tweet "special offers".
5. Always Tweet on the same subject.
6. Follow too many celebrities or massive corporations.
7. Allow countless instances of Britney Spears (or similar) to follow us and publicise hyperlinks to iffy websites promoting, well, I'm sure you can guess..
Of course this is just our strategy and it might not work for you or fit with your business objectives. But if your objective is to build a local presence and get your name out there amongst similarly sized businesses, then you could certainly do worse than following the above steps.Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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Picture this…
You’re in Portugal. On the Algarve. You’re lazily exploring a traditional local market. There are a few bargains and a lot of “designer gear” of iffy provenance. You see daily essentials you might expect to find more readily in a supermarket (toe nail clippers anyone?), as well as a big slice of local colour. For all that, you might buy something, you might not. Who knows?
There’s a stall ahead manned by a somewhat squat, sweaty, moustachioed, swarthy looking gentlemen. He’s selling ladies underwear no less. There he is, thong in hand and held up high, calling “Tiny knickers – Tiny knickers! Buy them here!”, to the young ladies ahead of you.
Upon nearing the stall, the man notices you approaching. The thong is quickly discarded, and a revised undergarment is being paraded around, flaunted at full volume, “BIG knickers! – BIIIIIIIIG knickers! Buy them here!”. A thousand eyes look your way, most of which are accompanied by a rather large smirk. You scuttle off.
True story, and one my mother-in-law enjoys telling, despite the somewhat size-ist connotations! Oh how I laughed when she told me..
I don’t know if a purchase was made or not, doubtful I would think, given her obvious embarrassment at the time. But it did make me think that despite the rather clumsy execution it was a micro-level example of great marketing.
The aforementioned swarthy gent was simply adhering to one of the oldest marketing rules : identify your potential customers, choose the correct product/service for them, tailor the messaging, clear call to action.
I guess the part he missed off was ‘try not to offend anyone’!
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
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I love cookies. Particularly chunky ones with lumps of chocolate in them the size of icebergs. Naughty but very nice. I love bananas too. Residing at the opposite end of the healthy lifestyle spectrum, the humble banana is high in fibre, vitamins B6 and C, as well as iron and potassium. In fact, the banana is a veritable smorgasbord of healthy goodness.
Driving back from a long meeting recently, I topped up my energy levels with a gorgeous looking white chocolate cookie. Scrummy. But as I ate, I got a funny aftertaste. After initially writing this off due to tiredness, my second bite yielded the same taste. Bananas!
As intriguing a combination as this might sound, the cookie was not supposed to be laced with essence of banana. I even checked the packaging to make sure I hadn’t picked up a rogue bag by mistake!
On reflection, I thought I might like to try a banana-tinged white choc chip cookie in the future, but that moment’s eating experience was tainted beyond redemption. Simply put, my expectations were not met. No matter how nice my “Banookie” might have been, it wasn’t what I expected.
We all need to be aware of and manage expectations carefully. As a marketing business, we need to be fully aware of likely response rates to various types of marketing campaigns. We think our clients should be too.
Many businesses might be surprised to learn that according to the Institute of Direct Marketing, a normal response rate to a direct mail campaign is “only” 2.6%. Sounds awful doesn’t it? 97.4% of contacts don’t respond! So if your campaign managed a 2% response rate, is that a complete disaster? What if your campaign achieved a 5% response rate? The reality is that whilst a 5% positive response is great, most businesses would STILL feel disappointed that 95% of the letters/cards/postcards/flyers they had paid to be lovingly designed, printed and distributed were so quick to find the recipients recycling system.
Of course there are tactics we employ to ensure response rates are significantly higher, such as multi-touch campaigns or tightly integrating direct mail into other marketing activity. In this way Business Vitamins aim to ensure that at LEAST a 2.6% response rate is achieved.
And to ensure neither our clients or ourselves slip up, we'll also ensure we discuss what you can reasonably expect to achieve. You might be surprised how much!
Banana update:
Try peeling a banana from the bottom and you won't have to
pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. Apparently that's how monkeys do it. Also, take your bananas apart before placing them in your fruit bowl. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
Do you need to outsmart your competitors? Contact us now on 0845 310 2457 to discuss what you want to achieve and how we can help you meet your goals.
Why not find out more about Business Vitamins, Strategic B2B marketing agency Suffolk.
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