We hope you are enjoying a good start to 2022. During the past couple of years there has been unprecedented change to business and we have seen clients move further into digital marketing and communications methods than any time before. A new year is always seen as a new start for many and as ever, the marketing landscape continues to change, with more influence on story-telling and broader approaches to content creation becoming ever more prominent across all sectors.
To help maximise your company’s marketing efforts and overall growth, we’ve put together a few pointers on where we’ve achieved good results for clients in the last couple of years, and where we will be focusing our efforts this year.
Digital marketing
Unsurprisingly digital marketing is now the key brand touch point for many businesses. We’ve spent a lot of time helping clients build their digital brand with regular emails, newsletters, social media activity and improving search appearance on Google and other search engines – which we are pleased to say is paying dividends in terms of enquiries and exposure for our clients.
Content should form the core of your marketing strategy
We continue to believe that content is king when it comes to digital marketing. Rather than creating content for content’s sake, relevant and timely messaging can have more impact when trying to keep your brand at the front of existing clients and prospects minds.
Creating contagious content combined with effective storytelling is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing
Building content that is interesting enough to be shared by people outside of the company should be your end-goal. We’ve also found design-led communications have been much more impactful when sharing key messages. Exceptional design can enhance awareness and engagement for even the most complex of messages. Our design service supports client needs on a specific and immediate basis – and finding ways to convey complex messages in a striking attention-grabbing way is a must. Our design services are open to all businesses and if you would like to find out more please contact us.
Video marketing
By 2022, it is estimated that more than 80% of consumer online traffic will involve video watching (Cisco, 2020).
We are increasingly aware of video content becoming ever-more commonplace. Video is a brilliant way of conveying various elements of a business and we are encouraging clients to think about how a video could work for their business. What could you share behind the scenes? This could be an insight into people, products or services.
“Top publishers using Instagram, originally an image-based platform, are ramping up video posts by 90-100% each year.” (Promo)
Social media marketing continues to offer a powerful way to connect
People continue to scroll, post and engage, faster than ever – and social media is a fantastic place to showcase your company’s personality and drip-feed key messages. Social media has also become more visual and video driven which means that it’s essential for brands to create high quality content in order to attract interest from followers. With more competition and an increase in usage, it’s harder than ever to capture a users attention, and the days of the hard sell on social media are long gone – and why we are putting a major focus on high quality story-driven content.
“Facebook video ads receive 10 to 30 percent more views than other ad formats.” (Promo)
“Today, there are over 4.2bn social media users worldwide.”
Search Engine Optimisation remains essential
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) remains key in order to be found online. The way we approach SEO ambitions with clients is to ensure that their business is found either locally or within determined key phrases for their particular field. Does your content answer a users search query? The aim for key search terms should be that your business appears on page 1 of a search engine. Ask yourself, do you ever scroll past page 1 of Google? Today page 1 must surely be your target goal for all key search queries – and it’s achievable, whatever size of business.
86% of people search the location of a business using Google Maps. (Junto)
The return of exhibitions and face-to-face promotions
At long last we are looking forward to the return of face-to-face events, providing exhibition stand design expertise and helping clients who are exhibiting at trade conferences including BIBA.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) will be an important component in small business marketing, and not just something reserved for large corporates. People increasingly value brands that prioritise CSR, which can increase loyalty, increase sales, and also make your organisation an attractive place to work – increasing your your overall brand value.
Ask for customer reviews
One of the best ways to build trust and share your reputation is with online reviews – and today people trust independent review sites, along with Google and Facebook, more than ever.
Many people look at reviews before contacting a company, trusting the first-hand experience and unbiased views of previous clients. So, have you done a really good job for someone recently? Ask them to write an online review and recommend you to others.
Investment in branding
Creating a strong brand is the backbone to all marketing and communications activity that follows.
Transforming key messages into striking visual communications is becoming increasingly popular and a strong brand with exceptional design can simplify even the most complex of messages.
We’ve created a number of brands from scratch, rebranded existing clients and enhanced their digital proposition – fit for today’s marketing communications landscape, and look forward to working on similar projects this year. If you’re considering a rebrand please get in touch.
Why a flexible marketing model is essential
Marketing activity has evolved at a great pace in recent years, essential for all growing businesses. We are marketing experts, proud to manage the marketing and communications activity of many businesses on a flexible retained basis, and can help with so much more than just the above pointers.
We believe that working closely with businesses creates the quickest, most consistent progress and ultimately delivers the most value. Flexibility allows us to respond quickly to client needs – the core USP behind our service proposition, and where our model offers a genuine alternative for businesses looking for managed marketing, communications and design support.
What’s on your to-do list this year? Are there any opportunities you’re looking forward to exploring that we could help with? Please contact us on 020 3675 2424 to find out how we could help your business grow and take your brand communications to the next stage.