Another new website launched by Emerald Frog Marketing…

We have also been working away helping to launch a new recruitment division for Labour-Tech Recruitment Ltd. Healthcare Anglia launched in February 2012 an provides temporary and permanent staff for nursing homes, supported living units and other healthcare establishments throughout the UK.

In addition to designing the new website, we’ll be helping out with other aspects of their PR and marketing to raise their profile across East Anglia and the rest of the UK.  The new website contains information of all their current opportunities for healthcare assistants, support workers and domestic staff, in addition to helpful advice for those looking to work within the healthcare sector.

“Emerald Frog Marketing have worked with Healthcare-Anglia from the pre-launch and continue to work with us on our marketing and PR campaigns. They have provided fresh ideas and exciting concepts. Also, Emerald Frog Marketing have displayed a great knowledge and aptitude and are always willing to go the extra mile. They have provided us with a creative strategy that has seen our company grow, whilst keeping within budget constraints. Healthcare-Anglia have no reservations in recommending Emerald Frog Marketing.” says Claire Putterill, Care Manager at Healthcare Anglia.

For more information on HealthCare Anglia visit the new website www.healthcareanglia.co.uk or call 01353 664348

Or, if you need a new website and ongoing marketing…then contact us!

If you think that Twitter is for riot raising and breaking super-injunctions, think again. Twitter is being used by all sorts of organisations for good.

In Brighton, East Sussex concern is growing for 96 year old Nellie Herriot who hasn’t been seen since Monday 23rd April, a fact that hundreds of people have retweeted thanks to Brighton Police’s use of Twitter. Sussex Police posted the details of the missing pensioner Thursday 26th April and Brighton City Police’s feed has been proactively appealing out to fellow tweeters, news organisations and celebrities. Come Sunday afternoon, the hashtag #findnellie was widely in use.

While writing this she hasn’t been found but the Twitter machine keeps on whirring to find her. This is a story that shows the true community spirit of Twitter and how people are using the social media network for support and positive communication. The police in particular are using their profiles to connect with the public, a sort of extension of the community liaison role. Officers have their own profiles, right up to the senior level, showing the personality behind law and order.

Another new website launched by Emerald Frog Marketing…

Recruitment specialists, Labour-Tech, have marked the opening of their new offices in Market Street, Ely with the launch of a new website and range of industry specific marketing materials.

The website, written and designed by Emerald Frog Marketing, helps jobseekers and clients access information on the temporary and permanent vacancies available across the East Anglia region. We’ve also been working with Labour-Tech on their wider marketing and PR activities.

“Our new marketing materials showcase the five key areas of recruitment we specialise in – Engineering and technical; industrial, warehousing and manufacturing; agriculture and horticulture; admin, finance and sales; and catering and hospitality.  Our new website is also full of handy advice and hints for job hunters with vacancies ranging from manual labour through to senior management”, says Keith Wilson, Managing Director at Labour-Tech.

Labour-Tech’s Head of Recruitment, Ian Bissett, says: “Jo & Cheriee have been working with Labour-Tech for a while now and I can highly recommend them, they are very professional in their approach and implementation and they have some very original and exciting ideas on how to move your business on to a new level.  Our website has been totally revamped by Emerald Frog and is now infinitely better than it was, please feel free to view for yourself!”

For more information on Labour Tech visit www.labourtech.co.uk  or call 01353 664200 for a chat about how Labour-Tech can assist with your temporary or permanent recruitment needs.

From cage rails, flooring and adverts in the event guide, through to sponsor adverts on TV and website banners – we worked tirelessly to get all the graphics together in time for this fantastic opportunity to promote our client, functional fitness specialists, Jordan Fitness.

Jordan Fitness have an array of combat equipment, including gloves, pads, bags and boxing stations, so sponsorship of the UCMMA televised showdown was great exposure for their brand.

For all those MMA fans out there we’ve attached a photo and posted the video link below, just in-case you missed the fight!

You can see the fight at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ2xDia-BTQ&feature=channel&list=UL

With fitness industry marketing being a speciality of ours, we’ve been beavering away at The Frogplex, organising photography, providing creative input and producing exhibition banners and backdrops for our lovely clients Jordan Fitness  for their exhibition stand at the World’s  leading fitness and wellbeing tradeshow, FIBO 2012, in Essen, Germany.

The stand will be at FIBO from the 19th April until Sunday the 22nd April 2012. The Jordan Fitness team will be there demonstrating products such as the new Competition Kettlebells, Oversized medballs, Power Bags, Core Plate, Combat equipment and the new Vertical Dumbbell rack.

They will also be displaying products from their partners Alpha Strong, Lifeline USA and Beaverfit. So make sure you say hello to the team if you are there.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Essen right now you can even pick up a specially branded, fancy 8G Jordan Fitness USB stick – to save all your favourite workout data and music!

Visit the new Jordan Fitness website at www.jordanfitness.co.uk or follow them on twitter @jordanfitnessuk or Facebook

Pinterest has had a lot of publicity recently. This virtual pinboard has been increasingly popular amongst bloggers, with now 12 million users worldwide (68% of them female, apparently). So, we have pondered on why it could be good for your business and also address some of the negativity it’s received in the past few weeks.

Here’s a basic overview of Pinterest for the uninitiated…

Firstly, to use Pinterest you have to be invited. So you have to find a user who would be prepared to do this. By simply putting a tweet out we found users are quite happy to do this.

Once in you can pin images or websites. It relies on the visual, as well as letting you place your images in folders or categories. Perfect for that inner neat freak that wishes to place everything in it’s own box. It allows you to bookmark images.

What’s it good for?

If your business relies on visual it’s great for a viral spread of your photos/pictures. Other users can pin your pictures (similar to liking on Facebook or retweeting on Twitter) which prolongs the share and increases the audience.

If you are selling  an art or photography based product, crafts, interior design, food or fashion this site could be essential to you – it is also hugely popular with the users of craft selling site “Folksy”.

What’s it not good for?

Recently it has been noted that, within the terms and conditions of the site, Pinterest can sell on your images. Users can also lift your images and pin them, this can look to others like they belong to that individual. Although there has been a lot of concern regarding this it’s your call. If you want to go viral this is a great way of doing so.

Users may not have read up on the terms and, the fact is, they could be liable for copyright infringement if they pin the wrong picture. By signing up, you are saying that you own the photograph. The easy thing here is really simple – don’t pin other people’s content.

Should you use it?

As a upcoming site with a really solid fan base can you afford not to? Even with the copyright issues (which we hope will be addressed soon) the reach of this social media site is fantastic within the areas of business we have highlighted.

If you want to know more about setting up Pinterest or want us to set your pinboards up and talk you through it then contact us

Do you have Google Analytics installed on your website? If not, then you should. It’s free, it will help you tailor your internet based marketing accordingly so you know where best to place your budget. Also, you don’t have to be a geek to use it. Just whack a bit of code into your website and you are away.

For example:

What are the most popular pages: Today, we had a look at Google Analytics to see which blog posts were the most popular and which ones barely get read. From that, we now know the kinds of topics people are interested in and which we shouldn’t waste our time/budget on.

What are the best keywords to use: What keywords are people using to find your site? Looking at these will help you decide if your web content has enough of those terms in and, if you are thinking about using Google Adwords, you can get a feel for the types of keywords your customers use. We can also ascertain what marketing tactics appear to be the most searched for.

What do people want from us?: If you have a “search box” on your website, Google Analytics will show you the words people are typing in to find certain information/products or services on your website. It will give you an idea if  people are searching for something you do not currently offer – maybe there is a market demand? A sports industry marketing friend of mine mentioned this once and said that he is often requested to report to senior management on the words people are searching for within their website so they can plan their product lines accordingly. Perhaps not the kind of thing to mention to your friends, as he then had to present a report on why “fairy cakes” and various “adult item” words had appeared in his report on the Monday morning.

What are the best days of the week and times to engage with potential customers: We find it interesting to see which days of the week and times we get the most web traffic. From this we can make a few assumptions as  to when we should tweet the most, when we should schedule articles and the best days and times to schedule e-newsletters.  If you run a B2C  industry, this is very useful. 

Where are our potential customers living?: We can also ascertain how our offline marketing and PR is working by geographically mapping the traffic to our website. Where are your potential customers situated?

We could go on, but you get the idea. It’s fascinating stuff and if your budget is limited then it’s worth a couple of hours having a look round to see what you can learn about your own business.

We recently went to see a potential customer who is looking to host an event to acquire new businesses. Whilst chatting about previous events they had done, which hadn’t turned out as well as they’d hoped, it reminded me of a brilliant example of how NOT to arrange an event.

About five years ago, I received an invite to a restaurant/bar in Cambridge to sample their Christmas menu for FREE with the intention of tempting me to book the company Christmas party there.  It stated the date and time and to bring a colleague if I wished. Great! I wasn’t the person who booked the company party, so had no idea why the letter was sent to me, but I wrote it in my diary and had no problem finding a colleague who was equally up for dining sumptuously for free.

When we arrived at the venue, we saw that the entire restaurant (with a huge capacity) was roped off specifically for the Christmas tasting event. Around twenty waiting staff were immaculately dressed and lined up along the wall, there were at least a couple of dozen bottles of wine and champagne chilling, red wine also uncorked and lined up on the table. There was a huge table set out, laden with huge roast turkeys, roast beef and probably a pig with an apple in its mouth and a swan wearing a crown, if my memory serves me correctly. There were plates of starters, vegetable side dishes, vegetarian dishes and a table of desserts stretching as far as the eye could see.

And there was me. And my colleague. And no-one else.

We did indeed dine sumptuously that night. Our glass was always full, thanks to the team of waiting staff with nothing to do but cater for our every whim. We sampled every single dish on the menu, many times.  We were then joined by a very upset lady. The lady who had organised the event.

“I don’t understand…”, she said to us. “I sent out 250 letters, each saying they could bring a colleague. We were expecting 500 people tonight and that’s what I told the manager. I’m in SO much trouble tomorrow”.

Moral of the story:

1. Make sure you send the letter to the right people. Those that make the decisions.

2. If you get a 5% response rate then you are doing very well. With 250 letters sent out, I would be looking at probably 12-13 people attending. If they bring a guest, then around 25. Not 100% of the people you mail will want to/be able to attend. Send the letters out in batches to gauge the response rate.

3. Ensure that your letter has a reply mechanism so people can RSVP.  Get the name and contact details of attendee and name of their guest.  Get their job titles too. 

4. Phone all those confirmed attendees closer to the date to double check  they are STILL coming. 

5. Don’t uncork all the wine before everyone turns up. 

Loyalty

Fact : Keeping a hold of your existing customers costs less to achieve than attracting new ones.

In addition to ensure that you offer the right service or product, at the right price, AND providing outstanding customer service, here are 6 ways to help keep your customers coming back for more:

1. Welcome them with open arms – send your new customers a “Welcome” letter or email, or give them a call. Many studies have found a “welcome” tactic can increase repurchase levels substantially. Charities do this very well. A “thank you for your donation” letter, with more information to persuade you to donate even more. And it works too.

2. Be social – talk to your customers. Let them tell you when they are happy with you, and when they are not. Social Media is a great tool for this. Facebook will increase your fans posting messages of love, but will also increase complainants posting their views. That’s fine. Resolve the issue in a public forum and everyone will see how you swiftly you deal with any issues. Many companies report that complainants that have their problems solved then turn out to be very good customers.

3. Helplines – Either a phone helpline or a “Live chat” function on your website are often extremely good for customer loyalty. But make sure they are helpful. In my experience many helplines can leave you hanging on the line, manned by someone who talks jargon at you, or cost £1 a minute!  Doesn’t hurt either to outbound on these helplines either after a customer has had a problem, just to check that all is now ok and that they are happy with the service.

4. Newsletters and blogs – either an e-newsletter or a good old fashioned printed mail out. Make sure though, that it is not just rattling on about your own business’ achievements. Ensure it has useful content and articles.  Blogs too will help keep your customers coming back to visit your website.

5. Gifts and added value – Often carrots work better than discounts. For example a car manufacturer gave away a free small car with every purchase of their luxury car. Looks far more appealing (to those not hard pressed for cash) than an £8k discount. However, this is a short term strategy. Customers tempted by gifts are often tempted elsewhere by those with bigger gifts, so ensure it is not your onlt tactic.

6. Questionnaires – ensure you get your customers’ opinions on your product or service. Get feedback. Most importantly, ACT ON IT!