I am a bit paranoid when it comes to privacy policies and data protection. I also get a little freaked out by the way ads are tailored to conversations I am having by email. Mention caravanning in the Isle of Wight and suddenly banners are unfurling down the side of my email of caravans parked on the Isle of Wight.

And don’t even get me started on Facebook’s Timeline and the privacy issues there.

When Google sent through their recent email alerting me to the changes of privacy, I immediately had to take a look. You might want to know that Google collects information about you and makes inferences as to who you might be. From that information, it will partner with other sites so that you are targeted with the “relevant” ads. If you want Google to stop collecting this then you can opt-out. Nice to be asked beforehand though, ay.

If you go to this link:

https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb

You will see who Google thinks you are. To my horror, I, according to Google, am interested in fast food, pet food and maths (somewhat wide of the mark!). I am also, apparently, aged 45-54, and MALE.  (I’m not. Younger and a lay-dee).

Did it get your demographic and interests correct?

Functional fitness specialists, Jordan Fitness have signed up award winning marketing and PR agency, Emerald Frog Marketing, to deliver their promotional activity in 2012.

Emerald Frog Marketing business partners, Jo Evans and Cheriee Chater, have extensive experience in the health and fitness industry, through working in Marketing at the largest global fitness equipment supplier Life Fitness for over 10 years. The team are highly experienced in planning and delivering integrated online and offline marketing and PR campaigns. Since establishing Emerald Frog Marketing in 2010, they have won a number of public and private sectors clients and recently won ‘New Business of the Year’ at the East Cambridgeshire Business Awards.

Jordan Fitness specialise in the design, manufacture and supply of commercial quality free weights, flooring and studio equipment to trade and retail clients across the UK, Europe and USA. With rapid expansion in recent years, Jordan Fitness is planning to increase brand awareness across a range of sectors and also promote their LifeLine USA products through increased marketing activity.

“As the fitness industry is where our roots are, we have hit the ground running ramping up Jordan Fitness’s marketing and PR”, says Jo Evans from Emerald Frog Marketing. “Our Virtual Marketing Package is perfect for Jordan Fitness’s requirements, allowing them to have flexible marketing support from industry experts, as and when they need it”.

Emma Gosling, Managing Director of Jordan Fitness says “At Jordan Fitness we appreciate the need for good strategic marketing and PR – more so over recent years, taking into consideration our rapid growth and increased presence within the fitness industry both in the UK and overseas.  The team at Emerald Frog Marketing came highly recommended to help us achieve our full potential and to keep the momentum of our successes going forward.  We very much look forward to a very successful working relationship with Jo and Cheriee at Emerald Frog Marketing; there is already much excitement around ideas in the pipeline”.

For more information on Jordan Fitness visit www.jordanfitness.co.uk

“Brand new customers only”. Remember that advert?

A common question we get asked when planning customers’ marketing campaigns for them is “Should we be looking for brand new customers only or trying to sell more to our existing ones? What is our priority?”.

The answer to this varies from business to business and depending on the product or service that you offer, but there are two things that we like to have a look at before we answer the question.

• How well developed is your customer base? Are you currently making the most of selling your customers more product, or additional products?
• How long can you realistically wait for a repeat order? If you sell high end products or services (like a car, for example) then customers won’t be buying these every year, therefore we can look to hunt for new customers.

But…did you know that research has shown that the cost of obtaining an “acquisition” sale (gaining a brand new customer) is between three and thirty times as much as achieving a repeat sale from an existing customer?

This means you need to maximise the amount of business from your existing and former customers. 

So, when planning your marketing, make sure you prioritise your marketing budget in the following order:

1. Existing customers – given the statistic written in red above this is your top priority. Campaigns that focus on retaining your existing customers so they don’t get poached by a competitor and campaigns that encourage more repeat sales and cross-selling of your other services or products is priority number ONE!

2. Prospects – these are people who are sitting on your database who may be enquirers, previous customers who haven’t bought in a long time, those that may have responded to an advert, people that you may have previously done quotes for but didn’t convert to a sale. These people have already expressed an interest in your business and will give a better return on investment than any cold data lists or advertising campaign.

3. New business – we are not saying forget new business altogether.  Definitely not. Just make sure that you maximise “warmer” opportunities first. When looking for new business, ensure that you have specifically profiled the customers you are looking for so that your new business campaign is as accurately targeted as possible. This will help ensure that your return on investment is maximised.

A final note on customer retention marketing.

There have been a number of studies about customer retention marketing and customer loyalty and all have come up with the same conclusions – many customers change suppliers simply because their existing supplier did not care or communicate enough with them! There is no point spending thousands on a marketing campaign to existing customers if they have no affection for your brand due to poor customer service.

So, before you embark upon your marketing campaigns take a good long look at your customer service. Where can it be improved?

Fantastic customer service (where your customers are DELIGHTED, not just SATISFIED) will be the very foundation to ensuring your marketing retention campaigns work effectively.

Happy New Year from us here at Emerald Frog Marketing!

With a new year comes a new start. Now is the time to take a look at your marketing and make the most of the fresh opportunities that 2012 will bring. Time to shed some of that fat your business is carrying about and do some marketing star jumps!

Here are our top 6 New Year’s Marketing Resolutions for businesses:

1. Review what worked in 2011 and what didn’t

Take the time to review all your marketing activity in 2011. How much did it cost you? How many new customers did you acquire? How many existing customers bought again off you in 2011? What was your return on investment? Which tactics worked well for you and which didn’t? If they didn’t work well, then why? Was it your offer? Was it your data? Good marketing is based on testing and measuring and now is the time to review all this if you are planning out your 2012 marketing activity. 

2. Communicate with your customers

An important New Year’s Resolution is to pledge to communicate with your customers. Many businesses are so obsessed with finding new customers, they forget about their existing ones. New customers are expensive to find, so make sure that you look after them once you have built a relationship – or they may be tempted to go elsewhere. Make sure you communicate with them regularly this year, either through marketing tactics such as e-newsletters or direct mail, or (as often works well with high value purchase customers) by giving them a call to say hello.

3. Do a little marketing every day

An important resolution this. Marketing is built on consistency and building your brand. If you go quiet, people may assume you are not in business any longer.  Marketing, to some businesses, may be one of those jobs like housework. A bit every day is much easier to deal with than leaving it all to pile up. If you are a small business, pledge to spend some time each day on your marketing. If you saw Great Expectations over Christmas, then don’t end up with the marketing equivalent of Miss Haversham’s cobwebs.

4. Change your Facebook profile to a business page.

This is actually one of our personal bugbears. Those businesses that set themselves up on Facebook as a person and send you friend requests. Gah! It’s irritating and unprofessional and quite frankly I don’t really want businesses looking at my family photos. So, make sure that you create a Business Page. This will put no limit on the number of “likers” you can have and also is far more Google friendly. You will also have access to Facebook’s “Insights” data which will give you valuable data as to how people are interacting with your page.

5. Refresh your website content

Google loves websites that are regularly updated, which means you will appear higher up in the rankings than a “dormant” site. Blogs are a great way of doing this. But, if you don’t have the time for a blog, then take the time to review all that is written on your website. Is it still sounding fresh and accurate? Are there offers or new products that need to go on there? By keeping your website fresh, people will keep coming back. A website is your “shopwindow” so take the time to make sure it is looking its best.

6. Spring clean your database

Now is the time to have a good look at the data you hold on your customers. Is it up to date? It is estimated that databases “decay” at a rate of 25% a year. That means that by the end of the year, 1 in 4 of your customers may have changed their name, moved, left the company or died. It can cost you time and money and even offend your customers if you get it wrong.

It’s also worth spending a bit of time “segmenting” your data.  This means sorting your customers into groups. You can segment by industry, customer or prospect, demographics and so on. It may be a dull job, but it will help you target customers more cost effectively and aim the right product or service at the right person. 

So there you go. Our top 6 New Year’s Marketing Resolutions. Of course, if you need a hand with any of that stuff, then give us a shout.

Oh and while you are at it, if you are looking to give up tobacco this year then check out one of our customers, Liberro UK Ltd, purveyors of tobacco-free electronic cigarettes. No smoke, no tar and no smell, yet look and taste like the real thing.  Shameless plug, I know, but they won’t turn your net curtains yellow (another job to cross off your housework list).

East Cambridgeshire has been voted the fourth most desirable place to live in the UK by Halifax’s Quality of Life Survey!

The annual study by the Halifax bank is now in it’s sixth year and rated areas on factors including  jobs, housing, health and crime as well as weather, traffic and broadband access.

Just to let you know that myself (Bob Cratchit) and Cheriee (Tiny Tim) will be shutting up The Frogplex on December 22nd at 5pm to spend time with our families over Christmas. (And drink mulled wine. And eat Pringles)

We’ll be back to work on January 4th 2012 (with slightly bigger waistlines), so for all your marketing needs then let us know before then – or alternatively have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and we’ll hopefully catch you in January!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

We recently came across this excellent chart from www.cmo.com that shows which social media tools and channels are your best bet in terms of customer communication, brand exposure, traffic, and SEO.

Download the pdf of this brilliant chart to read it properly, see the link at the bottom of this blog post. In fact, print it out and stick it on your wall!

Read more: http://www.cmo.com/social-media/2011-cmos-guide-social-landscape#ixzz1JttKCcP6

Find the QR code!

What are QR Codes?

QR Codes are a kind of 2D bar code and can be printed onto virtually anythings! ‘QR’ stands for Quick Response. 

When scanned with a smartphone they will take the user to a pre-determined web page, or other digital connection.

Who would use QR Codes?

QR codes are designed for EVERYONE to use. They can be used to promote just about anything and are an extremely cheap way to do so. They are especially great for marketing a small business because they can take potential customers straight from their mobile phone to your website… AND FAST!! (Well as fast as their connection will allow anyway!)

If you have a modern smartphone like an iPhone or any phone that runs Google Android, it can read QR Codes. Simply download and install an App from the App Store or the Android Marketplace on your phone and you’re ready to go.

More and more small businesses are waking up to the potential marketing power that QR codes hold and since the number of people buying smartphones is growing daily, the number of people who are able to read your QR Codes advert is growing daily too.

Why you would use QR Codes

If you have something to promote; a product, service, event, gig, whatever, QR Codes can quickly reach a huge audience. That audience doesn’t need a computer, just a smartphone. This means they can access your offerings regardless of where they are. Your marketing message is available to them 24/7 – everywhere! With all the information required on a business card (email address, web address, Twitter name, postal address etc etc) a QR code can save valuable space.

Where to use QR Codes

You can print free QR Codes on just about anything including:

• Flyers
• Business cards
• Brochures
• Catalogues
• Clothing (check this out!)
• Billboards
• TV advertisements
• Web pages
• Blog posts
• Product packaging
• Promotional gifts
• Newspaper and magazine advertisements

You can even turn them into tattoos! Some businesses have even used huge ones on their rooftops to get onto Google Maps.

When to use QR Codes

If you have something to promote, you can use a QR code…

How to generate a QR Code

You can generate free QR Codes yourself, free of charge. Then print them wherever you like and encourage people to use them.

If you are a blogger, you can also get a Free QR Code plugin for WordPress that does everything for you.

What do you think of QR codes? Tell us your views / experiences and share your thoughts with other businesses who are considering this method of marketing. Let us know the oddest place you have seen a QR code.