PR-ING THROUGH CORONAVIRUS: SMALL BUSINESS HELP AND ADVICE

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Coronavirus has caused truly extraordinary times, the UK – as well as several other countries – is currently on a lockdown. The first of its time.

Travel has been limited to all but essential movement, many businesses (such as restaurants, non-essential retail stores and gyms) have been forced to close their doors for the foreseeable future and the healthcare industry is under perhaps its biggest strain that this generation has ever seen. Because of current climate, we can’t shy away from the fact that many businesses are struggling. Whether you’ve had to temporarily cease trading altogether, or whether your customers are less inclined to part with their money due to the uncertainty at the moment – either way most organisations are feeling the pinch one way or another.

It’s not all bad news, however.

Though the current economic climate is bleak, and though many are struggling, we have also been given the gift of something that we wouldn’t normally have: time.

Now is not the time for radio silence, now is the time to be strengthening your brand message, communicating effectively and giving back to the community wherever you’re able. Whilst some brands have taken the stance of radio silence as the Coronavirus epidemic plays out, many others have adjusted and reacted to the current climate, and have been in a better position for it.

You have time to work on your strategies, to work on your brand position and to ensure that when this comes to pass, your business will emerge bigger and better than ever before.

If you’re a small business or an SME and struggling, there are a number of ways you can help yourself during this pandemic.

Small Business Coronavirus Help: How To Support Yourself

The government has already introduced revolutionary support for small businesses. Initiatives include a small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief, grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000. This is as well as the job retention scheme put in place.

While this might be a short-term solution to an otherwise unnerving situation, it’s also crucial for small businesses to think about their long-term plans too.

Below, we’ve racked our PR, Social Media and Marketing brains together to bring you the very best advice on how your business can survive through Coronavirus; how to keep marching on through these uncertain times and how to effectively retain your brand image and position.

Don’t Give Up On Your Team

First and foremost, you need to trust your team.

Unlike many business crises, we’re all in this together and there are many businesses from various industries that are all feeling the strain that Coronavirus has brought about. In most business cases, your team will be instrumental to your survival during this period, so before adjusting your business strategies, you should be providing your team with the technology and support needed to undertake their work and trust that they will continue to deliver remotely.

Trust opens the door to productivity; the more you give, the more you get back.

Keep On Communicating

Effective communication has never been more important.

You should be keeping your communication channels open. You may appear closed to the outside world but it’s important to share the business’s contingencies, its plans and any changes in service. Share your successes or small wins and remember your customers and stakeholders are interested in people-centric stories, as well as positive outcomes in otherwise difficult circumstances.

There’s a strong demand in the media for any positive news amidst all this negativity, so if your business has something good to share this might be a good way of spreading your news further afield and making sure that people are still engaged with your brand.

Adding to this, there’s a new sense of community re-emerging – if your business has changed how it operates or is supporting others, such as pubs offering delivery services to those in need, make sure you share this. Social media usage has increased by 22% since lockdown and provides an excellent community engagement tool which may prove beneficial in the longer term.

Though you may not be trading at the moment, it’s important not to lose momentum. Make sure people still remember who your business is, what you do. Whether this is by maintaining an active social media presence, writing blogs for your website or even appearing in the news – don’t let people forget you if you want to continue to operate a successful business when this storm has passed.

Adapt And Evolve With The Climate

If your business can accommodate it, adaptability is important right now.

Under new government restrictions, many businesses can no longer trade as usual. Is there a way you can overcome this, and support your community too? For example, many restaurants are now offering takeaways and are giving out free meals whilst they do so, which is great in strengthening the business’ Corporate Social Reputation.

Could you keep your cashflow afloat by encouraging your stakeholders to purchase vouchers from you that can be redeemed at a later date?

Other examples of how companies may adapt during the Coronavirus period is by taking advantage of the technology we have at our disposal.

Could you give your consumers a digital version of your product or service to retain your custom? Some housebuilders are now operating fully online house viewings, whilst organisations such as Chester Zoo are livestreaming a day at the zoo on Facebook to the masses.

If your business can think of a quirky and imaginative way to stay relevant, it will almost certainly survive this uncertain period.

Create A Contingency Plan – Prepare For The Future

Plan for your future, because if you adopt the right attitude, there almost certainly will be one.

Can you create a contingency plan for your business?

Though there are so many things uncertain at the moment, if you can begin to strategize and plan your bounce-back for when this comes to pass, you’ll be in a more favourable position when the market reopens once more. Make sure you’re well prepared.

Whilst we all have extra time on our hands, we can make the most of this: working on our websites, our SEOs, or even developing social media or PR strategies.

The most important thing to add to your contingency plan, for now and for the future, is a plan that sees your business remaining adept in its industry. Make sure that people don’t forget your brand. Whether this is by thinking of a new and imaginative way to run your business (such as the examples above), or whether it’s just making sure you upkeep a strong media presence. If your company steps into the shadows during this period, it’ll be much harder for it to re-emerge when it’s over.

Also, be prepared for radical change once more when lockdown is over and when the virus dissipates. When you can reopen your doors again, you’ll almost certainly be met with a different audience than the one you’ve come to know. After recovering from the most governed period of their lives, there’s no doubt that people will be more appreciative. They’ll want to explore more, they’ll want to travel more, they’ll want to eat out more and they’ll want to buy more things.

We’ll have a more spontaneous and obligated population on our hands, so make sure your business is prepared to accommodate them.

Do you need PR, Marketing or Social Media support for your business? Either in handling the Coronavirus outbreak, or preparing for when it’s over? Call us for a free, confidential assessment of your situation on 01829 720 789 or email louis@sourcepr.co.uk.

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RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY: HOW CAN BRANDS GET INVOLVED?

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February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day in the UK, and ever interested in Awareness Days and how they can be leveraged in PR and Marketing campaigns, we thought we’d take a look at how brands can get involved.

The Source are an ethical PR and marketing agency, we’re heavily invested in the rural community and work with brands who care deeply about their CSR and reputation. As such, days like Random Acts of Kindness Day are the exact kind of events that we’d look to include in our PR strategies.

Here’s a little more on why exactly we do this… 

Managing CSR For Brands

PR is all about brand reputation, it’s building and maintaining an image for a business and positioning them as ethical and responsibility. CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) plays a huge part in this. For us, we like to make sure that the brands we work with are well versed in being involved with local communities and that support charities too.

It’s really important for your brand to have a great CSR strategy, as this can make or break your business’ reputation. Days such as Random Acts of Kindness Day can help to do exactly this…

How To Get Involved In Random Acts Of Kindness Day

Random Acts of Kindness Day is just one of the many Awareness Days worth getting involved in if you’re wanting to improve your brands CSR and overall reputation. What’s more, these kinds of Awareness Days are abundantly spoken about in the media, so it’s also a great PR and marketing opportunity for getting your brand some media coverage too.

Here’s some of our ideas as to how your brand can get involved in Random Acts of Kindness Day this year:

  • Donate some money to a local charity, such as an animal shelter or food bank. Don’t pre-plan the donation, just head in and leave a cheque (and ask if they wouldn’t mind a quick photo, of course).
  • Get some of your team out doing a litter pick or beach clean-up, showing kindness to the environment and to the earth.
  • Visit a local nursing home or children’s hospital and drop off some bits and bobs that you’ll know they’d love. This one might be a little harder to be ‘random’ as you’ll probably have to get in touch with a co-ordinator first, but it’s still a kind thing to do.
  • Email a small business or charity and offer an hour or two of your services for free, they won’t be expecting an email like that and if you work in a service-led industry (such as PR like us) that extra hour or two might benefit their business more than you could ever anticipate.
  • Ask your staff members to bring in a few items of food, or some clothing that can be donated either to a local food bank or charity shelter, helping out small businesses is a really nice idea for Random Acts of Kindness Day.
  • Shout about a small business on social media, if you have a great online presence – this could mean a world of difference to them in getting them some great exposure for their brand. Take for example the ‘Hinch Effect’, not too long-ago famed influencer Mrs. Hinch posted a story of the company who fitted her a loft ladder. And the results, well, click here to find out what happened.

Want help utilising strategies like the above, and turning your kindness into coverage, as well as a strong brand image? Get in touch with The Source to find out a little more about what we do, and how the ‘Sorcerers’ can support your brand’s marketing strategy.

Call us on 01829 720789. Or, see what we get up to on social…

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NATIONAL STORYTELLING WEEK: HOW WE USE PR TO TELL STORIES

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Today marks the beginning of National Storytelling Week, a very important time for PR and marketers for multiple reasons.

You see, the basis of PR is the ability to tell a good story. As PR isn’t paying for somebody to promote your brand like you’d do with advertising (a common misconception about our sector), it’s proving to people that your brand is one worth talking about.

But how exactly can you make that happen? Well, us PR ‘Sourcerers’ have some tricks up our sleeves. That’s how.

PR People, Or Professional Storytellers?

Everybody loves a good story, you can’t deny it.

Whether it’s a book, something you read in the newspaper, or even something you hear from somebody else. It’s human nature to want to hear about new and exciting things. It’s this very nature that makes the PR industry both a successful, but also lucrative, industry.

National Storytelling Week

In one way, it’s great that people are instinctively attracted to a good story. It puts us in business. It’s what makes PR not only an affluent industry, but one that’s so important too. Because while advertising is great and very effective if orchestrated right, you can’t really beat great organic exposure for your business.

But by the same token, it’s unmistakably hard to promote a brand organically without it coming across too salesy. Whether you’re pitching to journalists, or even to the public, if it’s painstakingly obvious that your sales-led, then you can come across dishonest and interested parties will likely lose that interest very, very quickly.

That’s why storytelling is a skill, and one not everybody can master.

National Storytelling Week – How We Do It At The Source

As mentioned just above, being able to tell a great story is the bread and butter of any great PR campaign. So how to we do it here at The Source? Well, quite aptly, National Storytelling Week is just one of the ways we aim to achieve coverage for one of our brands this week.

Hooking on to the occasion, and the fact that so many will be talking about reading and books this week, we decided to seize the opportunity and arrange a donation of books on behalf of a business we represent to a local primary school, in a target area for this client. Going off previous successes, we know that journalists in the area love this kind of story and will happily write about it both online and in print, given that it’s very timely too. Being tuned in to what’s going on in the world will not only earn us some great press coverage, but gives us the opportunity to boost our brand’s CSR too.

National Storytelling Week

 

This is just one of the ways we tell stories for PR purposes in an abundance of different tactics that we’ve mastered to raise the profile of our clients, and promote their products and services to the world in a genuine and effective way. Public Relations is a complex business, but a very important one too.

It’s not easy, but that’s where we come in…

Are you looking to boost your brand’s presence, online and offline, or are needing some PR and Marketing assistance?

Please feel free to get in touch with our friendly team by clicking here. We could be the source of your business’ potential to fly high.

HOW TO LEVERAGE AWARENESS DAYS FOR YOUR PR STRATEGY

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If there’s one thing we love working on here, it’s a great PR story. After all, “advertising is saying you’re good. PR is getting someone else to say you’re good” (Jean-Louis Gassée). Just one of the ways that we secure national and regional coverage for our clients time and time again is through leveraging what are now commonly known as awareness days.

Some important, others more ‘just for a laugh’, but all totally worth incorporating into your PR & Marketing plans if frequenting the news is part of your business strategy. Awareness days are the world’s answer to celebrating pretty random things for no apparent reason. Covering everything from ‘National Pizza Day’ to ‘Faux Fur Friday’, it seems that nowadays there’s a day (or week) to champion pretty much anything.

But how, as PRs, can we work these days in our favour? Awareness days, if they fit your brand, are great to schedule into your wider strategy. However, remember that your whole PR strategy should be varied and built around different factors, don’t just focus it on one thing.

Here’s some bases you need to cover if you want to use awareness days in your communications strategy.

Know What Awareness Days The Press Like

As with pretty much any PR story, it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on if the publications you’re targeting won’t be interested in it. The same concept goes with taking advantage of awareness days, you need to make sure that journalists are actually interested in them before moving forward. Spend some time shortlisting the days you’d like to target, then research the press coverage for those days across previous years. You’ll soon get a taste of whether the media is interested in these occasions, and moreover you’ll find out which journalists tend to write about them.

For example, a quick Google search will tell you that ‘Blue Monday’ (20th January) is a popular press topic…

Blue Monday - Using Awareness Days For PR

Google is one of the best free tools at our disposable, it can be used to shape so many different PR campaigns and strategies.

But ‘National Hug A Plumber Day’ (25th April) doesn’t return so many results. This tells you it’s probably not worth centring your press strategy around that particular awareness day. (We can’t imagine why!)

Don’t Do It Just To Do It

One thing to be conscious of is not just jumping on the bandwagon with awareness days. It’s not uncommon to see journalists taking to Twitter to say they’re fed up of ‘Blue Monday’ or ‘Singles Day’ stories. They’ve gotten so popular in the last few years that now, most people take a stab at trying to get some publicity from them. With this in mind, you need to make sure you’re only using this tactic when it really aligns with your strategy. Having a clear cut plan in place means you’ll be providing a journalist with a great story that won’t be just another email directed to their ‘deleted’ folder.

Match The Awareness Days With Your Brand

Something else you need to do if using awareness days in your PR strategy, is to ensure they’re a good fit for your brand. Some occasions are pretty versatile and can be suited to any number of different industries (Random Acts Of Kindness Day (February 17th), for example) but others are clear cut for a certain type of brand.

At the end of the day, as with any PR activity, you need to make sure that your story is valuable to the reader, but is also relevant. For example, a supermarket jumping on ‘Gorgeous Grandma Day’ (23rd July) doesn’t quite make sense and it won’t help your brand feel any real PR benefit. It’s better to stick to what makes a good read, and what generates great PR value too.

Make A Good Story

Talking of good stories, that’s another thing you really need to get right if you want to make use of awareness days in your PR strategy.

A little like how it’s important to check that certain awareness days are interesting to journalists; you’ll also need to do a recce on whether the ideas you have are press-worthy too. Ultimately, you can spend weeks or even months planning an idea around a topical awareness day, but if your efforts don’t result in a good story, then it could all be for nothing.

Using Awareness Days In PR

This ‘Christmas treat’ story we did last year worked a treat, because we knew it was timely and a good, heart-warming story.

There are many different ways to check what journalists are into covering, but some of our favourites include:

  • Following journalists on social media if they have professional accounts, as you can see what kind of stories they’re interacting with and therefore get a good sense for the topics that they cover.
  • Checking your target news sites every morning, spending 10 minutes a day exploring what stories are being covered.
  • Looking at what stories are getting the most engagement on social media and through article views. A lot of journalists are KPI’ed on interactions, so if you can provide them with a story that’s likely to get them some – they should love it.
  • Use Google Trends to see what people are searching for and therefore are interested in at the moment. This free tool from Google is a great way of auditing what’s popular in the world at any given time.
  • Check past news stories which have covered similar awareness days and see if you can spot any recurring themes. For instance, if being involved with local primary schools has been popular time and time again, then that’s probably a good place to start when brainstorming ideas for your own campaigns.

If done right, awareness days can help to really boost your PR activity when incorporated into your strategy, whether you’re B2B or B2C. Not only can they help strengthen your reputation, but they can increase your news and social media presence too.

If you’re looking for a little extra help with your PR, marketing or social media, then why not chat to us about how we can help? Here at The Source we have a growing team of professionals with expertise to cover all bases, whatever your brand vision is, we’ll have a solution. Call us on 01829 720789 or send us a message today. Or, see what we get up to on social…

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HOW DARING DOES IT PAY TO BE WITH YOUR ADVERTISING?

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It’s no secret that it’s very hard to make adverts effective if they’re being broadcasted to a really wide audience, for your advertisement to be totally effective, it needs to be able to attract and maintain attention long enough for that engagement to be transferrable.

So how do you make something worth somebody’s time? How do you make your marketing more memorable than the rest?

Daring Advertising Done Right

One way to snatch the attention of your audience was demonstrated perfectly recently by City to Sea, a brand devoted to bettering the way us humans treat the environment. First seen in cinemas just last week,  it draws attention to the environmental issue of flushing non-degradable wet wipes down the toilet. Totally impolite and boldly unapologetic, the ad was centered around an asterix that proclaimed itself “a talking assh*le”.

“Be A Good Assh*le” was its ultimate message. And what a good message it was!

Although climate change is finally getting a lot more airtime and attention, we still don’t doubt that if the advert wasn’t so impudent and surprising, it probably wouldn’t have been as recognised as it is. But, because of the crudeness, and because of the unaccustomed nature of its content, this cinema ad has exceeded expectations… Sparking debate far further than the cinema seats of its viewers. Already, talk has begun on social media – which is only spreading the message wider and wider.

Ultimately, caring for the environment is a really important message. We’re really glad to see that this brand took a risk to promote the message that flushing wipes down the loo that aren’t degradable is really, really bad for the environment. 

You can’t deny that the risk they took really did pay off.

Daring advertising - City to Sea be a good assh*le

Their message was frank and impenitent – is this the best way to be?

Is Taboo Advertising The Way Forward?

We cant deny that the intrepid nature of the “Be A Good Assh*le” advert worked a treat in this circumstance. It’s reportedly had audiences in fits laughter and has sparked a good old conversation on Twitter.

However, is this a tactic all brands should adopt as we move forward in a world that’s ever less-receptive to advertising? One that’s always demanding originality and creativity?

Well, as with anything, we’d say that this is certainly a method that cannot be overdone. Much like a lot of things, if you use this one time and time again, it’ll decline in effectiveness. The be-all and end-all is that this advert was surprising, and it had the shock-factor. If you try and use it as inspiration for your own content, it’ll likely not have the same effect the second time round.

Not that this is the first time anyone’s ever sworn in an advertisement, mind. It’s just the first time we’ve seen it done with such brashness in a long time.

Furthermore, being taboo doesn’t sit well with everyone. We’d be inclined to believe there’d be a large proportion of the population who wouldn’t appreciate this kind of thing, who would see it as crass and inappropriate. As with any time you’re bold and daring with your marketing, you’d definitely be taking a risk to deploy this idea. There are some brands this kind of marketing simply wouldn’t gel with, for sure. You need a brand that’s really quirky, unique and quite unapologetic. For example, we could imagine brands such as  Innocent Smoothies and Ben & Jerry’s rolling with this kind of advertising and it working, other more luxury brands, such as Harrod’s for example, we couldn’t.

Here at The Source, we represent a wide range of brands from both B2B industries and B2C. For some of our clients, this idea wouldn’t work for them because it doesn’t suit their brand at all, for others, it might just.

This being said, for any brand, the message learned is that creativity always wins. The best ideas are those that are rooted within, and that aren’t necessarily taken from others.

This post originally appeared on, Jessica Pardoe – one of our PR Executive’s – blogs. You can find that post here.

CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGNS WORTH TALKING ABOUT THIS YEAR

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Christmas is just around the corner and the marketing campaigns are in full swing. However, with the festive period being such a saturated opportunity to make a real impact with your communications, not all efforts are wholly successful.

The Christmas Communications Challenge

Christmas has long been a great chance to do something a little bit different with your brand, to market it alongside the holiday period and to leverage Christmas as an opportunity to align your business with something very popular not only nationwide – but pretty much worldwide.

The problem is, is that many opportunist marketers have recognised the opportunity that the festive period presents. And thus, Christmas campaigns and adverts are more common than uncommon these days. It’s very easy for your efforts to be overlooked when they are competing against an abundance of other campaigns that get more and savvier each year. You need something pretty special and memorable.

So, how can you create a Christmas marketing campaign that truly stands out from masses? There’s no better way to learn than from the best…

Top Christmas Marketing Campaigns Of 2019

Cadbury’s Secret Santa

If a campaign returns for another year, you know it’s a successful one. This year, Cadbury’s are re-opening their secret Santa stations where you can send a bar of their chocolate to a loved one. It’s simple, but it works. The popularity of the ‘pop-up post offices’ equals widespread publicity for the brand, through press, word of mouth and social media. It’s totally Instagrammable.

John Lewis’ Excitable Edgar

John Lewis really illustrate how to perfect a Christmas marketing campaign. Through their much-loved and highly anticipated Christmas ads every year, they’ve cleverly associated themselves with being the go-to retailer during the holiday season. It’s a big responsibility, but their Christmas content is world-renowned, largely in thanks to the brand they’ve built. They have big boots to fill, but they manage to do it so flawlessly every year.

Aldi’s Kevin The Carrot

Aldi do really well in nailing down their Christmas campaigns. Much like John Lewis, their Christmas adverts have now become something of a tradition to the brand. Only with a twist. They’ve developed a character that is used time and time again. Kevin the Carrot is a name we’ve all come to know and love, and every year his return is anticipated by many. But Aldi go one step further in making the most of their Christmas marketing, their Kevin the Carrot collectibles are a huge hit amongst shoppers – meaning they profit not only from the publicity, but from raw sales too.

Deliveroo’s 10ft Gift Box

Something a little different this year was Deliveroo and KFC’s real-life marketing campaign that they executed on the South Shore of London this year. With so many traditions that are rife in the UK, it’s hard to create a new campaign that really makes an impact. But these two brands seem to have done it this year. Fashioning a giant 10ft gift box that gives passers-by a taste of KFC’s new festive burger – this campaign is one that attracts genuine footfall as well as publicity from being a little ‘out there’.

Coca Cola’s Christmas Truck

It’s old but gold. Coca Cola’s Christmas truck is a festive favourite for a reason: because they’ve built that brand and reputation for themselves through years of clever marketing. The advantage of being a well-established brand is that you can use the same marketing tactic time and time again. And instead of it becoming repetitive, it becomes iconic. The Coca Cola Christmas truck is simply a part of the festive season now, and all the while it remains a fan-favourite, the brand benefits from the publicity.

IKEA’s ‘Home Shame’ Ad

It works because it’s brand relevant, but also consumer-relevant too. IKEA released a Christmas ad this year which focuses on ‘home shame’ and how you shouldn’t be ashamed to open your home up to your family this festive period. It features an (admittedly catchy) backing track from grime rapper D Double E, which has provided multi-faceted benefits as the Swedish retailer is praised not only for promoting the Grime genre, but also just for their music choice in general. The song is now being released as a single. Christmas number one, perhaps? The marketing benefits just keep on rolling with this one…

 

Do you have any more stand out Christmas campaigns from this year? Let us know on Twitter.

POSITIVE PREDICTIONS IN DIGITAL MARKETING FOR 2020

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According to a report by PayPal’s Commerce Index, the number of businesses in the UK expected to begin marketing on social media is set to double in the next six months – a huge increase from the approximate 600,000 businesses that already do so. British businesses are finally set to catch up to the rest of the global average of 35%: currently, just 24% of UK businesses use social media to market their products.

The increase could partially come down to the rise in millennial business owners and marketing heads – with the younger generation being more app and social-media savvy, it stands to reason that millennial-owned businesses would use tools they already know and love to market their services. Yet it’s not only the increase of millennials in the boardroom that are to blame – success stories of brands who invest wisely into the digital sphere and see great returns have spurred interest in the less traditional methods of marketing.

An example of a business that has begun to take digital marketing more seriously is Pandora, which has hired London digital marketing agency Fifty-Five to further enhance its social media and overall online presence. According to The Drum, Pandora is ‘in the process of increasing its investment in digital media as a way to build its brand and drive sales, as well as attract new and loyal customers instore.’ Pandora’s inclusion of the digital sphere as a crucial aspect of its branding is indicative of the turn towards less-traditional marketing techniques that businesses have been embracing more and more over recent years. Despite the brand already being a household name, Pandora is evidently interested in the further capabilities that digital marketing can provide.

If its experience will be anything like the retailer Oasis, it’s likely to be worth it. The clothing store has turned to more savvy digital marketing technique after it faced multiple store closures throughout the UK. Despite the setbacks, Oasis saw an extraordinary 175% increase in revenue and an overall 20% rise in customer engagement after it circulated an email with an ad video featuring Frankie Bridge, former member of The Saturdays. Sophia Holland Thomas, Digital Marketing Manager at Oasis, said, ‘Videos are capturing consumer attention like never before and video marketing is becoming an increasingly important vehicle for companies looking to engage with a millennial audience, where they can enhance their outreach and revenues.’

If that wasn’t enough, the data insights and consulting company Kantar recently released a report that offered its predictions for the upcoming year in the technology and digital world. Duncan Southgate, Global Brand Director at Kantar, wrote, ‘Digital is set to consolidate its dominance in 2020, with 84% of marketers planning to increase spend in online video, and 70% planning to increase spend in social media, according to our recent Getting Media Right report.’

All evidence seems to point to the growing importance and prevalence of digital marketing, and businesses are expected to invest accordingly. And if the success stories of the likes of Oasis are anything to go by, it can be assumed that this will only be good news for those brands that take the leap from traditional, linear marketing such as TV, radio or billboards. At Source, we embrace both traditional and the digital world, where influence and recommendation is key. We’re fluent in the world of online marketing and provide a tailored approach to brands and businesses that look to increase their online reach.

Get in touch on 01829 7208789 to learn more, or follow us on Twitter (@source_tweets), Facebook (@SourcePublicRelations) and LinkedIn (The Source).

DIGITAL AGENCY – HOW THE TIMES ARE A CHANGIN’

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When working in a digital agency in Chester and providing B2B PR or consumer PR clients with support and advice, it’s so important to keep up to date with the ever-changing world of new technologies, insights and applications.

Understanding and using new technologies helps keep you at the forefront of providing valuable advice and delivering current campaigns for clients that really work for businesses and customers alike.

If you stand still too long or stop to give yourself a pat on the back, there is a real chance that you’ll get left behind.  It’s fast moving, challenging but when compared to the old days of pure PR – very rewarding.

For years there was always the question of ‘how do you put a value on PR?’  Historically it was a measurement of column inches or messages density, but now there are so many additional factors that should be considered whether it’s directly reaching thousands of customers with engaging messages through social media or producing content that improves a client’s reputation or thought leadership position. Each post or article can be measured in terms of who read it and what action they took as a result.

Digital

With the growth in digital the whole world is more transparent.  The engagement on each post can be measured, the actual number of people who read an online article can be seen and the customer journey for each purchase can be viewed as cookies follow customers through their entire purchasing process.

This is great.  It helps justify marketing budgets and provides a real opportunity to show a return on an investment.  Most important of all is that it makes you realise that you are actually making a difference, that the work you’re creating is driving sales and that the campaigns work.  The times are changing and look set to continue to evolve which has to be great news for clients and digital PR agencies alike – as long as you can keep up.

Back to School: What is Marketing?

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‘So, what is marketing?’

I wasn’t expecting such a simple question to stump me for what felt like five very long seconds. We were attending the Careers Day at the local Ellesmere College, and we were prepped with a banner and on-brand coloured cupcakes (we know what kids want), ready to speak to students about a career in marketing, PR and communications.

We’re used to dealing with professionals who want to know how digital marketing can work cohesively with traditional PR, or how we can maximise the benefits of influencer partnerships on social media – we’re never asked a simple question which essentially asks, ‘what is that you do, every day?’

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein famously said that “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” We weren’t dealing with six year olds here, we were talking about our industry with curious and intelligent teenagers at a crucial decision-making point in their lives.

As well as being able to help young people as they start to carve the beginnings of their future careers, the afternoon gave us an opportunity to take a step back and go back to basics: what is it that we offer?

After a couple of practice groups of students who feigned a remarkable interest whilst clearly eyeing up the baked goods, I got into the swing of it: we essentially offer a subtle form of advertising.

As opposed to large, in-your-face adverts on the side of the motorway or shoved between TV shows (which of course do have their place), we work with businesses to identify their target audience and, most crucially, understand them. Then we use a whole host of communication lines from news stories, to profiling, to social media in order to influence their audience towards the business. This comes together into a holistic campaign, using every tool we’ve got to ensure that your brand is in front of the right people, saying the right things.

If you’ve got a growing business and thinking of taking your first step into marketing, just get in touch for a laid back chat – you never know, we might even have cake.

CONTENT MARKETING – HOW TO GET YOUR DIGITAL CONTENT JUST RIGHT

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Unfortunately too many clients still believe that because they’ve spent hefty amounts on a new website, all will be well and the new business will roll in.  Unfortunately, it’s simply not the case as without quality, optimised and relevant content management – there’s a high chance a potentially fruitful website will wither on the vine.

The good news however is that a growing number of businesses are seeing the benefits of effective content marketing.  Recent statistics show that as many as 91% of B2B and 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing to facilitate business growth.

Although content marketing has been with us for years now it remains an effective way to build brand trust and awareness as well as establish business credentials by simply offering highly relevant information to the right target audience.

However, like other digital marketing methods it has evolved considerably over the past decade, so here we’ve outlined a few pointers as to what works best:

  • Achieve cut through and say something new, different and relevant. There are more than 2 billion blog posts listed every day, so make sure yours cuts through by being original and not ‘me too’.  If you want to be a thought leader, say something new or challenge the status quo.
  • Focus on content that you have the right to comment on – why are you experts and why should people listen to you? Don’t blag it if you don’t know what you’re talking about as that can back-fire, instead focus on an area that your business excels in.
  • Use a quality digital communication agency to provide the right copy and content – if you’re not a writer, get some help so that you can focus on what you do best. Having a nose for a good or interesting story will also help.
  • Work with partners, suppliers and friends.Building back links is a critically important element of SEO and this is a useful tactic to not only receive endorsement but build links.
  • Think how best to share your content. Although building content and links on the page is useful for SEO, if you’ve got something interesting or unusual to say why not cascade through the right social media channels or via an electronic newsletter?
  • Take a longer term view – organic content marketing won’t immediately knock you up the SEO rankings but be specific on key words and in time it will bear fruit.
  • Evaluate and evolve. Has your content achieved any inbound links, has it been shared, have you maximised the opportunity through social media/newsletters, what’s the feedback / comments, can you place the piece editorially?

As with all digital marketing campaigns, it’s important to test, evaluate, improve and evolve.  Remember to take a long-term view that’s measured against specific goals and objectives as this always delivers the best results.

If you’re looking for a reliable digital agency in Chester that uses modern content marketing strategies, contact us and let us show you what we can do.