Creative Marketing At Its Best…

by admin | Nov 5, 2023 | Uncategorized

A fabulous way to end the week!!!

Earlier this year, I was very fortunate to work with the amazing Gill Heppell on her new book – It’s Not About the Silver…When You’re Gone, Pass It On. This was a new adventure for Gill who had committed herself to write a book and have it published in October of this year.

Gill’s brief was very clear – vibrant, eye catching design that people will take notice if they see it on the shelves. Her writing name is Geordie Gill which needed to be reflected. So the Creationz Marketing team got straight to work

Working on the branding and front cover was a poignant project  due to my personal circumstances at the time. These circumstances really brought home how important keeping memories alive are and to see it in print feels amazing. It is so true that when you lose someone, it is the little memories and recipes that last and I am sure this is going to be a fantastic success for Gill!

Today, Gill joined our Synergy Business Network Club meeting and gave me a signed copy and it is something I will treasure and has made my week. Thank you so much Gill!

To find out more, please visit Gill’s website here – 

Could outsourced marketing help my business?

by admin | Nov 5, 2022 | Uncategorized

We are often asked what are the benefits of an outsourced marketing team so we thought we would put this quick guide together to look at some of the benefits.

What is outsourced marketing?

Outsourcing is simply having a third-party company involved. An outsourced marketing team can be used in addition to an in-house team for a particular skill or support your business whilst you develop the need for an in-house team.

We become your marketing team and help get your marketing activities off the ground!

Benefits of outsourced marketing:

• Flexible Support

There are many benefits to outsourced marketing, a major one being you’re not held to a long-term commitment. Marketing support can be flexible to support your needs and budget and allow you to grow and adapt. Marketing should not stop still.

If you are looking to start marketing for the first time, you can outsource the activities to get you up and running and then work with us until you need to develop an inhouse service.

At Creationz, we help support businesses develop their in-house team and provide a coaching and mentoring service to support where possible.

• Cost-Effective

Another benefit, linked to flexible support, is that outsourced marketing can be a lot more cost-effective than employing a staff member – especially if you do not need anyone full-time. Therefore, it saves you a lot more money and once your marketing is up to speed you can easily assess what your needs are – more outsourced support or it is time to employ someone.

Outsourced support also allows you to try new services with a small-time frame to see if it could be beneficial – email marketing, blog writing, and social media support spring to mind.

• Training

By having an outsourced marketing team, you do not need to train an employee or send them on regular courses to widen their skills, as you will have access to experienced marketers – often with a wealth a knowledge to help you shape and define your marketing activities.

Marketing is moving at a very fast pace so you can be assured you are keeping up.

• Outsiders Perspective

It is very valuable having an outsider’s perspective for the business as they might spot an opportunity you may have missed or not thought of.

Also, often companies carry out the same marketing activities as they have always done, and a fresh pair of eyes can help spot new opportunities.  Working on the business instead of the business and give a fresh perspective.

How can it help my business?

Outsourced marketing can really help your business if you don’t’ have the expertise in-house. We are able to work for you if you already have too much to do without taking on marketing activity, we take the pressures off you.

Outsourcing your marketing will show you what is needed, what budget is required and how you can get the results you need. 

We run our services to add value to any client we work with and take great pride in seeing businesses succeed.

Further Reading:

5 Mistakes to Avoid on Social Media
Are you a Marketing Magpie?
Are Testimonials Important
Do I Need a Marketing Plan

Get your festive marketing plan ready

by admin | Sep 1, 2022 | Uncategorized

Christmas is an important time of year for almost every business and presents itself as a fantastic marketing opportunity. It can either lead to a huge increase in sales, or a quiet spell as people focus their attention elsewhere. No matter what the festive period brings to your business, it is vital that you have a festive marketing plan in place in order to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. According to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast, sales are projected to “result between $1,147 billion and $1,552 billion during the November-January period.” With an increased portion of this falling online due to Covid reducing footfall in shops.

Let’s take a look at the basics of putting together a Christmas marketing plan.

1. It’s never too early start

It’s seems strange to start thinking about your Christmas Marketing plan in September, but the truth is it is never too early. Your larger competitors will have their festive marketing plans drawn up and ready to implement, with the aim of securing vital coverage for the must have gifts. The idea here is that your festive marketing plan takes time to research, write and implement, and it should be part of your early autumn calendar every year.

• There is no one size fits all

When planning your festive campaign, there is no one size fits all, you have to change up your approach and see what works for your business. Some of the most effective holiday campaigns use a mixture of blogs, videos, social media, competitions, giveaways and more. Look back at what worked over the year and tailor it to fit in with your festive marketing campaign, whilst mixing in success stories, tips and helpful content.

• Understand what your customers will be looking for at Christmas

The first step in drawing up an effective festive campaign is understanding how your potential customers are going to behave in the run up to the big day. You have to understand how your customers behave throughout the year and refine this for your Christmas planning. Ask yourself questions such as what their spending priorities will be? Will they be more interested in products or services? Will they do their Christmas shopping early or late? Once you know the answers to these questions your marketing plan will begin to form itself.

• Stay on brand but lighten up

The festive period is meant to be light and fun, of course stay in line with your brand image, however, it is a great opportunity to give your clients that feel and childlike wonder. You can stick with your tone, feel and brand colours but make everything more festive and inspiring. Change up your social media account, as this is a prime location to advertise your holiday discounts, specials and competitions

Once you are ready to implement your marketing plan, putting it into action should be relatively straight forward. However, it is crucial you monitor the results of your plan so you can see how it shapes up against the targets you set.

Tips to consider when thinking about Video Marketing

by admin | Oct 20, 2021 | Uncategorized

Why is getting in front of a camera so nerve-wracking?

80% of all content is now video.

So, why is it so scary to step in front of the camera? We put ourselves under so much pressure to make sure any content is slick, polished and without any errors but is it needed?

No…pre-covid, I would agree that there was definitely an element of corporate videos looking very polished but the pandemic has helped break down those barriers. How many zoom calls have you been on where there has been a dog/cat walking into frame,  a child crying or people walking through their homes. The corporate look has also waned with fewer shirts and ties or smart blouses. We are being more human and that is something I really feel will last a lot longer as we have given ourselves permission to be who we want to be.

Do I like recording video?

Honestly, no! I find it a challenge, 

I hate the sound of my voice as well as being picky but I also know that one of the biggest changes in marketing is being more human. Since we have started to post more photos of the team, our office and who we are, we have received so much more feedback which has been great. Sam was a superstar last week and got in front of the camera and he made it seem so natural. See his video here

Will I do more videos? Yes…if you will join me on this journey. I am a firm believer in “done is better than perfect” so it is my plan to record a video for our website this week. I will post the video in our Marketing for Success group on Facebook – you can all hold me to account. Share your video too!

Are you ready to start your video journey?

There are so many videos you could produce that don’t all need you standing in front of the camera. Here are just a few ideas for you?

1. Tour of your business
2. Meet the Team
3. Work you are proud of
4. How you work with customers and clients
5. A welcome to your business
6. Top tips and what to expect
7. Client Testimonials

Which one could you start with? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Looking to find out more about video content?

To help dispel some of the myths around video marketing, Sam and Jordan are running a free webinar which you can watch on demand by registering below and they will be covering:

1. Video myths
2. Video ideas you can all put into practice easily
3. Ideal sizes/ length of video for social media
4. Additional marketing tips you can do with video content

Register your place below and we will send you an email with a link to the webinar so that you can watch it at a time convenient for you:

If there is anything in particular you would like some handy hints and tips on then simply contact us on 0115 8376 260 or email info@creationzmarketing.co.uk. We are happy to help!

Kind Regards

Claire

Latest News:

Facebooks Down? So What Next?

by admin | Oct 14, 2021 | Uncategorized

Last week Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp went down for close to 7 hours. You couldn’t miss it…it was on every news channel going, you would have thought the world was ending with the coverage it got.

Clients started to ring us to see what was happening and why they couldn’t post or communicate with their pages & audiences.

A one-off?

No…did you notice that Facebook also went down again Friday night for about 2 hours??? Now it was a Friday night, we are all either out celebrating the weekend or spending time with family so not as bad you might think…or is it!

But what does this mean for your business?

One of the biggest things for us at Creationz is the number of clients that rely on social media platforms to communicate with their audiences. 

It doesn’t bear thinking about, but what if the shutdown was permanent? No more Facebook!!No more Instagram!!No more Whatsapp!! Could you still communicate with your clients?Do you encourage your social media contacts to join your mailing list? Now is a really good time to stop and think about how you leverage your clients from social media into your own CRM systems – that way you OWN the conversation and you have strong foundations to build client relationships with. Our top tips to help leverage clients from social media into your CRM system:

1. Audit your social media usage for your business – if you are not sure we can help with our Power Hour service to help you plan your marketing communications.
2. Consider using Lead Magnets – give something of value in return for an email address on all social media channels – see an example here
3. Run competitions where they have to do something.
4. Take social traffic to your website and make sure there is content that captures their imagination. Get them to do something, fill a form in, sign up to newsletters etc.
5. Join our Marketing For Success Group for lots of handy hints and tips on moving your audience from social to your CRM.

With two outages in one week, you can be sure that more will follow.

If you have time this week to boost your marketing efforts, audit your current social media usage and ask yourself – could you market your business to your audience if social media was not available?

If there is anything in particular you would like some handy hints and tips on then just reply to this email. We are happy to help!

Kind Regards

Claire

p.s We are running a free webinar on the 19th of October all about the power of video and how your website and social media can benefit. Register your place today

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