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
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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:
- 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.
- Consider using Lead Magnets – give something of value in return for an email address on all social media channels – see an example here
- Run competitions where they have to do something.
- 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.
- 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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by admin | Oct 7, 2021 | Uncategorized
https://youtu.be/BhBaSAITCVE
This FREE Interactive Webinar and Q&A will explain why you should be using video in your marketing.
About this event
Whatever the message, we believe you can convey it simply and successfully with video, join us for our interactive webinar to learn why you should be using video. In this webinar, we’ll be sharing our hints, tips and tricks for video marketing.
Webinar Outcomes:
At the end of this session, you will have a clarity and understanding of video marketing and why you should be using it now.
Speakers
Join us on Tuesday, 19th of October 2021 at 13:00.
Book now:
by admin | Oct 5, 2021 | Uncategorized
So, best-laid plans… we all have them!
Last week I was attending a two-day conference and I was really looking forward to seeing two of the big-name speakers. Let’s just say that one really didn’t disappoint and I have learned so much whilst the other…they didn’t turn up.
This event was over 2-years in the planning with the pandemic and my heart went out to the organisers as this speaker was a big name draw – over 1200 business owners from across the country who had all paid money and committed time to be there!
But do you know what…
The organisers quickly stepped in and delivered an extra learning slot that to me had 100% more content I could adopt and made me even more motivated. Our new weekly email giving you hints and tips was crafted and this blog was drafted.
So what else did I learn?
Planning, planning and then more planning is needed in all aspects of business and your marketing is just the same to step in when things go wrong. It shouldn’t just happen on a whim but is part of a rhythmic process to help you avoid the peaks and troughs.
My top tips for you today:
1. Add marketing into your diary this week – if it is in your diary as an appointment is more likely to get done!
2. Set up a Trello account (or equivalent) and plan out your weekly activity in the run-up to Christmas. (Christmas cards need to be printed and ready to post by the 1st December). I am happy to share our Trello Board Template if it helps, just send us an email and I will send it over – claire@creationzmarketing.co.uk.
3. Tell your staff, team, family, friends or Creationz Marketing what your one priority is this week to get the accountability you need. My priority is to get 1 video created for a free training programme we are running and to work on our Hubspot process and I will share it in our Marketing for Success Facebook Group if we achieve this or not as I need accountability too.
4. Look at how you can monitor the return on investment from your Marketing – visits to website, social media growth, new enquiries. One thing I learnt at the conference is that we often monitor too much and it becomes too complicated. Try and stick to a maximum of 10 things to really get a flavour of how your marketing is performing.
Looking back, I’m so glad that the speaker didn’t show as it made me take action.
What can you achieve this week to move your marketing forward?
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 If you want to read more marketing tips – our blog is packed full of advice
Further Reading:
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by admin | Sep 29, 2021 | Uncategorized
Remarketing (also known as retargeting) is a means to re-connect with consumers who have previously visited your website or mobile app. Remarketing allows you to present your online adverts to this audience as they browse throughout other websites and social media platforms, this helps you increase brand awareness or prompt these consumers to convert.
The most common forms of remarketing are:
- Google display adverts
- Facebook adverts
- Follow-up emails
So, what are the benefits of remarketing?
- Improves brand recall – Remarketing is a fantastic tool for reminding potential customers of your business and its product or service offering.
- Improved conversion rates – It can act as a tool to convert customers who previously dropped off part way down the sales funnel by re-engaging them.
- Better return on investment (ROI) compared to generic advertising – As it allows you to engage with those who have already shown an interest in you and your products, rather than being a completely cold lead.
- It allows you create specific and targeted ads – Remarketing allows you to directly target those who have already shown an interest in a particular product or service you offer. You can create various remarketing lists that will apply to specific prospects, such as those who have lapsed at the checkout stage of an ecommerce website.
Tips for running a successful remarketing campaign:
- Ensure your tagging is appropriate.
- Make sure your adverts have a clear message and suitable call to action.
- Constantly refine your campaign, set time aside to analyse your campaigns results and make amendments when necessary to achieve the best possible return on investment.
- Include a special offer such as a discount code in your adverts when targeting lapsed customers. Not only is this likely to entice them to act fast and buy now, but it is an easy way to see which customers have converted from your ads.
Get in touch to learn how Creationz Marketing can help with your remarketing needs – call us on 01158 376 260 or email info@creationzmarketing.co.uk
by admin | May 16, 2021 | Uncategorized
8 Years! Where has that time gone???
I set up Creationz Marketing in 2013 to allow me to work with a range of businesses with a vast array of budgets and requirements. I had already at this point worked in-house for companies for 14 years and felt the time was right to branch out and steer my own ship as it were.
Was it that easy? Not really…when you first go from working in-house to running your own business there is a very steep learning curve to go through:
- How do you run a business
- How do you win and retain clients
- What extra services do I need to be able to do – accounting, IT, insurances, etc
- What support do I need when income is tight
- Will clients want the services I offer?
Today, as I celebrate 8 years with the team, I am reflecting back over this time and can honestly say that it was a good decision and I have been very fortunate to work with amazing clients across the UK that have been able to see the transition and go on their journey with them. Some of our highlights include:
- Moving into our new office in Beeston
- Taking on my first employee in 2018 – now a team of 4!
- Setting up an Internship Programme with Nottingham Trent University – we are 2 years into this programme
- Running events in London, Dublin, Dubai, India & Germany, Vienna and more events planned.
- Helping businesses to pivot in-person events to fully online during the pandemic
- Speaking at client events on the power of marketing – in-person and online
- Creating a network of people that support our business as we grow.
But you may be reading this and thinking that’s great but so what?
And you would be right! 8 years might not seem like a milestone birthday like 10, 15 or 20. To us, it is, especially after the year we have just experienced with Covid and the restrictions both we and our clients have faced and felt it is important that we all stop, take stock and celebrate the fact we are here helping our clients.
So, how has marketing changed over the past 8 years.
Marketing never truly sits still but the pace at which these changes are happening is helping us to shape our services to clients to ensure they are supporting their businesses in the right way and include:
- Not Just Social
Over the past 8 years, there has been a reliance on social media as the only marketing a business needs as it is free. Whilst this was the main benefit in the beginning, now businesses need more time, bigger budgets for ad spend, and much more to make social media their only source of marketing. We help businesses to systemize their marketing so that social media is a marketing pillar but NOT the only pillar.
- Time to remove the invisibility cloak
Over the past few years, it has become very apparent that businesses can no longer hide and rely on loyalty from existing clients. The speed of the internet, social media and choice had made that loyalty disappear. If we want something and cannot get it from our usual supplier, we look elsewhere. Just look at how many more orders were placed on Amazon over the past year when shops were closed. By helping businesses to be visible, but in the right way, it keeps that awareness and loyalty alive – even as circumstances change.
- Direct Mail Has a Place
As inboxes get fully, direct mail is becoming popular again – have a think about the post you receive, how much is now from your suppliers and clients. It is a great way of letting your customers know that you are thinking of them. It doesn’t have to be costly – a simple postcard or letter can make all the difference.In a world where we are connected online, could you give your clients something to take stock and think of you? We have lots of ideas and happy to have a chat.
- Power of CRM
One of the biggest areas for marketing at the minute is the power of your own database. Again with many businesses relying on social media, contacts are not taken online and into CRM system or even a simple excel spreadsheet. We help clients understand that putting all their eggs into social media channels can be dangerous as you don’t own the foundations you are building on. Could you still contact your vlients and contacts if social media shut down your account for a period of time? There are many cases in the news recently about Instagram Influencers who have had their accounts shut down overnight and have lost 100,000 followers etc. Do you have a plan to build a database?
- Consistency – Not spreading yourself too thin
With over 20 years of experience in marketing, one of the biggest changes is businesses no longer having a written marketing plan that helps shape the marketing efforts. Marketing is more ad-hoc, inconsistent, and following a scattergun approach. This can really impact where marketing time, effort, and budgets are spent. We are passionate about helping our clients to have a plan – it doesn’t have to be lengthy but by having a plan, you can see what works and what doesn’t and be a lot more consistent.
- No Marketing Magpies Here
Hands up, who has been swayed by the latest marketing tool or gadget? To be honest, most of us have. I can hold my hand up to this when I first set up the business, Chatbots were all the rage and I spent an afternoon setting it up to realise it was not right for us at that time. We help clients get really clear on what they want to achieve and put a plan in place so that it is harder to get swayed by something else. Over the last year, a lot of businesses had to pivot or they would have lost business and by being clear, we were able to help them pivot successfully by being clear and getting being marketing magpies.
- Understanding and knowing your numbers
We help businesses to understand their numbers, whether it is social media traffic, website traffic, budget spend it can all help. We were able to help a business fund a new website project by reviewing their marketing budget, reviewing where they were getting clients from, and showing them where they could make savings. They have always advertised in directories that didn’t generate any traffic or bring leads into the business – by understanding the numbers, they were able to get the new website they needed to make the business reflect current online conditions. Do you know your numbers? If not, let’s have coffee?
- Get the help and support
We have noticed over the past 8 years that businesses are seeing the benefit of outsourced marketing teams at their disposal. Sometimes someone outside the business can offer a different perspective. Having a team of experts on-call can actually save the business money than training and employing someone full-time. We have seen first-hand the power of how we can help clients, from as little as sending a monthly newsletter, right through to running full marketing campaigns. We become an extension to the businesses we work with, part of the team!
What does the future hold?
Whilst we are looking back over the past 8 years, we also have eyes on the future and we are so looking forward to what that future may bring. We are constantly reviewing and adapting our services, we have some big plans to support more businesses across the country to get the marketing support they need. Watch this space.
Our thanks go to Steve Edwards – Steve Edwards Photography for the fabulous images on this blog.
