Frankie Say…Marketing! (Part 2)

It’s just been revealed that the CD single of the recently remixed single Relax by Frankie goes to Hollywood has been cancelled. This follows the complete withdrawal of a planned release of The Power of Love for the Christmas market.

These two tracks were being used to promote a retrospective collection for the band called Frankie Say Greatest which was launched last month. While the album made the Top 30 in the UK, download sales of Relax were so poor it did not even make the Top 100.

A few weeks ago I added my first Frankie Say…Marketing! blog post on the methods being used to promote this set and made a few predictions on how well it would do. It turned out I was way off the mark.

UK rich in budding entrepreneurs

A recent survey suggests that many people in Britain are considering starting their own business. With the new year nearly upon us many more will now be looking to make a fresh start in 2010 and considering their options for the future. Are you one of them? If so, add a comment below and let us know about your plans.

UK rich in budding entrepreneurs

From www.smallbusiness.co.uk

A significant proportion of people in the UK say they want to start their own business.

Of 2,121 adults surveyed, some 17 per cent want to launch a start-up, according to social enterprise organisation Enterprise UK. The body predicts that if one in ten of the respondents realised their ambition, it could create 1.1 million extra jobs.

Carl Schramm, president of entrepreneurial charity the Kauffman Foundation, says: “Job creation is the number one issue facing families and policymakers during this economic recession, and this study shows that new businesses and entrepreneurs are the key factor in adding new jobs.”

Full Story: www.smallbusiness.co.uk

TV Comedy and the Digital World

Not so much a marketing and communications blog post but a comment on British situation comedy, broadcasting and how we as individuals have changed over the last generation. This was inspired by a blog post on BBC Writersroom by Michael Jacob, a leading comedy bod at the Beeb. In it he refers to a new sitcom called Big Top and says:

As is traditional with virtually every new BBC1 sitcom, Big Top has received a massive critical kicking, both in newspapers and on writers’ forums. I can never quite understand the snobbishness of aspiring comedy writers, who tend to unite in loathing any show which is popular with audiences. Two Pints and My Family spring immediately to mind.

Personally I cannot comment on this particular show as I haven’t seen it but I found what he said and the way he said it particulalrly interesting. I understand what Michael Jacob is getting at and I agree with him to a point but I think there is far more to this story than there is at first glance.

Building the Employer Brand

Today I attended a one day workshop entitled Building the Employer Brand run by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

I found the content very interesting particularly in light of the recent recruitment work I’ve been involved in. It was thought-provoking and gave rise to a number of questions and methods for building stronger internal colleague relationships while also making a business more attractive to customers and potential job applicants.

The programme looked at the following:

• What is branding?

This was an introduction to the concept of the customer and employer brand.

• Why is the employer brand important?

This considered the components of the employer brand, and how this relates to the customer brand. We were also asked to look at how our own employer brand was currently perceived, and whether it needs to change or develop.

• Developing the employer brand strategy

In this session we considered a number of the different aspects of employer branding e.g. organisational values and behaviours, reputation of the organisation, perception of the value of work, challenge & interest as well as individual staff achievement.

• Communicating the employer brand

To finish the day we covered the aspects of our employer brands which need to change and what information is needed to find these out. This enabled us to build a list of key points outlining the changes needed.

We were given a book called Brand from the Inside by Libby Sartain and Mark Schumann to take away which, from what I’ve read, looks to be an excellent guide and I look forward to reading more. I may even do on an ongoing review so I can cover the topic in more detail.

There are three dates currently in place for this course next year in April, August and December. These can be found along with the course overview on the CIM website.

How to Build a Social Media Campaign

Article originally from www.businessweek.com

Good marketers see the value of developing a presence where their audience already gathers, whether online or at the shopping mall

By Hilary JM Topper

Social media is all about sparking conversation, not just online, but offline too. Done well, social media draws us in, delights us, and even offers glimpses of the future. These dynamics overlap into the real world, as people go about their daily business. Companies that understand this and interact with their market at every opportunity—both on the Web and face to face—get the most from their marketing campaigns. And they help to further imprint their brand on the public.

Below are some suggestions to help jump-start a successful social media platform.

• Keep it interesting
• Be consistent
• Comb the Web for free market research
• Stay relevant

Hilary JM Topper is the author of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Social Media, but were afraid to ask….

Read full story

Survey says Online Marketing is Key to Success

Written by Resources for Entrepreneurs Staff – www.gaebler.com

Published: 11/18/2009

SMBs plan to increase use of internet marketing in 2010.

It may not come as surprising news for small business owners that most entrepreneurs report internet marketing will dominate future sales campaigns. A new survey from Vertical Response reveals that 74.1 percent of SMB owners plan to increase their use of email marketing in 2010.

The low-cost social media and online marketing is proving its worth to small businesses in these economic times as 96.2 percent of respondents say they will be using internet marketing in 2010. SMBs will increasingly rely on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing next year as 86.2 percent will continue to use or implement search engine marketing.

Read Full Story

Communications Overload at the NHS Primary Care Trust

You couldn’t make this up:

Head of Communications
£42252 – £49852 per annum

Our client, an NHS Primary Care Trust, based in east London is looking for a Head of Communications to join their Team. The role will report directly to the Assistant Director of Communications and will be responsible for managing the Communications Manager.

Quoting the Tax Payers’ Alliance (TPA) where the advertised job is described in full.

As you can read in the comments, it’s the hierarchy of command which is the most astonishing thing about this role: They have a Director of Comms, an Assistant Director of Comms, a Head of Comms, and a Comms Manager. How can that be justified?

Job Vacancy: Marketing & Communications Executive

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) is a mutually owned membership association for operators of Internet Protocol networks. It provides a neutral interconnection facility and peering platform, known as an Internet Exchange Point (IXP), and represent the interests of its members on matters of public policy.

LINX currently has a vacancy for a Marketing & Communications Executive. This position offers the opportunity to work at the heart of the Internet Industry in a dynamic team-motivated environment. LINX can offer you – in addition to an attractive remuneration package with benefits that include private health cover – life insurance, pension and income protection.

For more information please visit: https://www.linx.net/job/markcom.html

Please note: No agencies! Unsolicited emails or phone calls are not welcome.

POSITION FILLED

Newsletter Checklist #4 – ‘What is the schedule for production?’

A final set of questions to consider when writing a newsletter are:

• when do your readers need to receive your newsletter?
• has adequate time been built in to cover production and printing?
• who are you relying on to produce content or deliver copies?
• have you allowed time for thorough proof reading and sign-off procedures?

I hope these brief checklists were useful to you. I shall return to this topic in due course to give a more detailed overview of the subject. As always, if anyone has any questions feel free to contact me.

Newsletter Checklist #3 – ‘What should it look like?’

Additional questions to consider when writing a newsletter are:

• what the most suitable format if it is being printed? (paper stock, colours, layout etc)
• how many pages will it have?
• what type of imagery should be used?
• will anyone else be contributing content?

The final checklists for newsletter production will be published tomorrow.