Author Archives: GleaveMedia
Covid-19 Update
With Lockdown and with all our team working from home we continue to support those aspirational businesses through these challenging times #StayStrong
Services and Supply
All of the services that we provide are unaffected and we continue to monitor and manage these as we would normally.
Events and Meetings
Although we no longer be holding meetings on-site we’ve moved to Zoom and have hosted numerous meetings online, so if that works for you please let me know.
Updates
We will of course monitor, update and revise this guidance as the situation and government advice develops. We will also update you if the outbreak starts to impact on the operation of our services to you.
If you require further information on our response to coronavirus please contact us, we’re here to help.
last updated 22nd May 2020
Spring Marketing Campaigns and Tips
With spring right around the corner in the UK, it’s time to unveil those spring campaigns that you’ve been hatching all winter long. The great thing about the spring time is that there are so many appealing events associated with the season, that you can easily coordinate your campaign so it will blend right in with one or more of those special events. If you haven’t had much time to give it some serious thought, here are some ideas you might want to consider for your spring marketing campaigns.
Mother’s Day campaigns
There are all kinds of products which might be big sellers around Mother’s Day, starting with flowers, jewellery, teapots, cups, and specialty teas, chocolates, mugs, and even gardening gifts. If you can tie in your promotion with Mother’s Day, you’re bound to experience an uptick in sales, simply because the day itself is so popular, and virtually everyone in the country will be obliged to purchase something special for Mum.
Winter stock sales
One great way of unloading your winter stock is to tie it in with a springtime promotion, offering your customers a discount on all your winter stock, so you can make way for new incoming stock. You can label it your ‘Almost Spring’ sale and make a strong connection to the coming season, and that could put your usual customers in a buying mood.
Spring cleaning sales
If you happen to sell any kind of cleaning products, spring is the ideal time to advertise them, because it’s very often a time when people think about a major cleaning effort anyway. By coupling that natural inclination to a promotion of your best-selling cleaning products, you just might catch your customer base in the mood to make several large purchases.
Flowers and gardening ideas
There’s no better time of year to get out in the garden, preparing it for another season of fresh flowers and other attractive plants around the house. There are so many gardening tools, accessories, and even plants which might be needed to produce those beautiful summer flowers and shrubs, that almost anything you have in that line has the potential to be a big seller.
Sporting events promotions
Spring always brings about a number of sporting events which capture the public imagination, and it would be a great idea to couple your springtime promotion or campaign with one or more of these events. Football season ends, the Grand National happens in April, the FA Cup Final is in May, and the Cricket World Cup also is staged during late spring. Use the popularity of these events to piggyback your own campaign on to them and enjoy some really significant springtime sales.
Digital Strategy for 2020
Regardless of your industry or business size, an online presence is a must in today’s marketplace. However, it’s not enough to simply put up a website or have a social media page. To compete digitally, you must have a digital strategy that promotes your business, builds brand awareness and encourages users to engage with your content to become customers. If you want to keep up with your competition, you have to keep up with the trends. Proactively optimizing your online presence to keep up with customers and changes in technology will help you stay ahead of the game.
AI and Chatbots For Customer Interaction
Chatbots might seem impersonal to the older generations, but these programs actually help customers in real-time to find what they are looking for. It saves your business time, because a chatbot can quickly answer questions. Chatbots are available 24/7, saving your business money on customer service. Plus, they’re always informative and unbiased.
Targeted Advertising
Modern consumers see hundreds, if not thousands, of digital ads every day. Consumers have learned to ignore marketing that is irrelevant to them. The solution is to provide digital content that is information, high-quality and relevant to the consumer. Digital marketing lets you target an audience that is most likely to respond to your content.
Personalization of Advertising
Today’s advertising can be personalized in a way like never before. Your customers want to feel like you’re talking to them individually. Personalizing emails with first names and other information increases clickthrough rates. Reaching out with different messages based on gender, age or other demographics can help you offer relevant content to your customer. Your 2020 digital strategy should include a way to connect with customers on a personal level.
Consider the Buyers
Modern businesses have to think more about what their customers are looking for in today’s marketplace. You can’t just offer ads that push people to make a purchase. You have to offer content that gets a customer into your sales pipeline, based on where the customer is in the sales process. Customers will research your company before they ever set foot in your store or on your website. You need a strategy that focuses on buyer’s needs, rather than your products or services.
SEO For Search Visibility
Search engine optimization is one of the most important aspects of being visible online. Your digital marketing strategy has to include all aspects of SEO. On-page SEO is the titles, text and keywords on your pages. Off-page SEO is about building authority in your industry through backlinks and publications outside of your website. Technical SEO is the backend of the website that offers users a good experience.
Combine elements from multiple strategies to increase your online presence in 2020.
If you want to have a no obligation chat about how your business can realise its business goals, please get in touch today on 01392 241653 or contact us through our website here, we’d be delighted to have a no obligation chat to see if we can help your business grow.
Devon Networking Events
A new website launch for us, a South Devon business networking group, the site needed to be to clean, professional with a manageable members area, including member listing and gallery and fully uptodate networking event listing pages….
We’re rather pleased with the result…. https://www.g12businessclub.co.uk/
Sky AdSmart Seminar
In late March we hosted a Seminar for businesses to learn more about Sky AdSmart – a highly targeted, super-local and low cost route into TV advertising and we are partnering with Sky TV to show how working with razor sharp creative talent and the latest technology from Sky Adsmart can inspire your next generation of customers.
So what is Sky AdSmart?
Advertisers are able to cherry-pick their audiences using thousands of combinations from age, location or life style. All this means the power of TV can now be used to greater effect by existing advertisers, whilst becoming accessible for the first time to niche brands, small & medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and location-specific advertisers.
Why Gleave Media?
We work with aspirational businesses that aim for growth and bring a wealth of experience and analysis for all digital strategies and we deliver right first time solutions, often within short and challenging timescales.
So if you want to have a no obligation chat about how your business can realise its business goals, please get in touch today on 01392 241653 or contact us through our website here, we’d be delighted to have a no obligation chat to see if we can help your business grow.
On the radio
We’re always keen to be heard on all types of medium so it should come as now surprise that our MD Alistair was recently on local radio talking about his history, the Gleave Media business and how we work with growing business helping them drive traffic and leads. It was a great experience and one that he throughly enjoyed…
Its great to embrace a variety of ways we can communicate and share how we work with aspirational businesses that want to grow, so what better way than a local community radio station.
Soundart Radio is based in Totnes and is an independent, non-commercial, licensed community radio station. They reach audiences locally, nationally and internationally through the internet and you can listen live online, or you could just tune in on 102.5 FM if you are in the Totnes area of Devon, UK.
you can hear the show Alistair was on by
downloading it direct from Stitcher here.
Award winning Exeter Marketing Agency
We’ve won it again, we are a double award winning Exeter Marketing Agency, last year we were nominated as one of Three Best Rater Marketing Agencies in Exeter – and we’ve won this accolade again for a 2nd year, a real testament to the hard work and commitment to client success all of us here at Gleave Media strive for.
We’d love to work with your business and show how we can propel your business forward, please get in touch today on 01392 241653 or contact us through our website here, we’d be delighted to have a no obligation chat to see if we can help your business grow.
You can see this year’s Three Best Rated Award on their website here.
Three Best Rated is a business recommendation website. It selects what it considers to be the three best businesses within a business category, like marketing agencies, for a given city. They select businesses based on several criteria such as reviews, pricing, value, trust, general excellence and more are independent of the businesses themselves, consequently making this a really valuable award. Their employees check out businesses they are considering listing for their website, at no stage did they contact us so we had no idea of their due diligence on our business. They only informed us afterwards when they selected Gleave Media Ltd as one of their three best.
Three Best Rated® is an American business based in Austin Texas and was created with a simple goal to find you the top 3 local businesses, professionals, restaurants and health care providers in any city. They check business’s reviews, reputation, history, complaints, ratings, satisfaction, nearness, trust, cost, general excellence using a 50-Point Inspection.
Your Social Media Plan for 2019
Social Media is no doubt here to stay, we’ve seen this grow and be a key part of a developing business of the last few years, how they engage and reach out to their customer base, so here our the key trends for another successful year of social media marketing for your business.
Engagement is should be top of your list
Facebook often updates its algorithm and for us the key one was made in early 2018 when they announced a focus on meaningful interactions. So what does this mean? well their algorithm started favouring content that sparks a genuine conversation, which should inspire your business page owners to really try and create more engaging content. So as this organic reach becomes far more harder, the only way for a business to reach out to new and existing customer is to ensure that their content is interesting, appealing and engaging so its time for 2019 to really think of what your business strategy for every channel to continue reaching your followers where ever they may be.
Influencer marketing and the rise of micro-influencers
You will no doubt have heard all about influencer marketing and how big brands are using trend setters as part of their marketing mix and indeed for influencers the benefit is being able to reach a dedicated audience and they can make considerable sums through things like paid sponsorships and the like. For a growing business the big influencers are becoming more expensive so this is where the micro-influencers come into play, maybe its a instagrammer with a massive reach in the Devon restaurant trade or a school mum, both of these nano-influencers could work for your business if you have a restaurant in Torbay or a book shop for example. The key part is that you don’t require a big budget to work with them but you may need to spend more time on the research to find the perfect one.
The use of social media for selling
The use of social media is moving from awareness and engagement and moving towards consideration and sales enablement in your business sales funnel: does your business have a plan for this?
Artificial Intelligence and customer service
The use of automated bots and automated messaging have already shown up in many businesses customer service and indeed if you have a GMail account this is already reading your emails and suggesting suitable replies. There can be no doubt that social media has made it easier for customers to reach a business and this in turn leads to customer expectations about a far better response time from the business concerned. It is our prediction that in 2019 this will bring an ever increasing adoption of artificial intelligence as part of social customer service and it’s time for business to give it a try.
Stories, stories, stories
The use of stories has grown massively in 2018 since Snapchat first rolled them out, they have been adopted by competitors social networks and are emerging now as a key element of customer engagement simply as they’re seen be far more genuine, in short stories are short user-generated photo and video collections that disappear after 24 hours.
The end of fake followers
It used to be that a business could overnight have 10,000 followers, they bought these for a fee and for any social media concerned about its reputation this had to stop as they all want a social network where people (and brands) can grow their community through genuine interest and engagement, not fake followers. This significant change started rolling out mid 2018 and we predict that 2019 will prove that the number of followers will not be as relevant anymore comparing to the actual influence and engagement that you’re having within your community.
So in summary your business should not be chasing an increase in followers on any social network if you’re not already engaging with your existing ones. A smart business in 2019 will spend more time on growing their community organically increasing engagement with interesting and relevant content.
We would be delighted to listen to your business goals and help you realise them, please get in touch today on 01392 241653 or contact us through our website here, we’d be delighted to have a no obligation chat to see if we can help your business grow.
How to speak the language of your customer
Good quality communication is always about the recipient. To reach out to your customers you need to speak their language and tell them what they need to know in a way that they understand. It is tempting as a business owner to talk about ‘our products’ or ‘our solutions’ but people are coming to you because of their desires or their problems. Speaking the language of your customers is essential in making a sale, and as a customer focused marketing agency we can help you to identify how to speak to them in the best way possible for your business.
Using the right pronouns – When selling to your customers as we’ve already said you always need to talk about their problems and needs. Using the words ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘yours’ makes the sale or product about them instead of being about the company. When you talk about what ‘we’ do, you are excluding the customer from the conversation. It is essential that the customer is included in the conversation by telling them how ‘they’ will benefit. Make it personal to the customer to engage them more effectively.
Use common language – There is a difference between the words you can use to describe a product or service. This difference between the words you choose can either alienate or engage the customer. While both choices of word may be correct, you need to tailor your language to the customer and not to yourself. Remember that your understanding of your business will in most circumstances exceed the customers and you need to speak to them in a manner that they will clearly understand without all your industry background and knowledge. The key is knowing the demographic of your target customer, including their level of education, interests and experiences. This will help you pitch your choice of language and style of how you address them correctly.
Explain everything – While it may be easier for you to refer to things with acronyms or jargon, this is not easier for the customer to understand. A customer may be left confused by jargon which can leave them unsure about the purchase they are making. They will be unlikely to know what HPWB (high pressure water blasting) means, but they will understand that you are cutting the material. When communicating with a customer you should lead with the features and benefits and avoid using industry shorthand and technical terminology and should instead explain everything and why such details matter to them as the end user. It may take longer but this will lead to greater customer understanding, which in turn will culminate in better buy-in and results. A good trick is to imagine you are explaining the information to a child or friend.
Make the decision today and call us here at to discuss your specific requirements , I am sure we can help you and at the end of the day it’s just a phone call !
We would be delighted to listen to your business goals and help you realise them, please get in touch today on 01392 241653 or contact us through our website here, we’d be delighted to have a no obligation chat to see if we can help your business grow.
Is your business Christmas proofed
The question is, when is it time to start thinking about Christmas if you are an entrepreneur, running a business, owner of an online shop or any other enterprise that provides a service, training or goods to the public or other businesses and are be affected by Christmas ?
Some really forward looking people start planning Christmas and all of the logistical necessities that this extra busy time can entail in January, in fact the minute the door is closing on one festive season, the window of opportunity is just beginning to open for the following season of good cheer with its looser wallets and purses.
Some businesses rely so much on Christmas, it would be a complete dereliction to ignore this prime time of the year. It is incredibly important to plan as much of your business activity as possible during this extra busy time of year, especially if you are a company that requires training for its workforce, making sure that all plans are in place in good time can avoid disastrous consequences and lost revenue, not to mention loss of consumer confidence.
Let’s look at some facts that might help put into perspective the very real proposition that the Christmas period is ultimately the only important time of year and all other times are simply rehearsing for it.
At least half of small businesses rely so entirely on this seasonal trading that without it there would be no growth, almost 25% of the entire yearly revenue is taken during the festive trading period.
The average household in Britain spends around £800 at this time of year, this is a conservative estimate. This distils into a figure of around £40 for each present that UK shoppers buy for and on average we all buy 14 or 15 presents, this is in stark contrast to shoppers on the continent who spend around £20 per gift and buy only six or seven gifts each year.
Online shopping has rocketed over the years and peaked in 2017 at an all-time high of around £30 billion, this trend looks set to continue over the coming years with a massive 80% of shoppers in Britain saying that they purchase their gifts online. It is also a fact that 70% of the U.K.’s male population state that they are unlikely to buy gifts in a shop when they can obtain them online.
An incredible £7 billion was spent by shoppers using their mobiles in 2017, bringing into sharp focus the necessity for any forward-looking business to have an online presence that is easy to use and navigate the most up-to-date version possible to make the shopping experience as easy and quick as it can be, those businesses lagging behind the online technology will suffer the consequences as consumers will most certainly make them pay a heavy price by taking their online footfall elsewhere.
40% of discerning gift buyers in UK go online as early as August and September looking for festive bargains that will look good for them when handed over on that very important morning in December.
The lesson in this for all businesses is to start capturing those clients as early as possible with Christmas offers and bargains to tempt them in.
The truly smart business manager or entrepreneur will never leave their Christmas planning until November and December when the decorations are going up, the most successful entrepreneurs will have their plans laid in stone and the nets out to capture this most lucrative of times way, way in advance, Certainly by the end of summer Christmas will loom large in their thoughts and absolutely the wheels of their plan will be grinding into motion by the end of September and no later.
Being ready for the logistical demands that the festive period puts on businesses of all sorts it’s not just a case of hiring the extra staff paying for training courses or even ensuring that the extra stock that will be required is indeed available in your warehouse, you have to look Christmas ready, you have to make your clients feel Christmassy the minute they encounter you on any level, be it in person, in the training room or even, and probably more importantly, on your website and in your social media images and messages on your website should truly reflect the fact that Christmas is coming and make your visitors feel the most welcome that they can be.
Now that the summer has gone by and we are all subjected to grey days and drizzly rain a true lift to the spirit of all human beings is to look forward and imagine ourselves in a winter wonderland themed with Father Christmas, Christmas trees, rosy chested Robbins and wondrous winter snowy landscapes, all images that we should be putting out over the Internet.
It really does not matter what you’re selling or what your service is, you will definitely do better and increase spend by your consumer if they feel jolly and nothing creates jolly better than to identify with the jolly, rotund bringer of Christmas himself with his glowing cheeks flowing white hair & beard and his shiny red suit.
making your clients feel good will invariably result in more revenue, this may sound very cynical but if you don’t do it someone else will and that someone else will take the benefit that could’ve been yours.
Not only is the festive season a time for storing away profits to keep you going through the lean times of the year but it is also time for you to free your inner Santa Claus, if you become the embodiment of Christmas and all of the cheer that that brings with it, you will invariably create a feeling in your workplace and in your customers that will definitely set an atmosphere conducive to higher profits.
