Bigging it up at the Brit

Yesterday I attended the launch of the Inspiring Communities programme which encourages everyone in a community to support their young people and encourage them to get involved in activities which help them to improve their attainment. We've been appointed by Groundwork to handle the social marketing campaign that supports the launch and we were given the opportunity to road test our new 'Big up your future' campaign with the young people that came along. It was a great day and fantastic to see the kinds of activities that are available to young people from Dresden, Normacot and Florence.

Marketing Community Survey - Zoomerang Online Survey Results

Marketing Community Survey - Online Survey Results

Take a couple of minutes to complete our marketing survey

Click here to take survey

As marketers we're seeing a significant shift in the way brands engage with their customers. Social media networks in particular are bringing people together in a way they previously never could. Our elected communities have an enormous influence on the way we choose to consume products and services.

We want to better understand what you as a marketing professional feel about your community. This survey will help us to identify which communities we're a part of and how we feel about them.

Take the survey by clicking this link.

David

PS If you've completed the survey and want to review the results so far, click here

Amanda to do Jury Service

At the end of March I’m going to get my first chance to do jury service. I’ve always wanted to get involved in a major case that involves hundreds of twists and turns. However, in this case, the jury in question is an advertising jury.

I’m going to be judging the first stage of the European Association of Communications Agencies’ Ad Venture competition, alongside a number of fellow advertising professionals, academics and even EU officials. Students from across Europe are invited to form a virtual agency and prepare a campaign to promote their town or city.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the calibre of work that the next generation of advertising luminaries can serve up. Watch this space to see if the verdict is a favourable one!

Amanda McDonald

Eight strategies to engage with customers

Interesting report from Experian Cheetah Mail on successful marketing through the recession which emphasises the role of social media networks:

"As in the last recession in the early 1990’s, direct marketing is ideally positioned to play a major role. The difference now is that marketers must embrace the digital landscape and successfully integrate these channels with other media. If we have learnt anything from the proliferation of social media channels, it is that relevance is essential and engaging customers individually is a critical element in nurturing customer loyalty and creating brand advocacy."

Their eight smart customer engagement strategies are:

- Utilise customer lifetime value to drive strategy
- Maximise your marketing mix
- Listen to your customers
- Re-engage lost customers
- Become more personalised, relevant and precise
- Use social networking techniques to inspire brand ambassadors
- Employ deeper customer segmentation techniques
- Measure, test and adjust your programmes for greater return


The report concludes:"Carefully and sincerely engage your customers so that they become strong ambassadors for your brand. Remember that customer engagement is essential, and building deep, lasting customer relationships is the key to ongoing marketing success."

You can read the Experian report here.

Agencies go on 'virtual' strike

Belgian agencies have shut down their websites and replace them with an open letter to clients urging them to compile pitch lists of no more than 3 agencies.

This is an interesting and radical stand which I would support.

Read the full text of their complaint here.

Developing a social media strategy

Here's a presentation we gave at the DMA Masterclass in Social Media on 9 February. The key stages in developing a social media strategy are:
- First ask yourself what you want to achieve with social media
- Survey the online landscape and find out where conversations are taking place that are relevant to you - define your media
- Start listening
- Join in and start sharing
- Remember the key principles of openness, honesty, transparency and being benefit-led
- Engage with your customers by providing added value content
- Invest time and resources

David

DMA Masterclass on social media

DMA Masterclass 09 Feb Connecting Element

View more presentations from dpatrick.

My colleague Andrew Rastall gave some fascinating insights on how to develop relationships with customers through social media.

DMA undertake strategic review

There's a good piece from Chris Combemale of the DMA on the future of the Direct Marketing Association. The Executive Board has been reshaped and reduced in size and there's an advisory board which focuses on 'thought leadership'.

This is something we on the DMA North Council are actively embracing. The key is in promoting best practice in direct marketing in all its forms and ensuring that our high standards of self regulation are communicated to Government. There's an article from Chris in the current issues of the IDM Journal: http://tinyurl.com/yhdk6tr

David

Smart move for Smarts

I read in the Drum this week that PR agency Smarts is looking for apprentices to join their ranks (or aPRentices as they wittily call them).

What a smart move.

Not only do they give displaced employees from other professions the opportunity to flex their talents in PR, but they also fly the flag for the value apprentices can bring to a business.

We’ve done a lot of work at Yes Agency to raise the profile of apprentices with employers, and initiatives like this can only help to challenge the misconception that apprenticeships are for so-called ‘vocational’ jobs only.

Although, as the word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin verb ‘vocare’ – to call, perhaps it’s not such a bad thing to choose a job that is your ‘calling’!

Amanda McDonald