Author Archives: Sarah Hickman

Create a compelling, profitable website using these 9 steps

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So you've got a fantastic idea for your new website. Before you start talking to web developers about the project, it will be hugely beneficial to map out the steps and plan the important details. That way you'll lessen any delays or surprises along the way.

Here's a brief, whistle-stop tour of what you need to do:

1. Determine Your Market

  • Get a clear understanding of your website’s potential users – why will they visit?
  • Create a list of your competitors' websites
  • Determine the strengths and weaknesses of their websites
  • Define your organisation’s Unique Selling Points – what's special about you?

2. Set Your Goals

  • Make sure the goals of the website are the same as the goals of your business. For example, are you trying to showcase your expertise? Or perhaps sell online?
  • Decide on a method for defining and measuring success, for example, number of leads or orders generated by the website

3. Name Your Website

  • Choose a domain name and hosting
  • Consider potential misspelling issues
  • Purchase your domain name(s)

4. Think About Content

  • Draw up a plan of what you need to include
  • Name your pages or major sections such as Contact, Services, etc.

5. Find a Web Developer

  • All I can suggest here is to contact us!

6. Design Your Website

This part of the project will be carried out by your web developer, but here are some things you should keep an eye on along the way:

  • Use lots of space, a harmonious colour palette and web safe fonts
  • Find compelling, good quality images that correspond with your branding
  • Check the loading time of your pages – if your web developer has done a good job your pages should load quickly (depending on your WiFi speed)
  • Check the 'depth' of your pages. How many clicks does it take to reach any page? You want as few clicks as possible
  • Check your browser compatibility - does it work on Safari as well as Chrome, for example?
  • Check for broken links
  • Optimise your footer area with links, terms and conditions and privacy policy (essential for GDPR compliance), and contact information
  • Ensure that SEO best practise is used
  • Include links and sharing to social media

7. Include 'Sticky Content'

Again, you may have appointed a professional to look after your content, or decided to take the plunge yourself. Either way, here are some tips to follow:

  • Create a call to action on every page
  • Use a style of writing that will appeal to your target audience
  • Break text into small, easy-to-read sections separated with headings and images (remember - many people skim-read web pages)
  • Include an 'About' page and testimonials to identify yourself and appear more human
  • Make your contact information easy to find

8. Measure

  • Set up Google Analytics to monitor and measure your traffic (again, your web developer may do this for you)

9. Update and Promote

Website up and running? Great. But there are millions of websites out there, so you can't just sit back and expect visitors to find you - although your SEO will help. Here are some tactics you should use:

  • Update your website regularly. Use interesting content so people keep coming back for more
  • Create an ongoing method of marketing and encouraging visitors to your website. This subject could fill another article but basically can involve writing blog posts, videos, cross-promotion with other websites, social media, newsletters, etc.
If you're looking for a web developer in the UK, drop us a line.
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Top tips for proofreading your marketing copy

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Proofreading your marketing copy

When you're writing copy for your website and marketing materials, proofreading your content may be the last thing on your mind – particularly if you're on a deadline. But paying more attention to the words you're using could help to maintain and improve the perception people have of your business.

Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and poorly-constructed sentences can make your business look unprofessional, which will only encourage your potential customers to look for other - more professional - companies to spend their money with.

Mistakes can also cost you money. Business owners sometimes waste whole print runs because of bad spelling, punctuation or grammar that spellcheck didn't pick up. Mistakes can be more easily and cheaply rectified on a web page – but only if you spot them!

Here are some handy tricks that professional proofreaders use, which should help you pick up errors before your customers do.

QUICK TIPS

    • Make sure you are in a quiet place, free from distractions
    • Work from a print out if possible
    • Use a red pen
    • Read out loud
    • Cover up the line below
    • If you're using a computer, use spellcheck but DON'T RELY ON IT!
    • Read backwards sentence by sentence
    • Read backwards word by word
    • If you can get someone to help, get them to check it too
    • If you can get someone to help, have them read it out while you follow the text
    • Double check numbers too, e.g. £100000 instead of £1000000

COMMON MISTAKES TO LOOK OUT FOR

      • Spacing between words – are there any spaces missing or are there too many?
      • Letters accidentally typed twice e.g. Councill
      • Words accidentally typed twice
      • Full stops missing
      • Missing close bracket
      • Writing numbers: 1 to 9 should be written as numbers. Numbers from ten onwards should be written as words
      • Make sure quotes and speech are in speech marks
      • Make sure proper names, places and brand names start with a capital letter
      • Look out for missing or extra commas
      • Look out for full stops used incorrectly
      • Make sure brackets are closed
      • Add speech marks where necessary
      • No need for double punctuation e.g. !!

PUNCTUATION
Incorrect punctuation can be dangerous...

“Let's get ready to eat, Granny!”
OR
“Let's get ready to eat Granny!”

You can see why punctuation is important if you try to make sense of this sentence which has no punctuation at all:

perhaps you dont always need to use commas full stops colons etc to make sentences clear when i am in a hurry tired cold or lazy i sometimes leave out punctuation marks grammar is stupid i can write without it and dont need it my uncle Harry once said he was not very clever and i never understood a word he wrote to me i think ill learn some punctuation not too much enough to write to Uncle Harry he needs some help

Now let's see if punctuating it makes a difference...

Perhaps you don't always need to use commas, full stops, colons etc. to make sentences clear. When I am in a hurry, tired, cold or lazy I sometimes leave out punctuation marks.

"Grammar is stupid! I can write without it and don't need it," my uncle Harry once said. He was not very clever and I never understood a word he wrote to me. I think I'll learn some punctuation - not too much, enough to write to Uncle Harry. He needs some help!

Get in touch if your marketing copy could do with the once-over from our eagle-eyed team of proofreaders!

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The benefits of working with a graphic designer on a retainer

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As a business owner or marketing manager, you’ll already understand the importance of high quality, consistent branding for your business.

You may work with various graphic designers on an ad-hoc basis to produce your marketing materials. But have you considered working with a graphic design agency on a retainer?

We work with some of our clients in this way, and it works brilliantly (even if we say so ourselves!).

A retainer – or support package – is an agreement between you and your designer or design agency to work together regularly for a period of time, or indefinitely by mutual agreement.

Retainers usually involve weekly, monthly or quarterly work, and your agreement reserves time in your designer’s schedule for a set cost.

Working with designers on a retainer could make a huge difference to your business and your marketing budget. Why?

Peace of mind.
The retainer arrangement guarantees that we’ll allocate a certain number of hours to your work throughout the month. This gives you the peace of mind and confidence that your project deadlines will be met.

Quality and consistent style.
As it’s a long-term relationship, we get to know the brand inside out, and care about your brand as much as you do.

If you work with different designers on separate elements of your branding and marketing visuals, you could end up with a jumbled mix of design styles and quality.

Working regularly with one design agency will ensure that the style and quality of the design is consistent – and therefore memorable – across all your branding.

Our best-ever brochure design brief from one long-standing client? “You know what you’re doing. Just do it!” This proved to us that the client trusted us implicitly!

Queue jumping.
Retainer work can be prioritised over other ad-hoc last-minute projects. With a retainer you’re essentially pre-booking and pre-paying for time in your agency's studio schedule.

A good graphic designer or design agency can get booked up weeks, or even months in advance. Either their schedule is full, or they’re willing to work overtime but you’ll be charged a rush fee.

With a retainer, you get to jump the queue. You’ve already paid for the work, so even short-notice* projects will be delivered on time.

* Within reason!

Efficiency and time saving.
A long-term relationship means you don’t need to interview and brief a new designer or design team every time a project begins.

When you work with a designer or agency for the first time, you’ll spend time getting to know one another. Your designers will need to familiarise themselves with the style and personality of your brand before creating any visuals. There’s a risk they won’t get it right first time and you’ll need a lot of back-and-forth to get the design right.

When you work together long-term, you can skip this step and get work approved and delivered faster and more efficiently.

Discounted fee.
On a graphic design retainer agreement we usually – depending on the package – offer a discounted fee compared to our normal hourly rate.

Simpler budgeting.
Your accounting will be simpler. You know exactly how much you’ll be paying each week or month for the duration of the retainer contract, so you can plan your budget and stay organised.

Less paperwork.
On one-off jobs you’ll be dealing with quotes, contracts, invoices, etc. every time. Having a graphic design agency on a retainer means you have less paperwork to deal with. And less paperwork equals more time for you to focus on your own core business activities.

Still not convinced? Get in touch.
If you think a retainer might work for you, we can test the water by starting small. You can select a few modestly-sized regular jobs, and we can use those to create a mini support package. In time you can, if required, increase the scope of your retainer.

Before setting up your retainer, we’ll have a chat about the kind of work you need and how often you need it, so we can get a support package in place that fits your needs and budget.

If you’d like to chat about setting up a graphic design retainer for your business, get in touch.

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Who are your customers? Finding out will improve your marketing

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As a business owner or marketing manager, one of the most vital things you should ask yourself is “Who are my customers?”

Knowing who you are talking to can define what you say and do as a business, and how you say it and do it. In this blog post, we're going to put ourselves in the shoes of a marketing manager for an airline.

Customers fly for a variety of reasons. We can use these reasons as a potential basis for segmentation, i.e. dividing our customers and potential customers into groups.

Most airlines operate a segmented service: first class, business class and economy class for example. This segmentation is based essentially on price: the more customers are prepared to pay, the more comfortable they can be. However, this does not really tell us enough about our customers and the opportunities for differentiation – i.e. how we can make ourselves different from our competitors.

Segmentation allows us to identify specific groups of customers for whom we can recommend specific positioning for our business, and so achieve some differentiation. Let's assume that our airline operates largely in a consumer market, although its business customers could be B2B. Segmentation variables available are:

1. Profile variables – these are variables in the way that individuals live their lives. The main attraction for us is that they are tangible.
- Demographic variables include measurable data on age, gender and family life cycle (e.g. families with young children, retired couples).
- Socio-economic variables include data on individuals' occupations, education and income.
- Geographic variables include data on consumers' location and geo-demographics (the demographics and socio-economic data on a particular area).

2. Behavioural variables – these are variables in the way that consumers behave when buying or using your product or service.
- Benefits sought are the reasons why an individual purchases your product or service.
- Usage is how the consumer uses your product or service.
- Purchase occasion is the type of occasion on which a purchase is made.

3. Psychographic variables – these are the variables in the attitudes, interests, personality and lifestyle characteristics that might reflect in buying behaviours and choices.

In the case of air travel, benefits sought would provide an insightful segmentation. For example:
CORE PRODUCT:
Fly to correct destination
Safety
EXPECTED:
Good customer service
Reasonable level of comfort
AUGMENTED*:
Entertainment
Baggage
Catering
Pre-booked seats
Priority and late boarding
First class lounge
Fully flat seats
Frequent flyer programmes

* Many of the augmented services are available as standard on certain airlines, but not on budget airlines.

The important features of the augmented benefits are that:
- They provide the opportunity to differentiate your airline from others.
- If they value these benefits, customers will be prepared to pay a premium price for them.
- BUT over time, these services become expected and may lose their power to differentiate and command a premium price.

As a result of this, the airline must continue to come up with new service offers in order to distinguish themselves from the competition – for example spa treatments in the first class lounge, business centres with free wi-fi and refreshments.

Your organisation or small business may not have the huge budgets of airlines, but tips can still be taken from this example. What are your customer segments? How can you offer something different from your competitors, that your customer segment(s) will value?

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Should you build your own website?

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Build your own website

So you've started your own business. Or your current website needs a bit of a makeover. Or you work for an organisation and have been tasked with refreshing their site. But you haven't got a multi-million budget to spend*. What to do?

*Although it would be nice if you had.

It's tempting to go down the DIY route, especially if you've already done a bit of web stuff before. Of course you could sit down and teach yourself how to build a very basic website. But for a professional organisation, this isn't the best idea. Here we look at a few reasons why.

  1. Looks cheap
    It will look like it's been built by a beginner – because it has – and this will damage your brand. If you look like a cheap enterprise, your customers will go elsewhere.
  2. Looks like every other site
    Use a cheap off-the-shelf template and it will look like every other website out there, and will offer no customisation or advanced functionality such as a CMS. You'll probably want to update your website regularly, and a CMS (Content Management System) is by far the best way of doing this. Plus it will save you time and money in the long run.
  3. Costs more
    It will take you a long time to build, so ultimately cost you more than using an expert. How did we work this out? Say you pay yourself £25 per hour. Your web developer charges £35 per hour. You're saving money by doing it yourself, right? Probably not. It might take you 200 hours to learn how to set everything up and try to get it just right. Factor in all of that time and you've spent £5,000 of worth of time building an average website. Instead, you could have a website beautifully designed by an expert for a cheaper price and in a shorter timeframe.
  4. Takes time
    Your time and therefore money is better spent on other things – such as running your business, or doing the job you're actually being paid for.
  5. Nobody will find it
    It won't be search engine optimised, so nobody will find it. Here at Public we can create comprehensive campaigns that include SEO, social media, online advertising and much more that will bring traffic to your website and attention to your brand.

By hiring a professional you'll realise a return on your investment. At Public we're experts at creating stunning and engaging websites. It's what we do every day. Contact us to find out how we can help your business.

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New year, new marketing plan: 10 ways to revamp your marketing for the new decade

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New year new marketing plan

It’s a new year and a new decade, so now's the time to reflect on the successes or challenges you faced in 2019, and think about what you want your business to accomplish in 2020.

Like many areas of your business, it's a good time to take a look at your marketing. To help you revamp your marketing strategy in 2020, we've put together 10 helpful tips to get you started:

1. Establish a budget
When creating your marketing budget, you need to be focused on your customers. Where are they, and how do you find them? Start by looking back on last year’s marketing costs and create a realistic budget. Methods of marketing are rapidly evolving, so your budget should have some room for changes you might need to make in the new year.

2. Consider your target market
You may have plenty of customers coming through your door or visiting your website every day, but are these the customers you really want to reach? Do you know who your target market really is? You can’t focus on revamping your marketing plan until you know who you really want to target. Have a look at the value of your current customers – should you be sticking with them or looking elsewhere?

3. Consider your strengths
Say you run a restaurant. Do you serve the best pasta in town? Offer the friendliest service? Run a great mid-week offer? These are the things you should to focus on in your advertising. When you know your strengths, you can use them in your marketing materials.

4. Create a realistic schedule
One of the key parts of staying on track with marketing is establishing a realistic schedule that works. Just like any new year's resolution, it's better to make it achievable. Planning your upcoming year will help you stay focused on your goals.

5. Update your logo
Your logo is one of the first things potential customers see. Does it communicate your brand well? If you think your logo still fits, there’s no need to change it – but if the font or graphics seem at odds with the personality of your business, consider getting a new one. And do it properly: hire a professional designer!

6. Review your website
Is your current site easy to navigate? Has it been updated in the past few years? Does it feature an accurate menu and easy-to-find contact info? Has it been optimised for mobile devices? If the answer to any of these questions is no, consider revamping your site.

7. Create valuable website content
People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed – and it's also great for SEO. When a website is updated regularly, Google sees it as an active site and therefore ranks it more highly in search results pages. Have a look at what you say on your website, and make sure it's regularly updated and reflects your brand well.

8. Be mobile-friendly
Mobile internet use is growing and growing (something we first wrote about way back in July 2013). This year, it’s important to make sure you're producing content that’s web-friendly, and ensure your website is optimised for mobile (if you haven’t already). This will help you reach more of your audience and let customers know that you take your digital marketing seriously.

9. Review your advertising tactics
Look at the channels you use for your advertising. Do you use Google AdWords, email marketing, press adverts, social media advertising, or something else? Are these methods bringing in the customers you want? Think about where your ideal customer is and what channels they'll actually see - and be most receptive to.

10. Have a fresh look at your social media presence
Social media is no longer an option…it’s a necessity. It's also one of the most direct and effective ways you can promote your business. Even if you’re already actively using social media, evaluate your activity and see if you’re doing all that you can. Are you using your Facebook page effectively? Are you responding quickly to customers on Twitter? This is also a good time to think about whether you need to be active on so many platforms. For example, if your customers don't use Twitter, stick to Facebook. Your time will be better spent and you'll have more time to engage. A content calendar is a fantastic way of scheduling in your activity.

So in summary...
Marketing is basically about listening to your audience, and telling them why they would benefit from using your product or service. Making a few tweaks to your plan can help refine and target your marketing, and put you on the right track for a successful 2020.

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5 reasons why your marketing campaign needs print

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Marketing campaign needs print

In today's integrated marketing communications, print is sometimes overlooked. However, not everything can be communicated online, so while the internet can help to promote your business, print still has an important role in closing sales.

Many businesses have moved all of their advertising online because of its cost effectiveness, convenience and potential for exposure. But print is still a powerful and necessary component of your campaign. Why?

  1. Branding - Printed marketing materials and adverts are a fantastic way of solidifying your brand identity. Your branding can be carried through in terms of design, colours and fonts.
  2. Tangibility - You can actually touch a printed piece. Your brochure or printed advert can be kept for years, while old online ads disappear into cyber space.
  3. Credibility - Print gives a sense of legitimacy. It shows that you're not a cheap, 'here today, gone tomorrow' organisation.
  4. Targeted marketing - Brochures can be handed out to qualified prospects at events and retail outlets. And placing adverts in speciality magazines, for example, can reach niche audiences that may be more difficult to target online.
  5. Engaging - Consumers are often more 'switched on' when reading printed material, and read more slowly. Websites are more likely to be skim-read.

The best way to market your business is to use as many channels as possible to reach your customers, and this should include print. Contact us at Public to find out how print can contribute to your overall marketing effectiveness.

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Graphic design jargon buster

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Graphic design jargon buster

Here at Public we make sure we explain everything to you in layman's terms. But have you ever heard a graphic designer or graphic design agency use a term and wondered what on earth they're on about? This little glossary might help bust that jargon...

Author's corrections
Corrections made by the author on proofs, that alter the original copy. The cost of making such alterations is charged for.

Bitmapped image
Image represented by an array of picture elements, each of which is encoded as a single binary element.

Blank dummy
Mock-up consisting of the substrate and cover material required for a printed document (e.g. a paper brochure).

CMYK
Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and black process colours.

Encapsulated PostScript file (EPS)
Type of image file conforming to Adobe standards.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
A simple way to log in to another internet location in order to retrieve or send files.

Gradation
Staged change in tones from highlight to shadow.

Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)
A commonly used method of compression for digital images. The degree of compression can be adjusted.

Line art
Image that has no tonal gradation.

Pantone
Pantone is one of the most widely used colour matching systems in commercial printing.

Portable Document Format (PDF)
File format used for the exchange of documents and defined in the Adobe portable document format.

Point size
Typographic unit of linear measurement.

RGB
Abbreviation for red, green and blue, the colours that combine on a digital display to make an image.

Tag Image File Format (TIFF)
Format for exchanging raster-based data.

Tone
Degree of lightness or darkness in any given area of an image.

Tone value
Percentage of the surface occupied by the image area.

Typography
Process of designing, specifying, composing, printing or otherwise working with typefaces by means of analogue and/or digital techniques.

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Who are my customers? Using market segmentation can help you find out

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Customer segmentation

OK, so this may sound like a dry, academic topic. But using market segmentation needn't be difficult, and can help any business – large or small – define who their customers are. Once you know who your customers are, you can then take steps to shape your offering to meet their needs.

A segment of the market is basically a group of people that share similar characteristics.

You can follow four rules for creating useful segments. Your segments should be:

1. Measurable
We should know where it is, how big it is, and exactly how it differs from the market at large and other segments in particular.

2. Accessible
You need to be able to access the segment with your marketing communications.

3. Substantial
It has to be big enough to be worth your while.

4. Homogeneous
The members of the segment must act in the same way, and respond in the same way to marketing messages they receive.

So the next question is – what criteria should you use for segmentation?

This depends on your business, but here are some suggestions:


1. Geographical markets

By country
By region
By county
By town
By postcode
Or even by street

2. Demographic factors
By age
By gender
By family life stage (e.g. whether they have children)
By income
By occupation
By education

3. Social factors
By social class (although this is becoming less useful)
By lifestyle
By personality

4. Benefits sought
For example, if you are a toothpaste manufacturer, why are your customers buying your product? Is it for dental health, social reasons (fresh breath), or appearance (tooth whitening)?

 

The list above is based on a business-to-consumer business. A B2B organisation could use slightly different criteria, such as type of customer, end uses, common buying factors, and buyer size and geography.

Segmentation isn't necessarily a precise exercise, but it should be able to help you target your marketing efforts more effectively. It can help define the focus of your company, increase your competitiveness, retain your customers, improve your communication… and ultimately increase your profitability.

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Content marketing – what's the point?

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Content marketing

What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience - and ultimately to drive profitable customer action.” (Content Marketing Institute)

In other words, it is creating or finding relevant information and high-quality content, and sharing it on a mixture of digital channels, such as your website blog and social media.

The ideal content is entertaining, informative and helpful to potential customers. Good content directs those customers to your website (or makes them linger there), where you can potentially capture leads and sell products. Successful content marketing creates positive associations to your brand.

Why is it so popular?
In today’s digital world, people are inundated with adverts. As a result, businesses struggle to get their messages noticed. In 2011, a study conducted by the Custom Content Council showed that more than 70% of people preferred to get their information from articles rather than from advertisements. This helps to explain the growth in popularity of content marketing.

Why do businesses do it?
Large, successful brands like Coca-Cola, Proctor & Gamble and Toshiba (to name a few) use content marketing – so it must be worth doing. Large brands are interested in content marketing for two reasons:
1. It's an effective way to reach audiences
2. It provides more “immediacy” to learn from and interact with these audiences than traditional bought media, like press and TV advertising

In other words, it's a great way of carrying out your own market research, and building your brand. Through content marketing, you are communicating messages to your customers all the time, and hopefully building a relationship.

SMEs obviously don't have the huge marketing budgets of these organisations, but can learn from them.

Is it worth the investment/time?
Content marketing is a lot like going to the gym. You’re not going to see results in a week, but if you commit to doing it regularly over time, you’ll see results. The bottom line is that there is tremendous ROI in consistently developing great content for your audience. And, unlike other forms of marketing, content marketing pays dividends far into the future.

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