With the forthcoming London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, planning ahead is vital for every logistics company in order to minimise disruption to logistical operations and keep business running smoothly. But disruption aside, logistics businesses can also capitalise on the increased footfall anticipated by the London 2012 Games with some clever logistics marketing.

Logistics marketing and PR is an area that PRG has grown and excelled in over the last five years. Despite the tough economic climate, PRG has helped clients achieve up to a 40% increase in sales with its proactive approach to logistics PR and marketing.

When PRG heard that client Goplasticpallets.com – the UK’s leading independent supplier of plastic pallets and containers – was involved in a project to help a major pharmaceutical company speed up production of its popular sports drink to meet demand for the London 2012 Olympics, PRG was quick to spot a logistics PR opportunity.

PRG contacted the customer and interviewed them about the manufacturing process and how Goplasticpallets.com’s containers were being used and generated a news story in addition to pitching several feature-length articles to logistics trade magazines. PRG also brought in a professional photographer to take photos of the containers in action to accompany the editorial.

In total, PRG’s logistics PR effort generated media coverage worth a value of £11,000, which included coverage in four logistics trade magazines and five logistics trade websites.

Whichever part of the logistics sector you are involved in – materials handling, packaging, racking and shelving, fork lift trucks or facilities management – PRG would be delighted to discuss your marketing objectives with you to help raise your profile with some well-planned logistics PR and marketing.

Call us on 01323 411044 or email us at info@prgltd.co.uk.

Traditionally the company brochure was the standard flagbearer for any company wishing to promote itself, a crucial component to any successful advertising or marketing effort, it was the companys shop window before Steve Jobs and Bill Gates turned our heads towards pixels.

So why should you have a company brochure?

• A company brochure can be a useful and informative tool, helping your potential customers to learn more about your business.
• A creative brochure design represents your business. If created professionally it can leave customers with a positive and lasting impression.
• You can use them as a marketing tool to gain new business.
• Brochures can help you to spread the word about your business. People may not know about your business, but that can all change with a brochure.

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever”
I first came across this phrase by the English poet John Keats many years ago whilst studying at art college, his notion that a beautiful object is treasured in our mind forever really struck a chord with me. You can apply this way of thinking to your corporate brochure or any other marketing material you choose to produce, if done well and with enough care and attention, your brochure will leave a lasting impression with the recipient long after a meeting has finished or they have turned the last page and put it down to carry on doing whatever they were doing before they opened it. So before your spend all of your budget on updating your website or embossing your stationary consider a corporate brochure.

Brochure design, copywriting and print
At PRG our specialist in-house design studio have between them many years experience taking clients’ objectives and using our design knowledge to advise, develop and evolve ideas, turning concepts into reality. Our approach is simple, direct and effective. Targets and expectations are met (or exceeded) by delivering tangible results in beautiful and imaginative ways – always with the clients end goal in mind.

If you are interested in our brochure design services and have a few ideas but not a fully realized vision of what the brochure will look like, call our design studio today for advice on 01323 411 044 and we’ll be happy to discuss your requirements.

Facebook is giving businesses the opportunity to see what the new business timeline will look like before it goes live. You can do this by clicking ‘preview’ on the top of your page. It will give you the chance to play around with the new layout until you are happy with it and then you can publish your new timeline.

There will be many changes to the typical business page found on Facebook at the moment but these changes will be great for your business. We have put together some information about the key changes to the new Facebook Timeline business page below.

Cover picture

You now have the option to create a large cover photo that acts as a banner going across the top of your page – a great place to showcase your company brand. This space is a prime location to promote what your business offers, so use it wisely. The cover picture however cannot include any prices or purchase information, contact info, references to interaction e.g. ‘liking’ your page or calls of action. Have a look at other brands and Facebook Business pages already set up and have some fun with it.

Pin posts

Any post can now be pinned at the top of your wall for up to 7 days. To make full use of this space, you could place a welcome message to your fans or  you could  place an old post you’ve received which was interesting back at the top of your page. We would recommend for you to have alternate pin posts that last up to two days to keep your page interesting for returning visitors.

Milestones

You can add business milestones on your timeline that will give visitors more information about special dates within your company, for example, the date your business was launched or when your business started offering a new product or service.

Admin Panel

As an administrator for your business Facebook page, all your notifications and insights will be placed at the top of the page, this will make it easier and quicker for you to see how well your page is performing and keep track of all your activity.

A few other changes include the new ‘About’ section of the timeline page, which has given you an extended 100 words and has been moved  underneath your profile picture. Posts from other people will be placed on the right hand side of your timeline page. The new timeline page will also expose a company’s entire history and will place all posts in chronological order, which makes it easier for customers to navigate to older information on your page.

That said, in other industries, like building engineering services, trade shows are still thriving and businesses can’t afford not to exhibit as this would be like handing hot leads to your strongest competitor.

The exhibition environment is unique. Where else would you get the opportunity to meet with potential buyers, industry influencers and trade media all in one go?

If face-to-face marketing is still an important part of your marketing strategy, it’s important you get the basics right, pre, during and post show.

Pre-show promotion

Exhibition objectives – Before you book your exhibition stand, define your exhibition objectives. Are you attending to launch a new product? Generate sales leads? Build brand awareness? 

Exhibition stand design – The look of your exhibition stand alone can lead you to exhibition success or disaster. Don’t scrimp. Invest in a well-designed exhibition stand.

Exhibition promotion – Promote your exhibition attendance. Invite your clients to the trade show, put a web banner on your website homepage with the trade show dates and your stand number, add an exhibition promo banner to your email signature.   

At the show

Exhibition networking – It may sound obvious, but smile on your stand, appear friendly and approachable. Don’t sit down, put your hands in your pockets or turn your back to the flow of exhibition traffic.

Exhibition promotional literature – Well-designed promotional literature is a must for your exhibition stand but don’t let yourself down by the way it’s presented. Use literature racks. Don’t pile your sales literature on a table.

Exhibition rota – Non-stop business networking on stand can become tiring so set an exhibition rota to allow everyone a chance to look around the trade show and take a break. But, never leave your stand unattended. You never know when that all important customer might come along!

Post-show marketing

Exhibition leads – Go through your exhibition leads and prioritise them – hot, warm and cold. Call hot leads immediately to arrange a meeting; email warm leads with the information they’ve requested and suggest a meeting; send cold leads a well-crafted letter and a copy of your company brochure.

Exhibition evaluation – There is no point in exhibiting if you don’t measure your return on investment. Did you achieve your exhibition objectives? Did your sales leads recoup some of your exhibition investment? If so, book your stand for next year.

Like any good PR agency, we make a point of attending all our clients’ key trade shows, to support them and seek out their competition. The ACR Show, Ecobuild, PHEX, Recycling & Waste Management and regional trade shows Let’s Do Business in Eastbourne and Hastings are a few of those in our diary this year.

If you want to make your exhibition presence count, we can help you with exhibition stand design, exhibition strategy and post-show exhibition marketing.

In difficult financial times companies often say they can’t afford to advertise, but I challenge this thought and offer an alternative view, can you afford not to advertise?

According to a leading business group, the UK will avoid a double-dip recession but economic growth in 2012 will be slower than last year. Positive news I hope, but when it comes to advertising, d economic uncertainty can make consumers more cautious with their purchases and demand both quality and value for money.

Speaking with local companies, the feedback that I am getting is that business is tough, and every quality lead and every new order is taking so much more effort and resource to generate.

From my experience, working in publishing, in tough economic times companies often reduce their advertising budgets before anything else. This in itself presents huge opportunities for ‘smart companies’ to take advantage.

If your competitors are reducing or stopping their advertising, don’t just follow suit. This is your opportunity to capture your customers’ attention and increase your market share.

Advertisements can communicate key messages more powerfully than other forms of marketing. As they are generally designed for maximum visual impact, advertisements help capture the attention of readers who don’t have the time of inclination to read detailed editorial stories.

A robust marketing plan with a clear advertising focus will maintain your brand presence, so that when your customers make the decision to buy, they think of you first. 

With media sales becoming more and more competitive, publishing companies are being forced to lower their ad rates, so now is one of the best times to advertise, as there are definitely some deals to be had!

Times are hard for everyone right now, but think twice before you cut your advertising budget as you could risk losing your customers to your competition.

The decision to rebrand the HVCA was almost unanimous as the organisation’s members now offer far more than simply heating and ventilating.

Bob Shelley, President of the HVCA, said: “The term ‘h&v’ barely scratches the surface of the diverse, sophisticated and highly complex nature of the work our members now undertake. Nor does it even hint at the increasingly central role they play in the integration of engineering services in buildings – and especially in the incorporation of the renewable technologies that are clearly here to stay in our increasingly environmentally-conscious age.

“It is also the case that, today, our membership embraces many other specialisms – ventilation hygiene, heat pumps and facilities management, to name but a few – all of which sit comfortably under the ‘building and engineering services’ identity.”

“Rebranding is just one element in a re-positioning exercise that will enable this Association to provide its members with a wider range of services, enhance its influence with Government, and provide a natural home for all building engineering services specialists.”

For HVCA members the rebranding means some administrative tasks need to be taken care of – anything bearing the HVCA logo or name will have to be reproduced to incorporate the new name, B&ES.

PRG has been working with the HVCA and its members for many years and is perfectly positioned to help with all your rebranding needs. From brochures, leaflets and letterheads to websites, e-shots, logos, advertising and straplines, PRG has the experience and creative flair to meet all your rebranding requirements. Perhaps this is your opportunity for some personal rebranding too.

Call our  design studio today for rebranding advice and support on 01323 411 044.

Although marketing objectives, goals and strategies have long been used by businesses to define their marketing plan, setting marketing resolutions implies trying something new and beyond your normal marketing approach.

Here are a few suggestions of marketing resolutions that are easy to implement.

1)    Fine tune your marketing strategy

Before you embark on any new marketing activity, review your marketing objectives to see whether they are still relevant or whether they need adjusting to help you reach your desired end result. Make sure you set SMART objectives as you’ll have a better chance of achieving them. For advice on the SMART principles, read my blog Goal setting for business and pleasure.

2)    Improve your website SEO

Is your website copy optimised? Check your search engine placement and page ranking in Google. If your website doesn’t appear on page 1 of Google for key terms relevant to your business, editing your website copy could be the best marketing investment you make this year.

If you don’t know what keywords and phrases are most relevant to your business, check your Google Analytics to see which search terms visitors are using to find your site. Then integrate these search terms into your website copy.

As a rule of thumb, you should aim for a maximum of 10% keyword saturation. That’s no more than 30 keywords or phrases on a 300-word page. If you’re not used to writing search engine optimised web copy, it can become stilted, so take your time and try and write as fluidly as possible.

3)    Start a business blog

If you haven’t got a blog, this is the year to start one. According to research by HubSpot, 57% of companies that publish a business blog have acquired a customer from a blog-generated lead. In addition to lead generation, a blog can also do wonders for your search engine ranking, provided you SEO your blog copy. 

The key to blogging is to publish posts regularly and consistently. The most common frequency for business blogging is weekly. So this year get blogging and blog regularly.

4)    Choose your social media platform wisely

From my experience, when businesses resolve to get social they start with Facebook or Twitter, but not all social media platforms are right for all businesses. Before jumping feet first into social media, work out what you want to achieve and then select the platform that best meets your objectives.

If you’re undecided, have a dabble at Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but if you find one platform isn’t working, don’t agonise over it, put it to one side and concentrate on the social media platforms that are bearing most fruit.

5)    Invest in a mobile-friendly website

Mobile access to the internet is growing rapidly and is expected to exceed desktop usage by 2014. Although you might think that’s plenty of time, mobile share of internet access in the UK is already 7% and those businesses that are investing in mobile-friendly websites now will benefit from the upward mobile trend.

You may be questioning why I’m giving advice about something PRG hasn’t followed itself, but even marketing agencies need to set marketing resolutions, and investing in a mobile-friendly website is one we’ve set ourselves for 2012.

Did you find this post useful? Let me know, or if you’d like help setting and implementing marketing resolutions for your business call PRG on 01323 411 044.

Interestingly, Get Me In Google gathered information to create a Facebook Map of East Sussex, which revealed some very interesting statistics. The map shows the demographic breakdown of every town and village in East Sussex.

Believe it or not, the biggest group of Facebook users within East Sussex is 30-49 year-olds. This age group being an  important target audience for many local B2B and B2C companies in East Sussex, is as good a reason as any for you to set up your own company Facebook page,  as visitors can convert to customers.

Other interesting East Sussex Facebook stats include:

- 46% of Facebook users are men and 54% women

- Amazingly there are 192,280 Facebook users in East Sussex

- Eastbourne and Hastings are the top two towns with the most Facebook users within in East Sussex

In the modern world, Facebook has already become a powerful marketing tool with the ability to reach people all over the globe. Engaging with this  social platform can unleash a realm of new opportunities for your company leading to increased brand awareness, increased online  presence and potential new business.

If you would like a professional presence on Facebook, but don’t know where to start, contact us at PRG on 01323 411044. We can set up your company Facebook page and help you start building a following for your business.

We can also guide you through the social media minefield by researching your online target audience, recommending the best social media platform for your business, engaging in the conversation and positioning your brand effectively, to achieve your social media goals.

For a copy of East Sussex’s Facebook stats, email me at michaela@prgltd.co.uk

This isn’t uncommon and can be remedied. How I hear you ask? As a web developer with experience in building e-commerce websites for companies including estate agents, sports retail outlets and clothing stores, I have faced the challenges of creating ecommerce websites and found ways to overcome them. Follow these five steps to set yourself on the path to ecommerce success.

Step 1: Install and monitor web analytics

If you haven’t got Google Analytics running on your site, get it installed. Website analytics allow you to identify trends, such as what keywords and key terms people use to find your site and how they navigate through it. The information you glean from reviewing your web analytics can help you optimise web usage, turning website visits into online enquiries. Analysing Google’s data effectively can be time consuming. Web marketing specialists, like PRG, can install Google Analytics on your site and provide you with a website report that’s simple to understand and helps you gain a clear picture of your site’s performance.

Step 2: Get a website audit

At PRG, this is always our first port of call. Ask someone to assess your website.

• Does your site include clear calls to action?
• Can your customers navigate it in a logical manner?
• Is it obvious how to purchase items?
• Have you stated your postage rates and payment methods?
• Are your product names and descriptions relevant?

By making this information immediately obvious to the customer, it will keep them on your site. As soon as they need to start rummaging for information, chances are they will leave frustrated and not return. Similarly, ensuring the product is clearly (and correctly!) named with an accurate product description will help convert online traffic to web sales.

Step 3: Add clear calls to action

Making it obvious how people can contact you is essential. Don’t be afraid to state the obvious. There is nothing worse than having to add an item to the basket just to find out how much the postage will be.

Emphasise these key factors:

• Telephone number
• Email address
• Postage costs
• Payment methods

Step 4: Structure your website’s content

eBay has this pinned down very well:

1. You search for a product.
2. You filter through the available options (clearly seeing the price and postage rate).
3. You can proceed to pay or,
4. You can ask the seller a question.

Your ecommerce site needs to work in a similar fashion:

1. Make it easy for people to navigate through your site.
2. Try to abide by the three-click rule – if customers can’t find what they’re looking for in three clicks, they’ll leave.
3. Present product pages clearly – a relevant product name and short product description is essential, but so are the finer details like making sure your product options (colours, sizes) and quantities are correct at all times.
4. Make the checkout process simple – when purchasing products online customers don’t want to go through numerous stages, they want a quick and effective payment process.

Content is also very important in terms of cannon fodder for search engines. Writing keyword-rich content that contains words and terms people use to search for your products is a step in the right direction and, in time, will boost your website’s organic rank in the search engines.

At PRG, we have a team of web copywriters who are trained in writing content with the search engines in mind.  If you’re not confident in your website copywriting abilities, invest in specialist support.

Step 5: Marketing your website

Now that you’re monitoring your analytics, you’ve completed a website audit, added clear calls to action and invested in a website copywriter to improve your site’s organic ranking in the search engines, it’s time review your website marketing.

One option is the use of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising campaigns. Targeting specific buyers and products will gain you quality clientele to your website. PRG’s PPC offering is a great way to promote your site. By reviewing your website’s analytics and conducting a Free website review and data analysis, we can create a Pay Per Click campaign that suits your requirements.

There are other options available besides PPC which PRG can recommend upon review of your website.

If you found my blog useful and would like help with your ecommerce website call PRG on 01323 411044 or email info@prgltd.co.uk.

The key is to know your surroundings. Local PR is about reaching out to the community, establishing relations and ultimately securing sales due to word of mouth recommendations, reputations and awareness. For PR in Sussex to work you need to tap into what is happening, where and who is attending. If you hit all three strongly enough you are sure to receive the media coverage you desire.

There are two avenues for local pr in Sussex; press relations and public relations.

Press relations – How to get the press interested

Local reporters are pushed for time now more than ever due to staff shortages, so it is difficult to get them to attend any events, although free food and champagne helps. A well-written pre-event press release followed by a post-event press release accompanied by photographs should do the trick, and be appreciated by busy reporters trying to fill a paper. The value of your company news appearing in print is vast as local communities still value their local newspapers.

Make it appealing for television and radio

Television and radio has credibility for consumers. Local broadcasters are targeting local communities and, therefore, if a story is appealing to your town or village it stands a good chance of being picked up by broadcasters. Television broadcasters are looking for something visually pleasing and both radio and television journalists want interviews with key spokespeople.

The celebrity clincher

For all media outlets, local celebrities are a great selling point, especially if they are doing something quirky or have a tie with the organisation or locale. MPs and politicians with an issue can also make a story more newsworthy.

PRG employed all these angles when organising AGE Concern Eastbourne’s 65th Birthday celebrations by utilising local links to secure EastEnders and Gavin and Stacey star, Larry Lamb, and his son, television presenter George Lamb, along with Eastbourne’s MP and Deputy Mayor. The result was pre and post event coverage in local newspapers and radio, coverage on regional television news after the event and a fantastic turnout for the birthday party.

Another successful Eastbourne pr campaign was when PRG enrolled the assistance of local celebrity Michael Fish soaking in a warm bath of bubbles, surrounded by a garland of sunflowers and four council leaders, to help launch a solar energy marketing campaign for East Sussex Energy Partnership. It achieved widespread media coverage and exceeded the Partnerships’ sales targets for solar energy grants, resulting in national coverage and regional newspaper and radio coverage worth a value of more than £43,300 and the installation of 132 solar panels worth an estimated £528,000.

Never forget the value of successful local PR in Sussex. Where else are your public relations more important than on your doorstep?

Part 2 next week: Public relations – Twitter and Facebook