#MarketingTitbits – Marketing CEOs, Business Books, Dulux Reality App

ceo-books-dulux1. Over 20% of FTSE 100 CEOs now come from a marketing background
British companies are gradually becoming marketing experts when it comes to filling the top job, as 21% of all FTSE 100 CEOs now come from a sales or marketing background. The UK’s tendency to employ former marketers is far greater than international companies, where only 10% of CEOs are former marketers.

Over the last few years, Tesco has led the way here and in July 2014 they appointed former Unilever marketer Dave Lewis – who was responsible for Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaigns – to help rescue their dwindling sales and profits.

There are plenty more examples, so click here to view the full list of marketer CEOs.

2. 5 books to read before starting your business

Starting up a new company can be a tricky business, and there are many factors which need to be considered. With 80% of businesses failing within the first couple of years, it’s important for budding entrepreneurs to prepare as much as possible in advance, and with so many business books out there now, reading has got to be the place to start.

Building a business can be a daunting task, and Ken Dunn from Entrepreneur has shared his 5 top books to read before entering on the challenging journey. The Founder’s Dilemmas is a particular favourite, a book that focuses on helping entrepreneurs reduce the risk of mistakes.

To see the full top 5 list, click here.

3. Dulux puts augmented reality app at the heart of e-commerce plans

Dulux is investing heavily in its app with a view to helping shape how decorators – both amateur and professional –use their mobile device to improve their home.

Key new features include the ability to sync up a user’s virtual scrapbook on the Dulux site, the ability to buy testers from the new app and perhaps most interestingly, an augmented reality feature that allows users to view how a room will look if painted a particular colour, through the camera on their device.

Click here to view the new Dulux updates

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Blow Away those Marketing Cob Webs and Get Your Marketing in Order for 2016

blow away event-1
TLC Business have teamed up with renowned inspirational speaker Simon Harmer and his company Blown Away, to deliver an insightful and inspirational working-lunch session for businesses who are looking to get better results from their marketing in 2016.

Not only will the session include marketing tips, cheats and ideas, but it will give you an insight into marketing trends for 2016, provide advice on how to get the biggest bang for your marketing buck, and inspiration to actually make those necessary marketing changes for 2016.

So when is it? The FREE session will be held on the 25th November 2015 at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, between 12-2pm. As well as this, the networking session will include lunch and two presentations.

We guarantee you’ll leave with lots of fresh ideas and feeling motivated to put them into action. Places are limited, so reserve your seat now to avoid disappointment. To reserve your ticket, click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Market Research, Instagram Guide, Internet Facts

research-instagram-internet1. How to do market research on a small budget
Ever wondered how to carry out market research on a small budget? When launching a new product or service, companies must understand their customers’ needs and wants, and this is achieved through research and development. Companies such as Unilever and Coca-Cola spend millions each year on their R&D; however, Marketing Week have shared six ways on how to keep those costs down.

According to Jane Frost, CEO at the Market Research Community, brands should always opt for quality over quantity. With this in mind, read on for tips on how to keep those market research costs down – Click here.

2. A marketer’s guide to Instagram video

Instagram, without a doubt, brings out the visual appeal of brands across the world. No matter what the industry, a brand can find its place on Instagram and create some really eye-catching, innovative content.

Brands such as Red Bull rely on Instagram to promote their product through original content. For Red Bull it’s a simple case of reflecting its association with extreme sports through the sharing of relevant video clips. As well as originality, playing to the emotions is also a successful way of grasping a consumer’s attention. Clips from Save the Children prompted an emotional response from consumers, making it one of the most shared clips on Instagram to date.

Click here for Instagram marketing tips.

3. 10 facts, and clever observations, about the internet that will blow your mind

When thinking about how far the Internet has come in the last 20 years, it’s mind-blowing. Consider, for instance, that it took the telephone 75 years to reach 50 million users around the world, whereas it only took the Internet 4 years, as well as the Angry Birds app just 35 days (thanks to the Internet).

Not blown away by that impressive fact? There are 3.2 billion Internet users worldwide, accounting for almost 44% of the global population. As well as that, 950 million households worldwide own a television, but twice as many people access the Internet from a handheld device. After this incredible evolution of technology over such a brief period of time, what will life look like in just a few short years?

To read 10 mind-blowing facts about the Internet, click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Innovative Entrepreneurs, British Brands, Facebook Emojis

innovation-british-emojis1. 10 traits of the most innovative entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship fits perfectly with innovation – producing new ideas, providing better solutions and pioneering new products. The most successful entrepreneurs aren’t just the hardest working, but the most innovative too.

If entrepreneurs aren’t flexing their innovative muscles, then success and breakthroughs are difficult to achieve. Innovation is becoming more and more important to brands as markets are becoming more demanding. To this end, Entrepreneur have put together 10 ways to be more innovative, to help get you innovating.

If you want to learn how to be more innovative, click here.

2. 32 classically ‘British’ brands that aren’t actually British

British brands are recognised all over the world for their authenticity and quality; however, these days many are now not owned by British firms or individuals. Many think that Harrods is a quintessentially British brand, but previous owner, the enigmatic Egyptian Mohamed Al Fayed sold it to Qatar Holdings, who currently own it.

HP is the most British brand around, and has been for quite some time. It has been the most popular sauce in the Houses of Parliament; nevertheless it is now owned by Americans – purchased by Heinz in 2005.

To see the 32 iconic ‘British’ brands – no longer british-owned, click here.

3. What Facebook’s new emojis mean for marketers

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last through years, the chances are you will have used an Emoji or two to compliment a post or message. Finally bowing to pressure to introduce a ‘dislike’ function, Facebook have turned to the Emoji to satisfy a demand amongst Facebook users to convey more than a ‘thumbs up’ in response to a Facebook post. The new feature on the platform will enable users to reply to a post with one of 5 emojis: Love, Yay, Wow, Sad and Angry.

The new emoticons provide brands with a real opportunity to encourage their users to reply with a feeling or emotion, rather than just a like, comment or share. Facebook are always looking for ways to improve their user’s experience, and this new feature will be ranked as a major update to the platform.

Click here for more information.

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#MarketingTitbits – Volkswagen Crisis, Must-Read Books, Mission Statements

volkswagen-books-statement1. Social media and crisis management: a Volkswagen case study
The Volkswagen emissions scandal has raised many questions – but what has happened to their social media activity? On Friday 18th September, Volkswagen sensibly stopped posting to Facebook and Twitter after the emissions scandal broke out in the US, but they can’t hide forever!

The accounts were dark and gloomy for a whole week until a statement was posted from Michael Horn, the US CEO. The silence from Volkswagen, as you would expect, didn’t stop consumers having their say on the scandel.

To see more on how Volkswagen handled the crisis, click here.

2. The entrepreneur’s ultimate list of 8 must-read books

Business owners, entrepreneurs and business leaders know there are no shortage of business, entrepreneurial and leadership-related books out there on the market, but with time so precious, what should we be reading?  To help direct our attention on the best books out there at the moment, the good people at Amazon have compiled ‘The Entrepreneur’s Ultimate List of 8 Must-Read Books’.

There are some old favourites on there like The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. As well as others we haven’t read yet.

To view the list, click here.

3. Infographic: the 24 most inspirational company mission statements

There is much debate about the importance of a mission statement. Done well they are a very clear and succinct way of communicating the purpose of a business and a means of keeping in focus why it exists. Done badly and they represent just a series of nice sounding statements that bear no relation to the actual day to day running of a business or organisation.

The insurance company Unum have collected 24 ‘inspirational’ mission statements from some of the world’s biggest brands, including Nike, Google and Ikea.

To find out what they are, along with the full list, click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Instagram Followers, CoolBrands 2015, Google’s 18th Birthday

instagram-coolbrands-google1. Instagram now has 400 million users
It’s been 5 years since Instagram’s release, and the image sharing app’s growth shows no sign of slowing down. Earlier this week Instagram announced that it now has 400 million monthly active users, compared to just 300 million in December last year.

Instagram has now doubled its user base in the short span of just 18 months, which stands in sharp contrast to Twitter, which continues to struggle with user growth. Of course, Instagram still has a long road ahead of them before they catch up with Facebook; however, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom previously credited Facebook for helping the company achieve such a rapid growth.

Click here for more information.

2. Luxury brands lose their ‘cool’ status as digital challengers climb the ranks

Whilst luxury brands appear to be losing their ‘cool status’, digital distributor brands like Netflix and Instagram are moving up the CoolBrands list, according to a survey of 2,500 British consumers and a panel of 36 key influencers.

Apple has managed to retain its position as the UK’s coolest brand for the fourth year running, and Ray-Ban continues to climb high; however, new-comers such as Spotify, Instagram and Netflix are notable inclusions.

To see the top 20 CoolBrands, click here.

3. Celebrating Google’s 18th Birthday

Google’s domain name was first registered in 1997, making this year its 18th birthday. To celebrate this special occasion, Google shows us what each algorithm update was designed to achieve and their influence on content marketing today.

The algorithm updates have been demanding and disruptive to say the least; however, the impact has astounding. In theory, businesses are able to differentiate their brand from the competition, increase traffic to their website and customer loyalty, just by meeting or exceeding Google standards for content quality – it all sounds so easy right?

To see the algorithm updates since 1997 and the impact they have had, click here.

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