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#MarketingTitbits – Marketing Lessons From Mourinho, Pinterest for SMEs and a ‘video puzzle’!

1. How small business can use PinterestIf you haven’t heard about Pinterest by now, it is surely only a matter of time. We brought this great social media tool to your attention over a year ago now and since then it has gone from strength to strength, moving away from its humble beginnings as an American housewives’ favourite to a global social media powerhouse attracting the attention of all the big brands.

As of February, the site had over 25 million users and companies with Facebook and Pinterest brand pages report that Pinterest followers spend up to 15 times more time on their page than Facebook followers.

Pinterest is not only for the big brands and corporates though. SMEs can also benefit greatly from getting to grips with the platform.

To help you get started, we found this simple, easy to understand article on Forbes.com that gives small businesses a great start point.

2. 5 marketing lessons from Jose Mourinho

We found this interesting article in marketing magazine last week that gave some thought as to what marketers can learn from one of the world’s most high-profile and charismatic managers.

They identified 5 key lessons that all marketers should bear in mind when marketing their organisation:

Don’t be afraid to polarize opinion
Embrace the ‘siege mentality’
Protect your team
Who cares the most wins (sometimes)
Rules are for breaking

Find out how you can apply these principles by clicking here.

3. Got 4 iPhones and want to create a YouTube video?

Joe Penna is a great example of how someone can harness the power and reach of YouTube. His YouTube channel has over 2.5 million subscribers and his innovative videos are fast-propelling him up the list of the world’s top directors . People that have watched his videos will know what a talented and innovative individual he is.

We came across this ‘video puzzle’ last week and thought we’d share it. Enjoy.

 

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#MarketingTitbits – Choose the Perfect LinkedIn Photo, Tips for Company Colour Schemes and Tennis: a history in ads

How to choose your LinkedIn profile photoAs you know, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site, with over 200million members in over 200 countries. Now the odds are, you probably have a profile on it (if you don’t, it would be a good idea to get on it today) but it constantly amazes us how frequently we find profiles without a profile picture associated with them. It’s a bit like turning up to a networking event with a balaclava on. Studies bear out the importance of having one, finding that profiles with a photo received about 50%-70% more enquiries than profiles that don’t have one. So having a photo is better than not having one; however, it is equally important to choose a photo for your profile that conveys the right message and not the wrong one! A photo of you at the local pub with a pint in your hand may be a true representation of how you spend your time but it’s not exactly appropriate for LinkedIn. After all, they do say “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

We’ve found a great article with 11 top tips on choosing your LinkedIn profile photo, and another showcasing 10 examples of terrible LinkedIn profile photos.

http://www.careerealism.com/linkedin-photo-tips/

http://andrewmacarthy.com/andrew-macarthy-social-media/10-terrible-examples-of-linkedin-profile-photos-bad-linkedin-profile-pics

 

Tips for Company Colour Schemes

Different colours have different meanings, for example, white connotes innocence and purity, whereas red connotes love and passion. We all know that colours and the connotations associated with them are very important to consider when choosing a colour scheme for your brand; however, there are many other things to consider.

Designers frequently use the 60-30-10 rule, which suggests that you choose three different colours and use them in the ratio of 60%, 30% and 10%. The rule provides a simple way to develop an appropriate colour scheme for your brand.

This week, we came across a great article with top tips for company colour schemes. So whether you’re starting up a business from scratch or redesigning your current brand, we think this article is definitely worth a read.

http://mashable.com/2013/06/09/color-schemes-business/

 

Tennis: a history in ads

Britain is the home to the world’s oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament, Wimbledon. Each year, nearly 500,000 people attend the two week event and its impact is felt right across our day-to-day life, as prominent brands jump on board the tennis bandwagon for the period. With Wimbledon into it’s second week and with two Brits into the 4th round, there is no better time to celebrate the history of tennis-related television adverts:

 

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#MarketingTitbits – Looking to brush up on your technical skills? Great apps everyone is talking about right now and books on marketing!

Looking to brush up on your Photoshop skills?
If you’d like to develop your creative and technical skills in a cost-effective way, then take a look at this great website with over 1,900 video courses in a range of topics from design and photography to Adobe and Microsoft. They even let you trial it for free for 7 days to see how you get on.

It has some nice features, like unlimited access to all the courses available and the list keeps growing. It accommodates all levels of expertise, from beginner to expert. You can share courses with your friends or colleagues and perhaps most useful of all, you can access the videos on a computer, tablet or mobile device and switch between them for your convenience.

Good luck!

http://www.lynda.com/

 

Apps everyone is talking about right now

It seems there is an app for everything right now and with the app market valued earlier this year by the Wall Street Journal at $25 billion, the rate at which they come into the marketplace is only going to increase.

To help point you in the right direction of the ones worth knowing about, we found this interesting article about 15 apps that everyone is talking about right now. From Park Me, an app that helps users find places to park nearby, to Tempo, a ‘smart calendar’ app that helps you organise your day better and the likes of Candy Crush and Vine in-between.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apps-everyone-is-talking-about-right-now-2013-7

 

Top 10 marketing books of all time

Like the app market, the sales, marketing and business book market is saturated with publications of varying degrees of usefulness. Life is too short to waste it reading poor books, so we always try to pass on recommendations of books worth spending your precious time on.

With this in mind, if you’re looking to read up on your marketing this summer and want some books for light reading on the beach, we’ve found this useful article on the top 10 marketing books of all time. Have a read and let us know what you think!

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/top-10-marketing-books-of-all-time_1.html

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Are you getting on the Royal Baby bandwagon?

With the arrival of the Royal Baby, Britons everywhere have suddenly busted out there patriotic fervour, last seen this time last year for the Olympics, to mark the occasion. Keen not to miss a trick, the country’s marketers have greeted the birth of the future king with a seemingly endless stream of tenuously related promotional offers to ‘celebrate’ the momentous event. Pizza Hut have offered a free side or dessert with any large pizza, ASK Italian Restaurant have offered a free glass of Prosecco to toast to the new baby boy and American Apparel have offered customers 15% off all purchases online and in store. These are just the tip of the iceberg.
Not only have we been receiving a flood of Royal Baby related emails, but we have been bombarded with a raft of Royal Baby themed advertising campaigns, to have a look at some of the best and the worst click on the links below.


Starbucks

starbucks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chilli’s Bar and Grill

chillis-bar-and-grill

Coke

coke

Oreo

oreo

Oasis

oasis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charmin

charmin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Air New Zealand

air-new-zealand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magnum

magnum

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play Doh

play-doh

Aston Villa

aston-villa

Marks & Spencer

mands

 

Carling

carling2


Google and Adobe have even set up online cards for everyone to sign with congratulations to Will and Kate on the Royal Baby.

On the other hand, for those staunch republicans out there, don’t miss The Guardian’s “Republican” button on their website, which blocks all news and stories about the Royal Baby. Something similar was introduced around the time of William and Kate’s wedding and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; however, we highly doubt they’re going to be able to hide from the flood of offers, advertising and emails streaming into their inboxes.

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#MarketingTitbits – Worst smartphone event ever, 100 inspirational quotes and 8 reasons to love Marmite’s markting.

Worst smartphone event ever? – 20 people injured at LG G2 launch
Most of us will be familiar with LG, the South Korean multi-national conglomerate that makes electronics, chemicals & telecom products and distributes them across 80 countries worldwide. The company, the product of a merger between companies Lucky and Goldstar, is also famous for its marketing slogan ‘Life’s good’. However, a couple of weeks ago, life most definitely was not, when LG launched their new G2 smartphone in South Korea. The seemingly innocent launch event in Seoul did not go to plan.

The idea was simple – they had around 100 balloons, each with a voucher for a free LG G2 smartphone attached. They promoted the event through social media and as a result hundreds of people arrived to try and get a free smartphone. However, they did not anticpiate the extremes to which people went to grab themselves a balloon. People came armed with BB guns and bug-catching nets, one woman even took along a spear!

As a result, 20 people were injured with LG offering to pay for any medical expenses. How many smartphones were claimed? None – all of the balloons flew away! Probably best not to ask the people injured that day if ‘Life’s Good’!

Top 100 inspirational quotes

“[A] quotation is a handy thing to have about, saving one the trouble of thinking for oneself, always a laborious business.” – A.A. Milne

For that reason we thought we’d share with you the top 100 inspirational quotes from Forbes, enjoy!

Love it or Hate it

In the 19th century, the product that was to become Marmite was invented by a German scientist called Justus von Liebig. In 1902 the Marmite Food Extract Company was formed in Staffordshire. The name ‘Marmite’ came from the French word (maʁmit) for a large cooking pot – which can still be seen on the front of every marmite jar. Marmite was so popular during World War I that British troops were issued Marmite as part of their rations.

Marmite’s very first advertising campaign began in the 1930s with the slogan “The growing up spread you never grow out of.” During the 1980s Marmite was advertised with the slogan “My mate, Marmite”. By the 1990s Marmite had made as many enemies as it had fans, with consumers either loving or hating the spread and in 1996 Marmite launched the “Love it or Hate it” campaign.

In August 2013 Marmite launched a new campaign playing on the idea of Marmite jars being neglected, the slogan being “Love it. Hate it. Just don’t forget it.” We think whether you love or hate Marmite itself you should check out these 8 reasons why you should love Marmite’s marketing!

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#MarketingTitbits – Maria Sharapova changes her name to Maria Sugarpova, Why IT and marketing need to collaborate, only 31 of the top 100 brands are on Tumblr.

1. Maria Sharapova changes her name to Maria SugarpovaTennis player Maria Sharapova recently opened her new confectionary company – selling ‘candy’ in the USA. The company’s name is Sugarpova and the marketing team have already come up with a high profile campaign to promote the brand.

During this year’s US Open tennis tournament, Maria will change her surname to Sugarpova, meaning that during introductions, addresses and match announcements she will be referred to as Maria Sugarpova.  She will also have the company’s logo – bright red lips – embroidered onto her kit during the matches.

Surprisingly, this is not the first time a sports star has changed their name for marketing. In 2005 snooker player Jimmy White changed his name to James Brown – in return for a sponsorship from HP.

2. Why IT and marketing need to collaborate

Marketing and IT departments aren’t typically perceived as being intertwined, but as technology develops, fuelling the creation of new marketing channels in the process, it is becoming increasingly important for these two departments to work closely together to make the most of these new opportunities. Whilst many perceive the role of Marketing to be largely creative, the rise of digital channels and CRM systems, to name but two areas, is resulting in marketers requiring ever more sophisticated IT systems to process, analyse and manage data like never before.

IT departments are not best placed to decide what data needs to be captured, stored and processed usefully and requires Marketing’s direction to help develop the necessary systems and processes. The phenomenal and rapid rise to prominence of digital media has meant that many businesses and marketing departments are struggling to keep up with the sheer volume of information available for capture and this is where a close relationship with IT can really come into its own.

We have found this interesting article about how and why we need to bridge the gap between IT and Marketing. To read more click here.

3. Only 31 of the top 100 brands are on Tumblr

The name Tumblr comes from the word ‘tumblelogs’, which means ‘short-form blogs’. Founder of Tumblr, David Karp, introduced the tumblelogging platform in 2007 and within two weeks Tumblr had gained 75,000 users.

In early June 2012, Tumblr launched its first major brand advertising campaign in conjunction with Adidas and since then many different brands from all over the world use Tumblr. Big brands such as Land Rover, Coca-Cola, Vans, Barbie and Disney Pixar use Tumblr well, promoting their brand and new products, as well as engaging with their customers. However, only 31 of Interbrand’s top 100 global brands have accounts on Tumblr at all, when 100% of them have Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Have a look at this article we found from Mashable with illustrates all the different statistics about brands using Tumblr.

 

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What your SME can learn from ‘Guerrilla marketing’

What your SME can learn from ‘Guerrilla marketing’

blog-image4In today’s competitive business environment, winning new business and attracting potential customers is a challenge. In order to set themselves apart from the competition, many larger organisations have adopted innovative campaigns, taking inspiration from ‘Guerrilla marketing’ and social media, to help raise their brand awareness and keep up-to-date with the changing lifestyles of their consumers.

Over the next few months, we will be sharing 3 tools used by big businesses that SMEs can develop and add to their own marketing mix. The first instalment focuses on ‘Guerrilla marketing’ and how original campaigns can help move your business forward.

The concept of ‘Guerrilla marketing’ came from the idea that imagination, time and energy could be used to create great marketing, as opposed to a big budget. ‘Guerrilla marketing’ can often make a far more impact on consumers when compared against more traditional forms of marketing. Tools such as flash mobs, floor stickers, videos and 3D art have been used to help generate publicity and that vital social buzz.

Take a look at some of the best ‘Guerrilla marketing’ campaigns for inspiration

1. Doses of happiness

Coca-Cola installed ‘The Happiness Machine’ into the cafeteria of a University in America, but when students pressed the button for a bottle of Coke, they got more than they expected. Hidden cameras filmed the spontaneous reactions of students as the machine dispensed goodies including flowers, pizzas and sunglasses to unsuspecting students.

2. Unlock the 007 in you. You have 70 seconds.

During the run up to the release of last year’s James Bond film, Skyfall, Coca-Cola came up with another fun and innovative campaign. When buying a Coke Zero, the vending machine at a train station gave the customer the option of whether they would like the chance to win tickets for the Skyfall premiere. If yes, the message then appeared “You have 70 seconds to get to platform 7…” but Coca-Cola made sure it wasn’t that easy for each contender and staged a series of obstacles to distract them from their mission.

3. ‘Carlsburg don’t do litter….’

‘Guerrilla marketing’ doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated. Carlsburg made a huge impact merely with stickers. Carlsburg added a sticker to £5000 worth of £10 notes and released them into circulation. The stickers said “Carlsburg don’t do litter. But if they did, it would probably be the best litter in the world.” As a result, the campaign received huge media interest. Who wouldn’t like free money?

Carlsberg Ten Pound Note

4. ‘Chalk’ Homer

During the run up to the release of The Simpsons Movie in the UK, one of the UK’s most famous landmarks, the fertility God carved into a chalk hillside in Dover, got a new neighbour. Overnight, a 180ft Homer Simpson appeared next to the fertility god. People couldn’t decide whether it was an act of vandalism or pure genius! Either way, it served as a huge promotion for the film, without an expensive price tag.

Chalk Homer

5. ‘Weighing for the bus’

Fitness First in the UK wanted to increase their gym membership, so instead of targeting people with the usual flyers and promotions, Fitness First went a step further. The fitness brand decided to target people who were waiting at the bus stop by fitting a scale into the bench. When the unsuspecting victim sat down on the bench their weight would be projected onto the screen next to them. A cruel or effective way of telling people they need to lose weight?

Weighing for the bus

Obviously, we don’t condone illegal activity, but the above are great examples of businesses thinking outside the box when it comes to marketing. ‘Guerrilla marketing’ is often ideal for small businesses that need to reach a large audience without breaking the bank. In order for your business to use the concept of ‘Guerrilla marketing’ effectively, it is important to plan and research your idea, whilst weighting up any factors that could back-fire once the campaign is implemented. As always, with all forms of marketing, having a clearly defined target audience that you understand intimately is critical to delivering an effective campaign. Just because you like it or think it is funny, doesn’t necessarily mean it will be appreciated by your target audience. Put yourself in their shoes!

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#MarketingTitbits – Top 10 Nike adverts, Pot Noddle advert banned and obsolete words that should have never gone out of style!

1. Top 10 Nike ‘Just do it’ advertsFounded in 1964, the American multinational corporation, Nike, is now one of the world’s largest suppliers of sports clothing and accessories. Nike aired its very first television advert in 1982 and since then has been the only company to win Cannes Advertising Festival’s Advertiser of the Year award twice, in 1994 and 2003. Nike has also won the Emmy Award for Best Commercial twice since the award was first created in the 1990s.

This year Nike is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its iconic strapline “Just Do It” and we’ve found a great article in Marketing Week, showcasing the top 10 adverts from Nike.

2. Pot Noodle advert banned for being ‘Crass and degrading’

Last week, we came across this article about an advert from Pot Noodle that has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for being ‘crass and degrading’. Now Pot Noddle is not known for the highbrow humour in its advertising, so we were intrigued to see what they had done to cross the line. The advert in question shows a picture of a bikini-clad model being compared to a spicy flavour of Pot Noodle with the question “which one gets you hotter?” The ASA decided that the ‘blatant’ comparison between a girl posing in a ‘provocative’ way and a Pot Noodle was likely to cause ‘serious offence’ to some viewers.

Several complaints about two other Facebook adverts from Pot Noodle were rejected, one of them with the strapline “peel a top off a hottie”. To take a look click here.

3. 18 obsolete words that should not have gone out of style

Have you ever noticed someone groaking at you? Do you know anyone that’s a bit beef-witted? Is your wife with squirrel? Have you got any idea what we’re going on about?

The English language has been evolving since 450AD when what we now call Old English came into use. Since then, Middle English, Early Modern English and Late Modern English have been spoken. With each new faze, new words have come into being, whilst old words become forgotten about.

Some of the words we use today are thousands of years old, for example, historians expect that words such as “I” and “we” have been used since the Stone Age. This week we found an interesting article from Business Insider about obsolete words that they think shouldn’t have gone out of style, to have a look click here.

 

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Free ‘Effective Marketing for SMEs’ seminar

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We are hosting our annual free marketing event at The University of Southampton Science Park on Thursday 21st Nov from 12pm – 2pm.

Working lunch

Join us for a working lunch, as we help SME businesses identify how to make the most of their marketing and generate the biggest bang for their buck.

Marketing for SMEs in 2014

The interactive session will give you insights into how marketing is changing for SMEs and outline what you need to know to enable you to get the results you need in 2014.

We will address a variety of topics, including:

  • Top marketing tips all SMEs should know
  • Is digital marketing rendering traditional methods redundant?
  • Search engine optimisation – the rules have changed
  • Why isn’t our marketing working?
  • How marketing for SMEs is changing and how to move with the times

Places are limited, so reserve yours today to avoid disappointment.

To book your place and for more details, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact Connie on 01962 600 147 or email connie@tlc-business.co.uk.

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