Branding & Creative Design for Burntwood & District CFRs.

Community First Responders leaflet and stand

Community First Responders leaflet and stand

The Burntwood District Community First Responders (CFRs) are a group of volunteers who respond to emergency calls on behalf of the West Midlands Ambulance Service and are able to arrive at the scene and begin treatment before the Ambulance arrives.

Recently the CFRs approached us to design an exhibition stand and leaflet for a fundraising event they’re holding at Veolia in Cannock. Who very kindly allow the CFRs to store their First Response vehicle at their premises which are secure and allow them access to the vehicle 24/7.

If you wish to attend and support the CFRs, the event will take place on Friday morning on the 21st June. You will be able to find their stand in the foyer at Veolia.

 

The Challenge

Fundraising is essential to the CFRs as they are all volunteers who do it in their spare time. So without donations they won’t be able to afford new equipment or a much needed Response Car. As their existing one has over 102,000 miles on the clock.

So the message we needed to get across to the local community was this. Without public support they won’t be able to respond to emergency calls and offer people life saving treatment.

 

The Answer

When the CFRs initially got in touch with us they didn’t have a brand at all. So in order to help them raise awareness, we consulted with them and followed our branding process. Which looks at who you are and what you do, to develop the Burntwood Community First Responders brand.

Before we could begin the creative design process we looked at the key marketing messages. Which needed to be on the exhibition stand and leaflet. These included; who the CFRs are, what they do and a strong call to action which encourages people to donate to them.

After looking at the key marketing messages we were able to move onto creative design and design an exhibition stand for the event and a leaflet which will be given out on stand and will be used in local businesses to help raise awareness throughout the community.

 

What’s Next?

We like helping out charities or volunteer groups wherever we can and as a Burntwood based business we felt it was important that we supported our local CFRs as the work they do is brilliant and we may benefit from their help one day. We will continue to support them and will be looking to help them with their website in the near future.

 

If you would like to find out more about the Community First Responders visit their website, where you can also support them and make a donation via PayPal.

To find out how we can help you with marketing that offers you real opportunities to sell your products or services, call us on 01543 387 047 or email us at contact@themarketingpeople.com.

 

How Facebook Hashtags Can Benefit Your Business & How to Use Them

how facebook hashtags can benefit your business

how facebook hashtags can benefit your business

The Hashtag seems to have taken over the internet since the rise of Twitter. You can use it on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and now Facebook. So what do hashtags on Facebook mean for businesses and how can they use them to their benefit?

Facebook have finally announced that they are rolling out clickable hashtags. Meaning users and Page updates can be part of a discussion, which is especially useful for things like events or a popular news topic.

Facebook hashtags

On their blog Facebook said that the reason for introducing hashtags was to help users find other users talking about the same things they were and take part in public conversations.

They also mentioned that they will be rolling out more features over the next few weeks and months. Including trending hashtags and deeper insights.

 

How Facebook Hashtags can Benefit my Business?

Hashtags are clickable. Meaning that users can click on a hashtag and see posts from other people who are using the same hashtag. This means that businesses will be able to use hashtags to get their posts in front of people who wouldn’t have seen it otherwise. Without the need to fork out for advertising.

People use social media to talk about things they’re interested in or their friends are interested in such as;

 

–          A concert or event they’re attending

–          A business event or networking event

–          A film they’ve just seen

–          Something they’re watching on TV

–          A news story

–          The weather – this is especially popular here in the UK where we get all excited by the odd sighting of the sun and think summer has finally arrived.

This means that businesses have got some great opportunities to get their updates and content in front of people who are interested in something they’re selling or talking about.

 

For example:

Imagine you have an ecommerce website which sells camping equipment. The summer is fast approaching (apparently) and over the next few months plenty of people will be going off on camping holidays and going to festivals and sports events.

Now imagine you want to target people who are attending the Formula 1 British Grand Prix. To tell them about some of your tents in an attempt to intrigue people who are yet to buy their tent. So you use the hashtag #britishgp in your update.

A user searches #britishgp in the search bar to see what other people are saying about it. They see your update and decide to visit your website and buy from you as a result.

The main takeaway and benefit for businesses here is that they have a great opportunity to get their posts out there in front of users who might not have seen them otherwise.

 

Six Tips for using Facebook Hashtags Effectively

Now you know why Facebook Hashtags will benefit your business, what’s the best way to use them? Here are six tips to help you use hashtags effectively. (These tips don’t just apply to Facebook, it can be applied to Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and Google+ etc also)

 

1. Make Sure Another Brand Aren’t Already Using It

Before you decide to claim a hashtag make sure it’s not already in use by searching for the hashtag you plan on using in the search bar.

If there are people or other brands already using that hashtag and talking about a different product, service or business, it’s probably best to think of a new hashtag as it could easily get confusing trying to monitor what people are saying about you.

 

2. Keep it short and simple

While you aren’t faced with a 140 character limit on Facebook, people don’t want to use a massively long hashtag because it can be a bit of a chore to type out and easy to forget.

 

3. Don’t Spam Hashtags

Using hashtags which have absolutely no relation to what you’re talking about will make you look spammy and will put users off you right away. Especially if you make the same mistake as fashion retailer Kenneth Cole you hijack hashtags who hijacked a tweet relating to the unrest inCairo at the beginning of 2011.

 

4. Don’t use multiple hashtags in one update

It can be tempting to try and use several hashtags in your updates to try and get as many people to see your updates as possible, however using too many hashtags will annoy people, so try to stick to two or at the very most three hashtags per update.

 

5. Consistency across all social channels

As with your branding, any hashtags you use which relate to your business, your products or services or an event you are running should be consistent across all social media platforms you’re present on. This makes it easy for people to talk about you or find about you across multiple platforms.

 

6. Promote your hashtag

If you’re using a hashtag to promote your brand, one of your products or services, or an event you’re running make sure you promote it on your website, marketing emails and social media so people know that’s the hashtag they need to use when talking about your products.

 

 

Since Facebook’s IPO in May 2012 they have been trying to make money from the social network, which meant bad news for Facebook Page owners who were forced to pay for advertising if they wanted their updates to reach 100% of the people who have ‘liked’ their page, despite those people expressing an explicit interest in the page. So the introduction of hashtags is brilliant news as Page Owners will now be able to reach more people without having to pay for it.

 

Contact Us

If your business is based in Burntwood, Lichfield, Cannock or Staffordshire and are interesting in marketing which creates opportunities to sell your products or services, get in touch with us to find out how we can help. Call us on 01543 387 047 or email us on contact@themarketingpeople.com to find if we can help you and your business.

Proof that Great Email Marketing Messages Generate Leads.

edo email image

edo email image

Following on from the renaming and repositioning of SSC Learning to edo earlier this year. They couldn’t wait to get out there and start telling people about how edo could benefit businesses and help learners.

Once we had completed the rebrand. Designed and developed their website and updated all of their social media to include their new name and branding. We began working with edo to do their marketing, beginning with their email marketing.

In the past they had tried email marketing, including their own internal emails. But had never really seen any benefit from it.

 

The Challenge

After many years of providing solutions and training in the care sector. edo have a really good understanding how people working in that sector felt about apprenticeships. And their concerns about taking out a loan to fund their qualifications.

This meant that marketing messages need to be targeted and relevant to the decision makers. To inform and reassure them that funding doesn’t have to be as scary and confusing as it sounds.

 

The Answer

We worked closely with edo, utilising our combined knowledge of the care sector to develop messages which showed the decision makers empathy and understanding. And provided them with a real solution and links to pages on their website which contained more information.

After developing the key messages and calls to action, we designed and built three different versions of the email. A plain text version, a HTML version and an online version. All of which were mobile optimised, meaning that any type of client or prospect would be able to view the email. Before sending the email we also ran it through the spam checker on our email marketing software to ensure it would get through spam filters and into recipients inboxes.

 

So What?

Just 20 minutes after the email was sent, edo received an inbound call from a prospect. Who had read the email and visited the website, and following a conversation they are now a confirmed edo client.

The good news doesn’t stop there. That phone call was the very first inbound lead edo have ever had, as both edo and SSC Learning. So the edo team couldn’t be happier.

 

Next?

After seeing the results they received from their first email marketing campaign, they are chomping at the bit to get on with some more. As a result we are going to work with them to create email invites for their launch party. And run email marketing campaigns about qualification funding and how edo are able to help recruitment companies.

 

Here at The Marketing People it’s really important to us that our work benefits our clients. That it provides them with good opportunities to sell their products or services, so we’re never happier than we are when we find out that our work has helped a business gain a sale or a new customer.

 

Contact Us

If you’re a business based in Burntwood, Lichfield, Cannock, Staffordshire or the West Midlands and are looking for marketing that really works, get in touch to find out how we can benefit your business. Call us on 01543 387 047 or email us at contact@themarketingpeople.com

If you’re a business owner looking to develop your workforce’s skills or you’re looking to further your education, whether you’re a jobseeker or in employment, visit edo’s website to see if they might be able to help you.