Tweet yourself to success

Talk about making the most of Twitter! The American company Esurance launched a Twitter campaign with their television advert immediately after the Super Bowl. They are giving away the $1.5 million they saved for getting the first advert after the Superbowl (as opposed to one during the game).

Who bought the most expensive advert spots on telly?

The Super Bowl is considered ‘the game’ in the Professional American Football schedule for many fans. It pits the best two teams of the NFL against each other to find out who is the best each year. But for everyone else, it is the one day of the year where advertisers try to create new and iconic television ads that will be remembered forever.

Preparing for a career in Marketing

We frequently receive enquiries in regards to vacancies, internships and work experience.  Last week we received a request from a young man who is preparing to go to Uni and he just wanted some advice in regards to preparing for a career in marketing.

Read on for my views on the following key areas:

• Choosing the right course
• Identifying the type of role you'll enjoy & excel within
• Building relevant experience (vital!)
• Marketing yourself
• Using social media to boost not destroy your appeal
• Building your own network of contacts
• Finding ways to stand-out from the crowd

Twitter expands ad targeting for 2014

Twitter has just announced that it will start utilising your own customer relationship management (CRM) databases for targeted advertising in a variety of ways.  This will allow advertisers a chance to specifically target their customers on Twitter with their unique offer or promotion.

Enjoy responsibly – mobiles down

With the rise of mobile phone usage, some people think that the art of conversation is being lost – including Guinness. They have recently launched an advert politely asking Guinness drinkers to enjoy responsibly by putting their mobiles away.

Make your Facebook page work for you

So you've finally created a Facebook page for your business – great! Now you need to keep it active or you won’t increase your likes, customer interaction or sales. So how do you make the most of your Facebook page without inundating followers with self-promotion that will most likely get passed over?

The multichannel approach wins the Christmas sales

Although Christmas has come and gone, it doesn’t mean we can move on just yet. With all the different advertising campaigns launched in November and December, marketers need to take a moment to reflect before moving on with 2014.

Early reports for non-food retailers are being produced and it looks like those who invested in online marketing and no pre-Christmas discounts are leading the pack for holiday sales. These retailers included Next, John Lewis and Jigsaw, all of which had a larger online presence and online marketing campaign during the shopping season.

Group Booking Offers Website Launches for London

I'm delighted to announce the launch of a new website we've created in collaboration with my brother for the London social scene.  It's called Group Booking Offers and does exactly what it says on the tin!

If you're going out in a group of 4 of more people, this website is definitely worth a look.  We've got a growing number of restaurants and bars with promotions to attract you to their venue.

The website has been created to suit both corporate and social bookers and there are lots of fantastic features planned for future releases to the website.

To follow the progress, click the social links in the header of the page.

New Trends - Digital first marketing

Marks and Spencer is a well-known brand in the UK but it has sometimes been seen as the ‘older generation’s’ store. Indeed M&S has been working to change this perception over the past few years with more modern and chic ranges of clothes and homeware and affordable food like ‘Dine in for £10’. Now they are looking to connect even more with their customers by rolling out advertising campaigns online, before print and television. 

Case Study: Making mobile advertising work for your business

In recent statistics gathered by accounting firm PwC, UK internet users spend an average of one-in-seven online minutes accessing their social networks. According to the most recent IAB digital ad spend figures, social ad budgets have increased 53% in the last year, creating an online spend of over £3bn. One of the main reasons for such an increase is the rise in use of mobile technology – smart phones and tablets, enabling users to access their accounts anywhere. 

What does this mean for advertisers? It means that one of the major channels for getting your message out there is via the realm of the social networking world. Increasing your online spend is the first step to taking advantage of these users but it not the only thing you need to be aware of. Mobile advertising is continuing to grow and a proactive business will invest in utilising social media on mobiles.