Treading water with a buoyant Octopus

Nobody likes to be ignored when they have something important to say. If you want people to absorb your words of written wisdom there are a variety of techniques which will help you get under way.  Stop treading water and start moving forwards!

Coming up, some top tips from Octopus which will help you achieve your goals and engage your reader’s attention.   Learn about your audience, be clear in regards to your aims and objectives, personalise your content and stop yourself getting thrown out with the trash in cyber space.

Who are you speaking to?

Who are you trying to attract?   Without a basic understanding of your audience and their needs, you will not be able to specifically target your writing and have little hope in engaging external interest. Your writing must be tailored to suit your market in regards to both content and tone.  Without establishing this basic starting point, you will simply be treading water.

Is this you

Shake your readers hand

Ensure you personalise content from the beginning.  You have now established who you are speaking to, so let the reader know that they are recognised.   Speak directly to them and interact with their needs.  Be clear as to your aims and objectives, be interactive and engaging.

Chuck that junk mail in the bin

You need to grab the attention of you reader by opening with a paragraph that makes them want to learn more.  We are all subject to a great deal of external influence in our daily lives most of which we quickly discard.

Think about all the letters and leaflets that come through your post-box, the many information sites and posts we simply flick past without giving them a second though.  Why is this?  Getting attention is hard.  If a letter or leaflet is boring, egotistic or the subject matter doesn’t interest the reader, it fails.  Grab your reader’s attention with a strong and powerful title and opening sentence. Think about fonts, imagery, moving content and powerful title and taglines. You have mere seconds to engage.

Create desire

Make your reader feel the need for your product or service.  Why choose you? Why is any of this relevant?  Paint a picture designed to appeal to them and create a want, a need, a passion for what it is you are trying to relay.  Really think about things from the audience’s perspective and write accordingly.  Recognise a need and provide a solution.  Provide them with the missing links and reassure them that YOU are the best person/resource to fulfil their needs.

 Call to action

Assuming you are looking to inspire two way interaction with your readers, ensure a call to action is made.  It might be that you wish to guide them towards further resources such as an open learning resource or a general information site.  Alternatively, you may want your reader to pick up the phone and place an order with your business.  Whatever it is you require, ensure that a strong call to action completes your writing.

Basics…

Don’t waffle… be clear and concise.  Never try and mislead your reader and wherever possible, break your text up with shorter paragraphs.  Use interesting imagery, provide links to alternative sources.  Ensure your spelling and grammar is correct.  Most importantly, never stop thinking about your audience.

For more information, contact Octopus Marketing – www.octopus-ims.com

A blog about blogs!

A wide variety of subject matters have been discussed on my blog over the last couple of years, but one piece of the jigsaw was missing. A blog about blogs. Handled the wrong way, you could easily damage your credibility. The tips below should help avoid detrimental offerings and give you a strong foundation from which to work. Prior to this however, a good place to start is with a clear explanation in regards to what exactly consititues a ‘blog’.

Most blogs are maintained by an individual, posted on a regular basis, are interactive and non static. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blog), photographs (photoblog), videos (video blogging or vlogging), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

Nearly everyone is vying for attention online. When you first start out, your audience (if any) will be minimal. It takes time to build a following and no one gets much traffic without putting in the effort.

Here are a few tips for creating a strong and customer focused blog:

1. Who are you and what are your aims? Visitors want to know something about you. Make sure you include a short bio and briefly explain your aims and objectives.

2. Personalise the content and establish a relationship with your readers. Who are you aiming at? Think carefully about you audience. What are their interests likely to be? How can you best engage them? Formulate your wording and subject matters carefully to ensure you speak directly to potential readers.

2. Post regularly. Pick a schedule that works for you – once a day, once a week, once every two weeks, and make sure you stick to it (but never rush out a post). Many sites have the option to schedule posts in advance so you could set aside one specific day a week to write and edit your monthly posts and then relax for the remainder of the month.

Let people know how often you intend to blog and put reminders on your personal calendar. It’s only when people can expect regular posts that they’ll be compelled to come back to see what you’ve written next.

3. Write Well! It may seem an obvious suggestion but, better posts will get more traffic. Take your time. Really consider your audience and find a subject matter that is engaging and relevant and keep abreast of current trends/fads in the marketplace. Less can be more! Careless writing can be off-putting for readers and looks very unprofessional. If possible, get someone competent to read through your work, double checking spelling and grammar.

4. Use strong effective titles. Titles should grab the attention and engage potential readers. Spend time thinking through the best title for your blog. Make it short and interesting and be aware that, this title along with the link are often the only thing people will see when connecting via social network sites like Twitter and Facebook.

5. Enable e-mail subscriptions. Let readers subscribe to your posts by e-mail. It’s a great way of keeping people connected with your blog.

6. Be interactive. Every comment is an opportunity to show how well you write and think. When people read a great comment, they’ll see your name, and then link to your blog, encouraging them to see what else you have to say. Identify good blogs on topics similar to your own, read and contribute sincerely.

7. Respond to every comment you get. When people comment on your blog, they have made a decision to invest their time in you and your business. Reward them by answering questions and taking their feedback and they’ll come back again.

If anyone has any other suggestions in regards to getting more followers, feel free to place your comments under this post. I will reply to all comments, suggestions or questions. Meanwhile, if you would like more advice in regards to blogging or any other aspect of social media, contact Octopus today. www.octopus-ims.com

I am now posting on a fortnightly basis. In order to keep abreast of the latest marketing tips and tricks, click on the ‘Subscription’ link to the right of this post and be sure to let me know if there is a specific subject you would like covered.

The Perfect Partnership – PPC and SEO

Having previously talked about pay per click campaigns and search engine optimisation as separate entities, I felt it essential to explain, in further detail, the necessary integration of these two platforms.

By way of a refresher, search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the ‘natural’ or unpaid (‘organic’) search results.  Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the hosting service when the ad is clicked.   Still awake?

• Search Engine Optimisation = Unpaid, organic listings
• Pay Per Click = Paid advertising

When SEO and PPC are used separately, companies achieve some level of success. However when used in conjunction with one another, they work together as a strong and powerful force. 

In order to maximise a pay per click campaign it is important to first identify your keywords, an intrinsic part of search engine optimisation. This provides firm, substantial groundwork from which a successful PPC campaign can flourish. 

Put yourself in your customers shoes; what keywords will they be using in their online searches to access your type of business? Do your research thoroughly and do not assume you know the answers.

Case Studies:

We recently worked with a company called Bird Control Sussex who wanted the names of various gulls such as ‘Herring Gulls’ to be optimised. However, when researching key search words, most gull species scored 0 with the common term ‘seagull’ being pretty much the only term used.

Similarly, IT professionals we have worked with can often focus on technical jargon, self-explanatory to those in the business but often unfamiliar to those searching for services.

Throughout a ppc campaign, it is essential to monitor activities closely, testing out the success of different categories and keywords and ensuring that you get business generating leads. Don’t forget, it is about quality of clicks NOT quantity.

Two words of advice based on our experience…move slowly. Pennies soon mount up into pounds and I would always suggest caution whilst testing the waters. Never rush into a campaign without fully researching your customer base and interlinking your PPC work with the keywords (researched as part of your SEO).

Octopus Marketing can handle this side of the business for you.  We will set up and maintain your search engine optimisation and instate your pay per click campaign.  Just sit back, watch the sales roll in and let us do the hard work for you.  It takes a little time to get the ball rolling but the initial effort is well worth the wait.

For further information, please contact us via our website – www.octopus-ims.com

Blowing that trumpet loud and clear!

Excuse my blowing my own trumpet but I recently received some additional testimonials from clients which I thought I would share.  Both of which employed Octopus Marketing to work on search engine optimisation (SEO), PPC campaigns and overall website development. 

Sherry Wales – Director, James Mayor Furniture, West Midlands
http://www.jamesmayorfurniture.co.uk

“We have worked with Lynda for over 2 years now and can honestly say she has added tangible and significant value to our business. With a vastly improved website ranking as well as a fantastically successful adwords campaign, we have come to rely on Octopus Integrated Marketing for all of our online requirements. Lynda and her team are proactive, professional, focused and offer excellent value for money.”

Top qualities: Great Results, Good Value, High Integrity

 

David Knight – Director, Aspray Property Management, Sussex

http://www.aspraysussex.com

“Lynda has provided me with a very professional service, first discussing my requirements, putting together a proposal and then implementing the agreed strategy. I would be happy to recommend Lynda to any other business.”

Top qualities: Good Value, On Time, High Integrity

Give Octopus Marketing a call today to discuss your online requirements.  Whatever it is you need, be this search engine optimisation (SEO), social networking or pay per click campaigns, Octopus are here to help. 

Contact us today on 01273 915166 or e-mail Lynda@octopus-ims.com

Low budget productions – the creative edge!

Arts marketing and charity marketing are notoriously low budget affairs (although this is definitely not set in stone). Having worked within these areas for a number of years, I am very familiar with the trials and tribulations of working within small budgets and take great pride in achieving success from very little.

Octopus have worked with a number of arts organisations and charities over the years including Tree of Hope Children’s Charity, Oxfam, Greenpeace, BPEC, Worthing Theatres and Scottish Opera.  If you are an arts organisation or a charity in need of assistance, contact Octopus Marketing today.  www.octopus-ims.com

Hitting those top spots

SEO tips and tricks

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an essential criterion for almost every business. It’s all very well having a beautiful website but you need to ensure that you stand out from the crowd and are easy to find.

Top 5 Tips from the Octopus:

1.      Check out your competition. How are they reaching out to potential clients?  What words and phrases are they using to optimise their sites? There are several SEO tools and software packages available on the Internet to help you with this; most of which are offered by the search engines themselves and are completely free.

2.      Work out what words best describe your company. These words are your KEYWORDS and need to be carefully researched. Once you have decided which keywords to use, ensure that you incorporate them not just on your website but on your listings, blog, social networking pages, … wherever you can find the room.

3.      Write great content for your site.  Ensure that your information is sharable, linkable and relevant.  Be clear and original.  Introduce moving image, interactive content, a blog, social networking sites or whatever most engages your audience.  Establish yourself as the expert in your field and give the reader enough information to stop them from looking elsewhere.  Be a one-stop shop for your service and ensure your keywords are included within your content.

4.       Optimise your title and meta tags. HTML titles and meta tags should be different on every page of your website if you wish for most search engines to store and list them in the search results.  Google only recognises up to 66 characters (including spaces) in the homepage title so I would suggest sticking to this limit and making full and careful use of the characters available.

5.       Avoid duplicate content. Duplicate content is still a big problem with many of our clients.  Round up all those domain names you have purchased and make sure that they are POINTING to your actual site, not directly linking in.  Google penalises duplicate content and will throw you down the listings if you are not careful.  Use new tags when creating a website to prevent other versions of the page from appearing in the search results and be sure to check out your links.

There are many ways in which you can optimise your website but the tips above will give you a good starting point.  One key thing to remember is that it takes time to build up your presence on the web. Regardless of what many believe, there are no quick fixes. Work your way through the optimisation gently and within a few months, the results will be obvious.

For further information about search engine optimisation or any other aspect of online or offline media, contact Octopus Marketing today on 01273 915166 or visit us online – www.octopus-ims.com

I Leave My Mark – Brighton Fringe 2011

Octopus Marketing are delighted to have worked with ‘I Leave My Mark’, a children’s charity who are part of this years Fringe Festival in Brighton.   Assisting with their press campaigns and celebrity promotions, it was a pleasure working for such a worthwhile cause.

Using one of Brighton’s colourful beach huts as its venue, I Leave My Mark will be collecting finger prints to form a giant child’s face throughout May in support of local children’s charities.  All people need to do is donate £1, and leave their mark!

The initiative has been created entirely from the generosity of local businesses and individuals, which means every single penny raised goes directly to charity.

The beach hut installation will run over four consecutive weekends in May for the Brighton Fringe Festival commencing Saturday 7^th,  from 11.00-5.00 at a beach hut between First and Second Avenue on Hove seafront.

The finished art made of the finger prints will be displayed on 29^th May at The Basement, Kensington Street, Brighton, 12.00 – 5.00.

Donate, create and make a difference.  Leave your mark on the Fringe and help to transform a child’s life.  For more information visit www.ileavemymark.co.uk or contact www.octopus-ims.com

QR codes and their use in advertising

Keitai Culture

Sometimes it is neccassary to step ouside UK boundries and take a look at marketing trends abroad.  Japan and South Korea are, as usual, leading the way in regards to mobile phone technology, with cell phones having become an ubiquitous part of the culture.

In Japanese, cell phones are called keitai denwa, “portable telephones,” and are often known simply as keitai.  Much of the Japanese population owns a cell phone (keitai), most of which are equipped with enhancements such as video and camera capabilities. This pervasiveness and the particularities of their usage lead to the development of a mobile phone culture, or “keitai culture.”  So what’s new??

There is a popular trend in Japan to use the mobile phone handset to read information from special barcodes. The current technology is based on something called ‘QR codes’ which are a form of 2D barcode that is written out in a square shape instead of a bar shape (see image below). The phone handset can scan the barcode using its camera or other input, decode the information, and then take actions based on the type of content. The most popular usage of these QR codes is in advertising. All over Japan there are posters with the codes on and they are found extensively in magazines and even on some people’s business cards. The QR code usually has links to a web site address that the phone can visit or it might contain address and telephone numbers.

Watch out for this technology.  It is already in the UK and although we are a little slow on the uptake, is becoming more and more widespread.  Ensure you are keeping up-to-date with the latest trends and add this feature to your services today!

For more information (and if your phone allows it), scan the barcode below.  It  links into a Wikpedia article which explains more about QR. 

http://www.octopus-ims.com/

Octopus and You. Standing out via SEO.

Whenever you enter a query in a search engine and hit ‘enter’ you get a list of web results that contain that query term. Users normally tend to visit websites that are at the top of this list as they perceive those to be more relevant to the query.

If you have ever wondered why some of these websites rank better than the others then you must know that it is because of a powerful web marketing technique called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Octopus specialise in SEO offering great rates and an exceptional service. Visit www.octopus-ims.com today to learn more about this service and to ensure your website stands out from the crowd.

Should You Cut Your Marketing Budget During a Recession?

Everywhere we turn we hear of the downward spiral of our economic state. For many, this is a time where they start cutting down on their marketing spend. Makes sense, right? No! Let me explain why.

Cutting your marketing budget is one of the first mistakes that businesses make during an economic downturn. Now is your opportunity to really focus on how you spend your marketing pounds and bring in results. It’s time to get smarter!

If ever an understanding of your customer basis was needed, now is the time to really get to grips with your target market.  Look at your marketing spend as an investment not an expense. Go back to basics and revise your SMART marketing tactics:

S – Strategize

M – Maintain market spend

A – Assess and allocate the budget

R – Research your customer thoroughly

T – Target and reach out to them Stand fast during this time.

Companies have survived difficult times and have come out strong. Ensure that you are not only a survivor but an inspiration to others.

For more information on how best to boost your sales, contact Lynda@octopus-ims.com today or take a look at some marketing tips and tricks at www.octopus-ims.com

INVEST!