Archive for Marketing Strategy

Tips on choosing the perfect copywriter…

Many people may be at a loss as to why they should consider hiring a copywriter.  Luckily for them we have a new Copywriting page on our web site that explains exactly what a copywriter is, what they can do and why they are so important.

However, it’s all very well and good if you decide to hire a copywriter, but how do you go about choosing the right one?

Here are a few tips to help you choose the perfect copywriter for you and your business…

  • Determine your key points: Before hiring a copywriter you need to figure out what exactly you want from them.  You need to have a good idea about who you are trying to promote to your target audience, what response you are looking for from them and what your Unique Selling Point (USP) is.
  • Don’t do business over the telephone: It’s always a good idea to arrange to meet your possible copywriter in person so you gain a better understanding of them and them of you.  Although people say there is no emotion in business, it is important that you get along with each other as you’ll be working closely together.  Make sure the copywriter knows about your business and more importantly sounds interested in it as the more understanding they have of your business, the better they’ll be at writing about it or for it.
  • Remember ~ you get what you pay for: This speaks for itself, but you will always find someone who can do it cheaper.  However, why can they do it cheaper? Do they have experience, do you like them, are they professional ,etc?  A good copywriter may charge more, but you’ll get so much more out of it.

So, whether this has put your mind at rest about hiring a copywriter or not, remember the importance of wording in promoting your business and products and do not just rely on a well designed website or logo.

New Email Marketing Microsite!

As many of you will now be aware, from our last Marketing Tip, email marketing is an extremely efficient, manageable and cost-effective way to market your product or service.  It enables you to measure the success rate of a campaign so you know just how effective it is and whether it is a form of marketing you should continue to use. 

Important aspects to remember when sending emails are to:

  • Always include a ‘Subject.’
  • Add email addresses in BCC so no-one can see them and then add them to their database!
  • Most importantly, ensure you have their permission to email them!

Koogar offers an email marketing service, whereby we liaise with you to create an email template, which is both effective in its design as well as its message.  We now have a new microsite dedicated to the email marketing service we provide.  It contains several pages that guide you through what email marketing is, the benefits for your business, the process of setting up your campaign as well as the price.

So why not be one of the first to visit the site and see if email marketing is the right step for your business.  And remember, Koogar offers a 1 hour FREE consultation for you before you make any final decisions!

http://www.koogaremailmarketing.co.uk

Laura’s Diary: Day 11 – New events, networking, marketing tips & more!

I have done quite a lot of writing today and creating the wording for different event notifications- so have thoroughly enjoyed myself!

A New Upcoming Networking Event!

I started off the day by creating an email invite and the follow up website wording for a new networking event that Koogar and Azzure Marketing ( http://www.azzuremktg.co.uk/)  are organising for the near future.  The event is aiming to outline marketing and its importance within a business as well as getting people to welcome the idea of marketing instead of flinching from the mere mention of it!

After an hour or so of creating a couple of drafts and then typing it up I set my mind to proofreading the MyWirralHub website as a couple of people have mentioned there were spelling mistakes- I had a look and found two.  I re-worded parts of it and added parts to bulk it up a bit more and try and explain the idea behind some of the decisions, which I hope you find helpful next time you visit the website.

Networking!

Today is Monday…which means it’s the second instalment of Koogar’s new feature- Marketing Tips.  Today’s tip is all about networking and how important it is for any business, old and new.  Having been to a networking event with Koogar I have seen first hand how effective it can be for generating new business.  I have also included a few important hints concerning networking events as they differ greatly.  However, don’t just think you have to network at these specific events.  You can network virtually anywhere.  I knew a girl who wanted to move to Canada and work for a large company over there but had no clue where to start.  Then one day she got talking to a woman at the bus stop whose daughter was Chief Executive of the company she wanted to work for and she was immediately given the necessary contact details!  I’m not saying every old lady at a bus stop will be able to help you with a job or generate thousands of pounds of business for you, but it just shows, you never know who you might get talking to…

As I’m on the subject of networking I should mention that tonight I am going to one of the My Wirral Hub networking events in Neston which promises to be a huge success as 30 people have indicated they will be attending!  I can’t wait as I’ve seen how much organisation Amanda, Lucy and Ida put into the events and now I’ll be able to see how they actually function.  It’s still not too late to show up, just have a look at the website for more details www.mywirralhub.co.uk and remember a buffet is being provided and it’s £5 to get in, but all of this is going to The Roy Castle Foundation.

For the remainder of the afternoon I have been re-writing a featured business article for Koogar as we are trying to get featured in a number of publications.  I completed one a few weeks ago and have just, in the last 10-15 minutes, completed the second- leaving me two more to do over the next week or so!  So I’m going to get back to typing up the second version as I only have half an hour left in the office!

Don’t forget to check out the new Marketing Tip- it should prove very useful if you’re not already doing it so…enjoy!

Marketing Tip #2: Networking

By spending time talking to people about your business you can raise your business’ profile and it may also refer clients your way.  Research the networking events in your local area and go along to generate business.

Remember! It is very important to research networking events and even go to a few (adopting a ‘try before you buy’ attitude) before deciding on which one(s) you feel is right for you and your business.

Each event is different in that some may require you to be in a certain area and others may ask you to pay a monthly or annual fee.  So remember – find one that suits you and will benefit your company!

It is possibly even more important that you don’t choose a networking event that has a lot of people from the same sector or industry as yourself as they are effectively your competition.

A useful tip when attending networking events is to have a particular product/service that you want to push that week/month rather than going in there and bombarding people with every aspect of what your business does.

Here are a few networking events to get you started:

  • MyWirralHub – Wirral/ Don’t have to become a member/ Free or Pay for own Lunch/ Once a month/ Must be a business from local area.

http://www.mywirralhub.org.uk/

  • CEPN Business Forum – Chester/ Need to become a member to join/ £60 a year if your business has been established for over 12 months and £30 if under 12 months/ Once a month.

http://www.cepnforum.org.uk/

Good luck and happy networking!

Laura’s Diary: Day 7 – Blogging and Microsites

Its been another jam packed day here at the Koogar office!

I have spent the morning working on the wording for the Email Marketing campaign micro-site.  After a couple of attempts I think I’ve finally cracked it- just need Amanda’s approval.  Once the site / page has been created I can upload the four pages I’ve been working on, which explains in a lot more detail what our email campaign is actually providing and why it is an important aspect of marketing for businesses.

I have also worked on the wording for another campaign we are currently working on; “If I had a pound…”  This is only on its first draft, but I am really pleased with how the whole campaign is progressing and can’t wait to get some feedback from prospective clients!

Throughout the afternoon I have been working on some new blog posts, which hopefully can either go onto the website by the end of today or tomorrow.  The new blog posts consist of tips, your competitors and things not to forget.  It came to Amanda’s attention from looking at the website that the blog posts seem to consist of just myself and Matt’s diary.  Now, there is nothing wrong with this as it means we ourselves, Amanda and visitors to the site can see how both myself and Matt are progressing in our new roles.  However, Amanda and I both felt the need for something other than a diary on this page.  As a result I now have a variety of topics which I am going to research and write a short blurb on so as to break up the diary entries and put some tantalising information up for clients and prospective clients to ponder over!

So, for the remainder of the afternoon (a whole hour) I am going to concentrate on the new blog posts and hopefully get one up on the website by 5pm- wish me luck!

Laura’s Diary: Day 5 – VERY productive day

Today has been a very busy, but very productive day for me!

I’m pleased to say that I have finalised the wording on another marketing campaign, which will hopefully be produced and ready in the next few weeks so I can finally talk to you in detail about some of the things I’m doing.

I have also updated some details on MyWirralHub for one of its upcoming events in March.  Although this sounds relatively simple and mundane I’m excited because now I am able to log into the site and update anything or create anything that the site needs, which is great- another string to my bow sort of thing!

I have proofread a couple of client case studies, which I spent a couple of hours on , but I love proofreading and editing anything so was in my element for these two hours.  Koogar has now created two new pages on the website – one dedicated to client testimonials and the other case studies.  I have introduced these two subjects with a small blurb and the case studies page now has a case study from a client on there, which is great and should hopefully be posted on the website (as it’s only been saved at the moment) within the next couple of days.

The testimonials look quite exciting and I know I know…how exciting can they be??? Well from my point of view…very! I came across some different styles of presenting your client testimonials which Amanda saw me looking at and now she is designing our own Koogar style testimonials for our new page!

I have finally started to look at prospective client questionnaires, which I am going to be re-wording in the near future so future clients…watch out for this!

Although it’s been a hectic day, especially for Amanda, it’s been very interesting.  I am looking into Koogar becoming part of an online magazine in order to raise our profile, but everything looks promising and Amanda is excited too, which is a great sign!

Where did the name Koogar come from?

During 2009, I have met a lot of people/businesses and regularly get asked what does it mean and where does it come from… so I thought it’s about time I told you.

Most of my life I have had something to do with drawing or painting. I won my first drawing competition when I was 6. It was of a horse in a field, eating.

I did GSCE Art and Design, Textiles and then went onto to do “A” Level Art, an “A” Art Enrichment and History and “A” Level Pottery in 6th form. In the summer months, I attended Art college and went onto do a Repro-Graphics course.

In my 3rd year in college, I changed my last year of Foundation Art to Graphic Design. Most people on this course wanted to be artists or sculptors, who wanted to flick paint like Jackson Pollock or create something out of cardboard to save the earth. I, on the other hand wanted to see my work on billboards for brands and record sleeves for famous bands.

My inspiration came from architecture. People like Antoni Gaudi and Victor Horta, the first graphic designer I got to know was French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his famous “Chat Noir“.
If you know me you will know I’m a cat person and I love anything feline.

From Withens Lane we (as students) where moved to Borough Road in Birkenhead, where I went onto do a HND in Graphic Design (pre Computers) and this was where the name “Koogar” was born.

I was given a design brief which was to create:

  • Shoe box for mountain shoes
  • Out of cardboard
  • No more than 2 colours (Remembering black and white are not colours)
  • Paint
  • Cardboard
  • Glue

The cougar is a mountain lion which is generally based in America. It has a nice design on its face, which is where the idea for the logo came from. The Koogar logo was designed when I was 18-19 yrs, and has stuck ever since and sometimes people call me Koogar instead of Amanda.

The only thing that has changed in the font.

So, now you know…

How well do you know your clients?

Do you understand your client?

Had a fantastic 1-2-1 with a new member of BNI and also had a great conversation it was about knowing your clients and making sure you cater for all of them as they are all different.

Karen from Adaptive Comms split clients up into 4 categories:

  1. Peacocks
  2. Bulls
  3. Sheep
  4. Owls

Which one do you think you are? and before we carry on yea all of us have some amount of sheep within us! Its true!
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