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Fine Marketing is proud to be one of the specialists delivering a range of business support to East Sussex companies. Under the direction of Digital Islands, run by Gavin McWhirter, we are working with start-ups, early-stage and established small and medium-sized companies who are looking to grow their business. 

The project which falls under the South East Business Boost, East Sussex, has a range of specialists which includes HR, Leadership, Marketing, Digital, Sales, Web Design, Branding, Design, Exporting, Finance, Product Development, Sales and Crowdfunding.

Businesses in East Sussex

If you run a business in East Sussex and are looking at ways to grow but do not have the business knowledge to reach the next step, we have three programmes.

Ready to grow

This is for companies in the first few years of trading who may need advice and information across a range of subjects.

Big Ambitions

This programme is for ambitious companies who are focused and ready to grow their business over the next few years.

Breakthrough

Breakthrough is a programme for businesses that haven’t engaged with support before.

The challenges of running a business

Free business support is available from experienced business specialists who want to help you take your business to the next level. We know what the challenges are – our experts run their own businesses and their support could make a world of difference to yours.

The programmes are fully funded, and especially in the current climate of change, the opportunities to gain new skills and learn from experienced professionals is one not to be missed. They include:

• What do you need to know to run your business?
• Your business growth plan 
• An introduction to marketing
• The importance of understanding costs & margins 
• Creating a great website
• Key Steps in creating a results-focused marketing plan
• Recruiting and retaining great people 
• Delivering high impact products that the customer wants, needs or is asking for
• Creating a brand that stands out from the crowd
• Creating a sustainable, repeatable sales process

In addition, there is a range of Masterclasses available to any business on the programme that would like to sign up. 

As part of this programme, you can fill in a Business Strategy Assessment which is a toolkit that generates an individual report for your business. Please watch the South-East Business Boost Video to find out more. 

Feedback received from today’s Intro to Marketing Workshop

Many thanks for such a great session today, and for the attachments. I found the PESO framework (which was new to me) really helpful in becoming more focussed on where to spend my time and energy, but I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that by far the most important piece of information I’ve seen in a long time was the simple Persona template with the accompanying generation breakdown summaries. My target population is succinctly described (namely the Boomers), and I’ve got a few pointers now on how to reach & appeal to them. Thank you!

Dr Lorraine Gailey, Director, Hearing Partners.

I thought I would just write a blog to encourage people to continue to promote their business during the Coronavirus crisis.

Google and Bing Business Listings

Everyone should have a Google My Business listing, and a Bing one for that matter.

They are free to set up and manage and appear for relevant searches on Google and Google Maps, and Bing appears on Bing places, Microsoft and Yahoo.

If people are searching for your business, they usually type in the name and the location. The business listings will provide all the info a searcher needs including location, business hours, services, pictures, reviews, menus and contact details. They will even say if you are temporarily closed due to COVID-19. On a mobile, customers can ring you directly from your Google My Business listing. 

For customers and clients, having this information ready when people are search is a bonus. It is also FREE. If you haven’t already set up a GMB or Bing listing – now is the time to do so and it will put you in a better position when you are ready for business to pick up again. 

Email

During this time, send your emails separately and pro-actively address specific concerns of your customers. 

Voicemail

Keep this updated with your most recent and essential information as well as the channels your customers can go to for up-to-date information.

Social Media Profile

Pin a specific post that gives any relevant responses or link it to your website page, which shows new information – however, don’t forget it is pinned when you come to post another post.

Signage

Ensure your business premises display the current information and opening hours. If you put up a temporary sign a few weeks ago – you may need to replace it or change the notice.

Website

You should be modifying your homepage to indicate you are on top of the situation and if you are doing anything new or different. You can use a sticky notification bar, a full-page rework or a link to a Covid-19 page.

Google My Business listing

Remember to update with new opening times or a temporary closure notice. If you are making time for anything, this is the one to prioritise. Google is running a Covid-19 update facility but have currently suspended reviews and turned off short name. Check your attributes – delivery, pick-up, drive-through?

Google What’s New Posts

These posts disappear after seven days but you can use an Events post where you can to set a time frame.

Adjust your marketing messages.

Do keep your messages relevant and make sure you are not insensitive. If you are still running ads make sure they are not old adverts or posts. Mistakes can be costly during a crisis. 

Google and Facebook Ad Credits

Both will shortly be issuing ad credits to small and medium-sized companies. These giants have seen their marketing revenues drop, and now is an excellent time to be taking advantage of lower auction prices in many sectors.

Facebook

Don’t expect posts to reach any more than 2% of your followers and don’t waste money on boosting posts – it’s like giving money to Facebook. You need to use their Business Manager and be super savvy. There is lots of online help or ask us about it.

Working Remotely

If using Google’s free apps ie Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. you might find Tips to Work with Remote Teams useful.

Link: https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/9283051

In the world of digital marketing, the last couple of weeks has seen us react quickly to support clients with advice to ongoing and future campaigns, rescheduling, cancellations, making changes to websites, updating opening times and delivery information. On social media, we have responded to the demands of clients preparing their businesses for when a kind of normality returns. 

COVID-19 is certainly shaping consumer behaviour, the customer journey and many are turning to phones and personal contact to get the information they need quickly and precisely.

Certain businesses have seen an increase in demand from the obvious; hospitals, telehealth, subscriptions to online services and care, but spin-offs have included more demand for self-storage, pest control, financial services, senior living and mattresses. We assume the latter is because younger family members are living-in to help others.

Across the board, the search volume for COVID-19 has risen exponentially and will have an impact on your brand. Our suggestions, therefore, are try to position your brand as a helper and work on strategies with your blog posts, your social media and your PPC.

Many businesses are pulling back from PPC to SEO and content marketing. If you are aware of your Google Analytics stats, your insights to organic Search can be improved and used to tap into your customers’ behaviour.

Here are some interesting stats from US data company Dialogtech showing the current difference between Organic and Paid Search with regard to phone enquiries.

What else could you be doing? 

Give out a clear message. 

If you have a retail store which has had to close because you’re not an essential business, then explain why and let your clients know that you hope to be soon open again. 

Perhaps you have a shop that has had to change your opening hours because of staff shortages or problems with supply. Share your news as well as local content and be empathetic with others.

On what channels can people find information about your business?

The most important are: your website, Google My Business, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked-In, Trip-Advisor and Bing.

Make sure your brand messages are consistent as this will enhance your SEO

Check out where people are visiting your website from – it’s all there on Google Analytics.

Let your customers know you are working and open for business. If not now, then prepare from when you will re-open and how you will manage social distancing in your shop or business. 

Remember to post those opening hours and updates on social media. Add a banner or a pop-up but make sure it’s only on the home page and doesn’t distract visitors by appearing on every page they visit. 

If you have reduced staff, let your customers know by adding an extra line on your contact form by saying your response times may not be as quick as usual. 

Change Google My Business and Facebook business hours

With any business hours changes, follow those through on Google My Business (GMB) and Facebook pages. Use Google’s COVID-19 update options which will preview on your profile and, if your business is temporarily closed, you can mark it as ‘temporarily closed’ on GMB.

If you have put a plan in place to direct people around your premises to adhere to social distancing, why not talk people through it and show them with a video? Give them the reassurance they need to come back into the shop or business premises. 

Google Reviews and the ability to edit names on GMB have currently been suspended. The Q&A section has also been temporarily removed due to the crisis.

Don’t forget to use Facebook. Chat is up around 50%, and people are spending a lot of time on Facebook while working remotely. Creating content and reposting helpful content could be seen as a real benefit to your business. 

Brand building and awareness

Don’t sit back during the crisis, show everyone you have resources and your business is in good health so that when the time comes, you can return to normal. 

You may well find you have new customers, have benefited from the additional exposure, have built some brand advocates and have sent out your brand messages and maximised exposure. Use webinars, giveaways, learn a new skill, participate in podcasts, host a digital summit or be a speaker and create some digital content so you can hit the ground running when the need returns. 

Work goes on, and there is a value. From what we all see from our online feeds; education, engagement and entertainment continue in different forms all around us. People have adapted, improved and become more versatile than ever with their ideas. 

Should the Coronavirus stop B2Bs from marketing? 

Should we all stop and stay quiet, or shall we continue to provide value to our clients and new audiences?

Businesses all around us are adjusting to the new norm. Work doesn’t always stop. With some businesses, unfortunately, they have no choice, but for others, companies still need support, information, advice, products, supply and services. There have been and, will be, new challenges, new opportunities and ways in which we can help our B2B customers and our B2C.

We have a new reality. People and businesses have new needs which we need to meet as well as new fears that we can help address. We need to find a way we can do our job but do it differently. 

There is no written plan for this – the COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented. Some brands will get it wrong. Their sales may be too strong, and they could be seen to be exploiting the public. Others could risk not doing anything or pretend it’s business as normal.  Some companies are working hard remotely, and others are working flat out to support under-resourced NHS teams. In the last few weeks, we have all come to appreciate those things we took for granted, and it is wonderful to see how many people care for their community and those that live within it.  

There is a lot of content out there, some good, some poor and some that is affecting your customers. Remember, whatever advice you give, it needs to be relevant, and your content calendar should be adjusted accordingly. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to use your story – it’s a powerful message.

Businesses should be adjusting their marketing calendar as it is impossible to continue with existing plans. Could you bring projects forward or keep them on hold? Giffgaff had a campaign planned for the end of the year and, as it was focusing on building communities, they have adapted what they had currently filmed, changed the format, and brought the launch date forward as ‘communities’ due to ‘community’ focus.

Some hard costs and reputation costs will inevitably not be recouped, but it is still essential to work on your reputation and be communicative. Let people know what’s happening with your business, be transparent, be one with the community and keep your customers on board so that when we have the green light, you are prepped and ready to go.

Here https://news.linkedin.com/coronavirus-resource-hub/work-resources#connected is some helpful information on How to Host a Virtual Event and How to Organise a Webinar on LinkedIn’s work resources page. 

We have been watching the COVID-19 situation develop rapidly over the past few weeks and, well before the UK lockdown, it was evident that a major crisis was brewing. Not only were we going to see a global downturn but supply, especially from China and South Korea, was going to affect everyone.

At the moment, the world is coping with a pandemic, not yet a recession, but we have no doubts there is a large one on the cards.

What is happening to our businesses? There are three distinct groups

• demand has sky-rocketed, and their supply chain is starting to get tighter
• demand is stable, but they are also finding the supply chain is starting to tighten
• demand has dropped off and they are not worried about their supply chain.

For example, customers are buying more from supermarkets as they are not eating out in restaurants. Basic amenities are being purchased from the sofa and not on the high street.

Some business will see a temporary loss and others, who may have been struggling for survival anyway, will see their decline accelerated. Beauty and clothing sales will be tested as people stay at home and don’t consider splashing out on new clothes or looking their best.

The supply chain is going to be crucial to some businesses’ survival. We had concerns with Brexit, but nothing on the scale of what to expect with COVID-19. Supplies of medical clothing, masks and testing kits have seen a massive surge in demand which will hopefully fall as quickly as it has risen. Supply is leading demand at the moment and businesses are going all out to use their skills to best fit supply.

Most of us who have been in marketing for some years recognise the importance of maintaining and sustaining valuable customer relationships. We expect to see pricing models reworked as supply chains change but reducing product quality risks damaging your brand and customer experiences. A difficult decision to make when you have spent many years investing in your brand and products.

Should you still be advertising? When you look back, during difficult times, it is the well-loved brands of today that built strong customer loyalty during times of hardship. During the Great Depression was the time that Kellogg’s doubled its advertising spend and invested heavily in promoting a new cereal – Rice Krispies. Kellogg’s wasn’t the market leader at the time, but profits grew by 30% and, the rest is history.

Brand advertising has always continued regardless of global situations, and we have already seen a vast rise in Zoom over the past few weeks with an increase of approximately 74% this year (figures from CNBC). Statistics from Forbes quoted on 24 March that downloads had increased by 1,270% between 22 February 2020 and 22 March 2020. 

Changing to remote working and remote education with an emphasis on entertainment and keeping us all sane, produce many opportunities for advertising and connecting.

As we spend more time watching and listening to traditional TV and radio or online through social, online publications and video, there are opportunities to consider how best to invest in advertising. Actions today, could make or break your business – if you are not there in front of potential customers, you can bet that your competitors will be. 

Think about your core values, build emotional connections, support your customers and benefit from those engagements when the crisis is over. It is important to keep your customers informed as to what you are doing be that through your website, social media or advertising.

If you would like to discuss marketing, advertising, traditional or online campaigns, please do get in touch with us. Call Julia on 07572 422303 or email julia@finemarketing.co.uk

We have always take the long-term view with regard to exhibiting at trade shows in that it can bring benefits to your business and raise valuable awareness but that it should be weighed up with the costs involved before you invest your time and money and be part of your annual marketing strategy.

Trade Shows and Exhibitions give you the opportunity to meet directly with potential customers and generate leads but success is not always guaranteed as the people you may meet may not be in the market for your kind of products and services.

We do find that taking a stand at exhibitions gives us the opportunity to speak and network with other stand holders and this is often beneficial if you are a smaller business and other stand holders are of a similar size. The smaller companies will frequently have their Managing Director or Sales Director present, and it’s a great way to introduce yourself and start building a relationship.

Exhibitions are always an excellent way to raise your company profile and increase brand awareness and to make the most of this you should be using social media in the run-up to the exhibition to make the most of your online profile and increase followers. You may also find there are additional advertising and sponsorship opportunities that you can take advantage of when booking your stand.

Every business should be involved in some kind of networking, and trade shows are no exception. Shows are an ideal opportunity to learn about your competitors, find out about their new launches and what they might have in the pipeline that could have an impact on your business.

If your company is planning to launch a new service or a new product, then an exhibition could be the ideal opportunity and may provide an opportunity to discuss the benefits of the new service or product and the outcomes you hope to see.

It is highly likely that you will have competitors at shows and exhibitions. How can you stand out? You will need to make sure you have an eye-catching stand and some outstanding literature. Make sure it is all company branded and perhaps have some giveaways or sponsorship prizes to make sure your name has more impact on prospective customers than your competitors.

Consider your costs: stand space, design and build, travel, staff time, printing, sponsorship and giveaways. Book the right stand space – don’t get stuck in a corner where people may not find you easily.

Finally, do your research. Choose the right exhibition or trade fair. Check out if the speakers are big enough to attract the kind of delegates and/or footfall that you are looking for and follow up the event with some evaluation. The success of attendance and whether you have generated any good leads will give you the reasons to re-book or not for the following year.

For those digital marketers who have never attended one of the events, then you are really missing out – it is an absolute must if you want to stay up-to-date with the latest SEO news, tech and data.

With speakers and attendees from across the globe, the workshops and presentations encompass just about everything a marketing specialist is interested in. Comprehensive – yes! Fun – yes! Informative – Yes!

You could choose from ‘What the Gurus don’t tell you about Facebook Ads’ to Advanced PPC and paid social tactics; or how about Page Speed Optimisation Tips or 20 Free SEO Tools you should be using? Other topics included ‘How Can Businesses Build a Better Web’ or maybe content creation or search-friendly web apps was more to your liking?

Whether you are a freelance web designer or marketer; run an agency or are a member of an in-house team then, there were topics that would have been relevant to your role and level of experience.

Keynote speaker this year was Rand Fishkin, and he didn’t disappoint. Rand is one of the major celebs of the SEO world and took the main stage at the end of the afternoon. Rand started by stating what many of us thought – that SEO’s do a lot of work for Google, helping organise the world’s information for Google to scrape content from our sites. That the deal is getting worse all the time and where once they had two users, content creators and searchers, they now only have one – searchers. He explained that ‘It had never been more difficult to earn traffic from the world’s major players, such as Google/ but that also ‘It has never been more important to make your website the centre of your campaigns.’ Rather a conflicting statement but if you’re a marketer, it will make complete sense.

The choice of speakers throughout the conference was amazing, Greg Gifford, Purna Virji, Emily Grossman and Mike King to name a few and Dom Hodgson had the hall in stitches with his practical advice and his fairy princess suit! And then, of course, there was the Delorean-Time machine which took pride of place in front of the main stage.

If you didn’t make it to the event and would like to catch up on the slides – you can view them here: http://www.sitevisibility.co.uk/blog/2018/10/01/brightonseo-slides-september-2018/#gref

Finally, congrats to Kelvin Newman and the team for another great event! Brighton, you put the rest in the shade!

At the 15th Seahaven Busines Awards on Friday 11 May, we were delighted to be sponsors of the award for Best Environmental Business. At a glittering awards evening at the Jerrom Hall in Peacehaven the event, the annual celebration hosted by Newhaven Chamber of Commerce, in association with Seaford and Peacehaven Chambers of Commerce, welcomed over 100 guests. VIPs included the Deputy Lieutenant for East Sussex, David Allam and His Excellency Ambassador Tran Ngoc An of Vietnam, local MPs Maria Caulfield and Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the towns’ three Mayors and all three Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce.

Julia presented the Award for Best Environmental Business was presented to Clive Bonny of Strategic Management Partners. Clive’s company, founded in 1990, provides support for business sustainability. Social enterprise and environmental conservation are a key part of their mission, vision and values.

The company’s activities include conservation education in schools, they are co-founders of the Beacon Hub charity which has converted 20 acres of unused public space in Rottingdean into a free public nature reserve for community health, recreation and environmental education. Clive’s partnership with the Green Growth Platform has helped support over 200 East Sussex eco-innovation companies who have created 200 full-time jobs in environmental products and services.

2018 Winner Clive Bonny of Strategic Management Partners said “An award for Best Environmental Business shows the commitment by our Chambers of Commerce and local Members of Parliament towards long term conservation and resource management. We are all custodians of our planet for the next generation. Recognition like this encourages everyone to be more active in safeguarding our future as well as supporting East Sussex’s growth in innovate low carbon products and services.”

Runner-up was CTLA who provide 80,000 passenger journeys per year in their fleet of 20 vehicles reducing private vehicle usage by 90%. Careful route planning and environmental driving best practice minimise fuel usage and they are investigating alternative fuel option for any additions or replacements to their fleet.

Alasdair Fortune, proprietor of Badger Inks, Seaford is well known for their recycling of ink cartridges saving over 30 kg each month. Many are professionally refilled by a UK company and repackaged using recycled plastic and paper, the others have their plastic and metal components separated by a recycling centre in Lincolnshire and these raw materials are ground down and used again.

The awards were judged by MPs Maria Caulfield and Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Mike Shorer, President of Newhaven Chamber, Mark Derrick, Chairman of Peacehaven and District Chamber, Mayors of Newhaven and Seaford, June Dyer and Linda Wallraven.

This was the first year that Fine Marketing had organised the event and we would like to thank all the committee, sponsors, caterers, guests and winners and hope you to see you again next year.

We just thought we would round-up to 2017 as our second year has been really super combining work, pleasure and a sense of giving to those causes we feel strongly about.

Our roundup gives us an opportunity to thank our valued customers for having faith in us to design their websites, sort out their SEO and digital marketing and to produce stylish and stunning print to enhance their marketing campaigns. Thank you for your support and, we look forward to working with you in 2018 and onwards.

As we broke into 2017 we launched www.dementiafriendlyworthing.org and www.voguedrivingschool.co.uk and supported both organisations with online marketing, SEO and social media campaigns.

During the year new leaflets and pop-up banners were designed for Worthing Dementia Action Alliance to support the community in becoming a dementia friendly town. As a dementia-friendly business, we were instrumental in organising the launch to businesses at the Worthing Leisure Centre in March.

During the first week of January, we rebuilt a care consultant’s website within days following a hacking. Thankfully we were able to piece it together and we now managing her account and keep an eye on those WordPress plugin updates that need constant attention.

We helped Sophie Lewis, Newhaven Youth Mayor and engineering student at Newhaven UTC, with ideas for her App project for the young people of Newhaven.

In February, we exhibited at Worthing & Adur Chamber of Commerce’s Better Business Show and spoke to many people interested in web development for start-ups and our free website audits. February also saw us involved with the online marketing of the Seahaven Business Awards.

We designed and managed the 30th Anniversary for the Bengal Palace Restaurant in Seaford, designing signs and invitations; planning the celebratory event in April to which over 80 VIPs and guests attend a fabulous dinner at the restaurant in Seaford. The successful event raised their local profile and no doubt added to their successful achievement as Best Eatery in the Seahaven Business Awards.

Living and working in such a vibrant community we took part in We Spring Forward a festival celebrating women working in the digital industry; visited BITE a conference for tech and business organised by MHA Carpenter Box and rocked up at the ever successful BrightonSEO.

Spring sunshine on the office window meant a rescue for a Great Spotted Woodpecker who was suffering from concussion. We keep him quiet for a couple of hours until he was able to fly off to feed his offspring. Talking of flight there were some great networking meetings such as the 1930s architectural gems of Brighton City Airport and, at the other end of the scale, the super shiny British Airways Eye 360. Networking also took us to a host of fabulous hotels and venues in and around Gatwick and Crawley with Gatwick Diamond Business.

We worked with Storganise Ltd on their new website which launched early June and got them off to a great start with their business social pages. At the last moment, they required new brochures designed and printed for Meet the Buyers and, we managed that as well with time to spare!

Director James Kelly’s testimonial said it all, ‘Since using Fine Marketing our annual turnover has tripled. It’s not easy to put a finger on what the cause was, but a more prominent presence, better SEO, and an extremely well-created website have certainly been instrumental in our company’s expansion. Having such a knowledgeable and dedicated team on hand, often at very unsociable hours, to answer emails that other companies would ignore, is so very reassuring.’

As members of Newhaven Chamber of Commerce, we photographed the building of their raft from conception to launch. It was a monumental feat of engineering and camaraderie and great fun was had supporting the team in their adventure with hundreds of images and videos.

In July we were asked by one of Worthing’s leading charities, Guild Care, to write, design and produce their annual review in time for their AGM in October. The end result was well received and can be downloaded from their website. We were also consulted on a number of unfinished marketing projects and have been supporting the charity regularly since last summer on both digital and traditional marketing campaigns.

In August the camera was busy again at a special wellbeing afternoon put on by South Downs Leisure of Worthing. Field Place was perfect for persuading the Town Crier and the Mayor to play ball!

We attended the Horsham Business Show and Met the Buyers at Gatwick; we picked up Newhaven Chamber’s Oscar twice and, it’s replacement the new Chamber Chalice.

We manage the SEO and social marketing services for Kenads Printers, Abbeyfield Ferring, David Jordan Estate Agents, Arrow Tyre Services, Newhaven Chamber of Commerce, Quality Management Projects, Bengal Palace Restaurant, Elements Health and Wellbeing, MotorlineUK and Vogue Driving School.

Our design and print work this year has included work for Simon Marks Recoveries and Legal, Treasured Memory Books, Guild Care, Storganise Ltd, Bengal Palace Restaurant, Easy Tone Fitness and Relative Matters Ltd.

Website development and consultancy work have also included MotorlineUK, Relative Matters Ltd, Prof. Liz James of Sussex University, Lansdowne Nursery, Southdown Access and Biz Monkeys.

Towards the end of this year, we launched www.kemcoplumbingandheating.co.uk for a London plumbing and heating company and www.formabuild.co.uk which is a new company undertaking steel-framed agricultural and commercial buildings as well as period property restoration.

We are looking forward to 2018 with three new website well underway and lots of exciting projects two work on with new and existing clients.

Wishing you a happy, healthy and successful 2018 from Julia and Oliver at Fine Marketing.