NO MORE STAMPS

Those of you who have worked with redyellowblue in the past will not be receiving an official corporate Christmas card this year.  In fact, no one is.  Not friends, not family, not colleagues, not clients or random people we have met in the course of doing business this year.  Instead a small village in Madagascar will be a couple of feet of pipeline closer to having fresh water in their village.  We have chosen to take the cash we would have usually laid out on fancy schmancy cards and festive stamps, and give it to Kitchen Table Charities Trust which makes grants to tiny charities around the world run by volunteers.  And our money is going to the village in Madagascar.  I have been quite surprised at how controversial the decision not the send cards has been.  A real 50/50 split.  Some people have been impressed and touched, especially as I have sent an email to everyone who would expect a card and attached photographs of the village.  Others have been mildly affronted and have viewed it as a bit of a cop out - "If I have to spend hours signing 200 cards then so should everyone else."  But I have been very excited by our choice this year and I would challenge anyone to visit the Kitchen Table Charities website and not be moved by the incredible things which are achieved all across the globe by volunteers on a shoe string:  www.kitchentablecharities.org.


Let me know if you have also chosen the charity route this year through the reader comments or via email at lindsay@redyellowblue.biz.  Don't forget to visit our website:  www.redyellowblue.biz


Lindsay

NOT JUST A PRETTY FOLDER

I sent a colleague of mine off this week to find out how we can improve the way we present our final document to our clients.  It is quite an impressively weighty thing which includes industry analysis, trends, competitor research, audience identification as well as a thorough review of our client’s business and that’s before we’ve even started on our recommendations for strategy, messaging, activity and a timing plan.  When we were smaller and our offering wasn’t quite as comprehensive as it is now, then a spiral bound document was great.  However, we now spend a lot of time doing quite valuable primary research which has a massive impact on our recommendations and how effective they are.  I didn’t feel we were doing all our hard work justice so I decided I wanted to get the whole thing designed properly.  Once my colleague had begun to brief the designer though, he came back to me with loads of questions and queries and when I began to think about it more, I realised the issue was more than just a couple of pretty, printed front and back covers.  If I wanted the finished document to be a true representation of the value I know it had, then I needed to invest time and budget into it.  PR and marketing isn’t just about media coverage and leaflets, it is about every single communication with your customer from documents, to letter heads to how you talk to people at networking meetings.  I am going to meet the designer next week to do the whole thing properly.  It is going to cost me more than I was hoping but I am sure that it will reap me more rewards than I was expecting.


Let me know how you are getting on through the reader comments or via email at lindsay@redyellowblue.biz.  Don't forget to visit our website:  www.redyellowblue.biz


Lindsay

CHILDREN, CHARITY AND GETTING COVERAGE IN A LOCAL NEWSPAPER

I have recently started doing some work with my daughters’ primary school specifically to generate coverage in the local media.  There are lots of newspapers and glossy magazines where we live and most are quite well read so for a school it is a fantastic tool for generating awareness and showing potential parents what you do.  Everyone knows adverts are expensive, so editorial is a brilliant way of securing space which is not only  free but is also much more likely to be read than ads ever will.  However, when you are a small business it is sometimes really hard to summon up regular stories to tickle the imaginations of the busy reporters on the local papers and this is where children and charities can come in.  A quick glance through your local paper can be very revealing, although you would be amazed how many businesses who are hoping to grab some column inches just don’t do it.  Amongst the serious crime stories, court reports and planning battles will be plenty of lovely photographs of smiling children doing funny things or of smiling grown up raising money for charity – they may or may not be doing something funny.  So if you have a regular programme of rolling news out to the local media and have a couple of gaps, then consider linking up with a local charity to offer your services in a fund raising capacity or contact your local school to see if you can get involved in some way.  The school or the charity will be delighted for some support, you will feel much better for having supported a great cause and I bet you will get a lovely smiley photo which will secure you some of that much needed coverage.

Email me with any of your stories which have generated some local newspaper coverage, I would love to hear from you through the reader comments or via email at lindsay@redyellowblue.biz.  Don't forget to visit our website:  www.redyellowblue.biz


Lindsay

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS AGAIN?

I have just come back from a meeting in Chiswick with a very successful design and print company.  They called us in because they don’t feel expertise of their design studio has a strong enough profile and want to encourage more customers through the door (don’t we all?!!).  When I asked them about their marketing activity to date it was no surprise that direct mail was a real hit with them, and they had piles of wonderfully glossy postcards and creative mailshots which all looked lovely.  But when I asked them what response rate they were getting (with direct mail it is usually 2-4%) they didn’t know.  They said that the reason for sending out this regular communication was raising awareness which is very commendable and more than lots of businesses do.  However, even for a print company, churning out hundreds of pieces of full colour direct mail collateral is still expensive and if you are going to invest in any kind of marketing or PR activity you need to know whether or not it is working.  Always begin with a method of evaluation in mind – be ready to judge anything you do on the results it brings you.  Often this is as basic as creating a customer profile form which includes a couple of questions about where they heard about you and why they chose you over competitors.  But, and this is crucial, make sure you use it and use it for every single customer.  Unless you have deep pockets and can afford the kind of big impact marketing activity which is likely to net instant results, your successes are likely to take a little longer to manifest themselves.  Therefore it is vital to keep an eye on where these lovely new customers are coming from so you know what is working and what is not and therefore what to continue to invest in and what is a waste of your money.

Let me know what evaluation methods and tools you find the most effective and easy to put into practice.  I would love to hear from you via the reader comments or email me at lindsay@redyellowblue.biz.  Don't forget to visit our website:  www.redyellowblue.biz

Lindsay