Creative Agency Secrets

Update on yesterday's post about using Facebook to promote your agency …..

I got an immediate auto reply crom ClickyMedia …

Dear Rebecca,

Many thanks for your enquiry! 

A member of our internet marketing consultancy team will be in touch with you
shortly to see how we can help you.

In the mean time we have attached a Case Study for you to read.

We look forward to speaking with you shortly.

Kind Regards,

Sending a case study was a nice touch!

And then 40 minutes later, a reply from the Managing Director - Oliver Yeates

 Thanks for your email.

We do indeed generate business from Facebook advertising and it is entirely down to the levels of targeting we use.  We have specifically selected individuals whose job title includes the keywords "marketing" - this is why you will have seen our ad.

Here at Clicky Media we like to practise what we preach and our ads have certainly introduced our services to a number of Marketing professionals.

As with many on-line marketing opportunities which are arising after the huge success of Google Ads, click prices are relatively cheap and as such a very attractive return on investment is available.  Afterall we only pay for clicks ad the brand awareness and association is something we cannot afford to miss.Feel free to use this email on your blog.

Doubly nice.  And permission given without being asked! (well it is in my email signature….).

And so there's a really simple brief if you want to use FB - target job titles.  And from the logos on their site, FB is clearly one of the target areas they specialise in.

Well done. 

Rachel Clarke introduced me to Christian Payne who had the idea of hosting the first Geek festival.  I have been running the Vann Summer Fest in a field behind my mum's house for the past 7 years with Grant Craies, William Heath, Ruth Kennedy, Al Kennedy and Aliya Saleem.  We have agreed to bolt Geeknbury onto the fest - starting one day earlier and then seamlessly blending inbto the family fun.

Come down - bring your geek / biz dev / web 2.0 ideas and let's have some fun!

Details on Christian's blog  

I received a quesiton from a Business development Director of a well-known identity and branding agency who works with social enterprise and government organisations.

We don’t use outside consultants, but the ‘Enterprise 2.0’ is an area of interest. Most agencies seem to be setting up blogs as a way of presenting the agency culture and having open dialogue. What are your thoughts?
Ben

And so I wrote him this reply.  What do you think?

Without writing “screeds” my view is that a blog is a good way to start if you want to present the ‘personality’ of the agency to the outside world.  However, deciding to do it and doing it well and consistently are two different things.  You need to be the type of organisation who has the desire to show off in public a bit in order to keep the momentum of a blog going – and you also have to be able to write interesting stuff.  Many firms struggle to do both of these.

There are other simple social media tools that can be quicker than blogging and easier to maintain – but the same two rules I mention above apply.

Having said that, it is very hard to stand out in a crowded marketplace especially when the market for your services is changing.  But the opportunities for working with ‘social conscience’ organisations are rising.  Which should be good for you.

I note the Google page rank on your site is pretty low 3/10 for your home page.  Adding a blog which is not built in flash, may help improve your SEO as well as enable you to promote appropriate search terms to capitalise on your strong brand heritage.  Think of it as amplification for your corporate “voice” online.

So that’s my free advice for you.  Sad you don’t work with outside consultants – but call me if you want to talk further.
 

Many thanks to Mireira Fontbernat from Qik who has uploaded video of the three speakers this morning (and a little bit of me doing introductions).

Bloggers reactions: FreshNetworks' Helen Trim 

Charlie Robertson of Red Spider 

Quentin Boyes of Honeycomb Software  

Sadly the one of Andrew Howells of Zype didn't come out…. darn phone reception. 

THe good just got really great.

sending unsolicited and inappropriate marketing messages has always been close to what we now call spam.  

In the blogosphere, this direct approach without first establishing an online relationship and credentials / rights is considered more invasive and inappropriate than in the offline or email-only world.

Bloggers are very good at negative publicity.  And at campaigning / lobbying.

This wiki suggests that people blog these PR companies' URLs.  I.e. get no email at all from them (and probably report them to spamcop and get the domain blocked at server level). And heres a list of individual email addresses blocked by the author of "The Long Tail" and editor of Wired Magazine.

How damaging will that be to your business?  Imagine, no emails getting through certain servers and to some key journalist/blogger individuals - and all because a colleague made a mistake… 

ACTION - check your PR company is not on that list and your individual PR representative isn't either.  Your brand is doomed online.  Move your business elsewhere. 

Companies that I know who are on the list include [note I am not linking this text] Edelman, Bigmouth, Bite, FourtyThree, Global Results, Lewis, Ogilvy, Porter Novelli, 

Wise up. 

I have written before about ways and means of doing this for yourself.

the simplest method is a Google Alert for your brand name (and any obvious mis-spellings).

But have a look at these alternatives

Bloppy
Co.mments

Bloppy juust tracks web posts and comments

Tired of losing track of the comments you wrote on blogs you like? Missing comments from other users? So was I! But fear no more. Now you can receive notifications on your email of new comments on your favorite blog posts! 

Co.mments also tracks posts but calls them 'conversations'

co.mments helps you stay on top of the conversation by keeping you updated of new comments. Just bookmark, track and follow.  

I am hosting my third breakfast event.  "Should Brands be Broadcasters?" on Wednesday 18th June, 2008 at One Alfred Place 

I run these breakfasts in order to showcase new ideas and innovative marketing thinking.  Past speakers include Adriana Lukas on Social Media and Mark McGuinnes s on the Enneagram. 

Three speakers will give their unique points of view on this issue:

Charlie Robertson, Red Spider speaking on extending brand strategy to the online world

Sign up here to come along!

PS if anyone is willing to blog the gig for me, please get in touch! 

Working today with a new client we discussed some basic stuff to do with knowing how you are represented online (particularly in places where you do not control the content).

1. Set up a Google Alert to search weekly on a 'comprehensive' basis for your name.  Set this up in quotes so that it searches for your names concatenated.
2. Google your own name. 
3. Google obvious mis-spellings of your name [Rebekah Carrow]
4. Check out Zoom Info for your name and click the button to say 'this is me' and edit the information to reflect your current contact details.

That's for starters.  Go for it!

Media Futures Conference 2008
20/06/2008

The Media Futures Conference is a one day exploration of the dynamics and trends shaping the future of media. As well as an opportunity for lively debate, the conference will feature presentations showcasing innovative projects. Presenters and chairs include Dr Brian Winston, University of Lincoln; Charlie Beckett, POLIS; Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur; Robert Cailliau; Dr Norman Lewis, Wireless Grids Corporation; Sean Phelan, Multimap; Peter Day, BBC; Bill Thompson; and Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC. This is a BBC event, programmed and produced by Nico Macdonald.

There is no cost to attend.

Venue: Alexandra Palace, London

I am going…. please circulate!

I have decided to make it easier to buy my services for those on a budget.

Normally, my clients pay me a 'day rate' in order to work with me and I visit their offices and we work together on projects.  Following the beginning of a project with a new client, Afia , I have decided to offer a new way of working using remote technologies.

If you have a biz dev project that can be briefed remotely, discussed using email and Skype, then this service may be of interest to you.

Ben Afia runs a "tone of voice" consultancy and has started working with me on this remote basis.  

• He briefed me with a document detailing the particular circumstances of his business and his vision for building it into something larger.
• I read the brief and we had a Skype conversation to discuss the issues and questions raised and to decide on a plan of action.
• Ben is now activating most of the work himself - but has benefitted from introductions I make to other organisations who may help him achieve his biz dev goals
• And he will come back for more advice when he has run out of things to do or encounters an issue or problem.

For this type of work, I require you to buy one half day (4 hours) of my time in advance.  And the 'day rate' is substantially reduced to reflect remote access and the fact that you will be doing most of the activation work.

Ben has agreed to act as a reference for Rebecca Caroe remote services.

Do you have a service that can be offered remotely?  Could this method work for you in order to widen the range of possible customers for your business?  I am hoping that this will both bring my service into the price range of more organisations and also enable work with people not in my time zone.

Let me know what you think!