Let’s look at corporate responsibility….

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What does your company do as far as embracing diversity within the work place?

Poly Emp Employment & Advisory Service is a supported employment agency that works with young Poly Emppeople that have learning and intellectual disabilities. We place young people that want to work into mainstream employment. To do this we actively market to work places.

Did you know that 17% of New Zealand’s population have a disability? These people all shop, work, go on holidays and contribute to their community in some way. Unfortunately these people with a disability encounter huge barriers when it comes to finding employment. Creative agencies will all know that when you understand the impact of disability on customers your clients will reach a wider market as all of these customers have family, friends and colleagues.

Poly Emp Employment & Advisory Service has recently placed a client of ours at Y & R NZ Ltd in Auckland. This young man has a learning disability and visual atrophy. This young man is an admin assistant at the business, he does all sorts of basic tasks for example kitchen duties, simple admin duties, setting up meeting rooms, organising client refreshments and collating financial invoices. This is a job that was created for this young man.

How about giving someone a chance at being a contributing member of society by employing them? Contact me anita.walker@manukau.ac.nz at Poly Emp Employment & Advisory Service let’s have a chat.

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Working with the millennial generation

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Rebecca got interviewed on the hugely popular Getting a Grip on Time Podcast with Robyn Pearce last

Getting a Grip Robyn Pearce logo

Getting a Grip Robyn Pearce

week.  The discussion focused on how business owners can adapt to work with the Miliennial generation who are coming into the workforce.

Creative Agency Secrets has an intern programme and so Rebecca has had a lot of experience learning about different expectations, working skills and job satisfaction.

Listen to Getting a Grip on Time Do More with Less – a Win-Win way of working with the millennial generation.

Unless you are living in a cocoon, you’ll probably have young people somewhere in your world. You might be a parent, grandparent, an employer or you work with one or more.  Or you are a Millennial yourself – born in the last decade of the 20th century.

Do Millennials really see themselves as the ‘entitled’ generation or is their way of approaching work a result of the world they find themselves in? Rebecca Caroe of Creative Agency Secrets believes it’s the latter. For example, did you know that 37% of people under 30 are self-employed, many because they can’t find work or don’t want to do the work on offer?  She has a policy of hiring young inexperienced marketing graduates as interns and training them up to begin full-time work (if that’s their choice). She sees this as a form of social entrepreneurship – a form of giving back and/or paying it forward.

Rebecca shares an abundance of practical strategies for young ones preparing for or seeking their first jobs, the employers considering hiring them and even for the institutions who teach them.

You’ll learn:

  • What do employers need to look for
  • How to motivate the young ones
  • How to treat them with fairness
  • How to work with them in flexible and effective ways
  • What Millennials can do to prepare for work opportunities

If we can have sufficient flexibility to tap into the initiative and creativity of this generation of digital natives we have a fabulous opportunity to enhance our companies and our lives, let alone support the people who will one day be running our world.

 

 

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Can Staff Destroy your Brand using Social Media

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We had a great event with MyHR this morning to answer this question for business owners.

Clue – the answer is “yes”!

The longer answer is that it will probably only be a total destruction if you do not have clear policies in place or if your company has something to hide and is not clearly communicating to customers, staff, stakeholders and shareholders.

The slide decks by Rebecca Caroe and Jason Ennor are below.

Watch the video on the Creative Agency Secrets YouTube Channel.

Any questions – please get in touch.  We are happy to offer a free 20 minute phone chat to prospective clients.

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Marketing and HR combine

Marketing and HR Can Now Join Forces Thanks to Tech

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More and more businesses are beginning to see the benefit in strengthening the connection between their

Marketing and HR combine

Marketing and HR combine
Photo credit: Actionhrm.com

marketing and human resources departments. When technology is used in combining the resources of HR and marketing, it can certainly have a positive impact on both departments. Technology ensures that everyone in the same company has access to the same information, which can make it easier to build brand loyalty. Trust in a company is increased when potential customers see a genuine commitment in its personnel.

Consumers desire products that they can perceive as being aligned with their own self-image or that fit in with an idealistic lifestyle. The same emotional needs and motivations apply to employees too, especially those who identify themselves with a particular culture or set of values.

Technology is used in marketing to build brand loyalty through strategies that bring in better results. When marketing strategies are combined with HR, the result is greater employee loyalty through higher expectations and more engagement with the brand.

When marketing and HR join forces, thanks to tech, the value of the brand is enhanced from a customer’s point of view and this has an obvious impact on sales.

Technology allows HR teams to focus on strategic tasks

HR software systems allow close analysis of employee performance. This means that an employee’s future prospects depend less on having the right skills and formal qualifications and more on their level of engagement with company values and branding.

HR can carry out analysis of job candidates in the same way that the marketing department identifies and targets potential customers. This effectively rules out anyone being employed that are likely start complaining. If the wrong sort of people are hired, the potential is always there that they will do harm to the brand by using social networks or suchlike to voice their complaints.

When HR can focus on recruiting people who want a more meaningful career, company employees stay loyal to the brand and act as ambassadors. They post positive messages about their job and show pride in what they do.

Together marketing and HR can build better strategies

The same type of analytical data that is used by HR to identify the potential of an employee can be applied in marketing to assess the relevant aspects of a potential consumer.

Tracking software used in HR gives all employees access to their own data. The marketing department can use feedback from individual employees in combination with analytics to see exactly how well their strategies are working in real terms. The team can then make decisions about refinements that will increase sales through better marketing strategies in future.

Greater benefits for business

Before the digital age, a marketing department was primarily concerned with working to a budget, and its main focus was on products and consumer demands. HR was not involved in any of those aspects and was only concerned with company employees. In the modern world employees expect to be treated more like consumers and the functions of these two departments should become more closely linked through technology. As a result there will be some obvious improvements in both departments.

Marketing departments develop strategies that match the company’s values. They establish a brand and reinforce the company mission. The same sort of technology used in marketing can help HR to recruit sales staff that have a similar philosophy. With the input of data from HR and the marketing department, the workforce is better prepared to get the right message across to potential customers.

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Anniversary marketing campaign ideas

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Linda Horton from Bermuda makes amazing Bermudan Black Rum Cakes and is planning a 30th

Horton’s Bermudan Black Rum Cake

Anniversary Marketing event.  Here’s what we recommended

  • Create a special cake (unique box, big plus small cake in one box, different sizes, multi-buy)
  • Use your database of past customers and create a mailing campaign
  • Create a landing page on your website “30th Anniversary” – on the page talk about the history of the company and tell them there will be a contest every week during July and you’re planing a special cake edition.  As each email gets sent out, edit the page to include more and more information

Send messages as follows

  • 1 month in advance (1 June) telling them to expect something special at the anniversary.
  • 2 weeks later tell them what it will be and say you’re taking advance orders at a special discounted price for 1 week only.  [This is useful because you then know the volume you need to bake.]
  • 1 week after – send an email saying you will raise the price to the normal price on the website in 1 day [this will drive more sales].
  • On 1 July start the contest on Facebook and also run it on the website.  Include a simple entry form so you get their email addresses.
  • On 8 July announce the winner of the first week on Facebook and the website page.  Also email every person who entered and did not win offering them a special price on a cake and encouraging them to enter again.
  • Repeat each week till the end of July.
If you want to boost contest entries you can do Facebook advertising to send people to your landing page.
I am really looking forward to the cake Linda’s sending over for the team… morning coffee will never be the same again!

 

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Email Campaign Case Study: Space Saver Rowing Systems

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Email campaigns are one of our specialties. One campaign we ran recently with Space Saver Rowing Systems launched their product, Wraptor Balance, exposed to a core group of potential customers.

Step 1: initial context

campaign 1Our first email blast was designed as an introduction to the product.

It had a simple design and asked all the major questions to illustrate how having this product can solve issues the customer has with beginner rowers.

Following the opening paragraph was a list of ways the product solved the issue. This, accompanied by specifications, images and  customer quotes, gave the product a well-rounded and positive image.

The email ends with a firm call to action dominating the bottom of the email – a risk-free trial of the product – as well as a warm farewell from the client.

Topping it off, we used a post script.  P.S. statements are one of the most-read statements in emails! They firmly guided readers to the product landing page and reminded them to act on the call to action.

As you can see, the results were solid with a 40% open rate and 10% click through rate. The success however, came in reply emails requesting trials which lead to sales for our client:

campaign 2

Step 2: follow up

campaign 2

One of the greatest assets to a successful campaign is the follow up email. Not only does it feel personal, it also allowed a specific offer to be made for a no-risk trial of the product.

The analytics show a smaller number clicking through, but the client got trial requests and sold product off the campaign so it more than paid for itself.

campaign 2

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My internship at Creative Agency Secrets – by Amanda Wikström

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Amanda WikströmMy name is Amanda Wikström and I’m a marketing student from Sweden. I have had the pleasure to work with Rebecca and the Creative Agency Secrets team for the last two and a half months. My internship has been a part of my education to get “real” marketing experience and the opportunity to test my knowledge in real life.

I feel that I have learned a lot, more the last few months at CAS than during the past three years in the University!  The University has taught me the theory of marketing and economics but here at Creative Agency Secrets I have had the opportunity to experience how a marketing agency is working in real life.

What I have learnt at Creative Agency Secrets

  • Blogging – I have been written my own blog about my internship. But the major blogging experience have I earned by coordinate clients blog calendars, I have written, researched, read, scheduled and planned for upcoming blog posts. I have learned how to create interesting content and how to use SEO to get it noticed by readers.
  • Social media – I have learned the importance with keeping up with social media and how and when to publish posts. I have also learned the theory behind the social media and how you can coordinate and connect your different social media channels with each other.
  • Google Analytics – I have learned how keeping track of your analytics can increase your business and help you develop new opportunities for the future. By tracking the traffic on your website you can take advantage of your market situation and change your behaviour on the website to suit your customers’ needs.
  • Client meetings – I have handled clients of my own, which has been scary, but at the same time very fun and educating. I have learned how important it is to always plan and be prepared for meetings. To get the opportunity to handle the clients by myself has giving me a lot more confidence and I have enjoyed it a lot.
  • New Marketing tools – I have been introduced to a bunch of great marketing tools that I have started to learn more about. I have learned how to set up accounts for clients and how to run them. The major marketing tools I used were WordPress, Mailchimp, FeedBlitz, Google Analytics and Teamwork to name a few.
  • The Importance of Researching – I have got experience and knowledge on how to research effectively and the importance of always be up to date on the latest research.
  • Website development – I have been introduced to different website CMSs and learned the basics about how to run them, upload content and link between different pages. As well as use SEO to get the website noticed.
  • Email marketing – I have learned the basics with e-mail marketing, what to think about when writing and sending e-mails to customers, how to set up accounts and create email templates.
  • Graphic design – From my colleague Theo Martin I have learned the basics of editing photos and text that can be used in blogs and on social media.

A Big Thanks!

I want to thank all the wonderful people in the Creative Agency Secret team  whom I had have the pleasure to meet. But I’ll like to send a special thanks to Rebecca who has been a great teacher/mentor and a huge inspiration!

Now I’m going back to Sweden for my graduation and hopefully find a marketing job that is as interesting and fun as this experience has been. I’ll wish the team at Creative Agency Secrets and the BizDojo all the best of luck in the future, lovely to meet you all!

Cheers,

Amanda Wikström

 

 

 

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Why accountants teach clients how to switch firms

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I came across a curious slide deck recently called “How to Switch Accountants” published by an accounting firm.  Now why would a firm choose to tell their clients how to move to another service provider?How to switch accountants

Thinking more deeply it was immediately clear – this firm was using sophisticated psychology in its marketing.  Let me explain

When you’re dating, how do you find good dates?

Think back to when you were actively seeking a life partner.  Remember all those conversations with friends when you groaned “All the good looking ones are already with a partner”?  or “I just get hit on by the ones I don’t like!”.  And of course, once you had found a partner, it seemed that the reverse was true!

Well the same applies to businesses who are courting new clients – those who seem to be desperate and will “go out” with any prospect only attract the ugly ones – yet those who exhibit the reverse characteristics seem to magnetically attract great new clients.

That was what this firm was doing.

Attracting great new clients by showing such confidence by telling their existing clients how to leave.  The clients CAN check out other providers, but the firm is so sure that they won’t like what is on offer elsewhere, that they either won’t try leaving or will come back fast.

The slide deck also includes a comprehensive list of questions to ask your new accountant under headings like

  • Determining they are who they say they are
  • Meeting your needs now and in the future
  • Valuing your business – will they stick with you
  • Staying current

Hats off to Alliott Accountants for having the confidence to publish this marketing tool How To Successfully Switch Accountants.

What can your firm do?

You may not feel ready to publish a similar document.  But here are 3 things you can do now to check your own firm’s perception by prospective clients:

  1. Get a friend to ‘mystery shop’ your firm – ring up and see what happens when they say they’re looking to switch accountants.  Better still, call at 5.05 pm on a Friday.
  2. Review all the marketing literature you have and see whether it accurately portrays your firm’s services, people, skills and areas of expertise
  3. Do a client survey to see what (un-prompted) actual clients say they think your firm is good at.  And does it match 2 above?  Also do this to people who stop using your firm so you find out why they switched.

Need accountancy marketing help?

Creative Agency Secrets are experts in accountancy firm marketing.  We can tutor you and teach you what to do if you want to do the marketing yourself.  Or we can do the firm’s marketing for you.

Learn more and join our free Accountants Marketing Newsletter

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How do you know that your business website is performing?

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Business websites are no longer a ‘set-and-forget’ business asset. Any website which you haven’t touched for months or years is depreciating faster than melting ice cream in summer. It is not helping your business.

The race to perform on Google was thought to be an un-winnable chase for small businesses who don’t have huge marketing promotion budgets.

That is no longer true.

All businesses run on Key Performance Indicators and so today I am going to run through a few important measurements that you can use to see if your website is performing well.

Going Web Mobile

The first one – and the most important is mobility. Google has announced that it will be including mobile-friendliness as part of its algorithm from 21st April.
Test your website here 

If your website fails the test – get in touch with your developers and build a mobile friendly website.

Machine readers for key words

The second one is a quick test to see how a “machine” reads the words on your website. We all know Google, Bing and Yahoo are search engines. What we forget is that engines aren’t human. When machines read web pages they find different emphases than we humans do.

Here’s a test you can do – take the words from your website home page and paste them into the Open Calais Viewer  Click ‘submit’ and then they tell you which words and phrases a machine thinks are important in what you’ve written. If those words are not the most important key words for your website – re-write them until they align.

Clever humans have written another machine reader which also shows sentiment analysis – what subtle messages are communicated using the tone of voice and context of your home page texts. Take the same words and paste them into Alchemi API Language . The keywords tab on the left is colour coded to show positive (green), negative (red) and neutral (grey) sentiment. The size of the squares shows the perceived importance of each phrase.

Expert copywriting for the web combines both human and machine reading – it’s very worthwhile getting these right.  Creative Agency Secrets are copywriting experts.

If you can write clearly about what you do, show off pictures and short articles and work with social media, email marketing and old-fashioned direct mail then your business can stand out.

Get local

Did you know that Google, as the premier search engine, is getting increasingly local? You do not have to compete with a huge national firm who does the same thing as you. It’s easy now just to set your search horizon to the local geography that you serve.

Let me prove it to you. Open up a search engine (Google, Yahoo Search or Bing) and search for “Your business name” and “Your suburb”. Do you show up? Probably yes.

Now change the search to “Your business type/profession” and “Your suburb”. Same answers? Or not?

Narrowing the search terms you show up for allows local businesses to shine as beacons to the local prospective customers they want to work with. And for New Zealand business owners, this is a godsend. Google’s Webmaster Tools are free supports that allow you to register your physical location with them so you can include a Google Map with a red pin at your location. Then customers can easily find your premises and load directions into their mobile phone maps for driving directions.

The hard part of web marketing

There was always going to be a “BUT” in this article…. well here it is.

You cannot get the search results you want with a static website that hasn’t been updated or changed for months.

This means that business owners need to learn how to rub and maintain their websites, just like driving a car – this means acquiring a knowledge of how to present your business to its best advantage, how to show off your skills, how to find the right audience and encourage them to come to your website – not just once but over and over.

In short, you need to learn how to Drive Your Website.

We are running training during May 2015 in 5 cities in NZ to teach you how to do this.  Blogging Concentrated NZ starts on May 1st in Auckland and ends in Christchurch on May 9th.

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