Social Media

There is often a lot of debate surrounding email newsletters – Does anyone read them? Is social media a better platform building connections? In fact, email can be a very effective way to connect with your target audience.

Having a mailing list means you have already captured ‘interested’ parties from your target audience and having subscribers means they do want to receive updates from you.

Social proof is all about herd behaviour – following the crowd. “If everyone else is shopping there, then I should be too.” “They can’t all be wrong, can they?” How can you stand out from the crowd and help prospective clients choose your business over your competitors?

As we are now all getting used to a ‘new normal’ and remote way of working, webinars have become for many, a big part of their routine. With so many online presentations, whether you are the presenter or participant watching, we might find ourselves getting a little tired of them and what to do next for a subject matter, especially in the professional services sector.

It is important, with any digital marketing strategy to keep things moving and fresh. With face to face events unlikely to happen anytime soon, shaking up your online webinar to more of an interactive workshop can help to engage participants and keep the audience’s attention and energy level.

Director of Cal Partners, Chris Lucarelli, features in North East Times - The Indie Series.  Chris talks through the rewards and challenges of setting up and running a business in the region and offers some ideas to those thinking of going it alone.  You can read the full Q&A here.  ...

In the professional services world, there seems to be a definite air of optimism, with new enquiries on the increase and home workers either gradually returning to their offices or now fully set up at home ready to carry on working remotely. So, what have we learnt from the last 12 weeks since the country went into lockdown?

There is no denying that relaying complex or technical information through the written word can be difficult. Hearing someone explain it, and seeing it illustrated with diagrams or images, often resonates better with the audience and helps get the message through.

But what do you do if you are not keen on webinars, either live or pre-recorded, where your face is visible to the audience, and you feel every fidget will be exaggerated by your nervousness?

As we all adapt to remote working, our homes have now become an office, nursery, school, virtual meeting room and conference facility! As we change to the appropriate situation, it is important to ensure that we have the correct technology and set up. Presenting digitally is now, for many, a daily routine in their work environment but, for others, the dread of technology going wrong can be one of many anxieties.

How do you make sure you have the right set up and are fully prepared for presenting online?

We probably all wish we had latest state of the art technology, lighting, sound, mics and green screen, but as this is not possible for everyone, we have outlined some tips to giving a good remote presentation.

Content marketing is defined as “a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.” - Lexico 

Clients don’t want to be sold to; they want to build relationships. Start by identifying who your ideal clients are, put yourself in their shoes, work out what their key problems are and focus on solving them.

Lawyers, Accountants, Financial Advisers are all used to standing up in front of people delivering and hosting presentations, seminars and events as part of their marketing plan. Webinars can now take that place as the ‘virtual conference’ and keep you connected with your audience and generate leads.

Webinars can be very engaging, aren’t very expensive to create and can be done from the comfort of your own home!

Every company will be or should be aware of their brand guidelines – from font, colours, photography, logo and messaging, brand guidelines help to create your brand identity.

Even if one person or a mix of people are managing your social media, successfully marketing your brand on social media requires consistency. This is where a social media style guide is important - this is a separate document that relates to your company brand guidelines and having a social media style guide helps you to maintain a consistent brand, reduces mistakes, and useful for new recruits or agencies to get to grips with the right style.