Now that people are venturing out in person to Industry events Like to let all BCI memebers know I will be attending footageMarketplace on behalf of Science Photo Library (SPL) on the 21 June, and it would be great to meet some of you while I’m there.
I’m sure allot of you would have dealt with SPL before , but if you haven’t Science Photo Library (SPL) is the world’s leading source of science and medicine images and video.
Register now and meet me there: footagemarketplace.com
Launch has been named the best small digital advertising agency in Europe at an award ceremony in Barcelona last night, May 26.
The paid media agency was recognised as the Best Small PPC Agency (under 25 employees) in Europe, and also won Best Use of Search in the B2B category for its work to drive global revenue for an ISO provider based in the UK.
The announcement was made at the European Search Awards, an annual event which rewards and celebrates the very best companies and people working in digital marketing across the continent.
The judges praised Launch for its ‘team-centric’ approach to its work, ensuring that the workload of their employees was carefully managed while also guaranteeing that their ambitious objectives were delivered for its clients.
Jaye Cowle, Founder of Launch was delighted with the awards; “Our mission is to be the happiest agency in the UK. I believe that happy people do great work, regardless of where you work or what you do. So, I am absolutely thrilled that the judges recognised this and saw how it is possible to deliver on challenging goals and have a happy work-life balance.”
Launch has offices in Bristol and Exeter and is currently recruiting.
Rita will talk about how she has found brand thinking not just fundamental to successful businesses of all shapes, sizes and stages, but also how you can apply it to yourself to ensure that you are as valued and influential as you can be. She will:
Tickets are priced at £50+VAT for BCI members and £75+VAT for non-members which includes a buffet lunch so there’ll be plenty of opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new connections too.
If you’d like to join the BCI network, read all about becoming a BCI member here.
As a high-profile business leader, acclaimed brand guru and sustainability champion, Rita is able to inspire organisations of all kinds to find new ways to succeed in an uncertain world.
She has been called ‘Brand guru’ by the Financial Times and ‘The doyenne of branding’ by Campaign magazine. Retail Week commented that she is ‘A fabulous ambassador for business’. Alongside her board chairing and non-executive roles, Rita is a writer, keynote speaker, conference chair & practitioner on all aspects of brands, branding and business leadership.
Her career has included being a Vice Chair and Strategy Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, as London CEO and Chair at the global brand consultancy Interbrand and as co-founder of BrandCap. She is now a portfolio chair and non-executive director on the board of businesses including John Lewis Partnership, Nationwide Building Society and Ascential plc. Previous boards have included ASOS, Dixons Retail plc, Emap, Bupa and Populus Group. Her non-profit boards have included WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature), the UK Sustainable Development Commission and Green Alliance. She was recently appointed Chair at Forum for the Future, the leading international sustainability organisation. In the 2014 New Year’s Honours List, Rita was awarded a CBE for services to the creative industries.
Rita is a regular columnist and media commentator, as well as author of ‘The Future of Brands’ and two editions of The Economist book ‘Brands and Branding’. Her new book on leadership ‘Love your imposter’ was launched by Kogan Page in September 2020.
Would you love to work on exciting projects for amazing nonprofit organisations? Such as running paid search and social to raise millions for the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine appeal and supporting organisations such as Mind and Samaritans to reach people in need. We only work with socially responsible organisations doing good in the world.
If you’re keen to launch a career in digital marketing, you enjoy writing great copy and have good attention to detail, you should apply to our Digital Marketing Academy Day! You don’t have to have any previous digital marketing experience but you must be excited and eager to learn!
The Academy is a 12-month paid programme where you’ll learn new skills while working alongside mentors, leading to a full-time role.
The first step – apply to join our Digital Marketing Academy Day on Tuesday 24th May, hosted at our central Bristol office on Colston Street. Find out more and apply.
This is a great time to join Torchbox – we’re 100% employee owned and business is booming.
With 81% of people in the UK today saying that creating a well and healthy world is the biggest challenge of the 21st century and 52% of people in the UK saying that they have felt more unwell since the beginning of the pandemic, the immense scale of the task ahead is very clear.
To further explore this growing challenge, last week (April 28th), McCann Bristol and McCann Synergy hosted the second Talks on Toast event of the year, Truth About Wellness.
Hosted by Kathryn Ellis, Managing Partner, Strategy at McCann Bristol alongside Rodney Collins, Director at McCann Worldgroup Truth Central and Chloe Foy, Behavioural Strategist and ACC Coach at McCann Synergy, the event uncovered research based on 10 years of trended global data about the shape, role and meaning of wellness in consumer lives across 26 global markets – uncovering insights around mental, physical, emotional, financial wellness and much more.
Focusing on wellness both today and tomorrow, the research timeline demonstrated huge shifts in consumer behaviour from before the pandemic through to now. A large emphasis was placed on how far wellness has come in the last decade and the importance that is now placed on this for both customers and workforces.
With 74% of people saying they’re definition of wellness has evolved in the past year, what does it mean to be ‘well’ in today’s world? The insights uncovered suggest wellness remains multi-dimensional, however the definition of wellness we are familiar with needs to expand. Rodney talked through the eight dimensions of wellness including; emotional, financial, spiritual and social, with the focus drawing more now on how a sense of lack in one area can negatively impact another.
Rodney commented: “We’re really noticing that in the past 10 years what has shifted is that each of these dimensions appeared to exist in a silo, there was no mention about how ones mental health could impact ones physical health, how the bacteria in our stomachs affect how happy we are, how loneliness increases our chances of developing heart problems, or how the hitting costs of urban ride sharing is increasing environmental pollutants, which in turn are driving higher rates of Asthma. So the wellness conversation today has really become expansive, interconnected and networked.”
The discussion continued by identifying the erosion of this siloed approach, delving into the evolution of the wellness conversation and addressing five key additional shifts brands and businesses should foster and strive for to ensure a positive wellness evolution in the workspace.
Talks on Toast is a quarterly event hosted by McCann Bristol, delivering insight and global research at a local level based on key global topics.
All businesses benefit from content marketing. It doesn’t matter what industry or sector your business is in, or how well you’re already performing. By committing to a content marketing strategy, you’re sure to boost traffic and therefore sales. Regular content is the best way to stay on top with the ever-changing demands of algorithms and SEO best practices. It keeps your website regularly updated, feeds content into your social channels, and shows your audience and potential customers that you’re on top of your game. Here, we’ll explore why you need content marketing for your business.
Whatever industry you’re in, it’s unlikely that your brand has no competition. And one way to set yourself apart from that competition is with excellent content marketing. One of the reasons content marketing is a strong tactic for brands competing against other, similar businesses is that it helps to establish trust and build your brand identity.
Through your blogs, social media, and other content marketing channels you can establish exactly who your brand is and what it stands for. And once customers have an idea of what this is and how it aligns with their needs and values, you’ll be the first business they turn to when they need your product or service. After all, very few people take a chance on new brands without understanding who they are and how reliable they are. With your content marketing, you can make this known before people are even at the point of purchasing.
One thing has always been true in business: customers don’t want to buy from a brand they don’t trust. For as long as businesses have been selling goods and services, they’ve been striving to develop trust between their brand and their audience. Now, in a world where customers look to review websites before buying, it’s more important than ever to build a brand with a strong reputation.
One way to do this is through content marketing. Quality content that’s relevant to what you do and highlights your expertise is a simple way to build trust with your audience and any potential customers who might be researching brands in your industry before making a purchase. The more quality content you have out there, the more likely customers are to believe in your credibility.
Without going too deep into the inner workings of algorithms, it’s important to understand the value of creating content that works in your favour. Basically, the more often you update your website with new content, the more likely it is to rank well in search engine results because their algorithms will understand that your site is active and up to date. Content marketing is also a good chance to incorporate some SEO keywords relevant to your industry and the kinds of things your audience will be searching, which in turn will make it easier for them to find you.
The point of all this? Website traffic. The more someone visits your website, the more likely they are to eventually make a purchase. It keeps your brand front of mind, and will be the place they turn for authoritative content on a subject they’re interested in. And returning traffic results in lead generation.
Generating leads from digital content is similar to our point above about making people return to your website again and again. In fact, all these points are intrinsically linked. Since the more they come to your website the more they understand your brand’s identity and establish trust in what you do and your expertise.
Generating leads is essentially the main reason you’d do any kind of marketing. You want to attract customers and for them to make a purchase from you. By attracting those customers through content marketing you are able to build a rapport with them before they even buy from you. They’ll develop an understanding of who you are, and will be more likely to consider you a trusted source when they do come to purchase. This results in more quality sales and leads, rather than those who buy from you without knowing anything about you and might then be unhappy with the service or product. Good content marketing places itself in front of a potential customer when they’re actively looking for what you do, meaning it’s a quick sale from someone who already knows that they need you.
Bending and shaping content to fit the ever-evolving demands of SEO and algorithms can seem like a pain. But one of the benefits is that it makes tracking and analysing the results of your content marketing easier than ever. 97% of consumers use the major search engines to research and find goods and services, so if you’re not appealing to their algorithms, you’re missing out.
Organic search will show you how many people find your content and your website via a direct keyword search. These keywords will help you to angle your content towards the kinds of things you know your customers are searching for.
You can also analyse the content that performs best, where the traffic comes from, and how long they spend looking at your content. All of this can inform your content marketing strategy – after all, it’s not set in stone. You should be prepared to mould your strategy to the results of your analytics.
Still feeling confused about how to build a successful content marketing strategy for your business, or why you need one? Get in touch with OggaDoon. Our team of content marketing experts know everything there is to know about creating and running a top content campaign, so you don’t need to think about it.
Last month was B Corp month — a time to appreciate what it means to be a B Corp. The B Corporation is a global movement of businesses rethinking what it means to be successful, focusing on regenerative, inclusive, and equitable practices that benefit everybody, not just the people at the top.
B Corp businesses not only listen to the demands of the climate crisis — they’re often leading the way. It’s a huge psychological shift taking place in the business sphere, happening across continents. There’s now over 4,600 B Corps in 78 countries around the world, covering 155 industries. We’re chuffed by how far this movement has grown. Tusko is also growing, and we’d like purpose driven creatives to join us.
We built our agency on the idea that private enterprises have a vital role to play when it comes to climate change, social injustice, and every unbalanced axis that tilts our world away from what’s good for all.
We’ve always wanted to be a part of the wave making a positive difference in the world. Because with the pressures of climate change just getting more intense by the year, we can’t just carry on with business as usual.
Our entire economic world is built on a model that has directly resulted in the catastrophic environmental effects we’re beginning to witness all around us, and will have to adapt to over the coming years. So for businesses to become a part of the change we need to see, they need to be solidly accountable for doing things in a better way.
Luckily, it is completely possible to balance profit, and purpose. And as Mark Carney warns, can businesses afford not to adapt, and create those urgently needed solutions?
The journey to B Corp certification has given us an incredible framework to grow with, and we’ve had to ask occasionally awkward questions of our suppliers and our customers.
Our practices as an agency now include…
asking if our associates have a ‘Code of Ethics’ in their business.
enquiring if they have relationships with ‘Sin industries’): Tobacco, Alcohol, Gambiling, Weapons, Pornography, Unfair Trade Practices, Fossil Fuels, Diamonds and precious gems, fast fashion, Pharmaceuticals, and businesses with their workforce in 3rd world countries.
asking if they would be happy to fill in our ‘Sustainability Survey’, to assess performance in this area.
But while we’ve had to make some hard decisions as a result of shifting our business to align with our ethics, we’ve also attracted some exceptional clients along the way too.
We’ve been working closely with a Bristol-based law firm NRG to create their new digital identity, and support an exciting rebrand project. They’re also on the journey to B Corp certification, and as we understand it one of the main reasons NRG wanted to work with us was because we are B Corp certified.
It’s highly rewarding to be able to work together with businesses from other sectors towards a common, essential goal.
We’ve been motivated to begin our B Corp journey by businesses who are already transforming our economy by transforming themselves.
We look to brands like Patagonia, a north star for sustainability in big business for many. They make the coolest outdoor gear, and they’re also a beacon for major corporation ethics, and contributions to sustainability.
Tony’s Chocolate have been making waves too — you might have seen their colourful campaigns against slavery in chocolate production.
At a Bristol Creative Industries virtual event recently, following an excellent Andy Hawkins presentation, Nick Dean and I shared our positive experiences of the B Corp process & why we think any organisation should give it serious consideration.
I’ve been asked a few more questions about the “business case” for B Corp following the event, so thought I’d cobble my thoughts together…
At Varn we have had so many questions and queries related to the importance of using video as a marketing tool from our clients, we thought it would be useful to share some of the latest thinking on why video is so vital in 2022 and the powerful role video can play to optimise your SEO efforts.
We have brought in the experts from Bristol-based video agency Life Media UK to explain why video is such a key player in your marketing mix (and not just for SEO either!)…
At Life Media UK, we understand that with a strong video strategy and a high level of execution, video can achieve incredible results. The potential for video to connect you with your ideal client becomes even more powerful when you optimise it with the SEO tactics that Varn will explain to you shortly… but first…
Here’s why video is your best bet when it comes to marketing in 2022.
Fortunately for us and our clients, video shows no sign of slowing down; the average consumer now watches 19 hours of online video per week, with YouTube reaching more viewers than any TV channel on the planet. All of these video-hungry eyeballs gives you, as a business, the perfect opportunity to reach people exactly where their focus is.
While we’d all love to give each of our potential customers a face-to-face sales pitch, it’s not always possible; but video can be the next best thing. Communicating with every single one of your prospective buyers on-demand, answering their questions, delivering compelling social proof and engaging product demos can only be done through the power of a great video.
88% of people would like to see more videos from brands in 2022. Simply put, you should be marketing with video because that’s exactly how your customers want (and expect) to be marketed to.
The real value of video comes from its ability to drive sales like nothing else. We’ll let Varn explain the SEO value in a second, but in addition to turbo-charging your organic traffic, video can also boost sales from your paid campaigns by as much as 100%!
Once you’ve got users to your site, embedded video content can also increase sales by up to 144%, making conversions easier and campaigns more impactful.
Social media was built for video, and it’s now the most popular form of content by a country mile. Engagement with videos on Facebook is almost double that of text or image-based posts, and 1 in 4 Instagram users have made a purchase after seeing an Instagram story.
It’s not just your website and social media that feel the benefit of video marketing – 71% of sales professionals confirm that video emails outperforms text-based emails, as video gets your message across in a quick, succinct and engaging way.
We know how important return on investment is. With 87% of marketers who use video seeing a positive ROI, video is becoming one of the most reliable forms of marketing around, as well as the most impactful.
We know that 75% of searchers don’t scroll past page 1 of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) so making sure you are up there in the rankings, on page 1 is really important. Without a doubt, creating video for your website can dramatically improve your ranking results on Google and positively affect your SEO efforts. We know that the search engines love video and that’s because people searching love video and are increasingly consuming more and more video.
Creating video is a fantastic tool to target keywords in the search engines. With an engaging video it is likely that people will spend more time on your website and this can increase something we call ‘dwell time’. According to Search Engine Journal dwell time is defined as
We know that increased dwell time will mean the Google bots will identify your video as valuable content and this means better rankings for your website.
There is some interesting data on the value of video from Wordstream and here are a few stand out stats for us:
In 2020, Google announced the launch of Google Analytics 4 (GA4). And, this month, the news that has shaken the marketing world is Google’s decision to set a concrete deadline for the departure of Universal Analytics.
On the 1st July 2023, Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits. GA360 will stop this process on the 1st October.
On top of this, Google also revealed that you will only be able to access your existing Universal Analytics data for around 6 months after the 1st July 2023 (date TBC).
There are obvious differences between GA4 and Universal Analytics.
Universal Analytics was created to work on sessions and websites, whereas GA4 was built to work on your websites and apps. It also doesn’t rely on cookies and works using an event-based model, which delivers customer-centric measurements.
A shortcoming that has been well documented with Universal Analytics is that its session focuses on reports based on what a user does in a single session. It doesn’t focus on multiple touchpoints.
Google decided it was time to come up with a better solution.
GA4 is more privacy-led than its predecessor – it does not store user IP addresses.
This factor is particularly important today, as the digital marketing landscape becomes more privacy-focused, GA needs to evolve to meet the needs of its users.
So far, uptake on GA4 has been slow because it has a different interface and data collection model. People don’t like change.
And though a great proportion of our clients have set up a new GA4 property, a number of these clients were not using it and certainly not maximising its potential.
Don’t panic! There is still time to set up your GA4 property before this deadline.
The main thing you need to focus on is your historical Universal Analytics reports, as these will not be accessible around six months after the 1st of July.
So, to get the most comparative data between GA4 and Universal Analytics, you need to have everything set up and running properly by the end of 2022.
It’s important to remember that you still have ample time to set up GA4 and get to grips with this platform… But the deadline has been set so now is the perfect time to start familiarizing yourself with how it works.
Having GA4 properties is a good starting point, but you need to go beyond this and add the base tag and enhanced measurement for it to be of any benefit.
Keep the end of 2022 as your deadline, and by then, you need to have your GA4 account up and running and track your website elements and KPIs correctly.
To help you out, Google has created its own migration guide, which includes links to articles to help make your migration process from Universal Analytics to GA4 as easy as possible.
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