Typically, we print brochures which contain product and service information about our businesses. We might hand them out at events, take them to meetings or even send them in the post to customers and clients in order to spread brand awareness, stir up new interest, and offer discounts and alluring offers.
But most printed brochures become out of date after a certain period of time, rendering them obsolete – and they’re not the most environmentally friendly solution. Add to this the world’s changing consumption habits as the scales tip towards increasingly digital experiences, and a printed brochure is no longer the most efficient solution for getting the word out about your brand.
Instead, there’s a growing demand for digital brochures.
Digitalising your brochures is a natural evolution that will help you keep up with changing consumption habits, as the world becomes more reliant on technology and virtual experiences.
Take a look for yourself at how to meet consumer expectations at the touch of a button, and read on to explore the benefits which have clients approaching us to create their digital brochures, today.
Information in a brochure can become quickly outdated – particularly if you’re part of a brand that prides itself on meeting the highest standards of quality, adapting to changing markets or staying one step ahead of regulations. If new industry standards come into play, or the government launches a new initiative that’s in line with your values, print brochures lack the agility you need to spread the word.
One of the main benefits of producing a brochure digitally rather than in print is the ability to be able to edit, amend and add to your content long after it’s been released.
Whether you’re launching a new product, reacting to market changes, new consumer habits or real-world events, you can edit your content in real-time, ensuring you’re always disseminating the latest and most accurate information.
And if your content is always up to date, it’s always relevant to your customers’ lives.
There’s no longer a need to think of a brochure as a standalone or one-off piece of content.
Instead, it becomes a dynamic document that can be built up over time and be integrated with your other digital offerings.
When it comes to your marketing, a digital brochure opens up opportunities by providing data that you just can’t get from paper.
You can gather information on who is looking at your digital documents, where they come in and drop off, and even calculate which pages are most popular. Not only this, you can track where the traffic visiting your brochure is coming from – whether it’s directly from your website, from an email campaign you’ve sent, or an internet search engine – giving you invaluable information about your audience.
This data can be used to optimise your marketing efforts. If you can see that people drop off from your brochure at a certain page, it may be worth redesigning it or rearranging your content. If most people visit via your email campaigns, but you’re only sending them once a month, you can make an informed decision to send them more frequently.
Perhaps most beneficial of all, your brochure can also become a powerful marketing and lead-generation tool in itself.
By placing calls to action (CTAs) throughout, you can direct your readers to take action: whether it’s clicking through to more information on your website, to campaign landing pages or driving them to contact you.
Take a look at the ‘last word’ in our digital brochure, for an example.
It’s even possible to embed forms within your document, so you can collect customer data while encouraging them to sign up to future brand engagement opportunities, such as webinars, newsletters and brochures.
Take advantage of the power of social media and reach an even wider audience with a digital brochure.
With some clever promotion, you can encourage people inside and outside of your business to share your document. Sharing it via a URL link –rather than in a download – can be especially useful in an age where people are sceptical of downloading unknown content.
You can even embed share buttons in your brochure, so then people who read it and find its content useful are able to share it to their own followers, growing your potential audience much wider than you could achieve with a printed version.
Accessibility is a key concern and is become much more standardised across web-based content. Digital brochures have the benefit of offering ‘zoom’ features, and even translation options where needed. And when it comes to accessibility, instead of making several print brochures in different formats, you can adjust contrast ratios, font sizes and offer speech-reader friendly content too.
Engagement is much more versatile with digital brochures, too. In fact, you can grab your readers’ attention in a number of ways.
Embedding video in your document can help bring information to life, and add personality which makes your content even more memorable. You can add animated infographics, transitions and interactive elements to maintain curiosity throughout the user journey, and maximise the impact of every page.
Plus, you can even design brochures which are entirely responsive, with an optimised appearance for every device it’s displayed on.
Have you ever received a physical letter, business card or leaflet with multiple URLs or complicated email addresses written on them? With a digital experience, there’s much less room for user error – and a much larger chance of people visiting the content you’re asking them to.
In fact, using live URL links makes brochures easier to navigate in more ways than one. You can cross-reference pages, chapters and sections within your brochure, wherever they’re relevant, or link externally to additional information – whether on your website, or creating a mailto: link, making it easier than ever for your readers to get in touch. You can explore all these examples in our digital brochure.
By removing the need for printing and delivery, you can save considerably on your production costs.
Not only can you remove the additional costs of paper, production, print and distribution, you can skip out on the stress that comes with potential errors, print deadlines and handling reprints – not to mention you’ll have a much, much lower environmental impact.
All you need to do with a digital brochure is provide the link.
Digital brochures have many features and benefits that make them a great alternative or addition to the traditional print brochure. If you haven’t already, just take a look at our newest digital brochure for an example of how interactive, memorable and engaging they can be.
Ready to open up new possibilities for marketing and audience reach? Or want to speak to us about the role a brochure could play in your promotional and marketing strategies?
Talk to us today at [email protected].
With an estimated 3.6 billion people using social media worldwide, by now you’re probably aware that maintaining your brand’s presence on social media is critical if you want to compete in this ever-progressing digital landscape.
A strong social media presence not only offers new opportunities for leads and sales, but also strengthens customer loyalty, enhances your networking, and opens the door for more partnerships and customer feedback – all the while driving traffic to your website and raising awareness of your brand.
However, the steps needed to assert or improve your presence on socials may feel unclear. Many businesses assume that social media management is easy to take on at first, due to the deceptively simple user experience on most platforms. But in actual fact, it’s a very different, more intricate experience than managing a personal account, and if handled incorrectly, it can even have a detrimental impact on your brand.
So here are seven steps that any modern business can take to ensure their brand is making the most out of social media in the digital age.
By monitoring the performance data of your competitors, you can gain insights into what works and what doesn’t, for smarter decision-making and a better strategy. Researching and analysing competitor behaviour means you can stay one step ahead, and be inspired by new ideas while avoiding their mistakes – and you can outline any threats to your business and identify gaps in your strategy.
After all, why reinvent when you can circumvent?
There are a number of social competitor analysis tools you can use to do this, including FanPage Karma, Awario, Unmetric, and Iconosquare. You then need to decide which audience, engagement, and content metrics are useful to you.
Some of those metrics might be percentage of engagement per media, followers gained, follower growth, comments, likes, the most used hashtags, average posts per day and so on – it’s what’s important to your business.
If you don’t know who your audience is, how can you give them what they want? It’s important to learn your audience’s needs and motivations, as well as their behaviours. What social media platforms do they use? When do they use them? And what are they looking for? With the answers, you can tailor your content to ensure you are serving the right message, at the right time, in the right place.
Different audience demographics behave differently online. So knowing who’s on what platform aids your researching, advertising and marketing decisions, and ensures you’re providing the most relevant content to achieve your business goals.
Once you have an understanding of your audience’s needs and preferences, as well as those of your competitors, it’s time to select which social media channels are most suited to your audience and products/services.
Each social network provides unique delivery opportunities for you to entice your audience. For example, Instagram is a highly visual, creative platform. It can be a great place to showcase your products and services in a more imaginative or artistic manner. It’s also considered to be less formal than other platforms – perfect for showing off your brand personality and company culture.
Twitter, on the other hand, is most often used for consumer care. It’s an effective platform for engaging with your audience, ripe for quick feedback and offering speedy responses. Whereas, LinkedIn is arguably the most useful platform for B2B marketing or targeting a professional demographic.
Consider your channel selection carefully to ensure your messaging is broadcast in the most effective way, reaching the right prospects and generating leads.
It’s common for marketers to spread themselves too thin, so bear in mind your staff resources as part of the selection process. If you have only one team member, attempting to establish a brand presence across six different social media channels may be unrealistic.
Your presence on social media is an extension of your brand, and should, therefore, align with your other forms of brand messaging. Maintaining a consistent voice helps your brand strengthening its trust and reliability, creating a distinct personality among your competitors.
To help you adhere to this, developing brand guidelines can be a helpful tool when maintaining consistency in your Tone of Voice. Consider why your brand exists, what its values are, and how you want customers to feel when interacting with your brand.
The overuse of internet terms or trendy slang can actually damage your reputation, making you seen out of touch or ‘cheap’, and subsequently hurting engagement. In your guidelines, you may consider outlining limitations for hashtag use to avoid being penalised by certain platforms and creating an emoji palette to regulate your messaging. Without such consistency, there’s a lot of room for errors in communication between your brand and your customers.
Arguably the most important social media best practise is your willingness to engage with your audience.
Posting regularly and capitalising on customer interest is a necessity in today’s social climate if you want to keep your followers invested in your brand – and it’s crucial for the growth of your business.
No one wants to receive an automated message or talk to a robot. So, interacting with customers and responding to them quickly is essential if you want to humanise your brand, nurture relationships and increase customer loyalty.
Ensure your account looks active with real-time updates, through Instagram stories or live tweeting for example. Avoid cheesy iStock imagery, and instead opt for authentic, original content that reinforces your brand personality and culture.
In order to remain active and engage, you’ll need to monitor your channels as often as possible, at least daily, and post regularly. There are plenty of social media management tools that can help you do just this. Pre-scheduling social posts is a huge time-saver, rescuing you from posting manually at all hours of the day.
It’s also good practise to keep your ear to the ground, through social listening. Social listening is the process of monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand, product, competitors, and more, providing the opportunity to track, analyse and respond to conversations. Understanding how people feel about your brand helps you keep your marketing and product/service development efforts on track.
Without social listening, you might be missing out on a big piece of insight about your brand or industry that people are talking about. It also allows you to outline pain points, and better your crisis management tactics by responding right away to negative posts (should there be any!). It can also help you identify social influencers, providing opportunities for partnerships and advertising.
The final step in any digital marketing campaign is measurement. As with your initial data-gathering exercises, measuring the effectiveness of your social media marketing activity will help you to optimise your approach and guarantee ongoing success. And luckily, there are a range of analytics tools you can use to gain these insights.
Social media is a vital tool that all businesses should take advantage of in order to maintain optimum brand loyalty, reach, and engagement.
If you would like to fine-tune your business’s social media activity, boost your reach and get noticed, get in touch with us today at [email protected].
“Don’t wait for opportunity. Create it.”
Never has this oft-cited pearl of business wisdom been more pertinent than it is now. Times are tough, and the companies likely to ride the waves, moving from ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving’ quicker than the rest, will be those who are proactive and positive in pursuit of opportunity.
They will be those with a switched-on, sharpened-up approach to lead generation.
So what does it take to keep those leads flowing in through the door? We’ve broken it down into five critical areas.
Traditional strategies and models would have lead generation sectioned off as an isolated channel. That approach doesn’t hold water today. Leads can and should come from everywhere and everything you do. Your website, your social media marketing, your advertising, your events and exhibitions, your brand strategy, even your conversations with suppliers, contacts and existing customers – they’re all opportunities to be generating new leads and should be factored into your overall strategy.
The key is to approach each with the right mindset, keeping eyes and ears open for avenues of new business, and having the systems in place to capture and capitalise on opportunity as it presents itself.
Marketing generates leads, sales closes them, right? Wrong. Successful lead generation today relies on two-way collaboration between your marketing and sales teams. Both need to be involved at every stage of the design, development and delivery of your lead-generation planning.
Sales can help marketing understand exactly who you should be targeted and offer coal-face insight into what messages and media are likely to work. Equally, marketing can help sales build and nurture the one-to-one personal relationships that become profitable leads.
Now, more than ever, general marketing messages are going to disappear without a trace. If you can’t give people direct answers to specific problems, or if you don’t have a razor-sharp proposition that makes them sit up and take notice, you’ll become just another voice in an already overcrowded market.
It is possible to stand out though. At Proctors, for example, we’ve had great success recently in building a lead-generation campaign around direct, specific and single-minded offers to a targeted group of companies in the logistics industry. By doing our homework upfront – in conjunction with our client’s sales and marketing teams – we’ve been able to cut through the noise and talk to prospective customers about what actually matters to them.
Prospects will become leads far more quickly if you can establish a relationship with them. So a single postcard or impersonal email just won’t cut it. You need to make meaningful connections, based on the quality of your offer and message, and your understanding of who you’re talking to.
We’ve spent the past couple of years working on this area in particular, developing an approach that draws together web analytics, personalised content, social outreach, direct marketing and automation platforms to make the right connections for you – and turn them into high-value leads.
Because opportunities for lead generation permeate every aspect of your business, you need the systems in place to measure its effectiveness and capture the ongoing creation and cultivation of leads. There’s a plethora of tools out there to do just that, so choosing the right one can seem daunting.
The truth is, things can be far simpler than you might believe. It’s all a question of co-ordination and consolidation of technology. And then having the mechanisms in place to take appropriate action as you measure ongoing lead-generation work. That might mean modifying your messaging, showering more love on certain sections of your target audiences, or adjusting the media mix as time goes on.
As with most things in marketing, lead generation works best when you’ve got the fundamentals absolutely right. And that’s where we always start at Proctors, swiftly turning robust plans into hands-on, accountable action.
So, if you want to have a chat about the lead generation opportunities available to you, or if you have a specific project in mind, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us today at [email protected].
Paradigm shifts, the ‘next big thing’, world-changing, disruptive, next-generation, XYZ 2.0… superlatives are at home when it comes to digital technology. So, it’s not surprising that most people roll their eyes at the introduction of the next tech game-changer.
With the gift of hindsight, we can see which emerging technologies were worth the hype over the last few decades – but they’re few and far between. The home PC, and in turn the laptop, the internet, and the smartphone: for the general consumer, these are the few revolutionary technologies that have truly impacted the way we live, work, shop and socialise, paving the way for smaller evolutionary trends which dictate our behaviour.
But is it really possible to make predictions on the next big shift in tech?
Well, hold your eye-rolling for now. Because it’s likely already staring most of us in the face.
Virtual reality (VR) has the Ronseal factor: it’s a self-contained digital ‘reality’ which you can digitally interact with.
VR has been around since the late 70’s. The most commonly cited first incidence of its use is from NASA, when their artist-in-residence David Em created the first virtually navigable digital world. But today you’re more likely to find it used for a video game or perhaps a training simulation.
Augmented Reality (AR) is slightly different. Instead of being self-contained, AR superimposes virtual elements onto the real world: it augments our physical reality.
You’ll most often find AR used on smartphones and tablets, making use of the device’s camera. Those social media filters which give you dog ears or a drastic makeover? They’re a form of augmented reality. And ‘Pokémon Go’ uses AR too.
AR isn’t new, but it is being used in increasingly novel ways – and no, we don’t mean the new filters which make you look like an attractively chiselled supermodel.
AR has potential because while VR removes you from the real world, AR supplements your experience with reality – and can actually increase your engagement with the real world.
Imagine, for example, your VR headset didn’t block off your view of the real world. Instead, it’s a set of glasses, much like a normal set of eyeglasses, but provided a digital overlay of useful information. As a construction worker, you could look at a site and immediately be presented with spatial calculations which could help you cut materials to size without needing a measuring tape. As a surgeon, you’d be able to see your patients’ vitals in front of you, without even turning your head. As a consumer, you’d be presented with information about the materials which make up the clothing you’re about to buy.
All these are real examples – albeit mostly in their infancy. But they have incredible potential to become true game-changers with the right thinking, creativity and application.
Through a combination of enhanced engagement and the presentation of useful information, AR’s possibilities are limitless.
We could go on about the complexities, challenges and intricacies of AR, but instead we’ll keep it snappy, as you’re busy holding down the fort in the real world.
Instead, let’s do a quick summary of AR today:
· AR won’t replace computers
While AR may displace some computers, there’s merit keeping most of them. For example, while some companies have experimented with the addition of an AR dashboard in (mostly luxury) cars, this is unlikely to become the reality for the general public – who needs another distraction while trying to navigate rush-hour traffic? A satnav is plenty enough.
· AR is platform agnostic
AR isn’t owned by Apple, Android or Microsoft: its technology can be used in combination with any of the Big Three (and any other brand, for that matter) as long as the device itself is compatible.
• AR is still in its discovery phase
While we’re already using AR on smartphones, this is unlikely to be its final form – the screens simply aren’t big enough for us to appreciate its full potential. There’s so much scope for AR to play with all our senses: haptic feedback (pressure sensing) could be used for us to more accurately ‘interact’ with virtual elements; eye-tracking could ensure whatever information we need in our peripheral remains in constant view; geo-location and movement tracking can even further blur the lines between the physical and digital. In all likelihood, the vehicle for delivering AR experiences will depend on its context and use case – and that’s really exciting.
• AR could see new tech behemoths emerge
The companies who use AR to its full advantage could well usurp many of the larger, well-established players who ignore it. This may seem overzealous, but in 2000, who could have guessed where Microsoft, IBM, or even Facebook would be today?
If technology’s history has taught us anything, it’s that when a new piece of revolutionary technology comes along, it’s true magic is revealed when it collides with culture. It’s the crucial intersection between technology and the arts which offers the most potential.
Right now, the first wave of AR applications sit in two camps: utilitarian or ‘just for fun’. What we’re seeing today is not dissimilar to the very beginnings of an App Store.
The next wave will come when vehicles for delivering AR experiences gain traction, such as the AR glasses we mentioned above (Snapchat, in fact, launched ‘Spectacles’ as far back as 2016). Not only will we see utilitarian use cases strengthen, we’ll also see AR branch out into new markets.
From seeing how much fuel your car has left just by looking at it, or receiving real-time walking directions without ever having to look down at your screen; from your phone notifications appearing in your periphery, to shopping for new clothes seamlessly without ever having to try them on, thanks to a new AR mirror that superimposes new styles onto your live reflection.
These new applications will go beyond making life more convenient: they’ll start to build the standards behind the tech, and ignite discussions about how our technologies ‘talk’ to each other.
As for the third wave… That comes down to data.
Now is the perfect time for brands to get ahead of the game when it comes to using AR in ways that will truly inspire and engage their audiences.
There are limitless opportunities. Why not contact us today at [email protected] to discuss your goals with our team.
In the short video below, we share an example of a virtual underground station designed to replicate a real-world experience. As you will see, the possibilities are almost limitless. We can design a fully immersive virtual experience, unique to your brand.
Within the tour, multiple features are shown that allow your brand to communicate core messages and keep your attendees engaged throughout their virtual journey.
If you would like to explore the full tour, amongst other virtual experiences, please contact [email protected] to request an interactive demonstration.
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We anticipate the future to be a hybrid model offering both physical in-person exhibits and events, as well as virtual versions. These dual online and in-person meetings require having a platform that can complement both.
Intelligent design is at the heart of everything we do. We balance strategy with creativity to create beautiful branded environments & communications. It simply means the thinking comes before the doing, every time.
Lawless and Inspired have combined to bring together the UK’s best emerging street-artists and their influencer networks, allowing agencies and brands to tap into visual culture. Artists include Jody Thomas who created the 15m high Greta Thunberg wall mura, which highlighted issues of climate change and was featured on the BBC, across national press and went viral on social media.
The Lawless Inspired partnership aims to harness the power of today’s creative pioneers, to deliver physical/digital projects that excite and inspire. Alex Kopfli, Director at Inspired notes ‘by joining forces, we essentially offer agencies and brands a turn key solution, delivering creativity through artistic talent, brought to life by impactful real-life productions merged with digital creativity. The concepts are then distributed to an authentic and sizable audience online through our network.’
Since Lawless launched during the Covid Pandemic, the niche influencer agency has started working with brands to deliver artist-led creative solutions, adding a stamp of cool and credibility to brand campaigns and executions. Lawless Studio has already built up an impressive roster of artists, with the likes of Jody Thomas, Jack Watts, Nerone, Bond Truluv and Shay Casanova, reaching a significantly growing audience of 760k followers as a combined network, quality audiences loyal to each artist they follow, and trend setters in their own right.
Josh Moore of Lawless Studio calls out Inspired’s ‘exceptional track record in delivering first-class brand experiences for the likes of Wavemaker, Mediacom, M&C Saatchi and Fuse’ is the missing piece to the puzzle of delivering stand out creative solutions.
‘We now have the production capacity and logistical know-how to give brands access to creative pioneers and allow them to create amazing content, to give credibility and authenticity to brands through their output, and also reach huge dedicated followings through their social channels.’
The tech industry is booming and we couldn’t be happier!
This has been a challenging year, with people forced into their homes and businesses forced to digitalise at a rapid rate. Just remember: whilst you work at home, hackers are as well.
It’s been tough to keep up, and there’s been a huge rise in malware and ransomware attacks as a result. One in five people feel more at risk of cyber attacks during the lockdown.
The UK industry is rising up to meet this, with cyber tech booming over the last couple of years to be worth more than £8 billion a year.
Now is the time for cyber tech companies to step up and be seen — companies from enterprise to start-ups are looking to improve their security and this is where we can help you. Check out some of our recent articles on how to get started in cyber tech marketing and how to scale up your business.
Softech firm Amdaris have won the Great British Entrepreneur Award just 6-months after securing a £6m investment from BGF.
The Bristol company has offices in the UK, Dubai, Moldova and Romania, providing software development teams in high profile industries from Oil and Gas to finance and logistics.
In 2017 the board appointed AgencyUK to help develop a brand and marketing strategy fit for global expansion. Scale has been rapid, with new offices in Dubai and Romania in 2019.
AgencyUK have continued to support Amdaris with their external advertising, internal communications and PR strategy. This award win follows a string of new customer appointments.
In August, we officially hit over 100 days of working from home. Here’s an update on what it has been like and how have we adapted to this new way of working.
Working from home is great! No more commute, more time with the kids, and a comfier existence. For most of the team at OggaDoon, the first few weeks of working from home felt like a welcome break from the drudgery of quotidien life. There were unexpected benefits both personally and collectively, such as more time to spend doing the things we enjoy, and a sudden reduction in air pollution.
After the initial enjoyment that came with working from home, we soon realised there were a number of challenges. Each team member had a different home set up and this presented individual challenges for each person. Whether it was disciplining children to follow a structured day of learning, stepping over housemates and dogs, bad wifi, or no privacy – we each were dealing with a lot.
It’s not a surprise, therefore, that we also struggled to feel like a team. Caroline established daily Zoom calls and we tried out a few different forms of virtual bonding to try to feel like a team again. It didn’t always work.
In a time when we’re being told by the Prime Minister to disconnect from our families and friends physically, it was a struggle to replicate this virtually.
The challenges we faced working from home were not exclusive to OggaDoon. People all over the world felt the same way and were encountering mutual feelings of isolation; for many, it was a lot worse. But as a business, we’re proud of our resilience.
We eventually established a routine that worked. Each member of the team adjusted their home settings too – Bobby moved house, Caroline signed a contract with her children, and we hired two new staff, Simon and Elena.
We repositioned our business to fit the new world and we made it work.
So, what next? Right now, we’re blending working from home whilst settling into our new home in Engine Shed. We work with many businesses who are doing amazing things and we’re excited to be working alongside them, supporting the vision.
Bristol’s hospitals charity Above & Beyond has appointed AgencyUK for its latest campaign.
Following a competitive pitch process, the Bath-based agency will be delivering a creative, integrated campaign for the charity, focussing on cancer services in Bristol’s hospitals.
Julie Worrall, director of fundraising and development for Above & Beyond, said: “This is a really exciting time for Above & Beyond as we look to increase our support of Bristol’s hospitals and health services in Bristol.
“We believe that every patient receiving cancer treatment in Bristol deserves the best possible care and through this campaign we’ll be investing in services that ensure they receive it.
“AgencyUK has been crucial in the design concept of the campaign and we look forward to rolling this out across Bristol.”
Amy Stobie, director of AgencyUK, said: “It became clear early on that Above & Beyond is a vital enabler for furthering cancer care and treatment for patients in Bristol.
“As its work is so focused in the region, it means a lot of our AgencyUK people have had first-hand experience dealing with friends and family who are treated in these hospitals.
You can find out more here: https://tinyurl.com/BristolAgainstCancer
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