..full of award winning companies – this year’s Scottish Awards for Business Excellence brochure was designed by Marketing Matters.

On a very tight deadline and production timetable the brochure was put together as quick as you could say “3 course meal with coffee and a small mint”. OK, it  maybe took slightly longer than that, but it was a rush of adrenalin, some late nights and early mornings to get it all put together from initial meeting to final printed brochure (10 days).

The project was fun, fast and furious. And the client is delighted with the results “I was really pleased with the outcome of the brochure and got lots of great comments on it.” Anne Sutherland, Quality Scotland.

A new start came to us to looking for creative and marketing support to help them bring together their dream of opening a maternity boutique.

Marketing Matters has worked with business partners Kristy and Gill to develop a name and a brand to launch their new venture – a maternity boutique.

Soon to open in Linlithgow High Street, Bonnie Bumps offers stylish, contemporary and fun clothing – just like the brand! From stationery and business cards to swing tickets and packaging design – Marketing Matters is now working on the second phase of marketing development – a website with online shopping cart facility.

Past downturns in the market have shown that marketing during a recession puts you in a much stronger position after it has passed.

Comparing the results of those companies who have continued to invest in marketing with those companies who have either reduced or pulled their marketing budget, show that it’s those businesses who continue to spend that gain market share from their competitors during tough periods and, ultimately are able to position themselves better and grow, when the downturn has passed.

Why you should market more:

• If your competitors reduce their marketing then you have less to compete with – your activities will be more prominent and the message louder and clearer
• Customers want to be communicated with and will welcome those businesses that continue to engage with them, delivering messages that are specific and relevant
• Lowering brand awareness loses market share that’s hard to win back
• With customers spending less, each sale is harder to win – so more marketing is required, rather than less.

You can’t cut marketing without affecting sales, just as you can’t sell effectively without marketing. So it goes that you can’t cut your marketing budget and still expect the sales team to meet their targets.  So how do you achieve this in a recession?

You need to market smarter:

• Look at where you are generating the best responses or results and move more into these activities, away from those channels which are not as effective.
• Look at alternative communication channels. If you are not already marketing through online and digital media – these can deliver targeted, tailored messages to a clearly defined audience, at a very low cost per lead.
• Find ways to stand out from the crowd – do things differently with design and copy
• Be ready to identify market opportunities and respond quickly to them.
• Look after your existing customers – remind them how much you value their custom and find ways to add value.
• Meet the needs – understand what it is the customer needs or wants and meet those needs.

Maybe you have heard people mentioning usability and accessibility together with websites. You might think that this is all a bit “Over The Top” and need not really bother you, but that is not quite right.

The UK DDA – Disability Discrimination Act – came into force in 1995. The DDA makes it unlawful to discriminate against people in respect of their disabilities in relation to employment, the provision of goods and services, education and transport. This means that any organisation which provides products and / or services – both profit AND non-profit organisations – must comply with the DDA.

For example, website, intranets, extranets have to be accessible too. Business websites providing information online must comply with the usability and accessibility guidelines.

Big Advantage

If your website can be accessed by people with disabilities, your website and ultimately your products and services information is open to a much wider audience.

DDA changes in October 2004 for websites?

Changes to the DDA are made almost on an annual basis. It is a wrong belief that from October 2004, websites must comply. Websites have had to comply since 1999! The DDA requires that reasonable adjustments are made to your services to ensure that a person with a disability can access that service.

What happens if my website does not comply?

A disabled person can make a claim against you or your organisation if they cannot access information or services via your website or your website makes it impossible or difficult to access information and services.

Therefore, if you have not made reasonable changes and cannot show that these changes are being made, then you may be liable under the DD Act, and may have to pay compensation and be ordered by a court to change your website.

Has anybody been sued yet?

In 2000, the Sydney Olympics Committee in Australia was requested to amend their website so that it can be accessed by people with disabilities. The changes were not made and this resulted in a decision against the website owners where they had to pay $20,000 Australian dollars.

Read more about the Sydney Olympics Committee…

Levels of compliance

There are three levels of compliance: A, AA and AAA. You can find out about the compliance levels by accessing the WAI pages (Web Accessibility Initiative) on the W3C website – www.w3.org/WAI.

RNIB – the Royal National Institute of the Blind – recommends that websites exceed the basic level of compliance that the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend in their Website Accessibility Guidelines (WAG) version 1.0 and aim for double AA compliance.

How can I test it if my website complies with the guidelines?

There are different tools available online for testing your website’s accessibility. You also need to make sure that the website is developed using valid HTML / XHTML. This can be checked on the W3C website.

• W3C HTML Validator

What if my website does not comply?

If your website does not comply with the recent guidelines or if your HTML is not valid, simply get in touch with us. We can provide a website analysis and undertake necessary steps to make your website legal.

Our web designer, Nadin Dunnigan, doesn’t say much about her past successes! But we may as well use this blog to tell everybody about it!
She did not only win Best Web Designer West Lothian in 2005, she also won the Runner-Up Prize of the Shona Sibbald Award in 2006!

This is what the news story said then:

At the prestigious annual awards ceremony on Thursday 25th May 2006, West Lothian Women in Business announced the winners for this year’s Business Awards.

At the sell-out event, 120 guests witnessed the 10 nominated business women receiving their awards. Awards were presented in three categories:

• Business Woman of the Year
• Best Female Employee of the Year
• Shona Sibbald Award for Best New Business

The three nominees for Best New Business in West Lothian were

• Patricia Mavor (www.mavorproperty.co.uk)
• Claire Don (TLC Health.co.uk Ltd)
• Nadin Dunnigan (then www.creatweb.co.uk).

Congratulations to Claire Don who won the Shona Sibbald Award. Both Patricia Mavor and Nadin Roth received the Runner-Up awards for Best New Business. This is the second award Nadin has won since the start of business in 2004.

And here is the story about Best Web Designer West Lothian

CreatWeb.co.uk wins “Best Web Designer 2004″ in West Lothian E-Business Awards.

West Lothian Council, in conjunction with BT Scotland, organised the E-Business Awards 2004 for West Lothian Businesses.

With these awards, businesses in West Lothian are recognised and rewarded for their excellence through the use of the Internet and other Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Businesses in West Lothian could enter one or more of the following four categories:

• Best New Business Site (1 – 3 Years)
• Best e-Commerce Site
• Best Web Designer
• Best Use of Broadband

CreatWeb entered the “Best Web Designer” category and was shortlisted for first or second place. On 24 th February, w inners of the categories were announced at a gala award dinner, and CreatWeb won the “Best Web Designer” category.

We are particularly proud of having achieved this, as we are a very young web design business in West Lothian.

We will continue to provide excellence in web design, and further improve our services to our clients.