LYF is a charity with the principal aim of increasing participation in football among West Lothian’s boys and girls. The Foundation has 4 key partners in West Lothian Council, West Lothian College, West Lothian Leisure and Livingston Football Club.

The outcomes for which the Foundation aims include improved health and fitness for West Lothian youngsters, a rediscovery of the fun in active play, stronger boys and girls teams across the County and a successful professional club in West Lothian. The Foundation will bring together the resources of its key partners to offer a consolidated programme of football activities and coaching courses from season 2012/2013.

As our chosen charity, Marketing Matters will be donating marketing and design resources and support to the Foundation, throughout 2012. We have already designed the logo and stationery and supported them in their media launch. The next project is the website, which will go live in February and we will continue to provide whatever support is required. We are thrilled to be working with Gordon Ford and his team of Trustees and wish them every success in the years to come.

It is an approach that benefits SMEs, as smaller organisations are more likely to have a more intimate relationship with their clients, regular contact, face-to-face meetings, phone calls. Unlike larger organisations which can become ‘faceless’.

However, the foundation for effective CRM is a detailed client database. This can be developed using off-the-shelf CRM packages or provided by a specialist software design company. But by keeping track of personal information and indiidual preferences of all customers, businesses can provide better service and value.

By implementing a regular customer communication programme – of positive messages, special offers, introduce a friend incentives or discount periods for example – companies can increase their customer retention rates, achieve repeat business and, through referrals, obrain new customers and increased sales.

It costs 6 times more to attract a new customer, than to achieve repeat business. So bringing new business in through the CRM route is much more cost effective.Some strategies you could consider are:

1. Welcome letter/pack
2. Thank you statements
3. After sales satisfaction questionnaires
4. Effective complaint handling
5. Introduce a Friend – referral scheme for existing customers
6. Membership/points building cards
7. Birthday acknowledgements & coupons
8. Special preview events for existing customers

The key to successful CRM strategies is integration across the company and complete buy-in from every employee/department.

The second most important element is to establish a ‘calendar’ of communication – emails/e-newsletters, postcard drops, etc – that you measure, and adapt as required, based on feedback received – but be consistent and professional in approach, regular in your delivery by whatever medium and above all, make it relevant to your customers.

Price is not always King. If customers feel they are valued, they will happily pay a little more for the service/experience they receive.

Businesses use a range of marcoms tools to promote their companies, products and services. They include:

• Brochures
• Mailshots
• Websites
• Advertising
• Sales promotion
• Exhibitions & events
• Public/press relations
• Personal selling
• Social Media

They can be used individually but are most effective when used in combination. To develop a marcoms campaign, you need to consider:

What your objectives are.

I.e. increased awareness, new product launch, break into new markets, and consider the various marcoms tools available to you.

What is an appropriate/affordable budget.

What do you want to say about your product/service.

Consider your Unique Selling proposition (USP) what makes you different from the competition?

Who do you want to communicate to (your target audience)

Focus on the main benefits your product/service offers customer

and explain clearly in short words or sentences, no jargon (and remember contact details (address, telephone, website)

Think about what images you need to use to support your message

and how you want your communications to look/feel i.e layout, design, colours, photography, graphics

Talk your ideas and messages through with a designerto develop a brief

(see Writing a Design Brief article) and get feedback/guidance on what format it needs to take/what options are available.

Provide 2 or 3 designers with a Design Brief

and ask them to quote for the design and print requirements of your project. Ask colleagues for recommendations or find local service providers online, check their ratings, testimonials , contact past clients etc.

Review concepts and costs

provided and select what you feel best represents your needs/ideas and develop with selected designer

Proofing is critical – and errors at final proof stage can be costly.

Put yourself in the customer’s position and walk through the advert or literature etc from their perspective. Consider the process they need to take, the details they require to follow through, contact information etc. Check contact details, colour representations, image quality etc.

Allow time for printing – preferably 10 working days from sign off.

Be consistent in your messaging, your brand and your design.

Measure your success.

Consider what processes you need to put in place to be able to  measure the effectiveness of each medium used, so that you know what delivers the best ROI.

A global subsea solutions provider to the oil and gas industry and now entering the Offshore Renewables market, Oceaneering has sites worldwide.

Delivering marcoms for Oceaneering Umbilical Solutions in Rosyth, Fife – including exhibition design and development, sales and marketing collateral, presentations, brand development and collaborative public relations (through our preferred PR partner, Edinburgh-based Acumen) we are enjoying working directly with Head Office in Houston and responding to the challenges presented by our biggest client so far!

Watch the Video:

As well as being very business with existing and new clients, we have just project-managed our own office move.

We are now in new, larger premises at Unit 2, Turnbull Way, Knightsridge, Livingston EH54 8RB which will allow us to grow the company even more…

We look forward to welcoming you to our new office

Quality Scotland has the expertise, products and services to stimulate continuous improvement within the business environment and engaging with Quality Scotland represents a commitment to organisational excellence.

Earlier this year, Marketing Matters won the contract for the design of the programme for the  Scottish Awards for Business Excellence 2010 – through Quality Scotland.  So well received was this, that Marketing Matters succeeded in a pitch for the organisation’s quarterly magazine – Excellence Now.

To find out more about Quality Scotland and to access the magazine, go to www.qualityscotland.co.uk now.

Working closely with clients to identify the right target audiences and the correct messages for those audiences, Acumen delivers innovative and intuitive PR strategies that generate the results their clients require.

Their service offering includes public & media relations, media training, online PR & Social Media, Crisis Management, Event PR & ExpoPRess, internal communications, communications audits and Public Affairs  & Parliamentary Monitoring

Find out more at www.acumen-pr.com – and make sure to check out their blog – The View -  it’s all good!

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.

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.

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.