Win Marketing is conducting some research with parents, grandparents and childminders of children under 7 years of age around TV programmes and TV brands. What do their children like to watch and why? Are these the same programmes that the parents preferred the children watched? What TV brands do you trust and why?

We are looking to hold a focus group of 8-10 people in London and are looking for people who would be willing to attend a 2 hour session group to discuss these issues.

For successful participants we will pay a fee of £30 for their attendance.

We also have an online survey which we are looking for people to complete.

If you are willing and interested in attending this then please email me This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Tags: Focus groups partcipants required | market research focus groups | market research surveys | childrens television

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Celebrating the extraordinary work of Life’s legendary photographers an enthusiastic Rankin travels across the USA in search of the pioneers that encapsulated the American people in a single photograph. Living and studying their subjects for weeks, Bill Eppridge, John Shearer, John Loengard, Burk Uzzle and Harry Benson captured the rises and falls of America through their unique approach to photojournalism. Spanning three decades, the dedication of these photographers enabled Life to tell the American story, documenting momentous events from the assassination of President Robert Kennedy to the Civil Rights struggle and the Vietnam War.

This truly inspiring documentary is defiantly worth a watch as it demonstrates the power of photography through iconic images and insightful interviews. Photography has the amazing potential to emotionally transport us right into photograph. If like me you love photography you can watch America in Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine by following the link below! 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017svd6/America_in_Pictures_The_Story_of_Life_Magazine/

Enjoy!

Ann Goodwin 

Tags: Photography | Life Magazine | Photojournalism | America

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Check out the new Win Marketing business card with QR technology!

Simply by scanning the quick response (QR) code on the business card you can instantly transfer our contact details straight to your Smartphone.

You can then save Win Marketing as a contact or email/phone us directly. Give it a try! Point your Smartphone (as if you were taking a picture) at the square pattern, scan the code using your QR reader and say hello!

QR codes provide and amazing opportunity for innovative marketing and are becoming increasing more popular as the use of Smartphones rapidly grows. We love QR codes and truely believe they are the way of the future. If you are interested in having a QR code on your business card give us a call today on 01509 265890. 

Cheers for now

Tags: QR codes | Business Cards | Smart-phone

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What makes a good networker?

At my morning networking meeting today, I was reminded of the top 5 traits of a good networker.  These are:

1. Follow up on referrals
2. Have a positive attitude
3. Be enthusiastic and motivated
4. Be trustworthy
5. Ensure good listening skills

Follow up on referrals

It never ceases to amaze me, how clients spend a fortune generating leads and then never prioritise to actually follow up and get back to people.  I have seen clients attend exhibitions spending weeks developing bespoke purpose built stands, to gain signficant number of contacts, but fail to follow up properly on these people.

It is vital to ensure you have a process to generate referrals and to follow up with referrals and one which reminds you (if relevant) to thank your contact for the referral.

Have a positive attitude

Do you adopt a "glass half full" approach or is it "always empty"?  People like to network with people who are cheerful, upbeat and positive.  There is enough negativity in this world with the news and people who moan about everything, positive people are much more fun to be with.  If you want to be successful at networking - be a positive, be a can do person.

Be enthusiastic and motivated

When you meet people, be enthusiastic about what you do - if you have enthusiasm and passion - this will come across.  Show you are a motivated person, fellow networkers will feel more likely to engage with you and pass referrals on.  There is nothing worse than standing at a networking event with a person who is "bored" and lacks enthusiasm.

Be trustworthy

Be reliable and honest and do what you say you will.  I am unlikely to pass a referral to a person I do not trust. 

Ensure good listening skills

Networking is about developing relationships and you cannot do this by talking about yourself all the time.  Ask open questions - "who, what, where, why, how" etc., and listen to the answers - get to know the people you are networking with, what makes them "tick"?, what is their unique sales proposition in business? and how might you be able to help them?

These are not all the traits of a good networker, but they are 5 key ones - does anyone else have any other thoughts?

I would look forward to hearing them.

Cheers for now

Ann Goodwin

Tags: Networking skills | what makes a good networker

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Today is World Sight Day, an annual day of awareness to focus attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired and is held on the second Thursday of October.

Maybe its time to put yourself in the shoes of your customers and look at how they view your company, what would you expect from your company if you were a customer? What would you do to improve the user experience?

As marketing professionals, we understand what customers what from a business, so why not have a chat with us and see for yourself, with our help, what your customers want.

Tags: Marketing professionals | World Sight Day | marketing

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This is a previous blog which has now been updated with images and text

The one thing that marketing as a profession provides is an opportunity to develop into new markets and new opportunities.  Over my 30 years in marketing I have been lucky enough to experience many cultures across the world, but I have never worked in Russia, until now.

I arrived on Wednesday night in Volzhski, a city about 30km from Volgograd (the former Stalingrad), having flown on Aeroflot to Moscow from Heathrow and then onto Volgograd.  The brand new Airbus planes were superb, lovely, very comfortable - this would not be the first of my Russian perceptions to be proven to be misguided.

Moscow airport was heaving as people in the domestic departures sought to get home after their commute to Moscow and our flight to Volgograd was full.

Thursday and Friday, saw me in the offices of Real Russia.  The team there work so hard and pride themselves on delivering excellent customer service – we could learn a few things in the UK from their commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction.  The travel operators are so knowledgeable they can answer any questions related to tours on the Trans-Siberian express, the best routes to take, what you need if you go to places like Mongolia or Belarus, it was fascinating.  The visa team were equally knowledgeable on how to obtain visas and what you need when traveling around Russia.

The offices of Real Russia are situated in an old children’s nursery and the building houses a sauna, steam room, swimming pool an a lovely café/restaurant.  I did enjoy some traditional Russian food for lunch, but did not have time to relax in the leisure facilities.

I have experience many restaurants (the food is excellent) and have taken in the local sites of the impressive Russian Orthodox churches, the statute of Lenin.   I cannot get over how wide and spread out everything is here.  The city is similar in size to Leicester, but you hardly notice people as the roads and pavements are so wide. Many buildings are typical Soviet block and not the most attractive in the world, although practical, not too tall and broken up by trees and shrubs.

Yesterday, I visited the impressive Mamayev Kurgan momument and the memorial in Volgograd from the battle of Stalingrad, where I felt truly humbled.  People in this city were under siege for 18 months and 2Million people died in the battle.

The river Volga is a truly impressive site with sand banks and sandy shores, not what you would expect from Russia’s longest river.  Children were diving in and the water looked so clean and inviting in the temperatures of low thirties centigrade – wait until summer fully arrives.

The real Russia I have experienced is not all about Vodka and Moscow – it is about a different way of life, we are 100 miles from Asia and on the edge of the Steppes.  It has helpful people, fantastic food, great scenery and some interesting history – and yes some good beer and vodka.

My time here in Volzhski has been tremendous and I look forward to working with the office to develop the marketing further.  Yes there are challenges for a Western European visiting Russia – you can’t read all the menus, you don’t always have a clue which is the ladies and men’s toilets and life is different – but that is what adds to the charm of visiting a destination and widening our horizons as people.  Even I have managed to learn the odd word here to make life a little easier and make me feel a little less stupid.

I strongly recommend anyone interested in European history to visit Volgograd and for the independent traveller to take time and visit the Real Russia.

I left Volgograd on an 18 hour train journey to Moscow.  After discussing with the travel staff at Real Russia, I decided on booking a women's only cabin in business class.  This 2 person cabin had two beds, a TV and electrical points for my computer and iPad to recharge.  As I went into the cabin I was delighted to see some complimentary refreshments.  This included a miniature bottle of vodka, but this was not the size you get on a plane, it was twice as big!  I later shared the bottle with my client, as it is very bad form to drink alone in Russia.

The train journey was fascinating - we went through miles of open countryside, disused factories, villages and large towns.  Every few hours we stopped at stations and had the opportunity to stretch our legs.  One stop was for about 20 minutes and the station had small shops selling souvenirs.  The station buildings were beautiful - not like the modern shelters we see in many European towns.

During the evening, I made my way to the resturant and enjoyed a meal of local food - which I cannot pronounce, but included tongue.  Well, when you are in Rome . . .

The train ride was smooth for most of the journey and not quite the same roller coster that one experiences on the Midland Main Line, Leicester to St Pancras journey.  Sometimes on those journeys, you struggle to drink a cup of coffee without spilling it due to the train movement.

After dinner, I settled down to bed in my comfortable cabin, watching a film on my iPad, knowing that in the morning we would be approaching Moscow.

I had an excellent night's sleep and after a wash and breakfast was looking out on the suburbs of Moscow.  At 9am and in bright sunshine, we arrived into Moscow station, I was impressed at the art deco sign highlighting Mockba - it seemed to provide a presence amongst the crowds.

We made our way to the hotel, showered, changed and were in the office for late morning - what a pleasant way to travel.  During my two days in the office, I met the staff and many of the customers who were travellers from all over the globe.  They had fascinating stories to tell about their experiences in Russia and most of them were collecting tickets for the Trans-Siberian Tour - something which I now would love to do.

Unfortunately, my time in Moscow was spent mainly in the office, but I did manage a quick tour of Red Square, Lenin's memorial  and some of the city's fabulous architecture.

If anyone is interested in visiting Russia, I would recommend giving Real Russia a call, they can help you with train tickets, tourist information and visa support, I found them very helpful and supportive, and, as I said in my comments above, determined to give great customer service and to help as much as possible. They also speak perfect English, which I found a big help!

Visit the Real Russia website for any travel or visa needs in or around Russia

Ann

Tags: moscow | customer service | marketing | Russia

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Jo:

Jo has been pretty busy over the past few weeks as she took control of the fort whilst Ann jetted off to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup. 

Tags: web design | marketing | Win Marketing | pr | Rugby World Cup | social media | restoration uk | online marketing strategy

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Some updates from this week:

Jo came back from a week off to lots of client work waiting for her, needless to say, she got back in the swing of things quickly!

George has been designing graphics for a clients' van and for our own rebranding for our marketing materials.

Nad has been busy getting our latest website uploaded, Med-Innova, and has been working away on development of our latest e-commerce website, Restoration UK.

Ann has had a busy week, working on strategic marketing for Real Russia and Hegarty Solicitors, along with some online marketing research for UWC.

We have picked up a website for a telecomms company, and will be starting the process for this soon. Also this week, we had a lovely comment from a client, Sharpaclean, who we recently developed a new website for. They said that since the website went live (3 weeks ago), they have had a number of enquiries and have even picked up a new contract, worth £100,000! We are really glad we were able to help on this project, and are really pleased for Sharpaclean!

During the rioting, you may have seen on Twitter, the trending topic #operationcupoftea , where people up and down England, and the UK, all took photos of themselves having their anti-riot cup of tea, well, as a treat, here is Jo in the office with her anti riot cup of tea on Wednesday :)

So its a short one this week, but do check out our Twitter and Facebook for more regular updates until next time!

Tags: marketing | restoration uk | med-innova | sharpaclean | #operationcupoftea | facebook | twitter | website

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So, the first week of July proved to be hectic for all of the team here at Win Marketing with Jo trekking around London, George editing lots of graduation video footage, Nad perfecting and launching the new Shapaclean website and Ann mixing work with pleasure in Spain!
 
And with everyone so busy, it’s time for me, otherwise know as temporary team member Jen to fill you in on all the goings on this week!
 
Ann was in the sunny Costa Del Sol having a working holiday, taking a bit of time to relax but also sorting out marketing audits and strategies left, right and centre, while also making sure she was up to date with all the news in the office and keeping us all on our toes. She managed to fit a bit of time in with her friend San though. San Miguel that is...
 
Nad turned his talents to more websites this week, including Med-Innova, Sharpaclean and our very own shiny, new Win Marketing website, working hard to get the Sharpaclean site up and running, seeing it go live on Friday afternoon. Make sure you check it out to sort out all your cleaning needs.
He also gave a bit of market research a go, calling businesses on behalf of East West Link and helped out with technical issues from helping Audrey, our accounts lady with her computer, to supporting me with a binding machine with a mind of its own!
 
George was up to his elbows in NEBOSH videos, editing footage of a graduation ceremony at Warwick University, filmed the week before. He also collected data from clients for a big power point presentation, and developed a new logo for Real Russia, which was swiftly printed onto new hats for the company! He also prepared several website templates to go onto Nad to bring his designs to life!
 
Jo was London bound at the end of the week, heading to the capital to meet with the team in the offices of Real Russia, and working with Real Russia’s Brigitte to do a bit of mystery shopping.
Earlier in the week saw Jo and George put their heads together to work on the NEBOSH video, as well as her doing market research for Hegarty solicitors and taking the reigns and becoming Ann mark 2 to keep everything running smoothly with Ann by the pool in España!
 
Jen. The week saw me getting a nick name (Jaydot 2!) and helping everyone as much as possible in this very busy week, carrying out market research for both Real Russia and Hegarty, following up on a press release we sent out for Air Fuel Synthesis which has been published in both the Australian and US media and working on blogs and social media updates for companies all across the board! 

Keep an eye out on Facebook and Twitter for all the news from us here at Win Marketing and all of the companies we are working with!
 
See you next week!

Until then, here is a great photo of George modelling his latest logo development on ont of the caps for Real Russia, what do we think, can he pull it off?

Tags: website | sharpaclean | marketing | NESBOSH | warwick university | designs | market research | air fuel synthesis | facebook | twitter | video editing

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Don't you hate it when you write a load of stuff down and then technology decides not to save it?

So I just wrote out a really great blog for you guys to read, and pressed 'save' and for some reason it didn't update to the blog!

It was an update of what the Win team have been upto this week. In summary:

Ann (AKA A-dot)

Busy with lots of meetings and sales calls, writing presentations and proposals. Off to have lunch today with Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan and our client, Tony Marmont from Air Fuel Synthesis. Professor Tony Marmont has spent the last 30 years dedicating his life to finding technologies which can provide us with alternatives to burning oil and coal, visit his pages on the Air Fuel Synthesis website here: about Tony Marmont

Ann, the driving force behind Win, will be having a weekend of relaxing after last weekends hectic work filled weekend, and we do not blame her!

Jo (AKA Jaydot)

I have had a really interesting week, been on a few meetings and sales calls with Ann, and have been supporting her on that.

What I really want to mention is that I completed a 3 week course about online marketing and improving your website on Wednesday. This was a Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce course, held at De Montford University, run by Jonny Green, check out the courses page on his website here Jonny Green

I learned a lot on this course, both to put into practice from a strategic point or view, and small tactical 'quick wins' both for Win and for our clients. Can't wait to get started!

Nad (AKA Snakbar)

Busy working away on several websites this week, including Sharpaclean, a cleaning company based in Leicester - all very black and pink and smart looking, Med - Innova, who deal with medical equipment for various medical sectors, Nad has been working on fancy animations for images for this site, which we are hoping to get live in the next couple of weeks.  A new site we have picked up this week is Restoration UK, who sell products online for restoring and protecting buildings. Our development guru (or 'geek' as we call him in the office) will be working on getting these sites live next week for these clients before starting on our next web projects.

George (AKA G-Dog)

What hasn't G-Dog been upto this week? e-shots, business cards, video editing, web design, George has been a man of many talents this week and has created some fab designs for clients, and for Win as well. Our resident graphics design extrodinaire and Nad have both receieved shiny new monitors this week, and they have been loving it all week!

Jen (no nickname as yet...we will get there soon though, only a matter of time...)

So Jen has joined the team as a temporary pillar of support with our pr and online media. She has been working closely with Jo on various projects, including pulling together information and contacts in various industries, including environmental, transport, travel and tourism and health and safety. Jen has also been doing some blogs and press releases for clients this week, as well as looking at website content for some clients too.

So, with that I will get on with social media for a few clients and preparing for a filming day for NEBOSH at Warwick University on Monday. Should be fun!

We will be uploading Anns Russia trip part 2 soon, and might even have a slide show of images for you, just for something a little different...

Have a great weekend all, we will be here all next week!

Jo and the team out!

Tags: video editing | website design | chamber of commerce | jonny green | hegarty | real russia | shapaclean | air fuel synthesis | nicky morgan | website | twitter | facebook | NEBOSH | marketing | online media | social media | pr

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So it has been a brilliantly busy and productive week for the Win Marketing team this week, Ann got back from Russia in the early hours of Wednesday morning, within hours she was back in the office, her and Jo were working on a massive tender for the UK Trade and Investement this week, they were burning the midnight oil in the office on Wednesday!

Ann is in Peterborough today doing some employee interviews for a law firm which we are doing a marketing audit and plan for.

Jo went on an internet marketing improvement course yesterday where she picked up some great tips to use to help clients with our and their digital marketing and social media.

Nadeem has been working on the development of a cleaning company's new website this week, looking very sleek so far :) (the website, not Nad!)

George has been a master of many projects this week, ranging from designing small e-shots, to website designs and video editing as well!

So all in all a varied and full week, lefts hope for more of the same next week (although maybe less midnight oil for some!)

Ps - you might have read Ann's blog post - below, about her trip in Russia, well, we will have the second installment of her trip coming soon, and maybe even a photo or two to share as well.

Have a great weekend everyone, keep checking out Facebook and Twitter!

Jo out :)

Tags: website design | video editing | website | Russia | digital marketing | Social media marketing strategy | facebook | twitter

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Ann and Jo from the team were at the Leicester Tigers ground last week for the annual Sponsors Awards Dinner to support player Rob Hawkins.

Rob joined the Tigers in the summer of 2010 to play as hooker for the team, and is set for a successful career in the no 2 shirt with the Leicester side.

The sponsors' awards dinner is a chance for the Tigers players to spend time with thier sponsors and possibly win an award or two.

This year, the two awards were:

Leicester Tigers Young Player of the Year

This was won by Manu Tuilagi - the fifth of the Tuilagi brothers to play for Tigers, and a deserving winner for young player of the year.

Leicester Tigers Players' Player of the Year

This was won by Anthony Allen, who has enjoyed 2 successful seasons with Tigers, and has now become a regular on the team sheet at centre. Anthony obviously is popular with the team, but also with the loyal Tigers fans too.

Ann and Jo spent time chatting with several of the players and a number of the sponsors as well. A good night was had, and the fans, sponsors and players are now looking ahead to the Leicester Tigers vs Newcastle Falcons match this weekend.

Win wishes the team the best of luck for the game, and will look forward to watching Tigers playing back at Welford road the week after for the London Irish game.

We have put a couple of photos from the night below for you to browse, and don't forget to leave us a comment or just say hi :)

Ann and Jo with Rob Hawkins, who Win Marketing sponsor for the 2010-2011 season

Ann and Jo with Rob, Scott Hamilton and Helen and Paul Tinkler

 Ann and Jo with Rob

Tags: Awards | rugby | sponsor | Rob Hawkins | Leicester Tigers

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I was recently asked to give a presentation at the Leicester Business Club on how small and medium sized businesses could market themselves in a cost effective manner.

My presentation, entitled cost-effective marketing is attached.

It is important to develop your strategy, but in order to develop a marketing strategy, you must first confirm your market place.  Ask customers questions, assess your position in the market and your sales proposition against your competitors and your customers' needs and wants.  Try to understand what problems they have that you can solve.

The presentation covers, how you determine your planning gap and how you can achieve your marketing and business growth objectives.

In order to achieve a greater response rate from your marketing communications activities, it is important to focus not just on the features of your prodcut or service.  The F.A.B approach of features, advantages and benefits should help to communicate your marketing messages in a manner that customers are more likely to respond to.  If you can say "So what" at the end of a sentence you have probably made reference to a feature - you need to follow it up with, "which means that ..."

The presentation provides some practical marketing and promotion tips on getting noticed in a cost-effective manner.  It provides useful tips on how to be effective in your public relations and web marketing.  Covering some creative ideas on gaining exposure and tips around search engine optimisation, social media marketing and blogs.

The presentaiton concludes with a summary that you should maintain a U.P.I.R approach to your marketing.  Your proactive infra-red system which means you can be one step ahead of the competition. 

U = Understand the market

P = Plan your marketing activities

I = Implement your plan

R = Review your activities, adjust, increase your understanding and start the cycle all over again

Download the sideshow (1.3 Mb, PPS)

To print this document:
Save the slide show to your documents
Open Microsoft PowerPoint
Locate the PPS file and click "Open."
Click "File" and choose "Print."

I hope you find the material useful

Regards
Ann Goodwin, FCIM, DipM, Chartered Marketer

Ann is a marketing practitioner of over 30 years experience and has spoken at conferences, delivered marketing and sales training in the UK and internationally in the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Tags: cost effective marketing | practical tips for marketing | effective public relations | marketing planning | features advantages and benefits

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Does your website comply?

In the UK, we are all familiar with the code of practice relevant to advertising - you cannot just advertise without following guidelines.  The  Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has a range of rules to protect consumers and ensure organisations do not make false claims in their advertising.  Any marketing communications practitioner is well aware of these standards.

As from 1 March 2011, the ASA’s online remit has been extended to cover websites and other non-paid for space under an organisation's direct control, which includes social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  

As with traditional advertising, the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) now applies in full to marketing messages online, including the rules relating to misleading advertising, social responsibility and the protection of children.

This new code should be seen as positive for both consumers and businesses as it will ensure high standards across digital media communication. The CAP Code includes rules that help to ensure marketing communications remain legal, decent, honest and truthful.

The code is relevant for any UK company promoting itself online (including their website), regardless of its market sector, industry, business type or size of organisation.

The code is not intended to catch organisations out, or to provide a "big brother" approach, it is designed to protect consumers and businesses alike. To that end, it promotes and preserves organisations’ right to advertise responsibly – and those that do, shouldn’t find it burdensome to comply with.

If you are unsure as to whether your website and digital marketing activity complies, or you feel the time is right to address your digital marketing strategy then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards
Ann Goodwin FCIM, DipM

Tags: New code of practice for websites | CAP code | website compliance | new advertising rules for websites

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I am pleased to report that there are still some business development grants available for any business operating in Leicetser City Centre.

There are some pre-requisites as to how you obtain this grant, but there is 60:40 fund matching for any business based in the city centre who has not had any direct contact with Business Link.

The purpose of this grant is to help businesses grow and succeed in the City.

If you are interested in developing your business and think a grant would help you to:

• Conduct market research to help you understand more about your customers and market place
• Formulate a marketing strategy to help your marketing direction
• Generate new marketing promotional materials
• Develop your website
• Conduct a Public relations campaign
• Implement an online web marketing campaign using search engine optimisation techniques and social media

Please ask one of the consultants at Win Marketing for advice.  We are currenlty helping a number of clients to benefit from this grant and to help them grow their business.

Tags: Grants for marketing in Leicester | growing your business in Leicester | Website development in Leicester | Marketing in Leicester | Market research in Leicester

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Having written copy for sales and marketing material for nearly 30 year and for websites for 10 years, I was asked recently how tdo I generate content.  I come at it from a marketing perspective first and foremost - which means I think of my clients' customers.

I try to get my client talking about his customers and why they use his products/services? I try and let my client give me all the features of his business and turn these into advantages and benefits relevant to the different audiences he deals with.

If is important to keep asking "why" to really get through the features and facts and get to the benefits. You need to ask who else is involved in the purchasing decision to ensure that the features and benefits are relevant for the different stakeholders. For example, if you client is a medical equipment manufacturer, you will need to think about the benefits for the patient, the clinician, the nursing staff, the procurement team and the financial people.

Having gone through thinking about the messages to the customers, it is then important to ask the client - what makes you different from the competition? Out of the content which he has given to you - what could be applied in similar way by the competitors?

A good question I ask - is: Why should customers and prospects use you over company X or Y?

I look for the top level message (the elevator pitch message) - by asking if you met a prospect in the lift and had 30 seconds to tell them about your business what would you say. This helps to steer more detailed content for other pages or either a website and/or literature.

it is important to understand the tone and style your client likes in the written word. Friendly, professional, technical, etc all need to be considered along with do you write in the third party or singular tense. I try to write more content focusing on the client and the word You rather than me and we.

Other questions may include

    * If your client does not use you - what are the alternatives?
    * What are the long/short term advantages of using your company?
    * What types of individuals benefit from your product/service?
    * Why do they benefit?

When I have got the facts and raw information, I then use competitor analysis, key word research, check industry magazines and blogs to understand more about the terminology and what is fit for purpose, e.g., for Search Engine optimisation purposes and for relevant target audiences.

I am sure there is loads more that we could think about, but hope this blog helps as a starter.

Regards

Ann Goodwin

Tags: writing content for websites | copywriting for websites | copyriting for sales material | content for promotional material

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This week, we have facilitated a communications workshop for a professional membership organisation.  It reminded us of how easy it is to use our own terms of reference and assume knowledge when communicating with others, especially amongst our team members.

The famous saying of be aware of assuming - ASSUME - it can make an ASS out of U (you) and ME is as true today as it was years ago.  The danger today is that with communication having to break through more noise than ever before, we often "assume" things which can result in a whole raft of problems. 

Assumptions ar a key barrier to effective communication  We can assume our partners are listening, when we asked them to pick up the children; or that staff know what they need to, in order to complete a task efficiently and effectively.

It is easy to make various assumptions that can have a detrimental affect on our ability to communicate. Here are some common assuptions:

• I know your views on the situation
• The other person is to blame for the problem
• We need to solve the others person's problem
• We are right and they are wrong
• You know how to do something
• You know what I am talking about

What are the assumptions you make in the workplace or at home on a daily basis?  How efficient and more effective could you be, if you just stopped and checked your assumptions?  Feedback is a vital element of the communications process.  If we gathered feedback more often and clarified understanding of our communications, we might be more effective more of the time.

We welcome comments as to what assumptions you have made and where it has caused you or your organisation problems in the past?

Tags: Communications; communications trai

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What a difference Winter tyres have made to some of the team at Win Marketing.

After visiting Poland last year in the depths of winter, Win Marketing's Managing Director Ann Goodwin was so impressed with the difference that winter tyres made, that as soon as the bad weather arrived in England last week, she invested in a set of winter tyres for her automatic, rear wheel drive car.

As Ann said, "without winter tyres, my car was not driveable, I kept skidding and sliding everywhere and my car got stuck in my village.  When the snow cleared a little, I was able to get the car out and went straight to the local tyre fitters and had winter tyres fitted.  The difference was amazing, I was so impressed that I also purchased a set for the company pool car as well".

It is important to the team at Win Marketing that they can get out and about to see clients and that the bad weather does not have too much of an advserse affect on our business.  With some of our clients operating in the health and safety sector, we have promoted health and safety issues for over 15 years.  As such, we are more than aware of the importance to assess the health and safety risks and where possible trying to put in procedures to mitigate risk.

If anyone is thinking 'should I invest in winter tyres in the UK?'  Our answer would be yes, definately.  We just cannot believe that the tyre companies are not promoting the safe benefits of winter tyres.  A lot of people we have spoken to have never heard of winter tyres at all.  Come on tyre companies - promote the benefits and help people to be safer on the roads this winter!  You never know if the demand increases, they may increase supply and result in cheaper winter tyres in the future.

Tags: promoting health and safety | promoting benefits of winter tyres | safer driving | Winter tyres

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What a shame.

Here at Win Marketing we are all gutted that we didn't get the result to bring the Football World Cup home to England.  We thought our bid had an excellent chance of winning and it was great to see HRH Prince William, the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon David Cameron and David Beckham working together.  The speeches sounded brilliant, well thought out from a script perspective and delivered superbly - a lesson for anyone in business who needs to deliver a high quality, meaningful presentation.  Commiserations to all involved.

Congratulations to Russia and to Qatar.

The team at Win Marketing has delivered a number of marketing projects in the region and has excellent links in Doha, helping clients with their marketing and promotional activities in Qatar and the Middle East region.  I know the Qataris and the ex-pats will be delighted with the decision.  It proves that Qatar is a country to be taken seriously as its economy continues to grow. 

So where will England go from here?  At least we have the Olympics in 2012 and the Rugby World Cup in 2015 to look forward to.  Staging two out of three major sporting events is not a bad place to be so we shoudl not be too down hearted.

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Win Marketing has recently taken on George Furse, to strenghten our web and graphics design team.

George specialised in graphics at Loughborough University and has worked with a number of respected companies, and has experience in many aspects of design, including web, exhibition displays, corporate literature and logo concept design.

Thrown straight in, George has already designed more than one website template, business cards, downloadable PDF's and has even started looking at a redesign for the Win Marketing website!

Have a look at our staff page in the 'about us' section to learn more about the Win Marketing team.

In the mean time, follow Win Marketing on Twitter for news, tips and links to interesting marketing info on the web. We are @winmarketing , hope to see you there!

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