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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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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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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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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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!

Tags:

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Congratulations to Jo Goodwin of the team, who gained a distinction in her Market Research and Information unit of the Professional Certificate in Marketing for the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)

Jo is currently working on the next unit, Stakeholder Marketing in international markets and we wish her the best of luck with this as well!

Tags: Chartered Institute of Marketing | CIM | Recognition | Awards

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As you may remember, Win Marketing were working with DARE, the national drug awareness and education charity, and Oliver Wilson, to organise the 2010 'Oliver Wilson DARE Golf Day, Dance and Dinner' event.

Held at Notts Golf club, Hollinwell, the 23 teams all teed off at lunch time, just as the rain started to fall, which, luckily for the golfers, was only short lived!

Ann and Jo from the team were on hand during the event to ensure everything ran smoothly.

We had a few sporting celebrities who came along, including Teddy Sherringham, former England footballer, Chris Broad, ex - England cricketing legend, Ian Woan, former Nottingham Forest footballer, and Tony Woodcock, ex - England and Nottingham Forest football player.

A good day and evening was had by all, successfully raising nearly £20,000 for DARE, lets hope next years event can raise even more!

Tags: News | Events

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In July, I will be running the 5K Race for Life. I have never done a 5K in my life so this is a real test for me as I plan to run (not walk) the whole of the race. Please dig deep and sponsor me online - it's quick, easy and totally secure.

Tags: News

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On Tuesday, Win Marketing organised for Scott Hamilton; Leicester Tigers Rugby player to visit Leicester General Hospital in celebration of a £10m investment which has meant that every bed in Leicestershire and Rutland hospitals have been replaced with brand new electric ones. 

Working with Medstrom and Hill-Rom we managed to gain local coverage by getting East Midlands Today and the Leicester Mercury.

We will be adding a copy of the news story on EMT shortly, so keep checking back to watch it for yourselves! 

If you want to read the press release on this then you can download it here.

UPDATE: You can now watch the news story from EMT below:

Tags: News

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Ann and Chris were pleased to be invited to the Leicester Tigers end of season awards dinner, where Ben Young was awarded Players Player of the Year Award, and Dan Cole received thew Newcomer of the Year Award.

Win Marketing are pleased to sponsor Scott Hamilton, who received the Sponsors Player of the Year Award. Ann and Chris are pictured with him below.

Good luck to Scott, Dan, Ben and the rest of the Tigers team in the Guinness Premiership Final!

Tags: News

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Win Marketing were pleased to co-ordinate the appearance of Ex-British Lions and England Rugby legend, Dean Richards at the annual dinner of the Doha Ladies Rugby Club.

Dean has just returned after an entertaining evening with the ladies. If anyone is interested in booking Dean for either after dinner or motivational speaking, please contact Win Marketing on +44(0)1509 265890.

Tags: News | Events

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In EMAGs campaign for justice for Equitable Life victims, Graham Garner from the Leicester/Loughborough EMAG committee ran from Leicester to Loughborough today. 

Nicky Morgan, election candidate for the Conservative Party for Loughborough has signed the EMAG pledge and came along to support Graham and EMAG in their efforts to gain quick and fair compensation for Equitable Life victims. 

Jo and Ann from the Win Marketing team went down to Loughborough Town Hall to also support Graham.

Well done Graham!

Tags: News

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Thats right! Win Marketing are working with DARE, the national drug awareness and education charity, and Oliver Wilson, to organise this years 'Oliver Wilson DARE Golf Day, Dance and Dinner' event, and bookings have recently opened!

With already a number of guests securing their places through our new events section of our site, it is looking like the event, which is being held at Hollinwell Golf Club in Nottingham on June 24th 2010, will be extremely successful and enjoyable for all who attends.

To find out more about this event, go to our events section, where you can book your place online.

We will keep you updated with the progress of this exciting event!

Tags: Events | News

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At Win Marketing, we know how important it is to keep up to date, which is why we have recently launched our new website. Keep checking back on our blog for the latest news from the Win Marketing offices.

Hope you like the site!

Tags: News

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What is marketing and can I afford it?
by Ann Goodwin

Successful marketing is about meeting the needs of customers – profitably. People say to me marketing is the same as sales – but in my opinion they are wrong, selling an item is one thing, but did the customer really need the item and will the customer come back for more? The value of a happy customer can be experienced for many years after the initial sale.

Other people say to me marketing is advertising – but again I disagree. Advertising is one form of marketing, which fits together with the many promotional opportunities open to a company.

Marketing is all about identifying what your customers need, and supplying it when they want it, where they want it, at a price they are prepared to pay, with a value that is perceived as better than the competition.

How can I assess if my business offers customers this?

Quite simply ask them. Large companies invest millions in market research, trying to understand as much as they can about the market they operate in. Because it may not appear to be essential in the day to day operations of running a small business it is rarely achieved. However, conducting research can not only be financially advantageous it can be interesting and intriguing. It can provide you with valuable intelligence vital in making a decision.

The sort of areas a company should have an understanding of with regard to their market place include:

Understand your customers

• Who are they?
• Why do they buy?
• What would they prefer to buy if they could?
• Individuals and organisations – what does each person look for when they buy my product or service?

Who are my competitors?

• How do they promote themselves?
• How are we different?

What is happening in my business?
What are my strengths and weaknesses?
What is happening in the market in which we operate in?
What are my opportunities and threats?
How will technology affect my business?

Do you know what your customers really want and why they want it? Do you develop your products, services and promotional material to meet these requirements?
Can you afford not to!?

Many people think marketing is costly, but it should be seen as an investment. Good marketing should test ideas and keep the investment to a minimum until you can assess the results.

Understand what customers want
Understand why the customers want it
Understand how, when and where they want it
Ask them – don't be afraid, don't assume you know it!
Develop a promotional strategy to let them know – this does not have to be expensive it could be merely direct mail letters, telephone calls, or appointments.
Be consistent - Ensure your promotional tactics are consistent – advertising, website and electronic marketing.
Ensure you deliver what you say you will.
Maintain the relationships to understand what else the customer might want.

Tags: Articles

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