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Creare announced as Google AdWords Premier SME Partner

Today, Creare was announced as a Google AdWords Premier SME Partner, one of only a handful of marketing agencies in the UK to achieve this status.

Google AdWords Premier SME Partners are a group of hand-picked, highly qualified companies recognised because they offer the expertise, experience, and end-to-end customer service so that business owners can focus on running their businesses, helping them benefit from the power of Google AdWords.

Creare’s Chief Commercial Officer, Tom Darnell said: “Our elevation to Google AdWords  Premier SME Partner status is testament to the hard work and dedication our team has shown to achieving success for our clients’ digital marketing campaigns. Google has supported our team through providing training, resources, analysis and enabling engaging events which helps us achieve more for our clients. We are excited to take this to the next level.”

Creare is able to support hundreds of small and medium businesses achieve success online through their innovative approach to ‘demystifying digital’, an example being the launch of their Digital Health Check tool in the summer of 2015. Since then over 5,000 businesses have gone on to discover how their digital presence is performing and taken action.

“The Google AdWords Premier SME Partner Programme is a great way for small and medium businesses to connect with companies who can help them make the most of their online advertising,” says Kartik Taneja, Head of Google’s EMEA channel sales partnerships. “Guided by the expertise of our trusted partners like Creare, small and medium-sized businesses can maximise the value and performance of their campaigns.”

Creare’s digital marketing solution includes websites, eCommerce stores and a range of digital marketing solutions to drive traffic, including Google AdWords. As a Google AdWords Premier SME Partner, Creare will continue to offer these solutions to new and existing clients, helping busy business owners to take control of their digital marketing and achieve success online.

To find out more about how Creare can help your business achieve success online with Google AdWords visit www.creare.co.uk/ppc

 

– ends –

 

Notes to Editor

About Creare

Creare provide a holistic digital marketing solution for small and medium sized businesses in the UK, including websites, ecommerce stores, search engine optimisation and pay per click search marketing, social media and video.  Established in 2006, Creare has provided websites, ecommerce solutions, search marketing, social media and video solutions to over 4,000 businesses.

For more information, visit www.creare.co.uk/ppc

For further information, please contact:

Tom Darnell, Chief Commercial Officer, Creare

Tel:           +44 7595 075724

Email:      tom.darnell@creare.uk

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Why Case Studies Should Be A Part Of Any Marketing Strategy

We all know that customer trust is key to repeat business, as well as ensuring growth and a positive reputation remain in good stead. Case studies are a prime example where, customer stories, add huge value to a campaign.

Unfortunately, many businesses still aren’t bought into the idea of promoting the work they’ve undertaken, and this can be due to the labour required to source such information.

So, it’s my mission with this article to change that way of thinking, and show that the on-going rewards case studies can provide outweigh the investment of time needed.

The Difference Between Reviews & Case Studies

One thing to remember is that case studies are not the same as reviews; case studies are in-depth articles about the experience from both a consumer and a business, and their journey of working together.

Although reviews are also crucial to gaining trust, they are often one-sided and don’t give a full picture of the relationship between consumer and seller.

Think What Makes You Purchase

When deciding whether case studies are worth your time, consider your thoughts and decisions as if you were a buyer:

  • What helps you decide to choose a company?
  • What information do you value?
  • What would help you decide between 2+ companies?

Although you are a business owner, you’re also a consumer, so understanding what makes you part with you money should be applied to your own marketing strategy.

Case Studies Support Branding

If you’re a relatively new business, then your reputation and brand exposure may be high on the list of your marketing strategy; especially if you’re a little fish in a big pond.

Fortunately, many consumers follow a growing trend of wanting to support the smaller businesses, but convincing them you’re the right one can be harder without the recommendation of others.

Case studies offer a solution to this and not only allow people to see the ups and downs of the projects but, by relating to a real story, that connection is something more than what a faceless corporate may be able to offer; despite their 30 years’ experience!

Video Case Studies Are The Way Forward

We as consumers are becoming lazy, which means spoon-fed information is always preferred over having to work for it. Case studies pack more of a punch if a buyer can see and hear the story first hand, making video the perfect format.

Think of television adverts and the success of these for many businesses; they often use case studies as part of their advertising strategy. A modern take on this is the case study videos Google Chrome used for an ad campaign, such as this one for The Cambridge Satchel Company. The end result of this campaign was increased trust and visibility for both brands – Google and the businesses of its video case studies.

Most Importantly – Create Trust With Customers

As with all content, case studies are pointless if no one appreciates the value of what you’re trying to show. In short, this type of content should invoke emotion from clients which triggers a reaction, whether it’s to share the story, use your services or purchase your products, or voice an opinion on their experiences.

Case studies are worth investing time into for marketers to tell the story about a business relationship. Case studies aren’t just suited to businesses that deal with big projects or contracts; if you provide any kind of solution for your customers, then discover what they have to say and how they found the services through the most suitable means. The end results you get from doing so may just surprise you.

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5 Reasons Why Running a Business and Refereeing Sport Are The Same

By day I run a marketing agency called Creare, then at weekends for the best part of 20 years, I have put on a pair of ice skates, a stripey shirt and a lot less padding than the players and officiated professional ice hockey.

I don’t know how much you know about ice hockey, but it can be a pretty brutal sport. Played by tough characters each carrying around a piece of timber in their hands, shooting a solid rubber puck around the ice at 100mph and crashing into each other at high speed. And then there are the officials who are in the middle of all that trying to make split second decisions and maintaining the peace, all whilst being yelled at by the thousands of fans in attendance.

It certainly is a random mix of career choices and one I wouldn’t change for anything, but it got me thinking about the skills required for each role and I quickly realised that refereeing professional sports and running a business often aren’t too dissimilar.

 

  1. Dealing with characters: The sport of hockey, much like many sports is a game loaded up with unique and sometimes firey characters. As a referee, just like a leader in a business, you need to know how to manage these individuals, but not constrain them too much because often, they are the team players that deliver enormous value.
  1. Communicating with clarity: The key for any leader in business is to communicate with clarity, getting your ideas and decisions across to the necessary audience. Communication is also a big part of officiating professional sports, you need to have a good relationship with the coaches and clearly communicate your decisions to the teams and all those in attendance.
  1. Great team work: Just like the two teams competing, team work is a big part of officiating professional sports, we go out there as a team and work together to make the best decisions possible. A leadership team in a business is no different. It would be a pretty lonely ride if you didn’t have a good relationship with your team mates and you weren’t all heading in the same direction, backing each others decisions and forming a united front.
  1. Staying cool under pressure: Sometimes in business times can be hard, just like those moments in a heated game where the players and fans are on your back, you need to maintain a calm and controlled appearance. If you lose it in either job, the situation will likely descend further and then you really have lost control.
  1. Not being afraid to make unpopular decisions: Probably the most fundamental thing is simply knowing that if you’re the boss, or the referee in charge of a game, you aren’t always going to be popular. You have to make decisions and take action that won’t be universally agreed upon, but you must always base those decisions on the best information available and with total integrity every step of the way.

Back at the beginning of my career, I was criticised by a potential employer for having ‘Ice Hockey Referee’ as a job on my CV. The day has always stuck with me, because in that moment, and every step of my journey since, I fundamentally disagreed with that mindset, always believing that the wealth of transferrable skills from my ‘other’ job were vast.

The beauty of the world of business and the world of sport is that both are fast paced, challenging and rarely feature a dull moment. I believe more businesses should look to the wider skills and experience people possess, because it’s that broad set of experiences that make people successful, and ultimately it’s those people that make businesses successful.

Check out more articles about business, technology and digital marketing on Creare’s Advice Centre.

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Creare Supporting ReachLocal Customers and Employees

Following the news that ReachLocal has gone into administration in the UK, Creare is working actively to provide support to affected clients and employees of ReachLocal.

As one of the UK’s leading digital marketing agencies and with the core brand value of Demystifying Digital, we are happy to step up and provide support, ensuring the impact on busy SMEs is minimal, particularly at this time of year.

Creare’s Chief Commercial Officer, Tom Darnell said:

“This has obviously been a difficult week for both the clients and employees of ReachLocal and couldn’t have come at a worse time. However, it is heartening to see the wider marketing community, including Creare, jumping to the support of ReachLocal clients and employees alike, ensuring the impact to business owners is minimal and that there is a lifeline for the many affected ReachLocal employees.”

For ReachLocal clients: Creare is offering free setup* for customers who transition their Google Adwords account to Creare (normally £500). We are on hand across the Christmas season providing a smooth transition to Creare from ReachLocal, ensuring minimal disruption to your Google Adwords campaigns as we head into 2016.

As a Google Partner and digital agency that operates with complete transparency, you can be confident your marketing investment is in safe hands. In fact, Creare places a much greater percentage of your budget directly into your click spend, meaning more leads and a better return on your investment.

ReachLocal clients can find more information at www.creare.co.uk/reachlocal

For ReachLocal employees: we appreciate the news you received last week couldn’t come at a worse time of year. As such, Creare has created a number of Associate Business Development Manager roles with an immediate start date for successful candidates.

The associate business development manager role will give a lifeline to ReachLocal sales professionals at this difficult time. In addition to an attractive remuneration package, Creare will offer a training & development programme, providing further skills and experience in our full range of digital marketing solutions – skills applicable for future roles at Creare or other organisations.

ReachLocal employees should reach out to Creare’s CCO, Tom Darnell, whose contact details can be found at the end of this press release.

– Ends –

Notes to Editor

About Creare

Creare provide a holistic digital marketing solution for small and medium sized businesses in the UK, including websites, ecommerce stores, search engine optimisation and pay per click marketing, social media and video. Established in 2007, Creare has helped over 4,000 businesses achieved a fantastic online presence through its range of solutions.

For further information, please contact:

www.creare.co.uk/reachlocal

Tom Darnell, Chief Commercial Officer, Creare

Tel: 07595 075724

Email: tom.darnell@creare.uk

 

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Holiday Shopping Trends For British Retailers

There has been a lot of noise surrounding mainstream retailers over the crazy shopping days, but how did the independent retailers get on?

The key shopping days in the UK; Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday, all took place within the space of just over a week. All of these are adopted from American tradition, the UK has jumped on board with these events in recent years.

Brightpearl analysed the performance of 1,200 of their retail and wholesale customers from various industries over Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday UK. The data looked at same-business and channel comparisons across the number of items sold, gross merchandise value (GMV) and sales channels for all sales orders processed.

Drum roll please… Here are the results and they’re very interesting!

Black Friday vs Cyber Monday

In 2015, Black Friday took place on November 27th and Cyber Monday fell on November 30th. According to the Guardian, Black Friday failed to make up for November’s slow trade, suggesting it was not as big of a success as expected.

Interestingly, Brightpearl’s data shows a large increase in gross merchandise value (GMV) between 2013 and 2014, but this year UK consumers have spent almost the same as they did last year.

Black Friday stayed the same with a 0% increase and Cyber Monday dropped by 2%. Are UK shoppers already bored of the crazy discount shopping days?

Although Cyber Monday spend decreased slightly, the discount day still came out as the winner in the battle between Black Friday vs Cyber Monday.

Small Business Saturday UK

Following Black Friday and Cyber Monday was Small Business Saturday which took place on December 5th in the UK. Small Business Saturday aims to celebrate local small businesses and encourages shoppers to visit independent businesses rather than the retail giants.

Small Business Saturday 2015 has seen the biggest increase from 2014 with a 16% rise in gross merchandise value (GMV). Beating both Black Friday and Cyber Monday in percentage increase, Small Business Saturday awareness has seemingly increased.

With coverage by the BBC, Guardian, Financial Times and various other nationally media, the Small Business Saturday name is growing. Will the 2016 event be an even bigger success for small businesses?

eBay vs Amazon marketplaces

Amazon stole the show with the UK website selling more than 7.4 million items on Black Friday. According to Brightpearl’s data, Amazon has also dominated in the eBay vs Amazon marketplaces battle.

For the third year running, Amazon has dominated in the eBay vs Amazon marketplaces battle. However, 2015 has seen the biggest win with 59.6% for Amazon vs 40.4% for eBay. Amazon certainly seems to be gaining market share from eBay.

Average order value

Average order value has interestingly fell from £128 in 2014 to £112 in 2015 suggesting UK retailers continue to increasingly discount more each year.

As well as average order value falling, more consumers have headed online instead of going to the shops in order to avoid the hustle and bustle experienced in the UK in 2014.

Retailers and consumers alike appear to have had some doubt in their minds about Black Friday and Cyber Monday so what lies ahead for the cyber weekend of 2016?

HOLIDAYS_infographic_UK

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Tips to Improve Your Brand – Part 2

The thinking behind a strong brand and communications plan is invaluable. It directs so much about your business.

Your physical brand

There is also the more tangible side to your brand that may need attention too, and that’s the physical parts of it. Think logos, promotional work, brand colours, your office or shop or van.

Critically, if you’ve done the brand thinking right you can guide the physical brand with a look and feel that fits (see the previous article on what you need to be thinking about here).

Logos and Colour

How do you know if your logo needs attention? This is a tricky question to answer as every business is so different.

Logos can develop over time. The degree of change is probably down to what you started with in the first place, or what direction the brand might be moving in.

For instance, you may have started your business on a shoestring budget, or without much thought to the logo or brand direction. It can often be the case that businesses find themselves looking at a logo that needs to ‘grow up’, rectify some cheap, basic design or reflect a better brand direction. Some fundamental re-working might be required.

It’s also the case that some businesses take a more subtle and progressive journey with their logo, moving it on bit by bit, keeping it fresh and working within new environments (think how mobile phones have affected logo visibility, and how the small square social media icon can dictate if a logo works in all environments).

Google is a good example of progressive logo development over time.

Google

The same debates can be said on colour. Colour in itself can say so much about a brand. Brands will become heavily associated with colour, and so more radical changes in brand direction or signals of change can be achieved by colour changes. Subtle progression of different, fresher tones can keep things contemporary too.

Web Design and Promotion

A new website can bring massive benefits from a technology perspective. It is also an opportunity to improve the look, feel and messaging of your brand. The time you have spent thinking about your brand, its values and core messages can feed directly into promotional work to invigorate your brand. It’s a real opportunity to assess what you say and how you attract customers, and improve it.

Think new wording. New headlines. New photography. New typefaces. A new ‘About Us’ page. These can all make a huge difference. It also proves the brand cares about itself, which says to customers ‘they’ll care about me’.

Vans, reception, offices and retail spaces

A new sign, a new van or a major office or shop refit can re-launch a brand to great effect. It’s a chance to communicate and say something about your brand, as well as doing the job of reminding people you exist (the named Virgin Media vans and Stobart lorries are a great example of going beyond a logo and showing some of your brand personality).

Got an office? Think about the first impression your reception makes? No pictures. Tatty chair. Boring chair. Fading coloured paint. No work on the walls, no client logos, pictures or screen to show imagery and messaging? You’ll need to go back to your brand plan and the perceptions you want to illicit and get the reception to match. It’s the same for retail experiences (as that’s what they should be, an experience).

These are just few examples of your physical brand and identity that can make a huge impact on the perceptions held about your business. Each may be small, but when brought together they create a visual story about your brand that you need to guide appropriately.

JOHN HAYWARD RUNS HIS OWN CONSULTANCY, HAYWARD BRANDS, PROVIDING BRAND AND MARKETING CONSULTANCY FOR BUSINESSES IN THE UK. NEVER COMPLICATED, JUST CLEVERLY DONE
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The Pitch Final: What Went Down

The Pitch is a UK wide small business competition that provides a platform for buzzing entrepreneurs and switched-on businessmen and women to pitch their ideas to a large audience and a panel of expert judges. The competition runs throughout the year with contestants taking part in road shows, bootcamps and the final.

The Pitch is all about supporting and advising new businesses and entrepreneurs as they get up and running and this year, Creare were thrilled to be sponsoring the competition. We’ve written some cool content, taken our Digital Health Check on the road to some brilliant events all around the UK and met hundreds of inspiring entrepreneurs who have ideas that I really wish I’d thought of!

DHC
Our Digital Health Check working its magic at The Pitch 15 final

The Pitch 2015 came to a head last week with the final that was held at the ultra-stylish Paintworks venue in Bristol. So, what happened? Who was the best pitcher? What did Creare do to help and most importantly, who won?! Here are some of my personal highlights…

The Fiesty Mentor

Ever wondered how you go from a quiet person with a great idea to a confident person with a solid business pitch? Well for many people, Annette Kramer is the answer. Annette is a successful performance coach and business development professional with over 20 years experience across the globe and she definitely put her expertise into practice with The Pitch finalists!

The opening session of the day involved Annette asking for pitching volunteers from the audience to go up on stage and do their pitch. She then gave them pointers and techniques to use that improved their performance. One of these techniques included telling Nick from KitShare to take a magazine and hit a chair as hard as he could ten times before pitching. You may think this sounds a little crazy, but it worked! Nick’s confidence, passion and enthusiasm hit the roof following this odd activity and it got me thinking about situations where I may be able to get away with such behaviour around the office…

The Inspiring Pitches

Getting up to do a presentation in front of people you know from work is one thing, but presenting in front of 300 people you’ve never met before and pitching your passion to them is undeniably tough. Firstly, to all of you pitchers who are reading this and did that so honourably last Thursday – well done! Many of you have spent years of hard work, determination and pure grit to get to where you are and you are inspirational to us all.

The pitches at the final covered such a wide range of businesses from Tamara’s Helper Bees, the safe and confidential service that provides help to new mothers with everything from cleaning, cooking to ironing and shopping, to Hire An Artist a business founded by Gareth Cravens that connects users with artists who can produced top spec artwork for them. We were also treated to pitches from the likes of Tea Guice, the company that makes green tea so tasty, Choosic, the music discovery app that brings you personalised music recommendations and fast playlist building and LawyerFair, the service that compares lawyers and costs for your businesses completely free of charge!

Tea Guice
@teaguice in action!

The Team Spirit

The biggest thing that struck me at The Pitch Final 2015 was the fact that everyone was spurring each other on. Ultimately, there could only be one winner, but all the pitchers wanted each other to do well. From giving advice on pitches, to last minute partner practises before hitting the stage to loud cheering and pats-on-the-back after making it through your turn, the finalists were working as a team to help each person better themselves. The sense of community was evident.

The Winner

There were many worthy winners at the final but as with all competitions, there can only be one true champion. And so, at 5.30pm on Thursday 12th November, Resolver were crowned the winners of The Pitch 2015. Founder and CEO James Walker has built a company that guides people through the customer complaints process. With some big partnerships in the pipeline, James and his team have built an incredibly useful and sustainable platform that takes the frustration out of the complaints process for a consumer but it also helps businesses manage the complaints they receives. It works both ways for both parties. Watch Resolvers Brand Manager, Matt Rigby’s initial reaction after winning here. A huge well done to the Resolver team, we’re excited to see how your business unfolds!

Resolver
@resolvercouk claiming their winning trophy

Well done once again to all of The Pitch 2015 contestants, it’s been a privilege to walk through the last 12 months with you. Remember that we’re still writing content to help you develop your digital marketing strategy and if you didn’t get chance to run through your Digital Health Check with us at one of the live events, you can take it here and then we’d love to chat about it.

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Tips to Improve Your Brand – Part 1

If branding is about steering a collectively held positive perception, what do you need to think about to steer your brand on the right course?

It’s time to get planning, thinking and looking objectively and creatively at your business!

Back to basics first

Get some of the basics clear. Who are you targeting, what do your customers need, what do they think, what’s on their agenda, what worries or delights them. Then take stock of your competitors. Have a good look. What are they doing well? What are they saying about themselves?

This sets a backdrop by which you can make decisions about the heart of your brand and the fit it has with your customers. For instance, your customers could be tech or gadget mad. They love the latest thing. Or they could be massively into design and their home appearance. Aesthetic is everything.

Your brand

These are some of the areas to consider to ensure you know what sits at the heart of your business and brand:

Beliefs: What you feel strongly about matters, so beliefs are a lynchpin of any brand. They’ll direct the way things are done.

Example: Take Dyson, they work relentlessly to innovate and bring the next great product – they (or should I say Sir James?) believe you’re only as good as you’re last product.

His people, ethos, ways or working, adverts and products all ooze ‘innovation and invention’ in support of that belief. Just see what his foundation gives back all in the name of those two important words: innovation and invention.

The result? People are persuaded to buy Dyson because (they believe) they’re getting a product that’s at the top of the innovation tree and are willing to pay for it.

Personality and behaviours

How your business behaves and acts influences all sorts of business decisions. How you pick up the phone, how you write, even what you put on the company van are all examples of how your brand behaviours can be directive.

On a very simple level a relaxed brand answers the phone with ‘Hello’, while a more formal and serious business might want to start with ‘Good afternoon’.

Examples: Going back to Dyson, they keep the focus on the product – it’s the be all and end all. Their personality is all about being exceedingly clever and inventive in a way that’s grounded in real life insight.

It’s why you feel safe buying their brand, because they’re so clever.

With that ‘clever inventive’ personality trait as direction, it makes decisions about what to put on packaging easy: Dyson make the point that they patent everything they do because it’s so advanced. It’s never been done, and so they can’t be copied.

Dyson

It’s why you get directional balls that go round corners easily, and unique looking fans with no finger slicing blades.

Outside views help

Hopefully you can see why some of the basic questions around your customers are so vital to help you judge how to steer your brand thinking. You can also hopefully start to see how these branding decisions drive so much of your marketing activity and decision-making.

This scratches the surface, and more detailed thinking and planning can be hard. Being your own judge with an ability to push your brand into new, stronger directions is difficult. Objective expertise can really help get the right result (and save on your thinking time too). The rewards of that thinking time are massive, so get thinking, get help if you need it.

 

JOHN HAYWARD RUNS HIS OWN CONSULTANCY, HAYWARD BRANDS, PROVIDING BRAND AND MARKETING CONSULTANCY FOR BUSINESSES IN THE UK. NEVER COMPLICATED, JUST CLEVERLY DONE.

 

 

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PR – Is It More Than Sucking Up?

We’ve all heard about (or unknowingly been part of) PR campaigns that have rocked audiences, cities and sometimes even nations…

This summer saw the season four launch of Game of Thrones on Sky Atlantic and to make sure Londoners were fully aware of this fact, the team behind the TV series surprised commuters by parading 7ft ice giants around the city. It inspired anticipation for avid watchers and for those not-yet fans, it certainly got heads turning.

Game of Thrones Final

Photo source: prexamples.com

How about Nescafe’s latest campaign to ‘inspire connections’ in everyday life? The coffee giant installed coffee machines equipped with cameras in traffic signals around the country. The machines had one message – ‘push together’. The machines linked the pedestrians on either side of the crossing through video link and users were rewarded for pushing the coffee machine button at the same time as there new found friend on the other side of the road with a warm cup of coffee.

But it’s not just big profit making companies that have found clever ways of promoting their brand through PR. For National Blood Week, the NHS launched a campaign to raise awareness of the different blood groups by asking businesses and individuals to drop the A’s, B’s and O’s from their logos or names. This was a pretty cost-effective way of creating a buzz around the week. Did you get involved?

Now I know what you’re thinking, the lavish and extravagant nature of some of these campaigns often makes them appear unreachable to smaller businesses but I am a firm believer that PR is not just for the big hitters. In this article, I’m going to look at demystifying what PR is, why as a small business owner, you need to include it in your marketing strategy and we’ll finish with some quick, simple tips that will help you hit the ground running with it.

Sit tight, we’re going on a roller-coaster ride…

What is PR?

Public Relations, know in short as ‘PR’, is often misunderstood. Many people think it’s to do with sucking up to editors of big magazines, spending loads of money on a fancy campaign or doing something a bit crazy to get your business noticed. Therefore you may be surprised to hear it’s actually definition as described by the Business Dictionary…

The profession or practice of creating and maintaining goodwill of an organisation’s various publics (customers, employees, investors, suppliers, etc.), usually through publicity and other nonpaid forms of communication.

There were a few things that struck me about this definition…

  1. It’s about goodwill, not manipulation.

PR is about maintaining honest, kind and fair relationships with the stakeholders of your business. It is not about tricking them into thinking you’re something you’re not. At Creare’s recent ‘Digital Demystified’ event, we were delighted to be joined by Tamsin Fox-Davies from Constant Contact and she coined this idea perfectly.

If your business is just you and the dog, say it’s just you and the dog.

Don’t make out to people that you are something different to what you are. People will find out.

  1. PR is for all stakeholders, not just customers.

It is easy to get caught up in thinking that PR is just about convincing your current customers and prospects to like you and spend more with you. Well, it’s not. It’s a much broader concept than that; you have to consider everyone who has contact with your business. What do your employees think of the business? Are your suppliers happy? And what about your investors? Are you being honest, upfront and fair in the way you liaise with them?

  1. It doesn’t have to involve bucket loads of money!

The cost of PR is definitely the biggest misconception. As the Business Dictionary states, public relations includes ‘nonpaid forms of communication.’ I can hear you cheering!

 Cheering

This opens the practise up right? If it doesn’t have to cost money, it means that it’s accessible to all businesses, no matter their size.

Why do I need it?

As a small business, you will be told you need a lot of things so I’m not going to give you my opinion on why PR should be a part of your marketing strategy, I’m just going to give you some key facts and then you can make your own mind up…

Firstly, PR is working for other businesses. Statistics from the International Communications Consultancy Organisation show that turnover of the PR industry globally grew 22 % between 2010 and 2012.

Secondly, your customers prefer reading your content rather than being sold to. 70% of clients actually prefer getting to know a company through reading articles rather than watching their advertising. PR achieves this; it does not aim to ‘hard sell’ to consumers. It is all about creating content that exposures your brand, identity and great service.

At the end of the day, people want to be in control of what information they receive. For example, did you know that…

  • 86% of people skip TV advertisements
  • 44% of direct mail is never opened
  • 91% of email users have unsubscribed from a company email that they had previously opted into

3 tips for getting started…

1. Take some time to answer these questions…

Who is your market? This will help you understand the media you need to target.

What is the benefit of your product/service? Explaining the benefit of what you do or sell is far more readable than just explaining what it is. The media will want to know what effect it is has had on clientele.

Why is your product/service unique? Articulate what makes it better than your competitors offering.

2. Source testimonials and reviews from happy customers

These are gold when it comes to creating press releases and articles. Remember that credibility is far more valuable when it comes from impartial people.

3. Write your boilerplate

A PR boilerplate is found at the end of a press release. It briefly describes the company that the press release has come from. Keep it brief; take just a few sentences to concisely explain your business and use the same boilerplate on all your PR material. Check out Creare’s boilerplate as an example.

So there’s your whistle-stop tour or PR – What it is? Why should you do it and how can you get started? I’d love to hear how you get on, so do comment below, ask any questions or share tips with fellow business owners. We’re in this together!

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Retail Checklist: Ten Steps to Improve Customer Service in Preparation for the Holiday Season

For many retailers, the holiday season is the highest revenue generating time of the year. Yes, it can be a stressful few months, but for those that are prepared and equipped to handle the added pressure, it can actually be “The most wonderful time of the year.”

At the centre of the season is the consumer. Your customer. The success of this season lies solely on their shoulders: the what, where, why and how much they decide to buy, or not. A retailer’s ability to meet customer’s needs, keep them happy, and turn a seasonal shopper into a regular customer plays as large a role in retail success.

BizRate recently conducted a survey of 13,000 people of different age groups and genders to see why they chose one retailer over another. Bizrate Insights Vice President Hayley Silver shared the results, which revealed that shoppers most value “customer support,” “product met expectations,” “on-time delivery” and “design of site,” for eCommerce stores.

The following retail checklist offers tips on how to improve customer service for both online and in-store consumers. It includes some tactics you may already be familiar with, but may not have used in some time. Other tips may be new to you, but are proven methods in retail that provide that invaluable one-on-one level of support today’s consumers demand.

  1. Stay on top of inventory levels to improve customer service. When customers make the decision to buy, the best way to serve them is to have that desired product in stock. Staying on top of your inventory levels ensure you can deliver. Through your retail management platform, when levels get to your preset reorder number, a supplier order is automatically generated to replenish your stock levels. When the numbers are going the other way and certain stock isn’t moving, the holiday season is the best time to discount that stock in order to make room for products customers want to buy. Having your inventory, sales, and purchasing data tied directly to your accounting system within your retail platform allows you to quickly run profit and loss statements and other accounting reports at any time, continually fine-tuning your operations throughout the season.
  1. Use inventory reporting to keep customers happy. Mistakes happen, especially during the holiday rush. If an order was lost during shipping, your inventory reports will tell you if you have a replacement product in stock. If the warehouse sent out an incorrect product, your inventory report will show the discrepancy to identify the error, potentially before the customer does. Then you can be proactive by contacting the customer to correct situation.

“Tracking stock levels is really important for us as we sell different quantities across so many different channels – we never want to let customers down by being out of stock – Brightpearl makes sure we don’t.” Daniel Rios, Technical and Operations Specialist, Paper & Tea

  1. Multichannel management to serve customers wherever they shop. Do your regular in-store customers like to shop online for the added convenience? Having all your sales channels – in-store, online, eBay and Amazon stores – tied to together offers numerous ways to better serve your customers. Sales orders automatically update inventory levels across all channels. Pricing can be managed centrally, so if you discover a competitor with a lower price, information which is easily found through eBay’s advanced search functionality, you can adjust accordingly to stay competitive. Offering the ability to buy online but pick up in the store is becoming more popular among shoppers, and as the days wind down to the holiday season, this option could really save the day during last-minute gift buying.
  1. Your Suppliers play a key role in improving customer service AND cash flow. Going back to monitoring inventory levels, having a solid relationship with your suppliers can benefit your customer in many ways. If you have a banger sales weekend, leaving you unexpectedly low or out of a certain product, drop shipping from your supplier to your customer to deliver product before your stock is replenished. You may list a lower sell-through item in your catalogue but may not stock it, knowing that if a sale comes through you can drop ship to the customer or get same-day delivery from your supplier. This enables you to direct that cash elsewhere versus having it gather dust on the shelf. Freeing up that cash flow allows you to spend it in ways the benefit your business, from hiring additional temporary holiday staff, to marketing and advertising, or other on products with higher sell-through rates.
  1. Simplify and improve your deliveries with cloud-based solutions. Third-party ecommerce solution providers such as ShipStation in the U.S. and Scurri in the U.K. integrate directly into your retail management platform and popular shopping carts (Shopify, Magento, Bigcommerce), automatically assigning a carrier for each shipment based on your pre-defined criteria. This increases efficiency over manual entry, providing real-time tracking for both you and your customer. Letting shoppers know exactly when their package is set to arrive is of value at any time, but especially during the holidays. These services also enable you to analyze the performance of each carrier, continually fine-tuning your delivery system to meet and exceed customer’s needs while monitoring costs to improve your bottom line.

“We love ShipStation! This was probably the first automation systems we took on as a small company. We initially did all shipments by hand. We were just starting out and didn’t know any better. Then in Christmas of 2012 our sales really took off, and we were swamped! Not to mention we went a little crazy trying to do all these orders by hand. So we Googled something like “magento shipping integration” and that’s how we found ShipStation. It was love at first sight.” Connor Hartnett, Founding Manager, F&V Lighting

  1. Increase the monitoring of your store’s shopping cart abandonment rates. People get finicky during the holiday season. It’s important to know the difference between a dropped sale because a shopper changed their mind, and a potential problem with your checkout process. Ecommerce shopping cart solutions like Magento will notify you when customers abandoned the sale, and then send them email notification reminders to finish the sale. These can be customized messages to contact your store if there were issues, enabling staff to personally resolve them, even by taking orders over the phone if need be, which offers that personal touch. Tracking if a customer abandon a cart from their mobile device, but completed it on their laptop, could indicate potential friction with your online store from a mobile device, an area you’ll now know needs improvement to better support mobile shoppers.
  1. Take advantage of real-time customer information to better suit their needs. Your CRM has a wealth of information you can use to improve customer service. Filtering by product type and amount of sales by customer, and viewing how they’ve interacted with your store enables you to send personalized one-to-one email messages. These could include a coupon to shop online or bring them back into the store, to invite them to a customer appreciation shopping night, or simply say “thank you” for their continued business. It’s a way to differentiate you from your competitors, where shopping is a pleasurable experience and not simply a lowest cost pursuit.

“Customers can be tracked, tagged, emailed and updated in no time at all. This has streamlined my sales and lead generation by making it easy to communicate with current and potential clients.” Laura Rudo, CEO, Evolve Beauty

  1. If you’re not yet using social media to improve customer service, what are you waiting for? Earlier this year, our partner Creare wrote a great blog post on how to use Twitter for customer support, including an eye-opening statistic: of the consumers who post a complaint on social media, 42% of them expect a response within 60 minutes and 32% expect one within 30 minutes. Closely monitoring your social channels will enable you to quickly address and resolve issues with online customers, or even a shopper Tweeting about waiting in a long line in your store. Use these channels to provide another service by sharing your store’s product expertise through helpful blog posts on the latest trends, tips, and recommendations. Butterfly Twists has a lively and active blog if you’re looking for inspiration.
  1. Small touches can go a long way in creating a welcoming in-store customer experience. Holiday shopping for many is a hectic experience. Having helpful, friendly and knowledgeable staff on the floor can make a world of difference to shoppers. The BizRate survey showed that shoppers of the Baby Boomer and Senior generation stated that service, “they have treated me well in the past,” was most important to them, even over price. Offering a cup of tea or warm cider and a place to rest for busy shoppers is a nice way of letting them know their patronage is appreciated. To help them with their shopping list, turn to your sales reports to see which product lines are selling well, then feature them in eye-catching displays that make buying easier.
  1. A well thought out efficient returns strategy benefits your bottom line and your customer. It’s critical, especially during the holiday season, that your return policies are clearly messaged within your ecommerce store and your physical store. When your returns system is running like a well-oiled machine, products can be added back into inventory quickly, ready to be sold to the next customer. Closely monitoring returns will red flag potential defaults with a product. If you notice a spike for a specific SKU, you can put a hold on a product to prevent future customers from receiving faulty items. At the same time, expediting exchanges ensures your customer receives the replacement product quickly.

According to eMarketer, U.S. retail sales for November and December is predicted to grow 5.7 percent over 2014, reaching $885 billion. This is the biggest increase in retail sales since 2011. Keeping your customers happy through this year’s holiday season will enable your retail business to benefit from what is expected to be, quite a wonderful shopping season.

To learn more on ways you can prepare your retail business for the holiday season, download ‘The Ultimate Retail Guide to the Holiday Season 2015’ today.

This guest post was written by Brightpearl. Brightpearl are a partner of Creare who provide multichannel retail management software.
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Branding is for big business: dispelling the myth

Think brands or branding and you can be tempted to categorise this as a big business issue…

Forget size

Every business relies on being seen, attracting attention, a solid reputation and delivering something their customers’ want, come back for or talk about with others. Every business needs to think about and execute a good brand plan, large or small, local or global.

Forget the jargon

Perhaps branding suffers from ‘daft marketing jargon syndrome’. It certainly sounds fancy, and more akin to big business. Forget the jargon if you like, this is about insightful business planning more than anything. People buy into a business and people they like. They buy into brands and take comfort in purchasing something that has a collectively held positive view. Be it a business service, shop or retail product.

Brands provide safety. Customers keep coming back for more if it fits their needs and outlook. Brands provide safety when making choices, and we choose between smaller business brands every day

Those customers will recommend your business, or even make you an automatic choice if you keep delivering what they bought into. Regardless of size, all the things mentioned in the previous post about ‘what a brand is’ stay true.

Smaller business examples

Let’s think about smaller businesses that aren’t known household brands for a minute. We all need to stand out. The best ones stand for something, and use the power of brand to achieve that stand out and get a collectively held positive view:

  • The farm shop that realises breeding/growing what they sell right there makes people confident in what they’re buying, it’s posh, aspirational and trendy. So the shop environment, packaging, logo, sausage and cheese selection and expert butcher to match all fit that exclusivity. You’re buying ‘exclusive quality’.
  • The small double-glazing business that emphasise traditional methods, craftsmen and an obsession with quality. They reject the idea of sub-contractors that fit the final product. You’re buying ‘quality craftsmanship’ throughout the process.
  • The architects that instil such a level of quality checking and precision that their house-building customers give them work to check from other architects. You’re buying ‘a safe pair of hands’.
  • The mobile coffee guy that specialises in home-made croissants of every variety and ice-cream and coffee worth stepping out of the office for. You’re buying ‘convenience and quality’.

Big/Small: You have a brand

A brand story, plan or reputation has to be earned and any business, whatever the size has to work at their brand constantly. Every business has competition. Every business needs to stand out. So if you have a business, you have a brand! John Hayward runs his own consultancy, Hayward Brands, providing brand and marketing consultancy for businesses in the UK. Never complicated, just cleverly done.

 

John Hayward runs his own consultancy, Hayward Brands, providing brand and marketing consultancy for businesses in the UK. Never complicated, just cleverly done.
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5 Ways Content Could Be Killing Your Website

5 Ways Content Could Be Killing Your Website

“Marketers allocate 28% of their total marketing budget, on average, to content marketing – the same percentage as last year. The most effective allocate 42, and the most sophisticated/mature allocate 46%” says the Content Marketing Institute. If we didn’t before, now we know that a strong content strategy is key to success. So, let’s look at the five ways in which your current content could be killing your website and your brand. Continue reading →

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Creare Represents the Technology Sector Alongside George Osborne

September marks the release of The Parliamentary Review 2014/15, comprising of twelve separate editions, each focusing on a key policy area. Several outstanding organisations, including Creare, have been selected to highlight best practice, representing the tech sector.

 The Parliamentary Review aims to showcase exceptional practice as a learning tool to the public and private sector, with the Technology Edition aimed particularly at leading policymakers and executives in tech.

 This Review also consists of a look back at the year in technology and Westminster, with introductions from The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon George Osborne MP, and Ed Vaizey MP. The political commentary is written by Mark D’Arcy, the BBC’s Parliamentary correspondent.

 The document has been sent out to tens of thousands of leading policymakers including all MPs, Peers at the House of Lords and leaders from across the technology arena including Directors, Consultants, Engineers, CTO’s, Developers and many more. The total distribution of the Review across all policy areas is over 250,000.

 Director of The Parliamentary Review, Daniel Yossman, said: “This year’s Review demonstrates, once again, the enthusiasm of the Public and the Private sector to share best practice for the betterment of industry as a whole. Next year we will be adding new editions to cover additional policy areas and help broaden the discussion yet further. I look forward, as ever, to the challenge.” 

 Editor of The Parliamentary Review, The Rt Hon David Curry, said: “The Review shows just how creative and committed the people are at the ‘coal-face’ of Britain’s economic and social performance.”

 These thoughts are echoed by George Osborne, who uses his piece in the Review to state that: “Improving productivity – the amount that British workers produce for every hour they work – is the key route to making the UK stronger and families richer, and it’s the greatest economic challenge of our time.”

The online copy of the magazine can be found by clicking here.

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Notes to Editor

About Creare

Creare provide a holistic digital marketing solution for small and medium sized businesses in the UK, including websites, ecommerce stores, search engine optimisation and pay per click search marketing, social media and video. Established in 2007, Creare has provided websites, ecommerce solutions, search marketing, social media and video solutions to over 4,000 businesses.

For further information, please contact:

www.creare.co.uk

Tom Darnell, Chief Commercial Officer, Creare

Tel:                           +44 7595 075724

Email:                     tom.darnell@creare.co.uk

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Think Email is Useless? Think Again.

Many of you may be used to hearing that you really shouldn’t bother with email marketing for your business. “No-one opens emails anymore,” “It’ll just go into their spam folder,” “You’ll just look like you’re harassing your contacts and they’ll stop buying from you” are just some of the reasons people will throw at you when you approach the subject with them. But what if they were wrong? What if email marketing, done correctly, could actually make a huge impact to the growth of your business? Just take a read of these statistics and see if we can change your mind…

 

What’s your view of email now? Have these facts changed you mind? Let me know your comments below. In the meantime, if you’d like to find out a little bit more about an email marketing provider, check out Creare’s partnership with Constant Contact. Constant Contact provide a fantastic email solution for small to medium businesses – it’s straight forward to use and effective.

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Email Marketing Image

Top 10 Habits of Successful Email Marketers

Are your email marketing campaigns generating the best possible return? Are you struggling to get your customers and prospects to engage with your content?

To help you think more strategically about your email campaigns, we have looked into the habits of successful email marketers in our Top 10 Guide:

Top 10 Habits Of Successful Email Marketers

In order to become a successful email marketer and implement our tips, you also need a great platform to work with. Here at at Creare we are proud to partner with email platform provider Constant Contact and to get you ahead of the game, we are offering all of our readers a 60 day free trial. Sign up here to get going with it!

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5 Steps To Prioritise Your Digital Marketing

It’s no secret that the marketing industry has changed; gone are the days of being able to rely on handing out leaflets and placing a small text ad in the local newspaper to generate sales.

Digital has redefined the marketing landscape, and with £1 from every £7 spent expected to come from online sales by 2018*, those not responding to this are likely to fall behind.

But in an ever changing marketplace with an increasing number of digital channels available, how do you know which tactics to deploy and how to prioritise your marketing budget?

Step 1 – Put it into context

Before you start investing in digital marketing, try asking yourself the following questions:

Your Business: What do you want to achieve? How much budget are you willing to invest? Do you want to establish a long term strategy or are you more interested in short term wins?

Your Audience: How have customers found your company in the past? Which digital channels are they most likely to be receptive to? Do they typically buy your products/services online or in store?

The Market: How competitive is the market in which you operate? Is this reflected online? How do your competitors advertise?

There are various online resources you can use to help you identify the right digital channels for your business, for example Think With Google shows an overview of how each channel assists in the customer journey to purchase for different industries:

Think With Google Channel Split

Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/tools/customer-journey-to-online-purchase.html#!/the-uk/business-and-industrial/medium/generic-paid-search
 

For B2B, Google have identified that organic search (SEO) and email campaigns act more as assist interactions, whereas social media, display and branded PPC campaigns are more likely to be the last stage before purchase.

Step 2 – Optimise your website

Before investing in any online advertising, it is essential that you ensure your website is up-to-date with new and relevant information, is optimised for all devices, and contains clear calls to action. If these factors aren’t in place, your campaigns will be driving customers to a website which provides a poor experience and they are less likely to purchase.

It’s important to check your website is optimised for any campaign you are looking to run e.g. an email marketing campaign that contains links back to your website needs to drive customers to pages which contain relevant content and provide a clear path to conversion.

Step 3 – Choose your tactics

Depending on the competitiveness of your industry online, your budget and whether you’re looking for a short or long term campaign, each digital marketing channel has different benefits:

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation focuses on growing visibility in organic (non-paid) Google search results. SEO is a long-term strategic tactic as particularly in competitive markets, it can take time to generate tangible results. Investing long-term in SEO can generate great returns in terms of brand exposure, increased traffic and conversions.

PPC – Pay-Per-Click advertising involves paying for ads to be displayed in Google search results. It’s a great tactic for generating quick wins as it is possible to bid your way to the top of the search results instantly. However, depending on how competitive the market and search terms you want to target are, it can be very costly. PPC is recommended as a short term solution while longer term tactics such as SEO build momentum.

Display Advertising – Display campaigns enable you to create eye-catching ads, and place these on targeted websites based on the interests of your consumers. Similar to PPC, display advertising can be costly and the return is less likely due to lower average click-through-rates. However, these campaigns can be great from a brand building perspective.

Email Marketing – Email marketing is a great way to engage with existing customers and build brand loyalty. In order to make the most of your email campaigns, it is important to create a clear content strategy – for example, plan out monthly newsletters to keep your customers engaged, along with seasonal promotional offers to incentivise them to purchase.

Social Media – Social media is a great platform to engage directly with customers online. Paid advertising campaigns on the likes of Facebook give you access to their extensive consumer database, enabling you to target your products to customers who have liked your competitors profile, or have specific interests. It is important to have a content strategy in mind and develop a consistent tone of voice across all social platforms in order to get the best out of your campaigns.

Step 4 – Set up goals

Make sure your website is connected to Google Analytics, and add tracking codes to any campaigns you run, so you can measure the traffic specifically coming from each campaign. Setting goals in Analytics will enable you to measure each campaign against your KPIs, be it revenue generation, visits to your site or engagement metrics such as the time spent on site.

Step 5 – Analyse the results

The great thing about digital campaigns is that they can be easily scaled based on their cost and performance. For example, if your PPC campaign is costing too much, you can look at only running your ads at certain times of the day when you know your customers are likely to be browsing. Here, you can weigh up the investment in each channel with the return and tailor campaigns accordingly. It is advisable to utilise a mix of brand building and direct response campaigns to ensure you not only achieve short terms wins but keep customers engaged to sustain momentum.

If you’re unclear as to how to optimise your website, or you would like help in identifying the best digital channels for your business, try Creare’s free Digital Health Check tool, which gives your website a score based on best practises and clear recommendations on how to improve it.

*Source: https://www.onestop-webshop.co.uk/blog/prioritise-online-marketing/
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Networking

5 Ways Your Business Contacts Can Boost Your Digital Presence

Since starting your business you’re likely to have made a number of valuable connections through networking. However, we often overlook the value that these relationships can provide in the digital space.

Here are five ways to use your connections to boost your digital presence:

1. Ask Your Clients for Reviews

Quick question. Which of the following plumbers stands out the most?

Reviews

Naturally, our eyes are drawn to the business with the highest number of quality reviews. Without even contacting ‘J S Gas & Plumbing’ we already trust them more than the others.

Reviews are a huge part of the online decision making process.

Utilise your existing customers to build up a number of quality reviews to ensure you appear favourably against your competition.

Ask them in person or email your satisfied customers with a link to your review page.

Quick Tip: Getting at least five Google+ Reviews brings up the stars in Google search – this can greatly improve the chances that people will click through to your website.

Relevant to: Customers and Clients.

2. Gain Testimonials from Loyal Customers

Testimonial

When approaching a business for the first time, consumers can often be skeptical about whether or not to trust a brand.

Testimonials bring an external voice to the decision process and can help potential customers to overcome any doubt they may have about the product or service.

Approach your most valuable customers and ask them to write a testimonial for your product or service – placing this strategically on your website will bring an increased level of trust to you and your brand.

Quick Tip: If you’ve personally been working closely with a contact, also ask them to leave you a LinkedIn recommendation to boost your personal credibility.

Relevant to: Customers and Clients.

3. Collaborate with Contacts to Enhance Your Content Strategy

Warren Knight

When creating content to be posted on your website and blog, consider getting some input from your business contacts.

Here are some ways of collaborating with your connections:

  • Interview a customer, partner or supplier to form a unique and interesting blog post
  • Ask for some quotes to support your content
  • Run a survey across your business contacts and use the data in a post

Getting your business contacts involved in your content strategy does three things:

  1. Gives your content some credibility and support from a third party
  2. Gives them exposure to your audience which enriches your existing relationship
  3. Creates an attachment between them and your content which makes them more likely to share it with their audience

Quick Tip: Collaborate with business contacts who have large social followings to maximise the reach of your content.

Relevant to: Customers and Clients. Suppliers. Industry Contacts.

4. Earn Links from Your Business Contacts

Pitch Supporters

If you are running an SEO campaign then you’ll know that building hyperlinks back to your website is an important factor in improving your rankings.

Building quality, relevant links can be difficult and time consuming. This is where your existing network comes in:

  1. Visit the websites of your business contacts and look for relevant webpages on their site where you or your brand could be mentioned.
  2. Outreach to your contact and ask them if they would consider adding you, your brand or your commentary to their site

Quick Tip: Adapt your approach to each website that you contact. You could write an article for their site, provide some images to their existing blog posts etc.

Relevant to: Suppliers. Industry contacts. Event Hosts. Industry Bodies.

5. Write Testimonials for Your Suppliers

Our testimonial

Writing a testimonial for a supplier not only helps them to grow and enriches your relationship but it also has direct benefits to you as the reviewer:

  • Being listed on their website gives you exposure to the supplier’s audience
  • This often creates a hyperlink back to your website to support the SEO campaign

Approach your suppliers and ask them if they would like you to write a testimonial to add to their website.

Be detailed and genuine when writing your testimonial to improve the chances it will be published, the best testimonials share the key benefits that you receive from the supplier.

Quick Tip: Try to include a link a link back to your own website somewhere in the testimonial.

Relevant to: Suppliers.

 

How else have you used your business relationships to benefit your business online? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet us @creare.

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Creare Launches New Brand and Marketing Campaign Entitled: Our People, Your Team

Today, Creare, one of the UK’s leading digital marketing agencies for small and medium size businesses launched its new marketing campaign and core brand value, entitled: Our People, Your Team.

Over the past year Creare has been on a significant journey, building a new management team, redefining its proposition, implementing a new approach to delivery and discovering its core values. Today sees the culmination of that effort.

Kevin Ord, Creare’s Chief Executive Officer said; “Creare has been on a journey, we had the building blocks of a great company, but we needed to redefine the way in which we provided solutions to our customers. The launch of Our People, Your Team wraps up that hard work, our new set of propositions and most importantly, the approach we take with our customers. Because for many of our customers, we are part of their team, we are their marketing department, and we have now built a business that our customers can trust, a business that can deliver a fantastic online presence for them and keep them ahead of their competitors.”

The Our People, Your Team marketing campaign features a series of stories told by Creare’s customers, bringing to life how they got started in business, what drives them, the challenges they faced and how Creare has helped them achieve success through building them a fantastic online presence.

You can view the first set of customer stories at http://www.creare.co.uk/customer-stories

Tom Darnell, Creare’s Chief Commercial Officer said; “In under a year we have transformed the Creare business into a holistic digital marketing solutions provider that our customers can trust. We have partnered with other leading organisations such as Magento, redesigned our entire proposition, and built new delivery processes and systems: all with the aim of providing a fantastic online presence for our customers. It’s an exciting time to be part of team Creare, and an exciting time to be a Creare customer. Our People, Your Team wraps up how we do things. We exist to help our customers succeed, it’s as simple as that.”

As part of the launch of Our People, Your Team, Creare will be hosting an event at Google’s London offices on Tuesday 28th July. The event is entitled ‘Digital Demystified’ and features industry leading experts and the Creare team providing tips and advice on how to make the most of the digital marketing opportunity, alongside a showcase of Creare’s new range of solutions. In attendance at Digital Demystified will be some of Creare’s customers, partner organisations, members of the media and Creare team members.

 

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Notes to Editor

About Creare

Creare provide a holistic digital marketing solution for small and medium sized businesses in the UK, including websites, ecommerce stores, search engine optimisation and pay per click search marketing, social media and video. Established in 2007, Creare has provided websites, eCommerce solutions, search marketing, social media and video solutions to over 4,000 businesses.

 

For further information, please contact:

www.creare.co.uk

Tom Darnell, Chief Operating Officer, Creare

Tel:                           07595 075724

Email:                     tom.darnell@creare.co.uk

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