Email Marketing vs. Direct Mail

It is usually suggested that businesses dedicate 15% of their annual turnover towards marketing their products or services, which can be a large portion of your business budget. This makes it vitally important to research and select the most effective methods to give you the best possible return on your investment. Sending out promotional information to prospective clients can dominate a large portion of your budget, especially if you decide to post it out. However, email marketing is not only more cost effective, but also more effective at reaching the right people and allowing you to see who’s responsive to you and your company.

Unlike direct mail, email marketing can be turned around very quickly. From design, to copy writing and coding, all can be done in just a couple of days, possibly less, whereas direct mail needs to be printed, loaded into envolopes, franked and posted. Emails can also be tracked, allowing you to see who opens them, whether they click on any links, and who unsubscribes. If you choose direct mail, obviously once you’ve sent the information out you have no possible method of tracking what people do with it. The industry standard for email open rates of high volume mailings is around 10%. The key to ensuring good open rates is in the strength of the data you use and the value of your content.

Capturing email addresses for your customers is a good way to find out more about the people using your products or services, and can be as easy as adding a sign up form to your website or social media pages. Once you have this information, you can use it to keep in contact with customers, informing them of promotions, industry news, announcements and special events. As long as your content is engaging and interesting people should be happy enough to stay on your data lists, as long as you aren’t bombarding them with information on too regular a basis. Corporate emails should be sent out no more than once a month, and the best time to send them is the beginning of the week when people are more likely to read them. Send your email out on a Friday and it’s almost guaranteed to end up straight in the trash folder.

Email marketing has a number of benefits over direct mail, primarily that’s it’s easier to put together, can be tracked and is much more cost effective than its snail mail counterpart. And in an age of recession, that is sure to help any business succeed. 

Love It or Hate It

Every day there’s stories in the media of companies who are getting their marketing wrong, but very little credit is given to those who are getting their marketing spot on. Strange as it may seem, one of the companies who are consistently getting their advertising and marketing right is Marmite. Probably not one of the easiest products to market, but nevertheless they are constantly producing new and original ideas to market themselves.

The company traditionally only had one product to work with, one kind of spread. To remedy this, and create some buzz, the company has introduced a Marmite chocolate bar, Marmite cheese, Marmite flavored crisps and biscuits, and even an extra-strong version called Marmite XO. Some of these products have faired better than others with consumers, but all have created buzz and garnered the company a lot of media coverage.

Marmite also successfully jumped on the back of the general election, creating their own campaigns and voting system based on their two parties, The Love Party vs. The Hate Party, tying in with their strap line of “you either love it or hate it.” They launched a dedicated website, press and advertising campaign, and social media profiles for the two party leaders. They then encouraged people to vote and announced the winner online.

Marmite succeeds where others fail because they clearly never stop thinking about their next move. Every campaign they run has an original idea at its core, but is backed up with advertising, social media, and PR. And everything ties in with their now traditional line “you either love it or hate it.” For the lovers there’s an ever increasing range of Marmite flavored products, and for the haters there’s a hate group on Facebook (started by Marmite themselves.) Marmite is even engaging with people who confess to hate their products, and how many other companies are doing that?   

The Best of Adland

I stumbled across this advert for WD-40 on twitter today, and just had to post it. It ran in Spain, although you don't need a firm grasp of the spanish language to get the meaning.
I think it's just such a fantastic piece of advertising. WD-40 is not the most thrilling product in the world, but this advert has a great visual story which has brought a smile to the face of everyone I've shown it to.

The Cult of Celebrity

There’s no denying that celebrities have a huge influence on our culture, more so now than ever before. Magazines like OK and Hello, websites like Perez Hilton, and television channels like E! keep us constantly informed of what they’re wearing, who they’re with, what they’re driving, eating, drinking, and there is no doubt that for certain brands this can lead to some fantastic promotion opportunities. Fashion brands in particular are very conscious of this influence, and are forever giving clothes, bags and jewelry to celebrities for free in return for them being photographed wearing them, and there’s very few celebrities these days who aren’t the “face” of some product or brand. But has this reliance on celebrity spokespeople gone too far? Whereas it used to be the biggest movie stars who advertised for certain brands, this trend has now trickled down to the lower ranks of celebrity, something which has been very evident throughout 2010, and has lead to some of advertisings biggest blunders.

Fresh pasta brand Giovanni Rana slipped up big time in its advertising for 2010, which lead to it topping multiple reviews of the years worst adverts. They chose Tim Lovejoy for their television advertising, presumably because he hosts a Sunday morning programme that has a cooking segment. However, this is a formula that certainly didn’t work, as Lovejoy, cast as the stereotypical football-loving lad, came across as desperately unfunny, and an appalling actor, which even his attractive Italian neighbour couldn’t distract from.

Number two on most marketing people’s countdown was those widely ridiculed Thomas Cook adverts with Jamie and Louise Redknapp. Although both are quite likeable people, the advert was incredibly cheesy, not to mention a stretch to believe that these two millionaires would ever actually go on a Thomas Cook holiday.

Special mention should also go out to Barbara Windsor advertising online bingo, and John Cleese for the AA. So has the influence of celebrity lost some of its power? I don’t think so, but the whole point is to have a celebrity people would actually want to emulate, advertising a product you can believe that they actually use. We know the Redknapp’s don’t go on mid-priced package holidays, just as we know Barbara Windsor doesn’t play bingo on her laptop at home. But when played right celebrity endorsement can be a powerful marketing tool. Louise Vuitton, the luxury goods label best known for their high end handbags, played it right when they took on director Sophia Coppola to design and model a range for them. The campaign worked because Coppola is widely regarded as a fashion icon, so it was relevant for her to advertise a luxury fashion house. The campaign paid off for Vuitton, and Coppola’s bags sold out upon their initial release.

So can a celebrity spokesperson be good for your brand? Only if it’s believable and relevant to your product.

A New Page

Hello, and happy 2011 to everyone!
It feels good to be back, I know it's been a while. I originally started this blog as a way to document my job search when I left university. I felt very frustrated by, what I viewed at the time as an endless search for that first marketing or PR job. There didn't seem to be any help available to graduates once they left university.
Looking back, I realise that my job search actually wasn't that long, and I was in a full time marketing position three months after graduation. I was lucky in a way because some of my classmates still don't have jobs, and some have had to move away to get one. But it wasn't just luck on my side, I worked really hard to enhance my skills and find that first position, and now I'm there it's proven very worthwhile.
I had stopped blogging once I found my job, but I've been thinking increasingly about it the last few weeks, so I decided today to start it up again. Hopefully I'll be able to pass on some of my experiences to other graduates, as well as writing some more opinion pieces.
I appreciate every single person that takes the time to read this blog, so please feel free to comment either on here, or you can find me on twitter (see the column on the left side of the page).
So here's to 2011!

Useful Sites

I've been speaking to a number of PR graduates recently, many who are in the same situation as me. So, I thought I'd share some of the websites I've found useful for various different reasons.
Since the job hunt is now a very time consuming process, most people need some way of earning money while they search. One of the best resources I've found for this is student gems. They can be found at their website, as well as on Twitter. They offer freelance and part time work for students and graduates, but all on things that are related to their degree subject. For example, I've been doing some freelance writing work for an SEO Marketing company. This has included articles, press releases and advertorials. Not only has this given me some much needed income, it's also given me the chance to enhance my portfolio of work, which will stand me in good stead for finding future employment. But alongside this they have various PR opportunities, as well as many other subject areas, and all jobs listed are paid positions.
It's well worth checking out if you need some extra experience, or just some extra cash.

The value of meeting the right people

I have good reason for my lack of updates so far this week, as I've been kept busy by a new internship at an event company here in Newcastle. Although I've only just started I'm having such a good time. Working in the all-girl office is such fun, and the company have some really good clients who all have very different kinds of events coming up. The two company directors are really letting me get involved, handing all the marketing and PR efforts over to me. It's a huge amount of responsibility, but so valuable. Plus I'm being allowed enough free time to keep up with my freelance writing work. I know people who have done nothing but make tea, or hand out leaflets during work placements in marketing or PR, so I feel incredibly lucky to be working with such a great company.
If anyone in the North East is looking for a creative event company to help them with ideas generation or event management, check out Sailor Girl Ltd at www.sailorgirlltd.com

Experience

Perhaps one of the most useful things I've learnt since I began my job hunt is the value of relevant experience. With more people than ever going to university, a degree just isn't enough anymore. You need to have something extra to distinguish yourself from the crowd of graduates flooding the job market. Plus, there are very, very few employers who would be willing to take on a graduate with no experience, no matter how good their degree is.
It can be hard to complete unpaid internships, which is why it's best to do so while your studying. While you have the relative security of a student loan, it's a good idea to spend a couple of days a week gaining some practical experience, which will serve you well in the long run. The more experience you have the better chance you'll be able to find a great job when you finish. Although I have quite a lot of work experience which I completed during my degree, I have been attempting to enhance this further still while I'm looking for a job. So, I've been doing some freelance writing for an SEO marketing company. I have Twitter to thank again for this position. As I previously mentioned I've also been working at a conference this week, which has lead to an internship with the events company behind it.
My advice to any current students would be to gain as much experience as you can, from different places relating to your chosen field, while you're completing your degree. It's pretty easy to dedicate two days a week to a placement, and it will prove incredibly useful when you leave university and begin looking for a job.

Part Timers

Wow, what a busy week! I've been working for Sailor Girl Ltd, and events company here in Newcastle, at the ICADI conference at the SAGE in Gateshead. It's been a really useful few days, hard work but definitely good. 7am starts to be at the SAGE for delegates arriving. There's been a huge amount of work gone into this conference, and it's been really interesting to see it all come together for such a large event. It's also the first time this conference, about aging and disability, has been held outside of the USA. It's usually held in Florida, a little different to the climate in Gateshead, but the weather's given us a good couple of days!
I've really enjoyed gaining a little more events experience, and it just further proves the power of Twitter since that's how I got the job! Plus, it's lead to an internship with the events company, so I really can't stress enough just how useful Twitter's been in my networking and job search. Even if you can't find anything permanent, Twitter's a great place to find internships or temp work. All this experience will only make your CV better and better, which will lead to a better job in the long run.

Location, Location, Location

Looking through job sites is a very time consuming task, and even when you do find those elusive PR jobs, they're inevitably in London. The North East? Usually nothing. So where are the PR jobs in Newcastle?
I know there's PR firms because I've done the leg work. Google throws up a huge list of PR, marketing and events agencies based in Newcastle, some large some small, but they are there. So why aren't there any jobs up here, when there's hundreds in London?
I suspect the blame can still be placed at the door of that unwelcome guest, the financial recession. With companies across various industries cutting down on their PR and marketing activities to save money, PR firms are in an uncertain situation. This doesn't exactly free up funds to hire graduates.
However, an article I read online written by a recruitment specialist for the PR industry, suggested that the number of PR jobs is rising, with a 50% increase in jobs since this time last year. So this years graduates are in a better position than last years. Lets just hope the situation continues to improve across the country before next years graduates join the hunt.

Is Preparation Everything?

I've just finished a three year PR and communications degree, as most people know. Now over those three years I completed many modules on different subjects which the university thought I was likely to encounter in the work place. However, what the course didn't cover was how to get a job. It sounds really obvious, but not once did we receive any kind of instruction or coaching about how to get that initial foothold in the industry. We had classes about writing a CV, cover letter and basic interview techniques, but never anything about how and where to look for jobs, how to promote yourself, how to enhance your CV for PR, nothing. And as I've mentioned before, it is incredibly difficult to find PR vacancies on job sites or in newspapers.
Now I'm not sure if this was just my experience, or whether other universities include this in their PR courses, but I think it's definitely something which should be included in the syllabus. Just a couple of classes to help students on their way would be really useful in my opinion. Let students know what PR agencies are looking for on CV's, what you can do to improve your skills, where and how to look for jobs, and how to make yourself stand out from the huge crowd of graduates all looking for that elusive first job.

How Long Is Too Long?

I've been applying for lots of jobs recently and I've filled in a number of application forms, which has got me thinking, how long is too long for an application form? I've filled in some which were only three or four pages, and some which are as many as ten pages long. Now this is hugely time consuming, not to mention that the vast majority of the information simply involves you repeating what's on your CV. One form I've filled in had seven pages of questions, many of which required a full page of writing. This took ages to fill in.
Now I'm not saying that application forms should be scrapped, but I don't think they need to be pages and pages long. I spent hours working on my CV to get it up to scratch, so it's very annoying for employers to refuse to even look at it, to insist that I rewrite the entire thing on a different piece of paper. Alongside relevant questions about your suitablility for the role, they should also look at your CV, to get a clear picture of what people's skills are and the experience they have.

Interviews

I have been thinking alot recently about interviews and the things employers often ask candidates to do. Now, I fully appreciate that a potencial employer needs to find out about your skills, and whether or not you are capable of taking on the job in question. However, in my personal experience I think employers often take this a little too far.
I recently attended an interview, and had the usual chat about my skills and past experience. I had taken my portfolio of work with me which the interviewer looked through. I was told, at the end of the interview, that I would be informed the following week whether or not I had been successful. But the next week, I was informed that I would be required for a second interview and would have to produce a written report and a ten minute presentation. Now that's quite a lot of work, especially when it wasn't expected in the first place.
Now as I mentioned before I do appreciate that employers want to be sure they're finding the right person for their position. But I think that some take advantage of the large number of graduates looking for employment. If a candidate has taken the trouble to put together a portfolio of their work for you to look through, is it really necessary to ask them to complete multiple pieces of work in their own time, many of which will simply be new versions of work already in their portfolio?

Personal PR

So, following on from my guest post on Vox Pop, I recieved a comment which I found quite useful. A PR teacher asked what I was doing to promote myself to employers, what personal PR I was doing. And when I thought about it, I really wasn't doing that much. Yes, I'm on Twitter, but I didn't have a personal website or blog, no real way to showcase my work and skills. Hence this blog. I would highly recommend any other graduates in the same position as myself to start a blog or website. It'll give you a place you can design from scratch to showcase what you can do. You can then direct employers to it as a way to show off your work. Make sure you link it to your twitter so people can find it that way, and tweet a link each time you post.

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

Since I left university in July, I've used numerous online tools to attempt to find a job. Some have been useful, some have been less than useless. By far the best has been Twitter.
I always rejected the idea of Twitter as something used by self absorbed people who think that the rest of the world wants to know what they're doing every second of the day. Don't get me wrong, there is definite evidence of this, but it can be so much more if you know how to use it.

With a growing importance placed on the use of social media in PR, the vast majority of PR agencies and professionals are on Twitter, so it's a great place to network and build up your contacts. Many journalists, news publications and TV shows also have Twitter accounts.

But if, like me, you're looking for a job it can be invaluable. Users such as student gems are great, as they post jobs only open to students, and all paid. I've got a number of freelance projects off them. @voxpopprcareers is also great, as it lists PR jobs up and down the country, many of which are entry level positions.

I would really recommend Twitter to any graduate who's struggling to find a job the traditional way.

The Job Hunt

I was very kindly asked to be a guest columnist on Vox-pop.co.uk this week. Vox-pop is a great website for PR people, especially students looking to get into the industry. The site has advice and articles from PR people at every level, from various different countries. The twitter profile lists hundreds of PR jobs every day.

The column I wrote is about the graduate job hunt, and the various set backs and successes I've had. You can find the article from the link below, and please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.

www.vox-pop.co.uk/2010/08/30/the-graduate-job-hunt