I recently delivered a workshop on social media.  I developed a handy step-by-step guide to making social media work for your small business.  Read on to follow my step-by-step 10 point guide:

1. Visualise your target market. Who are you targeting? Be specific. Think about their gender, age, geographies and interests.
2. Understand your customers. You know who you are targeting, now understand how they use social media. Which sites are they likely to use? Are they using social media as a consumer, or business-user or both?
3. Choose your social media channels. Carefully select the social media sites where you will gain the greatest return. Those sites used most by your target market. If you have a strong business focus, Linked In and Twitter are likely to be better than Facebook, which is used by consumers.
4. Set your objectives. What are you trying to achieve: gain new customers, keep customers engaged or maybe share your expertise?  What measurable results do you want to gain? Set your objectives for: website traffic, number of followers, the quantity of positive, negative and neutral comments on your sites, the number of leads or social media driven revenue?
5. Look, listen and learn. Follow competitors, collaborators, content providers and trail-blazers (the ones to watch in social media). Watch and learn from them. How do they create engagement through social media?
6. Choose your identity. What’s your name? Are you communicating as your business or you as an individual? Use knowem.com to secure your name across the various sites. Define your brand personality and write a great biog that really sells the benefits of following you.
7. Start the dialogue. Think: How can I add value? How can I share my expertise? How can I be authentic and personal? How can I promote my companies benefits & why I’m different?  Write a content plan.
8. Share. Share content from other sites and your own sites and blogs. Share ideas and products that inspire you. Share images, videos and written content. Ask questions of your followers.
9. Communicate and keep posting.  Contribute to discussions. Set up your own group. Retweet, share and like discussions of interest to your target market.  Get in touch with people directly.  Keep your sites up-to-date (two posts per week minimum) but don’t over post (this will depend on your customers preferences, so keep an eye out. Are you losing people?)
10. Measure and adjust. Good social media strategy is all about the ROI!  Are you achieving the objectives you set? Are you increasing traffic, boosting your SEO results, gaining good comments and increasing your followers? Can you map enquiries back to social media activity?

Wow! What a start to 2012 we have had.

At Circle we are busier than ever. Many of our clients are turning to Circle with a whole raft of needs. Here are some of the exciting projects that have kept us so busy over the past few months:

A complete rebrand for a mid-sized accountancy firm.

We have developed a brand strategy, created a new identity, Linked In, stationery and are coming close the the completion of a new shiny website.

Launch of a new water treatment brand.

Circle have been creating a marketing strategy, developing a new identity, stationery, corporate comms, brochure and new website, helping to bring this new product range to market.  Due to launch in the next month, this will work will then continue with PR and on-going marketing campaigns.

Marketing strategy and repositioning for an online recruitment company.

This fantastic company needed to find a way of achieving their significant growth aspirations, we developed a full marketing strategy to give them the blueprint for success.  We identified that their brand communications needed to be repositioned. This has led to the creation of new copy and a website brief. We are now moving on to their proposals and brochures.

New website for a group of companies.

We have had the opportunity to develop the new copy and project manage this new group website. The website works as a portal and will allow their varied B2B and B2C customers to find the relevant company quickly.  With construction, engineering, gaming and recruitment amongst the companies portfolio, the appeal is wide and varied. It’s an exciting project and is developing into an amazing website, due to launch soon.

…..And much, much more.

If you need help, you need Circle Marketing.  Unlike a traditional agency, we can assist with all aspects of marketing, from strategy to branding, websites, PR and more.  We work as your Marketing Director, without the usual costs. Just maximum results. Contact Laura to find out more.

Re-positioning, new messaging, strapline, new brochure, website copy & planning

Challenge

New Economy is one of the six Association of Manchester Authorities (AGMA) commissions, which were established in 2009.  New Economy’s purpose is to create economic growth and prosperity for the regions of Greater Manchester.   They had recently rebranded but were experiencing significant challenges within their communications.  With a highly complex offering, numerous stakeholders and partners, New Economy did not have a clear sense of purpose, message or communication platform.

Solution

Working with our partners Claire Helm Consulting we were asked to build upon the strong existing brand and communications plan starting with a repositioning exercise.  We began by developing a new message that would easily and successfully communicate the value of New Economy, to all its stakeholders.   Through a period of consultation and review, we also identified a target audience that includes public and private sector organisations, government and the general public.  We then created a new simple strapline that clearly communicates New Economy’s position and value – ‘Growth and Prosperity for Manchester’ and 5 core pillars of communication so that New Economy could be easily communicated in person and through marketing channels.

Next we developed a new brochure, crafting the simple and compelling copy.  The brochure was launched at the AGMA conference in August 2010.   It was extremely important to New Economy that we delivered the most effective solutions, within the minimum budgets.  We therefore worked within the current website to create a new simple navigation, developing a style guide so staff could write effective copy and finally creating new copy for the website for internal implementation.

Results

“Claire and Laura quickly identified that we needed to re-position the organisation, creating a new clear, compelling message about what we do, whilst really understanding who our key audiences are. They began with a period of consultation across internal and external stakeholders. They then repositioned New Economy, creating a new strapline and a simple way of communicating what we do based on five pillars, communicating this to staff and stakeholders.  The next project was the brochure.  They successfully project managed and created excellent copy, completing the whole project within a tight deadline.  We are delighted with the results and are now working on the website.  I am happy to recommend Laura and Claire and am looking forward to working with them on future projects.”

Mike Emmerich, Chief Executive, New Economy

PR, event management, animation film & brochure 

Challenge

People United Against Crime (PUAC) is a registered charity established in 1996 by South Yorkshire Police.  PUAC is the lead partner on a €4.9m European-wide project called NS FRITS. The mobile phone app aims to reduce freight crime, increase efficiency, keep drivers safe and boost the economy.

PUAC needed an agency to achieve their media coverage objectives whilst working with their 10 Pan-European partners.  In addition they needed to deliver an animation film and deliver a high profile conference in Brussels.  They had been using a PR agency for the previous 12 months and Circle were invited to pitch for the business against 2 other organisations, one was their existing agency.

A particular challenge was gaining PR coverage across the media.  They had clear objectives to secure TV and radio coverage and this had so far alluded them.  In addition, NS FRITS is a proof of concept project, therefore there was nothing to show the media. They had key objectives that their existing agency were struggling to meet and as this was a European funded project, budgets were tight.

Solution

Circle believed that success would be achieved through a creative approach.  We needed to find new ways of creating a public interest story, whilst communicating the benefits of the programme.  Each month we worked on new angles each that have a particular appeal to certain segments of the media, introducing NS FRITS and liaising with media contacts to gain coverage.  In addition, we work closely with the other partners (including Volvo, Avanti Communications, the Dutch and Humberside Police amongst others) helping them to secure European-wide media coverage.

We were able to leverage the vast industry knowledge gained through the first years PR activity and secured the second year contract which included the development of a short animation film, organising their annual conference and a brochure.

Results

Within 4 months we had surpassed the coverage achieved by the previous agency and have surpassed their objectives for TV, radio and press coverage in the UK and Europe.  This included prime time TV coverage and radio interviews including the BBC.  Now in it’s second year we have achieved 3.7million hits, a 95% ROI and 12 times the coverage gained by their PR agency did in the same time period.

Some of the media coverage gained:

You can view the animation film here

“Laura is managing PR and media activities in the project and despite its specialist nature; she quickly gained an understanding of the project’s aims and objectives and also developed excellent relationships with key project staff across Europe.  Using her creative skills and impressive marketing experience, Laura has prepared an innovative, exciting and successful strategy to maximise PR and media opportunities. Laura is a pleasure to work with. She is always enthusiastic and energised and her creativity and excellent communication skills are greatly valued.”

Lucy Straker, Project Officer, People United Against Crime

We commissioned Circle Marketing to provide us with a marketing strategy and on-going marketing support.  This included a full market review and strategy, website, brand evaluation and marketing campaigns.  Laura did an excellent job.  She developed a marketing strategy that gave us a thorough understanding of the current market challenges.  She was able to quickly and efficiently make recommendations to the board, which were all well received. I would recommend Laura at Circle Marketing highly.”

Nigel Middlemass, Partner, Brooke North LLP

Branding, marketing strategy, website, marketing materials & email marketing

Challenge

Impact Consulting is a firm of business psychologists, based in Manchester.  They have been in business for a number of years and had worked primarily within the NHS.  Budget cuts meant that Impact needed a new marketing strategy.  They wanted to appeal to private sector markets and widen the appeal of their offer.

Solution

Working with our partners, Claire Helm Consulting, Circle developed a branding workshop and consulted across the company, gaining insights into their brand strengths and marketing position.  We then created a full marketing strategy that set out the blueprint for their future success and growth through new markets.  Next we developed a new identity with vibrant strong colours. This identity was used across all their brand materials including stationery, brochures, inserts, banners and their website. A new strapline and strong copy communicated Impact’s key strengths in a compelling and simple way. We also created an email marketing newsletter which they use on a quarterly basis to keep their clients informed.

Results

Impact were delighted with their new brand and received lots of positive comments. They have since grown for strength to strength and have opened up new markets and broaden their customer base.

“Laura was able to quickly get under the skin of our business.  Through consulting with the whole business she really got us thinking about where the business was going and how we could develop a strategy that would help us achieve our objectives.  She was able to translate complex issues such as our brand personality into a strategy, followed by a workshop that we could all understand and contribute to.  Her skills as a Marketer, strategist and communicator meant that the session was informative and open to all team members, creating buy-in across the business. The subsequent strategy, brand personality and copy she produced were fantastic.  We now have a strategic foundation for our new identity, website and marketing which communicates our strong position in the marketplace.  I am delighted to recommend Laura to others.”

Shelly Rubinstein, Managing Director, Impact Consulting Ltd.

Laura is managing PR and media activities in the project and despite its specialist nature; she quickly gained an understanding of the project’s aims and objectives and also developed excellent relationships with key project staff across Europe.  Using her creative skills and impressive marketing experience, Laura has prepared an innovative, exciting and successful strategy to maximise PR and media opportunities. Laura is a pleasure to work with. She is always enthusiastic and energised and her creativity and excellent communication skills are greatly valued.”

Lucy Straker, Project Officer, People United Against Crime

2011 has been an interesting year here at Circle HQ.  The recession has continued to have a devastating impact. The public sector closures and budget retractions were felt most strongly this year and this affected our clients greatly. With this change came an overwhelming desire to achieve a greater marketing return.  Many businesses seemed to innovate, launching new products and turning to Circle for help with improving their market position.  More than anything we noticed that organisations seemed to be following the mantra ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going.’

2011 has seen us develop lots of exciting projects.  Particular highlights include numerous rebrand projects.  Many of these are still underway with new websites being unveiled in early 2012 .  We have gained lots of new clients in interesting and diverse sectors including accountancy, a mid-tier law firm, engineering and have continued to deliver lots of work in the training and education sector. We love the challenge of getting under the skin of a new clients organisational needs, especially in such a wide variety of sectors.

We have also been extremely busy with our long standing clients, all of which have evolved to include new exciting projects.  We have launched new products, delivered a high-profile governmental conference in Brussels and even created an animation film.

Rebrand, website copy, brochure, events, email marketing & data

Challenge

Kuliko create learning and development programmes aimed at the private sector. They turned to Circle initially to re-evaluate their brand proposition and marketing strategy.  They also wanted to create a series of marketing campaigns to increase brand awareness and create warm sales leads.  The training marketplace is particularly crowded. We needed to get the brand name heard above the noise of the competition.  Market conditions are tough, with training budgets being cut across the board. It was time for a new approach.

Solution

We started with marketing strategy, looking closely at their proposition and what gave them standout in a crowded marketplace. Following the strategy we created a new brand image, communicating a clean modern brand image.  Kuliko had invested in their website recently so we simply updated the existing website and created a new proposition, through their copy.  From here we planned a whole series of marketing campaigns including taster events and a leadership campaign.  More recently we have relaunched their On the Go programme with a new brochure and email campaign.

Results

The email campaigns have consistently achieved high open rates, delivering a high return on investment.  We have been able to deliver vast amounts of warm leads for sales follow-up, over 6,000 in the past twelve months.

“Laura at Circle Marketing is an excellent Marketing Director.  She helps us with all aspects of our marketing.  We started with the creation of a new identity and a re-positioning exercise. We have gone on to use Circle every month to develop our marketing strategy, create brochures, new copy, events, email marketing and even data sourcing. She has an in-depth understanding of our markets and is able to offer sound marketing advice. I would recommend Circle Marketing to anyone looking to boost their marketing results.”

Sally Moore, Business Development Director, Kuliko Ltd