Business Support
This week we have been supporting businesses with:

• Advice on managing the situation
• Coronavirus statement writing
• Website content writing and blogging
• Graphics to support website content
• Email marketing to notify employees, customers and suppliers
• Training to help businesses manage their digital content

 
Creative Remedies
If you have had to self-isolate; close down your office, classes, services; or had difficulties distributing products due to reduced contact with your wider supply chain, here are some digital marketing platforms that can help your business thrive through these difficult times.

• Email Marketing
• Social Media
• Blogging
• Video
• Landing Pages

Free online tools to facilitate your communication:

• Skype
• Zoom
• AnyDesk
• TeamViewer
• WhatsApp groups
• Facebook groups

We are here to offer support in any format you need. Whether that is advice, developing creative ideas to gain exposure in this unpredictable time, creating content or delivering final solutions.
 
Treatments & Cures
Here are some proactive tips to help you achieve and stay positive:

• Marketing is usually one of your largest expenses and the first thing to be pulled when you don’t have the budget. Question what you need to continue operating successfully and think of new channels to reach your customers.
  
• Don’t cancel plans for new products or services, adapt… think of different ways you can deliver these.
• Make your marketing plan or learn how to use a new social platform.
  
• The internet and digital marketing will be your close friends, learn new skills if you don’t have the budget to out-source.
• Communication is key, well informed customers will stick with you through the tough times.

Regular email marketing is one of the best ways to connect and build trusting relationships with new and existing customers. This digital marketing tool allows you to communicate and convert leads into sales.

If you’re looking for an email marketing service you might be wondering which one will be best for you and your business. You might be confused or have been put off by all the digital and marketing regulations. The fact is you need something that is intuitive and easy to use and that will let you track the performance of your email marketing campaigns. Here are some of the best email marketing services available to help you make your decision:

Mailchimp
Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing service providers. The software is easy to use with a free plan that allows users to send up to 12000 emails a month to 2000 subscribers. Mailchimp has a substantial range of integrations and apps to allow you to make the best use of the marketing tools you already use and it gives users insight on how successful previous email marketing campaigns have been and suggestions to make the next one an even greater success.

Campaign Monitor
Campaign Monitor is an email marketing app that allows users to quickly and efficiently create their own email campaigns with a strong emphasis on design. The software utilises a drag and drop feature to create personalised emails and lets users easily automate their campaigns. With the basic package starting at just £9 a month Campaign Monitor is a cost effective tool that allows you to send 2500 emails across campaigns. Insight Analytics gives users all the vital information on the success of their email campaign.

Constant Contact
Constant Contact’s pricing is on a sliding scale depending on the number of subscribers starting at £15 a month for up to 500 contacts for the Email plan or from £30 a month for Email Plus. Both plans come with some great features including list management, template building and audience segmentation. Constant Contact offers fantastic customer support and a huge library of resources.

Sendinblue
Fantastic for anyone who is new to email marketing, Sendinblue is simple to use and has some truly brilliant tools to help users create amazing email campaigns. Sendinblue pricing is quite different from other Email Marketing apps in that it all depends on how many emails you send. Their free plan allows up to 300 emails a day but all your emails will have the Sendinblue branding on them.

Drip
Best for e-commerce, Drip allows users to personalise emails based on visitor behaviour. The intelligent customer data allows businesses to create bespoke content such as price drop information and unique discount codes.

Newsletter Remedy
Creative Remedy offers an email marketing service called Newsletter Remedy which is on the Campaign Monitor platform.

In 4 simple steps you can create positive side effects for your business!

1. Create Content
2. Upload Contacts
3. Send
4. Track

Need urgent medical assistance?

• Do you need to revamp your template design?
• Do you need help creating content?
• Do you need full account or campaign management?

Creative Remedy can support you whatever your diagnosis. Book a FREE health check here:

1. Subject Line
Always ask would I open that? Make it short and sweet, engaging and a personalisation always gets better results. Check out ‘The Ultimate List of Email Spam Trigger Words’

2. Content
Less is more… Don’t think you have to include everything about your business in one single newsletter or Eshot. Start with a small snippet of information and link out to your blogs, social media, website and other online resources.

3. Design
Design a newsletter to fit your brand. Don’t just use the templates available to everyone. Try to customise the colours, fonts and design to suit your company brand. First impressions are everything.

4. Manage your Frequency
This will depend on your industry, target audience and what content you have to deliver. You need to be frequent enough to be memorable, but not too frequent you are considered a nuisance and unsubscribed.

5. Stand Out From the Crowd
Think of how many emails your receive per day, think of how many emails you delete, unsubscribe or filter through to your junk box… now think of ways you can be different and stand out from the crowd!

1. Social Media
Pick a new social platform that you have never tried and make it your new year goal to become a digital guru for that network and add another string to your bow.

2. Video
If a picture paints 1000 words what does a moving image do? Create one piece of moving digital media to promote your business. It could be a slideshow, animation, interview, or panoramic video. This can be delivered on your website or shared on social media. Don’t forget to measure the response.

3. Landing Pages
We are all knowledgeable about your products or services, give away some FREE information via a landing page which asks for a potential customers details in exchange for this FREE helpful information.

4. Email Marketing
Be brave and try something you have never done before. Add that video you created, start a referral program, run a competition or celebrate a milestone. Contacting potential customers even once a month may just be enough put you in the forefront of their mind.

5. Existing Customers
We all know it’s easier to get more business from an existing customer rather than finding a new customer. Go through your contact list and find one reason to contact each customer, nothing sales based… ask them how your existing service is working for them, or maybe just to see how their Christmas and new year went and see where the conversation leads.

Permission
There are two kinds of permission. Implied permission and express permission. Implied permission is a little loose and covers anybody who you have an existing business relationship with. Express permission is everyone who has directly given you permission by opting in or subscribing either online or in-store.

Address
You must clearly include a valid postal address for your business in your email campaigns. This can be your street address, a postbox or a registered commercial mail-receiving company that your business uses.

Frequency
There are no legal rules of engagement, this comes down to common courtesy. Think how often you like to receive emails from a company and what type of business they run. For example… a supermarket marketing email can acts a weekly reminder to do your online shopping but another business thanking you for your visit then promoting their products on day 1, day 3 and day 5 may become a bit much.

Opt-Out
Let recipients opt-out easily. You should provide a link somewhere in the email for users to opt-out easily.

Identify
Clearly identify that your message is an advertisement. E.g. if there is an offer state what the offer is.

Misleading
Don’t use misleading header information. This specifically applies to: From name, subject line and reply-to address. Email marketing laws stipulate that you must not include incorrect or misleading information in these fields to try to trick people into opening your email campaigns.

New law
New legislation from the General Data Protection Regulation will come in to force from 25th May 2018. It will require your business to take extra measures to ensure customer data is kept safe and used properly. More info >

More guidance

• .Gov on the law in terms of advertising and marketing: Direct Marketing > 
• Electronic Email marketing: ICO on Email Marketing >
• Your email marketing and anti-spam law: Law Donut on Email Marketing >​