Did you know that, according to figures released by the Daily Mail, there are more than 195,289 registered charities in the UK? So other than a huge budget and a worthy cause, what can make a charity stand out? Simple, effective marketing campaigns with the right angle.

Finding the right angle is critical in determining the success of a campaign. As we've mentioned before, the ALS ice bucket challenge had over 17 million participants, the videos were watched by 440 million people a total of 10 billion times and they raised almost $80 million but do you know what they raised in the same period the year prior? ... $2.5 million.

ALS didn't have the huge marketing budgets available like Cancer Research or NSPCC, so how did ALS manage to achieve this level of brand exposure in such a short period of time? They found the right angle. The chilling sensation participants feel when the ice hits their body is supposed to represent the pain and discomfort ALS sufferers feel simply when moving. This allows people to try to empathise with the sufferers and their daily struggles. This applied with the thrill of pouring ice cold water over a friend or family member created the perfect angle for their campaign, which ultimately became the largest and most successful global charity to date!

22 Group were challenged by the NHS to come up with an angle for an NHS Smokefree marketing programme. Smokefree is an initiative sponsored by the government to encourage people to quit smoking. Key research found that quitting smoking for loved ones is a highly motivating factor for a majority of smokers. Inspired by this, our team created a message that would resonate with parents, especially dads. The message was "don't miss out on your family's future" and was executed poignantly by showing fathers enjoying time with their children. The "Miss out. No chance." campaign used on posters and information leaflets was often strategically placed i.e. football club locker rooms. You can see more of our NHS Smokefree project here.

Is your angle working for you? Are you achieving significant increases in donations and brand awareness? If not, it may be time to take a new approach. If you need help with this contact hello@22group.co.uk or call 0161 672 7822 and we would be more than happy to assist.

You don’t have to be an expert marketeer to know that social media platforms are a little piece of heaven swarming with potential new customers. Businesses, both small and large, will begin their social media journey connecting with their target audience and investing in promotions and advertisements to generate more sales.

Despite what many may think, there is more to handling a social media account than the tingle of pride one feels when a Tweet gets more than 10 retweets or a status gets 20 likes and a few comments. Just take a look on LinkedIn and you will see thousands of ‘Social Media Executives’. So why are businesses investing so heavily in this job role?

If you are posting generic updates like ‘good morning’ or blabbing on about how great your company is, the chances are nobody is listening… This is where social calendars come into play. Planning content to post on social media on a weekly or monthly basis is a must. This way upcoming events, topics, dates and company news can be carefully incorporated without the unnecessary 20 minutes staring at the computer screen wondering what to post. Posts can also be scheduled for optimum times to ensure the right content is getting to the right people at the right time. Don’t forget you can also use Twitter tools such as Hootsuite to help you with this.

Another mistake that many businesses make is ignoring bad publicity and hoping it goes away. Long gone are the days where companies were allowed to delete their Facebook reviews and besides, imagine if you had received bad customer service and then found your complaint had mysteriously vanished… would you be even angrier? A big part of handling a business social media account is reputation management. Resolving issues as they arise publicly and effectively. This is also why regular monitoring is crucial, by the time you respond to a bad review left 3 weeks ago chances are 100 potential customers have noticed this and your lack of response only makes you look guilty. We’ve all seen the Tesco banana with a spider inside clog up our news feed!

Finally, it is common sense to most that social media is amazing for communicating effectively with your target audience and promoting the brand. What many fail to realise is that social media is literally a lead generation and conversion machine! New features such as Twitter’s ‘conversion tracking’ allow you to measure your return on investment by tracking what your potential new customers to after interacting with your ads! Also, a simple social media promotion can literally result in thousands of new email addresses to market yourself to!

Social media is the future of marketing and by investing more time in this, the return on investment can be phenomenal. If you need help managing your company’s social media accounts or want to discuss our social media packages, give one of our social gurus a call on 0161 884 0112.

There is a reason businesses now have to spend a hefty proportion of their marketing budgets on engaging potential customers (or acquisition marketing)…..and despite what the adverts may say it’s not because they love you so much. The key reason engaging with your potential audience is so crucial is simple… consumer choice. As a society, we now have so much choice and purchasing power that businesses must do all they can to capture their audience. In the heady marketing world every consumer unknowingly finds themselves as part of a ‘sales funnel’, this is made up of the stages a consumer reaches before purchasing a product or service… awareness, interest, consideration, intent, evaluation and then finally the purchase.

Engagement should lead to sales, consumers are much more skeptical about cold callers and being spammed from brands they don’t recognise, so typically a company will make contact with an individual via 6 channels before leading to a sale. By actively engaging with your potential audience you can increase brand awareness and become positioned in your target audience’s mind.

Once people recognise your brand, they are more likely to listen to what you have to say as you gradually become more familiar and trustworthy. Even maintaining strong engagement with your current customers is important, it is much easier to sell to someone who has already purchased your product. Keeping them engaged and happy with your services is an easy way to improve their purchasing experience and increase brand loyalty. As the world becomes more and more digital, it is easier than ever to see reviews and testimonials from customers and gone are the days when false reviews were allowed, the easiest way to create a good reputation for your business is to keep your customers happy. Engagement itself is a powerful lead generation tool.

We can help you keep your audience engaged, contact us at hello@22group.co.uk or call 0161 672 7822.

When it comes to digital marketing, many business owners are extremely skeptical. It can seem like a huge and risky investment. We try and keep both our more traditional content-driven inbound marketing separate from more digital channels such as Google Advertising. Why? because our marketing retainers consist of hours. It is relatively easy to break down traditional marketing into hours; social media time, eshot time, design time for adverts etc… Digital marketing is a little more complex. The cost of many digital marketing techniques such as Adwords, Google Shopping, remarketing etc. are paid directly to the supplier, such as Google. This means that costs are completely transparent and it is only the admin fees that are paid to the agency (in our case the time would come out of the retainer).

So why are people so skeptical about digital marketing? Firstly, initial outlay can appear a little steep, in addition, administration time could lead to an increase in retainer hours. Let’s be honest, nobody likes increasing their spends, but as the world becomes more digital, companies must adapt. Secondly it is likely their competition is already invested in digital marketing which means bidding can be competitive and without the correct localisation and tailored approaches potential costs can be extortionate - don’t worry, budgets are set so your spends will never spiral out of control, you just may not get the most out of your efforts.

Despite the initial risks with digital marketing, it is absolutely worth the investment. Though the initial outlay may seem a little high sometimes, it is actually more cost-effective than advertising through traditional means. You can accurately calculate the return on investment and see which techniques are working for you and which need to be adapted, you can physically assign credits to each stage of the conversion. Digital marketing allows you to interact with your audience, rather than talk at them and you with the specialised techniques you are much more likely to reach the audience who are actually interested in purchasing your products or services.
Both digital and traditional marketing attract your potential customers and build brand awareness. When used simultaneously they can work together to power extremely successful results for your business.

For any help with your digital marketing contact us at hello@22group.co.uk or call 0161 672 7822.