Stephanie

Blue Whale Media Christmas Logo
, , , , , ,

Christmas Marketing Preparation at Blue Whale Media

Christmas Marketing Preparation at Blue Whale Media

Preparing For Christmas Marketing at Blue Whale Media

It’s that time of the year again when all marketing companies turn to Christmas. Most of our office is used to Christmas in August now, but many still find it crazy how early companies prepare for the Christmas Period. 

I suppose the big question is, why does Christmas matter so much? I think there are many answers to this question. For most, and in the most part, it represents a happy time of the year, when most people will take extra time and make an extra effort to spend time with loved ones. This in reality, is just something most of us don’t do enough of in the modern world that we all live in, so this time we give ourselves and time of year brings happy memories for most.

With this in mind, most people will spend extra money to try and make it the most perfect Christmas possible for our loved ones and us. This is why companies invest soo much time, money and effort trying to capitalise on profits at this time of year.  

What do our marketing Campaigns include at Christmas?

With the launch of our Video team this year, we are focusing a lot of effort on our video services. We have expanded our regular Christmas video schedule to include much more this year. We will be doing the following videos.

Staff Events Video

Christmas, whilst being a hectic time of year for all marketing companies and us not having much spare time, Blue Whale Media have always made it a special time of year in the office. We invest in taking the staff on many team-building events, from Ice Skating to Chill Factor snow tubing, to bring the season in with a bang and making our unconventional extended office family closer.

Company Corporate Video

Unfortunately, mid-way through the filming of our Corporate Christmas Video last December, we were broken into and had all the equipment stolen. This brought a sharp halt to filming, and whilst we were back on our feet and working again within a week, we had just lost too much time and couldn’t complete the video. But this year it’s being brought back to life and whilst some elements have been updated, we will be launching the planned video on 1st December across all our social platforms and channels. Keep a look out!

Charity Video

Another focus that Blue Whale Media Ltd has had since opening 11 plus years ago, is our charity work. Christmas, whilst being fantastic for most people, can highlight a level of struggling and depravity on a vast scale. We have always taken part in Operation Christmas Child, and all staff members create boxes to send. In addition to this, in recent years we have also donated a food hamper to the local elderly persons’ residential home close to us and a saviour hamper to a homeless charity that help the homeless with essential winter needs, like coats, gloves etc. This is just a little recognition by Blue Whale Media and our team that this season can be a real struggle for some.

End-of-year video

In what’s become a yearly tradition for Blue Whale Media Ltd, we will also be creating our end-of-year video, which will be complete with all the events, charity work, awards, staff accomplishments and much more that the team have achieved in 2022. This will also be our thank you to all the amazing customers that have worked with us in 2022 and will continue to work with well into 2023.

Social Media Campaigns

Coming to you for the sixth consecutive year, we will be launching our 12 days of Christmas on Facebook. This is just a little something we do every year to engage with our followers and provide a little Christmas cheer. The competitions are completely free to enter and this year’s prizes have already been chosen! Sign up to our newsletter now to make sure you don’t miss the launch.

Our Social channels will also feature lots of Christmas content, from the team’s top Christmas recipes to our very own hot chocolate station. Make sure you’re following our Facebook and Instagram pages to see all the action coming to you straight from the Blue Whale Media office!

Email Campaigns

We issue a few types of email campaigns throughout the festive season. We have a monthly support newsletter which goes out to all our support clients. This will soon take a festive turn with our suggestions and offers to help customers make their website or marketing campaigns festive. 

We will also be launching our 12 days of Christmas competitions via our newsletters so be the first to see the prizes and daily launch times by signing up to the newsletter now! 

Lastly, we will be issuing need-to-know information to all our clients about Blue Whale Media’s opening hours. Like most other companies, we do operate a Christmas shutdown to ensure our staff can spend quality time with their families over the festive period.

Blog Campaigns

If you’re reading this, you will know that the blogging campaign has clearly started because you’re reading one! We will feature lots of different types of blogs from the events that we are doing, tip to Christmasify your website, Christmas marketing campaign tips and much more. These can all be found on our library or elsewhere on the website.

The Company Christmas Cards

Spoiler alert!!!!! We have already designed and printed this! It’s even getting signed by the whole team next week! I worked hand in hand with Jessica, one of our talented graphic designers, to create the bespoke card this year; we love how it turned out. We have incorporated everything from our new Tangerine Twist colour to the traditional gold! But if you want to see it you need to be a customer so sign up now before they get sent out on 1st December!

Thank you

So this is the part in the blog where I reflect on 2022, and whilst we are only in September, so much has happened in 2022. It’s been full of ups and downs for the company and myself personally. But I’m really thankful for the rollercoaster ride that 2022 has been regardless, and I only hope the last three months are busy, happy and challenging! From me personally, I wish you all a very happy Christmas season and hope you enjoy it!

Thank you,

Stephanie Sweeney, Operations Director, Blue Whale Media Ltd.

Black and White Photography Simple Collage Facebook Post
, , ,

Great examples of Christmas email marketing campaigns

Examples of Christmas Marketing

Great examples of Christmas email marketing campaigns

With emails still being the most personal way of contacting your customers, it’s no surprise that email marketing is still five times more likely to engage your user than social media posts.

But what type of email marketing campaign should you run? Let’s take a look at the different ways some of the biggest companies in the world use email marketing for the holidays!

The single product templates

Who can do it better than Chanel! This is a great example of how to keep an email shot simple but effective! They have used a more modern and elegant reflection of the product by changing it to watercolour. This means that the user has to take that extra few seconds to know what the email is about, but when they do this also means they are engaged! They use little text and don’t push the shop now click, because let’s be honest, they don’t really have to!

Single product template

The single product templates

Who can do it better than Chanel! This is a great example of how to keep an email shot simple but effective! They have used a more modern and elegant reflection of the product by changing it to watercolour. This means that the user has to take that extra few seconds to know what the email is about, but when they do this also means they are engaged! They use little text and don’t push the shop now click, because let’s be honest, they don’t really have to!

Single product template
single category template

The single category templates

In this lovely festive design, the Terrain company have used holiday season graphics incorporated with a lovely mix of products from their category range. Like the above graphic from Chanel this is the perfect way to showcase a range whilst keeping a simplest modern design which will catch a user eye! Differently from Chanel though they have worked their shop link into a simple catchy phrase which has negated the need for any content!

single category template

The single category templates

In this lovely festive design, the Terrain company have used holiday season graphics incorporated with a lovely mix of products from their category range. Like the above graphic from Chanel this is the perfect way to showcase a range whilst keeping a simplest modern design which will catch a user eye! Differently from Chanel though they have worked their shop link into a simple catchy phrase which has negated the need for any content!

The thank you template

This is one of my favourite examples by far! 2020 has been the year for video, video marketing, video calls, video meetings, video catchups. Our faces have been all over the globe this year! But with that comes a relaxation of people’s views on video. Put simply people are more used to seeing moving graphics! This means that email marketing that moves has been huge in 2020! As you can see from the graphic Ezibuy was doing this in 2015! They used a design which looked very similar to their website, which allowed them to keep all their links encouraging their customers to engage!

The design is fun and gives an amazing visual twist to this perfect thank you to their customers.

Thank you template
eCommerce template

The Retail / Ecommerce template

Sephora is one of the biggest names in cosmetics so following their lead on Black Friday can’t be a bad thing, so let’s talk though the design.

It starts with a website looking header which ensures viewers can easily see whichever category they may be interested in.

It then moves onto a simplest header which incorporates the products and the offer but they have ensured to keep the colour tone of the promotion by using black and white and only using colour on to make the offer stand out!

They then move into two separate category sections. They have used a nice mix of product but then ensured they have kept the styling from the banner image before to enhance the offer with the colours. There is a perfect amount of text which is easy to read on a black background. It’s a lovely example of a promotional email template!

Covers everything template

When you need to cover everything, you need to keep it simple. This Kate Spade design does this with ease. Now it helps when you have the perfect product range to help with your styling. But let’s just follow the tips!

Like with the above designs this one uses a website looking navigation to give easy access and familiarity to the look of the email. It is also used to show the standard enticing features of the site.

They then start with a header image that isn’t anything to do with a sale. This instals trust from the user that they aren’t just receiving another promotional email. It then goes on to a sticking image which just instals the offer nothing more nothing less! Simplistic but highly effective.

Cover everything template

Covers everything template

When you need to cover everything, you need to keep it simple. This Kate Spade design does this with ease. Now it helps when you have the perfect product range to help with your styling. But let’s just follow the tips!

Like with the above designs this one uses a website looking navigation to give easy access and familiarity to the look of the email. It is also used to show the standard enticing features of the site.

They then start with a header image that isn’t anything to do with a sale. This instals trust from the user that they aren’t just receiving another promotional email. It then goes on to a sticking image which just instals the offer nothing more nothing less! Simplistic but highly effective.

Cover everything template

Start your email marketing campaign now

If you need help with your email marketing campaign contact us today! We even have a great offer on throughout November 2020 where we are offering Mailchimp designs at £200! So, contact the professionals today and let us take care of the rest!

Thank you for taking the time to read my latest blog and I hope it helps you with your email marketing campaign this holiday season.

Operations Director

Stephanie Sweeney

Email Marketing at its best
, , ,

Email Marketing at its best

Email marketing at its best

Email Marketing at its best

Email Marketing has always been one of those taboo areas in Marketing, some love it and some hate it.

Over the last few years with the introduction of the new GDPR Privacy rules it has been increasingly difficult to undertake Email Marketing in the correct way.  But the stats show that when it is undertaken correctly it can be incredibly helpful and profitable for your business.

There are many reasons for undertaking an Email Marketing campaign. We, here at Blue Whale Media Ltd use this form of marketing in various different ways.

  • Keeping our support customers up to date with the latest developments that they should know about via our support email which we send out monthly.
  • New offers, if you are lucky enough to be a support customer of Blue Whale Media Ltd, then you also get access to some of our amazing marketing discounts.
  • New customer offers. We are always happy to bring new customers into the company and have some amazing monthly offers available to do so, which are unique to new customers.
  • Newsletter, even in the year of Covid its important to share any good news with our customers/potential customers so we ensure we do a good news newsletter at least once a quarter. 

How much time or money should you spend on your email marketing?

Here at Blue Whale Media Ltd, we are lucky that we have a fantastic team of Marketing professionals who can ensure top quality Email Marketing. But we appreciate that’s not the case for most businesses. So, you have options.

  • Spend no time or money on Email Marketing. This can be a costly mistake though. It is anticipated that by 2023 4.3 billion email users will be sent a year and there will be 293 billion emails sent a day with an average return on investment of £40 for every £1 you spend.
  • Spend your own time and money. This can be a great way of reducing your costs as a business but could again be a costly mistake. When companies try to undertake Marketing tasks themselves it most likely takes them a considerable amount of time to complete the task with no real reasoning behind why they have come up with the design they have. This could mean that the campaign is ineffective despite the time and funds that have been spent on it.
  • Hire a Marketing Agency to undertake the task for you. Now you can normally pay minimal amounts for them to come up with a design but then they will not explain the design and reasoning to you. Or you can pay a decent amount which will result in more time being spent on your design and a detailed report being sent to you to explain why items/layouts have been included. This then allows them and you to evaluate the response from the campaign and develop it further for the next run.

Top tools for Email Marketing?

If you do choose to run your own campaign, there are some fabulous resources out there which can assist you at minimal cost. Our preferred platform is Mailchimp, but there are various others like Send In Blue etc and in fairness they are all fairly similar to use. So if you are comfortable with one you should stick with it because half your time will be spent learning how to use the new system.

Then it’s the planning we have a favoured resource in the office which is Monday.com it’s an amazing system to help you plan out all your marketing tasks, and most other tasks to be fair. We tend to use this in conjunction with a great little template from hubspot which is free to download Click here. This is a great tool to use to run, manager and evaluate your email marketing.

Templates VS Custom

There are various ways of undertaking your own Email Marketing which can be accessed fairly inexpensively. If you have very limited design skill, we would suggest you look at using a downloadable template. Now you can get set templates within the email marketing platforms, but if you are looking at something that is going to have more bezass then take a look at the templates you can buy from the likes of Envato. They are on average £13 and can help you include everything that’s should be standard in an Email Marketing design.

Obviously these templates will never be as customable as a design that you have created yourself and therefore they can be slightly limiting. But that’s the compromise if you are trying to keep costs low.

Custom email design

Events you should be preparing for

As we run up to the Winter months there are several events that can get a lot of traction for your business.

  • Halloween
  • Thanks Giving
  • Black Friday
  • Cyber Monday
  • And of course Christmas
  • Boxing Day sales
  • New Year

Now what type of Marketing you choose to undertake for those events depends:

Halloween – You may choose to do a simple Happy Halloween campaign with a few special offers to go with the event.

Thanksgiving – We tend to think this should be more a company statement to say what the company/staff are thankful for that year. It could be achievements or milestones hit. But it’s a nice way to bring customers into the fold and make them feel like they are part of your company. We would suggest you don’t add offers etc to this campaign as it can water down the spirit of the campaign.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday – These have become some of the most profitable days in recent years, not only for ecommerce websites but also for businesses. We would recommend no-one misses out on this amazing opportunity to push their balance sheets into the black!

Email marketing

Christmas – My personal favourite time of year! This can be a great period to show new products, offers and much more. We tend to up our Email Marketing during this period to one a week and showcase not just offers but the amazing events that the team have been taking part in during the holiday season. 

Boxing Day – Again this can be a great event that can help push those last few sales of the year over the line. For retail it can also be a great way of having a “winter clean” and getting rid of all remaining stock from 2020.

New Year – Like thanks giving it’s a really great opportunity to put a statement out to conclude the year and share the companies hopes and milestones for the next year.

In conclusion, Email Marketing: Yes or No?

Anyone from the Marketing industry still very much believes in Email Marketing as a great resource. But like mentioned above only if it’s done correctly. So take your time and think out your expectations and requirements for Email Marketing to ensure your expected ROI is achievable.

Thanks for reading

Stephanie Sweeney – Blue Whale Media Ltd

,

What does being a Woman In Tech Mean – By Stephanie Sweeney

Women in Tech

What does being a Woman In Tech Mean – By Stephanie Sweeney

I’m currently writing this sat in my spare bedroom which I have had to convert to a home office as the Corona Virus outbreak has taken over the UK.

Now I know that this is a terrible time to be in business and Marketing as work is non-existent at this time, but then I sit here writing a blog and working on the company’s website and realise that this is one of the reasons I got into tech.

Flexible working  

The great thing for the tech industry is that we can keep on going. We may have no money coming in, but we can keep on working unlike most industries. Now the corona virus is its own thing, but it does highlight the resilience of the tech industry.

Now in the (normal world) that’s what I’m calling it now, this really helps women. It allows us to continue to do things like have a family, stay home with children when they are ill. Relocate easily and even pick things up when we are away or not at the office. This ability to allow flexible working is a great for us as women. This is also the same for men and can help modern people manage their very busy lives.

Why Tech?

Most will wonder why tech. We all know it’s still mainly male dominated so why would women want to choose it and take on the challenge of braking through. Simply why not. As one of the business owners I have championed women joining the business in every role we have. Code doesn’t care what your gender is so why should women not be able to build websites. Men can put together designs for female based businesses so why wouldn’t women be able to design for all industries to. All of these are complete misconceptions and Blue Whale Media is bucking the trend and I am very proud to have taken on our first female web design apprentice this year (and heads up she is awesome!)

What are the challenges?

It’s hard for me to answer this one as I don’t believe anyone faces challenges working at Blue Whale Media Ltd. But I would probably suggest that the main challenges for women in tech probably don’t come from the company they are working for but mainly the clients they are trying to sign up or work with. Across the world there are still certain industries that struggle more than other. As an industry that mainly works around working with another company as a customer this would be where I think women would struggle. But as I said this rarely happens anymore.

Conclusion

This will be a difficult year for tech, and more so small businesses, we all know that. But tech is already showing up to this fight back and to all you tech people out there working on your knee or with the kids screaming around you, I thank you for your commitment to the industry and to getting women into an amazing industry. Well done to you! Stay strong, Stay Safe, Stay home, Stay well.

Stephanie Sweeney

Operations Director

Blue Whale Media Ltd

Supporting Other Women In The Workplace
, , , , , , ,

Supporting Other Women In The Workplace

Supporting Other Women In The Workplace

Supporting Other Women In The Workplace

International Women’s Day has been and gone but the topic of conversation is still very popular. After running our all female-led podcast, I felt empowered to talk further about supporting women in the workplace. In particular, women who work in tech as this is something I can relate to the most. Overall I think the attitude towards women in working in tech has improved but there are still areas that are tough are women. Even though this is the case, it’s still important to support other women in the workplace and motivate them.

Teaching Skills

Firstly I think it’s important to give other’s help when needed. Teaching women your skills, giving them advice or just offering general support can really help others, especially if they are just starting out. You might have vital knowledge that can support people in their learning journey. Even if you are not mentoring someone, it’s good to let women in junior roles know that you are available to help at any time.

Sharing Successes

Another advice I would give you is to think of one woman’s success as a whole success. It’s important not to see other women as the competition but support them in their achievements. Many women in tech are doing so many good things within their job role and proving that it doesn’t matter what gender you are. When you see this either online or in person, make sure to congratulate them and show them your support. Women sharing other women’s success stories will empower everyone else to do the same.

Supporting Women In The Workplace
Women In The Workplace

Involving Women  

Wherever you work, there will be women who want to be involved in different projects within the business. As we understand, people can’t be involved in everything but ensuring they feel like they’re are included will give them a huge boost. Give them a chance to voice their ideas, come along on female-focused events and just be generally involved in the business. Even though this is important for women in tech, it’s also important for people, in general, to feel like they are involved within the company they work in.

Speaking Out

Sometimes gender bias might not be purposely nasty but it can happen in the workplace. If it does and you notice it, it’s important to speak out. Support the women in your workplace and show them that you aren’t going to let it slip. Whether you speak directly to the person or to a manager, you need to make sure that this is bought up as no company should allow gender bias.

 How To Empower

 With all this being said, you need to be supporting women in the workplace no matter where you work or what your job role is. There are many ways to show your support as mentioned previously but there’s no better time to start than now. To keep up with our activities on how we are supporting women in tech, head over to our https://www.facebook.com/Bluewhalemedia.co.uk

Supporting Other Women In The Workplace
How footage can help your business in 2020
,

How footage can help your business in 2020

Video Marketing

How video footage can help your business in 2020

2019 has been the rise of online video footage, from Facebook lengthening the videos it accepts on its platform to Instagram launching IGTV. Video is defiantly the next marketing phenomenon.

Ensuring your business has a plan in place for 2020 is a great way of structuring how you will be making the most out of marketing video footage.

What video footage should your business be looking at creating in 2020?

The answer to this particular question depends what sort of business you are and what branding you have in place. There are so many different forms if footage that can be created and each can be appropriate for your business for different reasons.

I will go through some of the most popular types of footage you can create and the benefits of creating it.

Podcasts

Let’s start with podcasts. Podcast are probably the easiest and cheapest way of creating business footage.

Blue Whale Media does lots of Podcasts which we stream straight to our social media channels. We would recommend you invest in the best equipment if you are looking to go down this route and we have found the Mevo camera is a great tool to use.

Podcasts can be set in two ways, like us you may want to set them up as a two-way conversation with two people discussing a pre-set topic. This can help you plan what you are going to discuss if you are not that great talking of the top of your head. It can also be a great way of settling nerves and making participants feel more comfortable.

The second format could be just you in front of the camera discussing a particular topic or product. This can be a great way to format the podcast if you are looking to go through particulars or create a more sales-based edit.

Video Footage

Corporate Videos

Corporate videos can be a great way of letting your customers see into your business in a more controlled manner.

These videos could include walk throughs of your office, where you can show the human side to your business and showcase the working environment that your business champions.

Some companies also choose to do departmental talk though where you can introduce your viewers to your heads of department to explain what their department does and how it can help your viewers.

Explainer Videos

If you have products that you want to promote solely or in a more structured manner than a podcast.

These also may not be a live action video but more of a motion graphic animated video. This allows you to choose your voice over voice and show content on screen for your customers to follow.

Q&A Sessions

Much like a corporate video and explainer video this type of footage can be used for many reasons.

A Q&A video session could be used and published on your website to replace mundane content like a FAQ section. It could be used as an explainer for a product or service. Or it could be used to showcase a person or department. Unlike explainer videos this is live action.

Video Production Company
How Blue Whale Media Ltd can help you

With so many options available its valuable to ensure that you are following the right route for your business.

With an amazing in-house videography team with experience in both the UK and New York markets we have a wealth of experience and tips we can share with you.

Give our sales team a call on 01925 552050 or drop them an email today at [email protected]

Thank you for taking the time to read my latest blog and Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to you! 

Stephanie Sweeney – Operations Director – Blue Whale Media Ltd

Putting together a basic Marketing Plan for 2020
, , , ,

Putting together a basic Marketing Plan for 2020

Putting together a basic Marketing Plan for 2020

A big element of Blue Whale Media’s daily interactions with Clients is them asking what they should actually be doing. In 2020 Blue Whale Media is going to be launching a new service of Marketing consultancy.

This is going to be a service where four of our team will come in review your business and put together a three-month marketing plan for you to follow.

We know that Marketing in this day and age can be tough and it can be hard to decide where to spend your money.

The truth is no one marketing plan works for all customers and every business has a unique customer base. What that customer base responds to can be the hardest part to any marketing plan. This is what Blue Whale Media hopes to help people with.

Digital Marketing

How should it be structured?

A big thing we find is that companies run before they can walk. They also don’t see their business from the eyes of the customers.

A marketing plan has to be the following:

 –  Consistent  –  On brand    – Achievable    –  Structured

So, what do we mean by that? Well let me explain!

Consistent 

In the age of Google your marketing cannot hop from topic to topic. Put simply it has no effect on your rankings and is a complete waste of money if you are going to jump from topic to topic every month.

You need to work out what your businesses focus is going to be each quarter and focus on that alone.

On Brand

Unless you are lad bible or one of the lower end online shops using memes and “if your names below you will” posts are not appropriate.

Put simply they cheapen your brand. Everything you publish should be your best foot forward. The internet is your shop front to the world and you should treat it with the respect and care you would if you had to show a person who was sat next to you.

Achievable

Do not be idealistically with your marketing plan. Be real with yourself and do not create tasks which you simply cannot afford to complete or do not have the time to complete.

Marketing plans have multiple levels to them and failing in one element because you didn’t have the time will throw the full plan off. This could mean that when you are evaluating the success of the plan you are not judging it fairly. It’s like baking a cake but taking two ingredients out, don’t be surprised if it didn’t look as good as in the recipe book.

Structured

Before you try and put a plan in place or actioning one makes sure you have each element of it broke down. What does “blog strategy” actually consist of, (what are the topics, when are you writing them, where are you getting the images from, who is putting them on the website) Do you see my point? It’s a great element to have but putting it into practice can take a vast amount of time.

Marketing Plan

Where should you start with a marketing plan?

Any good Marketing plan will start with an aim. What are you trying to achieve?

There are various outcomes you may be looking to achieve from more enquires/sales to better brand recognition to brand reinvention.

Some of the best Marketing plans do not plan on the basis of directly trying to increase sales. Some are all about getting your brand name out there or awareness of your business.

An example might be a new beauty salon. You might think that promoting your services and prices is the way to go but in fact some of the busiest and most successful salons actually base their marketing around the Salon, the look the feel, their USP.

We are currently working with a Salon due to launch in the new year in a small village and the whole marketing plan is around attracting the right customers to it. They aren’t trying to be the cheapest or the biggest. They are trying to ensure they give the best customer experience. They have spent a lot of time with the team ensuring their branding, styling and salon all follow a high-end unique customer experience which the area hasn’t seen before. The idea behind this is that the experience the salon offers will bring the customers to it.

So focus on your aim first.

Digital Marketing Consultants

What should you include in your Marketing Plan?

There are lots of different elements that can go into a marketing plan, but it honestly depends on your business as to what you should include. Some questions you should ask yourself when deciding what marketing to do are:

  1. Where are your current customers coming from? Was it mainly word of mouth or did you buy leads or attend business fairs or did your business come from search engine positions?
  2. How much time do you have spare to action your marketing plan?
  3. How much money are you willing to spend on implementing your marketing plan?

Once you know the above and you have your aim in place you are in a good position to start thinking about the elements you want to include in your marketing plan. 

Elements that could be in a marketing plan?

Blue Whale Media alone has +20 services which all come under marketing. I will go through some of the basics

Social Media

Social Media Marketing has changed over the years and whilst it is widely recognised that Google does judge you on how active you are on Social Media it may not be your main focus. There are multiple platforms and you really need to review which one will work best for you and ensure that you can keep up with what is required.

Online Marketing

Video

Video Marketing has really taken off in 2019 and is set to be huge in 2020. The great thing with Video Marketing is that it can work hand in hand with other elements of Marketing like Social Media Marketing and website Marketing. Getting some professionally produced videos created which you can share on multiple platforms can be a great way of killing two birds with one stone as they say.

Link Building

If like most companies your business requires Google more than anything else to provide it with business, then link building is a must to ensure you can maintain or achieve the required SEO rankings in Google’s search results. This can be a tedious option as reaching out to bloggers and other webmasters and attempting to get a decent link can take plenty of time and attempts.

Content  

As the saying goes Content is King. It may sound like a corny saying but content writing is one of the most effective forms of Marketing around. Google will not rank you for services or areas it does not know you operate in and content is the only way to get this information to the google bots. Again, to put this in perspective though it generally takes about 10 blogs per week per service per location you want to rank for. Blue Whale Media charge £25 + VAT per blog.

Website  

Do not go into an online marketing strategy with a poorly setup website. It is a complete waste of time and money. If your website doesn’t have its structure in place or it’s tagging competed then you are wasting money directing any traffic to it.

PPC

Pay Per Click can be a great way to get quick results/sales. Whilst it is normally fairly costly (Google aren’t one of the wealthiest companies by chance) it can help you get the results you need quickly. Please ensure you have your campaigns setup correctly though otherwise you will again be spending money without achieving any results.

Digital Marketing Strategy
How can Blue Whale Media Ltd help you? 

As I briefly motioned at the beginning of this blog (some 1300 words ago) Blue Whale Media Ltd are launching a new service in 2020.

We will be putting together a package where our four department heads come into your business and evaluate all the above elements and put together a marketing plan for you.

There will be no obligation to then use Blue Whale Media Ltd to implement this plan but you will have an achievable plan you can implement for your business in 2020.

If you would like more information of this service please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Eve our head on marketing on [email protected] or [email protected]

Thank you for reading 

Stephanie Sweeney – Operations Director – Blue Whale Media Ltd

Why Apprenticeships Are The Way Forward For The Digital Industry
, ,

Why Apprenticeships Are The Way Forward For The Digital Industry

Why Apprenticeships Are The Way Forward For The Digital Industry

Apprenticeships are one of those options which people either love or hate. In the past, they have been mainly focused on more hands-on manual trades such as builders and plumbers etc. Over the last ten years though they have emerged for other service industries like Web Design, Marketing and Business Administration.

Like with the more traditional trades these are also time-based trades and are service driven rather than product-driven. This means that training people in a classroom rarely achieves the results needed. So, this is why Blue Whale Media over the years has championed Apprenterships for our sector.

Blue Whale Media

What Type of Courses and jobs are available?

Six of Blue Whale Media’s employees started out as Apprentices in the industry. Whilst not all of them have completed their courses whilst being employed by us they were given their first brake via this route.

When we talk to most of our Apprentices or staff which have gone down that route it’s mainly because the University version of the courses doesn’t cover the areas that were of interest for them. This meant that the natural route for them was to find an Apprenticeship course and get into a workplace where they could learn on the job.

We have a wide-ranging team, and this is shown by the courses they have completed. We have Marketing people who went down the route of a Digital Marketing Level 3 & 4 course. This can be a great course for other areas too and can fit for Web Designers also if the company they work for is willing to tailor the course and work.

We also have Graphic Designers who have completed some amazing training with people who have been creating amazing graphics with the likes of Coca Cola also.

Then we have also employed Business Administrators who help out with the office admin and work alongside the sales team to enhance our proposals.

Who do Blue Whale Media Ltd Partner with?

Blue Whale Media have partnered with various agents over the years but our current partners of choice are Jarvis Training and QA Apprenticeships.

We find them to be extremely professional and in keeping with the style of business we have.

Current vacancies

Blue Whale Media are always looking for talented and eager staff who want to join the team so if you would like to join us you are always encouraged to get in contact and submit your CV to us at [email protected]

At the moment though we are very excited to be on the hunt for our next Web Design Apprentice who we are hoping will join us in the new year. If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to contact QA Apprenterships for more information.

What else do Blue Whale Media offer for younger people?

Blue Whale Media is always keen to ensure that they keep the youth of today interested in the sector and work that we do. We are also big on the local community – being a family ran business ourselves. This means that we also take on a lot of Work Experience staff from local schools. This is a great way of them seeing that it isn’t just the big cities which have media agencies they can work for.

Our Work Experience staff normally either do one day per week for their school year. In which they come into the office and work hand in hand with the staff.

We also offer the more traditional Work Experience where students will come and spend one week in the company. We tend to ensure that they get the opportunity to sit with each department and learn a little from everyone.

If you are interested in coming to complete some Work Experience with Blue Whale Media then email us at [email protected]

Other Types of Training Blue Whale Media offers

Blue Whale Media are keen to ensure that all our staff are up to date with the latest tricks and tips or even software that they are using.

To ensure this we offer open training where the staff member can bring a training program to us for review. All training requests are then reviewed by management every two months and if the company feels they would be of benefit to them and the employee they are scheduled in.

Over the past few years, we ensure that all members of the team have been given basic training in GDPR protocols and Cyber Security. This allows us to ensure that customers and their data is kept safe at all times.

As I mentioned earlier 90% of the staff have come through some form of official training to get to the position they are in now. Some of the main training they have completed outside of an apprenticeship is Management training, SEO training, Google Training, Adobe Training and other industry-lead training.

Conclusion

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read my latest blog and I hope it has helped to illustrate the open and supportive company that Blue Whale Media Ltd is.

We can’t wait to see where 2020 takes us and the new staff members that join.

How to get ready for 2020 Marketing
, , ,

How to get ready for 2020 Marketing

2020 Marketing

How to get ready for 2020 Marketing

If you haven’t already completed your marketing work for 2019 you’re too late. But no fear, put 2019 to the back of your mind and move onto your 2020 plan.

Here at Blue Whale Media we wrap up (excuse the pun) all our 2019 marketing in October and focus all our effort from November onwards on the new year launch.

How do we structure our marketing?

Like most companies, we have a vast amount of marketing methods, from our website, magazine, leaflets, social media, videos etc.

It takes all the above methods to get noticed in today’s buzzing market, so we ensure we have everything ready for every event in the first quarter of the year.

Essentially, we have a three-month rolling marketing campaign. We prepare for January – March in October, November, December. April – June in January – March. July – September in April – June and the festive season from August onwards. This allows us three months to ensure that all our marketing material be prepared.

The dos and don’ts for Marketing around New Year

We have a lot of items that Launch in the New Year, but you don’t want to overload your marketing and then have nothing to keep people engaged in the latter months of the year.

If you were planning to launch a new website, I would suggest you either try and do it before Christmas, so your clients are surprised when they view it or leave it towards the end of January. This then allows everyone to get over the madness of the sales and then gives your company a fresh look heading into 2020.

The above really applies to most marketing in the new year. If you are a service-based business like us you tend to ease off and let retail have its moment in the first couple of weeks of January. This allows your customer and you the time to settle back in, catch up and reassess their needs. Once they have been given this time this is when you want to be on the radar.

The main result of not doing this, that we have found, is that you are essentially wasting your money. If you try and jump on the new year sale bandwagon it tends to get lost in the crowd and over the last few years, we have found that people have forgotten about your new year marketing by the time they jump back into action in the third week of January.

What do we have in place for New Year?

As said, we have really stripped this back this year, we aren’t ignoring it completely. We have still got our New Year sale which will last the first week of the year. We have Email Marketing in place, Social Media posts and some sales videos in place and ready to go.

We are also spending a lot of time over the next few weeks on our website. We do have a brand-new design coming midyear next year but we have also taken the time to add our new videos to the current design and bring it on point with the branding which we changed to earlier in 2019. But this is an ongoing task and isn’t specifically being done for the new year, we are taking it slow and making sure every page launched is perfect.

Conclusion

2020 no doubt will be another challenging year for all businesses and marketing can be just as challenging. We wish everyone a prosperous new year and 2020 and hope that should you need any marketing assistance you will choose Blue Whale Media Ltd to be your marketing partner.

Yours truly,

Stephanie Sweeney, Operations Director.

Please select a valid form.
A snapshot of Blue Whale Media Ltd in 2019
, ,

A snapshot of Blue Whale Media Ltd in 2019

Blue Whale Media

A snapshot of Blue Whale Media Ltd in 2019

I haven’t written a blog for the website in a while so I thought as we start to finalise the year’s work this would be a good opportunity to put pen to paper again (so to speak)

It’s been a long 2019, if you have been following Blue Whale Media you will notice that we have vastly changed our focus point for 2019 from Web Design to Media and Website Design.

We have found that more and more companies now want to put their best face forward to the world. What better way to do that than let someone see into the company with Video.

Why has video become so important in 2019

The trend actually began several years ago with people wanting video or interactive homepages on the website. This then developed when Facebook and other social media platforms started to allow video updates on their platforms.

Now the statistics for views vs reads or image views are staggering. A video on average gets 1200% more shares than its equivalent image/text counterpart. That’s huge. Imagine if you got just 1% more business from that.

What types of videos have Blue Whale Media Ltd been producing?

We are currently in the process of updating the website, but you can start to see our portfolios on the website.

Most of our customers are going down the route of Corporate videos. These are great as they give an insight into the company and require less client input making them a quicker task for clients.

We then have been filming a lot of Question and Answer sessions with clients recently. This is a great way of getting accurate information to customers. With increased views, if done correctly this can be great for customer engagement and increase the number of sales the company can achieve.

What do you think will be big in 2020

I think that two areas of video will become huge in 2020.

The first type would be product videos. If you have been on our website recently you can see that we are producing motion graphic videos with voice overs for each of our services. We are already finding that when people call in, we hear “I saw the video on the website and wanted some more information”. This is great for us to hear as it shows that the video has already started the sales process for us and has engaged the customer to call. The videos also really help illustrate a standard the company sets with its work. Take a look at our Web Design video if you haven’t seen it already.

The second type of videos I see being a big success and a traffic-driving force for 2020 is Service videos. These are very similar to Product videos but are more for services such as private doctors, restaurants etc. They are normally live footage videos and are great for showcasing your service, venue and your company. We are currently doing an exciting project for a private Doctor called Dr Stephen….Watch this space to see the final product!!! (Excuse the pun)

What’s in store for Blue Whale Media in 2020

Well, we are currently on the hunt for premises to hold our production and photography studio so that’s exciting.

We are also not just updating the current website we have a whole new one in production too. It will have an interactive menu, and logo for you to play with but will showcase a more sophisticated look for the company to go with our new branding which we have been developing throughout 2019.

Final words for 2019

Once again, it’s been a great year for the company and team. We have had some great people move on, but we also have taken on some very talented members of staff who have helped the business move on again!

We have taken on some bigger projects and started to ferment our position in a new sector.

We hope you have enjoyed our journey as much as we have. As always stay tuned to our Social Media Accounts for the latest from the company and team.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog and I wish you all a happy holiday this November/December!

Yours truly,

Stephanie Sweeney – Operation Director

Please select a valid form.

Load More