When the going gets tough

When the going gets tough, what is the first thing businesses look to do? Yes, cut costs! It’s a normal response to a downturn, indeed some would say crucial to keeping the business lean and mean. Unfortunately some of the first candidates for cutback are marketing, advertising, design and public relations. Considered as a luxury during tough times and something that can be done without – Of course professionals in these fields throw caution to this and advise businesses not to hit the panic button.
Sonia Shelcott from local marketing and PR consultants Millriver Publicity commented: “It is well documented that brands who maintain their marketing presence during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and deliver a return on their investments. Maintaining strong brand awareness even in a downturn can play a crucial role in helping businesses keep its head above water and keeping one step ahead of its competitors. In a downturn businesses need to show strength and stability to its customers, cutting back too much on marketing budgets in the short term can actually cost a business more money in the long term, by having to rebuild your brand when the economy picks up and falling behind your competitors. It is crucial to remain successful, it puts you in a strong position when the market does eventually improve.”
Andrew Fleming is commercial partner of Blocks Solicitors, and realises the benefit of strong brand awareness. Andrew commented: “Although the business environment may be hardening, that’s when good marketing comes into its own. All businesses need to be able to communicate their particular strengths. As a firm, we invest in focused local advertising and have a concerted marketing strategy, which we intend to follow through and even enhance through this economic downturn.”
Cementing a company’s message is also crucial in a downturn, a good PR campaign backs up the effectiveness of an advertising campaign, amplifying its message, and it can help any size company build awareness.
Sonia commented: “Unfortunately many people see PR as a luxury it shouldn’t be if used correctly and integrated with an effective marketing plan. PR enhances reputation, builds a brand, and makes your business stand out from the crowd.” She added: “If you cut PR out in tough times you leave the door open for your competitors to walk in, you are much better off maintaining a presence in the public eye, keeping in peoples minds and communicating with your customers. If you are serious about business, you have to invest in it.”


By Sonia Shelcott

Three new websites go live!

After three months of intensive work, Soo and Sonia have now completed the Fusion Website. It is visible here: http://www.fusion-ipswich.co.uk and is a collaboration between Marketing and PR consultant Sonia Shelcott (Mill River Publicity) and Graphic and Web Designer Soo Smart (Double S Design).

Definitely two heads are better than one, together we can offer a full marketing, PR and design service. We are a PR, marketing and design consultancy that helps your business deliver highly effective PR and marketing campaigns. We share a passion for ethical, clear-sighted and client focused project delivery.

Whether your business is new, growing or established, we can deliver expertise and ideas that will drive your business forward. We work across a range of different sectors and pride ourselves on our many long-term partnerships with our clients. Working to your budgets and deadlines, either for a specific campaign or over a longer period of time, we can help to raise the profile of your business both in the written word and through creative design.
If you are looking for a dedicated consultancy to help you, please give us a call. We would be happy to visit to discuss your plans.
 
Fusion - Design, Marketing and PR Specialists. We share a passion for ethical, clear-sighted and client focused project delivery.

Social Networking -You Need Back Links

Did you know that it's no good doing social media if you don't link back to your site?



You may be very happy to communicate to your friends and business colleagues on Twitter and Facebook, but 2011 will be the year when Social Media comes into its own. If you are the only one seeing your Tweets, then your message is not getting across. If you never link your Tweets to your website, your are missing out on a vital way of driving traffic to your website. Search Engines look for links between sites, it thinks if there are links happening frequently, then your website is important.


Not only do you need to join Social Networking groups, but you also need to create a Blog and send the news from the Blog to your site via RSS feeds.


Is it all beginning to sound rather tricky and complicated? It's just a steep learning curve, but nothing you or a competent web designer cannot help you with or do for you. If you want to see what I mean, just click on these links here>> Tweets RSS Linked In Twitter News Feeds

Is your email address professional?

If you are serious about your business you need a professional email address. This means registering a domain and buying hosting. If you only need email and don't want a website for the time being, then that's as far as you need to go. It is a small fee to pay to look professional.
 OK, so we all have to start at the beginning and a hotmail or tiscali email address will do the job while you are setting things up. But if you want to look professional and don't know where to start, then simply give us a call on 01473 728617. We can set up your domain and email address without you having a Website.