Season's Greetings!

Season's greetings from everyone at Parenthesis! May your business prosper and grow in 2014.

Please note this year we will be closed from 24th December until 2nd January 2014.

We hope you enjoy the festive season and we look forward to seeing you again in the New Year!

The Parenthesis Team



www.parenthesis.co.uk

Using data to deliver effective marketing

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the problem is I don’t know which half” Lord Leverhulme – founder Unilever 

Marketing has moved on since Lord Leverhulme pioneered the marketing industry with the effective use of art in advertising.

Marketing is considerably more complex today with the advent of digital and social media marketing to add to the list of more traditional tools. We’re also under ever increasing pressure to justify our marketing spend and that’s why it’s never been more important in this new marketing environment to utilise data driven marketing to help us deliver a return on investment from our marketing activity.

Today, decisions on the marketing strategy or product/service campaigns must be based on the insight data can now provide us with – rather than past experiences, habit or even gut feel.

Evidence is out there – ‘82% of organisations do not use data to optimise their marketing activity, 18% of organisations that do have a significantly better financial performance’*  

The beauty of it is every organisation, large and small, is probably already sitting on a mine of high quality, valuable data. This data will be residing in existing/past customer records, new/old prospect lists, lapsed and dormant customer archives etc - it simply needs to be accessed in order to be utilised.

Data driven marketing is not just another marketing concept, it is an essential, fundamental focus for any organisation wishing to deliver a clear return on its marketing investment.

If you would like to find out more about effective data driven marketing strategies and examples of how data has delivered tangible results for some of our clients, why not get in touch? 

 *[Data-Driven Marketing: 15 Metrics Everyone Should Know]

www.parenthesis.co.uk 

Video- a new take on your marketing message

Recent years have seen a significant increase in Internet usage, and in particular viewership of online videos. Within Europe, Brits are leading the way in this sphere as the most engaged online audience:   

• The average UK Internet user spent 39 hours online in July 2012, compared with the European average of 25.9 hours.
• The Netherlands came in second (29.4 hours) followed by Turkey (27.0 hours), France (26.8 hours) and Poland (26.2 hours).
•  In a representative month, 34 million UK viewers watch an average of 228 videos each (nearly 30 hours worth!).

We can also profile online video viewership by age and gender, with the key findings:

•  Engagement descends with age
•  A roughly equal amount of males and females watch online video in the UK
•  Males are more engaged with online videos, watching more than double the hours than females*

So given its popularity, how can you leverage online video as a useful marketing tool?

Firstly, video can be valuable as part of a wider content marketing strategy. According to Brainshark, video is now the sixth most popular content marketing tactic - 70% of B2B marketers use some form of online video in their overall strategy. 

Producing quality content like video, targeted at key demographics, is essential for driving engagement with your website. Engagement is an important ingredient of Search Engine Optimisation, improving indicators of popularity like visit duration and increasing the chances of content being shared via social media (going “viral”).

Video can also be influential on consumer behaviour, with 46% of people saying they’d be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video**. This could be achieved with a vodcast- a simple, short, single shot to camera video like a product demonstration.

The popularity of online video also provides a great opportunity for placing adverts. During the six months to September 2011, for a stable level of content video viewership, exposure to video adverts increased by 37%. This was largely due to the ease of purchasing advertising space on relevant YouTube and OnDemand videos.

So if you think video could be an interesting way of communicating your message, take a look at our Vimeo page (http://vimeo.com/pdmc) and get in touch for a free 30 minute consultation.

*comScore datamine

**Content Marketing Institute survey

www.parenthesis.co.uk 

More retailers, local authorities and developers should look to the arts to revitalise shopping areas.

As retail is having such a gloomy time through this period of economic stagnation, it’s been refreshing to witness how the arts are making a difference to empty spaces in City Centre shopping areas and enhancing the visitor experience.   

Mercurial Arts work with young people and a wide range of different audiences to create interactive digital dance projects. Based in The Bubble Chamber in Bull Yard, Coventry, these workshops and performances have not only benefitted the performers and their followers but on evaluation, shoppers and passers-by have fed-back on how interesting and rewarding it has been to witness energy, skills and talent coming together and breathing new life into an empty shop.  

http://youtu.be/wfzBwk8Khh8

Mercurial also hosted Warwick Arts Centre’s recent collaboration with Invisible Flock an interactive theatre company to stage ‘Bring the Happy: Mapping Coventry’ by occupying the disused shop and transforming it into a giant 3D map of the city. Visitors were invited to explore the map and discover what makes others happy and also submit their own happy memory. At the end of three weeks of collecting happy memories they were transformed into a performance; Bring the Happy Live.

Great projects like these animate spaces and have engaged with shoppers in a positive way. The trouble is they are too few and far between in Coventry. Under a shared vision to create inspiring cultural areas and experiences the Local Authority needs to encourage more arts organisations into the city centre, and stimulate entrepreneurial enthusiasm and opportunities for pop up activity, and not just in the Arts.

Taking some risk by allowing arts uses to flourish can support shops and cafes and can highlight potential to a developer looking for an opportunity to bring forward a distinctive scheme. Developer Argent targeted the Arts and pioneered this approach in Brindley Place, Birmingham a decade ago.

At a time of weak demand within the retail and office sectors, encouraging and subsidising arts tenants must be better than empty units that serve to deter people from visiting the City Centre. Instead of being utilised as a means to bridge the gap until a more profitable retailer comes into town, the arts should contribute to a long term shared vision with the local authority planners and developers to create inspiring places that visitors will want to come back to.

www.parenthesis.co.uk 

Take our 30 minute challenge!

Here at Parenthesis our approach to results focussed marketing is making our clients smile.

 

We believe marketing is a business investment, which should always deliver a clear measurable return for any organisation. 

As an experienced marketing communications consultancy we have proven expertise in delivering highly effective ROI Marketing solutions.

Happy to work with large organisations, SME businesses and start-ups, we like to gain a clear insight into what a client's business is about and define exactly what makes it tick.

What we can offer you

We provide a range of integrated services that consistently deliver tangible results;

• Marketing audit and research
• Data Management and analytics
• Marketing strategy and project management
• Brand and/or campaign creative development
• Online and offline implementation
• Results evaluation

Our proven ability to deliver effective results based marketing activity is derived from two things - our simple philosophy and our straightforward approach. This has rewarded us with many long term client relationships and successes.

Some of our results

• '50% increase in revenue over a 36 month period for a national paper manufacturer and converter' 
• '25% ROI on a product accessory campaign for a global capital goods manufacturer.'
• '23% increase in revenue through the acquisition of high value business for an international vehicle converter'

We could continue with more success stories but we'd rather spend the time proving what we could do for you.

Can you spare just 30 minutes for a meeting for us to convince you of the benefits of ROI marketing and to see how it could help your business?

Why not get started and call us now on 024 7622 9658

Or email:

tim.holmes@parenthesis.co.uk to arrange your 30 minute meeting.

www.parenthesis.co.uk 

Warm Season's Greetings

It has been a pleasure working with you this year and we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.  


Please note that we will be closing for Christmas at 5pm on Friday 21st December.

We'll be returning on Wednesday 2nd January 2013.


Have a great time!
From everyone at Parenthesis

www.parenthesis.co.uk 

WAC Competition - And the winner is.....

We're pleased to announce that the winner of our competition to win a pair of Warwick Arts Centre tickets is Sarah Scouller. Congratulations Sarah, we hope you enjoy them!  

www.parenthesis.co.uk