Blog
Movember – Week 2
Today marks the beginning of the second week of Movember. Many men across the UK, and indeed the globe are perhaps struggling with the hair growth of their upper lip hair.
(Nad and Chris looking unimpressed at posing for Movember week 2 update images)!Here in the office, itchiness began a couple of days ago for Nad and Chris, and daily shaving of beard related hair is becoming an irritant, but as I continue to remind them, ‘it’s the rules! And it’s for a good cause!’ and this seems to keep them on track.
This year, at some bullying from me, Win Marketing decided to get behind the fundraising month of Movember – which helps raise awareness and funds for men’s health.
In recent years, this has seen a small following – with many students joining in during the spirit of Movember. In the last 2 years, I have noticed that this has spread beyond the realm of the university, scraggly bearded student, and has moved to the businessman, the barman, the waiter and the shop assistant, the celebrity and even my granddad (although that might not be quite true – as he sports a dashing mo most of the time anyway)
I have noticed some Win Marketing clients are showing their support to the month of Movember – apologetically mentioning the reason for their impeccably neat and tidy mo is because of this month.
Trending on Twitter for the first 2 days, Movember has grown enormously through the increasing use of social media channels, mostly Facebook and Twitter, but also YouTube.
Join Us!
So with that in mind, I bullied the team into joining in, and here’s the bit where we asking for your help.
We have set up a Movember team page – “‘Tache Marketing'”:http://uk.movember.com/team/836313 for the team on the Movember.com website – and this is where people can donate towards the cause – many mens health charities receive donations as a part of this month – and this website specifically donates any money received to 3 of these charities, Prostrate Cancer UK, The Institute of Cancer Research, and the Movember Foundation.
If you have read this and are thinking ‘good on them!’ or similar, please – drop by our Movember page and share it through your social media channels, share this blog post, retweet our tweets about it, anything to help us spread this message to others during this month.
If you are feeling particularly benevolent today, we would of course welcome any donations through our Movember page – and you’d get a warm, fuzzy feeling that can only be gained by helping others.
(My attempt – Mofakery)!With that in mind, I will get back to working on clients’ marketing needs, and I look forward to seeing any “likes”:http://www.facebook.com/?q=#/pages/Win-Marketing/90771350451?ref=tn_tnmn, shares, “tweets”:https://twitter.com/WinMarketing, donations, and any other support for the boys in our office who are pushing past the itchiness and the unfortunate patchy growth associated with growing a fabulous mo.
(I’m trying my hardest to join in, but for some reason, as much as I try, I cannot even grow stubble…)
If you are joining in this Movember, stop by and say Hi sometime, share photo’s of any mo’s and generally share the love 🙂
Jo
Do you keep on top of your skills?
Here at Win Marketing, we are always on the lookout for ways in which our team can learn, grow and adapt their skills.
Our MD, Ann is on the CPD scheme with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, assuring her continuing status as a Charter Marketer, and also assuring her knowledge of marketing implementation and strategy is relevant in today’s markets and sectors.
Chris is our ‘young apprentice’ – Star Wars reference anyone? – and as such is always keeping in touch with the latest in the world of technology and the web
For me (Jo) – I have just started the Level 6 year of my Chartered Institute of Marketing course – this is the Professional Diploma in Marketing – thus making sure my marketing theory is sound and up to date when I am working with clients.
For Nad – keeping on top of what is going on in the world of technology and development is not just part of his job, it is part of his life – you only have to look at his Twitter feed to see that!
On top of this, the team is always taking opportunities to learn more – social media courses; copywriting seminars, online marketing courses and webinars are just some of the recent learning undertaken by staff here.
Why do we do all of this?
Because, as marketing professionals – it is important that when we deliver a service for a client, that we are giving them the most up to date, and therefore relevant advice and support for their needs – be it market research or strategy, web design and development, or social media activity.
We believe that any client who comes to Win Marketing deserves to know that people who genuinely know what they are talking about are implementing your marketing activity.
Are you on top of your skills? Do you keep on top of your industry?
If you are an expert in that industry – what are you doing to show it to your potential customers?
Grants available for marketing in food & drink sector
One of Win Marketing’s partners has announced today that there is an opportunity for grants to help companies with their business strategy, product development and general marketing.
Up to £10k* worth of funded support is potentially available to East Midlands Companies in the food and drink manufacturing sector or companies in their supply chain. The grant* is available to organisations who provide products or services in the supply chain of food and drink, excluding the farmer/grower or the retail/restaurant end of the market.
If you are looking for a grant to help you boost your sales through various marketing activities and you are in the Food and Drink sector, then this match funded grand may be relevant for you.
Eligible projects for the grant may include
Market research to assist with new product or new market development
Business strategy and developing services
Marketing plans
Innovation
Marketing tools including new websites, brand development, digital marketing campaigns and developing an app
Training and development
Deadline for applications is the end of November 2012
Applications will go to a panel for a decision first week in December 2012
*All applications are subject to criteria, terms and conditions
If anyone is interested to know more about the grant scheme please contact one of the Win Marketing team on 01509 265890 and we will put you in touch with our partners, but be quick the applications need to be submitted soon.
The importance of PR and being social
The Win Marketing team have been in a busy over the last 12 hours as one of our clients, Air Fuels Synthesis achieved an exclusive front page article in the Independent. This has resulted in various national and international media enquiries and their website gaining an increase in visits by around 13,000% – SO FAR today.
With coverage on Breakfast TV, various BBC radio stations, national newspapers online and hundreds of social media comments, the name AFS and their process of producing petrol from air has gained massive exposure in the last few hours.
We are really pleased for our client that they have gained this national and international exposure and the fact that we have been able to help the with this. We hope that the media coverage achieved can help AFS raise their profile further and help them gain the funding they need.
European Golf victory – showing us to believe you CAN!
Henry Ford said if you think you can do a thing or if you think you can’t do a thing, then you are right.
On Saturday night I tweeted ‘Come on Europe believe you CAN’ – and they did!
What a fantastic day for European golf when Martin Kaymer sank his 5 foot putt to retain the trophy for Europe. Wasn’t Ian Poulter amazing? But it was the whole team including the captain Jose Maria Olazabal that saw us through to victory.
The spirit and approach the European Ryder Cup team showed, can provide inspiration to all of us in life and in business. The team spirit – everyone playing their role, supporting each other was a pleasure to watch. The positive attitude the players adopted, knowing that if they did their bit and every other player in the team played also their part the unthinkable could happen. At one time, the team looked as though they could be going into Sunday’s final day 12-4 down, but somehow they managed to win the last two games on the Saturday to see the USA team lead 10-6. The team knew there was no room for error if they were to turn the 10-6 deficit into a win. They believed they could do it and they did!
Self belief is so important not just in sport, but also in business. If you believe you can offer a better level of customer service than your customers – you will. If you believe you can make a product better than your customers, with more added value – you will.
Believe you can make a difference for your customers and you will.
Summer 2012 has been a fantastic year for sport in the UK and I congratulate everyone who has had success. Now is the time in business for us to set our own goals and ensure we gain the success we desire in our lives. Good business processes recommend that in business we consider our marketing objectives and set a marketing plan to achieve these goals, monitor and keep the plan on track to ensure success.
If you feel the inspiration from elite, successful sportspeople has motivated you and would like to know more about how you can use the lessons from sport to help your business contact one of the Win Marketing team now. We have links with some highly successful athletes that can motivate you and help you and your business to win.
Once again, thank you to all in the European Ryder Cup team for making this year so special – bring on Gleneagles in 2014.
