JR's Blog

CASE STUDY

2011-07-19T12:18:00.002+01:00

CASE STUDY

2011-07-19T12:11:00.002+01:00

CASE STUDY

2011-07-19T12:04:00.000+01:00

ARE YOU MISSING OUT ON REACHING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?!

2011-06-17T10:12:00.000+01:00

Rennie Randell Associates offer a range of social media packages specifically tailored to meet your company's needs. By creating and managing your social media web accounts including Twitter and Facebook, we can help you communicate directly with your target audience which can substantially improve your search engine rankings, increase traffic to your website, and generate sales.

Your tailor-made package could also include management of your blogs and company LinkedIn, plus video uploads onto high traffic video-sharing websites such as YouTube; all extra tools which encourage optimum public interaction with your brand.

By integrating social media into your overall PR and marketing strategy, you are proactively listening to, engaging with, interacting with, and influencing the people who are important to building the success of your company.

What will the set-up and management of Twitter and Facebook profiles include?

• Posting multiple tweets/posts daily to promote products, promotions, news and events

• Researching and forming connections with consumers, press, freelance journalists, bloggers, and other businesses and contacts relevant to your brand/service/market (generating ‘friends’ ‘followers’ and ‘fans’)

• Interacting with topical discussions and sharing information to encourage conversation and strengthen connections – incorporating ‘hashtags’ into your Tweets to categorise them; which enables your company to appear more easily in Twitter searches

• Inputting in-depth company information and history, contact details onto Facebook, with direct links to your website and to other social media accounts

• Uploading image albums of your products and of media press coverage onto Facebook, with direct links to your website/online store for buyers to easily purchase featured items

• Uploading any other image albums which you may request e.g. photographs of your stores/showrooms or from company events etc.

Interested? Why not call us on 01252 312147 for more information

How to measure the effectiveness of PR

2011-05-25T15:10:00.002+01:00

Measuring the effectiveness of PR is not an exact science, and some would say, is open to interpretation. However in today’s fast moving business environment, the explosion of technology has brought with it the ability to assess the impact on a company’s services, products and image in a way not even envisaged ten years ago. Welcome to the world of Social Media Marketing and the consumer driven society! Whatever the size or activity of a business, there are sound reasons for embracing these latest methods of communicating.

Combine conventional PR with a Social Media strategy and the result is a very powerful marketing weapon, and measuring the success and effectiveness of a campaign is greatly enhanced. How? Listed below are a number of indicators that can easily be employed to help monitor your company’s PR activity:

• An increase in traffic to website/number of hits
• An increase in sales
• An increase in enquiries
• The amount of activity on your Facebook page increasing number of fans/likes
• Twitter activity – how many people are following you
• The number of business contacts you develop via Linkedin (and/or similar)
• Engagement in relevant business discussion groups
• Are you reaching your target audience
• Is your company featured in digital versions of mainstream national newspapers and magazines
• Are you asked to guest Blog on a major website
• How much editorial coverage does your company receive
• Is your company featured in relevant features within leading magazines
• How many product reviews (if relevant) does your company receive
• What case studies have you had published
• Has your company been entered for any awards
• Has your company won any awards
• What are your company’s SEO rankings

Thirty years of planning and implementing PR, marketing and promotional campaigns has taught me that essential to the success of any campaign or project (however large or small) is, defining at the outset what the client’s primary objectives and expectations are, establishing what the budget is, building and maintaining excellent communication between agency and client, and regularly monitoring and assessing progress throughout the campaign.

Tough times call for tough measures!

2011-02-22T12:05:00.000Z

How will you market your products and services in 2011?

What is it they say? When the going gets tough, the tough get going! With many, many companies finding enquiries down, sales down, and margins squeezed, we know that it is those companies that examine their overall marketing strategy, that are aware of their target audience, know what their customers want, can deliver appropriately, and understand what motivates them to purchase, that are best placed to thrive.

But it doesn’t stop there, having established all the above, it is paramount to ensure that when purchasers are making a buying decision, they choose your products over those of your competitors!

Now is the time to raise your profile, increase consumer awareness, build your brand, drive more ( and relevant) traffic to your website, maximise exposure in the relevant media, be it magazines and newspapers, digital media, using social and business networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and numerous other sites, writing a blog producing an e newsletter, and so on.

These are the things we do for our clients on a daily basis, and we know its works! Whatever the size of your business, we can tailor make a package to meet your requirements. Why not call me today, Jean Rennie on 01252 312147 or email me at jr@rennierandell.co.uk to find out more. I look forward to hearing from you!

Finishing the year on a high!

2010-11-29T16:28:00.000Z

I am pleased to announce that we have been appointed as PR consultants to Better Bathrooms, with effect from 1st December!

The Rennie Randell team won the business as a result of having a proven track record in the industry. A comprehensive trade and consumer media campaign will form the foundation of the first year’s programme.

A dynamic young company, based in Warrington, Better Bathrooms currently has three showrooms; Manchester, Wigan and Warrington, plus a 100,000 sq ft trade and consumer warehouse in Glazebury, holding £7.5m worth of stock at any one time.

Much of Better Bathrooms’ business is online, and as a one stop shop, for everything to do with bathrooms, the business is poised for rapid and substantial growth. See www.betterbathrooms.com for more information.

A great day for our client RATIONAL

2010-11-10T16:59:00.000Z

November 9th proved to be a great day for our client RATIONAL, as their Tio range won GOLD at the prestigious House Beautiful Awards.

Hosted at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, RATIONAL was represented by area Manager Robert Clayton, and two members of the Rennie Randell team!

Entered into the awards by our very able RATIONAL Account Manager, Georgina Stokes, the Tio range won in the category of Best Kitchen under £10K, beating off the five other finalists to claim the Gold award!

At the time of the announcement last night, Georgina and account director Alex Randell were in Germany on behalf of RATIONAL with a party of journalists!

Success at home and abroad!

Ignore the Power of Online Marketing & Media Opportunities at Your Peril

2010-07-21T15:11:00.000+01:00

Now an ever increasing part of the media mix, interactive websites, social and business networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, plus discussion forums covering a myriad of subject matters, all allow businesses to access their target markets, easily, and cost effectively.

Whatever the size of a business, whatever the product or service, online media opportunities abound.

30 years ago, when I started advising clients on effective public relations, the humble printed press release reigned supreme.

At Rennie Randell Associates, the press release still plays an important role in our communication with the media, but increasingly the journalists we work with get much of their information from online services, such as Twitter feeds, blogs, websites, and email.

From the printed national newspaper e.g. The Times, leading consumer magazine e.g. House & Garden to business and professional titles such as Architects Journal or The Director, the trend is to produce online versions as well.

Add to this hundreds of online only magazines, and online versions of TV programmes, it is easy to see that every single business needs to be savvy about digital media, and the opportunities it creates for exposure to their specific target audience.

Everyone talks about the ‘world-wide web’ but the same power that can transmit a message from a multi-national company across the world in a matter of minutes, can also be used by the one-person-business to send an equally important message across town to its customers. All companies are the same size online!

As with all marketing strategies, it is essential to have clearly stated objectives and goals, in mind. If your business ‘sells’ online, then your goal is to drive traffic to your website, where they can buy the goods and services you offer.

If your business is ‘brick based’, your website is probably an additional shop window where the customer can find out all about your company, its services and products, and then be encouraged to visit your premises.

Whatever the business, the goal is to increase the number of visitors to your website, and this is where a simple blog and a Twitter feed can be such a useful tool. One is good, but in my opinion having both is a much better policy!

Ideally, a Twitter feed should attract readers to your blog, and this in turn should encourage people to visit your website.

One of the strengths of Twitter is its 140 character limit, (no room for rambling!). Twitter won’t let you transmit a long message, but it has enough capacity to send out a well-worded invitation to get more information by clicking through to another site.

Its small message size is Twitter’s big advantage, because people can and do receive ‘Tweets’ just about anywhere they can get a signal on their mobile.

Where you direct them from the ‘Tweet’ is up to you. You can send a link directly through to your website – at Rennie Randell Associates, we send out a Twitter alert whenever we post a new press release to our website press section – or you can direct the reader to a blog for a less formal presentation – usually by an individual.

You are currently reading such a blog (I’ll leave it to others to judge if it’s a good example or not!), and it gives me the chance to discuss a range of topics that the more corporate Rennie Randell Associates website would not be the most appropriate platform for.

However if you would like to find out more about the company or its clients, there are a number of links on the blog that will let you do that in the click of a couple of buttons!

The best of British!

2010-06-10T11:17:00.000+01:00

Latest news from my world is the appointment of Rennie Randell Associates by Emma Bridgewater, to handle their consumer media relations.

I am particularly pleased about this for several reasons. Firstly EB is a British company, and one now of only a handful still designing and making its tableware and giftware pottery products, in Stoke on Trent. A general decline in manufacturing during the 80’s and 90’s saw a dramatic decline in the potteries, and many well known names in fine ceramics move their manufacturing to the Far East.

Secondly EB is a family run business this year celebrating 25 years of creating quintessentially British designs. Emma Bridgewater the oldest daughter in a large family gained much of her inspiration for design from her mother, who filled their large kitchen with colourful, mismatched china, pretty cups and saucers and large pottery jugs filled with flowers.

Married to Matthew Rice, theatre designer, bespoke furniture designer and artist, they met when both selling their products at London trade fair Top Drawer. Matthew joined forces with Emma in 1987 and collaborates on designs in partnership with her. Matthew’s mother the designer Pat Albeck also features in the EB product offering with her distinctive and colourful textile designs.

Working with ‘family’ businesses is both challenging and rewarding, as I discovered some years ago when Rennie Randell Associates handled the PR for Portmeirion Potteries.

From the perspective of coming up with marketing and promotional ideas, access to the key decision makers is often easier, the receiving of ideas much more receptive, and the decision making process much faster, than in many large companies where there are multi layers of management.

Working once again with a tableware and giftware client enables the agency to utilise all its experience of the key markets it serves and to be more creative in its thinking and ideas.

Job Vacancy

2010-05-02T17:01:00.000+01:00

My company is seeking a Business Development Manager – a dynamic, self motivated, ambitious, and experienced person, with knowledge of marketing and PR.

Must be literate and numerate, have excellent communication and IT skills, plus business development experience.

To find out more, please email me.

10 top tips for an independent retailer

2010-04-28T14:28:00.005+01:00

Marketing your products or services to maximum effect.  

With tough trading conditions set to continue for the foreseeable future, now is the time to ensure that your products or services are marketed and promoted to maximum effect.

With all businesses tightening their belts, the smaller independent business finds that employing the services of management consultants, marketing and branding gurus, public relations specialists et al, is beyond reach.

This month’s tips are aimed at retailers. At Rennie Randell Associates our clients include some of the leading suppliers of kitchen furniture to UK independent retailers so we frequently come into contact with kitchen specialists. However the following tips can be easily adapted to suit almost any retail business:

Is your shop or showroom inviting? Sparkling clean? Helpful well trained staff? Products well displayed (and propped if appropriate)?  
Do you have a loyalty scheme for repeat purchases etc.  Are you price competitive with others offering similar products/services?  
Do you gather data about your customers? Start a mailing list, ask if customers mind being put on a mailing list, ask if you can contact by email.  
Hold promotional events, eg a tasting event to promote the latest foods or wines, a cooking demo if you run a kitchen showroom with local celebrity chef, and add incentive to place order for new kitchen within a limited period.  
Join forces with another independent retailer and run joint promotion or event.  
Start a newsletter which can be emailed or mailed quarterly – this will enable you to build customer loyalty.  
Run a competition.  
Get involved in a local charity and maximise local PR for your business.  
Never forget the customer is ‘king’.