Images Transformed is an online company that specialises in creating memorable moments on metal. They transform your treasured memories into spectacular vibrant works of art on a new fine art medium: dye infused metal prints. No glass, durable, scratch resistant and waterproof.

Images Transformed needed a simple, stylish ecommerce solution to coincide with the company launch. The site is deliberately minimalist allowing the stunning range of products to be suitably showcased.

www.imagestransformed.com

With more than 30 years experience, Simkin Construction is the small big (or big small) commercial construction company of choice for their loyal client base. This is due to their superb build quality, attention to detail, fair and open pricing policy and talented workforce.

They needed a new website to showcase their impressive project portfolio in the commercial, education, renovation/maintenance and residential sectors. They also compliment the web site content with an integrated e-newsletter package which allows them to keep their client based informed at the press of a button.

www.simkin.co.nz

We all know our businesses, we follow what’s going on in the market place and we have opinions (some more than others) and advice to give. So, why not write it down?

I have found the following to be the least time consuming way to keep website content refreshed, keep up activity in linkedIn, facebook and twitter and have a ready supply of content for enewsletters.

1. Keep a word document on your desktop. Whenever you think of a topic that might be ‘of interest’ to your readers, type in a new article title. Remember to vary the topics/subjects. You are creating a list of potential articles that you can expand on when you have time. 
2. Write one article a month for your website (or more often if you can). One a month is an achievable target for a lot of people I have met, until they begin to see the value of it and starting writing more often!
3. Post (copy and paste) the article to your site when you have written it, and (paste a link, plus an extract if you want to) to each of your social media channels. That’s four online channels taken care of pretty damn quickly.
4. By the end of each quarter you will have three (or more) articles for your next enewsletter. All you have to do is put extracts from them into you email/template, link them to the articles on your website, and send it out.
5. Start the cycle again.

You also then have a readily available supply of written material to be used in other marketing collateral.

Hope this helps – would love to hear if anyone tries it and whether or not they have success?

They key is to do the basics right, set a solid platform to expand from, and gradually grow your understanding and the effectiveness of your online presence. (Or get professional help!)

The five basic online media channels are:

1. Website
2. Email
3. LinkedIn
4. FaceBook
5. Twitter

All of the online media channels work together to drive traffic to each other, and to your business and you should always use more than one channel, but work on one channel at a time until you get it right! (Or get professional help!)

Select the channels you want to use, that fit your product, service and target market. Prioritise them based on the value their use will return to you, what time and money will allow you to do now, and/or the needs and wants and time constraints of the market place. Work on them, one at a time, and get one channel right before you start on the next. This ensures you focus on achieving the best results for a channel and that the task does not become a chore which causes you to lose motivation.

Which channels are right for your product/service? Which channels are your clients using?

The following is designed to give you a general idea of which channels may be best for you and your market. It is by no means – gospel.

Who do you sell to: B2C or B2B?

• Website: B2C or B2B
• Email: B2C or B2B
• LinkedIn: B2B
• FaceBook: Generally B2C (can be used for B2B, but effectiveness is often limited)
• Twitter: Generally B2C (can be used for B2B, but effectiveness is often limited)

Demographic considerations: Where is your market?

• Website: World Wide
• Email: World Wide (but very targeted)
• LinkedIn: Local/Regional (well target via your connections and ‘Groups’ application)
• FaceBook: World Wide
• Twitter: World Wide

Sit and wait, or go get it: Passive or proactive channels?

• Website: Passive (You MUST use other channels to drive traffic here)
• Email: Highly Proactive
• LinkedIn: Moderately Proactive
• FaceBook: Moderately Proactive (but you need to ‘capture’ your audience first using other channels)
• Twitter: Moderately Proactive

How good are the leads: Quality of traffic and lead sources

• Website: Quality depends on the source they are driven there by; Search engine traffic (generally poor and unqualified) v Referral traffic (pretty good – somewhat qualified) v Direct traffic v (best – most likely to convert to sale – generally)
• Email: Highly qualified (they are your contacts/your databases – people you are already connected with)
• LinkedIn: Moderately qualified to highly qualified
• FaceBook: Unqualified to Moderately qualified
• Twitter: Unqualified to Moderately qualified

Hint: Start with your website, followed by your email and then move onto the social media channels. An effectively functioning website and email marketing strategy will greatly assist the effectiveness of your social media activities.

Tips on ‘the basics’ of setting up and using the 5 Online Media Channels to follow soon…

I added in an email signature with a link to the website and I asked “have you emailed all of your contacts (something like 50-60 people and business) to tell them you have a new website.” The answer was “no” so, I wrote a quick email that said simply…

Hi

Just a quick email to let you know that xxxxxxx xxxxxxx have a new website.

We’d appreciate your feedback.

Kind regards

The result…. The actual increase in visitor numbers wasn’t huge as it was a small business with not too many contacts (in the grand scale of things) – but 25 new visitors went to the site that day that would otherwise not have. And a 50% click through rate ain’t bad!  The traffic over the following few days was above average too and when comparing the week that email went out, to the previous week period, there was a 100% (exactly) increase in traffic to the site. Imagine what could have happened if that business had 200 contacts or 500 contacts? How many do you have???

In a similar case I ‘hounded’ a client (literally) about getting around to doing an enewsletter they had paid for but hadn’t used. That client had a 122% increase in traffic to the site on the day the enewsletter went out, compared to the norm for that day of the week.

My constant fear is that people are so obsessed with ranking well in search engines that they forget about all the other ways they can boost traffic to their sites. Don’t get me wrong, ranking well is very important and it should always a high priority, but if you let all the other opportunities to generate site traffic go to waste – you are a fool. Sorry, but it’s true.

Answer the following. Is your website address clearly conveyed…

• In your email signature?
• In your our out-of-office reply?
• In enewsletters and general emails?
• In your various social media set ups (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…)?
• On your business cards?
• On your vehicle and building signage?
• On your business letterhead?
• On invoices and financial documents you generate?
• In your print and radio advertising?
• On your other marketing collateral?
• On staff uniforms?
• In the presentations you give?
• In the proposals and quotes your do?
• On branded pens, bottle openers, usb drives, etc (if you can afford to do this)?
• In the conversations you have with clients and potential clients?

And, how would traffic to your site be affected if you did just half of the these things? In addition to this, are you asking others in your supply chain to link to your site, and offering back links in return?

Lets be truthful, without help most people struggle to understand Search Engine Optimisation – that’s why it is debated so heavily online by ‘experts.’ Another truth, competition for page one of Google is fierce and likely to get more so. An overlooked truth, the above list are things anyone can do and they get results!

The world is coming to Napier in December 2011. The New Zealand Optimist Association and the Napier Sailing Club are hosting this years Optimist World Championships with sailors from over 50 countries competing.

Grow is managing the online and print media for the event including this 6mx3m billboard located at the Napier Sailing Club on State Highway 2 (just before the Ahuriri turn off).

Find out more about the Optimist World Championships, follow the event on facebook and twitter.

The QR code was created in Japan in 1994, where it is still one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The technology is slowly gaining traction throughout the rest of the world and is appearing more often in New Zealand, very much in line with the gradual uptake of Smartphone technology.

QR codes can display text, website addresses (URL’s), contact details or a range of other data. Initially they were used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, but now QR codes are often seen in product and service applications aimed at mobile phone users, such as offering vouchers, coupons and special deals that can be scanned and used once at the place of business.

They are also a simple way of transferring and storing the details of a new contact. Some service providers are known to leave QR codes on appliances they have installed (a hot water cylinder for example) so that clients can scan the code to instantly access the service providers contact information.

Sites like qrcode.kaywa.com can be used to quickly and easily generate QR Codes. If you have a Smartphone you can download free aps such as ‘QR Code City’ that will allow you to scan the codes to uncover the information contained.

QR code use is, for now, a bit of a novelty in New Zealand but it is expected to grow. For that reason it pays to be in the know about what QR codes are and how they can be used to add value in business. Also, they are just kind of fun! For example… what’s the number one internet chat up line? The answer is below…

Onekawa Collision Repairs don’t just fix dings and dents! Now somewhat of a one-stop-shop, they are more than you might think. As well as panel beating and automotive refinishing they do warrants of fitness, wheel alignments, automotive air conditioning, rust and chassis repair work, HMV certified seat belt installation, welding (stainless steel, plastic, bronze and mig), radiator repairs, automotive electrics and alarm installation.

Onekawa Collision Repairs Manager Peter Hurring has been in business for over 20 years. A lot has changed since way back then, but they OCR still locally owned and operated. Today the business has grown to a staff of 12 who are kept very busy by their expanding customer base of very loyal private and corporate clients – in some cases spanning several generations of a family.

The new OCR website needed to be ‘light and breezy,’ clearly separate OCR from other local collision repair companies, and reinforce and clearly distinguish the OCR brand. With the diverse service offering of OCR, the site needed to be easy to navigate to the relevant information about services. Also, as customer care is a major point of difference for OCR the site needed to keenly emphasise that aspect.

www.onekawacollisionrepair.co.nz

Following a rigorous selection process to validate training programmes and quality systems, and to confirm the ability to adopt airline-styled selection criteria and training standards Air Hawke’s Bay has been appointed as an Air New Zealand Aviation Institute Flight Training Organisation (FTO) Partner. There are only five such organisations in the country. By choosing to train with an Air New Zealand Aviation Institute FTO partner, prospective pilots will be assured they are:

1. Joining a flight training programme designed to produce commercial airline pilots
2. Likely to succeed as they have met airline styled entry-criteria for programme selection
3. Interaction with airline personnel from day one
4. Be Air New Zealand’s preferred low-hour candidates for turbo-prop first officer positions in times of high demand for new pilots

The new Air Hawke’s Bay website needed to communicate the high standards of training programs and the organisational professionalism it took Air Hawke’s Bay to gain FTO status. It also needed to appeal to a diverse mix of domestic and international student clients, both visually and in the copy – and stand out from the other FTO Partners.

The primary purpose of the site was to provide information to, and generate enquiry from, prospective national and international flight students. To do this, a key element was providing clear, simple and frequent encouragement and opportunities for visitors to the site to enquire further.

www.airhb.co.nz

We were really impressed with the team at Grow. They were well organised and delivered to the agreed timeframe. During the development phase there was continuous interaction on the progression which made the end result very satisfying. Great Service and Great Result!!!
Kevin England, Chief Executive, Air Hawke’s Bay

In our private lives, in every waking second, we are faced with choices, and the choices we make go a long way to determining our current situation. Go out, stay home, call her, don’t call her, run, lazyboy, HP it, save for it, kids, no kids, marmite, vegemite? You are the prime driver of the vehicle that is your life (deep aye!)

In our business lives this is also true. Work more, work less, make the call, make a coffee, stock product A, offer service B, growth, retrenchment, proactive, inactive?

It was a conversation I had this week that got me thinking about this. In these tough times the decisions we make now in our businesses have far greater impact than in times of prosperity. Ask yourself. Are you in the corner of the ring, gloves over your face, waiting for the next punch or are you fighting back? Are you making choices that keep you moving forward and that will ensure you are not left in the wake of your competitors when the current swell of optimism translates to a genuine wave of business momentum? Will you be ready? Will your business be well positioned in the market or will you have to start from scratch because you have been forgotten?

Now is obviously not the time for reckless spending but it is the time to be to be plotting and scheming and planning for the future. It is the time to be thinking about, and making, the changes you need to make to capitalise on the opportunities that are still out there. It is the time to be get your business ready for the opportunities that will return in the coming months. It is the time to be testing the waters and actively pursuing new customers and clients with smart marketing. It is time to firmly take control of the future of your business!

Remember… “if nothing changes, nothing changes.”