Northampton Archives - Evolve Marketing agency, Northampton & Milton Keynes

The Drum Accredited Again!

August 6, 2019 By Mark

Here at Evolve we are delighted to announce that once again we’ve retained our place on The Drum’s recommended agency register (formerly called RAR) until July 2020.

This makes it 5 years in a row! Our inclusion on the register demonstrates our ongoing commitment to customer care and service excellence, as well as our marketing expertise at a both a strategic and tactical level in the B2B professional services arena.

We have been highly rated by our clients for our services in the following areas: B2B Brand Strategy, Content Marketing, Website Development, Copywriting and Social Media Content

To find our more about our expert marketing services and how we can help your organisation, please call us on 01327 810003 or contact us via our website.

Thinking about a Brand Refresh? Here are some Brand Refresh pointers…

May 11, 2019 By Sharon French

Spring is often a popular time for organisations to consider a brand refresh so their offering looks up-to-date and professional. After all a well-branded business not only attracts more prospects with less effort but also helps fuel self-confidence.

While a brand refresh can really be the equivalent of giving your company a fresh lick of paint, for example a new set of branded images or new corporate brochure. It can also provide a useful opportunity to look at the key elements that make up the foundation of your brand. So, check out our handy pointers below to make the most of your next brand refresh.

Brand Refresh Pointers…

So, to ensure that your efforts remain effective and relevant, we suggest as part of your brand refresh you also take time to look at the following:

Assess your competitors. Are there new players in the market? Have your existing competitors evolved their offering? And importantly when your company or service is not chosen, who or what is and why is it perceived a better choice?
Revisit your target market. Have their needs changed and are you still offering them what they need? Have new customer segments emerged?
What’s your story? Are your differentiators positioned, verbally and visually, in a compelling way? Do all your internal stakeholders know how to represent the brand? Is this positioning enforced and reinforced?
Brand touchpoint review. Does your brand cascade consistently through every stakeholder touchpoint? Is it consistent with your core brand identity?
Marketing channels. Are the channels you use to deliver your brand messages still relevant? Are you where your prospects are?

In conclusion…

If you are considering a brand refresh, talk to the brand refresh experts we can help with all your brand requirements. Call us on 01327 810003 or online via contact us page

Evolve Marketing’s 13th Anniversary

February 25, 2019 By Mark

We are delighted to be celebrating our 13th anniversary this month. We have certainly come a long way since we opened our doors in 2006.

We are excited about the future and being able to help our manufacturing and professional services clients develop and grow their businesses during 2019 and beyond. As the digital world and marketing continue to evolve rapidly, we are well placed to ensure our clients benefit from more direct ways to engage with their prospects and customers.

We would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our all our wonderful clients, partners, staff, suppliers, friends and family for their ongoing support – much of what we do it a team effort and your input is much very appreciated.

How to select the best keywords for your B2B website

February 14, 2019 By Sharon French

In a world of finite resources and constrained budgets, keyword research is a useful starting point to focus your B2B content creation efforts. It helps to ensure that you create relevant content that addresses the issues that matter to your prospects and drive traffic to your site.

First a gentle reminder….

Before I dive into the ‘How to’ I just need to restate the fact that if the search terms that your prospects are googling are NOT on your website, then your website will NOT appear in Google’s organic search results. This means how YOU describe your service or offering is irrelevant. Instead, what your prospective clients call it, and thus what they search for, is key. For example, your ‘CX Learning Burst’ is all well and good but if your prospective clients are looking for a ‘customer experience training course’ your page won’t rank in their search even if what you are offering is exactly what they want.

So, matching your website content to what your prospective customers are searching is key. With this in mind it would make sense to create webpages based on keyword research rather than what you think sounds good.

Step 1: Keyword research

Focus list of Keywords

Identify your ‘kernel’ keywords i.e. the ones that broadly define your offering. Put yourself in your prospects’ shoes and think of what words they may use to search for your product or service. If you have multiple offerings go through your website and sub-divide sections into broad topics. Then identify a few ‘kernel’ keywords for each topic. They will be the central tenets of your future keyword infrastructure.

Then see which of your website pages appears for which search term and how many click throughs you are getting to these pages – check Google Console for this information. For each keyword, you can see what the monthly impressions it gets, how many clicks you are getting and what your average position is. From this create a shortlist of keywords you want to focus on and start building website content around these keywords.

So, how else can you find out which keywords your audience are searching for?

A good starting point is in Google Ads, the tools section has the popular Keyword Planner which can help you discover new keywords. Enter your kernel words and hit the Search button and it’ll suggest associated keywords. It gives reliable search volumes i.e. shows how many people are searching for it in an average month plus suggests related keywords, and shows the level of competition in Google Ads for any given keyword. You do need to be running a Google Ads campaign to use Keyword Planner.

Supplement this with Answer the Public a useful free tool which also provides related keywords for any given topic, focusing on questions and prepositions.

And take a look at Autocomplete tools like the ones on Amazon, YouTube or Google. They are useful at providing insight into what people type while searching for info or products and services related to your offering.

Also take a look at the section called “Searches related to…” on Google at the bottom of the page. It can also be useful to find alternative keywords for your list.

Other sources could include your competitors and brainstorming with your key stakeholders

Long-tail keywords

The longer and more specific the keywords are, the higher your chances of ranking for this keyword because there is less competition. Of course, this also means that the search volume for this keyword decreases. Ignore the natural inclination to choose keywords with the highest search volume. These are usually the most competitive so unless you are a market leader with big budgets and a high Domain Authority, you are probably aiming too high.

Instead focus on ‘key phrases’ or ‘long-tail keywords’ which are longer and more specific than the most popular keywords as they are much easier to rank for. See the Google Keyword Planner tool to assess how competitive a keyword is.

Remember to weed out unsuitable or unwanted keywords during this process i.e. those keywords that are least likely to bring you traffic and conversions. Such as keywords which are not unique to your offering, are too competitive or have very low search volumes.

Step 2: Keywords grouping and keyword mapping

Once you have your keyword list you need to group or segment your keywords before you can use them to optimise your content and stand out from the competition.

There will undoubtedly be some overlap in the keywords you want to target. So, group keywords and key phrases into “keyword clusters” before assigning a cluster to a particular page.

There are various criteria to group them you can use; these groupings tend to work for us as B2B marketers.

Volume and level of competition
Semantics (meanings of words)
Search intent (where are they at in the buying cycle i.e. are, they still at the gathering information phase, or are they investigating options, or ready to buy)

Once you have segmented your list build a keyword map, so you can assign keywords to specific pages of your site. Thus, ensuring your landing pages rank for right keywords.

Suggest assigning more competitive keywords to ‘stronger’ pages like your homepage or section hubs. Buying or transactional keywords should have landing pages that allow customers and prospects to take action (for example buy, register, subscribe etc).

Step 3: Start using keywords on your website

Now that you have created a list of the best B2B Keywords for your website, the fun starts.

Begin by drawing up a content plan. Use your new keyword list to devise a plan that states the aim and objectives of your content creation programme detailing a schedule of when the various elements will be developed and what measurement tools, you will use to track the progress of your new keywords (impressions, click throughs and average position).

Then you can start creating content but remember quality counts. So, invest resources in creating relevant, quality content that will appeal to your prospects and reinforce your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

Here are a few content and keyword pointers to get ahead in optimising your website…

Write original content and avoid duplicate content on your website. Use http://www.siteliner.com to check how much duplicate content your site has.
Write enough content to show Google and your prospects that you are an expert in your field, a few paragraphs about your service won’t cut it.
Making the intangible nature of a service tangible is what content excels at …so get cracking on case studies, FAQs, our ethos, how-we-work pages.
Write with your reader in mind not Google. So, no keyword stuffing and try to use your keywords in the Title tag / H1 heading, first paragraph, sub headings, alt tags and the meta description as these placements will all help with your on-page optimisation.
Make your text easy to skim-read (bullet points, sub-headings, explanatory images, short paragraphs etc).

Good luck and if you want to discuss any of the elements raised in this article please contact us at Evolve Marketing on 01327 810003 or via our online form below.

Overview of Organic vs Paid and Search vs Display

November 17, 2017 By Sharon French

A brief overview of the main ways your website could be found online.

1. Organic – not paying to be found online

If you want your website to be found organically you need keywords that match what people are looking for. When Google decides whether to include your website in the search results, it does so using its ever-changing algorithm which looks at 200 odd ranking factors (website load time, domain authority, number of links etc).

Content marketing and optimising your website (or SEO) can help you to be found in the relevant organic search results. Generating website traffic organically should be a cornerstone of any marketing plan, assuming your website is up to the job of nurturing and encouraging action.

Other ways that your website could be found that aren’t considered paid include via links from social media content or from third-party referral.

2. Paying to be found – search vs display

If you are paying to be found there are two places where this online advertising can happen:

2.1 In the search network.

This is where you pay for your advert (via an auction) to appear when people are actively looking for goods / services / information. The auction has 2 elements: your bid price and the quality score your advert is given (i.e. how good a match it is for a particular search query). These combine to determine your as rank which dictates where on the page your ad is placed and how many ‘impressions’ it gets – you don’t pay for impressions only clicks i.e. when somebody clicks on your advert.

For example, a search network like Google or Bing would allow a wealth management company to serve an ad that targets people searching for “wealth management firms London”. Some search terms can be very competitive with high bid prices, in these cases looking at long tail search phrases that have fewer monthly impressions may worthwhile as they may generate a better ROI.

2.2 In the display network.

The Google display network allows you to use targeting to show your ads by auction in particular contexts (like “outdoor lifestyles” or “ft.com”), to particular audiences (like “young mums” or “people shopping for a new yacht”) in particular locations.

This network is more passive in the sense that people are casually browsing websites where your ad is served i.e. it’s not as targeted as the search network.

However, it is generally a cheaper than the search network. There are however many more targeting options (by context, by website, by topic, by interest and by remarketing) and a variety of formats (including text, animated image, rich media and video ads) and sizes.

Then there is also paid on social networks which are probably better at targeting as their users are more ‘known’ to them. Different social media platforms have a plethora of advertising options available.

Lastly, remarketing is worth a special mention, it’s sometimes called retargeting or stalker advertising. It deposits a cookie on the computers of the visitors to pages on your website. Google will then display ads specifically to those people whenever they visit sites on the Google Display Network. Again, you only pay for click through and as people don’t tend to click on these ads – this makes it a very cost-effective brand awareness tool, much like a billboard.

You also can upload a customer email list and then target customers or similar target audiences via Google Search, YouTube, TrueView and native ads in Gmail. Do note that no purchased email lists are allowed.

If you would like to discuss digital advertising, remarketing or content marketing please call us on 01327 810003 or get in touch via the contact form.

How quickly does your mobile site load?

March 1, 2017 By Sharon French

If you don’t know how quickly your mobile site loads then use Test My Site, a free Google tool, to see how you score on mobile friendliness and mobile page speed.

Google research in January 2017 reveals that the average time it takes to load a mobile landing page fully is 22 seconds.¹ However, over half of mobile site visitors (53%) leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.

Speed and Size Matters in Mobile…

In other Google Adwords research last month, they analysed 900,000 mobile ads’ landing pages spanning 126 countries.⁵

They found that 70% of the pages they analysed, took nearly seven seconds for the visual content above the fold to display on a mobile screen, and it took more than 10 seconds to load all visual content fully above and below the fold. Not good at all.

Speed and size are important when it comes to loading mobile pages. So, review your mobile content. Is it bloated? Can it be leaner? An easy win on this front is image size – simply compressing images size can make a big difference in reducing size – see this BBC explanation of compression or for a more comprehensive explanation of image optimisation from Google.

If you would like to discuss any of the elements raised in this article, please do get in touch via our contact form or call 01327 810003.

¹ Google Research, Webpagetest.org, Global, sample of more than 900,000 mWeb sites across Fortune 1000 and Small Medium Businesses. Testing was performed using Chrome and emulating a Nexus 5 device on a globally representative 3G connection. 1.6Mbps download speed, 300ms Round-Trip Time (RTT). Tested on EC2 on m3.medium instances, similar in performance to high-end smartphones, Jan. 2017.
² Google Research, Webpagetest.org, Global, sample of more than 900,000 mWeb sites across Fortune 1000 and Small Medium Businesses. Testing was performed using Chrome and emulating a Nexus 5 device on a globally representative 3G connection. 1.6Mbps download speed, 300ms Round-Trip Time (RTT). Tested on EC2 on m3.medium instances, similar in performance to high-end smartphones, Jan. 2017.

Marketing ideas for restaurants

January 25, 2016 By Sharon French

Regular communication is key to remind patrons of your offering and entice them to choose your restaurant for their next dining experience. Here are some marketing ideas to help boost trade…

Email updates provide a cost effective way to keep in touch and drive bookings to your restaurant. Ideally you should build you own email list through opportunities to sign up in your restaurant or on your website. Regular email updates with interesting, relevant content can boost business. Share news, views, events and offers in a pithy, soft touch way.

Email Automation is a series of personalised automated emails that can be sent to customers at specific times or in response to specific triggers. It can also be a great way to reward loyal customers, for example a discount voucher or free drink on their birthday. Just make sure you ask for their birthday when they sign up.

Social Media is a great way to keep in touch with existing customers and raise awareness of your offering to prospective patrons. However, different customers prefer different social networks. Focus on the platform(s) most relevant to your existing customers and then measure your effectiveness in terms of elements like conversations (replies and comments), applause (likes) and amplification (shares and retweets) rather than metrics like followers.

Your Website is a great place for new customers to find out about you. For new customers, your website will set the tone and determine whether they will choose your venue. In particular, you should provide contact details, directions to your restaurant and a booking form. Regularly update your website with news, events and current menus. Your website also needs to be mobile responsive so that it works as well on a smart-phone as it does on a traditional PC or laptop.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Spending time optimising your website so that it ranks higher in google search results will enable new customers to find you and raise awareness of your restaurant. Free SEO checking tools like Woorank are useful for providing a to do list to improve your SEO whilst the Yoast plugin for WordPress can help optimise your website.

Google Adwords and Remarketing Paying for Google Adwords can promote your business to new customers whilst remarketing, or stalker adverts as they are commonly known, are a cheap, effective way to keep your restaurant front of mind for potential patrons after they have left your website.

Google Maps Ensure your free listing on google maps is up-to-date and reflects your offering. It will ensure that new customers can find you using Google Search and the Google Maps smart-phone app.

TripAdvisor and Google Reviews Love it or loathe it, online reviews are an important tool for new customers to find out about your restaurant. Embrace it and manage it. Set up robust processes to deal with dissatisfied customers, and make improvements from the feedback provided.

If you do not have the expertise or time to spend on these activities please give us a call on 01327 810003 or fill out our contact form and we will be in touch.