Specialist Marketing Consultancy Celebrates 15-Year Success Story

Smart Marketing Works, the specialist marketing consultancy based in the town of Stone, Staffordshire, is celebrating 15 years of providing excellent marketing services.

Since our founding in 2009 Smart Marketing Works has built up an expanding client list, comprising blue chip companies from a number of industries, with a primary focus on B2B clients within the flooring and tiling sectors. In fact our agency runs the secretariat and marketing activities for The Tile Association.

Smart Marketing Works is continually expanding the range of services that it offers. These include all the core marketing areas – advertising, PR, graphic design, event management and print, as well as video, web design and social media management. Meanwhile we have also established a strong reputation in other specialist areas, in particular developing and writing Continuous Professional Development (CPD) materials for clients and providing secretariat support to trade associations.

Managing Director and Owner, Kay Porter, has charted a path to success over the past 15 years, growing Smart Marketing Works into a nationally known force within its business niche, employing a team of 16 people. A number of Kay’s clients, suppliers and staff have worked with her from the start and she is extremely grateful for their friendship and support over the years.

Founded at the height of the recession in 2009 to support companies within the building and construction industry with outsourced marketing services, our agency managed to thrive impressively during the COVID pandemic. Staff adapted to a new way of working, often remotely, and the agency proved resilient in quickly diverting resources into digital marketing services rather than traditional print, during what was a very challenging time.

Our company has now reached a scale and a level of influence which enables it to attract big hitters from the industry to join its team. These include: Catherine Spibey, who joined the company as Agency Account Director in December 2021, after nearly 20 years’ experience at Johnson Tiles in both marketing and senior sales roles; Matt Carlin who was appointed Digital Director and Mandy Searle who joined as Technical Researcher & Copywriter. More recently Kelly Armstrong, formerly Business Development Coordinator at Walls & Floors has joined the company as Business Development Manager.

Our company also continues to invest in and grow the next generation of marketers. Jack Porter, Kay’s son, is Marketing & Events Coordinator, while our company has also recently appointed a number of graduates to enhance its reputation as an early adopter of modern methods of digital communication.

“I do feel that, although we have been going for 15 years and doing pretty well, we are now entering an exciting new phase in our company’s history,” says Kay Porter, “one in which our future growth is being driven forward with greater professionalism and enthusiasm than ever before.”

Unleash Your Building Products Company’s Potential with Digital Marketing

In today’s digital age, businesses must have an online presence to remain competitive. Flooring companies are no exception to this rule. Investing in digital marketing and websites has become essential for success in the construction industry. Online marketing tactics such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media campaigns can help increase brand awareness, generate leads, and ultimately boost sales.

A website is the foundation of any digital marketing strategy. A well-designed website that is optimised for search engines can attract potential customers who are searching for flooring products and services online as well as providing opportunities for further digital marketing.

Increased reach and visibility

Websites and online presence offer businesses the opportunity to expand their reach, connect with potential clients, and increase brand awareness. With more people turning to the internet for information, products and services, having a strong website is crucial in today’s digital age. A well-designed website provides a great user experience, as well as valuable information about your business, showcases your products or services, offers promotions or discounts and highlights customer reviews.

In addition to websites, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram provide businesses with a way to connect with audiences on a personal level. By creating engaging content that resonates with your target audience, you can build trust and loyalty while increasing brand recognition. Social media also allows businesses to communicate directly with customers through comments or private messages which helps improve customer service.

Better customer engagement

In today’s fast-paced world, consumers are increasingly looking for personalised experiences that cater to their unique needs and preferences. This is where digital platforms come in to play, offering a range of customised solutions that can enhance the customer experience. From e-commerce websites to social media platforms, these digital tools give businesses the ability to connect with customers on a more personal level.

One way in which digital platforms offer personalised experiences is through the use of data analytics. By analysing consumer behaviour and preferences, companies can tailor their marketing campaigns and product offerings accordingly. This means that each customer receives tailored recommendations based on their previous purchases or browsing history, making them feel seen and valued as an individual rather than just a faceless consumer.

Moreover, many digital platforms now offer interactive features such as chatbots or virtual assistants that provide real-time assistance to customers.

Targeted advertising

Digital marketing is an excellent way to reach specific audiences with tailored messaging. It’s an effective strategy that involves using various online channels like social media, email marketing, and search engines to connect with potential customers. When it comes to flooring, digital marketing can be a game-changer for businesses looking to expand their reach.

One of the critical advantages of digital marketing is its ability to target specific audiences. With tools like audience segmentation, you can customise your messaging based on factors such as age, location, interests, and behaviour. This means that your message will only reach people who are likely to be interested in your product or service – improving the chances of converting them into customers.

Another advantage of digital marketing for flooring companies is its cost-effectiveness. Traditional advertising methods like billboards or print ads can be expensive and may not generate enough leads to justify the investment.

Lead generation and sales

Digital marketing has revolutionised the way businesses promote their products and services, especially in the building products industry. Online channels like social media, search engines, and email marketing have opened up new avenues for reaching out to potential customers. With millions of people using the internet every day, it is essential for flooring companies to leverage these channels to increase conversions and sales opportunities.

One way online channels can help increase conversions is by providing relevant content that resonates with your target audience. For instance, creating how-to videos or blog posts on topics related to flooring installation or maintenance can attract potential customers who are looking for information before making a purchase decision. By offering valuable insights and practical tips, your brand can establish credibility and trust, which are essential factors in driving conversions.

Competitive advantage

In today’s fast-paced digital world, businesses must stay ahead with innovative marketing strategies to remain relevant and gain a competitive edge. One industry that has been particularly affected by the shift towards digital is construction. With consumers increasingly turning to online channels for research and purchases, it is no longer enough for flooring companies to rely solely on traditional marketing methods.

To stay ahead in the game, flooring companies must embrace digital marketing strategies. This includes creating a strong online presence from websites, video, search engine optimisation (SEO), social media engagement, email marketing campaigns and targeted advertising. By understanding their target audience and tailoring their messaging accordingly, flooring companies can effectively reach potential customers at every stage of the buyer journey.

One key element of successful digital marketing for flooring companies is visual content. High-quality images and videos showcasing different floor types and installation processes can be used across various platforms such as websites and social media to engage potential customers visually.

Investing in digital is essential for flooring companies

Building products companies that have been reluctant to invest in digital technologies have found themselves at a major disadvantage over the past few years. As customers, such as main contractors, increasingly turn to online channels for research and purchasing, companies that fail to establish a strong digital presence risk being left behind. Investing in digital is essential if building products companies want to remain competitive and grow their customer base.

In conclusion, it’s clear that investing in digital should be a top priority for any building products company looking to succeed in today’s market.

5 Reasons Your Business Needs Social Media to Thrive in the Modern Era

The digital age has brought about many changes, and businesses that don’t adapt may struggle to stay afloat. One of the most critical changes is how businesses communicate with customers. 

To reach today’s consumers, businesses need a solid social media presence. Here are five reasons your business needs social media to thrive in the modern era.

1. Increased brand awareness
2. Increased traffic, sales and leads to your website
3. Reputation management and customer service
4. Competitor analysis opportunities
5. Paid social media advertising and retargeting

Increase Brand Awareness

Social media can increase your brand’s awareness with your target audience. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok all offer different demographics and different segments of audiences. Yours will definitely be somewhere! 

You will probably already know your target audience. Still, if you don’t you will need to consider the potential age range, education level, homeownership, affiliations, and job titles of your potential customers. 

Different social media platforms offer different audiences and different benefits for each channel. For example, if you have video content of new flooring you have just installed, you may want to add it to YouTube, where users search for video content. 

If you have some great lifestyle images of an installation, you may want to add them to Pinterest and Instagram, where users regularly search for home, lifestyle and DIY inspiration.

Increase Website Traffic, Sales, Showroom Visits and Leads

Social media platforms will help increase brand awareness for your company and product, and social media can also directly increase traffic to your website.

If you have a blog or articles on your website, consider sharing them on social media with links back to your website. 

If you have an e-commerce website, share products and special offers on social media and include links to your website. 

Social media can help increase traffic to your website as you can share links across all of your social channels. Increasing traffic to your site, will also lead to an increase in sales and enquiries.

Reputation Management and Customer Service

Social media is a valuable tool for reputation management and for facilitating customer service. In today’s digital world, reputation management is vital for businesses. Social media lets customers voice their opinions and reviews publicly, making or breaking a company.

It’s essential to monitor social media activity and respond promptly to any negative comments or reviews. Doing so can turn a negative experience into a positive one and show potential customers that you care about your reputation and providing excellent customer service. 

In the past, businesses could get away more easily with poor customer service because there weren’t many other options for customers. However, social media has changed that. Now, customers can quickly post negative reviews and comments that can damage your business’s reputation.

That’s why it’s essential to use social media to monitor your business’s reputation. You can do this by setting up Google Alerts for your business name and industry and tracking social media platforms for mentions of your business. 

If you see any negative reviews or comments, reach out to the customer and try to resolve the issue. 

Often, even when there is a negative review, if users can see that the company has responded promptly and professionally and noticed that they had made an effort to resolve the issue, they will have no worries about engaging you in business. People even change their reviews from negative to positive, outline the resolution process, compliment the company, and say thank you for resolving their issue, making a company look trustworthy and honest.

Competitor analysis opportunities

When it comes to business, keeping an eye on your competition is essential. Social media can be a great way to do this.

By monitoring your competitor’s social media activity, you can stay one step ahead and adjust your strategies accordingly. You can see what they are doing well and what could be improved. You can also see what kinds of content and offers resonate with their audience in real-time and adapt your own business.

Paid social media advertising and retargeting

Finally, social media platforms offer businesses the opportunity to advertise their products or services through paid social media campaigns. These campaigns can be targeted to reach a specific audience and can be used to retarget people who have already shown an interest in your business. You can also use social media to generate leads by running lead generation campaigns and promoting them on social media.

Social media has become an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. Not only is it a great way to connect with customers and create a community around your brand, but it can also help you reach new audiences and drive traffic to your website. Now is the time to start if you’re not using social media.

What is UX Design – and Why Do We Need to Know?

The digital world can appear baffling, with so many products being available and a never-ending stream of acronyms and online initiatives which companies are told they must take “in order not to be left behind”. That’s where UX comes in, because it starts with the user and their requirements in terms of end-result and interface.

UX stands for “user experience” and it basically describes how a user feels when they use a product or service. User experiences can range from good ones, which are easy and enjoyable, to bad user experiences which are complicated, confusing and frustrating. 

UX design is the process of designing these experiences. It involves identifying and understanding a specific user problem and designing products or services to address the problem in a way that centres on the user. 

The type of experience that a company provides for its customers often determines whether the company achieves a sale or not and, more broadly, how the brand is perceived in the marketplace.

Just consider the following statistics:

• It has been estimated that a well-designed user interface can double the conversion rate of your website;
• 66% of customers are willing to pay more for a great experience ;
• 84% of customers say the overall experience a company provides is just as important as its products and services; 
• Nearly three-quarters of customers will tell up to six other people about a good user experience they had. This is excellent for brand reputation and winning new customers;
• Finally and perhaps most importantly every pound invested in UX brings a return of £100. 

So paying attention to UX design can mean:

• Improved customer loyalty and retention
• A stronger brand reputation
• Better word-of-mouth marketing, with satisfied users more likely to recommend your brand
• Higher conversion rates
• Increased sales and revenue
• A competitive edge in your market

For a business, prioritising the user experience results in happier customers who remain loyal over time. This in turn achieves higher conversion rates and increased revenue, lower development costs and an overall stronger, more competitive brand. 

First impressions are critical and while the User Interface (UI) is usually one of the key factors in creating a positive first impression (or not), it is down to the UX whether that positive first impression is sustained. If visitors come back for more, this will mean that you have managed to capture and accommodate their needs and closely mimic their behaviour.

So how is that high quality UX created? There are a few quick wins that can help you demonstrate very rapidly why UX design improves the reputation of your brand and attracts new target customers:

• Start with a meaningful, effective, and visually appealing website
• Define the customer journey, creating intuitive navigation, with an error-free user experience
• Site structure and interaction design are extremely important for a flawless user experience and make sure to eliminate usability issues
• Don’t neglect user interfaces on mobile, which is how many customers will access your website
• Social media integration is also essential, making sure that you keep up with the latest channels and target your messaging effectively, depending which channel you are using and which audience you are targeting.

Effective UX design facilitates the customer journey through your website, enabling users to navigate intuitively from one section of a site to another without wasting time figuring out how to complete a task or to get back to the main menu.

This type of seamless behaviour from a website doesn’t happen by accident. It is the result of your UX designers’ input in creating UX wireframes – comprising a skeletal framework, a design process with a clearly organised hierarchy, visual guides, and thorough research of the website user’s needs, behaviour and expectations.

So how to achieve that, given that a construction company’s business is about selling products and services, not designing websites?

The whole point of UX however is that it starts with the customer’s needs and the customer’s market.  This is where picking the right design partner comes in. It is probably a given that this should be a partner who of course understands web design, knows their UX from their UI, and has experience of producing websites for commercial customers. However, by choosing a web design agency that is embedded in the flooring market, that understands the products, the routes to market and the key trends you are likely to achieve a much more effective result for the customer.

So don’t just choose any web design agency, but choose a construction market web design agency!

How Can You Use Social Media for Customer Service?

Social media is in all of our lives, and it’s in our business too. Navigating how to use social media for customer service will provide new ways to reach out to, connect with and learn about your customers.

We explore some of the key utilities of social media for your business, enabling you to be making the most of your marketing. This guide can teach you that social media is not just a chore, but a vital tool for any business to embrace.

1. Brand Exposure

A first impression is everything. Make sure to make more impressions, and the right impressions, through using social media as a way to get your name out there. The reasons are simple: generate leads and sales and drive traffic to your website.

A particular advantage of social media is that it can be effective while inexpensive – after all, anyone can own an account. ‘Organic growth’ is what marketers refer to as growth produced without any paid promotion; all it costs is time. Alternatively, paying for advertising will lead to better quality content reaching a broader audience than you can achieve by yourself.

While social media platforms are increasingly overlapping, it is important to consider how social media platforms offer unique audiences and activities.

2. Connect with Stakeholders

The main audience that you need to connect with is your customers (and potential customers). There are different ways to achieve this, such as posting an update or announcement and, as small businesses especially benefit from, using direct messages (DMs) as a way to receive and respond to customer feedback.

However, there are a variety of other stakeholders to reach out to. Use LinkedIn as a way to connect with partners, clients and – along with job sites – as a recruitment tool. Join Facebook Groups to stay informed within a sector or region and have your say.

3. Satisfying Customer Expectations

By now, customers expect a social media presence. Meeting this expectation is important to ensure that a customer can take your company seriously and find out the information that they require. 

Posts and stories can also be useful ways to provide customers with information and updates. General information can be distributed quickly, while key details such as event dates can be communicated along with any other outreach methods to maximise the reception of the message.

4. Using it as a Learning Tool

Use insights and analytic tools to see what content gets the most engagement, so that you can better understand your audience’s interests. Learn how to optimise the timings of your posts so that you can maximise brand exposure. See breakdowns in your followers and visitors to gain valuable knowledge about who your audience is.

By using social media as a learning tool, you can learn a wealth of information about general trends or specific individuals that can inform your business strategies. The better you can understand your audience, the better you can provide for them.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing to an Agency

Events management, advertising, PR, social media, emails, SEO, web design, video – marketing is an expansive field of any business that it is important to stay on top of.

Whether you are looking to supplement your in-house marketing or for a full service takeover, we highlight five key benefits of outsourcing marketing to an agency.

1. Expertise

Benefit from a team of professionals with a diverse talent pool, up-to-date on the latest knowledge, trends and tools to be successful in marketing. An agency can find the right person for the right job, ensuring high quality standards. Additionally, a project may be looked at by different specialists from different angles, offering thoroughness for large, complex projects.

As technology, security, and policy and economic trends constantly develop, an agency is primed to stay informed on the latest news and continually update and improve its practices. Team members will be hired for their distinguished skills and be provided with continuous professional development (CPD) as well as learning constantly on the job.

2. Focus

Without the need to manage, hire and continuously train in-house marketing staff, an agency can provide your company with necessary focus. This gives time to focus on what your business was really meant for, whatever that may be.

At the same time, an agency’s dedication means that we can give our full time and resources to your cause. This means that we can get to grips with what makes your brand distinctive and help it to stand out.

An agency makes it simple, focussing on what it is good at so that you can do the same.

3. Outside Perspective

Sometimes, all you need is a fresh pair of eyes. Using a marketing agency not only provides you with a fresh outlook, but an unbiased and specialist perspective.

Since a marketing agency will also work alongside other clients, they will understand how marketing works throughout a sector, including for your competition. This know-how can enable your company to be competitive, and even get ahead. 

4. Flexibility

Unlike with in-house marketing, outsourcing to an agency means that you can adapt the amount of time and resources you want to dedicate towards your marketing strategy. Perhaps you find that you want to push marketing more strongly during a busy sales period, or on the flipside need marketing to keep sales up in quieter times.

An agency can resourcefully meet your changing needs as your company scales – whether you are growing your business or refocusing your priorities. Outsourcing is quicker, easier and can be more effective than making changes to in-house marketing staff.

5. Cost Efficiency

With focused, specialist experts maximising your marketing-generated revenue, you can get more for your money. And, unlike with in-house marketing, outsourcing means that fluctuations to your capacity or need for marketing services won’t negatively impact your pockets. You are only paying for as many hours as you receive service.

One worry that companies might have before working with an agency is that they could lose control and face upcharges. On the contrary, with an agency you can know exactly where your money is going since payment is made by service – which must be agreed upon by both parties. It is up to you how much you are willing to invest in your marketing strategy, and it is the agency’s duty to keep you informed every step of the way.

Finally, without needing to continually pay for relevant training or technology, or even for a desk and computer, there are a number of cost savings to be had.

What Makes an Effective Landing Page?

A landing page provides the foundations for any good website. It is critical to get right so that the first point of contact for a user won’t just be their last. In other words, you want to consider conversion rate optimisation (CRO). 

While there are various CRO tools and techniques available, we introduce some of the ways that a landing page can be made to draw in customers, providing them with the information and support they need from your organisation.

1. User Friendly

First and foremost, any website design should be made considering its audience. As the first place that a user will find themselves, it is essential that a landing page is accessible and purposeful, providing any user with exactly what they are looking for.

Other aspects of a landing page’s style and function, as discussed below, must be made with this most important principle in mind. 

2. Easy to Follow

Even if the rest of your website is perfect, a landing page must guarantee that a user is able to get there. The key to ensure easy navigation is the right balance of information and action points – enough for any user to know exactly what your company is about and what they can do with the website, but not too cluttered that your message is lost.

You need to have one clear message: what can you do for a customer? At the same time, that message needs to be serviced by multiple points of interaction. A heading bar with pages such as ‘About Us’ and ‘Contact Us’ are one example of how this can be achieved, leading a user inwards for more detail. 

3. The Right Words

Headers. Taglines. Captions. Text. Choosing careful, useful words means that all of your website’s features, design and graphics make sense. It is the difference between a landing page that helps and hinders your business’ communication to the user.

Particularly for a landing page, it is important to be economical with word choice. Say what you need to say, no more.

4. Attention-Grabbing Graphics

Whether it’s video content, logos, animations or slideshows, the old adage is true that a picture can speak a thousand words. Your graphics need to catch the eye and explain exactly what your business is about. They must work alongside any written information to support and fill out the message you want to convey.

Landing page graphics provide the perfect opportunity to express your brand identity and showcase your work. However, it can be easy to get wrong: poor photography, low resolution or slow processing are just some issues that can immediately put off a user. Making sure that you are effectively making use of graphics is vital to ensuring you get the right kind of attention.

5. Consistent Design

Your house style is one of the biggest assets you have to express who you are as a company, and has an immediate impact on a user. Are you playful or serious, new or experienced? A house style should communicate the identity of your brand and connect with its target audience.

Fonts, colours, sizes, placement – there are a number of aspects to consider. Have an intention and be consistent when coming up with the core design style of a website.

6. Up to Speed

No one likes buffering or lagging. A landing page is a station with many platforms, so it is important that everything runs smoothly. Ensure that a landing page is digitally up to speed with a fast loading speed and quick links.

It is important to consider how a landing page looks and works across multiple devices; optimising a landing page for mobile is necessary to meet the ways that users increasingly shop and search on their phones.

7. Calls to Action (CTAs)

The purpose of a landing page is to create engagement. The only way to do that is through a Call to Action (CTA), meaning a feature that requires a user to act. Add links, and not just in the headings bar – consider buttons and clickable graphics and text. Use action verbs (such as buy, follow, browse) that instruct your user on what is possible. A user must always be left with a clear understanding of how they can advance.

5 Tips for Creating Engaging CPD Content

If your marketing strategy requires your brand to be regularly specified on commercial contracts, then CPD promotion should feature firmly within your tactical marketing plan. It can come in a variety of formats, from video to literature to factory tours. Whichever way you choose, it’s critical you keep your audience engaged.

This insight will give you 5 nifty tips to create engaging CPD content that is effective for developing your business.

1. Demonstrate your credibility

Don’t just ‘talk-the-talk’, show that you can ‘walk-the-walk’!

It’s important to gain the trust of your audience. Whether it’s through past projects, accreditations or statistics, show you know what you’re talking about! This can help pique interest and help create memorable presentations.

2. Set clear objectives

Don’t beat about the bush! Set out your objectives for the session from the get-go. This will ensure clarity and help remind the audience why the information is important for both the development of themselves and the industry.

3. Use a variety of tools

Don’t just use text! Maintain interest by using a variety of elements when presenting your content. Whether it’s charts, videos, technical diagrams or even a quiz, varying the visual queues can help keep your employees engaged, helping increase information retention

4. Utilise case studies

Case studies are not only a great way to showcase your credentials, but to help develop your current employee’s skills. By presenting challenges through real-life scenarios, they can help your audience put their newly gained knowledge into practice.

Digitisation

Digitisation is now one of the most effective ways to deliver CPD Content. Not only is it accessible from home, but it also enables you to capture valuable data to improve your CPD content further in the future.

Like what you’re hearing?

There’s plenty more where that came from here at Smart Marketing Works. We specialise in creating engaging CPD content in the technical and building product industry. To discuss developing your CPD content, get in touch with us at info@smartmarketingworks.com or call 01785 819933

Why Businesses Need to Invest in Digital Marketing to Survive

Digital marketing is an essential investment for businesses of all sizes in today’s digital age. By neglecting to invest in digital marketing, companies are putting themselves at a disadvantage against their competitors.

The digital age has changed how consumers behave and make purchasing decisions. To stay relevant and attract customers, businesses must adapt their marketing strategies to meet these new challenges. One of the most effective ways to reach consumers is through digital marketing.

Digital marketing is a term that encompasses all of the marketing activities that are done online. This includes everything from SEO and content marketing to social media and email marketing. By investing in digital marketing, businesses can reach a larger audience more efficiently and effectively than ever.

There are many benefits of investing in digital marketing, but here are some of the most important ones:

Wider Audience

You’ll be able to reach a larger audience. With digital marketing, you’ll no longer be limited to marketing to customers in your local area. You’ll be able to reach consumers all over the world with just a few clicks.

Target Specific Demographics

You can target specific demographics. With digital marketing, you can target consumers based on age, location, interests, and more. This allows you to create highly customised marketing campaigns more likely to resonate with your target audience and enables you to save money by only targeting people who are likely interested in your services.

Potentially Save Money 

You may save money. Digital marketing is often more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods. Additionally, digital marketing activity can be measured and tracked more effectively compared to traditional marketing methods, making it easier to determine the return on investment (ROI). For example, it can be cheaper to run a social media campaign than television ads.

Here are some digital marketing tips for businesses just getting started:

1) SEO Your Website

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is optimising your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

SEO is a complex and ever-evolving discipline, but at its core, it is about ensuring that your website is visible and accessible to search engines and that your content is relevant and engaging to your target audience.

Many different factors contribute to a website’s ranking in SERPs. Still, some of the most important ones include the quality and quantity of your content, the number and quality of your backlinks, and your website’s overall design and usability.

Fortunately, many resources are available to help you understand and improve your SEO and digital marketing agencies, with experts on hand to help. 

SEO involves optimising your site for specific keywords and phrases related to your business. You can see a significant difference in your site’s visibility and traffic with little time and effort.

You can also do several things to improve your website’s performance.

Start by improving the quality of your content. Make sure it is well written and relevant to your audience.

Next, take a look at your website’s design. Is it user-friendly and easy on the eyes? If not, consider making some changes.

Finally, focus on improving the user experience. Ensure your website is easy to navigate and includes all the information your visitors need to complete a purchase or contact you for a service.

2) Set Up Your Social Media Profile

Social media is a powerful tool that can be used to reach new customers. It can help you connect with potential customers and create relationships with them. 

Additionally, social media can be used to build brand awareness and create an engaging content strategy. When creating content for social media, it’s essential to ensure it’s engaging and will resonate with your audience. Keep them in mind when conceptualising what you want to share, and you’ll be sure to create material they’ll enjoy reading, watching, or listening to.

Avoid large blocks of text, focus on creating short and sweet posts, and use strong visuals to capture attention.

3) Begin Email Marketing

Email marketing can be a great way to stay in touch with your customers. By sending out regular updates, you can inform them about new products and services, special offers, and other news. 

It’s a quick and easy way to stay connected with your audience and build loyalty among your customer base. 

Segment your list to ensure your recipients are interested in the information you’re sending. This will allow you to send more tailored content likely to be valuable to them.

4) Measure Your Campaigns

Measuring the success of your digital marketing campaigns is essential to determine if your strategies are working and if you are investing your money in the proper channels for your business. 

Without this data, you won’t be able to effectively adjust your campaigns to get the best results.

Fortunately, there are several ways to measure digital marketing campaigns’ success. You can get a clear picture of your campaigns’ performance by tracking key metrics such as website traffic, leads, and conversions.

Tracking your progress and measuring your results is essential to ensure that you progress towards your goals. By doing so, you will be able to identify areas where you need to improve and make necessary changes to achieve the results your business needs. Continually analysing your results will help you ensure that your digital marketing campaigns are successful. 

By investing in digital marketing, businesses can reach a larger audience, target specific demographics, and save money. If you’re ready to start digital marketing, follow the tips above. And don’t forget to measure your success so that you can continue to improve your campaigns!

NBS Recognition for Smart Marketing Works

Smart Marketing Works has signed a partnership agreement with NBS – the platform for connected construction information – as a recommended provider of CPD-writing services for construction product manufacturers.

Smart Marketing Works is a full-service marketing agency providing bespoke marketing services to a wide range of clients mainly, but not exclusively, in the construction sector. The company’s CPD client list has seen the most rapid growth in recent years, as the company’s reputation for skilled and efficient delivery of CPD writing has been ever more widely recognised.

The new agreement with NBS, which manages the RIBA CPD Providers Network as part of a joint venture with the RIBA, adds Smart to the NBS roster of recommended CPD creation specialists.

Smart’s CPD client portfolio is now very broad, with a specialism in building product marketing, particularly in the tiling, flooring, ceramics, bathrooms and adhesives sectors.

“Even before the pandemic, our CPD work was one of the fastest growing areas of our business,” explains Kay Porter, Owner & Managing Director of Smart Marketing Works. “In the last year-and-a-half it has really taken off, as companies look for new ways to communicate high quality technical information to specifiers.”

“We are launching a new division within our business – Smart CPD Works – to enable even greater focus on to the specific needs of our customers, alongside the other marketing services we provide. Our new relationship with NBS provides a really strong basis on which to grow and develop our CPD services even further, whether our material is to be delivered digitally or in person. We are delighted with this strong recognition from NBS and look forward to working together closely in the coming years.”

Izy Herrera, Marketing Manager NBS, comments: “Specifiers are hungry to hear about the latest innovations, see inspirational projects and understand the technical detail.  CPDs are a great route to do this. As a manufacturer, a RIBA approved CPD provides you with a great opportunity to show just how relevant your products are. Working with quality CPD creation specialists means that what you deliver will be interesting and impactful. Beyond this, an effective CPD programme is a proven route to specifications down the line.”

The technical research and CPD writing team at Smart have built up a vast pool of knowledge and expertise regarding standards, testing and regulations over a number of years. The company’s CPD writers work closely with clients to develop relevant and engaging technical content for architects and specifiers, delivering completed CPD presentations in the required format on time and on budget.

Smart also supports its clients by offering advice regarding the quality and content required for the CPD learning to meet RIBA’s requirements. Clients are given the information they need to understand the process, and they also benefit from Smart’s experience gained in handling many submissions, providing liaison with the RIBA assessment team until final is approval is obtained.