Posts Tagged ‘news’

Getting the most from Social Media Marketing

Client News, SEO Scotland | Posted by Gavin
Jun 28 2010

We get asked a lot of questions about Social Media:

  • What is it?
  • How does it benefit my business?
  • How do I get started?
  • How long do I spend per day/week?
  • … and many more

Social Media (should) mean different things to different businesses – what channels to use and when, how long to spend, what type of content to put out and how to get involved in online conversations with potential customers.

Most of the answers depend on specific online business goals and a social media strategy should be planned around these, planning is everything along with monitoring and measuring the success of your efforts.

There are many companies that can help you with this but ultimately it is time and budget which drives business marketing decisions.  Being as informed as possible is the key when considering such an essential part of a  businesses online marketing – and to muddy the waters further, the face of social media marketing is constantly changing.

It is a core part of our ethos when providing SEO services to Scottish businesses that we keep our clients informed of changes to this marketing ‘landscape’ and provide information, content and links to all the key resources that will help their online marketing decisions.

With this in mind Jennifer Laycock, editor of The Search Engine Guide has recently posted a great article::
Understanding the Three Primary Goals of Social Media (highly recommended reading)

If you would like more information relating to this post please contact me or join me online: Twitter | Facebook

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Hotels & Accommodation Providers | tracking the return on marketing spend

Business News, Client News, SEO Scotland | Posted by Gavin
Apr 14 2010

Part 1

The Early Years – offline marketing

Tracking the return on marketing spend

Tracking the return on marketing spend

Before I started my own SEO & Internet marketing company I worked in the hotel business for over 20 years and latterly up until 2003 in the marketing of hotels.  One of my tasks was to source associations, organisations and companies such as Visit Scotland, the AA, Best Loved Hotels – that would work to raise the profile of the hotel whilst generating enquiries that would create bookings.

In order to merit the annual fees these sources had to generate business and it was a difficult task ensuring that each enquiry/booking could be attributed to a referring source. The correct processes and procedures had to be in place in order to ensure that all enquiries were sourced correctly – and human error played it’s part to muddy the waters!

In the early years most of the associative marketing activities were done offline but as time has gone on this has changed and online marketing has become the key business driver of any hotel or accommodation provider – gone too are the days of large budgets available to hotels in an ever more competitive market.

Online Marketing – taking control

online marketing - hotels and accommodation providers

online marketing - hotels and accommodation providers

Most (if not all!) hotels and accommodation providers have websites and many have taken control of their own online marketing.  Arguably cheaper and more effective than offline (traditional marketing) many have sought the help of companies like ours who understand their industry and can provide effective SEO (search engine optimisation) in order to achieve good search engine rankings and stay competitive within their market sector.

Whatever the activity, whoever provides the service and whoever your business is listed with online – all must be able to be measured in terms of what business through enquiries and bookings is being generated.

Many of the services purchased in the pursuit of effective online marketing are ‘untried’, you will have only heard about their ability and effectiveness to generate business – whether through recommendation or word of mouth.

Measuring Online Success – ROI (return on investment)

You must be in a position whereby you can make an informed decision as to the ongoing validity of continuing to use a particular online marketing service and for this you must be able to measure its success – each must pay its way!

If I pay company £X /year to be listed on company Y’s website and it generates £Z in business, my ROI is ABC%

————————————–

In part 2 | How to – measure your online marketing efforts

If you would like more information relating to this post please contact me or join me online: Twitter | Facebook

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Client News – Crianlarich Hotel nominated for industry awards

Business News, Client News | Posted by Gavin
Apr 12 2010
Clients Crianlarich Hotel nominated for industry awards

Clients Crianlarich Hotel nominated for industry awards

Hot on the heels of some great reviews and the award of 3 stars from the AA, The Crianlarich Hotel has been nominated for Turnaround Hotel of the Year, Best Value Hotel and Good Food Hotel at the Scottish Hotel Awards 2010.

Our clients are surprised but absolutely thrilled by the news. The awards are on Sunday 25th April and we wish them all the best!

If you would like to lend your support please vote using the below link.

The Scottish Hotel Awards – nominate, vote & support

Join them online on: Twitter | Facebook

Popularity: 4% [?]

Crianlarich Hotel – AA 3 star Scottish Hotel

Business News, Client News | Posted by Gavin
Apr 10 2010
3 star Scottish Hotel at Crianlarich

3 star Scottish Hotel at Crianlarich

One of our new clients, The Crianlarich Hotel have recently been awarded 3-stars by the AA.  Situated in Crialarich, ideally located near to Loch Lomond, The River Tay, Glencoe, Oban and the Western Isles, the hotel has also just  installed a new kitchen, totally transformed the reception and opened their new restaurant.  It is also rumored that the AA may return to inspect their food with a view to awarding them their first Rosette – our fingers are firmly crossed for them.

This great 36 room Scottish hotel, in a perfect situation is well worth a visit and we wish them all the best in gaining true recognition for all their hard work.

Join them online on: Twitter | Facebook
Read Guest Reviews on: Trip Advisor (97% of travellers recommend)

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Twitter Search … what search?

Client News, SEO Scotland, Technology | Posted by Gavin
Feb 26 2010

Using Twitter is becoming a larger part of our daily business practice, but I find it bizarre that the ‘Twitter Search’ facility on the site is of little or no use at all. 

Twitter is all about building a following and following like-minded people, whether for business or pleasure.  As this is such a core part of the whole Twitter-thing, why is the search facility so poor?  In my opinion, the essential part of connecting with other businesses, is to be able to find them in the first place.

We run an SEO & Internet Marketing business in the Highlands of Scotland and there are not many businesses (in the grand scheme of things) that embrace the whole ‘social media’ thing in our area which makes the Twitter’s inability to provide concise search results more frustrating.

However I recently came across an extremely helpful article with tools and tips at Mashable – http://bit.ly/mnQ1g - Have a read if you get the time.

Popularity: 4% [?]