As opposed to general sales-orientated email marketing, which assumes that the recipient is engaged in the buying decision-making process, and can greatly increase the risk of unbsubscribing (meaning that you can never legally send email to that recipients address again), newsletters act as a really strong relationship marketing tool.  By providing useful and relevant information to an opted-in recipient list, you position yourself as an ‘expert in your field’ and you maintain brand and service recall amongst recipients until that time when they or others they know are ready to enter into the buying process.

There are a lot of things to consider when sending bulk email, from formatting that represents well across all email platforms, to email that has a low ‘spam rating’ to avoid ‘bounce backs’ and going straight into  to peoples trash.  How you collect your email addresses, communicate your identity and provide opt-out facilities are not only important, but legal requirements, and all of these issues are something that M8MC understands.

e-Newsletters can be forwarded to friends, shared through social media and archived on your website, so they reach a great deal of people, are to some degree ‘viral’ and add relevant content to your website. 

So, if you’re thinking about communicating regularly and afford-ably with your target markets and existing customers, give some thought to producing an e-Newsletter. If you need any information to help you move forward, simply get in touch with M8MC!

The old approach to web design of ‘build it and they will come’ is long gone.  Its a very competitive market out there and even being found is a challenge in its own right.  So a good tool in creating very relevant content for Google to index and your site visitors to derive real use from is a blog!  We started two clients blogging this week.  Visitors can subscribe via rss and email, thus staying bang up to date with the latest posts.  Something we also do to ensure that consistent messaging has maximum reach and impact for minimum effort is to Tweet a caption and link to the blog post through Tweet Deck, so that the same message reaches your Twitter followers, your FaceBook Page and your LinkedIN account.  Tidy!

So when you’re planning your website, think about content.  How you’re going to keep regular, relevant information flowing in AND out of your site to achieve high Google rankings, more frequent Google crawling and to develop relationships with your target markets so that they come again and again to your site, keeping your brand name ‘front of mind’ ofr when they are ready to enter into the purchasing decision making process.

So blog.  Integrate it with all other communication medums and start forging those relationships.

Now blog off!

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It’s a good time to blog when you have a bit of time to kill at Banks Mill Open Studios.  If you’re not familiar with Banks Mill, it’s a pretty exciting business incubator for creative businesses, owned by the University of Derby.  Around 48 craft, art and design companies, including M8MC, are either tenants or associate members.  So in a nutshell, they all throw their doors open for 3 days to show the public and wider industry what they do and how they do it.  You’ll be surprised as to some of the hidden talents within, producing some quite fantastic work!

Luckily, M8MC was again charged with the task of designing all of the promotional materials.  To the left is an example of an A5 postcard we made.  The main design theme takes on the shape of Banks Mill itself.  We changed the windows on each one to reflect some of the busines types you’ll find inside ie: Pantone colours for designers, film for video, a VU meter for audio, pendants for jewellers, material samples for interior designers and a ‘Pac Man-esque” design for games designers.

So come along and enjoy some free nibbles and a relaxed and friendly ‘arty’ environment.  Pop into studio 3.2 for a cuppa!

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At long last, M8MC is relaunching its blog.  We’re closing down the old Blogger ‘blog’ and are keeping everything in-house from now onwards.  After all, our site is a Word Press site, a platform initially developed as a blogging tool.

M8MC owes a great deal to business networking and can’t sing its praises high enough.  So forgive me if I rant a little about it this week!  M8MC started up exactly two years ago, and although business networking was always factored into the initial business plan, it was not until a chance invitation last October to visit Business on Toast that I really got involved. 

Business on Toast is a Derby-based networking organisation that’s really going places, opening new groups all of the time.  Meetings provide attendees with a really friendly environment in which to meet like minded business people to share skills, advice and importantly, business referrals.  For information on a group near you, visit www.businessontoast.co.uk.

It was through Business on Toast that I was introduced to BNI, or Business Networking International.  If you’re not aware, its basically the largest networking organisation of its type.  A little more rigid, as members have to work hard to provide referrals for one another, but nonetheless, I find meetings fun (yup) and friendly, even if they do begin a 7am!  I hold the Marketing seat at the 2 Valleys Chapter, positioned conveniently between Derby and Nottingham.  See www.bni2valleys.co.uk to learn a little more. 

To add the icing on the cake each month, I attend Duffield Business Network.  This is local networking for local people though.  Its also networking on beer, so if you live or work in Duffield, come along to The Patten Makers Arms, Duffield, on the second Tuesday evening of every month.  We also continue meetings over a curry. Do you need convincing any more?  Oh, and I’m running it for the next few months too!  More www.duffieldbusiness.co.uk.

Overall, if like me you run a small business, there’s nothing more positive and supportive than meeting others who share the same daily challenges as you.  So if you don’t network already, consider finding a supportive group to help you build your business!

The M8MC approach is a straightforward and transparent one, removing ambiguity of approaches and reducing costs to you, presenting you with the options available and the best steps forward to help you reach your objectives.

Marketing Derby – Some of our Services include…

Advertising, Public Relations incl. Case Studies & Press Releases, Digital Marketing incl. Search Engine Optimisation, Internet Marketing and Can Spam Compliant Bulk E-mail, Direct Mail, Brochure & Leaflet Design, Identity & Branding, Logo Design, Music Promotion, Stationery Design & Printing, Web Design. 

Serving Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire & the East Midlands.

Please use the navigation at the top to browse through our services in greater detail.

To discuss any element of your communications requirements feel free to pop in or get in touch. Click here for our contact information!

As well as an opportunity for members of the public to visit each of the tenants in their creative environments over a three day period, Open Studios also offers complementary drinks, live music and events for children, including face painting, plate decorating and a superb trail for the over 6′s.

Dates and times:
Friday 27 November 6pm-8pm
Saturday 28 November 10am-5pm
Sunday 29 November 11am-4pm

Banks Mill is one of three business incubators owned by The University of Derby and are part of the wider East Midlands Incubation Network (www.emincubation.co.uk)

For more information on Banks Mill and Open Studios 2009, visit www.banksmill.org.uk

The iD Centre is a high growth technology business incubator and part of East Midlands Incubation Network.  Now owned by the University of Derby, the centre, located in the heart of Derby’s globally recognised technology hot-spot, is home to an array of exciting businesses from operating in the rail, automotive and computer games industries, to name but a few.

The newsletter, iD:entity,  is created with what is known as ‘in line’ formatting which ensures that the newsletter is reproduced well in all mail clients and webmail services.  It includes a link to an online version, should over-zealous e-mail servers inhibit correct viewing, and it allows readers to forward to friends and one-click share through all social networking accounts. 

To comply with current data protection legislation, all e-mails are ‘Can Spam’ compliant, meaning they carry opt-out features and clear sender information.

To view a recent edition of iD:entity, click here!

To learn more about effective, affordable e-mail marketing, please get in touch!

Hosted at Derby’s QUAD arts centre on Friday 21st August, hundreds of people flocked to enjoy new music from CDR, a platform for electronic music producers the world over, the official launch party for DUCK, an album featuring Derby’s leading dance music producers and to see artists affiliated with Subism realise the name of the event, by creating illustrations reflective of electronic music.

More on Audio Illustrated and the DUCK album can be found at www.derbyduck.co.uk