Mission ad:tech 2012

Starring Dan C and Company Director Duncan Short

After our early morning arrival at the train station feeling slightly groggy and in need of a bacon sandwich, Duncan and I talked about our main objectives for the day. We needed to find a new platform/CMS that allowed us to create beautiful, multi platform sites and some new directory software to bring our current directories into the 21st century. With this is mind we made our way off the tube and headed for Olympia.

Once we had our passes and were scanned in, I was immediately struck by two things. Firstly the size of the place (hundreds of stalls, zones and networking areas) and secondly the large amount of people (mainly incredibly attractive women) that were walking around!

Intrepid Explorers

We visited a number of stalls as we began to find our way through and whilst they were fascinating, none of them were exactly what we were looking for.

Our first golden find was a seminar by the company Epiphany Search. These guys are a leading SEO giant with an arsenal of tools and a ton of useful information about the changing face of SEO and how to deal with Google and its ever morphing algorithms. We both came away from this talk a lot wiser and much of the information learnt will be used by our very own SEO teams in future campaigns.

As we continued deeper into the maze we met a number of interesting people who gave us advice on lead generation, software that could read entire websites for the partially sighted, mobile apps, mobile marketing, HTML5 responsive design and social media. 

 

Good networking needs pizza

We decided to have a break and a Pizza Express To Go. This was exactly what was needed in order to regain some of our energy and as we ate we met several exhibitors who were eager to chat about the reasons for us being there. They told us about their stalls and then pointed us in the direction of some stalls they thought we would find interesting. We took their advice and went out and found them.

The first happened to be Epiphany (the company whos seminar we had been to earlier). Here we relaxed with a smoking cocktail (yes, really!) and spoke to Dan their head of SEO. He was an absolute wealth of information and ended up being the best find of the day.

Dan enlightened us on a new CMS called Umbraco that would suit all our cross browser needs whilst still having complete freedom with design. He discussed our directory and highlighted how our backlink structure was working and ways we could improve some of our rankings even further. He then took us through various software packages we could use to spice up our old directory. To put it shortly the man was a god!

A victorious retreat

The rest of the stalls we visited turned out to be brilliant but completely irrelevant to what we needed. We decided after a little while that we had found what we were looking for from Dan the man and that it was time to leave.

In honor of #talklikeapirateday we went out in a blaze of glory taking as many useful freebies as we could find. With our boots full of swag (mainly of sweets and pens) we left, ensuring we had one last snap that really encompassed our day at Ad:Tech.

Dan C is our head web designer at Bath Business Web. Email him for a chat!

Buckle up for ad:tech 2012

 
Big boss Duncan and our chief web designer Dan will be heading to London tomorrow for ad:tech, a two day festival of all things technology. We're only down for the day, but what a day that will be! 

ad:tech is described as an interactive conference and exhibition focused on technology and advertising. The UK dates this year will be held in the London Olympia. It boasts an impressive conference program of speakers and panels, with additional seminars and exhibitions throughout the event. 

New to the conference this year is a brand new floor plan, new seminar theatres and a new networking area. The conference program is brand centred, with a mobile video summit on day one and an advertising summit on day two.


Team Bath Business Web will be there for the Wednesday as it's all about mobile technology, a subject close to our hearts (see our Responsive Web Design blog from a few weeks ago). We'll be tweeting the most exciting discoverys and important updates throughout the day, so make sure you follow us on #adtech and @Bathbusinessweb. 

3 things to consider about sponsorship

3 things to consider about sponsorship as a small business

Small businesses are constantly seeking ways to promote their services and their skills. From electrical contractors to gallery owners, developing a solid marketing strategy is vital if you want to grow your business. 

One option that may be available to you is sponsorship. Sports teams at every level, individuals looking to break records or increase their visibility or an upcoming event all need revenue to reach their goals. This is where you come in - as a corporate sponsor you provide needed income in return for public recognition of your name and brand. 

Think about local football or cricket teams. They need to buy kit, perhaps maintain training grounds or club space, pay for advertising and so on. So they attract sponsors from the world of business, who put up bill boards and signs on the pitch in return for monthly or yearly payments.The team can now pay for their new away kit and the business has a very visible ad on their pitch. Everybody wins.

Or do they?

Here are 3 things to consider before taking up sponsorship as a marketing strategy...

1) Image association

Tying your brand to a group or an individual can provide powerful associations. A winning team, or a courageous last placer, can provide positive associations for your company.

This does cut both ways, however. The arrogant midfielder who swears at every match and the dispirited coach who is a public drunk also gets associated with you, but not in a positive way. 

It is best to carefully consider your chosen sponsee. Protect yourself as much as you can by doing your homework on your chosen people. Monitor their behaviour and public image for a while before taking the plunge.

2) Product and service awareness

You invest a certain amount of money and in return get a platform from which to advertise your business. It's up to you how you do this. One option is to highlight products and services - perhaps the most popular type of garden furniture you make, or maybe a slow selling menu that you want to promote. By using your visible space e.g. billboard, section on their website or brochure, you can speak directly to consumers who follow your sponsee.

Be aware of your competition however. Many people have multiple sponsors, often from the same industry. You do not want your latest range of paper office supplies advertised next to a piece of new technology promising a paperless office.

Try to build a close relationship with your sponsee and stay involved in the process of placing sponsored advertising. That way you have more chance of some control over who you share space with. 

3) Local sponsorship

The goal of local sponsorship is to invest in local resources and communities, supporting local culture and funding things close to your employee's hearts. These types of sponsorship can promote excellent public relations in your area, develop a loyal customer base and improve the morale of your staff. 

Looking at the flip side, local sponsorship can often be exactly that. Recognition can be thin on the ground outside of the local area, or worse, outside of the specific industry you are sponsoring. You can work hard to promote a local youth shelter or a charity cake sale, but ultimately you may feel no real effect from a wider marketing point of view.

Understand the limitations when putting together your sponsorship plan. Aim for a balance between investment and return to ensure you don't overspend on concerns that have a lower publicity potential. By all means cover your finance manager's Teddy Bears Picnic charity event, but don't rank it higher than a rider in a coast-to-coast triathlon when allocating the sponsorship budget.

Avoiding sponsorship disaster requires planning, forethought and a certain amount of luck, but when done properly it can be hugely beneficial. With a sensible and professional approach, sponsorship can be an empowering and lucrative marketing strategy, as well as a fantastic opportunity to support local and national teams, groups and events. 

Bath Business Web proudly sponsors LarkhallAFC