March 2010

 

The latest Shape the Agenda paper on social marketing

Have you seen details of the new Social Marketing Interest Group? The Chartered Institute of Marketing have set up this new group to promote the growing relevance of social marketing in society. Don’t get confused – social marketing doesn’t mean blogging. It means marketing issues that are important for the social good. This group’s already been a big hit with many members joining up, and sparking interest in online marketing news forums.

 
The essence of the Women in Marketing event series is to educate, inspire, network and have fun. After five years of annual events, the Women in Marketing Awards seem the next logical step and it also coincides with the 100th year of International Women’s Day. 
 

Ade Onilude, Event Organiser

What inspired me to create the awards? I take inspiration from various facets:
On a very personal level, the awards pay homag to my late mother who I lost at a young age; she was a true visionary who knew no boundaries. My father and brother have been truly supportive in encouraging me to ‘reach for the stars.’ I’ve also been inspired by my work environment at Swarovski where I’ve been honoured to meet true visionaries and innovators. I take inspiration from the famous such as Michelle Obama, the late Anita Roddick, Audrey Hepburn, Women’s magazines and cult TV series such as Sex in the City.Finally I’ve been inspired by the amazing women I’ve met since conception of the Women in Marketing event in 2004. From the team who represent the various branches of the Greater London Region, to the speakers and distinguished guests we’ve had over the 5 events. My greatest inspiration has been the attendees – some who have become friends, so launching the awards is for them.

Why people should enter?
The awards are about you.
It’s your chance to shine and be recognised in the marketing community, either enter yourself or nominate some one who’s inspired you. Have a look at the Women in Marketing Awards website to find out more about the categories and how to enter.

The winners will be announced when you join us for a glamorous ceremony with distinguished guests, in November at the May Fair Hotel, London. You are still welcome to attend if you have not entered the awards.

Ade Onilude, Award Creator.

March 9, 2010

Marketing – smart recruitment or not?

by Stephanie

in Careers

Hi there!

We are well and truly into autumn now and it’s still dark at 5.30am now so harder to get out of bed in the mornings! But life is ticking along here down under.

For today’s update I thought I would give you an insight into the marketing industry here in Brisbane at the moment.

Marketing – smart recruitment or not?
On a marketing front things are slowly picking up work and employment wise but it is still proving a difficult nut to crack for marketing peeps out of work especially for those with many years of experience. It’s very much an employer’s market which is great for employers but not for people trying to get jobs. I would imagine it is the same in London?

Many people that I know are actually taking lower level jobs simply to pay the bills and what this is producing is very happy employers but not necessarily employees! Why you may ask…well my theory is they figure that they can get someone completely over qualified for a position which means they are not only filling the position but are then hiring someone that they can tap into for their higher level expertise, all for the grand cost of a lower level salary.

Read more…

Going by the results of a recent B2B study, businesses are beginning to understand the power of social marketing. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other blogging forums are used by business to tune in to what customers are saying about their products. The study revealed that although 63% of marketers find social marketing of interest, they don’t fully understand how it could help their business, so don’t have a social media strategy in place.
 
Examples in the press have shown that some businesses such as restaurants are using Twitter. If there have been complaints ‘tweeted’, they can quickly contact that individual and try and correct the problem. This is a direct way to interact with customers and may help to retain customers that would otherwise have been lost.
 
It’s difficult to think of a faster way to hear about what your customers are saying than via Twitter, blogs and online forums. So, is your company embracing social media? It’s important that it does – going by this study it’s not a fad it’s here to stay. Does your company have a social media strategy? Register your comments to let us know.
 
 

 

March 6, 2010

Tweeted out?

by zoemichelle

in Twitter

Hello from Brisbane.

I guess you have all seen the newly launched iPad now. Whilst it has got a kicking from the geeks, the marketing for it and build up has been great and the pricing is reasonable so I think there will be a storm when they are released for sale over here. I am trying to convince my husband to let me get one!!

Social Media – good use of time?

I have been thinking about social media a lot this week so thought I would base my blog on it this week. I recently sat down and worked out all the different social media platforms I am involved in whether it is for research, writing or just for fun. It’s a fair bit – well I think so!

How much is too much?

I am sure some of you are involved in more, but I am registered on: Facebook, Twitter and  LinkedIn. Then as well as that I obviously write this blog, I have another one that I write on my website as well as my millions of Google alerts, and it all adds up to quite a lot of time which (my husband would disagree) is worth it!

I am obsessed with Tweet Deck and each time my desktop tweets I get very excited and want to see what the latest news is with Apple or what’s going on in the world.

Is that a bad thing?

A friend of mine in Birmingham, UK recently campaigned on facebook to see if people could spend a whole 24 hours without using Facebook or Twitter. I crashed and burned unfortunately.

Read more…

Hi again,

Well what a weekend it has been. I went to the coast up to Bunderburg and my husband and I got caught in all the Tsunami warnings for South East Queensland. So on the way home we drove inland and discovered some tiny towns that we never even knew existed such as Goomeri – the winner of the ‘neatest town’ award, Ban Ban Springs which I got excited about and then discovered there were no springs, and Nanago which was a very small country town and made me feel like I was really in the outback!

The latest news in Australia hot off the press at the moment is that Kmart has decided it wants to go against tradition and open on Anzac Day which is a memorial day that Aussies take very seriously over here – so there is a public outcry at the moment. It will be interesting to see how it affects their brand in the long term.


Australian market recovery
Things are looking up here in Australia economy wise with Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens recently reporting that Australia’s economy is stronger after the GFC which is very positive – see the article for more details.  In addition Stephen Long of ABC News recently reported that Australia is showing encouraging signs of economic strength, with new figures showing a 5.5 per cent increase in new business investment in the final quarter of last year. See link. At the end of his article Long remarks that the Reserve Bank is worried that Australia is entering a new economic upturn with spare capacity.

 
Bye for now! Zoe Gell