Month: March 2023

In 2021 Barclays Payments saw a 3.2% rise in transactions during the most popular seasonal offer in the UK, Black Friday. While this figure sounds insignificant, it reflects the estimation that the nationwide offer pumped an additional £0.5 billion into the economy. It’s evident that when done right, offering promotions, loyalty programs and discounts to your customers is a great way to boost your growing business. It’s almost guaranteed to increase direct sales, increase brand awareness through marketing, and attract new customers.

The first step to letting people know about your offers is by marketing them, and in our digital age, it’s best to do this online. Here are three platforms where you can promote your offers and their respective advantages:

Social media

With billions of monthly active users, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the best free outlets where you can promote your seasonal offers. Doing this through Facebook or Instagram can be as simple as uploading a photo of your promotional poster with a concise, eye-catching caption, just as this North East pub has. This additionally helps increase website traffic, as people are likely to click on your company’s website for booking/more information about the promotion.

You can tailor a promotional offer for Twitter by announcing giveaways. Encouraging users to follow and retweet your brand’s tweet for a chance to win a certain product will drive engagement and give you a better understanding of your audience, all while reaching a wider audience at a low cost.

Your website’s landing page

Landing pages on websites are well known for effectively converting visitors into customers or leads and have a higher conversion rate than regular webpages. Creating a landing page for your seasonal offers will thus showcase your products or services in one easy-to-find place and give you a good chance of turning clicks into sales. It’s important to include details, images/videos and an enticing call-to-action that encourages visitors to take advantage of the offers available to them. Another benefit of having a landing page is that it optimises your website for search engines and increases online visibility.

Member/online exclusive offers

Member exclusive offers are a great way to bring new customers in. Rewarding loyalty with exclusive promotional offers will more than likely encourage non-members to sign up so they can take advantage of the offers too. Assuming your sign-up forms will be on your website, you’ll create more website traffic, be able to track the effectiveness of these discounts and measure your ROI. Having member exclusive offers concurrent with other seasonal offers is an even better way of getting more sales as customers will want to maximise what they get out of a deal.

The gist

Thanks to our connected world, promoting your business’ seasonal offers through the various ways mentioned provides a great way to increase your brand’s visibility, attract new customers, and retain existing ones. Be sure to track your results and adjust your strategies accordingly to maximise your ROI!

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms this decade has seen. With over 34 million people in the UK using Instagram in 2022, it comes as no surprise that businesses are flocking to the social media platform to reach their target audience.

If your business falls under a more visual sector (hospitality, lifestyle, real estate etc.) or your general audience is under the age of 40, then including Instagram in your social media marketing strategy is especially important. Here are some useful ways you can use Instagram Business to make your brand stand out:

Analytics and insights

Instagram analytics and insights are arguably the most useful Instagram Business features and offer valuable information about your audience. With it, you can access the following:

• A breakdown of your followers that includes their rough location, age, gender, and what time they’re most active on the platform
• The number of accounts that have seen your posts and visited your business’ profile or clicked your website
• How users have engaged with your content (likes, comments, saves, replies)
• How your account has grown since being a business account

The best thing about insights is that you’ll not only be able to see who your audience is, but their social media patterns and the content they engage with the most. Tracking and maintaining a good engagement rate can help you make informed decisions about your marketing strategy and in turn boost your business’ presence.

Cost-effective marketing through visual content

Marketing your business through social media is significantly cheaper than renting a billboard or running an advert on the radio. Instagram gives you a platform to share the products and services your business provides to the world with just the click of a button. Simply sharing photos of your products gives potential customers a sneak peak of what they will be getting and makes them more likely to purchase. A popular Newcastle pub and restaurant located in the heart of Gosforth has taken advantage of this easy marketing technique by sharing photos of their famous Sunday roast.

Additionally, you can create targeted ads and campaigns that reach your desired audience and generate leads and sales. Instagram ads allow you to make turn any post into an ad, choose how much you pay for the ad, and track your ad’s performance through the same insights offered on your account.

An easy way to engage with customers

Creating a good social relationship with your customers will increase brand loyalty and give your business a more personal edge. Instagram provides a great way to engage with your customers and this can be done by responding to comments, direct messages, and creating interactive stories (for example, asking users to take part in polls). You can build relationships with your customers, address their concerns, and improve their overall experience with your brand, which will ultimately lead to increased customer retention.

The takeaway

Big or small, your business will benefit having an Instagram business account. By increasing brand recognition and using analytics and insights to improve your marketing strategy, Instagram can help your business grow and succeed in today’s digital age.

Today’s world is all about convenience – customers expect an ease of access to the products and services they want. Although nothing beats the traditional consumer experience of going out to a physical store or restaurant and purchasing a product, offering a delivery option to your customers is beneficial in the success and growth of your business. Over 40% of UK restaurant owners said they would have had to shut their businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic if it wasn’t for the revenue they received from their food delivery service option.

With a growing number of people opting to order online, here are four reasons a delivery option will be good for your business:

It expands your customer base

You’ll be able to reach new customers outside your local area and in turn broaden your target audience by adding a delivery service to your business. Offering delivery will let you tap into a wider customer base, including people who live further away or people who may not be able to visit your physical store. You can have an in-house delivery driver and set your own radius and rates or collaborate with a trusted delivery platform. This popular New York style pizza restaurant in Gosforth, Newcastle uses Uber Eats to deliver orders straight to their customer’s doorsteps.

You’ll keep up with competitors

In today’s highly competitive market, offering delivery is no longer optional – it’s expected. If your competitors are offering delivery and you’re not, you risk losing customers to them solely because of convenience. You have a better chance of staying competitive, retaining customers, and keeping up with changing customer expectations by offering this service.

You’ll have a better understanding of your customers

A delivery option will allow you to view and analyse valuable information about your customers which you can use to make your business more profitable. Customer demographics, product preferences and days that customers are more likely to purchase products can be used to personalise your marketing model and improve the customer experience. This will ultimately lead to increased sales and grow your business.

There will be additional stream of income

The boom in e-commerce means a lot of customers will find it easier to order online, so you’ll get as much business as possible by offering in-store and delivery options. Having this kind of option will add a new stream of income as your products will be more accessible to current customers and your business will have more exposure to prospective customers. You can also take advantage of this by offering online-exclusive discounts to further drive your sales.

All in all

Delivery options offer numerous benefits for businesses of all types. If you’re not already, now is the time to provide your customers with a reliable, timely delivery service. Your business will reach new customers, meet expectations, gain a competitive advantage, and build customer loyalty. Evaluating how you can incorporate delivery into your business model is well worth the effort.

Taking care of our loved ones is something we all wish to do, and sometimes asking for help with this is the best option. If you’re facing the seemingly impossible task of finding a good care home, it’s important to do the homework on what is true and what is not. There are several myths about care homes that skew the perception of the excellent services available in North East care homes and should not discourage you from finding the help you or your loved one need. Here are four debunked misconceptions:

1. Care homes are only for the elderly

This is the most popular urban legend about care homes. While many care homes cater to older people, high-quality care is also provided to younger individuals. This is not to say they’ll be lonely, as young people will enjoy a separate unit with people in their age group. Carers are registered and highly experienced, so they can accommodate to anyone, regardless of their age.

2. Residents are neglected or abandoned

A good care home can provide around-the-clock care. If help is needed at 3AM, there will be reassurance that someone is near to assist. Internal audits are regularly carried out to ensure residents are consistently being provided with the utmost care. Additionally, there are no restrictions on the number of visitors except when it is unsafe to do so (i.e., during a COVID-19 outbreak) so you’ll be able to check in on your loved one whenever you want to.

3. There is a lack of personal, individualised care

Everybody has their own needs. This means that the right tailored care will be provided to all residents in a care home and is flexible. Whether it’s dementia nursing, physiotherapy or support for young physically disabled people, commitment to providing personal care will be the standard procedure. If that’s not comforting enough, residents are entitled to refuse assistance from a particular member of staff for personal reasons and their wish will be respected unless in the event of an emergency.

4. Care homes are expensive

The priority of any care home is the well-being of its residents. If you struggle to afford a care home, you can get a needs assessment from your local council. This service is free, can be done in person or over the phone and includes an assessment by a social worker or occupational therapist of what assistance and support is required. A means test will be arranged for you and will determine what the council can pay towards social care fees.

Keeping an eye on the standard of care homes is particularly important in making sure the seemingly good care home you found hasn’t become bad. Care Quality Commission, the independent inspector and regulator of health and social care in England, ranks all Prestwick Care homes as either good or outstanding.

We understand that it takes a lot to trust strangers with the well-being of your family or dependents, so it’s important to find the perfect care home. If you’re ready to being the process, start here.