Blog posts tagged marketing

Themes and us

When it comes to information on websites, the old library model is tried and trusted. Everything’s arranged in some sort of hierarchy and you just drill down until you hit what you want (used to be oil, gold’s probably better these days). But a library’s kind of quiet – what if you want to share ideas and see what’s happening? And anyway, marketing – in fact, business of any kind – doesn’t often work in such a neat and tidy way. A small business may well see ‘advertising’ as a discrete marketing topic while an agency thinks in terms of integrated marcomms. So the Marketing Donut gives users a choice. There’s a library of drillable ‘topics’ (and a search function for the really abrupt). That’ll suit lots of visitors looking for advice on a specific aspect of marketing – they’ll quickly find the page they want, maybe take a peek at a few related resources, and that’s it. But there’s also a choice of broad ‘themes’ for users who want to get a bit more involved. We’re hoping they’ll appeal to people who are serious about marketing – our own experts, marketing specialists and owner-managers who know what’s important. (You can hide away doing admin and what have you for as long as you like, but let’s face it – marketing is what it’s all about.) Why themes? Probably not the right question to ask when we’re talking Marketing Donut but it’s a good excuse to link to my favourite theme tune. More to the point, what did we come up with?

Planning – all the stuff we know is really important that somehow keeps slipping down the to-do list .... Promotion – probably the first thing that springs to mind when you talk about marketing, everything from Advertising to reaching Zuppies (I found this on the CIM’s website but I think they just made it up). Selling – getting down and dirty at the coalface. Maximising – making the most of your existing customers: everyone’s always saying how vital they are, and how marketing to existing customers is much more cost-effective than chasing new leads, but it rarely seems to grab the same attention Start-up – everything marketing, but from the start-up angle; seriously practical and low cost marketing, not the place for jargon and theory.

See you there.

Sneak Preview Of Donut Video Content

Here is a little taster of the video content you will be able to access on the Marketing Donut website from the 20th April.  We are working with Your Business Channel to produce top quality informative content from experts across the UK.   In this short clip from an interview with Tim Smit, he talks about how to build highly successful business relationships.  Let us know what you think:

CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIDEO (opens in new window)

Tim Smit did something which many people said was impossible. He raised almost £100 million and then built the world's largest greenhouse in a huge hole in the ground.

The Netherlands-born British businessman is widely recognised as one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs in the UK. Educated as an archaeologist, Smit became heavily involved in the music industry before turning his focus to the Eden Project.

While many thought that Smit would run out of energy and money, and therefore fail, he led the charge do raise funding for the initiative, and then led the project to build three transparent biomes in an old china clay pit in the south of England. The biomes contain different eco-climates which represent climates found throughout the world. The Eden Project aims to educate people about environmental issues and engage them to do something about those issues.

If you have an idea which you want to turn into a reality, a challenge which you need to face or a business which you would like to grow, it would be worth your while taking a moment to listen to what Smit has to say.