I was browsing the fruit aisle for a healthy snack and noticed this packet of strawberries in heart-shaped packaging.

‘How clever,’ I thought.

And then it got me thinking even more.  

How could you and I use simple methods in our own marketing to stand out from our competitors?

Just one way in which we can differentiate our message is seasonality.

With Valentine’s Day a very recent memory, you might be thinking ‘strawberries in a heart-shaped box? That’s an easy connection.’

But seasonality, or timing, can work for absolutely any business.  

Let’s take an accounting firm that helps businesses reclaim tax under a scheme where retrospective claims of two years can be made.

Given that most companies’ financial year-ends are March, wouldn’t a compelling message in February be, for instance, a ‘Don’t Burn Your Money Alert’?

Supported with a call to action of ‘get in touch now or lose one whole years’ refund’, I know that I’d act.

And yes, I did buy the strawberries.

So what are the magical four words?

“Pick up the phone!"

Because hardly anyone calls anyone anymore, people really enjoy receiving your call.

That’s as long as you’re a good listener, are positive and call with a reason in mind, of course.

So, whether you’re looking at providing even better customer service or want to make contact with someone you’re connected to on LinkedIn, get dialling!

Love to get some positive publicity for your company?  Then a great way to secure coverage is to invite a journalist to meet you.  You'll need to have something newsworthy or interesting to secure the interview.  But once the date's set, what then?

At giraffe, in addition to offering media relations support, we provide training courses on successful PR.  Themes range from 'An Introduction to PR' to 'How to Conduct a Media Interview'.  We thought you might like to test how many of our Top 5 DOs and 5 DON'Ts on 'How to Conduct a Media Interview' you know.

TOP 5 DOs 

1. Research your journalist and media outlet thoroughly beforehand and ask what their line of questioning will be
2. Plan what information you wish to impart – and stick to the plan!
3. Remember to name-check your organisation and prepare ‘sound bites’ – short impactful phrases that will entice the journalist to use them in the article
4. Show, rather than tell.  Instead of saying how great you are, give examples of why your service or product is so good
5. Promptly follow up – thank the journalist for attending and issue them with information within the agreed timescales.

TOP 5 DON'Ts

1. Ever think anything is off the record
2. Criticise or mention competitors by name - it's unprofessional.  And why give your competitors the publicity?
3. Use acronyms or ‘management speak’ – it’s bland and unmemorable
4. Be vague. Wherever possible be quantitative, eg instead of saying “our clients love us”, use a fact such as “because of our service and value, % of our clients recommend us”
5. Be tempted to promise future exclusives or any other material you can’t deliver - it's crucial to build trust between yourself and the media.

Our 'How to Conduct a Media Interview' course also includes techniques for handling aggressive questioning aswell as how to generate sustained coverage from a media interview.

Dependent upon the number of delegates, courses start from just £195 per person + VAT.  To find out more, call 0121 363 0077 or email us.

We're all aware that there's a greater than ever focus on price.  And yet we all know that the lowest price doesn't mean the best value. 

So how do you engage with your prospects and customers to convey the value of your offer?  And win the contract at your optimum price?

Have a look at the 5 questions below to find out which type of engagement your organisation practises and the impact of this:

1. Do you have regular communication with your customers that is not directly related to selling to them?
2. Do you know how satisfied all of your customers are with the goods or service you provide to them?
3. Do you have a high level of repeat business?
4. Do you find that your customers frequently recommend you?
5. Do you enjoy a high customer retention rate?

If you answered yes to all of the above questions, well done!  You're obviously investing in your customers for your mutual benefit.  You are practising a RELATIONSHIP model of customer engagement. 

If you answered no to one or more of the questions, it's likely that you operate a TRANSACTIONAL model.  This is ideal if you're supplying a high volume, low cost product.  However, if you're not, it's well worth taking a look at how you can adjust your approach.

Download our FREE customer engagement insight to understand more about the characteristics and effects of both of the models.

However, switched on companies always ensure that when they don't win, they find out why.  That way they can take a view on how to adapt their approach to increase the likelihood of success.

What companies miss though, is the opportunity to ask what their WINNING FACTORS were.  This obvious question just seems to bypass so many companies. 

They may be so glad of the win, especially if it breaks a barren run, that in the euphoria of celebration, people forget to ask their new customers, "What made you choose us?" Once you know this, you can focus on this in future bids. 

It's also worth asking your existing clients what you're doing right and why they choose to stay with you - and even better - recommend you to others.  Of course, you should be garnering this feedback as part of your relationship management process.  If not, what better time to start?

This handy thought leadership piece demonstrates, through research, why and how the gap widens between the winners and losers.

So which one are you? 

Keen to raise awareness of the excellence of its treatment and approach, The Gynaecology Clinic Group has appointed giraffe to implement a marketing and PR campaign.

Targeting national and regional outlets, the campaign will provide the media with expert comment from The Gynaecology Clinic.  It will raise awareness of best practise in gynaecological care through the use of case study-led features and comment pieces.

In addition to helping the Group to define its brand, giraffe is working to increase its referrals through affiliate marketing.  This includes liaising with the leading private hopsitals at which it holds its clinics and surgeries.

The Group comprises The Gynaecology Clinic, The Endometriosis Clinic and The Female Oncology Clinic.  With bases at a range of private hospitals in the Midlands, women travel from all of the UK to benefit from the expertise, support and care delivered by The Gynaecology Clinic Group.

One of the UK’s leading gynaecological consultants, Chris Mann is founder of The Group and selected giraffe for this campaign.  “It was clear that giraffe understood our business and what we wanted to achieve.  They listened to us and put a plan together that intelligently and, I might add cost effectively, met our objectives.”

Because giraffe provides pro bono marketing and PR support to The Prince's Trust in the Midlands, we got to hear about how smart giving by The Mercantile Club has provided The Trust with £11,603 of funding to support young Midlanders. 

The Mercantile Club worked with The Prince’s Trust to double the funds from the recent RAW (Raffle Auction Wine) event through an initiative called The Big Give. 

The Big Give is an annual event where supporters have just hours to double their donation for their chosen charity.

Birmingham-based Ortus Group made a large donation at RAW by placing a winning bid for an original piece of artwork by Willard Wigan. 

As managing director of Ortus, Colin White is also a founder member of the Mercantile Club, “It’s more important than ever that businesses commit to give back to society, be that national charities or local community groups.  By supporting The Prince’s Trust in the Midlands, young people at a very local level benefit from the infrastructure that a national charity can offer.”

Well done all!

Commiserations to those whose name wasn't pulled from the hat, but congrats to Matthew Watkins of Invigour.

Matthew is   the winner of giraffe's 8th birthday prize draw of eight Gold tickets to any VUE cinema.

More than 50 business leaders from across the Midlands today have attended a luncheon to launch youth charity, The Prince’s Trust, Midlands Leadership Group (MLG).  

The MLG is a powerful business network formed by The Trust to raise investment to help local disadvantaged young people back into jobs, education or training.

Companies including PwC, Lloyds Bank, RBS, Bruntwood and Dunstall Estates have already signed as founder members of the MLG.   And, with support from fellow businesses in the Midlands, they are keen to raise as much money as possible to help thousands of unemployed young people across the Midlands.

giraffe provided PR and marketing services to launch the initiative.  Its MD, Sarah Hughes, is also a member of The Trust's Birmingham Development Committee.

To find out more about The Prince's Trust Midlands Leadership Group, contact Jamie Webb at The Prince's Trust by calling 0207 543 1317 or email.

The launch event below shows Jamie Webb of The Prince's Trust, Sarah Hughes of giraffe communications and Nick Venning of PwC.

Google Adwords (also known as pay-per-click) campaigns can be a really effective way to generate leads. What's more, they're equally applicable to business and consumer campaigns.

At giraffe, we like Adwords because it's a proven way of providing 100% track-able results.

But like anything, you need to know what you’re doing. Which is why we offer expert consultancy and management of Adwords campaigns. To find out how your business could benefit, get in touch. Still not convinced? Then take a look at the results we’ve delivered for others.

We know it's still an incredibly tough market out there.  That's why for October and November, we're offering a FREE 2-hour sales strategy review.

We'll meet with you to review your current activity, look at what's already working and provide constructive suggestions to further boost that all important bottom line. All completely confidentially of course.

So if you find your sales aren't hitting the heights predicted, give ur a call or drop us a line.

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?  It seems like only yesterday that we were the young calf in a growing herd of marketing communications agencies.  But here we are, eight years later, and still loving delivering quantifiable results for our clients.

To celebrate, we thought we'd bring a little slice of Hollywood to your doorstep.  So we're offering one lucky person the chance to WIN 8 gold class tickets to their local vue cinema for viewings of their choice.  Gold class tickets are the VIP pass of the cinema world.  They offer a VIP lounge, super-luxurious leather recliners and complimentary popcorn.

Whether you go once with 8 people, or fancy 4 romantic dates, or even 8 solo expeditions, the choice is yours!  And being a national chain, there should be a Vue near you.

To enter, all you need to do is send an email to results@giraffecomms.com with your name and telephone number.  There will be a draw at the end of November 2010, with the lucky winner being emailed and announced on the giraffe website.

With the economic downturn, there's understandably been more pressure than ever, especially on industries such as construction, to batten down the hatches and focus on core business.  But does CSR really have to be costly to implement?  And why should companies bother?  Click on the PDF download below to read Sarah's thoughts.

The reason being that Birmingham will never win it. 

When you look at past winners, Glasgow, Liverpool and Londonderry, it's quite clear that one of the main drivers of the City of Culture is to deliver economic growth to historically greatly depressed economies. 

In a way, we should be grateful that Birmingham didn't win it.  Who wants to be a winner in a race of economic losers? 

What would be even better is that we didn't waste a single more minute or penny on such titles (conservative estimates of the costs for the bid currently total £200k). 

We need to start appreciating that we are, in fact, ALREADY a city of culture. 

We say that we are a 'cultural capital' and a 'global city with a local heart', but do we really believe it if we're having to enter beauty competitions to be nominated as such? 

We don't hear London or Manchester resting their marketing mettle on such awards, so why should we?  Switched on cities such as these realise what to bid for and what not to bid for. 

The city is littered with the ghosts of competitions past: the European Capital of Culture, the recent UK City of Culture, the Millennium Exhibition and the National Stadium are just a few examples.   I'm not saying that we shouldn't enter competitions.  Let's just enter ones appropriate to our status that we have a strong likelihood of winning.

I end by offering my thoughts to the city's hoteliers and leisure marketeers, that the best way to attract visitors to our 'urban shores' is to provide an unbeatable experience whilst here.  And to effectively market what we offer. 

Let's focus on that and not on competitions that we will not and should not win.