Clear Digital are delighted to announce their relocation to Warrington Business Centre, located in the former Liberal Club building dating back to 1913 at the centre of the Bewsey Street Conservation Area.

Having left central Manchester earlier in the year, operations had been handled out of Regus, Manchester Airport, while finding a more permanent home.

Settling in to the new Warrington office, Clear Digital co-founder and Managing Director, Stephen Frater explains:

“As a customer focused business, the ability to reach client premises quickly and efficiently is crucial and geographically Warrington is in the perfect location for servicing the entire North West of England with fantastic links to the wider country.

From my desk I can be in Manchester in 25 minutes, Liverpool in 30 minutes and London in less than 2 hours by train. With the M6 and M62 a short drive away, the likes of Preston, Leeds and Birmingham are all within easy reach. From a logistical perspective, I cannot think of a better location to serve the widest possible customer base.”

The excellent transport links are complemented by free parking immediately outside Warrington Business Centre and we look forward to welcoming visitors to discuss future digital projects.

Get in touch to arrange a good time to chat or alternatively why not take advantage of our completely free, no obligation, Digital Appraisal.

The projects, all visible on the Braintree Council homepage (see image) covered a variety of content areas and used a range of skills:

Green Heart of Essex
Clear Digital implemented a 10 week Social Media Marketing campaign through the months of October and November 2010 which resulted in a 435% uplift in Twitter followers.

Talk of the Towns
In early 2011, Clear Digital took the extremely dry but controversial topic of town planning and created an online solution encompassing a hub website allowing local residents to submit their questionnaire responses directly to the planning team as well as multiple social media channels used for proposed plans video content distribution and residents’ discussion points across the target demographic, even attracting the attention of local boy and X Factor winner Matt Cardle who still follows the campaign on Twitter.

Mi community
Braintree District Council’s latest initiative, to provide £500,000 worth of funding for local improvement ideas was given the Clear Digital treatment in September/October 2011. Taking existing offline assets, Clear Digital were able to put together an appealing website which explained the initiative and incorporated the complex application form using a highly cost effective solution available here.

Praise for Talk of the Towns:

“We are delighted with the Talk of the Towns website, created by Clear Digital. We wanted to complement the traditional approach to consulting people about future plans for their town centre by creating an online equivalent using social media. We love the ability the site has given us to show videos and fly throughs of new development plans via Youtube and to get people talking about the issues and opportunities via Facebook and Twitter. We hope that in this way we can hear the views of people who would not normally visit a road-show or fill out a survey on the street,”

Praise for Mi community:

“Mi Community needed a well designed, highly usable promotional website which would appeal to a wide demographic within the local population.

I am delighted with the initial integration of existing Mi Community branding and offline assets by Clear Digital and am secure in the knowledge that moving forward we have complete in-house control over content using the WordPress CMS.”

To discuss your next digital project, contact us today!

An option to unlock the phone using facial recognition is included as well as a speed boost through a dual core 1.2ghz processor and a massive 4.65inch screen, software versions having replaced previous hardware buttons.

Availability set for November.

The website, which reflects Braintree District Council’s offline assets, gives local residents the opportunity to download the Mi community prospectus before submitting their ideas online.

Claire Thwaites, Marketing & Communications Manager, People & Democracy for Braintree District Council said:

“Mi Community needed a well designed, highly usable promotional website which would appeal to a wide demographic within the local population.

The simplicity of Clear Digital’s approach combined with the significant cost savings of an off the shelf product made this an easy commissioning decision.

I am delighted with the initial integration of existing Mi Community branding and offline assets by Clear Digital and am secure in the knowledge that moving forward we have complete in-house control over content using the WordPress CMS.”

Clear Digital’s Stephen Frater explained:

“This is exactly the type of customer Website Leasing was created for.

The requirements for Mi community were simple and clearly did not require high levels of bespoke design and build. We were able to work together to accurately reflect offline assets within a light, modern design very much reflecting current trends.

Braintree District Council can now update their website content easily using WordPress with the knowledge that hosting has been taken care of for 2 years. We look forward to extending that further in 2013.”

More details of Website Leasing from Clear Digital can be found here.

Clear Digital have pushed live what, on the face of it, looks like a straightforward corporate blog for large format graphic and signage solutions specialists VCG Colourlink.

Looking beneath the surface, though, reveals a content distribution platform especially suited to an organisation with a large amount of visual content situated on site at customer premises.

As Damian Smith, Sales & Marketing Manager for VCG Colourlink explains:

“At VCG Colourlink we needed to feature our Large Format Display projects in a clean, high impact and dynamic way.

I and the rest of the sales & marketing team are delighted with the results.”

You can visit the VCG Colourlink blog here.

To discuss what Clear Digital can do for your organisation, please contact us.

Primarily differentiating from the traditional design and build model by using off the shelf commercially available themes from globally recognised designers, website leasing provides a truly cost effective opportunity for small businesses to maintain a credible web presence.

Website leasing from Clear Digital takes care of domain name registration, hosting, build of the initial website as well as providing ongoing support through instructional videos, while customers can choose to pay Quarterly, Yearly, or Bi-yearly. Once live, customers maintain their own website which is built using the WordPress content management system, the most popular content management system in use today.

Having first tested the process on their own website, www.cleardigital.co.uk, early pre-launch adopters of the new website leasing opportunity include existing Clear Digital client Braintree District Council, who will be benefiting from significant cost savings with a soon to be launched campaign website, and new clients the Wardle Whittell Agency, a leading journalistic agency using website leasing for their first ever corporate information website.

Clear Digital MD Stephen Frater said, “We are looking to bridge the gap between the free/freemium site builder model which, without significant knowledge of design and technical principles, can lead to a less than satisfactory outcome, and bespoke design and build solutions. Initial outlay ranges from £180+VAT to £990+VAT which I believe represents exceptional value for a professionally designed, built, and hosted website.”

Please click here for more details .

For the basis of this experiment, Econsultancy are taking the unusual step of giving away one of their reports for free to non members.

The Internet Marketing Strategy briefing is free to download. It analyses five key current trends: customer centricity, channel diversification, data, social media and content strategy.

This posting is Clear Digital‘s contribution to the experiment and we look forward to hearing how it went.

NB – Econsultancy members are not being incentivised for this!

In 2009, search marketing companies commanded the prime spots at TFMA, last year it was the hosting providers muscling in on the action with hugely expensive exhibition stands providing a Vegas style strip from the entrance right into the heart of Earls Court 2.

For 2011, perhaps budgets were set for this show at the worst moments of the latest recession, but a rather disappointing exhibition saw an explosion of data manipulation service providers taking up the majority of floorspace.

Gone were the huge stands of 2009 and 2010 but the sheer volume of exhibitors within the data space left visitors in no doubt as to this year’s growth area.

Taking into consideration companies with their feet in a number of disciplines, the main areas of interest for exhibitors were:

• Email Marketing (53)
• Digital Marketing (49)
• Social Media / Web 2.0 (34)
• Databases, Data Management Software & Services (30)
• CRM / SaaS (29)
• Campaign Management Software / Marketing Automation (28)
• Multi-channel / Integrated Marketing (28)
• Web Design & Development / Usability (26)
• SEO (25)
• Data Analysis, Mining & Profiling (24)

This year’s exhibition also ran alongside the Online Advertising and Affiliate Expo and the Publishing Expo which further compounded the idea that Technology for Advertising and Marketing had itself not generated sufficient interest to stand alone in the exhibition space.

With Internet World just 2 months away it will be interesting to see if this is a blip or a more significant downturn in these showcase events for the sector.

Launched earlier this month, the website has been developed using Facebook and Twitter integration to maximise communication within the respective communities, encourage conversation, and gauge local opinion of the real development issues facing local communities. Further initiatives to exploit Flickr and Youtube channels, currently used for content hosting, will follow.

Set to run as a six month campaign, users are encouraged to attend public events, appraise planning proposals, respond to incentivised questionnaires, and nominate their favourite local business in the Loving your High Street Awards for a chance to win £150 of shopping vouchers as well as publicity for the winners.

Braintree District Council Marketing and Communications Manager, Claire Thwaites said: “We are delighted with the Talk of the Towns website, created by Clear Digital. We wanted to complement the traditional approach to consulting people about future plans for their town centre by creating an online equivalent using social media. We love the ability the site has given us to show videos and fly throughs of new development plans via Youtube and to get people talking about the issues and opportunities via Facebook and Twitter. We hope that in this way we can hear the views of people who would not normally visit a road-show or fill out a survey on the street,”

Clear Digital Managing Director, Stephen Frater, said of the project: “Working with a Local Authority who are as open to new ideas as Braintree District Council has been fantastic. Budgets are understandably tight at the moment and I’m delighted that we have been able to develop a cost effective solution through our transparent use of freelance talent. We will continue to support Braintree District Council in achieving levels of engagement that will provide a successful output to this worthwhile campaign.”

Clear Digital, launched in 2009, is a specialist digital consultancy and project management agency based in Manchester, UK. Clear Digital works with clients to execute digital projects using a wide network of specialist freelancers and niche agencies while maintaining a digital project manager relationship with the hiring organisation.

Launched in August 2009, Clear Digital has enjoyed a profitable first year with clients including major independent advertising agency BJL, full service digital agency Fast Web Media and London based digital print specialists Objective Image.

Having consolidated the business from incubator space during the first 12 months, Clear Digital jumped at the chance to move to Northern Quarter offices at 22 Lever Street.

Reflecting on Clear Digital’s recent history, Managing Director Stephen Frater said:

“Launching the business in the middle of the worst recession for decades was always going to be a challenge but I received plenty of encouragement, especially from those who had similarly built successful businesses during previously tough times. To turn a profit in year one felt like a great achievement and gave me the confidence to look to the future, starting by turning a temporary office solution into a permanent one with the move to Manchester’s creative centre, the Northern Quarter. I am delighted to be here in this vibrant and inspiring area.”

And thinking about the future:

“Expansion is definitely on the agenda and further engagement with the local digital community to strengthen Clear Digital’s execution offering is key to continued success. For now, as with every other business, it’s about getting new clients on board and doing a good job for them to increase Clear Digital’s reputation in the sector.”

For further information on how Clear Digital can help your business – contact us