Button Bar

Image Credit: Daily Telegraph

Offering a subtle nautical-chic theme, this snug bar is docked on Foveaux Street and is only metres from our office. Their quirky and strong cocktails for Pirates, Land Lovers and Sailors are great for celebrating the end of the week and starting the weekend right. They also have a great selection of cheese and meat share platters to nibble on whilst sipping on your drink in their plush, candlelit booths. Sail over to Button Bar at 65 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. houseofpocket.com.au/bars/button-bar-surry-hills/venue-details

Royal Albert Hotel

Image Credit: Oh, Burger Me!

Royal Albert Hotel is where to go when you need to satisfy your craft beer, handmade pies and dumpling cravings all at once. Pub grub has come a long way and this cosy pub showcases how through their extensive list of craft beers, ales and ciders. But don’t be fooled by their contemporary and pan-Asian menu, the Royal Albert is very much a true local pub with friendly staff and good tunes. You can find the Royal Albert Hotel at 140 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. royalalberthotel.com.au

Tokyo Bird

Image Credit: Tokyo Bird

Tucked away off Commonwealth Street on Belmore Lane, this bar specialises in Japanese whiskeys, sake and beers. What we really love about this place is all the delicious Japanese bar snacks on offer like katsu nuggets with mayo dip, eggplant skewers glazed in sweet miso sauce and pork belly yakitori. This small bar is a little gem in Surry Hills and we’re pretty chuffed to have found it before the rest of Sydney has. Tokyo Bird is located on Commonwealth Street and Belmore Lane, Surry Hills NSW 2010. tokyobird.com.au

Fonzarelli’s

Image Credit: Fonzarelli’s

If you’re in the mood to be transported back in time to the 1950s and live in the era of Happy Days then look no further than Fonzarelli’s, an entire bar inspired by the Fonz. Complete with vintage booths, a jukebox and an original 1950s café racer, the bar creates Happy Days-inspired cocktails like Correctamundo, MF Chachi and Ritchie Valens. After a few of these you might be tempted to get swingin’ on the dancefloor, we don’t blame you. Head on over to Fonzarelli’s at 65/67 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010. fonzarellis.com.au

El Loco at Excelsior

Image Credit: Merivale

Located in the Excelsior Hotel, El Loco is the perfect option for a laid-back lunch or casual after work drinks during the warmer months. This Mexican Cantina offers all the classic street-style Mexican food like tacos, nachos and quesadillas as well as Mexican-inspired hot dogs, burgers and salads. For a lazy Friday arvo after work we would recommend sharing The Jugarita (a cocktail jug) and sitting outside in their tropical garden sanctuary. Discover El Loco at Excelsior at 64 Foveaux Street,k Surry Hills NSW 2010. merivale.com.au/venues/excelsior

If you are interested in our services as an online marketing agency in Sydney, contact us on +61 (02) 9212 3941 or at hello@thebamboogarden.com.au.

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The newly redesigned homepage is the largest change to the app, which aims to separate social from media. This way, chats and stories from people on your friends list will be on a different page from content from brands, publishers and influencers on Snapchat. Previously, everything was on the same page; the new update makes it easier to view content from people you know personally, and differentiates the updates from social media figures and celebrities. Anything with a blue verification tick now has its own section on Snapchat, making it easier to navigate your content and personalise your experience.

(Image: Refinery 29)

Let’s explore all the changes that are coming to the Snapchat app, and see how this could make for a positive impact on users.

Say goodbye to the Stories page

The Stories page as we know it is having a revamp; while the app will still open into the camera, messages with friends and user stories will now live on the brand new Friends page (swipe right). All other content is now on the Discover page (swipe left) and this includes Stories from celebrities, influencers, and people who have verified pages.

Snapchat is using more algorithms

Just like Instagram, Snapchat is now incorporating a new algorithm which is designed to show stories from your friends at the very top of the app. Your friends will be listed in the order that you want to talk to them, so be prepared to see more content which follows your habits on Snapchat.

More original content

The best thing about the new update is that the Discover page is now packed with brand new and original content from creators (beside the traditional publisher content from magazines and blogs). This is a great way to find out about new creators, and familiarise yourself with fresh new content and Stories which otherwise would’ve been hidden in the app! The more content you watch, the better Snapchat will be at providing you with Stories they think you’ll love.

Take advantage of all the new changes on Snapchat, and become a content creator! If you’re looking for a digital agency to help market your business on Snapchat, contact us on (02) 9212 3941 or drop us an email at hello@thebamboogarden.com.au

The post Snapchat Updates You Need To Know appeared first on The Bamboo Garden.

Suzie Q Coffee & Records

Image Credit: Broadsheet

This café has perfectly mastered the music aspect of their space – the tunes are produced by DJ Jordan Deck, keeping things cruisy and pleasant while you enjoy your meal and coffee. While the menu is on the smaller side, it makes up in quality. Suzie Q also know a thing or two about coffee, using balanced blend from Duke Coffee Roasters in Melbourne. Located on Hutchinson Street in Surry Hills, it is a quick but steep walk from our office – and is so worth it.

Suzie Q Coffee & Records
1/18 Hutchinson Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

suzieqcoffee.com.au

Reuben Hills

Image Credit: Phu Tang

Opening in 2012, Reuben Hills is one of Surry Hills’ most intriguing cafes. Owner, Russell Beard opened the café with the sole purpose of making coffee approachable and making it interesting to learn about. These guys mean serious business when it comes to coffee, with downstairs occupied by various filters and brewing tools. On the ground level, beans are roasted for use downstairs as well as being sold wholesale throughout Sydney (we told you they mean business!). With partnerships with coffee farmers all over the world, Reuben Hills not only bring new beans to Sydney, but a lifetime of knowledge about that cup of coffee we love so much.

Rueben Hills

61 Albion Street
Surry Hills NSW 2011

reubenhills.com.au

Kawa

Image credit: Broadsheet

Located on the always-busy Crown Street, this long-running café offers some wonderful country cottage vibes so you can chill out and watch the busy world go by. The menu is famous for being as close to home as possible – with fresh fruit and veg from Alexandria, sourdough from a local bakery and eggs delivered daily from just outside Sydney. If that’s not impressive enough, all pastries and cakes are baked in house as well. Do yourself a favour and go see the lovely people at Kawa, and enjoy a relaxing atmosphere with great food.

Kawa
346-350 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

Single O Café

Image credit: Alana Dimou

Single O (formerly known as Single Origin Roasters) has been around these parts since 2003. Creating beautiful coffee is their speciality, focussing on single origins, espresso and filter brews. This café is quite compact in size; however, the walls are filled with wonderful art, and the outside area is perfect for your coffee catch-ups. Owners Dion and Emma are more than happy to answer any questions you have about coffee, so don’t forget to ask away and treat yourself to some of their current roasts on offer to take home.

Single O Café
60-64 Reservoir Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

singleo.com.au

Two Skinny Pickles

Image Credit: Jiwon Kim

Last, but definitely not least is our favourite window café, Two Skinny Pickles. As a busy PR and Marketing Agency, this is a regular stop for a many of us in the office as it is quick, simple and outrageously good. This small and friendly café sells flavoured kombuchas on tap, healthy smoothies, Five Senses coffee and a home-brewed nitro-coffee blend as well as an always changing selection of sandwiches, tarts and salads in the window. Even if it’s a Monday morning the baristas are always happy to see you! Don’t forget to grab one of their loyalty cards – even more reason for you to keep coming back to this simple and healthy window café.

Two Skinny Pickles

302-306 Elizabeth Street Surry Hills 2010

If you are looking for an online marketing in agency in Sydney, contact us on +61 (02) 9212 3941 or at hello@thebamboogarden.com.au.

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Want to learn how to take the perfect foodie shot for your account? Below are just a few photography tips which will have your posts breaking over 100 likes!

Coffee

If you’re trying to capture a great shot of your cappuccino, opt for a bird’s eye view. Not only will it capture all the colours (and textures) of your drink of choice, but it’ll make the image more vibrant when posted online. In the editing room, don’t forget to turn up the texture – it’ll bring out all those gorgeous tones in your photo, and make that drink look delectable!

Lunch

Oh lunch, my favourite meal of the day! When it comes to capturing the perfect shot, let’s go back to basics. Try to arrange your food neatly, and make sure everything is clean. A bird’s eye view is best if you’re working with a number of different dishes, and you want everything to be in the final shot. Don’t be afraid to stand up, or prop yourself up on a chair to achieve the perfect shot. Just make sure you’re working with the light, and not against it, since this can make or break a photo. Try a variety of angles and shots before you’re satisfied with the pictures you have – then dig in, you’ve deserved it!

Product photography for client Bun Mese

Dinner

Want to master the shot of an evening dinner, but find yourself in a dimly lit restaurant? Not only is this difficult lighting to work with, but it usually means that you’re left with grainy snaps which don’t always translate into high quality pictures. In this case, you’re usually left two options to choose from:

1. Persevere and take the image with natural light – but end up with a barely visible shot of your evening meal. What did we order again?
2. Use the dreaded flash on your phone – which can potentially add too much light to the picture, and blur out the entire meal.

The secret to fantastic lighting is right in your friend’s hand; their phone. Simply coerce a few of your friends to turn on their flashlight and point it in the direction of the food. Then, snap a picture with your phone (no flash included), to get the perfect shot! The light from their phone’s will be enough to mimic natural lighting, and brighten up the entire picture.

Honour the accident

Sometimes accidents happen when photographing food, but don’t feel like the entire shot is compromised, make sure to embrace it. Does it really matter if your slice of cake starts to crumble, or if you’ve accidentally taken a bite out of your croissant?

Sometimes these little details can make the shot look and feel more relatable.

Restaurant photography for client Masala Darbar

Take a few shots

Don’t be afraid to take a few different shots of your food or drink. Test with different angles and make sure you have enough options before digging in – I promise, it’s worth the wait! It’s always better to have more images to choose from, than just a select few which might not translate well online.

We hosted an exclusive launch event for influencers at the opening of Chur Burger Sydney Airport

Choose props carefully

Play around with the things you want to present in your image, and feel free to add something to give it your own personal touch. Sunglasses, cardholders, and keys are an easy way to personalise your snap in seconds!

Out of ideas? Leave it to us! If you are interested in our services as a Food PR agency in Sydney, simply contact us today on (02) 9212 3941 or send us an email.

The post How To Take Good Instagram Food Photos appeared first on The Bamboo Garden.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New takes on a classical cuisine is attracting the attention of foodies in Surry Hills to the recent opening of Masala Darbar, a refined Indian restaurant renowned for its take on the traditional.

Located centrally on Cleveland Street, Masala Darbar serves an extensive and fully traditional Indian menu. With more than 15 types of dosa on the menu, the popular crispy thin crepe made with rice and lentil or semolina batter is elevated from sweet to savoury. Their most popular dosas include a sumptuous potato masala dosa, a delicately thin and flaky ghee roast dosa, and the Mysore dosa which offers a punchy kick with a spicy garlic and chilli paste spread within the crepe.

The authentic menu maintains a personal connection for Masala Darbar’s resident chef, Subramani Kandhasamy. In particular, the fragrant crab masala hails from the Chettinadu region of Tamil Nadu, the hometown of Masala Darbar’s head chef. A whole blue swimmer crab is cooked in a flavourful gravy of ground spices, combined with a dash of coconut milk, and topped with curry leaves. While it’s traditionally only served on special occasions, Masala Darbar aims to make these traditional, home-cooked dishes accessible to everyone.

Head Chef, Subramani Kandhasamy’s international career and exposure to various local Indian cuisines has helped to develop a mastery over the variety of dishes in India, be it Mughlai Cuisine from Delhi, Chettinad cuisine from Tamil Nadu, the coastal cuisine of Kerala, Goa and Mangalore, or Brahmin cuisine from Palakkad. The set menu is a great starting point to explore just some of the delectable dishes that Masala Darbar has to offer.

“It is in understanding cultures and their dishes that a chef can bring diversity to the table,” said Mr. Kandhasamy, “We pride ourselves on giving tradition a flair.”

Known for its quality, Masala Darbar is any Indian cuisine lover’s new favorite location for lunch and dinner. Traditional food with a modern look and a new take on the authentic, Masala Darbar is serving wholesome Indian cuisine with distinguishable twist!

– ENDS –

About Masala Darbar

With over 46 years of experience, it is not hard to see where Masala Darbar gets its expertise. Head Chef Subramani Kandhasamy, started his training in 1971 at the ‘Hotel Woodlands Drive-In’ in Chennai City, India. He relocated to Bombay City in 1981 and began a career in 5-star, hotel dining. He has served numerous notable individuals including Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi (member of the Indian parliament), famous singer S.P Balasubramaniam, the former Prime Minister of India P.V Narasimha Rao, and former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa.

In 1997, Subramani relocated to Sydney, Australia where he worked in various restaurants within the community. Finally in 2008, he opened Sri Annapoorna Indian Restaurant in Liverpool, catering to vegan and vegetarian customers.

Subramani Kandhasamy is very well respected amongst the Indian Community in Australia. As an avid member of not-for-profit Friends of India Australia for the past 18 years, he caters for over 4000 people at their annual event, Ganeshotsava which traditionally marks 12 days of celebrations, and is also often community members’ choice of caterer for events and weddings.

Masala Darbar is currently open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday through to Sunday 11am-10pm.

MASALA DARBAR: 460 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Bookings: (02) 9310 4106

The post Introducing Masala Darbar: Authenticity With A Twist appeared first on The Bamboo Garden.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

An elegant experimental restaurant in South East Sydney is hosting complimentary dinners every Wednesday for anyone in Sydney who serves the community. Little Hutong is a Modern Asian Fusion restaurant located just 14km from the CBD, nestled in Little Bay. It wants to give back to the community of hard working people who devote every day to keeping Sydneysiders safe.

“One of the principles of our restaurant has always been to serve good food to our locals and patrons,” says co-founder, Robert Fong. “What we’re doing here (with the Guan Yin Community Dinners) is to extend that philosophy of giving something small back to all those who serve our community, to savour and enjoy our special cuisine here at Little Hutong. The free dinners are a simple, small gesture for these individuals to be appreciated by good food and drink, to relax, socialise and enjoy our refined cuisine.”

Launching under the slogan, “Serving Those Who Serve Us”, those invited to the weekly Guan Yin Community Dinners include (but are not limited to) police, firefighters, state emergency services, nurses, Aboriginal Health College workers, social workers, aged carers, college workers, paramedics, correctional officers, and Sydney life savers.

“We’ve been here over two years now and can’t imagine leaving. The Prince Henry community and Little Bay is a slice of Heaven on Earth, and in addition to expressing our thanks and appreciation to all those brave, hardworking individuals that keep us safe, we’d also like to share with them this close-knit community and awesome location. After 2.5 years, I think it’s time we gave a little back to those that at times have the toughest jobs in the world, by doing what we do best: food,” adds Natasha Rob, Little Hutong’s Restaurant Manager. “And under the superb craftsmanship of Head Chef Ryan (Rivero), they’re in good hands!”

Community workers will be treated to a rotating menu of Modern Asian cuisine, with some of Little Hutong’s signature dishes including: Crispy Pork Belly, Penang Char Koay Teow, Japanese Slow Braised Pork Belly, Stir Fried Cantonese Noodles and Curry Laksa – just to name a few.

The Guan Yin Community Dinners are associated with compassion and generosity (from Guan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy and Compassion), and will feature an authentic fusion of Penang, Japanese, Chinese and Peranakan meals combined with Western culinary techniques, methods and ingredients to bring exquisite meals to the entire Sydney community.

Little Hutong is known for its avant-garde South East Asian cuisine influenced by global travel and food trends from across the world. Their commitment to culinary innovation has led to Little Hutong’s diverse menu, with new dishes available every three months.

– ENDS –

Guan Yin Community Dinners

The Guan Yin Community Dinners are available every Wednesday between 5:30pm-9:00pm from 25 October 2017. Qualified community workers will receive one complimentary meal and drink. The complimentary dinners are available on a first come first serve basis until stock runs out.

Sample Menu (subject to periodic change):

Thai Green Curry Fish Rice Set
Soy Ginger Chicken Rice Set
Ayam Masak Merah Rice Set
Pork Belly Rice Set
Char Siu Rice Set
Mee Siam / Bihun Goreng
Stir Fried Cantonese Noodles
Thai-Style Fried Rice
Oriental Chicken Stew
Penang Char Koay Teow
Buta No Kakuni Rice Set
Nasi Lemak Rice Set
Curry Laksa
Won Ton Noodles
Mixed Veggies with Chicken Rice Set

About Little Hutong

Little Hutong is inspired by ‘hutongs’, which were the traditional alleyways formed in ancient Chinese courtyard residences. In these alleys, traditional Chinese recipes, tastes and cooking styles were created and therefore the restaurant symbolises the rich traditional cooking and socialising culture of China.

Founded by two foodies passionate in global travel and its cuisines, they choose unique tastes, flavours and ingredients and fuse them with experimental cooking styles to create a modern approach to South-East Asian inspired meals which truly fulfils the palette and satisfies the soul, and not just looks pretty on a plate with a hefty price tag.

Co-founders Robert Fong and Lukie Ali, Restaurant Manager Natasha Rob and Head Chef Ryan Rivero are local residents of the Little Bay area, and are thrilled to launch the Guan Yin Community Dinners as a social initiative to show appreciation to those that give so much to the community and keeps us safe and secure.

Under the guidance of Head Chef Ryan Rivero, who has more than 20 years’ experience across a vast range of Asian, French, American, Continental and Mediterranean cuisines. Ryan’s varied experience across South East Asian wok cooking, East Asian techniques and Western cuisines makes him a perfect fit for Little Hutong’s aspirational, inventive and innovative Modern Asian cuisine.

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The Bamboo Garden has been shortlisted as a finalist to win two awards in the Media, Marketing and Advertising Business Of The Year category and Young Business Leader Of The Year category at the 2017 Optus My Business Awards, the premier event of the year for SMEs.

Founded in 2010, The Bamboo Garden offers online marketing & PR services to brands across Australia and internationally. It has particularly strong relationships with Google as a certified Google Partner and specialises in online advertising management as well as content creation and influencer/media outreach.

The Optus My Business Awards, which covers 28 categories, acknowledges best practice within a particular industry sector, as well as individual business leaders, excellence in customer service and achievements in innovation, corporate social responsibility and workplace culture.

Winners from all categories will be automatically shortlisted for the highly coveted Business of the Year Award.

Adam Zuchetti, editor of My Business, said Australian SMEs are at the leading edge of innovation and customer service excellence, as represented by this year’s Optus My Business Awards finalists.

“My Business is extremely proud to showcase those companies and their leaders that are thriving by pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo across a diverse spectrum of industries,” Mr Zuchetti said.

“Determining this year’s finalists was no easy feat, with our selection panel working through an outstanding calibre of entries and the highest submission rate for the awards to date.

“On behalf of the My Business team, I would like to congratulate all of this year’s finalists and wish them the best of luck for the big night.”

Jennifer Lam, Managing Director at The Bamboo Garden said she was both humbled and honoured by the nomination.

“We are extremely excited to be recognised for our contribution to the online marketing industry. We put great emphasis on the culture within The Bamboo Garden so this is a great celebration of our team’s hard work and our agile approach in assisting our clients to nurture more leads” she added.

The winners will be announced at a black tie awards dinner on Friday, 10 November at The Westin Sydney.

You can read more about the awards here.

The post The Bamboo Garden finalist for prestigious Optus My Business Awards appeared first on The Bamboo Garden.

Operating a business requires business owners to put on many hats. It’s all too easy to get lost in the daily juggle and put off strategic long-term planning (working ‘on’ the business). Stop and think about all the different business hats you’ve had to wear this past week. How many of them utilise your strengths? Where are you having fun? What are your weaknesses, and what gaps do you need to fill?

Specifically, in marketing, some of the hats you may need to wear include:

• Marketing Manager – developing strategic brand campaigns and advertising strategies as well as overseeing all marketing activities
• Advertising Specialist – planning, preparing, developing and optimising advertising campaigns; either offline or online, sometimes this may be quite specialised in terms of managing Google Adwords, Facebook Advertising, etc
• Social Media Manager – creating, curating and managing all published content plus monitoring, listening and responding to followers
• Content Producer – auditing, designing, developing and publishing content in a variety of mediums
• Publicist – managing all media relations and generating media coverage
• Graphic Designer – creating visual concepts that inspire, inform or problem-solve, this may include advertisements, competition graphics, branding initiatives, etc
• SEO Specialist – analysing, reviewing and implementing website changes to help gain greater visibility with search engines, as well as managing content strategy, link building, keyword strategy etc
• Web Designer – creating and maintaining the look & feel of a website, the layout, content and features

Deciding to hire a full-time resource or outsource to an agency can be challenging. Here are signs you should consider hiring in-house:

• Access to workplace culture/brand values and insider knowledge
  It can be difficult to cultivate a positive workplace culture, let alone to be able to articulate it to an external agency. If your culture is a critical component of your brand, you may find that having an in-house person who can hear and see changes in the business and collaborate across departments, is the fastest way for them to ‘get it’.
• Product expertise
  Unless you’re using the product or service day in, day out, and you’re directly liaising with the customer service teams, it can be challenging to transfer product knowledge to an external company.
• Time-sensitivity
  In certain industries, speed, timeliness and responsiveness are critical make-or-break scenarios. For example, if your business is entirely online, you may need to invest more in social media community management to ensure you have the resources to manage any sales enquiries or complaints promptly before it escalates.

Conversely,

• Flexibility and access to diverse skill sets; opportunity to learn from highly qualified and experienced marketers
  Recruitment and training can be a lengthy and costly exercise, that’s in addition to software licences and various employee overhead costs. Depending on the size of your campaigns, your marketing channels and budgets, it may not be viable to hire an in-house expert for every skill set. Most experienced agencies will have a proven track record with experienced professionals so you can hit the ground running.
• External perspective
  One of the most underrated benefits of having an external agency is being about to bounce ideas off them and also be able to validate certain business and marketing decisions. With this, comes fresh ideas without any internal biases that may influence your strategies and tactics. A good agency will be able to conduct a deep-audit to truly understand your product/service positioning, competitive landscape and identify areas for improvement.
• Cost effectiveness
  With a marketing agency working across multiple clients, you’ll get instant access to a team of seasoned professionals who can work more efficiently and effectively. The value this brings would typically be equivalent to hiring 2 – 3 individuals you can utilise on retainer without having to worry about any on-going overheads and HR hassles. The cost comparison of an agency retainer may be to hire an entry-level professional in-house but how productive will they be if you’re having to deploy them to other tasks that don’t fall within their skill set?

Ultimately, there’s no right or wrong method to scaling your business. You may not even have to make an all-or-nothing decision. For example, an agency can manage the strategy and ideation and an in-house team can look after the execution of these strategies.

Furthermore, while marketing plays a fundamental role at the start of the sales funnel, the success of this will come down to the creative brief you give to the in-house team or agency. Before you take any action, make sure to take a step back and actually define your business and marketing objectives and goals. As my favourite quote (by Peter Drucker) goes, “what gets measured gets done”.

The post Building Your Online Marketing Team: Hiring In-House Versus Outsourcing To An Agency appeared first on The Bamboo Garden.

The Bamboo Garden has been very fortunate over the years to work with some amazing clients; the privilege of that is being able to shape and grow our clients’ business and see first-hand, the positive impact this has on their customers.

We believe life is not just a straight line; there are ups and downs and the same could be said for businesses. You improve, you grow and then there will be periods of decline, you change and you improve and grow again. The cycle repeats.

At The Bamboo Garden, we are always on the lookout for ways to improve and grow. We look at our numbers to help us grow. We are also a firm believer on what doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done.

So, measurements. What should you measure, why is it important and what does it mean?

In this article, we’ll take a look at Google Analytics. The starting point for any business is driving traffic to your website (and if you don’t have a website – call us immediately! You need to get a website, it’s 2017!).

Google Analytics is a powerful free tool that can provide you a great deal of insights from who the visitors are, their gender, demographics, interests, location, and what device was used to visit your site, through to how they navigate your site, how long they spent on each page and the page they last viewed before dropping off.

Let’s compare this to a retail shop; would a salesperson be able to get all that information? Maybe, but it will be a wild guess. Or maybe a TV commercial, who is really that program or that ad? What are they like? Again, maybe, but it will be a wild guess.

As you can see, Google Analytics is a very powerful and the more you can pull apart the numbers, the better. As they say, numbers can tell a story and it can tell a story about your business.

What you should measure

Audience – number of users

The first thing you want to know is the audience numbers, how many people are visiting your website? What is the trend? Is the number of visitors going up or down?

If it’s going up, why? What have you done that is driving traffic to the website? Are you running a Facebook campaign or maybe you are running some Google ads?

If it’s going down, why? We’ll look at the why as you drill further down and look at other behaviours and patterns.

Acquisition – All Traffic – Channels

Next you’ll want to have a look at where the people are coming from. As you can see on the left, traffic on this website was mainly driven by organic search, second was direct traffic from people whom either typed in the URL or had it saved as a bookmark. Third was from social. You can drill into each channel for greater detail. Is more social traffic coming from Facebook or Instagram?

With this statistic, it can help guide your marketing approaches. Should you do more Search Engine Optimisation to increase even more organic search or should you run a Facebook campaign to drive more traffic from social?  From the above numbers, there is definitely a lot of opportunities to increase social following and in turn get more website visits from social media.

Behaviour – Site Content – All Pages

You’ll also want to find out the most popular pages that your visitors are going into. Are people seeing the promotion’s page or are they spending more time on the About Us page? It’s always worthwhile looking at the average time spent on page and bounce rate (people visiting the page without browsing any other page and leaving your website) to assess if the right people are visiting your website and/or if you’re providing relevant information.

Behaviour – Events – Overview

If you have PDF fact sheets or something that your customers can download, you’ll want to track the number of times it has been downloaded. You’ll first need to setup each individual item with an event tag within Google Analytics (more details on this in a later post). Once that is setup, you’ll be able to view the number of downloads/action that has been undertaken.

Conversions

Whether you have an E-Commerce website or not, you’ll want to setup goals and conversions on your website. This will allow you to quickly look at the numbers that meet a particular goal that you’ve sets. You can set goals such as, number of people who viewed more than 3 pages or number of people that submitted a quote request. For example, if you know how much each request for a quotation is worth to your business, you’ll be able to calculate the value of each lead online.

Who are your audience?

Who is your audience? What do they like? What time do they visit your website? If you know the answers to questions such as this, you’ll be able to plan a marketing strategy that will be effective and targeted. Under the Audience section of Google Analytics, you’ll be able to find out the answer to these questions and more.

Some things that you will be able to find out include:

• Demographics: Age, Gender
• Interests: What your audience is interested in, music? Sport?
• Location and Language: City and language they use to browse the web
• Behaviour: New visitor vs Returning visitor, how often they visit and for how long
• Technology: What internet browser are they using and what Operating System (eg Windows, Android, IOS)
• Mobile: What device are they using to browse your website. E.g. Mobile, Desktop or Tablet?

I hope this gives you an introduction to the power of Google Analytics; we’ve only skimmed the surface and in our upcoming posts we’ll drill down further into the more complex functions that can be used within Google and various social media platforms. Our main aim is to help your business succeed and grow, so hopefully this helps that little bit.

If you have any questions or need assistance with your Google Analytics, do drop us a line.

The post Why you should care about the numbers appeared first on The Bamboo Garden.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 2016

Cheese makes everything taste better, so a tart made up of three different types of time-honoured cheeses, freshly baked on-site daily is a compelling proposition.

Inspired by the distinct cheesy taste of Hokkaido dairy, and using a traditional recipe from Japan’s dairy heartland, it is not surprising that the famed ‘Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart’ has been a huge hit throughout Asia having successfully launched in Shanghai, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia. After tireless taste testing using local ingredients, the Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart has succeeded in recreating a Hokkaido cheese flavour perfectly.

The Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart is now set to become an Australian favourite with the ST Group planning to open four stores in Melbourne by the end of December, and will soon be opening their first store in Sydney on Friday 23rd December 2016 at World Square, with plans to open more stores in Sydney in the future.

Well known for its high quality dairy products, the island of Hokkaido produces 50% of Japan’s total milk and 90% of Japan’s natural cheese. Not surprisingly, cheese, yoghurt and ice cream are specialties of the island of Hokkaido. The original Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart stores first launched in Malaysia in mid-2016. Demand ran hot – and now the legendary Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart stores sell up to 20,000 cheese tarts per day.

Priced at $3.90 each for a sizable 4-inch tart, the Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart is famous for its richness and creaminess with a distinct, savoury/sweet taste.

The appeal of the Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart is its combination of a crunchy, shortcrust base and fluffy filling, with a deliciously cheesy aroma.

Tantalising and versatile, the Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart can be eaten at room temperature, chilled or piping hot and fresh from the oven.

Designed by EAT Architects, Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart kiosks boast a compact, luxury aesthetic, featuring marble benchtop displays and low slung designer lighting. The Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts will be displayed like precious gems, much like an elegant high-end jewellery shop.

ST Group Managing Director, Tatt Ghee Saw says; ‘The ST Group love to champion the very best Asian delights and new tastes into the Australian market. We live in a multicultural society that is continually evolving, and of course our palate and cuisine preferences are evolving alongside this. At ST Group we are passionate about sharing the foods that we love in South East Asia with the Australian market.”

About the ST Group
Established in 2011, thriving food enterprise ST Group was founded by now 36-year-old entrepreneur Tatt Ghee Saw. Of Malaysian decent, Tatt Ghee Saw recognised the need for comforting cultural eateries, much like the popular hawker’s markets and corner laksa stores of his native Kuala Lumpur.

PappaRich was launched in QV, Melbourne to great acclaim – and long, patient queues. Jump forward to 2016 and PappaRich has grown into a major franchise enterprise with 26 stores throughout Australia and New Zealand.

With the mission of ‘absolute growth’, ST Group is well on the way to achieving this with a total of 50 stores by the end of 2016, including 5 brands; PappaRich, NeNe Chicken, Gong Cha (New Zealand only), iDarts Australia and soon, Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts.

ST Group has a staff force close to 200 employees and have an annual turnover of around $30m which is growing at (15% per annum.)

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