How to create a successful marketing campaign: Seal of royal approval for the coronation.

How to create a successful marketing campaign: Seal of royal approval for the coronation.

The latest in our irregular series looking at successful marketing campaigns and how you can create your own winning promotion.

With less than a week until the coronation of King Charles III, the shops are full of every kind of product you can imagine to commemorate this historic occasion. It seems like almost every brand has thought of a way to show their patriotism. And you might need access to the privy purse to afford some of the products. Here we look at some of the products, who has got the royal connection right, and who should be heading to the Tower?

All the usual suspects have special wares just for the coronation; think Marks and Spencer, Fortnum and Mason, Emma Bridgewater, and Sainsbury’s – all the usual Great British retailers.

Marks and Spencer has everything from soap and moisturiser to light-up cushions. And of course, there are special Colin the Caterpillars! What national event could pass without a special Colin?

Sainsbury’s has various special items including their Coronation Ale; brewed in England of course and apparently with a biscuit flavour.

Talking of biscuits, it seems every retailer has a special biscuit set and tin to commemorate the occasion. McVitie’s has its Coronation Commemorative Biscuit Selection, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, and Fortnum and Mason have their own too. But if you fancy a fancy biscuit then don’t miss the Biscuiteers King Charles III coronation biscuits and tin.

As well as biscuits, John Lewis has developed a special cocktail for the occasion: Kocktail King Charles III Coronation Crown Martini. The Crown Martini is ready mixed, requiring no effort to celebrate. The drink includes Hepple gin, dry vermouth, elderflower liqueur, rhubarb, cucumber, and rose tea. A perfectly British mix.

Fortnum and Mason have a veritable smorgasbord of items to buy. Starting at £8.95 for their Coronation Chocolate Coin Tin up to their King of Picnics hamper for £500!

Kingsmill bread has released special packaging for the coronation and Pimm’s has its special No.1 Cup Coronation Edition.

And non-food items also include pottery gifts from Emma Bridgewater and clothes from Cath Kidston and Joules. Or how about a puzzle from Goviers; something to keep you entertained during the coronation service.

So, as you can see there’s plenty on offer but which of these warrant the Royal Warrant, and how you can take advantage of these for your organisation?

Be relevant

The best of these products are the ones that have a clear link to the coronation or are clearly ‘British’. So the soap and moisturiser set from Marks and Spencer seems a bit tentative. But the Kingsmill bread and Pimms all hit the right note. What about your organisation is really British? Play up those connections. For example, if your development charity works in every country of the commonwealth shout about that and show how all over the world people are celebrating their new Head of State.

Be exclusive

A winery in Sussex is offering a limited-edition sparkling wine, with only 1,000 available. Products like these are great; exclusivity makes the product desirable. How can you create exclusivity? Perhaps the first 100 donors receive a special gift or invitation to an event. For example, a conservation charity could plant a tree in its coronation wood for each person who donates before the Monday 8 May, and put their name on a plaque at the entrance to the wood.

Be useful

Many of the coronation products work well because they are useful. People up and down the country will be celebrating this weekend, so food and drinks will always work well. Especially at street parties when people want to show off to the Joneses. How can your organisation be useful? Perhaps a charity working in mental health could offer a blog on coping with the coronation weekend and the effect it may have on mental health?

Be long lasting

One of the reasons things like biscuit tins are so popular is that as well as the collectability of them, they are long-lasting. Many people still have tins from the late Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation and even her father’s coronation. And they are still being used to store cash, receipts, buttons, and a plethora of other household items. How can your organisation demonstrate its longevity? What product or service can you release to mark the coronation? Perhaps a new fund, award, or scholarship?

It’s not too late to create a product or service or even just write a blog that links to the news-worthy coronation just follow these four tips to make sure what you create hits the mark and drives your organisation objectives too.

So, tell us, how is your organisation celebrating the coronation?

Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition: Preparing for the unexpected. Crisis Communications for small organisations

I’ll admit it: I’m a bit weird. In a number of ways but particularly in that crisis communications is one of my favourite areas of PR. I mean, obviously, it’s horrible when something awful happens and I’ve hated to see any organisations I’ve worked for or with going through difficult times but what I do love is preparing for a crisis. It seems I’m in a minority though and many people don’t enjoy this?! The hard fact is that every organisation needs to do it. Because you do not want to be facing a crisis unprepared. Figuring out who you need to contact, who will be affected, what you should be telling customers and the wider world, and how to keep parts of the organisation that absolutely cannot shut down going is not what you want to be figuring out while dealing with emergency services. But fear not, bury your head in the sand no longer because here is your guide to preparing for the unexpected. We’ve even put together a free resource you can use to get planning.

Getting started

It is more than understandable if you do dread thinking about a crisis and how your organisation would cope. But let’s start by getting the hardest part out of the way first. What is the worst thing that could happen? Yes, we need to go to that dark place and think about all the truly awful things that could happen. I mean death, destruction, dismembering the whole shebang. Don’t hold back. Remember if you don’t plan for it you can’t protect against it. But also, don’t forget the small things like lost keys, laptops and phones, sickness, and even road work. Anything that could cause your organisation to have to stop normal activities for any extended period of time or could give your customers or stakeholders a reason to take to social media to complain.

Once you have your list, try to group some of the scenarios. For example, your organisation may have these groups: premises issues (no electricity, water leak, lost keys, etc), staff issues (sickness, lateness, legal issues, complaints against them, etc), customer issues (contagious sickness outbreak, injury, death, complaints, etc).

Now going through your list and rate what would be awful and what would be inconvenient. For the majority of the inconvenience, you will be able to deal with these on a day to day basis. But it’s still worth having a plan for these. This crisis comms plan will help with that but make sure you have a business continuity plan in place. If you want help or advice in creating this please contact us, we can help or put you in touch with organisations who can help you devise and test your plan.

Preparing for the unexpected

The next thing to do is think about what you would do in these scenarios. Who will be affected? Who would you need to contact? Do you have their contact details? How will you keep everyone affected safe and what provisions for their welfare do you have? How will you contact those who are affected? Remember at this point you may not have all your usual equipment and colleagues etc. What are the critical parts of your organisation that must keep going and how do you prepare for that? What members of staff from non-critical areas of the organisation can be redeployed or drafted elsewhere to help? Or if you are a very small organisation, who could you ask to support you?

What will you say?

Now you know whom you need to contact you need to know what to say to them. We Are Comma can help with drafting some basic messages which can be tailored to the situation when a crisis occurs. At this point, though you need to bring your AA game – acknowledge the disruption or issue, apologise for any inconvenience, reassure that you’re working to fix things, and will give updates as soon as you can. Do not give too much detail. Do not speculate. Be sensitive and take control. As with all messaging think about things from the audience’s point of view. Yes, something may be an absolute disaster for you but it may not have a huge impact on your customers. Don’t downplay anything either. I admit it’s difficult to get the right balance and it does take years of experience to get messages out sensitively in a way that creates the impact you want and doesn’t have unintended consequences. My advice is to have a comms person on your emergency contact list. Even if they don’t work directly for you, just having someone you trust who can sense check what you intend to send out is very worthwhile.

Springing into action

Then have a plan for getting the message out. Make sure you can access your social media channels, that you can update your website, and be able to get to your email marketing systems. Think about images and not just words at this point. For example, a company that has to make redundancies and lets the world know about it with a photo of the chief executive smiling is asking for negative media coverage. Likewise, when organisations have to announce sad or difficult news, they may choose to change their logo to a black and white version and tone down their cheery brand. Remember not all crises will need these things but they are things to think about and have in place, just in case.

Getting the message out well can be a great thing for a brand, even if the news they are getting out is awful. If you can show you are taking control and learning from mistakes and moving on. You can even grow trust in your organisation, so don’t only view situations like this as a negative but potentially an opportunity to show the very best side of your people and who you are.

Preparing for the worst

Now think about all the negative things people – particularly journalists – could say about your organisation and operations as a result of the situations you brainstormed. Safeguarding, checks, security, planning, and every area of your organisation could be under the spotlight. It goes without saying your organisation needs to have all these contingencies in place and up to date etc. But you need to spend time thinking about what negative or difficult to answer questions you might face. Questions like “Why did this happen?” “Aren’t you supposed to be making sure X is safe?” “How can people ever trust your organisation again?”. These are not easy to face but are an important part of planning. Again, having a trusted, yet critical friend can be really helpful.

Review and revise

At this point, you should be starting to feel empowered and able to take on any issue life throws at your organisation. But that’s not the end. Make sure you have all of this safely stored but accessible by the relevant people in your organisation. But don’t let it gather dust. Regularly (once a year or when you change operations, areas of work, etc) get the plan out and go through it again. What’s changed? What needs to be updated? Depending on the size of your organisation, it may even be worth testing the plan. We Are Comma can help you with that.

Keep calm and carry on

If you do experience a crisis then you will be glad you put so much time into planning while you are dealing with trying to keep your organisation going. At that point, you’ll also have to look at other ‘moving parts’ for example how something relatively minor can become a national news story because it fits in with other topical issues of the day. And don’t forget once the crisis has passed and you’re in the recovery stage to debrief, review and evaluate.

See, that wasn’t so painful, was it? In fact, it may even have taken a load off your shoulders that you didn’t know was there.

So tell us, how many crisis scenarios have you come up with?

You can find out about We Are Comma, who we are, and the services that we offer on the website. Or to start a conversation you can email hello@wearecomma.com or use the contact form.

Pics courtesy of Adobe Stock and Motion Array.

Get noticed on Google

Pics courtesy of Adobe Stock

How to respond to a bad review

You probably already know the value of an online review. Satisfied customers sharing what they love about your organisation, services, and products helps attract new customers and gives them the confidence to buy or try. It’s a great way to grow your organisation. And it also helps with search engine optimisation (SEO) as Google and its ilk love to see real people taking the time to share their experiences. So the more reviews your organisation has the higher up the Google rankings you will go – without spending more on marketing. It’s a win, win. But what do you do if you get a bad review?

The first thing to say is if your organisation is doing well and you have happy customers, you’re meeting the targets you set yourself then you probably won’t get many or any bad reviews. But you may get a rogue one. And how you respond to that is going to make all the difference to your reputation – not the review itself.

Let’s imagine you run a social enterprise café. You employ young people, who have no qualifications and perhaps have struggled so far in life, to give them skills and experience in the hospitality industry while they also complete training courses at college. Your café is at the heart of your community and on the whole, your customers are happy. But one day you get a review that says:

“Rude customer service, long wait, and inedible food. I would never go here again and certainly would not recommend it. I understand that they are trying to do good things but I think the staff are not ready to be in the real world serving and making food. Great idea but don’t go there if you actually want an enjoyable lunch”.

Your heart sinks. Your mind races. Who was it? Have there been any complaints? What happened? Have the staff seen this? Are they upset? Then your fight or flight kicks in. At this point, you need to stop and take a deep breath. Don’t do anything at all yet. Responding to a bad review quickly and while you are in this mindset will not help. Instead, make yourself a drink or do a small task to distract yourself.

Then come back to the review. But start inside the café. Ask staff if they are aware of any recent complaints? At the same time, reassure staff – let them know you are happy and this is just one person who was probably having a bad day. Remind them of good reviews. Set the tone for the response – try not to take it personally; although it feels like an attack on you, your people, and your business. Reassure them that you will deal with this complaint, they don’t need to do anything.

Nobody knows of any unhappy customers so you set to work on a response. You could respond to each point, explaining why you think they are wrong and that if they had a problem they should have spoken up at the time. But you’ll probably come across as defensive and perhaps aggressive. And who would want to eat in a café with that kind of atmosphere?

Instead, here are three key things to include in your response:

1. Apology
   Even if you don’t feel like it or don’t feel it is needed, this is not about you it’s about how the complainant feels so apologise. You don’t have to admit fault. You can say something like “I am sorry that your experience fell short of your expectations.”
2. Email
   As quickly as you can, take this complaint out of view of everyone else. It might be a good idea to have an email address that you use just for these sorts of occasions. You can say something along the lines of: “I would value hearing more about your experience so I can investigate. Feedback always helps us improve. Perhaps you could email me at customers@ourcafe.co.uk.”
3. Reassurance
   This is your chance to defend, humble brag, and big up your team. Use this as an opportunity to talk about why many of your customers return and the good experiences they have. You might like to show your team you are proud of them, perhaps try: “I am really proud of the team we have here at Our Café. They have all overcome adversity to be here and are working hard to build better futures for themselves. Like many of us, they are still learning but I know each of them would be upset to know they had missed the mark. Each week we serve more than 200 customers who receive yummy drinks, snacks and meals, within the time frame performance mark which we set ourselves, served with great customer service. Many of our customers who return on a weekly basis tell us they do because they love the atmosphere we provide too.”

This kind of response shows other readers that reviews are listened to and acted on. That customer service matters to you. That customers matter to you.

Turning a negative into a positive

And if the complainant does take the time to email you, make sure you respond and continue in a timely, courteous manner. Try to get to the bottom of their complaint. If you need to take action, take it and let them know. Thank them for their feedback. And if you get to a good footing, you could even invite them back to try and change their mind. It is possible to turn a negative review into a positive for your organisation.

How often do you check your online reviews? Has this article helped you feel prepared for dealing with reviews in the future?

If you want help with setting up your online reviews, any aspect of your organisation’s online presence or reputation, We Are Comma can help. Email hello@wearecomma.com. You can also find out more about the services we offer by visiting the What We Offer page on the website.

Pic courtesy of Adobe Stock

The Good hour

Time is precious, we must use it wisely. We think one of the wisest uses of time is to help others.  That is why we are offering an hour of our time each month to benefit a not for profit, charity or community interest company. Any organisation which does good for others and the world can benefit from an hour of our time.

Do you know an organisation which could do with some design help? Perhaps a charity needs advice on its website so it can reach more donors? Maybe there’s a local organisation which is putting on an event and needs help spreading the word? Would an audit help a community organisation know where to devote its time and effort for marketing? Whatever the marketing, PR, communications or strategic need we will donate one hour to help.

Nominate now by emailing hello@wearecomma.com.

We can’t wait to get started and we’ll be sharing more on what we’ve done to help organisations over the coming months.

You can find out about the services we can offer by visiting the What we offer section of our website.

Pics courtesy of Adobe Stock

New Year, new clients

Not sure how it is already more than one month into 2022 but here we are. Towards the end of last year, I wrote a piece explaining our team had grown in 2021. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to write about the new clients we have been fortunate to work with in 2021.

Our new clients joined our collection of organisations that we produce a range of marketing, communications and design assignments for. We are very fortunate to be able to work on such interesting, diverse and exciting projects. One week we will be producing a new website, the next an animation and the following a range of social media posts. It keeps our creative juices flowing.

We had a number of return clients in 2021, including Shaw Trust and Ambiental Risk. Shaw Trust asked us to help with their annual Power 100 publication and their safeguarding report. Ambiental asked us to produce a new promotional animation for them.

Support goes both ways so as well as the services we always provide for our clients, we try to go above and beyond to add extra value and when we can provide favours. We believe in what our clients are trying to achieve and usually have to rein ourselves in knowing there are only so many hours in a day – so we love it when we get a chance to go overboard for a client and do that bit extra. These are just some of the ways we demonstrate the importance of supporting one another.

We also started working with the Career Innovation Company, helping them with their social media. It has been great to work on engaging potential clients through their channels and driving more visitors to their website. They have some really interesting blogs which have certainly got us thinking.

The Gandhi Foundation tasked us with updating their website – then added in a rebrand and some social media support too. Again, another interesting project which required some research into the life of a fascinating, wise man. You can see some of the work connected to this project on our Behance account.

We’ve also been back working with Vision Mission on a new website, another interesting project which concluded the branding and messaging work we did for them in 2020.

2021 was another busy year for We Are Comma and 2022 looks to be the same. No doubt we will be working even more new clients too.

How to create a successful marketing campaign: Christmas jumper day

This is the first in our irregular series looking at successful marketing campaigns and how you can create your own winning promotion.

2021 is the 10th anniversary of Save the Children’s annual fundraising Christmas jumper day. Last year the campaign raised £3m for the charity – despite all the challenges of last Christmas. So why is this campaign so successful? And most importantly, how can you recreate its achievements?

There are five key reasons Christmas jumper day is so popular.

First, it’s simple. It’s an easy-to-understand concept. Wear a Christmas jumper then donate some money for doing so. Great! Finding a similarly simple concept to promote your charity or organisation might not be so easy but it is possible. There are a few options – either you can choose a time of year that you want to focus your efforts on and pick something familiar as a ‘hook’ to hang your campaign on; Easter bonnet day for example. Or you pick something that it iconic to your brand and focus on that.

Secondly, use an item they have or are familiar with. Everyone knows what a Christmas jumper is. Many people own them. Picking a day when everyone should wear them makes it powerful. This leads into point three.

Three, make your campaign accessible. Everyone can wear a Christmas Jumper. This is one of the reasons it is so popular in schools, places of work – everywhere. Anyone and everyone can join in – if they’re willing to wear a questionable jumper. And in fact, since Christmas jumper day launched the options for more tasteful Christmas jumpers have increased. Incidentally this has been reflected in the marketing. It started as a very tongue in cheek, dodgy jumper day. But its simplicity and popularity mean it has grown to be more middle-of-the-road. Asking people to wear ballgowns, for example, will never become so popular because they are not so easy to get hold off, a good percentage of the population would rather not wear them and many people couldn’t do their job in them.

Four, make it regular. This is the 10th annual Christmas jumper day. Schools, PTAs, hospitals, community groups, local authorities – everyone knows to expect it in early December. This means they can make it part of their plan for the year.

Five, make people feel good. This is the most important part to any successful campaign. People have to feel good for taking part. Save the Children’s Christmas jumper day makes people feel good for donating to a worthy cause. And they can build excitement about the coming celebrations for Christmas. It’s a win-win. How can your organisation leverage this feel good factor? Are you a charity that people can feel good raising money for? Are you an organisation which people can volunteer for and feel good doing so? Are you a small business that can make people feel good for supporting? Find your feel good factor and use it.

What lesson from Christmas jumper day will you be taking into your campaigns in 2022?

Remember We Are Comma can help design, develop and deliver your campaigns and create success for your organisation. Email jayne@wearecomma.com to find out how we could help you.