February 10th, 2010
We’ve been talking at seminars throughout the county and in London for some time about Social Media and have seen first-hand how it has benefitted our business.
By Social Media, I refer to the likes of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging to name a few.
But here’s a slightly different use for it.
Over the past 12 months we’ve ran three recruitment campaigns each for different roles.
We’ve traditionally used Recruitment Agencies, but as a small business, the cost of using a good agency has often been crippling when added to the time taken to induct and train along with lack of productivity whilst your new staff member learns the ropes.
We took the decision to practice what we preach and give Social Media a try.
So, here’s what happened…
We wrote up a job specification as usual, and wrote a blog post advertising the position.
We then used twitter, facebook and Linked In, to announce the position.
Finally we used facebook to advertise. Using facebook we were able to target based on interest and location, so for example (anyone interested in web development, mysql and php within 40 miles of St Albans).
We ran each campaign for approximately 4 weeks.
On average we received 20-30 CVs, half of which were suitable. On average we interviewed between 8 and 10 candidates, and on two occasions hired one person and on one occasion hired two candidates.
To summarise:
We spent the same amount of time filtering CVs, interviewing and inducting. Two hours in total was spent setting up the social media and advertising, and the total cost of advertising was on average £17.00.
A good recruitment agency is worth every penny, however, if you fancy rolling your sleeves up and doing it yourself Social Media is certainly worth considering.
Posted in Careers, FL1, General | No Comments »
April 7th, 2009
Despite the recession, it seems that internet shopping is one area where spending is on the increase. Although there are conflicting reports about the actual amount being spent online there seems little doubt that people are increasingly turning to the internet to find a bargain.
On the face of it this is good news for retailers with the foresight to develop e-commerce websites. However, there are two issues that online sellers need to take into account when trying to grow their online business.
The first of these is credit card fraud.
According to a recent report, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/90aa2af8-1552-11de-b9a9-0000779fd2ac.html online fraud has nearly doubled in the past year. This is not altogether surprising, as online sales increase so will unscrupulous sellers. Although the vast majority of online retailers offer very secure transactions, they nevertheless have to contend with the problem of gaining the customer’s trust. It is therefore vitally important not only to ensure you are offering secure transactions, but to be seen to be offering them as well.
Getting one or more security certificates for your site is well worth the time and investment, and something we’ve being a lot of recently.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in E-commerce, General, Marketing, Technology | No Comments »
March 18th, 2009
Top Tips for improved results and reduced costs
Marketing processes
1. Really get to know your BEST customers – profile their characteristics in detail and then go, find similar ones!
2. Communicate regularly with your customers: current customers, potential customers but particularly lapsed customers. Newsletters and emails are great but can you find other methods e.g. podcasts?
3. Take a look at how you are perceived by the outside world. Image is all today! Do you need a new brand image, a new website or new business cards? Review your website. If you have more than one area in your business, consider having separate microsites rather than one large website.
4. In a world of spam, never overlook the humble postcard. A good postcard can be more effective than a bad brochure.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in General, Marketing | No Comments »