Well, it’s evident that social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are popular tools amongst brands and it’s easy to see why – with their ever-increasing marketing features and ability to change consumers’ behaviour patterns.

Social media has certainly opened the business world up to new possibilities. We can target potential customers based on age, location, gender etc, at the click of a mouse, as well as discovering those we didn’t know existed; we can monitor the success rate of advertisements instantly and it provides brands with the opportunity of communicating directly with the end user – ultimately building brand affinity through giving the brand a ‘personality’. This doesn’t mean, however, that brand to customer relationships are easily achieved.

Put simply – an effective campaign is about targeting your audience and communicating your message successfully and this can be achieved with both digital and print advertising- it’s about strategy and being at the right place at the right time. With methods, such as Direct Mail and magazine advertisements, brands are able to target a specific demographic, draw attention through whole page ads, use material that’s positioned with relevant PR features and produce something that their audience can keep.  There are those dedicated readers that much prefer the feel of a glossy magazine along with the ease of reading in contrast to the overwhelming amount of ads popping up and sometimes taking over their computer screens.

And traditional forms haven’t reached their limit quite yet – with contemporary creatives allowing customers to use their smart phones to scan QR codes, watch videos and trial products. These new levels of interaction in real-time are not restricted to the digital world. Print has the ability to be innovative and more importantly, personal for its readers.

With the unprecedented advances on the web, customers’ expectations are rising and this has sometimes proved difficult to meet. A great deal of digital advertisements are fresh attempts at contemporary marketing, such as advergames and interactive shop windows. Brands are still learning and at times fail to use their platforms successfully by solely attempting to entice an audience. This and the issue of some brands being unable to respond to queries in real-time or the frequent copy and pasted ‘sorry for that…’ responses posted across twitter pages can be a real turn off for potential customers.

A successful campaign, whether online or offline must demonstrate the value-add that a product can offer and make the most of the mediums available to them – without letting innovation take over. The key is a combination of both for reaching all customers. Whether you link the social media icons with televised and print coverage as a way to drive traffic or voice your latest campaigns online – who says we can’t have the best of both worlds?

Social media has undoubtedly evolved through the years, especially from a marketing perspective – leaving little room for competitors. Despite this Google+ has managed to spark plenty of interest with over 40 million users signing up for a piece of the action.  So what does this mean for the likes of Facebook and Twitter and the future of digital marketing?

This all depends on Google’s originality. At first, it appeared resistant towards big brands joining the trend, but given a few months wanted to prove itself as an essential marketing tool. Google went on to provide services allowing businesses and organisations to better target their audience through placing them into ‘circles’, engage their audience in face-to-face video chats, allowing the public to find them directly – without the need of search pages and be recommended by the public with the +1 tool.

As promising as this is, it all sounds a bit familiar. The big names are quick to jump on the bandwagon but what they’re actually doing is utilising yet another platform to manage what they’re already doing elsewhere.

There’s definitely potential- having more control over who is targeted and what is posted is a real benefit to businesses and organisations along with encouraging customer loyalty through immediate face-to-face communication, but what’s stopping the current social networks adopting these features?

As far as sharing tools, images and news updates are concerned, it’s all been done before. Communicating over three or more differing platforms is more about increasing visibility than enabling purposeful interaction and will result in messages losing their credibility.

So it’s taken off quite quickly, but is it the way forward for businesses and operations out there or just another site for the public to manage their ‘friends’. A new platform has given these big names an opportunity to display their innovation. If they can achieve this, then there’s no doubt they’ll stand out from the crowd, however if it’s solely a case of following suit they may as well be communicating in a language of their own.

While it may seem a little obvious, before you start to plan anything you must decide what type of event you want to hold and its purpose. Are you considering a conference to take a message to the masses? Or do you want to organise a team building day to boost morale? Though nine times out of ten clients come to us having made this decision, an expert can offer advice if the aim of the event is complex or multifaceted.

Once the purpose is confirmed, it is critical to plan how this will translate into the look and feel of the event. If, for example, you’re holding an event for senior management, the location should be exclusive and convenient to encourage attendance. Whilst frequent travellers may be attracted by an unusual venue or a fashionable opening, By contrast, if delegates have to pay to attend, an event can’t be too expensive. Delegates will feel they’re wasting their money and won’t be able to get expenses signed off by management.

However, it’s during the next stage of the planning process that internal organisers can run into problems.

The venue is the single most important element for a successful event. It must fit all conditions as detailed in the brief. Things to consider when venue sourcing includes quality of staff, facilities and flexibility. You can never be too thorough in your search!

Choosing the right type of venue can be difficult for an internal employee who rarely organises events. A junior, for example, will often select a location they want to visit, whereas a more senior employee may be busy and set in their way- they will typically pick somewhere they have used before for ease and speed. It’s important to remember that though holiday destinations are available, it is not advisable to take a group to many of them.

As far as budgeting is concerned, a quirky and fashionable type of venue will receive a great response from your attendees; however it would mean inviting fewer of them. By contrast choosing a less-flashy and more traditional venue means you can afford to expand your guest list. It’s worth considering alternative options, such as Universities and Museums.

Once you’ve chosen the venue, you should start considering how many staff you will need and also who you are going to use. Often, if you use staff employed by the venue, this will be included in the price. They will be ideal facilitators as they are well accustomed to the setting in addition to health and safety regulations- one less thing to worry about. Catering may also be included in the price of the venue or at a cheaper rate, whether it be an assorted buffet or a full-blown feast – don’t be afraid to negotiate.

It’s a great idea to carry out a site visit beforehand, just to take into account the logistics. Ensure things like car parking are available, the venue is easily accessible, there are sufficient electrical sockets for technical equipment and it’s worth testing the speaker systems and lighting. This will help to avoid any major issues on the day and give you a better idea of what you’ll be working with.

Delegate attendance must also be planned and controlled. The client will have an idea of the number of delegates expected to attend, but a campaign to encourage attendance will not be a priority and sending invitations out a couple of weeks beforehand won’t be enough.

Know who you want to invite and target your audience in the most effective way. You don’t want to contact delegates too early on in the planning process and neither do you want to send out invitations too close to the date. Therefore it’s crucial to plan ahead, this includes planning your promotional literature and when/how you are going to deliver it, for example by email, a hand-written letter, maybe a phone call and then following up with further details later on. The key is to attract your audience, rather than overwhelming them with too much information.

With careful planning, most people can organise a successful event, but an experienced agency can offer innovative ideas on how to boost numbers at a paying conference, as well as managing the full campaign. This will help you to maximise the success of your event. This can be in the form of a teaser campaign with initial invitation and reminders in various formats, for example CD or unusual postal reminders. It may also involve managing online registration service and/or a call centre to make the process as easy as possible.

The end result is a great event- not just a sufficient one.

Call it what you will, most blue chips have always regarded Foodservice as a poorer cousin to the sexier, consumer-led side of FMCG marketing. And it’s easy to see why: bigger budgets, bigger audiences, bigger rewards.

But that’s not to say it’s any less important. And it’s certainly far more complex.

Fundamentally the principles for both disciplines remain the same – put crudely, it’s about shifting boxes. They’re just bigger boxes in foodservice. And, as with retail, you still need to demonstrate a brand’s ‘value-add’.

So what’s the problem? The challenge – as ever – lies in tailoring the brand for your audience. But in foodservice that audience can be hugely fragmented. First and foremost, you need to convince the wholesalers. That gives you your route to market. Then you can work on the end-users. But before that, you need to determine your channel. Is your brand targeting chefs in pubs, hotels, hospitals or schools? And if it’s all of them, then think about adopting a different tone of voice for each channel. Incidentally, is it going through contract caterers? Because they’ll need winning over too.

As Birds Eye discovered, focus is crucial. Since launching into Foodservice, they pooled their efforts into targeting school caterers. Before long, Local Authorities were queuing up to stock their Omega 3 Fish Fingers. Caterers trust the brand’s credentials, and take pride in marketing their menus to parents – who themselves take solace in the fact their children are eating a quality product.

But this kind of co-branded menu probably wouldn’t work in a gastro-pub. As with FMCG you need to be mindful of your audience at all times. The same pub that won’t tell you they’re using Bisto Gravy or Birds Eye Fish Fingers will happily display bottles of Heinz Ketchup.

In some instances, brands in foodservice are even threatening to outshine their retail cousins. Take Fairtrade pioneer Cafédirect, for example. Whilst their retail presence is under serious threat from a growing raft of me-too and own label competitors, their Out of Home presence continues to prosper. Why? Because they’ve spent years nurturing relationships in key catering channels, notably higher education – where university caterers have been crying out for an ethical business model to support the growing coffee boom, and their student customers can fully engage with the brand-story.

So clearly brands have a place in Foodservice. But if you’re bringing a retail brand to the market, the challenge lies in making it relevant. Definition is key. Define your objectives, your target channels, and the brand’s value-add throughout the supply chain. Fail, and Foodservice will forever be the ‘poorer cousin’. Succeed, and one day, we may just be able to teach those big boys a thing or two.

“What we got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach.”

No prizes for guessing which Paul Newman film the opening quote’s from*. As the very core of any marketers’ existence, ‘communication’ – and the skill in which we employ it – is a language we should all be fluent in.

So why do so many of us bemoan the changing landscape? No one picks the phone up any more. Everything’s done over email. I don’t have time for Facebook / Twitter / FourSquare. People just can’t ‘communicate’ any more. These statements are undoubtedly generalisations, but I’m willing to guess similar words have been uttered in client offices the length and breadth of the country.

And in the face of ever-evolving change it’s easy to forget that the fundamentals of good communication have never – and will never – change. Regardless of the media. Good communicators will strive to understand their audience, ensure they have something valid to say, and engage in meaningful, rewarding dialogue. So in some respects it doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you do it right. Right?

While working up a social media presentation for a client’s senior sales team, it struck me that for many the likes of Twitter, Facebook et al represent a new language to be learnt. Many members of this older generation believe that it’s either of no use, or beyond them. And – to be fair – no one expects someone who’s spent over 35 years of skilful people management and face-to-face negotiation to check in to Starbucks on Facebook Places everytime they want a cappuccino.

But there’s a new generation out there that will be doing just that. An army of media socialites who are growing up bilingual. And whilst I wouldn’t necessarily expect the old guard to be fluent in this new language, it’s important they can at least appreciate its validity. Because at the end of the day success (however you measure it), comes to those who show a natural aptitude for communicating. However it’s done.

So to hark back to Paul Newman’s glory days, yes, there will always be people you can’t reach. But with the endless means of communication now available, there’s no excuse for not trying.

*Cool Hand Luke, just in case you were wondering.

Exhibiting abroad – certainly in Europe – isn’t prohibitive: quite the opposite. As most European exhibition venues are government-owned, the space rental and associated services such as electrics, water and waste are often cheaper than here in the UK – although you’ll need to balance that against accommodation, travel and other onsite expenses.

The key to exhibiting abroad is planning. Book well in advance, work with a contractor well versed in building stands on the continent and brief them as early as possible (preferably before booking your space, so you can benefit from their advice).  

Outline your objectives for the show, and establish a check-list with critical timings in place to ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible.

Next, start planning what (and who) you need on your stand, and how you’re going to get them there. The earlier you book transportation of materials (and people), the cheaper it is. Once the stand design is finalised, ask your contractor to calculate the total weight and cubic capacity of the stand, and budget the transport accordingly.

Consider very carefully what literature or giveaways need dispatching – try and avoid the last minute addition of ‘just a few boxes’ to be transported. More often than not this turns into several pallets-worth of extra material, requiring a larger vehicle with a greater payload, costing more.

And whilst it may seem a little obvious, do ensure visitors to your stand can understand you. Just because English is one of the main international languages, you can’t assume everyone speaks it. Is it worth translating your literature or using a bilingual theme on your stand? Investigate the use of interpreters on-site or try using staff with language skills.

And don’t panic. Work with experienced contractors you trust, plan well in advance, and watch it come together on time, and in budget.

And understandably so. Many marketers are concerned with putting all their eggs in one basket. Are integrated agencies a metaphorical jack of all trades, and master of none? How can they truly specialise in such a diverse range of marketing disciplines? Is there a danger of spreading themselves too thinly?

Others site a genuine value-add in the consistency an integrated agency can bring to the table. There’s a single, accountable source – so the client is spared briefing three or four different agencies, and then having to manage not only their own relationship with the agencies, but the agencies relationships with each other.

Providing the agency has the appropriate skill-sets, a successful integrated campaign should deliver a level of coherence and cut-through in the marketplace than can be harder to achieve with a singular route to market. Any integrated agency worth their salt capitalises on their ability to put the creative idea first. The route to market then works in harmony with that idea, based on the agency’s experience of using the right message to target the right audience at the right time – in the right fashion.

Integrated agencies also operate with a certain degree of agility. A good example lies in Birds Eye. They had just three months to launch a new Foodservice business, with all its attendant marketing requirements. That meant everything from logo creation through to packaging design and print, website creation, advertising, direct mail and a PR launch. An integrated agency was given full accountability, and successfully delivered the project on-time, with the attention to detail and cost-effectiveness that may have been lacking elsewhere.

But remember, you don’t have to purchase an ‘integrated’ offering from an integrated agency. Some clients simply need a single service from an integrated agency – and are perfectly happy doing so. A good integrated agency works well because it employs specialists in each field – if a client chooses just to deal with one specialist, they’re still benefiting from the level of experience and expertise they’d get from a singular agency – albeit with the open-minded approach of an integrated marketer.