Flexidry is a winning floor screed!

Not often you get to work on a project that has so many positives. A year ago screed was something that we would walk on. Since we have started working with the folks at Flexidry Global we have come to respect this product that everyone takes for granted. In fact how many people even know what screed is?

The amazing thing about this Flexidry floor screed is that when we asked for the USPs and the differentiators we got back a list of 15! Any of which could have formed the main marketing message for the new website.

Just to give you an idea here are just a few of them:

• Speed up drying time  (down from 110 days to 7 – huge implications for trades that need to get on with their work)
• Reduced shrinkage and cracking.  (Try pulling up a huge floor that has gone wrong)
• Works really well with underfloor heating and has a huge part to play in sustainable buildings. (Cement has high CO2 implications)

Massive, massive potential with this product and the Flexidry team really know their stuff.

Needless to say we have an exciting project to work on that will comprise of calculators, mobile devices and ecommerce. Watch this space.

“Where will your marketing take you?” – asks Isocube.co.uk

It has been a real pleasure working with Marcus Potts, but boy was it damn hard. We got there in the end, with lots of ideas, real partnership in terms of working through the issues and the good old Expression Engine.

As Marcus says, “where will your marketing take you?” What an interesting question. Do we ever think about this?  Often we state what we would like or need:

• I want a website
• I need a website
• I need a logo
• I want a logo

Really? So why? How will any of this help my business?

To make progress we might tighten up our requirements:

• I need brand consistency (so a logo on my website, brochures and business cards)
• I need to grow my sales (ah, use the web as a means of communicating your offer and to reach more people perhaps?)

Ok cool, now we are getting somewhere and this leads us to the big question. I as the potential client want a website, but this must be formulated into brand consistency and wanting to grow sales.  By now we should be beginning to see a huge gap. Mr business man is running around putting out fires, delivering to clients, fighting cash flow, paying Gordon, and at some point he or she must take time out to think and to make that mental leap from want or need to having a vision for the framework that is needed to solve the real problem.

Cool, we got there in the end eh? But, now image that you are Isocube. How do you attract people and take them on a journey from apparent basic needs to an understanding of what should actually be done?

Well, for a start, you need to communicate at all levels:

• I can give you a logo
• I can give you a website
• I can look at your branding
• I can help you with telesales / customer support / CRM etc etc
• Infact, I can help you with almost anything!

When we sat with Isocube and worked thorugh everything that they could deliver to clients we actually ended up with an enormous list of possibilities. (We could have easily defined 70 or 80 services and products that could be sold and delivered either individually or in groups of related items.)

How do you build a website for that? Now factor in the cross relationships and you end up with a massive matrix. Here are some examples:

• Growing sales could mean: 
  • marketing messages
  • testimonials
  • logo design
  • website
  • data
  • telemarketing
  • preventing loss of clients through better service
• A website could involve:
  • logo design
  • marketing massages
  • SEO
  • hosting
  • testimonials

Rome was not built in a day and you certainly can’t change all of your marketing collateral and customer support procedures overnight. BUT Isocube does need to be able to explain to a potential client that there are dependencies and that the client will need to plot a course. In fact a map is needed. EUREKA!

The map concept allows us to come up with a solution.

• Remember that we asked the question “Where is your marketing taking you?”
• We have lots of services
• We have lots of dependencies
• We need a map
• We need to plot a course
• We need to know where we are starting
• We need to know where we are going

The image below perfectly frames all of the possibilities and is infinitely adaptable.

The map can be used to group relevant products into an instantly understandable work shedule. We know where we are and we know what is going to come next. Infact we can hop from on line to another as certain stations allow it. For more details visit the Isocube website.

Now that we have revealed the simple conceptual solution to explaining the Isocube offering, how did we actually implement this as a website? In a word, with the Expression Engine and lots of elbow grease!

Essentially each product is like a datasheet which collects standard “bits” of information, for example:

• Product name
• Short description
• Categories
• Relationships with other products
• Casestudies

These are then put into a database for later display within web pages. The magic is in the details and this is where the Expression Engine comes to the fore via the provision of an easily manipulated framework. Obviously there is a lot more going on behind the scenes, but the essentials are that thought must given to the data design, grey boxing and page flow.

If you can dream it, well then the Expression Engine can be used to accomplish it!

For more details contact us or get in touch with Marcus Potts at Isocube.

Please note that IMRE does not take credit for the Map idea. All credit for this belongs to Isocube, we at Imre provided the “glue” and mechanics to turn the vision into a website.

Urban Tickets Click Cart Pro customer starts taking bookings even before the project is complete!

When Biyi Desalu paid us a visit for his Urban Tickets project, we thought what a great idea. We did not really make any judgements, but we could see how the project might work having seen the momentum with another similar client, UrbanStrides.

However, there should have been a little warning for us after Biyi had told us that the Princes Trust had actually mentored him some time ago…….

We agreed to build the site and Biyi set of to work on the business side. Before we could get the site fully finished the bookings started to pour in. Amazing!

If you want a shop project to work, get your web guys to do their bit but don’t be fooled into thinking that you can put your feet up. You need to be out there, on the phones, meeting people, setting up relationships and working damn hard, really hard.

Learn from Biyi, get people to come to your shop and they will buy! Perhaps Biyi could help mentor other businesses?

Pssst! Want to know the secret? Try social media……

The Expression Engine is keeping us busy!

We only started using the expression engine a few weeks ago. We have found the tool to be very flexible and adaptable. Projects are already in the foundry and the team is busy hammering, bashing tin, and churning stuff out.

Coming soon: Ladycab and Heatsource.

Thinking, how hard can it be?

The great thing about having a client like The Holstgroup is that we get to pick up on some great ideas. This latest post has an interview with Edward De Bono.

If you are an academic or a politician you just have to argue hard enough to convince people that you are right. If you are in business you can be right but the bottom line is the ultimate test. Brilliant! So obvious. But what are we all doing? How much time do we actually think? Pay tax man, find customers, invoice customer, pay salaries and so it goes on and on. When do we actually stop and take time out to think?

Most small business owners struggle, most start ups are bust within two years. Why? Is it because we lack energy, market, customers, cash or is it a simple matter of not thinking? As Edward seems to claim the education system sets us up to fail.

All very interesting. Time to start thinking with the market about to turn, the bottom line calls for it!!

Imre clients participating in the blogosphere

Self service and let them get on with it!

It is very pleasing to watch our clients go from a standing start to really getting behind the concept of blogging. Jo Jordan, suggests that this is entirely “normal” for small businesses. Small business owners generally understand that to succeed they must be good at communicating. For example Phil at Paradiddles will tell you all the ins and outs of all his products and why you should buy a certain guitar.

Here are some of the IMRE client blogs. All very interesting…….

http://www.craftdata.co.uk/news/

http://www.themarketinghelpdesk.co.uk/news/

http://vintagemovieposters.co.uk/news/

http://blogs.holstgroup.co.uk/greenhat_thinking/

http://www.studybed.co.uk/news/

 http://www.lookgoodoncamera.com/site/

 

http://deependpools.co.uk/news/

 

http://mydiscountbathroom.com/news/

 

 

What’s Going on Behind Your Website?

I’m not talking about a content management system or databases, I’m talking about your background.

With screen resolutions increasing more and more, having the same background on your website could potentially lose you money. Why not utilize that space for advertising?

A trend seen for some time in the gaming industry, switching your website backgrounds to advertise your latest products, services or events can both keep your site looking fresh and bring in more revenue.

I’d like to use Urban Strides, a local street dance company, as an example.

Ever since the planning phase of their new website, we were interested in advertising their events on the site’s background. Being dancers, their events are always lively and dynamic, and we felt that was a perfect opportunity to make some great looking backgrounds.

The site went live a couple of months ago with their ‘standard’ background:

A few weeks ago we were told their annual event, Hip Hop Don’t Stop!, is coming up and they wanted to give the background advertising a shot. They already had the event logo and some flyers done, so it was a simple case of cropping and rearranging the elements to cater for the size of their site.

As you can see, replacing the background has totally changed the look and feel of the site. The kids have a cool new design to look at, and Urban Strides have a huge advertising space without compromising content.

How to make a website in a year.

A marketing person would say, do not write this post as you will turn clients away. In a sense they would be right. However we decided that from day one we would be clear with everyone and tell people how we do things via this blog.

The Urban Strides website  took well over a year to create. In-fact initial discussions started about two years ago. The client was obviously very successful and was achieving amazing results. But they were looking for that little extra thing. The “It” factor, and the problem with that is simple, you will not know what an “It” is until you find it. And that was the story of IMRE and Urban Strides. Many ideas, many blind alleys, many logos, a few hard words, inspirational moments, deadlines almost missed……..

The important thing is this. The client stuck with us and we were certainly not about to give up. We got there. Or should I say Adam got there, because I can not take any credit for this site. Well done Adam. Now take a look at the site below. See the background, amazing, and oh yes Andy had to pay me a £5 bet as he did not believe the background could be used for marketing advantage.

A Big Splash of news for IMRE client Deepend Pools

Deepend Pools have demonstrated that they are masters of their trade with  a double win.

1. They have just been awarded “The most improved Dealer” from Golden Coast

2. All very hush hush, but Deepend Pools have won a contract to supply a pool for a major television show. Millions will see the work of Deepend Pools.

Congratulations to Rob and his team! We wish them well as these news items clearly show their expertise in the market place.

And oh, watch out for the new site and blog, coming soon. Here is a sneak preview.

IMRE Client featured on 60 Minute Makeover

Great news! Our client The Studybed Company have been featured on the ITV1 60 Minute Makeover program. This led to massive surge of web traffic and a steady stream of leads for the client.

You can watch the programme for the next 30 days by clicking here.

Visit the The Studybed website here and have a play on Adam’s impressive flash tool here.

The Studybed Company are a joy to deal with and we wish them well with this boost in coverage.

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