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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by Tim
0845 or 01 numbers?
How does your business phone number start? After years of thinking I looked better with an 0845 number I have finally taken the decision to drop it.

The reality of mobile phone reliance means most of us make the majority of our calls from our smart pocket friend. But, the mobile networks still see fit to charge us higher rates for anything starting 08 and we can't use our allocated monthly minutes - how annoying is that?

People know where they are with 01 numbers - location and cost.
Show 6 more previous responses: Kris Thomas Tim Coe John Durrant Jackie Barrie James Coakes reveal
Tim Coe Profile
298 weeks ago, by Tim
0870/0871 appear to be the worst culprits and loved by banks and credit card companies.

Good idea Kris about marketeers leading the way to denounce them. That's sort of where I was coming from with the original post I suppose.
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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by Tim
Essential Copywriting Skills
Right then, if you ever write copy for your own business, or anyone else's more importantly, the article on the link below might help.

I hadn't considered the negative impact of mixing nouns and adjectives in the same headline or advert.

http://mb-bc.com/sesame-street-lessons-missed
Show 6 more previous responses: Jackie Barrie Tim Coe Suzan St Maur James Coakes reveal
Michael Blumfield Profile
298 weeks ago, by Michael
Tim -- Thanks for finding my post and mentioning this. Suzan, you've got a point about me being too "pernickety" (looks like you dropped an "s" there), but sometimes you've got to overstate the point to get others' attention. This is a skill executed to perfection by American talk-radio hosts.

In truth, this post was just something I tossed off as I tried to think of more meaningful pieces to write. But it's gained plenty of traction, despite its rather overblown style.
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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by James
Government Strategies
The latest article on MarketingLens reports on a Government strategy to bring it's digital marketing and communications 'in house'. They are doing this with the support of 30 external agencies.

Is there anything that the Government does along these lines that doesn't begin with 'recipe for disaster' written all over it?
Show 2 more previous responses: James Coakes Jackie Barrie reveal
Suzan St Maur Profile
298 weeks ago, by Suzan
This is a piss-take, right? How the hell are they "bringing digital marcoms in-house" if they're then outsourcing it all again to 30 external agencies?

Mind you I'm not surprised, having been watching the government wasting similarly huge amounts of time/money reorganizing the NHS into everything it was before, only reshuffled. And oh, yes. The GPs whom the govt. thought would like to have a go at running the NHS actually don't want to, because they're doctors. Surprise!

Disastrous.
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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by Tim
Good or Bad Customer Service?
Johnsons Dry Cleaners in Lymington recently rang and said they had a tie of mine needing collecting. When I went in they said it had been there since 2011.

One's immediate reaction could be how good it was of them to keep it this long and to still call me.

My thoughts didn't take long to feel they should have contacted me far earlier and not sat on my tie for almost 2-years.

So I ask you, did Johnsons give good or bad customer service here?

[This could be also be a RAVE]]
Show 3 more previous responses: James Coakes Jackie Barrie reveal
Suzan St Maur Profile
298 weeks ago, by Suzan
Must have been quite a strong tie to survive being sat on by a dry cleaning company...
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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by James
Marketing To Children
As a parent I constantly feel under pressure from my children to get them the latest Moshi, Binweevil or whatever the latest plastic toy trend is. You can't avoid it by limiting access to the television, which seems a cruel thing to do anyway in this day and age, because the peer pressure that they experience at school is enough.

Marketing is important. People should have free will but they also need to be educated on the options. However, shouldn't we draw the line at children?
Show 3 more previous responses: John Durrant Kris Thomas Babs Saul reveal
Suzan St Maur Profile
298 weeks ago, by Suzan
Marketers to children would do well to check out this article on the BBC News website - I found it fascinating and very enlightening: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22714629
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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by Tim
Google: Mistakes Aren't Mistakes
Google was originally a misspelling of a word that already exists in the dictionary: "Googol." A googol is defined as a very large number, specifically 10 to the 100th power.

Googol was supposed to be a name that would be indicative of the titanic amount of information on the Internet that the company sought to organize. The misspelled domain name "google.com" was still available, so the company settled on "google."

Now, both words are in the dictionary, but most consumers only ever use one.
Suzan St Maur Profile
298 weeks ago, by Suzan
Well, that mis-spelling sure doesn't seem to have done them any harm!
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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by Tim
Ego Branding
Why do small businesses insist on wasting perfectly good advertising space on vehicles, or in adverts, by making their company name/logo as large as possible whilst hiding the actual service or product?

Is it some form of naive ego? "Look at my name on my van. I'm da man now!"

To hell with feeling important you fool, think how many people couldn't care less what your name is but would all love to be drawn- in by an eye catching headline offering them value or intrigue.

It's such a waste.
Show 7 more previous responses: Tim Coe James Coakes Suzan St Maur Kris Thomas reveal
John Durrant Profile
296 weeks ago, by John
I visited sofa.com after reading this, now when visiting other websites I'm seeing their ad appear as one of those irritating side bar ads for a previously visited site.

Am I alone in finding those kind of ads a bit creepy, and therefore unlikely to ever visit the advertised website again?

Where's that cookie delete button?
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Rant or Rave
299 weeks ago, by James
Marketing Lens Launches
I think that deserves a Rave. After months of development with John Durrant we're finally ready to go so please join us in getting top quality engaging content onto the Internet.
Show 7 more previous responses: Suzan St Maur Kris Thomas Suzie Warren Tim Coe Babs Saul reveal
John Durrant Profile
298 weeks ago, by John
Thanks all...

Still some key components to be added over the next few weeks including a private forum where people can interact within their own speciality (e.g. Marketing Lens) as well as with members from other industries (starting with Recruiting Lens and Training Lens). The forums will not be visible to Google or non-members so people will feel comfortable about speaking their mind.

There'll also be a few other tweaks and modifications here and there over the next few weeks...
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