But how does that compare to some of the top gym chains in the UK?

PureGym has been the most searched for in the last 12 months with The Gym group just pipping more upmarket David Lloyd to second place. All of them saw search patterns that correlated closely with the general gym search terms we viewed above.

Virgin Active didn’t see the same major peaks and troughs as the other three chains, seeing only smaller increases in search trends later in July.

None of the top chains have seen February interest recover as fervently as the general searches for gyms reopening.

For many leisure providers, social media channels have been a saving grace in the last year.

They’ve allowed us to keep in touch with our members and get our messages out there quickly without the need to be backed by big budgets.

Plus, we’ve had audiences that have been more active and engaged than ever before.

So, what have we learnt about how to form our leisure social media strategies moving forward?

Video is still king

Despite the technical difficulties and music copyright minefields, it’s clear that video is still the content that members value the most.

While video has been a big part of social media strategies for years, the pandemic has really woken leisure providers up to the power of live video.

Where ‘going live’ was previously a daunting fact that many gyms thought would require expensive kit, a post-pandemic world should take going live in its stride.

We’ve learnt that it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the latest camera built to integrate into your social channels with 4k broadcasting and live editing (though maybe now it’s a more serious investment consideration!). As long as you have a camera and opportunity to broadcast, you’re good to go.

Gym members, like the rest of the country, have missed basic human interaction the most and seeing their favourite instructor brings them unparalleled joy.

Speaking of… human interaction!

Yes, live videos and private Zoom classes were incredible for interacting with members but so was a simple comment or shout out.

The pandemic has taught us that creating a sense of community on social media pages is something members really value.

Creating posts for your members to vent, share, and interact with each other (and you!) has proved a popular content format throughout the pandemic.

It’s often widely accepted that video and image posts are most the engaging form of content… Not for this particular leisure trust:

During the pandemic, one of our clients saw 25% more engagement than video on simple Facebook text posts checking in with their members, and 21% more engagement than a post with an image.

Taking an interest in people, asking for opinions and replying to their comments not only makes them feel valued but could be some of the only human interaction they have that day.

At the start of the pandemic, we used daily check-ins on Facebook for the same client and it soon became clear that some of their members were relying on these posts to get motivated or using them as an opportunity to have a digital conversation. Remembering those who were isolated gave these posts real purpose.

In coming months, the value of opening up online conversations even when we are seeing more people face-to-face is something to bear in mind with your own social media strategies.

Bear in mind:

How many of your members are going to be returning to the gym right away?

How many will be dealing with a heightened sense of social anxiety?

Providing a safe space on your social channels opens up a world of opportunities for so many.

Your team

Your most valuable asset.

People have loved interacting with them through live video and even sharing old snaps of them in action. #Throwback!

Featuring your team more on your social media shouldn’t be forgotten as restrictions start to ease.

Simple!

Pointless social media content

In the same vein as ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’, if you’re posting content for the sake of posting content is it really going to achieve anything?

If it’s not useful or engaging to your users, it’s a waste of your time!

And time is something you, as a gym owner/leisure provider, are not going to have much of in the coming months.

Make sure everything you’re posting on your social media channels in coming months meets an objective.

Google recently announced that starting in May 2021, it will use page experience signals as ranking factors.

We’ve recently taken an in-depth look at what page experience signals are and how to optimise them, but what do the changes mean for website rankings and SEO?

The biggest change is the inclusion of Core Web Vitals alongside the current page experience signals.

Will the new page experience ranking signals impact your website?

Yes. Google will be taking Core Web Vitals and all other page experience signals into account when ranking your website come May 2021. The fact that they’ve given us advanced notice of the changes speaks volumes as to how important it will be.

When will my rankings start to change?

As with previous algorithm updates, I’d expect us to see shifts in rankings almost as soon as Google starts crawling with page experience intent in May 2021.

Should I wait until May to make the changes?

No! Start today! You want your website to be ready as soon as the changes hit. Not only does this protect and positively impact your site’s rankings, but it could see you make some serious moves on your competition who aren’t as prepared for the changes.

Have you been chasing that #1 spot for months? This could be the perfect opportunity to one-up the SERP leader!

What’s next?

Start making your plan to optimise your website’s page experience.

Check your website’s…

• Secure connection
• Security issues
• Mobile-friendliness
• Intrusive interstitials
• Core Web Vitals

And start to improve them!

As always, while these changes are going to be incredibly important, they’re not a fix-all for your website. Google has said that it still

“…seeks to rank pages with the best information overall, even if the page experience is subpar. Great page experience doesn’t override having great page content.”

If you’d like further advice on the changes or to further understand how this will affect your website, feel free to give us a ring for a chat on 0161 213 9941.

Google defines page experience as:

“…a set of signals that measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page beyond its pure information value.”

As of August 2021, Google will now be using the page experience signals as ranking factors.

So how can you optimise your website’s page experience to rank on page one of Google?

Let’s look at accessibility issues and how society is adapting in a bit more detail.

This report checks for any hacked content, malware, unwanted software, or social engineering.

Check to see if your site has any security issues

Say goodbye to intrusive interstitial content.

If you use interstitial content that stops a user from immediately accessing your content, this can be problematic for mobile users on smaller screens.

This includes:

• Pop ups that cover main content
• Standalone interstitial content that the user has to ‘accept’ before viewing main content
• Layouts where the above-the-fold position of the page looks like a standalone interstitial and the main content is underneath the fold

It does not include:

• Any cookie usage policies or pop ups in response to legal obligations
• Login dialogs on private sites
• Banners that are a reasonable size and easy to dismiss

Check your site for interstitial content

Core Web Vitals

And this is the big one. The one that Google has only recently included in page ranking signals and will have a big impact on your rankings.

Core Web Vitals focus on loading, interactivity, and visual stability.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures your websites loading performance. You want to be aiming for the LCP to occur within 2.5 seconds of the page initiating load.

First Input Delay (FID) measures the interactivity of your site, more specifically the time from when a user first interacts with an element to the time the browser starts processing the event in response to the interaction. You want to be aiming for a FID of less than 100 milliseconds.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual stability. You know when you’re reading a webpage and then suddenly something shifts, and you lose your place? It’s annoying. It’s also poor CLS. You should be maintaining a CLS of less than 0.1. This is calculated by the sum of all individual layout shift scores for every unexpected layout shift that occurs.

So now we know what the new Core Web Vitals are made up of, how do we measure them?

Fortunately, there are loads of free tools out there to help us understand individual website scores and point us in the right direction to start optimising our websites’ Core Vitals.

Try using one of the below to check your website:

PageSpeed Insights

Chrome UX Report

Search Console

For quick insights, you can also install the Web Vitals Extension or the Core SERP Vitals Extension which not only give you insight into your own website, but a sneaky look at your competition too!

If you want to understand more about how to optimise your website’s page experience, feel free to get in touch with our team on 0161 213 9941 – we promise we’ll ease up on the acronyms!

Don’t make the mistake of viewing website accessibility improvements as worthy but of little real benefit to your organisation. In this blog, we explain the many benefits of accessible websites to both operators and users, the variety and scale of disability in the UK, and what steps can be taken to enhance your digital accessibility.

There are some interesting facts and figures which may surprise you, including how common some disabilities are and the sheer buying power of customers categorised as disabled.

So, whether you operate an existing website or are considering a new website, better accessibility to your online content for all users should be an important consideration in your marketing and communications plans.

As an ethical and entrepreneurial agency, we’re proud to work with public and private sector clients to make more-accessible websites and reap the multiple benefits that result from the changes.  Benefits for our clients include boosts for their audience reach, reputation, SEO and sales, and improved engagement with existing and new customers, communities and wider society.

So, for commercial, technological, social and legal reasons, website accessibility is a wise investment which more organisations across all sectors are choosing.

An accessible website can be the one of the easiest ways to do business with many people including those with disabilities. We can help you make the changes and we love these types of projects.

Better digital accessibility is already benefitting millions of people year on year, including older people whose abilities change as they age but are increasingly using digital technology.

Businesses benefit too because disabled consumers have a combined spending power of £200 billion a year. So, don’t miss out on the sales potential of good website accessibility.

Let’s look at accessibility issues and how society is adapting in a bit more detail.

Web accessibility means that people with permanent or temporary disabilities, mild or more severe, can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with your website. Other conditions and situations faced by users, such as slow internet provision, can hinder website accessibility too and should be considered.

The various benefits mean that accessibility should be a prime consideration for all organisations and departments within them.  You’ll save time and money by considering these factors at the start of a website design project. But accessibility improvements can also be made to existing websites.

Awareness of disability and accessibility needs is much better understood today than in the past.  This can be seen in many commonplace examples including accessible transport, workplaces, education, homes, retail, leisure, sport and media, such as TV subtitles and online video captions. Your organisation’s marketing and website accessibility can be improved too.

It’s useful to realise just how varied and widespread disability can be.

Here’s a brief checklist for better website accessibility.

• Avoid keyboard traps. Some people use assistive technologies which use keyboard-only navigation. So, an accessible website must work without a mouse.
• Make sure all images on a site have relevant alt tags.
• Visual contrast. Use clear, contrasting colours to ensure all users can see different elements on the website.
• ARIA labels can define the purpose for a particular element, such as an article or button or describe a form or the width of a progress bar.

Keyboard navigation is often used by people with motor impairments who have difficulty using a mouse, such as repetitive strain injury, or visual impairments who rely on screen readers because they are unable to see where on the screen to click with a mouse. But keyboard navigation also appeals to others without any disabilities who simply find it more efficient and convenient.

We love developing websites and we’re very proud of the websites we build for our clients across multiple sectors and territories. But we also know that time (and technology) waits for nobody.

There comes a point when all loyal, long-serving websites reach their retirement age.

If your website is ready to retire, make sure you give it a good send-off (a nice card and maybe an M&S voucher or a carriage clock) and take action to get the new generation website in place ASAP.

Contemporary bespoke websites with really good user-experience, page speed, mobile responsiveness, functionality, search visibility and content are essential components of running a successful marketing team, business or organisation.

It’s important to recognise that websites will almost inevitably become outdated after some years of operating. Technology is constantly evolving, especially with mobile phones, search engine ranking and new software. In addition, businesses change over time, meaning their original websites become restricted and outdated.  So, websites need to be updated to keep up with the latest developments and opportunities.

Good websites are essential for attracting potential new customers to your business. When browsing the internet by phone or desktop computer, viewers’ feelings about the overall credibility and legitimacy of your business will be made very quickly through their first impressions of your website. It’s as important as visiting your office, department, factory or showroom.

Think about your own shopping experiences for a moment. What do you like about your favourite shops? Eye-catching window displays and clear in-store signage. Excellent product ranges, good browsing with lots of interesting and tempting products. Knowledgeable and efficient staff, good service and customer support. These factors are probably what succeed in winning your custom.

Well, good quality websites can offer similarly positive experiences too.

But if your old website has bad or cluttered design, slow page loads, irrelevant content or other weaknesses then they will quickly move on until they find another website that’s more useful and appealing. So, you risk the loss of new leads, sales and brand reputation if you are relying on old website.

Below are some typical problems that can be solved with a new website or redesign.

01 Your website doesn’t perform well on mobile phones.

Mobile phones are increasingly used for searching the internet and making purchases by users of all ages. In 2019, mobile devices, excluding tablets, generated almost half of all website traffic globally, according to industry research.

So, your websites responsiveness to mobile phones and devices is essential. If mobile phone users have a bad experience because your website takes too long to load and is inflexible, meaning they have to zoom in and do lengthy scrolling, they will simply look elsewhere and take their custom to your competitors.

Most businesses which re-design their websites for mobile devices see a return on investment through increased sales. In addition, mobile responsive websites make for efficient maintenance because you only have one website to maintain rather than making an additional mobile application. They also rank well on search engines, such as Google, which use mobile-first indexing to rank websites.

02 Low search engine rankings.

Changes to search engine algorithms in recent years mean that websites with original, high-quality content, such as blogs, are ranked higher on internet searches than those simply with unengaging content packed with repeated keywords.

Written content on older websites designed in the era when keywords were important for SEO is now unsuitable. A recent survey suggests 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing.

Likewise, images and visual elements using Flash are now outdated and should be re-designed. iPads, iPhones, Google, Bing and Yahoo do not support Flash. But alternatives are available and suitable for all browsers and phones.

03 Slow page loading.

Speed matters. Research suggests many visitors will simply abandon a website if pages take longer than three seconds to load. Many users expect a page to load within two seconds and will become frustrated if they are left hanging around.

The first five seconds of page-load time have the highest impact on conversion rates, according to research by Portent. It said conversion rates drop by an average 4.4 per cent with every additional second of load time.

Slow page loading also hits your website’s search engine ranking, meaning you are less likely to be visible to new target customers searching the internet.

So, take action. Website developers can improve your website loading speeds in many ways. Once you’ve got a fast-loading website, you’ll retain visitors, create a much better user-experience and make visitors more likely to become your customer rather than a competitor’s.

04 Website visitors don’t stay for long or convert.

Analytics reveal how long website visitors stay on your site, the average page visits per viewer and if your website experiences high bounce rates. If visitors are finding little of use or poorly engaging with your website then look for a redesign backed by quality user experience design and customer driven insights

Similarly, if conversions are weak you should review the website. Conversion opportunities can be increased by good website planning and design with target audiences, personas and goals given serious consideration.

When designed well, you should see a good return on your website investment with increased traffic, leads and ultimately sales enquiries.

05 Design looking old and cluttered.

Website design, like mobile phones and social media, is constantly evolving. Websites built a few years ago can now look neglected, amateurish, tired, incomplete, confusing, messy or just down right ugly.

Design elements such as menus, panels, typography, colours, branding, photography and infographics need to be updated. Likewise, written content, such as dates, blogs, testimonials and case studies, or other elements such as music, needs to be relevant and contemporary.

Current websites have cleaner design and easier navigation for good user-experience. A well-designed website will build visitor trust in your business.

New features can also be added such as e-commerce platform or video playback.

So, you should see a strong return on investment in good website design.

06 Difficulty in updating or maintaining website content.

New website content management systems make it much easier for businesses to update their content – rather than depending on expert website developers to make changes using code. If you can’t update basic content easily, then it’s time for a new website.

Modern content management systems enable your staff to keep your website maintained, relevant and up to date for internal and external users. So, redeveloping your website with a good CMS means your marketing team can easily amend content whenever they need. No hassle or delays.

07 Your business has outgrown your website.

Businesses often develop in ways which older websites do not reflect. A website built a few years ago may no longer suit your business. staff or customer’s needs for now or the future.

Do visitors struggle to find relevant pages or content? Is the navigation too long? Is the website missing key calls to action? Is the positioning or tone of voice wrong? Do staff struggle to use it or update it? Have your internal systems evolved so far that your current website can’t easily integrate with them?

A new website tailored for your businesses latest needs and demands can help your business’s growth, internally and externally.

08 Your brand positioning has changed.

Your website is a key asset within your business and pivotal to communicating the right brand message. If its appearance and tone doesn’t reflect your current target audience, messaging and market positioning then it needs to be updated. Your website should be at the centre of your online activity, representing your organisation in the very best way and performing many valuable functions in the correct manner.

09 Your industry has changed.

Every sector undergoes change and your website should be able to reflect those changes. Certain products, services or techniques rise or fall in popularity, or new ones emerge. If your website can’t reflect and adapt to change, then get a new one.  If your website is older than five years, it’s very likely that a number if updates will be needed.

10 You’re missing out on data collection and advanced digital marketing.

Modern bespoke websites can be really valuable tools for all your marketing and communications needs including data collection, targeted email campaigns, email automation and marketing personalisation. (See our other blogs on these advanced techniques.)
If your website is unable to support such these, it’s time to invest in a redesign to take your marketing activities to much higher levels.

11 You’re embarrassed by your website.

An outdated website with any of the issues listed may cause you embarrassment. You may avoid directing people to visit it or make excuses for it. If so, you definitely need a re-designed website.  Don’t avoid it.

Businesses and organisations are expected to have a strong online presence with a good website. Outdated websites are deterrents to new enquiries, prospects and sales. They also weaken your brand and credibility, which is really important to new website visitors.

Having no website or an outdated website is not a credible option. All organisations should have a good website tailored to their specific needs, both internal and external. Good websites bring multiple benefits, opportunities and efficiencies across any business.

You’re probably carrying out some email marketing, but are you looking for that next step up to make it really ‘sing’?

If so, digital marketing campaigns can be taken to a much more advanced level with a really strong email automation system based on detailed website user analysis and market research.

Email automation is a very effective way of sending out marketing emails triggered by a website visitor’s action, such as a purchase, with tailored, personalised content based on that individual website visitor’s journey, preferences and interests.

Automation is ideal for both business and consumer audiences. It is highly efficient and saves you huge amounts of time in sending out tailored marketing emails manually.

It also leads to superior audience engagement, loyalty, sales completions, cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

Email automation can be applied for e-commerce and non-e-commerce websites. And it may require significant investment at the start, but the return on investment is excellent once a system is running.

Flexibility, relevance and timing.

Email automation offers much greater opportunities for your business to subsequently get information back from each customer or potential customer. You can establish if the recipient has opened the email, clicked through to your website, bought a product, taken up an offer or looked at other sections of your website.

Automation allows you to adapt to their response and behaviour, and try a different tactic if need be.  That might be a promotion or discount offer or something else – perhaps a detailed industry insight report of relevance to them.

Alternatively, automation can be used for a series of ‘drip’ emails which supply small amounts of relevant information to the prospect. For example, drip campaigns can begin with a brief ‘welcome’ message and a simple call to action, such as encouragement to browse your website or subscribe to a service.

Don’t underestimate the power of welcome emails in turning warm leads into customers.

Digital industry research suggests welcome emails are read by more recipients than standard marketing emails and lead to far higher number of clicks to websites. Welcome emails can generate over 300% more income than other methods.

Subsequent drip emails can present more snippets of key information about your organisation, sector, products or services. They can also encourage customers to complete orders or e-commerce purchases or offer personalised recommendations. These can increase sales per email by 150%.

But relevance and timing are important. Care is needed not to bombard recipients with irrelevant content or too many emails too often. You may want to consider an offer or discount for new prospects. But caution is needed. Offers can raise false expectations for any future transactions and also impact on your organisation’s image and positioning in the market.

Think you’re using personalisation in your communications? Including recipient’s first names on email newsletters isn’t really cutting it when it comes to truly engaging with individual customers and creating highly relevant customer experiences.

Marketing personalisation is a far more advanced method of achieving this. Personalisation enables the marketing of intelligently targeted products or services to individual users based on data you have collected about their behaviours and contexts.

It enables your marketing communications to be much more refined and responsive by using data that is based on changeable factors that influence each customer’s browsing and purchasing behaviour – rather than simply relying on static demographic factors.

Ideal for both business and consumer audiences, it is highly efficient, saves you huge amounts of time, ensures a consistent customer journey and avoids the output ending up as basic communications.

Marketing personalisation is an intelligent way to increase customer experience and engagement, ultimately leading to increased business.

Strategies for intelligent customer experience.

There are various key considerations for successful personalisation.

Consistent customer experiences across all marketing devices and channels, and across all digital and physical interactions, are essential.

For example, if you operate a gym, spa, hotel health club or leisure centre, can customers book sessions and get customer information online which is consistent with the positive experience they receive when physically visiting your organisation? Are your websites, signage and displays, business cards and brochures all on-brand and consistent?

The context of products or services to customers is also important. Product or service contexts includes price, motivation, purchasing frequency, use and the likelihood of repeat-purchases. Customer contexts include demographics, location, activity, time and day, season, customer journey position and customer satisfaction – or dissatisfaction. None of these should be overlooked.

Think about fluid customer behaviour rather than demographics. Age, gender and other demographic factors remain pretty static for most people and may not impact on their customer persona. In contrast, individual behaviour data tells you more about customer personas through factors such as their customer journey stage, customer lifetime value, buying frequency, satisfaction, engagement with marketing and sensitivity to price.

Real-time personalisation is also important. This enables immediate responses based on the customer’s real-time actions along with historic behaviour and broader customer group characteristics. Dynamic content can also be added, based on customer history, preferences, demographics, browsing, purchases and customer lifecycle.

Other personalisation principles to consider include using varied styles of content for different customers, such as different styles of photographs or written copy about the same products or services.

More advanced tactics include display and PPC remarketing campaigns. This could include Pixel-based activity, involving specific adverts displayed to each website visitor, or List-based, targeting existing contacts using customer information. There are strengths and weaknesses to both remarketing techniques. We can help you discover what might work for you.

Marketing personalisation tactics should feel invisible to the customer. Your customer should never feel they are being followed or bombarded as they explore your website or other communications.

Their experience should be easy, seamless, relevant and appropriate – reflecting the knowledge, courtesy and intelligence you’d provide in a face-to-face customer interaction.

References

¹ Econsultancy Conversion Rate Optimisation Report, 2017
² Notonthehighstreet.com boosts average order value by a third through personalised recommendations, Internet Retailing 2013

Small businesses in the UK collectively suffer close to 10,000 cyber-attacks daily – at an annual estimated cost of £4.5 billion.1

A shocking statistic which also reveals the average financial impact on each individual business is around £1,300.

But what’s equally alarming is the number of SMEs that aren’t properly armed against the threat of cybercrime when it comes to security measures and awareness.

According to the Federation of Self Employed & Small Businesses, one in three small firms owned up to not installing security software in past two years, four in 10 don’t regularly update software and a similar number don’t back up IT systems and data.¹

Just because SME attacks don’t hit the headlines like they do for their global cousins, it doesn’t mean they’re any less devastating.

The fact large companies have more stringent and costly cyber security measures often makes smaller businesses a more appealing target.

Cybercrime isn’t going anywhere, in fact it’s a constantly evolving and growing danger to businesses worldwide.

Sophisticated and devious.

From fraud to hacking and data breaches, methods are becoming more sophisticated, more available to those less technically proficient and more widespread.

With a rapidly growing reliance on websites and web applications for customer interactions, it’s important to understand the risks and processes required to keep your online presence safe and secure.

Fraudsters will continue to exploit any opportunity and their deviousness shows no bounds – the government were forced to issue an alert to charities this year following a surge in reported coronavirus related scams.²

With many firms already facing a challenging climate, the cost and consequences of cybercrime is almost unthinkable.

But the good news is, attacks are preventable.

Knowledge is power and awareness is essential – not just for business owners but for employees as well.

And with the right systems in place, businesses like yours can defend themselves from the threat of attack and stay one-step ahead of cybercriminal plots to financially devastate and disrupt.

And there’s more good news.

The cost of the robust systems, processes and guidelines required to fend off threats is minimal compared to the disruption of any likely breaches.

Going back to basics is the way forward.

There are several basic ways for businesses to help minimise risk:

• Use strong passwords to fend off brute force attacks.

• Enable Two-Factor Authentication to help bat off potential bot attacks. This adds an additional layer of security which should send those pesky username site searchers packing.

• Update your software frequently. Outdated software is often the main reason sites get hacked.

• Ensure you have a robust system in place to back up all your critical data. Whether it’s due to cybercrime or human error, the loss of data can be crippling to a business.

• Run regular security tests to scan for malware and changes made on your site. Forewarned is forearmed and prompts you to act on suspicious activity and lock down any vulnerabilities.

• Educate employees when it comes to cyber security threats such as email phishing scams. Human error is said to account for 88% of data breaches in the UK³ so it makes sense to invest in cyber security training for your workforce.

References

¹ https://www.fsb.org.uk/resources-page/small-firms-suffer-close-to-10-000-cyber-attacks-daily.html 
² https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-covid-19-increased-risk-of-fraud-and-cybercrime-against-charities
³ https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/different-types-of-cyber-attacks

Imagine walking into a shop with the lights turned off. 

You’re unlikely to stay and make a purchase, you’d be lucky to see what it’s selling. 

Flick the light switch and suddenly everything comes into view, the things you went in for and a whole host of other delights you never knew you needed.   

Conversion Rate Optimisation, or CRO, is bit like that lightbulb moment, only we’re not in a physical store here – it’s your website. 

What is CRO?

CRO is a tactical enhancement process which not only guides a user on your website, it also delivers what they’re looking for, prompts them to act and gives them incentives to return.  

In a digital marketing nutshell, it’s a process of ramping up the user experience on your website on a human level to ensure visitors are not only engaged but are given the right signals to cause actions, in other words, conversions.   

For example, on e-commerce sites sales are a great conversion, obviously, but there’s also so much more you could be gathering to boost customer buy-in such as behaviour, interests and demographics. 

Using CRO nouse, a website or landing page can help encourage a myriad of conversions from prompting users to create an account and signing up for emails or a free trial to completing a survey or downloading an app.  

For some businesses lead generation may be the optimum goal – whatever your web sights are set on, CRO is the transforming factor for achieving your ultimate objectives. 

The CRO science.

We can’t pretend CRO is a simple fix. 

Conversion Rate Optimisation requires Conversion Rate Optimisers – aka experienced digital marketeers – to do it effectively. 

The beauty of an expert is their ability to devise a CRO campaign based on a website’s digital insight and user behaviour. 

They can tailor your website CRO treatment based on a stack of personalised data such as user time, location, search history and the device they’re using, making the visitor journey and experience more relevant to heighten the chances of a sale or lead. 

And like all good goal setters, their initial focus is on the achievable rather than the lofty and outlandish. 

Setting smaller, incremental targets – say increasing your current CRO rate by 5-10% – from the outset removes the possibility of demotivation and discouragement. 

Baby steps may well be the key for some brands and business.  

The CRO process is based on a methodology which quite frankly is in the blood of our astute digital marketeers. 

Here’s a sneak peek into the process we implement on behalf of our CRO clients. 

CRO is an evolving, transparent and totally honest process which continually yields data to allow for readjustment and refinement. 

Harnessed correctly it can turn what seems highly unpredictable into something more manageable. 

Although still relatively in its infancy, it’s an exciting experiment for a growing number of businesses which are now grasping the huge potential and benefits it can bring. 

And with ‘traditional’ forms of paid search such as PPC becoming increasingly expensive and competitive, CRO is seen as more essential than ever to stay ahead of the game. 

Controllable, targeted, insightful and always adjustable, CRO can ultimately become your website’s most flexible and financially rewarding friend. 

You’ve heard of setting the tone, right?

Establishing the mood, creating the atmosphere, developing a personality and attitude?

Well, it’s just the same for a brand or business.

However, establishing your tone of voice – ToV, as it’s known in the trade – can often be a little tricky. And getting it wrong, well that’s somewhere you really don’t want to go.

As individuals we often do it all the time to suit the mood or situation.

We’re able to adapt our voice and tone quickly to suit a situation – even though at times our emotions may get the better of us!

But when it comes to marketing, we aren’t afforded that luxury or ability.

Customers and consumers will make a snap decision on whether or not they like a brand or businesses communication – and if they don’t, you’re in trouble.

If you don’t get the pitch and tone right in your customer facing messaging, at best you’re missing a trick.

At worst you’re indistinct from competitors and you’re not developing those fundamental relationships which help people emotionally bond with your brand and ultimately buy in to what you’re selling. Here’s a great quote from the American poet, author and activist, Maya Angelou:

And that really sums up a good ToV. “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”

Your messaging shouldn’t just be informative, it should make the reader feel something.

A ToV is crucial to all forms of your communication.

In fact, many agree it can make or break a business in today’s competitive marketplace.

It’s based on the core values and ethos of a business – if you like, it’s your brand’s personality and sets the foundations for how you connect and how you’re perceived.

It should tell your brand’s story eloquently and communicate its personality and culture consistently.

A ToV also demonstrates how comms should be written and includes dos and don’ts and a style guide to aspects such as grammar.

Once you’ve constructed and established, a good ToV, it’s there to guide everyone within the business, across all your communications, for a long time to come – although it should always evolve in-step with your organisation.

Talking the talk and walking the walk.

We thought we’d give you a little insight into Cornerstone’s ToV which has recently evolved ahead of our new brand launch.

Essentially our personality hasn’t changed, and never will, but it was a good opportunity to define and refine some characteristics to reflect our recent growth and the direction we’re now going in as a full-service creative agency.

Right from Cornerstone’s attic-based infancy where MD David started the business, being ethical and authentic was a founding element.

This translates as being effective and honest, providing quality outcomes for our clients and being responsible in everything we do.

And we’re down-to-earth. Even though we operate in an industry sometimes perceived as pretentious, that’s not us. We’re practical, realistic and offer real substance.

“Our tone of voice has pretty much stayed the same over the years,” says David.

“But we’ve recently solidified our characteristics and direction in the face of a growing team to ensure consistency when it comes to our comms both internally and externally.”

“An honest, ethical, down-to-earth approach is key for Cornerstone.

“We’re always prepared to go the extra mile, we do a better job than many of our competitors and we put our heart and soul into everything we do. We want to communicate those values in all our messaging.

“For a business of any size or scale, tone of voice is critical.

“Many organisations have so many people internally writing their comms, from sales and marketing to social media. If there’s no tone of voice in place, or they’re not made fully aware of it, the customer experience becomes fragmented.

“It allows comms to be standardised and consistent, conveying those all-important mission values and it’s what makes a business unique.

“Harness the power of the written word in the right way and you can truly elevate a business.

“Done badly it can destroy even a good business.”

Looking to tighten up your brand and talk the talk? Get in touch with our team today!

Rebranding is a key element of marketing for all evolving businesses and organisations, and it provides the opportunity to really get under the skin of a business and spend some real thinking time examining what makes it tick.

Sometimes, the prospect of brand change can be unsettling for some organisations, especially if you are considering a major change to the visual look and feel of your identity, including names and logos.

Changes made to branding can be minor or major. Evolution or revolution. But the final outcomes should always be based on solid marketing, consumer insights, market research and design expertise rather than random tactics or gimmicks without any real foundation.

It’s important to remember that branding covers many things, internally and externally, that people experience with your organisation. Factors can include company missions, values and USPs and experiences of products, services, marketing materials, correspondence, physical spaces, meetings and conversations.

Quite simply – your brand is the story someone will tell about their experience with your product or service, the emotive elements and impact on their life the interaction has had, so it goes without saying that aligning your brand strategy with your customer experience, market position and business values is critical.

So, branding is broad. It includes much more than company names, straplines and logos, important though these are.

Good research is essential.

Research before any visual rebranding is another vital part of the process.

Research includes looking at how your rivals operate. What works for them and why? What strategies do they have? Where do gaps in the market exist that your company could exploit, develop and build upon?

Another step is to determine your company’s strengths and weaknesses. What areas of your company are working and which aren’t? What is it that makes you different from your competition, and how can that be used as one of your USPs?

This review phase will outline what you should focus on and give a clearer vision on how to get your company where you want it. All your new strategies should be an improvement on previous ones with emphasis on progression, enhancement and long term business objectives.

One of the most helpful things when making changes and improvements to your company or organisation is getting feedback both internally and externally. Asking questions and making a record of everything you find will provide a detailed analysis of your organisation. It’s good to include feedback from all levels of staff and your own marketing and management team, and most importantly, your customers who have experience of consuming your product or service.

You may not always like what you hear but it will give you an overview of where you sit within the market and your customers perceptions, which will help develop a good understanding of where key changes are needed.

Once a re-brand is undertaken and developed that’s not the end of it. It’s critical to monitor, evaluate and refine a brand strategy further to make sure it’s working harder for your company. This dedication to your brand and company image will pay dividends in the long run and help gain you a competitive and defensible position within your marketplace.

Opportunities can emerge.

Sometimes branding work can emerge organically during other services for clients. For example, we worked this way with our pharmaceutical client Care which needed informative B2B product brochures to be used by sales representatives who supply pharmacists with consumer end-clients.

Previous projects for the client had included redesign of product packaging for various ranges, which were significant projects themselves. The rebranding included ending the use of some outdated elements and creating new contemporary design, imagery and messaging to position the client correctly at the forefront of UK pharmacy.

Subsequent projects included development of cleanly designed, B2B facts-based product guides and training resources, in print and online, to assist sales representatives and pharmacists. The design balances a pharmacy and clinical feel with some softer lifestyle, consumer photography.  The combination of in-pharmacy and online product guides and training aids works really well for sales teams and pharmacists, who ultimately guide consumers.

Details can be seen in our recent Care case study.

You don’t need us to tell you how competitive the fitness industry is.

Maintaining customer loyalty is an ongoing challenge and attracting new members, well you need something special to make you stand out from the crowd.

As well-honed leisure marketing professionals, it’s our biggest client sector at Cornerstone and growing rapidly.

So, when it comes to successfully marketing your gym or fitness facilities, we’ve done many laps of the block.

And while it may take time to get up and running, as marketing personal trainers we’re here to motivate and help you smash your business goals.

The marketing warm-up.

Even with top-notch facilities, the latest equipment and a good variety of classes, it can be hard to gain traction with your target market.

A savvy marketing strategy is likely to be the best piece of kit you’ll ever own.

One thing to get straight from the start with leisure marketing, it’s all about creating a personal connection with your target audience and reflecting values in your brand that resonate with your member-base.

By identifying the solution to their fitness problems and acknowledging the obstacles to achieving their goals, you become the hero of their story.

Aside from a carefully considered marketing strategy, the one thing behind all successful businesses is brand identity.

Not only does it make you instantly recognisable, it also communicates the personality of your brand and business.

From logos to your website, it becomes easily identifiable to your audience and, done well, helps to create an emotional buy-in from existing customers and potential new ones.

Once established across all your communications and assets, it starts to build solid brand awareness which is easily transferrable to all your channels from your website and social media to advertising.

Step up your social.

Social media is an obvious marketing tool given the right content on the right platforms.

Aside from the more traditional Facebook and Twitter, Instagram is now seen as the key channel for fitness firms to market their brand with 90% of accounts – and there are well over one billion active monthly users globally – following at least one business.

As with all social channels it takes time and nurturing to build up your following, but it provides the perfect opportunity to connect with a wide age-ranging audience and feed them motivation and engaging content from images to video.

Snapchat and TikTok are also growing platforms for gyms, leisure centres and personal trainers and as they’re relative newbies in marketing tool terms, those engaging now are leading the way and reaping the benefits.

Again, it’s one for the long haul. You need to promote your Snapchat and TikTok presence across all your marketing output such as your website, emails and even on your other social channels but before long you’ll be creating fun and interesting stories which are short, sweet and successful.

A winning website.

It seems the most obvious, but it often gets overlooked – just how engaging and user-friendly is your website?

The world of web moves at lightning speed and if your site is outdated, no matter how many people you’re funnelling through to it with your hard-working marketing efforts, it’s unlikely they’ll stay – or return!

Your website not only showcases everything you have to offer, it’s a great method of gathering customer insight, converting them to sign up for emails, promoting the latest discounts and offers and keeping them engaged with your brand.

If in doubt, check out our blog, ‘Signs it’s time for a new website’

We’re here to help.

The route to gym marketing success can seem littered with daunting obstacles at times and it can definitely feel more like a marathon than sprint.

At Cornerstone we’ve been working with regional leisure clients for over a decade and we’re a reputable, renowned and trusted specialists in the sector.

We offer expertise across marketing strategy, digital such as SEO and social media, design including brand identity, PR, web development, print and signage.

As a full-service agency, we’re able to provide a complete package of well worked out marketing disciplines to either compliment the skills of in-house teams or as a strategic partner.

If you’re looking to seriously tone-up your marketing output, get in touch on either 0161 213 9941 or at clients@cornerstonedm.co.uk.

We can arrange a video chat or a more in-depth call – time and platform to suit you. (Normal face-to-face meetings accompanied by lashings of coffee / tea and biscuits will resume when safe to do so).

You can keep in the loop with our client work and latest industry insights by connecting with Cornerstone Design & Marketing on LinkedIn.

It’s never too early to start the Christmas prep – well it is, but when those tubs of Quality Street start stacking up the supermarket, it’s definitely a sign.

When it comes to festive marketing, we’re here with more than a sprinkling of seasonal strategy to help you beat the snow-global rush. Our gingerbread-scented infographic – not literally scented but we’re setting the scene – is a taster of how we can wrap up your Christmas communications early, leaving you plenty of time to roast chestnuts and enjoy a glug of mulled wine. With elf-like expertise, let’s flick the switch on our dazzling yuletide delights!

We always say ‘Cornerstone is a little agency that packs a big punch’. How does this compare to your previous working experience?

In the past, I’ve worked across the north of England, from Tyneside to Merseyside, in journalism and PR. I’ve worked in towns, cities and rural areas, shipyards, farmyards, offices, factories, large and small businesses I’ve been based in Greater Manchester for 14 years and the future profile and development of towns such as Oldham is a key interest of mine.

Oldham is undergoing important changes and the area’s PR, design and digital businesses have important roles to play in this. So I am delighted to be joining Cornerstone and remaining active in this patch.

While at the Oldham Evening Chronicle, I edited and helped to launch Oldham Business Edge magazine in 2015. The magazine was highly commended in last year’s O2 North West Media Awards.

What do you enjoy most about PR agency work?

Always meeting new people and organizing exciting events is definitely something that excites me in this line of work.

In previous PR roles, I represented the Oldham Evening Chronicle on the steering group of the Oldham Business Awards, helping with planning, events, sponsorship and publicity. I also continue to host the Professional Oldham networking group, which I jointly launched with other organisers in 2016.

It’s not only enjoyable to organise and attend these events, but for a PR agency, it’s necessary to continue to develop and give your clients the best PR coverage possible.