4 reasons to have a website

When you are looking for information on a company, where do you go to look most of the time? If you answered Google, you join the majority of the population. Digital marketing mediums have taken off in popularity in the last decade and have become essential tools for all businesses. Below is a list of reasons you should have a website for your business:

  1. Accessibility: with a website, your business is accessible to the general public 24/7, often called your on-line shop window. Often people search for products and services they need outside of work hours. With a website they don’t need to call you; they can find out information and contact you via email when convenient to them.
  2. Visibility: when people type something into Google, such as local builders, hairdressers or butchers, the only people that will come up are people with websites. Without a website, you will not be seen but your competitors will be!
  3. First impressions are important: if a potential customer knows nothing about you, they will use a website to get their first impression and learn more about you. They will assess whether your website give the impression that you are trustworthy and credible. A potential client may also want to browse your product ranges and client testimonials before they engage your company.
  4. Sales / shopping cart: a website can also take on the role of sales person for you if you list products and e-commerce functionality is enabled. This can streamline your sales funnel and result in additional sales. It is also more convenient for people who are browsing your website who are looking to buy straight away.

All these reasons show the importance of a website but you should also keep in mind that you need to make sure your website is set up correctly and update it regularly to keep up with technology changes. This includes ensuring you have professional design, search engine optimization and that your website is mobile responsive (mobile phone usage now accounts for 69 percent of digital media time spent). At JFM Marketing + Design, we are experts at making all websites, whether you’re after a basic website or one with all the bells and whistles. Give us a call if you need a new one or to update an existing site.

Rakaia Island

At JFM Marketing + Design, we love creating websites for our clients. It has been with great pleasure to work with Rakaia Island to launch their fresh new website. 

Rakaia Island is a large, family-owned farming operation with over 50 staff and 9,000 cows, in two locations: Rakaia Island near Southbridge in Canterbury, and Woodstock near Oxford.

When Rakaia Island asked JFM to design and build a new website for their business, the brief was to create a website that was clean and contemporary with an ease of navigation and to reinforce their passion for simple, sustainable and safe farming practices.

To make the website fresh and modern we used features such as icons, parallax images, flip boxes and image hover effects to make the website more interactive and interesting for the user.

Rakaia Island also wanted to promote employment opportunities for their company. We created an employment page that uses an application form with a CV and covering letter upload. This page also showcases current job vacancies.

Another important feature for Rakaia Island was to have a staff login area. This is where employees can login into a secure area of the website and download important information such as contact lists, health and safety forms, farm maps etc.

Visit http://rakaiaisland.co.nz today to view their new website and check out the bespoke features we’ve created. If you are looking for a contemporary website that showcases your business, contact JFM Marketing + Design today!

Top Tip: Google My Business

When you search for a business locally, you may notice that some listings provide a lot of information about them.This can include opening hours, imagery, location, contact information, company description, reviews and a list of services. In the past, Google provided Google Places and Google+ Pages Dashboard, which have now been combined to create Google My Business.

Have you done a Google search for your business with the region it’s located in lately? If not, you should check to see how it looks. If your listing does not include all the information listed above, you can update your information with Google My Business. It complements your website by giving presence and a public identity with a Google listing. Your business information can appear on Google+, Maps and Google Search, and is completely free.

You are also able to regularly update your listing, view insights and add photos as required. Google walks you through how to set up your account, simply go to https://www.google.co.nz/business and fill in the required fields. If you need any help setting up your Google My Business, give JFM a call.

Are mail drops and leaflets effective?

When you are considering what marketing methods to use for your business you should always consider your audience first. Who are they? What are their habits? What sort of media do they consume? Is your product something they need at the moment or in the near future? Once you have a clear idea of who they are and what their behavior is, you’ll get a picture of what methods might work.

If the majority of your audience own their own property and enjoy traditional methods of media including newspapers, they may spend time going through leaflets that come in the mail. People living in rural communities and small towns often read their local newspaper and sort through their mail too, so direct mail can work well for this audience.

In these situations, if your product is relevant to the audience, a targeted mail drop can be a great option. Digital marketing has taken off at a rapid speed but this has resulted in many competing messages all vying for people’s attention, and sometimes being ignored if the visuals are not relevant and engaging. A mail drop can be eye catching and effective, as it reaches a person when they are open to sorting through information they have received.

As with all marketing materials, the design and messaging need to be thoroughly planned and executed well, to hit the mark. Unaddressed mail can often be regarded as junk and thrown in the bin; so careful planning can prevent this. Take some time to consider what would help make a person stop and read your flyer.

This not only includes well-written, succinct copy and punchy design but the materials used are highly important as well. Thicker paper stock often gives an impression of quality, gloss finishes can also attract the eye; whilst specialty finishes such as plastic wrapping, boutique paper stocks (such as card and recycled paper) and metallic ink can promote exclusivity and readability. Also consider – will your flyer be folded or kept flat and how will this affect how it is presented in the mailbox? Do you have specific delivery areas in mind, such as rural delivery areas throughout New Zealand, farmers, lifestyle boxes or urban homeowners?

The last but most important things to consider are: is it interesting and will it pass a quick eye scan? Someone will review a flyer very quickly with a two second scan to decide whether it is thrown away or whether it is worth reading. Make sure your flyer passes this test before sending out. It is also important to keep in mind that frequency in marketing is the key to success, often a potential customer will need to see your message seven times to take action, so consider including a mail drop in your marketing mix. If you need any help creating a flyer that is eye catching and will pass the two second scan, give us a call at JFM Marketing + Design.

Clean, contemporary feel

Rival sans is a clean sans serif font family and is characterised by an excellent readability and many contemporary aspects.

It provides advanced typographical support with features such as case sensitive forms, small caps, ligatures, alternate characters, fractions, slashed zero, circled figures and pro kerning.

Rival sans contains 8 weights with corresponding italics and it is suited for multiple purposes including editorial use, web font, apps, digital ads, ebook, and also for advertising, long text, packaging and branding.

Click here to view the set guide for this font.

Pantone is excited to Announce the Creation of “Love Symbol #2”

Created in honour of international icon, Prince, “Love Symbol #2” is a distinctive blue based purple hue inspired by Prince’s custom-made Yamaha purple piano which was originally scheduled to go on tour with the performer before his untimely passing at the age of 57.

Prince’s association with the colour purple was galvanised in 1984 with the release of the film Purple Rain, along with its Academy Award-winning soundtrack featuring the eponymous song.

With the excitement of red and the tranquility of blue “Love Symbol #2” conveys an aura of mystery, intrigue and unconventionality, a colour that stands apart from all others, something Prince, a performer of distinctive style certainly did.

Click here to read more about “Love Symbol #2” on the Pantone website.

Duotone, a vibrant new trend

The next big image trend is here, and it’s vibrant, colourful, and beautiful! Thanks to Spotify, duotone is growing in popularity almost daily.

Consisting of two contrasting colours, there is no chance that this kind of design will go unnoticed.

The name and technique comes from printing presses. Duotone prints are made in two shades of the same colour or with black and one tint. The process uses two colour plates made with the screen set at different angles.

The technique that was once a print staple has found new life online, and is a trend that we are likely to see a lot more of in the months to come.

Jo’s Introduction

Winter has certainly arrived; there is definitely a crisp chill in the air! Since we last spoke to you, JFM Marketing + Design has been busy preparing for the Mystery Creek Field Days and running the Maximising Your Facebook Business Page workshops in May. We were delighted with the response and excited to have helped 26 local business owners and community organisations to feel more confident to fully utilise their Facebook page.

At JFM, we have recognized that there is a thirst for knowledge and training in the community. Following on from the success of our first workshop, we will be running a new workshop in August. The Facebook Advertising workshop will be another half-day session, this time focused solely on using the advertising platform provided by Facebook. More information is available below.

In addition to training, we have launched some new websites and created some great work in the last few months. We have showcased some of this work in this newsletter and on our Facebook page. The team has just attended the RISE 2017 event https://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/93264/chk/55f0 in Christchurch and is full of inspiration, so if you have any marketing or design requirements this winter, give us a call!

Stay warm!

Jo Foster

Director

Beautiful bespoke garments by Christine Reeves

One of our clients, Christine Reeves makes the most exquisite wedding dresses for all types of wedding themes and personal style preferences for brides from diverse cultural backgrounds. As we got to know Christine, we got to see her passion for her craft and how much pleasure she gains from seeing that special smile on a brides face when they try on their dream wedding gown for the very last time before their big day. Christine also creates bridal party outfits and bespoke corporate wear.

During our consultation, we were briefed to create a digital strategy for Christine, give her some pointers and to consider her audience. We started by assessing the photography she had on hand and selecting those that showed her range of talent, as well as the diversity of her audience.

We dedicated a page to “the journey”, which explained the thorough consultation process that occurs over several weeks between Christine and her clients. This can include Pinterest boards, family members, swatches of fabric and magazine clippings. Christine also sources her own fabrics and laces from master textile producers from all over the world.

JFM Marketing + Design thoroughly researched keywords, to ensure that the website lists well. We wanted to make sure we really captured the essence, talent and dedication to customer service offered by Christine. Our design needed to be clean, fresh and classic to emphasise the high quality, unique products hand tailored by Christine. If you are a specialist looking for an agency that can work with you to articulate your craft online, contact JFM Marketing + Design.

Introducing our new Facebook Advertising workshop

It is always challenging for business owners to know how to promote their business products and services. Facebook Advertising is an easy medium for business owners to use that can reach a large number of people quickly and best of all, with a detailed and measurable approach.   JFM Marketing + Design is pleased to launch our second social media workshop in August called Facebook Advertising workshop.

This course covers a variety of subjects including:

  • Setting Up Ads Manager
  • Campaign Objectives
  • Choosing A Target Audience
  • Creating A New Advert
  • Calls To Action
  • Difference Between Boosted Posts and Advertising
  • Factors of Successful Ad Campaigns
  • Budgeting
  • Terminology
  • Statistics And Insights

We will be running this workshop in two locations, Ashburton and Timaru. The Ashburton session will be held from 9am – 12pm on the 16th of August in the Rakaia Room at Community House, 44 Cass St Ashburton 7700. The Timaru session will be held from 9am – 12pm on the 17th of August at the Comfort Hotel Benvenue conference room, 16/22 Evans St, Maori Hill, Timaru.

If you would like to find out more, please read our Facebook Advertising web page. If you would like to secure your place on this course, which is already proving very popular, please head to our booking page.