Industry news

Could you be part of the Creative Class of 2012?

Over the last year, Esendex, along with 8 other companies, were chosen to represent Nottingham’s Creative Class for 2011.  The businesses selected were those set up in the city and county – and which are expanding and thriving.

Last week our CTO, Adam bird, presented at the Creative Class of 2011 event. The event was held at the Nottingham Contemporary, to celebrate Nottingham’s entreprenerial talent. In his presentation, Adam talked about successes to date and international plans for the future.

Other presentations from the Creative Class 2011 were: Skeleton Productions, a new video production company; specialist in lightweight fibre reinforced thermoplastics Medibord; website performance monitoring firm Aware Monitoring; software development house The Plumtree Group; traditional corsetry and handmade lingerie company Eternal Spirits; wireless fetal heart monitor company Monica Healthcare; computer games software company Lockwood Publishing and Sygnature Chemical Services.

Adam comments about the event;

“It’s great that an event like this is being held, but this isn’t about making me feel good. It’s about showing people what’s possible,” he said. ”We can all be examples to the wider field of business that Nottingham can be a great place to run and develop business and that more people should come and do the same.

“The challenges with this kind of thing is always whether you can get years two and three. I’m confident that there will be a next generation of the Creative Class.”

Would you like to apply to be in the Creative Class of 2012? Visit  Invest in Nottingham for an application form.

DMA update: Consumers prefer SMS marketing over mobile web

New research by the Direct Marketing Agency (DMA) has found more than one third of mobile users prefer SMS marketing promotions, beating its rival – mobile web.

In total, 38% of consumers named SMS promotions as preferable to mobile web marketing which was lagging behind with a figure of less than half of this (just 15%).

The research demonstrated how when it comes to redeeming vouchers and receiving promotions, consumers are more than happy to be contacted via SMS.

In total, 40% of UK respondents said they were interested in being contacted by advertisers in this manner, giving them easy access to discounts, offers and news of products.

Of course, advertisers have to be careful about how they approach mobile users in order to achieve a successful marketing campaign.

Commenting on this, the Chair of the DMA Marketing Council, Mark Brill, explained that “the key to acceptable mobile marketing is to understand the target audience’s preferences to ensure they engage with consumers in the way they want to be contacted.”

With SMS proving a popular favourite amongst Brits (just under half of those asked revealed that they would like to be contacted in this way) it is likely that mobile marketing will continue to develop.

In total, 75% of Brits are happy to be contacted about promotions and offers via their mobile – a figure which is much higher than that experienced in other developed nations.

According to the DMA’s data, Americans were the closest to Brits in terms of mobile marketing support with 72% of them feeling the same as our 75%. This figure fell drastically for nations such as France and Germany, however, who experienced results of just 50% and 46% respectively.

The report also revealed that one of the main reasons why some are hesitant to use mobile offers is because they wrongly believe they are charged for their service. This was said to affect one in four Americans and one in seven Brits.

With this in mind it’s important that advertisers help consumers understand that SMS campaigns, vouchers and promotions are not sent at a cost to the end user.

If you’re thinking about setting up an SMS campaign and would like some tips, you might be interested in reading: 10 fantastic mobile campaign ideas for marketers!

How retailers can keep Christmas shoppers happy using SMS

The vast majority of shoppers have little faith in the ability of retailers to deliver their shopping on time. Interesting stats from a consumer survey carried out by Epitca, include;

•Just 33% expect that last minute orders will arrive on time.
•40% don’t trust the retailer to deliver on time, but are willing to give it a go.
•27% expect last minute orders to be late.

Sometimes delivery times are out of retailers hands, especially when reliance is put on the Royal Mail – heavy snow around this time of year also contributing to many of the delays.

So apart from choosing a reliable courier, how can retailers use SMS services to avoid customers being disappointed this year?

“Order in time for Christmas” notification - You probably already have a database of your customers mobile numbers, send them an SMS message to let them know when last orders are being taken for Christmas.

Order despatch confirmation – Let your customer know when their item is on its way.

Journey updates – Send your customer status updates of where their item is – especially if you know it’s going to be late.

Specify delivery times – If you’re able to inform your customer of the time frame when their item is likely to arrive, there is a much greater chance that they’ll be in – no need to redeliver.

If a delivery is late, be reactive – Send your customer an text message apologising, you could also send them a discount code for their next order.

The key to avoiding customer disappointment is to provide clear and concise information to your customers, without promising what you can’t deliver.  Sending text messages is a cheap and effective way to make the whole process run more smoothly.