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#EpicAdvertising

11/26/201910/26/2018 by scmarketing

The Drum has yet again brought to our attention another great Advertising campaign. This time from Moneysupermarket.com, a company renowned for creating innovative, fun and memorable adverts.

What makes the Ad stand out is its sense of nostalgia because of its recreation of the famous car scene from Thelma and Louise, as well as bringing back memories of the Sindy doll. Furthermore, its stunning cinematography, animation is a great example of how film making, and advertising has evolved.

Using a great story line from an old film and bringing back images of Sindy could be seen as a great advertising strategy for two main reasons.

Firstly, the consumer demographic for Moneysupermarket.com is likely to be older meaning they may get the references to the 1991 classic film and be drawn to the company. Secondly, despite younger people perhaps not getting the references, they can appreciate it as fun and entertaining, and with the younger generations they are then more likely to share the video allowing it to trend on social media as it is now.

Sticking with the company’s previous adverts, this ad has its own appropriate hashtag. Always beginning with #Epic – #EpicStrut, #EpicDanceOff and #EpicSquads. This ad is no exception – #EpicSindy.

What makes Moneysupermarket.com campaign successful is the continuity amongst their adverts which helps us remember the branding and put it on a platform where it can start trending.

At Smart Cow, we thoroughly enjoyed the advert, not only because of its #throwbacks, but that it is a great example of excellent advertising, reminding us to keep campaigns and ads creative and entertaining to grab the customers attention.

If you need help or advice with your digital marketing strategy get in contact with us at Smart Cow Marketing where we can help give your business the boost it needs.

Sans Forgetica

01/30/202310/26/2018 by scmarketing

Specialists at both the psychology and typography, design labs in Melbourne RMIT university have recently created a new font, designed at helping students revise better, people learn languages better, and elderly people struggling with memory loss*.

This new Font ‘Sans Forgetica’ is a play on the commonly known fonts ‘Helvetica’ and ‘Comic Sans’, also playing with the idea that it’s harder to forget. Here at Smart Cow we found it particularly interesting that the font not only has gaps in the structure of each letter, but also slants 7 degrees to the left, making it harder to decipher for the human brain. This tactic is known as the difficulty principle and is meant to promote stronger cognitions when the word is finally formed in your head.

Importance of fonts

When it comes to marketing, fonts are increasingly important. In online advertising customers spend mere seconds looking at your brand as we found in the email marketing blog earlier this year.

With the font of your brand name clearly being the first thing customers lay eyes on, it has to be seen as one of the most critical aspects of a brand, therefore it must be done right.

Fonts we like

One font the Smart Cow team believe can make a brand stand out in a luxury market is ‘Didot’, most commonly seen by many people as the font of choice for Vogue magazine since 1955. This font originates from the late 18th/ early 19th century in Paris and we think displays a certain level of elegance.

Another font we love is ‘Garamond’, based on the designs of 16th-century French engraver Claude Garamond. This font portrays a thin yet soft style, very easily legible. Ideal for advertising professional services or products, such as letting agencies.

At Smart Cow, we offer multiple tips on how creating the right impression at first glance for your customers. Get in touch with us for more and we’ll be able to help you perfect your online brand and digital persona.

Source: *www.dezeen.com

Is it time for a brand refresh?

10/18/201909/19/2018 by scmarketing

We recently read an article in Real Business about colour psychology and brands. The logo is the first thing people see when they view your brand. Out of 2000 UK adults 53% say familiarity makes them trust the brand logo more*. So, it is important to create a logo that is memorable and coincides with the themes and ideology of the brand.

Coca-Cola has been voted Britain’s most popular logo*. Why? Well the psychology of colour might help. The colour red is bright and eye-catching, it also can make us feel impulsive**, which is something Coca-Cola has grasped onto with its latest adverts about ‘Impulsive Moments.’ The mixture of eye-catching and impulsiveness related to a product makes us feel that it is the perfect drink to buy in any situation. So, if you’re in a hurry? Coca-Cola. You’re having family and friends over? Coca-Cola. It seems to be imprinted on everyone’s mind.

From this case study it seems obvious that colour and logo design is a key part to making a business, it is an image that will stick with your business. Many colours have emotions and attitudes related to them. Brands are associated with different colours and for good reason too. For example; yellow can be seen as comfort and warmth. McDonalds has yellow on their logo signalling to the public they can rely on them, along with its impulsive red which makes people instinctively choose it**. Blue often is related to trust, hence why many tech companies have this as their colour as security is high on the agenda. Often colours will mean different things in different contexts, for example the colour green can mean health, Nuffield Health opted for green branding, or it can mean peaceful, Starbucks is a go to place for many to relax or work.

Picking a colour scheme can be hard but as the company behind the colour psychology research, 99designs, recommends ask yourself six questions when creating a brand: how do you define your brand gender, tone, value, time, age and energy?*.

At Smart Cow, we know that one size does not fit all, so a red for one brand just may not be right for you. That’s why when it comes to digital marketing and inbound marketing, we always recommend a mix and match approach for your campaign.

Sources: *Realbusiness.co.uk and **Cosmopolitan

7 Great Apps to help your accounting business

01/08/202009/17/2018 by scmarketing

Owning a business is time consuming and can be very hectic. You can easily find yourself drowning in the work load. Luckily there are many apps out there which cater to various parts of running a business. So, we’ve gathered together a few notes on some apps that could be of great help for SMEs in making for an efficient business to help ease undue stress.

Trello

Trello gives you a bird’s eye view of everything going on with your business, or at home. You can create ‘boards’ which is more visually appealing than a list of words in calendar. You can add to-do lists with deadlines and attach files. What is also useful is its function to invite co-workers; so, at the click of a button you can assign tasks or comment on any work being done. And the best thing; it’s free.

Xero

For many, the accounting side to running a business can be intimidating. Xero is an accounting app designed for small businesses and allows you to easily manage finances. You can manage salaries, purchase orders, quotes, and invoices. Xero will ease the stress of running finances and puts everything in order for you. To get a feel for the app and see if it works for you they offer 30 days free trial. Monthly payments vary depending what plan you choose.

Square Invoices

Square Invoices (or Square Point of Sale), helps to manage, create, send, and receive invoices. It can be linked to your bank account and you can see payments in a day. You can add names, photos and details so when you look back you know exactly what the invoice relates to. A Square Reader is available to purchase too which accepts chip and PIN and contactless cards. The app can also send digital receipts and receive feedback. When it comes to fees, it is free to send an invoice, then pay 2.5% of each invoice which is paid.

The Art of Content Planning

Content planning allows you to double check your content before you post on social media, manage various pages or platforms you have, and review data and analytics from a social media channel. Working with social media management platforms such as Hootsuite and Buffer allow you to manage and schedule content for all your social channels in one place. Once your set up on a specific platform here’s some apps that can also help you get the most out of your channels.

Planoly

Instagram’s visual planner – Themes are important and appealing to clients as they show a sense of brand identity, so with Planoly you can view what you grid page will look like before you post.

Facebook Page Manager App

With this you can easily manage all your Facebook pages (up to 50!). This means no more mixing up pages or neglecting others.

Twitonomy

A twitter analytics tool. It gives you insight into any twitter user, regarding tweets, retweets, hashtags, tags. Allowing you to see what content does or doesn’t work too well.

We hope you find the perfect app to suit your business and lifestyle and if you’re also looking to give your business a boost we at Smart Cow can create the perfect digital marketing package tailored for your business needs.

Resources

Small business apps you need to know