Name: Smart Cow Marketing
Price range: $$$

Imagine the content possibilities

07/05/202108/08/2017 by scmarketing

‘Imagine the possibilities’ may be a couple of years old, but by Jove this advert stands the test of time. On a surface level, we challenge you not to crack a smile. On an advertising level, this is a superb example of the importance of good content to get your message out there.

‘Imagine the possibilities’ film for Barbie sees the use of hidden cameras capture priceless reactions, from students, a football team and a dog owner, to the girls who are imagining everything they might one day become. When it was launched, the advert went viral and to date there’s over 25,000,000 views on YouTube. While comical, and sometimes laugh out loud, the underlying fact is that it is great content.

We were lucky enough to attend an inspiring Q&A celebrating women creatives hosted by Pitch magazine where the director, Karen Cunningham, spoke about ‘how everything comes down to a good idea’.

At Smart Cow, we work with many local SMEs, so you might wonder how this relates to you? It doesn’t matter that this is a huge brand and a massive advertising campaign, it is the idea and content that is crucial. If the content you have on your website or that you post on social media is good and relevant to the services you offer, then you will build brand awareness and it will help you stand out when a potential customer is looking to purchase.

Content marketing agency

Talk to us about your content marketing needs and we’ll guide you towards the best combination of channels and tactics to utilise, making you stand out from the crowd. A reliable digital marketing agency in Croydon, Smart Cow will be glad to answer any further questions.

Blog as part of content marketing strategy

How Wi-Fi is shaping the small business workspace

01/03/202008/08/2017 by scmarketing

Coffee shop, bar and restaurant operators find opportunities with freelancers, SMEs and start ups by offering free & fast Wi-Fi

Often known as the ‘Third Space’, the local coffee shop offers a place away from the office or from home. It provides the opportunity for collaboration and brainstorming or simply a chance for to think. But, most importantly for freelancers, start ups and SMEs alike it’s somewhere to run a business from.

Research has revealed that more than a quarter (27%) of UK small business owners work from coffee shops rather than their usual office space*. Shared or co-working workspaces have cottoned on to the fact that a buzzing, cool and trendy coffee shop fronting the paid for members only workspace areas can entice new customers through the door, not only for coffee but it acts as a way to attract sign ups for permanent membership.

Whether simple café or co-working space coffee shop, what these spaces have in common is a Wi-Fi hotspot. You can have the best small batch coffee on the high street, perfectly smashed Avo on toast and vegan friendly protein balls but if you don’t have Wi-Fi, that’s either public or easy to register with, then you may as well say goodbye to enticing new customers through the door during the pre- or post-lunch period.

But, it’s not just the local coffee shop that can benefit, small business owners also work from restaurants (14%) and bars (11%)*.

If you’re a small business or start up in the local area, then Croydon has some new co-working spaces to explore such as Tomorrow (which includes Byte Café) and The Exchange Workspace at Matthews Yard. Plus, check out independent coffee shops such as Crushed Bean and Smoothbean. Even the Cronx bar, based in the new BoxPark, has tapped into this opportunity and has mobile and laptop plug points dotted all around the shipping container interior.

So, what are you waiting for. If you’re a freelancer or start up go and explore the spaces to work in Croydon. And, if you’re a café, bar or restaurant in the area, think about tapping into these potential new customers to boost pre- or post-lunch sales.

Smart Cow exhibiting at The Business Show 2017

01/03/202006/11/2017 by scmarketing

We’re excited to be exhibiting at this year’s prestigious Business Show, from 16-17 November at Olympia, London.

We’ll be joining Flexicom Solutions at stand 772 in the SME zone, where visitors will be able to take advantage of our combined experience in IT and digital communications.

We, the Smart Cow team, will be showcasing our know-how in digital marketing, and giving visitors the chance to take advantage of our free Google AdWords offer, as well as our Constant Contact email marketing free trial.

While, Flexicom Solutions will be offering its expertise on implementing communications and IT upgrades for businesses.

Together, we’re offering visitors the opportunity to enter a competition to win a Fitbit Charge 2 in our exclusive Business Show prize draw.

Simon Cripps, owner, Smart Cow comments: “Joining forces with Flexicom Solutions for this leading business show made total sense. Our stand offers attending SMEs and start-ups a one stop shop to get the lowdown on the best solutions for IT and communications through to digital marketing, web design and SEO. We also share the same ethos where we really get inside a business to understand aspirations and goals to ensure clients reap the benefits.”

The Business Show has established a reputation as the country’s leading business exhibition built on a blend of highly respected speakers, interactive features and industry leading suppliers. Over 25,000 visitors from aspiring, developing and expanding companies are expected to attend.

Check out what is happening at the show and register for a visitor pass. Don’t forget to pop by our stand 772.

SEO trend predictions for 2015

08/03/202102/13/2015 by scmarketing

So 2015 is upon us and this looks like to be another exciting year in the world of online marketing. Well, when we say “exciting” it is for us at Smart Cow Marketing. But maybe not for those of you who like skydiving or running with the bulls in Pamplona. But for us it floats are very, very well, call us sad that this is what we really like.

Anyway, enough of our own inadequacies in being able to jump out of an airplane. Let’s look at what can get your business noticed on search engines in 2015.

In a nutshell, we can see that the search engines are going to continue on their drive to make search engine results as realistic as asking a real person over the phone. We can see the goal maybe five years’ time when most searches are done through talking to your technology. This is still a bit awkward for us today, but it’s becoming more popular.

So as well as keywords placed into the search, the search engines have also been to taking into consideration your location and also your own personal preferences of what you have searched for in the past and also what you’ve searched for in the immediate past. So your search may be “what is a California pizza?” And the results might come up with a menu on how to make this type of pizza. If your next search is where I can buy one of these, currently your results will show you one of many things to buy. But as the search engines get more intelligent, they will realise that you are talking about a California pizza place that’s in the search results.

The search engines will continue in their quest to remove black hat techniques in front of all the search engine results. So such as far too high density of keywords within a webpage or having far too many artificial links pointing to your website will continue to be penalised. They will also look at rewarding more and more sites that have got good relevant and fresh content placed onto the pages.

It will be interesting to see how much Google will still place businesses having a Google plus page, even though it is still not popular. We think that this is still going to be a factor moving forward. Whether this is just for the benefit of Google places and for reviews or if they will start taking into to more consideration content placed on your Google plus page is yet to be seen. But being Google. I’m sure they will try and push it much as they can.

We can see the use of video becoming more relevant this again, partly because Google owns the largest video sharing platform, YouTube and therefore can easily link the number reviews the video to your website.

There is loads of advice we can give in order to help ensure that your site is optimised and your business works well, however the most important bit would just to be as natural as you can with regards to placing great content and building good links to your site.

Digital marketing expert Croydon

We are a digital marketing agency based in South London working with small businesses, as well as those in accountancy and the construction sector to help get them noticed online. Drop us an email at Saymoo@smart-cow.com or give us a call on 020 3137 1826.