The Good Hour

The Good Hour

by | Mar 22, 2022 | Marketing

The Good hour

Time is precious, we must use it wisely. We think one of the wisest uses of time is to help others.  That is why we are offering an hour of our time each month to benefit a not for profit, charity or community interest company. Any organisation which does good for others and the world can benefit from an hour of our time.

Do you know an organisation which could do with some design help? Perhaps a charity needs advice on its website so it can reach more donors? Maybe there’s a local organisation which is putting on an event and needs help spreading the word? Would an audit help a community organisation know where to devote its time and effort for marketing? Whatever the marketing, PR, communications or strategic need we will donate one hour to help.

Nominate now by emailing .

We can’t wait to get started and we’ll be sharing more on what we’ve done to help organisations over the coming months.

You can find out about the services we can offer by visiting the What we offer section of our website.

 

Pics courtesy of Adobe Stock
Pic showing a group of people around a table having a discussion about marketing
New Year, new clients

New Year, new clients

by | Feb 2, 2022 | Branding, Graphic Design, Marketing, Web/Technology

New Year, new clients

Not sure how it is already more than one month into 2022 but here we are. Towards the end of last year, I wrote a piece explaining our team had grown in 2021. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to write about the new clients we have been fortunate to work with in 2021.

Our new clients joined our collection of organisations that we produce a range of marketing, communications and design assignments for. We are very fortunate to be able to work on such interesting, diverse and exciting projects. One week we will be producing a new website, the next an animation and the following a range of social media posts. It keeps our creative juices flowing.

We had a number of return clients in 2021, including Shaw Trust and Ambiental Risk. Shaw Trust asked us to help with their annual Power 100 publication and their safeguarding report. Ambiental asked us to produce a new promotional animation for them.

Support goes both ways so as well as the services we always provide for our clients, we try to go above and beyond to add extra value and when we can provide favours. We believe in what our clients are trying to achieve and usually have to rein ourselves in knowing there are only so many hours in a day – so we love it when we get a chance to go overboard for a client and do that bit extra. These are just some of the ways we demonstrate the importance of supporting one another.

We also started working with the Career Innovation Company, helping them with their social media. It has been great to work on engaging potential clients through their channels and driving more visitors to their website. They have some really interesting blogs which have certainly got us thinking.

The Gandhi Foundation tasked us with updating their website – then added in a rebrand and some social media support too. Again, another interesting project which required some research into the life of a fascinating, wise man. You can see some of the work connected to this project on our Behance account.

We’ve also been back working with Vision Mission on a new website, another interesting project which concluded the branding and messaging work we did for them in 2020.

2021 was another busy year for We Are Comma and 2022 looks to be the same. No doubt we will be working even more new clients too.

Pic showing the updated Disability Power 100 logo and a spread from the new publication
How to create a successful marketing campaign: Christmas jumper day

How to create a successful marketing campaign: Christmas jumper day

by | Dec 9, 2021 | Copywriting, Creative, Marketing, PR & Comms

How to create a successful marketing campaign: Christmas jumper day

This is the first in our irregular series looking at successful marketing campaigns and how you can create your own winning promotion.

2021 is the 10th anniversary of Save the Children’s annual fundraising Christmas jumper day. Last year the campaign raised £3m for the charity – despite all the challenges of last Christmas. So why is this campaign so successful? And most importantly, how can you recreate its achievements?

There are five key reasons Christmas jumper day is so popular.

First, it’s simple. It’s an easy-to-understand concept. Wear a Christmas jumper then donate some money for doing so. Great! Finding a similarly simple concept to promote your charity or organisation might not be so easy but it is possible. There are a few options – either you can choose a time of year that you want to focus your efforts on and pick something familiar as a ‘hook’ to hang your campaign on; Easter bonnet day for example. Or you pick something that it iconic to your brand and focus on that.

Secondly, use an item they have or are familiar with. Everyone knows what a Christmas jumper is. Many people own them. Picking a day when everyone should wear them makes it powerful. This leads into point three.

Three, make your campaign accessible. Everyone can wear a Christmas Jumper. This is one of the reasons it is so popular in schools, places of work – everywhere. Anyone and everyone can join in – if they’re willing to wear a questionable jumper. And in fact, since Christmas jumper day launched the options for more tasteful Christmas jumpers have increased. Incidentally this has been reflected in the marketing. It started as a very tongue in cheek, dodgy jumper day. But its simplicity and popularity mean it has grown to be more middle-of-the-road. Asking people to wear ballgowns, for example, will never become so popular because they are not so easy to get hold off, a good percentage of the population would rather not wear them and many people couldn’t do their job in them.

Four, make it regular. This is the 10th annual Christmas jumper day. Schools, PTAs, hospitals, community groups, local authorities – everyone knows to expect it in early December. This means they can make it part of their plan for the year.

Five, make people feel good. This is the most important part to any successful campaign. People have to feel good for taking part. Save the Children’s Christmas jumper day makes people feel good for donating to a worthy cause. And they can build excitement about the coming celebrations for Christmas. It’s a win-win. How can your organisation leverage this feel good factor? Are you a charity that people can feel good raising money for? Are you an organisation which people can volunteer for and feel good doing so? Are you a small business that can make people feel good for supporting? Find your feel good factor and use it.

What lesson from Christmas jumper day will you be taking into your campaigns in 2022?

Remember We Are Comma can help design, develop and deliver your campaigns and create success for your organisation. Email to find out how we could help you.

Pic showing a Christmas jumper pattern

Photos from Adobe Stock

Marketing in the new normal: all change

Marketing in the new normal: all change

by | Oct 8, 2020 | Marketing, PR & Comms, Working practice

Marketing in the new normal: all change

In the second of our two articles on marketing in the ‘new normal’ – you can read the first here – we share how marketing is changing and what your organisation needs to do to adapt.

In many ways covid-19 has accelerated many of the changes the world was already facing – the growth of digital communications, more flexible working from home and issues around climate change. All of these impact on marketing and how you reach your customers, visitors, partners and donors. Many of the traditional marketing channels that organisations have relied on, for in some cases hundreds of years, will die out as a result of this global pandemic.

Paper cuts

Flyers are sure to be a casualty of our times. Not only is it more environmentally friendly to stop using flyers, there are also hygiene reasons to change this marketing practise. Reducing the number of things people need to touch when out and about – and even the amount of ‘things’ being brought into people’s homes – is a no brainer with a global pandemic. Added to that fewer people are going to places where they might have ordinarily picked up a flyer. Deciding to stop using flyers could also be a great good news story to share about your organisation.

Face mask to face mask marketing

Many businesses rely on face to face marketing at events, conferences and exhibitions throughout the year. Of course, the global pandemic has put an end to most of these for now but they will be back. In the meantime, why not investigate ‘covid secure’ ways of meeting your customers face to face? If you have a shop or hospitality venue you will no doubt have implemented ways to keep welcoming customers in a safe way. If your organisation does not have regular outlets for meeting customers, look at those who do and see what you could learn. Have a look for face to face marketing opportunities which take place outside and allow for lots of social distancing. Many outdoor autumn events like pumpkin picking will still be going ahead – could your business get involved in some way?

Online and on point

As our post at the beginning of lockdown said “This is a great time to invest in your online communities.” And as we said in part one of this series. Now is not the time to abandon the community and following you have built. These channels are set to keep growing and becoming more important. Make sure you don’t miss out.

Think carefully about how you will replace the marketing channels you can’t currently use, either temporarily or for the long term. And make sure you’re thinking about what channels you can make use of instead.

To make an informed decision you need some good data. As with any marketing decision, you need to know your ‘customer profile’. Really get to know your customers:

  • who are they?
  • why are they your customer?
  • how long have they been your customer?
  • what other brands/ organisations do they like/ support?

Dig right into this data to inform your marketing choices. If you need support with this, our team can help. We can even help you devise your new marketing strategy for 2020 and beyond.

What is your favourite marketing channel? What does your organisation find most successful?

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

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Marketing in the new normal: Staying on track

Marketing in the new normal: Staying on track

by | Oct 1, 2020 | Marketing, PR & Comms, Working practice

Marketing in the new normal: Staying on track.

Surely one of the most annoying phrases to come out of the global pandemic has been the “new normal” and yet it is probably the best way to describe the situation. There are so many changes which would have been almost unimaginable in January. We’re all adjusting – who hasn’t forgotten their face mask and hand sanitiser at some point? Businesses, charities and other organisations are no different. How do you continue your marketing in such “unprecedented” (another fantastic coronavirus phrase) times? In the first of two articles, we share how to keep your organisation’s marketing on track at this time.

Don’t abandon your online community

If you read our post towards the beginning of lockdown on how to continue marketing during coronavirus pandemicyou will have seen that staying online was of vital importance. As more places begin to open up and life gets back to the familiar patterns of busy-ness it can be tempting to spend less time cultivating your online community but as with growing anything, you only get out what you put in. The less content you produce, the fewer people will see it and engage with it then the various social media channel algorithms will mean what you do produce is shown to even fewer people which means less interaction and so this vicious cycle continues. If you know that you won’t have time to dedicate to your online presence, make sure you delegate it to someone else in your organisation or outside of it, for example we devise, create and manage social media for a number of clients. We can also keep your website up to date with news as well as the behind the scenes updates too.

Don’t forget those who are still shielding

Keeping your online community alive is also vital for those customers who are still shielding or anxious about going out. Although the government says shielding has finished this is not always the case – especially for those on immune suppressants, receiving cancer treatment or with long term health conditions. As autumn turns to winter, we can expect more people to go back to shielding. Don’t forget these customers – they still want to buy, give and engage with the organisations and brands they love.

Let visitors know what to expect

Look at reopening your site(s) as an opportunity to talk about the new things that are happening, mention the innovations your organisation is leading, along with all the things your customers already love about what you do. Social media and your website are great places to let your stakeholders know what they can expect when they visit. You will already have new procedures in place for social distancing and staying ‘covid-19 secure’; make sure your visitors know this. For example, will visitors be able to use toilets? Is there a one-way system in place? What about track and trace? The more information you can give people the more confident they will feel about visiting. A frequently asked questions section on your website is a great place for all this information. Providing an email address or telephone number for any questions is also a good idea – providing they will be answered in a timely manner.

Expect the unexpected

These are uncertain times and we have to expect a fluctuation in restrictions. Given the government’s recent announcements about additional restrictions lasting at least the next six months, it’s a good idea to be prepared for further localised lockdowns and changes to daily life. Spend time planning how your business will deal with changes. Then when required, make sure you let your customers know what you are doing and what to expect. For example, if you are a small café now facing having to take orders at tables instead of counter service let your customers know how you will be doing this: remind them that tables will still socially distanced and that they need to wear a face mask upon entry until seated. Then once seated a colleague, wearing a face mask, will come to them to take their details for track and trace plus their order which will be delivered to them once ready etc. Or if you have an app for customers to use explain where to download it from and how to use it. ‘Explainer’ videos can be great for this. If you need support with creating video or any other content, we can help.

How has your marketing changed in the last six months? What plans have you got for your marketing in the next six months?

Photo by ThisIsEngineering from Pexels

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