Here at AP&C we have always been very charitable over the years. We’ve done charity cycle rides, printed calendars and programs for charities, and even had employees dress up to do the annual pancake race in Newbury Town centre. 
 
Lockdown inspired us once again, and so we launched our first social charity campaign to start giving back to things our community finds important. 
 
Our first social driven charity campaign received a huge response. We asked you guys to choose which charity you wanted us to donate £500 to, in addition we were giving one lucky nominator a years’ free Netflix subscription. The chosen charity was the “French Bulldog Rescue GB” with a staggering vote. We are so pleased as this is a totally volunteer based rescue funded only by contributions. To find out more about the rescue please visit https://www.frenchbulldogrescuegb.co.uk/
 
Off the back of this campaign we will be running our next social competition but this time focusing on four charities from West Berkshire that are all local to our Newbury office. All of these charities received the most votes from our first campaign.
 
Swings and Smiles https://www.swingsandsmiles.co.uk/
West Berkshire Rapid Response Cars http://www.wbrrc.co.uk/
West Berkshire Mencap https://www.wbmencap.org/
West Berkshire Therapy Centre http://www.westberkshiretherapycentre.org.uk/
 
Hopefully we are coming to the end of a hard last 18 months with Covid-19. In the effort to add a little extra good to the world, it’s great to get involved with random acts of kindness to boost your mental health. Here’s a few top tips of the charities you could support:

1. Support what’s close to your heart. Personal experiences have a real impact, and you will feel good giving to a charity that will help future friends and family as you will have experienced it first-hand.
   
   
2. Choose local. There are hundreds of charities local to your area, donating to them will improve the community you live in, and potentially open a new community that you don’t know.
   
   
3. Find a charity that aligns with your company. Think about how the charity you’re supporting will match your company ethos, we’re not suggesting that this is a win for your business, but we are saying if you pick a charity the already matches your values, supporting it will be second nature, and what’s the harm in increasing brand awareness. For example, if you’re a local estate agent, how about supporting a local homeless charity?
   
   
4. Ask your team. If you choose a charity your team feels a connection with, they will feel more motivated in fundraising efforts and awareness, this will also make your team feel they are involved in something meaningful.
   
   
5. Vet your charity. Make sure the charity you choose will use your donation wisely

https://www.gov.uk/find-charity-information is a good place to start to check whether the charity is registered, don’t be afraid to ask questions if the charity is genuine, they will be happy to answer questions.

What Are The Best Promotional Items Your Customers Will Respond To?
 
More than 80% of consumers crave promotional items.
 
If 80% of your customers crave them, you need to ensure your brand is satisfying this craving! The last thing you want is to give away promotional items that are boring or don’t add return on investment.
 
Better quality promotional items that your customers appreciate are likely to last longer, create more impressions and generate a higher ROI. So our goal as marketers should always be to give the best promotional items that have a wow factor and build brand goodwill.
 
The best promotional items are the ones that:

• Your customers value and appreciate
• Are highly durable, long lasting, and used by customers for a minimum of 6 months
• Provide a great impression
• Are current, contemporary, and well designed
• Solve a real customer problem
• Are relevant to your current and future clients

 
So here’s our top 5 promotional items to give to your clients and prospects…

SEO is key to successful marketing of a business. It increases visibility of the company content, linking traffic back to the company website. SEO should be an integral part of your marketing plan as every second of everyday, someone is searching on Google (other search engines are available). 
 
Why businesses need SEO to take their brand to the next level

• Organic search – Use keyword research to boost your website organically as this will affect a huge part of most businesses’ website performance.
  
  
• Build trust and credibility – Establishing a brand takes commitment and time, but if you’re selling a quality product or service you will manage to build loyal customers which will increase awareness and boost traffic. From using targeted keywords, adding links and shareable content, the SEO starts building credibility and trust, so clients and customers want to come to your website for more information.
  
  
• Quality SEO for a positive user experience – Google knows how to interpret user experience. We know what we want and if we can’t find it within a few clicks, then there’s a problem and your website will suffer. Quality SEO incorporates a positive user experience which offers information in fewer clicks, quickly and easily. 
  
  
• Local SEO – Google knows where we have been and measures all our local engagement. You should optimise your brand message on a local level, focusing on specific towns, cities or regions which are relevant to the location and business sector your brand belongs to. This increases engagement, traffic and conversions.
  
  
• SEO impacts the buying circle – Awareness, consideration, decision and loyalty are the four stages of the buying circle. Customers research before buying, and their biggest advantage is the internet. By using SEO tactics to relay your message for the deal, innovative products or services it can show your customers the importance and dependability of what your product has to offer. By making your brand visible it enhances the potential that your business is the answer that the customer needs. 
  ​

Factors which impact SEO success: 

• Technical – performance and visibility and access to the site. This can be indexing, crawling, page speed, URL, and many more things.
  
  
• Onpage – the content on the website, elements that are only visible to non-users and elements that are visible to website users. 
  
  
• Off-page – these factors are about the authority, trust and relevance and building the audience. This includes the marketing around the website links, such as PPC and social media marketing. It can also be customer reviews or user-generated content. 
  
  

Keywords can sometimes have a high search volume but they can lack value and specificity. Transactional keywords are more valuable for conversion-driven businesses. Optimising transactional queries can be done by targeting long-tail search words. More specific keywords create more relevant content increasing the traffic to your website. 
 
It is crucial to understand how people use search engines. In order to find out this information, competitive research into analysing the sites in search results needs to be done. This will enable you to find out the competitive topics which will show you what is working in your business. Once you’ve done the research, more relevant content can be created to gain more context to expand on topics your target audience would like to see. 
 
SEO methodologies can be applied to any searching platforms. App stores, YouTube and video channels can also be optimised. Another good idea is to get your company set up on Google My Business which can also be optimised to improve rankings as well. Any searchable platforms are adaptable to SEO which provides opportunities to maximise brand visibility.
 
Your company needs to be as visible as it can be. Make sure you optimise even beyond the search engine to lead to further results. The last thing to think about is the search engine experience, which is all about optimising for people, rather than just the search engine. Content strategies need to be specifically targeted for customers, rather than the purpose of ranking higher in search engines, which should in turn make your business more successful in search engines. Don’t forget to optimise your titles, meta descriptions, header tags, and content. Finally, ensure that the URLs are search friendly.
 
Optimise at every opportunity possible. You will need to understand your company, know your unique selling point and the company’s vision. Use this to guide strategy metrics and goals to make your company content more successful. It is also crucial to understand your audience, that way your SEO will be more successful. 
 
SEO doesn’t happen overnight. The more time, effort and budget spent on SEO will improve your website and have a noticeable impact in years to come. Your website should sit on at least page 2 of Google as click throughs drop dramatically after page 2, to virtually nothing. 
 
To make a start you should follow these basic tips to improve your ranking:

• Ensure your website is mobile and user friendly, with easy navigation
• Ensure contact details, including a map are on the website, with a clickable link
• Ask customers to leave you a Google review

If you need any assistance with your SEO please get in touch today.

2020 has certainly been a year for change, with the Covid-19 pandemic seeing many limitations put in place for people and businesses across the globe. Face to face events is one thing that we have seen change dramatically. With all large gatherings put on hold this has meant events of any size have seen the same conclusion.

Businesses have had to find an alternative way to hold all types of events and gatherings, because although safety is paramount, business must go on. With this we have seen virtual events take off exponentially to fill the void in the lack of face to face meetings and businesses have taken this in their stride. Just about everything has now gone virtual from staff communication to roundtables, workshops and conferences.

What will happen when we have a choice again?
 
Virtual events are likely to stay, as they are a powerful way to build engagement with audiences anywhere. Physical events will come back, and we can’t wait to actually see people in real life again. They won’t however replace virtual events, they will exist alongside them. With even the introduction of hybrid events combining physical and virtual together. Advantages of virtual events is that it can be recorded, and you have the ability to watch on demand, meaning individuals who can’t attend a live event can access your event remotely, exposing your brand to a larger audience for a longer period of time.

Another advantage with virtual events is that it gives you access to valuable data. We all know that data driven marketing campaigns have proven to be massively successful, enabling us to better target our campaigns, improve our relationships and close deals. Virtual events neatly present conversation notes and provide lists of leads that can be instantly imported into CRM or marketing systems. These leads can be followed up quickly to grow the relationships they sparked at your event.

We know that no two events are the same and our AP&C Events Team are happy to tailor our services to meet individual needs to ensure your event is unique and reaches its full potential.

We have thought outside the box to offer a diverse range of service and product options to elevate your virtual events, right from the consultancy, to design customisation and even merchandising your event. Being virtual doesn’t have to be boring…

2020 has been a tough and challenging for us all. The spread of the COVID19 virus has caused a ripple effect in our daily lives where activities we once found unusual, have become the new norm. These include wearing a face mask, social distancing and rushing to stores before the national curfew begins. 
 
We at Apple Print & Creative, gathered together (in a safe way) to create a symbolic moment of blasting year 2020 away. We literally did this through the use of party poppers! Some of us gathered, socially distanced because safety comes first, and used shiny and colourful party poppers to great effect. They were handed out one by one and before you knew it, the noise “Bang” was symphonised around us. It was both exciting and terrifying.
 
Year 2020 has not been the best but stay positive and stay strong for 2021. 

2020 has been a turbulent year for us all due to covid 19 and it has changed how we go through our daily life. Things such as a national lockdown or wearing a facemask has become our new norm. I am sure you can agree that these changes have been something to adjust to. It gives pleasure for us to globally celebrate the new breakthrough of a vaccine. With year 2021 approaching just around the corner, we can look forward to creating a more positive year. We give you tips for your business to thrive through 2021, where you can create a positive business for a positive new year. 

​

​Changes have been made due to covid 19. Moving into 2021, it is these changes that will need to be embraced in order to stay ahead. Market trends change all the time, so this hopefully won’t be too much of a task. With an eye for catching unique opportunities to move your business forward, and a mind for brainstorming the possibilities of dominating the market, your business should thrive.  

Customer experience is always the forefront of impressions when it comes to your business. Good customer experience can range from having a user-friendly website to friendly communication from staff. Post covid 19, 59% of consumers cared more about customer experience before they decided what company to buy from. This is an example of how powerful customer experience will be in dictating purchases in year 2021. If this is something you are already doing for your business, then keep up the good work. Afterall happy customers, happy business.​

​We will use an analogy to explain this. Let us pretend that data is gold. Effort needs to be used in order to find the data which is gold. At first you are unaware of where the gold is, so you make hit and miss mining attempts to find it. When you find a gold mine, you know you have found a winner. Data needs to be collected overtime in order to make determinations for the best direction to take your business where you are more likely to increase conversion rates. 

​Real time customer service is being able to engage with customers without delay. This is a form of providing a good customer experience and using data for effective decision making. This can be done from taking a proactive approach in ensuring enough staff are available on popularly used platforms, to offering self-service to customers in order for them to complete the service without the wait for staff. Not only will real time service make your customers happier, it will also benefit your business. If your business has not incorporated this yet, now is the time to!

​Most of all, don’t forget to enjoy the new year! If your business is oozing with happiness, it will surely rub off on to your customers. A saying goes, work hard play hard. We say, enjoy 2021.

​AUTHOR: JOY DIDEOLA
​DATE: 10 DECEMBER 2020

​

​​We feel very fortunate to have welcomed an apprentice and 8 new starters to the business since lockdown. 

It was a great opportunity to touch base and give shout outs to jobs well done across the business despite the hurdles we have all been met with. 
Thanks to Bonsai, our new event platform, and some trusty wi-fi, the team could finally meet as a whole.

Onward and upward!





AUTHOR:  ANDREW WATTS
DATE:  23 OCTOBER 2020
​ 

5. Add some comic relief

​Infuse your content with lighter segments to break up the content and keep it fun!

• Why shy away from virtual fatigue? It’s not a secret, we all know it happens, you can make light of it with your audience and acknowledge you’ll be doing your best to combat it!
• Add some humour in to your presentation - throw in some puns, memes, dad jokes – wouldn’t you enjoy that if you were in the audience?!
• Maybe open segments with an interesting/surprising fact (on or off topic!) or a joke.
• Make it interactive with the chats and polls! Why not make them a bit silly with some funny opinion polls or quiz questions?!

​

AUTHOR:  CAITLIN V.
DATE:  20TH AUGUST 2020

     
​​We all know that, in this sea of zoom calls and virtual events that is 2020, it can sometimes be tricky to maintain our full focus and concentration for the entirety of these sessions and to remain, well, present. 
 
We’ve been working with our clients on ways to make virtual meetings and events more exciting, interactive and engaging, to combat virtual fatigue!

One way we have found to keep our guests on their toes and actively engaged in our sessions is to plan surprise parcels & presents to open throughout the event agenda- because who doesn’t love a gift-wrapped surprise in the post?!

And rather than just a ‘thank you’ present for attending, we’ve been linking these parcels to the event itself, sending (sometimes vaguely with a little imagination!) on-topic gifts and treats to open - 
 
EMEA update? Different region-appropriate continental snacks for everyone to open together and enjoy during each session!
 
Themed event? On-theme fun gifts, maybe linking to each session with a pun-tastic title!
 
Of course, different situations and budgets will suit different ideas – but even something as simple as envelopes with the next activity, talking point, a fun fact, or a joke inside (…maybe with something sweet in there as a treaty bonus!) still adds a tangible, interactive (and maybe tasty!) experience to your virtual events. 
 
We like to think outside the box, so - believe it or not - inflatable flamingos, biscuits and sun cream, along with some pretzels, glow sticks and picnic blankets, are just some of the surprises we’ve managed to work into our zoom meetings!
 
What not try this for your next virtual event or meeting? Just an idea to inject some real-life, gift-wrapped fun into our virtual reality!

Send an email to the team at info@appleprintmarketing.co.uk and we'll help you build the best box for your guests!

Hi there! Great to see you.
 
We believe every business deserves to emerge from lockdown like a phoenix from the ashes. (I mean c’mon, who wouldn’t want to be released back into the world with a whole new image?!) But how does one go about such a majestic transition? Where do you start? 
(Hint: it’s not buying feathers in bulk on Amazon)
 
Branding!
 
Lucky for you, our stellar in-house graphic designers have cleverly crafted a simple guide to help steer you in the right direction if you’re looking for a post-lockdown facelift.

You can download here, or follow the infographic below :) 

​Want to cut to the chase?
Get in touch with the studio directly to get some input tailored specifically to your brand by emailing    info@appleprintmarketing.co.uk