I.E. BLOG

ACQSYS is the concept of Bill Howie, who set up this unique asset management business in 2011 to provide a recovery service for manufacturers, distributors and retailers who deliver products in re-usable transit equipment.

It’s estimated that over £200 million is lost each year through misplaced or stolen transit equipment. ACQSYS reduces these losses by recovering the missing equipment and preventing further theft and misappropriation.

How did i.e. support ACQSYS?
The concept behind the business is unusual and the work that we undertook was heavily focused on capturing the essence of the offer and delivering striking and forceful graphics which supported clear and concise messaging. i.e. delivered the design and build of a new website for ACQSYS and worked closely with social media expert Kathryn Bullock of Face Marketing to deliver the social elements of their marketing. i.e. also delivered design for corporate stationery, a direct mail leaflet, an email template and a Facebook page header.

The results
Six months on from launching the website, ACQSYS are exceeding expectations and are extremely pleased with the progress of the business. The marketing communications delivered by i.e. have played a significant part in this success. Bill Howie commented, “We could not have achieved this success without an effective website.” Kathryn Bullock added, “It is always a pleasure to work with the i.e. team as they deliver on time and to budget and really take the time to fully understand the brief and the business.”

Bill further comments, “i.e. was asked to produce a website from scratch, with no prior experience in our sector or understanding of the market we were addressing. They very quickly understood what we needed and delivered a great product on time. I would recommend Suzi and the team without hesitation.”

ACQSYS is just one of the businesses benefiting from our Intelligent approach to marketing. If you’d like to know more about how it could benefit your business then please give us a call on 0117 9079930.

Typically the purpose of identifying and cultivating your USP (‘Unique Selling Point’) is to differentiate yourself from your competition, by defining a clearly ‘unique’ service or product feature. It is commonly believed that a unique proposition will strengthen your brand, which in turn will lead to higher volume or greater value sales.

However, there are dangers in pursuing a ‘unique selling point’. You either invest significant time and monies - not to mention blood, sweat and tears – cultivating your USP only to find that you are simply feeding your competition with valuable R&D. If they are able to adopt the USP better or quicker and make it their own, it can leave you out in the cold wondering what went wrong...

Or there is another danger that the USP you cultivate does not actually meet specifically identified customer needs, delivering no real value to your customer and no additional value to your business.

Instead of trying to identify a ‘unique’ quality which you can sell, spend time identifying the value that your customers seek in the market. Then work out how your business can deliver and communicate that value more consistently than your competition. This will always win buyers over.

By understanding customer needs and communicating consistently, you will immediately overcome two of the biggest marketing pitfalls:

#Pitfall 1 Being focused on what you can do, rather than understanding customer needs and the value they seek.

#Pitfall 2 Failing to communicate consistently. It’s possible to simply out-gun your competition through communicating a consistent and persistent message which is reflected through every aspect of your business.

It’s something which is clearly understood and followed in consumer marketing. Think of EasyJet. They weren’t the first to offer cheap air travel, there were others already doing it, but they have cleverly and successfully positioned themselves in the market and made that category their own. So much so, competitors are left to fight over comfort, price and choice as alternative differentiators.

Discover how to position and brand your business with i.e. Call us on 0117 9079930 and take the first step to unlocking your value.

Let’s admit it; we’ve all sat through meandering PowerPoint presentations which leave us feeling uninspired (if not asleep!). So what makes a good presentation? Here’s some key pointers:

1. Content is king
Before you consider the look and feel of your PowerPoint, make sure you understand the purpose of your presentation and audience expectations. Why are you giving the presentation? What’s the desired outcome? Once you understand this, you can generate the content for your presentation.

2. Engage, Engage, Engage
85% of a good presentation is associated with the personal delivery, 15% is associated with the visual presentation. The late Steve Jobs was world renowned for his engaging presentations. Yet if you took his visual presentations at face value, they are often single word prompts on simply laid out slides. In terms of preparing your presentation, spend more time on practicing the personal delivery than creating the slide designs themselves.

3. Stick to the intended purpose
Good presentations often go astray when authors adapt them to suit too many purposes, for example as well as a presentation, it also has to be a detailed hand-out or a version of the company brochure or a detailed technical specification. Use other support materials to communicate any additional information, don’t try and cram it all into your PowerPoint.

4. Don’t become a design criminal
With its infinite colour, font, background and transitition options, it’s easy to get carried away with the possibilities. However, the best presentations work off a simple master slide, which reflects the brand. If you decide to use additional graphics, insert video clips or animations, make sure you can justify their use, avoid visual clutter and eliminate excess information. Always include titles, diagram labels and source tags for your ‘exhibits’…. And avoid clip art and flashing Vegas signs at all costs!

5 Get interactive
Don’t be afraid to switch off the projector and engage in two way interaction. The nature of PowerPoint means that authors are required to simplify often complex concepts into brief bullet points. By interacting with your audience, you’ll ensure they have opportunities to ask questions and fully understand the concepts you are presenting.

Finally, after hours pouring over your own presentation, it’s easy to become jaded but just remember, your audience will be hearing your presentation for the first time. Follow the steps above and you won’t fail to deliver a great presentation!

If you’d like to avoid ‘PowerPoint catastrophe’ then please give us a call on 0117 9079930 and we can guide you on content,  presentation and design – we can even give you some handy hints on managing other aspects of your presentation meeting to ensure you leave a lasting impression!

Congratulations to Emma from White Horse Employment who was the winner of our Valentines Day competition. A box of 8 muffins is winging its way to their office as we speak!

Thank you to everyone who entered, watch out for more competitions coming soon.

Happy Valentines Day! We’re celebrating by offering you the chance of winning a box of muffins for your office.

All you need to do is answer this simple question. What’s the name of the proven i.e. approach to marketing:

A winner will be announced on Monday 20th February so get your entries in quick!