The vast majority of individuals are aware of PPC marketing and Google AdWords, which is for all intent purposes the Google PPC campaigns. Even those individuals who are not internet savvy will have heard the terms Google Adwords, PPC marketing and Google PPC campaigns bandied about on several occasions, but what about Google Remarketing?

Catering to the consumer through augmented reality technology was the big focus at this year’s AR Summit in London.
Augmented reality (AR) technology is becoming a major part of consumer behaviour. That was the conclusion of the speakers at the AR Summit in London, who also stressed the increasing importance of understanding that the technology must remain useful and interesting, as well as provide a natural experience. And, of course, the AR experience for the consumer should be
about what they want to have, as well as what they need to have. Ann Longley, head of social media at MEC, said: “It’s never been more important to understand consumer behaviour and how people are using technology.” She referred to the fact that building content and applications that people want makes them successful, highlighting that the best way to do this is by understanding that the consumer.
AR technology is here to stay and will become a fundamental part of marketing strategies. There is huge potential in the sports industry for AR, with predictions that the industry will fully embrace it. From an advertising perspective, AR will grow. According to speakers, 3D glasses will find their market. Using consumers as the carriers for your AR project is a useful strategy to adopt as it can quickly determine its likeability, noted Dutch new media artist, Sander Veenhof. He highlights that his iPhone dance app Dance.AR, which creates a globally synchronised dance performance through AR technology, gives consumers something to learn from as well as enjoy. "With AR, there are real world limits that you can break." AR applications that feel personal and natural are what consumers will connect with the most and AR technology in a number of ways has become a bridge that helps people better understand things.
Head of interactive at Play Nicely, Scott Fletcher believes that the value of AR is giving people something they want, but don’t expect to get. Adding to this, co-founder of Layar, Claire Boonstra insisted that AR can be a part of consumers' everyday lives through the way people choose to engage with it. Consumers, however, want an immediate response when they engage with AR technology and that continues to be the biggest challenge.

Documents published by HubSpot have beautiful cover images like the one above, which are highly pinnable and repinnable.



Have you used Pinterest to promote your business-to-business (B2B) company?

Many consumer-facing businesses have had a lot of success promoting themselves with Pinterest.

See how these B2B businesses are using Pinterest. Try to replicate their techniques for your business.

Here are 7 tips for successfully using Pinterest for your B2B business.

1: Use Infographics
Posting attractive infographics on your blog can be a great way to promote your B2B business on Pinterest. A well-designed infographic with helpful information can get you lots of pins and repins.




Dan Zarrella's study shows that taller images like infographics are more repinnable. A recent infographic titled “How to Get More Pins and Repins on Pinterest” by Dan Zarrella shows that taller images are more repinnable and infographics are usually quite tall. So focus on creating tall, detailed infographics. One example of a B2B company having success with infographics is KISSmetrics. They regularly create and post attractive infographics with useful information other businesses can implement. The infographics they post get pinned and repinned many times on Pinterest. A great example on which you could model your infographic is “How Do Colors Affect Purchases?” There are many facts and figures included in this well-designed infographic—it features good use of colors and it’s also quite tall. Create similar shareable infographics for your blog too.



Kissmetrics regularly publishes infographics on their blog, which are repeatedly pinned and repinned on Pinterest.

2: Use Ebooks, Guides and White Papers

Using ebooks, guides, white papers and other helpful documents can be a great way to promote your business on Pinterest.

Many people want to download your gated documents, especially if you have a popular blog with quality content.

To make them more shareable on Pinterest, you can add attractive cover images to your ebooks, guides and white papers.

Post an image of the cover on your document’s landing page. Also make sure you gate the content so people can access it only after they sign up. This will help you collect email addresses and names for your marketing efforts.

If your document is helpful and has an attractive image, your readers will want to pin and share it with their followers.

An example of a business using documents on Pinterest to the fullest is HubSpot. They have educational content such as ebooks, guides and white papers on subjects like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, SEO, Analytics, you name it.


Documents that are regularly pinned from HubSpot.

Social share buttons on the landing pages of HubSpot's documents make it easy to share them and add social proof.

Another important point to note is that HubSpot has a Pin It button on their landing pages too. This not only makes it easy for people to share the landing page, but it also adds social proof and credibility.

3: Engage Your Fans

Ever since General Motors took their ads off Facebook, there’s been a lot of discussion on how social media should be used. Businesses need to understand that social media shouldn’t be used for direct marketing, but to engage followers and build relationships with them.

This is exactly how you should use Pinterest too. The primary focus needs to be to engage fans and make them feel special and to get them to share your pins, comment on them and like them. Selling your products directly should only be your secondary focus.

Do something like you do on Facebook, which could be to ask people to like your pin or to ask people questions in the description, which will encourage them to comment on it.

And when they comment on it, you can reply to their comments and build relationships with them. If you keep engaging your fans, you will eventually convert them into customers.




Constant Contact's board called "Fanbruary" helps them engage better with their fans, as it's dedicated to them.

An example of a company engaging their fans on Pinterest is Constant Contact. If you visit their Pinterest brand page, you’ll see a board called Fanbruary.

Here you’ll find pictures of Constant Contact customers and fans appreciating their service. This shows their followers that Constant Contact cares about them and it also works as a testimonial for Constant Contact’s services.




Constant Contact pins videos on their board "Ask an Expert," which provides advice to their audience.

They also have a board called “Ask an Expert” where they pin videos of experts giving advice. These videos provide useful tips to fans and followers, thereby engaging them.


4: Display Your Products

Along with all of these engaging pins, you can also display your products so that potential customers can notice them, and if they’re interested, you could generate leads.

There are many ways to do this. You can display pins of your products, which might lead to a landing page; you could just display them creatively to promote engagement; or you could display how your product works.

An example of this is General Electric, which has a board called “Badass Machines” where they display the “biggest and baddest technology produced by GE.”

This board has some fantastic technologies built by GE. If you visit the board, you’ll see pictures of compressors, an LED light bulb, an aviation testing facility, etc. All of these pins show visitors what a big company GE is and all the wonderful products they create.



General Electric pins images of their products onto their board "Badass Machines."

Another great example is how HubSpot highlights their product. On their Pinterest brand page they have a board called “Peek at HubSpot Software,” which contains pins of screenshots of the amazing things their software does.

The link provided on the pin leads interested viewers to a demo page where they can register for a customized demo of how HubSpot’s software can help their company.



HubSpot pins screenshots of their software onto their board "Peek at HubSpot Software."

5: Display Your Work Culture

One of the best ways to engage your company’s fans and followers is to show people that there’s life behind your company’s website and your social media profile. You want to show people what happens behind the walls of your company.

This shows users that there are real people just like them working in the office and this encourages them to interact with your employees. It humanizes your company and your social media campaign.

You can apply this strategy to Pinterest by pinning images onto a board dedicated to work culture. You could also add your employees as contributors to this board so they can directly add their own images. This way, they will directly communicate with your followers.

An example of a company using this well is Marketo. Marketo has a board on their Pinterest brand page titled “Office Fun!” where they pin pictures of Marketo’s employees working and taking part in events and competitions.

These pictures show followers that Marketo has employees who are very social just like them.



Marketo has a board called "Office Fun!", which is dedicated to the company's work culture.

6: Pin Brand-Related Images

One of the best ways to promote your brand is to use relevant images.

If you are a B2B company that provides marketing services, pin pictures related to marketing; if you’re a B2B company that sells office supplies, pin images of interesting things used in offices, and so on. This way, you’ll build a brand on Pinterest and people interested in that will follow you.



Intel pins pictures of technology onto their board "Geek Chic." An example is Intel, which has a board called “Geek Chic” where they pin pictures of technology. If you visit the board, you’ll see pictures of food equipment, USB devices, MP3 jewelry and all sorts of technologies. This works for Intel and helps promote their brand as a company that works in the field of computers and technology.

7: Show That You Serve the Community

People like it when you take the extra step to serve them and everyone else better. It shows that you really care about them. This could be serving the community, making the world a better place, etc.

If you are a company that does this extra work, it’s a good business idea to display it to let your fans know about all of the good deeds you do. If it’s a cause they care about, they will support you and your company.

A company that’s doing this really well on Pinterest is FedEx. On their brand page they have a board called “FedEx Community Involvement” where they pin pictures of their crew members cleaning the environment, making donations, rescuing animals and many other things they do to serve their community. Visit their board to check it out.

All of these images show that FedEx cares and convince people to do business with them.



FedEx pins images of how they serve the community, which helps build a better brand image.

Another fantastic board they have is “FedEx EarthSmart” where they pin images and videos of steps they are taking to minimize their environmental impact. As FedEx delivers items, they use a lot of fuel, packaging material, etc. By showing they’re taking extra steps not to hurt the environment this shows that they care. This goes a long way in persuading people to work with them.




FedEx shows people how they make an effort to lessen the harm they cause to the environment by pinning images and videos of the steps they take. These are just a few examples of how B2B businesses can successfully use Pinterest. If you take a good look at your products and services, you should be able to come up with creative ways to promote your B2B business with Pinterest too.


By Mitt Ray Published June 20, 2012
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As you create content, you should optimize that content for search engines so that your pages are indexed, rank well, and are easy to find.
There are two major concepts around Search Engine Optimization which are referred to as On-page SEO and Off-page SEO.

On-Page Search Engine Optimization
On-Page SEO helps Google know what each page of your website or blog is about. This way, they’ll know what keywords to index your pages for. Here are the steps you should follow for each page on to help each page get found.
Step 1: Choose a primary keyword for this page. Start by selecting a few keywords that are relevant to the content of this page. Choose one of these keywords to be your primary keyword for this page.
Step 2: Optimize the top SEO elements. Your SEO efforts will be most effective if you consistently place the primary keyword you’ve chosen for this page in each of the following SEO elements: Page Title - Include the primary keyword at the beginning of the page title, and separate each keyword phrase with pipes (|). Page URL - Include the primary keyword in the page URL, and separate each word in the keyword phrase using dashes. e.g. www.cjpltd.co.uk/intelligent-marketing-solutions Header (H1) Tag – Create one H1 tag at the top of the page that incorporates the primary target keyword. You can add other words to the H1 tag to make it sound more natural. Image ALT Text - Optimize the most prominent image on this page using ALT text so that search engines can “read” the image. The ALT text should be the primary keyword.
Step 3: Optimize the meta data. Meta data are the elements invisible to your site visitors, but visible on the search engines. Meta description – Include the primary keyword in the meta description and provide a compelling reason for why someone should visit the page. *Note: the meta description character limit is 150 characters. Meta keywords - Add 3-5 meta keywords to the page that are variations of your target keyword.
Step 4: Incorporate keyword into page content. Use your primary keyword a few times throughout the page’s content. Don’t overthink keyword density or placement; mention them naturally. Try to bold the keyword at least once.
Step 5: Create internal links. If you mention the primary keyword of this page on a second page within your site, link that keyword on the second page to this page. For example, you should link to a page about marketing solutons using the anchor text “marketing solutions” on another website page.

Off-Page Search Engine Optimization
The number of inbound links to your site is the single most important factor search engines use to determine the importance and rank of your site. "Linkbuilding" is the process of building links back to your website. This helps your site build the authority it needs to rise in the search engine rankings; the more links you have from other sites, the higher you’ll be able to climb on Google. Creating high-quality content is the best thing you can do to convince other website to link to you. But there are also steps you can take to proactively build external links leading back to your website.

Step 1: Target sites linking to your competitors. If a website has linked to your competitors, they’re likely to find your site relevant to link to as well.
Step 2: Submit your site to relevant directories. Do a search on Google for [industry phrase or keyword] + "submit site". This often yields results that lead right to the submission page for directories in your industry segment. Be careful not to submit your site to any directories that appear spammy.Use something like http://www.mywot.com/ (web of trust) to check if sites are trusted.
Step 3: Add your site to local search. If you have a product/service targeting specific geographic regions, list yourself on Google Places and Google Maps.
Step 4: Ask your contacts for a link. Create a list of partners, vendors, customers, professional organizations, employees, friends, or other people in your network who might be able to link to your site. Then ask them for the link, and try to get your target keywords in the link text.
Step 5: Use advanced link building strategies. There are many more creative ideas you can try to generate inbound links, including guests blogging and running a contest.
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5 key lessons to consider:



1. Think how it will be used

Ideally, talk with some people who will be using the app – your sales staff and end customers alike – to see what works for them. You may love animated graphs and pages that build slowly and beautifully, but many users will find such features distracting. If you carry on regardless, your reps and customers may end up skipping over some of the most important content.

2. Think exponentially

When rolling out iPad content across several brands, countries and languages planning is vital. The smallest of changes late in the project becomes time-consuming and expensive to apply across all versions. Careful planning means you spend less time on revisions and more time on making your app exceptional.

3. Think about training

Although iPads are remarkably usable ‘out of the box’, it is essential that your sales force is trained to use them effectively. A poorly executed iPad detail will leave a customer feeling confused and annoyed.

4. Think about capturing data

The only way you’ll know your iPad project is a success, is by tracking it. All interactions can be monitored so you can learn which of your messages carry most meaning and impact. Link what you are measuring directly back to your project’s SMART objectives and you will clearly know just how effective your solution has been.

5. Think beyond PowerPoint slides

It is easy to default to replicate PowerPoint slides in an iPad app. It’s what you’re familiar with and such slides have often already been approved. But slides on an iPad are not much better than slides on a laptop. Instead, use the tablet’s unique features to make a detail interactive, memorable and measurable.
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With more and more Apple products being used for web browsing, the need for an alternative to Flash is becoming more apparent and HTML5 is looking like it is the next generation language, but what is it? HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is a formatting language that programmers and developers use to create documents on the Web. The latest edition HTML5 has enhanced features for programmers such as canvas, video and geolocation elements. You view a Web page written in HTML in a Web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. The HTML5 language has specific rules that allow placement and format of text, graphics, video and audio on a Web page. Programmers use these programming tags or elements to produce web pages in unique and creative ways. Tags such as , , enable the creator to make a more efficient and intelligent web page. Users will not have to use a Flash plug-in for video and audio content. Visual Studio users typically write code in HTML5 when creating web site content."

With Internet Explorer only being 26% ready though there is still some way to go.

http://www.focus.com/images/view/11905/
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Media have changed in ways that now make aggregation essential in order to cut through the overwhelming volume of noise out there and concentrate on content that is relevant to your audience. It offers an opportunity to create real value to your clients by doing the job for them and providing content from your industry that is relevant, interesting and beneficial. There are now some great sites and apps such as Pinterest and Flipboard that potentially point the way of web use in the future. To really benefit from these opportunities it is still essential to have a clear and concise strategy outlining what you are trying to achieve so that you do not allow the technology to drive the process and end up with a jumble of confused content. Here are a couple of things to think about before you start looking at the options:


1. Automated or human-driven?

The easiest way to get into aggregation may simply be to create an automated feed of the latest headlines from other news sources. That brings new information to your site and doesn’t add any workload.

But it’s far more useful to involve human editors as it provides that extra filtration that it is very difficult to automatically replicate.

2. When and where will you post aggregated items?

There are two ways to approach this: Mix individual aggregated items in with your other news reports, or create a separate blog or other space dedicated to external content. We are recommending to a couple of clients that they should create a quarterly update. Campaign Monitor has recently launched an aggregation service taking content from relevant blogs and eBlasting it via "newsletter" to the mailing list at predetermined times.

3. Choose what to aggregate.

Valuable aggregation does two things well: It discovers relevant news stories and highlights the most relevant parts of those stories.

The most valuable sources to aggregate are ones your audience may not otherwise read. Think of news sources that may be smaller or less widely read than yours, or that cover a different topic or geography. Try to identify sources whose coverage is tangential to yours — close enough to be relevant once in a while, but not so similar that your readers probably read it already.

How can you do this? The best tools are to subscribe to RSS feeds for key sites and then cast a wider net by subscribing to Google News Alerts for important keywords.

4. Should you simply link or summarise?

This may be the most debated aspect of aggregation strategy.

Aggregation that sends readers directly to the original piece is fairly uncontroversial. More controversial are summarised aggregated stories that provide little reason to read the original version. If you take this approach, the business advantage is that more readers spend more time previewing, sharing and discussing the content on your site instead of the original site.

5. How do you decide among multiple sources?

For some stories, there will be several sources you could choose to aggregate. You should think through in advance how to handle this. Go with the first story? Go with the most complete story?

If each contains some unique information, the best option would be to link to all of them from one place. It’s best to link within the story text in a way that the reader knows what each source is contributing.


6. How can you empower your users?

Once you begin a good aggregation strategy, your site will attract loyal users who appreciate it. Some of them will want to help.

If you have the development resources to customise your site, you can add features to enable users to suggest stories to aggregate or vote for which ones should be featured prominently.
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So what do we really want – cheap and nasty, or responsible, sustainable and authentic?In October 2011 Asda lowered its prices. Again. 3,000 products had their prices slashed and there was a special offer: spend £40 this week and you get £5 off the next £40 you spend. Tesco also cut prices like crazy and Sainsbury had ‘brand match’ – whatever you cut, we’ll cut too. Even Waitrose started comparing prices – in a rather genteel way, of course. As for Aldi and Lidl – don’t ask. Christmas and post-Christmas was a price-cutting bonanza. And it hasn’t stopped.As household incomes go down, shoppers get much more careful and prices come down too. Chickens – £1.99. What kind of a chicken can you get for £1.99? Only one that has been tortured to grow fat since its birth six weeks ago.When things get tight nobody wants to know anymore about factory farming and all its associated ghastliness. It’s all been quite forgotten – at least for the time being. Nobody is interested in the pressures on suppliers either. We don’t want to know about sheep farmers going bankrupt as long as lamb prices stay low in our supermarket. It’s price, price, price at the moment.So, does this mean that responsible, sustainable, local, authentic, organic was a brief fad – that now with the nation in an apparently profound and long recession we recognize it was a dream? I don’t think so. Somehow or other organic products keep on getting more shelf space and supermarkets still like to talk about their loyal suppliers with their local roots. Farm shops still flourish. Authentic, organic, local – all that stuff is still in the frame – if only just.So, what’s going on? Do we want cheap and greasy on Monday and higher quality and tasty on Wednesday? Of course we’re conflicted. Of course we want both at the same time, or at least in rapid succession. But it doesn’t look to me as though ‘environment’, ‘sustainable’, ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘fresh’, ‘local’ have been chucked out of the window. On the contrary, wherever you walk – even in the tawdriest supermarkets – you see these words popping up. And it isn’t just supermarkets either. It’s everywhere.McDonald’s, always a bellwether where public taste is concerned, has been going green literally for the past couple of years. Although McDonald’s still retain what they risibly call their ‘ Golden Arches’, the facias have changed colour from a startling scarlet that looked like it was bursting a blood vessel to a profoundly bucolic green. It’s so green you expect to see cows walking all over the interiors. So presumably McDonald’s have researched themselves silly in their efforts to find out where to go and what to do and they’ve taken the view that the environmental values are here to stay. And they have modulated their branding to match.For what it’s worth, that’s my view too. Right now business is terrible – there’s one economic crisis after another and everybody, except bankers, is looking to save some cash. Even Goldman Sachs incurred a loss recently. Terrible isn’t it? Budgets are going down and everybody is shopping around for a bargain so a lot of branding is emphasising price.But in the longer term I feel sure there has been a profound change in the way we think about ourselves in relation to the environment and particularly in relation to food. All those Heston Blumenthals and Jamie Olivers and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls are not just talking to themselves. We are moving towards what you might call ‘authenticity’. We want things to be real, we want things to be properly crafted, we want things to taste as though they come from somewhere. And that’s having a big impact on branding.There are a number of different and apparently separate movements that suggest this. The focus on local foods is one, the power of the celebrity chefs, the encouragement to emulate them at home and the striking success of organics is another. And it isn’t only food. The anti-banking protest movement, Occupy, is another manifestation of the desire to make life a bit simpler, a bit nicer. There is a feeling that we’ve had too much, too much of everything. Too much greed. Too many cars. Too much drink. Too much drugs. Too many clothes.There’s a feeling around that we need a bit less of everything and that we need to find something a bit simpler and more profound and less superficial in ourselves.The post-modern exhibition at the V&A Museum in London exemplifies the era we have just been through that is just ending. Post-modernism was about the rejection of modernism, of form follows function, of simplicity, in favour of fun, excess and exaggeration. And now post-modernism is ending too.Brand builders are an integral part of the dominant contemporary culture. For the last couple of decades many really successful brands have represented, however obliquely, post-modern ideologies – they have been funny, superficial, oblique and maybe a bit fantastic.That era is ending. Now it’s not only about price, it’s also all about authenticity. Where it comes from, who made it, how lovingly it is produced. Country of origin; even city of origin. Staffordshire china.Authenticity is back. Brand builders – you had better recognize that. Tomorrow, I believe, the world will be about authenticity. No more excess. So what does that mean for brands? It means that you have to try to be yourself, you have to try to be restrained, you have to try to be modest, you have to try to be authentic.
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With 26,000 employees working in 36 countries AMEC is one of the world's leading engineering, project management and consultancy companies. We are working with them to create an online environment where employees can learn in real time, at a time to suit them and in their own language. The platform uses video, quiz and bullet summaries in easy to digest chapters that can be paused and re-started so employees can pick it up and return as and when time allows.
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tredders.com is up and running for Christmas trading. If you are looking at quality footwear to put into your stockings or indeed the other way around then as a client of CJP you are entitled to 10% discount (and free postage). Simply use code TQF10 at the check out.
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The smart phone version of the Lorenz Consultancy website is now live allowing users to search for over 40,000 commercial properties throughout the UK. The site can detect where the phone is located and create a search within a specified distance of it. If you have an iPhone why not give it a try by going to thelorenzconsultancy.co.uk


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We have improved the search functionality on thelorenzconsultancy.co.uk so you can now search by postcode throughout the country for offices, shops, industrial, medical, leisure or restaurant use. The iPhone version of the site that allows search based on your location is due to launch this week
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We had a great turn out for the Silver Reef launch event at the St Kitts and Nevis High Commission in Kensington.Simon Hill, MD of Silver Reef and Micha-Rose Emmett of Henley and Partners both gave short presentations together with a video message from The Rt. Hon. Ricky Skerritt, Minister for Tourism and International Transport Click here . The event was well supported by the team at Henley and Partners and The St. Kitts Tourism Authority. We have received some really positive feedback, particularly about the electronic version of the brochure which guests were able to take away on a memory stick. If you want a copy let us know.
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We are launching phase 2 of Silver Reef St Kitts tomorrow (28th September) at the High Commission in Kensington. If you would like to come along let me know and I can arrange an invitation for you. Our second phase consists of 36 apartments - keenly priced to fit well into the economic citizenship pricing range. We have got 24 really well structured one-bedroom apartments and 12 penthouse two-bedroom apartments with a mezzanine level and prices start at $350,000. If you have clients looking at Citizen By Investment then let me know and I can let you have more details, or go to silverreefstkitts.com
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We are hoping to go live with the our iPhone version of thelorenzconsultancy.co.uk in the next two weeks. The beta version of the site has a few bugs left to get rid of but the live search of over 40,000 available properties and the locator allowing search centred on your current location seems to be pretty robust. Next time you are out and about on your iPhone with a couple of minutes to spare we would be very grateful if you could give it a try and let us know what needs further work. Click here
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Silver Reef is a development of apartments overlooking the Royal St Kitts golf course and adjacent to the Caribbean Sea in Frigate Bay. We have worked closely with the sales and marketing team who have successfully sold all but two apartments in phase one. We are shortly to launch the marketing campaign for phase 2 with launches in London and St Kitts together with a soft launch in Hong Kong. The apartments qualify a purchaser to apply for Citizenship through the Government's Citizenship By Investment Programme. The scheme was introduced in 1984 and is considered to be one of the most respected schemes in the world.
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Chris Pattison successfully cycled from Lands End to John O Groats in some of the most extreme weather imaginable. A total of 962 miles was pedalled in 56hours 48 minutes at an average speed of 16.91mph. There were 51,266 feet of climbing and the total calorie burn was 67,550! The last 25 mile stretch turned into a race at an average speed of over 21mph.

Almost £3,500 has been raised by very generous sponsors - A big thanks to all of those who contributed
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After final testing we are now live on the tredders.com website. Two orders in the first few hours proved the power of online retailing! We will continue to develop the website and the product range over the next few months.
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We have today welcomed the 100th member to the Linked in group we set up for the Association of Property Bankers. We are hoping to generate some quality discussion on issues facing the industry but to also introduce The Association to bankers operating in the property sector who may benefit from membership.

It has also proved to be an easy and quick way to notify members of upcoming events whether educational or social.

If you would like to me considered for membership to The Association please click here
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The new website for The Lorenz Consultancy launched this week. It has received a great response with almost 3000 unique visits to date. The property search function which is powered by Estate Agents Clearing house gives users access to over 40,000 available properties throughout the UK from office, retail and industrial space to leisure, medical and restaurant uses. We will continue to work with Tony Lorenz and his team over the next twelve months to improve, finesse and update the site.
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How lucky were we with the weather last week for the photo-shoot in the New Forest with Tredders. It was a real team effort and we all took our turn both in front of and behind the camera but the photographer Martin Appleton was excellent. All of our impromptu models including horses, donkeys, dogs, pigs and children all behaved impeccably!
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We have been appointed to the marketing team for the Silver Reef residential and commercial development in St Kitts. We got some great video and photography last week which we will be using online in the marketing campaign. The development consists 70+ apartments with some commercial space at the front of the site. Built and project managed to british standards the quality is very very good.
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A brilliant evening last week at The Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge. I was a guest of President Andrew Goodbody so got the full VIP treatment. Other people on our table included Armando lannucci, Giles Barrie, John Richards, Liz Peace and Michael Thirkettle - some great conversations!

The Dinner raised substantial amounts of money for Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, St Mungo's and The Great Football Givaway.

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We have today set up The Lorenz Consultancy Twitter account. Anthony Lorenz is certainly someone who knows what is going on in the property market and is not afraid to voice his opinion so definitely one to watch in the future. Click here
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We recently designed a very innovative hoarding design to wrap a shop in Westbourne Grove whilst building works were being carried out. Enstar Capital gave us our head and allowed us to create a hoarding in the shape of a shopping bag (handles and all) with a campaign to capture feedback and preferences from local shoppers via text message. Property Week picked up the story whilst we were consulting on planning. Orme Retail managed to conclude a letting before we managed to get onsite which was disappointing for us but great news for Enstar.
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The CJP team made use of our Barclays Cycle Hire corporate account to beat the Tube strike yesterday. A great success and perhaps a precedent has been set. We will try to cycle to all future meetings if weather allows.
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The annual investor conference at The Greenbrier West Virginia provided a great snap shot of investor mood in the USA. There were over 100 attendees from all over the country and whilst the clients enjoyed some great activities including golf, geo cache, croquet and trap shooting the real reason to get together was the presentation from chairman GIles Cadman. Giles outlined the various methods of investing in fine wine including en-primeur, the wine fund, wine purchase agreements and full physical purchase. Giles also outlined the property and capital projects Venulum are currently working on and the respective investment opportunities they offer. From the client meetings after the presentation it was clear that appetite for the right kind of investment was very strong, particularly for long term and lower risk profile opportunities.

We are about to send an online survey to the attendees, and will hopefully be able to use the feedback to create a better conference next year.
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I think Tony Danaher of FD was insightful when he outlined the insular, almost sectarian nature of the property industry of the 90's. An industry that was of no interest to the national media or to the government apart from HMRC.

Things have changed significantly since then but there is a concern that as an industry many players still run their businesses as personal fiefdoms with little regard to "customer relations". Marketing comes well down on their list of priorities and little regard is paid to their image.

Are we heading for a market place where those who adopt modern communication methods and satisfy the instant need for information and opinion are at a distinct advantage to their competitors who are happy to sit on their hands? Only time will tell.

Interestingly the recent Property Week supplement on Marketing for the New Decade has some enlightened opinion on the future of communication from a broad panel but in a publication littered with Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube logo's should we be surprised that only two of the panel can be found on Twitter? Should we be concerned that FD considered to be "one of the UK’s leading financial and corporate communications consultancies" has a latest news section on their website that hasn't been updated since October 2009?

Clearly there are a host of new communication channels available to us now but the old principals of consistency and authenticity still apply.
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Groupon is a great site that pools buyers together to negotiate better prices. It originated the concept of using collective buying to get a daily deal on local goods and services, and is an outgrowth of ThePoint.com, an online community launched in 2007 for organizing all forms of group action and fund-raising around a “tipping point” of required participants.

If you are a business that offers stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in London then you should register your business on the site.
Click here
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"The average prime equivalent yield for the 12 property sectors tracked by Savills’ Commercial Investment Team now stands at 5.73%. This sits 2.86% below the average prime equivalent yield recorded when capital values reached their recent trough in early 2009. The pace in the fall of average prime yields over the last 12 months has been quite staggering."

MORE
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March 11, 2010
Networking sites can help you build relationships with customers, generate feedback and market awareness so it is essential to get it right.

We suggest the following:

1.Browse other profiles. What draws your attention and what pushes you away? Who do you want to connect with?

2.Get the essentials right. Tell your reader who you are and what you do succinctly and clearly in two sentences. Include a link to your website. You will get the chance to elaborate as you get to know people.

3.Use the language of the medium. Business networking platforms such as LinkedIn, should be considered like any other networking opportunity and you should behave as you would at say an IOD function.

4.People will want to know how credible you are so mention qualifications. Goals are important, too – so spell them out.

5.Let a little personality through. It should not be all about work – your interests can open doors with others who share them. Balance work and personal information sensibly, though, and think about who you want to connect with.

6.Post a picture. Photographs are more immediate than words, but a picture must be right for the medium.

7.Brand your profile. Most platforms allow you to change colours or add background images. Use your company livery to reinforce your viewer’s connection with your firm’s brand.

8.Keep it fresh. Update your profile regularly. If your goals change, or you’ve got a great success story, add that in. If people can see that you have been recently active on a profile they will be more inclined to connect with you.

9. Don’t sell, engage. Never use your profile to try to sell to people – they will leave immediately and there are other channels you can use to talk about your product or service. The aim of your profile is to give people a reason to connect with you, rather than with your business.

10. Keep your site up to date with rich content. Good content once a month is better than drivel once a week.
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Incorporate Blogging into your marketing mix or fall behind your competitors
Blogging provides a medium to communicate with clients instantly and from wherever you happen to find yourself with your mobile phone or laptop.

A ‘weblog’, or blog, is an online diary which allows you to post your thoughts for a public audience.

Getting started

Starting a blog can be as simple as registering with a provider and typing your first message. Google’s Blogger is free and good. As one would expect it is pretty efficient from a search perspective as well. WordPress.org, is also free but will require you to download software onto the server that already hosts your website if you want to integrate it directly into your site. Alternatively you can host it for free on the WordPress site and link it to your own site.

We are integrating blog content straight into the news section of our client’s websites and linking content to Twitter.

Finding your audience

There are literally hundreds of sites and portals that want to host your content but it is easy to fall into the trap of becoming a user of too many different sites and end up failing to update any of them. If you are in the property industry there are two or three networks such as Property Week’s Network and Reorb that have the critical mass to make them of value so stick with them to start with. Don’t try to be everything to everyone or it will fail.

Search engines are very important for attracting new business, and blogs are search engine magnets. Google loves fresh content and new links. (see our thoughts on Google Buzz)

Writing your views

When writing entries, avoid marketing and sales messages. Blogs give you the chance to talk subjectively, as you would offline. Your readers will get to know you and the company, and they won’t be presented with a grey façade.

Think about what is happening in your sector and what is affecting business in general. What trends are emerging? What challenges are you facing as a result of, for example, new legislation? Can you take inspiration from news stories that your readers might have read elsewhere?

Whatever you write, be prepared for responses, some of which might be awkward to deal with. Markets are now about conversations. If people disagree with you, you have the chance to learn from and answer criticism.

The future

The next generation websites will still contain the “brochure on line” experience but users will become increasingly demanding for up to the minute opinion and content. That content will take the form of Twitter type updates, blogging type opinions and personal interview type video.

Watch this space!
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Remember The Simple Mathematics Of Pay Per Click
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Spending half term in Switzerland.Can't wait
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We went to see Peter Andrews at LTGDC this week to see what challenges they face from a communications perspective. We should be able to add some value
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We are doing some great work with Garbe Group. They are a property company based in Hamburg Germany with a London office in the City. They are about the size of a FTSE350 company and have done some huge schemes in the UK over the last ten years. The team is pretty diverse but have the most amazing array of talent and experience. They even have an ex Fosters and Partners architect on the team.

We are doing some pretty ground breaking corporate marketing for them. Watch this space
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http://bit.ly/aePVOF

I think this is absolutely brilliant. It is not often something resonates so strongly and aligns interests so perfectly.


I love it!!!
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Welcome to a new decade, and best wishes for great creative thinking and building brand value in 2010!
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We are selling our portfolio of one and two bedroom apartments in the East Tower, The Landmark, Canary Wharf London E14. The portfolio of flats is for sale at a price of around £10m reflecting an initial yield of 5.5%. Go to www.thelandmarktower.com for more information
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You can now download a PDF version of the CJP Autumn Winter Review from the home page of www.letscreate.it. A short recap of what we have been doing for clients this year.
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I was the guest of the President of The Association of Property Bankers Annual Fund Raising Dinner last night held at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel.

I have just bought my new BMW 1200GS Adventure. It is brilliant.
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We launched the new Association of Property Bankers website last week. As the voice of the industry good informative communication is vital
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We have just submitted a marketing report to a national construction company. These difficult times are an awesome opportunity for some!
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We are being considered for a corporate review. Having been shortlisted alondside one other we are very hopeful.
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