newsblog

David Young has joined the Paligap team as Sales Manager.
 
A Royal Marines Musician in a previous life, David has spent the last ten years developing his career through arts marketing, FMCG brand management, and most recently outdoor & airport advertising with JCDecaux.
 
David is responsible for sourcing and developing new business across various sectors, and tailoring bespoke marketing communications packages for key clients.
 
He said "I'm very much looking forward to my new role and the challenges it will bring.  It is fantastic to have joined such a dynamic team, and to have the opportunity to get involved in the creative process is very refreshing".

In these harder times, businesses are constantly looking to increase the value of their direct marketing spend. Companies who use e-mail marketing can communicate their messages quickly and inexpensively to a very targeted audience without worrying about printing and postal costs.

Email addresses can be purchased from a reputable list broker or your company can build them up over time.  While it is probably better to have a long- term strategy to compile your own email list of existing and potential clients it can be time consuming and costly, so the short-term alternative for most is to buy email lists in. Email lists can be purchased for B2B and consumer markets and can be targeted towards your type of customer.

To ensure the best financial return from your email marketing keep the message simple and clear by mixing strong visuals and concise copy that will appeal to the target audience.  Discounts and added value sales promotion works very well with email marketing but don't clutter. White space is good and professional design will help convey your offer effectively.

Research has shown that e-mail marketing is a cost effective and targeted way to reach new customers and encourage existing clients to spend again. Email marketing is also a good method for building your brand awareness and keeping in touch with existing customers.

In addition email marketing is more measurable than many other types of marketing. By using  a professional email delivery company, you can measure the number of people that opened, clicked through, deleted or unsubscribed from a mailing list, enabling you to see immediate results from your marketing spend.

Paligap were recently awarded  the contract to rebrand ARP Lorimer and Assocaites and design and build a website to carry their case studies and promote the brand online.

ARP Lorimer are a leading firm of architects in Scotland with a very impressive portfolio of work carried out over 35 years. The brand is well known and respected within Scotland and rightly so as they have worked on some very high profile projects.

Due to the brands heritage, delivering a rebrand was always going to be tricky as it was immediately decided that the company was to be "partially" renamed as ARPL. Paligap take brand heritage very seriously as renaming a company can wipe it out overnight if it is not planned and handled sensitively. It was agreed that the solution had to be simple, clean and effective and we designed a brand that was precisely that.

Onto the website...
ARPL's website was a pleasure to work on. Loads of good content, nicely shot pictures and great subject matter. The main challenge was not to make the site "look" big (it is) but to make all the content easily accessible from a user friendly interface. The way to do this is eliminate clutter, keep the design paired back and let the content speak for itself.

The result is a highly usable and very attractive website with a wealth of content and case studies that is very readable and interesting.

It's sometimes difficult working with architects because they are designers too, but with ARPL we just seemed to click and all the team enjoyed the project and we feel we delivered another great job.

www.arpl.co.uk

Ayr United FC is celebrating a double whammy as the football club secured a headline sponsor for the new season.
 
Creative agency, Paligap, is to renew its shirt sponsorship deal for a second season as the team looks forward to its new positioning in the First Division. Based in Ayr, Paligap will retain shirt sponsorship as well as benefits from branding opportunities within the ground, programmes and general hospitality.
 
Club chairman, Lachlan Cameron, said, "We are looking towards the start of the season on a very positive note. Support from Paligap is vital to the club and enables us to focus strongly on our pitch performance confident that our business performance is on firm footing."
 
Lachlan Cameron and Stephen Cosh were joined today by Hugh Cameron, Commercial Director of Ayr United and by players, captain Chris Aitken and Ryan Stevenson to celebrate the announcement.
 
Stephen Cosh, Managing Director Paligap, said, "We developed a terrific relationship during the first season's sponsorship and to see the club move up was really the icing on the cake. We are delighted to support the team and the wider community and are looking forward to a prosperous season."

It is not just consumers who have less money in times of recession, businesses are heavily impacted and need their marketing budgets to stretch and become more effective.

Unfortunately, many business owners take falling sales as a sign that costs need to be cut and the first thing that takes the hit is their marketing budget. But is this the answer?

Of course not. It’s your marketing budget that brings you the sales in the first place. It’s common sense.

No sales, no business! No marketing budget, eventually no sales.
Recession can be a great opportunity for many businesses if they choose to see it that way. Maintaining marketing budgets during the lean times is an investment in the future of your business. As your competitors reduce their marketing spend and subsequently their position in the market place you are better placed to win business from their customers, increasing your market share!

Tumbling advertising rates make it possible to get even more bang for your buck than before, investment in search engine optimisation, Google Ad Words, and e-mail marketing also offer excellent return on investment.

The old adage “you can’t have the ups without the down’s”, works both ways, so when the economy does bounce back, and it will, companies who have invested in their marketing will be in the best position to take advantage.

Don’t cut back... Spend wiser.

Use cheaper, more effective ways of getting your sales message across to your consumers. Use modern forms of communication like email and e-commerce. Make your money work for you and you will see that you can get to more people for less cost.

Yes, times are tough.
Yes costs need to be cut.
Just don’t cut your throat trying to do it.