July 24, 2009
by MZ
in Local
Those of you following this blog may know that I trained for the London Asics 10k run held on July 12, 2009. It was my first ever running race. I completed it in one hour and four minutes and I raised close to £500 for Paralympics UK. It was a good race. I couldn’t have run faster, but I could definitely have run further. Here I am with Nelson.
I enjoyed the training – I did a mixture of things including cycling, running and playing football. I even went swimming. For me, the key to training was variety. Using different muscle groups and meeting up with different people kept me keen – and ready to push myself. Doing the same thing over and over just doesn’t work for me. Even when I do my runs, I like to try out new routes. It’s more challenging and more interesting.
My work is like that. Marketing Zone is a marketing communications agency. And that means we work a range of different clients in different fields. Every client is a fresh challenge and each one of them has a different strategy – one that’s aimed at their specific target audience. One day, we spend the entire time discussing engineering and refining our pay-per-click terms. The next everyone is talking about autumn fashion trends and where all the best blogs are. In part of the office, there’s a designer putting the finishing touches on a web site. In another corner the copywriter is asking questions about keywords. There’s always several projects at different stages of completion. It’s challenging and no two days are the same – which is exactly the way I like it.
Maybe I’m ready to start training for another race. This time it will have to be a triathlon. Variety and challenges both in one race. Perfect!
Dee, Marketing Zone’s Communications Director, went to a business presentation about the 2012 Olympics and the opportunities for Hertfordshire, our home county. The 2012 Olympics will involve 70,000 volunteers. At the presentation, volunteer Rosemary Mula, spoke about her passion for the Olympics. Anyone can volunteer – there will be numerous different roles from the simplest of being a host to a house guest from abroad. Why not sign up to volunteer yourself?
It’s estimated that the Games could raise an estimated £100 million for Hertfordshire. Quite aside from the business opportunities it is great that Hertfordshire will be able to welcome athletes from around the world. Many of our sport and leisure facilities will be used as pre-games training camps and Hertfordshire will have its own Olympic venue – the new White Water Canoe centre at Waltham Cross which will be the first new Olympic sporting venue to be completed.
Marketing Zone has won approved supplier status with Construction Skills – the Sector Skills Council and key provider in the construction industry.
Over the last twelve years, Marketing Zone, has established ongoing relationships with many loyal clients from the construction engineering, building and property development professions. “We are genuinely thrilled, as this contract is good for us on a number of levels,” said Managing Director, Mark Ganellin. “Obviously, it’s great to work with a new customer, but this agreement validates our creative communication skills at public sector level – and our knowledge and experience of the construction industry.”
The team at Marketing Zone is looking forward to working with their newest client.
The Third Cambridge Digital Marketing Conference was held at Duxford, Cambridgeshire – home to the Imperial War Museum and its fantastic collection of old aeroplanes. It really was the perfect place to discuss the latest advances in the digital arena. At one time, the aeroplanes we looked at weren’t part of history, but the very latest technology.
The conference kicked off with a warm welcome from Terry Nicklin, Chairman of the Cambridge branch of The Chartered Institute of Marketing. From there, the different discussions went on to address key points in the fast-moving world of digital marketing. From email marketing to the newest ideas on using mobile phones and bringing on line and off line marketing into unison. Essential new marketing ideas were introduced and discussed.
Mark Ganellin, MD at Marketing Zone attended the conference. He said, “I had a great day and met some interesting people. What really struck me is how much the whole marketing industry is changing. Consumers don’t necessarily want to listen to ads or read what a company has to say. They might prefer seeing what a blogger thinks about a product. Or, they could ask a question on a forum and see what other people who share their community have to say. Customers are having their own conversations. And they’re putting their trust in new media. The same thing is also happening in the business-to-business arena. The challenge for marketers is finding ways to join conversations and open up businesses to new customers. We do a lot with social marketing at Marketing Zone. And I definitely see the entire field growing – along with the tools we use to measure how blogs, forums, Facebook and Twitter are all working. This is an exciting field for our clients to get involved in.”
A marketing agency should always be focused on the future. And Marketing Zone is no exception. By looking ahead and keeping an eye on trends, we’re better equipped to help clients reach their goals and use innovation to their advantage. It’s exactly this interest in the future that prompted, Mark Ganellin, MD of Marketing Zone, to volunteer his time last Monday, July 1st to mentor young people taking part in the London and Inter-Regional Final of the LionHeart Challenge. The Lionheart Challenge is a programme that takes young people through a series of business challenges designed to hone their entrepreneurial skills and to encourage greater teamwork. Volunteers from a range of professional organisations and businesses help by donating time and knowledge. The final round asked young people to “to conceptualise, design and create a product or device which will become a major aid to fire prevention in the UK.”
Taking on the challenge
Each team had the morning to complete a detailed business plan covering product development, pricing, marketing, and budgets. “I was there as a mentor, to help teams when they needed clarity on marketing issues,” said Mark. “The teams were judged on a range of key criteria including the market potential, profit and loss accounting, product design and team performance. And that’s only a few of the areas the teams were scored on. They also had to complete a master plan, PowerPoint Presentation, an ICT mock-up, an ad, a research proposal and a team report. This project was a huge challenge, one where teamwork was absolutely essential,” he added.
Enthusiasm makes a difference
Working with young people is refreshing. And it’s important. After all some of them may become marketers, and they all deserve a chance to explore business as a career option. “I enjoyed their enthusiasm,” said Mark. “They were excited about what they doing and what they were learning. After working with young people, you can’t help but feel more energetic yourself.”
