Category: Industry

August 6, 2019

Small Agency Vs Big Agency

There are so many marketing agencies out there. Where do you start when trying to find your perfect creative partner? One important factor is size. Do the best things come in small packages or does it pay to go large? And how small is a small agency anyway?

In our eyes, a small agency is around 50 people, give or take, and a larger agency is likely to be 100+ people. Fitting into the former category, we believe clients get a more personalised and focused service with a smaller agency. Here’s why.

More Bank for buck

Working with larger agencies means you’re paying extra for a bigger team in their larger offices. Going for a small agency ensures that your money is spent on the creative product and not the overheads, giving you a greater return on your investment.

Quicker Turnaround time

You could be forgiven for thinking that larger agencies have a quicker turnaround time as they have more staff, but in most client’s experience it doesn’t work out that way. How come? Larger agencies need to have more processes and bureaucracy in place before a project even hits the studio. Smaller agencies have a shorter chain of command, are more flexible and can easily be accommodating when it comes to those last minute creative requests. With no red tape to restrict them, creatives in smaller agencies can usually jump straight in.

Access to creative calibre

All agencies, big and small, are likely to have senior and junior designers working on your project, and the size of the agency is no real indicator of the creative talent at your disposal. Having said that, small agencies like ours love nothing better than punching above our weight with top-notch creative campaigns and branding work, like our recent campaign for Buckinghamshire College Group.

The personal touch

In a small agency everybody has to pull their weight, so your Account Manager is also your Project Manager, your Designer is also your Artworker. This leads to a small group of individuals knowing your business inside-out. Working with such a close-knit team develops trust on both client and agency side and allows the creatives to understand the business better, leading to better outcomes.

Greater variety of work

Creatives working for a smaller agency tend to get the chance to sink their teeth into all kinds of projects, rather than just looking after one big client day-in day-out. This helps keep them fresh and makes their knowledge and skill base more rounded. They soon become experts in a number of different areas, and this helps keep their minds open to interesting new approaches.

At Fluro, we always go above and beyond for our clients as we give our all on their projects. If you want to tap into our small-agency passion and dedication, please get in touch. You’ll soon appreciate that small really can be beautiful.

Author: Sarah McEvoy

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

July 17, 2019

Top tips on getting your first design job

It’s that time of the year again when graphic design students graduate and flood the market in search of their first job at a creative design agency or in-house marketing team.

Design Week estimate that around 15,000 students will be looking for work this summer with only 1 in 4 likely to be destined for ‘highly-skilled’ design jobs.¹ So, with this intense level of competition, how can you ensure you end up in that top 25%?

Here at Fluro, we’ve recently been out and about at schools and colleges in the local area, advising students thinking about a career in design. Here are our top tips designed to help you get a foot in the creative design agency door.

1. Be Creative.

Don’t wait until you get your first job to show how creative you are. Your CV and portfolio don’t need to be a plain old A4 pdf, so think of ways you can add impact. Not every agency will be looking to hire right now, but you need to make yourself memorable and keep yourself top of mind until they do. So how can you stand out from the crowd? Think of this as your first brief in the real world.

2. Do your homework.

When approaching an agency, look at their website, social media channels and find out everything you possibly can. Sometimes, agencies include quirky facts about their staff, such as personal likes and dislikes. If you find out the person you’re about to meet likes Krispy Kreme donuts, bring a box of them along to the interview. It shows you’re thinking and your thinking. Oh, and always, always, always send them an email to thank them for meeting you afterwards.

3. Get used to talking about your work.

You’re going to be asked all about the work in your portfolio during an interview. The more practice you get at this, the more professional and confident you’re likely to appear.

4. Be open to criticism and advice.

Seek out honest opinions of your work. (Don’t tell people your designs are good – let them tell you that.) If everyone you see is advising you that a campaign in your portfolio would work better done a different way, follow their advice. The more professionals you see, the more advice you’ll get and the better your portfolio is bound to get.

5. Do as many placements as you can.

Placements can be frustrating when what you really want is a proper job. But looking on the positive side, this kind of work experience means you’ll be working on real life projects which you can include in your ever-improving portfolio.

6. Be persistent.

Never give up. Find a way to develop an ongoing dialogue with the agencies you really want to work at. Follow them on social media, engage with their posts, try to establish a relationship with more than one member of the team. If your work doesn’t go down well at an agency, and sometimes it won’t, that doesn’t have to be the end of it. See it as an opportunity to quickly put things right and impress them with your responsiveness and willingness to learn. Go back the next day, if they’ll see you that quickly, having already responded to their comments. That level of keenness is hard to ignore.

7. Dress to impress.

Think carefully about what you are going to wear for your interview. You don’t need to go in black tie but you should make an effort to look smart.

8. Start with Fluro.

Come and see us when you’re ready to get your career up and running. Even if we don’t have a job for you, we’ll have plenty of good advice from people who used to be in exactly the same position as you.
Reference source
¹https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/12-18-february-2018/design-popular-university-choice-graduates-arent-ending-designers/

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

June 10, 2019

5 tips for growing your account…

I’ve been an Account Manager here at Fluro for the past two years, and my key account is a global leader in location-based, family entertainment. When I first joined, we were working with two main marketing managers and now we’ve gone global and growing our business, we’re working with different marketing managers from around the world.

Here are my 5 top tips for successfully developing the relationship with your client and growing your account:

1. Try to do things face-to-face

Nowadays, it’s so easy to send someone an email and face-to-face meetings seem to have become a bit old-fashioned. However, I always find a face-to-face with a client a lot more impactful and memorable than an email or a conversation on the phone.

You can gauge their reaction to ideas and suggestions, plus it enables you to get to know them better as a person. Whether that’s over a coffee or a quick lunch or simply while you’re dropping off some artwork, I always find it’s worth investing the time to see someone in person, whenever you get the chance.

2. Understanding their business

Try to get to know your client’s business inside out, so you have a good understanding of when the busy months and the quiet ones are likely to be.

In the quiet months, it’s worthwhile getting a plan together of how you can help them with further aspects of their business. When they’re not rushed off their feet, it’s easier to find the time to put your heads together and work out where else you can help them out and to plan for the next projects due to hit.

3. Remind them how good you are

The quieter months are a good time to put a presentation together of the work you’ve produced for the client over the past year. That could be a brief summary of where the work’s appeared, with suggestions of other specialist skills your agency has that may be of interest.

You might have just been commissioned to design a logo for your client but, once they find out how good you are at creating websites, there’s a much better chance they’ll think of you when that next website brief crops up.

4. Networking within their business

My client’s head office is in London and I make regular visits there for meetings. We recently put a presentation together which I delivered in person. As well as leaving copies with my existing client, I dropped further copies off with other individuals within the business who I thought might find the content interesting.

Now I have work coming in from new contacts within the organisation who were able to just walk down the corridor to ask my client how good we were.

Whenever I’m in their head office, I try to introduce myself to as many new faces as possible and I always take a stack of business cards with me – well, you never know who you’re going to meet. My client’s more than happy for me to do this as it reflects well on them if they can introduce a good design agency into the wider business.

5. Trust comes from regular contact

Get in the habit of speaking to your clients every week, whether you need to or not. I think it’s better to contact them a bit more often than you think you should, rather than a bit less.

The more you talk to your clients, even if it’s not on the mission critical stuff, the stronger your relationship will become and the faster the trust will build. Gaining trust on both sides is crucial from a briefing and quoting point of view.  The relationship works so much better when they trust your judgment and you trust theirs.

One of my client’s trusted me enough to admit he’d fractured his ankle dancing around his kitchen to Gangnam Style… I’m mentioning no names!

Author: Nicole Pirog

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

May 13, 2019

The Art of Winning Old Business

Winning old business? At Fluro, that’s what we call being given incremental work from an existing client. Did you know it can cost five times more for a design agency to bring in business from a new client than it does to secure more work from a client you already have? It’s not hard to work out why.

The cost of pitching

On top of the marketing costs that went into attracting the client’s attention in the first place, there are invariably pitching costs, covering both time and materials. If everything goes according to plan, you’ll also be faced with the added expense of setting up a new team to manage the work.

So, how can you ensure your client comes back for their next project instead of working with a new design agency?

We view client relationships a bit like a marriage. If we do things right, understanding and trust will naturally grow over time. However, while familiarity is a good thing in many ways, it’s also something to be wary of. You can’t afford to take your partner for granted. You’ve always got to make sure there’s more “for better” than there is “for worse”.

Building long relationships

We’d like to think we’re quite good at building successful long-term relationships at Fluro. We’ve had repeat business from Brooks Running Shoes for eight years, Gartner and Tangent Link for seven years and the National Film and Television School (NFTS) for four.

Gill Woods, Events & Alumni Manager at the NFTS looks for a range of qualities from her agency. “I came across Fluro whilst tendering for a design agency to work on the conceptual development for our annual Gala event. I’m delighted to say our relationship is ongoing. I find Fluro really proactive, collaborative and creative and overall. They’re an absolute pleasure to work with.”

We would say Gill has hit the nail bang on the head with the qualities she values (and we’re flattered she’s attributed them to us). Be proactive, collaborative, creative and a pleasure to work with and most clients will keep coming back for more.

Be proactive

You might think a client is ‘your client’, but that won’t stop other design agencies going out of their way to try and get a foot in the door. That’s what you’re up against and all-singing all-dancing spontaneous approaches might well be what you’re being judged against.

To compete you need to be proactive too. Keep an eye on tactical opportunities and what’s going on in the market. Maybe you could even prepare a presentation to share with your client explaining what’s new in the world of design. Not only would that inspire their thinking, it should also help develop your relationship.

Be collaborative

Most clients really enjoy being an integral part of the process. We like that too because ongoing collaboration eliminates the stress of a do-or-die unseen final presentation. It also ensures our thinking stays close to the mark throughout the process.

Working in stages and taking the back off the watch to expose our thinking and scribbles helps the client to shape things as we go. While it’s always good to keep some surprises up your sleeve for the final reveal, it’s bound to keep your client relaxed and boost your confidence if you know you’re already half way there.

Be creative

Creativity is the key quality that any client will look for in a design agency. After all, the creative product is ultimately what they’re paying for.

It’s funny though – some clients will tell you they want brave creative solutions but, when it really comes down to it, they prefer to stay in their comfort zone. That’s why we like to present more than one solution. Offering alternatives allows us to take risks with one of the directions. It also means feedback like “I love it, but we could never run with that”. But that doesn’t mean our creative presentation is automatically over.

Be a pleasure to work with

The fact is, people like doing business with people they like. That means we strive to be positive, even in the face of negative feedback .

Be trustworthy, transparent, reliable, courteous. Try not to tell your client to get stuffed when they tell you the budget is not as big as it was for the last project. Oh, and treating your client to the occasional long lunch will never go amiss!

Every long-lasting relationship has to start with a first project. If you’re interested in seeing what makes Fluro a ‘keeper’ with many of our clients, please give one of the team a call on 01628 525449.

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

May 7, 2019

What I learned at WordCamp London

I’ve spent the last few days at WordCamp London 2019, a huge WordPress community event about website development and design. It’s always exciting to get together with others in the field and pick up new knowledge. Adding to my burgeoning promotional T‒shirt collection is always a bonus too.

There was a lot to do, and a lot to learn, with speakers and workshops from across the creative communications and marketing industries. It’s impossible to go through everything I learned over the course of the weekend, but here are a few of the highlights:

PageSpeed ‒ think about more than just a number

Website speed is a hugely important consideration. It’s something we’re always trying to optimise as part of the build process. If a visitor gets bored waiting for your site to load and leaves, you’ve lost their business. It’s as simple as that.

In Sabrina Zeidan’s talk, we explored some tips and tricks, and went over the pros and cons of different approaches. It’s tempting to just fixate on a metric ‒ PageSpeed currently being the most popular.

But, while helpful, PageSpeed is just a tool. Think about what the numbers mean and how they compare to your competitors to ensure you’re optimising for people, not just machines.

Website attackers need to be right once; us, every time

Security is a scary thing to think about, and it’s even scarier to consider what could go wrong.

In Tim Nash’s talk, we looked at some website hacks from the perspective of the attacker. We learned some of the most common ways that websites fall prey to their cunning strategies.

Security is something you should always consider when planning a site ‒ what do you stand to lose? Whether you risk falling afoul of GDPR, or simply having a broken site for a day, it’s important to have an internal plan of action for when the worst happens. This is something you can’t outsource to your agency, your hosts or anyone else. In other words, you need to make sure you’re prepared for any problems that may occur.

 The tricky world of software and image licensing

On the WordCamp Contributor Day, I worked as part of the Theme Review team. We assessed WordPress themes against a number of criteria to see if they could be approved for submission to the WordPress.org directory.

Contributor days like this are a great opportunity to give something back to the Open Source software that makes a lot of my work possible.

Security is a major part of the review, but the other biggest area is licensing. All themes need to be compatible with WordPress’ GPL license.

There are a lot of technical details you can go into here, but one thing stood out for me. Make sure you know what you can do with the image or software that you’ve bought or downloaded.

There’s often a temptation to just grab something labelled free and assume it will work out, but that’s often far from the case. Some (free) licenses put specific restrictions on what you can (and can’t) do with images and software, also specifying whether you need to link to their source.

Make sure you check out the usage details or you could end up in hot water.

Community ‒ WordPress’ greatest strength

Every time I go to a WordPress event, I’m blown away by the friendly and inclusive nature of the community. Everyone truly comes together to make the project the best it can be, and to pass on their skills. This applies to freelancers, hobbyists and even development houses.

Despite the fact there’s a lot of money in the industry, the Open Source principles encourage information sharing and collaboration, rather than the more secretive approach found in some technology sectors.

For me, that’s the greatest strength of the Open Source community, and WordPress is a pinnacle of what we can achieve together.

Author: Joe Bailey-Roberts

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

March 6, 2019

We salute WePresent WeTransfer

Fluro might be a relatively small marketing and design agency but we download, upload, update and build large files daily.  If not hourly, then sometimes even two at a time. There is one key player that doesn’t get enough credit in all of this – WeTransfer.

Data transfer today

WeTransfer has been around since 2009 and, let’s be honest, how did we ever cope before? (Please, no one mention floppy discs.)

Hands up if you type a ‘W’ into the search bar and it’s the first thing that appears? Well, we must use this service more than a hundred times a week from photo and video uploads to sending layered design files.

If we’re using WeTransfer this much and Ted’s Techno Design Corp next door is using it that much and every other marketing and design agency in the world is using it too, then the footfall on WeTransfer must be incredible.

So, what makes what they do so clever? Well, they’ve kept their website super simple. You only ever go there to do one specific job or, at least, that’s what you used to do. One year ago, WeTransfer launched WePresent.

Coming back for more

This extension of their offering features a hub of ‘Unexpected stories about creative minds. Curated and created by WeTransfer’. It’s a truly inspiring space to browse and keep up to date with the creative scene. But, with their already huge footfall, why did they bother?

WeTransfer has always had a history of showcasing creative talents through the constantly changing wallpapers on their homepage – they’ve clearly done the research on their users.

WePresent takes this notion one step further by creating a community of artists, designers and animators showcasing their work, their thoughts and their ideas. They’ve created a platform, which is relatively selfless, where people can express themselves and engage with topics ranging from black culture to body hair.

In this way, WeTransfer are cleverly marketing themselves without ever mentioning their own product.

Now, instead of only visiting WeTransfer to do a job, you’re checking in because Bob on the desk behind mentioned a great article he’s just read on WePresent called ‘A tribute to creative minds who changed the world’. This gives you two reasons to visit which, by my reckoning, is delivering 100% increase on footfall.

What does this mean?

WeTransfer has gone from being functional – a trusted tool in the Design Agency’s belt’s – to something which now has emotional value, while still managing to stay relevant to their key offering.

And that’s where we can all learn from these guys. Whatever products or services you’re involved with, it might be worth considering if you can offer added value to your community. Whether you work in Healthcare, Leisure or Technology, there’s always a different perspective to consider. Taking a lateral approach might just be the best way to ignite something new in your target audience.

Of course, while you’re working on all the files to prepare for the launch of that clever new initiative, you’ll be using WeTransfer so often it’ll probably stay permanently open on your desktop. Just like it does on mine.

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

April 5, 2018

Time for AR & VR reality check?

Is getting customers to interact with an augmented universe or strap on a VR headset really the right move for growing and start-up brands?

Most brands, including those we look after at Fluro, naturally want to be ahead of the curve. That’s what the best brands do. They lead, innovate and (sorry to say it) disrupt. Right now, that often includes wanting to take their customers into an alternative reality, be that virtual or augmented. The aim? To drive sales, promote offers, showcase product benefits, provide a tailored design service. You name it and a business case can be created for it.

But do these approaches really deliver business value? Are AR and VR the right choice for your brand, right now? When it comes to our smaller business clients, the strategy team here at Fluro isn’t entirely convinced.

What’s the difference between VR and AR?

If you’ve been too scared to ask, you’re not alone: so here goes. VR and AR have lots in common: both are innovative technologies that deliver an altered experience of reality. But they are also fundamentally different technologies.

Virtual Reality uses 360° video or animation to supersede the world as we know it, transporting users into a totally different universe by means of a VR headset or goggles. It’s a totally immersive experience that reimagines everything that we see.

Meanwhile Augmented Reality uses a smart phone to layer a new kind of experience on top of our reality, creating interesting new interactions with the real world rather than replacing it. VR replaces our reality, AR enhances it. In many ways, AR offers more interesting experiential opportunities than VR, from showing customers how products may look on their person or in their homes to signposting offers or experiences out in the world.

Is it right for your brand?

If you’re a household brand name with budgets to burn and an awards shelf to keep topped up, the significant expense of AR or VR makes sense. Lots of big businesses have successfully launched into the AR or VR space and some of these applications even have real business value.

Snapchat is doing some really interesting things with AR and a service they call Lens Studio, which lets their customers design and build augmented reality lenses for Snapchat. IKEA Place is another a new app which lets customer visualise what furniture might look like in their own homes. Both sensible applications for global mega brands.

A good reason to invest

But if you’re a smaller business, we believe that the pricing simply isn’t realistic. Doing AR or VR well (and who wants to do it badly?) is unlikely to return business value. Just doing it to create a bit of noise isn’t reason enough.

At Fluro, we believe that for a tailored design service to offer a truly effective solution, there has to be a real need for your brand to make the investment in AR or VR. A genuine, business value generating application for it. Simply slapping your brand on top of virtually augmented world in a me-too fashion doesn’t make good marketing or business sense.

Come and see how we are generating value for our clients with great digital content.

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

March 23, 2018

Agency Vs In-House Creative

In the fight for great creativity, smart strategy and an impeccable delivery, we believe there is one clear champion. 

The rise of the in-house creative team has been marked over the last decade as clients aim to cut costs, self-serve and keep IP in house. It all makes logical sense. Because, after all, who knows your business better than your own people?

That said, clients will be at a disadvantage if they keep their marketing in-house. A creative agency can bring a range of significant benefits to the table that you just can’t get at home.

Why a welcome distance matters

It is possible to be too close to a challenge; to miss the wider competitive angles. It’s easy to become too embroiled in the  inevitable politics to see a project clearly. With a little distance, a broader market a view and a lack of involvement in corporate machinations an agency can deliver huge creative and strategic benefits. Objectivity and an appreciation of the big picture is worth its weight in gold.

The value of cross-pollinated experience

Agencies, by their nature, work on a variety of projects with a variety of people. Our experience and approach is tried and tested on other clients. We may have experience with other companies in your sector or be able to bring ideas from other sectors to yours. Either way, the results are likely to be richer, faster and more exciting. Too many brands keep doing the same thing or talking in familiar ways that everyone is comfortable with. Trouble is, you never travel outside your comfort zone and that’s where the business rewards really lie.

Don’t settle for ‘good enough’ 

These are hard to come up with it. It takes experience, time, ruthless rounds of rejection and lots of people throwing ideas in to the pot. Agencies have tools, processes and personnel to help them approach idea generation in a formal way. Creative teams deeply understand the importance of emotional resonance. They know the value of finding the right feeling. Agencies have reputations invested in doing ideas brilliantly. In-house teams are more likely to settle for good enough. Which, in most competitive environments, really just isn’t good enough.

Insight into new marketing technologies and techniques

As a creative agency, it’s our job to stay abreast of the latest marketing innovations, techniques and communication platforms. Marketing is our core business, which makes it easier for us to stay on the cutting edge. On the other hand, when it’s not your core business, keeping ahead of change is difficult.

Diverse skill sets

An in-house creative team might have all the resources to make great work. However, in-house writers, graphic designers and digital specialists only ever do one thing: work on their own brand. At an agency, people frequently change jobs and learn new skills. As a result they have a more fluid approach and will bring real breadth of experience. An agency spreads their costs across their clients, so they can afford a wider range of skilled people. Writers of different calibers, digital teams with diverse talents, strategists and planners, print specialists, event experts, social media gurus, videographers. It makes for a rich, deeper, more satisfying creative mix.

Delivered on time

Agencies are used to delivering marketing on an industrial, often global, scale. We have client relationships to honour and maintain and have built our business on producing great quality work that meets client deadlines. Doing something for yourself just doesn’t have the same urgency. Deadlines can slip. New projects swamp old ones. People might just not fancy burning the midnight oil to get a job done. Agencies are used to delivering, whatever it takes. Giving up weekends. Working late. It’s in our DNA, which is to your advantage as a client.

Considering switching in-house work to an agency? Come and chat to the team at Fluro. We’re happy to work closely with your teams to deliver all the deep brand understanding you love, alongside the creativity, commitment, innovation and expertise you deserve.

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

March 15, 2018

Tips from the Frontline; Education Sector Marketing

Tips for running a successful student recruitment campaign for the education sector.

From tight budgets to ever-changing student audiences and the growing complexity of available digital channels, education sector marketing has never been so challenging for some of our clients. Fluro has deep experience of creating campaigns with real kick in the Further and Higher Education sectors. Here are six of the best tips and tricks we’ve learnt from the frontline.

Stay on it 365

It sounds obvious, but you need a strategy. You’d be surprised how many education establishments approach recruitment every year in an unstructured way. Candidate recruitment isn’t a one-off activity that happens around an open day. You need to take candidates on a journey with your establishment. That means your marketing strategy should include activities that hit at key points in the recruitment cycle, from the start of the new September term. It pays to plan at least a term in advance.

Tell a great story

One critical way to make all your marketing work harder is to make it join up under one creative theme. Have a big idea and keep the theme running across all the channels you use to approach your audience. Better recall and a better budget return will be yours. Which leads nicely into tip 3… 

Be super social

Obviously, young people live on their phones. Your recruitment campaigns should too. You Tube, Twitter, Facebook are good standards. Consider the potential of Instagram too, where the demographic you need is most likely to live. Employ hash-tags to link social feeds.

A great prospectus still matters

In the digital world, a great printed prospectus is still a vital communication tool — though obviously you need great online version of it too. Make sure it’s themed in with your overarching campaign. 

The power of peers

Students believe students so why not use your current recruits to pull in the next generation. Testimonial videos, quotes all work to bring your marketing activity alive in the real world.

Get optimised

We’ve saved perhaps the most important one for last. How are prospective students going to know about your great courses and glowing peer reviews? By Googling you of course. Working with an experienced SEO partner to make sure that you have a first-class ranking is worth its weight in gold.

Take a look at the successful recruitment campaign that Fluro has recently run for the Buckinghamshire College Group.

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449

December 28, 2017

The power of data-driven story-telling

Why stories matter and how to start doing it brilliantly.

Once upon a time brands and creative agencies liked to push stories out to the world through email, social media and TV spots. They tried to listen to audiences and tell stories that appealed to most people, most of the time. But then, brands and their trusted agencies began to embrace the power of data-driven story-telling. Over time, the raw power of data changed the communications landscape forever.

Creating targeted narratives

Today, we’ve stopped trying to push communications out to everyone and instead started thinking about what specific audiences are really interested in, gathering insights and using them to craft powerfully focussed stories with instant appeal. These insights cover all sorts of ground. Where does the audience hang out? Who does it trust? How does it like to consume content? What hashtags or keywords can quickly draw us into the right slipstream? Who are the key influencers in the space? How do we know when we’ve got our approach right? Can we measure it, prove it, segment better and keep getting wiser?

How we do data better

The team at Fluro spends increasing amounts of time building content around data-driven story-telling designed to resonate in a very specific way. By mapping out data points and honing messaging we can use the right narrative for the right audiences. Of course, there are obstacles that every brand faces but we have got pretty good at vaulting ours.

  • The sheer noise out there. This brings with it the attendant difficulty of capturing and keeping any individual’s attention. One way we get around this is by making content ruthlessly visual, shareable and snackable. Easy to digest and circulate.
  • The erratic nature of the average buying journey. As the world becomes more digital and dynamic, decision-making has become increasingly hard to map and predict. That means we have to listen harder, crunch data smarter and think more creatively.

The value of the second-hand experience

With every new era comes new rules. The reign of 80:20 is over; in this new evolution of data-driven marketing, the 1:9:90 rule is the one that really counts. This refers to the value of the second-hand experience.

  • The 1 percent are influencers who create and shape conversations around a topic and actively drive the market. Today, that could be anyone from a journalist to a blogger or YouTuber.
  • The 9 percent curate and repackage influencer content and share it with their receptive communities.
  • The 90 percent absorb what’s out there, gathering recommendations about brands and deciding what to trust.

Focussing on the 1 percent and the 9 percent is a great way for brands to cost-effectively reach that lucrative 90 percent. We’ll explore this topic in more depth in future blogs. But for now, the key takeout is that we need to start tuning in to what matters most to this critical 10%. We need to artfully seed the right brand stories with the right people. As we thread the different benefits of earned media, paid media, shared media and owned media we can create beautifully woven campaigns with happy endings.

Fluro believes in the power of organic agency networks; drawing the right specialists together to solve different communication challenges. Right now, we’re collaborating to deliver the power of data-driven story-telling for many of our clients. If you’d like to know more, just get in touch. Old-fashioned email or the phone both work for us.

Let's start something

Want to talk to us about a project?
Just get in touch, we'd love to chat.

Send an email to hello@fluroltd.com
Ring on 01628 525 449