On Thursday 19th June Ashgrove Marketing, local PR and Marketing Agency, hosted the second in its series of business seminars entitled, ‘The Changing Face of Brands: is yours still relevant?’. Guests joined Ashgrove Marketing at the Claremont, Sanderson Suite, to listen to presentations topics such as ‘Design trends over the past two years and how to keep up’, ‘Is you written content obsolete?’, ‘Loyalty, emotion and habit: the psychology of branding’ and ‘Is your website working for you?’.
The morning was kicked off by Ashgrove Marketing’s Managing Director, Terry van Rhyn, who provided an introduction to design trends which were explored in more depth by Ashgrove Marketing’s Art Director, Leigh Windell. Graeme Brooks followed with a presentation on the written word. “Some would say that the written word is being slowly killed by the internet, in terms of both its quality and quantity,” he explained. “Statistics on the most successful communications pieces show, however, that this is not entirely true. Instead, what we have experienced in copywriting over the last two decades is not the death of copy, but the steady diversification of media, giving it more diverse roles suited to more diverse settings.”
Ashgrove Marketing’s newest member, Jessica Brown, followed by starting with the question: do you think your website is working for you? “In simple terms, do you think your website is an effective marketing tool to grow your business and client base? Most businesses adopt the attitude of “we have a website and an online presence - isn’t that enough?”, but the cold, hard truth is that your website is the face of your business in an age where people ‘Google’ before they meet and first impressions count. So let us look at any alarm bells signifying that your website needs a face lift!”
“Is your website text based? Does it load slowly? Do you appear on the 5th page of Google? Is uploading an update a hassle? Do you make use of outdated design elements? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is time to take your website into the era of well designed, effective websites that speak to the hearts and minds of your target audience.”
The last presentation of the morning was given by Senior Account Manager, Moya Wilson, who looked at the psychology of branding. “Your brand is more than just the design of your marketing materials, and there’s only so much of it you can control. Psychology can help you make the most of the aspects you do control – and build a great brand in the process.”
The event closed with a question and answer session, providing guests with the opportunity to quiz the Ashgrove team on the topics covered.
Terry Van Rhyn commented on the success of Ashgrove’s second seminar: “The seminar afforded Ashgrove the opportunity to talk about one of my favourite topics. A company’s brand is something that is entirely unique. Of course it reflects its ethos and product or service offering, but a properly formulated and properly nuanced brand should also reflect its personnel and, ultimately, its customers. More often than not, you’re lucky if you have even a few passing seconds to tell your company story, so it’s imperative that you pay attention to every detail. We had a great time putting our presentations together for the event and are delighted by the great turn out on the day.”
Ashgrove is planning the next installment in the autumn. To be included on the invitation list, please email kate@ashgrovemarketing.com.
