Child Matters delivers educational training courses in basic life support and paediatric first aid for parents, carers, schools, children’s centres and child-care providers, ensuring standards, legislation and government guidelines are met.

Using the latest equipment – and in small groups of no more than 12 – their highly-qualified paediatric professionals ensure that individuals know what to do in an emergency. They also provide specialist nursing services to social and healthcare organisations.

Claire Street – Child Matters’ MD – had developed her own site from scratch and knew she needed help. Claire bought a block of time from 1^st Objective that she then used to gain insight into how her site could be developed, copywriting to give the content a lift and consultancy to improve the online user experience.

Based at Taplow in Berkshire, Cliveden Conservation asked 1^st Objective to create a brand new site to hold their extensive library of case studies and showcase their range of work.

Since then we have developed a suite of hardcopy collateral by section – they have locations in Norfolk and Bristol as well as Berkshire – and by discipline –Stone, Plaster and Decorative Arts.

Our latest work promotes their survey work. The survey is the starting point for any restoration or conservation intervention. It informs decisions and provides the contextual basis for choosing the correct courses of action. Analysing the variables, and considering the alternatives takes experience, and that’s where Cliveden Conservation really adds value to their client’s own expertise.

G24 – the parking solutions provider – believe that data is the key to unlocking the real value of car parks. They log over 7 million vehicle movements every month, and provide the data to customers in an easy-to-use format. Accessed via the web, and giving a continuous and clear picture of what’s happening in their parking facility, shopping centre managers now have an informed commentary on the impact – and opportunities – that their car park provides.

1^st Objective wrote ads and advertorial for the Beaconsfield company which led with their unique StoreGuard product. StoreGuard alerts car park owners when VIPs and highly valued customers enter so they can roll-out the red carpet. Equally it lets customers know when undesirables or known criminals arrive so that security can be there to greet them!

Please click here to read more information - The Secret Life of Car Parks

If you’re in a sales-led company – and you’ve taken on the role of marketing – then we could be just what you’re looking for, a marketing resource that you can just switch on or off.

For our bigger customers we supplement the work of their incumbent agencies, bringing specialist skills on a project basis.

At the other end of the scale we act as a completely outsourced marketing department, helping our customers create the brief, present at board level and develop campaigns for focused outcomes.

Your 1^st Objective

We align marketing services in a way that supports your sales objectives. We are not a specialist agency and you’ll find that we deliver unbiased, agnostic advice.

We look at typical sales and how they are achieved. Then we suggest marketing services to make those sales easier, more frequent and more likely to succeed. Later we support your engagement with key accounts for repeat sales.

And beyond sales support, we look to build your brand’s value, improve engagement with customers and communicate internally to make your workplace even more productive.

Turn us on!

You can visit the website to see what we’ve achieved for others, but it’s what we can do for you that matters. Why not call us in for a chat or to talk to one of our reference customers?

01628 472755

As part of recent consultancy work we have developed an end-to-end checklist for lead generation.

Starting with choosing whom to target all the way to measuring results, this list can help you see your programmes’ touchpoints in the round and most importantly, from the standpoint of your audience.

1. How do you select customers or prospects from the database
2. How are messages for a campaign created and made relevant for the audience
3. What will you send them – or contact them with – in the first instance
4. What’s the call-to-action
5. Secondary messaging, contact and/or follow-up
6. Where does the recipient goes next, (ie website landing page), how relevant it is and what recognition elements are used to tie the two together
7. What will you ask prospects to do next, degree of difficulty/ease of engaging/fewest barriers etc
8. What fulfilment is offered in return for any sign-up or commitment on their part
9. Quality and content of that fulfilment ie a webinar, an offer or free trial etc
10. How will you follow-up, sell through or cross-sell
11. What materials the sales team will use to support that process
12. What ‘further information’ resources are available to prospects to keep them ‘warm’
13. How will you measure success, ROI etc

While all of this looks simple – when broken down into these elements – it only needs one weak link and all efforts to be lost and re-contacting, without realising why a campaign has been ineffective, can annoy or disaffect the audience you are trying to reach.

An added value here is that marketing and sales must work together to ensure better outcomes and that neither department can accuse the other of not pulling their weight.

Many of the smaller companies we deal with already have a good looking website; it’s the content that they need help with. Our devolved organisation lets us deliver a la carte services – like copywriting – so they can improve their message.

If someone’s going to buy something from you then at some point they’re going to have to read something. We are expert in getting the words right that will lead them on a painless visitor journey to make the decision to do so.

Talk to us about how you can improve lead generation emails and the customer experience of your website when they click through.

Call Nic Ricketts on 07768 834349.

This month we’ve been working with our client Access Group to improve the way they contact their base, looking at all stages of their contact with customers to help ensure better outcomes.

There’s a lot that can happen between eyes meeting across a dance floor and the first date. But it’s when the two parties know each other that certain assumptions can be made to the detriment of the relationship.

Access Group, who have grown to be the de facto provider of financial software to the mid-market, are introducing their on-premise base to extended business processes via the cloud.

Called aCloud these solutions integrate seamlessly with the software their customers already have installed. 1^st Objective has been looking at all the processes they employ to engage their customers and making sure that the touchpoints of emails, webinars and direct selling flow smoothly from awareness through to purchase.

Newly formed Trinicorn Ltd have chosen 1^st Objective as the marketing arm of their offering for companies preparing to merge or sell, and post-deal, for the vital process of integration.

The value within businesses is not always recognised by vendors or acquirers. This value can manifest as IP, annuity income and other revenue streams. Equally it’s not uncommon for owners to be unaware of liabilities within their organisation. Trinicorn help improve outcomes and ensure deals are concluded on time, to budget and structured to meet the preferences of both the buyer and seller.

Trinicorn are uniquely focused on post-deal integration, where poor implementation can result in failed acquisitions. Often, both vendor and acquirer do not have the resource or skills to facilitate a successful integration process which can result in loss of value and credibility to both parties.

Marketing can make a vital contribution to any newly formed business, an area so frequently neglected during the merger or acquisition process. Marketing activity is often routinely put on hold while deals are done. It means new entities repeatedly emerge in a weaker state, with a shorter order book and facing stronger competition. We apply marketing services – a hands-on approach -, that enables businesses to accelerate out of the gate, immediately engage with their audience and push back on their competition.

Web Standards Project have produced a clear list of questions you should ask your web design agency – and what good answers should look like – so you can hold your own when they start to get technical.

We often get asked to build websites for small businesses, for many it is their first attempt at a professional internet presence which means they have to take a leap of faith with us. As part of the quote we try to advise as best we can. This is sometimes a compromise between giving our customers the confidence they need to appoint us and overwhelming them with detail, which in itself can raise more questions than the concerns we’re trying to allay.

So we’re grateful to Web Standards Project for creating this unbiased, agnostic and interactive resource of 10 telling questions you should ask your web design company. There’s a glossary of web terms and a further reading list too.

It’s highly informative and – even if you’re totally web savvy – a useful checklist, letting us get quickly down to the business objectives of your new site.

Click here to visit the questionnaire

From launching new cars to mergers between industrial giants to internal motivational speeches to scripts for sales kick-offs we’ve been there, done it and got the t-shirt.

IT

• Fujitsu Siemens Computers, national press and outdoor
• VMware, emails and events
• Symantec, emails and scripts

Automotive

• Nissan, fleet sales, dealer support and lead generation
• Infiniti, experiential events, websites etc
• Optare, bus manufacturer in Leeds, advertising

B2C

• Sky, door drops
• Visa, programmes, branding and ads
• Wickes, launch of new discount card
• Glidden, Dulux Trade, Dulux Weathershield paint, advertising

TelCo

• Nokia, launching new phones
• BT, re-branding and corporate identity and internal comms
• MLL Telecom, ads, literature, lead-gen, site etc