Hi

Welcome back! I hope you had a great festive break and you're refreshed and ready to take on 2023.

In this edition we have:

• Kick off your 2013 marketing planning
• A glitch in the Amazon matrix
• Book your tickets for Get to the Point
• The best ad you'll see this decade
• B2B Social Media marketing for Sharp Consultancy
• And finally - Dog Talking Buttons

Enjoy!

Kick off your 2023 marketing plan

To be fair you should have done this already. But you didn't, did you?

Don't worry, don't panic (sure that's a song...) your marketing planning can begin now. The only thing that'll change is your time frame. 

The hardest part about creating a marketing plan is starting. Luckily we've written blog that'll give you a head start on your competition. 

A glitch in the Amazon matrix

If you could print your own money, what would you do with it? This Black Friday, a group of hobby writers discovered themselves in that position, at Amazon’s expense – and decided to save a food bank.

The We Care food bank in south London was facing permanent closure in November after a £33,000 energy bill. Its founders feared what would happen to the thousands of vulnerable people it helped.

Book your tickets for - Get to the Point

If you’ve ever sat through a PowerPoint presentation you’ll have thought ‘get to the point!’

At our event, on February 2nd in Leeds, that thought won’t enter your head. On the night we’ll have up to 12 people talking about digital tech, culture, marketing and business. The catch is they only have 5 minutes to “get to the point!”

Each speaker only has 20 slides, which change automatically every 15 seconds, so there’s no room for waffle, when 5 mins is up, it’s up. There’s no Q&A either, so your speakers need to be pin sharp.

All profits go to Simon on the Streets a charity that supports the homeless of West Yorkshire.

There are 3 levels of tickets

1. Free
2. £10 donation
3. Pay what you feel

The best ad you'll see this decade

This ad for Pot Noodle was posted by Lucky Generals in December and I totally fell in love with it. It's clever, funny, has twists and turns and importantly is bang on brand.

The confusing thing is that I'd never seen it before as it was first aired in 2015. I find it hard to understand:

1. Why I haven't seen it before and 
2. Why Pot Noodle aren't still running it

B2B Social Media marketing for Sharp Consultancy

Since we began supporting Yorkshire-based Sharp Consultancy we've achieved some great results on the recruitment firm's social media impact.

• Followers + 18%
• Visitors + 59%
• Impressions +131%
• Clicks +798%
• Engagement +137%
• Unprompted recognition of social media content from clients and candidates
• Created an effective B2B social media marketing strategy which drove results
• Shot and published a bespoke video of the Leeds office to position it as a desirable place to work
• Created graphic templates to be used by the internal team for job posting

And Finally - Dog Talking Buttons

The internet is a strange place for sure. And it seems thanks to TikTok it's getting stranger.

Dog talking buttons are recordable buttons that play a word or phrase when pressed. This way, dogs can “speak” to their owners.
 
For example, you could record the phrase “ball” onto a button. The dog can learn which button says the word “ball,” and thus, press that button whenever they want a ball.
 
Interest in this product category initially grew because dogs using these buttons to communicate with their owners went viral on TikTok.
 
In the past 5 years, interest in Dog Talking Buttons has grown 2100%!

In fact, one popular set of talking buttons brings in approximately $65K/month on Amazon.

If you'd like help with your marketing, give me a call on 0113 477 1210, or reply to this email.

Our secret ingredients are:
•    Marketing Strategy
•    Website Design and Build
•    Copywriting and SEO (these go hand in hand)
•    Social Media
•    Paid Ads - AdWords and paid social media.

Richard Michie
CEO - The Marketing Optimist