Whether it is a simple flyer to a corporate brochure, a small press campaign to an all-singing tv, radio and outdoor advertising campaign, an e-shot to a fully interactive e-commerce website - you can be sure that your business goals and objectives are over-delivered, and every penny of your marketing budget is spent with maximum effect… RESULTING IN THE BIGGEST IMPACT

We believe in doing things differently, for ourselves, but more importantly for our clients. Why you may ask…? Well being different is grounded in providing customers with unique value that they cannot get from any other competitor. The same rule applies for us and for our clients – and now more than ever, we need to do whatever it takes to stand out from our competitors and ensure we get our unfair share of a very small pie…

If I could challenge you to do one thing different today, it would be, to come and see what we are all about and see what this “Full Service Advertising Agency” can do for you and your business…

Call today on 0845 686 0560 or email me at mark@doingitdifferently.com and let me put my money where my mouth is…

I’ll put the coffee on…

Mark Patterson, Director

One of the toughest calls for any business is making staff redundant. Not only is there a sense of responsibility for those who have loyally stood by the company, but ultimately it leads to the loss of skills vital to output.

However, there is an alternative to consider, one that is becoming increasingly popular – the four day working week.

Business Week has highlighted several US companies that have reduced the hours of their workforce during the current economic gloom. Why don’t they simply put staff out of their misery and make them redundant? Because the companies don’t want to lose skilled staff that’ll be difficult to replace should the economy bounce back sooner than expected. Making redundant people integral to manufacturing and production would hinder a company’s ability to respond to an unexpected uplift in business.

That’s not the only reason, however, according to Business Week:

In Atlanta, Mayor Shirley Franklin is cutting the hours and pay of 4,600 employees by 10% because the city is facing a $50 million budget shortfall. Franklin says that if she were to lay off more workers instead of slashing hours, “you’d have to eliminate major functions of the government. It’s not just jobs we’ve saved, it’s services.”

With unemployment expected to rise sharply in 2009, you may find your people are willing to accept a shorter working week. It’s a win-win outcome for companies – overheads are reduced and the skilled workforce is retained, meaning a business is well placed to meet demand once the economy improves.

There’s no doubt the cost of operating a business has increased substantially in the past 18 months. But companies have faced difficult trading conditions before, so what’s changed? Perhaps one factor (but obviously not the only one) is that this is the first downturn to strike during the age of the internet.

Traditional business models no longer apply when consumers have the choice offered by a global marketplace. Woolworths is the prime example of this; a national chain that paid crippling rents for prime retail sites, without quite knowing anymore who it was it was selling to.

Just 10 years ago Woolworths sold 50% of all music in the UK and effectively determined the price and course of popular music in this country. In the age of the internet, the same music can be bought online in physical form or downloaded, at a fraction of the price, without squeezing past pushchairs and elderly ladies perusing dishcloths.

Obviously supermarkets had a significant impact as their product lines extended into clothing and entertainment, but then in doing so, they also embraced the online consumer. It’s near impossible to do a weekly shop at Tesco without stumbling into staff collecting and sorting their own shopping lists; Tesco recognised early on how the internet would change trends in customer spending, and pioneered home delivery for online orders.

The marketplace is changing beyond recognition, and as Woolworths discovered to their cost, you must adapt or die. You may not trade in physical goods, but every company needs to consider how and why their marketplace has is continuing to evolve. Why would a person trust eBay or Play.com over Zavvi? Is it more convenient to buy books from Amazon or Waterstones?

A 60 year-old who needs a plumber might still reach for the phone book; their children will Google. That’s not to suggest traditional media is dead. Of course it’s not, because it’s still consumed by the majority of the population. That said, the Journal is experimenting to make their content more relevant to readers, just as ITV have invested in local online channels. You too need to consider how to embrace the internet in a meaningful and effective way.

With markets slowing down, companies are exposed to the double whammy of an increase in operating costs and a downturn in sales. It’s not unlike arriving home to find all your worldly goods on fire, and then receiving an unexpectedly high gas bill.

The temptation is to stick with what you know, what feels comfortable; is now really the time to start messing about with your advertising message? Maybe not, but it’s certainly worth considering what your message says and how it positions you in the market.

If you’ve got a great product, if your offers are the best, if you can genuinely deliver something new or different, now might be the time to change what you say, and how you say it. People are perhaps more susceptible than ever to advertising; frugal spending is king and advertising, like a yellow special offer label on a supermarket shelf, is a divining rod that helps them make purchasing decisions.

So consider a creative health check for your advertising strategy. Being creative doesn’t mean wacky bonkers; not every business can pull off a drumming monkey. So to speak. Creativity in advertising means identifying an effective, engaging idea that clearly identifies your brand and proposition, and ensuring people are likely to act upon it.

Unlike some, we’re not creative snobs at Artemis Media; we don’t hold the majority on good ideas. We do believe that creativity must deliver; in the current climate, it absolutely has to. So talk to us about ideas, and we’ll be nothing but honest with you; we might not tell you what you want to hear, but we’ll always tell you what you need to know.

Right now, your advertising needs stand-out, and that might mean taking a risk. Too risky? Not taking a good hard look at your advertising may be the biggest risk of all.

Don’t worry, the power afforded by our shiny new website hasn’t gone to our heads. We may not have fought tooth and nail to become the next leader of the free world, but we’ve chanted a similar mantra for years. Artemis Media isn’t going change the world but we could make a difference to yours, especially in the here and now.

The credit crunch and threat of recession is damaging turnover in every type of business, and without doubt you’ve seen an increase in operating costs and overheads. If you’ve kept your cool and not ran around in circles flapping your arms like a chicken, then you’ll probably have an idea how to weather the storm. But what role does advertising play in that plan? The gut reaction for many is to cut their media spend, because it’s not a fixed cost and it isn’t essential. And predictably, we’re going to disagree.

Remember why you created a line in the budgets for advertising. If times are tough, if sales are dropping, then it doesn’t entirely make sense to put a stop to activity that can generate sales.

Instead, it’s worth considering that many businesses are thinking the same way; they’ve been pulling budgets wherever they can. That’s placed pressure on the media outlets – television, radio, print, outdoor – because their trading conditions mirror yours; their sales have dropped sharply while overheads continue to increase. In the case of the press, the cost of newsprint has shot through the roof in recent months and is expected to rise steeply in 2009.

This has forced a rethink in pricing, which creates a great opportunity for you; not only could you buy your existing media cheaper, but there may be outlets traditionally too expensive that are now much more affordable. To be honest, not everyone is dropping their drawers on pricing, but we know the market well enough to hunt out the best deals and deliver the best value for money.

Changing the way you think about media buying could make a big difference, especially when trading is a challenge. With our help, we’ll ensure it’s change you can believe in.

 Julia joined Artemis Advertising as Operations Director in 2009 and oversees the day to day running of all systems and accounts to ensure the smooth running and growth of the business