Hi

Recession-proof marketing & PR...

... will be needed over the coming months. It's nothing new for 13 year old Marketing Projects. We survived the dot.com bomb in 2000 and have lived through earlier property crashes and minor cases of indigestion in the City. Rudyard Kipling's 'If' springs to mind and a refusal to behave like an Ostrich. Embrace change and remember one man's recession is another's chance for growth. Concentrate on:

1. why you are in business in the first place,
2. what makes you better than the competition and
3. communications .... communications with your customers most importantly, but also with the growing army of stakeholders and key influencers you have.
4. Don't forget to ask for business referrals. And
5. Remember, we can help.

Spending a little of your precious time reviewing eNews should help YOU focus on what's important. WELCOME to the third, quarterly eNews from Marketing Projects!

Jane Harrad-Roberts, Managing Director

Hot Topics

10-point self-help checklist for growth

1. Do you know who your top ten customers are? 2. How do you measure how they are top? BOTH profit and sales? 3. How many customers have you phoned/visited in the last 3 months just to ask about this? 4. Did you ask them how you could get more business? 5. Who are your top three competitors? 6. What makes you better?       7. Are they the same competitors as 6 months ago? 8. What are you going to do in the next six months to help your organisation grow? (Question 5 should help here). 9. How are your telephones and emails answered? 10. Could this be improved?

Our FREE downloads will help

Spring celebrations ......

We are delighted to be working with new clients The Home & Garden Show 2008 at Chester Racecourse later this month, lawyers Hill Dickinson LLP in Chester, jewellers Waltons and Lowes, Macdonald New Blossoms Hotel and Hair Matters.

Work continues nationally for Chester Performs with an exciting programme of events and festivals throughout 2008, Driveme.net with a £12 million investment in driving experiences in Staffordshire and Cucina, catering experts who have quadrupled turnover to £1.5m in the last 12 months.

Jane has been asked to assist Virgin Trains on their passenger panel, in addition to her role on the Institute of Directors Cheshire Committee. Marketing Projects is a member of the CBI PR Forum and ProfessionaLiverpool.

Congratulations to Nick, Barrie Kelly and anyone else who join Jane as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Finally, watch this space for the next Novus meeting later in May.

Investing in the future...

... Marketing Projects' website receives over 5,400 visits per month. We know because we measure how it performs and practice the 4Cs - content, community, clarity and continuality (reasons to return). 36pc of our visitors arrive directly on our site, 40pc from searches and 24pc from another site. Many of our clients find our site comes before theirs on a google search and many value our online press office for them there. We've only just started to invest in promoting the site so we will keep you posted!

Have you invested in YOUR website recently?