Last year we overhauled the look and feel of all Pro-Talk sites to improve the user experience.
We will soon go one step further and offer a radically new service to those companies who take our sales lead service (or other advertising packages). Their company pages will turn into a 'one-stop-shop' for their products and services.
Users of the pages who are interested in a particular product will be able to choose from a list of options: request a sales call, send an email, download a technical specification, brochure or any other relevant literature, as well as being able to click through directly to the company website.
This has been designed to quickly match customers with products, offering a comprehensive sales lead service and an effective internet shop window, essential in the current tough sales climate.
This change will be taking place across the Pro-Talk network within the next few weeks. If you would like any more information, please contact the team at:
mailto:james.hancock@pro-talk.com
or call +44(0)207 970 4941
Industrialmarketingtalk issue 37
=============================================================
INDUSTRIALMARKETINGTALK
=============================================================
A monthly newsletter for industrial marketing managers, from Pro-Talk,
publishers of:
Buildingtalk - Electronicstalk - Engineeringtalk
Laboratorytalk - Marketingservicestalk
Manufacturingtalk - Printingtalk - Processingtalk
=============================================================
Pro-Talk websites - where buyers meet sellers
=============================================================
Issue 37: 27 February 2009
Published from the UK
=============================================================
Industrialmarketingtalk online:
http://www.industrialmarketingtalk.com
=============================================================
IN THIS ISSUE:
Jackie's message
[1] We have the space, we know you have the material
[2] The Long View: what is page rank?
[3] Effective and inexpensive route to market
[4] First video content on Processingtalk
[5] In prosperous periods promote tactically...
[6] The commodity of information
[7] Exhibiting or visiting Achema?
[8] Landmark event for the process sector
[9] And there's more!
[10] Competition: win something useful?
=============================================================
Hello!
Sitting here in Pro-Talk's Highland 'office' (where winter doesn't
normally take us by surprise) it's been a little amusing listening to
the reports from the 'south' and the chaos the snow created recently -
still, at least it kept the doom and gloom mongering off the
headlines, if only for a short while.
During this time I had a very pleasant email exchange with Peter Mann
of Buzz Associates (http://www.buzzassociates.co.uk) about how lucky
we were being able to work from home. Between us we compiled a list of
advantages, and I thought I'd share them with you - of course you'll
be welcome to email me with some of your own - ours are in no
particular order:
No commuting
Never late for dinner
Watched the children grow up
Weather not an issue
Work as long as I like
Can have favourite radio station on all day (Peter prefers Radio 3,
I'm a Radio 4 addict)
No politics
Not disturbed by water cooler chat
The wonderful view from my office window
Decent coffee (as opposed to that stuff from a machine)
Having the heating set to the temperature that's comfortable to you
And the disadvantages? We're still considering those - but so far have
a blank page. If you'd like to comment do email me...
Naturally, working from home doesn't mean that you are totally out of
the loop when it comes to communicating with colleagues and clients,
these days, apart from email and the phone, there are other vehicles
like MSN Messenger type applications, and web conferencing.
I've recently been investigating the latter and have found these
providers (amongst the very many out there - what a minefield!):
http://www.dimdim.com - dimdim gives you up to 20 attendees for free.
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/acrobatconnectpro/?sdid=DYMWP
- free trial available. Cost dependent on usage.
http://www.webex.co.uk - free trial available. Cost dependent on usage.
https://www.yugma.com - free for up to 20 attendees.
But does anyone know which provides the best options, and most cost
effective service? If you are using a web conferencing service please
let me know your experiences, good or bad, and I'll publish them here.
I'd appreciate some pointers.
Finally, back to Peter Mann, to say thanks for suggesting the book for
this month's competition! (See item 10).
That's it, see you in March!
With kind regards,
Jackie
mailto:jackie.west@pro-talk.com
===================================================
[1] We have the space, we know you have the material
===================================================
Jackie West writes:
We've all been there - the man who signs your pay cheque wants his
name 'in lights' - but we all know the chances of getting a release
announcing that your particular 'big cheese' has been promoted (or
worse won a golf tournament) stands little chance of being published,
let alone pushing prospects to enquire about your products or
services. Forget about 'creating awareness' from this type of material
(I know, I know - it's what we've had drummed into us) - this subject
matter just provokes a big 'so what!' by the reader.
Isn't your time is better spent pushing out releases on existing as
well as new products, or services (you can tell your 'big cheese' this
from me). And, in this time of tight budgets, and diminishing
revenues, we need all the help we can get in securing, firstly that
all important hot lead, and secondly your sales team converting that
lead into a sale. And, thirdly, if you all do a good job
maintaining a satisfied customer you'll be reaping the rewards of
continued business (if that's what you want).
So, how can you start addressing the first step - hot leads?
Here's how: review your current product range, start writing and
remind people of what you have on offer. It doesn't matter if the
product is five years old - if it remains in your portfolio then it's
there to be sold (isn't it?). Go for it.
Look at technical information sheets, wall charts, How To Tips,
maintenance schedules, Eco aspects of your products, etc, etc. What
about that cd/dvd you had produced twelve months ago, how many have
you got still sitting on the shelf? Only 50? Then you've got
a limited offer for the first 50 people who apply - gather their
details and follow-up. In our experience you'll receive more leads if
you offer something tangible.
Why not produce a Q&A sheet by sitting down with one of your technical
people, and produce something short, snappy, and...err..helpful to
your prospective customer? Put yourself in their place, or even better
phone a few existing customers and see what sort of additional
material they'd like to receive from your company (better PR than that
'big cheese' press release!) - what would help them do their job
better when using your products or services...produce it, send them a
copy with a big thank you, and then push it out.
What I'm saying is that for your chosen Pro-Talk site to work hard for
you, you need to provide our editors with this type of information for
the reader (who is after all your prospective customer). The editorial
team will take your material and optimise it for the search engines
ensuring the buyer can easily find and follow-up.
If you're unsure about any item you'd like to submit call us and
discuss we're always happy to guide you.
Let's work together in 2009 and make this a bumper year for sales
leads despite all the doom and gloom, and make a pact that none of us
write any further 'vanity' releases.
As for converting leads and retaining customers - well, that, I'm
afraid is down to you...although next month I'll include some articles
which may give you some inspiration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Talk to our editorial team:
+44(0)207 970 4920
Email the editorial team:
mailto:lyndon.white@pro-talk.com
===================================================
[2] The Long View: what is page rank?
===================================================
... and how does it affect my online presence?
If you are unfamiliar with the term, Page Rank can be explained very
simply. Search engines such as Google rate websites by their relevance
to the search terms used by people when they use these search engines
to find things.
The order in which search results are displayed is very much down to
Page Rank, which is basically the importance of that page in the eyes
of the search engines. As a business with an online presence, you
obviously want to make it as easy as possible for your potential
customers to find your website.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Continue reading Andrew's article at http://tinyurl.com/afthd8
> Recommended further reading at:
http://tinyurl.com/bvwjq5 - with a link to Google's webmaster
checklist. You can receive an informative email every day, it's free - covering
online marketing hints, tips and extremely good advice:
http://tinyurl.com/5gq99c
===================================================
[3] Effective and inexpensive route to market
===================================================
Whether you're promoting a product or service, attending/organising an
exhibition or seminar, or have a new catalogue or wall chart to
distribute, Pro-Talk's Extra email newsletters will provide you with
an effective and inexpensive route to market, perfectly complementing
your other marcomms activities...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> More information and theme issues at http://tinyurl.com/azblfh
Call us to discuss +44(0)207 970 4941
===================================================
[4] First video content on Processingtalk
===================================================
The use of video on Pro-Talk sites is coming on leaps and bounds, says
Russ Swan. February saw the addition of the first video content on
Processingtalk, with movies from Mono Pumps and Sierra Instruments.
The Mono story shows a very fast pump de-ragging technique, taking
only two and a half minutes compared to the several hours needed for
conventional equipment. The Sierra video is an animation showing the
benefits of the company's flow measurement technology and the much
shorter pipe runs it requires. Both are terrific examples of how a few
minutes of video can tell a story far better than words and static
pictures alone. See for yourself:
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/mon/mon169.html
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/sii/sii124.html
February also saw a video experiment on Laboratorytalk: the week's
news in pictures, compiled into a short and entertaining video. Not
only is this film hosted directly on Laboratorytalk, it also appears
on the blog, the Laboratorytalk Youtube channel, and its Facebook
page. This movie is a great example of a slideshow video, where still
pictures are animated and assembled with a voiceover, and shows the
potential of this method to create video without any actual video
footage.
http://www.laboratorytalk.com/newsletters/issue_379.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> The creation and hosting of slideshow videos is one of the services
available on any Pro-Talk site. We can also take raw unedited video
footage and turn it into a professional short movie, and even help
with the filming. Contact Russ (mailto:russ.swan@centaur.co.uk) for
further information on content creation, or any member of the sales
team to have video services added to your package.
===================================================
[5] In prosperous periods promote tactically...
===================================================
...in down times promote strategically.
Economists are unanimous that regardless of what governments do it
will take time, a lot of time, to rebuild faith in financial
institutions and rejuvenate the economy.
The sudden realisation that the emperor had no clothes and magnitude
of the financial crisis is only now being fully addressed...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> From the desk of Andy Marken, continue reading
at: http://tinyurl.com/cyyqtn
===================================================
[6] The commodity of information
===================================================
"A long time ago in a place not far distant from central London, I was
being lectured about the nature of treason. What, I was asked, did the
traitor see in the mirror each morning as he shaved? Traitor or
patriot?..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Continue reading this article at http://tinyurl.com/cz2ncp
Charlie Laidlaw is a former intelligence officer with the Security
Service (MI5). He now runs his own marketing communications agency,
David Gray PR, which specialises in all aspects of the build
environment and believes that many firms, particularly smaller firms
worried by the credit crunch, are missing the marketing point.
mailto:charlie@davidgrayp.com
Phone: 01620 844736
===================================================
[7] Exhibiting or visiting Achema?
===================================================
Editor Russ Swan, together with Andy Long will be attending the Achema
show in May - in fact we have a stand at the show! It's in hall 4.2,
stand number M1. You'll be most welcome to visit them during this
time, or if you'd like them to visit your stand please contact direct
to make arrangements.
If you'd like complimentary day tickets do ask Russ/Andy they have a
limited amount available.
Don't forget to send Russ your pre (and post!) show product
releases.
Plus! Laboratorytalk Extra is producing an Achema special issue on the
29 April - contact the team to book your slot (and ask about series
discounts...)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Contact Russ on mailto:news@laboratorytalk.com
Contact Andy on mailto:andrew.long@pro-talk.com
If you are contacting either of the above about meeting at Achema
please add this to the subject line of your email.
> Laboratorytalk Extra: Achema special - call +44(0)207 970 4941 to
book your entry.
===================================================
[8] Landmark event for the process sector
===================================================
Process Engineering Live is the landmark event for the process sector
and offers the opportunity to meet the industry's leading suppliers,
all under one roof and discover the most innovative solutions to
optimise your plant operations.
Over 50 suppliers will be representing all sections of the process
industry, this is your opportunity to engage with top industry
specialists who can discuss the best solutions tailor-made to fit your
requirements and help you achieve your objectives for 2009.
FREE Conference Programme: all visitors to the Show have the
opportunity to reserve a space on the FREE Conference Programme. The
Conference sessions will focus on four critical themes in the process
Industry today; Energy and Environment, Process Improvement, People
and Skills and Asset Management...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/cauy7w
To attend the show FREE register today at
http://www.processengineeringlive.co.uk
> There is still time to get involved, if you would like to book a
stand or sponsorship opportunities please do not hesitate to contact
Neil Simpson on 0207 970 6546 or email
mailto:neil.simpson@centaur.co.uk
===================================================
[9] And there's more!
===================================================
* Looking for promotional items? For a full range of merchandise visit
the SVC Creative website.
http://www.svccreative.co.uk
* The BPMA will launch the second course of their new academy later
this month. The current course has 63 candidates from the September
intake which covers both the distributor and supplier chain and has
been well received by the industry...
Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/bp8583
or visit their website http://www.bpma.co.uk
* The theme of the BIG conference in 2009 is B2B Research: New
Dimensions, and it will take place again at the popular Marriott St
Pierre in Chepstow, from Wednesday 13th - Friday 15th May...
http://tinyurl.com/d5q7jm
* Free Online Workshops: each Thursday morning IRun Business Solutions
have live on-line a seminar/workshop on a one aspect of internet
marketing. Each seminar is presented by an expert in the topic. The
presentations are informal, free to attend and have a question/answer
session at the end.
http://www.irun-bedford.co.uk/Resource+Centre/Workshops
* Media Packs for Pro-Talk sites - click to download:
http://www.buildingtalk.com/buildingtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.electronicstalk.com/electronicstalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.engineeringtalk.com/engineeringtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.laboratorytalk.com/laboratorytalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/manufacturingtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.printingtalk.com/printingtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.processingtalk.com/processingtalk-mediapack.pdf
* Overview of Pro-Talk's Sales Lead Service:
http://www.pro-talk.com/sales_leads.html
* Search for b2b marketing jobs
http://tinyurl.com/6x238o
* Search for a conference in your sector
http://tinyurl.com/5873qa
===================================================
[10] COMPETITION: win something useful?
===================================================
Congratulations to Keith Reeds of GB Innomech Ltd who won the
January competition, by correctly answering the question "What else do
the 'monkeys' have on offer?" (MailChimp, of course!). Keith wins a
copy of 'Marketing on a Beermat' written by Beermat Entrepreneur Chris
West. Thanks to everyone who entered.
This month you've a chance to win: 'Marketing Strategy' by Paul
Fifield. "This book strips away the confusion and jargon that surround
what ought to be one of the most straightforward areas of modern
business."
And the question: "What's Peter Mann's company called?"
(The answer is up there....)
Answers via email, by 15 March, please.
Winner to be announced next issue.
===================================================
Competition entries to mailto:jackie.west@pro-talk.com
===================================================
Next issue of Industrialmarketingtalk: 27 March 2009
Want to contribute? mailto:jackie.west@pro-talk.com
Deadlines for contributions: 15 March 2009
===================================================
INDUSTRIALMARKETINGTALK
=============================================================
A monthly newsletter for industrial marketing managers, from Pro-Talk,
publishers of:
Buildingtalk - Electronicstalk - Engineeringtalk
Laboratorytalk - Marketingservicestalk
Manufacturingtalk - Printingtalk - Processingtalk
=============================================================
Pro-Talk websites - where buyers meet sellers
=============================================================
Issue 37: 27 February 2009
Published from the UK
=============================================================
Industrialmarketingtalk online:
http://www.industrialmarketingtalk.com
=============================================================
IN THIS ISSUE:
Jackie's message
[1] We have the space, we know you have the material
[2] The Long View: what is page rank?
[3] Effective and inexpensive route to market
[4] First video content on Processingtalk
[5] In prosperous periods promote tactically...
[6] The commodity of information
[7] Exhibiting or visiting Achema?
[8] Landmark event for the process sector
[9] And there's more!
[10] Competition: win something useful?
=============================================================
Hello!
Sitting here in Pro-Talk's Highland 'office' (where winter doesn't
normally take us by surprise) it's been a little amusing listening to
the reports from the 'south' and the chaos the snow created recently -
still, at least it kept the doom and gloom mongering off the
headlines, if only for a short while.
During this time I had a very pleasant email exchange with Peter Mann
of Buzz Associates (http://www.buzzassociates.co.uk) about how lucky
we were being able to work from home. Between us we compiled a list of
advantages, and I thought I'd share them with you - of course you'll
be welcome to email me with some of your own - ours are in no
particular order:
No commuting
Never late for dinner
Watched the children grow up
Weather not an issue
Work as long as I like
Can have favourite radio station on all day (Peter prefers Radio 3,
I'm a Radio 4 addict)
No politics
Not disturbed by water cooler chat
The wonderful view from my office window
Decent coffee (as opposed to that stuff from a machine)
Having the heating set to the temperature that's comfortable to you
And the disadvantages? We're still considering those - but so far have
a blank page. If you'd like to comment do email me...
Naturally, working from home doesn't mean that you are totally out of
the loop when it comes to communicating with colleagues and clients,
these days, apart from email and the phone, there are other vehicles
like MSN Messenger type applications, and web conferencing.
I've recently been investigating the latter and have found these
providers (amongst the very many out there - what a minefield!):
http://www.dimdim.com - dimdim gives you up to 20 attendees for free.
http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/acrobatconnectpro/?sdid=DYMWP
- free trial available. Cost dependent on usage.
http://www.webex.co.uk - free trial available. Cost dependent on usage.
https://www.yugma.com - free for up to 20 attendees.
But does anyone know which provides the best options, and most cost
effective service? If you are using a web conferencing service please
let me know your experiences, good or bad, and I'll publish them here.
I'd appreciate some pointers.
Finally, back to Peter Mann, to say thanks for suggesting the book for
this month's competition! (See item 10).
That's it, see you in March!
With kind regards,
Jackie
mailto:jackie.west@pro-talk.com
===================================================
[1] We have the space, we know you have the material
===================================================
Jackie West writes:
We've all been there - the man who signs your pay cheque wants his
name 'in lights' - but we all know the chances of getting a release
announcing that your particular 'big cheese' has been promoted (or
worse won a golf tournament) stands little chance of being published,
let alone pushing prospects to enquire about your products or
services. Forget about 'creating awareness' from this type of material
(I know, I know - it's what we've had drummed into us) - this subject
matter just provokes a big 'so what!' by the reader.
Isn't your time is better spent pushing out releases on existing as
well as new products, or services (you can tell your 'big cheese' this
from me). And, in this time of tight budgets, and diminishing
revenues, we need all the help we can get in securing, firstly that
all important hot lead, and secondly your sales team converting that
lead into a sale. And, thirdly, if you all do a good job
maintaining a satisfied customer you'll be reaping the rewards of
continued business (if that's what you want).
So, how can you start addressing the first step - hot leads?
Here's how: review your current product range, start writing and
remind people of what you have on offer. It doesn't matter if the
product is five years old - if it remains in your portfolio then it's
there to be sold (isn't it?). Go for it.
Look at technical information sheets, wall charts, How To Tips,
maintenance schedules, Eco aspects of your products, etc, etc. What
about that cd/dvd you had produced twelve months ago, how many have
you got still sitting on the shelf? Only 50? Then you've got
a limited offer for the first 50 people who apply - gather their
details and follow-up. In our experience you'll receive more leads if
you offer something tangible.
Why not produce a Q&A sheet by sitting down with one of your technical
people, and produce something short, snappy, and...err..helpful to
your prospective customer? Put yourself in their place, or even better
phone a few existing customers and see what sort of additional
material they'd like to receive from your company (better PR than that
'big cheese' press release!) - what would help them do their job
better when using your products or services...produce it, send them a
copy with a big thank you, and then push it out.
What I'm saying is that for your chosen Pro-Talk site to work hard for
you, you need to provide our editors with this type of information for
the reader (who is after all your prospective customer). The editorial
team will take your material and optimise it for the search engines
ensuring the buyer can easily find and follow-up.
If you're unsure about any item you'd like to submit call us and
discuss we're always happy to guide you.
Let's work together in 2009 and make this a bumper year for sales
leads despite all the doom and gloom, and make a pact that none of us
write any further 'vanity' releases.
As for converting leads and retaining customers - well, that, I'm
afraid is down to you...although next month I'll include some articles
which may give you some inspiration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Talk to our editorial team:
+44(0)207 970 4920
Email the editorial team:
mailto:lyndon.white@pro-talk.com
===================================================
[2] The Long View: what is page rank?
===================================================
... and how does it affect my online presence?
If you are unfamiliar with the term, Page Rank can be explained very
simply. Search engines such as Google rate websites by their relevance
to the search terms used by people when they use these search engines
to find things.
The order in which search results are displayed is very much down to
Page Rank, which is basically the importance of that page in the eyes
of the search engines. As a business with an online presence, you
obviously want to make it as easy as possible for your potential
customers to find your website.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Continue reading Andrew's article at http://tinyurl.com/afthd8
> Recommended further reading at:
http://tinyurl.com/bvwjq5 - with a link to Google's webmaster
checklist. You can receive an informative email every day, it's free - covering
online marketing hints, tips and extremely good advice:
http://tinyurl.com/5gq99c
===================================================
[3] Effective and inexpensive route to market
===================================================
Whether you're promoting a product or service, attending/organising an
exhibition or seminar, or have a new catalogue or wall chart to
distribute, Pro-Talk's Extra email newsletters will provide you with
an effective and inexpensive route to market, perfectly complementing
your other marcomms activities...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> More information and theme issues at http://tinyurl.com/azblfh
Call us to discuss +44(0)207 970 4941
===================================================
[4] First video content on Processingtalk
===================================================
The use of video on Pro-Talk sites is coming on leaps and bounds, says
Russ Swan. February saw the addition of the first video content on
Processingtalk, with movies from Mono Pumps and Sierra Instruments.
The Mono story shows a very fast pump de-ragging technique, taking
only two and a half minutes compared to the several hours needed for
conventional equipment. The Sierra video is an animation showing the
benefits of the company's flow measurement technology and the much
shorter pipe runs it requires. Both are terrific examples of how a few
minutes of video can tell a story far better than words and static
pictures alone. See for yourself:
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/mon/mon169.html
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/sii/sii124.html
February also saw a video experiment on Laboratorytalk: the week's
news in pictures, compiled into a short and entertaining video. Not
only is this film hosted directly on Laboratorytalk, it also appears
on the blog, the Laboratorytalk Youtube channel, and its Facebook
page. This movie is a great example of a slideshow video, where still
pictures are animated and assembled with a voiceover, and shows the
potential of this method to create video without any actual video
footage.
http://www.laboratorytalk.com/newsletters/issue_379.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> The creation and hosting of slideshow videos is one of the services
available on any Pro-Talk site. We can also take raw unedited video
footage and turn it into a professional short movie, and even help
with the filming. Contact Russ (mailto:russ.swan@centaur.co.uk) for
further information on content creation, or any member of the sales
team to have video services added to your package.
===================================================
[5] In prosperous periods promote tactically...
===================================================
...in down times promote strategically.
Economists are unanimous that regardless of what governments do it
will take time, a lot of time, to rebuild faith in financial
institutions and rejuvenate the economy.
The sudden realisation that the emperor had no clothes and magnitude
of the financial crisis is only now being fully addressed...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> From the desk of Andy Marken, continue reading
at: http://tinyurl.com/cyyqtn
===================================================
[6] The commodity of information
===================================================
"A long time ago in a place not far distant from central London, I was
being lectured about the nature of treason. What, I was asked, did the
traitor see in the mirror each morning as he shaved? Traitor or
patriot?..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Continue reading this article at http://tinyurl.com/cz2ncp
Charlie Laidlaw is a former intelligence officer with the Security
Service (MI5). He now runs his own marketing communications agency,
David Gray PR, which specialises in all aspects of the build
environment and believes that many firms, particularly smaller firms
worried by the credit crunch, are missing the marketing point.
mailto:charlie@davidgrayp.com
Phone: 01620 844736
===================================================
[7] Exhibiting or visiting Achema?
===================================================
Editor Russ Swan, together with Andy Long will be attending the Achema
show in May - in fact we have a stand at the show! It's in hall 4.2,
stand number M1. You'll be most welcome to visit them during this
time, or if you'd like them to visit your stand please contact direct
to make arrangements.
If you'd like complimentary day tickets do ask Russ/Andy they have a
limited amount available.
Don't forget to send Russ your pre (and post!) show product
releases.
Plus! Laboratorytalk Extra is producing an Achema special issue on the
29 April - contact the team to book your slot (and ask about series
discounts...)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Contact Russ on mailto:news@laboratorytalk.com
Contact Andy on mailto:andrew.long@pro-talk.com
If you are contacting either of the above about meeting at Achema
please add this to the subject line of your email.
> Laboratorytalk Extra: Achema special - call +44(0)207 970 4941 to
book your entry.
===================================================
[8] Landmark event for the process sector
===================================================
Process Engineering Live is the landmark event for the process sector
and offers the opportunity to meet the industry's leading suppliers,
all under one roof and discover the most innovative solutions to
optimise your plant operations.
Over 50 suppliers will be representing all sections of the process
industry, this is your opportunity to engage with top industry
specialists who can discuss the best solutions tailor-made to fit your
requirements and help you achieve your objectives for 2009.
FREE Conference Programme: all visitors to the Show have the
opportunity to reserve a space on the FREE Conference Programme. The
Conference sessions will focus on four critical themes in the process
Industry today; Energy and Environment, Process Improvement, People
and Skills and Asset Management...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/cauy7w
To attend the show FREE register today at
http://www.processengineeringlive.co.uk
> There is still time to get involved, if you would like to book a
stand or sponsorship opportunities please do not hesitate to contact
Neil Simpson on 0207 970 6546 or email
mailto:neil.simpson@centaur.co.uk
===================================================
[9] And there's more!
===================================================
* Looking for promotional items? For a full range of merchandise visit
the SVC Creative website.
http://www.svccreative.co.uk
* The BPMA will launch the second course of their new academy later
this month. The current course has 63 candidates from the September
intake which covers both the distributor and supplier chain and has
been well received by the industry...
Find out more at http://tinyurl.com/bp8583
or visit their website http://www.bpma.co.uk
* The theme of the BIG conference in 2009 is B2B Research: New
Dimensions, and it will take place again at the popular Marriott St
Pierre in Chepstow, from Wednesday 13th - Friday 15th May...
http://tinyurl.com/d5q7jm
* Free Online Workshops: each Thursday morning IRun Business Solutions
have live on-line a seminar/workshop on a one aspect of internet
marketing. Each seminar is presented by an expert in the topic. The
presentations are informal, free to attend and have a question/answer
session at the end.
http://www.irun-bedford.co.uk/Resource+Centre/Workshops
* Media Packs for Pro-Talk sites - click to download:
http://www.buildingtalk.com/buildingtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.electronicstalk.com/electronicstalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.engineeringtalk.com/engineeringtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.laboratorytalk.com/laboratorytalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/manufacturingtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.printingtalk.com/printingtalk-mediapack.pdf
http://www.processingtalk.com/processingtalk-mediapack.pdf
* Overview of Pro-Talk's Sales Lead Service:
http://www.pro-talk.com/sales_leads.html
* Search for b2b marketing jobs
http://tinyurl.com/6x238o
* Search for a conference in your sector
http://tinyurl.com/5873qa
===================================================
[10] COMPETITION: win something useful?
===================================================
Congratulations to Keith Reeds of GB Innomech Ltd who won the
January competition, by correctly answering the question "What else do
the 'monkeys' have on offer?" (MailChimp, of course!). Keith wins a
copy of 'Marketing on a Beermat' written by Beermat Entrepreneur Chris
West. Thanks to everyone who entered.
This month you've a chance to win: 'Marketing Strategy' by Paul
Fifield. "This book strips away the confusion and jargon that surround
what ought to be one of the most straightforward areas of modern
business."
And the question: "What's Peter Mann's company called?"
(The answer is up there....)
Answers via email, by 15 March, please.
Winner to be announced next issue.
===================================================
Competition entries to mailto:jackie.west@pro-talk.com
===================================================
Next issue of Industrialmarketingtalk: 27 March 2009
Want to contribute? mailto:jackie.west@pro-talk.com
Deadlines for contributions: 15 March 2009
===================================================
We have the space, we know you have the material
We've all been there - the man who signs your pay cheque wants his name 'in lights' - but we all know the chances of getting a release announcing that your particular 'big cheese' has been promoted (or worse won a golf tournament) stands little chance of being published, let alone pushing prospects to enquire about your products or services. Forget about 'creating awareness' from this type of material (I know, I know - it's what we've had drummed into us) - this subject matter just provokes a big 'so what!' by the reader.
Isn't your time is better spent pushing out releases on existing as well as new products, or services (you can tell your 'big cheese' this from me). And, in this time of tight budgets, and diminishing revenues, we need all the help we can get in securing, firstly that all important hot lead, and secondly your sales team converting that lead into a sale. And, thirdly, if you all do a good job maintaining a satisfied customer you'll be reaping the rewards of continued business (if that's what you want).
So, how can you start addressing the first step - hot leads?
Here's how: review your current product range, start writing and remind people of what you have on offer. It doesn't matter if the product is five years old - if it remains in your portfolio then it's there to be sold (isn't it?). Go for it.
Look at technical information sheets, wall charts, How To Tips, maintenance schedules, Eco aspects of your products, etc, etc. What about that cd/dvd you had produced twelve months ago, how many have you got still sitting on the shelf? Only 50? Then you've got a limited offer for the first 50 people who apply - gather their details and follow-up. In our experience you'll receive more leads if you offer something tangible.
Why not produce a Q&A sheet by sitting down with one of your technical people, and produce something short, snappy, and...err..helpful to your prospective customer? Put yourself in their place, or even better phone a few existing customers and see what sort of additional material they'd like to receive from your company (better PR than that 'big cheese' press release!) - what would help them do their job better when using your products or services...produce it, send them a copy with a big thank you, and then push it out.
What I'm saying is that for your chosen Pro-Talk site to work hard for you, you need to provide our editors with this type of information for the reader (who is after all your prospective customer). The editorial team will take your material and optimise it for the search engines ensuring the buyer can easily find and follow-up.
If you're unsure about any item you'd like to submit call us and discuss we're always happy to guide you.
Let's work together in 2009 and make this a bumper year for sales leads despite all the doom and gloom, and make a pact that none of us write any further 'vanity' releases.
As for converting leads and retaining customers - well, that, I'm afraid is down to you...although next month I'll include some articles which may give you some inspiration.
Jackie West
February 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Talk to our editorial team:
+44(0)207 970 4920
Email the editorial team:
mailto:lyndon.white@pro-talk.com
Isn't your time is better spent pushing out releases on existing as well as new products, or services (you can tell your 'big cheese' this from me). And, in this time of tight budgets, and diminishing revenues, we need all the help we can get in securing, firstly that all important hot lead, and secondly your sales team converting that lead into a sale. And, thirdly, if you all do a good job maintaining a satisfied customer you'll be reaping the rewards of continued business (if that's what you want).
So, how can you start addressing the first step - hot leads?
Here's how: review your current product range, start writing and remind people of what you have on offer. It doesn't matter if the product is five years old - if it remains in your portfolio then it's there to be sold (isn't it?). Go for it.
Look at technical information sheets, wall charts, How To Tips, maintenance schedules, Eco aspects of your products, etc, etc. What about that cd/dvd you had produced twelve months ago, how many have you got still sitting on the shelf? Only 50? Then you've got a limited offer for the first 50 people who apply - gather their details and follow-up. In our experience you'll receive more leads if you offer something tangible.
Why not produce a Q&A sheet by sitting down with one of your technical people, and produce something short, snappy, and...err..helpful to your prospective customer? Put yourself in their place, or even better phone a few existing customers and see what sort of additional material they'd like to receive from your company (better PR than that 'big cheese' press release!) - what would help them do their job better when using your products or services...produce it, send them a copy with a big thank you, and then push it out.
What I'm saying is that for your chosen Pro-Talk site to work hard for you, you need to provide our editors with this type of information for the reader (who is after all your prospective customer). The editorial team will take your material and optimise it for the search engines ensuring the buyer can easily find and follow-up.
If you're unsure about any item you'd like to submit call us and discuss we're always happy to guide you.
Let's work together in 2009 and make this a bumper year for sales leads despite all the doom and gloom, and make a pact that none of us write any further 'vanity' releases.
As for converting leads and retaining customers - well, that, I'm afraid is down to you...although next month I'll include some articles which may give you some inspiration.
Jackie West
February 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Talk to our editorial team:
+44(0)207 970 4920
Email the editorial team:
mailto:lyndon.white@pro-talk.com
Meet up to 50 leading suppliers
Process Engineering Live is the landmark event for the process sector and offers you the opportunity to meet the industry’s leading suppliers, all under one roof and discover the most innovative solutions to optimise your plant operations.
As a visitor to the show you can also attend the FREE conference programme to update your knowledge on the most critical issues affecting the process industry today.
Meet up to 50 leading suppliers
Suppliers will be representing all sections of the process industry, this is your opportunity to engage with top industry specialists who can discuss the best solutions tailor-made to fit your requirements and help you achieve your objectives for 2009. Exhibitors include ARI-Armaturen (UK) Ltd, Bronkhorst UK Ltd, Endress & Hauser Ltd, Hagglunds Drives, Rotork Controls, Southern Temperature Sensors Ltd and many more.
FREE Conference Programme
We are offering all visitors to the Show the opportunity to reserve a space on the FREE Conference Programme. The Conference sessions will focus on four critical themes in the process Industry today; Energy and Environment, Process Improvement, People and Skills and Asset Management. Here is a sneak preview of what you can expect:
Plant improvement forum
Amy Elliott Peace, Chemicals Northwest
Better, quicker, cheaper
Sarah Grindord, PICME Client Services Manager
New Technology and asset management
Tony Alexander, Technical Consultant, Honeywell Process Solutions
Energy performance efficiency
Steve Williamson, SJW Associates/NEPIC
Combining business and training goals
John Holland, Training Manager, United Biscuits
Meeting the MCERTS requirements
Paul Wiggins, Environmental
FREE Seminar Programme presented by leading industry specialists
Come and hear 20 informative sessions covering case studies and live product demonstrations. The National Skills Academy Process Industries and Cogent SSC will be presenting innovative training programmes which employers can use to train their existing staff and maximise skill levels within the plant. There will also be specialist suppliers including Rockwell, Siemens, Emerson Process Management and KCD who will be show casing their latest technology and process solutions and how it can benefit your plant.
To attend the show FREE register today at http://www.processengineeringlive.co.uk
We look forward to seeing you at the Show
As a visitor to the show you can also attend the FREE conference programme to update your knowledge on the most critical issues affecting the process industry today.
Meet up to 50 leading suppliers
Suppliers will be representing all sections of the process industry, this is your opportunity to engage with top industry specialists who can discuss the best solutions tailor-made to fit your requirements and help you achieve your objectives for 2009. Exhibitors include ARI-Armaturen (UK) Ltd, Bronkhorst UK Ltd, Endress & Hauser Ltd, Hagglunds Drives, Rotork Controls, Southern Temperature Sensors Ltd and many more.
FREE Conference Programme
We are offering all visitors to the Show the opportunity to reserve a space on the FREE Conference Programme. The Conference sessions will focus on four critical themes in the process Industry today; Energy and Environment, Process Improvement, People and Skills and Asset Management. Here is a sneak preview of what you can expect:
Plant improvement forum
Amy Elliott Peace, Chemicals Northwest
Better, quicker, cheaper
Sarah Grindord, PICME Client Services Manager
New Technology and asset management
Tony Alexander, Technical Consultant, Honeywell Process Solutions
Energy performance efficiency
Steve Williamson, SJW Associates/NEPIC
Combining business and training goals
John Holland, Training Manager, United Biscuits
Meeting the MCERTS requirements
Paul Wiggins, Environmental
FREE Seminar Programme presented by leading industry specialists
Come and hear 20 informative sessions covering case studies and live product demonstrations. The National Skills Academy Process Industries and Cogent SSC will be presenting innovative training programmes which employers can use to train their existing staff and maximise skill levels within the plant. There will also be specialist suppliers including Rockwell, Siemens, Emerson Process Management and KCD who will be show casing their latest technology and process solutions and how it can benefit your plant.
To attend the show FREE register today at http://www.processengineeringlive.co.uk
We look forward to seeing you at the Show
First video content on Processingtalk
The use of video on Pro-Talk sites is coming on leaps and bounds, says Russ Swan. February saw the addition of the first video content on Processingtalk, with movies from Mono Pumps and Sierra Instruments. The Mono story shows a very fast pump de-ragging technique, taking only two and a half minutes compared to the several hours needed for conventional equipment. The Sierra video is an animation showing the benefits of the company's flow measurement technology and the much shorter pipe runs it requires. Both are terrific examples of how a few minutes of video can tell a story far better than words and static pictures alone. See for yourself:
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/mon/mon169.html
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/sii/sii124.html
February also saw a video experiment on Laboratorytalk: the week's news in pictures, compiled into a short and entertaining video. Not only is this film hosted directly on Laboratorytalk, it also appears on the blog, the Laboratorytalk Youtube channel, and its Facebook page. This movie is a great example of a slideshow video, where still pictures are animated and assembled with a voiceover, and shows the potential of this method to create video without any actual video footage.
http://www.laboratorytalk.com/newsletters/issue_379.html
The creation and hosting of slideshow videos is one of the services available on any Pro-Talk site. We can also take raw unedited video footage and turn it into a professional short movie, and even help with the filming. Contact Russ (mailto:russ.swan@centaur.co.uk) for further information on content creation, or any member of the sales team to have video services added to your package.
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/mon/mon169.html
http://www.processingtalk.com/news/sii/sii124.html
February also saw a video experiment on Laboratorytalk: the week's news in pictures, compiled into a short and entertaining video. Not only is this film hosted directly on Laboratorytalk, it also appears on the blog, the Laboratorytalk Youtube channel, and its Facebook page. This movie is a great example of a slideshow video, where still pictures are animated and assembled with a voiceover, and shows the potential of this method to create video without any actual video footage.
http://www.laboratorytalk.com/newsletters/issue_379.html
The creation and hosting of slideshow videos is one of the services available on any Pro-Talk site. We can also take raw unedited video footage and turn it into a professional short movie, and even help with the filming. Contact Russ (mailto:russ.swan@centaur.co.uk) for further information on content creation, or any member of the sales team to have video services added to your package.
In Prosperous Periods Promote Tactically...
...in Down Times Promote Strategically.
Economists are unanimous that regardless of what governments do it will take time, a lot of time, to rebuild faith in financial institutions and rejuvenate the economy.
The sudden realisation that the emperor had no clothes and magnitude of the financial crisis is only now being fully addressed.
In a knee jerk reaction management is moving to cut costs – circling the wagons – by reducing staff and marketing budgets.
On the surface it appears logical.
But if you look at downturns and recessions in the past it wasn’t financial institutions or governments that led the economy back. Recovery was developed and carried out by Silicon Valley (which is somewhat symbolic of the complete PC/CE industry).
And it will do it again as consumers and partners come to realize that the intellect, credibility and creativity reside in the technology areas; not in the world’s financial centers and most assuredly not in our seats of governmental power.
So while Paring overhead and “discretionary expenses” would seem to be relatively simple it has always had a greater or lesser degree of negative impact.
Keep in mind that NPD recently reinforced the strength of the industry by pointing out that in downturns and upswings consumer and computer technology has consistently beat the overall market’s averages.
Their June retail-tracking service showed a three percent dollar increase over June 2007. This was the second consecutive month of positive news, after May’s jump of over seven percent. And this is after five straight months of flat or negative results, stretching back to December.
Before you wade into your promotional budget with a massive red pencil, consider how much should you cut from the promotional (advertising, sales support and PR) budget?
To answer this, ask yourself:
* What does advertising/PR do for us? Can we accomplish this with a smaller investment? How much smaller?
* What will happen next year or a couple of years out if we cut our promotional budget, keep it the same, or increase it?
* If our competition is in the same position, is there a way to use the short-term problem to our advantage?
Long Term Investment
Advertising/public relations should be an investment in both immediate sales and long-term objectives. It helps retain your share of market/image among your customers and prospects. It reinforces customers' commitment to do business with you.
Some of the more successful (profitable) manufacturers and retailers in the PC/CE industry view communications not as an expense, but as an integral part of their total marketing mix. If at all possible, they maintain an aggressive promotional policy and program. They know their advertising and PR have a favourable effect on sales and income.
Today, there is a volume of data which indicates that during deep, long recessions or other "difficult" times, the firms that trim their communications budgets suffer--and suffer hardest.
Other research found that companies that accelerate advertising/PR spending during market slumps perform better in both the short- and long-term.
Researcher Vernon Van Diver studied over 10,000 companies in about 800 business media sources found a relationship between promotional activities and subsequent sales.
He found two interesting patterns:
1. Companies that invest in promotion above their industry norm invariably, in succeeding years, have rising sales curves.
2. Companies that promote below their industry norm invariably, in succeeding years, have declining sales curves.
Additional Research
Researchers from the BPA and several communications firms have drawn conclusions similar to Van Diver's. Relationships between advertising/PR and sales have been proven time and again:
* Sales increases follow promotional increases, but rarely in the same year
* Sales decline with increasing momentum after promotion is cut back
* To retain your share of sales, promotion must increase as much as the overall average
* To increase your share of sales faster, communications must be increased faster than the industry norm over a period of four years or more
* If a marketer increases or decreases his traditional share of promotion relative to his competitors, similar changes occur in his share of market
* It is now possible to predict--with a high degree of accuracy--what the volume of sales will be at some future date
* It is possible to set an attainable sales objective very near maximum
* It is possible to determine the change in sales volume that follows each change in the advertising/PR budget, up or down
* It is possible to figure how much to allow for increases or decreases in competitive promotion
Using these principles, Van Diver studied 100 businesses across all industry segments. He made predictions six months or more before earnings and sales were disclosed. On the average, his predictions were within one percent of the actual figures.
Pretty remarkable.
In a similar study, it was found that over a one year period organisations that did not cut back promotional spending enjoyed increases in both sales and net profits the next year. Sales were up an average of 55 per cent and net profit was up 40 per cent over the base year.
Marketers who cut back expenditures experienced no real growth during the period. Their net profits did not keep pace with that of consistent promoters.
Do these types of results hold true in good times and bad?
Are the same results achieved when the market is flat, down, booming?
The quick answer is yes!
NPD just reported that the industry experienced a three percent dollar increase after six months of flat or negative results. The challenge in the months ahead for the industry players will be to grow during this down period or be dragged down with it.
Growth, stagnation or shrinkage is really in the hands of senior management.
A Competitive Edge
Company management should exploit opportunities that deliver an ever-greater competitive edge. If you want to be an industry player, present yourself as one. Don't wait on your promotion until all of the marketing variables are right.
If the stars are in perfect alignment for you, you can be certain they are in line for your competition as well!
By waiting, everyone starts out on an even footing.
The best plan of action is to proceed with your promotion while the competition is pulling in their horns.
In good times and bad, make your choices based on:
* Long-range, progressive promotion is synonymous with company growth
* Company strengths that hold up in hard times can be permanently molded with steadily aggressive advertising/PR
* Keeping pace with or exceeding industry communications norms is a company's insurance of increasing sales
* A rise or fall in Ad/PR spending is followed at some later date by an increase or decrease in sales
The more aggressive your promotion, the easier it is to meet and even exceed, energetic sales and profit projections.
Today’s environment is going to put past research conducted in good times and bad to the test!
By G.A. "Andy" Marken
President
Marken Communications, Inc.
mailto:andy@markencom.com
February 2009
Economists are unanimous that regardless of what governments do it will take time, a lot of time, to rebuild faith in financial institutions and rejuvenate the economy.
The sudden realisation that the emperor had no clothes and magnitude of the financial crisis is only now being fully addressed.
In a knee jerk reaction management is moving to cut costs – circling the wagons – by reducing staff and marketing budgets.
On the surface it appears logical.
But if you look at downturns and recessions in the past it wasn’t financial institutions or governments that led the economy back. Recovery was developed and carried out by Silicon Valley (which is somewhat symbolic of the complete PC/CE industry).
And it will do it again as consumers and partners come to realize that the intellect, credibility and creativity reside in the technology areas; not in the world’s financial centers and most assuredly not in our seats of governmental power.
So while Paring overhead and “discretionary expenses” would seem to be relatively simple it has always had a greater or lesser degree of negative impact.
Keep in mind that NPD recently reinforced the strength of the industry by pointing out that in downturns and upswings consumer and computer technology has consistently beat the overall market’s averages.
Their June retail-tracking service showed a three percent dollar increase over June 2007. This was the second consecutive month of positive news, after May’s jump of over seven percent. And this is after five straight months of flat or negative results, stretching back to December.
Before you wade into your promotional budget with a massive red pencil, consider how much should you cut from the promotional (advertising, sales support and PR) budget?
To answer this, ask yourself:
* What does advertising/PR do for us? Can we accomplish this with a smaller investment? How much smaller?
* What will happen next year or a couple of years out if we cut our promotional budget, keep it the same, or increase it?
* If our competition is in the same position, is there a way to use the short-term problem to our advantage?
Long Term Investment
Advertising/public relations should be an investment in both immediate sales and long-term objectives. It helps retain your share of market/image among your customers and prospects. It reinforces customers' commitment to do business with you.
Some of the more successful (profitable) manufacturers and retailers in the PC/CE industry view communications not as an expense, but as an integral part of their total marketing mix. If at all possible, they maintain an aggressive promotional policy and program. They know their advertising and PR have a favourable effect on sales and income.
Today, there is a volume of data which indicates that during deep, long recessions or other "difficult" times, the firms that trim their communications budgets suffer--and suffer hardest.
Other research found that companies that accelerate advertising/PR spending during market slumps perform better in both the short- and long-term.
Researcher Vernon Van Diver studied over 10,000 companies in about 800 business media sources found a relationship between promotional activities and subsequent sales.
He found two interesting patterns:
1. Companies that invest in promotion above their industry norm invariably, in succeeding years, have rising sales curves.
2. Companies that promote below their industry norm invariably, in succeeding years, have declining sales curves.
Additional Research
Researchers from the BPA and several communications firms have drawn conclusions similar to Van Diver's. Relationships between advertising/PR and sales have been proven time and again:
* Sales increases follow promotional increases, but rarely in the same year
* Sales decline with increasing momentum after promotion is cut back
* To retain your share of sales, promotion must increase as much as the overall average
* To increase your share of sales faster, communications must be increased faster than the industry norm over a period of four years or more
* If a marketer increases or decreases his traditional share of promotion relative to his competitors, similar changes occur in his share of market
* It is now possible to predict--with a high degree of accuracy--what the volume of sales will be at some future date
* It is possible to set an attainable sales objective very near maximum
* It is possible to determine the change in sales volume that follows each change in the advertising/PR budget, up or down
* It is possible to figure how much to allow for increases or decreases in competitive promotion
Using these principles, Van Diver studied 100 businesses across all industry segments. He made predictions six months or more before earnings and sales were disclosed. On the average, his predictions were within one percent of the actual figures.
Pretty remarkable.
In a similar study, it was found that over a one year period organisations that did not cut back promotional spending enjoyed increases in both sales and net profits the next year. Sales were up an average of 55 per cent and net profit was up 40 per cent over the base year.
Marketers who cut back expenditures experienced no real growth during the period. Their net profits did not keep pace with that of consistent promoters.
Do these types of results hold true in good times and bad?
Are the same results achieved when the market is flat, down, booming?
The quick answer is yes!
NPD just reported that the industry experienced a three percent dollar increase after six months of flat or negative results. The challenge in the months ahead for the industry players will be to grow during this down period or be dragged down with it.
Growth, stagnation or shrinkage is really in the hands of senior management.
A Competitive Edge
Company management should exploit opportunities that deliver an ever-greater competitive edge. If you want to be an industry player, present yourself as one. Don't wait on your promotion until all of the marketing variables are right.
If the stars are in perfect alignment for you, you can be certain they are in line for your competition as well!
By waiting, everyone starts out on an even footing.
The best plan of action is to proceed with your promotion while the competition is pulling in their horns.
In good times and bad, make your choices based on:
* Long-range, progressive promotion is synonymous with company growth
* Company strengths that hold up in hard times can be permanently molded with steadily aggressive advertising/PR
* Keeping pace with or exceeding industry communications norms is a company's insurance of increasing sales
* A rise or fall in Ad/PR spending is followed at some later date by an increase or decrease in sales
The more aggressive your promotion, the easier it is to meet and even exceed, energetic sales and profit projections.
Today’s environment is going to put past research conducted in good times and bad to the test!
By G.A. "Andy" Marken
President
Marken Communications, Inc.
mailto:andy@markencom.com
February 2009
The Long View: What is Page Rank and how does it affect my online presence?
If you are unfamiliar with the term, Page Rank can be explained very simply. Search engines such as Google rate websites by their relevance to the search terms used by people when they use these search engines to find things.
The order in which search results are displayed is very much down to Page Rank, which is basically the importance of that page in the eyes of the search engines. As a business with an online presence, you obviously want to make it as easy as possible for your potential customers to find your website.
The world wide web is a very competitive place to do business; regardless of what industry you’re in, there are more than likely a large number of competitors out there all vying for the attention of the consumer. This makes having the highest page rank possible an essential requirement for your business, if you hope to reap the lion’s share of web traffic.
Thankfully, there are a number of things which your business can do to ensure that its page remains high on the list of search results.
One of the most important things your company must do is to ensure that your website is properly optimised for search engines. Not only your main page, but every page which makes up your site should be optimised for its particular topic.
Let’s suppose that one of the products which your business sells is colour sensors – you’ll
want to optimise the page on your website which features these products for this key phrase. Not only should you do this, but when creating links to this page from elsewhere on the web (we’ll cover this briefly later on), the anchor text you use for this link should ideally contain your keyword – this gives your link increased relevance in the eyes of search engines.
Failing this, your link should be on a page with a decent page rank if its own and with very few other links on it. This will also give you great value in terms of link popularity. The 'Talk' sites currently offer this for all advertisers.
Links which point to your website can be a great help towards achieving a higher page ranking. However, search engines do know the difference between a higher and lower quality link. Links which come from websites which are relevant to your own carry the most weight, particularly if your link is one of only a few on the page. The more links there are on a page, the less impact each will have in terms of page rank.
If you look at a typical page on Engineeringtalk, for example, you will see that it will have a page rank of 3 or above - advertisers will also have a guarantee that their link will be the only outgoing link on the page.
Take a look at this page http://www.engineeringtalk.com/news/elc/elc000.html
You will notice that Elesa (UK) are an advertiser and they have a banner advert at the top and bottom of the page. This will link back to their website and carry a Google page rank of 4 with it. This is the page rank of that page and as it is the only outgoing link on the page, this will boost their website page rank as a result.
There are of course a wide variety of strategies to use for optimising your website and building links in the interest of increasing your page rank. However, the methods given here will be helpful to companies who have already begun to use the potential of web marketing strategies to raise their online profile and those who are just getting their feet wet in the sea of the internet alike.
Remember, the 'Talk' sites are highly relevant marketplaces for your products and services and this is why we rank so well with the search engines. Make the most of them and they will work very well for your business.
Andrew Long
February 2009
Andrew Long is a freelance advertising sales manager for Pro-talk and also offers advertising services at http://www.selling-advertising.com
================================================
Recommended further reading at:
http://tinyurl.com/bvwjq5 - with a link to Google's webmaster checklist.
You can receive an email from Business Marketing Online each day with the new article published in Online Lead Generation: An Article A Day. There’s an easy unsubscription if you’ve had enough. So give it a try, it’s totally free!
http://tinyurl.com/5gq99c
================================================
The order in which search results are displayed is very much down to Page Rank, which is basically the importance of that page in the eyes of the search engines. As a business with an online presence, you obviously want to make it as easy as possible for your potential customers to find your website.
The world wide web is a very competitive place to do business; regardless of what industry you’re in, there are more than likely a large number of competitors out there all vying for the attention of the consumer. This makes having the highest page rank possible an essential requirement for your business, if you hope to reap the lion’s share of web traffic.
Thankfully, there are a number of things which your business can do to ensure that its page remains high on the list of search results.
One of the most important things your company must do is to ensure that your website is properly optimised for search engines. Not only your main page, but every page which makes up your site should be optimised for its particular topic.
Let’s suppose that one of the products which your business sells is colour sensors – you’ll
want to optimise the page on your website which features these products for this key phrase. Not only should you do this, but when creating links to this page from elsewhere on the web (we’ll cover this briefly later on), the anchor text you use for this link should ideally contain your keyword – this gives your link increased relevance in the eyes of search engines.
Failing this, your link should be on a page with a decent page rank if its own and with very few other links on it. This will also give you great value in terms of link popularity. The 'Talk' sites currently offer this for all advertisers.
Links which point to your website can be a great help towards achieving a higher page ranking. However, search engines do know the difference between a higher and lower quality link. Links which come from websites which are relevant to your own carry the most weight, particularly if your link is one of only a few on the page. The more links there are on a page, the less impact each will have in terms of page rank.
If you look at a typical page on Engineeringtalk, for example, you will see that it will have a page rank of 3 or above - advertisers will also have a guarantee that their link will be the only outgoing link on the page.
Take a look at this page http://www.engineeringtalk.com/news/elc/elc000.html
You will notice that Elesa (UK) are an advertiser and they have a banner advert at the top and bottom of the page. This will link back to their website and carry a Google page rank of 4 with it. This is the page rank of that page and as it is the only outgoing link on the page, this will boost their website page rank as a result.
There are of course a wide variety of strategies to use for optimising your website and building links in the interest of increasing your page rank. However, the methods given here will be helpful to companies who have already begun to use the potential of web marketing strategies to raise their online profile and those who are just getting their feet wet in the sea of the internet alike.
Remember, the 'Talk' sites are highly relevant marketplaces for your products and services and this is why we rank so well with the search engines. Make the most of them and they will work very well for your business.
Andrew Long
February 2009
Andrew Long is a freelance advertising sales manager for Pro-talk and also offers advertising services at http://www.selling-advertising.com
================================================
Recommended further reading at:
http://tinyurl.com/bvwjq5 - with a link to Google's webmaster checklist.
You can receive an email from Business Marketing Online each day with the new article published in Online Lead Generation: An Article A Day. There’s an easy unsubscription if you’ve had enough. So give it a try, it’s totally free!
http://tinyurl.com/5gq99c
================================================
Cost effective merchandise
With over twenty years experience, SVC Creative was born out of a desire to give marketers what they have been looking for - an agency that delivers innovative, cost effective merchandise, on time.
Visit the website: http://www.svccreative.co.uk
Telephone: +44(0)1908 319549
Contact: John Cunningham
mailto:johnc@svccreative.co.uk
Visit the website:
Telephone: +44(0)1908 319549
Contact: John Cunningham
mailto:johnc@svccreative.co.uk
First video up on Processingtalk
Nick Denbow, Editor of Processingtalk, writes:
When you edit a website, it is expected that you know everything about computers and the internet. Patently that is not true and most of my friends now realise that I know very little about computers! But at least I can drive them, most of the time, to find the sort of information that I need from the internet. And, of course, the Processingtalk website presents your industry in a way your customers can easily access.
Last year we started adding photos to selected press releases, and this has improved the news story presentation significantly. Now we have taken a further step and are adding video and slide presentations.
The first video from Processingtalk can be seen on the Mono Pumps release of their EZstrip system. You can view this video at http://tinyurl.com/cvtagq
If you'd like to enhance your product or service information by added a video please contact one of the Processingtalk team on +44(0)207 970 4941 for more details.
Keeping up with such technology, I have to admit, becomes more difficult, the older I get, or the more set in certain methods of working. The video presentations are a prime example.
For some reason, my PCs will play this video perfectly okay in Internet Explorer, but not when using Firefox as a browser. All the help I get from software gurus on the internet use words I don't understand. Eventually I solved it by downloading yet another media player, this time from Adobe. So if you have the same problem, please let me know, or try the free Adobe Media Player (http://tinyurl.com/5opr5a)
Nick Denbow
mailto:news@processingtalk.com
February 2009
When you edit a website, it is expected that you know everything about computers and the internet. Patently that is not true and most of my friends now realise that I know very little about computers! But at least I can drive them, most of the time, to find the sort of information that I need from the internet. And, of course, the Processingtalk website presents your industry in a way your customers can easily access.
Last year we started adding photos to selected press releases, and this has improved the news story presentation significantly. Now we have taken a further step and are adding video and slide presentations.
The first video from Processingtalk can be seen on the Mono Pumps release of their EZstrip system. You can view this video at http://tinyurl.com/cvtagq
If you'd like to enhance your product or service information by added a video please contact one of the Processingtalk team on +44(0)207 970 4941 for more details.
Keeping up with such technology, I have to admit, becomes more difficult, the older I get, or the more set in certain methods of working. The video presentations are a prime example.
For some reason, my PCs will play this video perfectly okay in Internet Explorer, but not when using Firefox as a browser. All the help I get from software gurus on the internet use words I don't understand. Eventually I solved it by downloading yet another media player, this time from Adobe. So if you have the same problem, please let me know, or try the free Adobe Media Player (http://tinyurl.com/5opr5a)
Nick Denbow
mailto:news@processingtalk.com
February 2009
Extra Newsletter schedule
Whether you're promoting a product or service, attending/organising an exhibition or seminar, or have a new catalogue or wall chart to distribute, Pro-Talk's Extra email newsletters will provide you with an effective and inexpensive route to market, perfectly complementing your other marcomms activities...
Our lead generation service will be switched on for your advert -which means you'll receive sales leads, by email, virtually immediately a buyer requests information.
Your information can be linked to the full story on your chosen Pro-Talk website, we'll even give you a product photograph (for free!).
Series discounts available.
Scroll down the list below to your chosen Pro-Talk site(s) to view schedule and list of themes for the remainder of 2009.
BUILDINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Tuesday - theme fourth Tuesday each month
Theme issues:
24th March: Roofing, Cladding and Insulation
28th April: Sustainability and Eco Products
26th May: Heating systems, ventilation and air conditioning
23rd June: Roofing, Cladding and Insulation
28th July: Sustainability and Eco Products
25th August: Heating systems, ventilation and air conditioning
22nd September: Roofing, Cladding and Insulation
27th October: Sustainability and Eco Products
24th November: Heating systems, ventilation and air conditioning
22nd December: no theme
ELECTRONICSTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Friday - theme fourth Friday each month
Theme issues:
27th March: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
24th April: Design and Development Software
22nd May: Power Supply ICs and Controllers
26th June: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
24th July: Design and Development Software
28th August: Power Supply ICs and Controllers
25th September: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
23rd October: Design and Development Software
27th November: Power Supply ICs and Controllers
25th December: no theme
ENGINEERINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Friday - theme first Friday each month
Theme issues:
6th March: Machine Building Show 2009
3rd April: Drives, motors and controls
1st May: Materials and components
5th June: Gears, brakes, coupling and engines
3rd July: Drives, motors and controls
7th August: Materials and components
4th September: Gears, brakes, coupling and engines
2nd October : Drives, motors and controls
6th November: Materials and components
4th December: Gears, brakes, coupling and engines
LABORATORYTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Thursday - theme third Thursday each month
Theme issues:
19th March: Cameras and imaging systems
16th April: Viscometry and Rheometry
29th April: Achema 2009
21st May: Clinical chemistry analysis
18th June: Cameras and imaging systems
16th July: Viscometry and Rheometry
20th August: Clinical chemistry analysis
17th September: Cameras and imaging systems
15th October: Viscometry and Rheometry
19th November: Clinical chemistry analysis
17th December: Cameras and imaging systems
MANUFACTURINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Tuesday - theme second Tuesday each month
Theme issues:
10th March: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
17th March: Advanced Manufacturing 2009
14th April: RFID and barcoding
12th May: Materials testing, incorporating Test and Measurement
26th May: Subcon
9th June: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
14th July: RFID and barcoding
11th August: Materials testing, incorporating Test and Measurement
8th September: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
22nd September: EMO 2009
13th October: RFID and barcoding
10th November: Materials testing, incorporating Test and Measurement
8th December: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
MARKETINGSERVICESTALK Extra:
MONTHLY on second Monday
Themes:
9th March: Web Design and Development
12th April: Integrated Marketing
10th May: Database Management, List Services
7th June: Web Design and Development
12th July: Integrated Marketing
9th August: Database Management, List Services
20th September: Web Design and Development
11th October: Integrated Marketing
9th November: Database Management, List Services
7th December: Web Design and Development
PRINTINGTALK Extra:
MONTHLY on the fourth Tuesday
Theme issues:
24th March joint theme: General Print supplies and services & Northprint 2009
28th April: Pre-press printing systems and materials
26th May: Printing presses and machinery (new and used)
23rd June: General Print supplies and services
28th July: Pre-press printing systems and materials
25th August: Printing presses and machinery (new and used)
22nd September: General Print supplies and services
27th October: Pre-press printing systems and materials
24th November: Printing presses and machinery (new and used)
22nd December: no theme
PROCESSINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Wednesday - theme fourth Wednesday each month
Theme issues:
4th March: Process Engineering Live 2009
11th March: Maintec 2009
25th March: Pumps, Motors and Variable Speed Drives
22nd April: Process Instrumentation
29th April: Achema 2009
27th May: Oil, Gas and Petrochemical equipment
24th June: Pumps, Motors and Variable Speed Drives
22nd July: Process Instrumentation
26th August: Oil, Gas and Petrochemical equipment
23rd September: Pumps, Motors and Variable Speed Drives
28th October: Process Instrumentation
25th November: Oil, Gas and Petrochemical equipment
23rd December: no theme
Our lead generation service will be switched on for your advert -which means you'll receive sales leads, by email, virtually immediately a buyer requests information.
Your information can be linked to the full story on your chosen Pro-Talk website, we'll even give you a product photograph (for free!).
Series discounts available.
Scroll down the list below to your chosen Pro-Talk site(s) to view schedule and list of themes for the remainder of 2009.
BUILDINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Tuesday - theme fourth Tuesday each month
Theme issues:
24th March: Roofing, Cladding and Insulation
28th April: Sustainability and Eco Products
26th May: Heating systems, ventilation and air conditioning
23rd June: Roofing, Cladding and Insulation
28th July: Sustainability and Eco Products
25th August: Heating systems, ventilation and air conditioning
22nd September: Roofing, Cladding and Insulation
27th October: Sustainability and Eco Products
24th November: Heating systems, ventilation and air conditioning
22nd December: no theme
ELECTRONICSTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Friday - theme fourth Friday each month
Theme issues:
27th March: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
24th April: Design and Development Software
22nd May: Power Supply ICs and Controllers
26th June: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
24th July: Design and Development Software
28th August: Power Supply ICs and Controllers
25th September: Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
23rd October: Design and Development Software
27th November: Power Supply ICs and Controllers
25th December: no theme
ENGINEERINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Friday - theme first Friday each month
Theme issues:
6th March: Machine Building Show 2009
3rd April: Drives, motors and controls
1st May: Materials and components
5th June: Gears, brakes, coupling and engines
3rd July: Drives, motors and controls
7th August: Materials and components
4th September: Gears, brakes, coupling and engines
2nd October : Drives, motors and controls
6th November: Materials and components
4th December: Gears, brakes, coupling and engines
LABORATORYTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Thursday - theme third Thursday each month
Theme issues:
19th March: Cameras and imaging systems
16th April: Viscometry and Rheometry
29th April: Achema 2009
21st May: Clinical chemistry analysis
18th June: Cameras and imaging systems
16th July: Viscometry and Rheometry
20th August: Clinical chemistry analysis
17th September: Cameras and imaging systems
15th October: Viscometry and Rheometry
19th November: Clinical chemistry analysis
17th December: Cameras and imaging systems
MANUFACTURINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Tuesday - theme second Tuesday each month
Theme issues:
10th March: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
17th March: Advanced Manufacturing 2009
14th April: RFID and barcoding
12th May: Materials testing, incorporating Test and Measurement
26th May: Subcon
9th June: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
14th July: RFID and barcoding
11th August: Materials testing, incorporating Test and Measurement
8th September: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
22nd September: EMO 2009
13th October: RFID and barcoding
10th November: Materials testing, incorporating Test and Measurement
8th December: Drives, motors, power transmission, couplings and clutches
MARKETINGSERVICESTALK Extra:
MONTHLY on second Monday
Themes:
9th March: Web Design and Development
12th April: Integrated Marketing
10th May: Database Management, List Services
7th June: Web Design and Development
12th July: Integrated Marketing
9th August: Database Management, List Services
20th September: Web Design and Development
11th October: Integrated Marketing
9th November: Database Management, List Services
7th December: Web Design and Development
PRINTINGTALK Extra:
MONTHLY on the fourth Tuesday
Theme issues:
24th March joint theme: General Print supplies and services & Northprint 2009
28th April: Pre-press printing systems and materials
26th May: Printing presses and machinery (new and used)
23rd June: General Print supplies and services
28th July: Pre-press printing systems and materials
25th August: Printing presses and machinery (new and used)
22nd September: General Print supplies and services
27th October: Pre-press printing systems and materials
24th November: Printing presses and machinery (new and used)
22nd December: no theme
PROCESSINGTALK Extra:
WEEKLY on Wednesday - theme fourth Wednesday each month
Theme issues:
4th March: Process Engineering Live 2009
11th March: Maintec 2009
25th March: Pumps, Motors and Variable Speed Drives
22nd April: Process Instrumentation
29th April: Achema 2009
27th May: Oil, Gas and Petrochemical equipment
24th June: Pumps, Motors and Variable Speed Drives
22nd July: Process Instrumentation
26th August: Oil, Gas and Petrochemical equipment
23rd September: Pumps, Motors and Variable Speed Drives
28th October: Process Instrumentation
25th November: Oil, Gas and Petrochemical equipment
23rd December: no theme
Internet Marketing: Free Online Workshops
Each Thursday morning IRun Business Solutions have live on-line a seminar/workshop on a one aspect of internet marketing. Each seminar is presented by an expert in the topic.
The presentations are informal, free to attend and have a question/answer session at the end.
To learn more visit:
http://www.irun-bedford.co.uk/Resource+Centre/Workshops
The presentations are informal, free to attend and have a question/answer session at the end.
To learn more visit:
http://www.irun-bedford.co.uk/Resource+Centre/Workshops
bpma Academy launches second course
The bpma will launch the second course of their new academy later this month. The current course has 63 candidates from the September intake which covers both the distributor and supplier chain and has been well received by the industry. "I am delighted to have such a strong presence from some of the leading players in the industry as well as new and emerging companies explained bpma Director General, Gordon Glenister. "We have had some great feedback particularly from the print practical workshops, one of which I was able to attend".
Senator Pens was the host of the first ever bpma regional Academy workshop.
Housing the UK's largest dedicated print facility for the production of promotional pens, candidates were treated to a blend of practical, hands-on experience in the purpose-built factory (which utilizes a variety of market leading branding techniques), backed up by an in-depth theory session and a branding Masterclass. The Senator team of experienced staff from each department was on-hand throughout the day to provide well-rounded advice and to answer questions from candidates.
Keramikos, mug manufacturers have also been involved in the workshops and Managing Director Mark Lee commented "The bpma Training Day was a great opportunity not only to show people in the trade our new factory, but also the extensive range of printing processes which we now employ"
The delegates enjoyed an intensive day of information and practical help, which included the opportunity to learn more about printing onto ceramics, glass and plastics, interaction with our sales and customer services team, a full tour of the factory and finally the opportunity to print their own mug."
Feedback from the day was encouraging from both participant and Keramikos alike. One comment from a BPMA trainee said that it was really exciting to hear so much encouragement and dedication from the Keramikos staff about their product and services
"We will be making some additional changes to this course following feedback received from the candidates explains Glenister"
The course includes 6 modules, Introduction to the industry, The print process, Product information, the selling process, Marketing and Procurement. That's only five!! In the Examination all the questions are multiple choice based on the extensive course material, much of which has come from well respected industry figures. The final part is an online exam made from case studies including all the key modular elements. Candidates who pass will be presented with their Academy qualification at the House of Commons in April.
Having recently entered the promotional merchandise industry, the BPMA Academy's Promotional Merchandise qualification is proving invaluable as an educational tool to bring me up to speed with every aspect of the industry.
In a short time I have learnt enough to be confident in discussing different merchandise products, branding procedures and ideas with my clients. This is a course that I would recommend to all new staff, as well as existing staff who would like to understand the industry more completely." Grant Watson, Brandinc "BPMA Academy What an amazing and visionary concept! It is wonderful to be able to look at our industry from every angle. The knowledge gained in completing the course will be invaluable to both supplier and distributor alike.
The introductory seminar was very enlightening and motivating. It was fabulous being able to meet our fellow students and knowledgeable members of the BPMA.
The academy modules are both informative and interesting. The flexibility of this programme will ensure its success!
The BPMA has a vision of how to ensure that the Promotional Merchandise Industry is ahead of its game and I for one think that it is wonderful concept and look forward to being able to embark on this wonderful voyage with Gordon and Daniela at the helm! Terri Baker, Pen Warehouse " I just wanted to send a note to say thank you for the Academy training day you hosted on the 22nd January.
It was a well structured, enjoyable and informative day. Visits such as these are not only great as a training method for people new to the industry, but also act as an excellent opportunity to explore industry wide issues from a variety of perspectives. Once again, many thanks for a fantastic day! " Lawrence Savage, Listawood "The Introductory seminar was a great way to kick start the course. I met many people from the industry, learnt about the course itself and was left feeling really motivated about studying and further developing my industry knowledge. I am now half way through the course and , so far, I have learnt many things which I hadn't paid attention to, previously. The fact that the course is based online allows me to fit in study at times that suit me and I love the flexibility!" Carly Benson, COI
"In the current climate, customer service is king, and there is no replacement for well qualified and professional trained promotional gift consultants" states Glenister
The Academy team includes Director of Education Adrian Ferrand, Daniela Arena, bpma events and training manager and Gordon Glenister.
February 2009
=====================
Contact:
Gordon Glenister
Director General
BPMA 0207 689 5555
mailto:gordon@bpma.co.uk
http://www.bpma.co.uk
Senator Pens was the host of the first ever bpma regional Academy workshop.
Housing the UK's largest dedicated print facility for the production of promotional pens, candidates were treated to a blend of practical, hands-on experience in the purpose-built factory (which utilizes a variety of market leading branding techniques), backed up by an in-depth theory session and a branding Masterclass. The Senator team of experienced staff from each department was on-hand throughout the day to provide well-rounded advice and to answer questions from candidates.
Keramikos, mug manufacturers have also been involved in the workshops and Managing Director Mark Lee commented "The bpma Training Day was a great opportunity not only to show people in the trade our new factory, but also the extensive range of printing processes which we now employ"
The delegates enjoyed an intensive day of information and practical help, which included the opportunity to learn more about printing onto ceramics, glass and plastics, interaction with our sales and customer services team, a full tour of the factory and finally the opportunity to print their own mug."
Feedback from the day was encouraging from both participant and Keramikos alike. One comment from a BPMA trainee said that it was really exciting to hear so much encouragement and dedication from the Keramikos staff about their product and services
"We will be making some additional changes to this course following feedback received from the candidates explains Glenister"
The course includes 6 modules, Introduction to the industry, The print process, Product information, the selling process, Marketing and Procurement. That's only five!! In the Examination all the questions are multiple choice based on the extensive course material, much of which has come from well respected industry figures. The final part is an online exam made from case studies including all the key modular elements. Candidates who pass will be presented with their Academy qualification at the House of Commons in April.
Having recently entered the promotional merchandise industry, the BPMA Academy's Promotional Merchandise qualification is proving invaluable as an educational tool to bring me up to speed with every aspect of the industry.
In a short time I have learnt enough to be confident in discussing different merchandise products, branding procedures and ideas with my clients. This is a course that I would recommend to all new staff, as well as existing staff who would like to understand the industry more completely." Grant Watson, Brandinc "BPMA Academy What an amazing and visionary concept! It is wonderful to be able to look at our industry from every angle. The knowledge gained in completing the course will be invaluable to both supplier and distributor alike.
The introductory seminar was very enlightening and motivating. It was fabulous being able to meet our fellow students and knowledgeable members of the BPMA.
The academy modules are both informative and interesting. The flexibility of this programme will ensure its success!
The BPMA has a vision of how to ensure that the Promotional Merchandise Industry is ahead of its game and I for one think that it is wonderful concept and look forward to being able to embark on this wonderful voyage with Gordon and Daniela at the helm! Terri Baker, Pen Warehouse " I just wanted to send a note to say thank you for the Academy training day you hosted on the 22nd January.
It was a well structured, enjoyable and informative day. Visits such as these are not only great as a training method for people new to the industry, but also act as an excellent opportunity to explore industry wide issues from a variety of perspectives. Once again, many thanks for a fantastic day! " Lawrence Savage, Listawood "The Introductory seminar was a great way to kick start the course. I met many people from the industry, learnt about the course itself and was left feeling really motivated about studying and further developing my industry knowledge. I am now half way through the course and , so far, I have learnt many things which I hadn't paid attention to, previously. The fact that the course is based online allows me to fit in study at times that suit me and I love the flexibility!" Carly Benson, COI
"In the current climate, customer service is king, and there is no replacement for well qualified and professional trained promotional gift consultants" states Glenister
The Academy team includes Director of Education Adrian Ferrand, Daniela Arena, bpma events and training manager and Gordon Glenister.
February 2009
=====================
Contact:
Gordon Glenister
Director General
BPMA 0207 689 5555
mailto:gordon@bpma.co.uk
http://www.bpma.co.uk
The Commodity of Information
A long time ago in a place not far distant from central London, I was being lectured about the nature of treason. What, I was asked, did the traitor see in the mirror each morning as he shaved? Traitor or patriot?
It was an ambiguous lesson, without fixed context, given credence only by the fact that we both worked for the Security Service. The context I only discovered later, and by then he’d already made his decision.
Now, a lifetime later, the business of intelligence has, for me, become the business of communications – from gathering information and keeping it secret to distilling information and making it public.
On the surface, there are few obvious similarities between those two very different worlds.
After all, the task of the Security Service involves shining discreet torches into dark places at the edge of reason and learning enough about the dragons that lurk there to keep them safely locked away
The business of marketing and public relations, by contrast, involves shining media spotlights to get companies and their products noticed. It certainly doesn’t involve lights being hidden under bushels.
There is, however, one enormous similarity between the two. Let me explain.
Once upon a time it used to be that people needed products to survive. Now, it’s the other way around. Products need people to survive. In a business context, and in a market economy, companies need customers to survive.
In a cluttered market, whether the product is baked beans, carpeting or a window system, every product needs a buyer – and most products and companies have competitors. You have competitors, I have competitors – and we’re always working to invent a better widget.
What makes us successful, or not, is the glue that binds product to customer. That glue is marketing – the diffuse process by which we attract enquiries and convert those enquiries into sales.
Within that conversion process, the central element in any successful marketing strategy is information. We need to provide potential customers with the essential information to buy our product rather than someone else’s.
So far, so self-evident. Yet that’s precisely the central element that a great many firms fail to recognise in devising marketing or promotional campaigns. The information that customers need to make that buying decision is confused by poor messaging or corporate techno-babble.
Indeed, some firms’ corporate communications are so full of technical information to be impenetrable. Time after time, I see corporate literature or websites that convey huge amounts of information that the firm thinks it wants to communicate - but not the essential information that the potential customer will want to hear.
Marketing is about much more than a glossy brochure, fancy web presence or scatter-gun mailshot. It’s more than pricing policy, distribution channels or glitzy advertising. It’s certainly much more than spending oodles of dosh on fancy corporate identities.
It’s about recognising information as a valuable commodity and using that information to manage the human imagination.
Sounds silly? Well, maybe. Essentially, however, we buy a product because we’re pretty sure it’ll work. We may know that the product has been around for a while, therefore it’s reliable. We may believe that the firm producing it also reliable and therefore to be trusted.
Price, quality and delivery are important, but without that innate sense of trust, we don’t buy. The old adage that nobody ever got fired for buying from IBM is apposite. In the business of trust, larger firms have the advantage – we instinctively trust and buy from firms we have heard of – particularly larger firms who must therefore have got big by doing what they do well.
Well, not necessarily, but it’s why large firms spend equally large sums of money on promotion and PR. What they’re essentially buying, by communicating information about themselves, is customer trust. By making their brand visible they’re buying market credibility.
It’s a treadmill that the corporate hamster has to keep treading. Brand or corporate visibility is hard to achieve but can easily slip below customers’ horizons. Cue more oodles of dosh for more glossy advertising.
It’s a marketing dilemma that many smaller firms simply don’t address. To achieve visibility, so the argument goes, will cost us an arm and a leg and therefore we can’t afford the pounds of flesh. Except, of course, good promotion doesn’t need to cost the earth.
There is no reason why smaller firms can’t also play the promotional game – especially those firms in niche sectors who can legitimately claim particular expertise in specialist markets. It merely involves distilling key facts and figures and promoting corporate and product information online and offline in ways that potential customers will find digestible.
What I see all too often in the SME sector are firms behaving more like MI5 than MFI. Keeping their marketing heads below the parapet because they believe, wrongly, that the alternative is too pricey. The simple fact is that if you have a good story to tell, there’s always someone willing to listen.
Back in the Security Service bar, I wondered why Mike Bettany was speculating aloud about the nature of treason. Soon afterwards, he was arrested for attempted espionage, trying to peddle the State’s secrets to the Soviet’s men in leather coats. He was sent down for a very long time.
Mike, it seemed, also knew the value of information and how to sell it, for whatever expedient reason or moral justification. For the Russians, that information may have been extremely valuable. For Mike, poor sod, the price had a more personal cost.
As I said, it’s about information and its value. The marketing and intelligence worlds aren’t that far apart.
Charlie Laidlaw
February 2009
=============
Charlie Laidlaw is a former intelligence officer with the Security Service (MI5). He now runs his own marketing communications agency, David Gray PR, which specialises in all aspects of the built environment and believes that many firms, particularly smaller firms worried by the credit crunch, are missing the marketing point.
Contact Charlie at:
mailto:charlie@davidgrayp.com
Phone: 01620 844736
Mobile: 07890 396518
It was an ambiguous lesson, without fixed context, given credence only by the fact that we both worked for the Security Service. The context I only discovered later, and by then he’d already made his decision.
Now, a lifetime later, the business of intelligence has, for me, become the business of communications – from gathering information and keeping it secret to distilling information and making it public.
On the surface, there are few obvious similarities between those two very different worlds.
After all, the task of the Security Service involves shining discreet torches into dark places at the edge of reason and learning enough about the dragons that lurk there to keep them safely locked away
The business of marketing and public relations, by contrast, involves shining media spotlights to get companies and their products noticed. It certainly doesn’t involve lights being hidden under bushels.
There is, however, one enormous similarity between the two. Let me explain.
Once upon a time it used to be that people needed products to survive. Now, it’s the other way around. Products need people to survive. In a business context, and in a market economy, companies need customers to survive.
In a cluttered market, whether the product is baked beans, carpeting or a window system, every product needs a buyer – and most products and companies have competitors. You have competitors, I have competitors – and we’re always working to invent a better widget.
What makes us successful, or not, is the glue that binds product to customer. That glue is marketing – the diffuse process by which we attract enquiries and convert those enquiries into sales.
Within that conversion process, the central element in any successful marketing strategy is information. We need to provide potential customers with the essential information to buy our product rather than someone else’s.
So far, so self-evident. Yet that’s precisely the central element that a great many firms fail to recognise in devising marketing or promotional campaigns. The information that customers need to make that buying decision is confused by poor messaging or corporate techno-babble.
Indeed, some firms’ corporate communications are so full of technical information to be impenetrable. Time after time, I see corporate literature or websites that convey huge amounts of information that the firm thinks it wants to communicate - but not the essential information that the potential customer will want to hear.
Marketing is about much more than a glossy brochure, fancy web presence or scatter-gun mailshot. It’s more than pricing policy, distribution channels or glitzy advertising. It’s certainly much more than spending oodles of dosh on fancy corporate identities.
It’s about recognising information as a valuable commodity and using that information to manage the human imagination.
Sounds silly? Well, maybe. Essentially, however, we buy a product because we’re pretty sure it’ll work. We may know that the product has been around for a while, therefore it’s reliable. We may believe that the firm producing it also reliable and therefore to be trusted.
Price, quality and delivery are important, but without that innate sense of trust, we don’t buy. The old adage that nobody ever got fired for buying from IBM is apposite. In the business of trust, larger firms have the advantage – we instinctively trust and buy from firms we have heard of – particularly larger firms who must therefore have got big by doing what they do well.
Well, not necessarily, but it’s why large firms spend equally large sums of money on promotion and PR. What they’re essentially buying, by communicating information about themselves, is customer trust. By making their brand visible they’re buying market credibility.
It’s a treadmill that the corporate hamster has to keep treading. Brand or corporate visibility is hard to achieve but can easily slip below customers’ horizons. Cue more oodles of dosh for more glossy advertising.
It’s a marketing dilemma that many smaller firms simply don’t address. To achieve visibility, so the argument goes, will cost us an arm and a leg and therefore we can’t afford the pounds of flesh. Except, of course, good promotion doesn’t need to cost the earth.
There is no reason why smaller firms can’t also play the promotional game – especially those firms in niche sectors who can legitimately claim particular expertise in specialist markets. It merely involves distilling key facts and figures and promoting corporate and product information online and offline in ways that potential customers will find digestible.
What I see all too often in the SME sector are firms behaving more like MI5 than MFI. Keeping their marketing heads below the parapet because they believe, wrongly, that the alternative is too pricey. The simple fact is that if you have a good story to tell, there’s always someone willing to listen.
Back in the Security Service bar, I wondered why Mike Bettany was speculating aloud about the nature of treason. Soon afterwards, he was arrested for attempted espionage, trying to peddle the State’s secrets to the Soviet’s men in leather coats. He was sent down for a very long time.
Mike, it seemed, also knew the value of information and how to sell it, for whatever expedient reason or moral justification. For the Russians, that information may have been extremely valuable. For Mike, poor sod, the price had a more personal cost.
As I said, it’s about information and its value. The marketing and intelligence worlds aren’t that far apart.
Charlie Laidlaw
February 2009
=============
Charlie Laidlaw is a former intelligence officer with the Security Service (MI5). He now runs his own marketing communications agency, David Gray PR, which specialises in all aspects of the built environment and believes that many firms, particularly smaller firms worried by the credit crunch, are missing the marketing point.
Contact Charlie at:
mailto:charlie@davidgrayp.com
Phone: 01620 844736
Mobile: 07890 396518
A new kind of live event for the process industry
On March 11 and 12 an entirely new kind of event will take place at Manchester Central. The eagerly awaited Process Engineering Live, created to fill a critical information gap for the process industries, brings together the best elements of a traditional trade show with live demonstrations and specially commissioned conference sessions.
Visitors to Process Engineering Live will be able to see for themselves how cutting-edge technology can combine with modern business practices and a focus on appropriate skills to transform the potential of their business.
Process Engineering Live event director Neil Simpson says that the response from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive, as companies look to gain a competitive advantage in a demanding global market.
“There is no doubt that this is the event that the process engineering industry has been crying out for. In the current economic climate it is more important than ever that engineers have the opportunity to meet their peers and suppliers to share knowledge. It is only by exploiting to the full the best available technology, working practices and skills training that the UK process industry can make the most of its strengths and stay competitive in a global economy,” he said.
The technology on show at Process Engineering Live covers every aspect of the industry, from essential physical components such as drives, controls, pumps, fluid and solid handling, valves and sensors through to automation and integration solutions, safety systems, design and CFD software. Also highlighted will be the latest developments in plant management technology, including the key areas of plant maintenance and energy efficiency. Live demonstrations and targeted conference sessions will allow visitors to see for themselves how this technology can benefit their business.
To get your free ticket to Process Engineering Live and book your conference places visit www.processengineeringlive.co.uk now.
Get to grips with today’s burning issues
The Process Engineering Live conference programme puts the spotlight on today’s burning issues, including dedicated half-day sessions on asset management and maintenance, energy and environment, lean manufacturing and – a key focus for the show – people and skills.
The skills gap will also be addressed in a separate skills seminar theatre hosted by the National Skills Academy for the Process Industries and Cogent.
The full conference programme is:
11 March morning – Process Improvement
10.20 – Keynote introduction
10.30 to 11.00 – Plant improvement forum – Amy Elliot Peace, Chemicals Northwest
11.00 to 11.30 – Process improvement in the chemicals sector
11.30 to 12.00 – Better, Quicker, Cheaper – Sarah Grindrod, PICME
12.00 to 12.30 – Shop floor to business-level communications – Duncan Fletcher, Copa Data UK
Q & A session
11 March afternoon – Asset Management
13.20 – Keynote introduction
13.30 to 14.00 – Managing assets, gaining the business benefits – Alan Laird, TWPL
14.00 to 14.30 – Asset performance management – Dirk Frame, TA Cook
14.30 to 15.00 – New technology and asset management – Tony Alexander, Honeywell Process Solutions
15.00 to 15.30 – Asset life cycle management – Noel Grinsted, MCP
Q & A session
12 March morning – Energy and Environment
10.20 – Keynote introduction
10.30 to 11.00 – Energy performance efficiency – Steve Williamson, SJW Associates
11.00 to 11.30 – Meeting MCERTS requirements – Paul Wiggins, Environment Agency
11.30 to 12.00 – How to introduce an energy efficiency programme – Andy Clegg, Industrial Systems and Controls
12.00 to 12.30 – Maintaining the competitive edge – Nicholas A Lindop, Pentagon Chemicals
Q & A session
12 March afternoon – People and Skills
13.20 – Keynote introduction
13.30 to 14.00 – Going for gold – Steve Westhead, Solutia UK
14.00 to 14.30 – Combining business and training goals – John Holland, United Biscuits
14.30 to 15.00 – Uptake of the Cogent Gold Standard – John Holton, 3VSIGMA
15.00 to 15.30 – Economic impact of skills – Dr Brian Murphy, Cogent
Q & A session
Key industry bodies give their support
The timely mix of new technology and best practice thinking on show at Process Engineering Live has attracted support from key bodies across the industry. These include the main trade associations for the sector, the British Pump Manufacturers Association and the British Valve and Actuators Association, as well as the National Skills Academy for the Process Industries, Cogent, and Profibus.
Are you MCERTain about your emissions?
Do you know you company’s obligations under emissions legislation? If you are in any doubt about what this means to you, or the best way to stay compliant, then a special conference session at Process Engineering Live may help.
Paul Wiggins of the Environment Agency will be explaining the current situation regarding the Agency’s MCERTS (Monitoring Certification Scheme) for certification of continuous and portable water monitoring equipment used in process industries.
Businesses that make emissions to air, land and water are regulated by the Environment Agency under strict European and UK laws, to protect the environment and human health. And if this applies to your business you need permission from the Environment Agency to operate.
This permission normally comes in the form of a permit to operate, which requires that all emissions are monitored. Businesses either monitor their emissions all the time, known as continuous monitoring, or at times defined in their permit, known as spot tests or periodic monitoring. In both cases they must meet the Environment Agency’s requirements.
MCERTS provides the framework for businesses to meet the Environment Agency’s requirements. If the monitoring equipment used by you complies with MCERTS, then the Agency can have increased confidence in your monitoring of emissions to the environment.
Paul Wiggins says “MCERTS started some years ago with equipment used to monitor chimney stacks. Virtually all equipment now used for this monitoring meets MCERTS requirements. MCERTS has now been extended to monitoring discharges to the aquatic environment. Some manufacturers have already had their monitoring equipment certified under MCERTS. The list of equipment with MCERTS certification can be found via www.mcerts.net. Increasing numbers of manufacturers are now getting their monitoring equipment certified under MCERTS – so extending the choice for process industries.”
Cogent urges employers to access skills funding
£50m of Government money is available to employers in the process sector for skills training, and Cogent will be explaining to visitors how they can access this funding. The money is part of a three-year deal and was available from 1 January this year.
Cogent’s research shows that not enough people are coming into the industry via apprenticeships and vocational routes to meet the demand for replacements in core roles across the sector. Using this £50m, Cogent will focus the support and funding available through Train to Gain to tackle skills priorities, including meeting challenging targets for training new entrants and qualifying existing workers.
One-stop-shop for process valves
Process valve manufacturer and supplier ARI-Armaturen (stand 303), offers a one-stop-shop for cost-effective, high-performance solutions for all plant operations.
The company says that with a record number of customers benefiting from its isolation, safety, control and steam trapping products, Process Engineering Live provides an ideal platform to introduce the latest developments to existing and prospective customers.
As well as showcasing process control solutions, ARI will also be introducing its new product and applications training programme. Scheduled to take place throughout 2009, these customer workshops will be led by specialists from ARI’s German parent company.
“We offer customers a one-stop-shop valve solution – from providing advice and guidance to after-sales support,” said Tony Harrison, operations manager at ARI-Armaturen. “Our comprehensive programme of customer courses allows us to provide training on specific applications at our new dedicated seminar facility.”
Throughout the exhibition there will be a fully qualified team from ARI at the stand, guiding customers towards the most efficient solution for their plant.
Stop MESsing about
Does your company need a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)? That’s the question Duncan Fletcher of COPA-DATA will be asking in his conference session on 11 March. Many production facilities use an MES as the link between process automation and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. But what used to be an integral part of many industrial systems now becomes a questionably unnecessary cost factor; at least for those who are using SAP(R) applications and controlling their production with COPA DATA’s zenon SCADA application.
A SAP-certified bidirectional interface now connects SCADA with ERP, so zenon and SAP ERP work in unison to take over the tasks that used to be performed by separate MES products or by manually transferring data. The HMI/SCADA system interacts with SAP ERP via a bidirectional interface. This means it sends messages about any type of event to the ERP level and also receives control commands from there. Companies can now directly link their process level with the ERP level, thus making a closed information loop producing a complete overview of their business – from order management, recipes and production to shipment – as it happens.
Profibus lines up to support PE Live
With 20 million devices installed around the world, Profibus International is the world’s most important fieldbus and a driving force in the UK and global process sectors. Profibus will play an active role in Process Engineering Live, contributing to the educational seminar programme and encouraging its 77 UK members to get involved.
Celebrating its silver anniversary at PE Live
Econosto UK (stand 428) has now been supplying valves to industries across the UK for a quarter of a century. Right from its inception in 1984 as Ball Valves UK Ltd, the company’s strategy of maintaining high stock levels combined with continual improvements in product range and service, marked it out as a leader in the market.
This service was further enhanced in 1998 when the company was acquired by the Dutch Econosto Group. This added an array of complementary products and cost-effective own-brand ranges to the existing portfolio of quality, globally recognized brands.
From just supplying valves and associated technical advice the company was able to start providing full solutions with the new range of available products.
More recently, the company has been acquired by the ERIKS Group as part of a strategy to strengthen its valve division, particularly in the UK. This development has again opened up wider opportunities and new markets for Econosto UK, working alongside sister company ERIKS UK.
Stable and accurate low-flow measurement for trouble-free use
Furness Controls (Stand 528) bases its unique design of differential pressure transmitter on a capacitance transducer. This makes the very low pressure and flow measurement extremely stable and accurate for long-term, trouble-free use.
Key products for Furness Controls are low differential pressure transmitters with measurement capabilities from 0.01 Pascals to 20,000 Pascals in both positive and negative ranges to suit most low-pressure applications. These range from dirty environments such as power generation, steel and brick manufacturing, to ultra-clean conditions in the medical, pharmaceutical and nuclear sectors.
Hydraulic motors offer multiple advantages
Hagglunds (Stand 300) continues to expand its range of hydraulic motors and will exhibit a working unit with a plexi-glass case to show its interior mechanism. These hydraulic motors can remove the need for gearboxes on process equipment such as mixers, rolling mills, extruders, digesters and kilns in industries that include chemical manufacture, pulp and paper production, rubber and plastics.
With no need for a gearbox, layouts can be more compact and mounting is easier, while the motors are highly reliable and can be customised to suit most applications requiring high torque at low variable speeds.
With 25 years in the sector, Hagglunds has strong experience of application areas such as mixers and agitators, rolling mills and extruders, dewatering presses and drum drives for digesters, composting, trommels, kilns and autoclaves.
Hagglunds’ range of hydraulic motors includes a wide variety of standard power units and controls which are housed in weatherproof and sound-insulated cabinets. These are easy to maintain using the front opening doors and can be customised to suit special conditions. Control systems cover all start/stop logic, drive control and heath monitoring with a simple operator interface and feature ready-programmed routines such as shredder and power control. All units are fully tested prior to installation and are easy to install and commission.
Safety and control on show
Hima-Sella Ltd (Stand 429) is showing the operational and economic benefits of its HIMax safety system. HIMax is based on technology that utilises testing and diagnostics to achieve safety integrity level 3 (SIL 3). It also has scalable, fault-tolerant architecture, which eliminates false trips and allows unlimited changes, modifications, expansions, upgrades and regulatory proof testing to be carried out, without taking the plant off-line.
Also highlighted will be Hima-Sella’s panel building capability, which allows it to design and deliver anything from basic wall-mounted units to room-sized panels.
It will also be introducing its tank overfill protection solution (TOPS), which has been developed in-house as a direct response to the recommendations from the MIIB following Buncefield. TOPS is a flexible, cost-effective and reliable SIL-rated system, which is compatible with a wide range of detectors and communicates with all leading DCS manufacturers.
Happy 10th birthday for Eclipse 705
It is now 10 years since Magnetrol (Stand 2090 launched the Eclipse Model 705, the first 2-wire guided wave radar –GWR) level transmitter that measured liquid level, independent of liquid characteristics. With no need for calibration, a broad application coverage, ease of configuration and enhanced reliability, the 705 was quickly accepted in the traditionally conservative oil and gas industries.
The principle of operation is based on time-of-flight measurement of high-frequency pulses sent down a fixed transmission line reflecting off the liquid surface. The initial product involved one amplifier with two probe types (coaxial and twin rod). The product offering now includes one universal amplifier with a complete series of application-oriented GWR probes.
Through continuous innovation, the Eclipse Model 705 transmitter has always stayed one step ahead of the market. With an installed base of more than 50,000 units, mainly in the oil and gas industries, Eclipse runs the operational functions as well as the ESD functions of entire facilities.
No job too hot to handle
No job is too hot to handle when it comes to process control solutions for industry, science or sport, says Southern Temperature Sensors Ltd (Stand 518), which will showcase a range of sensors, gauges, instruments, data loggers and installations accessories. This includes a new range of needle valves and valve manifolds.
Southern’s team of qualified engineers uses the most suitable equipment from a vast range of manufacturers to provide the ideal sensor, gauge, instrument, data logger or accessory combination in a short space of time and with minimal client effort.
In addition, it is fast becoming a specialist in supplying bespoke solutions across all its product lines – from one-off temperature sensors built to the customer’s specification, to turned parts in aerospace materials.
Buy into the Gold Standard – and be £1.3 billion better off
Every company’s ambition is to expand its market share, to increase productivity, and be highly profitable. But what happens when the workforce isn’t properly equipped with the skills to achieve these corporate goals?
Cogent research shows that for the UK Manufacturing Process Industries (chemicals, pharmaceuticals and polymers) around £1.3bn of added value would be created by matching the USA’s productivity levels as a consequence of improving skills. The Cogent Gold Standard aims to set the benchmark for the skills that are needed to achieve this. The Gold Standard takes key job roles in the Process Industries and defines a framework of training and qualifications to achieve ‘world class’ performance.
It isn’t just new graduates and apprentices that need to be trained. Research shows that 70% of the workforce that will be in place in 2020 is already employed. So, to train these people effectively, Cogent is helping to create ‘bite-sized’ modular courses that don’t keep participants away from where they are needed in the workforce for extended periods.
Conference presentations in the People and Skills sessions from John Holland and Dr Brian Murphy will look at the background and wider economic implications of the skills gap and how the Gold Standard works in practice.
Protecting what matters most
Explosions or overpressures in processes can be disastrous and can lead to loss of life, damage to the environment and facilities, loss of revenue, fines and loss of your licence to operate. In extreme cases, there may possibly even be criminal charges against key personnel. Fike UK (Stand 419) is a leader in design, manufacture and supply of bursting/rupture discs and industrial explosion protection equipment. It understands the challenges that companies face every day in their plants and the complex legislative environment they operate in.
Fike’s capability encompasses custom-engineered discs and products, Kst evaluation and product explosivity testing as well as assistance in obtaining ATEX compliance. It can also provide active or passive explosion venting and isolation devices and explosion suppression systems. Flameless venting systems are available for when it is impossible for a process to vent externally. Fike also offers full periodic and emergency maintenance by Fike experts.
When and Where
Tuesday 10 March 10.00am - 16.30pm
Wednesday 11 March 10.00am – 16.30pm
Location
Central Hall 1, Manchester Central,
Manchester M2 3GX
Tel: + 44 (0) 161 834 2700
Exhibitors Include:
Alpha Lettering Systems
ARI-Armaturen (UK) Ltd
Asco Joucomatic Ltd
British Pump Manufacturing Association
British Valve Accuators Association
BRONKHORST UK LTD
Cogent SSC Ltd
Econosto UK Ltd
Endress & Hauser Ltd
FIKE UK LTD
Furness Controls Ltd
Hagglunds Drives Ltd
Hima-Sella Ltd
KINETROL LTD
KSB Ltd
Magnetrol International N.V.
Rotork Controls
Southern Temperature Sensors Ltd
The Engineer (Centaur)
The PROFIBUS Group
Register FREE or reserve your FREE place on the Conference Programme at www.processengineeringlive.co.uk
Visitors to Process Engineering Live will be able to see for themselves how cutting-edge technology can combine with modern business practices and a focus on appropriate skills to transform the potential of their business.
Process Engineering Live event director Neil Simpson says that the response from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive, as companies look to gain a competitive advantage in a demanding global market.
“There is no doubt that this is the event that the process engineering industry has been crying out for. In the current economic climate it is more important than ever that engineers have the opportunity to meet their peers and suppliers to share knowledge. It is only by exploiting to the full the best available technology, working practices and skills training that the UK process industry can make the most of its strengths and stay competitive in a global economy,” he said.
The technology on show at Process Engineering Live covers every aspect of the industry, from essential physical components such as drives, controls, pumps, fluid and solid handling, valves and sensors through to automation and integration solutions, safety systems, design and CFD software. Also highlighted will be the latest developments in plant management technology, including the key areas of plant maintenance and energy efficiency. Live demonstrations and targeted conference sessions will allow visitors to see for themselves how this technology can benefit their business.
To get your free ticket to Process Engineering Live and book your conference places visit www.processengineeringlive.co.uk now.
Get to grips with today’s burning issues
The Process Engineering Live conference programme puts the spotlight on today’s burning issues, including dedicated half-day sessions on asset management and maintenance, energy and environment, lean manufacturing and – a key focus for the show – people and skills.
The skills gap will also be addressed in a separate skills seminar theatre hosted by the National Skills Academy for the Process Industries and Cogent.
The full conference programme is:
11 March morning – Process Improvement
10.20 – Keynote introduction
10.30 to 11.00 – Plant improvement forum – Amy Elliot Peace, Chemicals Northwest
11.00 to 11.30 – Process improvement in the chemicals sector
11.30 to 12.00 – Better, Quicker, Cheaper – Sarah Grindrod, PICME
12.00 to 12.30 – Shop floor to business-level communications – Duncan Fletcher, Copa Data UK
Q & A session
11 March afternoon – Asset Management
13.20 – Keynote introduction
13.30 to 14.00 – Managing assets, gaining the business benefits – Alan Laird, TWPL
14.00 to 14.30 – Asset performance management – Dirk Frame, TA Cook
14.30 to 15.00 – New technology and asset management – Tony Alexander, Honeywell Process Solutions
15.00 to 15.30 – Asset life cycle management – Noel Grinsted, MCP
Q & A session
12 March morning – Energy and Environment
10.20 – Keynote introduction
10.30 to 11.00 – Energy performance efficiency – Steve Williamson, SJW Associates
11.00 to 11.30 – Meeting MCERTS requirements – Paul Wiggins, Environment Agency
11.30 to 12.00 – How to introduce an energy efficiency programme – Andy Clegg, Industrial Systems and Controls
12.00 to 12.30 – Maintaining the competitive edge – Nicholas A Lindop, Pentagon Chemicals
Q & A session
12 March afternoon – People and Skills
13.20 – Keynote introduction
13.30 to 14.00 – Going for gold – Steve Westhead, Solutia UK
14.00 to 14.30 – Combining business and training goals – John Holland, United Biscuits
14.30 to 15.00 – Uptake of the Cogent Gold Standard – John Holton, 3VSIGMA
15.00 to 15.30 – Economic impact of skills – Dr Brian Murphy, Cogent
Q & A session
Key industry bodies give their support
The timely mix of new technology and best practice thinking on show at Process Engineering Live has attracted support from key bodies across the industry. These include the main trade associations for the sector, the British Pump Manufacturers Association and the British Valve and Actuators Association, as well as the National Skills Academy for the Process Industries, Cogent, and Profibus.
Are you MCERTain about your emissions?
Do you know you company’s obligations under emissions legislation? If you are in any doubt about what this means to you, or the best way to stay compliant, then a special conference session at Process Engineering Live may help.
Paul Wiggins of the Environment Agency will be explaining the current situation regarding the Agency’s MCERTS (Monitoring Certification Scheme) for certification of continuous and portable water monitoring equipment used in process industries.
Businesses that make emissions to air, land and water are regulated by the Environment Agency under strict European and UK laws, to protect the environment and human health. And if this applies to your business you need permission from the Environment Agency to operate.
This permission normally comes in the form of a permit to operate, which requires that all emissions are monitored. Businesses either monitor their emissions all the time, known as continuous monitoring, or at times defined in their permit, known as spot tests or periodic monitoring. In both cases they must meet the Environment Agency’s requirements.
MCERTS provides the framework for businesses to meet the Environment Agency’s requirements. If the monitoring equipment used by you complies with MCERTS, then the Agency can have increased confidence in your monitoring of emissions to the environment.
Paul Wiggins says “MCERTS started some years ago with equipment used to monitor chimney stacks. Virtually all equipment now used for this monitoring meets MCERTS requirements. MCERTS has now been extended to monitoring discharges to the aquatic environment. Some manufacturers have already had their monitoring equipment certified under MCERTS. The list of equipment with MCERTS certification can be found via www.mcerts.net. Increasing numbers of manufacturers are now getting their monitoring equipment certified under MCERTS – so extending the choice for process industries.”
Cogent urges employers to access skills funding
£50m of Government money is available to employers in the process sector for skills training, and Cogent will be explaining to visitors how they can access this funding. The money is part of a three-year deal and was available from 1 January this year.
Cogent’s research shows that not enough people are coming into the industry via apprenticeships and vocational routes to meet the demand for replacements in core roles across the sector. Using this £50m, Cogent will focus the support and funding available through Train to Gain to tackle skills priorities, including meeting challenging targets for training new entrants and qualifying existing workers.
One-stop-shop for process valves
Process valve manufacturer and supplier ARI-Armaturen (stand 303), offers a one-stop-shop for cost-effective, high-performance solutions for all plant operations.
The company says that with a record number of customers benefiting from its isolation, safety, control and steam trapping products, Process Engineering Live provides an ideal platform to introduce the latest developments to existing and prospective customers.
As well as showcasing process control solutions, ARI will also be introducing its new product and applications training programme. Scheduled to take place throughout 2009, these customer workshops will be led by specialists from ARI’s German parent company.
“We offer customers a one-stop-shop valve solution – from providing advice and guidance to after-sales support,” said Tony Harrison, operations manager at ARI-Armaturen. “Our comprehensive programme of customer courses allows us to provide training on specific applications at our new dedicated seminar facility.”
Throughout the exhibition there will be a fully qualified team from ARI at the stand, guiding customers towards the most efficient solution for their plant.
Stop MESsing about
Does your company need a Manufacturing Execution System (MES)? That’s the question Duncan Fletcher of COPA-DATA will be asking in his conference session on 11 March. Many production facilities use an MES as the link between process automation and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. But what used to be an integral part of many industrial systems now becomes a questionably unnecessary cost factor; at least for those who are using SAP(R) applications and controlling their production with COPA DATA’s zenon SCADA application.
A SAP-certified bidirectional interface now connects SCADA with ERP, so zenon and SAP ERP work in unison to take over the tasks that used to be performed by separate MES products or by manually transferring data. The HMI/SCADA system interacts with SAP ERP via a bidirectional interface. This means it sends messages about any type of event to the ERP level and also receives control commands from there. Companies can now directly link their process level with the ERP level, thus making a closed information loop producing a complete overview of their business – from order management, recipes and production to shipment – as it happens.
Profibus lines up to support PE Live
With 20 million devices installed around the world, Profibus International is the world’s most important fieldbus and a driving force in the UK and global process sectors. Profibus will play an active role in Process Engineering Live, contributing to the educational seminar programme and encouraging its 77 UK members to get involved.
Celebrating its silver anniversary at PE Live
Econosto UK (stand 428) has now been supplying valves to industries across the UK for a quarter of a century. Right from its inception in 1984 as Ball Valves UK Ltd, the company’s strategy of maintaining high stock levels combined with continual improvements in product range and service, marked it out as a leader in the market.
This service was further enhanced in 1998 when the company was acquired by the Dutch Econosto Group. This added an array of complementary products and cost-effective own-brand ranges to the existing portfolio of quality, globally recognized brands.
From just supplying valves and associated technical advice the company was able to start providing full solutions with the new range of available products.
More recently, the company has been acquired by the ERIKS Group as part of a strategy to strengthen its valve division, particularly in the UK. This development has again opened up wider opportunities and new markets for Econosto UK, working alongside sister company ERIKS UK.
Stable and accurate low-flow measurement for trouble-free use
Furness Controls (Stand 528) bases its unique design of differential pressure transmitter on a capacitance transducer. This makes the very low pressure and flow measurement extremely stable and accurate for long-term, trouble-free use.
Key products for Furness Controls are low differential pressure transmitters with measurement capabilities from 0.01 Pascals to 20,000 Pascals in both positive and negative ranges to suit most low-pressure applications. These range from dirty environments such as power generation, steel and brick manufacturing, to ultra-clean conditions in the medical, pharmaceutical and nuclear sectors.
Hydraulic motors offer multiple advantages
Hagglunds (Stand 300) continues to expand its range of hydraulic motors and will exhibit a working unit with a plexi-glass case to show its interior mechanism. These hydraulic motors can remove the need for gearboxes on process equipment such as mixers, rolling mills, extruders, digesters and kilns in industries that include chemical manufacture, pulp and paper production, rubber and plastics.
With no need for a gearbox, layouts can be more compact and mounting is easier, while the motors are highly reliable and can be customised to suit most applications requiring high torque at low variable speeds.
With 25 years in the sector, Hagglunds has strong experience of application areas such as mixers and agitators, rolling mills and extruders, dewatering presses and drum drives for digesters, composting, trommels, kilns and autoclaves.
Hagglunds’ range of hydraulic motors includes a wide variety of standard power units and controls which are housed in weatherproof and sound-insulated cabinets. These are easy to maintain using the front opening doors and can be customised to suit special conditions. Control systems cover all start/stop logic, drive control and heath monitoring with a simple operator interface and feature ready-programmed routines such as shredder and power control. All units are fully tested prior to installation and are easy to install and commission.
Safety and control on show
Hima-Sella Ltd (Stand 429) is showing the operational and economic benefits of its HIMax safety system. HIMax is based on technology that utilises testing and diagnostics to achieve safety integrity level 3 (SIL 3). It also has scalable, fault-tolerant architecture, which eliminates false trips and allows unlimited changes, modifications, expansions, upgrades and regulatory proof testing to be carried out, without taking the plant off-line.
Also highlighted will be Hima-Sella’s panel building capability, which allows it to design and deliver anything from basic wall-mounted units to room-sized panels.
It will also be introducing its tank overfill protection solution (TOPS), which has been developed in-house as a direct response to the recommendations from the MIIB following Buncefield. TOPS is a flexible, cost-effective and reliable SIL-rated system, which is compatible with a wide range of detectors and communicates with all leading DCS manufacturers.
Happy 10th birthday for Eclipse 705
It is now 10 years since Magnetrol (Stand 2090 launched the Eclipse Model 705, the first 2-wire guided wave radar –GWR) level transmitter that measured liquid level, independent of liquid characteristics. With no need for calibration, a broad application coverage, ease of configuration and enhanced reliability, the 705 was quickly accepted in the traditionally conservative oil and gas industries.
The principle of operation is based on time-of-flight measurement of high-frequency pulses sent down a fixed transmission line reflecting off the liquid surface. The initial product involved one amplifier with two probe types (coaxial and twin rod). The product offering now includes one universal amplifier with a complete series of application-oriented GWR probes.
Through continuous innovation, the Eclipse Model 705 transmitter has always stayed one step ahead of the market. With an installed base of more than 50,000 units, mainly in the oil and gas industries, Eclipse runs the operational functions as well as the ESD functions of entire facilities.
No job too hot to handle
No job is too hot to handle when it comes to process control solutions for industry, science or sport, says Southern Temperature Sensors Ltd (Stand 518), which will showcase a range of sensors, gauges, instruments, data loggers and installations accessories. This includes a new range of needle valves and valve manifolds.
Southern’s team of qualified engineers uses the most suitable equipment from a vast range of manufacturers to provide the ideal sensor, gauge, instrument, data logger or accessory combination in a short space of time and with minimal client effort.
In addition, it is fast becoming a specialist in supplying bespoke solutions across all its product lines – from one-off temperature sensors built to the customer’s specification, to turned parts in aerospace materials.
Buy into the Gold Standard – and be £1.3 billion better off
Every company’s ambition is to expand its market share, to increase productivity, and be highly profitable. But what happens when the workforce isn’t properly equipped with the skills to achieve these corporate goals?
Cogent research shows that for the UK Manufacturing Process Industries (chemicals, pharmaceuticals and polymers) around £1.3bn of added value would be created by matching the USA’s productivity levels as a consequence of improving skills. The Cogent Gold Standard aims to set the benchmark for the skills that are needed to achieve this. The Gold Standard takes key job roles in the Process Industries and defines a framework of training and qualifications to achieve ‘world class’ performance.
It isn’t just new graduates and apprentices that need to be trained. Research shows that 70% of the workforce that will be in place in 2020 is already employed. So, to train these people effectively, Cogent is helping to create ‘bite-sized’ modular courses that don’t keep participants away from where they are needed in the workforce for extended periods.
Conference presentations in the People and Skills sessions from John Holland and Dr Brian Murphy will look at the background and wider economic implications of the skills gap and how the Gold Standard works in practice.
Protecting what matters most
Explosions or overpressures in processes can be disastrous and can lead to loss of life, damage to the environment and facilities, loss of revenue, fines and loss of your licence to operate. In extreme cases, there may possibly even be criminal charges against key personnel. Fike UK (Stand 419) is a leader in design, manufacture and supply of bursting/rupture discs and industrial explosion protection equipment. It understands the challenges that companies face every day in their plants and the complex legislative environment they operate in.
Fike’s capability encompasses custom-engineered discs and products, Kst evaluation and product explosivity testing as well as assistance in obtaining ATEX compliance. It can also provide active or passive explosion venting and isolation devices and explosion suppression systems. Flameless venting systems are available for when it is impossible for a process to vent externally. Fike also offers full periodic and emergency maintenance by Fike experts.
When and Where
Tuesday 10 March 10.00am - 16.30pm
Wednesday 11 March 10.00am – 16.30pm
Location
Central Hall 1, Manchester Central,
Manchester M2 3GX
Tel: + 44 (0) 161 834 2700
Exhibitors Include:
Alpha Lettering Systems
ARI-Armaturen (UK) Ltd
Asco Joucomatic Ltd
British Pump Manufacturing Association
British Valve Accuators Association
BRONKHORST UK LTD
Cogent SSC Ltd
Econosto UK Ltd
Endress & Hauser Ltd
FIKE UK LTD
Furness Controls Ltd
Hagglunds Drives Ltd
Hima-Sella Ltd
KINETROL LTD
KSB Ltd
Magnetrol International N.V.
Rotork Controls
Southern Temperature Sensors Ltd
The Engineer (Centaur)
The PROFIBUS Group
Register FREE or reserve your FREE place on the Conference Programme at www.processengineeringlive.co.uk
BIG Conference 2009
Surviving the Economic Impact and New Dimensions
BIG Conference, Marriott St. Pierre Chepstow – 13th to 15th May 2009
This year’s conference holding prices but even more value.
Accountants may quibble at the cost of conferences, but for B2B researchers who want to keep ahead of the game, to find out what’s going on and to network, the BIG Conference is a “must” on the calendar.
This annual conference is being held again this year at the Marriot St. Pierre which offers delegates the chance to remain in one location for both the serious and social elements of the conference.
It’s no surprise that the main themes are how to survive the economic downturn and how to look forward to help the industry move ahead in difficult times, (business to business research may be more affected in the early stages than fast moving consumer goods research).
There are two keynotes. On Day 1, a day devoted mainly to client issues, David Smith (DVL Smith), an acclaimed researcher and author of many award winning books on research, will discusses the notion that “Neuroscientists tell us that ‘in a straight choice between emotion and reason, emotion wins’: so exactly how do business decision-makers now want us to present our market research evidence?”
Mark Stuart will close the second day of the conference, which is devoted to agency issues. Mark is Head of Research at the Chartered Institute of Marketing and writer of the Institute’s acclaimed Shape the Agenda papers. Both the keynote speakers are original thinkers chosen for their very different approaches at this time when we all need both measured input and the creative spark.
Papers, Client Forums and Q & A sessions, Debates, Training Sessions will provide the intellectual challenge over much of the two days. Some of those taking part in one or other of the activities include those from Nokia, Vodafone, BT, Legal & General, Associated News and the Royal Mail. What will the future hold, the future of work, desk research today, the role of digital in providing insight, combining research and financial data, ROI, the role of social brainstorming in business decisions – all these are subjects that will be covered in the course of the conference.
Three training sessions will also add to the choices offered – with special sessions on the Stated Preference technique, “using the customer’s route map” and extracting insight. In all, how organisations make decisions is a major theme – a useful focus in these times when all suppliers want to hold on to their business and need to understand the mechanics behind clients’ choices.
The BIG Conference is known for its informal approach and excellent networking opportunities. Golf for both beginners as well as for seasoned players starts the conference off for those with a sporting bent; but whether it’s the Thursday tennis competition or Tiddlywinks at the bar, whether the formal Thursday night dinner or just coffee during blackberry breaks, there will be a lot going on. We want lots of people to come – “fig” we say to those who are watching the purse strings. This is a must for those in B2B who want to thrive in straightened times.
The conference consistently scores the highest marks for content, value for money, and ability to network
As one of last year’s delegates said “The conference itself was terrific – the papers, the presenters, the networking / socializing opportunities – really top-notch”
http://www.bigconference.org
For more information:
Ruth McNeil
Mailto:rmcneil@tiscali.co.uk
Mobile: 07721 564 994
Landline: 020 8868 5653
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
