Why a customer magazine?

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Customer magazines are at the heart of what we do at The Marketing Café.

The popularity for published material means it can be an important marketing product for your business.

We tailor each magazine towards your targeted audience and deliver concise content of genuine interest.

The Marketing Café team can establish a core readership by creating a publication to suit your brand’s customer base. This means that an initial one-off publication might develop into a regular magazine due to the way it successfully engages the audience.

All content is researched thoroughly to produce fresh and relevant features. Our lifestyle approach to magazine copy means the articles are of the highest editorial standard and continue to appeal to readers every issue.

Customer magazines are a great way to get your brand and message in front of your customers. Let The Marketing Café create an eye-catching sales tool for your company. Our creative designers can put together a striking publication and together with in-house copywriters we will ensure you engage the reader with enticing content.

Our membership to the Association of Publishing Agencies means clients can feel confident that our services are of the highest quality.

Get in touch with us at The Marketing Café, explore your publication options and reach new customers today.

Popular isn’t always best

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Mediocrity amongst some well-known and respected brands has become something of a bug bear with me lately.

Starbucks, Apple, NYC and The Great North Run are four huge brands enjoying great popularity and kudos at the moment, but my recent experiences leave me wondering what all the fuss is about. Firstly, let’s consider Starbucks. Friends and associates are constantly reminding me how good they are – great coffee, relaxing surroundings and they have a strong environmental policy. I do like the brand and their shops always seem to entice me in. However, when you queue up for a £4 wonder coffee, struggle to find a seat and then eventually sit at a dirty table you are left wondering why it remains so popular? I look around and am convinced if we were all served ‘Nescafé instant’ few could tell the difference.

I love Apple Mac computers and indeed The Marketing Café uses nothing else. That said, the recent iPhone launch has soured my relationship with this iconic brand. For me it didn’t start well when the product was launched with great furore and hype, but there were none in stock. I sensed a bit of a manufactured craze as people stood in line waiting for Apple stores to open. Then I was further frustrated as a business customer who wanted more than one phone, I had to visit an 02 store rather than order over the phone. I was trying to buy a working tool for business but for me Apple’s first mistake was to treat it like another iPod launch. From a marketing point of view Blackberry was already looking like a more serious business product. However, I thought compatibility would be easier with the likes of iCal, Address Book etc so I patiently waited for the iPhone. Since acquiring the phone 12 months ago it has been exchanged three times due to faults. Each time I have had to visit the Apple Store and see a ‘Genius’. Needless to say I’ll be switching to another phone at the earliest opportunity.

I’ve been visiting NYC for 23 years now and have seen it progress from a seedy and dangerous place to a safe and appealing metropolis. This month I visited the city for the first time in twelve years and was hugely disappointed. It still has an appeal, but it has lost so much of its character as small independent shops have been pushed out in favour of larger chains that we can see anywhere in the world. Although, there is a Starbucks on every street corner, so that can’t be bad can it? For me NYC has simply become too popular with tourists buzzing around everyway. Times Square is now substantially paved so pedestrians and tourists can freely wander around. This takes away from its ‘centre of the world working city’ feeling to be replaced with something akin to a Disneyland theme park. On top of that the people, who have always been a little abrasive in an endearing way, have become much ruder and let’s not talk about the expected tipping of 18-20% whether you get good service or not.

The next target of my mediocrity rant is The Great North Run. It is well-organised with a great atmosphere, yet the world’s biggest half marathon for the runner at least is dull, dull, dull. Apart from the start and the end there is very little to look at during the run except miles and miles of dual carriageway and roundabouts. Glasgow is far better in terms of interest along the route, but has much fewer numbers.

It’s true that most brands strive to be famous and popular, but all too often a pattern develops where success leads to mediocrity. The only way to correct this is for the market to vote with its feet. However, the market needs to be lead and that requires bravery from the front, which for a time will mean you are not necessarily that popular. Read ‘Tribes’ by Seth Godin – it makes a lot of sense in today’s world.

Welcome

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Welcome to our new website and thanks for stopping by

Since TMC started in 2003, we have grown in numbers, clients and geography so we felt it was time to show off our talents with a shiny new website - and here it is.

We’ve tried to include a ‘pick n mix’ of some of our work to give you a good feel for what we do here at The Marketing Cafe. We hope you enjoy the site and that it answers all your questions but if there is anything that you would like to know more about, please get in touch. Drop us a line on our quick enquiry form, give us a call or why not pop in and see us? The kettle is always poised and our triple choc muffins are outstanding!

Hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers,

The TMC team

Fighting Fit at TMC

Monday, September 07, 2009

TMC staff get their running shoes on this September

This September, two of our staff members have decided to take to the streets and run 13 miles - on two separate occasions!

Meg, our Account Manager has recently completed the Great Scottish Run on the 6th September which was a ‘soggy occasion’. Despite the torrential rain, over 20,000 Glaswegians took to the streets and set off on the course running, hobbling or limping from George Square to Glasgow Green. Well done to Meg for completing the course.

As if that isn’t enough - Ian, our Managing Director no less, will be partaking in the BUPA Great North Run on the 20th September in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind. This will be Ian’s 3rd half marathon for charity and he already has the 26-mile big one under his belt - we take our hats off to that! Log onto Ian’s Just Giving Page to sponsor Ian for what is a very worthwhile cause.

Watch this space to see how Ian fared on the big day!

TMC is now tweeting

Saturday, August 01, 2009

The Marketing Cafe have hopped on board the social media band wagon

Social media is growing arms and legs and it is definitely something to be involved in now.

We have set up our own exciting twitter account, stop by and say hello. Twitter is an excellent way of keeping in touch with what clients are up to as well as finding out all the exciting industry news first.

We love mashable.com for loads of clever twitter tips. Also check out our 5 tips to get you started with social media in our hints and tips section of the website.