The night also included a Charity Auction with Sean Jarvis, Commercial Director of Huddersfield Town as auctioneer, and speeches from Peter McCann, College Principal, and James Sommerville, successful former Kirklees College student and co-founder and Creative Director of renowned creative agency, Attik. All funds raised last night will be donated to Keep It Up, a fundraising campaign supporting Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Huddersfield Town Academy. All in all it was a great night which celebrated Huddersfield talent and raised funds for a worthwhile cause.

Left: Gala winner Danny Dixon. Right: James Sommerville.

InStyler is a styling tool with a rotating heated polishing barrel with precision aligned bristles, which lets you create different styles quickly with less heat. It creates volume, flicks, long-lasting curls, and can straighten even the coarsest hair and the Focus Group was an opportunity for the participants to trail the styling tool. The feedback from the session was very informative and useful and this is just the beginning of the journey for this innovative styling tool with new ranges being launched very soon.

During the clinic we touched on the influences affecting the market, searching for new markets and customers and where to find them; current competition and distinguishing the business from other management and leadership training providers.

David has provided the following testimony for his session – we too really enjoyed the clinic and we’re thrilled that David got so much from it;

“I recently had the wonderful pleasure of being ‘interrogated’ by Sue Kenyon and Laura Scholey of ASK Marketing – all of my own initiation though I might add. No matter what businesses we are in, or how competent and professional we are at running them, there is no doubt that we all get too personally attached and close to the business and its issues.

“For me it was time to take an informed look at our marketing process and I took up ASK’s generous offer of a 1hr free consultation around my three key issues.
It was an excellent experience! I left excited and invigorated as their questioning, enthusiasm and highly constructive suggestions left me with a much clearer vision of how and where to proceed and I also picked up some practical actions to address. We will be working together in the future – for sure!”

If you’re interested in holding a Marketing Clinic to openly discuss your Marketing in confidence with marketing professionals please call 01484 437426 to book your appointment.

The UK is a nation of turkey lovers but different parts of the country prefer their turkeys to be served in different ways; In Ireland turkey with a whiskey and honey glaze with a splash of orange gives a tasty twist to the traditional bird. In Scotland ‘rich tatties and neeps’ is served with the turkey, which is a traditional dish made with mashed potatoes, swede, carrots, onion and butter. In England red cabbage with apple, cinnamon and brown sugar with a splash of Port or Madeira is preferred; and a leek and onion sauce, a thick and creamy alternative to ordinary bread sauce, accompanies the turkey in Wales.

InStyler is a product I’m really excited about – it’s a three in one styling and straightening tool. It has a rotating heated polishing barrel with precision aligned bristles which lets you create different styles quickly with less heat. It creates volume, flicks, long-lasting curls, and can straighten even the coarsest hair.

InStyler’s stand looked great and stood out from the others in the mecca of fashion and beauty stands, all competing to get passers-by attention. It was transformed into a large glitzy salon with 10 InStyler stylists and hair models demonstrating the styling tools benefits. It created a stir with many event goers stopping to see it in action and having their hair styled. It was great to witness the buzz it created and with it now retailing in Boots, this is just the beginning for this exciting new styling tool and I can’t wait watch it develop into a ‘must have’ for all females dressing tables.

Woman’s Weekly reached its readership peak in 1950 when it regularly sold more than two million copies a week. According to the latest ABC figures, the magazine was the best performing title in the women’s weekly market with a rise in year-on-year sales in the first half of this year, making it one of only two titles to increase sales in the sector.

The current Editor of Women’s Weekly Diane Kenwood said; “When the magazine was launched the Editor set out a clear vision which stated: ‘I say frankly that the women of Mayfair and the lady who lives in the castle are not catered for in this paper. But the woman who lives in the villa or the cottage, in a large house or a small house, the woman who rules the destinies of the home, is going to be helped in her life, her work and her recreation by this journal’.

The reason for Woman’s Weekly success is that it has been true to its original brief. It does it exactly what it says on the tin and hasn’t tried to be something its not. This is why it’s a clear sector favourite and its readers are brand loyal. Not only is this a great success story, there are also key marketing lessons which can be learnt from this.

The event was a launch platform to introduce the Studio School to influential business people; with over 700 delegates attending the event and 50 businesses exhibiting. The stand attracted a large amount of interest with over 90 delegates visiting the stand to find out more and over fifty businesses pledged their support.

The Studio School stand @ KBC

This annual prestigious event held on the 21st and 22nd September 2011 at the National Hall, Olympia, helps companies to understand, grab and maximise business opportunities offered by interactive media.

Attended by the online marketing and advertising community, ad:tech London 2011 will reveal the latest digital trends and market figures, share best practice and address industry challenges.

Ask Insight is one of only a few companies from the North of England exhibiting at the event which is attended by big industry players such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

For over 10 years ad:tech has provided media, marketing and technology professionals with the tools and techniques needed to succeed in the changing digital world. With 10 shows in seven countries, ad:tech’s globally respected roster of speakers, workshops and exhibitors is a ‘must attend’ event for digital marketers.

Ask Insight has already provided ad:tech London 2011 with pre-event research which identified consumer online shopping habits and current issues. A post event evaluation will be completed using a tool Ask Insight has developed to conduct large scale, intelligent event evaluations.

Susan Kenyon, Director of Ask Insight commented: “We are delighted to be once again working hand in hand with ad:tech London to deliver a useful research function. Last year’s event was a huge success as our post event research proved.

“Our event evaluation approach has been used within small scale situations, such as shopping centres, through to large data intensive solutions such as ad:tech, demonstrating our capability and innovative approach to research.”

Event evaluation is just one of the research functions Ask Insight offers. Traditional methods such as face to face interviewing and focus groups are other methods the agency uses to get consumer insight. Ask Insight also conducts in-depth market analysis, advertising and brand tracking studies through to online concept testing and online feedback to assess client/ supplier relationships.

Now might be a good time for you to inject fresh energy into your marketing, if so, why not check into the susankenyon Marketing Clinic! A simple, off-site, no-nonsense, tailored Marketing Clinic lasting 1-2 hours with Susan Kenyon

A place where you can openly discuss your Marketing in confidence with a marketing professional, where you may wish to discuss…

Your competition and distinguishing yourself from the rest – your USP

Searching for new markets and new customers and where to find them

The influences that are affecting your market and what you can do about them

Your marketing budget and how to make it work harder for you

Check-in now call Susan on 01484 437426 to book your appointment

What others have said about the susankenyon Marketing Clinic …

“We found that the 2 hour brainstorming clinic was extremely informative, helping direct our business way of thinking.” Nicola Sykes & Fiona Campbell (Finikitty)

“It was a very useful session and fun to do (feeling a tad guilty about the flapjack though … I look forward to meeting you again in the summer” Jean, Marketing Manager (PNLD, West Yorkshire Police)

Whether a manufacturer and its distributors achieve their sales targets rather much depends upon the development and implementation of a clearly defined distribution strategy which states how their combined resources in the distribution channel will be allocated and utilised.

Furthermore, everyone in the distribution channel must be aware of their functional roles and responsibilities. Decisions need to be made to identify and confirm who is responsible for….

Information gathering, intelligence to support changes to the strategy
Promotion, developing and distribution persuasive communications about the ‘offer’
Making contact with prospective / existing buyers
Matching products and services to different market segments / groups of buyers
Negotiating and agreeing prices
Physical distribution, transporting and storing goods
Financing and covering the costs through individual channels

How to formulate your Physical Distribution Strategy

Decide your distribution objectives
Conduct interviews with your employees, channel-members and customers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing distribution process
Define your target market physical location
Formulate new strategy plans that eliminate the weaknesses and capitalize on the strengths of the existing process;
Select channel-members that enhance your brand image and who are capable of fulfilling their roles
Evaluate the effectiveness of your new distribution strategy, and how well it meets your customers needs

The benefits of having a clear strategy are:

The strategy provides you and your channel partners the means of protecting your customer base.
The strategy gives you and your channel partners a mechanism for drawing customers away from existing relationships with other suppliers and, wherever possible, attracting new customers into your market.
The strategy is defensible in that it contains elements that would prove difficult for your competitors to duplicate.

Remember, your physical distribution strategy must be an integral part of your marketing mix. If your physical distribution strategy is not consistent with your product strategy, price strategy, and promotional strategy, then your business may fail.
Conversely, if it is properly researched and planned, it could be one of your business’s competitive advantages!