It’s that time again when we like to give you a glimpse into what we’ve been working on over the last month here at Fanatic HQ.
Studio News
During January we have been redesigning a clinical beauty business, which we will be able to show soon, and continuing the design for MyEcoPoints... a new retail business that gives its customers Eco Points for buying environmentally friendly products. We’ve just put a new section live on Compass Group’s website that promotes the company’s graduate scheme.
We’ve also got some interesting insights to share from our weekly stand up sessions. Every week each department takes it in turn to present and share exciting developments and their expertise, covering a range of topics in Development, Design and Digital.
It’s a great opportunity to find out what’s new in everyone’s field and what other members of the team have been working on. Here’s some of the highlights from the past three weeks...
The Power of Negative Keywords
Representing the digital team PPC Executive Teri blew us away with her witty explanation of how utilising Negative Keywords in the right way can positively impact the campaigns you run.
Negative keywords are an exceptionally important tool when it comes to Pay Per Click management. They’re a type of keyword that will prevent your ad from being shown by irrelevant searches. By stopping your ads from showing for erroneous searches, you’ll save money on wasted clicks and allow your ad to display on relevant searches that may result in conversions.
Negative keywords also come with a range of benefits; improved click-through rate (CTR), improved conversion rate, improved quality score and most importantly, negative keywords save you money.
When looking for negative keywords in your search terms report, it’s important to look for keywords that are similar to yours, but may appeal to users browsing for a different product. e.g. if your company sells clogs, you will need to monitor the search terms weekly and take out anything non-clog related. “High heels”, “sneakers” and “ballet flats” would all be considered negative keywords in a ‘clog’ specific campaign.
Some search terms may not be erroneous for all campaigns, so it is important to be vigilant and make sure you are not excluding anything that could potentially harm one of your other campaigns.
Adding negative keywords is an ongoing optimisation task and should be done weekly to ensure you stay on top of your search terms, and only allow your ads to show for relevant searches.
Still not sure about negative keywords? Don’t worry we’ll be publishing a blog post about them very soon. Teri has also created a handy glossary of PPC terms.
Communicating Your Creative Journey
Having produced work for the Compass Group Uk & Ireland for over 15 years now, Senior Graphic Designer Ryan and his team used their stand-up to showcase some of the projects we’ve worked on over the years.
We’ve worked with them on a wide range of projects and helped to create everything from a wide range of printed material, branding, exhibition design and of course many websites including some that have extensive data sharing via bespoke built data links.
Working on so many ideas and concepts associated with one brand it's important to be able to collate and present design collateral in an accessible and visually appealing way. Having a clearly communicated visual story is invaluable for informing new creative directions and ensuring there’s consistency across all campaigns.
It was during this stand up that the dates of this year’s t-shirt design competition were also announced. As we enter the 20th year of Fanatic the theme will be “20”. Everyone in the team is encouraged to take part, and we are already very excited to see the entries. Keep your eyes peeled on our social media to see the potential designs.
The winning entry will be revealed in May so the t-shirts will be printed and ready for that first ray of sunshine at the beginning of the summer.
Introducing AWS
Tom from the Development team eloquently explained how the internet works and AWS’s role in delivering information across the World Wide Web.
We learned about Regions, Availability Zones and Edge servers and how we use AWS at Fanatic to provide a quicker, more robust and reliable hosting service to our clients.
And Ian highlighted the importance of delivering great client communications.
We take huge pride in our work and often go to extraordinary lengths to make our work just so. In fact, we’re more motivated by job satisfaction than anything else, and this comes from getting the little and often unseen things right. For example an efficiently written piece of code, the depth of the ideas we create, or the structure of a site map, which is only ever seen by Google bots!
As you also know, at Fanatic everyone discusses work and delivers directly to clients, not to a project manager who passes the work on. But this does leave us with one weakness… remembering to tell clients not only what we've done, but about all the little extra details we've added. In this stand up we looked at projects through our clients’ eyes and discussed what their priorities are, and how to make sure they know what we are up to with their projects.
New Additions...
We’ve welcomed another talented new addition to the team this month. We would like to introduce you to Amy our new Digital Marketing Executive.
How have you found life at Fanatic so far?
I’m really enjoying it - this is my first agency experience and I love the fact that every day is different. Everyone has been lovely, and I already feel like part of the team.
What were you doing before Fanatic and what made you get into Digital and Content?
My last role was in a HR company, helping to write their blogs and doing their email marketing. I’ve always loved writing, so wanted to find a role that would let me create content for a living while also learning more about wider marketing practices.
What made you choose Fanatic?
When I came for my interview I just really liked the vibe of the office, and I love the fact that everyone gets involved in the same projects, so everything feels like a collaborative effort. I was also impressed by the work they’d done for their clients.
What have you enjoyed most so far?
I’ve had the chance to create some really fun and interesting content, from writing a guide about Soho to researching wedding breakfasts. The Friday drinks were also very fun.
What are you looking forward to learning more about?
I’d really like to learn more about the different types of content outside of written copy - such as video marketing, graphic design and PPC.
Tell us an interesting fact about yourself?
I’ve lived in 4 different UK cities? Sorry, I’m not very interesting. Hold on, I’ve just remembered… I once danced with Catfish and the Bottlemen in an Alley in Newcastle.
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