BRIEF
In line with client objectives, Standout created the brief for the Award Winning Milsom Hotels website. After reviewing their current site performance Standout identified that Milsom Hotels were not exploiting all of the online marketing opportunities available. Standout created a brief that would see us pull all of the groups locations together through a single portal, whereby cross-selling would be easier and communicating the variety of facets within the group would be more effective. The brief saw Standout creating a clear strategy for ongoing communication online, and set KPI’s for performance, bounce rates, data capture and traffic.

SOLUTIONS
Standout designed and built an effective and user friendly website that could be easily navigated, quickly shared and encouraged returning visits. The site was filled with rich content and beautiful imagery, much of which was art directed by Standout. A clear monthly email campaign strategy was also created which links back to the site. The site includes a destination for press, clearly provides information on all locations with standard links to Google Maps, showcases the wonderful propositions of the group and generally provides a wonderful ‘shop front’ to a leading and innovative hotel group.

IMPACT OF OUR WORK
With the launch of the new website and continuing analysis of Milsom’s progress, Standout have been able to increase traffic by 300%, this equates to 30,000 monthly visitors in 18 months. The award winning website also boasted two awards in 2008/2009 and we’re delighted to announce that Milsom Hotels and Restaurants are the winner of the Online Marketing Award, 2011.Judges were impressed with attractive design, with good accessibility and clear navigation. The online marketing of the luxury hotel group, as provided by Standout, has progressed in leaps and bounds over 2011, to include a brand new YouTube channel, new website content, greater interaction through social networking including competitions and greater links throughout the group.

The award is a great start to 2012 which will include a revamp of the website and extension of Milsom Hotels and Restaurants’ online marketing into new markets. Watch this space…!

SOLUTION
Standout devised an online strategy that included the design and build of an effective website and ongoing SEO & PR strategy.

Using animation and rich content the website demonstrates the manufacturing process, quality control and unique delivery service offered by MGB Plastics. The interactive “Get a Quote” feature enables new and potential customers to select the various product options available to allow MGB to provide a more accurate quote.

As well as supporting to increase the web presence of MGB Plastics, the continuous SEO & PR activities ensure a high quality of traffic and enquiries, leading to a greater potential to convert.

IMPACT OF OUR WORK
With the launch of the new online strategy MGB are now position 1 on Google for 11 Key Search Terms such as “wheelie bin manufacturers” and “wheelie bin recycling”.
With a high level of engagement and an average of 3.31 page views per visit resulting in 1 enquiry everyday with 1 in every 2 Converted to Business.

SOLUTIONS
Standout devised a 3-month online strategy to meet the key KPI’s: website visitors, Facebook fan base and database within a low budget. Rather than focusing on building a new Rice Dream website, Standout utilised a quarter of the budget to deliver a cost-effective website restructure. By identifying the required user journeys and engaging content needed, Standout were able to re-mould the existing website to improve consumer and brand experience. The remainder of the budget was allocated to online and offline marketing; social networking, Facebook advertising, SEO, blog seeding, experiential collateral, eCRMs and postal sampling. The full online marketing mix allowed Standout to increase brand awareness and build an online community for Rice Dream. The channels put in place are continuing to perform well and are proving a successful platform as we put into place the next 12 month strategy for Rice Dream and sister brands.

IMPACT OF OUR WORK
Within the 3 months the Rice Dream website has exceeded targets and has had 9,000 visitors (24% above target). The Rice Dream Facebook page now has 927 fans and increasing. The campaign has also produced a database of 2,003 via low-cost offline and online initiatives. Standout also emphasised the requirement for SEO as a result Rice Dream are now page 1 for relevant high-traffic dairy-free terms such as “dairy alternatives”, “dairy-free”, “dairy-free recipes” and “lactose-free”.

SOLUTION
Beautifully designed pages which encompass the Emma Bridgewater prizes and the competition entry. Standout worked alongside Copella to produce the competition and recipe pages for all the new and featured recipes by chef Aaron Skerritt of Le Talbooth restaurant.

SOLUTION
With the campaign launching alongside the beginning of Autumn, the creative highlighted the change of seasons and provided a way of lifestyle more than product styling alone. Creating product awareness in various forms such as 6 sheet posters, gondola ends, floor vinyls and security shrouds.

THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK
Footfall increased in store resulting in an increase in sales and some large retailers sold out of the product.

SOLUTION
Standout designed and built an engaging brand website utilising and developing the look and feel of the new Sunbites packaging. Inspired by the rustic feel of the pack, Standout incorporated elements such as the signpost and interactive ‘tweeting’ bird to deliver content in an exciting manner, and ultimately creating a Sunbites world filled with not only Sunbites facts but nutritional information, recipes and useful wholegrain information.

THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK
Clearly communicated the healthy & tasty positioning of Sunbites and increased traffic to the website maximising awareness of the brand.

SOLUTION
With the campaign launching alongside the new SS11 collection, Standout worked closely with Triumph to design and artwork an array of offline and online material which promoted and reinforced the premium quality of the Essence range. Featuring on London taxis, large digital screens in Manchester, Edinburgh and London, as well as within John Lewis window displays, most notably on Oxford Street London.

THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK
Effectively increased product awareness of the new luxury range whilst driving footfall into John Lewis stores and online to Figleaves, ASOS and John Lewis online.

The strategy is twofold, to increase brand awareness online but also to create a greater number of channels for search engines to find, index and cache the site. A spider’s web would be a good analogy for the way in which SEO works. Search Engines only spend a millisecond trawling a site, and not all the pages are searched – so by creating thousands of access points for search engines we can increase time on site, and visibility.

Links from other websites are critical for creating the impression of an authoritative website and increasing search engine listings for search terms. For example, the search term ‘Suffolk Hotel’, the website appeared on page 32 or 320th position when a user typed Suffolk Hotel into their computer. By building links from relevant, high page rank websites using the term Suffolk Hotel as an anchor text, we can get search engines to begin to equate the words ‘Suffolk Hotel’ to Milsom Hotels and Restaurants (Search Term rankings detailed below).

In February, Milsom Hotels and Restaurants were appearing past page 5 in 23 of their 32 primary search terms. In 3 months, Standout have brought all of the primary search terms within 5 search result pages, within the first 50 search results. One search term was increased phenomenally from page 50 to page 4! To continue such an incredible progression in the discoverabilty of the site, we are now targeting the higher traffic search terms to further deliver greater quantities of interested traffic to both of Milsom Hotel’s key digital properties.

We have received a great response thus far, with Copella fans interacting with the brand on a daily basis. In May alone, our Facebook fanbase has increased by 78%!

Typically, the weekly resource for social networking interaction would be broken down to:

• Promoting and engaging consumers on Facebook – responding to queries etc. (Branded presence)
• Virally engaging disparate consumer fan groups on Facebook – using “real” (personal) accounts to direct existing fans to join the official branded fan page.
• Facebook notification of new blog posts or articles of interest on the central digital property, as a more direct drive to convert traffic
• Twitter (tweet) posting, and replying to ‘@‘ mentions/queries from consumers.
• Searching Twitter for Copella and engaging consumers who have mentioned the brand.
• Submit articles about Copella to Digg and Reddit, and comment on articles regularly to increase their popularity.
• Comment on YouTube videos promoting the Copella brand or products to increase views and subsequently increase its popularity.
• Searching out blogs that mention Copella and leave comments as ‘personal’ users to direct traffic to the Facebook page/Twitter account (not-direct)
• This is typically broken down into 50 minutes a day to facilitate a quick turnaround time in responding to queries from consumers. All online interaction is recorded for Copella to ensure transparency in the digital marketing and online presence of the brand and product. This allow us to monitor the presence and effectiveness of input in different social interfaces and online properties. We also provide an outline of content within our full digital strategy document, this ties in any offline promotions that are happening simultaneously.

We also provide a monthly report on social networking actions, events and discussions.

Great food imagery is imperative for any business or organisation dealing in food, whether that is the UK’s finest Luxury Hotel or a national wholesaler of menu ingredients.

For further information about food photography and photoshoots please contact us: www.standoutuk.com/contact-us/