Dominion Acquisitions realises that to be a success is not always to be a success individually. In fact, most of the times we achieve our successes as part of a team. Dominion Acquisitions looks at the secrets of a successful team.

Dominion Acquisitions We are all part of teams. Our family is a team. Our place of work is a team. The community groups we belong to are teams. Sometimes we are the team leader or “coach,” while other times we fulfil the role of follower, or “player.” It is so important then for us to understand teams and how they work, especially those who achieve success – the achievement of their desired goal.

At Dominion Acquisitions we appreciate that we are only as successful as the team we create, principles that Dominion Acquisitions implement on a regular basis have transformed a mediocre team into an outstanding one! These principles can be applied to your family, your business, your organization, and yes, your sports team. Enjoy.
Communication Leader

The leader needs to communicate the vision. If they are setting the pace, they need to let people know where they are going so that the team can follow. The Coach always does a pre-game talk, laying out the vision.

The leader communicates the vision frequently, so as to always be updating the team as to where they are at and what changes need to be made. The coach doesn’t relegate the direction he gives to the pre-game, he coaches and communicates all the way through the game.

Team
Watch a good basketball team. They are talking to each other all of the time. Helping one another out, encouraging one another, praising one another, and telling each other how they can make changes so the same mistakes aren’t made again. The same is true of successful teams in the professional world and in life in general.

Excellence
Truly great teams are teams that are committed to excellence. In everything they do, their goal is to achieve at the highest level. And this commitment is held throughout the team and at every level. A successful team cannot have members who are not committed to excellence because in the end they will become the weak link.

Followership
The secret to getting things done lies not only in great leadership, but in how well the rest of the people, 99% of the team, follow the leadership. Good teams are filled with people who are committed to following and getting the job done.

Understanding Roles
Every team works best when the members of the team have clearly defined and understood roles. Some do one thing, others do another. One isn’t better or more important than the other, just different. When teams operate out of their strengths and their roles, they win.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Every team member has strengths and weaknesses. The successful teams are those who on a regular and consistent basis enable the members to operate out of their strengths and not out of their weaknesses. And what is one person’s strengths will cover another’s weakness. This is teamwork, enabling all of the bases to be covered.

Fun
The team that plays together stays together. Is your team all work and no play? If you’re smart, that will change. Get your team out of the office once a month and go have some fun enjoy one another. Enjoy life. It will bring a sense of bonding that can’t be made even in “winning.”

Common Goals and Vision
These need to have three aspects. Short, simple and clear.Can you say it in less than 30 seconds? Is it simple? Can you and others understand it? Does the team all know what they are working together for?

Appreciation
All through the “game,” successful teams appreciate one another and show it in a variety of ways. The coach shows it to the players, the players show it to the coach, and the players show it to one another.

Dominion Acquisitions implements “Successful Teams” Checklist each day to ensure success
• Is there communication between coach and players and from player to player?
• Is your team committed to excellence?
• Do those on the team know what it means to follow?
• Does everyone on my team know their specific role?
• Do the individuals on our team regularly operate out of their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses?
• Does our team take a break from time to time to just have fun together?
• Do we understand our common goals and vision
• Is there a sense of and communication of genuine appreciation among my team?
At dominion Acquisitions our team is truly important to us, a happy team is a successful team, and by following these simple guidelines we ensured we were hitting our goals and aspirations.

The Share Centre’s Search campaign witnesses an increase of 475 per cent in new accounts opened.

Social Media and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has become embedded in mainstream internet experience and, increasingly, business marketing strategies within the financial services industry. The Share Centre – one of the UK’s leading retail stockbrokers – has proved this to be evident and highly effective with results revealing the company has witnessed an increase of 475 per cent in new accounts opened since its campaign began in 2008.

To achieve these results, The Share Centre appointed SiteVisibility – a leading integrated search, social media and SEO company – to improve its search rankings for a range of highly competitive finance sector keyword terms back in 2007.

Using its THEME™ integrated search strategy model, SiteVisibility was tasked with improving The Share Centre’s search rankings for a range of highly competitive finance sector keyword terms. This was achieved by targeting audiences and increasing the efficiency of the paid search campaign.

Since the campaign began in 2008, results now show an increase in search traffic of 810 per cent; an increase in practice accounts opened of 667 per cent; a 38 per cent increase in non-branded organic search traffic and a 33 per cent increase in website page views.

Jason Woodford, SiteVisibility CEO comments: “I’m not at all surprised that The Share Centre has increased its revenue by 30% in the past three-years. They are an ambitious business and we’ve been able to position them as the leading players in their market online.”

Guy Knight, Sales & Marketing Director, The Share Centre comments: “Since we have been working SiteVisibility, search traffic has increased by 810%. Their ability to be agile with campaign tactics, working with our Marketing and in-house Technical teams has been key to the success. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend SiteVisibility as a results-driven Search Agency.”

Woodford adds: “SEO for the financial sector can be extremely complex and time consuming due to the need for compliance approvals in an already competitive online marketplace. However, the long term SEO and PPC investment by the Share Centre is paying off; I think the SEO results we’ve achieved speak for themselves and it’s always a pleasure to play a part in the growing success of a client.”

Founded in 1990 to offer consumers an alternative to the complex world of investing, the Share Centre has developed a reputation as being a leader for quality investment advice, plain speaking, and fair value for consumers looking to invest in a wide variety of products and services, including stocks, shares and pensions and ISAs.

About Sitevisibility:
SiteVisibility is a leading SEO, Paid and Social Media Marketing agency based in Brighton and London.
It promotes clients from a range of sectors including travel; publishing; hotels & hospitality; financial services; gambling; business; sport & leisure and large multi-national brands and companies.
SiteVisibility is behind the most popular internet marketing podcast in the English speaking world downloaded by a million people globally as well as organising Brighton SEO which is the UK’s most popular free conference for Search Marketers.

Media Enquiries:
For further information/images or interviews then please contact:
Craig Peters
Osprey PR
craig@ospreypr.com
0844 826 3136

As more and more independent manufacturing firms strive for methods to compete against foreign competition, the internet has become a key area for British business to fight back. My Workwear have been selling online for over seven years and has enjoyed huge growth as a result. E-commerce sales at the Shropshire based company have now grown to over 75% of total turnover.

Many small businesses have used the internet to fight back against the big organisations, but the key has been to be involved in the marketplace during the early stages. Managing Director James Worthington pointed to the fact that competition was limited in the early days, ‘Many of the large corporate companies were slow to see the potential of the online marketplace and lacked focus’. During this period My Workwear were able to expand and offer customers a complete range of online services.

Mr Worthington then went on to point out how he sees entering e-commerce now as a completely different proposition, ‘ I feel it would be much harder to be a newcomer into the market now, as competition has increased and customers have far higher expectations’. The arrival of broadband has also changed the landscape online, with customers able to place orders swiftly and enjoy a pleasant shopping experience.

As growth took place, the work clothes manufacturer increased both the number of product lines and choice of services provided to cater for every customer need. This has resulted in the offer of over 2000 products, embroidery, heat transfers and a unique logo design service. ‘Customers expect all these services now and this adds to the challenges and risks of a new business entering the market’, Mr Worthington added.

Providing high standards of customer service is another essential ingredient to building the business and the workwear company enjoy a 10% repeat business rate. This also provides growth as the customer database increases year on year. It is also crucial that any growth is managed and completion times remain fast. Current turnaround for all embroidery orders stands at just seven to ten days.

Despite growth, My workwear remain a family orientated business with a personal service they believe gives them an advantage over more corporate competitors. ‘Every customer is personal and important to us, no one can compete for service with an owner lead business’, Mr Worthington explained. Indeed, his father Mike Worthington has been involved at the head of the business for over thirty years.

A 1950s concrete office building in Southampton city centre, formerly occupied by Lloyds Bank, will be demolished to make way for a new multi-million-pound 84-bedroom hotel, built by budget hotel group Travelodge.

The new hotel promises to bring twenty jobs to the city, the majority of which will be offered to the long-term unemployed through the job centre in Southampton. The hotel is expected to open early next year.

Dan Tanner, managing director of local sales and marketing firm Gateway Hampshire commented, saying, “It’s a really good thing for the city, especially in this economic climate. Any enterprise that provides new employment is very welcome.”

There is still a shortage of rooms in the city, despite a number of new hotels opening in the city centre in recent years, according to Travelodge bosses, who are on the hunt for further sites in the city.

The company already operates a hotel in Lodge Road in Southampton, and is preparing to open another opposite Eastleigh railway station. CHG Developments, the owners of the Castle Way property, which has been vacant for some time, signed an undisclosed deal for the site with Travelodge after Lloyds vacated the building.

“CHG Development Ltd has developed five Travelodge hotels for us across the south of England, and we are delighted to have agreed another deal with them,” said Tony O’Brien, UK development director for Travelodge. Mr. Tanner from Gateway Hampshire noted that the hotels would not only provide employment locally, but also increase tourism, which supports the local economy.

“Southampton has a clear lack of hotel rooms, so we are delighted to have secured a great location for our second central hotel,” commented Steve Tyler, development manager for Travelodge Hotels, “We have not yet fulfilled our requirement in Southampton, however, and are actively looking for another site near the ferry terminal.”

Council leader Royston Smith welcomed the news, saying: “It’s the private sector investing to create more jobs in the city to fill the void created by the public sector, which has got to be a good thing.” Mr. Tanner from Gateway Hampshire commented that projects like this also contribute to the rejuvenation of the city centre, which is always a positive move.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/district/southampton/9515876.Budget_hotel_group_unveils_city_vision/

The case for a Thames Estuary airport is to be put under the spotlight by a powerful group of business chiefs and council leaders.

The South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) is to commission a major study into airports in the region. The study will consider “the optimum location for a potential hub airport” in the area.

The LEP is a group of business and council representatives which is set up by the government in order to steer job creation and boost investment in the region. It has identified the Thames Gateway as a key area for its aim of helping create 113,000 jobs in North Kent and south Essex over the next 20 years.

Managing Director of Gateway Kent commented, saying “If these plans get the go ahead, the airport is set to be possibly the largest airport in the world – a great accomplishment for such a small country – compared to countries as large as USA and China. Creating 113,000 jobs is an added bonus”

Both Kent County Council and Medway council are represented on the LEP and their opposition to airport plans for north Kent are well known. Some business leaders, however, are supportive of the idea because of its potential to create thousands of jobs.

The LEP’s study could be influential in making the case for or against the plans for a new hub airport and is likely to be a major contribution to the government’s consultation around the issue. As well as the proposals for a new airport, the study will also focus on how best to increase capacity around the existing airports over the next decade.

Managing Director of Gateway Kent continued, “With the large number jobs that are to be created I can’t see why anyone would be against it, especially with the economy the way it is currently.”

In a four-page statement on the study, the LEP says unless something is done to improve capacity, businesses will relocate from the south east to northern Europe.

“Already London Heathrow is losing routes to European competitors due to the overcrowding.”

The comment echoes the arguments put forward by London Mayor Boris Johnson in advancing his case for an airport in the Thames Estuary.

A Medway Council spokesman said: “Medway welcomes the LEP study on airport capacity in the South East. We are not in the least bit convinced of the need for a new hub airport as promoted by Boris Johnson or Sir Norman Foster.

The study will see what capacity we already have available and how that can be better joined up rather than look at pie in the sky ideas, which are unlikely to ever see the light of day.”

A source from Gateway Kent said, “Gateway Kent is an ambitious, dedicated sales and marketing company. Our commitment to our existing clients as well as our continued efforts to diversify our portfolio have set us as a market leader in outsourced direct sales and marketing therefore expansion is a far from a pie in the sky idea from us, we will continue to grow.”

Email marketing specialist, Inbox Insight, recently conducted a survey to an audience of 175 directors, MD’s and marketing decision makers regarding their organisations current and future lead generation strategies.

Results compiled by Inbox Insight reveal that 61% of organisations surveyed currently have a lead generation strategy in place, however although there is a clear appetite for lead generation, when asked, 33% of the respondents do not think they are using it effectively. Despite a third of respondents stating they would spend more on lead generation this year, the survey revealed a lack of understanding among them regarding the definition of lead generation. The majority (73%) said they would define it as customer generation, whilst 61% said they would define it as database building. Other responses include prospecting (52%), nurturing (28%) and subscriber generation (24%).

There are many tactical methods for lead generation, but a huge 77% of respondents asked said that they utilise their website for lead generation, whilst 64% use email marketing. Other avenues include social media (53%), whitepapers and guides (17%), events (57%) and direct marketing (49%). Although the majority of respondents use email marketing for lead generation, when asked which avenues they thought were most effective, 46% said events and 39% stated email marketing. The less popular choices were webinars (11%) and interactive tools (5%).

Emma Wootton-Woolley, Creative Director at Inbox Insight commented: “Organisations are beginning to see the importance of lead generation and are utilising different methods to find which avenue is most effective for them. Email marketing provides a low cost way to generate high quality opt-in leads making this is a popular channel within an organisation’s lead generation strategy.”

When looking at lead generation patterns and budgets in 2011, exactly one third of respondents spent up to 10% of their marketing spend on lead generation, and 16% spent up to 20%. A huge 25% spent over 50% of their marketing budget on lead generation, with 32% looking to spend the same in 2012 as they did in 2011. With 80% of respondents agreeing lead generation is a valuable tool for increasing their customer base, and 58% having success targeting specific markets with their messages, a successfully implemented lead generation strategy can be a great way of bringing in new and relevant business to your organisation.

Direct Marketing is growing rapidly in a time of economic turmoil and it’s fair to say that direct marketing is one of the current engines of economic growth.

Spending on direct marketing grew at a 5.6 per cent clip to £163 billion in 2011 and now accounts for 52.1 percent of total advertising spending in the United Kingdom. This share has increased steadily over the past five years, a trend expected to continue through 2016

Dominion Acquisitions understands that direct marketing is an effective marketing tool which business owners should deploy as part of their everyday marketing activity. It is one of the most effective ways a small business can acquire new customers, retain existing customers and or increase the revenue potential of an existing base of customer.

Direct Marketing is where direct contact is made, initiated or invited between a seller of propositions and services, and its current and potential customers.

It is important that the results of a direct marketing activity could be directly measured to assess the intended or the actual financial return on a direct marketing investment.

In other words, a small business owner or an SME marketer should be able to exploit a relationship between a small business and their prospect or customer as individuals.

One better way to understand the difference in simplistic terms is to see the difference in mass advertising versus direct marketing.

Dominion Acquisitions guides us through the variants:

Key differences between mass advertising vs. direct marketing

• Breadth of coverage versus a depth of relationship building potential
• Communicated to the mass versus a targeted audience
• Attention of all including competitors versus a targeted selective attention of intended customers
• Elicits recall or remembrance versus direct response
• Generates a customer’s functional or emotional impression versus leading to or making a decision
• In mass advertising you pay for the universe of potential customers versus paying for a targeted and segmented cluster of customers

What are the tactics to execute direct marketing activities?

• Direct mail
• Direct response advertising (including infomercials and teleshopping)
• Personal selling
• Telemarketing

The potential advantages of direct marketing, include:

Customer experience

• First and foremost, direct marketing has the capability for small business owners and SME marketers to give customers a better experience than mass marketing.
• Deeper customer relationships
• Direct marketing has the capability for small business owners and SME marketers to build deep relationships and segregate their customers as individuals.
• Direct marketing has the potential to build continuing relationship with an existing customer. This is possible because the small business owner or SME marketer would be able to maintain and manage a customer database capturing all relevant information of a customer (For comparison, try to imagine the information or rather the lack of it on “walk in” customers in a retail environment).

Test marketing capability

• Direct marketing enables the small business owner and SME marketer to test market and measure as to what works and what does not work.
• Flexibility and predictability
• Direct marketing enables small business owners and SME marketers’ better flexibility to manage and control their costs.
• Direct marketing offers an opportunity for small business owners and SME marketers’ better ability to predict the outcomes of a campaign.
• Higher customer motivation to respond
• Direct marketing has a higher preponderance for customers to be motivated to respond
• Enables customer segmentation  Direct marketing enables the small business owner or SME marketer to better segment or cluster their customers.

There are always areas of potential negativity, we have listed the following, which if avoided will ensure that you use direct sales to your advantage.

What are the disadvantages of direct marketing?
Small business owners and SME marketers should be aware that if their direct marketing strategies are wrongly or poorly executed, then it could have tremendous negative consequences for the small business.
Bad or poor image

• Junk mail, annoying telemarketers and intrusive direct sales folks have given direct marketing tactics a bad image. Inaccurate targeting
• Having the wrong mailing lists that not only becomes a financial disaster for the small business but can increase the annoyance factor of their potential customers.
• Emotional stimuli (or rather lack of it)
• Direct marketing is too direct and does not have the potential to create the stimuli to invoke an emotional response from a potential buyer.

After evaluating the positives and negatives of Direct Marketing it is clear to Dominion Acquisitions that the pros far outweigh the cons, and that it is obvious why Direct marketing is responsible for the only economic growth in the UK, and so in this difficult financial time will definitely be investing in a cost effective no win no fee return.

Marketing roadshow specialist Event Marketing Solutions (EMS) has made a key new senior appointment after celebrating a record business year.

EMS has appointed Alex Saxton as Group Account Director, as part of a long term plan to provide additional strategic support and direction to the account handling team, who are managing an increased number of clients.

He joins EMS with 16 years’ experience in marketing services, primarily in London, working for some of the sector’s biggest players, including Momentum, McCann Erickson, KLP and Saatchi & Saatchi. Alex will work with the Senior Account Management team to support the development of incremental work from existing and former customers, contributing insight and strategy.

Alex said: “I’m really looking forward to being part of the team. EMS has outperformed the market over the last couple of years and has some exciting growth plans. My brief is to ensure the roadshow service is pitched, presented, delivered and evaluated as an integral part of the clients’ marketing mix.” EMS Client Services Directors, Justin Isles commented: “I am delighted to welcome Alex on board. He brings with him a wealth of experience in the marketing arena. The company has some ambitious targets for 2012/13 and I believe Alex will play an important role in achieving those. I am delighted that we are in a position to bring his talents to EMS as we drive the business forward.”

Like EMS, Alex’s communication and marketing experience spans multiple sectors from mobile telecoms to FMCG and retail to finance. He has worked with leading brands such as Virgin Media, O2 Telefonica, Coca Cola, London 2012, Umbro, Visa Europe and General Motors. Ends/

A new website / blog submission tool has launched for the Apple iPad and iPhone.

SEO URL Ping allows content owners to submit, or ping, their new content to a variety of Blog Aggregators and Search Providers, to help ensure that their new copy is seen as quickly as possible.

Services the app will send to:
Google, Yahoo!, Yandex, FeedBurner, Ping-o-Matic, youdao, Technorati, blo.gs, Twingly, livedoor, NewsGator, FC2, Weblogs, BlogPeople, Syndic8, PubSub, Blogs Now, Moreover, Blogdigger, PingMyBlog.

Use of the app is very straightforward… enter a URL and Title and click Go.

The launch marks the latest in a series of Search Engine Optimisation aids for iOS, written by Cheshire (UK) based programmer Mike Iriving.

Other apps launched by Mike include the iTunes AppStore Featured Website SEO Checks, CMS Detect and Keyword Density.

Digital marketing agency and video production company Blue Chew Digital has recently appointed Melanie Roberts as Commercial Manager. Melanie is a graduate in Psychology and philosophy from Manchester University, England. She has worked for over 20 years in the media industry in a variety of roles, including print and online sales to industries such as electronics, hospitality and the consumer software industry.

Melanie was part of a team who successfully launched Carat Business specialising in business and technology press scheduling and buying. Melanie launched her first business offering recruitment and training consultancy services to the media industry. Sales Associates Ltd. became a recognised brand with an enviable client list and healthy profit margins. It was amongst the first companies to service the online sector whilst retaining classic business systems. After selling the recruitment arm of the business in she launched Behind the Lines as a training and business consultancy. Clients have included, The Independent, The Register, Trinity Mirror Digital, Kanatr Media, Grayling PR and Lovefilm.com.

Melanie has moved to become Commercial Manager of Blue Chew Digital Media where she had been acting as a business consultant after their success at the West Kent Business Excellence awards where they were delighted to be recognized for their business strategy to add to their creative accolades.