Banter Marketing Appoints First PR Director

Chris Mitchell appointed to grow PR division as part of company’s integrated marketing strategy

Banter Marketing, a new London based marketing agency, has appointed Chris Mitchell to the role of PR Director.

Chris, who joins Banter Marketing from The Media Foundry, will be responsible for growing Banter’s PR division, as well as developing and implementing PR strategies for the company’s current clients.

Commenting on the appointment, Banter Marketing’s Managing Director, Richard Dean said: “Chris is an experienced PR practitioner, having worked for leading agencies in both London and Leeds. He has valuable experience of both B2B and B2C PR for some of the country’s biggest companies such as E.ON and I am delighted to welcome him to our growing team.

“In addition, Chris also has an MSc in Management and Marketing from Nottingham Business School and is a former broadcast journalist with great industry contacts. As such, I am sure he will be instrumental in helping the company as a whole grow further in 2012.”

The new appointment is part of Banter Marketing’s strategic approach to marketing and communications that will set it apart from its industry competitors. The approach will include PR as an essential part of the marketing mix, something the company considers to be currently overlooked by many marketing agencies.

Richard adds: “I have been surprised by the lack of a fully integrated approach between marketing and PR activity. PR can sometimes be considered an add on to marketing campaigns rather than being considered an essential part of marketing.

“Often, this results in companies employing a marketing agency and a PR agency which costs both time and money, something many companies can ill afford in today’s economic environment. Our aim is that our fully integrated approach to all aspects of marketing communications will enable to provide excellent marketing support for our clients and help us stand out from our competitors.”

A year and counting… So 365 days of Banter Marketing. What a busy twelve months…

What have we been up to I hear you mumble? Well a lot has happened since Banter Marketing was being planned in a bedroom and projects were being developed with Match of the Day on in the background.

So for those who may have blinked and missed it all here’s a quick recap of some our highlights. Over the last 52 weeks we have:

• Created our brand
• Set up our social media
• Won our first client
• Run our first campaign
• Launched our website
• Wrote our first blog
• Won an international client
• Gathered some great feedback
• Hired our first employee

And it’s all made worthwhile it when we get great feedback from our clients…

And there is lots more exciting stuff in the pipeline, the next year promises more, way more. So with some interesting new clients in the pipeline, some exciting partnerships and further expansion it plans to be an exciting twelve months, so stay tuned or even better get involved and let us taking your marketing to the next level.

What to know more? Simple, send me a message and we’ll take it from there. Or why not stay in touch and get following us on Twitter?!

We love to hear your thoughts about different marketing challenges, channels and technologies. Nothing’s better than a bit of discussion to keep us on your toes. And that’s why we always have a survey on our homepage to collect feedback and explore ideas.

As we have just uploaded a new poll, about your thoughts on Google+ for business, we thought we’d update you on some of our recent surveys. Apart from several of our managing directors friends using the comments box to ask him for beers, we gathered some interesting results.

What are your biggest marketing challenges over the next 6 months?

No surprise here, it’s all about qualified leads. Leads are essential to any business but in the current economic climate generating quality leads is even more important, ensuring your sales teams can be as effective as possible and drive revenue. Having a pipeline of qualified leads also enables management to have a clearer idea of their financials which enables better strategic planning.

It’s interesting that media presence is still viewed in such high regard with the recent the integrity issues exposed in the Leveson Enquiry. But good press will continue to carry weight amongst prospects and brands will always strive to get in the right publications.

With social media being seen as lower challenge does this mean companies are finally getting to grips with it?

What social networks does your business use?

Twitter and Linkedin, neck and neck, both equally popular. Followed
by Facebook and then sites including Flickr, YouTube and Google+.

What comes across in from the comments is the very different business uses people are using their social media channels for, with the most effective strategies utilising two or three networks.

Get in touch to suggest questions for future polls. And stay up-to-date with all our marketing banter on Twitter or Linkedin.

And remember to let us know your thoughts on Google+ on our homepage.

Go on, be greedy.

Remember that great competition we mentioned a few weeks ago? Yeah that’s right, the one from that innovative property charity 3Space – yup the “High Street Hijack” – well they’ve announced the winner!

Big congratulations to music charity Rhythmix. Their idea for pop-up music venue in Gravesend won the close ran competition. You can find out more about the winners, their idea and the project here.

We’re already big fans of the work 3Space do and we are sure you’ll be. If you want to find our more, show your support or know a charity that could benefit, get involved and click on the links below:

• Website: www.3space.org
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/3Spaceorg
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/3Space
• Contact: info@3space.org

Banter Marketing loves a great idea. And it’s even better when the good idea benefits charities and local communities.

We are already big fans of the work 3Space do and their mission “for all empty property to be recognised as an available resource that can deliver immediate social benefits and be a catalyst for longer term regeneration”.

And that’s why when we heard about their High Street Hijack competition we had to get involved and help out.

So what’s High Street Hijack? Well it’s a competition to reward charitable organisations who can come up with innovative and creative ideas for how they can temporarily occupy these empty spaces. Yes, that’s right, they’re looking for charity pop-ups, community projects or anything else that is centred on the occupation of one of their empty units.

And the winner will get…  FREE use of an empty retail unit and they’ll also receive up to £1,500 to help them pull off something that is not only  truly memorable but that will also be of a real benefit to the surrounding community and their organisation.

How great does that sound? If you know of a charity that could benefit from this great competition have a look here or get in touch by email.

If you’d like more information about the excellent charitable work 3Space do, you can find out more on their website, or even better show your support by following them on Twitter or Facebook.