What We're Thinking
What We’re Thinking
Where’s the “me” in my company’s marketing messages?
Guest blogger Barry Borington, CEO & thought leader, explains how CEO’s can help their marketing teams manage the message.
Agile marketing #Hackpacks: built by us for agile curious marketers
Curious about agile marketing but not sure about jumping right in? Relax. We built #hackpacks for ya 😉
#Buildbackbetter: looking ahead has never felt more exciting
Let’s face it, keeping the lights on and staying in business has been no day at the beach these past couple of years. Those of us still here are the ones that dug their heels in, changed formation and did all we could to just stay in the game. Why did we do that?
What if Digital Marketing was your Christmas Dinner?
Deck the halls and all of that, Christmas is coming! If I have two passions in life they’re food and marketing, so I’ve decided it’s time to definitively answer the (probably seldom-asked) question that’s (definitely not) on everybody’s minds this December: “If Digital Marketing was your Christmas Dinner, which part of the marketing mix would […]
Guide to copywriting
What is copywriting? Copywriting is the art of writing a piece of content that sells your product by convincing prospective customers to take a specific action. A digital marketing copywriter will generally write a piece for a wide audience through emails, social posts and blogs. Most copywriting is done on website pages to help with […]
Beginner’s guide to SEO – Part 3: Spreadsheet step guide
Beginner’s guide to SEO – Part 3: Spreadsheet step guide This is the final part of the “Beginner’s guide to SEO” series. The series has covered what SEO is and how to use SEO tools like Semrush to obtain and download a list of relevant keywords. In this final part, I’ll show you how to […]
Beginner’s guide to SEO – Part 2: Semrush Keyword research
Beginner’s guide to SEO – Part 2: Semrush Keyword research This second part of the “Beginner’s guide to SEO” series which uncovers what SEO is and how you can use it to optimise your website. In this part, I’ll show you how I used an SEO tool called Semrush to help optimise this very guide […]
Beginner’s guide to SEO – Part 1: What is SEO?
Beginner’s guide to SEO – Part 1: What is SEO? Hello, my name is Ayo and I am the Marketing Project Coordinator for Now Communications. In my first few weeks with the company, I’ve learned about various SEO tools and techniques. This series will teach you about what SEO is and what tools you can […]
4 things to consider Before starting Account Based Marketing
4 things to consider before starting Account Based Marketing In today’s increasingly competitive and disrupted market, more and more businesses are turning to one of the most successful B2B marketing strategies: Account-Based Marketing (ABM). ABM is a collaborative growth strategy that gets marketing and sales teams working together to deliver tailored buying experiences to […]
Why should B2B businesses advertise? Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. What value does each one bring?
B2B marketers know that LinkedIn is the top advertising platform in the industry. We branched out to learn what Twitter and Facebook bring to the table
Why should B2B businesses use Twitter advertising to reinforce core brand messages?
We explore why B2B businesses should use Twitter advertising in conjunction with their primary lead generator.
Become a B2B Facebook advertising superstar in 10 steps
Become a B2B Facebook advertising superstar in 10 steps In many ways, Facebook is still considered a leisure social network for casual after-work activity like connecting with friends, finding interesting news and, of course, checking out the next viral cat video. So Facebook must not suit the B2B market: right? Wrong! According to a 2020 […]
B2B marketing: Let’s #keepitreal in 2021
If you just released a new company white paper, insights or data then that is undoubtedly super important and most welcome, but in the world we live in right now, it’s probably not “the moment we’ve all been waiting for” or “the only thing we need to read this month”. We’ve always thought that marketing […]
Lockdown lifesavers: four positives to pick you up this week
It’s pretty hard to see the positives in weeks like this. We’re bracing ourselves for what looks like the most stringent lockdown so far and even the most resilient of us are dog tired with all the “bouncing back” the new “work-from-home” normal demands. So it’s OK to feel fed-up. It’s OK to be despondent, and […]
Why social selling and account-based marketing (ABM) is our answer to thriving post-Covid
Why social selling and account-based marketing (ABM) is our answer to thriving post-Covid The pandemic has shaken the business world to the core – a whirlwind of restrictions, increasingly changing markets, and an accelerated shift to remote working have all driven marketing teams around the world to pivot and transform how they operate. In the […]
The 3 easy steps To getting started on LinkedIn Campaign Manager
The 3 easy steps to getting started on LinkedIn Campaign Manager Paid advertising on LinkedIn should be in every B2B business’ marketing arsenal because of the flexible audience builder that allows businesses to target very specific audiences that would otherwise be out of reach. Here’s how to get started on Campaign Manager. In LinkedIn Campaign […]
Don’t rush into paid ads! Boost your organic reach on LinkedIn first
Don’t rush into paid ads! Boost your organic reach on LinkedIn first Last time, we launched the first blog entry in the Social Savvy B2B series on how social-savvy B2B businesses should leverage social media networks to flourish. This time, we’ll examine organic reach opportunities on LinkedIn before looking at how to create paid ads […]
B2B businesses: accelerate your sales cycle with social selling
B2B businesses: accelerate your sales cycle with social selling If you’re trying to keep sales numbers up for your B2B business: listen up. With face-to-face networking opportunities declining, we need to sit down and rethink our sales strategies to answer that all-important question: What is the best way of securing quality leads online to rival […]
What can marketers do to support social selling?
What can marketers do to support social selling? Back in the Spring, at the start of lockdown, we rethought almost every marketing service we provide at Now|Comms. We’re an agile B2B marketing business so change is in our DNA. But when circumstances are as volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous as they are now, being agile […]
What B2B tech companies should do on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter and why
What B2B tech companies should do on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter and why In the B2B marketing world, LinkedIn is almost the must-have priority for top-of-the-funnel (education-driven) leads because that’s where businesses connect with other businesses. But, in 2021, is LinkedIn really still king? According to Statista’s 2020 report, a whopping 46% of B2B marketers […]
L&D services companies need marketing websites that educate less and sell more
If you build a great looking eLearning marketing site, customers and prospects will just flock to it, right?
What’s Step Two of One Step Marketing?
For all the businesses that have taken their first step to pivoting into the world of digital selling: what comes next?
Are you winning new business post lockdown?
How do you keep the new biz pipeline moving when all your expos and trade shows are cancelled? We’re almost six months post lockdown and it’s pretty clear that everyone is more or less adjusted to the new normal. Aside from working from home, the biggest change B2B marketing people have noticed is the lack […]
eLearning companies in mainland Europe are back in business, and business is looking quite good.
Lots of our clients in the eLearning, HR, and L&D industries are pretty nervous at the moment. As organisations cut back on spending, many companies are wondering if they can survive the current Covid-19 pandemic. And if they think they can survive, then they’re certainly wondering what they should do now to plan for whatever’s […]
We’re the creative media business of the year
Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger: you can keep your Oscars! This weekend, down at London’s Twickenham Stadium the bright folks from West London Business named us Creative Media Business of the Year. Why us? Well from what we heard at the after-party, bagging the Creative Media Business of the Year award came down to […]
Let’s work together! How NowComms’ agile marketing gets stuff done
NowComms’ agile marketing: how we deliver brilliant and effective marketing campaigns Our secret? Collaboration is key! Let’s call a spade a spade: There’s no get-rich-quick scheme when it comes to marketing, nor should you take any ‘get customers in five easy steps’ fad seriously. So why on earth would anyone bring the same cookie-cutter approach […]
Why do so many marketing directors green light tosh?
Sometimes marketers can be their own worst enemies don’t you think? Too often, it feels like all we produce is just cheap smoke and mirrors baloney that over promises and under delivers. As marketers, we’re as guilty as anyone here. We know it’s tosh, our clients know it’s tosh, and when no one cares enough […]
Everything about the digital ID & cybersecurity business has changed…except marketing
It’s pretty stressy being a B2B marketing agency in the digital identity industry.
How to re-energize your jetlagged workforce
We‘ve all enjoyed the bank holiday weekend and the heatwave passing through the UK, but now how do you get your workforce back into work mode? After the alarm clock has been switched off for a few days it can be hard to get back in the zone. Get your workforce thinking it’s business as usual, using our handy tips.
This AdWords tactic is sure to increase the exposure of your online ads BUT at what cost?
Appearing on the first page of your potential client’s Google search is crucial for any marketing department. So should you be adopting underhanded tactics to get more eyeballs on your site?
10 key marketing phrases to wrap your noggin around
Hi there, I’m Tommy the intern at Now|Comms. I’ve been here for a week now and I’ve uncovered so many useful and interesting new things.
Quiet Please! How do sponsors ever make a racket in a tennis tournament that bans branding?
Whether it’s the FA Cup or Formula 1, watching archive footage of almost any major sporting event brings one thing to the fore for people like us: The impact of sponsorship and marketing has transformed the game… except that is, down at SW19. While logos and branding have popped up on the shirts, the turf, […]
Most exhibitors at Festival of Work aren’t doing the clever marketing stuff
Over 300 companies are exhibiting at Festival of Work this week, but only two of them are using UTM tracking
Thames Barrier Bridge Website
We’ve enjoyed building a simple one-page website for the exciting concept of a beautiful pedestrian and cycle Thames Barrier Bridge.
Here at Now|Comms we say we deliver evidential marketing, here’s why.
Hans Rosling’s bestseller Factfulness gives us ten reasons we are wrong about the world.
Is audio marketing replacing written and visual content marketing?
Are you a good listener? A lot of people seem to be, as the audio industry has seen sales steadily rise in recent years. Audiobooks and podcasts have witnessed a 21.5% growth from 2016 to 2018.
Do all businesses need brand guidelines? Three things you should know.
Even if you are a start-up or an SME, developing a set of brand guidelines doesn’t restrict your choices. It actually gives your creative team the freedom to develop projects based on your brand’s identity.
The Learning Technologies Exhibition 2019 Showcased Some of the Latest Advancements in Gamification
Gamification wasn’t hard to come by at the Learning Technologies exhibition this year. Everywhere you turned there was an exciting game that lured attendees to exhibitors’ stands. Different forms of gamification were on full display. Leo set up a train game simulation for attendees. Unicorn drew in crowds with their QuizCom product where attendees took the unicorn-themed […]
What You Missed From the DPWF Trade Show.
The first Data Protection World Forum (DPWF) trade show was a two-day affair (20th & 21st November). The event offered attendees seminars talks, business exposure and a valuable insight into GDPR.
Small business marketing: Why do so many SMEs think word-of-mouth isn’t marketing?
We’re a B2B marketing agency based in Chiswick. We’re in one of these trendy workspace buildings where lots of SME’s and start-ups live. We’re all highly proactive social types, so we get talking with the neighbours quite a bit. Since we’re a B2B marketing company, many of these chats get onto the topic of marketing […]
look behind you Scooby! The GDPR marketing monster’s on our tail
We’ve been working with the country’s leading GDPR specialists to establish GDPR friendly marketing tactics that won’t scare the willies out of your customers and prospects. Here’s where we are with that? It seems pretty clear that many people in business (not just in marketing) have their head stuck in the sand when it comes to […]
Why “Fit” is so critical when choosing a B2B marketing agency
Having worked agency and client-side during my marketing career, I’ve seen a wide variety of briefs for agencies ranging from Financial PR and Annual Report provision through to consumer facing web design and exhibition stand builds. Yet despite the diversity of the projects – in terms of budgets, deliverables and the profiles of client organisations, […]
Is your marketing department redundant?
Isn’t it exciting when all the rules change every day and no one’s really sure about what they should be doing anymore? We’ve noticed this in the B2B marketing we do recently. Maybe it’s not happening everywhere, but we’re pretty glad it’s happening on our patch. The defining lines between product development, B2B marketing and […]
Why we mothballed the Learning Technologies exit poll
The Learning Technologies exit poll quickly became one of our most popular campaigns, so why did we can it? We’ve had lots of people asking where the Learning Technologies Exit Poll is again this year. For eight years (until the 2018 show), we questioned LT’s visitors as they left the building, crunched all the numbers […]
B2B marketing analytics is easy when no one’s asking difficult questions
Our B2B marketing analytics models tell us that over the past 18 months, the average number of candidates nurtured through our content marketing programmes has shot up by over 25%. Traffic on the websites we manage and monitor is up and landing page conversions are delivering better qualified leads than ever. This is all great news: […]
Trustech 2017: Don’t throw all those hard won leads away.
Now Communication’s passion for helping customers market themselves better sent us along to Trustech 2017, one of the leading trade shows in the Security and ID sector.
5 and a half things to try after you’ve exhausted all your list blogging options
We’ve been addicted to lists ever since Moses published the “Top 10 things thou shalt or shalt not do” post, and for busy copywriters on multiple deadlines, they’ve been a Godsend ever since. Lists posts, or “listicles”, are the bloggers’ get out of jail card. They work because they promise something really specific in the headline: […]
Search Engine Optimisation is not all smoke and mirrors (although its industry might be)
How we got VOIP company Inclarity back in the top 10 with a little bit of search engine optimisation. Inclarity was once the top UK Company for VOIP solutions but, over the last couple of years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of competitors in the space. This, coupled with an out […]
Power of pre-suasion, or “telling it like it is in marketing”
If we told you that over 95% of our clients would recommend us to a friend or colleague, would you believe us? If we said “we’re a small creative B2B marketing agency that strives to innovate. Some people like our innovative ideas more than others and we know we’re not for everyone” is that easier […]
Don’t buy a WordPress theme until you’ve read this
We feel that prebuilt WordPress themes are what gives WordPress a bad name; with me-too identikit websites, user-unfriendly features like carousels and out-of-date components creating security vulnerabilities that the entire business has to carry the can for.
PHP Conference 2017 – Three Takeaways
NowComms coding genius Ben attended the annual PHP in London and bought back some nuggets of information. PHP, in case you were wondering, is a open source (everyone contributes) language used to build websites. Read on to discover the three key insights you can use to impress your coding friends.
What can the Oscars awards teach us about winning business awards?
What can the Oscars awards teach us about winning business awards? Benedict Cummberbatch, Nichole Kidman and Will Smith might make the business of award winning look easy, but as the marketers amongst us know too well, the media machines behind the big studios they work for have been beavering away for months to make sure […]
Say hello to #NoFluff marketing
It’s time for a good cause – the fast and free way Change has taken the world by storm and shaken the business world to the core. Now is the time for altruism to take centre stage and for profit to be put on the back burner. There’s no more time for contingency plans; it’s […]
Learning Technologies Exit Poll 2017
Look, up in the Hammersmith sky. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope… it’s a Growth Engineering Superhero! Assembling at #LT17UK to save the L&D industry from dull online learning, Growth Engineering’s mighty avengers win top five places in four of our most wanted #LTexitpoll categories this year. Welcome to the Learning Texhnologies […]
5 ground rules for B2B marketers planning for Learning Technologies
Hundreds of companies, promoting thousands of products and services. It’s a lot for the average L&D professional to take in during the annual Learning Technologies treasure hunt – so what is it that actually makes a great company or a new offer stand out from the crowd at Britain’s favourite L&D event? Over the past […]
Top 100 best websites in L&D (#LT17UK special edition)
Are the most visible exhibitors at next week’s Learning Technologies exhibition also the most visible companies on the the internet? Our special edition top 100 best websites in L&D chart serves up the answer. See the chart How’s it done? We’ve been using our analytical know-how to run the top 100 best websites in L&D […]
What a great 2016; see you in 2017
Thanks to everybody who helped make 2016 a great year for business. We’re pretty proud of our numbers!
Served web pages to 1,500,000 people (approx 5,000,000 page views).
Sold over £1.8 million on our eCommerce websites.
Helped over 50 Police orphans gain easier access to financial help.
Taught over 50 school children to code.
The new expanded Now Comms team are looking forward to working with you in 2017.
London’s illuminated river project sheds new light on our services
Isn’t it annoying when creative B2B marketing companies come up with fancy product & services names you don’t understand. Overall we try to avoid this, but a while ago we set up a web hosting service called “Enterprise Cluster”. It’s not a service most B2B marketing companies bother to offer. Frankly, we got fed up […]
100 best websites in Security & ID (the special Trustech edition)
Scouting the halls of #Trustech last year we couldn’t help but notice the sparse, barren area where you might expect a big shiny Gemalto stand to be. Whether it was a logistics screw up or a strategic decision to go basic we don’t know, but the scene got us wondering. In a world where senior decision […]
ICE 2017: 5 takeaways for trade show success
It’s just four months away and it’s the biggest gaming and gambling expo on the planet, so if your marketing game plan for ICE Totally Gaming 2017 is not underway yet, it’s time to get started. Specially created for B2B sports marketers keen to maximise ROI on the trade shows they attend, our 5 takeaways for […]
Why is Uber promoting services that don’t work?
Last month Uber generated world-scale, earth shattering publicity by putting driverless cars on the road in downtown Pittsburgh. They don’t work. They can’t even do a right turn at a junction. Uber passengers using these cars find themselves Uber Pooling. There’s a human driver at the front who takes the wheel every time the car’s […]
B2B sports marketing just got more competitive
New people. New goals. New start. Here at Now HQ we’ve kicked-off the new season with some impressive new signings. First up there’s new summer transfer signing Jack Jones. He’s the creative player we’ve been looking for to make sure the B2B products and services we promote in the 2016/17 season are delivered with all […]
3 things you have to learn after a week on work experience at NowComms.
You have to know these three important things if you want a career in B2B marketing
Can you replace bad sales people with great marketing?
This week, as we were deep in the midst of one of these sparkly presentations that B2B marketers tend to do for large clients, one particularly hard nosed business person in our audience piped up with an idea: “Couldn’t all of this marketing automation, analytics driven, demand generation stuff actually help us single out bad […]
The relationship between sales & marketing needs to change
Marketing Automation’s role is to navigate prospects through the sales pipeline and pass well qualified, high definition leads over to the sales team, but you can’t just bolt sophisticated web based demand generation tactics onto the existing sales process and expect things to work. The relationship between sales and marketing needs to change. Change 1 […]
Will’s Website Wisdom: Shakey’s top 5 tips list for B2B marketers
“What a piece of work is a website” – William Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 1: We’re slap bang in the middle of a client meeting earlier this month when the business development expert in the room starts quoting Shakespeare. He’s not trying to show off and go all Patrick Stewart on us, it’s just that […]
Scrumdiddlyumptious – Post Easter Scrum Retrospective
That’s what you get when you combine ScrumMaster certification with Easter. I am now a Certified ScrumMaster. This achievement involved attending the two day course, absorbing a massive amount of well delivered theory, actively demonstrating Scrum method within teams, and passing a multiple choice exam when I got home (although I did have 60 days […]
Before Scrum: A Project Padawan’s story
This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve run things. I’ve produced media projects and websites, and I’ve led creative teams. I’ve managed actors and writers, cinematographers and editors, executive assistants and publicists. I’ve delivered big projects. And all of it flying by the seat of my pants. So now it’s time to get better at this. […]
Winning Without Spinning: Why it’s always B2B Award Season with #NoFluff marketing
It is finally Leo’s moment. One of the internet’s best loved memes reached peak velocity this week. With five nominations and no wins, Leo DiCaprio was the world’s most celebrated Oscar underdog. With an epic and varied catalogue of work behind him, some said it was only a matter of time – this sixth nomination for his role in a Best […]
ICE Totally Gaming exit poll 2016
All bets are off. After three days of polling followed by one through-the-night count, our ICE Totally Gaming Exit Poll has come up with the big winners, movers and shakers exhibiting at last week’s big show. Was your company the one that most visitors remembered as they left the cosy comfort of London’s Excel? Did your […]
Learning Technologies Exit Poll 2016
To our squad of relentless pollsters who just kept on questioning; To the event organisers who simmered down the gents on security when they wanted to frog march us off the premises; And to the hundreds of enlightened LT16 visitors who stopped to tell us all about their visit, We thank you. The LT exit […]
SecureIdentity Beta Launch
SecureIdentity by Morpho Launch! SecureIdentity, the new government verification service is coming soon… In the meantime, be sure to check out our helpful FAQs to guide you through the changes coming on our website. This is brought to you by Morpho, the world leader in government ID. The SecureIdentity service is secure, easy to use and […]
Out-now: The Learning Technologies marketing support pack
From the B2B marketing agency that brings you the Learning Tech show exit poll; say hello to our new learning technologies marketing support pack for trade show exhibitors. Why we did it If you’re the business that’s been questioning hundreds of trade show visitors as they exit the L&D industry’s landmark event for the past […]
Cartes Secure Connexions marketing support pack: coming soon
Starting to panic about all the marketing stuff you’ve still got to do for the Cartes Secure Connexions Expo? Relax: We’ve got it covered. Our special trade show marketing pack for Cartes exhibitors officially launches next week, but your opportunity to see what’s on offer starts today. The products and services below are the best sellers […]
Is your B2B marketing more successful than the X Factor?
We’re told by X Factor’s publicity machine that a whopping nine million people watch the show every week, but what obsessive B2B marketers want to know is: How many of these viewers actually call up? What’s the conversion rate? Is it better than we can achieve in the B2B marketing world and, if it is, […]
Announcing our great new team-up with LPI
Great content marketing needs high definition channel to really deliver the lead nurturing, new biz gen opportunities we’re all looking for right? That’s why we’re chuffed this August, to announce our new team-up with the Learning and Performance Institute. As you’d expect from any decent B2B marketing agency, there’s reams of colourful copy to come, […]
How to become a confident B2B marketer in five days or less: Day 5
Day 5: the finale Today I pack up my desk, take my tea mug back to the kitchen and return my visitor pass to reception. So here are my Big Three recommendations if you’re looking to fill my space in a marketing internship: 1. Go somewhere with a Kanban board Monday morning, just as I was […]
How to become a confident B2B marketer in five days or less: Day 4
Day 4: B2B goes big screen As the trendy marketing company NowComms is – and following the idea of a client’s Video Selfie project – we decided it was time to jump on and get the Camcorder out. For the purpose of this project, substitute Camcorder for my iPhone placed on a carefully constructed pile […]
How to become a confident B2B marketer in five days or less: Day 3
Day 3: the long and short of successful B2B marketing Yesterday our Instagram (Now_Comms) went live, Twitter was inundated with links to the first blog, and another widely anticipated post went up. But did it make a difference? Today is the day to evaluate the success of this blog and increased social media in the B2B marketing world […]
How to become a confident B2B marketer in five days or less: Day 2
Day 2: stats and social media Who knew just how many functions Google has. Of course, I knew there was more to it than the standard search – I spent the majority of my French GCSE plugging my homework into Translate, and everyone’s had fun on I’m Feeling Lucky – but discovering Google Analytics has […]
How to become a confident B2B marketer in five days or less: Day 1
Day 1: trending and amending Marketing internships are more searched in the UK than media, journalism and BBC internships according to Google trends. Therefore I realise I’m lucky in starting my first of a five-day placement – a marketing internship – with B2B marketing company, Now Communications. This is the first piece of work I’ve been […]
Is Net Promoter Score any good?
Anyone who knows us knows that we’re pretty analytical here at Now Comms. We think that B2B marketing needs to be evidential if it’s ever going to support really effective lead nurturing campaigns. This reputation for data based decision making means we’re often asked about the Net Promoter Score System. Usually the discussion goes along […]
How to support L&D output with marketing that doesn’t stink
The L&D industry’s best eLearning courses and resources are supported by some of the lamest marketing strategies we’ve ever seen. OK, so we’re a B2B marketing agency and our work is focused on marketing deliverables that bring new sales opportunities into the pipeline. We don’t usually get involved in the marketing activities that help L&D […]
Have you got your game face on yet for IGSS 2015?
3,500 delegates, 120 exhibiting companies and no less than eight different conference programmes. That’s the iGaming Supershow in one sentence. So how do you get cut through amongst all that lot and ensure that your company’s brand, products and services resonate beyond the 30-second pitch your sales teams have mastered? Well, we’ve been talking to […]
What marketers can learn from the Football League
Well, that’s another Football League season all but over with. There’s been some notable teams exceeding expectations (Bournemouth, Burton), a fair few underachievers (Fulham, Wigan, Tranmere) and an awful lot of teams being, well, just average. As a bunch of Brentford and Bristol City fans, here at Now Towers we’re all congratulating ourselves on a […]
Digital bastards like Kayvon Beykpour make our blood boil
Digital bastards like Kayvon Beykpour make your blood boil don’t they? He sells his first start-up to learning business Blackboard for $4 mil before he’s even 21 and now, at the tender age of 27, he’s just banked $120 mil from Twitter for his latest brainwave Periscope, which he describes as being “like a mobile teleportation […]
Easy squeezy: how to get more from your B2B marketing budget
There’s no shortage of statistical evidence to help out the B2B marketer who decides that now is the right time to pitch the board for a budget increase, and certainly many of the arguments we’ve read are incredibly well made (In their book “Sexy Little Numbers”, Dimitri Maex & Paul B. Brown make the strongest case […]
Our blazingly simple backlinking strategy
Backlinking is probably the most important tool in the SEO toolbox these days. Sure, optimising everything you publish on your own site helps you get found, but having other quality sites link to yours: well that’s what Google really loves. These days Google’s algorithm is clever enough to sniff out sites using cheap SEO tactics […]
ICE 2016 – 5 takeaways for trade show success
The ICE 2016 Totally Gaming show was an eye opener for a number of reasons, but aside from the promo girls, the green Lamborghinis and the flashing neon lights, there were more pertinent insights to be gained by B2B marketers at the show. Specially created for B2B sports marketers keen to maximise ROI on the […]
Learning Technologies 2015 Exit Poll
And it’s done! Our annual two days of polling followed by the through-the-night count has come up with the big winners, movers and shakers exhibiting at this week’s Learning Technologies show, less than 24 hours after the doors closed at Olympia. If you’re new to our Exit Poll, here’s the skinny: Armed with no more than […]
Game changing: Why we think sports and technology are a winning match-up
We’re all pretty sports focused here at Now Towers: This year, members of the team have signed up to do the Tower 42 run, the Etape du Tour and the Nice Half Marathon (Ken even has a Blue Peter badge for rock climbing!) and we also love our technology. What really excites us though is […]
ICE Totally Gaming Show panic button
Starting to panic about all the marketing stuff you’ve still got to do for the ICE Totally Gaming Show this February? Relax, we’ve got it covered. For the days remaining before the big show gets under way, we’re lifting the hood on the Now marcomms machine and offering exclusive access to the tried and tested […]
How do charities beat spambots?
Here’s the backstory: Learning tech charity Learn Appeal got in touch this Christmas to see if we might be able to help them raise some funds. They had two free passes for this month’s Learning Technologies conference, worth £1,099 each, to give away and they wanted everyone in the L&D industry to know that. L&D […]
Cartes exit poll 2014: was your business in the bag this year?
Which exhibitors were the “must see” companies at Cartes 2014 this year? As visitors wandered round the exhibition, which stands really stood out for them and where did they say the most engaging conversations were to be found? Armed with no more than a clipboard, a cup of coffee and a ‘can do’ attitude, our […]
Britain’s specialist B2B marketing agency for digital security & ID sector is back in the game
Ever wondered what happened to that specialist B2B marketing agency for digital security & ID sector? The one you’d always see around the big industry trade shows like Biometrics, Trustech, SIMalliance or SDW? You remember them right? They were the ones bright enough to get national attention for your digital security & ID news stories […]
Now Special Reports: World of Learning 2014
Fiercely independent, always investigative and entirely unofficial, our special World of Learning exhibitors report is out now. What’s the skinny? If you’ve not seen our special event reports for B2B marketers in L&D before, then here’s how they work. First we use our vast database of L&D contacts to track down exhibitors at this year’s […]
10 most popular marketing tools & tactics in L&D today
Well stop all the clocks! The company website is officially the number one marketing channel of choice for L&D professionals today according to the findings in our all new Marketing Spending Review for L&D report. Yea, we get it. You kinda knew that already right? Well hold it right there fella. We don’t do these big complex […]
Is it OK to blow the whistle on your competitors?
Last year, 70,000 users of international phone cards were left out in the cold when one major SIM card supplier allegedly went bust without warning. The new Wembley stadium houses some of the most advanced ticketing and security systems in the world – but according to some of the major players in the sports business, […]
LearningLive: the inside story as told by 77% of last year’s exhibitors
A couple of years ago our exit polling at Birmingham’s World of Learning identified LearningLive as the “significant other” event that most L&D professionals were likely to go to. Since then, every time we’ve asked L&D professionals to tell us about the trade shows and conferences they’re really getting excited about. So if LearningLive is emerging as […]
L&D marketing spending review – infographic
The all new L&D Marketing Spending Review is out now. Get the highlights in our infographic below then download the full report to see what B2B marketers in L&D will be spending budget on over the next 18 months. Download this infographic on a pdf Want to see how we did it? Download the full report
Free newswires: The good, the bad and the ugly
The constantly growing crop of free newswires springing up across the web is raising more questions than answers for many of the B2B marketing folks we talk to these days: “Do these sites work?”, “What’s the catch?”, “Should I bother using them and, if so, then which ones are worth the effort?” are amongst the […]
L&D industry loves mobile learning but hates mobile marketing
How come the vast majority of the 100 highest ranking websites in eLearning still have websites that don’t work well on mobile? Despite usage patterns trending out the roof for mobile web access, less than 4 in 10 of the biggest players in the L&D industry have mobile marketing strategies that use responsive websites (websites that render […]
Learning Technologies 2014 exit poll
The folks at Learning Technologies always like to make a splash, so let’s just call the wet weather this week an added bonus shall we? Like a troop of flag waving well-wishers at a jubilee flotilla, Britain’s hardiest L&D professionals refused to let the downpours dampen their spirits as they mass-marched through Olympia’s doors this Wednesday and […]
The 100 best eLearning websites chart
Well we’ve only just gone and done it again! Last summer we created a bit of a stir when we first published our definitive 100 best elearning websites chart, so this time round we thought: why not turn things up a notch?. Why settle on just the Top 100 when we could be spotlighting the […]
Not everyone likes our top 100 best L&D companies chart
Since going live with the Top 100 best L&D companies chart, we’ve had flame mail from hard working marketing folks across the L&D industry. They’re keen to criticize because their company has not made the hotlist. Other calls come in from businesses ranked at the lower end of the chart who think they should be higher […]
World of Learning Vs learning Technologies
Over the past few months our Learning Technologies vs World of Learning project has been asking B2B marketers in L&D to rate the two events that traditionally dominate the UK trade show calendar. The results? Well it’s bad bad news for World of Learning as the findings of our tradeshow showdown survey puts the Birmingham […]
SEO in e-learning: does the hyphen make a dash of difference?
Brace yourself: You’re about to read an entire article about a dash. Yip: we mean the little horizontal line thingy that some people use to join words together, as in “e-learning” or to make a nose on a smiley. Don’t blame us – we didn’t start it. E learning SEO is a compounding problem which, […]
Learning Technologies 2013 Exit Poll
Working faster than a Subject Matter Expert on a rapid authoring tool, Now’s statistical super group has been on the Red Bull for a marathon 36 hours now, just to make sure this year’s Learning Technologies exhibitors get a sneaky peak at the #LT13UK Exit Poll before the weekend. If you’re new to our Exit Poll, […]
Getting started with Google Adwords
This week we look at the advertising phenomena that’s captured over 80 percent of the Pay Per Click market and pinpoint the AdWords’ pitfalls that are driving B2B marketers to seek professional guidance. “Google AdWords can be dangerous in its simplicity” Callum Bridgeford is director at online health and wellness business Energise For Life. Typical […]
London Olympics 2012: What on earth does that have to do with e-learning?
Rebooting the Eurozone economy, the environment and corporate responsibility, work / life balance and even the London 2012 Olympic Games: the impact that learning technologies has on the workplace can influence every major milestone on the business agenda, so why do most e-learning marketers bore business leaders with tech-centric training talk? Take this year’s World Earth […]
Exit Poll: Who secured most mindshare at Security Document World?
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Prising information out of security experts isn’t easy at the best of times, so getting attendees of SDW2012 to chillax and chat during the London heatwave last week was always going to take some cool tactical planning. With debate heating up inside the QEII Conference Centre, the world’s most inquisitive marketing team was hot on the […]
Thought leadership & media management
In today’s multimedia environment, it takes more than the classic communications tools like news releases, case studies or press alerts to drive messages into print, online and rolling news channels effectively. Now NewsMaker is a thematic approach to media campaigning that fuses the key messages your business needs to communicate with the topical news triggers […]
Top 20 most influential tweeters in learning technology
The all-new, updated and revised edition of our most influential tweeters in learning technology chart is out now. It’s the only chart in the business that actually asks real marketing people in learning technology to vote for the tweeters they really like to follow, so we don’t think we’re exaggerating too much when we say […]
Agile marketing for B2B start-ups & SMEs
The B2B start-ups and SMEs we work with almost always have agile in their DNA, so our agile approach is something they love. Why? Well we reckon it’s because of agile marketing: Delivers fast: Most start-ups and SMEs are eager to get their great new ideas out to potential customers. They want websites, campaigns, content […]
Building brand fans
Trust us when we tell you tell you this: If your media programmes are already generating great reviews in your industry’s prime titles, you couldn’t be doing anything more…Oh, actually, there is one thing… When people like Forrester research ask people like “your customers” just what it is that triggers a purchasing decision, three out […]
Trade show traffic booster
At your next event or tradeshow, make sure your sales people are scheduled to meet the right prospects, right through the day. Now’s lead generation module promises to boost the quality and the quantity of potential customers attending your stand. We start by looking at whatever prospect data you have – it may need cleaned […]
Google adwords management
You read the spin, researched the data and received the free online Google Adwords voucher to help you get started. Heck you may even have opened up an account and launched a campaign or two. Then what happened?… It’s OK we know the rest. There’s no single, 12-step plan to make Google AdWords work well […]
Outbound marketing & database management
“Prospect database? We’ve got one! Regular newsletter? We send one out very month like clockwork! Does all this effort generate leads?…ermmm?” How much email have you received so far today? More importantly, how much of it did you read and why? Permission based marketing isn’t rocket science. It’s just a little scary! After all, who […]
Relevance marketing
We know your browser’s pop-up blocker is on, your spam filter’s running, you almost never tick the box that says “we occasionally like to inform valued customers of new products or services” and you’ll fast forward the ads this evening when you’re watching last night’s telly on Sky+. We didn’t need to recruit Derren Brown […]
Why do marketers in the e-learning industry hate Facebook?
OK, so “hate” might be a little over dramatic, but we’re just back after the summer refurbish and we needed a catchy headline to get your eyeballs back. And while we’re fessing up, it isn’t just Facebook that marketers in eLearning typically shun. LinkedIn, Twitter and the rest rarely seem to get so much as […]
Another PowerPoint presentation: wake me when it is over
Are you one of the estimated 300 million PowerPoint users contributing to the 30 million plus bank of slideshows that try the patience of long toothed executives somewhere on the planet each day (bank holidays excepted)? Thought so! It’s like Greggs the bakers at lunchtime, stopping off at Tesco’s on the way home or nipping […]