How GDPR can actually be good for your business.

How GDPR can actually be good for your business.

How GDPR can actually be good for your business.

If you’ve been paying any attention in the business world of late, you’ll be aware that GDPR comes into force this year. In case you’d forgotten, it stands for General Data Protection Regulation.

This is the piece of Europe-wide legislation that will become part of British law (and will remain so regardless of what happens in the near future with you-know-what).

GDPR supersedes the Data Protection Act and one of the main changes is that now, not only do you have to take steps to protect third party data, you also have to be able to demonstrate that you have people’s permission to hold their data.

There are a lot of myths going about, one of which is that it doesn’t apply to small businesses. In fact, it does – but this doesn’t have to be a negative. It is actually a great opportunity to update and improve your data handling. You also have a chance to demonstrate your professionalism to your customers.

Our own Mickey Clarke has been delivering presentations on the subject of GDPR, helping business owners understand their responsibilities, busting myths and providing practical, sensible advice on how to comply without doing more than is necessary.

Earlier this year we teamed up with our affiliate partners GDPR Happy! Owner Tracey Coetzee specialises in helping businesses become GDPR compliant. Together with Tracey we can put together a training session for any size of group and tailor it to your area of business and the knowledge level of the delegates.
As an example, we recently presented a session for 60 members of the Event Photography Society. They told us it was “overwhelmingly useful”.

Whatever your current situation, your business can get real value from one of these sessions.

If you are involved with a networking organisation or a group that brings together businesses from the same sector, we would be very interested in hearing from you.

Recent Posts

Opt-In Marketing

CC Ltd

3 Fern Close
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV23 0UQ

T: 01788 334696
Email Us

How I acted as a hostage negotiator for 120 Italians

How I acted as a hostage negotiator for 120 Italians

How I acted as a hostage negotiator for 120 Italians

cc-ltd-mickey-clarke-strategist-customer-liaison-people-person-marketing-ideas-strategy-blank-sheet-marketing-creative-creativity-design

At Stansted Airport over Christmas, Mickey became the star of her very own Italian epic

You may recall that the day after Boxing Day 2017, we had some snow. I remember it very well, because it was the catalyst for the most bizarre airport experience of my life.

I was travelling with my husband and daughter. Destination: Lucca, Italy where my sister lives and where I also resided for a number of years – something that helped me become very fluent in Italian.

The snowy conditions had already caused a two hour road journey to Stansted Airport to extend to three hours. Thankfully we had set off in plenty of time for our evening flight, so everything was fine.

Err… fine that is until we set foot in the terminal building. The hall was filled with many people of various nationalities travelling to a number of different destinations. They all had one thing in common: none of them had any idea what was going on, or if and when they were ever going to fly.

We were now amongst them. It was like being trapped in a war zone. There were hardly any staff in sight. There was nothing on the boards. It was almost impossible to get any information.

People were coming back from departure gates, some of them in tears.

At this stage, we still hadn’t been allocated a gate number. It became clear that the vast majority of people travelling on our flight were Italian. I talked to a few of them, most of whom were aggrieved and frustrated.

After a three and a half hour wait, we eventually learned which gate we were due to depart from. We appeared to have been mixed in with a flight bound for Alicante.

A Ryanair plane was at the terminal. Was this ours? Then, suddenly, around 100 of us were allowed to go down the bridging tunnel that led to a set of steps, which we would descend before walking to the plane.

Except, we didn’t get that far. At the end of the tunnel section, the doors were locked. We waited a while. What was going on?

Some of the more restless passengers had decided to try and go back to the departure lounge to find out what was happening. They discovered that the doors were locked in that direction too.

So we were now locked in a tunnel with two other British passengers and around 120 somewhat annoyed Italians.

More and more of them started to realise that I spoke both Italian and English, so I ended up becoming the spokesperson for the group.

At the end of the tunnel was one of those wall-mounted red telephones with a sign saying, “For Emergency Use Only”. Well, you know what it’s like being a Brit. We don’t like to make a fuss. It has to be a real emergency to pick up such a phone.

I thought, “We’ve got 120 people locked in a tunnel with some of them getting very annoyed and banging on the doors”. One gent in particular appeared to be on the verge of losing it. “OK”, I thought, “This is now enough of an emergency”. I picked up the phone.

The man on the end of the line said there was nothing he could do, and that it was all the fault of the people at the departure gate for letting us in.

Eventually, after much hammering and shouting on the door back to the departure lounge, one of the staff came and opened it. He told us we couldn’t be allowed back into the departure lounge because we’d already been checked through.

I was also informed that the reason we couldn’t get on the plane because two disabled passengers who had been on the incoming flight were still stuck on the aircraft because there were no special assistants available to help take them off.

Some of the Italians who had come with me decided to vent their frustration by shouting at him in their native language. I managed to placate them, but then had to go back down the corridor and explain all this to the others.

By this point, I became aware that I had become known to my fellow passengers as “L’interprete” or “The Interpreter”. Obviously this was not because of my likeness to Nicole Kidman, but purely down to my linguistic ability.

I had to explain to them that, no, they were not going to be allowed to remove the disabled passenger themselves, and also that it was really not a good idea to call the police and say they were being held hostage at the airport (I suspected that the possible arrival of the SAS might delay us even further).

I spoke to man on the red line again. By now it was 11:30 pm and I got the feeling I was interrupting his evening. He’d possibly just made himself a cup of cocoa and I was now disturbing him. But, I had to insist that there was no way I was going to tell 120 Italians that they were not going to be allowed to go to the toilet and that we were going to go back into the departure area whether the staff liked it or not.

Four and a half hours later than scheduled, we boarded. As we were flying over the Alps, the captain came over the intercom to say there was a problem.

“Are we going to be locked into the plane on landing?” I mused. Or maybe he was about to tell us we were doomed to crash into a mountain.

After these thoughts flashed into my mind, it was something of a relief to hear that Pisa Airport was closed, and that we were being diverted to Bologna. Which meant a 2.5 hour coach trip on landing. Joy.

On reaching our destination around 7 am, we only had to wait a further hour for the car hire centre to open. All in all then, a relaxing journey!

Now, at the end of a blog it is customary to sum up what business lessons we can learn.

Well, I think it’s safe to say that keeping up communication with your clients, especially when things don’t go as planned, is much better than telling them nothing.

It’s also fair conclude that locking 120 paying customers in a tunnel and not letting them go to the toilet isn’t the best PR strategy if you are looking for future word of mouth recommendations.

Having said that, I can attest to the eternal power of networking and using your abilities to their full potential. Thankfully, my Italian skills helped keep the lid on a situation which otherwise might have been even more fraught than it was. Plus, by chatting to fellow passengers I made a couple of very nice new friends.

Maybe next time you’re held up somewhere, you might find your next client. I just hope it’s not the man on the end of the red telephone.

Do you have a product or a new initiative to launch?

Have you thought about how you are going to do it? Could you with some ideas and help in making them a reality? Sounds like it’s time to get in touch with CC.

Recent Posts

Opt-In Marketing

CC Ltd

3 Fern Close
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV23 0UQ

T: 01788 334696
Email Us

Marketing workshop for The HR Department, Rugby

Marketing workshop for The HR Department, Rugby

Marketing workshop for The HR Department, Rugby

Recently, Mickey and Phil were invited to present one of CC’s marketing workshops at an HR agency.

This differed slightly from the previous workshop we’d done, which was to a room of a couple of dozen people from various businesses. For this one, we were concentrating exclusively on one business, so the workshop could be aimed specifically at them.

The other thing that was interesting about this workshop was the fact that we were only going to be doing it for two or three people from the management team.

It meant we could really focus in and get them thinking about the direction in which they were going – what they were doing, how they might be able to do it even better, plus some things they could be doing.

A presentation to a very small group can easily become more like a conversation – and that’s how we like it.

Essentially, we went through the stages of the process we always use for any project. Whether we are making a website or planning a marketing strategy, the process is always the same. It starts with defining the customer and how to reach them and ends with a plan.

“You’ve completely changed the way we look at our business and our customers”

Would you like to find some different ways of looking at your business and your clients?

What positive, productive ideas could we spark off for you in a CC workshop? It’s a great way to find out if the CC team are the right one for you. Give us a call.

Recent Posts

Opt-In Marketing

CC Ltd

3 Fern Close
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV23 0UQ

T: 01788 334696
Email Us

How to create the perfect tagline for your business.

How to create the perfect tagline for your business.

How to create the perfect tagline for your business.

If you look at the homepage of this website you’ll see that CC’s tagline – or brand promise, or whatever you want to call it – is “We Get Sales”.

We came up with that after making a long list of possible phrases. We were trying to find something that would encapsulate what CC does and what makes us different.

When you’re doing a brainstorm, you need to be open and initially allow all ideas to be put down. Whenever we do something like this, we seem to always start with ideas that are too long and wordy, but which express what we’re trying to say.

Eventually we pare it down and come up with something succinct. But it can take a while.

Some of the things that went on the list as ideas for the CC brand promise included:

Strategists who also deliver

Marketers who know the sales process

In-house specialists

Creative, but with our feet on the ground

Marketing and Sales with a proper sense of direction

Marketing With Sales Acumen

Most of those are way too wordy, but you can see where we were going. The thing that makes CC different is that we aren’t just marketers, designers and ‘fluffy’ types. Within our team we have real experience of commercial sales. Not only do we have the sales experience – the target of increased sales is the focus of everything we do.

For a while, “Marketing With Sales Acumen” was the best we could come up with. Ultimately though, it was rejected for being too boring and corporate.

Then, suddenly, we hit on “We Get Sales”. It’s short, punchy, and direct. Crucially, it is focused on one thing, and it’s conversational rather than corporate, so hopefully it is memorable.

It also has a double meaning. On one hand, at CC we “get” sales in a theoretical sense – that is, we understand the sales process and empathise with business people who are focused on selling.

Then of course, we also get sales in a practical sense – we actually do help businesses capture and convert leads. In the end, it’s all about the bottom line.

After all, if your marketing doesn’t have a focused, thought out plan and a target of increasing sales, why bother doing it?

Don’t pour your marketing budget down the drain by wasting it on “creative” exercises that don’t lead anywhere.

Talk to some people who understand what you want and can help you set your sights on it and get you there.

Is it time to talk to CC? We’re ready when you are.

Recent Posts

Opt-In Marketing

CC Ltd

3 Fern Close
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV23 0UQ

T: 01788 334696
Email Us

Bru Cru Nitro Coffee Pre-Launch Taster Event

Bru Cru Nitro Coffee Pre-Launch Taster Event

Bru Cru Nitro Coffee Pre-Launch Taster Event

At CC, we’re known for not being quite like any other marketing agency. One of the services we provide that is a little out of the ordinary is that we organise small events.

Mickey’s background in marketing management has seen her organise all kinds of events from trade show stands to manufacturing product launches. “I do love doing events”, she says. “I like the energy and there’s the whole thing of building up to them, making sure everything is in place.

One such occasion took place when we arranged a tasting event for our client BruCru. This was part of the pre-launch campaign for their new Nitro Coffee, 6C Dark.

The event took place in a historic pub in London’s Fitzrovia district. The invitees were a select group of prospects, senior figures from businesses in the hospitality and catering sectors as well as potential distributors.

“Most of the delegates were from London, so it made sense to make the event easily accessible by public transport”, says Mickey. It’s just one stop on the tube and a short walk from Euston Station.

“There was nothing fancy – no music or lasers!”, she laughs. “But it was a well organised event that made the people arriving feel they were part of a privileged group who getting to sample this product before the media or anyone else got to see it”.

“This sort of thing is so important with a new venture – getting the key prospects invested, making them feel part of something. It really helps with building loyalty and keeping them engaged.

“This is what we are always doing at CC when we work on a project – we keep reevaluating it and asking, “Where are the customers or prospects at right now? What can we do to keep them interested?”. When you keep thinking like that and focusing on the clients, it helps you come up with ideas like this”

Do you have a product or a new initiative to launch?

Have you thought about how you are going to do it? Could you with some ideas and help in making them a reality? Sounds like it’s time to get in touch with CC.

Recent Posts

Opt-In Marketing

CC Ltd

3 Fern Close
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV23 0UQ

T: 01788 334696
Email Us