Peppermint Source: outsourced marketing strategy and management

Are you super-organised? Do you love identifying all the little components that need to be done in a project, and then planning what should happen when to meet the project’s goals? Can you think from a ‘big picture’ viewpoint, as well as focus on the details? Are you great with clients – building a deep understanding of their business and needs – and communicating clearly ever step of the way?

If this sounds like you AND you are an experienced, mid-level business copywriter, this could be the perfect position for you. You will be managing at least two client accounts, plus one junior staff member. The copywriting : project management split for this position is typically 60 : 40, but it will vary. [...]

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[Jo wrote this article for ITWeb, published there this week.]

I see it time and again. A mid-sized company, say 20-30 staff, decides they want to start doing some marketing, or they’d like to refresh their current activities. They get all excited about it and have a lot of fun doing the cool things, like rebranding, or launching a new website. They may even have put a great strategy and implementation plan in place. But after a few of months, it’s all fizzled out. [...]

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Considering the number of emails the average person receives daily, you’ve got to wonder how many actually make it past the ‘is this worth reading?’ filter. I know I’m pretty ruthless about what I read and what I delete. On a busy day, I’ll pretty much delete every newsletter I get in, regardless of whether I’ve specifically requested them or now. And even if I do open them, I’ll spend perhaps 10 seconds scanning them and if nothing catches my eye – ‘click’ – it’s gone.

We’ve been sending a monthly email newsletter out from Freelancentral religiously for four years now. It’s only since we recently switched to MailChimp that we’ve been able to get some great data on opens, clicks, etc. Our open rate is around 15%, which according to MailChimp is average for our industry.

But to me that seems low for a list where people have asked for the newsletter – we’ve not just added them at random. Every month we wonder whether it’s worth sending out the newsletter (it takes about a day to pull it together) and we’re constantly trying new ways of boosting the read rate, with groovy subject lines, great content and special offers. [...]

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Thanks to Joey and Chandler on ‘Friends’ , we can’t possibly announce we’re off to London without adding ‘baby!’ on the end.

But yes, we’re off to London next week to meet and run Marketing Healthchecks with a couple of British clients who have realised that outsource their marketing to us is a great idea

So, if you are reading this from your own UK office, and are interested in the services we offer, please get in touch so we can come and have a chat with you while we’re in your neck of the woods.

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Jo has just started a series of new columns on ITWeb, entitled ‘Marketing 101′. Starting with the basics, she’ll be covering a range of topics – aiming to demystify marketing. Check out the first column here.

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Table Mountain, Cape Town - copyright Peppermint Source

In the week or two since Peppermint Source launched, we’ve been thrilled to have been approached by two London-based companies to discuss how they can outsource their regular marketing communications to us here in South Africa.

With advances in internet and other communication technologies, it no longer matters where you are in the world. But does South Africa in particular appeal to UK and US clients as an outsourcing option? Here’s what we think:

• The exchange rate. Today, US$1 will buy you 7.59 South African Rands (ZAR) and a British pound is worth ZAR12.02. Simply, your money will go further. Check the latest exchange rates here.

• English. Many South Africans speak English as their first language, and many more speak it fluently as a second or third language (or even 11th… did you know we have 11 official language here?!). We use British English here, but are totally comfortable writing for North American audiences too.

• Cultural similarities. OK, so we call a barbecue a ‘braai’ and are very proud of being part of Africa and all its traditions, but in business, our culture is very similar to that of the UK or North America.

• Longitude. There’s only a one- or two-hour difference between the UK and South Africa, depending on the time of year. There’s a good eight-hour window where you and your outsourced team will be at work at the same time. And for our North American friends, you can brief us in the afternoon and know that the work will be in your inbox by the time you get to work the next morning [...]

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We’ve had a few freelance marketing people contact us asking how they can be listed as part of our ‘source’. It’s simple – just sign up on www.freelancentral.co.za and make sure that you specify your skills.

If you’re a marketer, the CONSULTING, STRATEGY and ACCOUNT HANDLING sections will probably be most applicable to you. Be sure to add some information in your profile (work history, etc.) so that we know what you’re all about. [...]

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We’re thrilled to announce that the Peppermint Source website launches officially today!

Although we’ve been providing a number of clients with outsourced marketing  management services for nearly a year now, it’s time we formalised this and launched it as a division of Freelancentral. [...]

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Dynamite comes in small packages… it’s the small things that count… Yes, it’s true – little things can make a difference to your business. And when it comes to marketing, there are some small, quick and inexpensive things you can do to increase your company’s impact.

Here are our favourites – and they all relate to carrying your brand values through in all your interactions with clients: [...]

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There’s a great article on FreelanceSwitch today, addressing the questions you should ask yourself if you are thinking about outsourcing.

Interestingly, a lot of the ‘challenges’ the article brings up – particularly in questions 2, 3 and 4 – are the very things that we take off your hands at Peppermint Source. [...]

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