Michael Williams

Pret's subscription model wasn't about loyalty, it was about customer acquisition 🫴 I keep seeing Pret's £30 a month subscription referred to as a loyalty scheme; including in their own financial reports. Now, with their latest move to change it up there's a sense that this was a failed loyalty scheme. But if I flip it on its head, I see it as one giant sampling campaign, partly invested in by the UK population! If you want to get people to pay money for something that they're not quite sure on the quality, value, taste, then one of the ways to get it into their hands is to offer it to them for free or at a low price. And if you want them to continue enjoying your product regularly, you can aim to create a habit around your product. You could do this by giving away lots of your product around the same time every day to embed this ritual into your customers' lives. Brands are leaky buckets, and following the pandemic Pret had a mostly empty bucket! To grow, brands need to aim for light buyers, and continuously bring more people in to your brand than your competitors. I see Pret as looking to get a competitive advantage over other coffee shops by getting competitors' customers to make the switch to Pret, thus stealing market share. When they make the switch to their cheaper subscription but with less 'payback', I imagine there's an assumption that all these 'loyal' customers are so invested in Pret that they'll continue to visit and buy. Yet coffee is a commodity. People will generally go to the coffee shop closest to them in their moment of need! Unless Pret has coffee filled with magic, there's very little reason to choose one coffee chain over another. But, I'm optimistic. I imagine Pret will keep plenty of customers, many of whom were not Pret customers before, because of a successful initiative in driving trial. And if I'd like one thing to come out of this, I'd love to see the next financial report refer to this subscription as a customer acquisition strategy, not a loyalty one 😉

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This morning, I had the pleasure of participating in the judging session for the UK Search Awards, once again reviewing an impressive array of high-quality campaigns from across the Search Marketing industry highlighting that our industry continues to overflow with exceptional ideas and results. Now, this year marks a milestone for me, as it’s the 10th consecutive year that I’ve supported Don't Panic Events as a volunteer judge. Over the past decade, I’ve had the honour of judging several Don’t Panic Events awards, including the UK and EU Search Awards, Ecommerce Awards, and Agency Awards, to name a few. Each time, I’ve carefully reviewed countless entries, diving deep into campaign strategies, execution, objectives, and results to ensure that the most deserving work gets recognised. This process has taken quite literally hundreds of hours of my time over the years, unpaid, but I’ve never hesitated to contribute. And that got me thinking. Why do I continue to do it? I’ve heard all sorts of misconceptions over the years about awards, from claims of influence to “pay-to-win” setups, often from those who haven’t experienced the process firsthand. The truth is, as a judge, there’s a HUGE amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. We scrutinise every detail, validate results using industry tools, and benchmark campaigns against one another – all with rigorous attention. Multiply that across numerous judges and no single judge can sway the outcome. It’s a truly robust process and I am proud to help ensure honesty and impartiality continues to exist within these prestigious awards for our industry. I also remain committed to giving my time because I believe that great work deserves recognition. Beyond the marketing benefits for the winners, it’s about seeing the genuine excitement and pride on the faces of winners - knowing their hard work is being celebrated. It’s incredibly rewarding to be a part of that moment. It’s also rewarding to know that the winners will leave the awards ceremony incredibly motivated to keep pushing their work and our industry forward. For me to be able to play even a small part in contributing to the growth and support of our industry, as a judge, motivates me to keep doing my part. Best of luck to all the entrants in this year’s UK Search Awards, the shortlist will be announced this Friday! 🏆 #searchawards #uksearchawards #seo #ppc #sem #digitalmarketing

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Did you know 45% of people say they are more likely to notice a catalogue sent in the post than a marketing email? If you're in the planning phase for your Christmas activity take a moment, grab a cup of tea and discover more fascinating more stats and benefits for catalogues in our blog. ➡️

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Privacy regulation. Cookie deprecation. ID signal loss. It's a complicated time to be working in programmatic with a seriously shifting landscape. Clear Channel UK spoke to 10 industry figures at the coalface of programmatic DOOH about the benefits marketers are seeing in their approach for adding the channel to their digital strategies. From Cookies to Cohorts in Context, a free new report with expert analysis is out now 👇 https://okt.to/ueOwAV

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How does a global brand keep customers at the centre of everything it does? 🤔 On this episode of Inside Retail, our very own Grace Hill chats with Gymshark Chief Brand Officer, Noel Mack, about how combining customer and competitive data, plus social media insights, drives their strategy. Plus, hear how Gymshark’s voice-of-customer team and Noel’s personal engagement in fitness culture contribute to their success in minute ten of the episode. 🎧 Listen here: https://hubs.la/Q02Q3Y5g0

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At Pattern, we recently received our first lead from ChatGPT! When our Head of Marketing, Kathryn Coleman, asked the person how they had found us, it turned out they had asked ChatGPT a series of questions and Pattern had been part of the recommended list through 3 separate queries.  This got me looking into ChatGPT - can we measure this? And can we optimise our visibility? Read our latest blog to find out more! https://lnkd.in/gJYG4baW #SEO #CHATGPT

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Wow! What a brilliant April so far for Apex Digital 🎉   Lots going on, and lots completing this week, so I think I've earned my morning coffee!   ▶ Coded a dataLayer schema for a growing e-commerce client on BigCommerce. The previous setup was inadequate leading to incorrect measurement. I fixed this with true ecommerce funnel measurement, Google Consent Mode, enhanced conversions, dashboards and cookie consent frameworks. ▶ Another BigCommerce implementation underway, defining dataLayers and tagging to ensure continuity of measurement during a new website launch. ▶ Produced an attribution report stitching together first party identifiers (user_id), CRM & GA4 data in Google BigQuery to provide true first touch acquisition sources for converted users for a property client. ▶ Data analytics project for a very interesting report around recruitment in tech (this one was very interesting to work on, and a little bit different). ▶ Full analytics setup of an online pharmacy website, with optimised Consent mode & cookie compliance framework. ▶ Setup full ecommerce funnel tracking for two clients (a distillery and a brewery), one on WordPress & WooCommerce and one on Shopify. Again, with the usual cookie compliance, consent mode & enhanced conversions. ▶ Preparations for a few new pitches, including a Server-Side tracking project, more ecommerce implementations & analytics audits. ▶ Became a Cookiebot Web CMP by Usercentrics premium implementation partner 🍪 ▶ Finalised a VERY exciting new retainer with a growing agency client - more on this in another post next week! ▶ I've also become a member of The Growth Community, a fantastic business networking group in Yorks & Lincs - would recommend them to any new business starting up. Get in touch with me if your business would like to explore any of these services, the link is in my bio 📈 I help Marketers looking to move the performance needle, business owners looking to grow their presence online & anyone who needs assistance with any data related issues. 📊

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Elevate your analytics game with our Google Analytics 4 advanced courses! Designed for experienced users looking to deepen their understanding of GA4, these courses delve into advanced techniques for Acquisition, Behavioural Conversion and Retention Analysis . Join our Jellyfish Training and unlock the full potential of your analytics data. https://lnkd.in/eKcC_dPm #AdvancedAnalytics #DataInterpretation #JellyfishTraining #GA4

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Ignoring key metrics destroys your campaign's success 📉. Without tracking and analysing metrics like response rate and ROI, your direct mail efforts may fall short. At Mailings Direct, we transform complex data into targeted campaigns, ensuring you reach the right audience effectively. 🌿 Our commitment to sustainability and personal service makes us your ideal partner. Start your journey today! Comment or share if you agree. #DirectMail #MarketingSuccess

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🎉 Celebrating Success at WeDiscover! 🎉 Hey there, PPC enthusiasts! WeDiscover has achieved something truly spectacular—being named a Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 Winner for 2024! It's a fantastic recognition of our growth and innovation in the ever-evolving tech landscape of the UK. This accolade isn't just about numbers and rankings; it’s about the incredible dedication of our team and the amazing clients who trust us. We've been on a mission to deliver top-notch performance marketing, and this award reflects the hard work of everyone involved. In the world of Google Ads, where precision and adaptability are key, this success highlights the importance of a well-oiled strategy and a commitment to staying ahead of the curve. As Google Ads experts, we know the impact of every click and conversion, and this milestone pushes us to strive for even greater heights in our campaigns. So, here's to more groundbreaking achievements and to making waves in the PPC world! How do you see innovation shaping the future of Google Ads? Let's chat about it! #WeDiscover #DeloitteFast50 #GoogleAds #PPCCommunity #DigitalInnovation

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Events are expected to be the main area of marketing budget growth for 2024/25, with a robust net balance of 18.7% of businesses anticipating an uplift in spend compared to the previous financial year. Though main media advertising budgets have declined for the first time in three quarters, while overall marketing budgets have experienced an upturn amid an improving UK economy. Companies are still looking to be as cost-saving as possible but it is not all doom and gloom. Q2 is proving to be busy in the event marketing space and many clients are looking to hire top talent as they expand their teams. #marketing #eventmarketing #marketingbudgets #growth

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Am I pitching or am I singing? Voted 3rd best pitch out of 23 - I'll take it. 🥉 Such a great day catching up with everyone yesterday for an action-packed day at Affiliate Huddle - A huge shout out to James Little for yet again another fabulous event 👏 If anyone missed my talk and would love to know the 5 reasons why you should partner with Linkby as your content solution within the Affiliate channel - then drop me a DM and you can have your very own 1 on 1 pitch (or just a casual chat would work just fine too!) 😂 #affilliatehuddle24 #pitch #networking #affiliatemarketing

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It's a good thing I know Nikki Pilkington because no-one else could get me to a comfortable, okay semi-comfortable, place of SEO adulting. I won't break out the champagne yet, but I have ticked the first 5 items off the checklist of her new non-wanky SEO course (I believe there's a wait list so best get on it!) I feel very bloody accomplished. So for the next week or two, I'm going to be sitting down to her clear video instruction and working through the things I know I need to... because I'd really love more people, to know more, about the magic I can create through nutrition. Starting something new ain't easy, but when you know and trust the person leading you down the path, it helps. So if you feel it's time for a little nutrition adulting, pop on over to my bio, or my website, and check out the simple ways we could work together. ▶ ▶ ▶ I'm Jill - your food-friendly nutrition coach. If I can adult around SEO, you can adult around nutrition.

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In the ever changing world of PPC it's easy to get lost in the noise of updates and performance challenges - That's why I'm delighted to share my 3 Top Tips to maximising Paid Search performance with Campfire 🔥

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A big part of our SEO strategies are monitoring #journorequests and responding to them with expert commentary for our clients 🔥 By doing this, we have achieved links and brand mentions in the following publications: 👉 Sky News 👉 MSN 👉 Saga 👉 Daily Mail 👉 Yahoo 👉 Ideal Home 👉 GB News 👉 Go Banking Rates 👉 The Spruce These have all happened within the past three weeks... Looking for an expert SEO partner who can build trust and credibility for your brand? Get in touch to see how we can help 🤝 #seo | #linkbuilding

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😵 Not quite the start to 2024 I had expected... 9 months into my new role as Technical Lead and Operations Manager at Alphageek in Derby, looking after all things web and SEO related, as well as heading up an impressive talent acquisition campaign, I received some pretty jarring news and found myself, along with two others in my department, are being made redundant. Considering I was working non-stop on various complex web projects, pretty much since day-one back in April 2023 until my final days (including some meaty eCommerce projects), this news came as quite a shock as you could imagine. It turns out, my company - where I had made new friends and was enjoying my accomplishments - had made a somewhat surprising decision and the key departments I looked after were being made redundant. The thought of going through another redundancy - where you're pretty much processed out of a role you enjoy and from a team you get on with, knowing the majority of your colleagues won't be aware what's cracking off, and suddenly having to leave without having any form of send off is one of the worst ways to leave a role. From (unfortunate) past experience, I knew that redundancy is nothing personal, but it still sucks big time. It was tough on me, and I know it was tough on those involved throughout the process - I'm not afraid to admit, this news pushed me to tears at times... 😢 And here I sit, posting this not only to shout out that "I'm open to work" (nudge, nudge, 😉 😉) but also to say that it's okay to get upset and emotional at going through the awful redundancy process. So, if you know of anybody looking for an experienced digital project manager, who knows their way around web and SEO, then feel free to give them a nudge, nudge in my general direction as I would be very much grateful. #opentowork #derby #digitalprojectmanager #webdevelopment #webdesign #digitalmarketing #seo

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What you say, how you say it and who you say it to matters!🙌 Clear Channel UK's latest research shows that there is a huge opportunity for brands to put inclusivity at the heart of all communication tactics to better connect with audiences. With Out of Home advertising sites reaching 90% of the UK population, it’s the ideal platform to deliver inclusive broadcast messaging that resonates with audiences. Discover more insights to engage diverse audiences with Out of Home: https://okt.to/GQFxC1 #OOH #Diversity #InclusiveAdvertising

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Marketing is FULL of jargon. I’m trying to demystify it. 10 days. 10 phrases. How many do you know? 🤔 My YouTube subscribers get first insight. Head over to my Shorts channel to keep up: https://lnkd.in/ekan2N8M #marketing #marketingjargon #creativecareers #marketing101

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