JDR Group's 'Digital Prosperity' Blog

No matter how successful a company is, most eventually find themselves in a familiar paradox: you need to improve marketing results, but don’t have the resources, technology or know-how to do so. Marketing software can help, but with plenty of platforms to choose from, it pays to get it right. HubSpot markets itself on being able to deliver value for a wide range of industries, but is this really true? Let’s take a look.

JDR featured on BBC Radio Derby last night, joining radio host Steve Jordan to discuss the latest news from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – the couple joined Instagram, and hit 1 million subscribers only 6 hours later!

Aligning marketing and sales can sometimes feel like herding cats. The ideal solution is harmonising an effective lead generation and marketing approach with a tried and tested sales strategy. Using marketing automation technology which connects to a CRM system is often the most efficient way to connect sales and marketing, but what does this really involve? Let’s take a look.

As modern marketing involves a wide range of highly specialised skills (design, copywriting, SEO, coding, data analysis, etc), many organisations turn to marketing agencies to help them increase leads and build value from existing customers. Marketing agency fees vary depending on the scope and their specialism/experience but can be a significant investment for a business. Is the investment worth it in terms of ROI? Let’s examine the pros and cons of working with an agency.

Every business needs to build and expand their customer database, and software can help you do so. At JDR Group, we often recommend HubSpot – a platform that implements intuitive, practical tools and has an impressive track record of enabling successful growth for thousands of diverse businesses.

This client approached us with a casual interest in digital marketing. With a new budget excess, the client decided to shift focus and see what a new image could do for them. As a specialist in thermal engineering this business designs, manufactures, installs and supports heat treatment products.

Websites are not like fine wines – they don’t age gracefully. If your website is more than a few years old and you haven’t had it updated, the likelihood is it will look tired and out-of-date at best and lacking in functionality at worst. Older websites often need a complete redesign rather than tweaking around the edges, and this can be a considerable investment.

Marketing has most definitely evolved over the past 5 decades, with new ideas and theories developing yearly from a variety of different academic scholars and strategists alike. For this reason identifying which tools are best suited for your marketing message are crucial. This article seeks to explain which traditional marketing theories exist and which contemporary marketing theories you should consider in the future.

Leads are the life-blood of any successful business. Generating leads will help you to make sales and pull in more revenue. One of the key things that your website should do is to help find leads which you can then follow up on. However, some businesses can struggle with this - while there can be a variety of reasons for this, it could be that your website itself that is the big problem. You might get lots of traffic, but just aren't seeing it convert into genuine leads.

While it can be tempting to answer in the affirmative, the picture from old western movies of the snake oil salesman comes to mind. He would offer a cure-all elixir, but be far away down the trail before those gullible buyers appreciated they had a bottle of flavored water! Claims such as: 'We can double your results' or 'increase ROI by XX%' should see business owners heading for the hills! When necessary changes are being made, it's best to beware of those who guarantee instant success.