M & A Rainmaker

A U.S. based Digital Marketing Agency is looking to base it’s European Headquarters in Lichfield, Staffordshire because there is already a base of Digital Marketing aware talent there. The U.S. inbound marketing leader stated that potential candidates needed to be D.A.R.C. This does not refer to hair colour or complexion or even mood. It is an acronym for – Digital, Analytical, Have social Reach ( i.e. they have established their own identity on the Internet via blogs and social media membership )  and marketing Chops. ( Chops is a slang word for technical skill if you have not come across it before ! ).

Typically young people in their late teens or early Twenties will have used Bebo, Facebook and some sort of Instant Messaging service to communicate with their friends. Fewer will be familiar with website design, Search Engine Optimisation ( S.E.O. ), blogging, social media networks other than Facebook e.g. Twitter, Linkedin and Google + and the concept of Inbound Marketing.

Inbound Marketing is a Digital Marketing strategy that, in simple terms, means – Be Found ( on the Internet using a website supported by blogs and social media ) for relevant search terms, Convert ( visitors to your website to leads e.g. get them to sign up to your email database ) and Analyse how effective you were in doing this and how you could improve going forward.

http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2010/03/dont-forget-about-your-social-media-mothership-your-blog.html

Blogs and Social media posts are some of the ways that you might ” drive ” visitors to your website where you will try and convert them ( to prospects and then customers ) through well designed landing pages and ” Call to Action ” buttons ( e.g. call us now and get a free internet marketing assessment and report ).

Your online presence is essentially your virtual marketing and salesforce and therefore it is appropriate to use similar techniques to manage your virtual team as you would do managing your physical team. ( Well, you would if you were running it properly ! )

So, the challenge with young people is to get them to understand that social media and instant messaging is not just for communicating with friends ( young people are often very strict and careful about who they connect with on social media – rightly – and so the concept of the ” Open Networker ” or someone who connects with everyone is somewhat alien to them ).

Digital Marketing also has to be placed in context with what ” older people ” are going to be familiar with in terms of marketing and they need some convincing that all this ” Internet stuff ” is actually going to work ( and produce a Return on Investment ).

Many U.S. based Digital Marketing companies are seeking a base in Europe and the typical options tend to be Southern Ireland ( Dublin area ), London Area and Belgium or Luxembourg. Inward Investment agencies like e.g. IDA Ireland are long established and have been set up ( with full government backing ) to attract foreign direct investment.

Lichfield’s establishment of a ” Silicon Crossroads ” in the Midlands area is therefore a considerable challenge. However Lichfield has many aspects in it’s favour in addition to the skills of it’s people. For example, it’s location is superb. The road, rail and air transport facilities are second to none. The creation of ( relevant ) content is one of the key requirements of the Inbound Digital Marketer and Lichfield has a rich heritage in this respect.