Blog

In this month’s blog, we’re showcasing how we’ve helped Anchor Bay Holidays with their social media advertising as well as elevating their online brand more generally, and sharing some of the exciting results of our partnership.

The blue tick was part of the Twitter landscape for a long time before it was adopted by Meta and used on Instagram and Facebook. A blue tick means that the profile has been verified – it’s the real deal. This isn’t someone impersonating a person or brand, this is them, and you can trust their profile.

As we approach the end of the year, many companies are considering outsourcing their social media. This is a major decision that can significantly impact your brand's online presence, and there are plenty of things to consider if you’re thinking about it. This article is here to guide you through these considerations to help you find a compatible agency that aligns with your brand's vision.

If you can write a good website brief, you’ll demonstrate that you know what you require from the agencies you’re approaching – and it’ll be better for you as a customer as the more detail you can give at the start, the less likely you are to encounter hidden costs down the road.

We understand the marketing struggles that SMEs face, with limited time and resources, a need to keep your branding consistent, and small or solo staff teams mean that it’s not easy to make a splash with your marketing. We’ll work with you to create a marketing strategy which achieves your goals, represents your business and broadens your reach. We implement the foundations to get everything up and running, before leaving you with a starter kit to help you keep the good work going into the future.

Some small business owners and podcasters integrate a LinkedIn Premium subscription into their paid marketing strategy, but this blog is all about how you can actually use LinkedIn for free to boost your marketing.

The Thinking Cap (TTC) are a husband-and-wife-team with unparalleled expertise in marketing and communications, and as a smaller-scale business ourselves, we love partnering with SMEs to transform their marketing strategy and bring them results. In this blog, we’ll show you why it’s a great idea for your business to consider delegating your marketing, and why TTC is the ideal outsourced marketing partner for SMEs. We offer comprehensive services in marketing and comms, so you only need to look to one place for support in marketing strategy, social media management, content creation, SEO, email marketing, paid ads, visual design and much more. We don’t have a one-size-fits-all-approach, but instead produce tailored strategies for each of our clients. We get to know your business and customise a strategy to align with your goal and target audience.

How does SEO marketing work, and how can I use it? If you’re a business owner trying to grow your online presence, you’re sure to have heard of SEO marketing, but the question I keep hearing over and over again is how does SEO marketing work? Many of us don’t really know where to start, or what the nuts and bolts of SEO marketing really are. If this is you, then look no further; The Thinking Cap is here to help. We’ll walk you through what SEO marketing is, how it works, and how you can use it to improve your business’s visibility and get results.

An over-focus on social media in particular can lead to algorithm dependency and audience fatigue, but whatever the platform is, if you’re overly dependent on single strategies to drive website traffic you’ll eventually limit your reach and the effectiveness of your marketing. In this blog we talk about how you need to use diverse strategies to drive website traffic.

The constant pressure to produce fresh, engaging content across multiple platforms can quickly lead to mental fatigue and burnout. Fortunately, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is paving the way for streamlined content creation, allowing you to produce better material efficiently, effectively, and effortlessly — while still preserving that critical human touch.

We often hear from business owners about their challenges with boosting posts and achieving a low ROI from social media paid ads. To help you get the most out of your hard-earned cash, we’ve put together some tips on how to optimise social media ads for better results.

On paper, you may well have all the bases covered in terms of providing information and a good experience for your clients, but if your visual communication in marketing isn’t coherent and polished, it can undermine all the positive messaging around your branding and product. Read our article to see where we can help.

To keep your social media marketing fresh for single-service/product brands, you need to understand your audience and address their needs with interactive content. Share customer reviews and behind-the-scenes insights, and engage with industry-related topics and other accounts. At The Thinking Cap, we specialise in refreshing social media strategies tailored to your brand.

Implementing customer feedback not only enhances the customer journey and experience, but in turn will also boost your marketing efforts. Being customer-centric in marketing means prioritising the needs, preferences, and experiences of the people you serve

Why your business needs a marketing team with creative flair It’s no secret that most marketing is now done online, and many businesses are looking for an external marketing team to help them to see the wood for the trees when it comes to their online presence. My top recommendation is to find yourself a marketing team with creative flair. 

Read our case study to see how we elevated a simple tailored products into a quirky loveable tongue-in-cheek social media campaign. Which really helped our Leeds-based tailor gain traction and brand awareness and really got people talking about the Hemingway Tailors’ brand'.

In the competitive landscape of property investment, Leeds-based Holmeshaw sought to elevate its brand presence and solidify its position in the market. Enter The Thinking Cap, a dynamic marketing agency renowned for its innovative strategies and client-centric approach. This case study delves into how The Thinking Cap became instrumental marketing partners for Holmeshaw, driving transformative results and shaping a new era of success.

There are huge opportunities for companies to market themselves to new audiences and play to their strengths using effective business social media accounts

Social media is named social media because of its huge ability to bring people together and bring connection in a fractured world. This means that as well as giving individuals a place to keep in touch with friends and family, social media offers huge opportunities to brands too, who can display their personality and company culture by showing the human side of their company to the world.

Many businesses find it difficult to raise their profile, and growing companies in particular may not consider it a viable option to bring in a marketing team, opting instead to manage their marketing strategy themselves. We’re a husband-wife team with decades of experience in marketing and social media for both small and large businesses across the world, including blue-chip companies such as Barclays and Lloyds, as well as Nike and can help.

If you’re coming across some frustrating content marketing hurdles when trying to generate more leads and business, know this: you’re not alone. Almost every business owner will face at least one (but usually more) of these common challenges. Let’s run through what they are – and how to solve them.

When LinkedIn first launched their newsletter feature it was for creators and influencers to distribute long-form content to their followers directly on the platform. But since they started, LinkedIn Newsletters have had a face-lift, and we want to let you know how you can use them for your business… As they’re available for everyone.

While a social media content plan outlines the types of content you’re posting to your audience, a marketing strategy goes into WHY that content will work. Think of the strategy as the bricks to build foundations, but the content plan is the cement to bring it to life.

Are you neglecting your LinkedIn company page? If so, here’s a complete guide to using LinkedIn company pages to get more eyes on your business and generate more brand engagement

Whether you’re only just getting started on social media or have been posting for a while but not seeing results, you need to evaluate your social media strategy. It can be tempting to post anything and everything to get some level of engagement and be ‘active’; in the meantime, you're just posting 'fluff' and switching off your audience. Here’s our advice to post social media content strategically to get more visible online, grow your online community, and generate more leads.

At The Thinking Cap, much of our social media management and training revolves around using LinkedIn as a platform to generate business enquiries. When used properly, LinkedIn can open many doors. One of the quickest and most effective ways to build relationships is through commenting on LinkedIn posts.

A LinkedIn Live is a live video stream that goes straight to your audience to watch. They can tune in at any point of the recording and watch it back afterwards. It lets you connect with your audience and community in real time. When people join a live stream, you can see their names and any comments that pop up. This means anyone asking a question can hear a live response without waiting. Your current connections and followers also get a notification alerting them you’re LIVE, attracting more people to join.

Why is it so important to make your content accessible? In the UK, more than 2 million people have sight loss, either partially or fully. It’s estimated a further 10-11 million are deaf or hard of hearing. There are many other disabilities that make navigating online hard, too. When your content isn't accessible, you risk losing customers, clients, candidates, followers, and connections. You don’t want to alienate a huge portion of your potential customer base by not making your customer journey and social media content accessible.

LinkedIn creator mode has been around for a little while already. But people are still unsure whether it’s the right decision to turn it on or leave it off. Let’s talk about the key differences and the pros/cons.

There’s so much information posted daily online now that you need attention-grabbing content to stop your audience from scrolling by. Do you need help learning how to get people to read, view, and engage with your social media content?

As a business owner, using LinkedIn for your company can help you to grow in 2023. By implementing a plan and encouraging employee advocacy through a LinkedIn growth strategy, you can propel your social media presence this year.

Have you been using third-party social media scheduling tools? Did you notice a drop in engagement? Has your audience growth ground to a halt? You’re not alone… using schedulers can screw up your organic reach. At The Thinking Cap, we believe the negative impact of using social media scheduling tools far outweighs any positives. Let’s explain why in more detail and tell you how you can fix it.

It’s nearly the end of the year. Christmas is around the corner. Many of us are tempted to take things easy and return afresh in January. But December’s a great time to start planning 2023 social media content.

Why you should use LinkedIn when semi-retired to keep opportunities flowing Are you retiring from a full-time role soon? Have you worked your whole life to get to where you are in your career and don’t want to close the door to all opportunities? Here’s how to use LinkedIn when semi-retired to keep your options open.

User-generated content in social media is on the rise. The chances are you’ve seen this type of content in your social newsfeeds and across the internet without realising it. Our blog runs you through what it is and why it’s important to your social media strategy.

We’ve all been there… asking a customer for a review and hearing crickets. Although gathering social proof for your business is hard, it’s an essential task. Here’s our guide to making it easier to get compelling reviews from your happy customers to boost conversions.

As you might already know, LinkedIn is a brilliant free social media platform to generate business, form relationships, and become a trusted authority in your industry. But to make those things happen intentionally, you need to know how to create a LinkedIn content strategy. Continue reading to find out what the 7 steps are and up your LinkedIn game today.

When creating content plans, it’s looking at more than your social media posts. In our guided content plan sessions, you will come away with a FULL year’s worth of content ideas and a structure to make your plan work for you. Creating content plans means you’ll always have a reference point for you or your team – meaning no more staring into space waiting for inspiration to hit!

It’s a catch 22 situation when you run your own business and don’t get help – you need the help, but because you can’t let go of the tasks and want to do it yourself, you ultimately don’t have time. That’s when your social media content drops off the wagon and looms over you as something you know you should be doing.