Here’s a quick peak of the branding to tingle your taste buds…

Birmingham marketing agency Traffic has won a 5-way pitch to rebrand South Birmingham College.

Click here to read coverage in The Drum or see the full Press Release below.

The agency saw off regional and national competition to undertake brand research amongst staff, students and prospective students from local schools.

Surveys and focus groups will be conducted to understand brand positioning, points of difference and how to create stronger emotional connections with stakeholders.

The project will culminate in a new visual identity which will be rolled out across all campuses, forming part of a wider brand architecture.

Commenting on the rebrand project, Mark Knight, Head of Marketing, South Birmingham College said:

“The project will help us to understand current perceptions and levels of engagement with the brand, both internally and externally. The research will lay the foundations for a new brand that will align itself with the needs and aspirations of all our stakeholders. We were impressed with Traffic’s track record in brand consultancy and their emphasis on the qualitative and quantitative research.”

Phil Elwell, Director, Traffic said:

“We’re really excited about the pitch win and look forward to creating a new and rewarding brand experience for South Birmingham College and its stakeholders. It was very encouraging to see a brief that demanded close attention to the intangible as well the tangible elements of brand development.”

For more information on any aspect of further education marketing please contact Phil Elwell on 0121 224 7327 or email phil@thisistraffic.co.uk

FGI Ltd. is a leading provider of Project Management and IT training and consultancy to private and public sector organisations. Based in Warwick and London, FGI offers a broad range of training courses including ITIL™, PRINCE2™ and APM from introductory to advanced level.

After reviewing its current website, the company decided to revise the design and build to improve navigation, information flow and course registrations.

FGI’s internal team designed the site and invited Traffic to pitch for the web development. After a short consultation period, Traffic created a technical specification to develop the site on Joomla – FGI’s preferred content management system (CMS) to revise the design and build to improve navigation, information flow and course registrations.

Key technical milestones were agreed, including an upgrade from Joomla 1.5 to 1.7, the introduction of BreezingForms and Akeeba Backups and the installation of a DT Register Search Module.

The new web architecture has improved navigation and simplified the prospective customer journey. The information gathering and registration process has been streamlined, enabling visitors to source the most suitable training option easily and quickly.

The site is made even more intuitive with a ‘Role Roadmap’ designed to help visitors select the most appropriate qualifications for their role and a ‘Qualification Roadmap’ which helps navigate complimentary course types.

Commenting on the project, Aaron Kneen, FGI Ltd. said

“We are very pleased with how Traffic handled the project – from the initial briefing stage through to architecture planning and implementation. They remained flexible and responsive throughout and were proactive in suggesting improvements to the original brief. I’d happily recommend them for complex web development and CMS consultancy”.

To learn more about improving your web architecture and content management system, please contact Phil Elwell on 0121 224 7327 or email phil@thisistraffic.co.uk

For more information on FGI’s range of training courses and consultancy please visit their current site. The new site will be launched in early March.

Fircroft College of Adult Education has launched its new course prospectus for March to July 2012. The prospectus highlights over 100 residential short courses where adults can learn in the beautiful surroundings of the college. There are three course categories; Progression Pathway – for entry level learning, Professional Short Courses – accredited qualifications for professionals in the voluntary, community and public sectors and Family Learning Courses for families to learn about literacy and numeracy together.

A leading Salesforce consultancy has trebled its web traffic and enquiries thanks to its recent organic search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign.

crmSOS is a leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) consultancy that helps SME’s and corporate organisations to optimise the performance of Salesforce.

Established in 2009, the consultancy provides services to clients including Halfords and Experian.

As part of its online marketing strategy, crmSOS wanted to increase web-based enquiries and approached Traffic to explore potential solutions.

Traffic recommended an organic SEO strategy based on their main marketing focus; Salesforce ‘training’ and ‘customisation’.

Off-site and on-site SEO tactics were deployed to maximise the site’s visibility to the major search engines. The on-site strategy involved improving keyword frequency, metatag revisions and the tagging of images.

Just three months into the SEO campaign, crmSOS featured organically on Page 1, for all of their keywords.

As a result web traffic has increased by 300% and new business enquiries have trebled, leading to increased revenues.

Marcelle Porteous, CEO at crmSOS commented:

“We were languishing in the nether regions of the major search engines and needed to increase our web visitors and enquiries. Traffic advised us on an off-site and on-site SEO strategy and within 3 weeks we were already on Page 1 for one of our keywords and after 3 months on Page 1 for all. Our SEO investment has paid for itself many times over by the additional revenue generated by new business enquiries.”

To learn more about any aspect of search engine optimisation or search marketing please contact Phil Elwell on 0121 224 7327 or email phil@thisistraffic.co.uk

The Worcestershire-based group provides patient handling equipment to healthcare organisations across the world.

Joerns approached Traffic to formulate an SEO strategy for its Oxford branded patient handling range which includes mobile, ceiling, bathing lifts and slings.

Traffic researched a range of potential keywords to determine search volumes, competition and Joerns’ current ranking for each one. Once the first set of keywords was agreed, the on-site SEO was carried out including the updating of keywords and meta tags.

After the completing the on-site SEO, the off-site SEO began. Joerns chose to optimise a number of keywords per month based on the initial keyword research.

Six months into the campaign, Joerns has more than 20 keywords under optimisation and each of those keywords features on page 1 of the organic search listings.

Commenting on the success of the campaign, Tom Bulpitt, Marketing Manager –UK, Netherlands and Export said:

“We are very pleased with the results of our organic SEO strategy. Just six months into the campaign we are on Page 1 of the major search engines for all of our selected keywords. This has led to an increase in the volume of traffic to our website and a subsequent rise in the number of enquiries”

If you would like to improve your organic SEO or pay-per-click campaigns please contact Phil Elwell on 0121 224 7327 or email phil@thisistraffic.co.uk

Stratford-upon-Avon-based Intellegentia specialise in lead generation, demand generation, sales consultancy and customer retention for brands including Virgin Holidays, Accor Hospitality, ThirdForce and EIPC (Subway).

The consultancy approached Traffic to install a flexible and user-friendly CMS to enable them to update copy, images and create sub-sections.

The CMS has been developed in ExpressionEngine, a globally-used platform favoured by brands such as Apple, Nike and Ford.

The site also features a news and blog section which can be administered from within ExpressionEngine.

Commenting on the CMS, Mike Broomfield, Managing Director at Intellegentia said:

“We were happy with the general look and feel of the site but needed a user-friendly CMS to enable us to edit and add new content. After a short consultation period, Traffic recommended ExpressionEngine and we are very pleased with the result. They worked to schedule and were on hand to guide us through the process. The CMS gives us the element of control we needed to expand our website and keep our content fresh”.

To learn more about ExpressionEngine or CMS please contact Phil Elwell on 0121 224 7327 or email phil@thisistraffic.co.uk

For more information on Intellegentia please contact Mike Broomfield on 01789 262656  or email mike.broomfield@intellegentia.co.uk.

The Beacon Status College, based in Selly Oak, Birmingham, required a greater level of control over its site’s structure and content whilst retaining the existing design.

Fircroft asked Traffic to recommend ways of managing the site’s content without having to undergo a complete overhaul.

Traffic recommended ExpressionEngine for its development flexibility and ability to accommodate and retrieve large volumes of information such as course information and data.

The site now contains an ever-present quick search facility, where prospective students can search hundreds of courses by category or subject area.

Commenting on the new ExpressionEngine CMS, Richard Przyrodzki, Marketing and Development Manager said:

“ExpressionEngine gives us the level of control and flexibility we need to keep our course information up to date and add new content, such as news, prospectuses and video. Traffic’s management and delivery of the project was very professional at every level and was completed on-time and on-budget”.

To learn more about any aspect of web development or content management systems please contact Phil Elwell on 0121 224 7327 or email phil@thisistraffic.co.uk

Birmingham digital agency Traffic has partnered with Staffordshire and West Midlands (SWM) Probation Trust to launch an online training portal.

The portal, launched at the beginning of January, will provide over 2000 sentencers, including Magistrates, with an ongoing training resource for probation work and community sentencing.

Users will be able to access a series of modules designed to improve knowledge and awareness of sentencing and rehabilitation options.

The modules feature audio and visual guidance together with a multiple choice exercise where users can review their performance.

The launch of the training portal forms part of a wider SWM Probation Trust strategy to reduce re-offending rates and improve rehabilitation results.

Gavin Pearce, Senior Communications Officer for SWM Probation Trust, said:

“The portal has been developed in response to feedback from sentencers who wanted more information on probation work and community sentencing, in addition to their compulsory training. It is an example of how SWM Probation Trust is using e-learning to support its work to reduce re-offending and make communities safer.”

Phil Elwell, Director at Traffic added:

“We’re very pleased to have developed the online training portal for SWM Probation Trust. It’s very encouraging to see key public services using digital resources to deliver training. We’re trialling similar e-learning applications in other public sector organisations to improve knowledge and efficiency”.

To learn more about developing online training resources please contact Phil Elwell on 0121 224 7327 or email phil@thisistraffic.co.uk