Fresh Element has a fresh new website. The owners of Six, the Turner Prize restaurant, on top of the unique Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, the Baltic Cafe Bar and Garden Kitchen in Newcastle’s Eldon Gardens shopping centre now have a site that really reflects the quality of this innovative company.

BALTIC is one of the most iconic buildings in North East England and offers a stylish and unique location for corporate events, private parties and weddings.

Fresh Element has been the Food, Drink and Events Partner to BALTIC since 2008. This reflects the extensive experience the company has in delivering exceptional events in the venue.

And, Six now serves Afternoon Tea in the unique Baltic Viewing Box. Menus choices range from classic afternoon tea right through to cocktails and Champagne.

Garden Kitchen is Fresh Element’s latest venue and offers bistro dining, café, takeaway deli and private hire in a warm, rustic setting in the heart of Newcastle. Not to mention probably the best picnics on Tyneside!

Ben Saunders heads up Blumilk Digital’s website design and development. Ben says: “The guys at Fresh are a dream to work with. I’m really happy with the site we’ve developed with them. They were a great inspiration for our creative team.”

www.freshelement.co.uk

Milk Mail is a tailor made solution for email marketing campaigns. It combines traditional e-marketing features with exciting new features.

 Milk Mail provides bespoke templates that allow users to edit online with ease. Images can be changed, text added and repeat areas created. And, once the templates are set up they can be used time and time again! The key to Milk Mail is that users are in complete control.

Two Milk Mail packages allow businesses to choose the one that best suits their individual needs.

The Corporate Account offers unlimited emails to be sent. Alternatively, the Pay as You Go Account is pre paid with users paying only for the emails they send. Great, if a contact list is relatively small.

The success of a campaign can be easily scheduled and measured offering a clear analysis of value for money. Milk Mail can provide detailed statistical information on campaigns. Emails can be tracked and monitored as well as who has clicked on what and who went where.

Getting started is also easy. Once signed up, each business user has an individual account, which can be accessed through any web browser.

For businesses who feel email marketing is for them, but don’t have the time to do it, Milk Mail also offers a Managed Service option handling all campaign aspects including designing templates, sorting mailing lists, monitoring reports and scheduling. All that’s needed are images and content the rest is done by Milk Mail. 

For more information or a free demo get in touch!

Newcastle has a new cafe bar. Garden Kitchen, in the up market Eldon Garden development, is brought to the city by the people who run the successful Six restaurant on top of the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Quays, on the banks of the River Tyne.

Launched by Fresh Element, Garden Kitchen’s warm, inviting ambiance blends vintage elegance with modern sophistication, and the quirky farmhouse kitchen furnishings make for a unique venue in Newcastle city centre.

The breakfast and lunch menus, created by Fresh Element Head Chef Adam Hegarty, are best described as a modern twist on rustic bistro dishes and features interesting reinterpretations of well-known classics.

“We came up with the concept for Garden Kitchen a couple of years ago and have been looking for venue in Newcastle city centre that would work ever since,” explains Peter Hunt, Director, Fresh Element.

“When the Eldon Garden café site became available we realised it was the perfect location.  It’s been really exciting taking everything we’ve learnt in our four years at the BALTIC and applying it to a new venture.  Although it’s a different concept, I think customers will pick up on the consistencies between Garden Kitchen and Six in the food and drink quality and service standards.”

Garden Kitchen features Garden Picnics.  A first for the Newcastle café scene, Garden Picnics will offer a gourmet menu of delicious picnic dishes, served to the table in a classic style.  Garden Picnics will be great “social food” and ideal to catch up with friends and family over or make the perfect gift for special occasions.  All picnics will also offer a takeaway option, meaning you can make the most of sunny days in the park with a readymade hamper of delicious deli treats, available to collect straight from Garden Kitchen.

Garden Kitchen is managed by Claire Hall (former General Manager of Café Royal, Nelson Street) and Greg Lambert (transferred from Six Restaurant) heads up the kitchen team.

Garden Shed is Garden Kitchen’s take on the ‘grab and go’ deli kiosk.  Situated in the entrance to Eldon Garden from Eldon Square Shopping Centre, Garden Shed will mirror Garden Kitchen’s décor and menu style, but presented in a convenience format for busy shoppers and professionals. 

In keeping with its quirky name, Garden Shed hopes to overcome the stigma associated with convenience food with a range of delicious, freshly prepared, healthy breakfast and lunch options for busy professionals and “food theatre” for weekend shoppers such as freshly carved hot pork sandwiches and homemade pastries and sweets.

Branded by Blumilk with interior design by Julie Chambers Design, Garden Kitchen has achieved a level of success higher than the even the most optimistic plans for the new venture.

See www.gardenkitchennewcastle.com/menu for example food and drink menus.

Website – http://www.gardenkitchennewcastle.com/

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/gardenkitchennewcastle

Twitter – www.twitter.com/garden_kitchen

In the current economic climate marketing budgets are becoming more restricted, it’s important to know how to maximize the potential of any size budget. Here are our top 10 tips to achieve marketing success on a budget.

1.      Use online media more effectively

• It is becoming more effective than offline media – utilize it through a business website and online advertisements.

2.      Take advantage of free local business directories

• Listings are quick and easy to set up e.g. Google, Yahoo, Thomson.

3.      Blog

• It’s a great way to build brand awareness and recognition.
• It allows you to show the personality of the business and build relationships with your readers.
• It also helps you establish the business as experts.

4.      Send out a newsletter

• Newsletters are relatively cheap to send out.
• They raise brand awareness and can potentially stimulate business.
• Newsletters help establish the business as experts when providing quality information.

5.      Local sponsorships

• Get associated with local charities and events and raise your community profile and brand awareness in the process.

6.      Networking

• Attend networking events – either free or at low cost.
• Networking is a great way to get your business name out there – building brand awareness and potentially generating interest and custom.

7.      Social networking

• Social networks have become an important part of marketing.
• It is essential to have a presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
• Social networking sites increase brand awareness and enable businesses to target relevant consumers.

8.      Present an industry information session

• Become recognised as industry leaders.
• It’s a great way to build credibility and strengthen your brand.

9.      Encourage recommendations from past customers

• Recommendations can now be made easily on social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
• Recommendations are trusted by customers.

10.  Use press releases to your advantage

• Press releases are a great way to spread your brand name and the good work you have done.

Well run businesses change their external accountants, auditors or lawyers infrequently.

“The quality of marketing and creative service providers who protect and develop a business brand are as crucial as other providers in the drive to secure the bottom line,” believes Colin Robertson, Managing Director at Blumilk.

“They are just as much a long term business partner as lawyers, accountants and IT support providers and should be treated as such,” adds Colin.” This implies carefully selecting a partner and developing a respectful, lengthy monogamous relationship; not having the equivalent of one night stands with local design shops.”

“After all, marketing and communication is all about investment and ultimately about cash. And, cash is measurable, results driven,” explains Colin. “This leads to shareholder and stakeholder value and moves marketing from simply flash presentations and pretty pictures to serious discussions about brand relevance and brand values.”

When a brand has a strong presence, the economic advantages are significant.

Brand relevance and brand value are two sides of the same coin, both of which affect a brand’s strength in the marketplace. Brand value is a key differentiator.  Strong brands have real value and deliver an economic impact that positively affects a company’s bottom line.

For businesses with a strong social emphasis the advantages of a strong brand include…

Brand Ambassadors - Stakeholders become ‘brand ambassadors’ spreading positive word-of-mouth at no cost.

Great Employees –  Great brands attract great employees. They become genuine ‘brand ambassadors passing on their commitment to stakeholders and service users. This makes working for the brand more enjoyable and means a reduction in the turnover of employees.

Recognition - Great brands create a high level of awareness and appreciation from stakeholders, service users, peers, community leaders, the media and financial analysts.

For straightforward commercial businesses the benefits include…

Higher Pricing - People pay more for brands they believe have higher value.

Lower Costs - Valued brands lead to more frequent and repeat purchases and therefore long-term client relationships are built at lower promotion costs.

Customer Recruitment - Valued brands equal loyalty from customers who then act as brand ambassadors recruiting more customers to the brand with lower development costs.

Blumilk is adding to the spirit of the Olympics with its support of a road racing cycling team – Blumilk.com – to be based in North East England but competing across the UK.

 
The ten man team is a joint venture with Dutch global offshore engineering and design business IHC Merwede, the business and management consultants Penon Partnership and the Sally Glendinning Meningitis Fund.

“The Blumilk.com race team is not just any old team. It’s a team with ambition in line with the true Olympic ideals,” says Adam Robertson, Blumilk’s Creative Director and team manager. “Each team member has signed up to a five point values commitment.”

The Blumilk.com cycle race team commitment…
·       we enjoy each other’s company and conversations
·       we are committed to and enjoy racing
·       we all have a good level of performance and attitude; hopefully both
·       we enjoy training together, and
·       we all contribute to keeping the team together.

Adam’s passion for cycling is boundless. A former elite downhill mountain biker, Adam has represented his country from Colorado, USA to the Czech Republic at World and European Championships.

blumilkraceteam.blogspot.com/

“It’s the first thing to go when times get tough. Many engineering SMEs think it’s a waste of time and money. Yet in other sectors it’s embedded at the core,” says Colin Robertson, Blumilk’s Managing Director about the place of marketing in business.

“I’m not talking about colourful advertising campaigns or brilliantly creative pieces of artwork, however important or unimportant these might be. I’m talking about the really big issues like what products are needed and what drives people to buy a particular product. Then there’s what price they will pay, how businesses get a competitive advantage and how they communicate in the marketplace. Importantly how they connect with their customers and then convert conversations into sales.” explains Colin.

Eve Whitaker lead consultant at Blumilk Change says: “We offer a strategic marketing foundation for businesses. Working with our research affiliate Alan Holmes Associates, we provide the analysis to support informed decision-making. I believe we provide a real business benefit. We’ve made a difference to large and small businesses, some that were very sceptical and others very clear about the value of serious and smart marketing. ”

“With the world economy in the state it is at the moment, achieving a competitive advantage for any business needs to be the number one topic for top managers,” concludes Eve.

Industry research shows quite a variation in marketing spend.  The retail industry typically spends up to 5% of revenue on marketing and car manufacturers around 3.5%. Professional service firms lead the way spending upwards of 15%.

Compare this with many engineering SMEs who might not even spend 1%; a case of short term profitability at the expense of long term growth.

Whickham Villa specialises in providing neuro rehabilitation services and will be working in partnership with Erimus Housing to create ‘The Gateway’ at Middlehaven in Middlesbrough, North East England. The new building is set to open its doors in winter 2013.

Adjacent to Middlesbrough College, the new facility will be the only one of its kind in the UK. It will consist of a residential ‘step forward’ rehabilitation centre, a specialist health club facility and a range of transitional and supported housing options all on the same site.

Local residents, potential service users and the wider community overwhelmingly backed the £10m project that will create over 100 new posts.

Boda Gallon, chief executive at Whickham Villa LLP, said: “We are absolutely delighted that our plans have been approved so we can now begin building something that will hugely benefit people in their rehabilitation from serious brain and spinal injuries and support people in the community living with neurological and other long term conditions.

“Currently, people discharged from hospital-based neuro and spinal units on Teesside often have to travel to Newcastle for specialist rehabilitation treatment. The idea is to therefore create first class facilities and deliver personalised services right here that will help rehabilitate people quicker and hopefully help them live with a greater sense of independence.

“The creation of so many jobs from the project and the multi-million pound investment is also a fantastic boost for the local economy and Teesside will very much be leading the way as there is simply nothing like this anyway in the UK.

The Gateway concept has been developed with a range of partners to support the NHS in terms of facilitating quicker discharge from hospital and also reducing long term care costs by helping people live more independent lifestyles.

Whickham Villa’s plans also include a range of independent community therapy services, vocational, advice and support services from social enterprise, charitable, statutory and education partners for use by residents and the local community.

The building has been designed by P+HS Architects based on Whickham Villa’s vision and the scheme is also backed by Middlesbrough Council, PCT and the Homes and Communities Agency.

The main 40-bedroom facility will house an internal pool, gymnasium, therapy rooms and a café, a knowledge centre and an array of community facilities. Its distinctive triangular design was inspired by the former shipbuilding dock area nearby and an archived image of the hull of a ship in dry dock. As part of the development Erimus Housing will be providing an array of transitional housing options to enable to people to move towards more community living options.

Branding a bar is a great project. Branding one that has turned around a venue in these recessionary times is a great achievement.

Let Moorgate Bars’ Managing Director Lee Campbell tell the story in his own words:

“Over the past 10 years we’ve opened and also refurbished numerous bars, restaurants and clubs.  We always felt fairly happy with the outcome.  But I suppose we always felt something was not quite right, something was missing. It wasn’t the design. We just couldn’t put our finger on what it was. 

“So for our latest project of refurbishing and rebranding Atlantic Bar in South Shields, we contacted Blumilk. 

“To be honest we were very sceptical at first on what they could deliver, that our numerous of years of experience couldn’t.  Blumilk were first class though and so professional.  They got totally absorbed in the project and took us at times out of our comfort zone, which now on reflection was so important to the process. 

“The venue is by far the strongest of the five venue brands we operate and has gone from being our lowest turnover venue to our highest.  We are currently working on the re branding of our other venues with Blumilk.”

Atlantic re-opened as Life of Riley in November 2011 and its success has attracted people back into South Shields for food, drinks and nights out.  The branding has given South Shields a prestigious bar, increasing the town’s appeal.

It has also demonstrated the importance of great design and branding to a business’s profit levels. 

The branding project included…menus, social media and promotional items.

“It has been fantastic working with Moorgate Bars on the re-branding of Atlantic. It has been great to see the transformation of the bar and how the new brand has made a massive difference to the business, generating huge success and really upping the game of bars in South Shields. We are looking forward to working with them on the re-branding of their other bars.” Says Eve Whitaker, Development Director at Blumilk.

With over 135 million registered users in more than 200 countries, LinkedIn gets a new user every second and 50 million unique visitors every month. Visitor numbers are growing by over 60% year on year.

The business-related social networking site, launched in 2003, is available in ten languages – English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish and Japanese.

LinkedIn is really useful for finding a job, keeping up with colleagues and promoting CVs. As the network grows, the social networking service is steadily getting more and more powerful.

But how are people really using it? Researchers Lab 42 asked 500 users and came up with a variety of answers. Top level executives, for example, use the service in vastly different ways to more junior workers. Details…

http://mashable.com/2011/07/09/linkedin-infographic/

“Blumilk Knowledge runs social media courses for business groups or on a one to one basis,” explains Eve Whitaker, Blumik’s Development Director. “We’ve been able to help a number of our clients get real value and business advantage from LinkedIn, in particular.”

Blumilk Tips

• Include a photo avatar
• Build your network of connections
• Use status updates to your advantage
• Seek meaningful recommendations
• Optimise your profile
• Use groups to expand your reach
• Consider whether to link your profiles

20 Tips for Success on LinkedIn

http://linkedintobusiness.com/linkedin-tips-tricks/

5 LinkedIn Tips for Career Success

http://www.cio.com/article/697424/5_LinkedIn_Tips_for_Career_Success_in_2012