17 Marketing Essentials for Barnstaple Business Owners

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In this document I have highlighted 17 great marketing tools to showcase you as one of the best, local, independent businesses in the North Devon area. Bust first ask yourself these 3 questions........

1. How do I differentiate myself from my competitors?

2. What am I doing to attract new customers?

3. How can I make my business more visible locally?

If you don’t like your answers you might need to speak to us.

Our unique approach to marketing together with the ‘Bestof’ brand and media platform is ‘Local Marketing Made Easy’. If your business is fantastic at what it does then we help to increase your visibility, demonstrate your credibility and show the trust your customers have in you and your business. We elevate you above the ‘also rans’ as we aren’t called ‘The Worst of’!!! So this opportunity is only available to outstanding organisations who are able to make the most of what we have to offer.

At The Best of Barnstaple we care about our business members and we are passionate about offering great service and value for money. I look forward to speaking to you soon.


Testimonials are one of the most powerful marketing tools in the world and they are free! In the last 10 years Amazon and ebay have revolutionised the way we shop with 74% preferring to read a review before they buy. Our Review Widget for your website and Facebook puts your customers at the heart of your business AND give you a COMPETITIVE edge! It’s a fact that a business with lots of testimonials (that can be seen on their website) get more new leads and enquiries as they are seen as one of the best!

This is your very own Business Profile on our site which receives over 9,000 page views every month. It’s where we tell the local community what you do and why you have been recommended as one of the best local businesses in Barnstaple and North Devon. We’ll write a search engine optimised feature for you and link it to your offers, testimonials, events and PR. We can host pdfs, audio and video about your business and link to trackable contact details for you.

Offers & Promotions from your business are linked to your business profile and are a powerful tool for acquiring new customers. We use social media and regular newsletters to publicise your offers to local members for them to print to use, so you’ll know where the business is coming from. You can change these regularly to keep them fresh with users coming back for more.


Here at thebestof we are the forefront of Social Media in the UK & The Best of Barnstaple has over 4,500 followers on Twitter and 2500+ on Facebook. Everyday, thousands of local people – your potential customers – are on Twitter, Facebook. G+ and LinkedIn. So are we, to support your own social media activity to get you engaged on these new and very important platforms.

We ‘talk’ to over 1500 local people and business members on a regular basis with our Newsletters that contain interesting local stories, offers, event listings and recent reviews about our businesses.

If you’ve got a News Story or Updates and Advice from your business, get it over to us and we’ll share it with local people and businesses! We’ll ensure the editorial is optimised for search engines and publish it on our blog. Tell us anytime you win an award, get a mention in the paper, take part in a charity event or even if you just have something to say. Our blog is a powerful way for your news to get ‘found’ by new customers and raise your profile.

Our Events page is read by thousands of people locally. Our page always feature highly on the search engines. Send your events to us so that we can post to the site on your behalf. We can add a photo then blog and use social media to publicise your events to a wider audience. Our events listings help to attract hundreds of local people to our website.


We incorporate call tracking to track phone traffic that comes to you via The Best of Barnstaple marketing. We assign you with a special number that we use on all the marketing we do for you. When you get calls it simply diverts to your current telephone number (nobody can tell it’s a different number). It means we both know how effective thebestof has been for your business.

With The Best of Barnstaple you have the opportunity to use thebestof KiteMark for great brand exposure. “As recommended on...” helps your business stand out from your competitors. It gives our community confidence and choice of quality from the best local businesses. Display our logos on your website, business premises, windows, vehicles etc. It’s great exposure for you, and entices potential customers to find out more about you. And add our reviews widget to your site so that your reviews are automatically updated from your business profile.

It’s never been more important for your business to be ‘found’ by potential customers on the search engines and The Best of Barnstaple helps you achieve this in many ways. Your business profile, blogs and news, offers and events helps your business to show in the search engine results, alongside your own website. We also do pay per click (ppc) advertising for over 140 key business categories.

The Best of Barnstaple offer a variety of marketing campaigns that come in all shapes and sizes to help your business grow. Buy Local and Local and Loved are key campaigns because they’re specifically designed to generate new business leads for you and dramatically increase the amount of testimonials on your website feature. We’ll let you know what campaigns are coming soon.


Mix and Match is all about connecting you to other bestof Business Members. You never know when you’ll need a cleaner, a landscape gardener, an accountant or a hairdresser! Being part of thebestof gives you a rich pool of best businesses in the area to draw on, all of which you know come recommended. Whatever you need we’ll be able to connect you with the best in town. And of course we’ll connect others to you.

These personally Branded Membership & Review Certificates are for you to display prominently in your reception/public area or shop window. They provide a way of instantly showing your customers that your business is one of the best in North Devon. They can also be a great talking point and used to help you gain more business.

Apps for Locals and our Business Members Consumer habits are constantly changing and we always keep track at thebestof. We have introduced 2 apps for mobile phones and tablets. Our consumer app ensure the best of everything local stays with local people so they keep track of local offers, event and trusted business. Our business member app keeps business owners up to date with strategies to run a successful business

Video is a hugely powerful marketing tool and we’ll help you exploit it to grow your business. Short, simple videos breathe life into your products and services in a way that no other marketing tool can. We create and add to YouTube and your Best of Barnstaple feature to ensure increased exposure in the search engines.

We’ll get your business listed in 3 Key categories to ensure the maximum opportunities for people to find your business whether they are searching on Google or navigation around the site. However broad or niche your businesses we have over 3000 categories to choose from.


12,000+ page views monthly Ave time on site 2:25 mins 1,550 consumer newsletters monthly 450 business newsletters monthly (open rates in excess of 25% for both)

4,500+ Twitter followers (125,000 monthly tweet impressions) 2,500+ Facebook page likes (8,000 post reach weekly) 800+ Devon LinkedIn connections

Pitchside banner & program adverts at Barnstaple RFC +400. Banner at The Cedars roundabout

Offers to Royal Mail and Post Office workers

Thebestof works with over 31,000 business in 200+ towns and cities across the UK


(No VAT & payable

monthly by DD)

Local Exposure Website Business Profile Newsletter Social Media Competitions Kite-mark around town

Consumer App Connections Events Local Campaigns Networking

Content Reviews on /offline, website and FB widget Blogs, news, expert tips written for you. Meet the Best! Create Video, host PDFs

Promote Offers and Local Events Marketing Support PPC and SEO support Call Tracking Business Development App Strategic & Impartial Advice

Sarah Escott | T: 01271 308082 | E: [email protected] | www.thebestof.co.uk/barnstaple (References /testimonials are required for Business Member application)

SEO written feature | 3 hours social media training |

Co-branded review cards | Outdoor kite-mark signage

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.thebestof.co.uk/barnstaple


Sarah Escott | T: 01271 308082 | E: [email protected] | www.thebestof.co.uk/barnstaple (References /testimonials are required for Business Member application)

Data base management and email sends

•Collate and create database from existing or new business contacts •Create email templates •Plan strategy and write content for 4 email sends •Send emails and review responses

Based on up to 100 names and 4 newsletter sends per year

Facebook Ad Management

•Identify potential promotion activity for Facebook •Identify profiles of target audiences •Create posts •Manage posts and advertising spend

Set up Fee applies

Social Media Management

•Set up profile or review current activity •Identify strategy and content around target audiences, activities and timescales. •Create clear goals on engagement and growth. • For Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.thebestof.co.uk/barnstaple


She has taken time getting to

know us, our business and

how we operate. It's great to

have somebody working 'on'

our business, through

promoting blogs, offers and

moderating our reviews as we

are too busy working in the

business. When you get a call

from a new customer and ask

them where you heard about

us and they tell you "Best of

Barnstaple", you know she is

doing a great job. Chris M -

Plumber

Sarah has been active promoting

my firm using social media,

offers and via her blog and she

has helped me with suggestions

about raising the profile of the

firm generally. In a relatively

short period of time several

entries appear on Page 1 of

Google for the term 'Solicitors in

North Devon‘. We now have

much higher visibility on the

internet which has led to an

increase in enquiries and the

amount of new business

generated. The cost of using The

Best of Barnstaple compares

very favourably with other forms

of advertising. Philip T - Solicitor

Sarah is great to work with,

she is 'on the ball' and really

knows her stuff! She is

brimming with ideas and

inspiration. The marketing

support I have received has

been invaluable. My reviews

on The Best of Barnstaple

have been referenced and

used by clients with great

success and now I even

have a video, thank you

Sarah! Sarah - Caterer

