020 8601 7093 | ideas@ots.biz
services
Outside The Square can be engaged as a full service agency or to provide individual services as required.
We can be used to supplement in-house or retained agency skills or offer short-term solutions due to heavy project load or staffing issues.
You can choose to retain our services for an agreed period or call us in on an ad-hoc or project basis.
strategy
Setting marketing strategy, how you operate in the competitive environment, agreeing marketing objectives, feeding up into corporate objectives and down into sales objectives - you know, the whole planning thing.
All of this would usually be the domain of your marketing director - that's fine for large organisations with big budgets. But what about new start-up and smaller organisations that can't afford to invest in a full time high-level marketing resource?
Outside The Square can help by providing such a resource on an 'as and when required' basis - an experienced marketing professional to act as your marketing director. Your organisation benefits from experience gained and lessons learned through many years of working other organisations combined with a fresh outside perspective and no internal political agenda.
Usually, an arrangement is made for a pre-determined number of days per month with access at other times.
bid support
Outside The Square provides a comprehensive service for organisations bidding on large contracts including specifically, PFI in the health and education sectors and under the NHS ProCure 21 scheme along with MoD and private sector contracts. We provide support every step of the way; from Pre-Qualification through to BAFO and beyond if required.
Communicating your message
We will work with you to understand 'your difference', and generate your 'key themes' then determine a strategy to get the message across in all forms of bid communication.
Consistent approach
Particularly in multi-organisation and multi-discipline submissions, we will ensure all responses are in the same written and graphical style, reflecting the key themes and providing a unified solution.
Collaboration
We offer a web based collaboration platform that manages documents and their version control, stores images and graphics and allows all contributors to upload, edit and comment within a secured environment avoiding the issues of email limits and eliminating multiple copies in circulation.
Production
We can undertake the complete document production including graphic design, printing and collation.
Presentations and open days
We will produce and manage your presentation including provision of AV equipment if required as well as producing exhibition display materials.
design
Design without a brief is just art! We take pride in delivering high quality design to meet the requirements of even the most demanding client - this often involves helping the client develop their brief.
Branding
Outside The Square has created many brands for clients from scratch including developing the name and the logotype. In addition, we have taken existing brands and either refreshed them or undertaken a complete rebrand.
Sales collateral
The most visible embodiment of the brand is usually the communications pieces used by an organisation: this will include presentations, brochures and data sheets.
Style
When creating a brand, one of the deliverables is a style guide. This lays out clearly how the brand should be used including; the logotype, fonts, imagery and photography as well as copy tone. We are just as capable of working with pre-existing guidelines as we are using brands we have created.
On-screen or off-the-page
Whether it is a web site, a brochure or an advertisement, we are familiar with producing media specific designs.
copy
It's not what you say but the way that you say it? Clear, concise copy can be the key to clarity in customer communications.
Only words?
The words you use and the way you use them say a lot about your organisation.
Copy tone
The style of copy you choose to use can project the style of your business. We are equally skilled in writing formally, through relaxed to casually.
Copy consistency
'The Brand Police' will often focus in on graphic consistency and ignore the copy however, consistency in copy is just as important.
Words and pictures
Brand is about creating an image that represents your products and services - making the copy style match the values and aspirations of your product is just as important, if not more so, than choosing the right Pantone colour for your logo. What's more, the words and pictures should work together to create the unified brand identity.
Writing for journalists
A sales piece should, by its very nature, be bursting with benefits - send a out benefit laden press release and it will end up in the bin!
media
Enabling clients to maximise the impact of their advertising campaigns through the use of a range of media.
Planning
In order to ensure that campaigns reach their target audiences as effectively as possible, we combine creative thinking with factual analysis to develop appropriate strategies.
Our planners apply knowledge of media and communication platforms to identify the most appropriate vehicle for building awareness of a client's brand or, using direct response media, to generate sales.
Online and offline
Media planners work with radio, the press, television and, increasingly, new media, such as digital media, text messaging and the internet.
We understand traditional media and we understand emerging media. More importantly we understand the differences and similarities, as well as how to measure their performance. This understanding means we can deliver the correct media balance to engage the most appropriate audience for your message.
intelligent web sites
We create intelligent web sites that deliver the functionality you require: content managed, e-commerce, rich-media, interactive – it’s up to you.
Basics
At entry level, we can build a simple set of pages that provide you with a web presence, we can make areas that you can update using a simple word processor style page so you can keep it fresh.
Content managed
We can build a fully Content Managed site using a Content Management System (CMS) that lets you add pages, move pages, edit them, upload content including pictures, video and audio – you can, for example, have dynamic content on the homepage that’s drawn from other areas of the site.
Fully featured
We can add our range of modules that include; member/client management, event management, interactive calendar, with complex interactivity and functionality or, our software engineers we can develop bespoke modules to address specific needs.
Design
We view design as a way to meet your needs, not an opportunity for us to show-off. Our flexible CMS can either be integrated with an existing style or we can produce a style based on your brief. All our sites are designed to be Search Engine friendly and Disability Discrimination Act compliant.
Promotion
Working with our Media Team, we can develop a promotion plan that encompassed traditional off-line as well as online using a combination of Search Marketing and other techniques.
press & media relations
Outside The Square can act as your PR Agency managing your company profile in the media for you integrating PR into your overall marketing strategy to raise awareness of your brand, products and services.
Media lists
Research, create and maintain standing lists plus tactical campaign specific lists.
Media releases
Prepare and distribute releases by the publications preferred method.
Case studies
Prepare case studies and application stories based on information from your customers and sales channels. Seek and gain approval prior to release.
Forward feature planning
Maintain a list of planned forward features to ensure inclusion of reviews.
Reacting to journalists
Provide press office facilities acting as first point of contact.
Setting the agenda
Creating and releasing 'White Papers" to create an authoritative position.