We hope you like our new-look website. If you’re an existing client, we feel sure that you’ll find it better structured, easier to use and more modern in design. It’s the first visible manifestation of a marketing overhaul that we started back in November.

It’s always a good idea to elicit opinion from your customers and clients (after all, that’s our stock-in-trade), and so one of the most important elements of our marketing review was to speak to clients, both past and present – to find out what they think of Accent – our key strengths as well as any areas they feel could be improved. It was by talking to clients that we came up with the proposition Bespoke research solutions to strategic issues. It was felt that this was something that differentiated us positively from many of the larger market research agencies out there who can often shoehorn a client’s brief into one of their standardised methodologies. We do like to think that we approach every research brief with fresh eyes, and create the right programme to deliver the required insights.

One of the areas that clients felt could be improved was our communication – and not simply the website. Many clients want to hear what we’ve been up to and suggested a regular e-newsletter to ensure that we’re keeping everyone up to date with new projects and new methodologies. So we’re aiming to send out emails every quarter (we wouldn’t want to jam up your inboxes!) to do just that. What’s more, we’ll be taking steps to keep in touch much more regularly with our clients between projects. And we’re planning to start to run events to showcase new methodologies or the results from self-funded research projects.

We’re also overhauling the styling of our presentations and proposals in line with the new-look website. Rest assured that we’ll still provide the same excellent quality of thinking and reporting that clients expect from us – but everything will be delivered with a fresher and more modern look and feel.

So watch this space. Changes are afoot – and we’re going to be more visible and pro-active than before.

Sue Aitken