Engage Create Inspire

There are less than 50 days to go until the UK officially leaves the European Union, and as we write, the prospect of a deal still looks vanishingly small.

Confusion reigns and frankly despite the importance of what happens in the coming weeks and months, plenty of people we have spoken to are just heartily bored of the whole Brexit debate.

There is no doubt than many businesses in the UK leisure industry have started to feel Brexit bite – manufacturers have seen an unfavourable pound increase the costs of raw materials, dealerships have noticed that potential customers, confused and tired of endless conflicting coverage, have been delaying upgrading their leisure vehicles.

All businesses are now looking at how best to plan for the future, but finding reliable information and projections does not make that an easy process.

In November 2018 Brittany Ferries announced that it had seen a fall in advance bookings for 2019 as potential holidaymakers wait to see what Brexit will bring. But in late January this year Lastmintue.com reported that bookings to key European destinations are on the rise with increases in bookings of 35% to some destinations.

In the face of such conflicting information what can businesses do?

We think the answer is pretty much carry on doing what you would normally do. Take control of the things that you can change, that way you will be ready, whatever the outcome.

Yes, there needs to be planning, and contingencies put in place, but it is virtually impossible to plan for an uncertain future. The only thing that you can be sure of is that in the current economic and political climate your business needs to be in the best possible shape it can be, so focus your efforts on the things you can control. Create a strong team, produce great products, focus on outstanding customer service, invest in new technology and carry on marketing.

You’ll have noticed thef ‘dirty diesel’ claims that are being batted around by the national media without so much as a second thought to the true meaning and impact of what they are saying.

For us as an industry such claims could be catastrophic; it’s no secret that motorhomes are built with diesel engines and there’s little exploration yet into electric or hybrid motorhomes or tow cars capable of pulling the today’s well-equipped caravans.

Electric motorhomes so far

Several manufacturers have produced prototypes in a bid to bring the first hybrid, or even all-electric, motorhome to the market. Mercedes-Benz and Hymer revealed a plug-in hybrid motorhome protype in 2018 and Dethleffs has built a study motorhome covered in solar panels, which is developed each year, but currently has a range of just 250km.

It has just been announced that German motorhome manufacturer WOF has partnered with electric powertrain manufacturer EFA-S to produce the Iridium E Mobil – a fully electric motorhome. The company has announced that this motorhome, with a range of just 200km, will be on sale later this year. (To find out more take a look at https://electrek.co/2018/12/10/electric-motorhome-iridium-e-mobil/) If this is correct it will be the first all-electric motorhome to hit the market, however there are still many concerns with the vehicle, such as the battery charging time, and the range is very short compared to what the consumer is used to.  

We are all aware of the yearly battle with motorhome weight limits, so it’s worth bearing in mind that a hybrid car is typically 200kg heavier than its petrol or diesel equivalent, which makes the dramatic increase of weight for a hybrid motorhome currently impractical with the existing compromises that have to be made to reduce weight. That means that waiting out for an electric or hybrid motorhome is an unrealistic approach to avoiding the current dirty diesel scandals.

Overcoming the hurdles

Ultimately the future will see electric and hybrid motorhomes and tow cars emerging to the market, especially with the looming 2040 deadline for a ban on all new diesel and petrol vehicles. However, this is a medium to long term solution and, while this needs to be a bubbling plan, we need to reassure customers that investing in a diesel motorhome now, whether new or used, is a safe and secure investment.  

Right now, we need to educate potential customers on what is a dirty diesel engine and what isn’t. It is paramount to make it clear that new motorhomes are built compliant to new European Commission standards of Euro 5 and Euro 6, meaning they aim to reduce harmful levels of exhaust emissions.

Furthermore, a recurring confusion among customers appears to be with the low emissions zones in European cities. On the general, engines which are compliant with Euro 5 and Euro 6 will not be banned or charged in these cities. However, individual city information can be found and passed onto your customers here, http://urbanaccessregulations.eu/.

Colour expert Pantone has announced its colour of the year for 2019.

Living Coral - Pantone 16-1546 for those of you that prefer your colours to have a number - is a warm and vibrant shade, already a fixture on many an Instagram account and fashion show runway.

Our creative director, Martyn Seiles, kicks back on a 1980s settee in his on-point sneakers to take a closer look at this energising hue that is described as representing the fusion of modern life.

When I purchased my Puma X Han Kjøbenhavn coral trainers last year, who knew I’d be leading the charge for this most 80s of shades?

Kanye West’s clothing brand Yeezy has also just dropped a coral accent sneaker and now that it has been named as 2019’s colour of the year, you can rest assured that there’ll be a whole host of other fashion and design taking its cue from this bold colour.

Pantone describes Living Coral as “An animating and life-affirming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge” and add that it “embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment.”

A little bit pretentious perhaps, but you can see where they are coming from; a nice bright colour can do wonders for the soul on a dreary day, and given the current state of much of the political and social landscape, there are plenty of days that need a splash of colour.

I’m certainly not surprised that it has been chosen for the colour of 2019; with 80s and 90s vibes both in vogue, a current take on a retro colour is an obvious choice.

Hats off by the way to Adria, who, like me, were ahead of the curve in 2018 with their coral infused soft furnishing accents in their motorhomes (The picture incidentally is the aptly named Adria Coral Axess 670 SC).

In another of Pantone’s extravagant descriptions, Living Coral is described as a reaction to “the onslaught of digital technology and social media increasingly embedding into daily life,” and many people are, they say “seeking authentic and immersive experiences that enable connection and intimacy.” That concept is certainly familiar across the mobile leisure industry, as more people than ever seek to reconnect with the outdoors and leave their everyday lives at home as they enjoy adventures and experiences with friends and family.

For all this, I’m not sure how much of an impact Living Coral will make with caravan, campervan and motorhome manufacturers, which is a bit of a shame, it would be nice to see all manufacturers taking more notice of, and responding to the colours that are in season. For those of us old enough to remember it the first time round, the thought of a coral comeback is a distressing one, but this is not the insipid, salmony eyesore of yester-year. Instead think bold accents against warm greys, pair it with teal and dark French blues for a fresh look. Keep lines and designs clean and sharp and the coral will work its magic.

While neutral greys, creams and browns rightly look set to stay as the main upholstery colours in leisure homes, it is easy to introduce seasonal accents, which in turn is a cost-effective way to keep your caravan, lodge or motorhome completely on trend and ahead of the crowd.

Living Coral does make a great seasonal, spring colour, so keep your eyes peeled as I’m already looking forward to using the colour in a campaign for at least one lucky customer!

Here at Kal HQ we’re officially in our final working day until our well-earned Christmas break begins! Which means before we know it, we’ll be back in the new year, planning the 2019 show visits and immersing ourselves in another season. But for now, we’re taking a look back on a selection of this year’s shows and how they’ve gone.

Both of the NCC’s February Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show and the October Motorhome and Caravan Show at the Birmingham NEC were down on visitor numbers this year, but not at an alarming rate as they settled back, roughly in line with 2016 figures. And more than that, it appears that those people attending were more set with the intent to actually buy a leisure product rather than simply browse.

As a result, exhibitors did not suffer from this decreased footfall. In February, Kampa reported a record show, Adria achieved double overall sales of motorhomes and caravans, and in October Hillside Leisure was up 90% on actual sales from the end of the previous show to the Sunday morning this year and Premium Motorhomes also reported being up on sales.

The decrease in attendance should not be alarming to the industry, as clearly it has not had a knock-on effect to sales.

Covering a slightly different sector of the industry, the Holiday Park Innovation Show was one of few shows to experience an increase in footfall in 2018. And the show looks secure for the coming year, with 97.4% of visitors saying they are already planning to attend in 2019, meaning none of us should overlook this particular area.

Other positive reports come from Warners Group, which runs eight industry shows from March through to September. Like most, these shows experienced a slight decrease in day visitors, however they did express that trade sales have increased year on year and there were some really positive sales this season.

Cementing its future, Warners has announced plans to trial electric hook ups at one show in 2019 and to also trial a glamping area to entice a new audience.

On the flip side, the UK Motorhome and Caravan Shows, which consists of a Summer, Autumn and Spring show, run by Mortons Media Group Ltd, has reached the end of its road in 2018. Mortons Media Group acquired the Motorhome and Caravan Shows in 2015 from Event Developments Ltd which had ran the trio of events for nearly a decade.

In a statement from Mortons Media Group it announced, “After a tough trading environment for the last couple of years, we have decided to no longer continue with the UK Motorhome and Caravan Shows – thank you to everyone who has supported us, traders and visitors alike.”

However, we don’t think this should be a warning siren. This is one set of shows and many others have proven successful year on year. Exhibitor comments and statistics both support our industry remaining buoyant.

Press releases are a great way to let people know what is going on in your business but if you don’t have an in-house PR team, knowing where to even start can be a daunting process.

Our communications manager Michelle highlights three questions you should ask yourself before you even put pen to paper.

Question 1 - In house or agency?

There are pros and cons to both options, and there is no correct answer to which is best. Every business is different and what suits one may not suit another – it may even change over time at the same business.

To help you make that choice, consider: - Copywriting skills If you hate writing it may well be a good idea to consider an agency! That is their core skill and you’ll be amazed at the difference an experienced and skilled writer can make. On the other hand, if you’re a budding J K Rowling, taking some time out from the day job and crafting your press release can be a welcome pleasure.  

- Contacts Once you have the perfectly written press release, do you know where to send it? Not just the particular publications, but the journalists and editors at each? A PR professional should have great relationships with journalists. Developing these relationships yourself can help to raise your profile, but that can’t be done overnight, so be prepared to commit plenty of time.

- Knowledge No one will know your business as well as you do, so if you choose to use an agency, make sure you brief them fully; not just about the specific news you wish to promote, but about your business and the wider industry. A good agency should ask you plenty of background questions.

- Time You’re already busy running your business and time is a valuable commodity. This is where an agency can help relieve your workload and free you up to focus on other aspects of running your business. Remember it is not just the time taken to actually write the press release but sending it out and following up too.

- Cost This is the big one. At the end of the day, it is always going to be cheaper to write a press release yourself, and if finances are a significant factor, such as for a new business, it may not always be possible to invest in using an agency. Just remember to balance the price tag with all the other factors mentioned above – just because an option is cheaper, doesn’t always mean it is better.

Question 2 - Who are you talking to?

Before you start writing you should always think about the audience for your news. Is it a business audience? Your customers? Potential new customers? The general public? What is their age? Where will you find them? What will they be reading or watching?

All of these things will influence the style, tone and content of what you like, and also where you place your story. While it is great to get your information in front of as many people as possible, to be effective and interesting, you need to make sure you’re talking to your potential customers.

Question 3 - What is your story?

You’d be amazed how many people I speak to who tell me that they haven’t got any news to share. If it were true, then newspapers, magazines and radio stations would be empty for most of the time. In reality it is just a case of spotting the news, which can sometimes be tricky. If you don’t know, ask someone else; a business partner that you trust, a guest or customer, or another member of staff – they may see things from a slightly different perspective.

If you’re struggling to come up with an idea, ask yourself have you:

-          Won an award? -          Launched a new product or service? -          Got new staff? -          Increased your turnover? -          Taken part in unusual activities? -          Had any famous visitors? -          Invented something new?

You might also be able to offer expert comment on a topical event – Brexit is a great example where journalists are always looking for an interesting twist to reinvigorate a recurring story.

You need to bear in mind that a press release isn’t an advert, so don’t fill it with special offers and sales pitches; editors are wise to this, and your press release will be consigned to the waste paper bin without a second glance.

Just over two years ago our directors were discussing the fact that there wasn’t really an online source of business news and insight for the whole of the mobile leisure industry. Rather than complain and do nothing, they decided to act. The result is Hooked-Up magazine, which has just celebrated its second anniversary.

First published in October 2016, Hooked-Up magazine was born from the desire to get the professionals in the mobile leisure industry talking and to create discussion across the sector. Michelle Andrews is communications manager at Kal Group and also editor of Hooked-Up. “Working in the leisure industry we noticed a gap in the market for a business-to-business publication focussed on the mobile sector, so the idea of Hooked-Up was born.”

Planning started in the June 2016, and the first 12 months proved to be a huge learning curve. Michelle explains, “We spent a lot of time researching, gaining contacts and coming up with ideas. It was a lengthy process, and not without its risks, but it has certainly proved worthwhile!”

The magazine reports on industry news, new appointments, launches and awards, and includes anything from dealers, manufacturers and suppliers, to accessories, holiday parks and industry shows. Hooked-Up has an industry expert on the cover every month and has already had cover interviews with the likes of Dave Thomas, managing director of Auto-Trail, Peter Munk, CEO of Willerby, Chris Ryder Richardson, head or underwriting at Vantage insurance, and Harvey Alexander, marketing director at Caravan and Motorhome Club, to name just a few. As well as features and experts’ opinions from a range of industry companies, including, Glampsites, Tozers Solicitors, Your Parks, Businesses For Sale, Solar Technology International and Clusters.

The journey so far

Two years down the line and Hooked-Up is firmly cemented as a must-read publication for anybody working within the mobile leisure industry. Hooked-Up continues to pride itself on being entirely online, allowing up to the minute headline news to be delivered completely free of charge to readers’ inboxes.

The publication began with editor Michelle, our managing director Andrew Wood and our creative director Martyn Seiles. After the first eight months, Hooked-Up had been successful enough to take on a sales executive and shortly after that a trainee to assist with writing and production. Although the team remains small the publication continues to grow, thanks to the support of readers, advertisers and sponsors, as well the wider Kal Group team.

Andrew explains why he made the decision to dedicate time, money and expertise to the venture, “There was a gap in the market; the publication that suited Kal and was appropriate for so many of our clients just didn’t exist. I could tell there was a desire for a business-to-business magazine, so instead of sitting back and complaining about it I saw that I had the contacts and the team to do something about it.

“I had no doubt in the skills of my copywriting, design and web teams, so the months of planning, research and brainstorming began.

“I have no regrets for making that jump, it has proved successful in the industry and many of our clients regularly enthuse about how much they love reading Hooked-Up.”

If you’ve not already read Hooked-Up, you can catch up with previous issues here www.hooked-up.co.uk. And don’t forget to subscribe for free to stay up to date with all the latest industry news.  

Here at Kal we’ve got more than 15 years’ experience of working within the caravan and motorhome industry. But despite our wealth of knowledge and over 40 years’ combined experience among our directors alone, there’s one secret we’ve only just uncovered.

The NCC Benevolent Fund is a charity that was set up over 40 years ago by six key caravan professionals to offer support and one-off grants to those working in the caravan and motorhome industry during personal crisis.

What is the fund?

The Fund is available to help professionals and their families who are working or have worked in the caravan, motorhome or related industries, who for various reasons find themselves in challenging or financially difficult times. People can benefit from the Fund in several ways, for example it can pay overdue priority bills, provide specialist equipment such as mobility scooters or provide vouchers to help feed individuals and their families.  

Examples of help

Craig* received a grant from the Fund after he got behind on his bills when his wife passed away, and Peter* received help in purchasing a mobility scooter when he lost mobility through a sudden illness.

With a workforce of over 130,000 people in caravan related industries, not to mention their families, the NCC Benevolent Fund really is available to offer support to a large group of people. Despite this, very few people are aware of the Fund and Benevolent Fund manager, Melanie Day is currently working hard to change this and here at Kal we’re 100% supporting her.

How can you get involved?

Staff working on the NCC Benevolent Fund are looking for people to help develop the fund by taking part in the industry survey here,  https://surveyhero.com/c/6d4bab9c.

Alternatively, find out more by visiting, https://thencc.org.uk/our_schemes/benevolent_fund.aspx or emailing [email protected].

Join us in supporting our colleagues and professionals in the caravan and related industries.  

KAL GROUP is a well-established company, their satisfied clients include major blue-chip company’s, local authorities and work extensively in the leisure industry.

We are looking for proven experience in solving the technical SEO challenges presented by frequently changing dynamic content and for someone who can integrate their knowledge and experience into the company’s wider digital marketing activity.

Your main focus as a SEO/PPC Marketing Executive is on succeeding with the company’s organic search strategy, however you will also need to manage a large PPC programme and experience in dealing with multiple, highly cross-competitive ad groups would be an advantage.

The ideal candidate will have the following skills/experience:

Experience using Google Analytics, webmaster tools, AdWords platform (and editor) and other monitoring tools and expert in Microsoft Excel

Experience using SEO tools such as Rank Tracker

Demonstrable improvement on ROI & Quality for PPC and SEO

Proven experience of managing highly cross-competitive PPC campaigns

Proven knowledge of solving technical SEO challenges on sites with dynamic content

Able to work across multiple departments and key stakeholders

A keen interest in web analysis with the ability to improve conversion & response rates.

This is an excellent role for the successful candidate to work with autonomy and have direct influence on content and digital marketing strategy.

Job Type: Full-time

Experience: SEO/PPC: 1 year (Required)

Education: Secondary education (Required)

Location: Gainsborough DN21 (Required)

In return we offer:

· 20 days paid holiday per annum + all the usual bank holidays

· Private health care

· Life cover for you and your family

· Contributory pension

· Yearly bonus payment (based on company performance and profitability)

· Free car parking or equivalent assistance with travel costs

· A great working environment next to a retail park and gym

· Exclusive discounts at local shops and businesses.

Apply for this role:

Job type: Full time

About Kal Group

Kal Group is a long established, award-winning digital marketing agency, based in the Marshalls Yard complex in Gainsborough. It is the market leader in the mobile leisure sector and one of the largest agencies in the area.

We pride ourselves on creating exciting and innovative design and digital solutions that deliver ROI for our customers.

We tie in traditional, digital and customer on-site technologies to monitor marketing performance and constantly track the most cost effective ways of marketing their products and services.

Working all over the UK, our client list includes household names, UK top 100 companies, and some fantastic regional and local brands and businesses.

The team

We are a very close knit team who are passionate and committed to delivering the best results for our customers. As a team we make hiring decisions together, and enthusiasm, dedication and a strong work ethic are vital characteristics in our colleagues.

We embrace new technology and use the most cutting edge industry tools. We welcome input to make changes and always value a fresh perspective.

You will help build and style interfaces, and ensure the delivered product meets the UX and design teams' needs and standards.

What we want from you:

Essential:

· Comfortable programming in object-oriented PHP

· Familiar with MVC frameworks

· MySql

· Javascript

· Jquery

· HTML5

· CSS3

Bonus skills:

· Laravel

· Sass

· Gulp

· Git

In return we offer:

· 20 days paid holiday per annum + all the usual bank holidays

· Private health care

· Life cover for you and your family

· Contributory pension

· Yearly bonus payment (based on company performance and profitability)

· Free car parking or equivalent assistance with travel costs

· A great working environment next to a retail park and gym

· Exclusive discounts at local shops and businesses.

On 19th September the 2018 Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome awards will take place at Hampton Manor in Solihull. The event celebrates the best innovations and new products in the caravan and motorhome industry, and our MD Andrew wood has taken the opportunity to praise the critical role played by manufacturers’ creativity and innovation.

Speaking ahead of the event Andrew said that the awards play a vital role in in creating a sustainable industry which will continue to prosper in the future.

“In the face of an unpredictable economic environment and ever-increasing customer expectations it is the manufacturers’ commitment to continual innovation and improvement which guarantees the future of this industry,” he said.

Andrew added that the awards provide a focus for people to stop and take the time to really appreciate all the on-going hard work. “Nothing stands still in this industry; customers are quite rightly demanding higher standards and more features, so it is easy to get caught up in taking the next step, without really appreciating what has already been achieved,” he said. “This is an opportunity to stop, appreciate and reward some of that fantastic work.”

The much-anticipated annual awards which recognise best innovations and new products, are highly regarded by both the industry and the buying public, and their influence can have a direct impact on the success of a product.

“We know from our own work with both manufacturers and dealers just what an impact having a Practical Caravan or Practical Motorhome award can have, which is why Kal Group is delighted to support the event with sponsorship,” explains Andrew. “As a business our core values of innovation, creativity and continually raising standards align perfectly with what manufacturers are trying to achieve and what these awards are celebrating.”

“This determination to improve and innovate is helping the touring sector compete against increasing competition from other parts of the holiday and leisure industry, as well as stiff competition from abroad and we’re delighted to be able to help our clients achieve that goal,” added Andrew.

Here at Kal Group we tell you that we’re different to other agencies, we’re better than other agencies and we’re leaders in the leisure industry, but why?

Nothing talks better than figures and our figures really do talk for themselves! See our impressive stats sheet below with just a few of the websites we’ve improved by leaps and bounds in the time we’ve been working on them.

Technology advances

We use the latest technology to monitor engagement and track customer movements around clients’ websites. We can even see when users thought about clicking a button but didn’t; sounds creepy we know, but it works!

Our dedicated and experienced search engine optimisation team proactively monitor clients’ keywords and advise on changes and improvements to increase their ranking. Our clients always receive a monthly report, so they know how their website is performing.

Combining the latest technology with our exceptional knowledge and understanding of the leisure industry means we continuously time campaigns to perfection for maximum impact, giving clients those all-important conversions.

View a few of our stats here:

Working with Kal Group

At Kal Group our clients always feel valued, appreciated and listened to. From the get go they will deal directly with our managing director Andy or one of the directors, and it will always be Andy that goes out to visit them at their site.

Every company is individual and unique, and we believe they should be treated as such. That’s why we provide each of our clients with a tailored service package to suit their requirements and needs.

Everyone who visits the Kal offices comments on our close-knit team. We are all under one roof giving us the ability to easily communicate between departments to best manage and complete clients’ work. Our departments cover design, SEO/PPC, programming, app development and copywriting, truly giving us the capability to cover every part of digital marketing in house. We even organise the print and delivery of products where necessary.

Want to know more?

If you’ve got this far, something must have caught your attention about the work we do. So why not get in touch for more details and find out how we can help develop your company.

Kal Group’s success has been built on the high quality of our creative solutions. We are now looking to expand our creative team. An excellent opportunity has arisen for a creative leader, who wakes up every day wanting to produce inspiring and engaging concepts, solutions and designs.

We are the UK’s largest mobile leisure digital media marketing agency. A large proportion of the work we produce is based within the mobile and outdoor leisure market, so an interest and understanding of caravanning, motorhoming and outdoor pursuits would be a big advantage.

No two days are ever the same in the studio, so a broad and in-depth understanding of design and creative solution thinking is essential. We are looking for someone with a passion to produce a high standard of innovative, creative work and who is driven to keep up with the latest trends and technologies.

Key Responsibilities

Design work of the highest quality, following design principles and standards.

See work through from initial ideas to finished artwork, working efficiently and meeting agreed deadlines.

Meeting with clients to identify their needs.

Designing wireframes and web/print concepts.

Working closely with the development team for web design project implementation.

Continued self-learning and professional development to keep up to date with new design developments.

Be a key stakeholder in a team of dynamic creatives, who are all hungry to produce the best work they can.

Think big and differently. Act small and ready for anything. Willing to push boundaries whilst understanding limitations and learn rapidly.

Qualifications

A talented designer with a proven track record in creating innovative visual content that delivers results.

Understanding of all print-based solutions and online marketing.

The ability to design and produce unique solutions for multiple brands within the same industry.

A tech-savvy operator with a finger on the pulse of what’s trending across the digital design landscape.

You have mind-blowing skills across Adobe Creative Cloud – Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator and can turn projects around quickly and efficiently.

You may have recently noticed a drop in your Google ranking and overall traffic to your website. What you may not realise is that this is due to Google updating their algorithms. But then again, why should you know that, surely your agency should sort this?

As a leading digital marketing agency with a flourishing SEO team, we are one step ahead and have already informed our clients of the changes, and the SEO team, led by Kelly Burns, has begun acting on these updates. Kelly shares her thoughts on the updates below.  

As we work across so many sites we can quickly spot trends, and by comparing the effects on different sites, we are able to identify factors responsible for any changes in performance.

Because we can identify changes early, we’re already on the case with responding to the updates to ensure rankings remain as high as possible. Below are a few of the changes we’ve found.

Google snippets and metadata increase

Google has announced that it will be changing the length of snippets from 150 to 350 characters. Snippets are text, either from the page itself or metadata, which help search engines to better understand the information on a page. They are also used on results pages to give a user more information about the site.

The Maccabees update

Reported losses of 20-30% in traffic across car and motorhomes industries has been caused as a result of the recent Maccabees update. The focus with the update is on user experience and relevance and has targeted sites with thin content, pages that contain similar content (such as product listing pages), and sites which are not optimised for mobile.

To combat this problem, we have started adding more content to listings pages, however this is only the start and as a team we’re developing a more complex strategy on how to optimise product pages to deliver the maximum returns.

Mobile page speed update

At the start of February Google announced a new page speed update for mobile searches and with more than 50% of traffic in the mobile leisure industry coming from mobile sources, this has had a significant impact on many websites and their traffic levels.

One option, which our clients will benefit from, is our major investment into infrastructure. We’re installing and upgrading new web servers which will help to increase mobile page speed and deliver content quicker.

But it’s not just about the servers. We are working closely with our web team to look at the complexity of code the site uses. For more complex websites a number of databases will have to be contacted before a page is loaded. Some of this code may be able to be streamlined to make the process simpler and all images and videos should be optimised to improve load time.

In other cases, for those websites that have been around for more years than can be remembered, it might be time to consider a whole new website, more suitable for mobile viewing.

As always, we are continuing to monitor performance and actively managing clients’ sites to keep their minds at ease. To keep up to date the work is complicated and lengthy, but ensures we are always abreast of any future changes, allowing us to react swiftly to maintain our clients ranking and remain the leading digital marketing agency in the Leisure industry.

Kal Group has worked with apprentices for several years now. As a company we benefit from the energy and enthusiasm they bring, and we love sharing our knowledge and experience with people just starting out in their careers.

It’s National Apprenticeship Week and so we decided to ask two of our very own apprentices for their advice on how to get the most out of an apprenticeship.

Tom joined Kal Group in 2015 to complete an advanced level apprenticeship in social media for the business sector. Upon successful completion he was offered a full-time position and is now junior designer at Kal Group.

Charlotte is out newest apprentice. She joined us in September 2017 to complete a level three administration apprenticeship after she decided college wasn’t for her.

They’ve put their heads together and these are their top five tips for making the most out of an apprenticeship:

The role requires someone who is interested in a progressive career in SEO, within a highly-targeted and growing company. You will already have a proven track record managing SEO and PPC campaigns and be certified as a professional by Google in both areas.

The role requires someone who understands the power of organic rankings to business goals by comprehending the bigger picture. If you have experience in an SEO role and are looking for more responsibility and a step up on the career ladder then this opportunity is for you.  

Job type: Full-time

Responsibilities:

• Work very closely with the SEO manager on SEO strategy and campaigns.

• Content gap analysis to identify possible content opportunities.

• Create in-depth content briefs for the team to improve and optimise existing content of key organic landing pages.

• Liaise with the web development department to ensure technical SEO is carried out on time and to an excellent standard.

• Creation of reports each month analysing keyword changes, enquiry levels and key traffic data in a timely and precise manner. 

• Once completed these will be analysed so that a strategy can be put into place for the upcoming month’s work in collaboration with the SEO manager.

• Checking for link-building opportunities and strategies.

• Analyse the current market and identify potential opportunity.

• Keep up-to-date with SEO news and Google Algorithm changes.

• Reporting weekly on any issues on performance to the SEO manager in weekly meetings. 

Experience:

• 1 year of professional SEO experience. (Minimum)

• Understanding of on-page and off-page SEO.

• Experience in SEO copywriting and the technical aspects of it.

• Attention to detail - focus on getting things right the first time.

• Copywriting and data analysis are key to this role, so a high level of English and Maths are required.

About Kal Group

Kal Group is a long established, award-winning digital marketing agency, based in the Marshalls Yard complex in Gainsborough. It is the market leader in the mobile leisure sector and one of the largest agencies in the area.

We pride ourselves on creating exciting and innovative design and digital solutions that deliver ROI for our customers.

We tie in traditional, digital and customer on-site technologies to monitor marketing performance and constantly track the most cost-effective ways of marketing their products and services.

Working all over the UK, our client list includes household names, UK top 100 companies, and some fantastic regional and local brands and businesses.

The team

We are a very close-knit team who are passionate and committed to delivering the best results for our customers. As a team we make hiring decisions together, and enthusiasm, dedication and a strong work ethic are vital characteristics in our colleagues.

We embrace new technology and use the most cutting-edge industry tools. We welcome input to make changes and always value a fresh perspective.

It’s one the highlights of the year here at Kal Group, and this year was no different with the sales and PR team heading up to the Birmingham NEC for the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show.

This is the second largest industry show of the year and gives the public the chance to see the 2018 product launches from a large selection of dealers and manufacturers of caravans, motorhomes, campervans, lodges, holiday homes and accessories. For us, it gives us chance to visit many of our clients all in one place and meet many potential ones, it also helps us stay on top of the latest trends in the market.

The new holiday park attraction at the show was a hit with us, with an ice ring, rock climbing wall and sledging slide there was plenty to do for the whole family.

Jumping over to the Bailey of Bristol stand we took a look at the vintage 1967 Bailey Maestro caravan which was on display after being fully restored by Lee Davy. It was on display to help celebrate Bailey’s 70th anniversary and to show the leaps and bounds that caravan manufacturing has come to give us the leisure vehicles that everyone is so used to now.

Over on the Willerby stand the PR team took a look around the newly launched Juniper, got very jealous of the Willerby Owners Club mugs and got to meet The Sleep Geek. James, The Sleep Geek, was on stand supporting the Willerby Simply Better Sleep scheme in which they’ve teamed up with Hypnos to offer a better night’s sleep. James told us all about the factors affecting sleep; mattress, light, scent, temperature and heart rate.  

Helen, sales director, had a hectic day visiting clients and found everyone was very happy with their stands! As busy as it was with the public she managed to catch many of our clients for a cuppa and chat, including Auto-Trail, Lowdhams and Brownhills just to name a few.

Although overall footfall appeared to be down, many businesses have still reported that sales were good, with some even record breaking for a February NEC, which indicates the mobile leisure market is still buoyant and looks set to continue rising throughout the year.

After all that walking around the NEC all day Jess made sure she found five minutes to put her feet up and relax on the Haven stand, we don’t know how anyone manages the full five days on their feet!

The team as a whole clocked up a staggering 52km throughout the day, but Michelle decided this wasn’t enough and headed up for a second day on the Thursday! And even with the extra day she found the need to be flying around the halls, see Michelle’s videos on our Facebook page! 

https://www.facebook.com/KalGroup/ 

Here at Kal Group we have recently launched an all-new booking system for Your Parks. The new system allows park owners to handle bookings, payments and accommodation options all from one place, and reduces the risk of double bookings.

It is also ideal for customers meaning they can search through a vast number of parks, view all their accommodation options and make a booking, all in one place.

We were approached with a brief to create a bespoke booking system that was easy to use, but also handled all aspects of the parks’ bookings. Our designers succeeded by making something that is both stylish and fresh to look at, whilst the web team created a system that was simple to use for both owners in the backend and customers in the frontend.

But somewhere in between the attractive face of the system and easy to use backend for owners, is the magic that senior web developer Darius lead his team to creating. The innovative new system strategically handles all aspects of the booking for each park, but it doesn’t take a one size fits all approach; instead each park can customise their accommodation options with prices, payment structure, accommodation types and additional extras.

Park owners wishing to use the booking system should visit the Your Parks website: https://yourparks.co.uk/.