Spring is all go here in the UK. The grass is looking much greener and full of yellow and white as the daffodils, primrose and snow drops poke through and come into bloom. The cherry blossom and Hawthorne is all go too, with the magnolia not far behind.
A week ago I was leaving Aberystwyth with the crocus's up round the bottoms of the trees along with the yellow daffodils and white snowdrops the only sign of spring. However in Pontypridd the cherry blossom and magnolia was out along with all the daffodils. Then up near craven arms, cherry blossom and Hawthorne were everywhere you looked. Daffodils were rife too. Last night i saw a beautiful white bull calf, who would be with me on the train back to aber if I knew I could get away with it. today I have seen so many lambs including some of my favorite colours, all black, black spotted and brown spotted. I always did love the colour of an animal and its character over its breading.
Spring has got me crocheting in browns, creams, greens and yellow. Spring is most definitely here and its won't be long before the full vibrant colour of summer is here. Oestra is the next holiday here and I will be decorating and crafting in yellow and light greens showing the promise and warmth of summer to come.

How frequently should you contact customers?

http://www.royalmail.com/small-medium-business/smart/useful-extras/research/frequency-communication

How often should you contact your customers? Communicating, whether it’s face-to-face, via direct mail or through an online campaign, means you build a relationship and establish your brand with your customers.

Research conducted by Royal Mail reveals that successful SMEs are those who get the balance just right. The research defined success as SMEs that increased their number of employees, turnover and profit, or at least one of the three. Roughly half of the research sample (473 out of 922) fell into the ‘successful’ category with a similar number (449) classified as not successful.

Here are six tips on how best to contact customers:

1. Frequency is key
   The research confirmed that successful companies use media with greater frequency than their less successful counterparts. In total, successful companies communicate 33 times per year (compared to 25 for their less successful counterparts).
2.  Use a wide range of mediaSuccessful companies, as measured by increases in number of employees, turnover or profit, use a wider range of media and spend more on communications and advertising. The research found that this was especially true for smaller companies with up to 50 employees, and that they were more likely to have increased their customer base and generated more positive attitudes towards the use of mail for customer acquisition, retention and re-engagement.
   
3. Shout louder in a recessionBecause of the economic downturn, your instinct may be to cut financial corners and slash marketing budgets. In fact, this is the time you need to work harder to keep existing customers happy, while still actively seeking new ones. The research found that successful companies were the ones who had been focusing on their marketing output and planned to increase communication and advertising budgets in the next year, despite the economic environment.
   
4. Invest in advertising and communication…
   From the companies profiled, the average annual spend on advertising and communications was around £44,000. However, for successful companies, this was £55,000 and for unsuccessful companies, it was only £31,000.
   
5.  … but spend it wisely
   The research found that most successful companies spend most of their marketing budget on retaining their existing customers and then focused on the acquisition of new ones. Third on the list was the re-engagement of lapsed customers.
   
6. Maintain your customer database
   It’s official – successful companies are more likely to have a customer database, so get your data in order. According to the research, 87% of successful companies have a database.