To launch 2013, College of Law Queensland invited our Principal Consultant and Managing Director, Rebecca Wilson, to inspire their alumni to engage in nontraditional, creative endeavours that will bring value to their important relationships.

To do this, we told the story of Flood Discounts, a community Rebecca co-founded in the aftermath of the 2011 Queensland Floods in response to the early post-flood expectation that nearly 50% of victims would be denied the ability to claim on their insurance. The community rallied around the free web listing where businesses could post discounts on a wide range of products and services needed to help victims to rebuild their lives, homes and businesses. Through the Flood Discounts site, Rebecca built a community to help the community, which is an extraordinarily powerful thing to do and something from which incredibly valuable marketing and business development lessons were learned.

The ability to build strong and authentic relationships is the foundation of client management, business development and successful professional practice. It demonstrates the power of marketing in Brisbane and throughout Australia. 

You can read our blog that tells some of the story from the event here http://www.marketingrack.com.au/2013/02/06/the-power-of-community-in-marketing-two-big-choices/ and check out the photos below.

Pictures by Andy Graves, Brisbane Photographer. 

Stretch Marketing Managing Director and Principal Consultant chaired the recent Urban Development Institute of Australia's Speed Networking, hosted by Thomson Adsett.  

The event was attended by over 50 people from the South East Queensland property industry.  A rawcous reception and plenty of recipes for follow up were enjoyed by the dynamic audience.  

Rebecca Wilson will be keynote speaker at upcoming Queensland Law Society Event: Stand Out from the Crowd - Marketing you specialist legal practice

As a Queensland Law Society accredited specialist you have a marketable advantage.

Learn how to market yourself and your specialist legal practice more effectively at an upcoming seminar and enjoy a light breakfast with fellow accredited specialists.

Rebecca Wilson of Stretch Marketing will challenge you to consider your own personal brand and provide you with simple tactics to help you build your practice and develop your reputation using your Specialist Accreditation.

Founders of the Flood Discounts site, Rebecca WIlson from Stretch Marketing and Mikael Wedemeyer, from Niche Studio will this week be awarded medals by Queensland's Premier, Anna Bligh this week, alongside many other Disaster Heroes who volunteered their effort and time during the QLD floods. 

The awards are to be held as a part of the Queensland Week celebrations in Brisbane.  Similar awards ceremonies are being held throughout the state to celebrate the efforts of flood volunteers and heroes.  

"We've loved being able to use our marketing and web skills to make a difference to some of the people affected in the floods, and we're pleased to see people making good use of the discounts on offer," said Rebecca.  

"But the real thanks should go to those offering significant discounts to Flooded Residents to help them get back on their feet - they are the ones really helping people on a tangible level, especially when so little financial support has been made available to flood victims" she said.

We am pleased to introduce to you the newest member of the Stretch Marketing team, Ann Hutchinson, who has joined us as a Marketing Co-Ordinator in April 2011. 

Ann joins us with a strong background in direct marketing, advertising and digital campaign implementation, and a track record in both small and large Agencies.  She has exceptional project management skills and is active in the Marketing community as a key member of the Australian Direct Marketing Association.  

Stretch Marketing client, Design Design enjoyed a terrific write up in the Courier Mail on 26th March 2011.  At the cutting edge of retail interior design and fitout services, their leadership is attracting the interest of proactive retail chains nationwide.  And with a track record in design of over 1800 stores nationwide, they are some of Australia's most revered designers.  

Read our article, Referrals Talk Volumes:  Building referrals is the most affordable marketing strategy for Accountants.  As published in the March 2011 edition of national Institute of Chartered Accountants' magazine Charter.  

We are taught early in our business degrees that we can build a business by being a technical expert, hanging a shingle and waiting for clients to walk through the door.  Many Professional Service providers all throughout Australia diligently fulfil their qualifications, maintain their professional development and serve the customers that trip over their businesses.   They do OK.  But with well-targeted marketing, you can do better.    You can in fact build your business around the market that you want to work for, and have them drive your customers to you by referral.

Rebecca Wilson will be speaking at the upcoming Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Urban Edge breakfast event on the topic, "Personal Branding: An Organisation's Best Friend".  

Thursday 10 March 2011, at the HopgoodGanim Presentation Room, Level 7, Waterfront Place, 7am for 7.30am. 

Some Brisbane volunteers, including members of the Stretch Marketing team, have today launched a website that will allow retailers and services providers throughout the country to pledge and list discounts on offer for flooded residents and businesses. www.flooddiscounts.com.au has been launched on 16th January 2011 as a free web listing list where businesses can post discounts on a wide range of products and services that are needed to help victims rebuild their lives, homes and businesses.

"We have set up this website to link retailers and service providers who want to offer discounted products and services with flood victims who need to purchase them,” says site organiser, Rebecca Wilson, a Brisbane local, and marketing specialist.

“Business owners can visit the site and post their discounts that are available to legitimate flood victims, continuing the giving of care and generosity that we have seen in recent days and weeks,” she says.

We are excited to announce that Stretch Marketing has been awarded Quest Community Newspapers 'New Business of the Year 2010' by the South East Advertiser.