Company Information Athlone & Associates is a niche consulting firm that provides marketing and PR services to the Australian thoroughbred industry.  The company was established in 2003 and has consultants based in Australia and Hong Kong.  Recently completed projects include: ·         Drafting a major research report on weblogs for an international race club ·         Designing content for a specialist (thoroughbred) weblog  ·         Drafting the strategic marketing plan for an owner importing a thoroughbred stallion to Australia ·         Acting as the subject matter expert for a Philippines company designing e-learning modules for an international race club ·         Drafting a series of articles to promote the Queensland breeding industry ·         Drafting a competitor website analysis report for a large thoroughbred stud ·         Preparing a detailed report on the branding effectiveness of a racing stables' website; and ·         Writing a series of press releases for a number of Australian stud farms.  Why choose Athlone? If your goal is to build a more profitable business you should employ consultants who are professionally qualified to assist you.  Before you sign on a cheaper quote you may wish to ask yourself the following questions: ·         Does the person offering the ‘bargain’ price actually know anything about branding and strategy? ·         What directly relevant Industry experience do they have? ·         What will you do if the advertising/web/brochure copy they prepare breaches copyright or trade practices standards? ·         Will clients query your company's professionalism because of sub-standard editing in a brochure or sales letter?  ·         How persuasive is the person's copywriting? If the wrong person does the work the dollar or two you save at the front-end can easily become a few thousand lost at the other end.  In many ways it would be like allowing someone who had never shod a horse to shoe your Slipper hopeful.   We’ve got the runs on the board We have almost ten years of experience in professional services and have managed annual marketing budgets >AUD$2M.  We offer specialist expertise in the following areas:  ·         Business Development ·         Marketing ·         Public Relations   We’re focused on results Ad hoc marketing measures cause unstructured expenditure (short term) and a potential decline in revenue and growth (long term).    The following results are also common: ·         You fail to differentiate yourself from your competitors so your company is forced to compete on price ·         Your PR material can be ill timed and insufficiently targeted to your audience ·         The customer relationship management programme you decided to implement is not targeted to your key clients ·         The expensive company website fails as an effective means of client communication and compromises your brand value ·         The pile of videos/brochures you ordered are already out of date ·         Your sales letters are poorly drafted ·         The only time you contact your customers is when you want to sell them something ·         The advertisements you designed and placed do not complement long-term branding (and growth) initiatives; and ·         You support a number of 'extras' such as marquees at the annual yearling sales, open days or sponsored race days "because everyone else has them" or “the CEO thinks it’s a good idea” without a clear understanding of how these extras fit within the strategic marketing plan or long term financial targets.      We understand your industry – as well as our own You are the pilot of your business.  Any marketing/PR professional you employ should be a great flight engineer.  Otherwise you will not just be worrying about flying the plane – you will also be wasting time and energy teaching the ‘engineer’ the basics (and language) of engine maintenance (which their initial quotation seemed to suggest they knew a thing or two about…). We speak your language.  We understand the inner workings of the Industry.  We are up to date with latest developments.  In the past 2 years Athlone has: ·         Introduced Australasia’s (indeed the world’s) first thoroughbred marketing weblog that provides free daily updates canvassing latest Industry developments ·         Completed a major research report that received comment in The Bloodhorse (USA) ·         Published 24 thoroughbred related articles in three leading Industry publications, an online journal and an e-newsletter ·         Been the recipient of the Let it Ride Site of the Day Award; and ·         Been invited to write for one of Australia’s largest thoroughbred racing portals The Virtual Formguide (Cyberhorse). We invest our own hard earned dollars in the industry Our directors are committed owner/ breeders – and have been for a number of years.   Pricing There are many great things in life that are free Click here for free marketing and PR tips, industry and competitor analysis, and international updates.  If you want to take your marketing/PR efforts to the next level and you would like us to work with you in achieving that goal, please contact us at info@athloneassociates.com for further information on how we can assist you. If we can’t help you – we give you your money back.  That’s our guarantee.    © Copyright 2005 Athlone & Associates All Rights Reserved.