The proliferation of social networking throughout the internet has lead to a sharp increase in social marketing. Whether this marketing comes in terms of social networking profiles, viral videos, or blog entries companies are striving to meet their customers where they are–online.  While this type of marketing effort is a necessity, companies have to be careful about how they do it.  Most corporate social networking campaigns are failures because they do not understand the social dynamics associated with an effective social networking campaign.

The success of social networking sites comes from the user generated aspect of the service.  Each individual can control their own experience and create a community of friends. If companies overdo their efforts by constantly spamming people with advertisements they run the risk of alienating their audience by making them feel like they have invaded their turf.  It is similar to product placement in movies.  There are numerous examples of this technique done well but the examples of it being done poorly are the ones that are remembered.  When done correctly the placement seems minor and doesn’t draw attention to itself.  Unfortunately, when done incorrectly, product placement in movies tends to alienate viewers who dislike having their entertainment time violated by such obvious commercial interests.

The steps necessary for a good social networking campaign are very similar to those needed in a traditional advertising campaign. You must understand your audience, their needs, and what level of advertising they are willing to accept.  The difference is that you are no longer directly advertising–you are interacting with your audience and the people who follow you become your best advertisement.  So make it easy for them to advertise for you by starting a Facebook group.  Let the group members leave reviews of your service or helpful tips on your page. Interact with professionals in your field or others.

Remember that you must actively participate in social networks to maintain your presence. If you stop interacting with people they will quickly lose interest and move on. Above all, be interesting and relevant.

Personal touches make a world of difference. It builds a different kind of rapport with clients when they get something handwritten from you, rather than a sterile, cold (and maybe generic) emails. It seems simple and it seems like it wouldn’t make that big of a difference, but believe me it does. Think about how you feel when you receive something personal via the Postal Service. Maybe it’s just me, but I love getting mail! I get emails every day all day – on my Blackberry, dings from Thunderbird, on my Gmail – I’m just inundated with constant email, as I’m sure you and your customers are too.  What we aren’t inundated with (anymore) is handwritten written notes & cards. Therefore they stand out more than emails do and that is where opportunity lies for you to make a strong impact and help build your business relationships.

One way to make a personal impact is by sending out Birthday and Holiday cards. You don’t have to catch every holiday and some of them you might have to be a little politically correct on (that’s up to you) but it makes a difference to catch a few of them and recognize them to your customers. I’d especially try to keep up with birthdays, if that is possible. You might even be able to include a special holiday or birthday promotion. I know I’ve received cards in mail for birthday promotion … usually its save 10% for your birthday or get your free birthday gift in store. This usually entices me to go to the store that sent me the promotion, even if I haven’t been there in awhile or wasn’t planning a trip there in the immediate future.

Okay, so holiday and birthday cards, that is a fairly easy handwritten note to send out. But you need more than just that. You need to be sending more. Here are a few ideas for handwritten cards you can send out:

• When you meet someone new: send them a personalized note, letting them know it was nice to meet them and thank them for their time. Drop a few business cards in there, so they will have your name and your card handy whenever the need arises.
• When you receive a referral: it is always a good thing when you pay thanks to someone who has sent you a referral. Sending a handwritten note can add that extra touch and truly show that you are appreciative of the referral they have passed you. This helps show that you go above-and-beyond; this will also give the person referring business to you additional confidence for future transactions, networking and referrals.
• When you haven’t talked to someone in awhile: maybe you have an old client or a former referral partner that you haven’t talked to, seen or worked with in some time … send them a note and invite them for coffee or lunch to catch up.
• When you want to check in and just say hi: it is okay to not have a underlying meaning or purpose to your personal touches. Sometimes you just want to say hello and you should.

I’ve heard different folks say you should send 2-5 cards a week, but I realize that can be a lot, depending on the size of your network and customer base & the extra/free time you have.  To start off, I’d set a goal of 1 handwritten note per week (can be networking partner, client, someone you recently met, etc.). You can build up your numbers later. Just starting writing and building your connections.

Yet another example of how to use your web site as a communications platform, rather than just a marketing tool: a newsroom. More commonly seen in websites for mid-size and large corporations, a newsroom serves many purposes.

From a PR stand point, it fortifies messages you have already spread to the public. From a Marketing aspect, it gives you new mediums to express information about your new clients, current projects, internal experts, and events. And from the consumer (and search engine) perspective, it clarifies details about your company – even before any meetings or phone calls were made.

Possible “newsroom” features:

• Short bios of members in key leadership positions
• Video clips of company spokesmen making speeches
• Photo slide show of a special event
• Press releases (internal)
• News articles / releases from other sources
• Recent statistics about industry
• List of associations
• List of awards and recognitions
• Announcements of new clients / projects
• Announcements for new product launches
• Internal announcements (new regulations, new policies, new training)

When planning your next web site redevelopment, consider how a news room section could add value for your customers, for the press, for search engines, and for RSS news feeds.  Web developers can get creative with presentation and offer different options to maintain the ongoing news updates.  With a little research and work on this, a small business could easily have the professional appearance of a large scale operation.

Today we’re going to learn how you can send free SMS Text messages to other people’s mobile phones. In order to do this, we’re going to harness the awesome, unyielding, raw power service of win that is Google Mail (GMail).

1) If you don’t already have one, sign up for a Google Mail Account:

Free Google Mail Account

If you do already have a GMail account, then you can use your existing address, or create a new one just for sending free SMS text messages. Either way, log into your GMail account.

2) You should now be inside your Gmail account. On the upper right hand side of the browser window, click the “settings” hyperlink, and just…

Follow the red arrow!

Click the "Settings" Link in Your GMail menu

then

Click The "Labs" Tab in Your GMail Settings

Scroll down to "gmark" and click enable. Now Scroll to the bottom and click "Save".

then look to

Bottom Left-Hand Corner of Your Screen:

then

Now you’re done!

You can now send SMS text messages to this phone number through your Gmail. Your messages will look like they are coming from a (406) number, and it will have your email, “account@gmail.com” in the message to your friend.

Send Your Free SMS Text Message

Plus…

Your Contact Number is Saved for future Free SMS Text Sessions

Remember, ask your friends before you use this tool, because they might get charged for each message that you send. Otherwise, have at it.  You can now send Free SMS Text Messages to all your friends.

Enjoy!

Now more than ever it is important to have happy customers. Happy customers usually remain customers and are often more likely to spread the word (and I mean the good stuff) about your business. A good way to use your happy customers to generate a bit of buzz about your business is to ask them for testimonials. Testimonials can be used in a variety of promotional ways and best of all, they don’t cost you anything. Ask 3-5 of your best customers for a short, one paragraph testimonial about your company, products/services and your customer service. Give them plenty of time, so they don’t feel rushed (but I’d set a clear deadline, or it might get pushed to the bottom of their to-do lists and never get done). Pick a variety of customers that you’ve helped with a variety of projects so that their is some variation to what they say.

Once you have a few (like I said 3-5) solid testimonials, start using them. (If your original requests come back without the greatest of testimonials, dig through your contacts and pull 3 more people and send requests to them. You definitiely want to have solid testimonials as you move forward.)

Use your testimonials with:

• company newsletters (electronic and paper): you can do a spotlight piece, like “Words from our Customers” and highlight them there. Or just do a basic: Here’s what our customers have to say. This is a great way to get positive words about your company in front of your whole mailing list.
• postcards / direct mail: this is helpful whether your list is a cold list (meaning you don’t already have an established relationship with the people you are mailing to) or if its your general mailing list & referral partners. It works particularly well with folks that don’t know you. You are not just saying you’re great – your customers are saying you’re great. It gives more credibility and kicks in some trust.
• brochures / flyers / marketing materials: don’t be shy about sharing! Use your testimonials on your marketing/promotion materials and let the word spread out. You can use 1/2 of them now, and when you update them later … the other one.
• company website: create a page or incorporate your testimonials into your existing pages. People, including potential customers, are turning to the web to find all about your company. Having kind words of promotion from others (as opposed to just yourself or employees) lends credibility and boosts your image.

Be creative and use what you’ve got to promote your business. Your customers won’t mind helping you out (you might want to offer to do the same for them in return). You get a valuable item to help promote your business. Go for it! Get those testimonials and improve your marketing efforts.

While your site is always a marketing tool, it is also a resource that will improve the efficiency of your internal operations.  One good example of this is online registration documents.  This is perfect for medical practices and consulting firms.

Consider This:
Include PDF versions of all of your standard ‘new customer’ documents on the website, allowing new customers to download, print, and complete them prior to an appointment.  This can shave 15 to 30 minutes from a person’s appointment time and help your staff stay on schedule as well.

Step It Up:
Post the forms in an interactive format so the customer can fill it out directly from the website and have all of the information emailed to your office almost instantly.  Ideally your staff will receive the registration information several days ahead of time and any kinks with the appointment will be worked out well in advance.

Even Better:
Your web developer may be able to format an online form to send you the data in a format that can be easily imported into your local office software program.  This eliminates tedious typing and human error, and frees up more of your office administrator’s time.

“Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.”  -Pearl Strachan

What’s in a font?

In a world flooded with visual communication our senses are inundated daily by an incalculable volume of typography.  For those unfamiliar with the term, typography is the study and application of communication through the media of words, letters, and communicative symbols.

Even an untrained person can pinpoint many of these hastily and cheaply assembled blocks of text in various advertisements and identify when one appears unprofessional or poorly crafted.  But what, one might ask, is the difference between “good” typographic communication and “bad” typography?

1) Simplicity:

One of the basic rules of typography is the rule of simplicity.  This rule urges

a designer to use a maximum of two or three different fonts (a font is a family

system of designs, one for each letter of the alphabet)in a single piece of

collateral.  Designs with multiple fonts begin to lose their unity, and the

communicative power of the whole is lost to the competition between the “sum of

its parts.”

Professional fonts are full of myriad variations of size, thickness (weight,)

and angle (italics or obliques.)  These variations can be used to emphasize

specific text, provide headlines and captions, and create text-integrated

display graphics — all without breaking the harmony of the design

(the wonderful variations within a single font)

2) Hierarchy:

Since before the advent of mechanical printing, book designers have created

standards for informational hierarchy.  This hierarchy helps the viewer

understand which text is most important, least important, and what information

lies directly between the two.  Furthermore, in the realm of web design,

hierarchy must be properly established to denote navigational elements like

buttons and tool tips.

There are a variety of methods to establish the hierarchy of font sizes needed

to subliminally communicate the importance of various categories of text to the

viewer.  One common method is the use of the “golden mean,” the ratio of perfect

proportion (also known as the Fibonacci sequence.)

For example, if one has a design using a body copy size of 11 pixels, the

Fibonacci sequence states that the next highest level of hierarchical

information will occur at 1.6180339887x, or (in this case) 17.8 pixels. The next

highest from 17.8 pixels would occur at 28.8 pixels.  A level of information

below the main body copy would occur at 6.8 pixels.

Using these ratios is a way to establish the levels of importance for various

groups of information that resonates with the audience on a subconscious level.

It is a structural method that is both mathematically sound, and aesthetically

pleasing.

(the spiral expression of the golden ratio)

3) Use professional fonts:

Font design is a serious segment of typography and graphic design.  Many users

take fonts for granted, because for a period of time during the tech boom of the

1990s fonts and clip art packages were marketed as a throw away portion of the

“desktop publishing” market.  Many users were so excited to have the means to

make and print birthday cards and stationary, that they ignored the unwieldy

programs and terrible print options that came in  desktop publishing

bundles.

Typeface design is a process that not only involves establishing the shapes and

relative sizes of various letters of our alphabet, but also involves calculating

and planning out what are known as “kerning pairs,” the alignments of particular

pairs of letters when they appear side by side.  For instance, the letter “O” in

most cases has the same relative distance between itself and other letters of

our alphabet.  However, when “o” appears next to a capital “T” or “H” a new

alignment may need to be created.  Without this alignment, the space between “o”

and those letters will seem inconsistent to the viewer, and this will reduce

legibility and create a visual distraction.

Herb Lubalin, a very famous graphic designer who was prominent during the 1960’s

and 1970’s, was known for the inventive “kerning pairs” in many of the typefaces

he designed.  These alignments reinforced the branding he created for many of

his communications to clients and other designers, and earned him a name as one

of the greatest designers of the modern era.

(one of Lubalin's signature typefaces)

“…for words have more power than atom bombs.”

Proper typography is one of the often neglected components of good design.

These three introductory concepts of information hierarchy and layout can form

the foundation for the display of your client’s most valuable marketing

messages.  Simplicity, hierarchy, and professionality are three steps to making

sure your designs aren’t lost in the crowded world of visual advertising.

Like all good things in life, even this series must come to an end. The good news? Wacky Wednesday in the PR House will be coming at you with fresh topics next week (and every Wednesday after that). This week is a busy week and we are covering the last six elements of an effective PR plan. Strap on your boots and hang tight your PR plan is almost done!

• Strategies (one step at a time…): That’s right … wacky Wednesday always takes things one step at a time – that includes with our strategies. When devising your strategies, you want to get a general sense of how you are going to meet your goals. The key part of this is to be general. When you are done your strategies, you should be able to speak generally (it should be written down too!) about how you are going to meet your goals.
• Tactics (use only hefty-duty snow boots!): Back to Mt. Everest and we need only the highest quality, most hefty-duty snow boots we can find! I want the XYZ brand, with pink stripes. Size 9. Make sure it has long laces. I need just the right pair of boots if I’m going to climb Mt. Everest (see previous parts of the series, if the Mt. Everest game doesn’t sound familiar to you). In order to climb Mt. Everest, I need very specific snow boots, just like you need to have specific tactics to help ensure the success of your PR plan. When you are developing you tactics, it is imperative that you be specific. Your tactics are the things you will do to accomplish your goals. Make sure they make since … you don’t want tactics that are way out in left field, while your goals are hanging out in dug-out.
• Calendar (before 2015): Set a realistic time frame for yourself and your business to achieve the goals in your PR plan. They won’t happen overnight, but should take shape before we get to 2015!
• Budget (there is no price too low, or too high): This is when reality sets in – how much do you have to OR are willing to spend to achieve your goals? Be realistic.  Don’t put an enormous figure on paper to make it look good when you only have $500 to spend (you can do a lot with even small amounts of money).  Focus on what you can spend and then allocate it wisely.
• Evaluation (if we don’t make it to the top…can we take a trip to Mexico, instead?): Oh Mt. Everest – making it to the top might not be the best evaluation method. Your evaluation is all about how you determine if you have been successful. If you don’t have a way to evaluate and measure your success, you won’t know if your efforts have paid off. For example, remember before we talked about your goal being to increase your website traffic … your evaluation for success could be to break down what % of an increase you consider to be a success. Consider creating a scale:

• 5-10% increase in traffic = improvement
• 11-25% increase in traffic = somewhat successful
• 26-39% increase in traffic = marginally successful
• 40% = successful (this was your goal)
• 40+% = extremely successful

You want to be able to evaluate your campaign, so you can truly determine your success.

• Take Action (I’ll book the flights): Now that you have a solid plan in place and all of your elements are clearly laid out and defined, its time to take action!! (This is the fun part). You’ve done all the planning, now its time to get out there and implement your plan and the tactics to accomplish it. Good luck as you set sail on your journey!

That’s a wrap on this series of Wacky Wednesday in the PR house … stayed tuned for more!!

Wacky Wednesday in the PR House is a multi-part series that will be brought to you weekly (on Wednesday, of course). Over the past few weeks, we’ve developed your PR plan. Each week, Wacky Wednesdays will feature advice and knowledge on how to make your PR, marketing and advertising efforts better. Some of it will be parts of series, and others will be free-standing advice. You’ll just have to stay tuned and see what’s coming up next … there’s more to come! I promise… Until next time!

Everyone is talking about social media and how it can help your business. You’ve joined the bandwagon and are diving deep into the social media world, but is that enough? To make social media work. you’ve got to do more than just sign up. You have to be worth following! You want to make yourself captivating and worth listening too. Take twitter for example, you can get lost in a sea of people with thousands of updates quicker than I can tie my shoes. But if you are entertaining, ethusiastic, clever and insightful … the sea of tweets becomes smaller and you are the fish that stands out. If you make the most out of social media (and become someone everyone wants to follow), you are going to be more successful. If you don’t (and people don’t follow you for any other reason that to “follow” you), then aren’t you really just talking to yourself. Be captivating!

We have often heard the phrase “brand new,” or heard a particular product referred to as a “brand name.”  The term is used so freely that the history, meaning, and principals behind it have been lost for most people.  In this article we’ll explore how “brands” originated, and how a good designer can create visual materials that grow your brand.

” According to Hoyle”
The term “brand” seems to derive from the archaic Scottish language for a torch.  It recurs in Shakespearean language when characters refer to something as “burn new,” meaning fresh from the forge.  “Branding,” or pressing flame-heated shapes into the skin of livestock as a means to declare ownership became a household term during the American western period, and it is from there that we retroactively apply the term to any mark placed on a product or service to denote its creator or quality.

In archeology, we find wine jugs as far back as the ruins of Pompeii with specific logos and marks pressed into the clay as a means to denote the vineyard (and the quality) of the wine within.  It seems that from the very advent of commerce, humans have been using visual symbolism to denote superior goods and services.

“Drive the Nail”

So what can a design team do for your brand?  Understanding this lies at the very heart of why design exists, and what designers actually do.

Good design considers both the medium and the audience when determining what colors, fonts, ratios, proportions, and gimmicks to employ in getting a specific message to a particular viewer.  Certain fonts have certain historical and emotional associations.  Certain colors create emotional responses and even affect human spending behavior.

A corporation like McDonald’s, for instance, utilizes a palette of warm reds and browns to excite the appetite while communicating value and quality.  WalMart uses blue and white to build their identity as an ever-present and reliable retailer.  Designers working for each of those corporations discussed the target market, the message, and the expected outcomes before they began creating visual materials to communicate these things.

“Someone you can Ride River with.”

It’s important to have this type of dialogue with your design and marketing professionals.  Like many products, a cheaply bought logo or mark is almost always inferior, and does nothing to communicate the spirit of your brand to your consumer audience.

A seasoned or educated design professional will discuss with you the details of your brand identity, your target market, and your competitor’s symbolism before passing any sketches to you.  Knowing what is being communicated is an absolute must if one is to create a lasting and powerful visual.

“Go through the Mill”

Once you define your brand, and locate a trained design professional, the process of creating your collateral (logos, brochures, business cards, and websites) requires that you trust in this expert.  There is a particular reason for each element of these designs, and it is best to ask what the rationale was before suggesting changes that might confuse your message.

Clients often ask me to use “fancier” fonts or brighter colors.  While these elements by themselves are quite appealing, as part of a greater design they can distract from the intended communication.  Is the suggested font “flashier” than the font in the client’s logo?  Does a new color detract from the message of stability and quality that most businesses are trying to convey?  These should be concerns in producing quality visual communication that will inspire your audience to choose your brand over the competition.

“Make yourself Top-Sawyer”

The most important thing any business can have is a clearly defined vision and plan for generating revenue.  Graphic design, in all of its forms, is merely the means by which you communicate this vision.  Quality graphics will only spread the passion of a particular idea from the business to the client and create a lasting relationship that will be mutually beneficial.