Company Retreat » marketing

Cities endorse marketing plan

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:56:23 +0000

Cities endorse marketing plan
Not a cent of the Sun Valley Marketing Alliance’s $800,000 budget will be spent on print advertising during its first year of promoting the resort area.

American Pickers Star Picks Simplified Solutions for Social Media and Online Marketing

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:04:03 +0000

American Pickers Star Picks Simplified Solutions for Social Media and Online Marketing
Chicago-based Online Marketing agency, Simplified Solutions, launches Social Media, Email Marketing, E-Commerce and a new web site for HISTORY Channel’s American Pickers star, Mike Wolfe.

Marketing When You’re Down

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 21:04:19 +0000

The battle of marketing in a down economy: Flee for the hills, or charge the hill?
In uncertain economic times, you can choose to retreat or you can choose to prepare for what’s ahead. When the economy turns around, those who are prepared and ready their Web design company marketing arsenal will leap from competitors and gobble up market share abandoned by the feeble. The others? Well, better polish up your resume. The time is now to invest in your brand. In our experience, it takes time and a lot of creative insight to perform the work necessary to revitalize and position a brand for increased success.
Take a hard look at your brand identity, website design, online and offline media, current marketing strategies. Are they working like a well-oiled machine? Is your brand highly visible to your marketplace? Does it intrigue prospects and build value while guiding them to a conversion goal? This is an excellent time to build your Custom web design business and increase your aretshare…while the competitors run for the hills or wave the white flag of surrender. Most companies expect sales to decline in a down economy and while that may be true for the short run, if you continue to market your brand as your competitors die off, the long term prospects are good. Are you going to wait until the economy turns around? Oops, better not. It’ll be too late. Forward-thinking companies – which may include your competitors – are not waiting around. They are investing in their brands and positioning themselves for the future. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Start the work now that will be necessary to position your company to thrive in any economy.

Scott C. Margenau is president of ImageWorks Studio, an award-winning Custom web design, Professional web design specializing in online and off-line media in advertising, web development, brand development and promotion.

Marketing in a Recession

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 23:58:02 +0000

The battle of marketing in a down economy: Flee for the hills, or charge the hill? In uncertain economic times, you can choose to retreat or you can choose to prepare for what’s ahead. When the economy turns around, those who are prepared and ready their Web design company marketing arsenal will leap from competitors and gobble up market share abandoned by the feeble. The others? Well, better polish up your resume. The time is now to invest in your brand. In our experience, it takes time and a lot of creative insight to perform the work necessary to revitalize and position a brand for increased success. Take a hard look at your brand identity, Custom web design online and offline media, current marketing strategies. Are they working like a well-oiled machine? Is your brand highly visible to your marketplace? Does it intrigue prospects and build value while guiding them to a conversion goal? This is an excellent time to build your business and increase your maretshare…while the competitors run for the hills or wave the white flag of surrender. Most companies expect sales to decline in a down economy and while that may be true for the short run, if you continue to market your brand as your competitors die off, the long term prospects are good. Are you going to wait until the economy turns around? Oops, better not. It’ll be too late. Forward-thinking companies – which may include your competitors – are not waiting around. They are investing in their brands and positioning themselves for the future. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Start the work now that will be necessary to position your company to thrive in any economy. Call or email us today. We are happy to review your current strategies and media and offer ideas to improve and maximize your efforts. 703 378-000 x102

Scott C. Margenau is president of ImageWorks Studio, an award-winning Custom Web design, Professional web design specializing in online and off-line media in advertising, web development, brand development and promotion.

How Article Marketing Can Help Even in a Recession

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 05:03:53 +0000

It looks like it’s time to forget about the career you planned on and start seriously thinking about the next stage in your professional life—namely, the recession-proof job that’s going to put supper on the table for the next decade or so. Times are changing. If you had dreams about becoming an oilman, a real estate agent or running a lemon car dealership, then you’re going to have to put those plans on the back burner, that is, if you believe all that talk of recession by the government. (Trust me, it’s all mostly true)

It’s important to keep a balanced perspective of the recession and a realistic outlook on your own budget and lifestyle. Despite whatever doomsday philosophy you have heard out there, the end isn’t nigh. America is not going to turn into pre-Nazi Germany. America is not going to go bankrupt. We’re not going to be sold back to the U.K. nor is a civil war going to break out any time soon. The entire world is not going to collapse in on itself, and we are not going to revert back to mob rule.

Oh yes, things are going to get tough, but if you are frugal with your money and approach your long-term future with caution, you can survive this crisis. One nice thing you can say about the recession is that it is teaching American consumers the value of good financial strategy. It is making people think twice about impulsive buying. The recession is helping reckless people to treat life a little more respectfully and focus just a little bit on tomorrow, rather than splurge it all for one day.

You might have read a little bit about “recession-proof businesses” in recent months. The more you analyze these lists such as the “10 Recession Proof Businesses” http://money.howstuffworks.com/10-recession-proof-businesses1.htm at HowStuffWorks.com, the more you start to sense a pattern.

The best recession-proof businesses included:

* Candy
* Cosmetic
* Contraceptives
* Luxury Retail
* Repossessions
* Government Jobs
* Education
* Vices
* Discount Retail
* Information Technology
* Healthcare
* Non-cyclical Businesses

Why were these businesses elevated above powerhouses like the real estate industry and the automotive industry? Because these businesses, not so coincidentally, were far closer to the mindset of the majority population. When there’s a recession the luxury businesses are the first ones to suffer. The industries that sell risky investments suffer. Meanwhile, people still follow their hearts and spend money on what really matters most.

Now then, you can’t really make the argument that people are so afraid of the recession that they’re not blowing money on instant gratification. They do want their candy, they want their vice and they want their horror movies on Saturday night. They are definitely spending their hard-earned money, and they don’t care about the consequences if this “vice” (literal or symbolic) can give them a few moments of happiness, enough to forget about the worries of next year.

What seems to be happening is that people are only spending recession money on what they perceive as their absolute needs. Whatever they can rationalize as a “want” is being postponed or dismissed altogether. Of course, the things they are not totally sold on are quickly seen as “wasteful expenses.” As a retailer, you should take this to mean that your audience is not going to buy your product out of boredom, out of sheer novelty, or even out of curiosity. (Maybe in the 80s and 90s, but not today)

Now more than ever, it is vitally important to the success of your business that you create a “need” in your audience to buy your products and services. You probably already know how to tap into this subconscious yearning, so we won’t bore you with the details. However, we are going to talk about one marketing avenue that can benefit your business and even help to “recession-proof” your business.

Article marketing! Yes, yes, we know. We SEO firms tend to think of article marketing as the next miracle cure for just about everything. I admit that there’s no evidence to suggest that article marketing can add 10 years to your life, but then again, there’s no evidence against that claim either.

Seriously, let’s consider eight good reasons why investing in Search Engine Optimization (articles optimized for search engines) and article marketing (directory submissions) can help your business in a recession. These eight reasons, as you will see, actually correspond to some of the points made by Harvard Business School professor John Quelch in his recent article entitled “Marketing Your Way Through a Recession.” http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2008/ca20080219_060846.htm

1. Research the customer.

In a time of financial recession you really need to focus on learning your customer’s needs. Article marketing and SEO are considered one some the best ways to get inside the head of your prospects. After all, you are tapping into their ego and id (forgive my Freudian reference) by taking the exact keywords they are searching for and using them in your sales copy. You are also tracking their every move via web analytics. You can see where they lose interest, what pages bring them to your site, and what particular articles captivate their attention. You can even collect demographical information regarding their web browsers, their referral pages, or their country/state of origin. Stopping short of taking an in-person survey, SEO is one of the best ways to “learn” your customer.

2. Focus on family values.

John Quelch wrote about the importance of returning to family values in times of financial stress. While this point didn’t exactly correspond to an SEO strategy, it does make you think of social media marketing which is quickly become the next evolution in our business. Quelch said “When economic hard times loom, we tend to retreat to our village.” That certainly explains our desire to hang around popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, doesn’t it? Hey, making more friends and friendly acquaintances online never hurts.

3. Maintain marketing spending.

Quelch next refers to maintaining your marketing campaign. This makes sense to anyone who is a businessperson because you can’t expect to profit if you’re not putting any “noise” out there on the market. The great thing about Search Engine Optimization and article marketing is that these venues remain two of the cheapest ways to advertise your business, and yet the best ways to get maximum mileage out of your investment. SEO articles can build traffic indefinitely and continue to bring in new customers while improving search engine rankings (after all, the more relevant content you have, the better). Directory articles also influence ranking, especially when regularly submitted over a period of time.

4. Adjust product portfolios.

Quelch stated that “tough times favor multi-purpose goods over specialized products.” He also foresees a time when “Gimmicks are out; reliability, durability, safety and performance are in.” Now more than ever consumers are looking for good value in every single purchase. I personally like to think of the SEO articles we do as a polished presentation and quality product that has been sold to a client. This is a product I am confident will provide high Return On Investment, not only because of the informational value presented, but also because of the organic optimization process that ensures higher and longer-lasting top 10 rankings. Honestly, you have to do good work to stay in business these days!

5. Support distributors.

There is no distribution channel when it comes to article marketing, but I tend to think of an SEO firm as the distributor and the clients we work with as the manufacturer and supplier. Clients are not buying their base needs from the SEO firm. They are buying our services so they can better sell their products to the public. This is why client satisfaction is paramount in SEO work. In this business, you are not just a freelance writer looking for a check or a webmaster working by project. Your goal is to form a long-term relationship with every client. We help each other out and we combine forces to create that all-important need in the public. That’s what makes the money go around and that’s what will help end this recession someday. One of the best things about working with an SEO firm is that you are not just paying for services rendered but are actually working with a virtual business partner in this particular campaign—someone who’s just as vested in your success as you are.

6. Adjust pricing tactics.

Quelch’s next point was about pricing. Right now is really the best time to get involved with an SEO firm, because during recession, return on investment is crucial. While quality SEO firms are not cheap, they do offer discount rates for bulk orders. More importantly, article marketing doesn’t charge you by the ad or by the click. You are only paying for the content to be written and for the article submission. Search Engine Optimization (both web copy and article submission) is largely seen as the less expensive alternative to Pay-Per-Click or banner advertising, since your articles run forever at the small price of maintaining a website. In a recession, every saved dollar counts. That’s another plus worth mentioning: when you work with an article marketing firm you are actually conversing with a human being and you can work pricing arrangements out. It’s much harder to negotiate a friendly contract with Google Ad Words, if you know what I mean.

7. Stress market share.

Quelch’s next point was on market share. The statement he made was, “Knowing your cost structure can ensure that any cuts or consolidation initiatives will save the most money with minimum customer impact.” Cost structure is definitely an important factor but that’s more related to the managerial side of running a business. What stuck out in my mind is the whole point about the “battle for a market share.” It made me think of how much opportunity some small “niche” companies have right now, considering the fact that reaching just a portion of “the big market” can still make them big profits. (And all for a minimal investment) Article marketing and SEO are very effective for niche businesses because the whole focus of small businesses is on target marketing. I like this statement by the SBA. http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/marketandprice/SERV_TARGETMARKETING.html

“It’s important to remember that the focus of marketing is people. If you’re concentrating your efforts on your product or profit only, you’ll miss the mark. The term target market is used because that market – that group of people is the bull’s eye at which you aim all your marketing efforts.”

8. Emphasize core values.

Quelch ended on a positive note saying that the best companies stress loyalty amongst their workers and that “Successful companies do not abandon their marketing strategies in a recession; they adapt them.” That’s an interesting fact to ponder on. How do you, the self-starter, the entrepreneur who is struggling financially maintain loyalty and emphasize core values when you don’t really know what the future holds? Simple solution—you retain valuable professional relationships but you take advantage of modern cost-saving technology. Investing in article marketing and telecommuting technology saves you from having to hire or fire an entire sales staff.

You don’t have to hire new workers if you have an SEO firm working for you on a project-to-project basis or on a long-term basis (which involves constantly feeding search engines with even article submissions, the most effective way to maintain a top 10 ranking). You don’t even have to pay for a temporary staff or an outsourcing firm, because you are quite literally able to manage your company through email, a web browser and a cell phone.

The advantages of choosing article marketing over hiring a sales staff are numerous. You save on salary, on multiple types of insurance policies, on office supplies, and on day-to-day operating expenses. This is one of the major reasons why companies are outsourcing work—to avoid the physical costs involved of running an office. With article marketing, you can even one-up the idea of outsourcing work to a call center or accounting service. You are not paying an outsourcing firm to handle your work load. Rather, you are paying for web content that runs forever and handling the work yourself. Just think about it like this: you value professional contacts but save on the expenses involved in running a traditional company. Now that’s what we call adapting to the market!

Article marketing and Search Engine Optimization are recession-proof venues of marketing that cannot be ignored. You cannot afford to be ignorant about today’s massive online market. These are two solid and cost-effective ways to advertise, brand your company name, test and experiment with new markets, and most importantly, to motivate your customer base to buy. Remember that there is a worldwide market out there ripe for the picking. The U.S. may be in a recession, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of the world is also flailing. You have the ability to work in local markets or to reach out to foreign markets if your business calls for it. Consider it a form of “offshore marketing”; protecting your company from whatever happens with the U.S. economy. There are no limitations on what you could do with article marketing, and that is another reason why this technology can rightfully be called recession-proof.

In closing, just think for a moment if the recession happened but you didn’t have all the power of the Internet and SEO technology at your disposal. Now that would be the time to panic!

Words You Want is your one stop resource for all of your writing needs. Words You Want offers a variety of services including SEO packages, article directory submission, SEO article writing, ghostwriting, eBook writing, travel writing, equine writing and more.

The Insurance Marketing Podcast Interviews Tara Russell, Director of Marketing Communications for Lexington Insurance

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:58:13 +0000

The Insurance Marketing Podcast Interviews Tara Russell, Director of Marketing Communications for Lexington Insurance
OLDWICK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The latest episode of A.M. Best Co.’s Insurance Marketing and Advertising Podcast features an interview with Tara Russell, director of marketing communications for Lexington Insurance, the U.S.’s largest surplus lines writer. Russell explains what it’s like to market and communicate on behalf of the U.S.’s largest surplus-lines writer, including how to support new …

Growing Big By Staying Small: Success Story of A Customer Centric Marketing Model at Whole Foods Market.

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:08:12 +0000

Growing Big By Staying Small: Success Story of A Customer Centric Marketing Model at Whole Foods Market.
Dallas – DFW American Marketing Association hosts Nona Evans, Senior Global Marketing Coordinator for Whole Foods Market, at the September Dallas Executive Luncheon.

George P. Johnson Experience Marketing Appoints Kenny Lauer Vice President, Digital Experience

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 06:56:40 +0000

George P. Johnson Experience Marketing Appoints Kenny Lauer Vice President, Digital Experience
AUBURN HILLS, Mich.—-George P. Johnson Experience Marketing has appointed one of the marketing industry’s top digital leaders, Kenny Lauer, to the newly created position of Vice President, Digital Experience.

ignition, Inc. Names Daniel Homrich Brand Director of Sustainability Marketing

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:08:11 +0000

ignition, Inc. Names Daniel Homrich Brand Director of Sustainability Marketing
ATLANTA — ignition, Inc., the experiential marketing agency behind some of the world’s most ambitio…

Steps To Success In Internet Marketing: Home Based Business Opportunity

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:05:37 +0000

Did Lebron James, Tiger Woods (ignore recent antics), Sidney Crosby, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and those like them start out on top? Clearly everyone knows that it took hard work and dedication for these great success stories to achieve their goals. These same principles include everything in life – including Internet home businesses and marketing. I recently read an article asking if article marketing was dead. My response to that is, if you are writing for the purpose of marketing your home based business opportunity, it is dead to you. It is hard when you are first starting out and results are slow and fleeting. But much like the Chaos Theory or the butterfly effect, it is impossible to know what the ultimate tipping point will be to push an Internet entrepreneur over the edge to success. However, failure is imminent if one skips the basics and tries to fast track their way to success. This is the beginning of a series that will help define some of the basic things that should be in the repertoire of all Internet marketers to ensure growth of their home based business opportunity, as well as a well-rounded approach that will protect your home based business idea in the event of the Google Slap. The topics will range from the various forms of free advertising and paid techniques and ways to optimize the their use. Here is a quick overview of the topics to be discussed:

Article Marketing:

This is often overlooked when beginning a legitimate home business as people immediately want to post ads on Google Adwords to get results. Yes, it is going to take time to build anything near the traffic pay-per-click (PPC) can with a collection of articles, but those articles do two things: 1) They build credibility for you as a marketer 2) As a result of the credibility that you establish your future campaigns will be more successful. This is an all important first step to building your online brand. How and why this helps with Search Engine Optimization will be discussed in that particular piece. My favorite sites for posting articles: Better Networker, Ezine, ArticlesBase.

Video Marketing:

The core principles with video marketing are the same to article marketing. The goal is to establish credibility and get your name out there. Videos clearly have the added benefit of introducing your personality to viewers. Yes, some of this can come across in articles and accompanying photos, but seeing you will help them get a feeling for who you are and that you are a real person. Done correctly these can have a powerful impact. A great way to distribute your content: Traffic Geyser.

Social Media:

When Facebook is neck and neck with Google for the most popular website in the world, it is hard to not take notice. Social media is an affective tool in two particular ways. First, with the size of the traffic any business can benefit from advertising on such sites. However, the one piece that is often overlooked is the benefit these site provide in character building. Much like the videos discussed above, social media outlets allow for potential customers to do research and figure out who they are dealing with. Similarly, when networking with friends the topic of profession will often come up – the perfect time to introduce your business. The other king of the industry: Twitter.

Blogging:

This is a must, and quite possibly should be first on the list, but getting in the habit of performing these other tasks will aid in the development of your blog and/or website. You need a hub for which all of your material is linked. It will make it easier to find you and the things you are involved with on the web. An underrated part of this is keeping your material up to date. While some people hate producing content, or don’t see it as revenue generating, having out of date material is a big red flag. When people see a site that has not been updated since 2008, it calls to question how reliable any of the other content may be. Best place to start: WordPress.

Search Engine Optimization:

While this is something that takes time to build, it is imperative to success. If Google Adwords or the like is your only tool, you are leaving a ton of potential customers on the table. Look at this heat map from Eyetools.com. It tracks eye patterns and clearly shows that the majority of the attention is on the free side of the page and even the first 5 listings get more attention than the number one spot on the paid side. Utilizing the above tools religiously and linking them back to your main page will help conquer the beast. Here is a great educational site: Bruce Clay.

Email marketing:

Everyone hates to have a full inbox of junk, but the reason all the emails keep coming is that some of them work. There are techniques that can be used to make yours stand out. This is also a very good way to get some cheap practice for PPC. A couple of good sites that you can jump on to get started: List Joe, Viral URL.

Stay in touch with your list:

First off, if you are not keeping in regular contact with those who asked for information from you, why not? If you cannot get those who are already interested to buy your products, how do you expect to get others. And if you are not keeping a list, start today. This is a great way to establish a report with your potential customers and get your home based business opportunity off the ground. You can get started here: Aweber.

PPC:

Last, and definitely not least, is PPC. This is the focus of many online marketers, but I feel it should be the capstone of all of the steps taken above to provide a well-balanced Internet home business. The numbers don’t lie, and this can be a very profitable way to market your business, however there are many steps that should be taken to assure that you do not lose an inordinate amount of money testing ideas – whether that is from paying too much for ads that don’t produce, or from passing up on what would have been a successful campaign. Since Google is the king, start here: Perry Marshall: The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords.

All in all, this will be a comprehensive series that discusses the right and wrong things to do with any of these platforms or methods. I am a firm believer in group think and know that there are plenty of bright minds out there that can offer insight on all of the subjects that I may passover. Please offer suggestions on what you might like to see covered in any particular topic or any topics not listed. If you are interested in seeing where my journey in the pursuit of this knowledge began go here: http://www.GripofDough.com, or here for more information on Internet home business.

Jim Kernan

www.GripofDough.com

I am 28 years old and live in the West Village in Manhattan.