Posts Tagged ‘Denver social media’

Seasonal marketing is often tied to a cause marketing effort. We recently defined seasonal marketing, but cause marketing hasn’t been heavily discussed in this blog. Essentially cause marketing is the combined effort of a for-profit business and a non-profit cause to raise mutual awareness, brand affiliation, and money. I suspect you see where this is going now…

Taking integration to the “next” step, a savvy marketer will often marry their seasonal promotion activities to a cause to tug on people’s heart strings (and purse strings!). This cause may be one that the company has supported over an extended period of time – such as Wendy’s support of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, or it may be a cause that ties well to the season, such as companies that support Toys for Tots over the holidays.

3 Savvy Ways Companies Can Blend Seasonal + Cause Marketing

1. Percentage of Sales Donations – Pick a seasonal marketing timeframe. Then pick a percentage of proceeds from your seasonal sales to go to your charity of choice. For example, seasonal Back to School promotions may work with charities such as your local PTA or  Back to School Clothing Drive.

2. In-Kind Donations – Cash donations are great and often appreciated, but sometimes a company is able to garner more support and resources around an in-kind donation. In-kind donations vary from charity to charity, but examples include fans for Project Cool in San Antonio, where fans are collected and distributed to the elderly in order to handle the intense summer heat. Your company may give these gifts outright and tie it to a seasonal promotion;  it may make the amount donated dependent on sales during a seasonal promotion; or it may serve as a collection site.

3. Time – Sometimes a company may offer a donation of time – either by bringing employees in for a project or recruiting volunteers for a project to help their pet cause.  Ever see Extreme Home Makeover? Look at the companies that donate time to the building of homes on that show – often showing up in force!

One thing we recommend companies keep in mind is that don’t lose focus on the fact that cause involvement is still ultimately an element of your business plan. Its great to do it, but you couldn’t do it if your business wasn’t in place. So make sure you are vocal about it.  It will have multiple levels of impact – on your company, your cause, and the way people perceive both.  So don’t leave the information out of your seasonal marketing efforts – imagine the impact you could have if others take up your cause as well!

Seasonal Marketing…people either love it or hate it. Retail business tend to love it. The tie between a season or holiday is so strong that its often easy to sell hard goods to compliment the occasion. But if you sell a service, you may struggle with seasonal marketing.

Here are 5 savvy seasonal marketing tactics that help most businesses, regardless of whether you sell products or services:

1. Seasonal marketing must be relevant.

Whatever your promotion, ensure that the link to your business makes sense. If people can easily understand the link between your business and your promotion, they are more likely to respond to your marketing efforts. Giving money to charity? Talk about why that charity matters to your business!

2. Seasonal marketing must be timely.

Don’t launch your seasonal marketing too early – or too late. Timing is key, so take time to plan well in advance so that your marketing is maximized!

3. Seasonal marketing must be concise.

Keep your messaging simple. Keep your promotions simple. Make sure people know what is happening at a glance. It will make your life easier and help drive your sales higher!

4. Seasonal marketing must be promoted.

Sometimes businesses come up with a great promotion but then forget to promote their promotion. Whoops – what a missed opportunity! Make sure you get the word out to get the biggest bang for your buck.

5. Seasonal marketing must be integrated.

You know how we feel about integration! Make sure you integrate your seasonal marketing efforts into your marketing promotions and advertising venues. Talk about it online. Drop info into your newsletters. Post on your signage. Integrate, integrate, integrate!

Seasonal marketing can be a lot of fun. Make sure to sign up for The Savvy to get our June issue, full of tips and case studies on seasonal marketing!

This month we’ve been talking about integration and in today’s post I want to talk about simple integration tactics that often get skipped. These may sound too basic to be effective, but remember the last time you needed a company’s contact info and struggled to put your hands on it? It happens all the time! So here’s a quick checklist of things to get you going:

Savvy Integration Basics:

1. Signature lines -  Signature lines are pre-set deals. So put in ALL of your contact info in your signature line. I love being able to look at an email and find the phone, address, website, Facebook page, LinkedIn link, and more. I actually hate it when I get an email from a Blackberry or some other “business” phone and that info is not included.  So if you think it will help people connect with your business, list it all! After all,  you aren’t paying for it. Consider it free advertising space…

2. Business Cards - Same deal here. There is typically a lot of unused space on business cards. Put your contact info, your website, AND your social media accounts on there. You never know what appeals to the person who gets your card!

3. Print Collateral - Have you ever picked up a flyer and realized it didn’t have anything but a website listed, but you need to call the company? Or only a phone number is available, but no website? Or maybe all of the info is so buried in the document, you had trouble finding it at all? Think like a consumer! As you design your print material, what information would you want if you were your own customer? After all, you WANT people to contact you, right? Isn’t that how you make a sale?

4. Signage - There are a few key things I want to mention here. Make sure your content is large enough to read, in a font that is readable, and in a color that is visible! And always, always, always include one key way for your company to be contacted. Remember – keep it simple! Signage is typically viewed on the fly, so it needs to stand out and be memorable.

5. Cross Reference Your Sites – I have mentioned this in passing in a previous post, but it bears repeating. If you have multiple sites online, cross-reference them! Just because a customer comes across your website doesn’t mean that’s the way they prefer to receive their information. Make it easy for them to connect with you on their online touchpoint of choice! It helps them, which means it helps you. It’s worth the investment of time to make that happen.

These tactics are easy to implement and can make a world of difference in making your company appear accessible to your customers!

Have practical implementation questions? Like The Savvy Girls at www.facebook.com/thesavvygirls or follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thesavvygirls!

Need help implementing these tactics? We’re happy to help!

Facebook. The wonder of social media wonders.

The company bent on taking Google down a peg or two.

The place you play Farmville, Mafia Wars, or some such game, and share random comments with friends.

Or, your next social media marketing platform!

Seriously. Many folks under-appreciate what Facebook can do for a marketing plan. So often we hear “I built a company Facebook page…Now what?” That’s because most folks are so close to the things they HAVE to get done, they forget to plan for the things they WANT to get done. So here are some simple strategies to integrate your Facebook marketing efforts….

8 Savvy Steps to Integrating Your Facebook Marketing

1. Gather all the materials you will need for developing your Facebook page. Get your profile image and any custom tab graphics completed in advance. (Not sure where to go to do that? The Collective Savvy can help you out! (info@thecollectivesavvy.com)

2. Take the Time to Set Up your Page - We recommend setting the bulk of your page up at once. It is simply easier to finish that way because you can go through the steps methodically. Make sure to chose the proper page type (i.e. read the options Facebook gives you!) and think through the sub-options – are you a restaurant, a brick and mortar store, a service, etc.?

3. Make sure you take advantage of the Facebook page template - Incorporate your other online sites in a way that is easily visible to folks visiting your pages. Post photos related to your brand to liven things up. Pictures of staff, materials, etc., can really personalize the brand to your customers.  Maximize the template the best way you know how!

4. Set up your customized tabs - Static FBML is a great thing and allows you to do some customization to your tabs – videos, links, etc.  Figure out what you want to expose folks to that may be complimentary to your other marketing efforts and reinforce a call to action.

5. Connect to your other social media sites - There are tons of apps out there that allow you to link to other sites. Maximize, maximize, maximize! This can’t be stressed enough because it will save you so much time and energy while reaching a variety of folks in the manner in which they prefer to receive it. Link to Twitter, YouTube, etc.

6. Post your site links on your traditional marketing materials – Posters, brochures, signage, advertising, etc., are all great places to note that you have social media accounts that customers can access. Then on your social media sites be sure to refer to your print materials. Remember, don’t post the same thing everywhere, but post things that compliment one another!

7. Use Facebook advertising – Facebook offers affordable and highly targeted advertising. Pick a great graphic that goes with your look, come up with a brief and effective message, determine where you want folks to go if they click on your ad, set your daily limit, and there you go!

8. Plan  your posts - You can be like me and wing it. Or you can be like one of our clients and pre-plan your posts to coincide with in-store events, advertising, etc.  Really the choice is yours. But make sure you think it through!

Want to learn more about Facebook in general for your marketing efforts? Check out:

• www.facebook.com/facebook
• www.facebook.com/advertising
• www.facebook.com/facebookpages

Got questions about Facebook or other social media activities?

Ask The Savvy Girls your marketing or social media questions! Those savvy ladies can be found at www.facebook.com/thesavvygirls or www.twitter.com/thesavvygirls.

Practical budget planning is a crucial part of your planning process.  In this economy, most companies have tightened the purse strings, so practical budget application is key – you want to make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck!

Here are 5 savvy things to remember when analyzing your budget:

1. Repeat, repeat, repeat! Customers need to hear your message at least 7 times before their buying habits are influenced. So when you are considering what market to hit and how, remember you need to hit them over and over again and add that to your budget planning.
2. Variance! Switch up how you get your message to your customers. Afterall, don’t YOU hate seeing the same ad over and over again on TV? It’s a softer sell if you vary your marketing mix to reach the same customer a variety of ways.
3. Pack a punch! Make sure your advertising is effective. Can you think of an ad that is memorable…except that you can’t remember the brand? That’s all great and dandy that it makes someone laugh, but if it doesn’t make them buy its a wasted bunch of funds!
4. Know your customer! Make sure you identify the right market. Not sure how to do that? Check out some of our other posts or call us for a quick strategy session!
5. Maximize referrals! Make smart investments in your business by reselling to existing customers. Making an effort to sell to someone who has already given you a word-of-mouth benefit is another smart investment!

There are, of course, many other things to consider. So keep an eye on what works, how your money is being spent, and what gives you the biggest bang for your buck. Be open to other ideas, such as co-branding with other companies or leveraging non-profit partnerships. And if you can’t do something this year, make a note to drop it into the plan for next year!

Graphic design work is an essential part of the marketing process. Not sure about that? Think about websites, printed materials, or e-newsletters you’ve seen in the past. You know what “looked good” and what “didn’t” – right?

You know what I am talking about – websites that are so “old” that you forgot sites could even look that way. E-newsletters that are nothing but text and tiring on the eyes. Or printed materials that look like they were created in an old Word Doc template!

Part of planning for strong marketing integration is ensuring you have a great graphic design team in place. And almost equally as important, that you can provide direction on the design work. After all, contrary to popular belief, graphic designers are not mind readers!

Here are some things to think about when getting your graphic design planning in place:

1. What will be your process for getting graphic design work done in a timely and satisfactory fashion?

Do you have a designer on staff? Or on call? Or on contract? Or do you even have access to one at all?

Try to work with the same person/team on an ongoing basis. This allows for branding integration, image consistency, and allows you to develop a “system” that works for you!

2. How will idea sharing occur?

You have to provide direction to your graphic designer(s). This means you need to articulate your vision. How will you do this? Through a creative brief? Fill out a form? Have a meet-and-debate kind of approach?

Figure out a system to work with at the start of the process. This will ensure things are likely to go a bit more smoothly through the graphic design process if everyone understands how it will happen!

3. Have you thought about your integration process?

Clearly consistent, integrated branding must carry through all aspects of your marketing designs. That  is a no-brainer (or at least it should be!). But have you discussed with your designer what things may need to actually be designed?

Flyers, business cards, stationery – those are pretty standard. But what about profile images, twitter backgrounds, or Facebook Ads? Make sure your designer knows what the expectations are so that planning for sizes, looks, etc. can happen well in advance.

4. What is the review process?

The review process can be greatly reduced if your homework is done up front. But regardless, designs notoriously go through a variety of revisions depending on how well the vision is articulated, how the vision is “heard” and the variety of options produced by the designer.  Either way, everyone has to establish a review process.

Do you need to run designs past an approval team? Does the designer need a week or more lead time on changes? How are revision comments shared? These are all things that should be discussed well in advance.

5. Handle your designers with care!

Designers work hard. They often pick up the slack when projects are running behind. They have to put a visual to an idea. The images they produce help build your brand in the mind of your consumers.

So give them some love. And at a minimum, a huge thank you! Go ahead – they deserve it!

What is one crucial, critical and often forgotten element of marketing planning? Building a targeted list! Targeted lists allow for stronger marketing implementation and can save an immense amount of resources. Yet it’s the thing that many marketers forget to plan for when preparing their marketing activities.

Here are just a few highlights of proper list planning:

1. Use me, use me…just don’t abuse me!

How will your list be used? Email campaigns? Direct mail? Cold calls?  Determining how you will use your list affects what data you need to collect for your list.  That can save you a lot in regards to time and money!

2. If you build it, more will come!

Start collecting data as soon as possible and keep it up! If time constraints are an issue remember that a small, targeted list is preferable to a huge, random list.  Offer ways for people to opt-in to your list so that the list grows with potential clients wanting to receive your messages!

3. Remember the “collective!”

Pulling together a new list? Make sure you consider adding in past business contacts. These people have already been your customers and are more likely to buy from you in the future. Just make sure what you are marketing is appropriate for them! Otherwise, save that past client list for another time.

4. Tell All!

Meet someone who may be interested in your services? Invite them to join your list. Put opt-in options on your website. Mention it on your email signature. Talk about it through your social media. Avoid high pressure tactics, but make sure people know you are happy to share your information and invite them to join your list!

5. List P’s & Q’s

Lists are business goldmines and require care and management. People may opt-in, opt-out, update, provide wrong info, and more. Make sure you schedule time to spend managing your list properly or risk upsetting potential customers!

And of course, what do we always say? Integrate, integrate, integrate! Don’t forget to think about all elements of your services and how best to integrate your lists for maximum exposure and oomph!