Posts Tagged ‘Integrated Marketing Communications’

There’s something I love about watching sign twirlers. I’m not talking the long-suffering ones that appear to be a bored employee, humiliated to be stuck outside in some kind of mascot costume and horrified because they don’t know any cool sign twirling tricks. I’m talking the ones that draw the eye because they are rocking the house with their moves and ingenious twirling capabilities. And it occurred to me the other day we could all learn a few things from a good sign twirler:

1. Fake it until you make it – You can’t tell me that all of those rockin’ sign twirlers love their job when its 100 degrees outside or dropping a nice snowy mix. But you would never know they don’t love their jobs because they never show it.  They are outside enthusiastically tossing and twirling and on some level, it makes you as a potential customer stop and take notice. Your business could probably stand to approach marketing with that mentality, because if you can’t buy into it, neither can you customers.

2. Take time and listen to the music - Sign twirlers take this literally – probably because they can and its one way to beat off the boredom blues. But as a business person, you can take that statement figuratively or literally. Wouldn’t it be nice to take some moments of enjoyment out of whatever it is you are doing?

3. Infuse some energy – A good sign twirler always looks energized, alert and active – much like your business should! No one wants to do business with a sluggish organization, so show off the energy and enthusiasm you have for your work in order to get others to buy what you’re selling!

4. Create a new move - Sign twirlers don’t just shake their money maker (sign that is). They generally show off every dance move they know and ultimately, whatever new move comes to mind. Why? Because they don’t want to be like everyone else and neither should your business. So think about how to position yourself so you offer something no one else has! It’s one way to really stand out.

5. They have it, so they flaunt it – Sign twirlers dance, hop, skip, wave, flip, spin and in general show off their signage. They do it because its part of their job to draw attention to their client. You should do the same to draw attention to your business! Don’t be shy about telling people (in the appropriate manner of course), what you do and how you can help them. If they don’t know, they won’t buy…

Can you think of other ways sign twirlers could teach us a lesson or two? Leave a comment below!

We’ve had a lot of conversations with clients recently about what I like to call “Taming the Time Suck.” Like a lion on the loose, social media can be a fascinating thing to observe. Or play around in. Regardless of whether you do it for business or pleasure, social media can eat a ton of time if you don’t manage your efforts effectively.

While each day can be different – as well as each opportunity you may capitalize on – it’s important to designate the right time for the right projects.

5 Ways to Tame the Time Suck

1. Designate time to work on your social media projects. – This is especially important when developing or revamping your materials. Setting up, tweaking, etc., can be quite the time suck,  so make sure you plan for your social media activities. Go as far as to close your browser if you have to get other work done and then just open it up with you have time to monitor and manage.

2. Designate time each day to work on your accounts. – You will need time to manage and monitor your accounts. And you should adjust that time if you know your posts and activities relate to a prime media story, a seasonal promotion, or something equally as important to capitalize on.

3. Prioritize - Not everything has to be done each day or in every way. Are most of your customers YouTube watchers? Then spend more time there rather than on LinkedIn. Move things to the back burner as needed, but make sure you don’t embrace the empty storefront scenario – you still need to keep things active!

4. Be effective - It’s tempting to goof off: looking at fun links, playing games, or responding to friends’ posts. But treat your job like a job, and you’ll minimize the amount of time you are supposedly spending on social media for work.

5. Prepare – If you need assistance from other departments (such as graphic design work, customer service, etc.), make sure you are communicating with them in advance or as needed in order to handle your campaigns efficiently and effectively. Preparing properly can make a world of difference!

Have other tips for taming the time suck? Please post below!

“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.” ~Author Unknown

And never is that more true than when preparing for a marketing launch of any type! You already know proper traditional and social marketing is key, but this week we want to delve more into the crucial element of timing to make this happen!

3 Savvy Tips for Timing an Effective Launch

1. Give yourself time – and then add time to that! –  Why? Because nothing ever goes as planned. But you can combat that by building in a cushion to your production schedule at each major milestone. So the next time your designer is out sick, your IT person is battling a virus, or Twitter is showing the fail whale for days on end, you are still in good shape!

2. Pick Your Launch Day with Care – While all issues can’t be anticipated, there are some good rules of thumb to follow – carefully plan around holidays and  avoid major tech or political announcements. You’d hate to lose your limelight to something you could have avoided, so check your calendars!

3. Know Your Customers – Most people know their customers well enough to know when they think about your company. Perhaps it’s a Monday in the afternoon, or as they prep for the weekend plans on Thursday after work.  Make sure your launch date resonates with your goals, your customer usage, and has real impact!

Of course, not all things can be anticipated. But with a little planning and consideration for your launch, you should be in pretty good shape!

Want some help launching your marketing strategy or campaign? Let us know! info@thecollectivesavvy.com

July is all about launching your social media and traditional marketing efforts.

Much like a rocket launch, there are many things that have to occur before you blast off your integrated traditional and social media efforts. Everything should be properly prepared, fully synchronized, and perfectly executed; otherwise you can be stuck with a visible mess!

5 Savvy Tips for Pre-Launch Activities:

1. Set aside some time – Don’t launch in a rush because mistakes and missed opportunities are more likely to happen. Designate time prior to your launch to get all of your ducks in a row!

2. Review opportunities – Things change. So make sure you are familiar with all existing opportunities for exposure and launching of integration. And don’t forget to look at upcoming opportunities! You’d hate to miss out by not paying attention.

3.  Lay out a plan - Put your pen to paper – or at least your fingers to your keyboard. You are more likely to stick to your plan if you write it out!

4. Gather the team – Integration and a proper launch are more likely to happen if you have the support and input of your team. They see things you don’t, so use those great minds to launch it right!

5. Prep – Preparation is important. Rarely can you launch an integrated effort without getting a few pre-launch projects done.

Launching an integrated marketing and social media marketing effort can save you a ton of time and resources, but you need to do it right to make it effective. The above tips are just a few of the ways to prepare for a fabulous launch! Have more tips? Leave a comment!

Do you need some help with your integration efforts? Contact The Collective Savvy – we’re happy to help! info@thecollectivesavvy.com.

As we’ve mentioned in our blog posts, seasonal marketing can be a great way to boost sales, but you are often competing with others who are vying for the same attention. So consider a bonus to your customers! Everyone likes a free perk, especially during high purchasing times.

5 Savvy Bonus Options

1. Offer free shipping – Sell your items online? In a store? Offer free shipping for the duration of your seasonal campaign!

2. Offer free or donation-based gift wrapping services – It takes some of the pressure off of your customers. Plus it allows you to present your products in the best way possible!

3. Consider personal shopping assistance – People often benefit from a word of advice. So why make them wait until they can track down a sales associate? Set up an official shopping or gift item referral program. You know your goods best and a little personal attention never hurt anyone!

4. Showcase a story online - Talk about why you carry what you do, how your employees prep or volunteer for the holidays, why you enjoy your particular seasonal promotion, etc. – anything that blends a personal feel with a business promotion! Or ask others to submit their stories through Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube!

5. Consider extended hours or offer a class that helps customers prepare for traditional seasonal events - Make it easy for folks to come to you during a busy season. Empower them to decorate, prepare for big events, etc., by offering a free class – and boost your sales in the meantime!

Have other ideas on savvy ways to boost your seasonal marketing? Leave a comment!

Need help building a seasonal marketing plan? Let us know! info@thecollectivesavvy.com

Seasonal marketing, as we’ve discussed, requires a lot of preparation. But one point that often gets skipped is virtual preparation – Spring Cleaning if you will – no matter what time of year! Sprucing up your virtual sites can go a long way in making your company seem polished, organized, and ready to go for the seasonal market time of choice.

3 Savvy Virtual Seasonal Marketing Techniques to Consider

1. Spruce up Your Seasonal Marketing Materials Online - Do you use the same ad year after year? Are you sure it still resonates (if it ever did) with your clients? Do your graphic images match your seasonal campaign? Think about the message you are sending vs. the one you would like to appear and prepare to launch it in time with your seasonal campaign.

2. Specify Seasonal Keywords - When was the last time you fine-tuned your website to focus on certain keywords or phrases – especially holiday or seasonal related ones? Now is the time! Think about the words or phrases folks are likely to search and then add them to your mix.  Ta-dah! You just helped yourself move up the SEO food chain.

3. Spotlight Your Seasonal Promotion – Is your seasonal promotion front and center on your webpage, virtual media sites, or online shopping cart? Many folks forget to make their seasonal promotion prominent, which defeats the purpose of your seasonal marketing efforts. So let it shine! Give it the attention it so deserves.

Seasonal marketing can be a great chance to boost sales. Prepare now for profit later! Need help? Let us know! info@thecollectivesavvy.com.

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!

This week we are tackling the broad overview of social media integration into your marketing efforts. Many people seem to see social media as its own thing and not a blended part of an overall marketing mix. <”ANH!” goes the buzzer.>

In order to be effective, social media needs to be a strategic, well-thought out part of your marketing efforts. Take the time to do the research, the planning and the implementation CORRECTLY and in the long run, you will save time, energy and drive more results. Ta-dah! Success!

Ok, ok, ok… maybe there is more to it than that. Integration strategy for social media has multiple levels of implementation. This week, we are focusing on an overall strategy and in the next few weeks we’ll tackle individual social media sites you can leverage.

5 Savvy Steps to Social Media Marketing Integration

1. Determine where social media fit into your overall marketing plan – Is it first priority? Secondary? Just a small line item in comparison to the rest of your efforts?

2. Determine what you want integrated and the messaging related to it – Is it overall brand awareness? A particular campaign? A sales only strategy? A cause marketing effort?

3. Determine how you want it integrated – Video? Messaging? Photos? Blog posts? What are you going to do to make sure your messaging comes across the way you want it and still be interesting and relevant?

4. Determine how you want the sites promoted – Does your print material refer to your social media sites? Do your sites cross reference one another or your “hard” stuff?

5. Determine how you will handle moving forward – Social media seems to change daily and when you are doing other things, it can be hard to keep up! How will you explore new options to integrate into “old” options? Designate time each week to research? Deal with it as you have time? Or plan for a monthly review?

We can help you with your marketing integration. But if you are looking for other resources to learn about it online, check out these great articles:

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-integration-big-theme-for-2010/#more-1894

http://mashable.com/2010/01/11/social-media-integration/

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.

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