Blogging for Business 101: from the San Antonio AMA

28 05 2009

I’m giving a talk next week, June 4th at 8:00 am, on blogging for your business, sponsored by the San Antonio chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA).  It’s free to members and only $25 for non-members. 

Here’s the skinny on what I’ll be talking about…

Even in a floundering economy, internet marketing is experiencing tremendous growth.  After years of hesitancy by some, it is finally being embraced by mainstream marketers as an extremely high-value, low-cost channel for engaging our target markets. 

One facet of internet marketing that any business, large or small, can easily employ is blogging.  There are many ways that blogging can benefit your business:

  • Establish Credibility.  It positions you as the expert in your industry or on a specific topic relevant to your market.
  • Increase your SEO.  Search Engine marketing provides a phenomenal opportunity to get in front of potential customers who are actually out searching for you!  (Much different from traditional advertising.)  Strategic blogging can help you capture more of that traffic.
  • Build a Community.  A blog gives your company the chance to share your knowledge and perspectives with a large audience and to captivate individuals who share the same viewpoints.
  • Know your Market.  Reading and writing blogs, and engaging in the blog community, gives you a better opportunity to understand your customer and what it is that really makes them tick so that you can better address them with your products and/or services.
  • Low Cost.  Many blogging platforms are free and all it costs you to maintain a blog is time.  Compared to traditional advertising methods this is an extremely low cost with the potential for a much higher return on your investment.

In this one-hour class, we will learn:

  • How to get started.  We’ll explore blog services and what you’ll need to know to easily launch your blog.
  • Who should write your posts.  We’ll talk about who the best person is to write your posts, what “voice” they should use and how to develop a following.
  • What to write about.  Now that the blog is launched, what do you write about?  We’ll talk about how to come up with post ideas and keep the ideas flowing.
  • How to get traffic to your blog.  There are many tricks-of-the-trade that we’ll share on how to promote your blog and boost your traffic.

If you’re interested, you can RSVP by emailing rsvp@sa-ama.org by Monday, June 1st by 5 pm.  Hope to see you there!

by Tracy Marlowe


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A huge YES to Internet Marketing. Even if you don’t need it.

27 05 2009

We have a client who had a long-time website that had, like most website, stood out there on the web as basically a brochure for the company.  Who was going to the site?  Mostly people who had heard about the company and were seeking additional information.  Most of their traffic came from email blasts and search engine searches of the company name. 

Enter our company.  We gave them a proposal which included a website update, social marketing and SEO in additional to several other marketing components, including collateral, etc..  They asked what the priorities were in our plan and we quickly responded, “The website.”

They were puzzled.  “But more than 95% of our business comes from referrals.  And we didn’t get a single client through our website last year.  That doesn’t make sense.”

We explained that, since their primary market was aged 26-32 and would be in an information gathering state of mind when they came to them, the Internet was a logical medium for engaging this market.  Especially since they were spread across the country. 

They were a great client, because even though it was outside of their comfort zone, they decided to trust us, as the experts, and invest in some updates. 

So four months and a website update, SEO, blog and Facebook page later…they are now proud believers in the power of the Internet.  The very first month that we implemented some simple SEO practices, they received 19 new applicants through their website.  They were excited and amazed.  And we’re happy to say that their success has continued to blossom.

The moral of all of this?  Two things.  First, just because you’re using a medium or marketing tactic and it hasn’t worked for you doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.  You may not be strategically using it to it’s best potential.

And second.  Basically, history is not always the best predictor of future failures or successes.  The world is changing and different markets and generations act differently than the ones preceding them.  Keep your mind open, continue to learn and trust people who are experts.

I know I could fly fish all day in one spot and never get a single bite.  But with an experienced guide who can help me better understand timing, tell me what rock or tree branch to cast under, what flies to use, and even how to reel a bite in once I’ve gotten a nibble, I could catch a boat load in the same exact spot. 

by Tracy Marlowe


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Can you ever stop branding?

22 05 2009

At a meeting the other day, Tracy and I were asked a question we had never really been asked before.

“So, when can we stop ‘branding’?” the client asked.

This particular client had really stepped out of its comfort zone and ramped up branding efforts in order to make its public persona match the incredible level of its service. For companies that have never done a true branding exercise, this takes a great amount of trust in their marketing partner, not to mention a bit of money from their accounting department. So kudos to them!

When a company launches its first major branding campaign there is always a honeymoon phase—the time when the company, its employees, and the public is interested in this new look, attitude or personality. The “branding high” I like to call it. As this phase slows, the client is left wondering “what’s next.”

Tracy and I both looked at each other knowing he was was expecting us to give him a date—or at least a vague time frame—but we knew that he really knew the answer. And we almost simultaneously said:

“Never.”

That is the whole point of branding. You want to establish a consistent look and message—a personality, a promise that your customers can come to know. It describes you so perfectly that you can’t imagine presenting another side. Hence the definition of “brand”: to “indelibly mark something — meaning it never goes away.”

With further prodding we realized that what was really at the heart of the concern was making any future branding accountable to the number crunchers. While most branding work is measurable to a degree, it is not like a price and item direct mail piece for a widget that you can easily justify by the widget sales. But you can tell over time by pre and post research studies if your branding is working. And for this client, it has been.

I’ll segue for just a minute.  The purpose of branding is to create an emotional connection, establish a memorable and desirable image so when the time comes for a consumer to consider your product, they will have strong feelings about it.  Price and item advertising with NO brand, is meant to merely solicit a response and does NOT have any emotional connection.

Knowing the client was concerned about justifying further costs to the accounting team we explained that once a brand is established, (or well on its way) and especially in these economic times, there are ways to make your advertising vehicles work a little harder for you. For example, I’m sure all of these land developers would love to just have big ads touting the beauty of their development. But right now, they have got to leverage those ads with some strong call to action offers to get potential buyers in the door. Or you might see companies that previously ran beautiful TV spots now putting offers at the end. That’s okay — as long as the brand stays intact.

Part of the problem is the various definitions of branding. Branding is not the vehicle (ie. TV, national ads, radio, etc) — it’s the message and personality. A good marketing partner will always consider your needs, budget and goals while developing a marketing plan that doesn’t have to sacrifice your brand.

by Trish McCabe Rawls


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San Antonio Marketing and Ad Agency Opts to go Virtual

11 05 2009

Creative Noggin was recently featured in an article in the San Antonio Business Journal, written by Marketing and Media writer Andi Rodriguez, that discussed our agency’s unique business structure and the benefits that a full service virtual agency can bring to clients, large and small.


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The Power of the Typo.

6 05 2009

Have you ever wondered about the power of typos and why, in the grand scheme of things, there is this power given to such a minute oversight?

We’ve all had those times when we’re reading an article, a book, a brochure or a resumé and we come across a typo. This little tiny alphabetical mishap can immediately diminish the credibility of the author, company, or person. Isn’t that amazing!? It’s like you’re listening to incredibly soothing music and then all of a sudden you hear the screeching of the needle across the album and the world comes to a halt.

I mean, imagine you’re hiring an engineer and you’ve got this applicant who was top in their class, full scholarship, has already been published, etc. etc. BUT…..you come across a typo on his resumé. Does this mean he will be any less of a great engineer? Of course not. But it still bugs you. Why?

Because the moment your eyes hit that typo, you realized he’s not perfect. In your mind, he has failed. He is a disappointment because of that one mistake. Wow.

It’s like seeing a stain on someone’s shirt. You can’t help but stare at it. It sticks out like a sore thumb. But does it make them any less good at what they do? Or less knowledgeable about what they write about? Of course not.

Newsflash….none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes. It’s TRYING not to make the mistake again that is important.

It reminds me of the Lexus tagline “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection.” I’ve always loved that tagline because by including “pursuit of” it said they were constantly trying to reach perfection — not that they were perfect. It signified an attitude, not a state of being.

There are actually several industry articles that recommend putting common misspelled or mistyped words into your meta data and keywords for Search Engine Optimization. So basically, computers accept that we humans are imperfect more than we humans do.

After almost 20 years in this business, I still hate reading the copy on a brochure when I go to the press check. There is always this fear in my mind that there will be a typo — the ones spell check doesn’t catch. Those typos can turn a “winner” into a “wiener”, a “champ” into a “chump”, and “public” into, well, you know.

So in order to avoid the humiliation of future typos in marketing materials, here is some sound advice.

1. Spell check every time — no matter how small the document.

2. Read the copy OUT LOUD at a slower pace — from a printed copy. This will catch things that your eye-to-brain silent connection might miss.

3. When working on internal rounds of revisions, try to keep the number of rounds to a minimum. The more rounds of revisions on any given piece actually increases the chances of typo oversights since everyone will have read the copy so many times.

4. Before you call something “final” get someone else to read it that has not seen the copy before. Fresh eyes will catch things that you will miss from too much familiarity with the piece. Typically, you want to ask someone that has a good eye for detail, grammar and spelling—not your 7 year old son.

5. If you have time, put it aside for a while, then re-read it later.

by Trish McCabe Rawls


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Sometimes Marketing Cracks Me Up.

4 05 2009

I was driving my kids to school this morning when I happened to reach for a piece of paper (ie. gum disposal) in my console. My hand came back with a discarded receipt from a well known big box drugstore. I noticed the top of the receipt said “I’m Gerry. Thank you for allowing me to serve you today.” I just had to laugh. I could imagine the meetings and conversations that went on about the power of putting that message on the receipt.

receipt0142

The fact is, I didn’t “allow” this kid to “serve” me. He was just the guy at the checkout counter when I bought….whatever it was I bought. It’s like they think I would walk up there and say “Oooh. No, I’d rather have that OTHER guy over there serve me.”

So now, instead of it working for them, to me it seems sort of desperate. Like it should say “Please come back. We’ll put a message anywhere to get you to come back. Pleeeeeeeese.” That, at least, would be funny.

Then I read further. There was a paragraph that said “Can’t find it in the store? Visit our store.com blah, blah, blah.” First of all, if I didn’t find it, I wouldn’t have a receipt. But, ok for sake of you folks thinking, “Well you could have been looking for other things” let’s assume I wanted to buy more than the one item. Fine, I’ll give you that. But, I mean, who’s going to go online and purchase toilet paper, shampoo or a roll of tape from a drugstore?

But wait, there’s more. Then there were two more paragraphs of copy about generic prescriptions and product reviews.

Then a big giant “HOW ARE WE DOING?” online survey request to win prizes which took about 3 more inches of paper space since they had to give you a survey number and password. I was slightly shocked when I got to the bottom and it said to go to the website for contest rules. Heck, why not put them on the receipt!

Anywho, the actual receipt part of the….receipt/brochure only took about about half an inch of this 12 inch long piece of paper. It made me think about how sometimes the client wants us to say so much in a piece so that, in the end, nothing really stands out. If every little nugget of information is designed to be the most important, then nothing will be.

It gave me a good chuckle since I had never really looked that closely at a receipt in my life. After all that work, I didn’t have the heart to turn it into a gum wrapper.

by Trish McCabe Rawls


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The #SAMPRB Tweetup was a success!

1 05 2009

I attended yesterday’s #SAMPRB (for those who don’t know, that stands for San Antonio Media, PR and Business) Tweetup at Paloma Blanca.  I’d say that, overall, it was a huge success. 

Representatives from each faction stood up to talk a little bit about personal branding and how you can use social media, especially microblogging, to improve yours.  There was:

  • @joeruiz to represent journalists
  • @andinavarez to represent the PR folks out there
  • and @nanpalmero to represent all of us using microblogging to help us in business

All three had fairly brief talks, just in hopes of giving a brief overview and sparking coversation by the crowd (over 50 were expected–quite a turnout!). 

Although the speaking overall might have been slightly confusing for someone who was completely new to microblogging and hoping to learn some of the basics.  And the accoustics a little bit difficult–packed restaurant combined with waterfall noise and packed room (okay, I’m just getting old, senile and hard of hearing!)  Overall, it was great, especially the follow up conversation later, for learning a few more tricks of the trade from others with different experiences and perspectives. 

For instance, I’m a twhirl user.  I’ve been using it for a while now and have found that there are aspects about it that make me a bit crazy.  But I didn’t know what else to use since it’s the only application that seems to work for those using multiple Twitter accounts.  But yesterday I found out that Seesmic Desktop is a great alternative for those using multiple accounts.  Can’t wait to try it!

For any newbies who came to yesterday’s Tweetup hoping to learn the basics, please consider attending TweetCampSA which should be chock full of information and extremely helpful for both rookie microbloggers along with seasoned veterans.

Also, Social Media Breakfasts, held each month, are also very informative.  I’ve learned SO much at those as well as meeting some great folks.

Overall, I think the best thing about the #SAMPRB Tweetup yesterday was the chance to meet so many people whose tweets I’ve been reading for so long.  That’s the true purpose of Tweetups, anyway.  Just taking the social aspect to the next level by making it personal!  Not to mention meeting even more folks that I wasn’t yet following but now am. 

I will also add that I liked the organization of this Tweetup.  I think that that added quite a bit to it’s success.  I know that traditionally, the Tweetup has been a more spur-of-the-moment type event with folks calling a happy hour in the afternoon to meet and chat over cocktails.

That might have worked for me about ten years ago.  But now, as a business owner with a hectic schedule, not to mention being a toddler mom with another one on the way, the whole happy hour thing doesn’t work as well for me as it used to.  Although I can arrange the after work event, with some notice, planning and coordination with my husband.  I much prefer something planned with plenty of time to schedule around meetings.  Especially an event that happens during the work day.  That’s why this was great!  I also liked knowing what the topic was up front.  Sorry!  I’m just a major planner.  What can I say?!  I’m sure I’m not the only one out there!

So kudos to Andi, Donna and Joe for an awesome Tweetup.  Keep up the good work!  I’ll look forward to the next one!

by Tracy Marlowe


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