The media have become increasingly skeptical of Video News Releases sent to their offices.
Tip: Shoot B roll instead or take advantage of a new service from MediaLink where video can be uploaded into a press release and sent for distribution. The TV stations can use the footage as background video when they do their voice-over. Last month, we utilized this program for the White Castle launch of the new flavored chicken rings. The results, 209 local television news hits across the country. And the cost to produce and distribute is about 1/5 the cost of a traditional VNR. Have a new product? Call us.
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Top 10 Email Marketing Must-Dos
By Jim Herbold, Sales VP of EmailLabs
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Get relevant—dive into personalization and segmentation |
| 2. |
Resolve or minimize deliverability and rendering issues |
| 3. |
Redesign email messages for the inbox,
preview pane and block images |
| 4. |
Optimize the beginning of the email relationship |
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Get on the permission train |
| 6. |
Focus on metrics
that matter |
| 7. |
Take better care of your long-term subscribers |
| 8. |
Maximize search with email |
| 9. |
Test, test, test and improve |
| 10. |
Create an email marketing plan and align resources |
[ Read more ] |
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60 new blogs are created every minute.
Most marketing experts agree that if
your organization does not have a blogging and feedback strategy, your organization will quickly be passed
by competitors and those looking for more interaction with the companies
with which they choose to do business. |
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Putting Pricing in Context
The average price for an agency to create a full page, full color
ad in a consumer or trade publication is $7,558. We recently
created an advertisement for McSwain in which the total cost was less than
$500.
What can you learn: When the communications strategy and graphic standards
are agreed to up front, and existing photography, design and layout are
discussed and approved from the very beginning, the cost to create
advertising and subsequent advertising of all kids is significantly lessened—enabling more dollars to be spend on media placements of the ad (good for
the client), rather than in creating the ad (good for the agency).
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| According to most readers of the July Compass Issue, you most often get your
daily news from: Local Television - a trend that mirrors most of the US
population - although the Internet is quickly overtaking and is predicted to
be the dominant method of news by 2010. Newspaper readership continues to
decline, particular for those under the age of 40.
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Client Spotlight | Thought Leadership | Marketing Tips | Agency News
 
The Fresh Market Grand Opening
In July, The Fresh Market, a national chain of gourmet grocery stores,
opened its first grocery store in Cincinnati and its second in Ohio
(Columbus). The entire grand opening success was based on a public relations
and publicity model, with no paid advertising utilized to tout the grand
opening. Advertising was, however, used to hire employees.
The agency began working proactively with the client in April, 2006, and
developed a freshened  media list and variety of angles to attract the local
media to cover the grand opening. In addition, a VIP event was planned for
the night before the opening to bring out a variety of local movers and
shakers - with a "buzz marketing" strategy. The agency secured nearly 300
attendees to the event, through email and print invitations for the the VIP
night, which also included media attendees.
Publicity was earned on every television station during multiple broadcasts,
and coverage was earned in The Cincinnati Enquirer, CINWeekly, Community
Press, and Living Magazine, Cincinnati Magazine and Inspire Magazine.
The client indicated that this was "the single most successful grand opening
in the history of the chain."
How Can You Apply This Information?
Agencies are adept at handling grand openings and events, which for many,
can be overwhelming and monumental. Good agencies handle and direct grand
openings every day, and are comfortable confronting and mitigating with cool
heads the inevitable fires that come up during event programming. The client
relied on our expertise to expertly handle the situation—and kept their
eye on what was important and what were the desired results, as opposed to
the minutia and logistics involved in creating those results.
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Underutilized Websites are Today’s
Dead Office Lobby Plants
By David Owens
Justice & Young Advertising
and Public Relations
As your mother told you countless times, first impressions are critical. Have you ever visited a website that is attempting to entice you to purchase their product with an sales promotion that expired last year, one that looks like it was designed by a pre-teen, or is written without regard to your need? Rightly so, you immediately discount them by equating their lack of detail, design, and value proposition to the quality of their product. Neglected, poorly designed and company centric websites become a detriment to your sales efforts—resulting in a poor initial impression. For too many companies, websites are today’s high tech, not to mention expensive, decaying office lobby plants.
[ Read more ] |
 When drafting a marketing plan, or looking to an expert to assist you in
drafting a program, stop thinking of yourself as an employee. Instead, think of what makes YOUR clients tick.
Get into their heads, and instead of explaining all the bells and
whistles YOU have, understand intimately what your clients need, want and
what will motivate them. Lay out a list of services/products
you provide and details what points of
differentiation you have from your competition, why your client or customer
should care and what's in it for them. If your target is a busy
small business executive, why is your website so hard to read, wordy and difficult to navigate?
Need help? Email us. |
Google breaks 60%
 Google continues to dominate the search
engine market share, according to the Internet
metrics company Hitwise. During the four-week
period ending July 29, 2006, 60.2% of U.S.– based Internet searches were executed on Google.
In the same period, Yahoo Search moved up to 22.5%, while MSN saw a slight decrease at 11.8%. Combined, Google, Yahoo and MSN accounted
for over 94% of all searches in the United States. Other search engines together accounted for just
5.5% of U.S. searches. |
What Google Wants
by Steve Phillips, Purple Trout SEO
It's the 64 million dollar question: "What Does Google Want?"
No one really knows. Afterall, Google considers more than 100 different elements in its search engine ranking algorithm. However, you'll go far if you focus your SEO energy on these five areas...
[ Read more ]
Organic vs. Pay-Per-Click
Steve Phillips, Purple Trout SEO
Some interesting stats when considering organic search engine optimization vs. a Pay-Per-Click campaign:
| • |
Eight out of 10 Internet users use search engines to find information and products they are looking for |
| • |
Up to 85 percent of web searches ignore paid listings. |
| • |
Natural (organic) search results convert 30 percent higher than Pay-Per-Click. |
| • |
If you utilize a PPC campaign, create a budget and stick to it. |
| • |
If your organic rankings are poor, consider a PPC campaign until your natural
rankings improve. |
[ Read more ]
[ Back to top ] |
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Client Expertise in Business
If you would like to share an issue with your fellow clients and colleagues or ask a question, please submit it to the editor.
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Client News & Promotions
McSwain Welcome Home Event
..............................................
October is National Chili Month. Celebrate at Gold Star or have
some sent to your home.
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We are humbled by the positive response to our new executive level
newsletter—The Compass. This executive level newsletter is designed
simply to provide an overview of best practices in strategic marketing and
keep all of us headed in the right direction. Hopefully, each of you learned
a tip or gained some additional insight on best practices in marketing
communications, and we want to assure that more is on the horizon. The
purpose of this newsletter is to make you think, and to spark ideas that
will help you grow your company and forge critical business relationships
with one another and with your marketing counsel. Enjoy and use The Compass.
Please send us any questions or your ideas in exploring additional marketing
topics.
[ Back to top ]
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| Americans eat 18 acres of pizza each year. |
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The American artist with the most gold albums is: Kiss. They are second only
to the Beatles in the number of gold albums.
First one with the correct answer wins a $50 gift card for Gold Star
Chili
Today's Question: Coca-Cola
when originally created was not the color it is today. What color was it
originally?
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Best practice information from Marketing, Advertising & Public Relations experts across the country.
Why Most B2B Websites Fail To Convert Sales Leads
By Brian Carroll
Most people who come to your web site aren't coming there to buy anything.
Rather, they come to your site for information. With that fact in mind,
perhaps you should ask yourself: "Do I have my web site's good content under
lock and key?"
[ Read more ]
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B2B Online Marketing Spending on an Upswing
Sep 20, 2006
New York—B-to-B marketers’ online budgets for the second half of the year are growing at a healthy clip according to anecdotal evidence from a handful of marketer panelists at BtoB’s NetMarketing breakfast Wednesday
[ Read more ]
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