Monthly archive for November 2019

Our brand story – The Beauty of All Things Connected

On November 9, 2019   /   Branding - Marketing, Inspiring Stories, Wisdom and Opportunities   /   Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Our brand story con

From an early age, it has been my desire to see and spread beauty. This purpose has enhanced my love for nature and design and the appreciation of the interconnectedness of all things.

Connecting nature, beauty, and design is the key component of our brand story. It’s what makes me stop and take a picture in a city park, a foggy forest or a trendy restaurant. It has inspired interest in landscape design, interior design, jewelry, and fashion design. All the design things. Consequently, show me a clever graphic design on retail packaging with an inspiring brand story, and you’ve got an instant brand ambassador.

This appreciation of nature and beauty inspired me to pursue graphic design training and launch Connection Group, Inc.  As a result, for over two decades the Connection Group team has created beautiful logos, beautiful graphic designs, and beautiful publications that people pay attention to.

Connection Group Brand Story

Articulating beauty is our purpose, graphic design is our talent, and increasing connection is our mission.

“In nature, we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else which is before it, beside it, under it and over it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This partnership of beauty and nature and the belief that everything is connected was the inspiration behind our name. As a graphic designer, the patterns of nature and beauty in natural form have always captivated me. My morning dog walks remind me to be grateful and slow down and enjoy the beauty around me. These moments allow me to ease into my day with gratitude and clarity. I then bring to my work a creator’s mind and an artist’s eye.

Recently, a TED Radio Hour presenter on climate change expressed his belief that humans will outlive nature. Humans will live on but they will have to live without trees. No trees, no beauty. I began to wonder how much we take for granted the role nature plays in defining what beauty is?  What of living without beauty, without the beauty of trees? What kind of world will it be without the sight of a tulip tree in bloom, an apple tree at harvest time, a Michigan sugar maple aglow in October? Trees encompass all of the elemental rules of design; symmetry, color, organic line, patterns, textures, and placement. Like a beautiful design, they evoke a response.

#aTreeaDay

all-things-connect-a-tree-a-dayIn response, I have slowed my walk in my favorite parks and dirt roads. I started seeing each tree individually and as a connection to each other and all of us. I started connecting with them and photographing them. The beauty of nature, the beauty of a forest of trees, the beauty of that one special tree that makes you gasp every time you see it. We are celebrating nature’s beauty in the Connection Group #aTreeaDay posts. We want to share the wonder and variety and strength and power and fortitude that is the beauty of each tree. Each day we share a tree on our social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We encourage you to spread beauty and share #aTreeaDay to pages too.

People find beauty in many things; in other people, architecture, art, cars, shoes, a new Apple anything, the list goes on. If sharing a favorite tree of the day helps people remember to breathe and appreciate beauty, we have succeeded in our mission. I can’t think of a better depiction of our brand story, than honoring our personal practice to connect with everyone through recognizing and spreading beauty. This includes creating beautiful marketing materials for our customers and sharing posts of trees that remind you to slow down and take a long, beautiful breath.

“All things are connected like the blood that unites us. We do not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.” – Chief Seattle

Stay connected!

Back to Top

The Golden Rule of Content Marketing

On November 8, 2019   /   Branding - Marketing, Entrepreneurs - Small Business, Social Media Tips   /   Leave a comment
Tags: , ,

Content marketing free content calendar

Are you keeping up with the latest trends in content marketing? Are you feeding those social media pages like a champ? Keeping the website updated regularly to help bring you up in search results? Optimizing your blog posts with SEO? So much to do and there’s not enough time in the month!

That’s where planning, organizing, choosing, and acting, come together. Create your own editorial calendar, or get our free content calendar to help keep you on track.

Developing an Editorial and Content Marketing Calendar

1. Plan  – Every Year /Month / Week

Discuss and plan how you will stay connected with your customers and communicate beneficial services and products throughout the year.

  • What are your goals in January? How about
  • What services can you post about in March that customers order in April?
  • Identify your monthly focus for the whole year. Next determine who, where, what content to provide each week to communicate the monthly focus. If your goals and planning dictate further detail, clarify days and hours content will be posted.

2. Form – Organize / Schedule

Whether you prefer an excel spreadsheet, daily pop-up reminders, or handwritten to-do list, create a reference that is easy to follow.

  • For a marketing team of one, create a calendar in a format you will use.
  • Larger teams choose a format everyone can access and update. I like to use this content calendar template for my customers.
  • The fields included are campaign notes, monthly theme,  week, day plus each platform we will be using.

3. Choose – Social Media Networks with the Highest Return

Once your main campaigns or themes are chosen, determine which networks you will be using. Which profiles or social media networks you choose will depend on your industry, your sales, your budget, and most importantly your company marketing and sales goals. Chosen networks range from  Facebook company pages, Instagram, Twitter, etc.  to blogs, websites, print materials, tv, radio, billboards, etc. If you are a one or two owner shop, or a marketing department in a large organization practice the keep it simple, realistic, and affordable rule.

4.  Act – What content will you post and where?

  • All businesses have evergreen content – content that never goes out of style. Mix in branding images, photos, tips, instructions.
  • Share other member posts that are relevant to you and your followers.
  • Implement content marketing practices such as using hashtags on specific days; #mindfulmondays, #tbthursday or #tacotuesday, etc.
  • Interact and comment on other profile posts.
  • Mix in funny posts, tips for your industry / clients, completed projects, customer reviews, a percentage of sales copy and calls to actions that suit your goals.
  • Follow leaders in the industry on Linkedin, share popular articles inline with your company and of value to your customers and targets.

5. Strategize – Identify how often you will post content

  • Reference your editorial calendar that breaks down content monthly, weekly, daily, depending on your goals and budget. It is better to note your monthly and weekly content strategy for the full year and then circle back to add it in per day and hour. Forecasting posts too far out by the hour may not be addressing current events or trends. However, custom hourly content is appropriate during specific sales, events, or advertising and email campaigns.

By incorporating an editorial calendar and our free content calendar you can keep sharing content marketing to your target audience and still have time to do your own job! If you find all of this is overly time-consuming please connect with us today. We are happy to assist customers in all of the above. We can also schedule a consult to help identify where to start.
Stay connected!

Back to Top