Connectivity
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As we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday here the United States I wanted to send a greeting of gratitude to all.
10•5 Anniversary Logo Designed by Connection Group
On October 5, 2012, Connection Group was privileged to attend one of our customers benchmark anniversaries. DRM Genesis Home Health Care Providers celebrated 10 years of business. Plus, sister company DRM International Learning Center recognized their five year mark.
Owners ReShane Lonzo and Steve Lonzo decided to recognize many of the people who have influenced their success and growth over the last decade. A tasteful celebration was planned where friends, family staff, clients, and vendors were invited to attend. Connection Group assisted DRM with logo design, anniversary invitation designs, thank you cards, and promotional press releases for the event. During the dinner at the MSU Kellogg Center the smooth sound of jazz artist Phil Denny set a welcoming tone to the room as people came together to enjoy each other and share in the occasion.
The Lonzo’s recognized their long time staff, their mentors and those people who have made a difference in their business. They made public their appreciation for all they have received on their path to success. Those of us in attendance also learned of the benefits the two businesses provided to their communities, staff and students. DRM companies employed over 60 people, many of them graduates of the Lansing Public Schools. DRM ILC has successfully serviced over 575 students resulting in higher education and employment opportunities that would otherwise not have been available to many of them.
Steve and ReShane Lonzo accept Lansing, MIchigan Mayor Verg Beneros’ proclamation of October 5, 2012 as DRM Day from the Mayor’s Assistant, Renee Freeman.
Not all companies can make the commitment for a large party to recognize their longevity but don’t let your next anniversary pass by without some reflection on how you were able to succeed. Recognize those who have helped you reach your grow and expand from year to year. Whether you send an a small gift of appreciation, produce a press release, pick up the phone, or send an email, celebrating your company anniversary and reminding others why you serve will go a long way for your company reputation.
By Cathy Burke
http://linkedin.com/in/cathysburke
Even the best products and services don’t sell themselves – which makes marketing critical to the success of your business. But entrepreneurs who are already overwhelmed with everyday operations may not have much time to develop their marketing savvy.
No worries! There are really just two main keys to effective marketing: Content and Consistency.
If you believe in what you’re selling and enjoy teaching others about it, the content part is fairly easy. All you need to do is find ways to share your enthusiasm and knowledge. This might involve buying an ad, speaking at an event, sending a mailer, posting an article or an interesting fact on your Facebook page, or even just chatting with friends and acquaintances as you go about life in your community.
Achieving consistency is a little more difficult. It’s usually not very effective to place just one ad or make just one Facebook post. And even the most rapt audience will soon forget your last presentation. In short, you need to keep putting your message out there. This is true even when you become tired of hearing yourself talk!
One of the best ways to ensure consistency is to establish a schedule for your marketing efforts. Your schedule might include three social media posts per week, a monthly blog, two speaking engagements a year, and bi-monthly advertising or mailings.
A consistent look and feel in your marketing is also important. For example, you need an attractive logo that can be used on signage, invoices, advertising flyers, and so on.
Connection Group can help with both the content and consistency of your marketing. We are a full service marketing and graphic design agency that provides creative print and digital solutions for small business. Give us a call for a complimentary consultation and we’ll work with you to develop a customized strategy designed to fit your timeframe and budget. We can work on a per project basis or can deliver monthly marketing maintenance.
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Many people confuse these terms and this sure makes for a difficult job for marketing firms. Connection Group is a brand marketing firm, our focus is considerably different than let’s say a Marketing Research firm. Connection Group assists with marketing plans, promotions, design, advertising and general public relations with a focus on development and promotion of your brand in print and web communication. There are PR firms that outsource design and communication items to us and in turn, there are public relations and research items that are better suited for firms who specialize in those modalities.
Because many of our local Lansing marketing firms and design agencies handle a variety of task and because there are so many different elements that can be broken into niche areas (Marketing Research, Brand Marketing, Promotions, Event Marketing, etc.) it is clear why there is so much confusion. Let’s take a look at each category and attempt to clarify the main goals of each.
Marketing
Marketing is the umbrella term for the process of creating, communicating and delivering products or services to customers. Target marketing is achieved through research studies that help determine buying habits or lifestyle practices of people and companies. Research ranges from such options as geo-targeting, surveys, focus groups, web analytics, phone tracking and many more in-depth and long-term studies. Contrary to popular belief by some specialist, marketing is not just about research and statistics. Research is one step in the marketing plan. Most people learn that marketing consists of four major considerations: product, price, place and promotion. To Connection Group, marketing is as much about the action taken upon review of data as the number crunching, and charts and graphs reviews. Brand Marketing, which we specialize in, starts with the background research, leads to the plan, and formulation of the promotional campaign. Depending on the size of the company, and the size of the marketing budget, the marketing plan will include an outline for Sales objectives, Advertising media, Communication materials, Public Relations projects and review suggestions.
Sales
Sales is a component of marketing but marketers are not sales staff. Sales is typically handled by a separate department that can include sales managers, sales representatives or account representatives depending on the company industry and size of the business. It is marketing’s job to provide tracking, statistics, materials and messages that support the company brand and give the sales force a sustainable strategic advantage to meet the customers needs. Do not expect your marketing department to plan sales strategy, create sales appointments or contact prospects or customers – hire a sales person for this.
Advertising and public relations are considered marketing promotions
Advertising
Advertising can involve a number of activities to communicate to a target audience. Most advertising is paid media such as radio, television, email, newspaper, magazine, the internet, and other print publications, etc. Advertising focuses on communicating a message to the market and typically carries a theme that communicates the company brand. The chosen media is determined by the marketing research which has identified the most successful way of reaching the target audience within the financial budget set for advertising.
Public Relations
Public Relations support the marketing effort and is often a component of the marketing plan. PR is a method companies use to convey a positive image to their market and the community. Press releases, speaking at public forums, and community involvement are methods used by businesses to establish the company name and communicate the brand image. Public Relations is considerably less cost than advertising, however the efforts can take time and may not attract the attention by media that is desired. Addressing the public on issues of importance can also be risky with any controversial subject that can be misconstrued by competition, the media or the public view.
Considerations when outsourcing these services
Some marketing departments and marketing firms may offer all of these services in house, some may outsource a portion of the services and some may supply only the data or the marketing plan recommended for your company and you will be responsible for identifying who will implement each task. Don’t assume every marketing firm is going to provide Public Relations services or media placement, and don’t expect your marketers to be graphic designers or sales people. Identify what your goals are and communicate this when interviewing firms. Knowing what items you will be handling in house; social media updates, e-newsletters, press releases, etc will help determine the level of services you desire. Some firms handle everything, some marketing firms hand you a plan and blow you a kiss good bye. Connection Group can work on a per project basis and also provides monthly marketing maintenance for companies. Give us a call today for a complimentary consultation, in person or an online marketing consultation. We can let you know if what your company needs is a newly designed website with more content to enhance SEO, a full blown PR campaign, or just a good sales representative with clear communication materials to reach your target audience.
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This message is most influential in billboard design of course, right in the heart of the land that built them ,in front of the eyes who drive them. The creative agency who developed this billboard campaign knows their market and the GM brand. Michigan and GM does not believe a car is just a commodity – a car is a statement of who you are, your lifestyle, your personality, it’s designed for comfort and cruising – it was then and it is to this day.
If you are in the Detroit area, enjoy the 2012 Woodward Dream Cruise and smile when you see these Michigan billboard designs, take pride knowing why we earned the title, Automobile Capital of the World.
Our family recently welcomed a new puppy into our home. It has been over 15 years since we have harkened down this path. I am quickly reminded of the dedication and attention puppies require, as well as the many items needed for entertainment and home protection.
Yesterday’s visit to the big box pet store displayed rows and rows of dog treats and toys to; stimulate minds, increase physical activity, encourage agility…, so many tools to ensure successful puppy raising. A quick Google search on ‘how to train puppies not to bite,’ resulted in a plethora of free videos and resource links for every activity imaginable for a dog or owner to explore.
All of this is underway while in the midst of developing an integrative marketing plan for a client’s expansion into a new geographic area. As with the puppy merchandise and training, tools and resources for brand marketing and graphic design continue to evolve. There is a large variety of options available that promise to achieve the same successful result.
Do I stick to the tried and true methods; discipline, attention, consistency? I know they worked, I have had well behaved dogs and successful customers throughout the years. Or do I bury the old school methods and invest time, faith, and money into the new approaches; gadgets, permission, rewards?
An appetite for the new with respect for the old could be an adage for all I do, from home decor, marketing, graphic design and puppy raising. I believe combining old with new is the true key to success in most every endeavor. As we travel the road together, our family and puppy, and Connection Group and our customers, the best solution is to recognize the individuality in each relationship. Each situation, each personality, each philosophy, is unique and requires personalized solutions that are adaptive to current times, trends, and budgets. We will continue to invest in the appropriate tools and disciplines each project requires to reap the most reward – happy, contented, successful clients and puppies.
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Are you a business in the mid-Michigan area looking for a cost affective way to reach area residents or businesses? Do you have a specific product, service, event or promotion you want to get out to potential customers?
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has a new campaign with incredible postage rates for flat mail pieces. These mail items can be targeted into specific neighborhoods. There is no need to spend hundreds of dollars purchasing a list. Do you want a direct mail campaign in Lansing, DeWitt, Waverly, or Grand Ledge, or a direct mail campaign just in Whitehills? With this program we can target an entire city, rural area, or hit a specific neighborhood. You can choose to run 500 pieces or 350,000 pieces or more, there is no cap.
The postage fee for the Every Door Direct Mail® pieces are a mere 17¢ each! That is a savings of 28¢ per piece compared to a standard first class mail piece. The postage savings as well as the elimination of the mailing list expense offers an opportunity for small businesses to have a more level playing field against companies with larger marketing and advertising budgets. Lansing restaurants can mail menus, local retailers, local service companies, local builders and beauty salons can mail promotions, coupons and even local political campaigns can enjoy the savings.
Connection Group recently completed an Every Door Direct Mail® campaign for a local home maintenance company, RFC Home Improvement. We chose to primarily target the area where they are located, where they have an existing clientele and have built brand recognition. We also chose a targeted Lansing neighborhood with similar priced homes that were of an age that may require the specific services RFC was promoting in this mailing.
We worked with our client to determine what services are best to promote for the Spring and Summer season. After establishing the focus, our graphic designers created a custom designed postcard displaying before and after photos of the clients work. The promotion was clearly outlined with a call to action included. Mail quantities were determined and the postcards were printed with the correct indicias and mailing information the USPS requires for the Every Door Direct® mail campaign.
Neighborhoods and routes were then counted and the every door direct mail campaign pieces were bundled in packs of 50 with facing slips attached. For each post office drop off point an Every Door Direct Mail sheet was included with Connection Group unique customer i.d. and the specifics of each route were outlined.
With the large variety of advertising and marketing options available for business – especially with the explosion of social media marketing, internet marketing, SEO and SEM – it can be difficult to know where to commit your marketing budget. Direct mail campaigns can compliment other marketing efforts and continue to expand brand awareness and recognition. Not every marketing component is appropriate for every business, including direct mail. Custom solutions targeted by industry and by market are the best approach.
Connection Group specializes in implementing integrated marketing solutions. This means, we can help you determine if the Every Door direct mail campaign is a good fit for your business.
Although the USPS has attempted to make this an easy experience for small businesses to create these campaigns themselves and theoretically save more money by doing everything in house, experience shows this may not be the best choice. As professionals, with over 20 years experience in direct mail, our crash course with our first Every Door Direct Mail campaign found us going in circles on the USPS website. Once the direct mail pieces were ready to mail we spent time sharing what we learned with some of the postal service employees who were not familiar with the program and were able to keep the project moving forward. Using a professional can keep your costs in line and take away a lot of headaches. Of course a professionally designed layout can present your message in an appealing and professional light that recipients will take seriously.
So if you are ready to increase brand exposure in your area, introduce your new business, attract attendees to an event, get votes, share your new product list, service menu, restaurant menu and more, give us a call. We can get your get your foor in every door.
Call us or email us today – 517-645-4387 or info@connectiongraphics.com
Starting April, 14, 2102 for two Saturday’s, I will be instructing the Media Savvy Business Marketing class at the Lansing Community College Livingston Campus. This class will demonstrate a variety of current tools available at low to no cost to enhance small business branding and integrative marketing. Learn hands on in a computer lab, how to create professional materials without code or design experience. Self serve marketing tools help to increase consistency in the company brand message and image. Learn how to create and maintain a WordPress website and blog for personal or professional use.
Tools include:
website maintenance with content management systems (CMS) including blogging software, website analytics, photo editing resources, email newsletter strategies, online pr tools, social media business profile optimization including Facebook fan pages, direct mail campaign integration.
– Training on content management systems using WordPress
– Creation of business social media profiles and maintenance
– Development of Facebook fan page design
– Training on tools for graphics and photo web optimization
– Press release tips and distribution
– Email marketing campaign creation
– Set-up and translation of web analytics
Associated Term: Spring 2012, Saturday, April 14 and APril, 21, 2012 from 8:30am-5:00pm
Levels: 1 Credit or pass/fail: Register today class size is limited.
Livingston County Center Campus
Please share with friends who can benefit from this training!
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Facebook Business Pages will be automatically upgraded to Timeline on March 30, 2012, are you ready?
I know, another major change for Facebook. Those of us who are marketing firms managing multiple Facebook business pages need to get up to speed quick! The most obvious change is the striking Facebook Timeline cover photos. As striking as it is, there are some important rules to follow and there are other Facebook TImeline Features to work into your marketing strategy.
New Facebook Timeline Features:
- My favorite – you can now pin a feature story each week. Just hover over your your story and click on the pencil icon to make it a feature at the top of your Page.
- Profile pictures are now square at 180 x 180 pixels. This image will still be what is seen when you post and what is need in your news feed.
- You can rearrange the apps on the page. These are listed at the top of your Page no . Change the placement by clicking on the graphic, then tell it to switch with the app you choose to list your most important ones first, such as photos of your products, etc.
- Your main page or ‘wall’ will be the default landing page – default landing tabs are gone
- New Admin panel is much more user friendly and insights are right there.
- Fans can now connect with you privately..
Let’s jump into the rules for the Facebook Timeline cover photo for business fan pages before you waste time creating one that Facebook deems illegal… (like I have included below!) The image below breaks all the rules – it attempts to take advantage of all the prime real estate the large cover photo offers. No way, says Facebook! You can not include your company marketing and contact information or calls to action.
BAD! No, no! Above is a rejected Facebook Fan Page cover photo.
Facebook Timeline Cover Photo’s for Fan Pages – Do’s & Don’ts
Do
- Choose a striking and relevant image for your business
- Use an 851 pixel wide x 315 pixel tall image to make the most of the space.
- Use your logo as your profile picture in square format.
- Be consistent with your profile picture – don’t change it on a whim and ignore your brand
- Pay attention to the ratio of text to imagery – 70% image to 30% text is a good guideline
Don’t
- Include website, phone number, any contact info that can be found under ‘About’ section
- Include prices or purchase info. (50% off or ‘download our ebook’…)
- Include calls to action like: ‘Call today, Get it now…’
- Include “Like”, “Share”, or an arrow in the photo pointing to any Facebook action, etc.
- Infringe on others intellectual property.
New Facebook TImeline Fan Page Cover Photo - this one follows the rules
Does anybody else find it frustrating that a business can’t promote their contact information in the most prominent place on the page? It goes against everything I learned in graphic design school. Oh well, as I begin to explain to our customers who hold the same frustration, we dont make the rules, Facebook does.
So, have fun with it! Show off your Facebook Fan Page Timeline photos below. Share your links, we would love to take a look at the beauty you created, and find us on Facebook.
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Ever wonder what your name means? How will you find out? Look it up in the tome, the Dictionary of Names from Oxford University Press? No, you will do what I did and Google it. Go ahead, do a search, see what you come up with.
In searching ‘what does my name Connie mean’, Google graciously returned 8,280,000 results. Granted I did not go to every website citing the information. I went to four. All had different results. One spoke of the history of the name and how it is derived from Constance (I thank my parents for being kinder than that). Another provided a pretty little graph showing the popularity of the name (seems Connie peaked in the fifties) my third attempt landed me on a page filled with ads and a three word descriptive answer to my inquiry; ‘Connie means knowledge’. I really think I am much more complex and warrant more than one descriptive word! So, I took a chance at one more, which I believe is profoundly more accurate. This website states the meaning of Connie means “Queen of the House – a determined but also an awesome person who can always make you feel good and is a boy magnet.” Absolutely! This is what I am going to tell everyone my name means! So what that the website designers Mom was named Connie and people can enter their own interpretation of the name. I choose to believe.
To all writers, professional assistants, marketers, students, authors, please don’t limit your research to a Google search!
Don’t go to results page 72, click the link you think nobody will ever find and plagerize the content for your next newsletter, term paper, or website. That is stealing AND it could be completely inaccurate information! After reviewing multiple sites and finding similar facts you can then compose an original article or paper. If you are using proprietary information, quotes, statistical research, remember to cite your source and respect those who came before you and did the work.
The internet is getting smaller every day. Once I post this blog entry I can randomly select a sentence from it and do a search. Every website who has used my sentence will be returned in my Google search.
This also goes for Google Images – ugh, don’t get me started! When you search Google Images please note the disclaimer that states “image may be subject to copyright” that does apply to you too. What’s the best solution? Find the original owner and pay them for use, or hire a professional graphic designer or photographer to create an original solution. Appreciate the wonderful web of knowledge we have access to and share your wisdom, don’t steal others and think you will get away with it.
What are the consequences of Copyright Infringement?
If you use a copyrighted work without permission and your usage is not exempt under the law, you are infringing on copyright. If the copyright holder discovers it, they can then sue you for actual damage or loss of profits. The holder/owner may also choose to seek statutory damages up to $150,000 for each infringement. So if you have stolen a logo and used it on your business cards, letterhead, brochure, signage and website, etc. the copyright holder can sue you for statutory damage for each, or $750,000. Here is a list of damages and profits of copyright infringement.
If you use a copyrighted work without permission and your usage is not exempt under copyright law, you are infringing upon the copyright holder’s rights. The copyright holder can sue you for actual damages or loss of profits. The copyright holder may also seek statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringement. See Section 504 for additional detail.
Copyright law is not limited to just United States Citizens. In an effort to address international use concerns as the world wide web expanded. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 signed by President Clinton addressed this issue by implementing two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties: the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
Depending on if you are citing an entire website or citing a specific article or page within a website following are the MLA (Modern Language Association) Style standards to follow for proper citations:
· If you can’t find all of the information, cite what you can find in the recommended order for each.
· In these examples we have provided them as single spaced; you should double space citations in your list.
· For more information on MLA citation styles, refer to the handbook and the website.
To cite an entire website that you have referenced in your work :
Title of Database. Date of electronic
publication or latest update. Name of
sponsoring institution or
organization. Date the information
is retrieved <URL
Example: Connection Group Web and Design Tips. July, 2011. Connection Group. August, 2011, connectiongraphics.com
To cite a webpage, cite a blog or cite an online journal article use the following format:
Author. “Article Title.” Journal Title
vol.issue (Year): pages.
Date retrieved information
<URL>.
Example: Sweet, Connie. 10 Baby Steps for Small Business to Grow in Social Media.
Web and Design Tips, 17 (2012) 1. Retrieved August 25, 2011, from
https://connectiongraphics.com/tips/
Be original! We are ALL connected.
