Archive for the ‘Branding’ Category

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SEO and Article Marketing

Monday, April 29th, 2013

Do you want better SEO? Do you know why you want better SEO?  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is becoming one of the most effective tools in the world of marketing–but only when it is used correctly. In the world of PR, we’ve been using it for years. Our goal is to get journalists to find the information for their story ideas at our clients’ websites, or by contacting them directly. We do keyword tweets on Twitter. We make sure that the keywords are clear on press releases and on our clients’ websites.

One of the ways to get better Search Engine Optimization is a process called Article Marketing. Here are two excellent resources for Article Marketing. You can start at Wikipedia and get the basics. There you learn that Article Marketing has been around as long as there have been newspapers and magazines. To use Article Marketing effectively, you must be an expert at something. You write an article about that subject, and you try to get it placed in a newspaper or magazine. The article has your name on it, and you are on your way to becoming well-known in your industry. That’s how Public Relations really started in the early 1900s. When the early PR professionals realized that if they helped make the journalist’s job easier by providing the right information for a story, they could get their clients’ stories placed in print publications.

When you add the Internet with Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc., Article Marketing became, for some agencies (called Black Hat agencies), a way of tricking the search engines to get your company higher up on the search engine listings. There were sites on the web that charged you for a link. Google and their colleagues eventually figured out what the Black Hat agencies were doing; they made it very difficult for them to succeed.

But the actual concept of Article Marketing really can work for you. Your story has to be well written and informative. It can be a blog post, a press release that you have on your site, an article that you got placed in some other journalist website, or a case study that you have on your site. You want people to read it, and then go to your website and contact you. Phil Stone has written a really instructive piece called “What Is Article Marketing?” He gives you a good idea of the process, and what is possible.

The important thing to remember is to make sure your keywords are embedded in your story. But more importantly, make sure your story is worth reading–or it is a waste of your time and money.

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Posted in Blogs, Branding, Journalists, Marketing, Publicity, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Story Placement, Twitter, Web sites, Working with Media | 10 Comments »

6 Ways to Build Your Brand with Video

Thursday, February 28th, 2013

Video has become a super hot medium for online marketing. Not only do high-ranking videos improve search engine rankings, but having video on your website can be an effective way to engage your audience, drive web traffic and convert customers. In this post, we discuss six ways to build your brand with video.

  1. Customer Testimonials
  2. Product Presentation
  3. Product Demonstration
  4. Case Study
  5. Corporate Overview
  6. Training — Step-by-Step instruction or how-to

There are some impressive statistics that show the growing power of video today.

  • Drive web traffic — Banner ads with video generate 6 times as many post-ad site visits as standard banner ads. (Source: MediaMind)
  • Increase sales — Enjoyment of video ads increases purchase intent by 97%, and brand association by 139%. (Source: Unruly). Also, a recent study from unBounce shows explainer videos can increase conversion rates by almost 20%. (Source Unbounce)
  • Go Mobile — Two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2016. (Source: Cisco)
  • Use a Proven Medium — In the US, 181 million people watched more than 39 billion online content videos during September 2012 (Source: comScore)
  • Increase email click-through — Including the word ‘video’ in the subject line of an email will boost click-through rates from 7-11% and emails that contained an embedded video achieved a 21% higher conversion rate according to Business 2 Community.
Video is a powerful tool for telling your story and is a compelling way to engage your audience and speak from a variety of viewpoints. With video you can show your product and tell why it is different: build your brand.

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Posted in Branding, Online Marketing, Video | 15 Comments »

The Constantly Evolving World of Social Media

Friday, February 15th, 2013

You’ve just settled into loving the look of your Twitter page when along comes yet another “upgrade” to the interface. This is typical of the social-platform world; it is ever changing and evolving to meet the hungry demands of everyone with something to share.

Facebook recently got a big overhaul with the introduction of the “timeline” layout, allowing us to put in a big juicy image right smack on our landing profile pages, adding a custom look and feel which helps to express a little bit more of what our companies are all about.

The next to jump on this bumpy bandwagon ride is Twitter, which has just introduced the ability to add a background image to your landing feed page.

This chunk of prime real estate which once just housed a bigger version of your avatar and descriptive text, can now be filled with any 520px by 260px image your heart desires! Ah, but don’t get too carried away, there is an art to it … the background image is just that; it sits behind your avatar, Twitter handle, description and other profile info all of which is a default and unchangeable #FFFFFF (or white for those who do not speak geek).

So, the trick here is to have the right balance to set the tone for your Twitter page, and yet  not be so overwhelmingly enthralling that the viewer is unable to read the pertinent info that is printed on top of it … ah, zen.

 

Itching to get your Twitter profile background implemented? Give us a call and we can make it happen.

Post by Jannah Lyon, Creative Director, Placemaking Group.

 

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Posted in Branding, Design, Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media, Twitter | 15 Comments »

St. Mary’s College Public Relations class

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

I’m excited that today is the first day of class for my Saint Mary’s College of California PR class that I teach each year! We study real life publicity and marketing experiences. The goal of my class is for each student to understand that they can have a career in Public Relations or they can learn how to use PR to enhance their careers. Or both!

Now I’ll talk to my students for a moment… Public Relations basic job is to make a reporter’s job easier, this is a mantra you will hear though-out the semester in this course. However to make a reporters job easier you have to make information accessible. The most commonly used tool to gain information is the internet. Blogs and other forms of social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) have become key to reaching your target audience and starting a conversation.
In this course you will be required to check this blog on a regular basis. It is updated often with topics pertaining to public relations, advertising and marketing. Social media has become exponentially important in the world of PR and it is a tool that is constantly changing and the more you use it the more knowledgeable you become.

One of the assignments is to read one of two excellent books about social media. Here they are…

“Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies,” by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li. These two Forrester analysts give you the picture and especially how to really spend a big budget on social media. I’m not joking about this. Most social media strategies are based on spending tiny amounts of money. This book shows how big businesses can better use social media. Some of my students are going to work for large companies. I want to make sure they are armed!

Then, onto some really effective, hands-on strategies with “New Rules of Marketing and PR,” by David Meerman Scott. This is a book that I predicted a year ago would not seem dated in the near future, as so many business books do. And I was right! A year later, it’s still just as relevant as it was when it came out. And it’s one of the most sensible online marketing books I’ve ever read.

Posted in Branding, Journalists, Marketing, Publicity | 14 Comments »

Time to Freshen Up Your Website?

Monday, February 4th, 2013

Your website is the first place that prospects and current customers go to check out your product or service. It’s important that the user experience be a positive one, from the first visit to the 50th. Take a look at your website’s overall design and analytics to determine what may need a refresh. Are the primary images on your site a little tired? Do they still reflect your core brand?  Is your search optimization (SEO) drawing in good prospects who stick around, or do you need to tweak your meta information – keywords, descriptions and page titles? All of the above can help to optimize the effectiveness of your website.

Here are three recent examples of how we worked with clients to “freshen up” their websites for better branding, user interface and security.

Clare Computer Solutions

www.clarecomputer.com

Sometimes simple tweaks to a web page  layout can have a big impact. An annual review of Clare Computer’s analytics revealed that events had become an important way of driving traffic. Consequently, more emphasis was placed on promoting events on the homepage by replacing the twitter feed with an events feed.

 

Food Addicts

www.foodaddicts.org

A completely new website for Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous included improving the user experience by making it far easier to get to information about meetings and resources with a single click. On the administrative (backend) side, a new content management system (CMS) was added for easy updates by staff and volunteers.  Security was a top priority to ensure that member information was never compromised. With this, the CMS and an online store underwent a ground-up reassessment to ensure back-end security.

 

eSoft

www.esoft.com

Don’t underestimate the power of updating messaging and images to refresh your site. On this website for network security company eSoft, we worked within its existing site infrastructure to add a series of edgy, hard-hitting header banners. This messaging and graphic design reflects the new marketing direction the company is taking. This economical solution is helping to carry the existing website until a planned new site is up and running.

 

Related posts:

By Dianne Newton-Shaw, Placemaking Group account manager

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Posted in Branding, Design, e-commerce, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Web sites | 5 Comments »

Five Ways to Get Speaking Engagements

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

How to Become a Speaker

A marketing tool to help you become better known and increase awareness of your business is public speaking. However, landing speaking engagements takes some work. Here are five ways to help you get booked as a speaker.

1)  Define Your Speaking Topics

Define your expertise with a catchy or compelling headline that will clearly distinguish you from the competition. Placemaking Group’s CEO, Dennis Erokan speaks to audiences on the topic of “Get Famous,” as well as “Get Famous with Social Media.”

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Posted in Branding, Marketing, Publicity, Speaking Placement | 2 Comments »

2013 Marketing Trends to Consider for Success

Friday, January 4th, 2013

Staying in touch with trends that can support or negatively impact your marketing success is key. Here’s a compilation of marketing communication trends – some newer than others – to consider as we head into 2013.

Mobile Devices Own the Day: As the power and sophistication of mobile devices grows, they’ve become the “central processing units” for our lives. Make sure your business is visible on mobile. About 55% of the U.S. population owns a smart phone, and 78% of them don’t leave home without it. Source:  Social Media Today

The Daily Deal is Dead: Consumers are losing interest and merchants are sour on offering such large discounts.  Many are moving into offering special packages but at full price and in niche markets such as extreme adventure travel.  Source: San Francisco Business Times

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Posted in Branding, Design, Direct Mail, Marketing, Mobile Digital Strategy, Online Marketing, Video | 4 Comments »

Happy Holidays from The Placemaking Group

Thursday, January 3rd, 2013

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Posted in Branding | No Comments »

Three tips to Get Famous

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

We talk a lot about “Getting Famous” here at the Placemaking Group. What we mean by that is simple. Leveraging your expertise to establish yourself as an industry leader and to increase your visibility will help your business thrive. In this week’s video, Placemaking Group’s President, Dennis Erokan, explains.

Here are a few steps you can take to “Get Famous” in your field of expertise.

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Posted in Blogs, Branding, Marketing, Publicity | 2 Comments »

Give Some Love to Printed Marketing Materials

Monday, November 26th, 2012

In this age of online interactive everything, it is easy to lose sight of other ways to market your brand beyond websites, social media and email. Printed marketing materials are still an important element in any marketing campaign and a successful campaign is one that utilizes a variety of media to get the message across.

A beautifully printed piece can speak multitudes about the value or credibility of your brand and help solidify how you want to be perceived by your target audience.

Design plays a big part in the success of these printed items. A good looking leave-behind piece can be a powerful and memorable promotional tool if done right. Your brand must be solid across-the-board, with consistent logo use, color palette and message tone. Your family of marketing materials should work in unison. When someone gets that superbly designed and well thought-out postcard with the clear call-to-action supported by beautiful photos and hard hitting headlines, they need to feel like it came from the same company they see represented online.  A unified color palette and similar graphical elements can do this quite nicely. (more…)

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Posted in Branding, Design, Marketing | 2 Comments »

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