Thursday, May 15, 2008

Checking the Pulse of Marketing Executives



In an attempt to brace our company for the impending economic downturn, we asked marketing and communications professionals to complete a survey about how they work and get information. About 20 people completed the survey. While the participation was bleak, the results are interesting.

A few of the questions we asked:

  • When the business cycle takes a turn for the worse, what steps do you take?
  • What new Web technologies are you interested in learning about?
  • What kind of information would help you do your job better?
Download a pdf or movie to review all of the survey results.

Checking the Pulse of Marketing ExecutivesSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Namaro: Brighter Ideas, Less Energy, More Impact

Solid market research is vital to successful marketing. When it was time for us to design a new campaign for ourselves, we began by conducting in-depth interviews with members of our target audience—marketing professionals. It became clear that they were looking to reach more people in less expensive ways. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

To us, it made perfect sense and fit right into what we’d been doing. The campaign slogan, “Brighter Ideas, Less Energy, More Impact,” says it all. Brighter Ideas because Namaro is known for creative solutions with a twist. Less Energy because we offer paperless internet solutions that save natural resources and cost less. More Impact because you can reach millions in an instant online. And, the slogan worked beautifully with our tagline—See your business like never before.

Namaro: Brighter Ideas, Less Energy, More ImpactSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

You Can’t Design in a Vacuum: Ten Steps to Follow when Planning a Marketing Campaign

1. Define your target audience and interview a few of its members.
2. Create a survey to reach a bigger slice of your target audience.
3. Analyze interview/survey data.
4. Focus on most important target audience need.
5. Create a campaign that speaks to this need and offers solutions.
6. Apply design to all marketing vehicles such as custom ad campaign, web site, video, giveaways, booths for tradeshows, online ad campaign, on-demand brochures, eNewsletters, blogs, etc.
7. Deploy campaign strategically, systematically, and consistently over a period of at least one year.
8. Stay on message over the phone, during presentations, and interviews and leave your potential clients excited about how you can fulfilling their needs and expectations.
9. Follow-up, answer questions, help out even if you don’t close a deal.
10. Ongoing adjustments and analysis of campaign.

You Can’t Design in a Vacuum: Ten Steps to Follow when Planning a Marketing CampaignSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Top ten social faux pas

1. You wear a “Vote for Obama” button at a Ted Nugent concert.
2. You show off your tattoos at a business breakfast.
3. You’ve got poppy seeds stuck in your teeth during a television interview.
4. Your cell phone goes off in the middle of a funeral.
5. You drink too much tequila and dance on a table or two. (Is this really socially unacceptable?)
6. You fart in church.
7. You wear your thong at the community pool.
8. You forget the party host's name!
9. You post vintage footage on YouTube of your college roommate competing in a chugging contest.
10. You accidentally send the email to the person you’re badmouthing.

Top ten social faux pasSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Don’t Choose the Wrong Online Survey Service

Before launching our new marketing campaign, we used SurveyMonkey.com to poll our target audience. We had all kinds of trouble.

  • Our survey time period kept closing despite repeated attempts to keep it open for a 3-month period.
  • Some users would complete the survey and be unable to submit their responses.
  • The data collected was not provided in a useful format.
  • We only heard about troubles from sympathetic users, so there could have been other problems we don’t even know about.
USER BEWARE!

Don’t Choose the Wrong Online Survey ServiceSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

“Rapp on this” Information on intellectual property law

Every artist ought to have at least an elementary understanding of copyright law. Second only to an artwork's aesthetic qualities, it is copyright law that drives a work's value and integrity. This is so because copyright law establishes and defines what it is that the artist owns of his or her work, both while the artist possesses the work and after the work has been sold, or copied, displayed or performed. In future months, this column will hopefully shed some light on this deceptively complicated area of law, dispel common myths and misunderstandings, and discuss other legal areas that impact on the creative process as well as the business of art. Click to read more.

The Law Office of Paul C. Rapp

348 Long Pond Road
Housatonic, Massachusetts 01236

Specializing in intellectual property law including copyright, trademark, Internet, and art and entertainment matters. Adjunct professor of copyright and art & entertainment law, Albany Law School

Licensed in New York and Massachusetts
MA: 413.553.3189
NY: 518.935.4568

“Rapp on this” Information on intellectual property lawSocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Effective Website Design: Hammond Security

Everyone in the Hudson Valley knows the Hammond Logo/Sticker. You can see it on any building that has an alarm system from Hammond Security. It’s a powerful brand with great recognition. So when Namaro was hired to redesign Hammond’s site, we felt that the logo was a focal starting point.

We submitted several designs including one design with a large “H” shape as the whole background of the site.

Pleased with the design choices, the client picked the “H” design since we all agreed that it continued to reinforce their existing brand and retained the boldness and strength of it.

The site was designed by us, Namaro, and the back-end programming was provided by a partner of ours, Oxclove Workshop in Kingston.

If you need more informatiom about Hammond Security Systems or want your own system, contact Kim Sears, Security Consultant, (845) 471-3441.

Effective Website Design: Hammond SecuritySocialTwist Tell-a-Friend