Reinvigorating your brand

March 30th, 2012

This month’s Advertising Age, “The Retail Revolution,” discusses the reemphasis department stores are now making in promoting the attributes of their physical locations. JC Penney, Macy’s and Target are just a few retailers that have plans to reorganize and launch new sales floors and strategies. Department stores have seen a steady decline in market share, watching their portion of total retail sales decline from 10 percent in the mid-1980’s, down to 2.4 percent in 2009. Now, at a time where specialty stores and online shopping have dominated consumer purchases, department stores are finally stepping up and beginning the fight.

Abandoning the coupon craze, JC Penney recently launched a rebranding campaign focused on making shopping easy, and also plans to have all locations updated with “shop in shop” specialty spaces by 2015. “Shop in shops” like JC Penney’s current Sephora space have seen dramatic success in sales per square foot versus the traditional retail product spaces due to their specialty appeal. Target is planning a rotation of independent boutiques in stores called “The Shops” and will extend these to the company’s online site as well. Macy’s is also planning a revamp to the shopping experience with a pilot program, “Beauty Spots,” including concierge-style service with beauty department sales associates delivering a variety of products to the consumer rather than having consumers hop around to the segmented beauty counters to find the right product. By focusing on the ability shoppers have in experiencing the product and purchasing it right away, department stores are implementing new strategies to better compete.

However, it’s not just revamping the marketing, display or floor arrangement that makes the total difference – it’s also the staff. The benefit these retailers are trying to promote is the experience in shopping with them. That message will fall flat if the staff isn’t able to carry it through. The time, energy and money spent reinvigorating a brand is a wasted investment if internal stakeholders aren’t included as part of the strategy.

By focusing on consumer preferences and updating outdated practices, businesses can bring the power back to their brand. It’s a difficult road and one requiring a strong strategy, as well as the investment and commitment to implement, but it’s an essential exercise. Businesses can’t expect to remain competitive without evolving with their target audiences. Taking the initiative to review and analyze your competitors, the market and where you fit is a good start.

Reference: Advertising Age, “The Retail Revolution,” http://adage.com/article/news/retailers-department-store-salvation/233366/

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The New Definition of PR – A Modern Version

March 22nd, 2012

The Public Relations Society of America recently released the modern definition of public relations (PR) as:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

A simple and to the point statement, the definition compacts an in-depth meaning about what PR really is and why it’s important. We’ve taken the definition and broken it down to really delve into the specific parts and how they shape this definition.

“Strategic communication process”

Let’s start with “strategic” or strategy – a plan of action designed to achieve a vision. No matter the task in PR, the question should always be “is it strategic?” A communication piece or tactic in and of itself is not the strategy. For example, a client or internal audience tells you they want a feature article in a lifestyle magazine touting a very industry-specific new product. A strategic approach considers first the overall vision of promoting the new product. This includes considering the target audience and in this case, you can more directly achieve the vision by focusing your actions toward trade publications that reach a more targeted, action-oriented audience. That’s a strategic move.

“Communication process”

Then we move to the “communication process” part of this first phrase. It’s not as simple as just getting your message out there. PRSA recommends four steps: research, planning, implementation and evaluation. Each step allows for the development and implementation of key messages, tools and tactics that are specific to each objective and target audience, geared toward the end goal, and over all, measurable.

“Builds mutually beneficial relationships”

The true foundation of public relations is in building relationships, but the new definition takes this a step further in promising PR efforts to build relationships that benefit both the organization and its publics. The benefit to the organization is the resulting response, action or new loyalty from its publics, and the benefit to the publics is the product or service received from the organization. PRSA takes its code of ethics seriously and insists its members and accredited professionals do the same. If the relationship isn’t mutually beneficial (just going through the motions) then the strategic efforts should be reconsidered.

“Publics”

Also known as stakeholders, stockholders, target audiences or supporters, “publics” refers to any and all people or groups receiving information from the organization. These “publics” are essential because the way they receive and perceive information shapes the way they embrace, actively support, deny or protest the organization.

The general public is often mistaken as a catch-all public. Often, communication tools are chosen based on what the organization feels comfortable with or wants to try rather than communicating through channels that reach their audience. For example, if your public relations campaign focuses on adults over age 60 and you are disseminating information via social media, your “publics” will likely not receive the information. Furthermore, if they do receive the message, they may perceive that you are trying to reach a younger demographic and therefore not embrace or support your efforts because they’ll mistakenly perceive the call-to-action isn’t applicable to them.

Despite the changing tools, trends and how people consume information, this new, modern definition of PR remains true to the foundation of communicating and effectively disseminating information.

 

 

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Quick Fix – Digital Marketing Manager

March 20th, 2012

Managing a website can be time consuming and overwhelming, especially when it comes to technical problems most business owners just can’t fix on their own.  For example, how many times have you visited your own website only to forget exactly what’s available or to encounter broken links? Or your list of small updates you want to make continues to grow?

 

As a small business, we recognize all of the demands that can take your focus off your website – your primary interface with customers and potential customers. We created the Digital Marketing Manager as the perfect solution for website hosting and maintenance, designed for organizations and small business owners looking for a hassle-free Internet marketing experience. This maintenance schedule, includes 1-2 hours of support per month for the client to use over the course of a year, and ensures accurate and updated content to keep your website is relevant. This includes:

  • Monthly hosting of your website
  • Monthly review of your links and images, to ensure all are working and linking properly
  • Monthly updates and posting of new content provided by client, including monitoring content and photos that can become outdated
  • Minor updates such as posting documents, updating announcements or event calendars

 

Further looking out for your best interest, as part of the Digital Marketing Manager, A. Bright Idea also compiles quarterly website analytic reports so you can analyze how your site is working, including number of visitors, page traffic, keywords, traffic sources, top content and more. With the web analytics report, clients also receive quarterly site recommendations and suggestions for updates and improvements.

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A. Bright Idea wins AVA Award

March 20th, 2012

A. Bright Idea Acknowledged for Award-Winning Work in Audio-Visual Arts, Accepting Three International AVA Awards for work in Sonoma, California.

 

A. Bright Idea Advertising and Public Relations celebrates industry recognition in interactive, graphic design and marketing from the Audio-Visual Arts (AVA) Awards, presented by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), with the Gold Award for its travel website, SomethingAboutSonoma.com, and related website video.

 

“We recognized a need for sharing our creative services in Sonoma County and particularly creating a website for tourists looking to visit “Real Wine Country” and Sonoma County. ” says T.J. Brightman, Principal and Vice President Client Relations.  “The dynamic creative of SomethingAboutSonoma.com demonstrates our approach of blending verbal and visual communication with great brand, at the same time keeping it local.    We strive for excellence and I am always pleased to see our creative team get the recognition they deserve for their work, especially for our new clientele in California.”

 

A. Bright Idea developed SomethingAboutSonoma.com, coinciding with the opening of the West Coast office to position our solid interactive capabilities and multimedia approach in website design.  SomethingAboutSonoma.com has quickly become, the premier destination resource for everything there is to know about Sonoma County, California. From concept development to completion, A. Bright Idea launched the website in March 2011, actively maintaining the site content. Further supporting this product, SomethingAboutSonoma.com also maintains a strong social media presence, using the award-winning designs and videos on Facebook and Twitter, engaging over 7,000 followers, while continually gaining support for the interactive resource website.

 

“The concept developed for SomethingAboutSonoma.com stands as a prime example of the characteristics that make great interactive media – the ability to break through the clutter with unique concept, direction, design and production,” says Vince Novak, Vice President of A. Bright Idea Interactive. “Our recent recognition by the international AVA Awards competition confirms our commitment to exceptional creativity and professional design in all our work.”

 

About AVA

AVA recognizes outstanding achievement by creative professionals involved in the concept, direction, design and production of media as part of the evolution of digital communication. Work ranges from audio and video productions to websites and social media sites that present interactive components such as video, animation, blogs and podcasts, as well as other forms of user-generated digital communication. There were over 1,700 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries in the 2011 competition.

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All the craze in social media: Pinterest

March 20th, 2012

By now, we’re sure you have heard of Pinterest, the website allowing users to ‘pin’ their interests from all over the web into one place and profile. Users create boards representing different categories, like ‘favorite food,’ ‘wedding ideas,’ ‘ideas for my home,’ ‘cool decorations’ or ‘places I want to travel.’ It’s as easy as placing the provided bookmark ‘Pin It’ on your toolbar, and whenever you see a photo you like, you pin it to one of your boards. Each board you create could have ideas and images from a hundred different websites, all in one space. Pinterest users are posting content related to your industry every day, and you can take advantage of this growing audience.

 

A few weeks ago, while looking at website analytics for A. Bright Idea’s website SomethingAboutSonoma.com, I saw a few incoming traffic sources from Pinterest. This meant that people came to our website from Pinterest. SomethingAboutSonoma.com is a travel website dedicated to Sonoma County to promote tourism. Wanting to find out more about this new traffic, I discovered a photo that we posted on our website was on someone’s ‘Favorite Places’ board. That’s when the wheels started spinning and I finally knew what the other social media experts were talking about; telling us that brands and businesses can use Pinterest to increase their reach, audience and traffic.

 

To use Pinterest, you must be ‘invited’, but chances are, at least one of your friends uses the site and can send you an invite. I quickly invited my work email to join Pinterest and created an account for SomethingAboutSonoma.com. I then created boards including Sonoma Style, Food, Wine, Favorite Places & Spaces, Sonoma Weddings and more, and started pinning. Our strategy was to start with our own website photographs, providing e a link back to where the photo lives on our site—our chance to get people from Pinterest to our website. We then moved onto sharing other websites beautiful photography on our boards for things we love. This allows us to build our community and share inspiration on our boards to become a ‘resource’ for finding great things. We quickly got followers and people interested in wine, Sonoma and other topics re-pinning our photos on their own boards, spreading a link back to our website like wildfire.

 

Like magic, I saw our incoming traffic increase significantly with Pinterest as the referral website. So, how do you use Pinterest effectively for your own business?

 

Know your market

What would your target audience be interested in? Whether it’s the latest and greatest technology features and gadgets, beautiful hairstyles for weddings, unique cupcake recipes, ideas for the office, general inspiration, event and tradeshow booth ideas or more, pin the right products and services. Business profiles also have the ability to ‘follow’ other boards and users—so build your audience by following others in hopes they will follow you.

 

Break up your content

Use specific titles for board categories. This allows users to follow specific boards they are interested in and not be bombarded with all of your ideas and content. It also helps keep your ideas organized.

 

Use hashtags and keywords with your content

Those searching in Pinterest and in Google can find your content through the keywords and tags you use. For example: #travel #style #technology #Apple #food #design. Use multiple hashtags, but beware of using too many or it will look like spam.

 

Provide links

Providing links to your website about a specific pin will help users find out more information by visiting your website.

 

Reciprocate your action

Use Pinterest to upload your own pins, but also reciprocate interaction with those you follow by commenting, ‘re-pinning’, and liking others posts. This will encourage others to comment, re-pin and like your posts building your audience.

 

Use Pinterest Internally

Businesses can use Pinterest for internal inspiration and discussion. Create a board with multiple contributors (your employees) and allow them to pin their ideas and thoughts about a product, event, campaign, book, seminar and more to get ideas flowing.

 

Pinterest has become an effective tool to drive traffic to your website, build SEO, build your brand and community and has seen skyrocketing popularity over the last few months.

 

To discuss more Pinterest strategy and what we can do for your business, contact A. Bright Idea at info@abrightideaonline.com or call 410-836-7180.

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Facebook Implements “Timeline”

March 20th, 2012

Since we care about your brand and want to keep you updated with pertinent industry information, we wanted to make you aware that all Facebook Business Pages will automatically switch to the ‘Timeline’ interface on March 30, 2012. All business pages will utilize a new format, with special features, including:

 

  • Square profile photo format for your logo, different size profile pictures should be adjusted so that they do not get cut off by dimension restrictions
  • An area for a ‘cover photo’ at the top of your page, this can be customized
  • Areas to promote sections of your page including photos, likes, videos and custom pages/apps
  • Timeline of your wall posts, allowing users to scroll through the months and years your page has been present

 

In addition, businesses can choose to show the most important features of your page first and choose the order of your apps and page information. The timeline allows businesses to ‘star’ certain posts for a wider view and to ‘pin’ certain posts to the top of your page, allowing viewers to see what is most important.

 

The administration panel will also allow you to manage features, notifications and insights in one place.

 

We hope you’ll find the new format provides you with additional ways to connect you’re your audience and further your brand. If you find that the new Timeline transition doesn’t fit into your timeline of planned Facebook updates, please let us know and we’ll be glad to provide a proposal for assistance. We’re experienced in the new timeline platform and can help your business capitalize on the updated Facebook features for your brand and business page. A. Bright Idea will help businesses manage this transition to ensure a smooth and clean platform to maintain your relationship with Facebook followers.

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A. Bright Idea launches Susquehanna OB/GYN website

February 20th, 2012

The creative team at A. Bright Idea finished and launched a new website for Susquehanna OB/GYN. Susquehanna Obstetrics, Gynecology & Nurse Midwifery offers knowledgeable and personalized reproductive healthcare to the women of northeastern Maryland – and have been doing so for four generations! Susquehanna OB/GYN takes great pride in their full time local offices and exclusive use of area hospitals. Providing copywriting, graphic design, interactive services and more, A. Bright Idea has enjoyed working with this local Maryland company and looks forward to continuing working with them.

Visit the website here: http://sogmd.org/

Susquehanna OB/GYN Homepage

 

 

 

 

 

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February Top 10 – Technologies We Love

February 15th, 2012

Today, we salute 10 technologies we swoon over and can’t live without. Simply said, we heart you and couldn’t live without you!

 

1. Smart phones

At A. Bright Idea, we truly appreciate the iPhone and Android abilities to stay connected, the endless social media capabilities (for FourSquare mayoral battles) and the organization and support, including the new Siri application for iPhone and Google connections with Droid.

 

2. Bluetooth headphones

For work and workout junkies, Bluetooth now allows our smart phones to connect in our cars and our headphones to listen to Pandora while you run or take phone calls, not to mention your car and headphones will now read you text messages when they come in. It’s multitasking at its best!

 

3.  Tablet

With a tablet you can watch a movie, read a book, check social media, browse photos, write a report, play games and more. Better yet, this technology fits into any small space and can entertain children and adults alike for hours.

 

5. WiFi

No excuses anymore now that everywhere provides free WiFi. No matter your location, you can check email, social media or browse the web with ease.

 

6. Augmented reality

Imagine holding your phone up to a photo and a video automatically starts playing or a doctor practicing a surgery as if it were real life through a computer-generated sensory program. With this technology we can now experience a real-world environment virtually.

 

7. 3D at your fingertips

Like a 3D movie at the theater in your living room, televisions with 3D technology make watching movies and gaming a real experience. Harnessing 3D technology for other applications, like websites and animations, makes it hard to miss the message!

 

8. Video conferencing

Staying connected face-to-face has never been so easy, and coast-to-coast creative meetings have never been so productive, thanks to iChat, FaceTime, GoTo Meetings and Skype!

 

9. Search Engines

You know you’re getting the best when Google, Yahoo and Bing are fighting to come out on top with the latest, greatest and fastest in search engine technology, not to mention the new competitors released each month. This is especially important considering the how often we use search daily. Imagine finding information without it! We also rely on search technology for optimizing website content so you generate better results for your site.

 

10. Peer-to-Peer Gaming

Even with a busy schedule, peer-to-peer gaming such as Words with Friends or Hanging with Friends allows a little entertainment at anytime. Looks like this technology is replacing the traditional “game night” but with the same old-fashioned competiti

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Parker Brightman Makes Headline with A Tailgate Tradition

February 10th, 2012

T.J. and Anita’s talents son, Parker Brightman, made headlines this week in The Penn Stater with his essay about his favorite family tradition – tailgating at Penn State football games! Not only does Parker showcase his writing skills, he also displays a custom illustration of Beaver Field. Now we just have to wait another 12 years for him to join the A. Bright Idea team!

Way to go, Parker!

http://pennstatermag.com/2012/02/10/a-tailgating-tradition/

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USA Today says #McFail on McDonald’s Twitter Campaign – Tips for avoiding a similar situation

February 6th, 2012

Arguably the most popular brand in America, McDonald’s came under scrutiny as of late with a Twitter campaign turned negative. As USA Today reported , during a social media effort to encourage Tweeters to share their positive experiences from McDonald’s, the megabrand developed the hashtag #McDStories. Although intended for positive, the #McDStories hashtag quickly turned to a tell-all of the awful and even disgusting experiences customers had at a McDonald’s location. Obviously not the point McDonald’s was driving toward, they quickly pulled the hashtag campaign and began a bit of damage control.

Social media thrives as an open forum; an important medium for engaging customers and audiences.  While critics or negativity might appear, a strong strategy will prepare a brand for handling the adversity and building yet more trust with loyal customers.

 

Develop a strategy

A strategy may be designed to engage customers in sharing personal anecdotes in order to define how engrained the brand has become for those customers. The forum still exists for those who are not brand loyalists. With the proper planning, negative responses could be met with a customer service approach to address the grievance offline and in a one-on-one exchange. Potential questions to consider:

  • What key messaging will you use?
  • How will you respond to negative responses?
  • How will you tout the positive?
  • How will you monitor you followers, content, responses, etc.?

 

Developing a plan to address these questions will help you in implementing a strategic social media plan, aimed at promoting your business and services in a positive light, controlling the chatter about your business from behind the scenes and never being caught off guard.

There’s no doubt McDonald’s had a strategy in place when the #McDStories campaign launched, and by monitoring responses, they were prepared to end the banter and it remained a mere percentage of the overall social media discussion about the organization.

 

Use specific criteria

In creating a social media campaign or promotion, be very specific with your audience about what you want or expect from their responses, eliminating room for interpretation. For example, McDonalds could have garnered more positive responses by simply specifying their hashtag with something like #McDfaves or #McDsBest. This clearly tells the audience to respond with positive experiences and removes the openness to simply share a story – positive or negative.

 

Turn the negative to positive

With social media, you can’t ignore the fact that there will be negative mentions about your business. The open platform is a perk for users and they often take full advantage. Be prepared to take the negative and turn it to a positive by addressing from a customer service perspective. For example, in McDonalds situation, they could respond to the negative #McDStories Tweeters and offer to make their negative experience into a positive with a discount or free offer. This makes the end user feel heard and important. They’ll appreciate the attention and remember that positive act over the negative they first experienced.

 

USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2012-01-28/cnbc-mcdonalds-twitter-backfire/52824472/1

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