Erin Higgins, CMA Director of Marketing Services, recently sat down with us to discuss digital marketing for a recent issue of CMA Market Buzz. Among other interesting facts, Higgins reported an increased client focus on digital marketing strategies, not only through websites, but email marketing and social media such as blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Below are some excerpts from the Q&A.
“More clients are working with CMA to deepen their web conversations with customers and prospects,” says Higgins, who guides clients through the development and rejuvenation of websites as well as other digital marketing mediums.
“With all businesses, developing a website is typically the keystone to their initial marketing effort once we’ve worked with them to discover and establish a strategic and branding direction,” she says. “Website development or redesign also dovetails well with a public relations effort, which helps drive target audiences to the site.”
Higgins observes that in the past, companies established basic ‘brochureware’ websites, then updated them with animation. “Now it’s more of a hybrid. Websites are cleaner, there’s less Flash, more white space and brief, top of mind content. Depending on the client and target audiences, video is also being integrated more frequently.”
CMA advises clients to continually update their websites, not only to keep content fresh but as part of their search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. “Search spiders recognize and gravitate to updated content, resulting in a higher ranking for a company in search results,” she says.
Ask Erin yourself! Email her at ehiggins@cmasolutions.com and find out more about CMA’s web capabilities and how they can work for you!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Finding Your Social Media Identity
With social media evolving nearly everyday, it’s become tough for marketing experts to say what is the right and wrong way to strategize, execute and measure the effectiveness of your campaign. Every company, person and product has different goals, and social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter were designed to celebrate individuality. Here are some pointers to help you decide how to brand yourself and your company in the social media space.
Step 1: Start with yourself. What kind of social media user are you? An August article on CNN.com categorized “annoying types” of Facebook users, and there is truth to author Brandon Griggs’ complaints. For example, I classify myself as somewhere between a “Self Promoter” and a “Lurker,” as I am comfortable mixing my personal and professional worlds on Facebook, Twitter and this blog. My Facebook status might one day congratulate my sister on her new job or it could state how excited I am about a new client PR initiative. I believe that only through developing your own personal brand on social media can you truly understand how to utilize it to promote a company or product.
Step 2: Find a prototype. At this point, marketing and PR professionals are relying heavily on case studies and success stories of their peers to determine what works and what doesn’t. The good news is social media success is achievable whether you are a local dentist or a major airline.
Step 3: What’s Your Name? To promote a company, professional service or a product, there are a few things to determine right off the bat. First, what name will you use to identify yourself? For some social media sites, this is obvious—Acme Widget Company would naturally have a Facebook Fan page called Acme Widget Company. Twitter and other industry-specific social networking sites might prove to be more difficult to find something short and clearly identifiable.
Step 4: What do you want to say? In setting up this blog, CMA decided we would provide useful marketing information and showcase our in-house expertise in a conversational, but still professional tone.
It’s an exciting time for social media development. Check back on this blog for more information or email us with your questions. We’d be happy to help you determine how to approach this exciting new medium.
Kaitlin Friedmann
PR Manager
kfriedmann@cmasolutions.com
Step 1: Start with yourself. What kind of social media user are you? An August article on CNN.com categorized “annoying types” of Facebook users, and there is truth to author Brandon Griggs’ complaints. For example, I classify myself as somewhere between a “Self Promoter” and a “Lurker,” as I am comfortable mixing my personal and professional worlds on Facebook, Twitter and this blog. My Facebook status might one day congratulate my sister on her new job or it could state how excited I am about a new client PR initiative. I believe that only through developing your own personal brand on social media can you truly understand how to utilize it to promote a company or product.
Step 2: Find a prototype. At this point, marketing and PR professionals are relying heavily on case studies and success stories of their peers to determine what works and what doesn’t. The good news is social media success is achievable whether you are a local dentist or a major airline.
Step 3: What’s Your Name? To promote a company, professional service or a product, there are a few things to determine right off the bat. First, what name will you use to identify yourself? For some social media sites, this is obvious—Acme Widget Company would naturally have a Facebook Fan page called Acme Widget Company. Twitter and other industry-specific social networking sites might prove to be more difficult to find something short and clearly identifiable.
Step 4: What do you want to say? In setting up this blog, CMA decided we would provide useful marketing information and showcase our in-house expertise in a conversational, but still professional tone.
It’s an exciting time for social media development. Check back on this blog for more information or email us with your questions. We’d be happy to help you determine how to approach this exciting new medium.
Kaitlin Friedmann
PR Manager
kfriedmann@cmasolutions.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Do Your Research - Understanding the Green Market
According to a recent ImagePower Green Brands Survey, 80 percent of consumers believe it is important to buy from green companies, most responded they would spend more on green products. Word of mouth also leads as the way 50 percent of Americans learn about green products and services. Online search engines and television also remained popular channels for learning about green, according to a recent quarterly update from the Green Confidence Index.
Findings such as these provide valuable information to business owners when developing and executing a plan for marketing their eco-friendly products and services. Before rushing into executing your marketing ideas, it is important to take a step back and focus on the strategic direction of your efforts to ensure your message is reaching the correct target audience through the appropriate channel in a format they can easily understand.
Through our strategic analysis process, Marketecture™, we help clients identify and analyze relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by target audiences in making buying decisions. Also through this process, we can provide primary and secondary research to help clients better understand their market, in this case, the green market, to gauge how their target audience feels about sustainable products and services.
Consider the benefits of conducting market research:
1. Understanding your current position in the marketplace
2. Identifying your main competition and analyzing how you stand up against them
3. Determining your products or services’ role in the strategic direction of your company
4. Analyzing your company’s strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities to grow your business
5. Evaluating market forces that influence your target audiences’ buying decisions, helping to determine how you can overcome these challenges and remain profitable
Conducting market research is an important element in the promotional process and will truly help you develop the best strategic marketing plan for your company, enabling you to effectively reach your target audience and produce the highest results.
Let CMA utilize our strategic marketing expertise to help point your marketing efforts in the right direction.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
Findings such as these provide valuable information to business owners when developing and executing a plan for marketing their eco-friendly products and services. Before rushing into executing your marketing ideas, it is important to take a step back and focus on the strategic direction of your efforts to ensure your message is reaching the correct target audience through the appropriate channel in a format they can easily understand.
Through our strategic analysis process, Marketecture™, we help clients identify and analyze relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by target audiences in making buying decisions. Also through this process, we can provide primary and secondary research to help clients better understand their market, in this case, the green market, to gauge how their target audience feels about sustainable products and services.
Consider the benefits of conducting market research:
1. Understanding your current position in the marketplace
2. Identifying your main competition and analyzing how you stand up against them
3. Determining your products or services’ role in the strategic direction of your company
4. Analyzing your company’s strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities to grow your business
5. Evaluating market forces that influence your target audiences’ buying decisions, helping to determine how you can overcome these challenges and remain profitable
Conducting market research is an important element in the promotional process and will truly help you develop the best strategic marketing plan for your company, enabling you to effectively reach your target audience and produce the highest results.
Let CMA utilize our strategic marketing expertise to help point your marketing efforts in the right direction.
Jeffrey Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com
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