Has Your Website Kept Pace with Other Marketing Tactics?

Has your website kept pace with your other marketing tools such as advertising, newsletter or sales materials? If not, then you might want to take a look at determining how you can give it a refresh.

There are many ways to enhance and modify your website:

Update its design - This will have to be your first step in refreshing your site. Your new look must reflect your current branding. Also, keep in mind white space and easy navigation are crucial in designing for the web which is much different than designing for print. Our designers always make sure to follow a consistent feel with other marketing pieces.

Have current content - Copywriting is just as important as graphics. Keep to a consistent format that makes it easy for visitors to find what’s new. Add any news updates, customer testimonials or newsletters consistently. Another tip, fresh content attracts search engine spiders to a website which will increase your SEO.

Add or reduce “bells and whistles” – Incorporating Flash, animation, videos etc. can enhance your site and should be added to show innovation, but having too much can detract visitors. Be careful which and how much you use.

Refreshing your website can increase visitors looking for new content and give an overall perception that you are a thriving company.

Here is a sample of a website CMA refreshed for Lamanna, an electrical contractor who came to CMA several years ago for their first website and other branding initiatives. The CMA team applied our decades of knowledge of the electrical industry to create a functional and communicative representation of their business.

2011 ASTRA Awards Launched!

CMA firmly believes in the benefits of participating in industry associations, having maintained our involvement in regional events and volunteering our time in leadership roles for over 20 years. This year, CMA is playing a major role in the New Jersey Communications, Advertising, and Marketing Association (NJ CAMA)’s Annual ASTRA Awards program. Each year, the ASTRAs honor New Jersey's top marketing, advertising and PR professionals who give their best every day to meet and transcend strategic and creative challenges. The CMA design studio lent its time and talent to create the awards Call for Entries (see cover above). CMA’s Director of Marketing Services, Erin Higgins, is also serving as co-chair of the event, leading the planning committee in selecting a theme, venue and other important details.

If you’re interested in participating, you can view the entry form here. Entries are due by Fri., March 21, 2011. Good luck to all entrants!

Creating Digital Counterparts to Your Print Marketing

The digital edition of IMARK Now provides reading convenience and direct access to advertiser websites.

Giving your print marketing materials new life online can enhance your marketing ROI and help build your company’s Internet presence in an ever expanding digital world.

Beyond your typical PDF document, new software gives you the ability to transform your print newsletter, catalog or magazine into interactive digital marketing tool. The latest digital programs allow you to create a publication that mirrors a print version allowing you to turn pages and view information as you would normally in print.

CMA has worked with a number of clients on digitizing their print publications in order to help them increase their reach in the marketplace. While these web-based tools probably won’t completely replace your printed materials, they offer several benefits that should not be discounted.

Cost-effective. Increase your company’s reach and online presence without having to incur the high costs of printing and postage.

Interactive. Taking it to the next level, digital publications are often searchable by key word and provide the ability to link to more information. Connecting content in your company’s brochure to information posted on your website gives your brochure more legs and helps to get your marketing messages across.

Environmentally friendly. More and more of your prospects are environmentally conscious preferring to view materials online rather than receiving cumbersome catalogs or other materials in the mail. Giving recipients the choice lets you save green by being green.

Results focused. The ROI on print publications, or even on traditional PDF versions, can be difficult to track. Web-based publications have built in analytic tools that let you know who viewed what when and how often.

In today’s marketplace, print and digital aren’t mutually exclusive. Maximize your marketing success by integrating both into your marketing mix.

Jeff Barnhart
President and CEO
jbarnhart@cmasolutions.com

CMA Client Care is the Heart of Our Marketing Results

We put our hearts and minds into producing the accountable, results-driven marketing solutions for each of our clients. Our team is committed to providing

• Maximum return on your marketing investment
• Strategic know-how for a sustainable competitive edge
• Creative ideas that are on the money
• Personal service, not lip service

Contact CMA today to learn more about how we can put the love (and results!) back into your marketing program.

What Were Your Favorite Super Bowl Commercials?

Even though the Super Bowl is now behind us, this major event aired some alarming, creative and even sometimes disturbing commercials that left us talking long after the game was over. Anyone who works with CMA knows we’re always paying attention to creativity and it’s not just our design team. We asked all of our employees to weigh in on some of their favorite Super Bowl commercials. Let us know which one you thought made the biggest impact!

“My two favorite Super Bowl ads were the Bridgestone one with the man and the beaver and the Doritos one when the guy licks another guy’s fingers and pants to get all the cheese from the Doritos.”

Erin Higgins, Director of Marketing Services

“My picks for the best Super Bowl commercials were the Audi-escape the old luxury, the animated fire breathing dragon, now a confetti dragon after having a Coke, the VW one with the little boy dressed up as Darth Vader, the Bridgestone one where the beaver saves the driver from the washed away bridge and the KIA one where everyone is stealing the car.”

Melanie Kotsonis, Executive Assistant

“My favorite was the Chrysler “Imported from Detroit” ad. It was a powerful way to solidify the brand after all of the issues the car industry has had recently. Though I’d have to admit having two commercials (Brisk Ice Tea) with Eminem with such different messages felt a little off overall.

In general, I felt the ads were a little disappointing. With all the advance promotions online, I felt like I’d already seen the commercials well before the game.”

Kelly McKelvey, Marketing Account Executive

“I also liked the Audi-escape the old luxury and the VW Darth Vader kid - what a great tie in to their PR campaign.

The one that surprisingly got the biggest laughs in my house was the Go Daddy one with Joan Rivers and pretty much all of the Doritos ads (the one where the Doritos brings the dead fish back to life was the best).

I also liked Hyundai’s campaign overall—they had some really interesting graphics and special effects…one even had a cool car kaleidoscope effect.”

Kaitlin Friedmann, Public Relations Manager

“Overall, I felt like the commercials weren’t that impressive this year. The only one that sticks in my mind is the creepy Doritos guy…but more for the creep factor than the funny factor.”

Jennifer Thayer, Association Manager

“My favorite commercials were the VW commercial where the little Darth Vadar makes the car start and the Doritos commercial, where the man is house sitting and sprinkles Doritos on everything to make them better and brings his friend’s Grandfather back to life.”

Corie Eisenberg, Marketing Coordinator

Tradeshows: Evaluating your Presence

How Can You Best Optimize Your Presence at a Tradeshow?

Your marketing agency can be the best weapon in your sales arsenal when it comes to tradeshows. Here are four ways to work with your agency to maximize your next tradeshow effort:

1. Choose those shows that will garner a substantial ROI. This seems straight forward but it is not always that easy. Tradeshow promoters do a good job of attracting companies to shows they may not need. With regional and local shows popping up all over the country, you should map out the potential ROI of each show.

2. Map out every aspect of your participation in the show and set goals. This means your booth logistics, events you will be attending, dealing with the media, attending seminars and, in general, working the event to the maximum. Setting goals is important because it will give you the knowledge necessary for continued success. Quantify your efforts and plan for a debriefing and following up once back in the office.

3. Coordinate any new technology available for your booth and on the floor. Tradeshows are about more than collecting business cards any more, it’s about being totally connected. Check out your competition and chances are they will be using the newest and best technology to woo potential clients—even Nintendo Wii and interactive videos are being used to draw them in. Utilize social media and other web technologies to promote your presence before, during and after the show.

4. Take your agency’s advice. That’s what they are there for: to aid in the marketing of your products and services. CMA has been an experienced partner at tradeshows for 23 years helping companies exhibit and succeed at these all important events.

We are eager to work together to help you achieve your potential.

Erin Higgins
Director of Marketing Services
ehiggins@cmasolutions.com

A Recipe for Success - Make Your Own News

Any company working with a public relations agency knows that keeping your name consistently on the minds of reporters and editors is a vital part of scoring meaningful media placements.

Despite technological advances, PR is still a relationship business. PR pros follow up with phone calls and emails, and are almost like ambassadors for various companies and organizations, getting the media to essentially like who you are and what you do. A good PR person ensures that in times of breaking news, your company is who that reporter thinks of first when they need a comment, a photo or video footage to complement their story angle.

But in times when you don’t have a new product, service or event to promote, PR pros serve as the idea factory you need to create news where it seems none exists. Here are two examples of creating news where CMA has been successful in the past.

Operation Kill-A-Watt (OKW)
CMA collaborated with client Public Energy Solutions, an energy services company that performs energy audits and lighting retrofits in the tri-state area, to create this initiative subsidized by Con Edison. In certain zip codes of New York City, building owners were eligible to receive free Compact Florescent Lamp (CFL) upgrades, ultimately lowering the strain on the city’s power grid and saving owners hundreds of dollars in energy costs. The public relations program to raise OKW awareness reached over 5 million New Yorkers and resulted in nearly 20,000 building upgrades over the course of two years.

Member Advocacy Initiatives
The National Association of Independent Broker/Dealers (NAIBD) is composed of the Main Street broker/dealers who are most likely to help the aging boomer plan for retirement than interact with the high stakes investments of Wall Street. New regulations from the government threatened to lump NAIBD members in with Wall Street big-wigs and unfairly label them as potential Madoff-like threats. Before the regulations were finalized, CMA worked with NAIBD’s Member Advocacy Committee to create a stir within the financial media to publicize the association’s proactive quest to include revisions to the law (what is now the Dodd-Frank Act). The governing bodies now have discretion over broker/dealer audits before initiating them – helping to save members thousands in unnecessary audit fees. In this case, the “squeaky wheel” got the attention it needed to effect change through the power of the financial industry media.

A few other initiatives are currently in the works for CMA clients. How can we help you raise awareness for your company or organization through PR?

Kaitlin Friedmann
PR Manager
kfriedmann@cmasolutions.com