Showcase: Scholarship Worksheet Keeps it Simple

Walla Walla University’s new scholarship program gives students instant feedback on what they’re eligible for—and has proven to be an important part of their marketing successes.

When they asked us to develop a simple piece to communicate this complicated message—we recommended an interactive visual piece that is available in print and on-line (click here to view the online version).

Very often, a visual is the best way to convey complex information quickly.

Mayo Clinic Leads the Way with Social Media Marketing

Ed Bennet, author of the Web site Found in Cache: Social Media resources for health care professionals from Ed Bennet, advises health care organizations not to get into social media because you think you’re going to get more patients, but because you’re helping be responsive (not responsible) to people reaching out looking for answers.

The Mayo Clinic, a front-runner for using social media in the health care industry, uses it in a variety of ways:

Facebook:

• Patient questions and comments are monitored and responded to by their experts
• Video contests
• Informational videos on various topics
• Patient testimonies
• Automatic blog posts
• Visit the Mayo Clinic's Facebook Page

Blogs:

• newsblog.mayoclinic.org—Features news updates from the Mayo Clinic
• sharing.mayoclinic.org—Features stories from patients, family, friends, and staff of the Mayo clinic

Twitter:

• Tweets about health tips, news updates and patient stories
• See their Twitter page

YouTube:

• Videos feature physicians, patient stories and news stories
• Visit their YouTube Channel

Independent Colleges of Washington Uses Animation to Tell Their Story

Washington's private colleges are a cause we love to support because of the way they change lives and help our state's citizens.

About 40,000 students attend these ten schools—yet the schools receive less than 2% of the state higher education budget. This saves the state more than $330 million per year in operating subsidies—while increasing choice for those attending college. Contrary to what many think, these schools serve an economically diverse student body, providing quality education to students from all demographics and income backgrounds.

We developed this animation for them to help them bring their story to life—and reinforce their key brand messages using a medium that works well on the Web and with social media.

7 Ways to Get Your Message Out Without Costly Media Buys

Using video in your marketing strategy is no longer a luxury—in many cases, it’s now considered an essential part of any messaging strategy.

Once you’ve developed the video, make sure you’re maximizing your investment by taking advantage of the many free distribution methods.

1. Company Web site. Increase traffic and interaction by including video on your Web page.
2. Company lobbies. Many companies are using HD video screens in high traffic areas, making it an ideal place for key messages.
3. Mobile. Mobile is the media of the future, so repurposing video with mobile in mind can be a great idea for the right message.
4. Post on your company Facebook page.
5. Share it with your circle of influence by posting it on other social media sites, like Linked In.
6. Post on your company You Tube channel.  If you don’t have one, now’s the time to set it up.
7. Send an email link. Depending on the message, this can go to employees (remember, they’re a sales force too), stakeholders, donors, board members, volunteers and customers.

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Consumers Look for Video Content on Web Sites

Visitors to Web sites are now looking for video content first. Smart businesses can no longer ignore video as part of their marketing and communication strategy. A report on comscore.com states that 174 million US internet users watched online video content in March of 2011—for an average of 14.8 hours per viewer.

The use of video often increases your marketing results. Here are some facts from slingshotseo.com:

1. Video increases engagement, causing visitors to stay longer on your site—and making them more likely to buy.
2. 65 percent of visitors will watch a video to completion—compared with only 10 percent who will read an entire Web site.
3. 12 percent of users coming from a video are ready to buy—compared to only 1 percent for text-only users.

You Tube is the second largest search engine next to Google, and last year alone You Tube reportedly exceeded 2 billion views per day.

Are you where people are looking for you?

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Seven Ways to Use Video to Improve Your Marketing

The demand for receiving content by video continues to explode, making it by necessity an important part of your marketing mix. Video can be used in many ways for communicating the same things as traditional media has been used for, but its ability to convey through images, sound and motion makes it higher impact.

Here are some of the ways you can consider using video:

1. Communicate key messages. Putting a face to key company messages makes it more personal and memorable, and because it can be made available any time, any place, over time it allows you to reach a broader audience than live presentations can.
2. Recognize top employees or volunteers. Nothing inspires like hearing the story of another person who is passionate about his or her work. This kind of message helps to build a culture of excellence—reinforcing behaviors that fulfill your company’s goals.
3. Share news. When announcing a new product or service, video should be part of your roll-out campaign.
4. Offer testimonials. Feature clients talking about your brand to bring added credibility to your message.
5. Show—vs. tell. When you want to teach, use video. An ideal medium for orientation and training, it’s the next best thing to being there in person.
6. Go viral. Not every video is a candidate for going viral, but one that has entertainment value is more likely to do so. More and more companies are couching subtle product messages in viral-style videos to promote this kind of distribution.
7. Repurpose ads. By all means, make sure you’re posting TV ads—in addition to buying air time for them. It’s also possible to create a kinetic motion production (type animation) that restates a print ad—but adds the elements of sound and motion.
8. Communicate internally. Video can capture the soul of an organization, and fuel its core mission.

Once you’ve developed your video, make sure you’re maximizing your investment by taking advantage of every distribution method (many of which are free).

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Hospital Anniversary Campaign Uses Video to Tell the Story

We produced a series of mini-videos for St. Anthony North Hospital's 40-Year Anniversary campaign—all of which are posted on their Web site, their You Tube channel and their Facebook pages. Each of the personal interviews tells a piece of their story—what the hospital means to its community, its distinctive mission and its vision for the future.

Quality videos are getting more cost-effective to produce. This, coupled with the the pervasive consumer  appetite for video, should make it a part of any significant campaign.

What are your reactions to this campaign? Do you think St. Anthony North's message was effectively communicated to the community? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

Hospital Anniversary Campaign Incorporates Kinetic Typography

Kinetic typography is a new way of telling your story. It’s essentially a mini-ad that can be used in a variety of ways. Here’s how St. Anthony Hospital North used it as part of their 40-year anniversary campaign:

• Posted on their You Tube Channel
• Posting it on Facebook
• Posting it on their hospital Web site
• Sending links virally—to employees, physicians, donors and key stakeholders

Click the links below to see some of our other kinetic typography projects:

• Dimensions Pain Management 
• Independent Colleges of Washington

And check out some of the other ways that companies are using animation: 

• Good Magazine Infographics 
• (Starbucks)Red Campaign 
• Starbucks Tribute Days 

Check back tomorrow to see our outdoor advertising solutions for this campaign. 

Client Showcase—Animation Can Fuel Web Traffic

We developed a promotional campaign for Dimensions Pain Management, a medical clinic in Colorado, and recommended the addition of kinetic typography to use in social media applications. We've not only found that the presence of an animation increases traffic on our own site, but in industries like health care and law, it's still fairly young and so is a way to get your message noticed. It provides a fresh way of conveying your message in a media that is versatile and can be used in many ways—from posting on one's site, YouTube and Facebook page to sending links via email.

The addition of motion and sound amps up a message and delivers it in a way that keeps the viewer's interest. Kinetic typography and other animations can be simple, like this one, or far more complex. They can be used for anything from a new service launch to infusing your Web page with new life. We've also applied them to seasonal e-cards like these: CMBell Company Holiday Animation, Gresham Savage 100 Year E-Card, Gresham Savage Holiday E-Card

We love working in this medium and think it holds a lot of promise for business—given the apparent appetite consumers have for productions like these.

The Power of a Simple Idea

 The challenge for those of us who create advertisements is rarely finding a good promise to make. More often, it’s deciding which one message will be the strongest—and having the discipline to trim out all the other good, but nevertheless diluting, messages.

This ad shows how much more powerful a single, well-executed idea is than an ad that tries to say too much. By focusing on the “forty cents” concept, the message is unmistakably clear and memorable.

Of course, more could be said. But they wisely resisted the urge to give added facts or details that compete with the main message.

Sometimes it’s what you edit out that makes what is left work so well.

Should you be using 2D barcodes in your ads?

In the past year or so, you may have started to notice some odd-looking box-shaped barcodes on advertisements. They come in a variety of formats and are usually accompanied by a line of text that asks the viewer to scan the image with their smartphone.

Welcome to the world of Matrix/2D Barcodes. When scanned, this code will open content on your phone's internet browser—and often this content comes in the form of video, editorial, coupons and such.

Matrix codes are relatively new to the scene here in the US. In a recent survey, nearly 57% of smartphone users have scanned at least one mobile barcode. They are rapidly becoming popular as a means of quick information access. Rather than waiting to get on a computer, consumers who have smartphones and the appropriate apps can have near-instant access to more information while their interest is still piqued.

In addition to providing an added service to consumers, they offer benefits to the marketer. In many cases, advertisers can track detailed demographic information about those who scanned the code and use this to better measure the success of a particular campaign.

Depending on what kind offer or content you have and who your target market is, these might be worth considering in your next campaign.

A New Year's Prayer

We are grateful to you—our clients and our readers—for inspiring us, teaching us, and exploring the world of ideas with us on our blog.

In the spirit of the season, we offer you this New Year's Prayer for a more compassionate world—and our commitment to strive to do our part in making it such.

We wish each of you the joy of the season, and a new year marked by good health, hope and peace for you and yours.

Client Showcase—An E-card That Makes a Statement

A simple way to distinguish your company is to say farewell to those tedious pre-printed holiday cards and create something customized.This is the time for the little black dress, not the standard pantsuit, if you want people to see your firm as innovative and successful.

The law firm of Gresham Savage hired us to develop their annual holiday e-card, which gave us a great opportunity to tie their centennial year messages in to their holiday message.

While an e-card isn't the place for overt selling, it definitely leaves an impression about your company. In this case, we wanted to link the history of the firm to the history of the community—deepening their bonds and thanking the community for their role in this milestone.

People like to be thanked, and the holidays are a perfect time to not only do this, but create a classy, distinctive piece for your firm that sets it apart. Plan now to make an e-card part of your company's social media strategy next year.

Most Customers Impacted by Their On-Line Experience with a Brand

According to the 2009 Razorfish study, 65% of consumers report that a digital brand experience has changed their opinion—either positively or negatively—about a brand. Even more significant is the fact that 97% report that a digital brand experience has influenced their decision to buy, or not to buy.

Consumers can move from awareness to purchase to recommendation—in a very short time. Engagement creates customers not just through social media but across the entire digital channel. Instead of focusing on clicks and impressions, conversations and brand engagement should be the focus of your digital media strategies.

Even if you're in an industry that's still in its infancy when it comes to using digital media, consumers are apt to judge their experience based on their experiences with other industries. Which leads me to my question of the day: What kind of on-line experiences are your customers having with your brand?

Source: The Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report 2009, page 38

Mayo Clinic: One to Watch on Social Media

Is the social media revolution the most far-reaching communications development since the printing press?

Last month Mayo Clinic announced the launch of their Center for Social Media designed to facilitate communication among patients and between patients and knowledgeable medical professionals.

Mayo is using social media to:

• Involve employees in business strategies
• Manage change
• Share news
• Share resources with other organizations
• Explore use of social networking tools for collaboration among employees in an effort to improve care
• Connect patients
• Share stories from patients, families, and staff
• Convey health information

Mayo Clinic is already the most popular medical provider channel on YouTube.

We'll be interested in following their progress as they blaze the trail for social media use in health care.

Want a solid social media strategy? Start here.

Social media is revolutionizing business to consumer communication by making the consumer, rather than the business, the most credible voice about a product or service--and providing the consumer with an expanded sphere of influence.

While word-of-mouth advertising has always been effective, social media now makes it possible for consumers to talk to a much wider audience about their experience with a product or service. Where once businesses could control their messaging--at least to some degree--today the consumers not only have more control over the message, they have more credibility with other consumers.

Mark Hurst, customer experience advocate and producer of the Good Experience newsletter and blog, is right on when he says that the first step in building a good social media strategy is building a good customer experience.

Pssst! They're talking about you again.

The digital media has provided a platform for anyone who has an opinion to speak. While marketers like to think of the opportunities this affords to reach prospective customers, it also provides a platform for others to talk about your brand. Take a minute to do a Google search on your company—and see what they're saying about you.

A Look Inside the Social Media Revolution

Social media is the biggest revolution in communication since the printing press, fundamentally changing how people and businesses communicate. Yet most companies are still struggling to imagine how to use it in meaningful ways. If the following facts interest you, take a minute to watch this fascinating production about socialnomics:

• If Facebook were a country it would be the world's third largest
• 96% of millenials have joined a social network
• Social media is the number one activity on the web
• There are over 200 million blogs, and 34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands

Everybody's talking--and some of them will be talking about your business. What will they be saying--and how will you engage them in meaningful conversations that impact your business? We'll talk more about this in the days ahead.

"Let's start a blog!"

We've heard those words often, and as you can see, the answer for us was yes. Blogging is a great way to share information, but it does take time. Before you start one, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have enough topics of value to post new messages frequently?
• How many posts per week will you write—and how much time will you allot to writing each one?
• Who in your organization will write the blog?
• Who will need to approve it?
• Will you respond to blog postings, and if so, whose responsibility will that be?
• How will you develop a following?
• Who will be your target audience?
• What will they want to hear from you?

The blogosphere is a busy place. And it's a great way to connect with your customers. Just be sure you're clear about your objectives, and have the resolve and the resources to follow through. We all know how those newsletters end up being due way sooner than we thought.

Faster, Farther, Bigger

A week's worth of information found in the New York Times is believed to be more than what a person obtained in his/her entire lifetime in the 18th century. Our ability to send information globally at unprecedented speeds creates a world of opportunities—and challenges. This insightful video highlights the research done by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman on the explosion of connectivity, which has implications for how marketers and communicators do their work.