Our Latest Blogs

Our Solutions News Blog was envisioned to gather and share information from the very best to help you and your business to become more effective.

image
One key part of being a great marketer is understanding how people think and knowing why they act the way they do. 10 principals.
image
Which Social Network Should You Advertise On? Social media advertising is a great tactic to use to supplement your print advertising.

Lets Talk Print

"Clients are beginning to associate the tactile experience of print with luxury. Digital is cheap, fast, and easy. Who want's to be identified with any of those things?" MARY-FRANCES BURT, Creative Director, Burt&Burt

"Print communications have potential to bring a more unique, engaging and memorable experience to the audience than digital communications. Personally, I prefer the printed page for certain information because of the flexibility in presentation, the tactile qualities, the construction and the protability...I find digital presentations too repetitious and boring after a short period." PHILIP MCCORMICK, Owner, Design Works

" Print still has an impact on communication. In a fast paced digital world where things change every minute, the tactile presence of a printed piece feels more permanent and special." SUE TAUBE, Art Dirctor, Taube/Violane, Inc.

Consumers Still Trust Traditional Media Over Online Ads % of North American consumers who trust the following forms of advertising:

  • NEWSPAPER ADS - 63%
  • MAGAZINE ADS - 62%
  • TV ADS - 61%
  • RADIO ADS - 58%
  • BILLBOARDS - 55%
  • SEARCH ADVERTISING - 44%
  • ONLINE VIDEO ADS - 44%
  • SOCIAL MEDIA ADS - 39%
  • MOBILE DISPLAY ADS - 35%
  • ONLINE BANNER ADS - 33%

Click HERE »» to Discover Ten Top Reasons to Print

Source: The Modern Media Mix / Written By: Domtar / GDUSA 2014 Print Design Survey

 

nope for BlogPost

When it comes to business, we talk too much about social media and expect too little. It’s like the old joke about sales people: one person says, “I made some valuable contacts today,” and the other responds, “I didn’t get any orders, either.” Companies measure the market results of their sales investments. But few have measures or even have accountable managers in place for their social media investments, and only 7% say their organizations “understand the exact value at stake from digital.” Meanwhile, according to a Gallup survey, 62% of U.S. adults who use social media say these sites have no influence on their purchasing decisions and only 5% say they have a great deal of influence.

Consider:

  • The most common metrics for evaluating social media are likes, tweets, reviews, and click-through-rates (CTRs) for online ads — not cause-and-effect links between the medium and market results. The basic investment logic is typically no deeper than a version of “Fifty million tweets or likes can’t be wrong” . . . or can they? There is justifiable skepticism about this data. Farming services spike these numbers, with evidence that one in three online reviews is fake. For $50, you can buy 1,000 Likes, 5,000 Twitter followers, or 200 Google +1s. With real people, moreover, 8% of internet users account for 85% of clicks on display ads, and 85% of social media updates come from less than 30% of a company’s social-media audience. One online reviewer, Harriet Klausner, has reviewed more than 25,000 books.
  • A Forrester study found that posts from top brands on Twitter and Facebook reach just 2% of their followers (note: that’s followers, not new customers) and only 0.07% of those followers actually interact with those posts. As others have noted, people are more likely to complete a Navy Seal training program or climb Mount Everest than click on a banner ad.
  • There are, as always, opportunity costs. Since 2008, according to a McKinsey study, companies have devoted more time and money to social networks and 20% less to e-mail communications. Yet, the same study found that humble e-mail remains a more effective way to acquire customers — nearly 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined. Why? Because 90% of U.S. consumers use email daily and the average order value is 17% higher than purchases attributable to those social media.

Technology changes fast — remember MySpace and Friendster? — but consumer behavior changes more slowly. As a result, people tend to overhype new technologies and misallocate resources, especially marketers.

When banner ads first appeared their CTR was 10%, but that soon fell due to heavy usage by firms, and clutter. Research has long demonstrated that ad elasticities are generally very low, that firms often persist with ineffective ad media (because they have the wrong measures or no measures), and that companies routinely over-spend on ads (due to ad agency incentives, the fact that ad expenses are tax-deductible, and companies’ use-it-or-lose-it budgeting processes). Other research indicates that traditional offline consumer opinion surveys (when they use representative samples) are better at predicting sales than clicks, number of website visits or page views, positive or negative social media conversations, and search (although online behavior is good at tracking the reasons behind week-to-week changes in sales.)

With new media, therefore, great expectations are common and missing the goal is understandable: it takes practice and learning. But changing or dismantling the goal posts is a different story.

It’s now common to say that social media is “really” about awareness, not sales. Companies that “get” social media should be “relentless givers [who] connect instead of promote.” In fact, forget “traditional” ROI (that lovely qualifier), focus on consumer use of social media and, instead of calculating the returns in terms of customer response, measure the number of visits with that social media application. How convenient: to be evaluated with a metric without tangible marketplace outcomes. But it’s wrong, a circular argument, and smart companies should not follow this flawed business logic.

The value of any advertising, online or offline, depends on what effects it has on purchases. As Bill Bernbach, David Ogilvy, and other ad execs have emphasized, “our job is to sell our clients’ merchandise, not ourselves.” Those effects are difficult to measure, because consumers buy (or not) for many different reasons and even good ads in the right media have both carryover and wear-out effects that vary over the product life cycle and an ad campaign. But to justify an investment by activity and not outcomes is a tautology — we advertise because we advertise — not a meaningful business argument.

Even an activity measure, moreover, assumes the consumer can see the ad. Did you know that a display ad is deemed “viewable” if at least half of each ad is visible on your computer or smart phone for a minimum of one second? Data released in 2014 by comScore indicated that more than half of online display ads appear on parts of a web page that are not viewable. In response, the Interactive Advertising Bureau noted that for various reasons 100% viewability is “not yet possible,” but the industry should aim for 70%. In other words, hope that “only” 30% of your intended ads are not seen by anyone for at least a second!

Further, what we now know about shopping and social media activity says that online and offline behavior interact. They’re complements, not substitutes, and you ignore these interactions at your peril. The vast majority of communications on social media sites are between friends who are within 10 miles of each other. The same is true about the available data on buying behavior. As Wharton professor David Bell documents, the way people use the internet is largely shaped by where they live, the presence of stores nearby, their neighbors, and local sales taxes.

For years now, we have heard big talk about the big data behind big investments in social media. Let’s see who is behind the curtain. It’s time to expect more from social media and prove it. The Association of Advertising Agencies has refused to endorse the 70% goal and wants 100% viewability, which means if an advertiser buys 1 million impressions from a site, that site must display that ad as many times as it takes to ensure a million viewable impressions. In 2014, The Economist guaranteed those who buy space on its apps and website that readers will spend a certain amount of time there. For instance, it will guarantee that a site containing an ad appearing for three weeks will receive X hours of readers’ attention — documenting, not assuming, engagement with the medium.

Other companies try to trace the links (or not) between online platforms and sales outcomes. They buy point-of-sale data from retailers and have systems that purport to match Facebook or Twitter IDs, for example, with a given campaign and subsequent retail sales for a product. The validity of these approaches is still to be determined. And the FTC has raised concerns about privacy issues and disclosure practices, and has urged Congress to pass legislation to give consumers the right to opt out. But shining light on what does and doesn’t happen here will be a good thing.

Business success requires linking customer-acquisition efforts with a coherent strategy. You can’t do that if you are not clear about the differences between hype and reality when it comes to buying and selling. And we should care about this distinction for reasons that go far beyond making even more ads more viewable. Companies’ abilities to make better use of their resources are important for society, not only shareholders. It spurs productivity, and productivity — not just tweets and selfies — is what spurs growth.

Source: Harvard Business Review / Written By: Frank Cespedes

 

As organizations flatten out, employees don't have to corner senior management in an elevator to get their thoughts heard. They could just schedule a meeting, or even walk up to a leader's office or desk. So is there even a need to have an elevator pitch at the ready?

Absolutely. Although accessibility to managers has increased, the amount of time those managers have at their disposal has decreased. And that means the clearer, crisper, and more concise you can make your idea, the more likely it is that your senior-level listener will tune in.

Salespeople trying to connect with C-level prospects should have a variety of pitches at their disposal, but each should adhere to the principles of the classic elevator pitch. This infographic from Bplans explains each component of an elevator pitch to ensure you hit the highs and provide all the necessary information. Just remember that brevity is a virtue -- according to the graphic, an ideal elevator pitch should clock in at a minute or less.

A Perfect Elevator Pitch

Source: Hubspot / Written By: Emma Snider

 

Improving Company Culture

Company culture is something that is very close to me. I refer to myself as an HR-driven CEO, and I mean it. If someone at VaynerMedia is unhappy, it is entirely my fault. Period.

Because of that, I spend a good amount of time making sure my ideas on company culture are loud and clear. Not all companies have great culture, and it can be difficult to change when it’s been one way for so long. But it is possible to improve and shift until those changes are permanent.

The first step is something tactical, something you can execute on right away. I don’t care where you work, you probably have had a meeting that you found to be totally useless, right? This piece of advice is practical as hell, and it’s this: Cut all meetings in half. Seriously. Meetings can be some of the least productive places in an office, and when people feel like their time is being wasted, they get upset, and feel undervalued. Cut meetings in half. I promise everything will still get done, you’ll just eliminate the banter and tangents that usually happen.

The second step I would advise you to take: Hang around. Yes, seriously. Find ways to shift your busy schedule so you can be in the office more. Spend as much time with your employees as you can, and not just leadership. Everyone. Let them learn by being around you. Emulate the culture you wish to have and let people soak it in. Learning by osmosis can be tremendously successful in this regard.

When you’re doing that, there is one thing you need to do that might not be the first thing on your mind, and that is to listen. The best way to get things done is to be a great listener. No one ever talked their way through a problem. And this is step three. Straight up. Not only do you need to be a great listener, but you need promote that standard within the company. Hire for this skill and you will not be sorry, especially when looking for project managers. Someone who can listen without interrupting and asks a lot of questions is a good listener.

And what about hiring? That absolutely plays into company culture, of course. Let those doing the hiring learn by osmosis, like I talked about above. If you’re someone who has a hard time choosing between candidates, my answer is this: Hire like you mean it. Don’t hesitate with decisions; just make a damn call. At some point, you have to just do it. And if you're going "No Gary, seriously they're both great" ... maybe you need to hire both of them. Figure it out.

Now, you’re probably wondering what the last piece of advice is going to be, right? What is the ending thought I am going to leave you all with? Well, you might be saying right about now “Gary, this is all great, but what if my company culture is just seriously messed up?” I hear that. I get it. Sometimes things are just so bad you aren’t sure how they got there. And to that, here is my final, last ditch effort piece of advice: Nix the leadership. Everything stems from the top. They are the ones who set the tone in meetings. They also control the overall sentiment individual teams have, since employees look to leadership as a guide. If the system is broken, fix it by refreshing your team.

  • And that’s it. That is what you do.
  • Cut meetings in half.
  • Hang around.
  • Hire listeners.
  • Hire like you mean it.
  • Nix the leadership.

Now I want to see you execute on these steps. If you need to change company culture, take action. Now. Nothing will happen till you actually make the moves. It’s all about execution. You could read 10 more articles like this, but who cares. In the end, you have to go for it. Who knows; your company future could be in the balance here. Culture should be your priority, and that starts now.

Source: HubSpot Blog / Written By: Gary Vaynerchuk

 

There were hundreds of business books published last year. With so many books to choose from, it's nearly impossible to figure out which ones you should actually read.

We decided to simplify things for you. Similar to the way Nate Silver aggregates political polling data, BookBub aggregated 23 different "Best Books of 2014" lists -- from The New York Times to The Financial Times and more. After aggregating all the lists, we ranked the most frequently listed books, and compiled those into one big list.

The top business-related results are in the infographic below. Check it out below to learn which books made the cut.

(Note that these are just the business books. If you’re looking for the overall list, including fiction and other genres, head over to the BookBub Blog.)

2014 Best Business Books Infographic

Source: Hubspot / Written By: RIck Burnes

 

Creative Strategy

Many marketing benchmarks are easy to assess: sales, web traffic, SEO, social engagement and conversion rates. These results are tracked with hard data and as a result success is measurable. If one tactic isn't working, it's easy to try another.

But not so fast. Results are the final outcome of a marketing initiative - but where do these results originate? Let's trace back the steps. Before every successful conversion there is a strategy in place. Before every strategy is a creative idea. And all good creative ideas are fueled by extensive research and insights. This is the purpose of Creative Strategy: to set the foundation for business growth in three simple steps: 1) research 2) creativity 3) strategic planning.

Creative Strategy is essential to any marketing plan or new website, and good Creative Strategy should address the following five foundations that impact business growth:

1) Identify needs / determine goals
The only way to get a clearly defined answer is to ask clearly defined questions. A well thought out Creative Strategy will uncover the most pertinent business/brand needs to address and leverage consumer/industry insights to illustrate a custom solution.

2) Figure out a roadmap
Solutions are a great starting point - but how do we get there? It's the job of a Creative Strategist to determine the most effective way to get from Point A to Point B. What threats stand in the way and how can they be avoided? What mistakes have other businesses made and how can they be learned from? Creating a roadmap that addresses these questions is essential to mobilize your team with a bird's eye view of clear next steps.

3) What's happening?
Simply put, a Creative Strategy must be informed. What's going on in your industry? What is the competition doing? What new technology is on the horizon? What's going on in the digital and social space? A roadmap can't weave through the complexities of the business world without being well informed on what's happening...everywhere.

4) Tell a story
Content drives online success, but what drives content? A brand's point of view - their story - should set the foundation for all communication efforts. What is your brand's unique perspective and position? This will determine your messaging strategy and visual vocabulary. Every audience loves a story. What's yours?

5) Influence behavior
Great - the goals are now determined and the plan is in place. Now, what is the desired action we want the end user (the audience) to take? The more specific the action, the more effective the conversion will be. By establishing direct calls to action and intuitive online pathways for users, the strategy will translate into consumer-focused terms that are both relatable and relevant.

Creative Strategy Flow Chart

In the interest of long-term brand success, it's important to set a stable foundation and not take short cuts. It's not always directly measurable, but a sharp Creative Strategy is evident along every brand touch point, and can set the tone for messaging, design and marketing for years to come.

Source: Blue Fountain Media / Written By: James McCrae

 

According to The Architect's Journal's first Women in Architecture Survey the percentage of women in architecture has fallen over the past few years. When searching for a solution to the current situation, it's best to look back to see how far women have come and better understand where we go from here.

Women in Architecture Infographic

Source: ArchDaily

 

Thursday, 20 November 2014 15:25

Why Print in Colour

Why Print In Colour

Color, it can attract, influence, and even increase retention. Color is a powerful tool for any business. The way you present your company’s ideas with the use of color in printed material is becoming an increasingly important issue. Studies find that using color in your documents is both impactful and influential.  Xerox recently commissioned a study online by Harris Interactive about why your boss should let you print in color.

Let’s look at a few of the findings. In the study it was found that 25% of the respondents print using color to improve retention but in the survey 69% of the respondents stated that they understand new ideas better when they are presented in color. It would seem to make sense that printing in color will help to get your ideas and messages read, understood and remembered. In the study 21% of the respondents print in color to reduce search time but the study found that 76% of the respondents think they can find information faster if it is printed in color. So wouldn’t it make sense to print things in color so that more people can find the information that you are trying to share with them in less time?

Research has shown that using color in business can dramatically improve communication, enhance productivity, and boost sales. So as color becomes increasingly affordable and easier to control there will be an ever increasing use of color in printed material and CAD plotting. Xerox provides many printers and multifunction printers that provide color printing.

Source: Xerox Blogs / Written By: Cheryl Otstott

 

When it comes to spending time marketing on social networks -- whether you're marketing your company or marketing yourself -- you're constantly deciding where to spend your time, and how much time to spend. How much time should we spend on each network for it to be worth it?

It turns out that LinkedIn is one of the most powerful (yet often underutilized) social networks today. With a reported 313 million members, 40% of whom log in daily, LinkedIn is not a network to write off. It's an extremely powerful and fast-growing professional networking tool.

To make sure we're all using it to its full potential, Ethos3 pulled together some very useful, very tweetable quotes in the infographic below.

Tips That'll Help You Master LinkedIn

Source: Hubspot / Written By: Lindsay Kolowich

 

Greeting Card Grammar TIps

With December only one month away, that means one thing — it’s time to send out those end-of-year holiday greetings again.

For friends and family, that might be as simple as shooting off a text message, but for clients & colleagues printed cards still score top marks.

While adding standard best wishes to a greeting card, a few questions about how to write them properly often come up. For instance, should it be “Seasons Greetings” or “Season’s Greetings”? Should “holiday season” be capitalized? And what’s the preferred spelling for “Hannukah”?

So, before you head to your office’s card signing party — or sit down to tackle your own list — consider these guidelines for 10 common holiday greetings:

  1. Best wishes for the holiday season – The holidays are a special time of year, and it’s tempting to emphasize this by capitalizing any word associated with them (and write this greeting as “Best wishes for the Holiday Season”). But stick to the basic rules of grammar, and you can’t go wrong. In general, capitalize only proper nouns, such as the name of a holiday, and the first letter in a sentence.
  2. Deck the halls – Adapting expressions from popular holiday songs can be a fun way to send well wishes, as in “Hope you have fun decking the halls.” But many people wonder whether it’s necessary to capitalize the adaptation or set it off with quotation marks. Usually neither is necessary. Unless proper nouns or the start of a sentence is involved, lowercase is appropriate. Quotation marks can be used to emphasize the fact that you’re borrowing from what might be licensed material, but if the expression is well-known, using them is more a matter of preference than official style.
  3. Happy Hanukkah – The biggest question many people have is about the right way to spell the name for the Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukkah, Hannukah, and Chanukah are all common spellings — and Webster’s New World Collegiate Dictionary even lists Hanukka and Hanuka as alternatives. But Hanukkah is often the first listing in dictionaries and is the preferred spelling in the Associated Press Stylebook.
  4. Happy Holidays – With so many people celebrating different holidays at the same time of year, this has become a catch-all greeting to cover everything. While “holidays” isn’t technically a proper noun, in this instance, it is being used to replace words that are (substitute “Christmas,” “Hanukkah,” “Kwanzaa,” etc.). So, capitalizing it is common practice and is acceptable even when it’s part of a sentence, as in “Happy Holidays to you and your family.” Outside of this use, lowercase “holidays,” as in “I hope you enjoy the holidays.”
  5. Happy New Year – The official holiday is New Year’s Day, but it’s acceptable to keep the capital letters for this standard greeting. In some other uses, however, lowercase is more appropriate, as in “I hope your new year is off to a great start.” Also, note that New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve are written with an apostrophe before the “s.”
  6. Joyous Kwanzaa – The correct spelling for the holiday is “Kwanzaa.” Do not confuse it with “kwanza,” the Swahili word meaning “first,” which the holiday is derived from.
  7. Merry Christmas or Merry Xmas – “X” is the symbol for the first letter in the Greek word for Christ and has long been used as a shortened spelling of the holiday. But some people are put off by the substitution. If you’re not sure about the preference of the person you’re sending greetings to, you won’t go wrong with “Merry Christmas.”
  8. Peace on earth – Similar to “deck the halls,” capitalize “peace” only if it begins a sentence. No need to capitalize “earth.”
  9. Season’s Greetings – Multiple holidays are celebrated in one combined season, so use an apostrophe and “s” to show that you are sending greetings of the season. Also, treat this catch-all greeting like “Happy Holidays” and capitalize both words.
  10. Warm wishes – If trying to remember when to capitalize is too taxing, keep it simple by avoiding words that might need it.

Chances are most people will care less about your grammar and more about the sentiment of your greetings. So, whether you use these guidelines or not, remember to take a moment to send well wishes to clients, colleagues and friends.

Source: Ketchumblog / Written By: Calmetta Coleman

Page 7 of 14