Constant Contact offers many Business Organization memberships for their clients, such as Association of Small Business Development Centers and Better Business Bureau, while Campaign Monitor offers their clients none. Both services offer free email design templates to make businesses’ emails to be more aesthetically pleasing. Campaign Monitor offers 36 free email design templates, and the rest are to be paid for. Constant Contact offers 400 free email templates for businesses for more variety at a lesser cost. Constant Contact and Campaign Monitor both offer support such as email support and phone support, but Constant Contact offers even more support with in-person seminars to help clients better understand and use Constant Contact.

And in respect to other social media, Constant Contact is the one really promoting the combination of using the email service with other social media platforms. Both of the services provide delivery options through email and monthly newsletters, but only Constant Contact provides a way to deliver through other social media means such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Constant Contact stresses the importance of businesses’ relationships with their clients, so it provides email marketing and social media features together, making it easier to share content through both email and other social media means. Constant Contact also combines event marketing with social media, so if you create an event via Constant Contact, it posts onto your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to gain more publicity. It even allows the integration of businesses’ social media sites into emails that the business sends out, linking Facebook, Twitter, and blog pages. Constant Contact lets businesses track their social media progress with a Social Stats feature by compiling data involving the number of likes or shared emails received through Facebook and/or Twitter. Both services use Google Analytics to share stored data, but Constant Contact has more options for content management systems, using systems such as Joomla and Salesforce.

Overall, Constant Contact seems to offer more variability with email marketing for the same or lower price than Campaign Monitor. It offers the simplicity for those more inexperienced than professional designers and the option of creating stronger connections with clients. Additionally, Constant Contact provides the ability to create and send emails on the go via data phones with QuickView. For a business looking to build relationships with their clients, Constant Contact seems to make it much easier than Campaign Monitor.

By Cheri Wang, Howard County Public School System, Gifted and Talented Program

Works Consulted
http://www.constantcontact.com/social-media-for-small-business/features.jsp
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/
http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp
http://www.socialquickstarter.com/content/1-why_social_media_marketing
http://email-marketing-services.findthebest.com/compare/1-9-22/Constant-Contact-vs-Graphic-Mail-vs-Campaign-Monitor

There are currently thousands of different groups to choose from on LinkedIn, so getting started by finding the right group for you can be a little bit intimidating at first. There are two good ways to find a group: search for one you may like, or check LinkedIn’s recommendations for you. On the toolbar at the top of the screen, you’ll see a section called “Groups,” and if you hover your mouse over it a drop down menu will appear. You’ll see an option called “Groups You May Like.” If you click on this option, you can see some groups that LinkedIn believes may interest you based on the information you have given LinkedIn about your profession, skills, and interests. This tool is a good place to start, as it may give you some decent suggestions, but some of their suggestions can be way far off from your actual interests, so be prepared for that. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, go back to the “Groups” drop down menu and try “Groups Directory.” Here you’ll find a list of featured groups in the center, but what’s even more helpful is the search box on the left side of your screen. Here you can input keywords relating to what you’re interested in (such as “marketing” or “women in business” or “University of Maryland”), then select a group category (such as alumni groups, corporate groups, or nonprofit groups), and finally select the language you’d like to find a group in. With this search tool, it becomes easy to find groups that are really tailored to your interests.

If you don’t find what you like through any of these methods, try creating your own group! You can create a group by going once again to the “Groups” dropdown menu and selecting “Create a Group.” This will take you to a screen that allows you to customize your group, with details including the group name, type, logo, summary, access preferences, language, and many other choices. You will also have the choice of whether you’d like to create an “Open Group” or a “Members Only” group. An “Open” group allows anyone to see your discussions, and allows search engines to find your group. On the other hand, in a “Members Only” group, discussions can only be seen by members, only members can contribute, search engines can’t index the group, and it cannot be shared to Twitter or Facebook. After you’ve chosen all your settings, you will have the option of inviting members, and then you can get started! One important thing to know is that when you create your own group, you’ll take on the role of group manager, which gives you control over requests to join, group settings, group rules, group ownership and much more.

So once you’ve found or created a group, what’s next? Within a group, members can post different discussion questions such as, “What is the value of a Facebook “like” for a company in my field?” or “How does your company use Search Engine Optimization for marketing?” and other members can respond and comment. Members can also post interesting articles, opportunities or professional tips, such as “2 Simple tricks to bring your Website’s Bounce Rate Down” or “To all New Jersey Internet Marketers and Bloggers! Come join us Tuesday, January 16^th!” Any group member can also respond to those posts as well. Members can also put polls on their group to ask the opinion of other group members. To post a question or a poll, look at the top of the screen where you will see a box that says, “Start a:” and has two buttons next to it labeled “Discussion” and “Poll”(you usually need to be a member of a group to see this). Click the “Discussion” button or the “Poll” button depending on which you’d like to post, and then for a discussion, just type the header or title of your post in the white box beneath for a discussion (this should be your main point or question, and is limited to 200 characters) and in the white box beneath that type the rest of your text to include more details or information. For a poll, type the question in the first white box (which is limited to 200 characters), and then use the boxes below to write the answer choices (limited to 40 characters each). For a discussion, you may also choose to include an internet link by clicking the blue “Attach a Link” icon on the bottom left of the gray box, and for a poll you may choose a date to end the poll using the calendar icon in the bottom right of the gray box. When you’re done, just click the blue “Share” button at the bottom right of the gray box (just beneath the calendar icon), and your post will appear on the group page.

If you’d like to interact with the posts of others, you can hover your mouse over the post to get the options to: Like, Comment, Unfollow, or, under the “More” tab, you can Flag as Promotion, Flag as Job, or Delete. Flagging as a Promotion or Job will move the discussion to either the Promotions page or the Jobs page.  Also, you can click “see more” at the bottom right of any post to see the post in its entirety with all of the comments on that post.

Under the Group title, you’ll notice a tool bar with seven options. The “Discussions” tab includes polls and discussions, and the “Members” tab allows you to see the members of the group, see new members, or search for members. The “Promotions” tab allows you to see all recent product and service promotions, or to post your own promotion by clicking the green plus sign in the upper right corner. The “Jobs” tab works similarly, where you can see all jobs discussions, search for jobs, or post your own job discussion by either typing in the gray box on the “Jobs” page (just as you would for a normal discussion) or by clicking on the green plus sign as you would to start a Promotion. The “Search” tab allows you to search all discussions and polls. The “Manage” tab allows you to manage the group and control several setting if you are the group owner.

Then, of course, the final “More…” tab gives you several options: you can see “Updates,” “Your Activity,” “Your Settings,” (which manages your public visibility settings and the ways you can be contacted) the “Group Profile,” “Group Statistics,” and “Subgroups.” The first three are rather self-explanatory, but these last three are very interesting tools. The Group Profile shows you the group type, owner, date of creation, and description of the group, while the Group Statistics show you things like the number or members, who has seniority, the number of recent comments, recent activity levels, and the demographics of group members.

Finally, a group can have up to 20 subgroups, which allow for more focused discussion and sharing within the larger group. Only managers can create these subgroups, and only group members can join the subgroups. If you are a group manager, you can create a subgroup by clicking the “Manage” tab and then choosing “Subgroups” from the left side of the page. A green plus sign will appear center screen allowing you to “Create a subgroup,” at which point you’ll once again have many choices about the subgroup’s name, logo, language, descriptions, and membership. Subgroups function just like regular groups, with all of the same options as a group would have.

Groups are a great way to meet other professionals and get involved, and it’s easy to find one that’s right for you and start discussing, promoting, and finding opportunities!

By Sara Calvert, Howard County Public School System, Gifted and Talented Program

Works Consulted
“Help Center.” LinkedIn. LinkedIn Corportation, 2012. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.
<https://help.linkedin.com/>.

“Your Groups.” LinkedIn. LinkedIn Corportation, 2012. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.
<http://www.linkedin.com/myGroups?trk=hb_side_grps_top>.

Think about the businesses you trust, frequent, and refer. They are likely to share a core trait—excellent service. For example, compare hosting services. Which hosting companies offer 24/7 access to help, immediate postings of infrequent down times, and reliable, strong uptime? Those service qualities define a successful hosting company.

Or consider vehicle service and repair work you can conveniently schedule at a company that offers a loaner vehicle while your car is in the shop. That’s both a successful company and one that gets our vote.

One of our designers, here at Galley, received an online order in an empty box just before the holidays. When she called the company to report it, they reshipped the item overnight at no additional cost and even offered a discount, thereby creating a customer for life.

Or the corporate lunch caterer who not only arrives early to set up delicious food, but also brings every imaginable accompaniment from ice to plates to silverware – at an affordable price ­– is an experience both remembered and referred.

And, when a pregnant lady on crutches is trying to make her way out of a large department store only to be helped by two sales people who closed their registers and carried her packages to her car, her customer experience locked in her loyalty to that company.

Not only do the individuals in each scenario benefit; the effect will be multiplied as it is shared online and in conversations creating a loyal customer while exponentially increasing brand awareness. And that is great business.

Talk to Me, an interactive exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, provides deliciously wonderful explanations of the process of our interactivity, as well as an invitation to participate. Read more.

Reading Michael Silverberg’s review of the Talk to Me exhibit titled “What we talk about when we talk about objects” jogged my memory of a ringing phone and our, then, one year old quickly grabbing the receiver. I watched as she heard a voice and immediately began searching around the phone and under the table, trying to understand how her grandmother was somehow fitted into the object in her hand. But as her grandmother continued speaking, without understanding she smiled, made peace with her confusion, and accepted what the object offered. Among the featured artists of Talk to Me are two truly incredible designers, Multitouch Barcelona and Susan Woolf, who have been inspired by wondering, “How does that communication process work?” much as my daughter did years ago; much as we do everyday.

1. In response to the query, “Can an interaction with a computer be personal?” you will especially enjoy the work of design studio, Multitouch Bacelona. Their interactive video response, shows, tells and intrigues.

2. To answer the query, “Am I observing a shared pattern of hand signals used to communicate with cabs?” artist Susan Woolf researched and documented a complex and uniquely South African gestural language. She wrote Taxi Hand Signs with an edition for the blind and designed the first South African postal stamps with a readable raised surface. View her video here.

Whether we enable or just faithfully depend on them, we do communicate with objects all of the time; using humor, intelligence, observation, participation and creativity, the Talk to Me exhibits help us understand how.

Note: As an added treat before you leave the museum site, scroll down for the children’s responses.

The reasons impacting the changes in marketing strategy are many, but one is key:
Well- informed consumers are now both diverse and empowered. They have a voice strong enough to inform and even shape brands. Unlike the traditional messaging of old, primarily from business to consumer, with the advent of new channels, we now need to participate in consumer to business messaging as well. In fact, it’s not enough to passively participate, we are also charged to listen and act.

In this month’s Marketing Manager, Kevin Lane Keller tackles the issue on pages 37-43, saying we must,
1. “fully and accurately factor the consumer into the branding equation:
engage in ‘participation marketing’, and
2. Make the whole of the marketing program greater than the sum of its
parts: develop fully integrated channel and communication strategies.”

What this means for every business and nonprofit we represent is the need to combine traditional and nontraditional elements within every strategic marketing plan. It is not that traditional marketing in print and personal networking no longer works, it most emphatically does and needs to be in the mix, but so does interactive marketing which is far more than having a website, alone. Participation marketing incorporates interactive communication across all channels relevant to the client.

One of our clients summed up this concept recently, saying ‘don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” You know, I remember my grandmother saying the same thing, so that’s either timeless advice or she was especially prescient–though the power of freely talking with, listening to, and responding to consumers, in real time, is probably not something any of us predicted.

“Is the personalization of the Internet a step backwards? Is the wealth of information accessible to us being reduced because the products we use are filtering it all so heavily?”

And while there is truth to the filter bubble—yes, algorithms are being used to filter the overabundance of information to which we have access—as a result of filtering, we may only be receiving relevant data. Both views on this topic are valid. The incredible amount of information available presents a real challenge; but the reality is the individual user can’t possibly filter it. And, from a business perspective, the filtering algorithms can be helpful to sending responsible, personalized messages of rich content, whether the information is distributed in print or electronic form.

Digital variable printing is a newly improved form of one-to-one marketing on the print side. When it first appeared over 10 years ago, instead of resident in the name field (how many of us stand at the mailbox and toss those items?), it was possible to integrate a name. Today, however, with the advent of more sophisticated software systems, better information, and improved digital printing processes and materials, VDP, variable data printing, offers improved resolution, color and speed. So, in addition to the options of static printing (no variables) and personalized printing (name and address variables only), with fully customized variable data printing every element of the print piece can be personalized. And comparing the results of static to customized direct mail is like comparing apples to aardvarks. The negative side of VDP is cost; but the plus is greater response. If you invest in one-to-one marketing, your ROI is greater, some studies say by more that 35%.

So, while the debate about the filter bubble will continue, and it should, for businesses that want to send helpful information on a specific topic only to those who need it, digital variable printing offers improved results on direct mail projects.

In the case of the business card, there is much to be said for standing out and less for being tossed out because it doesn’t fit neatly in a wallet or card carrier.  Just something to consider, because the standard business card can be an exceptionally well-designed piece without changing the size.  Whether landscape, portrait or hybrid, the content is key. Provide your contact information, refrain from advertising, and remember the power of this heavy hitting piece of your collateral. What you want is a well-designed card, with current information, and a long shelf life in the hands of a client, prospect or referral.

Brian Hoff posted on his blog, The Design Cubical, an article titled “50 Creative Business Cards.” While we found many of the cards to be quite special, take a look at them and keep in mind what we discussed above. Check out the article here and let us know what you think by commenting below.

‘Kaleidoscope’ is the story of protagonist, Odette’s, journey as a young girl struggling to find her place in the world. During Odette’s travels from water, to land, to air, and back, she faces adversity and meets friends.  And although she begins her journey without direction or answers, each encounter teaches her more about herself.  In the end, Odette realizes courage and happiness–all she needed–were inside of her all along. From the sound effects of the storms to the spectacular dances in the air on trapeze, lyra and silks, dancers and audiences will be transported, for a short time, through a kaleidoscope’s lens.

The resulting creative was featured in the poster, the show program cover, the tickets and the slide show projected during the performances. View the event poster below or click here to view the program.

Click to view larger

]]> http://galleycreativegroup.com/blog/2011/06/featured-work-branding-an-event-kaleidoscope/feed/ 0 http://galleycreativegroup.com/blog/2011/06/featured-work-branding-an-event-kaleidoscope/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GalleyCreativeGroup/~3/bobVEYMNirw/ http://galleycreativegroup.com/blog/2011/05/seo/#comments Sun, 15 May 2011 05:46:56 +0000 galley http://galleycreativegroup.com/blog/?p=1373 We occasionally hear a client say,” I don’t need to be on any other channels-I get all of my business from my website”, OR “I have a great website but no one ever visits it.” Which brings us to the topic of SEO.

Businesses understand the value and importance of their identity online, but building a site is not enough. In addition to sophistication, ease of navigation, clarity, visual appeal, and valuable content, our websites also need another key ingredient–accessibility. To be useful, websites need to be found. And thanks to google and other search engines, with proper development they will be.

After designing a website that clearly defines your brand message, focus on the search engine optimization.

1. Select relevant keywords so clients you wish to serve reach you; generalized terms, for example, may not be useful. A landscape designer in Alabama probably would not be able to field a crew to work on a lawn in Oregon.
2. Work on your on-page optimization. One of the recommendations by Aaron Wall of SEO Book is to vary the keywords on each page[you can vary by singular vs plural, alternating word order, using synonyms, and adding modifiers.] And be absolutely sure your content is broken up with headers in easily read sections.
3. Build Links from other sites to yours, manually, by submitting links and building relationships with those who will link to your site. If the site content is strong, people will ask to link. And, of course, take advantage of links to blogs, your email campaigns, FB, TW, and LinkedIn.
4. Review your analytics. It’s important to read the reports to continually improve SEO.

A well designed website is an integral component of the identity portfolio for non profit and profitable organizations, and maintaining the SEO is essential to a website’s success.