Twist of Lime » MarketGreener

News&Guide’s jhpropertyguide.com launched

2010-07-14T18:17:30Z

Twist of Lime helped the Jackson Hole News&Guide create it's latest online real estate publication: jhpropertyguide.com.

Real estate is a very hot commodity here in Jackson Hole — even after the bottom fell out of the market around the rest of the country. While local realtors, businesses and other publications that rely heavily on the real estate market were reeling from the bubble-burst, the Jackson Hole News&Guide was taking advantage of the downturn in the market to create a new online publication. After more than a year of design, development and negotiations with local brokerages and the Teton County MLS Board, jhpropertyguide.com was born. And Twist of Lime was there every step of the way.

The News&Guide had their preferred graphic designer (Tetonia resident Linda Grimm) and Web developer (jhwebstudio.com), but no one in-house with the ability to manage the development of such a complex site. We handled project management, from the original scope draft, through design development, to paring down the punchlist. And as it goes with many projects of this size, we’re still ironing out the wrinkles and anticipate some level of continued involvement in the short-term.

The advantage of jhpropertyguide.com is the killer content combination of all listings in the Teton County MLS database coupled with the robust daily content creation of jhnewsandguide.com. In addition to local real estate listings updated daily, jhpropertyguide.com brings in for-sale-by-owner properties and rentals as well as real estate-specific articles from the News&Guide. But even for all the content and usability of real estate search, jhpropertyguide.com is not in the business of selling real estate; rather, their end goal is to provide as much information to the buyer as possible and then facilitate the connection between the buyer and agent.

If you’re in the market for Jackson Hole real estate, we highly recommend checking out jhpropertyguide.com.

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Social Media Working for 1% for the Tetons

2010-05-18T15:41:14Z

For the past couple of weeks, a small team has been working on 1% for the Tetons‘ “One28 Campaign.” This campaign has been quite intensive for the past two weeks now and will continue through June 5, 2010, when we hope to have raised $300,000 for 19 very worthy grant projects that will help sustain the environment in the Tetons region.

It actually began late last year, with the understanding that the 1% Web site needed a complete overhaul, which we completed in January of this year. Once that was complete, we knew the online fundraising component of the site needed building out. The good folks at Baxa Marketing did that work and, with a tip of the hat to Kickstarter, and the understanding that it’s not perfect, it has turned out to be a great system.

The idea behind 1% for the Tetons, modeled after 1% for the Planet (and actually legally affiliated), is that Member businesses donate 1% of their gross profit in order to have it granted out to organizations that create projects that sustain the Tetons region. A committee of 1% Members chooses which of the grant applications get funded. This year there were many worthy grants, plus, after two years of successful grant cycles, 1% for the Tetons wanted to address two concerns that regularly arose:

Members often stated that they would like more control over where there money goes, and…
Non-members, who were not willing to donate a full 1% of their gross income, still wanted to be able to contribute.

Enter the One28 Campaign.

Now, through the fundraising mechanism in place on the Web site, Member organizations have the ability to allocate their donations and now anyone can make a donation.

And how are we getting the word out? Along with traditional forms of awareness-building that our fearless leader Jonathan Schechter is heading up (advertising, banners, yard-signs, PR, etc), Twist of Lime is managing the social media side of things to see how well we can drive traffic to the 1% site. (This blog is one shameless way of doing so…)

The first thing we did was implement the 1% blog, where Finalists are featured every day of the One28 campaign and special announcements are made to our constituents. Then implemented a handful of social media outposts to help build the network.

We use MailChimp to send email updates to our constituents on a weekly basis (if not more often). MailChimp has great features, including fantastic list management, email sign-up forms, WordPress integration and much more stuff that I’m sure we’re not using. You can sign up for the 1% email list here.

We’re using Twitter, but growth here is slow and we don’t have many followers yet. You can help us out by following 1% for the Tetons.

But perhaps our best social media tool is Facebook, where many of our Members belong and almost all of our grant finalists have pages. We post much of what is happening during the One28 Campaign on the 1% for the Tetons Facebook page. We tag our Finalists and Members whenever we can, helping to strengthen the Facebook Web. We’ve also connected our 1% page to Twitter for automatic updates. In addition to Members and Finalists, Facebook has been broadly embraced by the Jackson Hole community, helping us spread the word through this network. We encourage you to become a fan of (or “Like” — I still can’t quite embrace this new parlance) 1% for the Tetons on Facebook.

So far so good. We’ve raised almost $60,000 so far, and perhaps the biggest part of the battle is getting the last of the Member business donations in and allocated. But we’ve never expected Members to complete all the funding this year and we’re relying on you, oh generous public, to help us bridge the gap. So, as a Member of 1% for the Tetons and part of the awareness-building team, I invite and encourage you to help us “Fund Our Future” here in the Tetons region and support the grant project or projects of your choice. And here’s to a successful campaign!

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Twist of Lime Launches New 1% for the Tetons Website

2010-02-03T04:06:45Z

Twist of Lime, with the help of developer Alexis Sarthou and designer Kate Dore of Dore Davis Design, completed and launched the new 1% for the Tetons Web site last Monday, January 25. The new site represents an evolutionary step not only for the online presence of 1% for the Tetons, but for the organization itself.

The site was designed with an eye toward simplicity, ease of updating and with future expansion in mind. The design highlights Members and Grants, and it allows Members to update their own profiles and make offers to Members, Supporters and the public at large. There are now dedicated Members, Grants and News areas, where the proof of this incredible concept are showcased.

The launch of this new site comes just as 1% for the Tetons announced its new granting process. The new process involves two rounds for grant applicants and will feature an as-yet-to-be-released function of the new site that will allow Members and the public to cast their vote for potential grants by making pledges. This new function will be unveiled in the next several months. You can read more about the new grants process here.

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The Facts About Bottled Water By OnlineEducation.net

2009-12-14T17:54:30Z

I wrote about bottled water early on in this blog. I hate it. Hate the bottles mostly, but the whole concept in a country that has the safest drinking water right from the multitude of faucets in your own home and workplace — yes, even the one in the bathroom — is completely ridiculous on so many levels. Hated it then and still hate it now.

At least some people are starting to wake up the atrocity known as bottled water, including the good folks at Brita who have had growing success with the “Filter For Good” program.

But many, many people still blithely buy into this scourge of the earth. Which is why I’m glad to see this infographic from the good folks at OnlineEducation. Don’t miss this. And you can put the graphic on your site with this code.

Presented by Online Education

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“Where To Put It All,” Art Opening By Miga Rossetti

2009-12-11T18:45:24Z

"Where to Put it All" opens tonight, Friday, December 11, at 5:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts in Jackson.

My wife, Miga Rossetti, has been working hard for the past many months on a new body of artwork that is now hanging in the Center for the Arts in Jackson. Please join us tonight, Friday, December 11, at 5:30 p.m. for the opening reception in the Center Theater Gallery for her show, “Where To Put It All.”

Every spring a squadron of robins attempts to build nests between the rafters of our front porch. Some fail and some succeed, but each works frantically, collecting bits of all kinds of grasses and twigs, to build their potential new homes and rear a new brood of chicks. Regardless of their level of success, we’re left with a number of abandoned nests at the end of the summer. These nests have become the inspiration for Miga’s latest body of work, “Where to Put it All.”

There are birds and nests and symbols of all kinds in her new paintings. They reflect her desire to create order from the relative chaos that is the collective life of our family. We are freelancers, entrepreneurs, parents and fun-hogs (not necessarily in that order). We work in graphic design, art, marketing, writing, and we run a greeting card company. We have two beautiful daughters who are wildly active and creative and produce a never-ending stream of drawings, projects and whatnot. And we live in a place that allows us to be active outdoors, skiing, cycling, hiking, paddling and whatever else. How to get it all done and then where to put it all?

Special thanks to the Art Association of Jackson Hole for sponsoring this show and hosting this opening, which is hosted in part by The Liquor Store and The Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

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Columbia Engages Customers On Pandora With Weather, Music And Utility

2009-11-18T20:11:34Z

Columbia Sportswear has done a great job of incorporating utility into their marketing on Pandora.

I love utility. My dad was very hands-on and could build or fix anything: a car, a plane, a house, whatever. Luckily, I got his knack for being able to fix things, and while I am no longer a “practicing” carpenter, I spent several years doing it, still take on my own home-improvement projects, have a shop full of tools and am a big sucker for hardware stores and Tool Crib catalogs.

I’m also a pragmatist and favor products and services that make my life better or easier, and that translates to marketing. There are all kinds of examples of utilitarian marketing strategies (though still far too many non-utilitarian marketing efforts), and with the interactivity of online marketing, these “utilities” are becoming more prevalent.

That’s why I was pleased to see what Columbia Sportswear has come up with in its marketing on Pandora. First of all, Pandora is a great example of radio letting us drive the bus, to a certain extent. We get to vote up or down songs within a particular strain of a genre, or “station,” in exchange for great free music of almost any type. A compromise for sure, but it is interactive radio at its best.

Now, because the reality of all this online content is that it actually costs money to produce (as much as we want to be in denial about that), Pandora has had to explore a few monetization schemes, and I give them kudos for introducing advertising in a way that isn’t too obtrusive.

I’m not enough of a regular listener to pony up for the paid account and, while I didn’t like it at first, the new audio ads they have aren’t all that obtrusive. It’s still better than what I have to put up with at my local radio station(s) where not only are the ads really annoying, but they’re almost all voiced by the same 4 or 5 local DJs who have been on the air here for almost as long as there’s been air.

But the beauty of Pandora is that their ads can be interactive, and smart brands are engaging listeners in ways that are pretty cool. Because Pandora encourages you to give the thumbs up or down to songs you’re listening to, you usually end up paying attention to the ads, at least a little bit. So here I am voting up a particularly good song when up pops an ad for Columbia Sportswear. And here’s where the interactivity impressed me.

The ad shows up with the current weather and forecast for my zip code, and gives me the opportunity to check on somewhere else by zip code. Then it gives me an appropriate piece of clothing for the weather (“Hey, you might like this piece of technical fleece.”) with an option to look at other equally appropriate pieces. Of course there’s a “Buy Now” button. Then I get the five-day forecast with more appropriate clothing. Finally, at the bottom Columbia has offered me a Pandora playlist for the day. And as if that weren’t enough, I can choose from the “Rainy Day,” “Sunshine” and “Winter Wonder” playlists. (And go figure, some of it’s actually music I like!)

While Columbia isn’t my favorite outerwear company, they’ve always had a knack for pretty good marketing, and they show here that they’re tuned in to what engages their potential customers.

And this ad engagement shows just a couple of the benefits and challenges of online marketing. First, it’s sticky. Because I was curious enough to see what Columbia had in their playlist. I now have their stations as part of my Pandora station list and might come back to it another time. The challenge is that there are so many social platforms upon which to engage customers (and I would consider Pandora a type of social platform) that brands need to even more carefully choose where to engage potential customers and then tailor that engagement to the platform. It’s like creating an app for the iPhone: it only works on the iPhone. I doubt that Columbia ad for Pandora works anywhere other than Pandora. But hey, it works. And they may even get some people to click the “Buy Now” button and go from potential customer to actual customer.

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New MarketGreener/Twist of Lime Site Launched!

2009-11-02T19:12:27Z

Welcome to the newly redesigned MarketGreener and Twist of Lime sites. Or is it the newly redesigned Twist of Lime and MarketGreener sites? Whichever it is, they’re now joined at the hip!

I launched MarketGreener just over two years ago as a way to dip my toe into the world of blogging. Since then I have learned a lot about blogging — including what it is and isn’t for me — and I’ve garnered a decent audience along the way. While not a huge following, there are some regular readers among you and a lot of others who have simply stumbled across this site. And since my focus from the beginning has been to write about what I find interesting or helpful in the world of marketing and sustainable business practices, I’ve tried not to use it as a soapbox for my business.

But then, about six months after establishing this blog, I left the world of the gainfully employed to start Twist of Lime, a marketing and content services agency. My first site was built by me using Dreamweaver. And while I was confident with my DW skills and proud to have successfully built my own site, I have always known that design is not my forté and that the previous site was not the strongest calling card for someone trying to make a sizable chunk of his income from building Web sites.

I’ve learned a lot in the past year-and-a-half, both from my clients and my teammates. The result of some of that knowledge is here in this redesigned site. Design was done by my wonderful wife Miga, who’s own skills in Web design are growing, and the development was handled by Alexis Sarthou, whom I have known and worked with since my Circumerro days and is very talented in the ways of building WordPress templates (yes, this site is powered by WordPress!), among other fine development skills. And, from time to time, some of what I do on the business side does and will continue to show up here on MarketGreener.

Please take some time to check out the new site. There are still a few tweaks to make and I welcome any and all (constructive) feedback. And I hope you continue to read the blog, and that you enjoy it enough to share it with others. Please bookmark it, join our email list or subscribe in a reader. And as always, enjoy!

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What’s Really In It For Me? Volkswagen Engages Through Fun

2009-10-14T03:11:58Z

There’s no doubt that if you want to engage people in your cause you need to not only answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”, but you have to make sure what’s in it for people is something they’ll enjoy getting out of it. This video by Volkswagen’s ad agency in Sweden, DDB Stockholm, is apparently going viral because it demonstrates just that.

You want me to take the stairs instead of the escalator because it’s good for me and saves energy? No thanks. You want me to take the stairs instead of the escalator because it’s fun? Sure! These people aren’t saving energy and burning a few extra calories. They’re having fun! And never mind the fact that there’s no car in the video. You’ll enjoy it so much that you’ll hardly notice. But then that’s part of the point. This is one of a series of videos in a new initiative by Volkswagen to try to get people to change their old ways by making the new way fun.

Engagement is a funny thing. While there’s definitely a growing, albeit small, number of people who will do the right thing because it’s the right thing, the reality is most of us are pretty selfish and want something for our sacrifice, no matter how small. Whether you’re selling a product or trying to get people involved in your cause, engage them in a way that will be worth their while. It’s not easy, but when done right will get people on board with you and put your brand well above your competition.

Enjoy the video, and when you’re done, check out more at thefuntheory.com.

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Wyo Biz Council Idea Expo A Success

2009-11-02T18:15:31Z

I’m finally getting caught up on things after last week’s Wyoming Business Council Idea Expo. While attendance was down some from previous years, I felt the program was very worth while. Of course, my completely biased opinion is based on the fact that I gave two very well-received seminars. I had gone prepared to present only my search engine optimization seminar but was asked at the last minute to talk also about social media marketing. This seminar turned out to be one of the best-attended of all during the Idea Expo.

Social media marketing is obviously very hot right now, and the interest Wyoming businesses are taking in this topic is understandably high.

Wyoming is a business-friendly state and one with a high number of small businesses. A big reason for this is that there just aren’t a lot of people in this fairly large state. The population is quite dispersed, even around some of the larger cities and towns, with many people being spread out around and between communities. And many of the state’s businesses rely on people very far away to be their customers. Some of these businesses are based here because they could be based anywhere yet the tax structure and quality of life are quite favorable. (That is certainly the case here in Jackson Hole.) And some of these businesses rely on tourism by people from all around the world. (Also the case here in JH.) And because of this, these businesses recognize the importance of being found online.

So, for someone like me, the opportunity to share my knowledge and meet people who are genuinely interested in what I do is a great one. As an added bonus, I was interviewed by a reporter from Casper’s channel 13 news. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to put on this event and to those of you who attended. It was a pleasure meeting all of you.

If anyone wants to view the slides from either of my two presentations (including my presentation on email marketing, which was not presented), you can view or download them at the temporary page on my dev site (to be launched very soon!): www.twistoflime.biz/seminar-presentations/.

And if you’d like to see the news report about the Idea Expo, you can view it below. Enjoy!

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Chris Hansen To Speak At Idea Expo

2009-11-02T18:17:04Z

Well folks, it’s official: I’ll be speaking at the Wyoming Business Council’s Idea Expo the end of this month. The Conference runs Monday and Tuesday, September 28 and 29. Specifically, I will be giving my seminar on The Basics of Search Engine Optimization on Monday afternoon at 4 pm. Before that I will be either participating in a panel discussion on using social media for business or giving my own presentation on the same subject. Haven’t heard yet which it will be, but I’m going prepared.

According to the Web site:

“The purpose of the conference is to inspire innovation in Wyoming businesses of all sizes. If you are a CEO, manager, specialist or have any interest in business, then you should to attend the Wyospace.com Idea Expo is not your ordinary business conference.”

I’ve never been and it seems like a great opportunity to meet other businesspeople from around Wyoming.

If you would like to view slides from any of my previous seminars, please visit the seminar presentations page.

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