Solveris Marketing and Communications Blog

Why We Made the New Solveris in 30 Seconds Video (and why you should use video)

2011-03-04T19:47:00.001-05:00

We just produced and uploaded a new, Solveris video that answers some of the reasons we hear for clients not using a marketing agency. Often, we hear companies say that they want to advertise or have better looking sales materials, websites and social media, but often business owners tell us that it will take too much time or that they can't afford to pay for marketing.

At Solveris, we work very hard to make the process as easy as possible by guiding business owners through the complexities of marketing and advertising. We consider your goals and listen to your needs without a lot of marketing jargon.

For instance, often business owners don't understand why their sites are not getting traffic. Even worse, they don't even know what their traffic is. Many business don't know how to get started with social media such as Facebook or don't know how to customize their welcome pages or install a Facebook store. We can effortlessly accomplish this without the business owner having to spend a lot of time.

While marketing does cost money, one needs to consider the costs of lost business by using materials that are not effective. If your sales materials, emails and other communications are not helping you gain awareness and sales, this is costing you money in lost business. With our experience working with many different consumer and B2B industries, as well as our award-winning, design skills; we can efficiently take your business to the next level and strongly brand your company getting you better ROI.

The other reason we made a short video is that we practice what we preach. Online video is one of the best ways to get awareness. Using social media, video can be tweeted, distributed on Facebook and YouTube, LinkedIn and other networks. Not only does this provide more content, but it helps maximize awareness for your company. Many still seem unaware that video also helps companies be much more visible in search results. It is for these reasons that we often recommend that our clients consider video and video slideshows.

Let us know if we can be of assistance with any marketing need you may have. If you're not happy with your current marketing agency, don't have a marketing/advertising department or your departments need some help, let us show you what Solveris can do for you. We'd love to get your comments on our video.

Solveris Retained As Agency by The Landhauser Group Providing New Tools For NY Real Estate Market

2011-01-26T19:19:00.001-05:00

Solveris is proud to announce our newest real estate client, The Landhauser Group. Details are below:

What Can Solveris Do For You? The Answer Is Here...

2010-11-06T18:17:00.003-04:00

Even after seeing our site, often customers and businesses interested in our services want a very top-line view of what we do at Solveris. While we detail things like our capabilities on our site, and we have a presentation for those that want more of the "whole story", we also thought we needed something short that would give a quick look at some ways we help our clients.

Another reason we wanted to do a video is that we often extol the SEO virtues of video to our clients, and we realized that we didn't find the time to do one for Solveris. While it won't win a CLIO (or any other award for that matter), we hope it does give you a better idea of some of the things we do at Solveris in a more entertaining way than bullet points.

Speaking of SEO, we just came across a short article and video, "How It Works: What Happens When You Search Google?" on ZDNet. It has Matt Cutts from Google describing some ways search works in an easy to understand format that may be helpful in improving your site's ranking.

Our short video is below. It's only about 3 minutes in length and we'd love to get your thoughts, as always. For those getting the email version of this post who would like to view it, you can do so by clicking here to go to our YouTube Channel. Thanks for watching!

Solveris News: OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children Announces New, Digital Initiatives and Chooses Solveris Marketing as AOR

2010-09-28T01:57:00.004-04:00

Solveris wanted to make our blog readers and email subscribers aware of the following press release that was just released:

OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children Announces New, Digital Initiatives and Chooses Solveris Marketing

Solveris Marketing was chosen to elevate marketing and communications for OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children. Solveris successfully launched several new,social media presences including a Facebook page with store, YouTube Channel, twitter site and more.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Sep 28, 2010 – As the importance of social media, actionable information and ecommerce continue to grow in importance for parents, OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children today announced a number of digital initiatives. Implemented by its new agency of record Solveris Marketing + Communications, these efforts will strengthen OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children’s mission of providing safe and effective, over-the-counter solutions to parents whose children have difficulty sleeping.

"Solveris has been an important partner understanding and anticipating our needs. They’ve provided excellent consultation, design and development.”

A new, Facebook Page featuring children’s sleep news, discussions, videos, and other interactive elements was launched. This page also features an online store, where for a limited time, parents can purchase discounted OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children, offering convenience and savings for Facebook, child caregivers. Also, OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children has joined Twitter at http://twitter.com/OZzzzssleepaid providing information on children’s sleep issues, as well as new, product announcements, events, promotions and more. OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children’s YouTube Channel athttp://www.youtube.com/user/ozzzzs will give information about OZzzz's products and advise parents to assist them in helping their children achieve better sleep. Later this year, a new website is planned to replace the current one which can be visited at http://www.ozzzzs.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ChfVPf3L8

Developed by a mother and RN, with help from pediatricians who understand the importance of a good night's rest, OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children is a natural, dietary supplement of chamomile and melatonin in a child-friendly, chewable tablet that promotes healthy sleep patterns. While all children with irregular sleep cycles can benefit from OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children, parents with autistic and ADHD children have found the natural supplement especially beneficial.

OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children management issued a statement saying,

"OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children is proud to announce these new initiatives which will enable us to reach and help more parents and children with our over-the-counter sleep aids. This will further our mission of providing safe and effective products that mothers and pediatricians can trust. Solveris has been an important partner understanding and anticipating our needs. They’ve provided excellent consultation, design and development. We look forward to a successful relationship.”

Solveris Marketing+Communications partners Tony Sarcone and Robert Kline issued a statement saying,

“We are very pleased to be the agency chosen by OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children. OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children is the leader in their field and the most innovative. We applaud their objectives, and we are proud to join them in their important mission of helping children achieve better sleep. We also look forward to collaborating with them on many new, exciting initiatives”

About OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children

Developed by a mother and RN who needed a solution for her own children’s irregular sleep patterns, she sought the assistance of pediatricians who understand the importance of a good night's rest. OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children is a natural, dietary supplement of chamomile and melatonin in a child-friendly, chewable tablet that promotes healthy sleep patterns. While all children with irregular sleep cycles can benefit from OZzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children, parents with autistic and ADHD children have found the natural supplement especially beneficial.

About Solveris Marketing+Communications

Solveris Marketing+Communications, http://www.solveris1.com, is owned by marketing and advertising veterans, Tony Sarcone and Robert Cordes Kline, partners. Solveris Marketing +Communications’ commitment is to develop and produce the most concise and effective campaigns and communication programs for their clients. Using a dynamic mix of traditional and new media, Solveris Marketing+Communications leverages its expertise to drive results for its clients’ goals and business. Solveris provides personal attention rarely found at today’s agencies. Working with SolverisMarketing+Communications is a smart and rewarding experience. Their main purpose is better results for your business.

Contact:

Solveris Marketing+Communications

Tony Sarcone, Partner, Strategy and Client Relations, 732-801-0401, tsarcone@solveris1.com

# # #

We're a dynamic, award-winning, marketing and communications agency with over 40 years of combined experience. Solveris provides results and personal attention rarely found from agencies.

--- end --- Visit Press Room

Contact Email	:	***@solveris1.com
Issued By	:	Solveris Marketing and Communications
Phone	:	732-801-0401
Zip	:	10016
State/Province	:	New York
Country	:	United States
Categories	:	Health, Advertising, Family
Tags	:	Advertising, social media, Marketing, communications, sleep, children, sleep aid,melatonin, chamomile
Last Updated	:	Sep 28, 2010
Shortcut	:	http://prlog.org/10958892

Solveris Is Honored With An American Graphic Design Award

2010-09-10T00:37:00.000-04:00

Solveris is proud to announce that we have won an award for the design of Specialty Insider Magazine. Since its inception, Solveris has been charged with marketing strategy, media kit materials, print design, digital and social media initiatives involving the brand. Besides designing the magazine each issue, we also design, manage and produce their website, blog, Facebook and Twitter presences, as well as their digital issues.

Specialty Insider July/August Issue

"The 2010 American Graphic
Design
Awards attracted a remarkable 8,000+
entries…”

The following is more information about the award:

“For nearly five decades, Graphic Design USA has sponsored national design competitions that spotlight areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals. The American Graphic Design Award is the original and flagship, open to everyone in the community: advertising agencies, graphic design firms, corporations, institutions, publishers and more. It honors outstanding work across all media: print and collateral, advertising and sales promotion, corporate identity and logos, internet and interactive design, packaging and p-o-p, broadcast and motion graphics.

The 2010 American Graphic Design Awards attracted a remarkable 8,000+ entries…”

You can also visit Specialty Insider's digital library to see past issues designed by Solveris. We have garnered numerous awards in design, marketing, sales and communications during our careers. If you have a custom publishing project or virtually any advertising/communication/marketing need, please contact us. We look forward to working with you!

Was Google Wave a Failure and Is It Really Dead?

2010-08-05T19:50:00.003-04:00

As most are aware, Google Wave was a very hyped, invitation-only application that was supposed to revolutionize they way we collaboratively work. Across the web, people begged for invitations to try Google Wave like they were tickets to the latest rock concert. And yet, it was in beta, invitation-only mode for more time than it was open to the general public to try. As anyone who became sold on Google Wave will tell you, it needed more time for it to catch on, be understood, tried and adopted for the great tool it is.

"Across the web, people begged for invitations to try Google Wave like they were tickets to the latest rock concert."

After getting my own invitation, and trying Google Wave on a few projects such as producing Specialty Insider Magazine (detailed here), I excitedly exclaimed, "Google Wave: It's Going To Be A Brave, New, Communication World". Google Wave was an application that solved many of the collaboration problems one finds with email. Email is slow, it's sloppy, it's terrible for sharing big files, documents and photos. It's hard to keep things together in one stream. It does not lend itself to embedding and showing digital files. Readers of this blog will remember all of the email limitations I cited before in, "New Collaboration Tools For The Post-Email Age". Email just doesn't get it anymore. Google Wave did all of the things email can't do and so much more. And with robots and gadgets, it seemed it would just keep evolving and getting better.

There were many people who used and understood Google Wave and while acknowledging it needed a bit more development, knew this was a game changer. It is hard to believe that such a powerful useful too will be abandoned completely. I have to believe that Google Wave functionality such as embedding, translation, video conferencing, real time as you type collaboration will find its way into other Google products such as Google Docs, Gmail, Google Talk, etc. I would not at all be surprised to see a more user-friendly version with a different name being reintroduced as a social media application, for instance. I would hope that others who also saw the potential might create a similar product.

With Google Wave attracting so much attention to the problem of easy collaboration, and having had so many influencers successfully use it collaboratively and see its potential; it seems if nothing else that it has thrown a spotlight on the limitations and problems with email that demand better solutions. I maintain that Google Wave was a success in creating a working, better collaborative tool and creating discussion on the topic. I also believe strongly that we have not seen the end of Google Wave, just the infancy in an evolution towards a more consumer acceptable, collaboration product. Until that happens, unfortunately, it might be back to email for now, with all its frustrations and limitations.

Do You Need A Social Media Expert? Maybe Not.

2010-08-02T23:26:00.002-04:00

Anyone who knows even a little bit about social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube knows that it takes very little time to register for these services. You can probably start a rudimentary blog hosted on blogger or WordPress.com in a few minutes.Getting started is the easy part. So why pay a company to help with something you can easily do yourself? The truth is that you don't have to hire anyone.

While it is true you don't need a so-called, "Social Media Expert" to get your company to start participating in these networks, anymore than you need to hire a painter to paint your house or a mechanic to fix your car; you may still want to consult someone who specializes in social media for the same reasons you hire other professionals when you could do it yourself.

Why? Because it can be a lot of time and effort to do it correctly, and so many companies that do it themselves, often do it wrong. I realize the idea of "wrong" in social media is a bit of a controversial topic with the folk wisdom being that there is no wrong way to do it. But I would suggest that there are things that are done, or more often not done, that will lessen your impact. Here are just a few things to keep in mind if you do decide to do it yourself (of course most digital agencies, including Solveris, can help you with these suggestions. Specialty Insider is one example where we have helped):

DO: Make sure you fill-out the entire profile
DON'T: Neglect to put in links, your mission statement and other vital information that could help with search engines and other listings
DO: Ensure that you have a consistent presence on every network
DON'T: Use your latest work, for example, as an avatar (that is not consistent)
DO: Use the same photo or company logo (roughly, since specs may be different) on each network
DO: Get a company logo and avatar designed if you do not have one, it's worth the small investment
DO: Make sure that these sites are not their own islands that are not integrated or connected to your other digital presences
DON'T: Do the bare minimum configuration...for example, if you have video, why not show it?
DON'T: Sign up for every social network out there if you cannot keep your presence fresh
DO: Use automation judiciously where it makes sense for convenience, but not when it may result in spam or inauthentic updates
DO: Make use of customizations that may set you apart from competitors and allow you to look like much bigger companies such as customized Facebook landing pages
DON'T: Use default backgrounds, avatars and templates
DO: Use metrics to monitor your progress and url shorteners that offer metrics such as bit.ly
DON'T: Try to update each social network individually, it's much easier to use a service like Tweetdeck
DO: Make sure you post and update often

This last point may be reason enough to consider using a specialist. Many companies think that they will be able to handle developing content for their digital properties and then quickly realize that it is more work than they realized. Often, after a few posts or tweets they find that they have run out of steam (and topics). The result of having digital presences that are not updated may be worse than having no presence at all.

A good digital marketing company can help you determine a topic strategy, update frequency and provide a competent professional to produce content that is keeping with your company's message. This can often be accomplished very affordably and pay big dividends in traffic and awareness. Many companies are very surprised at how things like blogs can be managed with quality content, easily within their budget.

We hope you keep these suggestions in mind if you decide to get more involved with social media. If Solveris can help, in any way, please let us know. We are happy to provide a free, no obligation consultation.

Keeping Up With Recent Changes in Social Media

2010-05-10T03:01:00.006-04:00

For the past few weeks we've seen more than the usual social media announcements from Ning announcing that it will now charge for all memberships to Microsoft announcing a new social media aggregation tool called Spindex. More here on Spindex. The big three social media networks, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin also announced a number of changes and additions, practically at the same time.

Many of our clients and companies that we talk to have been confused by these changes. In order to provide an executive summary of some of these changes, we'll discuss a few of them here with the caveat that some of these changes are more complex than the summary presented here. Also, some of these have very big privacy and other implications that are not been fully understood, yet.

Linkedin

The business social network with about 65 million members (about half in the U.S.) seems to have woken from a slumber and has been slowly updating its design and features. Arguably, and perhaps predictably, it has been pretty conservative in its evolution. Small design changes continue to surface making the user interface a bit cleaner and more user-friendly. Recently, it also added Facebook-like updates allowing for the attachment of news and other links that include photos and short blurbs with the ability to also share them on Twitter.

It also added the ability to follow companies. This allows a person to follow basic changes at a company (or competitor) of interest. New hires, job opportunities, promotion updates will be sent to you if you follow a company. Linkedin's company profile information is not very robust currently. While this is a welcomed addition, much more can be done to add to the capabilities of company profiles.

Twitter

Twitter has also been rapidly evolving. Twitter has approximately 100 million users that now broadcast about 55 million Tweets a day. It has been slowly adding features like location, hovercards and small design changes. In an attempt to finally monetize the service, it has recently been testing Promoted Tweets. Initial results from this pilot program with advertisers such as Virgin America, Bravo TV and Red Bull have been very positive as Ad week has reported .

In an attempt to be more ubiquitous (similar to Facebook's new like feature and open graph below), Twitter also launched @anywhere. This allows for site owners to place code on their sites that make it possible to tweet from any place on the web. It also give site owners the ability to provide hovercard profiles on their sites, the ability to follow other twitter users right from their sites and some other features by inserting code.

Also, just last week, Twitter announced embeddable tweets. Twitter says:

“It’s a super super simple piece of code to help people generate nice HTML tweets instead of using screen-grabbed images. It’s something that Robin Sloan has been using for Twitter Media & is now sharing. That’s it!”

Mashable has more about embedded tweets here.

Just the other day, Twitter also announced that it will soon have annotations for every Tweet. "Twannotations" as they are (unfortunately) sometimes being called are basically meta data that labels or tags each tweet with information that makes them more easily searchable. For instance, a tweet might have a location annotation, subject, type, etc. One can find more information here at TechCrunch.

Twitter is clearly trying to add features and monetize the service to keep users and advertisers interested and turn the service into a business. However, it must be careful not to alienate many third-party applications that it encouraged to develop services (such as TweetDeck, bit.ly, HootSuite, etc.) which helped popularize the service. These companies now may feel a bit threatened as Twitter slowly adds the best of their services' features to its own application turning them from an ally to an enemy.

It also must be careful not to turn-off its user base by overly complicating a service whose main attraction was simplicity and lack of advertising. It does appear that Twitter is being cautious and calculating as it introduces these enhancements and commercial features.

While separate from Twitter, http://bit.ly/, the link shortening service often used on Twitter, also introduced a radical redesign with some new capabilities, with little publicity last week. Perhaps not significant, but noteworthy, it calls it the fugu (pufferfish) edition. More on these changes can be found here.

Facebook

The largest social network with nearly 500 million users has been announcing a dizzying amount of changes. Many of these changes are controversial and there is controversy even about the controversy. Facebook seems the least cautious about making changes and often it seems that these changes involve privacy issues and changes to its policies.

Highlighting privacy concerns is the fact that Facebook has had a few high profile privacy slips. In one, users received the wrong emails a few months back. Just recently a glitch allowed for users to be able to read their friends' private chats if they deliberately manipulated the service.

This came on the heels of a much publicized glitch (or oversight?) where several users of the social network purchase sharing service Blippy had their credit card numbers visible on Google if the correct search terms were used. While the networks downplay these security breaches, it has raised concerns by users and the government. This is a complex issue that is not likely to go away anytime soon as more and more information is shared. This has many implications for individuals, and both the private and public sectors.

Facebook has also removed the term "fans" and made the noun a verb "like". You no longer are a "fan" of a page, but can "like" a page. While Facebook downplays the significance of this change as mere semantics and substituting a term that people may find to be too strong a term for some for one that is less committal; it is really a change that allows Facebook to more easily spread their influence across the web.

Shortly after changing fans to like, Facebook also announced a series of gadget-like tools that allow for sites to more easily add like tools, streams, etc. to their sites across the web. This makes Facebook, which is now more visited than Google, even more ubiquitous across the web. It also allows Facebook to accumulate even more data on its users web activity and preferences giving it more power as a database/advertising company.

When one is logged into Facebook and visits other sites on the web that have installed its "open graph" coding (many already have it and is growing), Facebook can track the users web activity even if they don't "like" anything on the site. This has obvious privacy implications and has raised many eyebrows. While one can argue this improves the social experience (and Facebook does argue this), it does so at the cost of less privacy. And while businesses may like-pun not intended-more people liking their content, thereby growing their (marketable) audiences and the information that can be now attributed to these people, it may be time for us all to ask ourselves, "at what cost?" and "to who's ultimate benefit?" Is it Facebook ultimately?

As if all these changes and new privacy settings were not enough, Facebook also somewhat quietly announced new "Community Pages". Facebook says that Community Pages are meant to be “the best collection of shared knowledge on a topic”. These are pages that Facebook is adding on topics such as "Cooking" or places such as "New York". While these are somewhat understandable-what is less understandable is that Facebook is also creating pages for companies and brands which will have aggregated information, data, images, videos, etc. that are not editable by the companies and brands.

We've been surprised that there has not been more of a commotion about this change since it promises to cause brand confusion/brand defamation and also contain erroneous information. While this is apparently being tested, it seems to be being rolled out quite aggressively. Solveris at one point had 3 of these pages created by Facebook. We contacted Facebook asking for these pages to be removed and (right) now only one Solveris Community Page not sanctioned by Solveris remains.

Perhaps even more unsettling, Facebook is aggressively trying to get its members to append these pages to their profiles by strongly suggesting them, thereby appending more information to its users profiles increasing their value for advertising purposes. These pages (whether correct or not) also give Facebook more real estate with targeted users for advertising purposes.

Adding to the information gathering/targeting goldmine (and privacy concerns), Facebook has also just announced that it will add location features later this month. This will put it in direct competition with location services such as Foursquare (40 million users vs. 500 million users for Facebook), Gowalla and Google local advertising, as well as other location based services. Adage reports that McDonald's will be the first to test this and more information can be found here.

One will have to see if all these changes make users and businesses feel that Facebook has gone too far and are subjugating their interest for Facebook's own interests, regardless of the consequences to their users.

This is just a brief summary of some of the recent changes at some of the social media services. There have been many others. Please feel free to contact us if we can provide any information on these or any other changes that might have major implications for your business.

Sales Veteran Peter Lewine Joins Solveris As VP Worldwide Sales

2010-04-27T19:44:00.004-04:00

Solveris Marketing and Communications announced today that sales and marketing veteran Peter Lewine has been named VP Worldwide Sales. Peter will be an independent sales representative of Solveris and will bring strong leadership experience and client management skills to his new role. As VP Worldwide Sales, Peter will spearhead development of a global sales team and worldwide sales strategy to communicate the benefits of the Company's full range of services.

"Peter is a very experienced and successful sales executive who embraces the Solveris philosophy of providing superior, personalized, customer-focused solutions," said Tony Sarcone and Rob Kline, partners at Solveris in a joint statement. "We are privileged to have somebody of Peter's caliber working with Solveris and we are thrilled to work with him, again. We spent a great deal of time looking for the best person to fill this position. Our clients will benefit immensely from his skills and attention to their business needs."

Mr. Lewine was most recently at Nielsen Business Media where he served as Associate Publisher of Convenience Store News, Single Store Owner and CSNews.com. He co-managed a sales staff of four, as well as managing $1.4MM territory, with major advertisers including Kraft, Bic, MillerCoors, Georgia-Pacific, NCR and Cisco. He was already tracking to exceed budget by 21%+ in 2010. He increased online sales 76% in 2009 and had a 126% increase booked/forecast for 2010. He has also held senior sales positions at Condé Nast's Fairchild Publications across a wide range of different industries.

"Having the opportunity to work with Solveris partners, Rob Kline and Tony Sarcone again, is very exciting," said Peter Lewine, Vice President Worldwide Sales. "I believe that Solveris offers customers the most effective marketing and communications solutions available and their client-focus with an emphasis on personal attention really separates them from a lot of other agencies. World class sales and strong support will help to better spread these needed, solution-oriented services to more customers while still maintaining the principles on which Solveris was founded."

Trust Solveris For Customized Payment Options and Integration

2010-04-08T21:45:00.000-04:00

Solveris can provide the perfect solution for your business to accept credit cards and integrate a payment solution for your business/website.

Our client needed a quick and easy way to provide Specialty Insider Magazine subscriptions. We found a customized solution, integrated an online solution that was fast, easy and very affordable. We even integrated it into their Facebook Page, blog, twitter, email and website. In this case, we used Pay Pal and you can see the end result here:

Link to Subscribe

Need an online payment option for your business? Contact Solveris. There are many options and most involve no monthly charges and are very affordable.

Solveris Designed March/April Issue of Specialty Insider is Now Online

2010-04-02T00:48:00.000-04:00

The March/April Issue of Specialty Insider is now online. Along with the feature story that examines the luxury market, the second issue also contains 37 tips that specialty retailers can immediately use in their stores to improve their businesses, a profile on a retailer that Hollywood's A-list stars often shop, what's selling now according to a sampling of stores and much more. You can see the entire issue by clicking the cover below:

Advertisers in the issue include: AG, J Brand, Kut, Not Your Daughter's Jeans, Parascuco, Retail Design Collective, See Thru Soul, Silk Culture, Solveris Marketing and Communications, Suzi Roher and Tribal.

The next issue of Specialty Insider will appear in June. The website, Specialtyinsider.com, blog, Facebook Page (facebook.com/specialtyinsider), twitter site (twitter.com/specialtyinside) will be updated more frequently. Specialty Insider will appear quarterly in 2010 and will go to a six-time-a-year frequency in 2011.

Media should contact Tony Sarcone at Solveris Marketing and Communications, tsarcone@solveris1.com

For advertising information on Specialty Insider, contact Ralph Erardy, publisher, at rerardy@specialtyinsider.com.

Solveris Marketing and Communications Welcomes The Landhauser Group

2010-02-13T00:32:00.010-05:00

Solveris Marketing and Communications is proud to welcome The Landhauser Group as a new client. The Landhauser Group within Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate is managed by William Landhauser, Senior Vice President/Associate Broker of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. While we are still configuring and polishing some of the digital properties, they are far enough along to announce it.

A summary of the duties we were assigned with included:

Linkedin profile integrated with his digital and social media sites
Creating a new website at www.williamlandhauser.com
A blog that will provide news and views on different topics related to real estate and Manhattan neighborhood information
You can now follow The Landhauser Group on twitter @wlandhauser
Creating custom email databases for CAN-SPAM compliant emailing
Customizing a slideshare channel to better disseminate documents, market reports and presentations

What you can't see is all of the back-end integration, plug-in's, automated features, and SEO. So many times clients come to us and after researching their current sites we find they have not done some basic things to help them with search engines. They have not made nor submitted sitemaps. The page titles are missing. There are no favicons made. The company who provided them the site did not give them any analytics for tracking performance, etc.

These new properties and configurations will help The Landhauser Group better communicate with buyers, sellers and investors. It will also allow him to more broadly share the expert news and information that many rely on (including me) from his group. By being able to better assess what content is popular with his clients and being able to communicate to more people, on more platforms that their customers are interacting on, there will be an increase in information sharing and meaningful collaboration. It will also help him to market his listings even more aggressively than he already does now.

While we don't normally provide testimonials for our clients, in full disclosure, I can tell you that I've personally bought and sold Manhattan apartments from Bill. I also bought and sold an investment property (yes, I made a profit), and sold my primary residence with his expert help. Bill worked tirelessly and patiently to find me a fantastic, luxury, river view condo. He was able to get me into a pre-construction project as an investment and went above and beyond what the typical broker would do, on both. I dealt with quite a few Manhattan brokers before I found Bill and he was the only one that I felt comfortable doing business with. Bill is trustworthy, conscientious, reliable and hard working.

After unsuccessfully trying to sell both condos myself, Bill sold the investment property the next day after giving it to him. He had numerous bids during a recession and dead, Manhattan, real estate market within the first week of listing my residence. He sold it at over asking price.

Bill is the only broker I would deal with for any of my real estate needs. If you are looking for an experienced, easy-going, real estate professional that gets results for any residential personal or investment need, give him a try. He's offering a free, NY Zagat Restaurant Guide (while supplies last) with a free, no obligation, market evaluation. The market evaluation alone seems valuable enough to me. Let us know what you think if you do use his group, although I know already you will be very pleased.

We're proud to have him as a client and friend of Solveris and we wish him much success in 2010 and beyond. And if you are a real estate professional looking for a digital strategy or any marketing help, feel free to contact us for a free consultation.

The Solveris Designed Launch Issue of Specialty Insider Is Now Online

2010-02-04T02:18:00.000-05:00

We've just put the entire launch issue of Specialty Insider Magazine online on their homepage. You can flip through the pages. If you zoom in you will get a hand sign and then you can move the issue around. The magazine is shareable on Facebook and some other social media sites with the @ on the frame above the magazine. You are also able to bookmark pages. The edit is also searchable and you can print pages from the magazine. If you see an edit link or email address, just roll over it and it will highlight and you can click it to visit the site or send an email.

We hope you like it. We'd love to get your feedback on the magazine and the digital edition. Please leave a comment below and let us know what you think or you can send an email to editor@specialtyinsider.com. Thanks!

RetailConnections and RILA Launch First Ever Retail Mobile Executive Summit

2010-02-03T17:01:00.006-05:00

Forum will explore retail marketing and operations in the emerging mobile age

Tarrytown, NY — RetailConnections in partnership with The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) announced today the launch of the first ever Retail Mobile Executive Summit. This innovative executive summit will explore the future of retail in the new “mobile era” marketplace. The groundbreaking event will take place July 19-21 in San Francisco, California.

Retailers have already made considerable progress in engaging with customers in new ways as shoppers increasingly look to their wireless devices to compare prices, locate stores, access product reviews, scan for coupons and information, and pay for purchases. And, as consumers rely more on mobile as their primary communication tool, retailers can foster community-building by adding value to personal, social interaction. But there is a long way to go, and many more changes coming quickly, which means many opportunities and challenges for retailers ahead.

That is why RetailConnections and RILA have come together to create the Retail Mobile Executive Summit -- to bring together senior-level retailer and product manufacturer executives in an interactive forum to share perspectives and discuss this mobile revolution that is literally sweeping the globe.

“We are living in an era of mobile communication that has created a new kind of marketplace. That in turn compels retailers to change their approaches to marketing, their engagement of new technologies, and their interaction with customers,” said Casey Chroust, RILA’s executive vice president of retail operations. “This new event will bring together industry leaders to discuss how they are integrating the mobile market into their business models and explore the opportunities and challenges that come with breaking this new ground,” Chroust concluded.

Innovative mobile initiatives are emerging at breakneck speed and the retailers who engaged early are the ones enjoying big wins today. “The retail pioneers have done some of the heavy lifting for the rest of us,” said Marc Millstein, president of RetailConnections. “But even these bold innovators know additional changes are at hand. Fortunately, we will have industry retailing leaders who will reveal their hard-won learnings at this one-of-a-kind summit.”

The 2010 Retail Mobile Executive Summit will focus on:

Leveraging emerging technologies to lift brand awareness and connect with targeted audiences directly
Examining the social networking phenomenon, and its risks and rewards (a.k.a. why you cannot ignore, or censor, free-flowing dialogue)
Responding swiftly to changing shopper demands
Courting and cultivating independent consumers to promote brands -- Sitting this one out is not an option
Re-examining back-end issues in sourcing, shipping and other areas affected by the new world of mobile
Using new technologies for front-end functions (scanning, payments, etc.)
And more!

RetailConnections creates and hosts innovative peer-to-peer events to bring together an unusually diverse range of retailing companies and senior management executives. RetailConnections' events span a wide variety of formats designed to offer the highest quality opportunities for networking, brainstorming and thought-leadership presentations and discussions.

RILA is the trade association of the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

For more information contact:

Marc Millstein
President
RetailConnections, LLC

T: 914-620-5947
F: 914-366-0577
marc@retailconnections.biz

www.retailconnections.biz

Is There a Future for Specialty Retailing? Specialty Insider Magazine's Debut Issue Answers That Question... And a Whole Lot More

2010-01-26T11:52:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK (JAN. 26, 2010) -- What do famed retailer Ron Herman, the denim impresario behind the hot J Brand line, a store named Lizard Lounge and 27 specific tips for specialty apparel retailers have in common?

They are all in the premier issue of Specialty Insider, the new magazine and digital properties for independent fashion retailers that hits industry desks today.

The magazine was created by former Women’s Wear Daily Publisher Ralph Erardy and a group of experienced apparel and retailing editors who wanted to create media properties that would help retailers create better merchandised – and more profitable – operations.

The first issue of Specialty Insider is 52 pages and includes more than two dozen specific merchandising, display and business tips for retailers from some of the best merchants and experts in the field.

The cover story for the debut issue examines the question, “Is there a future for specialty retailers?” and answers it with commentary and analysis from industry consultants, financial experts and several nationally known retailers themselves.

Also included in the first issue are Ron Herman, the driving force behind the legendary Fred Segal and Ron Herman stores in Los Angeles; Jeff Rudes, who over a lifetime in the denim and sportswear business has created some of the most famous lines in the business including J Brand; and profiles of innovative, independent retailers like Lizard Lounge in Portland, Ore. and System Action in Barcelona, Spain.

Advertisers in the first issue include: AG, Alberto Makali, Alex and Ani, Enk, Freedom of Choice, Hype Handbags and Accessories, J Brand, Kidz at Stylemax, RetailConnections, Silk Culture, Stylemax, Tokyo Five Brand, Tribal and True Religion.

The second issue of Specialty Insider will appear in mid-March and the website, Specialtyinsider.com, blog, Facebook Page (facebook.com/specialtyinsider), twitter site (twitter.com/specialtyinside) are updated on an ongoing basis. Specialty Insider will appear quarterly in 2010 and will go to a six-time-a-year frequency in 2011.

Media should contact Tony Sarcone at Solveris Marketing and Communications, tsarcone@solveris1.com

For advertising information on Specialty Insider, contact Ralph Erardy, publisher, at rerardy@specialtyinsider.com.

BtoB Magazine Press For Our Client Specialty Insider

2010-01-18T12:48:00.002-05:00

BtoB Magazine covered the launch of Specialty Insider with this article. Please note that the magazine will not be a "fashion magazine", though. The magazine's focus and digital properties will be aimed at helping specialty retailers run a successful business and increase their profits.

A link to the article is here.

How We Used Google Wave to Produce a Magazine

2010-01-15T01:54:00.008-05:00

I’m not sure when it happened exactly? I mean, I was never into technology and even lost a grade on a paper in college for refusing to use a computer to type my paper (crazy rebel, that I was), but somewhere along the line I became a techno geek.

Google Wave was not an easy sell in my circle. I had to beg people to accept invites, and many people who accepted them have not signed on. But I did get my partner and Creative Director of Specialty Insider to join and also, after some nagging, the EIC (that’s fancy publishing talk for Editor-In-Chief). My goal in this, of course, was to eventually suggest we try Google Wave to collaborate to put together the magazine.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I think email is not the best tool for a lot of the things we task it with doing these days. The thought of emailing back and forth huge, high-resolution, image files, tons of text revisions, different versions of a complete magazine with evolving roadmaps made me cringe. I could envision us searching for the correct versions, waiting while email strained to send megabytes, tying up our emails while the files transmitted and filling our hard drives with copy after copy of this and that. I didn’t dread the work. I dreaded the process.

The mission was to create a well-designed, informative magazine in a ridiculously short amount of time, even for media veterans, which we all are. Most people, might have balked at the time to do all that we had to do with the smallest amount of people I’ve heard of putting out a magazine. Plus, this was a launch publication and the President and Publisher kept reiterating, it had to be really, really informative with strong edit and design. He wanted a real home run.

So, when I enthusiastically suggested, “Hey! What do you think of trying Google Wave!”, I was greeted with a silence that was not totally unexpected. If I could have been a fly on the wall of their brains, I am pretty sure they were thinking something like, “Hey, we have a matter of weeks to write, concept, design, market, distribute and produce a new magazine here! This is no time to be trying out new technology! Go play Google Wave with your other nerd friends, jackass!” But they didn’t say that. They kind of hesitated and dragged out a low, “Ahh, Ooookkk”. I give them a lot of credit.

So enough preamble. How was it? Ok, a little more preamble. First, one has to recognize this is a beta. Maybe even a pre-beta. That said, I would say that our review is mixed. Part of that is that Wave is not really your first thought on collaboration. The first thing you think is “email this out”. It takes a second or two to say, “OK, I need to add this to wave now”. Also, the notification is still a little weak in Beta. The workaround notification software I downloaded from a third-party tended to be a little buggy. It works, but sometimes it kept notifying me of blips that I read already numerous times. Sometimes it failed to notify me at all. Occasionally, it failed to automatically load.

Part of our Wave

I found myself emailing my colleagues to check the wave. Also, Google Wave sometimes crashes (even though I’m using Chrome) or logs you out. On one occasion, where we were rushed to make changes and see revisions and I had a ridiculous amount of browser windows open it would not cooperate and I was forced to email the new file which I later put on the wave. My partner had some difficulties getting things off the wave which he later resolved. I noticed that sometimes dragging and dropping into a wave would work flawlessly. But sometimes I had to save from an email onto my computer then I would have to hit the attach icon to upload to the Wave. Also, one complaint we all had was that if someone commented on an earlier blip, it was easy to miss the comment without going back and reviewing the entire wave. Another is that it is not really conducive to travel and mobile, yet. It’s much easier for a traveler to just use email (right now) then to have to logon and mess with a Wave via their mobile web browser and many applications are unlikely to work at present. We did deviate from the Wave for a couple of days with our editor while he traveled. I can honestly say, I missed Wave during his trip.

Those glitches aside. I would say, and I think my collaborators would agree, that Google Wave has many strong points. In fact, one of the people on the project who was the most resistant to using it even said, “I can see that there are many good points in using this now”. It was very easy to know the latest version of what we were working on at the moment. It was also great to not have to search and search through tons of emails. I loved not having 100’s of high resolution files cluttering my email and my hard drive. It also did not tie my email up trying to send or receive big files. Plus, one could comment right next to a photo or story with a caption or a change, even later. Plus, and only I did this without telling my collaborators, one can extract just the photos onto a new wave. This makes it easier to just see the photos separate from all the other stuff. You can also see all the photos in a wave in a nice slideshow which helps one see what you have. We all liked, I think, the real time, as-you-type viewing in a blip.

Personally, I would have loved to use the video chat and some of the other more advanced features for this (I’ve separately forced others to use them and they worked great), but I knew I would be pushing it with these guys a bit. We did use some of the cooler features. For instance, the editor was interviewing a retailer for a story and I effortlessly was able to upload a video for him to watch for further background right into the Wave, in seconds, right before his interview. It was there to go back to, watch again, etc. I also was able to i-frame websites so that my co-workers could see the site right in the wave instead of just a link or screen shot. Try that with your email!

It would have made it better if we could have emailed things received via email from others into the Wave. I am sure that this capability will be added since it’s in other Google products already such as Google Blogger. And to email a blip would also have been nice. I am sure that this will be added later, as well. Also, if we were not limited to invitees, we may have had a more pleasurable experience. This is another obstacle that will be removed as Google Wave is rolled out to everyone and gains acceptance.

I would definitely use it to produce the next issues of the magazine and for other projects. But next time, I want to use more of the robots and gadgets (even if they don’t make sense for the project). I wonder if Specialty Insider was the first magazine to be produced using Google Wave? If anyone has any questions or comments, I am happy to answer and help. Try it. I can honestly say that even in Beta, I think it’s a winner for these types of projects and it will only get better. And let us know what you think of Specialty Insider. We think it's a winner and we hope you do, too.

More Press For Specialty Insider's Launch

2010-01-12T17:20:00.005-05:00

Below is more press we received for our client on Mediabistro regarding the launch. You can go to the story here:

Mediabistro's Fishbowl NY press here.

MediaPost also covered the launch briefly at the bottom of the page here.

Folio Magazine Article About Specialty Insider Launch and Solveris Marketing and Communications

2010-01-11T20:18:00.004-05:00

Please click the link to read the full story: foliomag.com

Former SVP, Group Publisher of Condé Nast's Women's Wear Daily (WWD) Launching New Magazine

2010-01-11T10:47:00.008-05:00

Solveris Marketing and Communications is named agency of record.

Ralph Erardy, ICG President and Publisher of Specialty Insider

New York, NY-Ralph Erardy had a challenging year. He became seriously ill and lost his job due to a restructuring at Condé Nast's Fairchild Publications where he was previously SVP, Group Publisher of Women's Wear Daily, the leading newspaper of the fashion industry. This was a position he held twice in his 15 year, record-breaking career.

Never one to be defeated, Ralph recovered from his illness and formed Insider Communications Group (ICG), where he serves as President. Now, ICG is officially announcing that it is launching its first media property, Specialty Insider magazine. Specialty Insider magazine is a B2B publication targeted to specialty apparel retailers, where he will also serve as publisher. The magazine will be edited by a team of experienced fashion, apparel and retailing journalists, many of whom Erardy worked with earlier in his career. The sales team at Specialty Insider consists of experienced sales people from WWD that Ralph reached out to when their jobs had also been eliminated in the restructuring.

The new magazine, scheduled for launch January 25, 2010 will begin as a quarterly. Specialty Insider will have an initial launch circulation of 15,000 carefully selected specialty apparel, retail decision-makers. The editorial focus will be on techniques, trends and solutions for running a successful, specialty retail operation and there will be emphasis on strong visual appeal. They have an initial, pre-launch, informational, mini-site live at www.specialtyinsider.com with plans for a more ambitious site and digital plan in the works. They also have a Specialty Insider blog, a Facebook page, a YouTube video and an active twitter presence @specialtyinside.

Specialty Insider first issue cover

When asked why he would want to start a new, magazine in arguably the most challenging environment ever for print, Ralph said:

"I believe a good idea where there is a void in the market will always be successful, despite the overall market conditions. Specialty Insider is about providing retailers with trends, techniques and tips to improve their businesses. It's what I've heard specialty retailers tell me they wanted for a long-time-a magazine for them. Advertisers have told me they wanted a vehicle that allowed them to reach only specialty stores and they wanted to message them when they were strategizing and thinking about their businesses-when they were in a buying mindset. There is nothing else like it."

Click here for a letter from Ralph or go to http://www.specialtyinsider.com/

Solveris Marketing and Communications provided marketing consultation on the new launch from its inception. Logos, branding, sales materials, design direction, the sample mock-up, initial informational site, list management and social media strategy/implementation/integration were some of the duties assigned. In a joint statement, Tony Sarcone and Robert Kline, partners at Solveris said:

"We've known Ralph for a long-time and we've witnessed his record-breaking performances at both WWD and HFN, where he served as SVP and Publisher. Still, when Ralph approached us with the idea of starting a print magazine we were skeptical, at first. After we heard all the details of the project, we both quickly became convinced that Specialty Insider was a great idea—we had to be part of it. It was the same things we heard in our many years of experience with retailers and those companies trying to reach them. We are thrilled to work with ICG, Specialty Insider, and Ralph, again. We wish him much success and continued good health."

To learn more about Specialty Insider, go to http://www.specialtyinsider.com. Media inquiries should be directed to tsarcone@solveris1.com. To learn more about Solveris Marketing and Communications visit http://www.solveris1.com/.

Specialty Insider Pre-Launch Video

2010-01-03T01:36:00.010-05:00

Solveris has produced a new pre-launch video for our client Specialty Insider. We plan to update the video as we approach the launch with real visuals from the magazine. For those of you subscribing to our newsletter via email, it can be found on our blog and on YouTube. Let us know what you think.

Social Networking Tools Are Priority for Retailers - RetailConnections Adds Social Media Retaining Solveris Marketing + Communications as AOR

2009-12-27T16:04:00.003-05:00

TARRYTOWN, N.Y.--A recent poll found that 47 percent of online retailers will increase their use of social media this season. More than half, 60 percent, said they had added or improved their Facebook and Twitter accounts this year, the National Retail Federation (NRF) report said. Furthermore, in 2010, The MarketingSherpa reports that 79 percent of retail and e-commerce marketers are more likely to increase social media marketing budgets.

As the importance of social media becomes a growing priority for retailers, RetailConnections today announced several new, social media networking initiatives. Implemented by their new agency of record, Solveris Marketing + Communications, these efforts will keep RetailConnections a top resource for retail thought leadership. Their new social media site links can be found on their website www.retailconnections.biz. The website and new initiatives designed and developed by Solveris Marketing+Communications is for use by senior-level executives and brings another level of business sophistication and functionality to RetailConnections communications. It also provides new tools and information for top-level business executives bringing them “unparalleled business value”— a RetailConnections mantra.

Highlights include:

Integration of their blog, twitter and events brochures on their employee Linkedin profiles and a new company profile at http://www.linkedin.com/companies/retailconnections which includes employees profiles and blog updates.
A new blog feed and news update email http://www.retailconnections.biz/newsletter.php
A new Twitter site at www.twitter.com/retailconnect
A new Facebook page with event dates, photos, blog updates, twitter feed and more at http://www.facebook.com/pages/RetailConnections/201857982143

Additionally, the www.retailconnections.biz website has been updated with easy-to-follow links and icons and a twitter feed on the homepage of the site.

These new initiatives will allow RetailConnections to expand collaborative dialogue with thought leadership between events and allow executives to keep informed of RetailConnections new projects such as the new “Fresh Forum” debuting April 14-16 in San Antonio for supermarket retailers focused on making perishables more profitable. It will also allow our retail attendees and sponsors to more easily communicate their news and needs to us.

Marc Millstein, president of RetailConnections said,

"RetailConnections understands the growing importance of social media as a communication and collaboration tool for retailers. We think these new web 2.0 initiatives will provide more ways for us to help improve retailers businesses and add to the value equation of doing business with RetailConnections. We’ve being very happy with the work Solveris has performed for us in the past, and choosing them as AOR was really an easy choice for us."

Solveris Marketing and Communications also helped promote RetailConnections Business and IT Executive Summit. The A-list confirmed speakers and panelists include:

Tom Cole, Chief Administrative Officer, Macy's, Inc.
Chris McCann, President, 1-800-Flowers
Tony Truesdale, President, CMO, Vitamin Shoppe
Diane Ellis, President, COO, Brooks Brothers
Patrick Murray, SVP, CFO, Sephora USA
Dennis Hernreich, EVP, CFO, COO, Casual Male Retail Group
Baron Concors, CIO, Pizza Hut
Mike Haaf, SVP, Sales, Marketing, Business Strategy, Food Lion/Delhaize
Michael Relich, SVP, CIO, Guess
Jon Kubo, VP, CIO, Wet Seal
Jay Dunn, VP, Marketing, Lane Bryant/Charming Shoppes Group
Bill Baxley, SVP, Merchandise, Marketing, Kerr Drug,and Chairman, Drug Chain Consortium
Jason Scheffer, Director, Inventory, Vitamin Shoppe
Lawrence Bergenfield, CEO, Bergenfield & Associates
Richard Hastings, Consumer Strategist, Global HunterSecurities
Bernie Brennan, Managing Director, Brennan Group
Jeff Roster, Research VP, Gartner
Greg Buzek, President, IHL Group
Lori Schafer, Retail and Technology Boards of Directors
Brian Hume, President, Martec International
Bill Noakes, Managing Partner, Noakes Group

To date, sponsors include: Founding - afterBOT, Cisco (also sponsor of opening night dinner), Direct Source, Epson (also sponsor of Third Annual Golf Tournament), 4R Systems, Intuit, Microsoft, NGC Software, Retaligent, SAS, Sterling Commerce, TradeCard, TradeStone and Verizon. Charter - BVI Networks, Headway Corporation. Resources, Epicor Retail, Manthan Systems, Pitney Bowles, Raymark and SAF-AG.

More than 30 of the largest retailers have signed on to attend, with many sending more than one senior executive to represent different business departments including: Men's Warehouse; Chico's FAS; Bed, Bath and Beyond (2); Perry Ellis International; Cabelas (2); Michaels Stores; Tory Burch; New Look (UK); JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts; Big M Inc.; The Limited; Dots (2); Due Maternity; Office Depot; Family Dollar; Wakefern Food Corp. (2), Restoration Hardware; Grocery Outlook; RaceTrac Petroleum; W.L. Gore & Associates (2); Cost Plus World Market; Stein Mart; Burlington Coat Factory; Payless/Collective Brands; Key Foods; Edwin Watts Golf; Helzberg Diamonds (2); Genesco; Roche Bros. Supermarkets; AMF Bowling Centers; Rooms To Go; Peek: Aren't You Curious, Green Hill Farm Store, and more. The next Summit, which is limited to 100 senior retail executives, will be held Feb. 21-23, 2010 in Miami, Florida.

For more information, email marc@retailconnections.biz; to register online go to http://www.retailconnections.biz/event-registration.php. Qualified retailers only (VP titles and above) may register directly online; retailer attendance is complimentary. All other industry executives (analysts, vendors, other potential sponsors, etc.) should contact Marc Millstein for more information. Please note, the Summit is almost sold out.

Solveris Marketing+Communications partners Tony Sarcone and Robert Cordes Kline issued a statement saying,

“We were very pleased to be chosen as the AOR by RetailConnections. We consider them to be the number one players in their space and the most innovative. By listening carefully to their needs, understanding their business and clients needs, we believe we’ve created tools that are well-designed and with functions that will better serve RetailConnections, its customers and sponsors. We look forward to continuing the relationship with RetailConnections by collaborating on new, exciting initiatives”

About RetailConnections

RetailConnections was founded by long-time retail industry insider Marc Millstein, who has 25 years of industry experience working with retail executives in all segments. As founder and editor of Executive Technology magazine, Marc launched the Executive Technology website and newsletter, as well as the franchise's CIO Summits. He was also instrumental in summits for RIS News, in particular in founding that publication's Supermarket Executive Summit, and spearheaded a wide number of initiatives at Fairchild Publications. In addition to the Summit, RetailConnections has an extensive practice in hosting executive dinners and other live events as well as consulting with retail technology vendors on go-to-market strategies.

About Solveris Marketing+Communications

Solveris Marketing+Communications, http://solveris1.com, is owned by marketing and advertising veterans, Tony Sarcone and Robert Cordes Kline, partners. Solveris Marketing+Communications’ commitment is to develop and produce the most concise and effective campaigns and communication programs for their clients. Using a dynamic mix of traditional and new media, Solveris Marketing+Communications leverages its expertise to drive results for its clients’ goals and business. Solveris provides personal attention rarely found at today’s agencies. Working with Solveris Marketing+Communications is a smart and rewarding experience. Their main purpose is better results for your business.

Contacts:

RetailConnections, LLC.

Marc Millstein, Principal, 914-620-5947

marc@retailconnections.biz

Solveris Marketing+Communications

Tony Sarcone, Partner, Strategy and Client Relations, 732-801-0401

tsarcone@solveris1.com

Posted via email from solveris's posterous

Will Social Media Save Journalism?

2009-12-16T06:40:00.003-05:00

I don't think anybody would debate the fact that blogging, the internet in general, and social media's proliferation have been slowly killing off traditional media. The toll on print newspapers and magazines has been significant and continues with no end in sight. However, it seems to me that a new need is emerging that very well may be good news for the numerous journalists and writers that have been misplaced from their print jobs.

We've noticed at Solveris that we no longer have to justify using social media to new and existing clients, as we once did. We've been big proponents of using social media and we believe the ROI needs to be calculated in more than just dollars and cents. People such as Erik Qualman's with his excellent videos, book and blog have done much to help evangelize social media to the unbelievers (we have a short post here on his new ROI video). Wildly popular, social media news sites like Mashable have seemed to rise up from nowhere to help companies and individuals become more knowledgeable and successful with social media. However, while these evangelists have helped to spread the word of social media and helped make businesses clamor to create and implement a social media strategy, we find this creates a new set of challenges.

Many companies, particularly small businesses (but not limited to small businesses) not only need to learn about all the different social media resources available, what they are and do, and how they work, but they also need to figure out how they are going to create content for them and keep them updated. It's one thing to create a twitter presence or facebook page, and to learn the etiquette, terminology and culture of these networks, not to mention the technological aspects; it's another thing to have to create engaging content, keep that content current and drive traffic to all these different places in a strategic way that benefits all. Obviously, the best way is to have these networks interact and be part of an overall, umbrella strategy that ultimately benefits your brand and business. Separate islands of social media, we feel is not the most effective implementation. For many, without the help of a an agency or strategist, these challenges can seem insurmountable and intimidating. As already noted, this may be the biggest obstacle facing smart, innovations like Google Wave being adopted in a widespread way, quickly.

But what we've been seeing recently is that the biggest obstacle is not a willingness to overcome some of these other obstacles, rather, the biggest seems to be the content one. Now, in addition to running your business, a social media plan means being a content provider. Somebody has to write all those blog posts, tweets, facebook and linkedin updates. Not only do they need to be written, but the content needs to be somewhat relevant and engaging. Furthermore, there are concerns about whom within the company will provide that content and what is permissible to broadcast. Then, after content is created, it needs to be posted, ideally checked on, and comments followed up with responses. Yes, it is a lot of work. Do I think it's worth it? Yes, I do (for all the reasons Qualman cites in his book, video and blog and for other reason, as well).

One of the first things that clients ask us after we discuss a social media strategy and it starts dawning on them what a social media strategy means is, "who is going to provide all this content?". The second question usually is "can you guys create it for us?". While I agree with many of the opinions out there that ideally, a company provides the content themselves, tweets, etc.; I do not think this is ideal or even feasible in every case. This leaves us with either providing content from our agency, or employing some of the excellent journalists and writers we know to help these companies. We do both depending on the industry, client and strategy. This situation will only become more widespread, I believe, as more and more businesses realize the benefits of social media for their companies and begin adding or expanding to their social media presences.

If social media is not a fad (and I do not think it is having drank the Kool-Aid), I believe that the underemployed or unemployed writers will be needed to fill this rising need for content. I also think that new industries will arise to provide this content in a more systematic and business-oriented manner. I realize that this may not be why many went to J-school, but I think it may be the reason why future generations might. Social Media (and the growing influence of hyperlocal sites, such as this one from one of our clients), in my opinion, just might stem the decline in journalism in the short term, and create an expanding need beyond what we've known previously for writers in the future. Social Media might just save journalism.

Google Wave: It's Going To Be A Brave, New, Communication World

2009-12-04T02:15:00.012-05:00

After I posted, New Collaboration Tools For The Post-Email Age, a few things occurred that need to be touched on, briefly. Remindo corrected me that they have seven people (I think) and not five people, as I stated. Also, Google, who I used as an example of a tech company that does not respond, responded to several of my questions in "Big Brother-like" style that gave me a chill. To Remindo and Google, I apologize. I hereby change the quote to: "Try emailing Microsoft or many tech companies with a problem". Also, the next day after my post, I received my invitation to Google Wave (they know everything).

I should tell you that I did not understand Google Wave or the need for it for a long time. I thought, based on early reports, it was too complicated, over-hyped and would have difficulty getting acceptance, even if it was incredible. Here was a grand experiment by Google that was destined to fail, I thought. I have since changed my mind.

I should also tell you that I'm not a person that normally jumps on the latest technology. I was still using excite long after even my Mother told me I should use Google (I never listen to my Mom, unfortunately. She doesn't read this either so she'll never know I gave her credit!). Only recently, did I relent and join LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. When it comes to technology, I'm not exactly a pioneer.

However, for years I was frustrated with email, as I detailed in my last post. In short, many times, it's the wrong tool for the job. As I was reading more and more about Google Wave, fed up with email's shortcomings and lack of innovation and "scalability" and "adaptability", I started looking for a solution. Finally, the light bulb went off as I started to understand Google Wave.

I am a little surprised that I do think my last post did grasp the basic idea of Google Wave. I have been playing with Google Wave without too much interaction for the moment from other invitees. People who have asked for an invitation have not, yet, joined and those that have, have not yet, tried it out. Many people never heard of it (!). I can say that I am impressed. This is not your father's email at the risk of being hackneyed and torturing an old ad slogan.

A few things I noticed: It's not entirely intuitive to those (most of us) who've been fed a heavy diet of email. It's closer to chat than email, except, it keeps a record of the chat recorded like email and allows for in-message sharing of documents, html, maps, video, twitter, rss feeds, stock quotes,i-frame a page, video conferencing, directions and so much more. When I think about the potential for this as a collaboration too and a way to keep topics and business organized, I am awed by it. It definitely needs an alert feature like email (there are apps or bots for that for a Wave and I am certain Google will build this in-it does have a "ping" feature). While I think it probably has the greatest potential for businesses, I'd be willing to bet that young people get it and adopt it quicker. Many younger people already see email as an antiquated technology and "dumb" form of communication. They've already left email for IM, text, broadcast, video, etc. Once again, the kids get it.

I don't want to give a huge post here on all my thoughts so early in my trial (you are welcome), but let's just say, Google, despite my best efforts to not let them win me over (and they have again and again), won me over. I'm beginning to drink the Google Wave Kool-Aid. Ahh, Google, I don't want to love all that you do. I fight you at first, but you eventually win me over, every time.

I do think that that its open source coding, its ability to adapt to new technologies and its "gadgets" and "bots" will be crucial to its success. The fact that it can interact with other technologies, be put onto a site or blog, also will help spread its influence virally. Try that with your email. It will be like a vine snaking all over the internet. I also think that it will be slow to be embraced by business people (once again, ironically that is its best audience, in my early opinion). Some of the reactions I got to offering an invite were: "I'm not even on Twitter" and "Now I have to learn another thing?" No, you don't. You don't have to use a mobile phone or a computer even, either, if you don't want to.

Let me give you a couple of cool things related to gadgets and bots and then I'll leave you with a video, if you want to learn more, as some have asked Solveris for more information. Say I'm talking to my best friend in Hungary. She can speak English well, but I want to be a show off and talk to her in her native language, anyway, or talk to her grandmother who does not speak good English. I can pull in a bot from my contact list. I can then create a "blip" to her in English and my words will be translated by the bot in real-time to Hungarian for my friend and her grandmother. On my end, their words, in real time, will be shown in English. Now apply that to the business world. Now let's say my new client wants to go fishing this weekend and says "if the weather is good" in his blip. I can easily pull in a weather bot into our conversation that will give us a forecast and then pull in a directions gadget that will tell us how to get to the pier. I pull my broker into the Wave because my client asked me where he can put his money where it will be protected and still earn him decent interest. My broker pulls in a robot in his "blip" from his contact list and shows us some great investments with quotes in real time. I then pull in a chart bot that shows me that his commission has steadily increased for this financial "product" and question the investment fees (not that my broker would ever do that-hypothetical, of course). Once again, try that with your email. These are some very simplistic examples, but you can see its applications and utility. Later I can replay the Wave or share it with my partner.

More on Wave in later posts, but if you have it try it, you may like it? You don't have to adopt it (yet), but I can guarantee you, it may not be a tidal wave tomorrow, but it ain't going back out to the technology sea so quickly, either.

Warning: This is the long Wave explanation:

New Collaboration Tools For The Post-Email Age

2009-11-29T05:09:00.025-05:00

When I was a kid, my father would take us from the suburbs to the city once a year to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from his office. It was very exciting for us as kids. We'd go into the city and see where he worked and have lunch at a NYC restaurant. All that was more exciting than the parade.

One year, I noticed this huge machine with an arm on top of it attached to a pen and asked him what it was. I never saw anything like it. He said:

"That thing? That's a machine we use to send documents back and forth from California to NY when we need something in a hurry, like a signature. It uses these special rolls of carbon paper like your teachers use in school. The person writes on one end and then the pen retraces the same movements on the other. You can barely understand what comes out. I don't know why the hell we even use it. You have to then call to ask what it says. I guess everyone wants everything in a hurry?"

I had to have him explain it to me a couple of times and look at it closer. While my father saw this as sort of a silly, unnecessary contraption, I was awed by it and couldn't wait to tell everyone about it back in the suburbs. Most people I told, didn't believe me.

Wow. We've come a long way since then. When I started working in an office there was no email, or IM or text. You'd mail out a report and people would wait 3 days for it. Three days! Maybe, maybe, if it was really an emergency, you might fax it or overnight a very special "memo" or a document. We often needed permission to do this. Imagine that? (I wonder if most younger people today know the "cc" originally stood for carbon copy and that there once was literally carbon copy paper that produced the document?). Collaboration was not exactly optimal then, nor was speed in getting projects moving forward.

Along Comes Email: No Wet Copies or Carbon Paper

Finally, along came email. Wow. Email was like the coolest thing EVER. It was slower then. You sometimes would need to wait. Sometimes it didn't go where you sent it. You couldn't attach many files and sometimes people refused to read it or would answer you 3 days later, anyway. But it was a vast improvement. And, yes, it fostered more collaboration and better project development. Condé Nast soon proclaimed it would have a "paperless office". Sometimes, we get a little over zealous in technology's capabilities.

The Age of Real Time Communication

Now, in the Twitter, text, IM world, I think email has had its day. With so much need to collaborate, and so many people collaborating across so many different projects, email no longer makes as much sense as it once did. Quite frankly, even socially like sending out pictures of the grandchildren can get confusing with all of the people commenting, asking questions, wanting copies, etc.

In business it is far worse. One has to dig through tons of emails to understand everyone's comments. You often have attachments that need to be reviewed, then commented upon (in email usually) and then sent back, requiring the sender to then open the attachment, read the comments from the email, try to match it up with the attachment, understand what the comments are referring to and write their comments and send it back.

Worse, still, you have other people involved in the process who may express their opinions separately. Then you often have to get approvals/opinions on the opinions and produce new drafts that are redrafted and need to be used to create a whole separate piece of creative or document that needs to be emailed around all over again.

When I managed a team of designers, copywriters, promotion people and other department members, you'd often have comments from them, then the salespeople on the account, the publisher, the client personnel, the agency people and more all emailing about one project. The email trails were often all over the place with revision comments, thoughts and drafts in different threads. There could be 10 or more people involved with one document.

It's sloppy, inefficient, confusing and not suitable anymore. It's like trying to send a message today with the machine my father had in his office, then. The only reason they used this big piece of equipment that produced barely legible, confusing messages was that's all they had and there was no alternative. I feel a bit like my father some days, "I don't know why the hell we even use it?". Just like there needed to be a better machine (my father was right), there needs to be better collaboration tools, today. And I think we are starting to see some of them emerging.

Better Collaboration, Post-Email Tools Are Taking Shape

For all the hype, excitement and confusion of Google Wave (here is one brief article), I believe (without getting an invite), at its core, it's a social collaboration tool that tries to answer the problems I describe above by keeping all the relevant files, comments, videos, etc., together in one stream.

Have a problem with the words "social collaboration" and "stream"? Think of a wave as one project or subject line that everyone involved can express themselves on. It's all kept together in one "email". Comments, attachments, revisions are all in one neat place. Google Wave does more than this, but this is one of its main features, I think. All this happens in real time. Want to ask a quick question. Then you use email or IM or text. You don't create a wave for that. Want to say, "thanks for the great job!", once again, not wave worthy.Waves can be placed on a website or anywhere. Here's another good explanation for those wanting to learn a little more about it.

But there are also some new collaboration tools emerging, that while not as sophisticated (nor arguably as complex to learn) as Google Wave, are trying to solve the problem of internal and external collaborative communication. I believe this is a growing problem, even for smaller agencies like Solveris now, and will only get worse as we get larger.

Remindo: Facebook-Like Familiarity

LifeHacker has a list of Top 10 Web Collaboration Tools (That Aren't Google Wave). There are also some established subscription services like Basecamp and Zimbra, but these can be overkill and expensive for smaller businesses. One free service is Remindo. Mashable recently wrote about Remindo in an article, Remindo: Social Web Collaboration for Business. Basically, Remindo is a free service that allows a company to store files for themselves and clients, IM within the program, keep common project calendars, task lists and have discussions within its intranet/extranet.

The free service, which Solveris is testing, provides 3GB of storage and allows uploads of files up to 200MB each. External vendors or clients can be invited in to join a particular project without access to the entire company site and other client's information. This keeps the "email trail", "wave" or whatever you want to call it in tact for all parties, reduces all the email confusion and multiple versions of files, and it's a nice way to store files that are commonly asked for repeatedly. I also like its simple, clean, Facebook-like user-interface.

Remindo provides an https:// so it's secure and uses 128 bit VeriSign SSL encryption. Everything is backed up on Amazon, reliable servers. When people ask about security, I have to wonder how secure they think their email or own sites are? It also provides unlimited users, projects, sub-projects and clients. There is also 24/7 support, which I have tested repeatedly. I've been shocked how fast, nice and accommodating the support has been. Think that's everywhere? Try emailing Google or many tech companies with a problem. It's surprising, too, because I believe that they have about a team of five, right now.

Sounds great? Right? Well, it's in Alpha testing, which means there are some bugs and features missing right now. It works and works well, but there is the occasional blip. Moving, deleting and changing things like projects and files is lacking right now (something they've assured me will be fixed in the next release in a few weeks). The "rich profiles" are well intentioned, but a bit overkill and unnecessary for a work program (horoscope signs, hobbies, pets, sports, etc.). The "My News" is a nice feature, but can be a bit buggy, as well, and I'm not sure if it's really necessary when one can just as easily go to the web. I think there should be some customization allowing for some comments in projects and sub-projects to be able to be toggled to internal, a time on job feature would be great and I would love to see a hosting element added for development websites, even for a reasonable, upgrade charge. These things may be coming in later development.

Still, I think it has great promise and more fixes and enhancements are still coming soon and it may be unfair to judge a free service that is still evolving and seems to have great intentions. The biggest obstacle that Solveris, Remindo and services like it may face is getting people off the email habit, seeing this as a better way of communicating and not another tool forced on them that they need to adopt. We'll try to report back later on how we like it and if it's working for us and our clients. Still this does not solve our rich media and website collaboration issues, nor the issues of on-document commenting/collaboration.

ClientShow: Sleek and Stylish

Another new company that is trying to help the collaboration via email problem (and I believe it is a problem), is ClientShow. More TweetDeck than Facebook in user-interface, this one is sharp. While it provides a lot of customization on the agency-side, the client-side is simple and web-based allowing for post-it note like comments and "Approved", "Not Approved", "Approved with Changes", simplicity. It claims to handle rich media files and if that means we can show and have clients see, comment on the page, and approve images, along with working html and flash documents, I love it already. More about it from TechCrunch here.

ClientShow is in private Beta testing right now. They've delayed the public Beta until mid-December. I think it has a lot of promise as a painless solution to web media collaboration, commenting and presenting/viewing for both agency and client. Since pricing has not been announced, I do have a concern that it may be a great solution that we and our clients find useful and it's just too expensive for us to provide, if we get a chance to Beta test it. Here are some videos on the ClientShow YouTube Channel. And here's an overview (you can expand the video) of what the client sees below (one of 4 parts of ClientShow):
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What do you think of the collaboration tools shown here? Are there any solutions that you think work better? Do you disagree that email is outdated? Let us know.