• Opens New Office, Announces New Account Executive.

Although we are only two months into the new year, 2012 has been full of excitement so far for Brown Advertising.

We are happy to announce that we have opened a new office in Winston-Salem and look forward to calling the area home.

We also recently welcomed a new Account Executive, Cameron Yost, to our team.

All of this growth and expansion mirrors our commitment to expansion throughout Winston-Salem and the Triad, while continuing to serve the Yadkin Valley area as we have now for over 12 years.

Check Out Our New Office!

Our office is located directly off of Stratford Road on Vest Mill Road in Winston-Salem. If you are ever in the area, feel free to stop by and say hello. We would love to have the chance to catch up on what is new with you.

Our new address is:
3512 Vest Mill Road, Suite 1-A
Winston-Salem, NC 27103

Our new office number is:
(336) 298-6747

Meet Cameron…

Cameron’s primary focuses will be project management and new business development, allowing us to better serve our clients with personal attention and enthusiasm.

When asked about her new position she said, “This is such an exciting time for the company and I’m honored to be able to be apart of the growth taking place at Brown Advertising. I look forward to working with our existing clients and meeting new ones.”

Cameron recently relocated from Raleigh where she worked in fundraising and event planning for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She brings with her experience in development, marketing and public relations.

In her free time she loves movies, trying new restaurants, and going to the park with her husband and dog Huck.

Cameron can be reached directly at (336) 793-7909 or by email at
cameron@brownadvertising.com.

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 298-6747 or fill out our contact form.

As I mentioned in the last blog post, video is a powerful tool that every business can use as part of their overall marketing strategy. At Brown Advertising, we are firm believers in using this medium as the perfect compliment to your website and other marketing elements.

So without further adieu, here is our new video:

I’d like to thank Dr. Scott Mills of Carolina Hearing Doctors, Amanda Shore and Lisa Gifford of Allen Tate Realtors and Josh Burchette of Burchette and Burchette Hardwood Floors for taking the time to be in our video (and saying some kind words!)

Also, special thanks to Sarah Holmes and Christopher Brown of Apex Video Productions for the outstanding work in producing the videos!

In working on this video, I learned a lot about the process and why you should use a professional video production company like Apex Video Productions.

A lot of people are intimidated by being on camera. They’re afraid of how they will look and sound. I can tell you firsthand, I was nervous about being on camera because I’m naturally an introvert and have to really work at public speaking.

But with Apex Video Productions, they make you feel comfortable on camera and have the experience to know exactly what to ask and what to film to help craft your story.

I was surprised to see how involved it is setting up the equipment and lighting—putting all of the subtle details into it that help add that finished touch that really sets your video apart. Plus all of the “magic” that they work in the editing process to remove “ums” and “ahs” and even merging parts of one sentence with parts of another seamlessly.

As a sneak peak behind the scenes, here’s a taste of some of the unedited interview process where I struggle to get the wording of my closing statement just right (with the help of Sarah!)

As you can see, Sarah and Christopher had their work cut out with me BUT hopefully it goes to show how they can make anyone sound great on camera!

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.

I received a nice email from a client this week stating that a branding project we developed for Historic Elkin, NC had won a state award!

The Elkin Main Street Advisory Board won “Best Downtown Branding and Image Building Campaign” as well as the Award of Merit as part of the 2011 N.C. Main Street Awards.

The N.C. Main Street Awards are part of the N.C. Main Street Center, which works to stimulate economic development within the context of historic preservation. They utilize a comprehensive approach to downtown revitalization developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to assist communities across the country.

Brown Advertising came up with distinctive branding for Historic Elkin which features one main logo with two style variations and six color variations. Specific colors are assigned to be used on certain categories of materials, such as marketing, economic development, etc.

Brown Advertising also developed some marketing materials, including 5.5″ x 8.5″ booklets, promotional cards and billboards.

We were very excited to hear the news!

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.

As a web designer, I’ve worked with a variety of web hosting companies over the years. One might think on the surface that they’re all the same—but that’s far from the case in reality. A poor web hosting company can not only cause you unnecessary grief, but lost revenue as well.

With so many choices today, how do you know who to use? Here are some areas to consider:

1. Customer Service

I rank  this as the #1 criteria to evaluate when choosing a company to host your website. Can you get in touch with a live human when you have a question or when something goes wrong? And if so, can you understand the person on the other line? What is their response time? Do they provide useful documentation on their site, as well as frequently asked questions?

With some companies, you can only submit a trouble ticket and may wait days until you hear a response. There are simply too many choices out there to settle for less than top-notch, responsive customer service.

2. Disk Space

The amount of disk space is an important consideration—especially today with more video, applications and online media incorporated onto our websites. You want enough space to store all of those files.

Having said that, don’t overdo it and end up paying much more than you need to just because they offer a larger plan. Often with the major companies such as GoDaddy and HostGator, their lowest hosting package will have enough storage for most businesses, unless you have specialized needs.

Also, some hosts will tell you that the storage space is “unlimited” but if you read the fine print there are some restrictions after all.

3. Uptime

You want your web hosting company to be reliable. Quality web hosts invest millions of dollars in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment that allow them to guarantee your website will be up 99.9% of the time. Their servers are in climate and humidity controlled environments with multiple back up systems and generators in place to handle any emergencies.

4. Features

Web hosts today offer a tremendous amount of features you can add such as blogs, photo galleries, e-commerce shopping carts, contact forms, online calendars and many more. Also, most hosting plans come with web mail and a set number of email addresses — but be sure that it includes enough storage space per email account (not just the overall amount). If not, purchase a separate email package because you’ll most likely need it.

5. Pricing

Hosting prices have been driven down by the amount of competition and increased efficiencies. Smaller hosting companies find it hard to compete with the global giants who can offer their services at a fraction of the cost. But don’t get caught up in shopping for the absolute lowest price alone. You can find a good host for most general website needs for less than $10 per month (often half that amount). These will typically be shared hosting accounts, meaning that you share space and other server resources with others in exchange for a smaller price.

If you have special needs, you can invest in a dedicated server or virtual dedicated server which will give you more performance, more space and more control. But I usually recommend these for really large sites that have extensive e-commerce or expect a ton of traffic and need to be able to meet those demands.

5. Recommendations

There are lots of good hosting companies out there. The two that I personally have the most (and best) experience with are GoDaddy and HostGator. With any hosting company, there are both fans and haters wanting to present their side and debate the particulars. But I feel confident recommending either of those companies to most of my clients.

For clients who do need to upgrade to higher end hosting, Rackspace and Media Temple are both good choices.

One last important tip. Whether you host your website yourself or your web design company hosts it for you, be sure to:

• Have every log-in and password associated with the account (including control panel access)
• Keep this information on file so you can access it at any time
• Insist your domain name is registered in your name so you are the official owner with full control (this will probably be the subject of a future blog post in and of itself)

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.

Many small and mid-size companies are primarily reactive with their marketing efforts. For them, marketing is an event rather than a process. There is the tendency to think that marketing is placing a few ads and occasionally sending a direct mail piece or an email blast.

They may have some limited success but wonder why their marketing is not getting the results they need. The problem is they are not being proactive with their marketing and approaching it as a comprehensive strategy.

If you’re guilty of being too reactive, here are some ways to become more proactive with your marketing:

1. Clearly define your target audience

By taking the time to truly define and understand your target audience, you’re creating the foundation of your marketing strategy. Your marketing efforts will be much more effective if you know your target market—their habits, behaviors, likes and dislikes. Do a market analysis to help identify the size of your market as well as trends, opportunities, growth rate and profitability.

2. Clearly define your offering

You’ve heard the saying, you can’t be all things to all people. Focus in on exactly what you provide and what makes your products or services different from your competitors. Create your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Develop a list of talking points that you can use to help be consistent with your message. And communicate the benefits, not just the features to your audience.

3. Develop a plan

Once you have a clear picture of your target audience as well as a clearly define offering and message, develop a marketing plan. Document this and place it a three ring binder to refer to weekly or monthly. Ideally the plan should cover at least one year and you can adjust it along the way as you measure and track results.

You should also set longer goals and have a vision of where you company is heading and make sure the one year plan works toward those goals and your vision.

Your plan should include the specific strategies you’re going to focus on to reach your goals. Will you advertise, use online marketing, direct outreach or public relations? Be specific and choose at least 2-3 methods that you will focus on and break them down from there.

4. Implement your plan

Can you realistically implement your plan using existing employees? Do you need to hire staff? Or do you need to hire an outside company? Decide what works best for you. Of course, we feel hiring an outside company can help bring an objective perspective and the right expertise to make your marketing efforts truly successful.

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.

Many businesses today recognize that blogging can be a great way to market your business, build a following and create a personal connection with your audience. But one of the most common questions I get is, “But what am I going to write about?”

There are many ways to create content for your blog—here are just five ideas you can use to get started today:

1. Write a how-to article

Creating content that educates (not sells) is one of the fundamental aspects of inbound marketing. Almost any company can create articles explaining how to do things related to their business. For example:

• A financial planner writes articles about how to create a household budget and how to read your credit report
• A home health agency writes articles about how to talk to your aging parents about their long term care options
• A cardiologist writes articles about how to spot warning signs of a heart attack and how sodium can affect blood pressure
• A furniture store writes articles about how to pick the right style furniture to complement your home and how to make the best use of space
• A hardwood floor company writes articles about how to care for your new hardwood floors

If you’re short on ideas, check out sites like www.ehow.com or www.alltop.com for some inspiration on topics you could write about.

2. Create a video and post it on your blog

There are numerous options today to create videos. For do-it-yourself options, you can easily record a screen cast with a service like Screenr. Or use a service like Animoto to create a video slideshow showcasing your products or services. Or use an inexpensive Flip camera or your computer’s built in camera to record testimonials, frequently asked questions or demonstrate your product.

If you create a series of short videos—such as 1 minute videos answering each of your top 10 FAQs—then you can split them into 10 different blog posts, upload them to YouTube and promote them through your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn channels.

If you want a more professional video, or series of videos, then go with a talented video production company. They will take care of everything and remove any fears and doubts to produce video that you can use in many different places.

3. Collect a weekly roundup of relevant news

You can become a resource by collecting articles, industry news or other helpful information and posting them in a weekly roundup. People appreciate having relevant information consolidated for them in one place. The key is to make sure it is focused specifically to your target audience.

To streamline this process for you, set up Google Alerts for your topics or subscribe to many RSS feeds and manage them with an RSS reader such as Netvibes. You can also scan sites such as Alltop for articles related to your topic.

One of the benefits of creating roundups is that you’re not having to write the content itself—you’re just collecting and linking to others as a handy resource.

4. Weigh in on a hot topic in your industry

Almost every industry has topics that create much discussion from both within and without. By writing articles explaining your thoughts and positions, you demonstrate you keep up to date with the latest happenings in your industry and you can establish yourself as a thought leader.

For example, a physician can weigh in on the latest health care laws or a graphic designer can write an article against creating spec work.

5. Share conference takeaways

Many companies attend or exhibit at conferences related to their industry. A lot of trends are revealed at these conferences which would be great to share with your audience. Your audience will appreciate that you’re on top of the latest developments in your industry. Often you’ll come away from a conference energized about what’s happening in your industry and that comes across in your blog posts.

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.

Today, the Internet is the place most consumers turn to when looking for information, services and products to buy. Over 93% of consumers worldwide use search engines to find and access websites, according to Forrester Research.

This tremendous shift in how consumers make buying decisions has revolutionized how we do business today—and sent several long-standing industries crashing to their knees.

Of search engine users, over 75% never scroll past the first page of results, according to a study by the Georgia Institute of Technology. So being found on Page 1 for your primary keywords is critical in today’s business environment.

If you’re not in that position—you’re losing business every single day to those who are.

Let’s take a look at what I believe are the six biggest benefits of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to your business.

1. Higher Return on Investment (ROI)

Compared to all other forms of marketing, Search Engine Optimization generates the highest return on investment. According to Marketing Sherpa, spending on SEO has grown to over $18.6 billion per year and climbing. Also in a recent survey of top marketers (also Marketing Sherpa) SEO was ranked number one in terms of return on investment compared to all other marketing strategies.

2. Positioning in the Marketplace

We already know most people are searching online to make buying decisions. And the majority of those never click beyond the first page of search results. So the websites who are on the first page (top 10 results) are perceived to be the most relevant websites for what the user is searching for. Those are the sites getting the clicks. Those are the companies getting the business.

The fact that they appear at the top of search results gives them instant credibility in the mind of the customer. From their perspective, these are the industry leaders.

3. Targeted Traffic

You can have the best website, but if you’re not getting any traffic to it, then it’s not doing you much good. I’m convinced that businesses who are not doing ongoing SEO really have no perspective on how people are searching online today.

If you’re a home builder in Charlotte, and you knew that 6,600 people are searching Google for “home builders in Charlotte” — each and every  month (not counting Yahoo or Bing) then wouldn’t you do whatever it took to rank #1 for “home builders in Charlotte?” And let’s say you generated a $25,000 profit for each home you built—wouldn’t you spend a couple thousand each month on SEO to get even 1-2 new customers?

4. Generate More Leads

When you target primary keywords as part of an ongoing SEO campaign, the goal is to get those keywords ranked as highly as possible in order to capture the existing search traffic. As an added benefit, you’ll often naturally rank for many related keyword phrases as well.

To maximize this qualified traffic (people searching for what you have to offer) you’re website should be well designed and have clear ways to capture leads. This could be a free report in exchange for someone entering their name and email address. Or a request more information form. Or even a prominent phone number.

You want to have at least one call to action in order to prompt a visitor to contact you and express interest in some way. Then they’re in your sales funnel and you can follow up with them.

5. Increase Sales

Search engine optimization is also perfect for e-commerce sites where targeted traffic can directly result in sales on the spot. Even if you don’t have an e-commerce site, of course, people can contact you to place orders by phone or by filling out an order form.

If you’re a business who is looking to increase sales (who isn’t?) then you should strongly consider SEO as a large part of your overall marketing strategy.

6. Beat Your Competition

If you’re running a business, you have competitors. In search terms, you’re competitors include anyone who is ranking on page 1 in Google and other search engines. There’s only 10 spots on the first page and to get there you need to push one of them off (not to mention blowing past thousands of others to even get to page 1) to take a spot.

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.

Social media and online marketing captures a lot of attention today (and rightfully so) but postcard marketing is still a tried-and-true method for many companies’ marketing strategy. Postcards can be very effective for lead generation by prompting a call-to-action response in a timely manner.

Postcards generally get read at a much higher rate than other forms of direct mail because they’re easier to read at a glance and there is no envelope to open. And getting your postcards printed and mailed is much more simple with today’s web-based services.

Here are 6 key reasons to consider marketing with postcards:

1. Lead generation

As mentioned, postcards can be very effective for generating leads. Here are just a few ideas various companies could use as an offer in order to get people to respond:

• 50% off one item at a clothing store
• Complimentary exam by a chiropractor
• Register for a free seminar on planning for retirement by an insurance company
• Free initial consultation by a law firm
• Call for a free report on taking care of your aging parents by a home health agency

And of course the idea would be to convert as many leads to customers once they have responded to your offer.

2. Cost efficient

Compared to other forms of marketing, postcards can be very cost efficient. Depending on the size postcard, postage can range from 29 cents to 44 cents for each piece. And printing costs are relatively low as well, especially with online printers such as vistaprint.com, uprinting.com and modernpostcard.com, among many others.

3. Quick turnaround time

Not only are postcards cost efficient but they can be printed on a very short turnaround time—as little as 12-24 hours from the time you place the order. From there they can be addressed and mailed quickly so it lends itself well for companies who need to quickly get their offer out.

4. Personalized

One of the exciting trends in postcards (and all direct mail for that matter) is variable data printing. With the proper setup of your digital files and your mailing list, you can have each postcard speak directly to your customer. For example, the postcard being mailed to John Smith, can read “John, are you struggling to plan for retirement? Let us help.”

And it goes much deeper than that as you can insert any data such as a business name, website address, age or other information that you may have collected in your database.

An example would be “Jane, we noticed that your website, www.goodiesbyjane.com, was not on Page 1 in Google. We’d like to help Jane’s Bakery Creations get there. Give us a call today.”

5. Targeted

By using a high quality, targeted list, you can deliver your postcards in the hands of people who are most likely to buy from you. A good place to start is often by purchasing a list from a list broker. You can filter by income level, age, geographic location, and hundreds of other criteria including hobbies and interests.

Or you can build your own mailing list of people you have done business with in the past, met at trade shows or have identified in some way as being a prospect.

Targeted postcard mailings should always generate a much higher response rate than untargeted mass mailings.

6. Highly noticeable

Postcards typically get read at much higher rates than other forms of direct mail. If you get a letter in an envelope, such as a credit card offer or a charity solicitation, you may simple toss it without ever opening. But most people will glance at a post card to determine if there is any interest before deciding to toss it or keep reading further.

And if you have targeted your list, have a strong call to action and a professional design, you’ve increased the chances they will respond to your offer.

Other tips for effective postcard marketing:

• Consider going with a larger size to stand out among the recipient’s other mail
• Keep your copy as concise as possible—ideal for skimming
• Have your postcard designed by a pro rather than trying to do it yourself (most people can tell)
• Choose a printer who can also mail it for you for a one-stop solution
• Don’t just send one postcard—approach it as a series of postcards sent at regular intervals to get the best results
• Have a clear purpose and one primary action that you want to encourage people to take

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.

Creating a successful logo is the cornerstone of branding your company. It is the primary ‘mark’ that conveys the impression about your business to others. Many small businesses (and also larger companies) make mistakes that could have easily been avoided while developing their company logo.

Here are 5 of the most common mistakes:

1. Designing it yourself (or by any amateur)

If you’re serious about your business then you should hire a designer to create your logo. Businesses will invest tens of thousands of dollars (and more) in equipment, facilities, inventory and other assets that customers may never see. But some will balk at spending $1000 or more on a logo that will be used on every piece of marketing material, website and any other form of media that every customer sees.

Explain the logic behind that, please?

Some owners will try to design the logo themselves—or have a family member or friend (who are not graphic designers) to create it for them to try to get out cheap.

And many companies mistakenly have their sign company or printer to design their logo. This is not to put down sign companies or printers in any way. But they are mostly concerned with creating the sign or the printed business card, brochure, etc. at hand. Typically they’re not going to take the careful consideration and skill a pro designer will in creating your brand that will be used across every form of media.

If your logo looks cheap and amateurish, guess what else does? Right, your business! By hiring a professional designer whose portfolio of work you have reviewed to gauge their creativity and quality, your logo will be:

• Unique and memorable (not generic)
• Appealing to your target audience
• The best quality reproduction possible in any form or print or online media
• A long term brand that will serve you well for years to come

2. Uses raster images instead of vector graphics

It’s industry standard practice to design logos in a vector design application—most commonly Adobe Illustrator. A vector graphic is able to be enlarged to any size that can be printed (such as billboards, etc) and it still maintain it’s original crisp type and artwork.

A raster (or bitmap) image, however is like a digital photo. You can only enlarge it so much until it starts to become pixelated (that fuzzy, jagged look). This would be the case if your designer only created the logo in Photoshop.

Now there are uses for raster logos such as websites, email newsletters, PowerPoint presentations, etc.—but for any printed marketing materials, only a vector format should be used.

3. Too complex

Many businesses think a logo should convey everything they do and in a literal sense. So if you’re a parts manufacturer, the logo should be a collage of the 4-5 lines of parts you make, along with the name of your company—right? Wrong. Your logo was never intended to do that. That’s where your marketing comes into play.

Think of Nike. Their logo is the famous swoosh. They don’t use an image of a shoe for their logo. Their marketing materials convey athletes wearing their apparel and shoes. And their brand is so well known that they don’t need to use the name “Nike” — just the swoosh will be enough for everyone to immediately recognize it.

Also, having a logo that is too complex and detailed will hurt it’s legibility when it’s printed at a small size or on certain materials (textured paper, embroidered shirts, promotional products, etc).

4. Based too much on trends

Trends and fads come and go like the wind. You want your logo and brand to last for years to come.

When a design style becomes so popular that it is used everywhere it becomes cliché. For example, when some of the design software first introduced the ability to apply a bevel effect to text and graphics—this was used all over the place and only because it was a new fad. It was the “bright and shiny object” at the time, until a new one came along.

But design is based on tried and true principles, not temporary “oh this is cool” fads.

5. Inconsistency

This is a big mistake—not being consistent in the use of your logo. Separate departments may use a different font in the logo for materials they are responsible for producing. There may be multiple versions of the logo “floating around” that get used. Or a newspaper or printer may have “recreated” the logo because you didn’t provide them with the proper vector format to use.

When you branding is not consistent, you message will not be effective.

When your logo is not professional, your business is not perceived as professional.

Whether you realize it or not, if you’re making any of these five mistakes, it’s costing you money!

How can we help you?

We provide a free one-hour consultation where we can discuss your marketing needs and brainstorm some possible solutions with you. Give us a call today to schedule a time to meet, (336) 468-2540 or fill out our contact form.