Monday
Jan042010

New Year, New Me

DateMonday, January 4, 2010 at 02:54PM
With a new year comes endless possibilities. Though time is relevant, it’s easy for everyone to single out January first as the beginning of a new period in your life. People get together and celebrate with friends and family to count down the seconds until the past year has ended and the new has begun.

A popular thing to do at the start of the New Year is to make resolutions and set goals for what you want to achieve during the coming year. The most common resolution is to go on a diet and get fit, but with our economy just starting to make a recovery, many people seem to have made financial resolutions this year.

With January 1, 2010 as the start of not only a new calendar year, but also a new decade, some may see it as a great starting point to put their lives back on track. Who doesn’t want to get rid of their debt and become financially sound once again?

I usually like to have fun with resolutions and have a tradition with friends that we’ve done for a few years now. We get together on New Year’s Eve and as soon as the clock strikes midnight, we fill up our glasses with some sparkling cider and sit in a circle. We then take turns making resolutions, and taking a sip of our drink until we’re all resolutioned out and have nothing left in our glasses.

And though I spent the evening with my friends this year, I didn’t partake in the resolution making. I had decided earlier on in the week that I wanted to set my yearly goals even higher, so I got a new haircut, a new pair of glasses and a new state of mind.

January 1, 2010 means a new year and a new me.
  • I’m going to work harder.
  • I’m going to get tighter control of my finances.
  • I’m going to put more into savings.
  • I’m going to encourage and partake more in teamwork.
  • I’m going to be more creative.
  • I’m going to enjoy and appreciate the little things more.
  • I’m not going to give up.
I know that those may sound like resolutions, but I don’t see them as separate goals; I see them as all being a part of the same plan.

I’m very thankful to have my job here at SRJ Marketing Communications. It was almost a year ago that Steven Jolly hired me on as his assistant and the company traffic coordinator/office manager. I feel like the opportunity that was given to me has provided with more than just a sustainable income; I’ve learned and grown and evolved as an individual.

The team here at SRJ is great, and I’ve seen them develop amazing concepts, then pull together to execute them and bring those ideas to life. I’ve seen us grab hold of new social media and use it as a valuable tool in an integrated marketing communications program. I’ve watched as clients come in hurting from the recession, and walk out with renewed ambition and hope after hearing fresh new ideas to boost their bottom line.

To witness this all firsthand has been an excellent learning experience and has opened my eyes to the fast-paced world of marketing communications. It is also what gave me the inspiration for my "New Year, New Me" project.

2009 was horrible in so many ways, and I’m glad to see it go, but it also gave me, and I’m sure others as well, an opportunity to learn and grow. So here is my challenge to you: It is now the first Monday of the New Year, the new decade; what are you going to do to become the new you?
AuthorTy Larson | Comment1 Comment |
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Wednesday
Sep092009

Un-Cola: Steer Clear of the Cola Wars

DateWednesday, September 9, 2009 at 03:09PM

The beloved companies Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola are the dominating forces in the beverage industry. It started out as a war between the popular fizzy, golden-brown fluid products, Pepsi and Coke, and eventually expanded into flavors like Sprite, Orange Soda and 7-Up. Even still, in the past decade, both companies have further diversified their offerings with juices, energy drinks and sports quenchers. While the two enormous soda companies have virtually acquired all of their smaller contenders, people have made millions by considering the “un-cola.”

Have you heard of Odwalla? The company was started by three kids who made juice with a second hand juicer and sold it from the back of their Volkswagen. The company was acquired by Coca-Cola in 2001 for 181 Million dollars! If these guys had tried to create a “better” coke or a Pepsi cola with more efficient operation management, would they have found this kind of success? Don’t think so.

I always tell my clients, build your own ladder to top-of-the-mind awareness instead of trying to play push and shove with the industry giants. If you’re business is selling cola, you are a pee wee baseball team playing against the Yankees and the Red Sox.  Instead of playing in the big leagues, give your customers something your larger competitors can’t, or something they haven’t thought of yet.

Try these things:

  1. Ask yourself and others: Does my business have a competitive advantage?
  2. Re-assess your resources and capabilities: What can I do with what I have?
  3. Create an “un-cola”: How can I reposition or change my product/service to give it a new edge?

Ask someone outside your company what new things could be done with the assets your company already has. At SRJ Marketing Communications, our goal is to see your business succeed. This could through creating advertisements and public relations schedules, or it could mean helping you find your “un-cola”. Give us a visit today and we’ll point you in the right direction.

 
AuthorPhillip Murrell | Comment1 Comment |
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Tuesday
Jun232009

How Barack Obama Used Facbook To Help Win The Election

DateTuesday, June 23, 2009 at 12:00PM

This past election, due to all of the pomp and circumstance, the underpinnings of a brilliant strategic campaign were lost in the shuffle. How did Barack Obama rise from his office as a relatively unknown state Senator to capture the collective attention of the nation and make history as our country’s first elected African-American president? The answer is a sound and astutely managed campaign strategy that harnessed the power of integrated social networking.

Obama demonstrated a striking example of how a campaign can generate enormous exposure and buzz by including social media programs such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter in his marketing strategy. According to CNN.com, Barrack’s Facebook page boasted over four million fans and enjoyed over a half million wall posts.  This use of social media was especially crucial in swaying the vote of today’s tech-savvy youth. Not only were these applications involved, they were also strongly bolstered by other marketing tactics such as advertising, public relations, and website development.

Any business looking to increase their exposure will take this social media lesson to heart. Exposure equals awareness equals sales. By utilizing every marketing channel at his disposal, Obama exposed his campaign to millions of potential voters. This exposure led to the awareness that he was running for office and was ultimately successful in securing his berth in the White House. Regardless of political affiliation, it is obvious this marketing strategy brought about favorable results.

For similar results for your business, SRJ Marketing Communications is well prepared to develop an effective marketing strategy specifically tailored to your company or organization.  With twenty years of proven results, our track record of success speaks volumes.

Give us a call today at 214-528-5775 or find us online to begin getting the most out of social media for your marketing strategy. You may not end up in the White Hosue, but you will see the bottom-line of your business improve.

AuthorBraydon Medlin | Comment6 Comments | Reference3 References |
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Thursday
Jun182009

Recent Events Making it Harder to Discredit Twitter

DateThursday, June 18, 2009 at 05:52PM

There is no denying that there is a lot of buzz around social media, especially its current darling, Twitter.  It has grown almost 1,000 percent in the past year.  News stations, celebrities, restaurants, politicians and maybe even your parents are all on Twitter these days.  The unprecedented growth of Twitter has left a lot of people confused and skeptical as to the use and validity of such a real-time micro-blogging site.

Those who are new to the idea of Twitter may easily dismiss it as just another way for individuals to tell you that they are grocery shopping or going to a movie-whatever it is that they may be up to.  Those who have spent a decent amount of time on Twitter, and understand the simple workings of the @reply and the hashtag (I didn’t lose you already?),  know that Twitter has many different uses and can be a viable means of mass communicating a variety of messages.

Here are a few examples of how Twitter has been used to instantly reach around the globe (courtesy of www.MarketingVox.com ):

  • Iranian protesters, angry over the recent election, used Twitter to voice their concerns in real time to the rest of the world.  Twitter was (and is) of such importance to their cause that Twitter chose to postpone scheduled maintenance so that Iranians could continue to cover their own election.
  • Doctors have begun using Twitter to document complex procedures for educational purposes.  Perhaps the most well known case of this was the documenting of a recent brain surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
  • The Mumbai terrorist attacks were broken to the world through the use of Twitter.
  • The unbelievable story of United Airlines Flight 1549, which safely landed in the Hudson River, was documented via Twitter updates.

So, what does all this mean for a marketer or business?  It means that individuals (consumers) are now a part of the message.  They have some control, whether you like it or not, over the perception of your brand.  Gone are the days when information about your services and products are spread by word of mouth.  Now, with tools such as Twitter, they can make their opinion known instantly across the globe.

Businesses should embrace this instant feedback, and many already are.  Twitter is being used, to much success, in a variety of ways, by a variety of businesses.  Just this past week Squarespace, a software publishing company, has been running a Twitter-exclusive promotion to give out 30 iPhones in 30 days.  Dell has seen more than $1 million in sales directly through Twitter.  Bars and restaurants have embraced Twitter as a means of promoting happy hours and other specials.

Whenever faced with a new form of communication, it is becoming more apparent that those who fail to recognize and embrace it, get left behind.  Do not get left in the dust, let SRJ make sure of it.  Call us today at 214-528-5775.

AuthorJeremy Ash | Comment1 Comment |
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Thursday
Jun112009

The Social Media Bandwagon

DateThursday, June 11, 2009 at 10:45AM

I'm sure by now you've read about the many advantages of leveraging social media as a marketing tool. It's pretty amazing how social media the business world is no longer seeing social media as "just for kids" and has adopted it into their marketing communications programs.  It has quickly become a social phenomenon that is actively being used by businesses everywhere to communicate to prospective stakeholders.

I often have people approach me and tell me their company just doesn’t have the resources to commit to social media use, or telling me that it’s useless for small businesses to use. Every time that happens, I wish I had some statistics to throw their way to show them how much social media really matters.

This week, I found those statistics. Here’s a quick summary:

  • 48 percent of Americans have a Facebook or MySpace account. In 2005, that number was just 8 percent That’s an incredible number! Nearly half of all people in the United States, including all age demographics, can be reached instantly by using only two platforms. If you don’t believe that social media is changing the very way our world communicates, here is your proof!
  • More than 260,000 small businesses in the U.S. and Canada are using social media tactics to communicate with publics. This is a telling statistic because it shows that corporate giants aren’t the only businesses than can effectively use social media – not even close. In case you didn’t catch the best part earlier – it’s free.
  • The top 4 used social media sites are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and blogs. These sites are being used by both businesses and personal profiles, which provides an excellent avenue for instant communication.

So get on the bandwagon (if you haven’t already). Social media is changing everything about the way our world communicates, from the platform to the messages, the images to the dialogue. But always remember, social media should be just another tool in your toolbox. It’s a very important tool right now, but trends come and go. Make sure to maintain an integrated marketing approach and utilize all the assets you have.

AuthorMichael Heil | CommentPost a Comment |
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