The evolution of the creative team

Once upon a time, there were only a handful of mediums in which a business could advertise: newspapers, magazines, radio, television, outdoor, direct mail, etc., what we loosely define as traditional advertising. In just a few short years, however, the explosion in technology has not only created a slew of new advertising options—from social media to QR codes—but the industry’s evolution now requires agencies practically to have to employ Google engineers to understand the new mediums and maintain the complex mix.

This means the traditional copy writer/art director creative team has evolved as well. Effective copy for Twitter, for example, must be 144 characters long or less. Oh, and to be an effective Tweet, the message mustn’t hit the reader over the head with sales speak and instead subtly coax with independent entertainment or information. Effective website copy must be written for the Google indexing spiders as well as for the market for whom the site is intended. As for effective design, it must now work when viewed in mediums ranging from print to tiny smart phone screens to stories-high projected signage in Times Square.

But the evolution of the creative team is more than just a copywriter adapting his words and an art director her design to fit the new mediums. Because of all the ways in which a business can now advertise, there are a multitude of concerns and issues far outside the realm of words and pictures.

At Ryan William’s Agency, the typical brainstorming meetings to create a new ad campaign involve everyone in the agency because of the complexities involved. A “simple” website build, for example, which is just one small facet of big campaign, requires input from a number of unrelated professional areas—photography, copy writing, layout and design, programming, SEO, the list goes on.

Topics during our meetings can range from who’s going to clean and prep a client’s truck before a wrap is installed to the pros and cons of buying targeted or untargeted Facebook fans to jump start a social media campaign. We discuss the virtues of building a website using a content management system versus custom programming; how to address positive and negative website business reviews; the fact that Google customizes its search results based on what an individual has searched for and clicked on in the past, yielding search results that Google “thinks” you want. The variables are complicated and any one decision has a ripple effect throughout the campaign.

Today’s creative team is no longer simply the wordsmith and artist because the meaning of “creativity” in advertising has evolved to include science as well as art. Is the Google Analytics expert creative? Are website meta tags sexy? Perhaps not in the traditional sense. But, in today’s world of advertising, these are critical parts of the creative mix and, for the team at Ryan William’s, at least, as flashy as a double-truck four-color add in the Palm Beach Post. And if your creative team is having a hard time getting jazzed about Tweeting or tagging, you might want to find someone who finds these new mediums just as exciting as the old ones.

Quotations from some of the biggies in the Advertising Hall of Fame

At the Ryan William’s Agency, we like ad-related quotations that stand the test of time almost as much as ads themselves that are as relevant today as in decades prior. Here are a few of our favs, all from heavy-hitting members in the Advertising Hall of Fame.

“If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, and the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular." --David Ogilvy

“Advertising makes people discontented. It makes them want things they don't have. Without discontent, there is no progress, no achievement." --Morris Hite

“It takes good clients to make a good advertising agency. Regardless of how much talent an ad agency may have, it is ineffective without good products and services to advertise." --Morris Hite

“The right name is an advertisement in itself." --Claude Hopkins

“When executing advertising, it's best to think of yourself as an uninvited guest in the living room of a prospect who has the magical power to make you disappear instantly." --John O'Toole

While the team at Ryan Williams hasn’t penned a quotable line about advertising practices and philosophies worthy of the Hall of Fame-—YET—-we do have numerous award-winning campaigns to our credit that significantly increased both brand awareness and sales for area businesses. We like to think that speaks volumes. Got a question about promoting a product, a business, even an individual? Give us a call. We can help, and you may quote us on that.

Tips for Boosting Fans on Your Facebook Business Page

Whether you like it or not and use it for your business or not, Facebook is the real deal. Statistics show that 90 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know and that the majority of consumers spend more after a friend’s recommendation than they do shopping on their own. The key to spreading your business gospel is acquiring an ever-growing audience—your Facebook fan base. Here are some tricks of the trade.

1. Determine if Facebook is, in fact, a good fit for your business.

It is possible that your customers don’t participate in social media. If your market is the senior crowd, for example, your efforts might be better spent elsewhere. However, a Facebook page is free and there are some seniors who are savvy to social media. In addition, seniors have children and grandchildren who do use the medium and can help you connect indirectly with your market. See, you’re not really off the hook.

2. Engage with your fans.

Unless the information you provide is consistently entertaining or useful, if you don’t engage in conversation with your fans, sooner or later they’re going to fall off, which leads to them forgetting about you, which leads to fewer sales and fewer recommendations. Thank your fans when they compliment your service. Apologize when they criticize. Talk to them about everything in between.

3. Offer your fans incentives to stay current with your page.

Statistics indicate that the majority of Facebook business fans are so to begin with for the incentives: discounts, coupons, contests to win products or services, etc. Give your fans reasons to keep up with your business other than simply the social aspect of the medium. Along these same lines, offer incentives for becoming a fan. Again, coupons and other discounts work well but also newsletters and email blasts promising those same discounts work too.

4. Take advantage of the social aspect of the medium.

There's no stronger recommendation than one from a personal friend. Add the “Share” button to every post you make, and, again, if it makes sense, offer incentives to fans for sharing your post.

5. Advertise on Facebook.

As incredible as this sounds, Facebook is fast on the heels of Google and Yahoo for the most visited site in cyber space and is expected to overtake them both within a year or so. That doesn’t mean that people are using Facebook in the same way they use search engines. But it does mean that Google will likely not be the largest potential pool of new and existing customers forever. How you market to that pool via Facebook, of course, differs than how you market to them via the giant search engine. But take advantage of the audience. Again, it’s free.

6. Consider creating a landing page for your Facebook fan page rather than the run-of-the-mill comment threads that comprise most business pages.

New visitors and fans can easily click through to the comment threads, but a landing page is a great way to offer additional information about your business as well as create a call to action or highlight discounts, coupons and contests, etc.

The technology of social media is evolving incredibly fast and there’s a school of thought that Facebook might peter out in the not-too-distant future and be replaced by … who knows what. But at Ryan William’s Agency, the consensus is that it ain’t happening this year, and likely not next, and probably not the year after that. So, in the meantime, what other marketing and advertising vehicle have you got that potentially can reach the numbers that Facebook can, and for free? Even if you’re one of the believers that there is an end in site for Facebook, there’s still a whole heck of a lot of gravy left in this train before the theoretical demise of its usefulness. And at Ryan William’s, we can show you how to squeeze every last drop out of it.

Subtlety Sells in Online Marketing

Ever know someone in a social situation who constantly talks about himself or is always working some angle for his benefit at your expense? It usually doesn’t take too long before you begin avoiding a person like that. While you expect a salesman during a sales call to try to sell you something, most people aren’t fond of getting sold by friends or acquaintances.

Social media is largely the same way. Individuals follow on Twitter, friend and fan on Facebook, read blogs, watch YouTube videos, etc. mostly to be entertained and to garner information. If you try to hard sell this audience, it takes only a click for them to make you go away and there are thousands of others ready to take your place.

The key to social media is that it’s social. You must engage your audience in conversation. As tempting as it is to tweet about your sale or tell that person on LinkedIn to call you because you’re an attorney and can help him with his issue, don’t. Simply talk to your audience like you would an acquaintance at a cocktail party. Here are some more tips to getting your message across without hitting anyone over the head.

Offer value.
Rather than selling that person on LinkedIn your legal services, post a link to some information that pertains to that person’s issue. The more useful information you provide through social media, the more people will remember you as the go-to source for help.

Respond to negative and positive comments.
Don’t delete negative comments; respond to them thoughtfully and apologize. Deleted comments are likely to get louder somewhere else. On the flip side, thank people who post praise for your product or service. This kind of positive reinforcement makes your audience feel good and keeps the praise alive for an additional period of time.

Entertain and surprise.
Followers of social media love to be entertained and surprised. Both are great vehicles to elicit fans and followers of your message. Think of an author or pundit on television, etc. who you regularly look for to hear what he’s going to say next. You can become that person or entity to a great many individuals.

Ask questions
By posting questions, you’re inviting conversation, which keeps your message alive and stimulates your audience. One-way information is fine some of the time, but mix it up occasionally.

Be transparent.
Nobody likes a fake and that goes for businesses as well as individuals. The more you share, the more your audience will believe you and look forward to your next post.

At Ryan William’s Agency, we’re regularly tweeting and blogging and posting on Facebook and the like for a number of clients who recognize the importance of social media, but are busy running their companies, and we do it for our agency as well. It’s one of the keys today of running a successful business. (Subtle, huh?)

Subtle Sex Sells Too

We’ve seen splashier advertising, but once in a while something comes along with just the right blend of humor, sophistication, sex appeal and simplicity that it deserves its 15 seconds of fame. And, thanks to www.adweek.com/adfreak, we think this billboard advertising Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is one.

This brand of tasty creativity is akin to a Bill Cosby standup routine versus an Eddy Murphy gig. During their prime, each would leave you with a little pee pee in your shorts. But while Murphy’s brand of comedy involved language that would have death row inmates turning their heads like dogs deciphering Latin, Cosby could get across risqué concepts without using words any darker than … well … “pee pee.”

Is one a higher art form and the other lower? That’s a discussion for a different day. But in today’s world of advertising, there’s room for both kinds as well as for every shade in between, depending on your product and market. Sometimes, however, with all the obvious wordplays and creative advertising brainstorms that are generated today, we can forget how powerful a tool subtlety can be. Thanks for the reminder, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. We’ll keep that concept on the back burner.

Online marketing that targets children: What do you think?

Marketing to children—particularly food items—is nothing new. Athlete and celebrity tie-ins, product placement in movies, commercials during cartoons, kid-friendly packaging, toys with purchase, placing product on the lower shelves in grocery stores, etc. are effective strategies that have been in place for decades. Now, however, there’s an advertising medium that captures its audience—children—for as long or longer than one of those time-share sales pitches that you have to sit through in exchange for a free trip to the Bahamas: online games.

General Mills, for example, has a game in which “BuzzBee,” the Honey Nut Cheerios mascot, can be dragged and dropped into cartoon panels to create custom kid comic strips, which then can be emailed to friends. There’s also a BuzzBee spelling bee game. The games are designed to reach children and advertise products, according to the companies that design them, in a fresh and new interactive platform. Those opposed to using the web in such a way, however, say the technique is just a click or two away from subliminal advertising.

The concept of mixing church and state—i.e. blurring the lines between editorial and advertising—is also nothing new. We’re bombarded with print advertising designed to look like editorial and editorial that’s becoming so stylish that it resembles advertising. There are television pundits with their own agendas who are projected into our homes under the guise of objective news shows. There’s Google pay-per-click versus websites that are found organically. Even blogs may offer objective and useful info, but many times are connected to websites selling products or services.

The difference, however, is that, as adults, most of us have judgment enough to recognize when we’re being marketed to versus when we’re being handed objective information. We take in the two forms of information with separate filters. Kids, for the most part, don’t because the frontal lobe of the brain—that part that controls judgment—doesn’t fully develop until the mid- to late twenties. This is why there are many laws and restrictions regarding advertising to children.

As a whole, the staffers at the Ryan William’s Agency don’t believe the BuzzBee games and those like them are evil. They’re creative, centered around learning and represent a new avenue in which to advertise. In fact, similar forms of online advertising are currently being used in the adult arena. Zynga, the Cali-based social gaming company that has developed campaigns for the likes of American Express, Nestle and McDonalds, currently awards players of Facebook’s “Farmville” who build their farms to a certain size a Farmer’s Insurance blimp. In its game “Café World,” you can win free Coca Colas. Prefer “Mafia Wars?” Loot from the movie Green Hornet is up for grabs in that popular game.

It’s an interesting time for advertising. Businesses now have far more options about where to spend their ad dollars, and it doesn’t look like the race for creating new ones is going to slow down anytime soon. As an advertising agency, we’re excited at the prospect of the creation of new venues for communicating business messages. However, we’re also well aware of the legal and social concerns attached to each.

We’d love to hear what you think about companies using online games to advertise to children. We invite you to post your comments as a parent, as an advertiser or just as yourself.

We’re a little slow to respond to the advent of QR codes, but they’re coming.

QR codes—those funky looking matrix bar codes you see in magazines and on business cards, signs and direct mail, etc.—have been around for a while and are quite popular in some areas abroad. But stateside we’re still catching up with the phenomenon. QR, which stands for “quick response,” technology was developed in 1994 by Toyota to ID new cars, and the technology quickly spread to practically every industry under the sun, from publishing to dry cleaning.

Why? Because, when scanned by a smart phone with a QR code reader installed, this tiny block can link your Internet browser to all kinds of information, whether text, URLs, images, you name it. So, if you’re a magazine publisher, for example, and have a 5,000-word feature story about Barbados and only room enough in your publication for 1,200 words, you’re in luck. You put the additional 3,800 words on your website, along with the 500 photo outtakes, a “Win a Trip to Barbados” contest, lists of the island’s top hotels and restaurants, banner ads and links to the websites of your top travel-related advertisers, and voila, your modest magazine story is now a Library of Congress-sized wealth of information.

Maybe you run a boutique and in your display window you have a few pieces of sculpture by a popular local artisan. The three pieces you do have in stock are nice, but not quite what the window shopper had in mind. A quick scan of the aptly placed QR code instantly reveals not only the artist’s bio and images of his extensive line of sculptures, but also that you can have any one or more of the pieces drop shipped to the customer in one day. Hmmmm, suddenly this odd little block, peppered with dots and squiggles and doodads, is becoming increasingly clear.

Too space-age progressive to even contemplate now for your business? Think again. According to a recent study by Arbitron, smartphone ownership has tripled in the last two years, and by the end of 2011, it’s expected that 31 percent of all U.S. cell phone users will own a smartphone. There was a time when businesses “did just fine” without email and the Internet too. Ready or not, here it comes.

Getting creative with your brainstorming. Hey, what a Great Idea!

Last week an RWA staffer was chatting with a colleague who was commiserating about a shipping problem at her company. ‘How big of an issue can a bit of mail be?’ vaguely crossed our staffer’s mind. Well, apparently this was a doozy, involving three separate departments that were now at odds within her company. The issue wasn’t black and white and so the staffer, thinking creatively, suggested she hold a brainstorming session with each of the departments concerned.

“This involves shipping perishables cross country,” she said, “not generating creative advertising concepts.” Our staffer went back to sipping mojitos and let the matter drop, pondering the question of why this particular friend was… well… so darn pigheaded.

While brainstorming isn’t new, a lot of managers think the concept is reserved solely for creatively inclined businesses. It’s not. Brainstorming can yield creative solutions, certainly, but the type of issue about which the ideas are generated is practically irrelevant. The key is in the process. Successful brainstorming needs to have some structure, however, or your participants might get lost in a downpour of new ideas and lose focus of what the original brainstorming was about.

Here are a few tips on successful brainstorming:

1. Put someone in charge. Brainstorming involves a facilitator to conduct the meeting and keep the group on task—although an effective facilitator knows when to let the group run in order to encourage the free exchange of ideas and maintain a relaxed, freeform atmosphere.

2. Remember the golden rule: there are no bad ideas. Humor, off-the-wall concepts, impossibilities, even wishful thinking—to a point, of course—are all in bounds during a successful brainstorming session. Because while one member of the team suggests adding eight more hours to the 24-hour day, another is taking that impossible cue and molding it into a more realistic idea that might never have come about if not for the clowning of the original team member.

3. Make sure the brainstorming group is varied. Ten board directors brainstorming about a shipping issue wouldn’t be nearly as effective as a mix of employees from shipping clerk to company president because each will have a unique set of concerns that the other might not have even considered. The size of the group also may vary, but generally more is better than less—again, up to a point.

4. Time your meeting for maximum creative brainflow. Brainstorming at 9:00 a.m. on a Monday when folks are still shaking the cotton candy out of their heads or at 4:00 p.m. on a Friday when they’re chomping at the bit to get to happy hour is not recommended. Also, letting the participants know what the session will be about a day or two prior to the meeting is a good tactic. The phrase “sleep on it” is a very real concept as the subconscious is constantly working even when we’re not deliberately thinking about something.

5. State what the issue is at the outset of the meeting. Explanation should be as detailed as possible, but not lead to any particular solution that may already be under consideration. The group may have questions to further clarify the issue, answers to which may not be known and so become part of the process.

Lastly, if you Google “Brainstorming,” there are lots of guides and rules for the most effective way to run a session, and some of them might be quite useful in your particular situation. At RWA, we tend to fly by the seat of our pants. But, hey, we’re creative people and we do rein it back in if the subject turns to space aliens or if staffers’ attention shifts from the meeting to their smart phones. That’s when we bring out the rubber chickens. We’ll blog about that later.

Happy brainstorming!

What makes your brand unique?

Call it what you will – a brand proposition, unique selling point, brand personality, brand image; it’s the thing that makes your brand truly unique. The operative word here is “unique” and too often a brand’s proposition, USP, whatever, is really not unique.

Case in point: in our first meeting with a new client we pose the question “What makes you stand out from your competitors?” The client 9 times out of 10 returns an answer of “Our customer service.” Hmm, we think. We’ve heard that before. Their competitor is probably saying the same thing. So we delve a little deeper and ask “If I were to meet your brand at a party, shake hands with it and chit chat a little, how would you want me to remember you?” A stare. A head tilt. Crickets.

One of advertising’s pioneers David Ogilvy wrote about brand image in his book Ogilvy on Advertising.

He used the example of Jack Daniel’s whiskey as a brand with a clear brand personality. If you met Jack Daniel’s at a party, you would most likely walk away thinking “There’s a real quality guy. Down-to-earth with old fashioned values, yet classy.” Now, ask yourself how you would describe Old Crow whiskey.

Marlboro didn’t promise good service in its 25 plus year campaign featuring the Marlboro Man. Cowboys don’t care about good service and what guy doesn’t want to be a cowboy? Well, maybe not now, but back then the cowboy image made Marlboro the number one selling cigarette.

Defining your brand’s image is not easy. Just like people, brands can have complex personalities. But, before you spend valuable marketing dollars marketing your brand, take some time to define what it really is. The clearer your image of your brand the better impression you will leave on all those partygoers who will mix and mingle with it now and into the future.

Ryan William’s Agency recognized in 2011 ADDY Awards Competition

The dresses weren’t as elaborate as the Golden Globes, but the “who’s who” of South Florida advertising all came out for the 2011 ADDY Awards Competition this past Thursday night. The American Advertising Federation’s annual competition recognizing creative excellence, the ADDY Awards are our industry’s equivalent to the Golden Globes, minus the diamonds and designer ballgowns.

We were thrilled to be recognized not once… not twice…, but NINE TIMES for work Ryan William’s Agency completed this past year.

We took home two Golds and two Silver ADDYs for Downtown at the Gardens projects including window graphics, posters and displays for Downtown’s new carousel.

We also took home Gold for work completed for Carpenter’s Roofing and Sheet Metal, Seacrest Services and even our own stuff!

Once a year at the ADDY Awards we get to enter campaigns that we thought were great, but never saw the light of day. The judges thought our pitch to the South Florida Fair was as good as we did and gave it a Gold ADDY. Maybe next year Fair board?

Ryan William's Agency Client Wins Accolades for Innovation

We're thrilled for our client Carpenter's Roofing and Sheet Metal who received the prestigious Gold Circle Award from the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) last week in Las Vegas.

Sure, at first we figured the Carpenter's team just wanted an excuse to hang out in Sin City. But, they came home with the award for Innovative Solutions in New Construction. The award recognized an amazing roof Carpenter's completed at the Windsong II on Palm Beach. The roof was comprised of a swirl of 1100 individual and unique diamond shaped copper panels covering an elliptical dome. The dome was designed to mimic a similar pattern in the marble flooring of another home that was designed by local architect Thomas M. Kirchhoff, AIA.

Job well done Carpenter's Roofing and Sheet Metal! Congratulations!

West Palm Beach’s creative professionals share picks and pans from Super ad pool

If you’re like most of America, you watched the game last Sunday for… well, the game last Sunday. We creative folk, on the other hand, watched the game for something even more super. While you were running for another beer during commercial breaks, we were riveted to our television screens to see which of this year’s ads really “got game.”

Here are the top picks from our Ryan William’s Agency’s team of West Palm Beach ad pros:

Valerie Staggs, Head Person
Volkswagen “Black Beetle”
“The music is hip and new and draws you in from the start. I love that you don’t know what the spot is for, but you want to watch because the beetle is having so much fun. Great imagery.”

Mel Montes, People Person
Chevy Cruze “Misunderstanding”
“I used to live in Boca. I can totally relate.”

Sabrina Glover, Creative Person
Doritos “Finger Lick”
“The finger lick is so unexpected you can’t help but laugh. In one quick move it clearly delivers the message of “cheesiness.” Yum!”

Tammy Fazio, Production Person
Doritos “Finger Lick”
“I couldn’t stop laughing!”

Jason Upright, Copy Person
PepsiMax “Love Hurts”
“The wife is such a… well… you know… and you so expect her to get hers in the end. I like the unexpected twist when someone else gets it instead.”

Ryan Staggs, Ad Person in Training
E-Trade “Time Out”
“The baby is soooooo funny!!! I laughed my butt off!”

So which spot did we hate? Ryan William’s Agency staffers all agreed…

CocaCola “Heist”
“Um… huh? Somebody watched a little too much Avatar.”

New West Palm Beach offices for Ryan William's Agency

After months of using our creative juices for something other than advertising (some of our art department staffers got to unleash their latent interior design skills), our new West Palm Beach offices are finally completed.

We showed off our new digs with an Open House for clients, vendors and friends. Over 100 people joined us for a backyard barbecue complete with a smoker cooking chicken and ribs, potatoes, salads and desserts courtesy of agency owner, Val Staggs. (While lacking in design expertise, Val was happy to show off her latent Julia Child skills). We even had a signature drink - CreativiTEA.

Check out more pictures of the party. Thanks to party guest, David R. Randell for capturing all the fun.

Ryan William's Agency adds Social Media Marketing to advertising agency services

We're thrilled to launch a new division of Ryan William's Agency. Our Social Media Marketing division will assist clients in promoting their brands and driving sales through Social Media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Blogs.

With more and more sales being driven by the internet, every business should have a social media presence. If you don't, your competitors will so get out there and socialize.

Or, call us.

Are you missing the no-brainer things in your business marketing strategy?

The grand pooh bah of television advertising is just one week away. What business wouldn’t like to see their name and image displayed during half time for the biggest viewing audience of the year? Now that would get the phone ringin’ huh?

When you float back down to earth from your Big Game Pipe Dream you might want to take a second look at what you’re doing to market your business. There are probably a number of small things you’ve overlooked that could cause your phone to jingle for a whole lot less than a 30 second halftime spot.

On January 1st, Inc Magazine launched a feature on their website entitled “31 Days to a Better Business.” Reading through the short daily tips business owners may find themselves mumbling “Well, that’s a no-brainer!” to themselves. Take a hard look at your business and you might find that these no-brainers are non-existent.

Among the smart tips for business owners are some smart marketing pointers too including: Going Online to Engage with your Customers, Writing Big Picture Blog Posts and, our personal favorite, Writing Thank You Notes.

When was the last time you used THAT form of direct mail?

Ryan William's Agency now broadcasting on YouTube

Ever wonder how the creative minds at RWA work? Take a peek behind the curtain of Palm Beach's advertising agency scene. Imagination lives here!

Did your marketing mix put on a few extra pounds last year?

A new year always holds lots of promise and lots of promises of things you are finally going to do. According to a poll conducted by LiveScience.com, at the top of people’s lists for 2011 is the eternal battle of the bulge. In fact, losing weight beat out second and third place resolutions - Being Happy and Saving Money - by almost a two-to-one spread.

Although business resolutions are generally much more varied than those of the general public, weight loss should probably be at the top of the list among companies as well. What company couldn’t stand to shed a few extra pounds of underperforming marketing efforts?

One of the first questions we ask a new client is what their marketing mix looks like currently. Is the company using television advertising? Do they have a social media campaign? What magazines or print publications are a regular part of the advertising campaign? Are they using SEO or SEM?

After getting a good idea of what advertising vehicles are in their marketing mix, we then ask how each of them is performing. At this juncture we are oftentimes magically transported to a deep, dark forest where the only sound we hear is.. crickets.

Advertising in any form needs to get results for your company. Results translate into a ringing cash register or a busy service staff or an influx of sales leads. Your company can and should determine what sort of results you need and expect from your advertising and drill that down to each form of advertising you are using to determine if that print publication or that television campaign is really paying off.

If not, it’s time to trim some fat. Carrots anyone?

Still going round and round with your social media marketing plan?

We field the question on a daily basis: How can I promote my business through social media?

Even smaller businesses recognize the importance of tapping this exponentially growing marketing channel, but social media remains an enigma to most business owners. Sure, their face is on Facebook. Their business is linked on LinkedIn. Maybe they’re even Tweeting or Blogging about… stuff.

But, is all this time spent socializing actually getting them anywhere? Where exactly does the rubber meet the road on the social media pathway? When does it translate into leads and then into sales?

As in real life, socializing in the online world can take up a lot of your time and get you, well, squat for your efforts. Learning to streamline your social media effort so you don’t waste time is key to managing a successful campaign as is driving all the social butterflies you collect to one main destination: your company’s website.

I attended a luncheon last week where Lindsay Dicks, CEO of CelebritySites laid out an easy formula for both streamlining your social media and getting results from it. Her Circular Marketing concept takes the “round and round” out of your social media by basically implementing a round and round approach to it.

The Circular Marketing concept takes one message and reformulates it into several social media friendly formats (Blog, Press Release, Podcast). These messages are then distributed through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and syndicated services. Links to these posts are posted on the company’s website and the links from these sites post back to the company’s website where the original content resides.

It sounds complicated, but is remarkably simple and thanks to Lindsay, we’re now in the know on how to make Circular Marketing work for our clients.

Wanna take a spin?

Ahoy! Blue Ocean ahead!

About a year ago I finished “Blue Ocean Strategy,” an interesting book penned by two esteemed academics. Unlike other marketing books full of frothy creative ideas, “Blue Ocean Strategy contends that success can be achieved through a proven systematic approach. This approach doesn’t focus on besting your competition; rather it makes your competition irrelevant. When you create your own Blue Ocean, you sail it alone on the way to success like you’ve never imagined.

The book was enlightening and, I thought, wholly achievable. After all, they outline the system for creating a blue ocean. With a little creative thinking (an abundant resource at RWA), we could create our own blue ocean. One year later, we’re still sharing the seas with our competition.

I had begun to question whether blue oceans existed anymore when I came across an article in the New York Times this week entitled “Using Marijuana Stores to Market Food.”

It appears that the Attorney General’s decision to end the Bush administration’s practice of frequency raiding marijuana dispensaries has spawned a most unexpected result – the emergence of a blue ocean. We can also credit the AG with a whole new crop of business innovators aptly dubbed “ganjapreneurs.”

One such ganjapreneur is Hapa Sushi, a Colorado sushi restaurant chain. Recognizing the obvious connection between getting high and getting the munchies, Hapa Sushi is tapping the newly liberated marijuana market with ads touting the restaurants’ proximity to dispensaries around town. So residents can now grab a baggy to roll and a California roll all in the same trip.

It’s maybe not quite what the authors had in mind, but it’s a hell of a blue ocean.

Sail on, Hapa Sushi. Sail on.