Client Comfort (The Gold Rule)

Social unto others as you have them Social unto you. While you might just be getting involved with social media, some of your audience may be Rockstars. They are used to getting their information this way and if you only post once or twice a week, you may not grab their attention. Remember, social media is linear and a single post may move down someone’s timeline quickly.

Then there are others who may not want to see your service updates every 3 hours on their timeline. That’s why it’s important to create a business area if the social service has one. Then you’re not invading someone’s personal timeline. You’d have to ask them to become a Fan, Follower or Connect to see your updates. By doing so, they understand they will get updates about your business.

Your Audience

If your audience is built on your family and friends, then you may not gain much traction. After all, how much business has Uncle Johnny given you over the years. It’s best to build your business network on business minded people. They will be open to hearing what you have to say. We can help you build that list, but understand that it takes time.

Your Content

So, now that you have your accounts setup and your audience listening, what are you going to tell them? Where does the content come from? Your content could come from your website? (If you don’t think your website has anything to say, please visit our Web Design / Development  area to start that conversation) Your information could come from new content developed or maybe even 3rd party resource. The point is, you have to have something to say. We can help you outline, categorize and develop that content for you Social Campaign.

Your Statistics

You start off with 2 updates a week and your stats start to show visits. So you naturally think, if I double the number of my updates, I’ll double the traffic. So, you start to increase the number of times you update your social media networks, only to find your traffic falling. Why? See the Golden Rule above. If your audience is responding at 2 updates per week and falling at 4 updates a week, then they are telling you they prefer to hear from you twice a week. It could also be an indication that your updates need to be revisited compared to the stats.

One of the areas we provide service is with statistic analysis. Understanding what the visits are saying and how they can help us craft future updates.

One thing we can’t stress enough is, Social Media is more about brand awareness and less about Sales Generation. While building brand awareness leads to sales, this is more about educating your clients about your services. Communicating with them about what you have to offer.

Contact us today to start your Social Media Campaign the right way.

Here’s a few touch points:

- The Empty Hand
- What is a SOW?
- Is that needed?
- How much is to much?

When you start off, you are building Brand Awareness within your network. Once you have earned the trust of your network, then you have positioned yourself to offer your products and services. Just as the sales call or unwanted knock at the door rarely leads to a sale, abusing your network leads to a shrinking network.

Let’s start with the basics and lay a good foundation for your social media campaign.

Process (Sales vs Awareness)

We examine  how the social process works and some of the benefits. We also define expectations of your social media efforts.

• While sales will come, you are building brand awareness with social media
• Define your target audience and expand it
• Develop a social media update schedule for 12 months (stick to it)
• Develop an outline of updatable topics that you can start to build content for
• You should have content on your website or blog that pertains to the update prior to pushing out the update
• Social involvement should be on all print and online materials (email signature, business cards, voice mail etc.)
• Be prepared to become active in your social campaign whether you handle it internally or outsource it. It’s not something you can pay for and set it adrift only to look for sales to increase. You must help craft the topics, write supportive information and provide suggestions. No one knows your company and or industry better than you.
• This process is like a marathon and not a sprint. It takes time, adjustments, effort, vision, patience and investment of time and money to succeed

Tools (Quantity vs Quality)

We define what tools we use and how we will use them. We also will discuss optional tools that can be added if so desired.

• Setup accounts with full account profiles
• Identify the kinds of updates that can take place on each network based on their character limitations
• Develop update schedule (day and time)
• Install a social widget on your website to show the latest update
• Identify optional services to expand your social network and traction such as social bookmarking, email blasts, video channel and blog development
• Create location to provide a click-to from the update
• Install tracking code for measuring updates effectiveness
• Prepare to grow your website and / or blog as you begin the social campaign
• Advertise that you are now on social networks and what type of information you’ll be providing

Performance (Fact vs Fiction)

We discuss how we define, measure, adjust and re-engage parts of the campaign. We set goals and milestones.

• Examine: Look at statistics to monitor traction
• Examine: Revisit your products and services from a client’s point of view
• Examine: Compare your architecture against your competition
• Examine: Have you done everything suggested in Process and Tools
• Adjust: Define and develop content for your top 10 products and services
• Adjust: Revisit your goals of social networking (sales vs awareness)
• Adjust: Take a moment to remember why you are doing this
• Engage: Implement adjustments based off of tracking and performance
• Engage: Are you as active as you could be with your social network?
• Engage: Promote your social network involvement at every turn

As you can see, it’s much more than just having an account. Social Architecture is about having a plan, the right content to educate people and the objectiveness to adjust to reach people in a new advertising medium. Social networking is just like in-person networking, you get out what you put in to it. Investing time, effort and yes even money is the best way to grow your network.

Welcome to Social Media Networking. Allow Studio490 to help you as you take the first steps toward growing your company.

1.    Utilization of Resources

A good alternative to adding a new department or creating a costly task force to complete a specific function is INsourcing. Some tasks may take up an inordinate amount of an employee’s time. By INsourcing, companies can free up their employee’s time which would allow them to do the important day to day function in a timely manner. This increases overall efficiency and improves employee morale.

2.    Reduces Operating Cost

Companies that try to do everything themselves may incur very high research, development and marketing expenses.  Keeping an employee trained and up to date with within certain fields can be costly too. INsourcing the secondary functions to experts whose only function is one particular task can be much less expensive in the long run. Additional costs, such as SS tax, WC benefits and health insurance, are all part of hiring a full time employee. A company will not incur these cost with INsourcing to experts.

3.    Access to Experts and Specialists

INsourcing firms are comprised of highly trained and very experienced specialists who know how to handle all aspects of that particular project. For difficult tasks, this allows for many companies to manage those complex projects. The employees will have more time to do their aspects of their job which would increase productivity and customer service. By INsourcing these projects, the company will not be confined to their geographic location.  The company will  have access to even a greater pool of experts by outsourcing through North America.

4.    Improve Customer Service

When an employee is bogged down with lots of tasks to complete, he/she is less capable of providing excellent customer service. INsourcing permits a company to redirect its resources from non-core activities toward activities that serve the customer.  The level of customer service will increase because time and resources are being focused on that area.

5.    Improve Efficiency

Cost, quality, service and speed are critical measures that a company must aim for in improvements. This need to increase efficiency directly conflicts with the need to invest in the primary focus of the business. By freeing up time and resources, the company is able to concentrate on making money and growing the business.

Challenge
They approached Studio490 and explained their situation in extreme detail. We came to understand that their trust in vendors had been broken on top of not getting what they paid for. Our challenge was to discuss what we could do for them, how we were going to do it, how long it would take and how much it would cost.

Solution
We explained that we do ministry work for 50% off our market rate and that would help offset some of the expense that they had incurred with the previous vendor. After several meetings discussing their goals and objectives, we gained their trust and commitment to proceed.

We branded a new logo for their marketing materials along with redesigning their web site. The part that impressed them the most was the quality and speed of work for the price quoted. We provided them with several logo variations within 1 business week of their commitment. Once we established ourselves, we then proceeded with providing them a wonderful online solution that took less then 8 weeks to complete. The web solution we provided costs less then 54% of the previous vendor.

We felt that we had proven that good creative resources still exist out there and that we are indeed one of them.

Tj and Dana Todd

What makes a professional web designer is their ability to listen to the client and suggest the right business solution. Even though that solution may not be something the “Designer” does. A true professional should tell you what you need and not just what you want to hear.

It does Studio490 no good to design and develop a web solution that never exceeds its clients business expectations. That simply makes a unhappy customer and they don’t return.

The Client

Just as it’s important to hire a professional web designer, we believe it’s important for the client to know what they are asking for. If they don’t, then be open to feedback from that professional. Know when you’re asking for a Lexus on a Yugo budget. We offer Consulting services to help with this process.

Spend some time learning what you will need to ask for before you find someone to provide that service. Look for a professional who has references, testimonials and samples. Ask about qualifications and how they do business. A professional will be more than happy to talk about their company.

Know what’s included and what is not in the scope of the project. Project Creep is very common in web development and it’s best to define what the cost will cover.

A committed web professional and a educated professional client is a winning combination. You can see our references to see.

Contact us today!

Tj and Dana Todd

Studio490

There are ways to get to the top of search engines and here are 2:

Organic SEO: in which you constantly work on your site content, link exchange, keyword research, meta tags, title wording, networking, blog support (see Studio490.com), online marketing, promotions, email blasts, direct mail, web banners and more.

Buy your way to the top by Pay-Per-Click: you pay to be listed above the fold when someone enters a certain keyword.

.As a reference, the term “DSL” was selling for 3.05 in 2005 and is now up to 6.24. So if you were the highest bidder for “DSL“; every 100 people that clicked on your link would cost you 624.00. As you can see it wouldn’t take much to blow your budget out of the water if you were going after a popular keyword.

** Quote **

Successful SEO Needs Effort, Not Quick Fixes
By: Mark Nenadic

If you want to be successful with search engine optimization, you need to commit yourself to achieving long-term results. This does take patience, but is necessary if you want to come out on top. The following tips can help bring you closer to your high ranking goal:

• Tip 1: Conduct thorough research for keyword phrases- Use effective keyword programs such as Keyword Discovery or Word Tracker. The paid programs of their software will help you generate the best keyword phrases for your business.
• Tip 2: Valuable web content- Don’t create a website that is overrun by graphics. SEO spiders will crawl right over these graphics and by pass you. Your website needs a reasonable amount of web content that is pumped full of valuable information. It needs to be clear and concise. And it should also convey your website’s message, which needs to include the keywords you’ve selected to rank high.
• Tip 3: Relevancy-  Ensure that all of your link anchor texts and title tags are relevant to one another, as well as to the web content that is presented on your site.
• Tip 4: Patience is a virtue- It will take almost a year, or even longer, before you begin to see any traffic from the natural results of search engines. Try not to let this get you down. Take this time to continue to improve your site and give the competition a run for their money. Eventually, your persistence, patience and positive thinking will pay off.

** End Quote **

While not having a website at all is still worse than not doing any SEO (search engine optimization), it’s not by much. If you plan on not doing any SEO to your site after launch or in production, keep your site lean with good content until you can afford to do some.

Contact us today!

Tj & Dana Todd
Studio490.

Then you realized that your company logo should be more than just words. And so you brought the topic up in a sales meeting and the guy who sells stuff on eBay was the most creative person in the group. So he whipped up a logo using Paint Shop Pro over the weekend.

Next thing you know, the logo is in your power point which was put together by your Sales Manager.

Three weeks later, you are attending a conference and your secretary has been working on a brochure/calendar combo and you say, “hey, drop in our new logo and print out 100 for the show.”

I paint these situations because this is just what happens everyday in business. May I suggest you print out all of those materials and lay them out on a table next to each other.

Do they look the same?

I’d bet a Venti Mocha Frap that 7 out of 10 are not. They were made by different people at different times with different reasons. Not to mention that none of these very skilled and willing people were Creative Professionals.

That disjointed look you now see all throughout your Client Facing Materials are what your clients see everyday while reviewing your products / services. Your brochures look different than your email blasts. Your business cards look different then your website. Your powerpoint look different than your closeout materials. When they get some project materials from a sales asscoicate they look different still.

What is this saying to your client?

Is the process of your business this disconnected? Are my orders being handled properly? Am I paying to much to a company who is spending more time on my project than they should be?

This is where a Creative Professional such at Studio490 comes in and asseses the single brand of the company, adjusts all materials that are not company branded and develops a process for employees to follow to avoid future disconnects.

Having a single brand applied to all client facing and internal facing materials will streamline the development process of communicating with your client. After all, you want a sales person to be selling and not trying to design your next newsletter.

Contact us today and let us exceed your expectations.

You can see some of our work at www.studio490.com and our references from clients we helped fix that broken road.

Contact us today!

Tj and Dana Todd
Studio490

Times passes….

You get your trade show graphic and it’s perfect. To be sure the size is right, you set up the table top in the conference room and put up your new trade show booth in all it’s glory. Someone walks in (or you invite them to see the beauty) and they say, “hey, I thought we stopped using that vendor?”

Change is the only thing that’s constant. And while that is good for printing companies, it’s not good for those of us who want some closure. So, I’ve developed a process which I call “Supportive Panels”. I design my trade show booth to allow me to use or not use these panels. They are usually designed on a 11 x 17 inch panel which is then printed out in color and mounted on foam core. We simply attach them to the trade show booth graphic to address specific trade show events.

When the supportive panel is not needed, it is removed and the message underneath is used. We also use these on easels to put on the table next to the main graphic.

11 x 17 works well because they are a cost friendly size.

Contact us today! and let us provide services such as Tradeshow Materials and much more. Come see how customer services was meant to me.

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Tj & Dana Todd
Studio490

Web Development Process:

• Define Your Objectives
• Develop a Proposal
• Approve Proposal
• Provide some reference points to help determine your style and taste
• Design a sample of the homepage and an inside page
• Approve Design
• Production
• Test Site
• Approve Site
• Launch
• Promote

After this process, we move into Phase II which usually involves added features, text tweaks, expansion, social media, promotion and level II SEO services.

We’ve found that communicating frequently along the process keeps our client informed and assured  their project is moving forward.

Contact Us Today!

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Tj & Dana Todd
Studio490: Creative Services