Many of our clients lately are asking about whether they should be incorporating social media into their marketing plan. My answer is YES! Marketing is really changing these days. People can block out the message you’re trying to get across with the old traditional methods of advertising and marketing by using Caller ID, TiVo and Junk Mail settings. Magazine and newspaper subscriptions are way down indicating that you have to be more careful with your advertising dollars. We must constantly look for new methods for promoting our companies in places where people are open to the message and don’t feel interrupted.

Today people expect a strong online presence. If you don’t have one you are losing potential customers daily. Everyone between the ages of 20-40 is online for at least part of the day, everyday. They are more likely to search for something on Google than in a phone book. Come on, when was the last time you actually picked up that huge yellow book and thumbed through pages? I used to heft it out to find the phone number for the pizza place. Now I even order my pizza online! Below are some things you should be doing to promote your company (and yourself) if you’re not already: (more…)

When people Google, they know basically what they’re looking for so your site has to speak to your potential client/customer instantly. What with the bombardment of information we receive on a daily basis, no one wants to sit and read a lot of fluff about the details of your business. They want to know why they should choose you immediately. Everyone is in a hurry to do their research and get on to the decision making. If you don’t tell them right up front what makes you different and better than your competitors you had better believe they aren’t going to dig through the paragraphs of copy blabbing on about your superior this and ultimate that to find out for themselves. They are going to jump right to the next site listed on that first page of Google.

Your home page content should do these three things:

1. FOCUS on your differentiation – Choose one and only one differentiation because that is all people can remember. Do not list and describe all of your services on your home page. Make the decision to choose your company easy because your difference is obvious. The less information we are given, the more likely we are to remember it later. This FOCUS is fundamental to branding and should be maintained throughout all marketing materials. (more…)

As I become more involved with trying to decipher the social media mystery and how to use it effectively in marketing I thought I would really hate TWITTER. I figured it would be just another social media distraction in my already crazy busy day. I have found just the opposite to be true. Just like Flower, Thumper and Bambi, I am twitterpated. You know, that flighty exciting feeling you get when you think about the object of your affection. Twitter is not as all consuming as I thought it might be. People are not just posting tweets about what they are doing at the moment. They are posting helpful, insightful tips and useful links. It is a tool where you can connect with all kinds of people in a quick, professional way. I find that I am excited to check what new info is waiting out there provided by people that I know have similar interests. In the last year the number of people in the U.S. using Twitter has exploded. According to statistics from compete.com the site grew from 4.1 million monthly visitors in February 2008 to 54.2 million last month.

In reading other people’s tweets, I have run across many interesting articles. One of which is about the many ways social media is changing the way we, as designers and marketers, work.

Check it out: The 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2009

This one gives good insight into The 90/10 Rule of Successful Twittering

While reading Frank Lane’s, “Killer Brands” the other day I learned that slogan originally meant a Scottish battle cry. So I am now imagining Pi Design’s new marketing campaign…a panty-less Mel Gibson rallying the design troops to meet the impossible deadlines whilst screaming something about FREEDOM OF DESIGN. Everyone waves their X-Acto knives and T-squares in the air furiously as they prepare for the battle against time.

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It’s that time of year when many New Years resolutions have already been broken. I made a simple one this year to just say NO to time commitments that do not benefit my family or business. So far, so good.

Here at Pi Design we would like to help everyone keep their business resolutions. Many people have their 2009 marketing plans completed and are well on their way to fulfilling the January goals…right? Did I hear some groans and sighs out there? If you are one of the people who hasn’t gotten around to preparing the ever-daunting, time consuming 2009 MARKETING PLAN, we have just the thing. Check out THE SIMPLEST MARKETING PLAN EVER. We have created an online tool that will allow you to develop a simple plan for the ONE most important marketing item on your list by just filling out the online form. It will email you a nice PDF that you can print out and and hang it on your wall, carry it in your pocket, staple it to your forehead, tape it to your steering wheel—do whatever it takes to remind yourself every day what you need to be doing to grow your business.

Come back and use it as often as you like for as many marketing ideas you may have. Let us know what you think, what we should change or add and we will keep updating this tool throughout the year.

As 2008 comes to a close and we wrap up another year, we here at Pi Design would like to wish you the happiest of holidays – whichever ones you may be celebrating. As times change and cultures come together, more and more holidays are being noticed publicly around the world. It’s a wonderful thing to partake the different customs and celebrations that the diverse inhabitants of our planet enjoy.

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We sometimes get people who show up in our office and say, “I need a website.” They don’t really know what exactly they want or how many pages it will be. So we talk to them for a while to get the details all down on paper and then we struggle to provide what we think is an accurate quote only to find out they realized that they will need to add three more pages or they decided a CMS feature on the home page would be cool. And, oh by the way, could we provide all the content too? All the confusion could easily be avoided with a well thought out design brief. So I thought it would be a good idea to provide some simple guidelines to make the process much less painful for everyone and allow us to drive straight to the design part as soon as possible.

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People are hanging onto their money more tightly now so businesses have to tug harder to get them to part with it. Smart business decisions during slow times can keep your company in the forefront of consumers’ minds so they’ll remember you when things improve.

Resist the temptation to cut your marketing budget. People won’t remember your company over your competitors if you don’t keep your name in the marketplace. Here are some inexpensive ways to keep your marketing efforts in full swing in a slow economy.

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