Connectivity
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I Am My Investment
LANSING – Lansing Community College (LCC) will host the American Marketing Association (AMA) Midwest Leadership Conference, Friday, October 29 and Saturday, October 30, 2010 at LCC’s West Campus, 5708 Cornerstone Drive, Lansing, MI 48917. The conference theme is “I Am My Investment – Creating My Future.”
“This conference gives American Marketing Association members and students connections that help them to be successful in the business world,” said Connie Sweet, Regional Conference Chair. “Topics and exercises include leadership, motivation, networking, business etiquette and team building. We hope participants will leave this conference feeling more confident about their skills as they enter the business world.”
Friday evening’s program includes a pizza party mixer and networking exercise with Jim Reed at the Lexington Lansing Hotel and Suites. Saturday’s speakers will include: Jim Reed, Owner, Jim Reed Consulting, on leadership, motivation, and team building; Malinda Barr of Get Up and Grow on building relationships and business etiquette tips. Additional Saturday speaker to be announced. The day will also include breakfast, lunch, and breakout sessions for Chapter Management Teams.
For more information and to download a flyer and agenda visit www.lccama.com
A block of rooms has been set aside at the Lexington Lansing Hotel and Suites for attendees to reserve as a discounted rate. www.lexingtonlansing.com
Please RSVP to Connie Sweet, Regional Conference Chair at connie@connectiongraphics.com, or on the website at www.lccama.com or by phone at 517-645-4387. Attendance Fee is $25.00. Checks can be made payable to: Lansing Community College AMA and mailed to LCC AMA, MC 2100, P.O. Box 40010, Lansing, MI 48910.
Registration deadline for the Conference is October 27, 2010.
Remember to check your stats after each campaign. Learn what is working and what isn’t. You can keep your list lean if you find some subscribers have never opened, and target other subscribers who tend to only open particular messages. Good luck and happy campaigning!
Plant Your Best Seeds
Life coach, Michael Neil states “When you approach sales from a place of joyful service, you realize making offers is like planting a garden. Instead of focusing on what you might get back if you’re lucky, take some time to think about what you would like to grow.”
Ask yourself questions like:
Feeling Finding Questions help bring answers your prospect may not even know are under the surface. I have often gone into meetings with prospects and existing customers for a specific project and after further discussion we have determined another solution or product would serve their goals better. The following questions were shared with me by Phil Kline who is an expert in Dale Carnegie Sales Training. These questions are more valuable insight are provided in Phil’s book, Customer Driven Sales.
6 FEELING FINDING QUESTIONS:
1. What do you like most about your current product (website, logo, brand, marketing efforts)
2. Why is that important to you?
3. What do you dislike most about your present product (website,logo brand…)
4. Why is that a problem for you?
5. If I could change something for you in your next product what would you want me to do differently?
6. Why would that be important to you?
When questions are asked from a place of joyful inquiry, the answers are truthful, creative, fun, and take root. Don’t skip the ‘Why’ questions! As your prospect digs deep to answer the ‘why’ the true reason behind the need can be discovered.
Harvest Low-Hanging Fruit
Often the best sale to make is going to existing clients and customers. When working with customers for a long time is is easy to get into ruts. Projects can flow well, which is always a blessing but are we doing the best we can or are we staying safe? Especially with marketing and graphic design it is important to always look at new ways of approaching concepts. You don’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water and completely reinvent everything. Sometimes just a change in logo placement or color can update a Web site or print marketing piece. Other times digging deep into the entire brand and relating it to the business as it is today is needed. If you take the time to ask questions to find the differences your customer would love to make and the way they would most like to make them, you can deliver creative solutions that help your customer relationship and their business flourish.
Happy seed planting and remember to appreciate the abundance of the harvest.
If you like the Sustainable Sales Growth image please visit our desktop patterns area. We have a “Money as Tools” saying on the images posted. If you would like to use one as your desktop pattern, download the image size that fits you monitor.
As a marketing and design firm specializing in branding solutions we work with customers across the United States and Canada. We are located in the Lansing, Michigan area and much of our clientele are in Lansing and Grand Rapids. In the over twelve years of launching Connection Group, I have been pleased to see the growth and improvements both of these cities have made. Since I attended Kendall College of Art and Design in the, dare I say it – 80s’, Grand Rapids skyline and downtown offerings have improved dramatically. Areas where once I was tentative to ride my bike have now become revitalized, thriving neighborhoods. With the diverse corporations and big donor names such as VanAndel and DeVos, Grand Rapids has been blessed with a stream of financial gifts and investments.
Lansing, on the other hand, with its deep roots in the auto industry, has seen challenges and limited financial support. Even though it is the state capital of Michigan, the challenges the State has encountered has limited state investment and growth for the city. Fortunately, with a new diverse group of industries moving to the city, including many large insurance corporations, biotech companies, and of course the continued growth at MSU, Cooley Law School, and the many other higher education institutions, Lansing is growing and attracting a dynamic group of young residents. Downtown Lansing has expanded its offerings for nightlife and entertainment and Oldtown has continued to be a destination for celebrating the arts with its many festivals and locally owned boutique shops.
Local online newspaper, Capital Gains has dedicated a lot of ink to share the many wonderful events, happenings and growth Lansing is experiencing. Recently they featured a couple of articles on one of our favorite clients, Lambs’ Gate Antiques. Lambs’ Gate is locally owned by Carol Lamb. The first store in Grand Ledge has enjoyed much success throughout the years and Carol boldly chose to expand this Spring and opened Lambs’ Gate Antiques in OldTown. Managed by her daughter-in-law Ashley, the new store is the epitome of what is OldTown, eclectic, unique and colorful.
To learn more about the shops please view the Capital Gains article about Lambs’ Gate and the Lambs’ Gate Web site. To read more about the young talent Lansing is attracting and get a glimpse of why Lambs’ Gate Oldtown is experiencing such a welcoming response, read the Capital Gains article on Dan and Ashley Lamb.
Be sure to friend the Lambs’ Gate Antiques facebook site and join the newsletter to receive monthly coupons!
Monitor Your Brand…
A great brand can be costly and can take months, if not years, to build. It’s a foundational piece in your marketing communication that you do not want to be without. In this internet age It can be destroyed in hours by a blogger upset with your company. Stay connected to what is being said. The first thing to do is acquire a feed reader. (Google reader has many nice features.)
1. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest results based on your choice of query or topic. The alerts tracks blog posts, news articles, videos and even groups.
2. Blog Comments – Use BackType.com
3. Social Comments –
Yacktrack.com searches WordPress, Blogger, Stumbleupon, Digg, FriendFeed, etc. for comments on you and your blogging, social media, activity.
4. Twitter – Using Twitter search, you can locate any instances of your name. Try Twilert .
5. FriendFeed.com is a social aggregator. You can search your brand throughout all social networks at once.
6. Social Mention is a social media search engine for user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services.
I hope these four posts on Corporate branding have been helpful. Please contact me if you have any questions!
Connection Group offers a complete range of technology, Web development and creative services. We are passionate about crafting quality corporate identity and marketing strategies at reasonable rates, and we are skilled at developing and creating:
• Brand identity
• Website Design
• Corporate brochures
• Corporate Identity Packages
• Corporate presentations
• Banner and billboard creations
• Ads and marketing materials for print & online
• Product & Event Marketing
• Product package graphic design, and more…
Protect Your Brand…
Administrative assistants and sales staff snag logos from the corporate website, change the color, stretch them and use them on everything from brochures to social media profiles. The longer this practice is allowed to continue the more it will cost the company. Soon you have diluted image awareness and your brand is compromised. If this is happening in your company you need to stop it. The best way to start is by establishing and distributing company-wide standards.
Brand guidelines:
About the brand (positioning, key research findings, etc)
Literature (Correspondence, Web and Print):
Your employees meet, greet, and assist your customers in many different ways. They are the face of your brand. Engaging your staff in brand training will build their faith in the brand and send a unified message to your customers and community.
For all Michigan Rock Star Entrepreneurs, MEDC is inviting Michigan companies to apply for INC 500 and contributing the $100 fee.
Here is an opportunity to get your fast growing business listed in the Inc 500/5000. This is a great public relations opportunity and we encourage your consideration to use this opportunity or to share with associates that you feel will gain from this excellent recognition and exposure. Let’s put our Great Lakes region on the technology entrepreneur community leadership map which will attract more entrepreneurs, investors, team members, and customers! As a thank you for doing business in Michigan, MEDC will contribute your $100 application fee to Inc.
The state’s economic development agency, the MEDC is providing a streamlined and no cost application process for entrepreneurs to apply for the Inc. 500|5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the country. Honorees who make the list will be recognized in Inc. Magazine as well as online at www.Inc.com. Additionally, a special celebration will be held at the annual Inc. 500/5000 Conference later this year. The goal is to increase the number of Michigan companies recognized on the list each year.
Michigan based companies should contact the assigned concierge, Colleen Armstrong, Senior Project Specialist for Inc. 500|5000 at 212.389.5504 or via e-mail at cgwen@inc.com, to apply. (The deadline may be extended by 2 weeks for Michigan companies ONLY so please be sure to contact the concierge to apply). As a benefit to you, MEDC and Inc. have partnered to provide Michigan companies with personalized concierge services to walk you through the application process.
MEDC hopes to see you at the annual Inc. 500|5000 Conference in September 30–October 2, 2010, to celebrate other Michigan companies and alumni.
As a thank you for doing business in Michigan, MEDC will contribute your $100 application fee to Inc. We look forward to celebrating your success as part of the Inc. 500|5000 community.
Thanks to Lisa Dancsok, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications of MEDC for sharing this opportunity with us.
A corporate brand isn’t just about your logo, website and Facebook fan page. Your brand is the source of a promise to your customer. It’s really all about making sure that everything you do as a company has a coordinated look and feel about it. Graphically, that means creating a logo, choosing a corporate color (or colors), a typeface, and often a photo or illustration style.
Content-wise, it means honing in on the key points of your marketing messages to clearly, concisely, and compellingly reach your target audience. Taking the steps to establish a consistent message and image will pay off with customer loyalty, vendor confidence and employee pride.
The following questions will help you define or evaluate your current brand.
1. What products and/or services do you offer?
2. What are the core values of your products and services? (fun, creative, honest, etc.)
3. What are the core values of your company?
4. What is the mission of your company?
(keep this short, succinct, and inspiring )
5. What does your company specialize in?
6. Who is your target market? (age, education, etc.)
7. Who do your products and services attract?
8. Try to use your answers to create a tagline.
(be succinct, memorable, descriptive)
In order to perfect the image and message of your brand you must do the research to determine your target audience and how you want to be seen by that audience. Upon review of your answers you will begin to see the character of your company. What qualities stand out? Is your company innovative, energetic, or classic? Which of these characteristics and qualities get the attention of your prospects? Review the answers and create a profile of your brand.
More to come:
Part 2- Create Your Visual Brand…
Part 3- Protect Your Brand…
Part 4- Monitor Your Brand…
Please contact Connie Sweet at Connection Group 517-645-4387 or info@connectiongraphics.com with re-print permission and questions.
Although some reports state traditional newspapers are experiencing declining readership, numbers actually show an increase in readers. This increase is due in part to the migration of readers online. Consider this when building your marketing campaign. To get the most from your display advertising, it is critical to advertise in print as well as utilize online advertising. Facebook is enjoying the largest number of hits per second on the internet right now but when you are attempting to reach a local audience, print publications are still king. Follow the 10 tips below to get the most value from your time and money. Give us a call if you need help creating professionally designed advertisements. Connection Group is here to deliver solutions for building your brand in print and online.
Re-print with permission from: Connie Sweet, Connection Group – info@connectiongraphics.com
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