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Thinkology Newsletter - Winter 2010

• Brand Yourself on Twitter
• Social Media Buzz
• Successful Postcard Marketing
  

 

Brand Yourself on Twitter^™

How Tweets Connect to Your Customers
By: Stephanie Wejbe

Many of you may be scrambling to keep up with all the new media formats that can be used to help grow your business. Twitter (www.twitter.com), a popular social networking website, has become increasingly vital for sharing important information, news, announcements, and events. Effectively managing a Twitter account can become a valuable tool for making your brand voice heard and boosting your overall communications efforts. We are seeing great results with our clients who’ve begun using Twitter -- even having it become a major vehicle for driving traffic to their corporate websites.

How Twitter Works— This social media website allows you to post and receive short messages known as “tweets” to a group of contacts or "followers." To begin sending or receiving tweets you will first need to create a free account. Tweets can only consist of 140 characters or less, but despite this limitation, Twitter has become an effective communications tool. And, due to its simple messaging nature and “no frills” setup, Twitter has become widely used, and is a great way to stay in touch with your audiences in small, manageable bits.

Driving Brand Visibility Through Tweets—Twitter is favorable to the search engines, and often ranks in the top page of web search results. In this way, it can be a valuable vehicle in driving brand visibility. Here are some suggestions for getting started:

• List positive news or official press directly related to your business. Sharing official news will draw more traffic to your Twitter page and can be an easy way to
  increase links to your website, which in turn will help improve its search engine ranking.
  
  
• List articles from recognized industry resources. These articles may be simple stories of interest or contribute to opinions or thoughts that may support your brand positioning.
  
  
• Announcements and events. Twitter is a great way to announce upcoming events. For example, if you would like to send a reminder about an event you are hosting, using Twitter can get the word out immediately.
  
  
• Statements to the world. These statements help express the sensibilities of your brand and can communicate directly with your customers. For example, you may
  want to send a direct message to your followers for their support at a recent event: “Thank you for the great turnout at our grand opening!” Just this can communicate your brand’s culture of gratefulness and commitment to customers.

Keep up with us on Twitter: twitter.com/thinkmarketing. You’ll find industry news, marketing tips and things to inspire you. If you’d like to engage a conversation on how to make sense of Social Media for your brand, please give us a call.

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Social Media for Businesses

When you think of social media tools, you probably think of them as web applications that help you connect with your family and friends. However, in the last few years, social media has moved beyond applications that work on a personal level to become a powerful component of web marketing for business. According to Pew Research Center, “94 percent of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools.” At Think Marketing, we have seen the dramatic impact a tightly defined and well-managed social media program can have on a company’s overall marketing efforts. Send us an email to learn more.

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DARREN’S DESIGN TIPS: Successful Postcard Marketing

Believe it or not, despite the rising costs of postage and printing, and the great performance of email, at Think we’re still seeing very high returns on direct mail campaigns, and postcard marketing in particular. The trick is to use postcards as part of a larger marketing effort and to make sure that they stand out. Below are a few important basics that will help your direct mail campaign be successful:

Review Postal Guidelines Before Designing
The United States Post Office provides a free PDF on their website called the Domestic Mail Manual Inside, you will find the exact dimensions for various types of mailers, and design specifications that will help you design your direct mail pieces to achieve maximum postage savings.

Design for Quick Visual Punch
Effective postcard design relies upon quick, hard-hitting visuals. While you'll want to keep your brand strategy in mind and use appropriate colors and fonts, your postcard must stand out from the rest of the mail that may be sitting on your customer's desk. Use strong colors, intriguing photos and large headlines to gain attention.

Combine Direct Mail with Email for Maximum Impact
By combining your direct mail campaigns with an associated online email campaign, you can maximize the impact of your marketing dollars. Your postcard can direct your audience to a specific URL to place an order or to get more information. In a recent study by the Direct Marketing Association, 43% of all direct mail marketing respondents referenced direct marketing when completing a transaction, or requesting additional information. In fact, Think Marketing clients have seen as much as a 50% increase in website traffic as a result of adding a URL to client postcard mailers.

For more on postcard marketing, please send us an email or give us a call today.

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