Posted: March 23, 2011 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: analytics, design, marketing, segmentation, social media | Tags: analytics, marketing, marketing agency, marketing strategy, social media |
So, say you have a well-evolved marketing organization, with an experienced creative team who keeps your brand identity unified, and is very good at managing the daily business of refreshing marketing collateral, maintaining your web site, pushing out the occasional banner ad, designing displays for your tradeshow presence.
Why would you hire an agency for your marketing initiatives when you already have your team in place?
It often comes down to the simple fact that agencies have very specialized expertise and experience that internal teams don’t. Agencies gather team members who have spent years developing and refining skills that—were you to hire permanent employees—would simply cost your company too much. An agency engagement is a great way to augment your already skilled internal team with specialties that would otherwise be far too costly.
Here are some considerations to help you decide if you should work with an agency as you review your marketing strategy and internal capabilities: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 27, 2011 | Author: Peter Mancini | Filed under: analytics, social media | Tags: facebook, Little Darth Vader, social media, Superbowl, Superbowl 2011, twitter, Volkswagen, VW, VW Darth Vader ad, youtube |
Football! America! Land Acquisition. Winners and Losers! There are few things as culturally defining as football is to America. The existence of the Superbowl™, the Ragnarok of sports and cultural end-times pits the survivors of a brutal season against each other. It is as much a battle in the media as it is on the field. 111 million viewers represents a lot of simultaneous outreach and since the spectacle of the ad campaigns is itself now part of the culture, the messages are scrutinized much more carefully. With YouTube and other outlets through which people can see these messages when they want, voluntarily, a new ground for marketing has emerged.
Since the Big Game aired we had intended on doing blog posts about it. I started to rant about one ad I despised, then the CEO and I started talking about measuring how it did in the social media space. That led to a blog post, that became a bit too technical, on measuring social media impact. That was when we realized there was much more to this than simple analysis of a few ads on TV. So now you have this blog post. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 17, 2010 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: community, economy, marketing, social media, social responsibility | Tags: Braddock PA, community, economy, Levi Strauss, Levi's, social media, social responsibility |
Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi’s) tells us the story of Braddock, Pennsylvania, a town hit hard by a staggering combination of factors: the collapse of the steel industry some decades ago and the continued economic downturn. Its population is down nearly 90% from its heyday in the 1950s, and has been called a “ghost town” more than once.
The stories Levi’s tells are compelling and beautiful–hope in the midst of squalor, danger and despair.
My favorite line? “People think there aren’t frontiers any more. They can’t see that there are frontiers all around us.”
Truer words were never spoken, and the message of hope and conviction borne on them is inspiring.
But is it sincere, or a cynical attempt by a company who has outsourced much of its manufacturing to Mexico to regain market share? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 5, 2010 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: community, domestic violence, Haven House, networking, social media | Tags: call to action, child abuse, community, domestic violence, facebook, Haven House, social media |
This weekend I got into a minor verbal (textual?) scuffle on Facebook with a couple of dear friends over an issue that’s very important to me. Because the issue is so deeply part of how I view the world, I responded to a Facebook trend in haste, and offended more than a few people. I will be the first to admit that my kneejerk reaction was a mistake. However, I am not willing to admit that I’m wrong about why I reacted as I did.
There are those who say that changing your profile picture in support of a cause raises awareness, but then what? Okay, so you’re aware, now how about doing something? As Andy Scherer articulated to me, it’s even less of a meaningful gesture than wearing a rubber bracelet or sporting a bumper sticker: at least in those cases, you’ve put a couple of bucks down in support of the cause. There’s no commitment in changing your profile picture; it will last only as long as our atrophying attention spans, and does nothing of real value for the cause.
And in this case–child abuse awareness–the Facebook trend disturbs me because in effect (“show no human faces”) the psychology of it signifies that we’re turning our faces away from, or hiding our faces in shame of, a very important cause. I decline, thanks, because victims have faces, and I stand in public support of this cause. It is shameful, and we must not hide from it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: January 11, 2009 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: blogging, design, economy, election, marketing, networking, search engine friendly, social media, writing | Tags: customer service, customer support, economy, good news, language, news, positive attitude, social commentary, social media, social network |
Why are we so fond of bad news? It’s like that morbid compulsion to crane your neck at an auto accident to see if–heaven forbid!–anyone was seriously injured, and then breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn’t you (though if you crane your neck far enough, it might be!). We watch the headlines with the same morbid fascination, shaking our heads and clucking our tongues at some stranger’s (or strangers’) misfortunes.
We watch and drool…until the bad news finds its way to our doorstep.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: November 4, 2008 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: blogging, election, networking, social media | Tags: election, obama, social media, social networking |
This night marks a new era in American history, and changes the world in which we live. We have, for the first time in our history, elected a black man to be the leader of this country, and by a wide margin. Now it’s time for the divisive politics to end, and for members of both parties to work together for common goals. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: June 12, 2008 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: blogging, networking, social media | Tags: blog, blogging, network, social media, social network |
An amazing thing happened with one of our client sites recently: we had barely completed the design and “thrown the switch”, when they started getting hits on the site and queries for the business. Quite literally within less than 24 hours… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 16, 2008 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: networking, social media | Tags: networking, social media, social networking, twitter |
Another in a long line of sites devoted to online networking, Twitter is quickly gaining attention as a way to stay in touch easily, and update your community about what you’re doing (you can find us at http://www.twitter.com/shetech). Like any networking/posting tool, though, it can be overused — and it’s highly tempting to do so! MarketingSherpa offers some terrific advice for what to do and what not to do. Read the article here…
Posted: May 5, 2008 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: networking, social media | Tags: facebook, fastpitch, linkedin, networking, social media, social networking |
Over the last couple of years, the so-called “Web 2.0″ phenomenon has really taken hold. Social and business networking sites have grown, new ones are added practically every week and people (including yours truly) keep signing up. Why? Because they work!
A few weeks ago, I finally broke down and joined Facebook (feel free to visit my profile!). Now, why would someone nicknamed “SheTech”, who actually specializes in online marketing, resist joining such a phenomenon? Because I knew that I would 1) be bombarded by messages from other Facebook denizens (and I was), and 2) I would spend so much time poking around that my time management skills (such as they are) would fly right out the window.
The stuff is addictive! And it has changed the face of how people reach one another, both for personal and business use.
Late last week I joined another site, geared toward business networking. FastPitch is all about business networking and appears to be built around the BNI philosophy of “Givers Gain” (I had suspected it’s run by the same people, but it turns out it’s not, just highly recommended by BNI’s founder, Dr. Ivan Misner) — you create good karma by referring business to other people, and what goes around comes around. It’s a philosophy of enlightened self-interest, and more and more businesses are jumping on this particular bandwagon.
I haven’t gotten any business out of it yet, nor am I expecting to; however, I have already made some very interesting connections around the country in the way of strategic alliances. There are many members representing companies that do things SheTech and Company does not do, but that would make a great addition to the suite of products and services we offer. Everybody wins.
What is it about these networks that make them so appealing? In this age of global communication, they offer a great way to reach out to people around the world with like interests. We really are social creatures. We like to have friends, and as the world becomes less and less formal, networks such as these offer ways for us to stay in touch with friends, colleagues, family, classmates, etc., without the pressure of having to write perfect purple prose (there are some of us, I admit, who will always be sticklers for language).
Networking sites also offer a way to create “buzz” about your product or service in a way that traditional marketing methods can’t touch. Some of the most successful marketing campaigns I have ever seen were created for next to nothing by way of Web 2.0 sites — one a technology company and the other a musician/composer, both using networking sites to create “street teams” to generate interest in what they do, and spreading the word far more widely and for far less money than any newspaper or trade magazine could possibly offer!
Sign me up!
Until next time…
SheTech
Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1156998576
Rebekkah Hilgraves
Theresa
andyscherer
Peter Mancini
alexasteele
the power of yes
Posted: January 11, 2009 | Author: Rebekkah Hilgraves | Filed under: blogging, design, economy, election, marketing, networking, search engine friendly, social media, writing | Tags: customer service, customer support, economy, good news, language, news, positive attitude, social commentary, social media, social network | 2 Comments »Why are we so fond of bad news? It’s like that morbid compulsion to crane your neck at an auto accident to see if–heaven forbid!–anyone was seriously injured, and then breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn’t you (though if you crane your neck far enough, it might be!). We watch the headlines with the same morbid fascination, shaking our heads and clucking our tongues at some stranger’s (or strangers’) misfortunes.
We watch and drool…until the bad news finds its way to our doorstep.
Read the rest of this entry »