Here are some of the top Twitter accounts we love to follow:

1. @AdAge
2. @NatGeoPhotos
3. @cnnbrk
4. @Target
5. @Reuters
6. @Starbucks
7. @toptweets
8. @OMGFacts
9. @dkny
10. @ajc
11. @MarkRaganCEO
12. @ChickfilA

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

1. Boo
2. Coca-Cola
3. The Most Interesting Man in the World
4. Old Spice
5. Starbucks
6. McDonald’s
7. Toms
8. Disney
9. Victoria’s Secret
10. Skittles
11. Zappos

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Whether you’re at home sitting around the fire or avoiding doing anything at work, here’s a list of 10 blogs that will keep you entertained and busy for hours.  Check out what we love to read:

1. Perez Hilton
2. Santa’s Christmas  Blog
3. Social Examiner
4. Ad Freak
5. Cupcakes and Cashmere
6. The Everywhereist
7. By Ken Levine
8. Economix
9. Catalog Living
10. Huffington Post

Don’t forget it’s not too late to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

• 42% of American companies are still in their infancy when integrating social media in their company.
• 16% of American companies have fully integrated the new media.
• 66% of the companies have a Facebook page, 51% a Twitter account, and 44% a company LinkedIn page.
• Companies from the financial and health industry are lagging behind, while tech and telecommunications and the media sector are ahead.

Coming from someone who has been working in the PR and advertising industry these stats baffle me.  People… Get with the program!!  It’s about to be 2012, doesn’t everyone understand how important it is to be socially active?  It’s interesting to me read all these articles out right now about the social media trends of 2012.  Should we really be worrying about the trends of 2012 when only 16% of companies are even fully using social media?

What I find even more interesting is the amount of financial and health companies that have been reaching out to us lately to help them begin a social media strategy.  While they may be lagging behind, it looks like they’re finally ready to take the plunge.  I commend those industries for breaking out of the traditional marketing strategies they are used to and trying something new.

A new year is the perfect time for making resolutions.  Here’s yours: start being more active on social media. Tweet, blog, use Facebook or create a LinkedIn page – every little bit helps!  MAX is even here to help if you need a little guidance.  Follow us on Twitter or ‘Like’ us on Facebook for tips and tricks to grow your social media plan!

Home for the holidays?  Beat the boredom and download some apps onto your phone or iTouch!  Here’s a list of 9 that we love and can’t live without:

1. iLocalis – Track your phone if you lose it or even if it’s stolen
2. Flipboard – Turns your social-network posts, photos and videos into a magazine-like visual experience
3. Spotify – Listen to free music on the go
4. Skype – Free Skype-to-Skype video chats for far away friends and family
5. Nike + GPS – Map your runs, track your progress and get the motivation you need to go even further
6. Evernote – Create notes, snap photos, and record voice memos that you can then access any time from your iPhone, computer, or the web
7. Angry Birds – This game is addicting, beware!
8. Bump – Connect and share info with friends simply by bumping your phones together
9. Quick Tip – For those that eat out all the time, provides fast and convenient way to calculate the gratuity for any bill

While you’re already on your phone, log in to Facebook and “Like” us, add us to your circle on Google+ or tweet the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!  More money, more apps!

The holidays are rapidly approaching, which means lots of evenings with friends, family and sitting on Santa’s lap.  Make sure to capture those moments and share the pictures using these photo storage and sharing sites to make all your friends jealous!

1. Instragram
2. Flickr
3. yfrog
4. Trover
5. Picasa
6. AroundShare
7. Burstn
8. Twitxr

It’s not too late to win the $50 Amazon gift card!  All you have to do is “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet and you’ll be entered to win.  How easy is that?

What’s better than 7 swans-a-swimming?  7 ways to rock out to Christmas music!  Whether you want to stick with the classics or jam out to Bieber’s version of Christmas music, there’s something for everyone:

1. Spotify
2. Michael Buble  “Christmas”
3. Google Music
4. Stereomood
5. Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2
6. Pandora
7. Justin Bieber “Under The Mistletoe”

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for your chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

If you’re looking for something fun, holiday-themed activities to do in Atlanta, you’re in luck!  Check out the things we love to do during the holidays. And don’t forget to check in on Foursquare! You never know what awesome deals you can get.

1. Atlanta Botanical Garden’s “Garden Lights, Holiday Nights” www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org
2. Ice skating at Park Tavern http://www.parktavern.com/about/the-rink/
3. Atlantic Station Snow Show http://atlanticstation.com/email/index.php#ongoingintertainment
4. Center for Puppetry Arts “Rudolph” http://www.puppet.org/perform/rudolph.shtml
5. Visit Santa at Lenox Square http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=207
6. Christmas on Peachtree  http://www.christmasonpeachtree.com/

Remember  to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for your chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Thanks to YouTube, which has defined the era of sharing videos, it is as simple as ever to upload video, share with friends and even watch your favorite celeb!

• Rebecca Black “Friday”

• Jimmy Kimmel “I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy”

• “Greatest Marriage Proposal Ever”

• Jorge & Alexa Narvaez “Home”

• Volkswagen’s “The Force”

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

The newest thing in social media, Google+ allows you to connect with other people and businesses to stay on top of everything going on.  Here are four Google+ pages we like to visit:

• Burberry – On this page, Burberry promotes its products and brand image by posting photography and ad campaigns. It also features a wide range of videos such as beauty tutorials, exclusive music performances and even an introduction to its Google+ page. In our opinion, the animated banner on this page is one of the best on Google+.

• The Muppets – The page for the movie The Muppets, which was released November 23, posts promotional appearances, film clips and photos of Muppets with celebrities.

• Coca-Cola – What truly sets the Coke page apart from others is that its posts are so interesting. It contains posts about Coke photography, Coke crossword puzzles, a 52-foot-tall Coke waterfall art installation and a 125-year-old letter from a Coke factory worker.

• Nancy Myrland – Nancy Myrland is a social media consultant, speaker and trainer, as well as a professional marketing adviser. She posts little-known information about social media that will make you seem like an expert to all of your friends and coworkers.

Stay connected and make a Google+ page of your own.  Remember, “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

On the third day of Christmas MAX Advertising gave to me… 3 ways to avoid work!

Being right in the middle of the holidays can make it tough to concentrate at work.

1. Pinterest http://pinterest.com/
2. Wanelo http://www.wanelo.com/
3. Jest http://www.jest.com/

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

On the second tweet of Christmas MAX Advertising gave to me… two turtle doves? Or two awesome discount websites!

Christmas will be here before you know it, but do you have gifts for everyone on your list yet?  Skip the crowds at the mall and save some cash by shopping these Atlanta deal websites:

• Gilt City Atlanta (http://www.giltcity.com/atlanta) Gilt City is the key that unlocks the very best Atlanta has to offer for less — much less. They comb through deals and countless things to do and boiled it down to the most sought-after experiences and services just for you!

• Sweet Jack Atlanta (http://sweetjack.com/city/atlanta) Sweet Jack helps Atlantans tune into their city and discover new local businesses.  They provide awesome deals on everything from fine dining to fashion to fitness and more!

Don’t forget to “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Fa La La La La!! We’re spreading the holiday cheer this year by giving one lucky social media addict a $50 Amazon gift card. “Like” us on Facebook, add us to your circle on Google+ or use the hashtag #12DaysOfMAXmas in a tweet for a chance to win!

The count down to Christmas just got even more exciting!

Starting Monday, we will be sharing cool tips, tricks and things we love every day until Christmas. Spread some holiday cheer by following us on Twitter, “Liking” us on Facebook or adding us to your circle on Google+!  You never know what we’ll share!

We’re in the giving spirit this year, too. Check back Monday for something we know you’ll love…

When I started my first internship at an agency, I quickly learned just how valuable time is.  Every second of the workday needs to be used productively, and if it isn’t it is easy to fall behind.  Falling behind can mean possibly disappointing clients, disappointing the boss and even disappointing yourself.  The key to staying on top of everything (and even ahead!) is staying organized.  Luckily, organization is something that comes second nature to me.  Creating files, making to-do lists and labeling calendars is something I oddly enjoy.  Judge me all you want, but I never forget meetings or loose papers.

Whether you have 5 clients, 50 or 150, there’s always something to be done.  Here are some tips and tools to keep you focused and organized:

1. Create to-do lists, whether it’s on your computer or with old-fashioned paper and pen.
2. Use sticky notes as small reminders.
3. Make folders within your email to organize clients and projects.
4. Use Gmail.  The combination of highlighting and flagging emails and Google Calendar is bound to keep you organized.
5. And, for those lucky ones who have the iPhone 4S, use Siri. Tell her to remind you of a due date or meeting and you’re done.  It is immediately added to your calendar and sends you a reminder 10 minutes before.

A combination of these tips (and a whole lot of coffee) has allowed me to stay sane even on the most chaotic days.  The strategy I use that works best for myself is to make a to-do list for the next day, right before I leave work the night before.  That way when I come in the next morning I immediately know what needs to be done and don’t have to waste any time.  Plus, who doesn’t love crossing something off their list after they’re finished?

Typically, Thanksgiving marks the time of year when everything starts slowing down. With all the holiday festivities coming up, people start taking time off and work slowly gets pushed aside. Here at MAX, though, we are busier than ever! With a mixture of new and old clients, our days are crazy and the MAX train isn’t stopping for the holidays. Jim and Gregg are still cranking out tons of creative, Christie is still Tweeting and Facebooking and Julie is doing finance things (I’m not a numbers person, can you tell?). Beth is still meeting and presenting to clients and Tom is overseeing it all. And I can’t forget our amazing intern, Courtney, who does a little bit of everything!

As busy as we are, we’ll spend some time this week to celebrate Thanksgiving. While our number one goal is to eat until we can’t breathe, that’s not all the day is about. Thanksgiving is also a time to reflect on what we’re, well… thankful for. This year, more than ever, I know I have so much to be thankful for. For one, I am thankful for finding an absolutely amazing job with some awesome (and slightly crazy) co-workers. I am thankful to work with great clients that keep my days full and exciting and for coffee, to keep me sane through all the chaos.

So what are YOU thankful for? I’ll wait a minute while you think about it…

Tweet us, write on our Facebook or comment below and let us know what you are thankful for this year!

My name is Christine, and I am the newest member at MAX.  I work in Account Services, specifically with Beth Isikoff and Christie Matte.   – corresponding with clients, creating client proposals, helping with copy for a client ad and even some social media.  What I gathered from the past few weeks is that I have the opportunity to learn so much from the people here.

I’ll be the first to say that people my age (early 20s, fresh out of college) are a little ignorant.  We all think we know something about everything, especially since we grew up with the Internet.  Everyone thinks they know how to use computers and software better than anyone twice their age.  We all think no one over the age of 30 could possibly understand social media.  We think we’re way more creative than anyone our parents’ age could ever be. Spend a day with some of my co-workers and you’ll learn just how wrong these assumptions are.

Being the youngest in the office, I have this amazing opportunity to learn about all aspects of advertising from those who have some solid experience in this industry.  Coming from a PR background, I’m definitely unfamiliar with some aspects of advertising.  Honestly, the whole creative process of creating ads, logos and tag lines is something that is completely new to me.  And who knew there was so many freakin’ fonts to use? And HTML? Coding emails and websites seriously overwhelms me.  Luckily I work with some awesome people who are rock stars in these areas.  I’m positive that I can learn so much from them.

I’ll be blogging weekly, sharing my experiences here at MAX.  Follow me as I dive into the advertising world and share new tips and tricks I learn.  I’ll even reveal some secrets that I didn’t want to admit to my co-workers!  Things could get juicy!  For now, I’ll leave you with my first secret … I think I hate Keynote and didn’t even know what it was until three weeks ago. Oh, and that I still can’t believe I have a “real” job.  Am I seriously old enough for this?

Google is now in a position to learn from what did and didn’t work with Facebook company pages. They don’t have to make Facebook’s mistakes, but can build on the most successful aspects from the groundbreaking linkage of brand messaging and conversation. Problems like the insufficient tracking and customizing options can be avoided this time around, and Google+ benefits along with the businesses that choose to use it. Since much of the criticism about Facebook’s company pages lies in areas for which Google offers the best solutions out there, Google+ could be a smash hit for marketers. Great customization and incredibly detailed analytic ability are sure to be huge draws. Following the leader in this case means that Google+ brand pages can hit the world with all the refinements that come from watching and learning.

Speaking of leaders, Google is without a doubt the most powerful and popular search engine. Not surprisingly, Google+ soars when it comes to search integration. Google+ Direct Connect lets you link your Google+ brand page directly to the biggest search engine in the world. This feature is still in the experimental stage. When searchers enter a brand or company name, they can go directly to the brand page or add it to their circles from the search page. Going straight to the brand page is a dream come true for most companies, who can make their pages the central hub for organizing online information and engaging clients as well as potential clients in real time. This ability brings with it new ease in sharing the information you choose with those who are looking for it. Your company’s brand page should link to your company Web page too, of course.

Google’s recent acquisition of Katango will be an added benefit for Google+ users. It automatically groups a person’s social contacts into lists based on certain characteristics, which will make it much easier for users to share posts with specific groups without taking the time to manually create lists. This would be perfect for quickly sharing business-related posts with co-workers.

Google+ and its new brand pages are an experiment with an awful lot of potential to change the shape of marketing. Make your firm a page and be part of it. You’ve got nothing to lose and a world of clients to gain.

What do you think? Will this make people start using Google+ more?

St. Dominic Hospital in Mississippi wanted to increase traffic to its Facebook page and improve awareness of their services. When it acquired a new DaVinci SI robotic device used for intricate heart surgeries, the hospital leadership wanted to raise awareness of this addition to their surgical repertoire.

So the hospital created a Facebook page and contest where community members can compete to name the new robot – and win a Roomba™ vacuum cleaner for their home worth $349. By allowing people in their area to provide a cute name for the robot, as well as to compete for a cool prize, St. Dom’s is driving awareness of their new service through the free venue of Facebook.

Online contests can generate buzz, and also help you collect information and generate more names for your marketing efforts. Hillcrest Hospital, part of the Cleveland Clinic network, created a special preventive health website to provide information about their cancer, heart and spinal health services. But to attract visitors to the site, they offer drawings to win $1,000 worth of healthy packaged meals, day spa services, personal training packages and other prizes. Marketed through an ad campaign, these contests collect information from visitors to build up the center’s mailing list.

Create a contest to ask people in your community to name a new kids’ health program or fitness class, for example. And if your budget is limited, remember: Contests don’t have to offer elaborate prizes. Even inexpensive prizes like food scales for measuring healthy portions or exercise DVDs can attract interest. Be sure to follow HIPAA guidelines when gathering information from potential patients.

Building an online presence is becoming increasingly important, especially in the Atlanta area; the city’s patients are ranked ninth in the country for the amount of Internet research done on hospitals. By utilizing social media and online giveaways, your hospital can build a friendly image for one of the nation’s top online markets.

Has your organization ever tried giveaways or contests? What reaction did you encounter? What challenges did you face? Let us know.

This could also eventually lead to Facebook venturing into the job listings arena. In their announcement, Facebook goes on to state that they “will explore and develop systems where new job postings can be delivered virally through the Facebook site at no charge.” Does this mean that Facebook will be giving LinkedIn a run for its money? To some degree, yes. It will make it incredibly easy to just click once and share job postings with friends and family. As the saying goes, it’s not always what you know, it’s who you know. And who you know may see a fantastic job to share on their profile.

However, I don’t think it will replace LinkedIn altogether. LinkedIn is definitely a more professional venue, focused on networking and business. Facebook, while it will be an easy avenue for sharing job information, isn’t exactly known for being professional. I’m connected to many people on LinkedIn that I am not connected to on Facebook, simply because I only know them in business setting, not a personal one. LinkedIn will still live on as the place to build your professional network. Unfortunately for LinkedIn, though, they may start losing job posting revenue to Facebook if they launch this feature.

Considering the nation’s unemployment rate, any medium for job postings could benefit the public. The unemployment rate for metro Atlanta (10.3 percent) was above the national level for the 50^th month in a row in September, and has since remained unchanged. With Facebook’s 800 million users who spend an average of over 7 hours per month on the site, job postings have the potential to be seen more easily and get much more exposure, which could be beneficial to both employers and job seekers.

However, a potential issue to consider is that if job postings are free, it may attract a great deal of scam postings. At one point, Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com were THE places to find a job. But with so many questionable job postings, a job seeker must now wade through quite a bit to find the quality jobs. Facebook may need to take this into consideration and try to figure out a way to prevent their platform from having the same issues.

So what does this mean for the legal industry? As far as seeking out qualified interns, first year associates or administrative staff, this may be a great opportunity. The people looking for those positions are typically younger and probably much more into social media. Using Facebook will be an easy way to scout for those that are technologically-savvy and qualified for the job. With regard to hiring higher level attorneys, I think that will stay the way it’s been, for the most part, using LinkedIn, legal head-hunters, referrals and word-of-mouth.

Do you think this is a great opportunity for your firm on Facebook? Would you post a job using Facebook? I’d love to hear your feedback.

Searches are becoming more personalized: Search results for an individual are being sorted and prioritized based on that individual’s past online behavior. For example, if the person doing the search has been to your law firm’s website in the past, the search engines remember this and may rank your firm higher in their search this time around. This can move you up the search results page, giving you the opportunity to stay in front of a potential client.

Your site must be viewable on mobile devices: Many websites love to use Flash for their splash page. Unfortunately, Flash cannot be read by iPhones or iPads. Since search engines register when someone gets bounced from your website, or is served an error, this can effect your ranking in a negative way, especially when the number of iPhone owners is taken into consideration. Half of Apple’s overall revenue comes from the iPhone, which sold 20 million units in its third quarter, and the iPhone 4S totaled 4 million sales in its first weekend alone. Because of Apple’s ever-growing popularity (especially in Atlanta, where the concept for “Steve Jobs Day” was born), websites must consider iPhone owners and the phone’s inability to read Flash. Creating a functional mobile website is vital to keeping your firm competitive and keeping your law firm’s site well-placed in search results.

Interactions will move you up the page: Having the ability to leave comments, reviews or post questions is a great way to help your ranking. The more interactions your site gets, the higher your site will place in search results. Use sharing tools like Google +1 or social media share buttons to encourage people to click and share and drive more traffic to your site.

It seems every week there’s a new trick to be learned for improving your search engine ranking. I hope you find these three bits of advice helpful. If you have any tricks and tips you’ve recently learned, please feel free to share them in the comments.

Photoshop is a perfectly acceptable topic of conversation. Had I ever tried to talk with my friends about the ins and outs of a computer design program, it would have been a brief, one-sided conversation—most likely involving a bit of eye rolling. But not at an ad agency. Not only can I have a conversation with someone about Photoshop, but also I can have an interesting conversation with someone about Photoshop. And not one time do I have to say, “Come on, you know what I’m talking about.”

Poster-sized ads are displayed as fine art. I guess the fact that I can stand in front of one ad and be completely enthralled for five minutes makes me an ad geek. But that’s how ad agencies view their work. It is more than spitting out the first thing they think the client will take; it is making something that people are proud to be a part of.

A pink horse piñata is office décor. Having my own office as an intern is pretty exciting, but when I walked in on my first day, I knew I had to get rid of that heap of smiling, pink paper mache. (Don’t worry; it’s in a better home now.) The office overall is beautifully decorated, but each day I continue to discover unusual things lying around the office space, all of which I like much better than the piñata: well-displayed children’s cups, branded Slinkies, birdhouses, a T-shirt reading “I love my new hip” and a life-size zombie Halloween prop.

A standard task is to find a fun article to post on Facebook. As a recent college graduate with a StumbleUpon account, I think I’m the perfect girl to turn to for these types of things.

Before I left college and entered the “real world,” I had this image in my mind of what an ad agency was really like. Luckily, my perception was right. In order for an agency to make something different, the agency itself must be unique.

But there are some rules to consider too. Here are a few things to consider when trying this financial services marketing tactic:

• Know to whom you are pitching: Make sure whatever information you are sending will be interesting to the readers/listeners of that medium, and also customize it as much as possible. Generic press releases rarely get covered, or even read, by busy reporters. But if you present an interesting angle or unique viewpoint, or better yet, tie it to some current event, you are more likely to get noticed.
• Who Cares? Before sending any information to a reporter, always ask yourself if this is newsworthy outside of your firm and industry. I’m sure you are excited about the financial services award you recently won, but the public at large really doesn’t care. It’s great for your internal newsletter, and may work for an industry-specific publication, but outside of that, no one is interested.
• Give details on what your leadership can discuss: It’s not uncommon for marketers to send reporters a list of their management team with a note that they would be a great source for quotes on “financial issues.” Here’s the problem, there are hundreds of others that want to be quoted as well. To really make your list stand out from the rest, include details about what your partners can discuss, like John Smith can speak to the impact that the new tax legislation will have on the owners of mid-sized businesses in Atlanta. The more detail you can provide the more likely you are to get the call when they are looking for expert commentary.
• Don’t try to manage the reporters. Marketing professionals within banks or accounting firms are usually the point of contact for press, but they are often their own worst enemy too. If a reporter wants to talk to a member of your management team, set it up and step aside. If you are too involved and make the interaction difficult for the reporter, they will move on to the next source.
• Make sure your leadership is trained to talk to reporters. To the point above, many marketing professionals want to be on the calls with reporters to make sure their management don’t say something stupid, and the stories of this happening abound. It’s your job as a financial marketing expert to make sure they know what they can and can’t say to a reporter, and to know that NOTHING is off the record. If it’s not something you want to say to everyone in your city, for Pete’s sake, the country to know, don’t say it to a reporter, even jokingly.
• Respond quickly. If a reporter contacts you for input on a story, just assume they are under a tight deadline and need to talk to you right away. If you want to be a part of the story, and others down the road, call them back immediately. If they can’t get you, they’ll move on to the next source, so a quick response is vital.
• NEVER ask to see a story before it prints. I know, you want to make sure your quotes are accurate, and maybe you’ve been burned in the past, but it is considered rude and insulting to ask to see the story before it goes to print. You are questioning the integrity of the reporter and micromanaging a relationship where you are not the person in power. Just don’t do it.
• If they can’t work with you, they’ll work around you. This may sound like a threat, but remember the first job of any reporter is to get the story, not to worry about your business or reputation. If you don’t contribute to the story when called, they will find others who will, and their next call could be to your biggest competitor.

Media savvy companies such as Apple and Amazon have used their expertise to build their brands into the conglomerates that they are today. (Remember, Amazon’s Kindle had been on the market for a year before it was featured on “The Oprah Show.”) Recent articles about the newly unveiled Kindle Fire tablet have seemingly been everywhere in the press. Even before the official announcement of latest iPhone, the speculation about its release was a top story on CNN.com. The hype around these two brands has almost become mania, and it all began by these companies having solid media knowledge. They know what the media want, and they know how to build positive relationships with reporters.

All in all, there are great opportunities for financial services providers and reporters to work together. But you have to remember the rules of the road if you want to be a part of the process.

The economy isn’t having as large of an impact on Americans’ eating out as one might think. In fact, LivingSocial’s survey discovered that on average, Americans eat out almost 5 times a week, with lunch being the most popular meal for dining out. 45% of those surveyed would describe themselves as “meat lovers” as well as 19% labeling themselves as “fast food junkies.” Only 18% viewed themselves as “health nuts” and 5% called themselves “vegetarians or vegans.”

In a section called “A Growing Group of Gourmands,” over 70% referred to themselves as either “experimental eaters,” “foodies” or “locavores.” I’m thinking these were the options given by LivingSocial; I’m having a hard time believing regular survey participants would come up with such lofty terms as descriptors. Also, only 4% frequented food trucks, even though that seems to be the hot trend in dining as of late.

The numbers for food trucks may be small, but they will most likely be growing in Atlanta due to recent television coverage and legislation from the Atlanta City Council. Before the council’s vote, food trucks could only operate at special events. Now they are allowed on private property in commercial areas between the hours of 5 a.m. and 2 a.m. Mobile vendors have gained nationwide popularity primarily through social media, and Food Network even has the show “The Great Food Truck Race.” The program averages 2.1 million viewers per episode, and it filmed in Atlanta over the Memorial Day weekend. The episode aired September 18, and the program’s consistently strong numbers could result in more local consumer interest.

A few more quick stats from the LivingSocial survey:

• Best Cities for Dining Out: New York, Chicago and San Francisco
• Worst Cities for Dining Out: Seattle, Sacramento and Detroit
• Most frequented types of restaurants: Italian, Mexican, Chinese and Pizzerias
• Boston likes Irish faire, Atlanta is big on delis, Detroit likes Middle Eastern and Seattle loves Vietnamese
• The “new” cuisine everyone’s trying: Thai (followed by Sushi, Greek, BBQ and Indian)
• Los Angeles has the most “fast food junkies”
• New Yorkers view themselves as the “most experimental” and as “foodies”
• Washington, DC has the most vegetarians in the survey

To view the complete survey findings, click here.

So what do you think? Are any of these findings surprising? We’d love to hear your take on these survey results.

1. How much traffic is generated by Twitter.
2. The performance of Tweet buttons.
3. How much of their content is being shared through the platform.

This program, currently in beta testing with a small group, is free and will be available to the public in a few weeks, along with an API for developers.

So how can you use this tool to your law firm’s advantage, and how is it different from your current social media analytics? Most likely, you use tracking on any links you share (if you don’t, you really should get on that!). However, this goes beyond tracking just the links that have been opened. This tool will be able to track what content from your website is being shared on Twitter, regardless of who sent it. And while Google Analytics could show you Twitter traffic, it couldn’t show you how it got to Twitter to begin with. Now, you can see who is sharing your content and the methods they are using to do so. This could provide some great insight as to what is really driving traffic your way and how you can capitalize on this.

With regard to the other two primary benefits, these are already easily accomplished by Google Analytics. However, with your Twitter stats now coming directly from Twitter, there may be something deeper to be gleaned from the information, so we’ll just have to wait and see if there is added benefit that could somewhat weaken the Google powerhouse.

Twitter recently made another move to edge in on Google: teaming up with Facebook to link profiles, notably excluding Google+ from the equation—no pun intended. Google+ is Google’s way of adapting to the world of social media, but it will be interesting to see how Google Analytics adapts to Twitter Web Analytics. Google Analytics could adapt by providing more detailed information on social media, or if the goliath does nothing, Twitter Web Analytics could steal a piece of the market. With Twitter’s 100 million users and continuous growth, (a data center will be added in Atlanta to create even more server space,) it may prove to be a force to be reckoned with.

Yet one of the biggest issues with Twitter, and social media in general, is that it can be somewhat difficult to show true ROI. Now, with Twitter Web Analytics, Twitter is making it that much easier for a legal marketer to illustrate exactly what social media is producing for their law firm as well as helping them focus their efforts where they can get the most bang for the tweet.

Along with some of the finest wines available to restaurants are the latest trends in vodkas, whiskeys, rums and beyond. Readers of The Blender know that I’ve written about the emergence of Pisco, the clear brandy from Peru, as the next big drink. They were represented last night by Walt Bauer (no relation) and his famous Inca Gold Pisco VIP. He recently re-crafted the formula for an even smoother drink. I recommend it as a Pisco Sour. Also present were flavor infused vodkas like Hangar One and Square One. My favorite of the night was their basil vodka mixed with some lemon juice. Redemption Rye Whiskey was serving up samples as rye has a renewed interest in the American public.

To go along with this was some of the finest seafood and side appetizers from New England to California. Oysters on the half shell from Boston, quall from the Georgia Mountains and even alligator from somewhere in the swamps of Florida were there for sampling.

I have to make note of and admire the overall graphics and branding design of the majority of wines and spirits. In particular, Bootlegger Vodka caught my eye. A great looking retro bottle suggestive of the prohibition era with a well designed glass bottle and label gave added value to this newcomer from New York. Their coasters had the clever and memorable headline “”Goes Down Easier Than My 401K”.

Square One also had graphics that held their whole line of flavored vodkas from cucumber to botanical together making the whole sum greater than its parts.

Some of the wines that caught my attention were the Educated Guess line from Napa Valley. The labels show handwritten chemical equations reminiscent of my high school chemistry class with Dr. Thall. My head still hurts (not from the wine but the chemistry class).  Another California wine label that I liked was the Fly Line wines. Nice calligraphy with simple drawings of trout give it a look that is casual conservative, positioning it for a simple but upscale meal. Each bottle was even adorned with a fly fishing lure. Nice touch.

These types of marketing don’t happen by accident. They were planned, worked and paid for by owners who recognize the value of good branding. They see it as a worthy investment not done on the fly or as cheaply as possible, but handled by professionals. This is something I think the food vendors there could learn from, as very few of them had a distinctive branding statement even though they had equally compelling a stories to tell.

What many don’t realize is that there can be benefits to receiving negative feedback. By learning something you or your firm is doing falls short of its intended goal, you can correct it and make it better. If someone has a poor experience with your firm, and you don’t hear about it, you can’t fix it. The chances of that same problem repeating itself with other clients is high, and you risk losing them as well.

Finding and fixing a client’s problem can not only change their level of satisfaction regarding this particular situation, but strangely enough, it can create a more loyal, long-term client. As it turns out, when someone has a bad experience and the company takes the time to fix, and perhaps enhance, the experience, the client is more satisfied than if the purchase had been generically good from the start.

According to a study conducted by customer experience company AboutFace in 2010, there is a brief window of opportunity following a service failure where clients can recover their trust in a business and actually leap from a state of disappointment to a state of loyalty. “The impact of feeling a company made it right carries so much value, it bypasses that neutral state of satisfaction if nothing had occurred at all,” says Terena Campagna, president of AboutFace. “Specifically, those that responded in the study said that what was most important was that the company responded quickly and made them feel they were heard. They also said receiving a straightforward response, even when the issue can’t be fully resolved, makes a big difference.”

Personally, I’ve seen many comments in my Twitter feed where someone posted negative thoughts about a business only to change their tune a little while later after the business saw their tweet and corrected the situation. Too often people feel those with whom they conduct business don’t hear them. The advent of social media not only gives individuals the opportunity to shine a spotlight on businesses and hold them accountable, but it also gives those same businesses a chance to respond and turn the spotlight on their excellent customer service. We are a service-oriented society. Since we have at our disposal so many different options for the same product or service, what usually sets a vendor apart is not just their price but also their ability to provide top-notch client service and respond quickly to client needs and concerns.

If you ever find yourself on the bad end of negative feedback, don’t panic. Just step back and take a breath. You can take that feedback and use it as an opportunity to improve your service offerings, showcase your ability to listen to your clients and potentially turn a disgruntled client into a loyal one.

New and better practices are in order from banks to help rebuild public trust. But all the new policies in the world won’t make a bit of difference if no one knows about them.

I recently read an article entitled, “The Formula for Winning and Losing Trust with Banking Customers.” It paints a pretty ugly, though accurate, picture of the state of public opinion about the banking industry. In fact, according to the article, consumers perceive the industry as negatively as they do big tobacco, which is certainly not a place bankers want to be.

The author makes some great points about getting back to basics, creating fair policies and treating customers as they’d like to be treated themselves. And I agree. But where we part ways is when he says that using social media is not a way to do it. Frankly, bank managers can create all the new policies in the world, but if no one knows about them, it’s a wasted effort. That’s why it is important to have a strong marketing plan in place to help re-introduce your bank in a positive light with your customers. Social media can be a great way to help with this process.

Unlike advertising and other one-way marketing tactics, social media is a two-way street. It’s as much conversation and interaction as it is sharing of information. Yes, there are those that just post article after article without taking the time to interact with their followers. And if that is all you plan to do, then I may not recommend you use social media. But if you use it right, you can create great camaraderie and a positive brand for your bank that will help improve your overall image.

This morning, Bank of America announced a possible cost-cutting initiative that if put into effect, will eliminate approx. 40,000 American jobs and reduce expenditures by $5 billion. This could hit Atlanta hard being that Bank of America is metro Atlanta’s third-largest with $18 billion in local deposits and 154 branches. To customers, this could mean branches closing in their area as well as higher charges. In these hard situations, it is beneficial for a company to issue statements to calm and reassure clients, and social media is a great tool for this type of communication. For example, Bank of America already has a Twitter feed dedicated to the customer, @BofA_Help. Through this feed, the company can post information in regards to city-specific branch operations and address customer concerns.

To ensure quick response and engagement with your audience, it takes commitment. You need to assign someone or multiple people to own your social media presence. But once you make the decision to use this marketing tactic, go all in. Post interesting articles, address concerns, and engage in two-way communication so your audience will view you as a credible information resource. Comment on others’ posts and retweet those that your readers would enjoy. Converse with your followers and answer their questions quickly and thoroughly. And if something negative pops up about your bank, be quick to respond in a positive way. Others will see that you care enough to right a wrong, and that works wonders for your image.

Social media won’t right all the wrongs of the industry, not by a long shot. But it can be one way among many to put your bank back on the path toward positive consumer impressions.

Why do people go out to eat?  People go to restaurants to enjoy a good meal, something you don’t normally eat or cook yourself. They also go for the atmosphere, and to dine without the stress and effort of cooking and cleaning. So, when you arrive at your destination and the menu bestowed upon you is long enough to be shelved in the nonfiction section at your local bookstore, it can be quite annoying. (cough Cheesecake Factory cough) We have all experienced it – the daunting task of finding what you want to order from an incredibly lengthy restaurant menu. You go back and forth over several choices until finally, after some intense personal thought and consideration, you choose your meal and the order goes in. And then you sit there and question your choice.

Why do restaurants think they have to offer a gazillion menu items to please their customers? I understand they want to have something for everyone. But, what if those extra ‘somethings’, aside from the signature dishes the restaurant prides itself in, are mediocre? Adding a bunch of extra options to the menu, when they aren’t even up to par with the specialties, is not a good move in my book because they often subtract from the overall restaurant offerings.

As a successful restaurant, if you can deliver the best and deliver it consistently, show it by treating all dishes fairly. Find your best dishes, improve where necessary, and make it easy for your customers. If you are confident in your own restaurant and can offer a menu with fewer but better quality options, your customers will acknowledge this and be confident in you as well.

Restaurants should have zero doubt in any of the chef’s offerings. If they can create dishes that are equally amazing and diverse, its ok to narrow it down a bit. It’s ok to be a little bossy as a restaurant. A smaller menu shows me that this restaurant knows what they are doing and they don’t need the extra fluff. I just want a menu to have a clean design and offer distinctive, delightful options that are bound to be great, no matter what you order. This doesn’t apply to you picky eaters, I suppose, but you aren’t fun anyway. Stick to a safe restaurant to satisfy your lackluster palette. We more sophisticated eaters want a restaurant that can showcase their strengths without a ten-page menu to back them up.

Don’t be a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Some Atlanta restaurants that do a great job of knowing their strengths:

• Antico Napoletana – Atlanta, GA
• Iberian Pig – Decatur, GA
• Rice – Roswell, GA
• Sip – Alpharetta, GA

Do you have suggestions for other great Atlanta restaurants that have really honed their cuisine and menus?

I recently found this incredibly comprehensive, and frankly very LONG, post on ways to get more from your Facebook page. It’s chock full of great tips, some of which I’ll share with you in future posts, in a much more succinct way. The first one that really jumped out at me was how to better use photos on your page to not only give your firm a bit of personality, but also to increase your followers and overall Google ranking. Here goes…

Post some photos to your business Facebook page. For many businesses, there is a lot of opportunity for posting photos to your Facebook page to give your audience a snapshot view into your business, the people, the clients, and the services your provide. Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box and post more personal photos aside from the expected photos of your logo and location, because you want your audience to form some sort of relationship with your business and services. This is especially true in the restaurant business. Double Zero Napoletana, a new Sandy Springs restaurant that opened in May from Castellucci Hospitality Group, engaged its Facebook fans from the very beginning. On their page, you can find photos of the owners and decor of the restaurant, and most importantly, photos of the food, which look delicious. Providing this information on Facebook is so important because it allows those who have already been to your restaurant to engage and post comments on their dining experience for all to see, hopefully paving the way for new customers to come in and try out what your restaurant has to offer. But remember, don’t post blurry or poor quality images, as they will reflect poorly on your business, and make sure you have at least five photos to fill the photo navigation bar at the top of your Facebook page.

Write a description for each image. This is a great place for you to use keywords about the services you offer and even your geographic location. This will help your search engine optimization and also make it more interesting for your followers to read. For example, in an image of some chefs standing in the kitchen, how about this? “XYZ Restaurant chefs, @name1, @name2 and @name3, discuss tonight’s dinner menu at the Atlanta location. www.XYZrestaurant.com/menu.” We have the restaurant name, the chefs tagged in the photo, and strong keywords mentioning the location and a link to the menu page of their website. And it reads pretty naturally, if I do say so myself.

Include a link in each photo description. You’ll note in the above example, I included a link to the menu page of a restaurant website. That is intentional. Since the image specifically mentions the menu, it makes sense to give viewers a way to learn more, and they will appreciate the direct link to that page. No navigation required. Some times it may make more sense to include links to your home page, or even your contact page, but include one that makes sense in each image description. If you refer to our MAX Advertising Facebook page, you can see we applied the same philosophy when tagging clients in our portfolio photo album and including links back to our website that tie into each piece. This establishes an online connection with our clients while giving our audience snapshots of our work. We invite you to visit our page for examples on how to do this, and if you feel inclined, like us while you’re at it!

This is just scratching the surface, so look for other posts soon about ways to get the most from your firm’s Facebook page.

Set Goals
The first step in marketing your hospital foundation is to define your goals. List your foundation’s needs, organize them in order of importance, and attach financial goals to each objective. Once the goals are set, determine target audiences for each goal. That will help you determine who will be the most responsive to that particular goal and it will also help you figure out the best way to reach this audience. For example, if your hospital is raising money to add on to its NICU, then targeting women or families who have had pre-term babies may be the way to go. If you are raising money to help the community build a women’s shelter, then going to your hospital boards or community liaisons to plan a fundraising event may work well.  It’s silly to launch any marketing effort until you’ve determined your campaign goals, focus and target market.

Public Relations
Public relations is vital to keeping your hospital foundation in the public eye.  Consistently send out press releases to the media on hospital donations, fundraisers and building projects. Use social media sites to recognize your donors, since the more you recognize them publicly, the more likely they will donate again. Everyone likes to be thanked and know they are appreciated, so get out there often and pat your donors on the backs! Another fun way to thank your donors is to recognize them by naming a building, wing or even door in their honor. While most people give for altruistic reasons, it doesn’t hurt to give them something in return either. Gwinnett Medical Center does a fantastic job with their twitter feed; consistently posting health tips, updates on patients, news stories, and thank you’s to donors, etc. They have no problem connecting to their audience and keeping them up to date. Follow them @GwinnettMedical. For more tips on using social media in the healthcare industry.

Advertising
The big question is do I spend ad dollars to market our hospital foundation?  It depends.  Each goal is different and therefore each approach is unique. For pediatric hospitals, the foundation often is critical to the survival of the facility, especially for those that see a lot of Medicaid patients. So, the more important foundation support is to the hospital’s operational budget, the more money that should be allocated to advertising the foundation to increase awareness and donations. If you decide that an ad campaign is part of your marketing plan, find a creative agency to help build the campaign. There are so many great ways to showcase your foundation through advertising. Using real patients that have received care at your facility creates a personal touch. The ultimate goal in your ad campaign is to move your market to donate to your foundation, so tell your story in a way that will open checkbooks.

CON States

For those that practice in states with CON legislation, there is a process for adding new services to your hospital. In most cases, any new service must go through the CON approval process before it can be added at your facility. This is not an easy process, and it can take months and sometimes even longer if there are appeals involved, as was the case with Northeast Georgia Medical Center. This week, a news article was released about NGMC that reveals just how long the CON process can take. In this case, it took one year for the CON to be granted, as well as an additional four years of lawsuits and court appeals made by Barrow Regional Medical Center against the proposed expansion. This makes it clear that the CON process is not an easy one.

So, when can marketing and PR efforts start? Obviously, there is no need to start marketing a new service until you are granted approval from the state. However, public relations can start as soon as you submit your application for approval. Media is always interested in which hospitals are applying to provide new and necessary services. Northeast Georgia Medical Center was apt to release an article explaining the CON process as well as providing a sketch of the proposed facility, even though construction is not scheduled for completion until late 2014 or early 2015. This is a great way to gain some publicity for your organization, and it can also help you gain community support.

Non-CON States

For healthcare organizations operating in a non-CON state, the playing field is different. There is no need to apply for approval to provide key healthcare services. Basically, you get to offer whatever programs you wish, as long as you have the funding to do it. Sounds easy, right? Well, here the debate rises between not-for-profit versus for-profit hospitals.

Not-For-Profit Hospitals

Not-for-profit hospitals typically offer all major services, and must treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay once they enter into the emergency room too. They are typically big supporters of CON, because it protects them from competition from large for-profit conglomerates coming in and saturating the market. Not-for-profit facilities survive by providing revenue-generating services to offset the services it must provide for free or a loss.

For-Profit Hospitals

In non-CON states, for-profit hospitals can pick and choose which services they provide and sometimes are more like specialty hospitals. Not-for-profit hospitals argue that the for-profit hospitals “cherry pick” services or provide only services that make money. For-profit hospitals argue that they are in a competitive market and it pays to offer whichever services their community demands.

According to Wikipedia, 62% of acute care hospitals are not-for-profit, 20% are government hospitals and 18% are for-profit. So how do these hospitals compete in this environment? They launch huge marketing campaigns to drive patients to their facility over the others in their market. Advertising, direct mail and PR play a huge role in the success of these organizations. Whether you are in a CON state or not, whether you are not-for-profit or for-profit hospital system, marketing your services will always be a critical part of your strategy to gain patients and remain in the black.

When creating a new Website – or reworking an existing one – it’s important to make it easy to find information and give visitors multiple ways to interact with your law firm.

Creating a website is a daunting task for any law firm. You can’t just snap your fingers one day and have a new one. It takes a lot of up front planning and strategic thinking to make it work well. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogletree Deakins), one of the nation’s largest labor and employment law firms, took just this approach. And after a year in the making, the firm is pleased to announce their new site is up and getting great reviews.

So what makes this site different? First of all, they wanted to focus on enhanced functionality, easier navigation and stronger visitor interaction. The site meets all of these goals with it’s tabbed format which better organizes the data and makes it easier for users to find news and information relevant to their needs. The search functionality allows users to find exactly what they need in a heartbeat, whether they are looking for information by office location, practice area, events or even publications of interest. Visually, they wanted to mirror their current branding and the look of their advertising campaign. This was accomplished with a colorful banner on the top of each page that grabs your attention and provides a glimpse into the philosophy that drives the success of Ogletree Deakins.

As with all law firm websites, attorney bios are the most viewed pages, and here, users are able to view specific information about individual attorneys with one simple click. Not only can you find the traditional information such as experience, education and professional activities, but there is also a tab for press coverage. And for those that would rather see all bio information on one page, there is an option to download a PDF of a full bio, as well as links to their email address and v-card to make contacting an individual attorney that much easier.

One of the greatest features is the ease with which visitors can view upcoming events and search for the one they want by location, topic, keyword or date. If you find one you want to attend, all you have to do is click the “register” button, and you are signed up to attend without leaving that page. In addition, Ogletree Deakins has expanded their social media presence by adding a Twitter feed to their page, so visitors can easily follow them on Twitter, or for those that are not on Twitter, you can see what they have posted recently right there on their site.

What sets the Ogletree Deakins site apart from its competition is the simplicity and uniformity of its design. It is clean and consistent, with interesting visuals, and most importantly, easy navigation. MAX Advertising is honored to work with Ogletree Deakins on this site and we are thrilled with the final result. By setting clear goals, we were able to help create a site that meets all the objectives set forth in the beginning, is easy to navigate, contains valuable information and looks beautiful too.

Two weeks ago, a California court ruled that intentionally hacking into someone’s Facebook account, even if you did nothing illegal to get their password, is felony identity theft.

In this case, a juvenile was accidentally sent the password to a stranger’s Facebook page. He then took that password and signed into her page, and “adjusted” her profile with a vulgar description and also posted some similarly offensive items on a few of her friends’ pages using her identity. When he was caught, he confessed.

What could have been a harmless prank in California’s case may turn into a more dangerous issue in cases similar to that in Georgia. According to a California juvenile court he was found guilty of a felony, and sentenced to 90 days to a year in a juvenile offenders program. The case in Georgia has yet to be solved, but I imagine with this sort of precedent, it will not be taken lightly.

The California statue says it’s illegal when anyone “willfully obtains personal identifying information (of the victim and) uses that information for any unlawful purpose, including to obtain, or attempt to obtain, credit, goods, services, real property, or medication information.” The court further said, “(he) used that info for an unlawful purpose when he defamed the girl.”

My gut tells me that the California court was looking to set a precedent to stem the tide of illegal social media account hacking, but the fact of the matter is, this sort of thing is still happening, and we must take all the right steps in protecting our privacy as much as we can in this world of social media. While many of us are on social media pages every day, it pays to remember that security is important, not just for those of us using social media for business purposes, but for our kids and others as well.

Here is a quick list of things you can do to help ensure the security of your social media pages:

1. Never share your password with anyone. In a business environment, this might be a bit harder, so at a minimum, make sure there are a limited number of people with access to your firm pages. Or even better, have one person “in charge” of all posts, even if they are written by a number of people at your firm.
2. Connect only to legitimate people and businesses. If someone you’re connected to starts posting things that make you uncomfortable or are just plain offensive, disconnect from them and report them to the social media site as well. Just because someone connects to you doesn’t mean you have to follow them back, and it’s your social media “playground,” so you are in control of who plays in it.
3. Don’t display too much personal information that will make it easy for people to hack into your account or guess at passwords. And on that note, make sure your password is truly unique. Your pet’s name or street address are not unique enough. Think of something that no one else will know. If you think ‘12345’ is a safe password, think again. This infographic reveals the most common and most dangerous passwords to secure you from computer hacking.
4. And I doubt this is an issue with legal marketers very often, but if you even sign into your account on a public computer, make sure you sign out when done, never click “remember this password” and clear the cache if you can. I’m amazed at how many stories I read about people who access their Facebook accounts at the library, forget to log off, and are then hacked.

It pays to play by the rules and safeguard your information. So, on that note, what do you think of the California court ruling? Did they overreact to a prank or was it a good move to help prevent future hacking? If you feel they overreacted, what steps should be taken to prevent more dangerous threats such as those posted at a Georgia middle school. Is Facebook hacking truly identity theft and what do you feel is the appropriate punishment? With all my legal marketing readers out there, I imagine there are quite a few opinions on this one.

The use of this sort of technology may make some people apprehensive, while others readily embrace it. There are pros and cons to both sides. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I’ve heard arguments on both sides of this issue and here are some of the pros and cons I’ve gleaned:

PROS

Less human interaction: We’ve all had a server that just wasn’t having a great day and decided to bring it to our table. There’s nothing worse than going out for a nice dinner only to have it spoiled by someone that messes up your order because they are in a bad mood and just don’t care.

Novel, fun idea: Lots of restaurants have small games at the table or in-booth TVs or radios. This is yet the newest addition to booth entertainment. It’s sort of like the crayons and coloring sheet for adults. Knock out a game of Angry Birds while you wait for your appetizer or check out your Facebook page while you sip your cocktail (though be careful not to drunk-post).

Your order goes straight to the kitchen: There’s nothing more annoying than having finally placed your order with a waiter only to have them get pulled aside by that party of 10 who want their drinks refilled immediately. You may have finally had the order written down, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. With iPad ordering, the second you know what you want, it’s in the kitchen’s queue.

Fewer staff means lower costs: I imagine purchasing a $600 iPad per table runs a lot less than paying several folks an hourly rate over the course of a year. This means that the restaurant can pass the savings on to the patron. Assuming they do, this could mean a nicer meal at a more reasonable price.

CONS

Less human interaction: I’m not talking the sappy “we must keep our humanity” interaction, just the basic “so what do you recommend” interaction. Only the waiter can give the inside scoop on what on the menu is considered the best item or if perhaps the soup should be skipped. If you want to cater an item to dietary requirements, they take care of that for you. If you did that via an iPad app you’ve never used before, there could be issues.

You have to share the iPad: Unless the restaurant plans to have an iPad on every table and at every spot at the bar, you will have to share it with other patrons. And while few want to hang on to a menu once they have placed an order, they probably will want to play with the iPad. Keeping them moving from table to table might be a challenge.

What about refills or special assistance? Perhaps this is already worked into the system, but what about when you need a refill? Or your table is out or the yellow packets of sugar substitute? Will there be attentive staff on hand besides the food runners to come by and refresh your drink and help you out or is that another order that has to be placed? Would you need to ‘order’ a new fork if yours falls on the ground? Maybe that’s not a huge deal, but it’s something to think about.

What if it breaks or you do something incorrectly: What if something goes awry when placing your order? Yes, even though the iPad is an Apple product, it can still have glitches and break if dropped or abused, or, what if two seconds after a patron hits SEND, they see they hit the wrong ordering button just prior. Admit it, we’ve all done that and then sat and cursed as we frantically hit the back button to try to fix it.

I doubt that iPads will take over for all wait staffs anytime soon. After all, we’ve had self-scan checkout at grocery stores for a while but I still see people waiting in line to have an actual human do their scanning. What do you think? Would you patronize a restaurant that was automated using an iPad? Or do you prefer having a real life waiter? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Here are 5 ideas to help you turn your company’s website into solid leads:

1. Extend your online presence far beyond your Website
I recommend making your blog a central point of your online presence, as it can be the prime source of leads to your Website. The idea is that Twitter, Facebook, search engines and other forms of social media will provide links to your blog, which should be a newsworthy resource on topics of interest to your clients in your area of expertise (it should not be marketing-oriented). Clients who click-through to your website from your blog already feel as if they know you – a key factor in signing new clients – and have already gotten valuable information from you.

2. Reap the benefits of viral marketing
If your blog is relevant and informative it may be referenced by, and linked to, other sites and blogs, extending your reach exponentially. Post your blogs and other news on Twitter, which automatically alerts search engines to your post and makes it available to people searching the topic on Google, Yahoo or Bing.

3.  Use landing pages
Have website visitors land on pages specific to their interests. For instance, if they click to your site from a blog you posted about tax issues, take them directly to that portion of your Website. Or if they click over from a post where you talk about a specific product, take them to the page where they can learn more about that product.

4. Make it easy to contact you
Every page of your Website should have a prominent, easy-to-find “Contact Us” button. And when they get to your firm’s contact page, give visitors several different forms of contact – phone number, email address, physical address. To make it more personal, provide the name of the staff member they will be contacting.

5. Solidify the relationship
Now that social media has driven warm leads to your doorstep, follow-up quickly with a phone call or personal email to greet them and find out more about their needs.

I’m not in the habit of talking about feminine hygiene products on this blog, or anywhere for that matter. Like most of you, the ads tend to make me cringe a bit. But being an ad guy, I do look to ads from all areas of life for ideas, and love when I see something creative, no matter what they are advertising. But I was stunned last week when this campaign start cropping up on Facebook and Twitter, accompanied by a lot of ranting about how ridiculous and offensive it is.

Go ahead, take a look if you want. I’ll wait…

Feel like you need to wash your eyes out now? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for creative concepts, and I don’t mind pushing the envelope with a message either. But Summer’s Eve really seemed to miss the mark here. In an ad obviously targeted to women – I mean who else buys their product – they managed to turn off nearly every woman that saw this ad. By using racial stereotypes and questionable imagery, they offended nearly every woman I know.

So why am I talking about this here? It’s a great lesson in knowing your audience, creating targeted messages and testing your concepts before going live.

I can’t tell you how many Websites, brochures and even ads I’ve seen that are all about the company, and have nothing to do with the customer or client. So my first tip is to always read your copy and look at your imagery from the eye of the person you are trying to reach. Talk directly to that person, or certainly use language that makes them want to read more. I doubt you’ll ever do anything quite so ridiculous as the Summer’s Eve ads, but if your message isn’t getting through, it’s still a waste of your time and money.

On top of that, make sure you know who you are targeting in the first place. If you are a law firm marketing your employment law services, then customize your message to business owners and talk about how they will benefit from engaging your firm. Or if you are a barbeque restaurant, focus on your local neighborhood and those that like casual dining. The more targeted you can be with your marketing messages, the more likely it is to “stick” and turn into business. Bland, generic marketing rarely makes enough of an impression to convert readers into regular customers.

Then test it out! Whether it be a formal focus group or simply a few trusted clients and colleagues, run your messages by others to make sure you are communicating what you want. Like I said earlier, what may be amusing to you may offend others, so get a variety of honest opinions before distributing your message. I love bold, and encourage my clients to be bold, but if it ventures into offensive territory, you need to pull it back a bit.

What do you think? What tips can you share with us to ensure your message is on target and reaches your intended audience? Or what ads have you seen that just rub you the wrong way?

However, according to a recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, not every vendor that has participated these programs is singing their praises. Some complain that the money lost through the discounts is not recouped through return business, with approximately one-third of the vendors stating they would never use the programs again.

That still leaves two thirds that are willing to give them another try. Whenever a new marketing tactic emerges, there are always some risks and costs involved. Since more people than ever are leaning on new media to help them make purchasing decisions, it’s important to keep up with the trends.
Two of the more recent daily deal entrants, ScoutMob and SparkQuest, are using a slightly different model and stand out from the rest. Instead of paying for a discounted certificate in advance, customers receive alerts via email or mobile phone when a new vendor discount is available. The use of mobile apps also offers the option to look up discounts based on their current location, creating the potential that someone will discover your restaurant or store for the first time and add you to their repertoire. Neither requires you to make a purchase up front, giving visitors more flexibility and requiring less commitment on their part.

Here’s where they differ. ScoutMob offers deeper, one-time only discounts, typically 50% off at most participating restaurants. Once the offer is used, it can’t be used again. SparkQuest, on the other hand, offers discounts that increase with each visit, encouraging loyalty and repeat business. For example, patrons may get 20% off at their favorite restaurant on the first visit, 30% off on the second visit and 40% on the third. To me, it looks like their model is trying to circumvent the objections raised by the third that say they’ll never use these types of offers again by encouraging repeat business rather than one-time visits.

For either of these outlets, vendors still pay a fee per referral, or fee per click, but by offering one of these “free-of-charge” discounts, you cast a wider net for potential new customers. True, some will come in just for the discount never to return, but for many, it’s an opportunity to wow these new customers and encourage them to come back again and again.

There’s always some risk in any new marketing effort. You can increase awareness and buzz by offering discounts, but once those customers walk through the door, it’s important to focus on providing the best service and creating an environment where customers feel comfortable and can find what they want. Those are ultimately the qualities that will keep customers returning again and again.

Advertising
When initially introducing the equipment to your service area…advertise, advertise, advertise. Everyone in today’s healthcare market is using advertising to tout their latest and greatest imaging technology equipment because it is one of the best ways to reach a large market with a succinct message. If your imaging equipment is new to the market you are in, you may be able to partner on advertising with the equipment manufacturer. They are just as eager to get the word out as you are and gaining a competitive advantage is always a plus.

Direct Mail
Direct mail can be a great compliment once the initial ad campaign has launched.  Who you target with your direct mail piece will depend on what your imaging equipment does. If it is breast MRI, then you would target women over 35. If it is a 64-slice CT scanner, then you would probably want to target people within a certain salary and age range. Targeting a specific audience with direct mail is a great follow-up tool because it is relevant to prospective patients.

Open House
Doing internal and external open houses is another way to build on the excitement around your imaging technology investment. Hosting an open house for physicians will allow them to learn about the equipment, so that they can start referring patients for imaging procedures.  Externally, you can tie an open house to a board meeting or host a media tour. This will give the media the opportunity to come touch and feel it, and while they are there, they can learn about your other service areas as well. It is important to show the media the best you have to offer, after all, they are the ones reporting. Building this relationship will benefit you in the long run.

Public Relations
Of course, sending out press releases and kits is a great way to generate media interest, and include some patient stories with your information if you can. You will most likely get some media calls since it is new and cool technology. Be prepared to have a patient available to talk to the media, as well as a radiologist that is knowledgeable about the technology.

Social media has become the driving force in today’s cyber marketing world. However, the healthcare industry has been slower than others to embrace this growing marketing tactic. According to a recent survey*, less than 16% of hospitals are engaged in social media. Yet, over half Americans use the Internet to search for health care information*. If you aren’t yet using social media, you are missing out on this captive audience that is looking for help online. Why not get it from you?

Start local

How can you use social media to effectively promote your services in Atlanta? First, go on a test drive and reach out to your internal audience, your employees and physicians.  Believe it or not, physicians spend an average 20 hours per week online*. Try setting up an internal page on Yammer or Tinychat. These social network pages give you the power to control who can join, so you can keep internal conversations just that, internal. To protect yourself and others, make sure you have a social media policy in place for your employees, train them on it and have them sign these guidelines, just like they sign HIPAA guidelines each year during their review period.

Facebook

Next, try creating a Facebook page for your Atlanta-based healthcare organization. This can be viewed by anyone who chooses to “like” your page and is a great way to promote your services, physicians and facility. To get the most from this medium, you need to post daily, but that’s not as hard as you may think. Post articles on new technologies or discoveries in your practice area. Provide beneficial health tips and invite fans to educational events at your office. Recognize donors for their kindness or share awards that your doctors have won. Get input from all your staff, and even ask your patients what they’d like to see. You’ll be surprised how much information you really have when you start thinking about things to posts.

YouTube

Another powerful medium is YouTube. Here you can post videos or television advertisements, and then link those to your other social media outlets. YouTube is the second most used search engine on the Internet; only Google is used more. So get creative. Certainly post your TV ads that you’ve aired on Atlanta stations, if you have them. Interview your medical professionals about the latest trends in medicine or exciting new discoveries. If they are willing, talk to your patients about their experience at your facility and create online testimonials to post. You will be surprised how many hits you will receive. The more creative the video or television ad, then of course the more interest you will have.

Twitter

Twitter is a great tool for reaching audiences every day, but is especially powerful in times of crisis. During a media crisis, utilize Twitter to distribute time-sensitive messages to your audiences. Encourage any media contacts you have to follow you on Twitter to receive the latest information. This is also a time when YouTube can be valuable. If you are in a high-profile situation, getting information out quickly can be vital. Twitter is now the go-to source for up-to-the-minute information. (Just look at the “Arab Spring” and tell me Twitter isn’t powerful!) It is a great tool in very high-profile crisis situations with a lot of media interest. In those cases, you may receive so many media calls that you cannot return them all individually in a timely manner. Utilize YouTube or Twitter to disseminate information quickly to the masses.

Blog

Start a blog. This is a great tool to provide health information while positioning your organization as a thought leader that is in touch with its community. Blogging does take time, and you need to post consistently to really get the results you want. To get regular content, why not ask various members of your staff to write posts to get a variety of perspectives. Or you can comment on outside articles, which takes less time but is no less effective. Or if you need help, there are many ghostwriters who can create content for you too. Don’t just write it off as too much work. This is a great way to gain patients and customers.

There are so many ways to utilize social media to your advantage, and you will see benefits from your efforts. Social media isn’t just a fad, and it’s not going anywhere. Remember, there was a time when people thought email was just a fad, and imagine your life without it today. But on the flipside, don’t think you have to jump into all social media outlets at once. Take small steps and get comfortable with the available mediums. You may also want to talk to your marketing consultant or agency to get their advice and see how they can help. They can help you get started and make the process less scary.

Twitter’s new URL shortener is probably the easiest to use to date. Simply paste a link of any length into the Tweet box and hit “Tweet.” Twitter will automatically shorten the link so that it only takes up 19 characters (Remember you only have 140 characters to get your entire point across). The abbreviated link is simply a shortened version of the original, so people will know to which site the link points. This could be an advantage over other URL shortening services, since it will be harder for spammers to take advantage of users. If the link is to a legal article, the URL clearly shows that in the shortened link. Other services like bit.ly, don’t do this, so spammers can sneak in links that look legitimate.

A disadvantage of this new t.co option is that there are currently no analytics available like with HootSuite, Bit.ly and CoTweet. So if you want to know how many people have clicked on a certain link, or where traffic is coming from, you can’t do that with this service. Twitter doesn’t seem to have any plans to require the use of t.co to shorten URLs, but is just offering it as an option to the others.

Frankly, I want to see analytics on my posts, so I’ll stay where I am. But this can be a good option for more casual users. What do you think Atlanta firms? Does the option to see the referring site in the shortened URL outweigh the opportunity to see analytics?

To view this new link shortener and read more about it, check out Mashable’s article or Twitter’s information page.

So you can rate restaurants in the Atlanta area, as well as music, hotels, etc. online, but not products we purchase everyday, like iced tea and Greek yogurt? Seems a little odd right?

After leaving his job at Zagat in April, Mr. Charles, co-founder and CEO of Consmr, the new CPG review site, thought it was about time people started reviewing products online too! Consmr was based around the idea of letting consumers rate and review packaged goods. According to Jason Katz, the executive VP-general manager of Etailing Solutions, packaged good are now a $12 billion industry in e-commerce, so it seems only natural to have a site dedicated to them.

Consumr doesn’t even have that many products up on their site yet and Chobani Yogurt and AriZona Tea have already started backing it. Supposedly, according to Ad Age Digital’s recent article, “Meet the Yelp of Packaged Goods,” Chobani and AriZona “will be giving Foursquare-like badges — called “flair” — that affix an image of congrats to users that complete some task. For checking in to all Chobani’s many flavors of Greek yogurt, for example, a reviewer can win “flavor fiend” flair, reserved only for Chobani connoisseurs.”

So, go to Consumr right now and start reviewing! As a food and beverage marketer in Atlanta, I would love to see this site succeed, it has such great potential!

Follow these rules on SEO and get your Atlanta financial services firm’s website ranked higher on search queries in no time!

Search Engine optimization allows for people to easily find your firm’s site. Getting your website optimized usually only means making some small modifications.

The following is a list compiled from Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide to make your Atlanta-based financial services firm’s site visible in search engines. But always remember your main focus should be on your clients, which I’m sure you know already – not a search engine.

1. Pages on your site: Make sure every page has an accurate and brief page title as well as an accurate and brief title tag. Title tags are important because it tells both users and search engines what each page is about, so make sure they are unique and different for each page. Normally, the title tag is what shows up in a Google search.
2. Meta Tags: A meta tag is a description and summary of your page content. These tags give Google and other search engines a type of summary for your site. Google frequently uses these snippets in the description for your pages. When you are writing these meta tags, make sure they accurately describe the page. Don’t write generic tags such as, “this is a page about….”. Write something more like, “Atlanta-based financial services firm…”
3. URLs: Make sure your URL is simple and text-driven. You don’t want cryptic letters and numbers in your URL – you want a URL that tells you what you are about to click on. A properly worded URL will communicate accurate information to both search engines and users.
4. Navigation: When your firm’s site is easy to navigate, users will be able to find what they are looking for quicker and with less frustration. Create links to pages within the site and from other sites as well. Also, use mostly text for navigation. It’s hard for Google to recognize Flash and other fancy stuff for navigation titles.
5. Interesting Quality: An interesting site will get more users than a site that is boring and has no relevant information. Word of mouth is what really grows your site, so create a blog, send an email, or use other sources of social media and talk about something buzzworthy!

These are just a few tips to get your Atlanta financial services firm’s site noticed. Always keep your client/user/customer in mind when making these changes! After all, it’s all about them!

Industry-specific social networking sites can help your Atlanta-based firm reach your audiences with the right marketing message as well as network with professionals in the legal industry in you community.

Social networking sites come and go. Some don’t last long while others seem to be in it for the long haul. Each site has it’s own way of doing things, but they all accomplish pretty much the same thing. When it comes right down to it, each one allows you to interact with different people and companies and helps you catch up on the latest news, right? But what if you aren’t interested in the ‘different’ aspect and want something a little more targeted, for example maybe lawyer-networking sites based in the Atlanta area?

Industry-specific social networking sites are beginning to gain traction on the Internet. Using LinkedIn for business networking is great, but you do have to join targeted Groups and participate in discussions on these Groups to network with other legal professionals. Industry-specific social networking sites allow you to interact with professionals from your industry and are focused on news and events that affect your business directly.

Because of this, these sites may be less distracting than regular social networking sites. You don’t have to hunt through pictures of your niece’s birthday party or your mom’s recipes in order to find that article your coworker suggested. For those that aren’t keen on using social networking yet, this could be a great opportunity for them to get their feet wet, since they’ll be able to participate in a “safer” environment where they are knowledgeable and comfortable.

I recently read on an article on iShade, the new social networking site for the accounting industry. It is targeted solely to accountants and the people that serve them. (Hint: if CPAs are in your target market, or good referral sources, you may want to join too). In some ways, it’s similar to LinkedIn, in that you create both individual and firm profiles, add regular updates, join groups and connect with others on the site. They also let you create an online ad and marketplace profile for your firm for free. Where they really provide value is by offering onsite and online CPE courses. So the site goes beyond social networking and becomes a place where accountants can get the CPE they need to maintain their licensing.

I think it has great potential, but it will only work if people join and participate. Like any networking effort, it can’t be the place where only vendors gather. I expect the benefits of this site, and others like it, should draw social media savvy professionals first, and then hopefully continue expanding to those who don’t use social media as much, but want to gain more information and connections in the legal industry.

So how many of these industry-specific sites are currently up and running? I’ve found a few that look pretty interesting:

• LinkedIn’s News Today, which you can customize towards the legal marketing industry.
• Lawyrs.net which is a site made specifically for lawyers so they can network with each other. Currently, there are 7087 lawyers from 179 countries in public beta.
• Attorneys Online is a social networking site that includes a Lawyer-to-Lawyer referral base.
• Legal OnRamp is another great social networking site for lawyers. This site allows in-house counsel and invited outside lawyers and third party service providers to collaborate. The basic service is free, and I highly recommend considering this site.
• LawLink is a site that refers to itself as “The Attorney Network.” On this site you can join groups, chat on the forums, pose questions and learn about other attorneys in your field and beyond.
• Also, LinkedIn has a variety of Groups targeted specifically to attorneys. This is a great forum to use to talk and discuss legal marketing issues with other lawyers. A lot of lawyers do not utilize this great LinkedIn tool.

What other sites do you use to network with other Atlanta lawyers or learn industry news? Is this the future of social networking? Do you think people will begin to navigate toward these sites versus continuing to use sites like LinkedIn, or will they use them in addition to the big ones?

With the creative use of hashtags, your Tweets will be read by more people and your financial firm will gain much more exposure in the market.

Twitter is often the most misunderstood of all social media platforms. Sometimes professional adults feel a bit ridiculous talking about their “tweets” and describing handy tools like Twellow, but I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t! Twitter can be a powerful tool for your Atlanta financial firm. One way to get more from the experience is to use hashtags in your tweets – these hashtags can identify your market, Atlanta, and any of your areas of expertise.

What is a hashtag? It’s the pound or number sign (#). When placed before a keyword, it is a way for you and all Twitter users to organize your Tweets around specific topics. Before you go hashtagging willy nilly, here are some handy tips to get the most from this tool.

Look up trending hashtags: Before you start hashtagging phrases, look up what is already out there. Ideally, you want to join in a conversation, not create a new one if it already exists. There are a number of sites that allow you to do this, including Tagalus or Tagdef.

Define your hashtag: If you don’t find one that is already in use, create your own. Try to make it as short as possible, so it doesn’t take too many of the 140 allowed characters. Also, write an initial tweet, explaining the purpose of the hashtag so everyone knows what you are talking about when it is used.

Track hashtag usage: If you build it, you want to know who’s using it, right? You can enter the hashtag directly into the Twitter search bar to see when and how it’s being used. Or you can use a tool like Twilert to track its usage too. Respond to tweets as appropriate and watch it go viral.

Don’t overdo it: Never use more than two or three hashtags in a single post, and try to work them into the post itself rather than bunch them at the end. Using too many makes your tweet hard to read, and if you do it too much, it will make you look like a bot rather than a human. You don’t want your tweets to look like spam.

Hashtags are especially effective for current events, popular news topics and convention goers. For example, at LMA, there was a big screen where they posted all the tweets with the hashtag #Lma11 so we could see what is being said in real time. It’s a great way to expand your Twitter experience, so try it out and let me know what you think.

Click here to read even more in the Inc. article, Hashtag Techniques for Business.

First and foremost, they want to sell newspapers, magazines or have high Nielsen ratings. They want to provide stories that connect with their readers/viewers in Atlanta. So what is the best way to pitch a new health service, technology or ribbon cutting? People. They want to humanize the angle by telling a compelling story about how the surgery or technology saved someone’s life…or improved someone’s lifestyle. Yes, the media wants to know the latest and greatest in medical technology, but they want a patient’s face associated with that technology.

For example:

1. When pitching a new piece of equipment or service, find a patient that has benefited from it. You can always use the first patient or someone who has a unique story. You will be surprised how many patients will be willing to tell their story to the media.
2. When pitching fundraisers and ribbon cuttings around Atlanta, again use a patient who may have benefited from your organization’s foundation or who will be receiving services at the new location being opened.
3. Also, use medical companies to help pitch an idea. Medical Companies that make equipment used daily in hospitals or physician offices can partner with you to find patient testimonials. This is a win-win for the medical company and the hospital or physician office. Both are gaining publicity, while providing the media with what they want.

Don’t forget HIPAA! As for HIPAA, have the patient sign a release form stating that they are allowing the hospital to use their information and photograph for a media interview. This will protect your Atlanta healthcare organization from any liability in regards to the interview.

The secret is to humanize, humanize and humanize. You will be surprised how much media interest you will receive, and how many reporters will come back to you for more.

OpenTable is a site that I have used specifically for my restaurant clientele in the Atlanta area. I have never had any problems with the site and it has done wonders for the restaurants. To try to build a restaurant reservation service on your site would take many long hours and tons of coding – too much work when you can use a site like OpenTable.

OpenTable, which started in 1998, is a site that allows people to easily make reservations 24 hours a day in real-time, read restaurant reviews, as well as earn points towards free meals.  The best part about OpenTable is that any restaurant can join! And anyone can use it!

Benefits of joining OpenTable for your restaurant:

1. Over 300 seats are filled each month through OpenTable
2. Only 12 incremental seats are needed to be filled by the restaurant in order to recover the cost of OpenTable
3. Attracts repeat business with email marketing
4. Gain more exposure from hundreds of partners, including Google, Menupages, TripAdvisor, Yahoo!, Yelp, Zagat as well as local guides and restaurant directories throughout North America and the United Kingdom.
5. More than 20,000 restaurants have joined the OpenTable Network
6. OpenTable has seated more than 200 MILLION guests
7. Reduces no-shows
8. Social media capabilities. Users are able to “like” your restaurant on the OpenTable site, which in turn is posted to the users Facebook (free advertising!)

In Georgia alone, 42 cities have started using the network with hundreds of restaurants taking advantage of this amazing tool. So I would say if you haven’t already, it’s definitely time to get on board!

To get more information, pricing or download the white paper go to http://www.opentable.com/info/Front_of_House_Solutions.pdf

So I tell you that your website copy needs to be chock full of relevant keywords, with clear navigation and easy to scan due to the use of bullets and subheads. Now I’m telling you to rewrite it so it’s not so firm-centric too? Well, in a word, yes. Too many law firms, including Atlanta law firms, have sites that are written like resumes such as, “we do this” and “our firm does that” or “our attorneys excel at something else” – And everything you say is true, BUT here’s the catch, the people who are visiting your site are used to getting content that is all about them. We create custom Google readers, so the news we want comes directly to us. We pick and choose what we watch now, no longer a slave to television programmers. And we want websites to talk to us too.

Here’s a trick to see how much you are talking about yourself. Read your law firm’s website and count the number of times you use the words “we,” “our” and “us.” Now go back and cut that number in half. Don’t cheat and replace a “we” with your firm name. Really rewrite it. It’s much harder than you think, but you’ll be forced to talk more about your clients and less about yourself.

For example, which of the two paragraphs below are more appealing to you:

At XYZ Atlanta Law Firm, we specialize in employment law. We are constantly educating ourselves on the latest laws, and we bring this expertise to our clients. Our attorneys are considered some of the best in our field, and we excel at representing clients in cases where there is not a clear-cut answer to a disagreement.

Have you been given a non-compete agreement that makes you uncomfortable? Would you like help understanding what your rights are as an employee? At ABC Firm, our clients are people just like you – good employees that want to understand their rights while continuing to do a great job for their employers. Our attorneys are some of the best in this field, and we bring that expertise to people like you every day.

Neither of these may be the best copy in the world, but I would be much more likely to call ABC because I feel like they are talking to me, not at or around me. I encourage you to take a close look at your law firm’s website copy. Are you really talking to your potential clients and referral sources, or are you just touting what you do with no thought to your reader? It can be a fine line, but one that is worth crossing to get more results from your website investment.

If you would like help refining your Atlanta law firm’s website or its copy, let me know. We at MAX Advertising do this for legal firms every day, and can provide a good outside perspective.

HIPAA
Are you afraid of violating HIPAA? Don’t be. First, the only way it can bite you is if you use patient information without prior consent. If you get signed permission to use that fabulous patient testimonial, you are safe. However, if you are more comfortable avoiding patient stories in your Atlanta hospital all together, then do so. You’ll be surprised how much great health information you have at your fingertips that will make for a rich social media environment. Add articles on recent health findings, include features on your physicians and other staff, give health tips, retweet posts from the CDC and other respected health organizations. The possibilities are endless. Don’t use HIPAA as an excuse to avoid social media.

Senior Leadership Support
In order to make your social media efforts successful, or any initiative for that matter, you need to have buy-in from your leadership. To get this support, it’s important to educate and involve them from the beginning. Set up a meeting to educate them about your social media strategy, show them how it works, give them information on return on investment and share success stories from other healthcare providers. Once you have them on board, getting the rest of your organization to join in will be a piece of cake.

Consistency
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with your Atlanta healthcare marketing efforts is trying social media for a week and then stopping. The only way you are going to be successful is to be consistent. Set long-term goals and give it at least six months. How can you drive people to your Facebook page or get them to follow you on Twitter if there’s nothing on your page when they get there? Without regular posts, people will quickly find another source for their healthcare information and rarely come back once they’ve left. So commit and stick to it!

Negative Posts
Part of the beauty of social media is that it is a two-way communication, and yes, people can add comments to your Facebook page, You Tube video and other social media pages. But don’t be scared of this! As a healthcare PR and marketing professionals, it is our nature to want to control the message. Social media requires you to loosen the reins and may make you feel vulnerable. Get over it. Yes, you may get some negative comments from time to time, but don’t you want to know what is being said so you can respond appropriately? If you aren’t in the conversation, you can’t respond and those making the comments are in control then. Now that is really scary!

Don’t be intimidated. If you need help, ask for it! There are many freelance social media experts, as well as agencies, that specialize in social media. Their services can be as simple as helping you create a social media strategy and policy for your staff to managing your daily posts. Yes, incorporating social media into your marketing mix does take time. However, since this is where your patients are going for information, it pays for you to be there for them. In the end, avoiding social media is much scarier than joining in the fun.

In fact, according to Bankrate.com, nearly half of investors trusted their advisors LESS in 2010 than they did in 2009. When asked what is most important to them, they said honest communication and transparent business practices over price and customer service.

So why not start by giving them what they are asking for – honest communication. Social media is a fantastic way to start this conversation. While just adding social media to your Atlanta financial marketing mix is no magic pill, it might just help your bank or credit union improve its reputation and differentiate it from the competition. Here are some suggestions:

Facebook: Create a Facebook page for your Atlanta-located bank if you don’t have one already. Post practical information and articles that your customers may want to read. But go further than that too. Post information about your staff, when appropriate. Having a birthday party, post some pictures. Did one of your tellers recently have a baby? Share the good news! Let your customers see your personalities. This will help you create an online community that will carry into your bricks and mortar community as well.

Twitter: Twitter is a great way to reach your Atlanta audience, so create and manage a Twitter page for your bank too. You can use the same information that you post on your Facebook page on your Twitter page, or you may choose to post different information instead. Tools like HootSuite and SocialOomph are wonderful for aggregating and scheduling posts, so take advantage of them. Monitor regularly, and search for your bank or credit union’s name often. If you see something negative out there, respond immediately. When others see that you respond in a way that is fair and level-headed, they respect that.

Blogs: If it’s allowed, create a blog for your Atlanta branch and share pertinent information with your readers. You can ask a variety of staff members to write posts, to further expose readers to the different people and personalities in your bank. Answer questions, talk about recent changes in the law, or even remind them about important deadlines. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to come up with ideas when you start brainstorming.

Before you do any of this though, create a social media policy and train all of your employees on it. Just jumping into social media without a plan and policy can hurt worse than it helps.

Just getting on social media won’t change the reputation of your Atlanta bank or credit union overnight. It does, however, give you a whole new way to reach out to your Atlanta customers and potential customers, which is invaluable. It also makes you a part of the conversation. I’ve had clients ask, “What if people start saying negative things about us?” My answer is consistent. People are going to say what they want to say, whether you are there or not. Don’t you want to know what is being said so you can respond appropriately?

The food industry has already tried to avoid legal mandates by addressing the problems before they are forced to contain any further damage. We’ve already seen McDonald’s add healthier options to their menu such as oatmeal and fruit cups, while considering the retirement of one of the most recognized clowns worldwide – Ronald McDonald. Quaker is also considering docking Captain Crunch as the mascot for the overly sweetened cereal. We can only wonder which of the other mascots for children’s food products will be sent packing next. What creation from Chicago’s legendary ad agency, Leo Burnett will be curtailed – Tony the Tiger? The Pillsbury Doughboy? The Cheetos cheetah? Will they all end up alongside Joe Camel?

There are also bigger implications than just losing some iconic brand mascots. If the guidelines are followed and Atlanta food advertisers really do pull back on their promotions, will there be a group of media outlets that will be in harms way? To begin with, can cable network mainstays like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Nick, jr. and Disney continue on without ad revenue from the food sector? Saturday morning cartoons would no longer have sponsors to fund their shows. Magazines aimed at children like Sports Illustrated Kids and even the venerable Boys Life would be in danger. Superman might not feel so super either, as most comic books would also feel the pinch. It would put an end to any and all sweepstakes promotions sponsored by such companies.

There’s still a problem even if all of these mascots, icons and the media conglomerates that they rode into town on were all banished from the American children’s pantheon, and it’s the problem that was really supposed to be fixed in the first place. The food products haven’t changed. Captain Crunch is still sweet enough to rot out all your molars and eyeteeth. Frosted Flakes are still frosted with enough sugar to give you a buzz. Nestle is just chocolate flavored sugar that tries to pass as health food being that you pour the sugary concoction in milk. Fat and salt content would also be viewed as determining factors as how products could market themselves.

The big question is will children and parents abandon the food products in Atlanta that they love if the brand is given a more generic look? Or would it make more sense all around to simply change the product to make it healthier? If the latter road is chosen, what will be the government standards to consider the problem solved. In other words how much sugar would Frosted Flakes have to loose, and just as importantly would a nine year old still want to eat it?

We walked in and I got situated at my new desk with my very own computer! Then, the production meeting started. Everyone took turns discussing the tasks for the day and any exciting news. I listened intently, trying to follow the many projects Max is currently undertaking. I was warmly welcomed to the group and felt like I could really fit in here. Then, I got my first assignment!

Tom Matte, owner and CEO, advised me to put together a binder of articles from the Matte Pad blog. I collected, printed, and organized them based on content. There were 102 articles, but organizing is my forté so I enjoyed it. Then, I printed out a colorful front cover and binder spine. Tom was pleased with my work and I felt relieved and happy to have successfully accomplished my first task.

Noon hit, and a few of us went to Marlow’s Tavern for lunch right after Cara so dutifully decorated my desk with hilarious black and white print outs of us and Max employees. At lunch, everyone was so easy to talk to and the food was delicious. I was starting to feel more and more comfortable.

Once we got back to Max, I began research, investigating a specific client’s competitive advantage in the market. Next thing I knew, it was time to go home, and time to battle my first late afternoon rush hour. To my surprise, it wasn’t bad at all!

Overall, I was extremely pleased with my first day at Max. I am anxious to work hard, employ my skills, and have fun with all of my amazing new coworkers. I’d like to thank everyone for making my transition into the “real” world painless and exciting. I will do my very best to be successful at anything you guys might throw my way. Bring it!

BUT, we can’t avoid an ad if we don’t know that it’s an ad. And that’s what makes unconventional, unexpected marketing effective. In guerrilla marketing, the focus is on exceptional creativity. Imagination and energy hold much more importance than budget. The ads grab attention through interactivity, truly engaging the audience. The idea is to create buzz, with a goal of becoming viral, largely depending on word of mouth to transform local work into a widespread campaign.

Guerrilla campaigns are often successful because they acquire audience attention long before revealing themselves as advertisements. People exposed to television, radio, and magazine ads so often that they become resistant. Unconventional advertising finds a way around that resistance by disguising ads as pieces of everyday life. Of course consumers soon find out that what they’re experiencing is an advertisement, but by this point the consumers are so intrigued by the creativity that they remain interested.

One of the most well-known of these buzz creators was Cartoon Network’s 2007 guerrilla marketing campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force.” The ads received national attention from numerous news networks when electronic light boards, intended to promote the show, were placed in high visibility/high traffic areas, unintentionally creating major bomb scares around Boston. Though it cost Turner $2 million to make amends following the fiasco, the amount of coverage received was likely worth far more than that.

While Turner’s go at guerrilla marketing was, ultimately, a high cost campaign, there have been countless successful campaigns with extremely low to virtually no cost. The playing field of advertising is leveled here – small businesses have the ability to create campaigns that are just as buzz worthy as those of big-bucks corporations. It’s all about creativity and resourcefulness.

Check out this link for a ton of awesome examples. As our ability to avoid conventional advertising grows, we’ll definitely see an upsurge of unconventional marketing in the near future.

With every piece of valuable content you write for the Web, you should put that much effort (maybe more) into marketing it for your Atlanta law firm.

Just because you’ve written an incredible post on current Atlanta legal trends doesn’t mean people are going to read it. Your ideal readers might not even know it’s there!

Brody Dorland’s article, “12 Things to Do After You’ve Written a New Blog Post,” discusses ways that you can push your content and get it seen by larger audiences. So if you aren’t getting the blog traffic you want try taking this advice into consideration:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization). The first thing you should always do before publishing a new post is to make sure your post is search engine optimized. This means you are using the correct “keywords” for your industry, and you have filled out all meta descriptions, titles and keywords. There is an “all-in-one” SEO plugin you can add to your blog site that will make it easier for you to optimize your posts.

Syndication, or RSS (Real Simple Syndication). This allows people to subscribe and get your content sent to them weekly (or however often you publish). An RSS URL can also be plugged into your social networking sites or profiles, allowing content to be pushed out through those outlets as well. Just by hitting “publish” on your new blog post, an automatic “push” of that content will be sent to those sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Pretty cool right? And it’s a one-time deal. You don’t have to worry about setting it up again!

Shorten your post’s URL. By shortening your post’s URL with programs like bit.ly, Ow.ly, and Cli.gs, you can get click stats, geographic and referring site data! The longer your link has been up, the more thorough the information will be. Plus, if your URL is shortened, it’s easier to share on Twitter.

Status Updates. Send out your blog posts through status updates on your social media pages. This can be through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even industry specific sites. Programs such as SocialOomph make this task easier. SocialOomph allows you to load Tweets for a scheduled period of time. You can also use a program called Co-Tweet, which allows you to schedule Tweets daily. This helps out, especially when you are having a busy day and don’t have time for status updates!

Social Bookmarking. Use sites such as Digg and Delicious to submit links and get your posts read. These sites are really easy to use and can be very beneficial. Just set up your account and submit your blog posts links.

Comment on other blogs in your industry. Don’t spam, but it does pay to read what others are saying about your industry.  Add valuable comments to their posts and people are likely to click on your name and start reading your blog posts.

Email signature. Add your blog URL in your email signature. This is easy and it allows you to market your law firm’s blog to everyone that receives an email.

Share your blog posts with target customers. If you have a client that you know would be interested in your law firm’s blog, or a specific post, send it to them. Email them a link and why you think it would be of value to them. They’ll appreciate the personal touch.

Enewsletter. Once you have your blog up and running you should put together a monthly or weekly newsletter. This is really easy. Just get an enewsletter template and highlight 4 or 5 posts with each newsletter you send out. Make sure you view your blog analytics to see which posts will do well in your enewsletter.

Ask other bloggers to mention your post. Do you know other legal industry leaders that have a blog? Ask them to mention your blog site. Or you can also offer to write a guest post for them, and let them guest on yours. Most people appreciate this type of interaction and it increases the exposure for both of your blogs.

Writing and publishing press releases online is more than a way for hospitals to communicate information; it can also bring more patients to your Web site and to your hospital.

Search engines look for information from sources other than your Website to establish your hospital’s legitimacy. When they see your Atlanta hospital’s name, or the names of your individual doctors and nurses on other sites, like press release aggregation sites, you look more credible and can rise in search engine rankings. Also, press releases are a great way to communicate relevant information to your patients.  Because of this, it is important to write and distribute press releases regularly online.

Here are some things to keep in mind when writing and distributing a press release for your Atlanta healthcare marketing strategy:

Make sure you are distributing your press releases across all areas, so you get the most coverage.  There are many press release distribution sites available, including pr.com, businesswire.com and wiredprnews.com to name a few.

Write about upcoming events or tradeshows that your hospital or employees are hosting or attending.

Announce hospital news, such as newly hired doctors, important health information, accomplishments and awards. Don’t brag about everything you have ever done, but if you’ve recently won an important healthcare award, then create a press release about it. A good rule of thumb is to ask, “Who cares?” If you can name someone, then send it out.

Remember, these aren’t essays or case studies; they are brief, to-the-point press releases, normally no longer than one page. The first sentence of your release should tell exactly what you are writing about. It should include a date, the name of the event or person and any other pertinent information, such as location. Don’t write too much fluff – just the facts, ma’am.

Online press releases are another great way to market your Atlanta-based hospital. They are short, easy to write, and they won’t take up much of your time. Considering the potential boost in search engine results for your hospital, they are definitely worth the effort.

Many very successful Atlanta-based financial services firms are using it to develop professional connections with colleagues, attract new clients and deepen relationships with existing clients.

If you’re still thinking of social media as merely a time-waster for teenagers, it’s time to take another look.

Consider this:

• Facebook is bigger than the United States (population-wise) at 550 million users – 250 million of whom log on to Facebook every day.
• Twitter is so popular it grew 1400% just last year.

The business world is taking note of these opportunities and getting on board for one simple reason: Marketing through social media works.

So what is this social media thing?

• In its simplest definition, social media uses online and mobile tools to communicate user-generated content. That means you and your potential clients can drive the conversation.

And the result?

• Connections that generate better information, better ideas and more potential clients seeking services from your firm or business.

The beauty of social media:

• It’s cost-effective.
• It reflects the authenticity of an individual or a business.

Businesses that use social media in the old style of “sell, sell, sell” are not effective in this medium, and are often shunned. But those who operate in social mediums with authenticity, integrity and relevance begin to attract a large audience. These connections can quickly turn into new clients and powerful strategic business partnerships.

Say your accounting practice in Atlanta has been successful through referral marketing but would like a little more exposure. Using a combination of blogging, Twitter, Facebook and some great downloadable material, your Atlanta firm could substantially widen your influence base, exponentially increasing awareness of your name and expertise among financial services professionals and potential clients alike.

People do Internet searches for your area of specialty every day. Many of them are in need of a financial advisor, accountant or banker. Why not be the expert they find? Potential clients for whom your services are uniquely relevant will find you and will have already developed a familiarity and comfort level with your firm through its social media presence.

Go ahead, dive in. There is a reason that most professionals who take the leap into social media stay in – because it allows them to reach a wider audience, sharpen their public image, grow their business and establish stronger relationships with their clients. And what Atlanta-based financial services firm doesn’t want that?

A few years back a good friend of mine began importing a clear brandy from Peru. He had distributed Peru’s favorite beer, Cristal, before, and this seemed like a natural expansion for him. From a marketing standpoint, the brandy has a horrible name: Pisco. The origins of the name go back hundreds of years and have nothing to do with urinary matters or company abbreviations. For a while, we had discussed even changing the name of the product. In the end, he decided to stick with Inca Gold Pisco. His version of this historical beverage is crafted with the finest Quebranta and Italia grapes, aged to perfection, bottled in small batches in Peru and shipped up to the U.S.

In America, Pisco has a history that dates back to San Fransisco before the turn of the last century. It was the number one mixed drink in the city with the appropriately named, Pisco Punch. The recipe was a highly-guarded secret mixture, which included pineapple and lime juice. It even earned its literary chops with mentions from Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain and Harold Ross (founder of New Yorker magazine). But like many beverages, prohibition killed Pisco’s popularity. Ever since, it’s struggled to make its comeback into the American psyche and palette.

Now may be the time. A few small distributors have been putting out great Picso for a few years. Over the past five years or so, Pisco has caught the eye of the Atlanta food and beverage industry and mixologists. In San Fransisco, you can visit the Pisco Latin Lounge bar. In Atlanta, you can find Pisco in several of the more current bars, like Leon’s in Decatur and Holeman and Finch Public House on Peachtree. Leon’s Full Service in Decatur also serves up a great version of San Francisco’s famous Pisco Punch, as well as a Pisco Sour, which I can personally endorse.

Why now, you ask? The real game changer has just approached the launching pad and is getting ready for take off. Portón’s Pisco is poised to become the new 600-pound gorilla of the industry. They have publicly stated that they are going to commit $20 million over the next year to launch their Pisco. To the others already in the Pisco industry, this is a double-edged sword. On the plus side, it will not only promote Portón’s Pisco to the American public, but the drink in general. On the other hand, it may just bury the smaller companies that can’t begin to financially compete with such an advertising investment.

Back at Inca Gold Pisco, they are taking an optimistic view, thinking all boats will rise with Portón’s promotions. Their hope is to promote and advertise when and where their budget will allow and use social media to increase awareness and create discerning fans. One of the beauties of social media is that it is not the size of the budget that matters like in traditional media, but how passionate your fan base is.

Either way it should be an interesting year or so for the South American libation. If you still have your doubts to this long shot (and I admit that it is), remember that there was a point in time that both vodka and tequila followed a similar road to acceptance in the U.S. market. Both were imports from a foreign country where they were widely accepted. Both were introduced primarily as a mixer (screwdrivers, margaritas, Harvey Wallbangers, etc.). Both have various options from call brands (Smirnoff and Montezuma) to premium versions (Grey Goose and Patron). Pisco is positioned in much the same way. As Portón’s Pisco has proclaimed in one of their ads, “Maybe the next great vodka isn’t a vodka.” I guess we’ll see.

After reading that IKEA was named Cannes’ Advertiser of the Year for 2011, I decided to look into what exactly they were doing so right. Among my findings was IKEA’s 365 Campaign. Dutch agency Lemz felt there was no suitable way to feature all the store had to offer in just one ad. The solution was the 365 Campaign, in which a new spot is released every day of the year. Though the ads are not in English, you can still get the basic feel of them here on IKEA’s Netherlands page, where a new commercial is posted daily.

The ability to bring this huge number of ads to fruition comes from a quick creative process and smart production techniques. A fixed crew is used, working to produce up to 15 commercials per day. Every ad is filmed inside an IKEA store, allowing for almost effortless flow as the ads adapt to changes in seasons and sales periods. Such adjustments based around the current weather and daily happenings provide a great deal of effectiveness. This aspect of the campaign provides a unique ability in which a simple connection with the audience is made on a day-to-day basis. In wet weather, the ad’s actors may wear rain jackets. On Christmas, Santa is involved. The ads are tied together through the slogan, “IKEA. Every day different.”

And it seems to have worked so far. By the 250th day, top of mind awareness in the target had increased by 6%. Additionally, though the overall furniture market shrunk 4% during this time, 4% more consumers were buying IKEA furniture.

The budget is not outrageous. Each individual ad is not mind-blowing. But IKEA still found a way to catch the eye. There is something alluring about the 365 campaign. Perhaps the attraction comes from it being the first campaign of its kind, or from a special connection evoked by the realization that the commercial has been made especially for that day. Maybe it’s an appreciation for the novelty of each spot, the promised absence of repetition.

For me it’s the knowledge that a somewhat risky venture is proving successful. But I’ve got a soft spot for the innovators out there. I’d love to hear what you think about the 365 campaign. Awesome? Unnecessary? Do you think more companies will explore different-every-day campaigns, or is this bound to be a one-time deal?

Everyone is familiar with the idea of outbound – or traditional – marketing, where messages are pushed out to customers with the goal of turning them into clients. And this works great if executed well and with the right mix of tactics. But now many Atlanta law firms are enhancing their outbound marketing efforts with the addition of inbound marketing, and getting amazing results.

Just what is inbound marketing, you ask? Inbound marketing is a set of marketing strategies and techniques focused on pulling relevant prospects and customers toward your business. It is very effective because it complements the way many of your prospects are making buying decisions – with the Internet. So, in essence, inbound marketing gives potential clients useful information and tools that attract more people to your legal Website where they will learn more about your Atlanta law firm and services.

Most companies are already using some inbound marketing and may not realize it. Social media is one of many tactics that falls under this umbrella. But inbound marketing is more than social media too. It includes other marketing tools that I talk about frequently, like blogging, content publishing and search engine optimization. Basically, it helps your clients and prospects find you online rather than your competitors. It allows visitors to opt-in to your information, and in turn, they see you as an information resource and your company as a leader in your industry.

For example, say you are an Atlanta employment law firm. In addition to the valuable content already on your Website, why not provide access to a white paper that discusses the new employment laws in your state or gives tips (not advice!) on policies that companies should consider instituting to stay out of trouble with these laws? This is valuable content for human resources directors and C-level employees at nearly every company in your market, and many will be willing to enter their contact information to get it. So you get a list of very warm leads, and these visitors leave with valuable information. It’s a win-win.

But getting the leads without follow up is a complete waste of time. You must have a clear, well-defined method for following up with these prospects, and here’s where your outbound tactics come in very handy. Send them a personalized email, mail them some firm materials or simply pick up the phone and call them. By taking a true 360-degree approach to your marketing, and combining more traditional outbound tactics with these new inbound tools, you will differentiate your Atlanta law firm from the competition and turn casual Website visitors into real – paying – clients.

Originally Google ranked sites by using information such as how many traditional links you have, the authority of the pages that link to you, the kind of anchor text you used and your keywords and related copy. Each of these is still very important, but according to a December 2010 announcement, Google has decided that social media activity will play a part in their search engine optimization (SEO) strategy and page rankings as well.

What this means is that Google is incorporating social media into their algorithm for ranking sites. This helps them determine whether a person is real or just a bot (a software application that runs automated tasks over the Internet). Google uses a person’s LinkedIn and Twitter information to determine the validity of their material and posted links. So simply adding tons of friends and followers won’t help you as much as creating and dispersing good content through your links.

The following are some ways you can benefit from Google’s new ranking guidelines:

• Valuable Content: Content is king. Create and link to content that is informative and valuable so others forward or re-Tweet it. Google looks at the information being re-Tweeted as well as who is doing the re-Tweeting. If a bot is re-Tweeting your information it doesn’t carry as much weight as if a powerful social media expert were to re-Tweet it. So the more pertinent and interesting your Tweets are, the more likely they will be re-Tweeted by those that count.
• Signals: Google uses “signals” when determining if a site is valuable or simply junk. It is these “signals” that help them determine what is real and what is generated by bots. Even though social media is now one of the signals Google uses, it is still a weaker signal than more powerful things like the number of traditional links on your site, the strength of the pages that link to you and the keywords you use in your page copy. So while social media does help, it’s still important to pay attention to these traditional methods of increasing SEO as well.

Good SEO is a science, but there are things you can do to rank higher on your own too. By following the steps above, you’ll see a difference in your rankings and be on your way to creating a great reputation for your Atlanta financial services firm.

For those who do not know what Foursquare is, here is the premise of it; you “check in” to a location on your smart phone application. From there, you can earn points for checking in and sometimes earn badges for checking in enough times to enough places; these badges then give you even better deals for being a loyal customer. One step above that, you can receive the title of mayor of a place/location for being the person to check in most to that particular location, like a restaurant, work, gym, sporting arena, or clothing store.

Foursquare has about 10 million users, and the site leaves the decision up to the users whether or not to post their specific location and how private they want their accounts to be. It is a fantastic app, fun for the consumers, and brilliant for businesses. Foursquare breaks down their business into two parts: venue owners and brands. Both parts alike are taking full advantage of Foursquare’s unique tools to attract new customers and engage current followers by posting deals that consumers want to use. This kind of advertising drives traffic to stores, builds brand loyalty, and most importantly, increases revenue. It also allows businesses to interact with their consumers letting the business know what they like and dislike. Working at MAX Advertising, an Atlanta marketing agency, we can attest to the fact that in the marketing and advertising world, you cannot write off anything that could better your company as a whole. Being a consumer, and working in the marketing industry, I believe that businesses should give Foursquare, and even Facebook deals a chance. In this economy, any customer would appreciate a deal as much as you appreciate the business. It goes back to the whole ”I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” mentality.

Again, I have been addicted to checking in on Foursquare now for almost a month. I have to admit there is something really fun and addicting about checking into places just so my Facebook and Twitter friends can see all the cool things I am doing; slightly immature, I know. The time it took for my addiction to kick in was about the same amount of time it took to realize the potential dangers of Foursquare.

What many people forget when signing up for Foursquare are the constant updates that post to their Facebook and Twitter profiles. Making your locations public could potentially be an invitation for creepers, your boss who thinks you are home sick when you are really at a Braves game, or even a friend whom you regretfully forgot to invite to your boyfriend’s birthday party. All I can say is think about what you post before you post it. Just be cautious, use discretion, have fun and for goodness sake, do not leave your home address and a message reading, “On vacation, be back in a week!” That goes for every social media network you are a part of as well.

Usability is critical to a Website’s success. If yours is hard to navigate, it reflects poorly on your Atlanta financial services firm and prospects won’t stick around.

Web design expert, Jakob Nielsen states that, ”Web design is not a matter of taste or aesthetics — it’s a matter of science…what we actually know from our studies is that the average user experience on the Web is that of failure.”

Nielsen practices what he preaches. His own Website registered some 5 million hits last year, and he estimates that some 200,000 visitors read his bi-monthly column on how to make Web sites more “usable” — that is, easy to navigate and clearly organized so that visitors can find the information they’re looking for.

Here are his top 10 mistakes in Web design:

1. Bad search. Search is the user’s lifeline when navigation fails. Overly literal search engines reduce usability in that they’re unable to handle typos, plurals, hyphens and other variants of the query terms.
2. PDF files for online reading. Users hate coming across a PDF file while browsing, and a lot of Atlanta financial services firms are often guilty of using this method to post information. A PDF is an undifferentiated blob of content that’s hard to navigate. Reserve it for printing and distributing big documents.
3. Not changing the color of visited links. Knowing which pages they’ve already visited frees users from unintentionally revisiting the same pages over and over again.
4. Non-scannable text. A wall of text is deadly for an interactive experience. Intimidating. Boring. Painful to read. Write for scanning, not print.
5. Fixed font size. Respect the user’s preferences, and let them resize text as needed.
6. Page titles with low search engine visibility. Search is the most important way users discover websites. The page title is your main tool to attract new visitors from search listings and to help your existing users locate the specific pages that they need.
7. Anything that looks like an advertisement. It is best to avoid any designs that look like advertisements. Selective attention is very powerful, and Web users have learned to stop paying attention to any ads that get in the way of their goal-driven navigation. This applies to ads for upcoming firm events too. Make it easy to find, but don’t make it look like an ad.
8. Violating design conventions. If your Atlanta financial services firm’s site deviates from what is commonly done on other sites, your site will be harder to use and users will leave. Jakob’s Law of the Web User Experience states that, “users spend most of their time on other websites.” Consistency is one of the most powerful usability principles: when things always behave the same, users don’t have to worry about what will happen.
9. Opening new browser windows. Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But even disregarding the user-hostile message implied in taking over their machine, the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the back button, which is the normal way users return to previous sites.
10. Not answering users’ questions. Users are highly goal-driven on the Web. The ultimate failure of a Website is to fail to provide the information users are looking for.

Why do many Websites neglect to ensure usability? Neilson says,

• First is that they just neglect the entire issue because everyone thinks their own Web site is easy to use because they designed it, they are on it frequently and they don’t understand the need for usability testing.
• The second reason is that even if they recognize the need for usability testing, they make it too complicated. They think, “we’ve got to bring in a team of five Ph. Ds, build a special laboratory with one way mirrors and test fifty users” — no you don’t.

Nielsen also points out that there are 2 things that anyone can do to improve usability:

1. Run a very simple user test in three days. Just bring in some typical users and see what they say.
2. Or, get a professional analysis, which requires an expert with many years of experience to assess a Web site’s design and structure.

Read the full version of Jacob Nielsen’s article, Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design. See also: Usability 101: Introduction to Usability

The voiceover reads:
“If you ask a parent, they might call it intuitive. If you ask a musician, they might call it inspiring. To a doctor, it’s groundbreaking. To a CEO, it’s powerful. To a teacher, it’s the future. If you ask a child, she might call it magic. And if you asked us, we’d say it’s just getting started.”

It’s restrictive. From the get-go, I’m thrown off because I’m not a parent. I’m assuming the large majority of parents don’t have a problem with the first line, but how do they feel when they find out that it’s actually for musician parents? The conveyed target audience disintegrates with each statement and, once the end is reached, only musically inclined parents with a PhD who run a company and also teach in their spare time can truly feel included.

The idea I got from the first iPad commercial was that, with an iPad, you can do pretty much whatever you want, wherever you want. It effectively showed the iPad’s abundant features and grabbed tons of interest without vocalizing the “who it’s for.”

While it is important to know your target audience and direct the message towards that target, picking multiple extremely narrow targets and throwing them into one ad does not constitute an effective ad. It’s likely that Apple believed such a technique would rope more people in, but it seems to me that just the opposite is done in it’s execution. The picture of the ideal iPad 2 consumer created through “If You Asked” is one of an unattainable character. Regardless of how tech-savvy I am and the fact that I do know my way around an iPad, the ad instilled within me a feeling that the iPad 2 was over my head. While the CEO that also teaches tenth grade and works the night shift at the hospital who has six kids and plays a mean guitar would surely be enticed, I have a feeling that the majority of us are not convinced.

But maybe that’s just me. Check out the commercial and let me know what you think!

Raise your hand if you have a smart phone within three feet right now? How many of you never get more than three feet from your smart phone at any point in your day? I see lots of hands being raised! For most of us, our smart phones are our lifelines, and many of us keep them closer than our wallets at all times.

So what does this mean for Atlanta law firm marketing? There’s a whole new world of opportunities out there, and your firm can take advantage of it.

At a bare minimum, make sure you have a mobile-optimized version of your Website. More and more people are accessing information on their smart phones, so your site needs to be easy to read and navigate on these small screens. Many law firms around Atlanta are creating slimmed down versions of their current sites for mobile use, which includes basic law firm information, partner bios (with pictures), contact information and maps to their offices. If a client is on the way to meet you for the first time, they should be able to pull up your site online and find everything they need – a photo of the attorney they are meeting, a short bio on him or her, directions to your office – with a few moves of the thumb. At this point, it’s expected.

Now let’s take that a few leaps forward. Say you are a law firm that specializes in DUI cases. Why not create an application that can be downloaded to a smart phone. If a user gets pulled over for a DUI – whether they are guilty or not – they can quickly click on your app button on their phone. This could automatically dial one of your attorneys who can help them, literally, at the touch of a button. You are providing what your future clients need, when they need it most. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

The possibilities are endless, and whether we like it or not, this is the future. Those firms that embrace these new technologies early on will have a clear advantage over the laggers in the market.

I’m curious, what app would you like to see?

Typically, this generation is being brought up by parents who pamper them, nurture them and tell them they are the greatest things since sliced bread. We put them in activities where everyone gets a prize for showing up. Millennials crave attention, guidance and non-stop stimulation. They are part of the “no-kid left behind” movement and thrive on praise, reassurance and social interaction. We’ve molded them into confident, loyal and committed young adults. Okay, in turn, maybe they are a wee bit needy and cocky too, but think of all the benefits we will reap from our overzealousness. They are driven, always want to be involved and always full of questions that need answers. Our desire for our children to be accepted as part of the group has paved the way for the big bright world of social media.

Millennials flock to social networks like bees to honey. They all have at least 600 Facebook friends and update their status more often than their underwear. My son Austin, 15, spends most of the time locked away in his room, listening to music, watching YouTube and updating his Facebook page. On the rare occasions when he chooses to spend time with us, he has a treasure trove of cool stuff to show me. He is the one that introduced me to Facebook in the first place, then promptly told me I was too old to join. Boy, did I prove him wrong. There are tons of old people on Facebook now. Maybe we only have 200 or so friends but at least I have met most of my Facebook friends face-to-face, even it was in high school.Austin introduces me daily to the latest and greatest videos before they go viral. He found Greyson Chance before Ellen did and Rebecca Black before most of the world heard her sing about the proper order of the days of the week. Because of him, I am quite addicted to Break.com, StumbleUpon, Angry Birds, Words with Friends (he kicks my butt) and the Akinator – a game that is mind blowing in its accuracy.

My younger son, Carson, 12, also uses social platforms like Facebook, but he is more of face-to-face kind of kid. Carson promptly introduced me to Oovoo. Oovoo is a competitor of Skype, but in my opinion, a much more stable and user-friendly platform. We use it at MAX Advertising and have even convinced some of our vendors and clients to make the switch. They love it and when they ask us how we found the program – its fun to tell them, “from a 12-year-old.” Carson is also the “Mr. Fix-It” of the family, a trait he got from his grandfather, certainly not from his dad or me. So when it comes to downloading apps on my iPad, programming my new iPhone or putting directions into the car’s navigational system, he’s my go-to guy. Now I just need to teach him the art of remembering where his phone is, since I did manage to pass along the gene for air-headedness. I wish there was an app to fix that.

One of the most frequent fights between my boys revolves around who found a new, cool, techie thing first. The battles of “I found that first,” or “I saw that before you,” go on night and day at my house. The most heated battle between them is who told me about Shaytard’s first. They both love the video blog of the Shaytard family and watch it religiously. I have to admit that while I am not a diehard fan, they are really entertaining and funny. If you don’t know who they are, ask your kids. I bet they do!

My boys are a generation of blogging, reality TV-watching, texting, app-downloading, YouTube-surfing, Facebooking, Foursquare-checking young adults. They have and continue to teach me something new everyday. Not only do I learn from them as a parent, but I have also started taking notes as a marketer. Having a presence online is more important than ever, whether you’re thinking of your next career move or new ways to market your business, all things social better be incorporated into your strategy. In fact, Millennials might argue that if you’re not online, you simply don’t exist! Take notice everyone – like it or not, they are the future!

So, my advice to all parents and business people, make sure you know what your kids are doing online. I’ve found the best way to do that is to stay plugged in myself. Maybe you’ll find that you can teach those young pups a trick or two. I did! I found Twitter first and have more followers than both of them combined, and that really pisses them off!

When most people go shopping for clothes, they tend to look for particular designer labels that match the quality, look and status they want communicate in what they wear. The same can be true for law firms. Your prospects are looking for the “label,” or rather, a firm with a strong reputation, client service and expertise that they feel will meet their needs.

In a recent study described in The Economist, Rob Nelissen and Marijin Meijers of Tilburg University discovered that designer clothes and people’s perception of these clothes can bring certain benefits. These include better cooperation from others, job recommendations and even the ability to collect more money when soliciting for charity. This got me thinking about how this same phenomenon could relate to law firms in the Atlanta area.

“What is interesting is that the label is so persuasive…People react to designer labels as signals of underlying quality. Only the best can afford them,” The Economist, I’ve Got you Labelled, April 2-8, 2011.

So how does this apply to your firm? Those firms that are branded well, and whose brands are associated with quality will be noticed more and gain more business. Think about it, which firms do you tend to notice when flipping through American Lawyer, Inside Counsel or Corporate Counsel? Typically it’s those that you are most familiar with, right?

Just to be clear, when I say law firm “labels,” I really mean the firm’s entire brand. This includes the logo, firm’s reputation, practice specialty, where they are located, who they work with, etc. By labeling, or branding, your firm well, you improve your chances of being considered one of the top firms in Atlanta, and in turn, your ability to gain clients and increase revenue.

So when you market your law firm, keep in mind the importance of labeling, or branding. How can you take your firm’s reputation to the next level, enhance and expand it? People are going to evaluate firms based on status; it’s simply human nature. You may know how great your Employment Law practice is, but think about it from an outsider’s perspective – think about someone who only hears information at the country club or online. Decide how you want to be perceived and create a brand that communicates that message to your target audience.

“If everyone agrees something has high status, then it does. But that agreement often transfers the status from the thing to the label. Maybe a further million years or so of evolution will eliminate this failing. In the meantime, [law firm] marketers can open up another bottle of champagne,” The Economist, I’ve Got you Labelled, April 2-8, 2011.

William and Kate met back in their college days at St Andrews University where they both studied art history in 2001. Kate caught the eye of the Prince while doing a school fashion show. They quickly became friends through their studies, which then, of course, led into a dating relationship. For years the world watched as Kate and William separated and got back together – William and Kate’s tumultuous relationship caught everyone’s attention. Who knew they would be having the biggest, most publicized wedding of the millennium. It truly is the modern day “Prince and Princess” love story.

This wedding isn’t going to be like any other royal wedding in the past – social media will play a huge part in the broadcasting of this event. There is an estimated 2.5 billion global viewers that will use social media outlets to get a glimpse of Kate’s top secret wedding dress.

One of the leaders in incorporating traditional broadcasting with social media is E! News. They will be streaming live from London for 10 hours, starting at April 29 @ 1 a.m. ET / April 28 @ 10 p.m. PT. They also will have pictures, blogs, breaking news, fashion expertise and videos throughout the week about the big day.

It will also be streaming live through YouTube as well on the Official Royal Wedding Website. The official royal website will show the preparation of the wedding as well as the actual event.

Don’t forget Facebook and Twitter! Facebook will be used in E! News’coverage as well as the official royal coverage. By simply being a fan of E! Online’s Facebook page, you’ll be able to watch and share the union of William and Kate live from your own Facebook page. But you have to make sure to RSVP on Facebook for this event. For more official royal coverage, you can also follow William and Kate’s walk down the aisle on the British Monarchy’s Facebook page for constant updates and commenting.

E! News as well as the official royal coverage will have a Twitter stream for all of the action, just follow @royalswed for E! News, and @ClarenceHouse for official royal wedding news. The official royal coverage will also have a Flickr page dedicated to the wedding, with livestreaming photos at www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy.

If you don’t have time for the Facebook and Twitter coverage, then download the free, “Live from the Red Carpet” App to attend the wedding of the 21st century! Or just download the soundtrack of the ceremony on iTunes, which will be released within hours of the ceremony.

With all of the media outlets, this truly is a digital, royal wedding of the millennium. So make sure you get to your blogs and Twitter streams this Friday so you don’t miss a second of the festivities!

Recently, we were approached by one of our clients who asked for a PowerPoint presentation that they could show on their iPad. They had two goals for this presentation. First, they wanted to show the depth and breadth of their services in a simple way, targeted to this particular prospect. Secondly, they wanted to show that they were comfortable using new technology, since this is very important to this prospect. (They also had a hunch that a competing firm had lost out on this opportunity because they had looked stodgy and dated with their presentation.)

This is the type of project where MAX can really shine. First of all, I applauded the client for thinking outside of the box and informed him about Keynote, a Mac equivalent to PowerPoint that has more bells and whistles, better transitions and overall design. While this software has been around for a while, it’s just now becoming more popular because of its expanded capabilities over PowerPoint, but mostly because it shows beautifully on an iPad, with a few limitations. They were thrilled.

So we got to work. We created a rather short, informal presentation that showcased the law firm’s practice areas and capabilities. We specifically focused on the capabilities that would be of particular interest to this prospect, demonstrating that they understand their industry and this company in particular. Some portions of the presentation auto-advanced while others required a tap on the screen to move forward. We did this intentionally so the presentation could progress at the pace of the conversation. It was just long enough that the entire presentation could be seen in the time between when food was ordered and when it arrived.

It worked like a dream. The law firm was able to communicate all their important points to this prospect in a way that showed that they are in touch with the latest high tech tools and also comfortable using technology as a law firm. By customizing it for the prospect, they also showed that they understood this company and could meet their needs. The presentation was completed before the food arrived, and the rest of lunch was spent discussing the topics touched on in Keynote and how they would work with this prospect.

Long story short, our client won the account! The prospect found a law firm that understands their business and how being on the forefront of technology is important. Our client was thrilled with the work we did for them, and now plans to use this as a regular part of their prospect meetings. I love how it clearly shows how a law firm can take a risk and have it pay off in spades. I wish more law firms would think like this because it’s well worth it!

If you’d like to see a copy of the presentation we created for this client, or just hear more about how Keynote can help your firm rise above the rest, feel free to email me at tom@maxadv.com.

Well-placed white space helps readers know what to read first, allows them to rest from time to time, and even gives your materials a touch of elegance.

Think about the most memorable ads and collateral materials you’ve seen over the years. Most people generally mention ads produced by companies like Apple and Volkswagen. You know what sets them apart, other than creative headlines? Their generous and intelligent use of white space.

In my many years of working with clients, this topic has come up frequently. In fact, other than hearing, “Can we make the logo bigger?” the most heard request is usually to fill in white space. I understand why this happens. We are programmed to get as much as we can out of space we have in nearly every other area of our lives. But I’d like to share some of my thoughts on why leaving some well-placed white space will make your law firm’s collateral, ads and Website much stronger.

It’s cleaner. We’ve all walked into an office where there are files everywhere, books falling off the shelf, chairs full of various items and no order to anything at all. How do you feel in that sort of environment? Nervous, looking for any excuse to leave? Well, it works the same with Websites and collateral. If you jam every single space full of content, it makes it difficult for visitors to know what to read and how to navigate. Some well-placed white space makes your site feel tidier, and in turn, visitors don’t mind hanging out for a while.

It helps with navigation. I’ve talked here before about how very few people read Websites anymore; we scan. But if you don’t give the eye a place to rest, or provide a good flow of information, people won’t even do that. By adding white space and breaking up your graphics and copy, you help guide readers through your law firm’s Web page or collateral materials. If done right, you can ultimately lead them to your call to action too.

It adds a feeling of elegance. High end brands have been using white space in their marketing materials for years. It just looks cleaner and classier. It’s hard to look elegant when your law firm’s brochure or Website is simply cluttered looking. Let’s go back to that messy office. Who will you trust more to handle a challenging issue for you? The person with crap all over his office, who has to shove stuff out of the way before you can take a seat, or the person with a tidy and well-organized space. People make subconscious judgments about your firm at first glance. By making your materials look clean, you automatically create a feeling of trust and competence for your law firm brand.

They’re such a hot topic that the TV show, CSI, has even gotten into the act by writing a whole show around them. And they’re not the only TV show. There are a number of reality TV shows that are utilizing food trucks in their food competitions.

Food served up out of the side of a truck has been growing in popularity over the past few years. They’ve been around for a while, but recently they’ve really upped their game. Gone are the simple sandwiches and chips of yesteryear. Now they are serving up everything from authentic Cajun cuisine to Asian fusion tacos. This new age of mobile food service has taken urban markets by storm. New York, LA, Miami have all seen an armada of food trucks pop up around their cities. Atlanta is a half step behind. The trucks are out there if you look for them, but due to food license permits and health code requirements, they are currently restricted. Hopefully these obstacles will soon be corrected and “mobile food units” (as they are legally called) can catch up to other cities. Our favorite at MAX Advertising is the Yumbii truck. To find out where to get a meal on wheels at any given time in Atlanta, just go to Facebook and search for the Atlanta Street Food Coalition.

So how does social media work into their recent success? Fans can follow them literally on both Facebook and Twitter with the latter doing the majority of the marketing work. All a fan needs to do is go online and check their status on Facebook or check out their mobile device to see where they are currently parked. They can even check what specials are on the menu.

The players in this market right now are vendors whose main, if not only, focus is their food truck. Look for this to change as more brick and mortar restaurants take to the streets. This trend will follow the trend twenty years ago of restaurants expanding in to the catering arena once they realized they had the expertise and could add to their bottom line. All they needed was a truck for transportation. Now they have the expertise and the truck (and if you don’t own a truck you can rent one for around $2000 a month). Depending on the city and the exact location the parking spot may also come with a fee: possibly $1000 per month). All they need from a marketing standpoint is a Twitter page and someone to oversee the venture.

Many restaurants have their $100,000 truck parked unutilized when there are no catering jobs. Why not put it to use? The benefit can be two-fold. First it can be profitable, just like catering is where it raises the monthly revenues. Secondly it can expand the brand and get a new range of people to try their food.

So take to your Twitter and Facebook feeds and dive into this new food market. It’s definitely an easy meal to make – it’s right around the corner, parked on the street. Eat up.

Statistics indicate that women make the majority of online purchases, do more research on the Web and are more actively involved in social media than men. According to a recent article by Aileen Lee, “Why Women Rule The Internet,” sites like Zappos, Groupon, Gilt Groupe, Etsy, Chegg and Diapers are all driven by a majority of female consumers.

These aren’t the only sites driven by women. Facebook COO, Sheryl Sanberg, comments that 62% of Facebook posts, conversations and uploads are done by women. Women are more active on Twitter than men too. Actually, every social media site (Twitter, Facebook, Deli.ci.ous, Docstoc, Flickr, Myspace, Ning, Upcoming.org, uStream, Classmates.com, Bebo and Yelp) have more women as users. Only LinkedIn and Digg have more active male users.

According to some anthropological research used by this article, “women are thought to be more social, more interested in relationships, connections and better at multi-tasking.” These facts back up the notion that female users will help grow your law firm quicker, especially on social networking sites.

What does this mean for your law firm’s social media efforts? Simply put, you should start targeting women with your law firm’s marketing efforts. Instead of focusing on men as your primary buyer, try blogging and connecting socially with women on the Internet also. Involve the women at your law firm in your social media efforts too.

Here’s something else to consider. Private businesses owned by women have grown in number and hired more workers than male-owned businesses, according to the latest U.S. Department of Commerce survey. Are you missing out on a great potential client base? Do you have women in key positions at your law firm who may be better able to reach out to these business owners? Creating a strategy around these statistics could pay off handsomely.

It’s important to include certain social media tools in your law firm’s blog to drive more traffic and make it easier to share your ideas.

Don’t get me wrong, content is always king. But adding the items listed below to your legal blog will make it a more powerful tool:

1. RSS Feed (Real Simple Syndication). This allows people to subscribe to your blog and stay updated on your latest posts. You might even consider starting an e-newsletter so those that want to can have your law firm’s blog content sent directly to their inbox. This will keep your blog top of mind with your target audiences.

2. Link back to your firm. Make sure you include a link to your Atlanta law firm’s Website on your blog home page and in the About or Bio page of your blog too. You want visitors to be able to find your firm page easily, so put it right out there for them.

3. Twitter Account. Include a link at the top of the page that goes directly to your law firm’s Twitter account. Some firms have even started adding Twitter streams to their blog pages. A Twitter stream shows your last few Tweets, and automatically updates each time you add a new one. By adding the stream, visitors can see your latest Twitter posts without leaving your blog site. Also, add a “Tweet This” or similar button to each blog post so readers can easily Tweet them to their followers. This will greatly increase traffic to your blog.

4. Company Facebook Page. Make sure you include a link to your law firm’s Facebook page. Just like with Twitter, include a button that allows readers to easily share your posts on Facebook.

5. Contact Page. As with all Websites, you should include your contact information and make it easy to find. You want your future clients to be able to contact you, right?

6. Personal and Company LinkedIn Pages. Include a link to your personal and the law firm’s LinkedIn pages too. Even if your readers aren’t on Twitter or Facebook, nearly all business professionals are on LinkedIn. Make it easy for them to look you up and connect with you there.

7. Industry News. Put important industry news links on your main page. This provides additional reasons for visitors to come to your page, in addition to your witty commentary.

Try to take some time every month to research new items and applications that you can add to your blog site to keep it interesting and up-to-date. These not only put you on the cutting edge of social media technology, but increase your readership and the exposure for your Atlanta law firm as well.

In a new info graph by LinkedIn and Vincos, the legal profession was the second to the last industry utilizing LinkedIn.

This just in! LinkedIn announced earlier this week that they now have more than 100,000,000 users. Just to put that into a bit of perspective, if you were to stack 100 million business cards in a pile, it would reach 98,425 feet, according to Read Write Enterprise. You’d pass Mt. Everest at 29,029 feet. Let’s just say, it’s a whole lot of business professionals in one place.

But here’s what I found particularly interesting in regards to law firms. Attorneys are not anywhere near the top users of LinkedIn. In fact, much to my surprise, law firms are surpassed by construction, government and transportation, industries not generally considered particularly social. In fact, only agriculture falls below legal on the chart seen here.

On the flip side, industries like hi tech, manufacturing, finance, medical and corporate are on LinkedIn in droves. So if you or your law firm target any of these industries, you can bet that your clients, and some pretty excellent prospects, are probably on LinkedIn ready to be linked to you.

So what does this mean? First, I realize that law firms are not always on the cutting edge of new technology. But at 100,000,000 users, LinkedIn has been well-vetted and is now completely mainstream. So if you aren’t on there, it’s time to get on.

Secondly, just joining LinkedIn is only the start. Fill out your page completely, including job history, specialties and education. Get recommendations and add PowerPoint presentations and PDFs by using Box.net. If you have a blog – and you should – add a blog roll to your page. And this is just scratching the surface. The expanded functionality really makes LinkedIn a very valuable resource, so take advantage of all it offers. Oh, and don’t forget to create and complete a page for your law firm as well!

If you want to see an optimized company page on LinkedIn, click here to view ours and follow us!

I’ve talked about LinkedIn regularly on The Matte Pad, so read here, here and here to get started and learn more.

Now for a few fun LinkedIn facts.

• In a 24-hour period, mobile usage is highest at 5 p.m. PST.
• The fastest growing countries are Brazil (by far), Mexico, India and France.
• 1.5 million new people join a LinkedIn group every week.
• 61% of LinkedIn users are men
• 36% of users are in the 25-34 age range, and another 36% are in the 35-54 age range.

You could almost hear her nods of agreement on the other line. She responded to each phrase with words like, “Yes, I can see that,” and “Wow, very cool.” But, then the air went out of the room with her deep sigh. “I wish we could do something like that, but I’m not responsible for that area. They do their own thing. We have tried for years to get them to do something different, but we just don’t have the power to make that change. You know, politics.”

Of course, I understood exactly what she meant. I’ve been there myself. I didn’t give her a hard time, but instead empathized with her situation and said, “Hopefully, one day your internal departments will be able to work together.”

How many national nonprofits are still struggling with a silo mentality when it comes to their marketing efforts? How do these walls affect a donor’s experience and the messaging they receive? I wonder if these functional silos still exist because the same people remain in charge of the organization for years, and they get tired of fighting internal battles. It is best to just let each department do their own thing and not make a fuss. In the end, each staff person is responsible for meeting specific goals and bringing in certain revenues. They tend to be risk-avoidant and are nervous about impacting their program. If the bottom line is affected, it may not be worth it in their minds.

But I think that attitude is old-school. When will the donor’s needs outweigh the egos and budgets of the individuals who manage each functional area within a nonprofit? I urge fundraisers and marketing folks to gather around the table together, regardless of whether your responsibility is online fundraising, direct mail, digital, telemarketing, corporate communications, or whatever! What is much more important than your individual responsibilities is that you work together to maximize the communication tools you create so you can meet the needs of your current donors, and reach out to new ones.

Why not do your donors and volunteers a favor and begin or restart these conversations between your departments today. Hold a bi-weekly lunch where each staff member explains how they are communicating – and what they are saying – to constituents. A different department or function can present each time. After the presentation, each employee can share how his or her area might enhance that communication and make it better.

For example, have you thought about creating a landing page for a specific donor campaign? What about a phone call to mid-level donors sharing the latest research findings? Would the opportunity to advertise on a special wrap of your member magazine be of value to those volunteers who have raised over $1,000 through special events? Should the next email message have links that highlight reports buried on the Web?

As you begin to test different approaches – regardless of where the functional responsibility resides – you will be able to measure the lift in response and donor engagement. Be sure to track analytics and share the results with the full team. Once even a small amount of success emerges, the walls will not appear so high. In fact, you may find that you begin to appreciate and look forward to working together as one group focused on doing the best for your organization and fulfilling your mission.

As you may already know, you can’t just show up at the trade show and expect clients to come rolling in. These events take a great deal of planning if they are going to provide the return on investment you want. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Prepare: Are you exhibiting at the show? If so, you’ll need a booth, collateral materials, unique giveaways and personnel to staff the booth. Every item you take should be well-branded with your law firm’s logo and colors to reinforce your brand. Your booth graphics should be professionally designed, branded and bold enough to draw attention. And the more unique you can be, the more likely you’ll attract more attendees into your booth. Maybe you want to create a video that loops on a TV or computer in your booth that visitors can watch if your staff is talking to others, or have some sort of questionnaire they can fill out on an iPad. Are you a show sponsor? Then you may need to create items to put in the attendee packets/bags, an ad for the show booklet and a company description for show materials. And don’t forget your travel arrangements and a box of materials like pens, notepads, paperclips, business cards and a way to collect visitors cards too. There’s a lot of planning that goes into these events, so make sure you have all your bases covered.

Promote: Don’t forget to promote the event and your participation as much as you can. Include information in your newsletter, send an email blast to your clients who may be interested in attending and a press release to your local paper and online blogs. Mention it in your blog posts and give reasons why your readers may want to attend. If you’re speaking or interviewed beforehand, mention it at the end, and have information on the event available to anyone who wants it, both in print form and on your Website.

Present: I’ve talked about how powerful a speaking engagement can be for you and your firm, and these types of events are a wonderful opportunity for you to speak if you can. But you have to start very early to get a slot. Find out when the event committee sends out their request for presentations and make sure you are on the list when they do. Prepare a very well-written and thorough response and get it in well before the deadline. If allowed, include testimonials from previous presentations you’ve given as well. Additionally, whether you speak or not, consider hosting a cocktail party for attendees in a suite at the hotel. This will give you a chance to get to know attendees more than you can on the trade show floor. And it can also be a chance for you to speak briefly about what your law firm does before a smaller, more intimate group.

This is just scratching the surface, but it will help you prepare for your next trade show opportunity. What have you found that works well? What additional preparations do you typically make?

And by the way, I’ll be sponsoring, attending, presenting and exhibiting at the upcoming Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference on April 4-6 in Orlando. I hope to see you there!

Writing and publishing press releases online is more than a way for attorneys to communicate information; it can also bring more clients to your Website.

Search engines look for information from sources other than your Website to establish your law firm’s legitimacy. When they see your firm name, or the names of your individual attorneys on other sites, like press release aggregation sites, you look more credible and can rise in search engine rankings. Also, press releases are a great way to communicate relevant information to your target audiences. Because of this, it is important to write and distribute press releases regularly online.

Here are some things to keep in mind when writing and distributing a press release:

1. Make sure you are distributing your press releases across all areas, so you get the most coverage. There are many press release distribution sites available, including pr.com, businesswire.com and wiredprnews.com to name a few.
2. Write about upcoming events or tradeshows that your law firm is hosting or attending. For example, if you are participating in the upcoming Legal Marketing Association 2011 Annual Conference in April or the 2011 Annual Spring CLE Program, then create and distribute a press release about it.
3. Announce Atlanta law firm news, such as newly hired attorneys, big cases, accomplishments and awards. Don’t brag about everything you have ever done, but if you’ve recently won an important legal award, then create a press release about it. A good rule of thumb is to ask, “Who cares?” If you can name someone, then send it out.
4. Remember, these aren’t essays or case studies; they are brief, to-the-point press releases, normally no longer than one page. The first sentence of your release should tell exactly what you are writing about. It should include a date, the name of the event or person and any other pertinent information, such as location. Don’t write too much fluff; just the facts, ma’am.

Online press releases are another great way to market your Atlanta law firm. They are short, easy to write, and they won’t take up much of your time. Considering the potential boost in search engine results for your law firm, they are definitely worth the effort.

The time has come for you to look for a new agency to help with your marketing plans. Maybe you’ve decided to divide the labor this year and find someone that can help with your social media or just your direct mail acquisition strategy. Rather than work with one agency, you think it would be better for your organization if you found someone that specialized in particular facets of nonprofit marketing, like digital marketing or major gift cultivation. Whatever you are in the market for, you’ve got a challenging decision on your hands. How do you find the right partner?

The easy way is to focus solely on experience. It makes your decision more objective and less risky. Take emotion out of the decision-making process, and you feel like you’ve made the best choice. Deal is done, right? Not so fast…I caution you to reconsider.

I’ve sat on both sides of this equation – working at a nonprofit looking for a new agency and representing an agency hoping to work with nonprofits. Both sides have their advantages. One thing I’ve learned for sure – it seems relationships can trump experience! Most good agencies have the right talent and will deliver or find the marketing power that you need in a matter of days or weeks. Personalities aren’t likely to change.

Before you enter into an agreement based solely on an agency’s experience, play it safe and ask yourself if your new potential partner has these five personality traits:

1. You believe them when they say something. In other words they are honest.
2. Every time you have talked to them or are with them, you have noticed random acts of kindness.
3. Without any warning, whatsoever, they start sharing their positive feelings about your cause and demonstrate great passion for your mission.
4. They get what you’re trying to do and show determination and confidence that it can be done.
5. They make you laugh on at least three occasions. They are actual funny people and fun to be with.

Doesn’t it sound simple? We all want to work with people we enjoy, but many times we get a glazed-over look during the RFP process and start evaluating agencies based on elaborate, quality quotient rating scales developed by some random management guru. Before you hire someone, I advise you to take a step back and ask yourself these five questions:

1. Do I trust this group to tell me the truth? Do they look me in the eye when I ask a difficult question about pricing? Are their handshakes a formality or do I feel a sense of comfort when we greet each other? Check for honesty.
2. Do they listen well and let all voices be heard or do they stick to their own agenda no matter what? Do they show empathy for your budget cuts or are they relentless in pushing for more fees? Check for kindness.
3. Have they asked to attend a local event or speak to a dedicated volunteer about the work that your group does? Do they have any personal experience that shows they “walk the talk” and support nonprofits? Check for passion.
4. Do their ideas show a clever, well-crafted plan with a “can do” attitude? Have they thought about barriers and ways to climb the walls? Check for determination.
5. Do you smile when you talk to them on the phone? Are you genuinely glad to hear from them and comfortable in your conversation? Check for fun.

Keep in mind that every agency has a distinct personality and work culture. Sometimes we overlook the signs of a disaster waiting to happen when we get blinded by analysis and get mesmerized into making decisions without really thinking them all the way through. Do yourself a favor next time. Look for these five traits and pat yourself on the back for knowing that you’ve done your due diligence before entering into what will hopefully be a long-term, fruitful and fun relationship for your nonprofit.

LinkedIn has always been considered the professional older brother of all the social media sites, but Facebook always led in terms of third party login sites. (A third party login site is one you reach via another site. For example, if you are on Facebook and then click a Website from a post, that’s a third party login.) Even business professionals rarely thought of LinkedIn in this manner, and most chose to use more popular social network platforms to promote their sites.

But that seems to be changing. In July 2010, LinkedIn was only at 3 percent for third party logins. But according to Gigya, which provides research and statistics for third party login sites, LinkedIn usage has gone up 17 percent in the last six months. The huge increase has been attributed, in part, to LinkedIn’s expanded profile options.

Compared to Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn has many more capabilities that appeal to law firms. In addition to the wonderful new things you can do with your personal page (add your blog, post PDFs or PPTs for download, create and publicize events, etc.), you can also create company pages where you can include in-depth descriptions of your products and services. These expanded features have made B2B users take notice and start seeing LinkedIn as a truly useful business tool. And as social media outlets go, LinkedIn tends to be a better choice for most law firm marketers. Facebook is certainly still an option, but it tends to be much more powerful for B2C companies while LinkedIn is the go-to outlet for those of us in the B2B arena.

Another great way to connect professionally, are through LinkedIn’s groups. LinkedIn’s groups allow you to network, ask questions and share industry expertise. Some great groups to join are the Legal Marketing Association group and ABA Friends.

In recent news, yesterday LinkedIn added “LinkedIn News”, which is a clear indication that they want more business folks on their site. This News tab, which is under “more” at the top of your LinkedIn page, allows you to receive personalized news information. For my News site, I get marketing industry news, legal news, as well as social media updates. I highly recommend checking this out!

So when you are deciding how to best use social media in your law firm, think about where your clients and prospects are likely to be. It may pay to put a bit more effort into your LinkedIn presence than your Facebook page.

I initially thought there would be no way that I’d feel the same level of emotional connection that I have made with Facebook. My connection with Twitter seemed to be more cerebral, while my connection with Facebook was more emotional. You can’t use Twitter to peek at your neighbor’s latest batch of kid photos or login and find that someone you barely know just sent you a “rainbow of hugs.” But with Twitter, you can tap into a vast stream of information that will blow your mind. Where Facebook promotes a very “lean back and enjoy” method of interaction, Twitter takes a more “jump in and participate” approach.

Having said all this, you might be thinking, “I’m too old or too busy to get involved in something so fast-paced.” But you don’t have to jump in at a manic pace either. Nearly everyone will love how, at its very core, Twitter gives everyone, young or old, a place to speak and be heard. Whether you want to rant about how much you hate your cable company or rave about how much you adore Justin Bieber, Twitter can be your microphone. And with almost 200 million tweeters, someone will be listening.

Twitter can give you more information in an hour than you can get in days through traditional sources like newspapers, TV programs or even water cooler conversations. I found out by following @CBSAtlBreaking that an employee serving jury duty was in lockdown at the Fulton County Courthouse because of a bomb threat. She called the office to say something weird was going on, and I told her what was actually happening. She was in the middle of the situation, yet I knew more than she did because of Twitter!

By watching what is trending on Twitter worldwide, you can find people tweeting about advertising trends, earthquakes, royal engagements, the Mona Lisa being a paint-by-numbers project, and even Charlie Sheen’s trip off the deep end. Pick your poison and it’s there. Twitter is instant gratification if information is what you seek.

So Twitter can give you a voice and also give you limitless information, but here is my favorite part of Twitter – you can feel the love with Twitter too. The types of connections we make on Twitter are different than Facebook. Facebook tends to connect you to people you know or have known at some point. On Twitter, you can build an online community based on your interests or even connect with others who are weathering real life situations like yours. People who like what you like and have a common opinion or experience are suddenly your instant companions. Twitter is much more than an outlet for the most recent celebrity gossip, it’s a place to connect with like minds and spirits on a personal level. This aspect of Twitter was defined beautifully through a recent post I read by UNC-Chapel Hill Student, Stephanie Cohen, “Cancer Patients Find Support Through Social Media.” In this post, we are introduced to @chemo_babe who is battling metastatic breast cancer. We see how she has found support, strength and courage through her online Twitter community. She wrote this in a blog post about her followers…

“The dread is there and rears its head sometimes. Yesterday, an article in the New York Times detailed the experiences of women with metastatic breast cancer. It was very sobering and shook me up. I tweeted about it and found that many other survivors –– some of whom have metastatic disease –– were also moved by it. We had a spontaneous Twitter support group. I cannot overstate the value of having a community of people who understand life under the dangling sword.”

Based on this, I’d like to amend my opening statement that Twitter is predominately a cerebral experience. My newest social addiction seems to be the best of both worlds. I can keep up with trending celebrity topics, stay updated on all my business interests and even find online communities that share my passions. Social media rocks – even if you are an old, busy tired woman like myself. Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised!

Please let me know your thoughts on the Twitterverse and follow me at @Maxadv.

Your brand – and by extension, your logo–is your promise to your clients. It includes the way your office looks, the way you answer your phone and emails, the type of people you hire, the way you deliver your services—ultimately it’s who you are as a firm.

The most obvious extension of your branding is often your law firm’s logo, so creating one should be approached with a level of seriousness and dedication. Here are a few things to consider as you get started:

Yes, you really do need a logo. Many law firms balk at the idea of creating an official logo, instead going with their firm name in a standard font, usually in a shade of gray or blue. And while I don’t think firms need to go nuts with their logo, you do need one. It is a visual representation of your firm, and a way for your clients and prospects to recognize your communications at a glance. It should also create a sense of stability, legitimacy and longevity. A well-designed logo communicates who you are and indicates that you are serious about what you do and committed to creating an image for your firm that will stand the test of time.

It creates your branding foundation. A good logo will help create a standard upon which all other marketing efforts are built. Ultimately, it will make your law firm’s marketing efforts easier, because you’ll have a look and feel for everything you do from now on. So be sure you like the colors, fonts, and overall feel of the logo, because you’ll be seeing it a lot.

It is one of your most obvious differentiators. This is often the hardest thing for firms to determine–what sets them apart from every other firm out there. A good logo is one way you can set yourself apart, at least visually. So make sure it doesn’t look like all the rest of the law firm logos out there. Really think about your firm, what you do, what your clients say about you, and why you are in business in the first place. Then find someone who can help you communicate as much of that as possible in a simple visual image.

Always be consistent. I can’t stress this enough. Many law firms have multiple variations of their logo. Their logo is available in a variety of colors and shades of those colors. They may stack the firm name one day then have it all on one line the next. And then they wonder why no one knows who they are! Once you have a great logo, don’t mess with it. Use the same one all the time, on everything you do. You’ll be surprised how quickly your firm will gain recognition and how your promise will be understood by your audiences.

Don’t be afraid of color. Since your logo is the foundation on which all your legal marketing efforts are built, it’s nice to add a bit of color to your look. A lot of firms stick with black to look “solid,” but those days are past. Don’t be afraid to step outside of the blue and black part of the color wheel. Firms that are thinking outside of the box are really getting noticed. Remember, it’s a differentiator for your firm, so you don’t want to look like everyone else out there. Be creative.

It must be scalable and flexible. How many times have you seen a logo that looks awesome when it’s big, but becomes illegible when small? Look at your options both big and small, and make sure it works at all sizes. Also, keep in mind that you won’t always be able to print your logo in full-color, so see how it looks in one-color and reversed in white on a color background. It should look great all the time and in all formats. If it doesn’t, go back to the drawing board.

So with all this in mind, finding a law firm marketing services agency that can take you through the process of creating a brand strategy and well-designed logo is important. Whoever you choose should take the time to get to know your law firm, your services, clients and goals for growth. So do your research and choose carefully. And no matter what you do, don’t hire your nephew in art school who is pretty good with clip art. It is simply not a good idea.

A lot of professors think taking time to teach something like social media, which they think is just Facebook, is a waste of time and money. But they are completely wrong—especially in this day and age. Everything is based around social media– the world news, business updates, advertising trends, technical innovations, even breaking medical advances—pretty much everything you can think of is, or can be, someway infiltrated through the means of some social media outlet.

I started learning the tricks of the social media trade my sophomore year in college. I remember thinking…really?? How is this important?? None of my other friends at other, bigger schools were learning anything about it. I learned how to network, how to build and write a blog, how to make my Twitter and Facebook more professional, and how to find a job-all through social media.

My senior year of college I would get on Twitter daily to look at job postings from people like @PRJobsLondon and @prwork to see if I matched any of the criteria. To completely graduate, I had to have a 3 month-long internship in either advertising or public relations, so finding a job was a must. I applied to over 100 internships and I got denied or strung along on almost all of them. I continued to blog and keep up my social networking, and before I knew it I had an internship lined up 6 months before my graduation date, while everyone else in my classes were stressing.

Now I’m not saying to Tweet just to say, “my breakfast was wonderful today!” because guess what, if you aren’t Lady Gaga, no one cares. Tweet and blog about things you are passionate about, showcase your writing and communication skills. Social media is like an online resume. Use every social media platform to your advantage and always write as if you were being graded. Look over your blogs, proofread them and edit them. Don’t Tweet a bunch of errors and make sure you write your LinkedIn profile in Word first.

I know it’s rough out there to find a job, but stay positive and learn to use social media to your advantage—it will pay off!

1. Never use a typeface named after a city, state or country.
2. No more than 2-3 typefaces on any project.
3. No more than 3 size variations of typefaces on any project.
4. Begin all layouts with a modular grid, no exceptions.
5. All type must relate to other type.
6. Never center your text.
7. Don’t distort type just because you can.
8. Don’t indent first paragraphs.
9. Use old-style numbers and typographer’s quotes instead of primes.
10. Never use hyphens.
11. The more simple, the better.

I began training in college with the vision of graphic design being an endless sea of possibilities never reaching the horizon. All I wanted was to create and explore, pushing all the boundaries I could. I would soon learn, that my endless sea was more like a great lake with a defined perimeter of do’s and don’ts. The rules were explicitly communicated to us and defined graphic modernism. I submerged myself to the rigors subjected by my mentors and embraced the core fabric of modernist graphic design with open arms.

One of the great aspects of modernist design is that it is replicable. You can teach its principles to anyone, even a non-designer, and if followed, they’d be able to come up with a solid, if not brilliant, solution. I learned attention to detail and the importance of content. When working with such a limited palette of elements, you’re left with nowhere to hide forcing you to perfect what you put on the page. No messy layouts, no extraneous elements. Instead, a perfectly sized, carefully sequenced, and dramatically paced execution.

After graduation, I began my transition into the advertising arena as a graphic designer. In the working world, I get to experience life without rigid guidelines and there are several differences regarding the rules. Type treatment is far more varied and aims to fulfill the desires of the client more than my personal satisfaction regardless of my better judgment. The same goes for layout and composition; simplicity isn’t always a popular approach. Of course some rules still exist but they’re more like unspoken taboos. For example, using Lucinda Bold, like human cannibalism or sleeping with your cousin, simply isn’t done.

You might be expecting me to tell you I’m a rebel and I self-indulge in my new-found freedom with full force but in fact it’s the opposite. Occasionally, I permit myself a small indulgence, which either results in disaster or sheer genius, but for the most part, I adhere to the rules I’ve been taught.

Most of you might find this horrifying which was the same reaction Amy Chua received when she recently stepped onto the world’s stage with her Wall Street Journal essay “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” an excerpt from her memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. The essay makes a case for subjecting the young to draconian rules. No TV, no video games, no sleepovers, and a zero-tolerance policy for grades below A+. Chua’s strict system reminds me of my journey and parallels the teachings of my “Tiger Mentors” which provided me with both structure and freedom… only with structure is freedom possible.

It’s always worthwhile to reflect on how I learned, who I learned from, and what my guiding principles are. What I’ve determined is whether you credit (or blame) your mentor, you can never fully escape your influences. The rules you grow up with are what make you, as a person and as a designer. The trick is to remember, every once in a while, to screw them up a little.

1. Review leading industry Web sites to find unique and effective ideas for your online pressroom. For example, in the legal industry, the American Bar Association has an incredible site at http://www.abanow.org/reporter-resources/.
2. Make online pressrooms easy to find and one of the main links from a company’s home page.
3. Be sure to start with basic company or firm information such as the executive team; updated company financials and any other data possible; publicized strategies such as mission, diversity policy and commitment to social responsibility; and the name and 24-hour phone numbers for public relations contacts.
4. Press rooms enable seamless, integrated marketing that further express a corporate identity. Include company logos, executive photos and videos, as well as press releases and other media directed information.
5. Distribute “Media Contact Cards” by snail mail and email, and recycle that content by posting it online. Categorize material based on journalists’ beats and needs, not based on company divisions, service lines or practice areas. Be sure to include a sign-up area for journalists to opt-in to future correspondence.
6. The best pressrooms are updated daily – and immediately upon breaking news. Have a standard and easy to read format for providing experts to comment on the latest news topic. Include three-to-five quotable legal points related thereto with the experts name, title and contact information. Distribute this information to a media list by email with a return link to photos and backgrounders. This can also be sent by wire service as a press release.
7. Be sure to maximize traffic to a press room by linking to it in as many communications as possible, including direct email campaigns, press releases, blogs, social media pages, client and customer alerts, etc. For professional service firms, consider repackaging emailed client alerts into a separate Media Briefing that is mailed to appropriate reporters based on content and beats.
8. Place all collateral and press kits as virtual press kits online. Also, include usable photographs and videos as much as possible.
9. Maintain an updated calendar of events that is searchable by specific topics. Create a searchable library of past presentation materials made by your professionals or executives to serve as backgrounders. Alert media to new materials posted there by email.
10. And once you’ve made it useful, updated and effective, try to review it once again to see if anything can be added to make it fun and interesting for visiting journalists. For example, for law firms, include a humorous law blog or lawyer joke of the day on the Web page.

I’ve been told more than once that I have no problem saying what’s on my mind and don’t bother to  sugar-coat what I say. Don’t get me wrong, I actually do filter my thoughts so I’m not downright rude, but not to the point where what I say becomes useless drivel. Maybe this is due to the fact that I was raised in a military family where there was plenty of love, but with it a healthy dose of self-responsibility. I don’t subscribe to our overly-PC society and think that R. Lee Ermey in the Geico commercial has it right when he says that “people need to get out of namby-pamby land.”

The other day, my creative director broke out an old saying that aptly describes how we as “creatives” are viewed at times. “Don’t tell my folks I work in an ad agency, they think I’m a piano player in a whore house.” I realize that our job in advertising is to get people to pay attention to, and ultimately use or purchase, goods and services. We get paid to push the envelope to the point where people stop in their tracks or can’t wait to learn more. Companies have used all sorts of different approaches to reach this goal – sex, cartoons, billboard-climbing cows – for years.

Over the past year I’ve noticed a shift from creatively promoting the product or service to playing to consumers’ fragile egos and lack of self esteem. While I guess I understand the intent, it struck a nerve in me. Some of it is tongue-in-cheek and humorous, “Because you never got a pony.”  Some play to vanity, “Don’t you want to make your neighbor jealous.” Others still focus on the viewers’ perception, “The car you drive says a lot about you.” How is this different than the Marlboro man, the Hathaway man, the Dewars’ file and even currently Dos Equis’ “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaigns? To me, these campaigns play to a desire to be smooth, rugged and sophisticated. The other ads play to one’s fears and insecurities and the need to be accepted and I believe there is the shift to the slimey.

I guess, in the end, it really isn’t the end of the world. There is a segment of the consumers in our me-first, instant gratification society that will respond to this style of advertising. It does its job; it provoked conversation even if it does make me want to go search the want ads for piano playing opportunities. Personally, I prefer the clever, the humorous, the well-executed brand of advertising that attracted me to this field in the first place.

That’s just my view from the soapbox.

So here are some thoughts as to why they may want to reconsider the never changing menu. To begin with there is a method to the McDonalds and Hardees of the world. People are drawn to the word “new”. If curiosity killed the cat, then new menu items work off of that curiosity and bring customers through the doors just to try it at least once. Sometimes the more outrageous the item, the better, be it larger, spicier or unique.

It’s also a good idea if for no other reason than it gives a restaurant a reason to talk to their publics. People like to hear something new, not old. When was the last time you read a headline that said “Still serving the same old stuff.” But how many times have you seen the words “announcing” or “introducing” and never underestimate the power of the word “new”. It’s almost as magical as “free”.

The new menu item doesn’t have to be the latest concoction from Master Chef. It can be a simple adjustment to an already existing item, like adding barbeque sauce to a burger. It helps if it’s unique but you can start simple.

Then it needs to be branded to make it more unique and to have more ownership over it. It should be something that will spark the imagination. We have a process we use for choosing a new name to help in this branding process we call “IDx” which includes generating several names and research to confirm the best one.

The next step is getting the word out there. These days it’s not enough to rely on traditional media. We have developed integrated campaigns for food and beverages which includes Social Media. The best way to launch any product is to begin with your loyal fan base, and these days they can be reached through Facebook and Twitter. If you haven’t built your followers’ numbers up, there are proven ways of doing this and you should start immediately.

The final part of all of this is measuring the results, and not just through sales. For example it’s not just important as to how many of the new food items sold but how much sold along with it. They may have come in for the BBQ burger but they also spent $7.50 on average along with it while they were there. There are other analytics we use to gauge the success of the product. Then you can determine if it should remain on the menu or be brought back as a seasonal item.

So maybe it’s time to take a bigger bite with a new product launch. Change cannot just be a good thing. It can be a profitable thing too.

Liked:

1. Most delicious food I have ever tasted and it is not near as bad for you as American food. The best food I had: Madrid, Spain
2. The men are beautiful.  It doesn’t hurt that every one of them has a sexy accent either.
3. Experiencing different cultures and learning new languages.
4. Learning so much about the historical aspects of the cities. The best place for rich culture and history: Paris, France.
5. The McDonald’s was WAY better over there. The food tasted better, most of them were three stories tall and they sold alcohol.
6. Experiencing the world with three of the most amazing best friends in the world.
7. The shopping was fabulous.
8. The fact that I was forced out of my old ways and into a new mindset will stick with me forever.
9. Getting lost almost every day helped us ultimately find our way around.
10. Made me much more appreciative of the things I have here at home.
11. How nonchalant and appreciative their lifestyle was. No one was in a huge hurry to do anything like Americans are. For instance, dinner lasts at least three hours every night. They enjoy life.

Disliked:

1. The people are rude and intolerant of us Americans
2. The language barrier
3. It was expensive. The exchange rate = 1 US dollar = 0.7468 euros
4. Escalators are non-existent in the metro systems and with a 50 lb suitcase that it is not cool.
5. I wanted to buy everything and I couldn’t.
6. You have to pay to go to the bathroom.
7. They don’t serve ice with any of their beverages. If they do, it is approximately four pieces.
8. Blondes are few and far between, so my friend Michelle and I stood out like sores thumbs and got some much-unwanted attention at times.
9. The entire trip went by too fast. Once I finally got used to being in one place, we had to pick up and leave for the next country. I suggest going over there for a longer time period or picking less places to visit so that you have time to see everything possible (and it is much more beautiful in the Spring and Summer).

SEO, or search engine optimization, is an important part of the website process because with the right keywords, more people will be able to find your healthcare facility; so, make sure the content on your healthcare website is search engine optimized (SEO).

There’s a science to the art of volleying for an optimum place on search engines; it’s a task that is best not left to chance. Even as the content is being developed, write with an eye toward the words a reader would likely use in a search engine.

The best key words actually tend to be key phrases, 2-4 words that accurately reflect what a reader will find on your site. AVOID single-word keywords or phrases that are too general – like “hospital” or “healthcare” while also avoiding terms that are too specific they may get eliminated from a pertinent search. Make sure you are answering questions about your company in these phrases, like are we the most experienced healthcare service? Does our hospital have the best reputation? And think about what you type into Google when you are searching for something. Be thinking about your audience when creating these keywords.

Keep in mind, though, that search engines actually rank individual pages within sites, so you may want to use more specific key terms on some inside pages. For hospitals, that may give you more flexibility in the key words you use for specific audiences. “Lung cancer doctor” and “thoracic oncologist” may be synonymous to you, but a layman and a health professional will use very different terminology, so you’ll need to tailor your search to the audience.

Your advertising agency or marketing partner should also be able to provide advice, guidance or an SEO service.

The next step in enhancing your website is through using a content management system. This tool will make it easier to manage collaborative work and content.

My advice to every healthcare marketer is to use a content management system. There are many new content management systems that make putting professional-looking content online easy and user friendly.

The one I use and highly recommend is, WordPress, the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world (it started as a blogging tool, but is now used for entire websites). It’s free and offers thousands of great templates, themes, widgits and plugins (sidenote: even though WordPress is free, some themes may not be free). You and your healthcare employees can easily use it to post new blogs, make site updates, and produce other online marketing content. This post was produced using a WordPress template.

WordPress provides its own tracking system, which shows how many people are viewing your blogs, which ones are most popular, and which search terms are bringing people to your blog. If you comment on another healthcare blog in WordPress the application tracks that comment and any replies to it.

Even though WordPress is the software I use and like, there are still a number of others with very similar features. Some of these include:

1. Drupal also has a very large CMS user base. Drupal is not as blog-focused as WordPress and it includes features such as forums, user blogs, OpenID, profiles, and the best feature-taxonomy. Taxonomy is a popular feature that allows for different types of categories for content.
2. Joomla is also a fairly popular CMS, but it is much more advanced. This CMS is easy to install with Joomla’s installer and also allows for plugins and themes like WordPress-But most all of Joomla’s plugins and themes require additional money.
3. Radiant CMS is the most different from the above mentioned. It uses a different template language, called Radius. Even though it’s a little different, the developers have made it simple for companies to use.

Each of these has positives and negatives; so before you invest any time, make sure you do your research.

If you want to go that extra step with improving your healthcare website, mobile optimization is a great feature to consider.

The use of internet-capable phones is becoming ubiquitous, from top surgeons to patients Twittering about their experience. Keep your hospital on top of this trend by offering a version of your website that is optimized for mobile phones.

The goal is to provide a streamlined version of your site that allows mobile users to easily access the information they need on the go. Most phones do not have Javascript enabled, which can completely hinder a marketing campaign. That is why it is crucial to mobilize your website.

Mobilizing your website isn’t rocket science, but at the same time it is very time consuming and difficult for someone to do if they aren’t familiar with the process. It consists of re-layering the content and presenting style sheet (CSS) information differently. Basically, it’s just a simpler version of your site.

A recent article in Mashable reviewed a variety of easy-to-use tools that automatically create a mobile version of your website, detect when a mobile device is accessing the system and automatically uploads the mobile version of the site.

Once you have all of the bells and whistles on your site make sure you have great software to track your website

Tracking software on your website is a necessity to your healthcare marketing department and a great way to step up your site.

With tracking tools you can transform your healthcare website from a static, online brochure into a smart business development tool by incorporating tracking tools that show when people come to your site, how long they stay, and on which pages they stay the longest. These statistics can give you a great deal of information, and your healthcare marketing staff can follow up with likely leads or respond to comments-assuming you have a comment section, which, of course, we suggest.

The following information includes three budget-friendly tools that will boost your healthcare website:

1. Google Analytics is a free but fairly sophisticated tracking tool. It allows you to track results of individual components in a marketing campaign to determine ROI and even benchmark results against the industry standard.
2. StatCounter is also a fairly cheap and easy tool to use for tracking too. This software appeals to a lot of smaller companies because of the price. If you have less than 250,000 page views on your site then it’s free, but anything over that is $9 per month, which isn’t a bad deal. This software allows you to track keywords used, how long people are on your site, and it’s all real-time tracking.
3. If you need something even more robust, and not as budget-friendly, there is a wealth of quality companies offering these services; my personal favorite is Hubspot. Hubspot offers a free trial so you can test it out before you dish out the cash. Hubspot offers a range of products, from website tracking and analytics to search engine optimization, and the best part is you can find the perfect combination of price and tools for your business.

There are so many amazing tracking tools out there, so make sure you do your research before you invest any time and money.

All four steps will help boost traffic to your healthcare website and allow you to keep up with the latest trends. Implementing these steps will help you turn your website into a true business development tool.

I recently went to Europe with three of my best friends. Needless to say we had an amazing and unforgettable time tearing up Europe one city at a time. We had three stops in ten days: Amsterdam, Paris, and Madrid. I have never been out of the country, so it took a minute getting used to all the different cultures and ways of the world. As I sit here trying to think of the right words to help tell my experience, I feel at a loss of words because no amount of words will do justice to how amazing the trip really was.So, I am going to break this post about my Europe experience into two parts. Part 1 is all about the advertising in Europe compared to America. I am sure I speak on behalf of all of us here at MAX when I say that being a part of the advertising industry, and loving it, I notice advertising efforts more than the average person. So, naturally, I caught on to a lot of differences while I was in Europe.

In most European countries the advertising style is very different. In France, for instance, instead of convincing the customers to buy their products, the advertisers try to seduce them to do so. The impression I got from European advertising is that the style is more sophisticated and has a “high-class” feel. American customers are used to being exposed to more precise and specific advertising information, where as the Europeans are more open to ideas or impressions the advertising makes on them. It is all about letting the advertising speak to you in its own creative way and many times in a very risqué way. Sexuality in advertising here in America is practically illegal, but in Europe, it is everywhere. America’s approach when advertising using sexuality is usually humorous or exploitative, whereas the nudity and sexuality in European advertising is more sophisticated, tasteful and considered an art form.

American advertisers use more words and headlines to get the message across, where many European advertisers use more images and illustrations; they try to find images, which in the best way, without any words, communicate the idea and message that stand behind them and in turn seduce the viewer into purchasing.

American advertising dollars are mostly spent on TV, radio, and online advertising. In Europe, a large part of the advertising budget is spent on newspaper, magazine but most of all, poster advertising. The main form of transportation for many Europeans is through the Metro system, which is where many of the poster advertisements can be seen. It was very interesting to see how advertisements for certain products were targeted to specific areas and how good of a job they did at demographic targeting. For example, in France near the metro stop for Avenue des Champs-Elysees, the most expensive shopping area in the world, there were ads for Chanel perfume and Cartier sunglasses. However, in the less expensive parts of France, where we stayed, there were ads for Neutrogena lotion and a cheap French nail polish.Overall, my take away from the European ads is that it would be really cool to see American advertisers adopt some European advertising techniques but still keep our American flair. I think both of these techniques combined would be a great recipe for success.

In MAX news, after being stuck in Newark, NJ due to the bad snow and ice here in Georgia, I finally made it home and back to work. To my delight, I was warmly welcomed by the amazing MAX staff. I have to admit, I missed being here and I could not wait to tell everyone about my fabulous and crazy Eurotrip. I was excited to notice that MAX’s 2011 New Year’s resolution is all about “The Year of More.” Forget the age-old tale of “less is more” and start thinking, “more is more” and make MAX Advertising your number one go to for just that. Our daily Facebook, Twitter, and Blog posts are fun, interesting, and keep you updated on all the latest and greatest there is to know about the wonderful world of advertising. So follow us and continue 2011 on the right foot! Merci!

With tracking tools you can transform your healthcare website from a static, online brochure into a smart business development tool by incorporating tracking tools that show when people come to your site, how long they stay, and on which pages they stay the longest. These statistics can give you a great deal of information, and your healthcare marketing staff can follow up with likely leads or respond to comments-assuming you have a comment section, which, of course, we suggest.

The following information includes three budget-friendly tools that will boost your healthcare website:

1. Google Analytics is a free but fairly sophisticated tracking tool. It allows you to track results of individual components in a marketing campaign to determine ROI and even benchmark results against the industry standard.
2. StatCounter is also a fairly cheap and easy tool to use for tracking too. This software appeals to a lot of smaller companies because of the price. If you have less than 250,000 page views on your site then it’s free, but anything over that is $9 per month, which isn’t a bad deal. This software allows you to track keywords used, how long people are on your site, and it’s all real-time tracking.
3. If you need something even more robust, and not as budget-friendly, there is a wealth of quality companies offering these services; my personal favorite is Hubspot. Hubspot offers a free trial so you can test it out before you dish out the cash. Hubspot offers a range of products, from website tracking and analytics to search engine optimization, and the best part is you can find the perfect combination of price and tools for your business.

There are so many amazing tracking tools out there, so make sure you do your research before you invest any time and money.

And remember, this is only part 1 to perfecting your healthcare website. Look out for parts 2, 3, and 4!

I once had a Vice President of Marketing, who oversaw our department at a major corporation, ask me how we thought up all of these ideas for ads. I knew our department was in trouble if the VP of Marketing didn’t understand the creative process. She was left with amazement at our ability to write a headline or conceptualize a visual that communicated what we were trying to sell and do it in an entertaining and memorable way. I get the same question from many of my beginning level students.

It’s partially our own fault as creatives working in a business setting. We want to be thought of as the shamans dancing around the corporate bonfire enthralling the rest of the tribe with tales of promotional wonder. Who wouldn’t want to be thought of in that light? Why would you want to ruin that perceived magic?

I attended a talk by Luke Sullivan at SCAD Atlanta last year. Luke has worked at Fallon McElligott, The Martin Agency and is currently the Group Creative Director at GSD&M in Texas and has won every major ad award three times over. He’s written a guide to creating great advertising entitled “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This” which I would whole-heartedly recommend to anyone wanting to better themselves in this field.

He stated to me privately that he believes that either you have it or you don’t. Creativity is really something you can’t learn, as if it were divinely ordained amongst a fateful few. I agree that a small part of it is hidden somewhere in each double-helixed DNA strand, but that there is also a process to it that can be taught and learned. Maybe it’s the teacher in me that believes this, and I know Luke would agree.

I’ve put what this creative process is into a few words that now hangs on my office wall. Anyone that knows me, knows that I collect a myriad of items ranging from comic art to vintage toys, so when I was at a garage sale a few months back I couldn’t help but drag home a box of metal letters in various sizes and fonts. The graphic designer in me had to give a home to these orphaned letterforms. I made a list of the letters and challenged myself to make some sense of them; to write something that would sum up what I do on a daily basis.

I started with a large zinc letter “L” to create the word “Look”. This is a great way to begin any project. In short we research and gather all of the information we can on a product; it’s history, where it stands in the marketplace, the client’s insights, their competitors, what make’s it different. We “look” it all over before we begin any creative thoughts.

With a nod to John Lennon, the next word I came up with was “Imagine”. This is where the real magic does happen. Connections are made in our minds from the research or “Look” stage. We toss around ideas with each other and somewhere along the way a spark of an idea is born.

I followed it with “Create”. This is the stage where we begin to put pen to paper, or these days we jump on the computer and push around the mouse. It’s when we create a piece to show the client, so we can get their feedback and thoughts. It’s also a stage that all too often students jump to before the first two stages. The computer is just too tempting in its ability to make things look slick and finished.

I had a few letters left so I added an ampersand and these final three words: “Have Some Fun” along with my initials. If you’re not enjoying this along the way, then you may be in the wrong business. I did have to fashion an “E” out of coat hangers as well as using a large pocket watch (flotsam from a previous garage sale) for the “O”. The watch was appropriate as we are only given so much time on any project, or in life for that matter, so you’d better make the best of it.

With only a few letters left over I had succeeded in succinctly stating the creative process. I know there’s much more to it from the execution of the idea to media choices and social networking, but it’s a start. Besides, it justified my purchase of a box of metal letters.

Day 1- I texted some employees the night before and asked if we were going to work the next day. The response I got was: “I’m partying like we aren’t.” And this was from more than one employee. I guess everyone had one thing on their mind.

The first day was fun, I guess. I went sledding down a huge hill and got some serious exercise climbing back up those hills. So by 4 o’clock that day I was passed out.

Day 2 – I was for sure I would be going to work by day 2. But I was wrong. I’ve never had so much free time since college; I almost didn’t know what to do with it. So to my shock and to my mother’s shock, I decided to iron all of my clothes and organize my closet. That is how bored I was. I never do house work.

My lifesaver Tom called earlier that morning so I actually had work I could do from home. Thank you Tom.

Day 3 – ummm? What? Where are the snowplows and sand? After talking to some fellow co-workers I could tell that I wasn’t the only one getting a little restless. Luckily for me, I get to continue to write; hopefully that will stop the boredom for a few hours.

This snow better clear soon because we are running out of food in our house. Kroger is empty because the trucks can’t reach the stores due to the iced roads. And I continue to online shop so my bank account is suffering because of the snow.

SOS to the People from the North—How do you deal with snow all of the time?! Help us!

When I arrived at his office, I was immediately struck by the smell of stale cigarette smoke. Strike 1. Then, I stood awkwardly in the lobby until a disheveled intern came out and curtly told me to sit down and wait for Mr. Smith. The chairs looked like 1950s rejects. I picked up a five-year-old magazine off the dusty stack of other dated reading material. Strike 2. Then I waited while reading old stories about the O. J. Simpson trial and the Oklahoma City bombing, both of which were LONG over. And waited. And waited. Finally, 30 minutes after I arrived, Mr. Smith came shuffling out. His hair looked unwashed and his shirttail was un-tucked. His pants were frayed at the bottom where they were never hemmed properly. His shoes were scuffed. He motioned for me to go back to his office by waving his lit cigarette randomly in the air. I followed in fear. Strike 3.

Needless to say, I didn’t hire Mr. Smith. I later learned that I probably should have though. Turns out he’s an amazing litigator, and his record is so good it was almost unbelievable. But the impression he made was not one that instilled even a shred of confidence in me, and because of that, I had to move on.

Flash forward to 2011. Many of us don’t even have outside offices any more, working out of our homes or shared spaces to save on overhead. We meet with clients at coffee shops, co-working spaces and even bars. There’s often not an “office” at all where our clients make that initial impression of us and our level of professionalism.

But wait, there is! Whether you want to admit it or not, your Website is your new front door. Is yours giving an impression of confidence or does it look more like Mr. Smith’s office of doom?

When you meet someone at a networking event, what’s the first thing you do when you get back to your computer? Go to their Website. When someone recommends a service provider, where do you go to learn more? Their Website. When someone starts talking about a great new product they tried, what do you do next? Go check it out on the Web. Yes, it has become standard operating procedure, and people make strong impressions based on what they see. So if you want to leave all these prospects with a positive feeling about you, your services and products, follow these few simple rules.

Pick an easy-to-remember URL. I know, by now all the good names have been taken. But your URL is not where you should get creative. If you are just starting out, name your company something that has an available URL. (That’s actually how I chose BBR Marketing.) If your company name is already taken, get as close as you can. People are naturally going to enter when looking for you. They may not take the time to look for your business card to confirm your address, so this is not a place to get creative. I recently had a gentleman give me his Web address, which was a series of random letters to me. He explained that it was his initials, followed by GA (for Georgia) then CPA (because that is what he is). It made perfect sense to him, and he seemed shocked that I didn’t “get it.” Make it easy on your visitors; this is not a place to get creative.

Make your navigation intuitive. There are few things more frustrating than not being able to find what you are looking for on a Website. Go out of your way to make it easy to find information. This doesn’t mean have tons of items in the navigation bar, but it does mean that the information should be organized in a way that makes sense. Have an outside person try to find things on your site, and watch where they click each time. If they can’t easily get where they need to be – ideally in three clicks or less – reorganize your site.

Brand it well. I could talk about this all day, but make sure your Website looks like the rest of your materials. Having a consistent and professional look and feel is vital to creating a positive impression for your visitors. If your business cards look completely different than your site, visitors will be confused and unsure about your company. Think about it, if your hair was a different color every time a prospect met with you, they’d begin to wonder who you really were. The same works for your company image. Create a strong brand and stick with it…everywhere.

Content is king. Having clear, concise and well-written copy is vitally important to the success of your site. Notice I did not say “lots of copy,” but concise copy. Study after study shows that the vast majority of people don’t read on the Web; they scan. So plan for this. Use lots of subheads, bullets and key words. Make your point and then stop writing. Here’s where I recommend hiring a writer who understands the Web and can help you create the image you want. Or if you can’t do that, write it yourself then have someone edit it for you. It is well worth the money spent, and will pay off in spades in the end.

Make it work for multiple browsers. Not everyone uses Internet Explorer. I personally use either Firefox or Safari most of the time, and I can’t tell you how many sites I’ve visited that are clearly not optimized for these browsers. Again, this is an area where spending a little money will pay off. If the site doesn’t work in my browser, I’m not coming back, ever. It’s a quick way to lose a lot of potential clients.

Have someone check for errors. And finally, spell check is your friend, but it won’t catch everything. Have others read it for clarity and grammatical errors. One spelling error can be forgiven, but more than one will make you look sloppy and incompetent. If hiring managers are tossing resumes for one spelling error, what do you think your potential customers think when they find them on your site? You are getting tossed too.

This is really just a start, but at least this gets you on the right track and allows your visitors to easily find what they want and leave with a positive impression of you and your company. I’d love to hear your ideas for making your “front door” as inviting as possible. What do you think?

Here at MAX, honestly, not much changes! I just graduated from college in May and I’m still getting used to working through “Christmas break”.  I no longer have that month long break where I sit around and do nothing. Now it’s work, work, and more work! But I kinda like it that way-keeps me busy and entertained.

For MAX, nothing has slowed down. We just finalized 3 radio spots for Dekalb Medical Center, which you will be hearing in about a week as well as seeing the Dekalb billboards everywhere. I’m still blogging and writing, Ken is still doing the work of about 5 people, Tom and Beth are still running around trying to make meetings and appointments with clients, Christie is still Facebooking, Tweeting, and doing everything else involved with social media, Julie is handling all of the finances, while getting over the swine flu! Nathan is still…well being Nathan, Meghan just left for Europe (we are all jealous-and she better bring us back some goodies), Jim and Katie are hard at work in the back room cranking out creative ideas and campaigns, and Gregg of course is still doing all of his creative work (while he walks around the office in his Christmas shirts—Christmas is over Gregg).

Even though work around the office is still busy, if not busier, one GREAT thing is that it only takes me 20 minutes to get to work because there’s no traffic! So thank you to all of the companies that have shut down for the holidays-it has really helped my stress levels.

So in the spirit of New Years I would like to compile a list of Resolutions for MAX:

• This will be the best year yet!
• More Friday Fun Lunches
• Get high-speed internet in the office
• Everyone clean up their mess in the kitchen
• Make the Internet go faster
• Get surgery for Ken so he has 6 more arms
• More fun information at the end of production…cough cough… Meghan (I know Nathan will like this)
• And of course more FUN and more fun clients!

Happy New Years everyone, we will be seein’ ya in 2011!

Follow these suggestions on Twitter and you will never be bored again!

• MAX Advertising
• Mashable
• Advertising Week
• Publicity Guru
• Time
• Smexaminer
• Conan
• CNN
• Alyssa Milano
• Lance Armstrong
• E! News

Being part of the media world, we know how important and addicting social media outlets are in staying in touch with friends, family, clients, favorite things, etc. So when you are sitting and admiring the chestnuts roasting on the open fire, pull up these top 10 Facebook pages and become a fan.

• MAX Advertising
• Oreo
• Red Bull
• Varsity
• MaryMacs
• Coca Cola
• You Tube
• Travel Channel
• Starbucks
• Mashable – Social Media

We have put together a list of 9 of our favorite blogs to follow so that when you start to feel a little disconnected from being at home for the holidays, you can stay in touch with what’s happening outside of the eggnog and cookies.

• The Improv Everywhere blog is one in which you can turn to for an uplifting moment when the day draws on and on and you are in need of a good laugh.
• David Risley’s blog is a great one if you are interested in becoming a professional blogger. He incorporates Internet Marketing techniques with blogging. He is direct and really tells it like it is.
• Smashing Magazine is a great web design blog. It always has the absolute best free downloads for free fonts, free graphics, free wordpress themes and excellent tutorials.
• Zen Habits is a blog created by Leo Babauta, a writer living in Guam with six kids and a whole lot of blog followers. His writing on simplicity, clearing the clutter of daily lives and finding happiness is a great way to prioritize your life. He has several published books and his insight is very useful in everyday life.
• Mashable is of course my favorite resource for social media updates and anything related to technology, new iphone applications, WordPress, Facebook and any other social media websites, tools and related software.
• LegalEase is Tom Matte’s blog on Legal Marketing
• Entrepreneur’s Journey is an excellent resource for Internet Marketers from a “down-to-earth” perspective
• BlogHer.com is the Web’s leading guide to the hottest news and trends among women in social media.
• Sports Crackle Pop is a blog for men who want to know the latest and greatest about everything sports; from games to players, they have it all.

The holidays are getting closer each day which means more time at the mall and less time trying to optimize your company’s website.  These 8 general SEO tips will definitely help you optimize your website:

• Write good content: if pages contain good relevant, useful content, search engines will be more likely to rank your website higher and visitors like fresh content.
• Do your keyword research: use tools like Wordtracker to find relevant niche keywords
• Use your keywords wisely: once you have a good list, utilize them sensibly and as much as you can throughout your site
• Get other sites linked to yours: linking your site to other prestigious and well-known sites will give you a great edge
• Structure your site for SEO: a sitemap of your entire website would be helpful here
• Analyze your site: it is important to track your site performance to see if all your efforts are paying off. We suggest using Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools and SEO Book
• Keep up with the latest SEO news and changes: keeping everything fresh and new will help your site become as optimized as possible
• Watch for duplicate content: each of your pages on your site should have its own unique description and keyword tags

Tumblr allows anyone to share information effortlessly through blogging.

So in the spirit of Christmas being about sharing and giving, we have put together a list of the best tumblr blogs to follow for the “7^th Tweet of Christmas”

• http://gatekeeper.tumblr.com/
• http://icanread.tumblr.com/
• http://monk3y.tumblr.com/
• http://thedailywh.at/
• http://nathanphaneuf.tumblr.com/
• http://tmatte.tumblr.com/
• http://slaughterhouse90210.tumblr.com/

So Christmas is right around the corner and you have no presents. Don’t worry because our 6^th Tweet of Christmas is here to save you! Here are our top 6 discount websites to visit:

• LivingSocial: LivingSocial connects consumers to awesome products. In addition to their Facebook apps — Pick5 and Visual Bookshelf — they also offer daily deals to the best places in your city of choice. And they are backed by Amazon!
• Half-off Depot : They have huge deals ranging anywhere from their daily deal, to other products, and deals by Atlanta neighborhoods.
• Groupon : A very popular site for coupon deals. You can customize your coupon deals to your city and age.
• Rue la la: awesome site to find half off of designer brands from clothing to jewelry, mens, womens, kids, and even some travel discounts
• Haute Look: another great designer brand discount site. Featured on: People Style Watch, InStyle, The New York Times, USA Today, WWD, The Oprah Magazine
• Price Grabber: offers extensive inventory at the lowest prices by comparing products, product reviews and merchant deals

5 GOLDEN RINGS…Or even better, “5 Golden THINGS”

Trying to find some fun and holiday-themed activities to do in Atlanta? Check out MAX’s top five ideas:

• Ice-skating at Centennial Olympic Park
• Ride The Pink Pig
• Snow Mountain at Stone Mountain
• Magical Nights of Lights
• Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker at Fox Theater

Make these events a Holiday party for your company and upload the pictures to your Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr accounts.

And on the 4^th day of Christmas my MAX buddies gave to me… “4 Leapers Leaping” (or falling in snow).

This 4^th day “tip” should give you some holiday laughs-check out these HILARIOUS Youtube videos:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HThcd3CN5kQ
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVARJad_n7Y&feature=fvw
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj-fIcZeyek&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjj2zBJIkWw&feature=related

A Youtube video is a great way to promote your company through social media.

You can upload your commercials or even a presentation. This will not only give a “face” for your company, but it is also a way for your clients to interact with you.

On the 3^rd Tweet of Christmas you received “3 LinkedIn-Tips-a-Teaching.”

As a business professional, or maybe even someone looking for a job, make sure you have a LinkedIn profile to get yourself or business out there!

For our 3^rd day we would like to help you get started and give you “3 LinkedIn Tips-a-Teaching.”

• Create a LinkedIn Profile Word template to create and edit your profile. This will guard against spelling and grammatical errors, and can be easily copied into other social media platforms to keep your branding unified. It will also save you a boatload of time.
• Customize your public profile URL. Instead of Linkedin.com/in/23h9il, how about this one? http://www.linkedin.com/in/legalmarketingexpert
• Don’t forget to use the applications. LinkedIn finally has some pretty nifty internal and open source applications to make your LinkedIn profile even more effective. Some of our favorites are:
  • Events
  • WordPress
  • Slideshare.com
  • Box.net
  • TripIt.

On the second Tweet of Christmas you received 2 Turtle Doves…I mean…“2 fonts-a-frolicking”

This is for all of you designers out there!

Before you spend lots of money on fonts for your designs check these 2 free font sites out. Browse by style; find that perfect look and download with one click!

• http://www.fontsquirrel.com/
• www.dafont.com

MAX wanted to get everyone in the holiday spirit and spread some cheer by sending out the “12 Tweets of Christmas.”

Every day until Christmas you can click on a free social media “tip – Click on them all today if the anticipation is too much!

Keep up with us on Twitter and Facebook and you may find yourself starting the new year right.

Follow us on Twitter and “like us” on Facebook

On the first Tweet of Christmas my MAX Advertising gave to me…

A Partridge and a Pear Tree…Or One Microsite! Since today is our first day, we wanted to start it off right with our first “tip”.

Are you looking into microsites for your business? Well the following is everything you need to know before you get started:

So what exactly is a microsite? A microsite is also known as a landing page or a minisite, and it is a term web designers use to describe a web page that is meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website.  For example, our “12 Tweets of Christmas” is a landing page, or microsite. Our main site is http://www.maxadv.com.

Now that you know what a microsite is, it’s time to hear why you need one.

• A microsite can drive traffic to your main web page
• It’s a promotional page for your company that can be customized to you and your company’s needs
• It can focus on one idea, promotion, campaign, etc.
• Client focused
• Optimized! Good for SEO

I’m in one donor experience that is really shaking me up because I truly like this organization but I’m disappointed in their marketing strategy. I gave a $35 gift to this large, well-known nonprofit in March, 2009.  My objective was not to give a second gift and see how long I would remain active on their database and how much money they would invest in me to generate another gift.

Granted, I’m only one person.  But, I know there are other donors just like me.  Call us one-timers.  We give and feel good about it.  But, we have no intention of giving again – at least not in the very near future.

Mountains of Mail

In the last 20 months, I have received 37 solicitations from this nonprofit, 36 of which were direct mail and one of which was a telemarketing call.  When is enough – enough?  If you conservatively estimate 26 cents per package, the investment in renewal alone is $9 bucks plus change.  I’m not actually against the money that was spent – the more disturbing factor for me is the sense of waste I perceived with each solicitation.

Can you imagine someone who does not work in this industry receiving multiple solicitations without an understanding of how the system works in direct response fundraising?  I became emotional in my reaction to the strategy, especially when I received more than one appeal per month!  I became agitated with their strategy and wanted to call them up and alert them to my intention.  But my curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to see how long it would take before they stopped or at least slowed down.

I also doubted whether my call would have been documented or entered into the database. And, if it had, whether the next solicitation would have occurred with perhaps a slightly different spelling of my name.  I chose to remain silent and watch the process.

Time to Think a Little Differently

I suspect that eventually, I will be thrown into a lapsed pool of donors who have not given in the last 24 months and treatment will begin to look different. Or will it?  Is it time for us to reconsider this standard practice?  Is the aggravation to our donors through redundant mailings causing more harm than good? In a world increasingly committed to conservation, how does the ongoing waste of natural resources look to them?

The funny part of this experiment is when you put yourself on the other side of all the communications you realize how bizarre it is for the recipient.  If your only viewpoint of fundraising is reviewing key performance indicators, you should step back and view it from the other side of the equation once in awhile.

I understand how difficult it is to change a practice that continues to make money for the nonprofit.  I’ve sat with many groups who understand the realities but because the segment produces a positive net return, they continue to mail. I relate to budgets and the pressure to raise money to support the mission.  I get it.  But I also understand the donor’s side.  We need to think differently and realize that the mighty dollar may not be the only way to measure success for your direct response program.

With large amounts of data and more opportunities to talk to me as a donor, I would hope that your modeling budgets get more attention and you can find me amongst all the millions of people who support your cause. To me, modeling is one piece of technology that can help focus our efforts on understanding our audience. We are all good people trying to do good things.  I have faith that our industry will find the right formula to fix this challenge while raising more money to support the good work that non-profits do in the world.

Meanwhile, there’s an awful lot of mail in my mailbox.

Let the truth be known.  I have dedicated my career to marketing for the last 28 years and I could not be prouder.  As I hang with the youngsters in this industry, I watch their ability to catch the latest wave of new media and understand how it will help generate a greater response to a campaign.  Their excitement is clear as their minds think of the next “gotcha” creative, the next image, or the next cool piece of technology that will expedite the marketing message.  These “kids” bring a new perspective to communication and instinctively know what would work best in this digital world.

I love watching the landscape of marketing change.  The reality is that it has been forever changing.  In the ole’ days we used words like non-traditional or alternative to describe something new or different from the common marketing channels like direct mail, print, radio or television.  The new medium was tested, proven and then rolled-out to a broader audience.  Marketing teams were enthralled with innovative ideas and longed to be different in order to break through the clutter.

Right Audience, Right Message, Right Time

But amidst the ever-evolving ways we use to do marketing, the ultimate goal of our efforts will never go out of style: To reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. The awesome challenge is to use the newest tools of technology to find the right marketing mix that meets the needs of a particular campaign. The magic here is to keep your core goals strong and embrace the joy and opportunity that this technological landscape brings to marketers.  Granted, the landscape is massive and it is moving at lightning speed with a power that marketers must grasp or become obsolete.

One of the best depictions I’ve seen of this new terrain is The Conversation Prism V.3.0 by Brian Solis. It’s a comprehensive graphic overview of the social media universe, categorized and organized by how people use each different network.

This graph is both disturbing and exciting to me.  The disturbing aspect is the overwhelming opportunities available to the marketer, some of whom will blast their message over all these channels without any clear direction or motive.  Marketing should be done with more finesse; with a more targeted audience and a message shaped for that audience.

The exciting part is that social media allows you to continually adjust your strategies with immediate feedback from these channels. Today, marketers can know fairly quickly what is working and what is not.  You can dip your toe in the water without getting soaked.  How fun is that?  With the data from your experiences, you can continually hone your approach and maximize your return.

I feel privileged to be working in a forever-changing industry that continually motivates me by providing newer and better tools that give marketers new opportunities. So all you young, hip marketers in the world, beware of the experienced marketers with years under their belt. We’re not getting obsolete, we’re getting better. We will use the lessons of yesterday coupled with the new marketing channels available today to create and execute campaigns that deliver.  Bring on the joy.  It’s delightful.

Now, with my naps abruptly taken away from me, I have done a little research on whether naps are really helpful or harmful. I have made up my mind, which is why I believe we can learn a little something from the Spaniards in implementing a tradition they call “siesta.” For three hours every day, everyone takes a break from work and rests. One of my best friends just moved to Spain and she said that generally, most people in Spain go to work from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and then go back from 5 p.m.- 8 p.m. Personally, I think this is a great idea but in case you need a more valid reasoning, here are some pros and cons of napping so you can use your own judgement. Let me know what you think!

Cons:

• feeling groggy
• perpetuating bad sleep habits
• reduces your nighttime sleep drive if nap exceeds 2 hours
• missing out on the better part of the afternoon
• more frequent nighttime awakenings

• Get adequate nighttime sleep
• Keep distractions out of bed
• Set a consistent wake-up time
• Gradually move to an earlier bedtime
• Set consistent, healthy mealtimes
• Exercise
• De-clutter your schedule as much as possible
• Don’t go to bed until you’re sleepy
• Don’t nap late in the day
• Create a relaxing bedtime ritual
• Avoid “nightcaps”
• See a sleep specialist if you think your sleepiness is excessive

In MAX news, I had a really great week this week. Tuesday we had the LMASE Awards, and Wednesday we had the March of Dimes AIR Awards. I am looking forward to Saturday because it is MAX’s annual Christmas/Holiday party at Barnsley Gardens. Tom and Christie have a mysterious ‘competitive’ game we will be playing at the holiday party; they will not tell us what it is, but Christie gets this look on her face every time we talk about it that makes me quite nervous. Needless to say, with this group, this trip shall be interesting and a blast… I cannot wait!

• Monday: AMC Fork & Screen in Buckhead allows you to watch a movie and eat dinner at the same time. They serve food and drinks and you get your own server!
• Tuesday: When I am in an ‘artsy’ mood and really want to let my creative juices flow and relax with a glass (or bottle) of wine, Sips n Strokes in Marietta offers painting classes that are BYOB.
• Wednesday: Sweetwater Brewery and some happy hour fun. It begins at 5:30 every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and at 2:30 on Saturdays. It is eight dollars to get a Sweetwater glass and six ticket stubs which are traded for your choice of select draft beer.
• Thursday: Atlantic Station offers free movies and an open air market you can walk through. If you are more in the mood for something cultured, head over to the Contemporary Arts Center. The have free admission every Thursday from 11am to 8pm.
• Friday: Depending on the season, you can either go to a Braves game at Turner Field, a Falcons game at the Georgia Dome, or a Hawks game at Philips Arena.
• Saturday: Buckhead nightlife is fun, exciting, and over crowded with people our age; it is like a college town on steroids. My suggestions: The Ivy, East Andrews, Five Paces and Churchill’s
• Sunday: Grab some brunch at the delicious South City Kitchen in Midtown from 11am to 3:30pm.

So, now I want to hear your suggestions for cool things to do in Atlanta. I’m always looking for the latest and greatest thing to keep me entertained!

In MAX news, as the new intern, I have to say the people here are not far from extraordinary. In the few days I have been here, there has not been one day that has gone by that I have not laughed hysterically. Every single person here has warmly welcomed me into their busy agency family and I feel privileged to be apart of something so inspiring. I am learning and experiencing so much about this industry. This may be dorky of me, but one thing that I think it is pretty cool is that I get my own office. Even though it is absolutely freezing in here, I have to say, I feel very official. I am really enjoying myself and I can’t wait to be apart of and experience the many more things MAX has to offer!

Chemistry. That’s right, chemistry, first and foremost. Consider your gut feeling for the personality type of the representative meeting with you and of the agency as a whole. That connection makes a difference in how well you and your representative are able to communicate with each other. A lot more quality work gets done when the client and the agency genuinely like each other and have similar work styles. People say you can’t choose a vendor based on who you get along with. All other things being equal, I say, “Yes, you can, and you should.”

Healthcare expertise. An agency may have a dashing presentation and a sizzling portfolio, but if it doesn’t have solid experience in healthcare marketing, the learning curve may require more time than you are able to give. An agency that is already well versed in the nuances of healthcare marketing – and has impressive experience to show for it – will be able to hit the ground running and develop a campaign that hits the target dead on. Ask to see samples of work they’ve done for other hospitals and the results their campaign brought in.

Knowledgeable about your hospital. Similarly, the agency should have at least some understanding of your particular network, audiences, challenges and competition… or at the very least, have looked at your website. (You’d be surprised how often they haven’t.) It’s helpful if someone on the agency’s team has healthcare experience on your side of the desk; someone who can provide the creative team insights and advice as the project takes shape.

A leader in using social media. Marketing today is changing quickly, due to the meteoric rise of social media and its increasing importance in communications, and it will likely continue to evolve. For healthcare organizations – or any organization – it’s imperative to have an agency that is staying at the forefront of issues and opportunities in social media. Your marketing partner should be able to recommend the right mix of traditional and new media for your specific needs.

Stellar creativity. While hospitals don’t tend to have the luxury of doing campaigns that are highly unconventional, your agency should bring in novel ideas that set you apart from the competition in a fresh, compelling way. I feel part of an agency’s role is to offer a new perspective; to introduce creative ideas that challenge you to look at your hospital’s public image in a new way. Ultimately, of course, the agency’s work should have your target audience looking at your hospital in a new – and favorable – way.

In more MAX news, we are currently helping out with the March of Dimes’ AIR Awards. I have gotten the privilege to help out first hand with this project. So far we have created the e-blast and invite.  The AIR Awards is an event that combines radio with the March of Dimes Organization. Their purpose is to raise money and awareness for stronger, healthier babies. To become a part of this positive event, tickets are $100 per person and the event will be held on December 8th at the Ansley Golf Club. 6:00 pm Cocktail reception and 7 pm Cocktail Buffet Dinner and Program.

Instead of a word of the week, there will be an event of the week to look out for and support: Achievement in Radio Awards (AIR Awards)!

Until next week!

It’s great to live at home:
1.    No rent
2.    No bills
3.    Food is always available
4.    Every once in a while my mom will buy me some cute clothes when she’s out
5.    My dad makes me breakfast in the mornings

It sucks to live at home:
1.    No parties
2.    No easy hang out with friends
3.    Long drive
4.    Not as much freedom
5.    The nagging

So, now, I want your input on my list of reasons to see if I am crazy to hate living at home or to see if anyone else feels my pain. Let’s share our “living at home with our parents” stories.

Now, in MAX news, yesterday we had our AMAZING trade show booth at Cobb Galleria. Tom did an awesome job speaking-there was not one person that didn’t laugh during his speech. Our booth was full of people the whole day talking, eating cupcakes, and signing up to win an Ipad. Even though I think I gained about 10 lbs from the delicious cupcakes,  I met a lot of great people and I know the rest of the MAX crew did as well.  Now it’s back to work! We are putting together some keynote presentations and gearing up for the AIR Awards!

Until next week!

The practice is called ‘Exchanging Self with Others’. In essence it is a series of practices that seeks to shift our view from a mind of self-cherishing to a mind that holds other beings as being more important that ourselves. Now, I’m certainly not going to lie and say that I’ve perfected this practice to any degree – but let me discuss how it involves creativity and client service.

Creativity comes into play when we seek to ‘put ourselves in someone else’s shoes’ so-to-speak. Think about how often in life we get frustrated with others, whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or simply random people we encounter in life (or in traffic!). We can often minimize our anger and frustration if we are able to step outside ourselves and try to visualize ourselves as that particular person – with their own particular set of neuroses, concerns, difficulties, job-related problems, sense of humor, etc. If we are able to creatively step outside our own ego we can literally imagine ourselves as that person. When we do this, we are able to relate to their motivations. With this understanding our frustration often evaporates. In other words, if we are able to realize that jerk behind me in traffic honking his horn may be late for a job interview, we’re less likely to get angry and more likely to change lanes. If we are able to realize that the angry client on the phone is merely responding to pressure from his/her higher-ups than we are more likely to be accommodating to their seemingly unreasonable requests.

I think you see where this is going in regards to client service. If I am able to put myself in my clients’ shoes then I’m able to understand their own unique set of challenges and I can more appropriately respond to their needs. If I understand the environment they work in, the people they work with, the pressures they are under – then I can more readily help solve their challenges with a calm frame of mind. It is often quite helpful for me to literally view their office environment – what pictures and objects they have on their desks tell me what their interests are and what motivates them. All of these things add up to the total picture of a person at work – and if I can imagine myself in that situation then I can be of greater assistance. Anyhow, I strive to at least!

So the next time you are having one of those days where everyone seems to piss you off — and you know it happens — try to step outside of yourselves and exchange yourself with others!

Some interesting Atl top news stories: The other day a plane landed on 85 right as I was leaving work, which caused even more traffic than normal, and then today a CVS down the street got robbed for codeine syrup so they could make their “purple drank”, what makes this story even better is that the AJC actually wrote in the headline, “purple drank”. If they wanted codeine so bad they should have robbed my house; our medicine cabinet is full because there is always someone sick. After reading these stories in the paper, I can honestly say FILA, or Forever I love Atlanta.

In MAX news, this week we had a big presentation to a client and I also got to attend a social media event with Christie and Beth on Friday. The event lasted from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and it talked about all of the things businesses can do with social media and social media ROI. It was very informative and I actually learned a lot. Since I’ve been using social media for so long now I rarely learn anything new about it, but this “bootcamp” definitely taught me some new tricks.

Word of the week:
“Skeet”. Get your mind out of the gutter I’m only referring to one of our advertisements. Oh and thanks Gregg for the inspiration for the word of the week.

Until next week!

I am an admitted Facebook stalker. Am I proud of that title? Not necessarily. Am I going to change my Facebook habits? Not on your life. I love Facebook. I have often described it as getting a Christmas card everyday. Instead of getting a once a year glimpse at how fast my friend’s children are growing up, because of FB I get to see them at the beach, or at a carnival, or even blowing out candles on their birthdays – not just in their red and green matching sweaters sitting on Santa’s knee. I get to share in the dailyness of their lives.

Facebook also reconnects me with classmates from high school that I was too busy to get to know, but should have, because it turns out that some of them are pretty cool. And yes, you can even connect with that first love, who you thought you would never get over, but now you know after painstakingly going through his photo albums, that the man you married was the much better choice.

I have also found that FB isn’t just for reconnecting but for making new connections. A FB friend of mine wrote on her wall a few weeks ago – “My friend Tommy Housworth is the funniest guy I know.” I read that and thought, hmm – I like funny, and this friend is a pretty good judge of character – so let’s send him a friend request and see if I think he’s funny. I don’t send out many friend requests – I guess it’s that fear of rejection that keeps me under 200 friends. But on this day – my quest for a funny FB post outweighed my insecurities, and thank goodness it did. As it turns out, he really is very funny. It also turns out that he is a writer and our company needed a writer for an upcoming project. It also turns out we hired him for the job. After we got the first script back for our project, I ask my husband and business partner if he was going to complain about my FB stalking ways again – he said “No, I’m not.”

But the biggest reason that FB has come to mean so much to me happened this past weekend. It was the tragedy of a close friend’s family that rocked our world and the world of our entire community that really showed me the importance and power of this social network. Our friends’ teenage son died over the weekend and Facebook helped everyone make many things happen quickly. Friends near and far were notified, a candlelight memorial service was organized and people had a forum to express their deepest sympathies. I saw first hand through my son, how a collective group of young people went from shock, to grief to celebrating this young man’s life. They needed to connect to each other through one of the most difficult times of their lives and Facebook gave them that place. They shared stories, photos and memories, but most of all they were able to share their sadness. They organized t-shirts, dog tags and memory walls in his honor –they needed to act and through FB they were able to move. While they faced this crisis, through FB they were able to see that they were not alone in their grief.

While nothing will replace the closeness they felt standing side by side and holding hands at the memorial and funeral services – I saw FB give them a voice that was heard by thousands. It gave them a voice to tell his family how sorry they were for their loss and how they, too, shared in their pain. It gave us parents a small sigh of relief to see that at least they were talking to someone; that they were working through their grief. Through it all, for all of us, Facebook was a place of refuge.

So, as an ad agency owner, a mom and a self proclaimed FB stalker – I know I love Facebook for all its wonderful lean back reasons, it’s informative, it’s as inclusive as you want it to be, and it’s a place to speak your heart. So my next objective is to find out if it’s a great avenue to promote your company. The first FB ad for MAX Advertising is coming out soon. I’ll keep you posted

A few weeks ago, I was at a Legal Marketing Association luncheon and one of the lawyers on the panel made some insightful points about this very issue. He had over 20 years of experience,10 as an outside counsel and the last ten as inside counsel for a fortune 100 company, so he was speaking from a wealth of knowledge. He made the observation that all law firms are branded, whether they know it or not. Your “brand” is simply your image to the public, formed by how your firm presents itself, how well it follows through on its promises, the experiences clients and the legal community have with your firm and – most importantly – what they say to others about it. With the advent of social media, one person’s negative opinion can have a substantial ripple effect.

As the presenter noted, this could mean that your firm is known as the firm that frequently assigns junior partners to an account, doesn’t have enough “bench strength,” is too expensive or is too often unavailable when needed. It may not be how you view the firm yourself – it may not even be true – but it becomes your “brand” by public perception.

Max Advertising has a number of legal clients who turned to us after realizing branding is not a choice. You can be proactive in molding your public image, or have the arbitrary ups and downs of public sentiment do that for you.

Good marketing involves taking an objective look at your corporate culture, assessing your firm’s strengths and weaknesses and determining the qualities that will differentiate you from other law firms. And then, most importantly, ensure that your firm can deliver on the “promise” your branding makes.

By branding your firm, you are proactively staking a claim, giving your firm a “face” for the public. At the very least, this positive branding will help counteract any negative “street buzz” from the inevitable disgruntled client. But best case scenario is that your company has done a thorough and objective internal inventory, identifying and correcting any procedural problems that have, or could, counteract your brand image. You may be surprised at how big a difference your firm could see with a combination of good branding and satisfied clients whose stories support and strengthen that branding.

What are your experiences with “street buzz” – positive or negative – and how has your firm responded to that? Leave your comments and let us know what you think.

This week we also finally got to celebrate Tom’s birthday with a delicious bright orange, green, and yellow cake from Kroger. Tom turned 92 this week…I mean 32… It’s good thing Tom has a good sense of humor because everyone in the office made sure his birthday card was anything but appropriate.

On to the phrase of the week: “When I get killed on a motorcycle” – Ken. This was Ken’s way of stressing the importance of finding a way to store all of our passwords. One thing we might have too much of here are passwords. I think collectively we have about 1,000 passwords for every program we use and only Ken knows about 900 of those.

In other MAX news, I cut my stitches out from my exacto finger massacre. I’m happy to say that all ten of my fingers are still connected to my hand, thanks DeKalb Medical. Also, MAX now has a mascot and his name is Beazer. Last Friday Nathan brought in his precious 2 lb. Pug puppy. Even though it ran away from me the whole day, I really think he likes me better than Nathan, so I might just have to steal it from him.

Until next week,

Vaarwel!

I like to compare it to going to the gym. Come January 1, you are at the gym at 6am, running on the treadmill, working out with weights and may even hire a trainer. You religiously go three times a week, but the results are slow to come. You only lose one pound in the first week, and none in the second week. Your determination starts to wane. By the third week, you only get to the gym one time, and only run on the treadmill on that visit. You drop your trainer because he’s not doing any good anyway. You gain a pound in your fourth week. Your drive falls even farther, and you don’t make it at all during the 5^th week. And so on.

This is how many marketing efforts go too. You start with a plan (though many don’t even do that) and are excited to see the results. You may create a customer newsletter, hold a seminar, update your Website or even start using Twitter. Everyone is excited and ready to handle the work that is going to start rolling in. But the results aren’t what you expected. So, over time, you pull back, decrease your marketing efforts and see even fewer results. Eventually, you are firmly convinced that marketing is a complete waste of money and time because it doesn’t work.

Here’s the problem with both scenarios – your expectations were unrealistic. Here are a few ideas that may help your next marketing initiative or trip to the gym.

It pays to plan. So many marketing initiatives are done in a vacuum and not part of a strategic plan. Before starting any marketing effort, clearly define your audience, tactics and goals. And make sure they are reasonable too. If you don’t have someone on staff with these skills, it pays to have an expert come in and help you create your plan. If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?

Not everyone can do it. It’s sad, but many people are convinced that anyone can be a marketing professional. To create an ad, find a cool photo (or better yet, clip art!), put some words under it and call the magazine, right? Um, not quite. But I do have to admit marketers have done a pretty bad job of branding our profession and practitioners. True marketing professionals have the training and experience to create plans, determine the best tactics to reach the right audiences, know how to implement various initiatives, can ensure the marketing plan supports the larger business plan, and provide measurable results. It’s a lot more than playing with pretty pictures and cocktail parties, no matter what anyone says.

It takes variety. Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, but this is how a lot of firms function. Your targets are not all reading the exact same publications or attending the same events. It pays to have a marketing plan that uses many different mediums, some of which may be rather new and untested, like social media. Map your initiatives out on a grid so you see how the plan works and when each part of the plan will be completed. Remember, variety is the spice of life.

Marketing is cumulative. Marketing is not a one-shot deal. It has many facets and each initiative builds on the previous one. It is commonly stated that it takes 7-10 impressions to build awareness with an individual. Think about that. The first 6-9 times you reach out to them, they don’t know who you are and probably can’t recall your name, let alone what you do. Only once your company is cemented in their mind will they even think of calling you when they need your services.

Just like going to the gym, you need a plan to get where you want to be, measure regularly to make sure you are on the right track and have a goal in mind before you even get started. And hiring the right professionals to help with this process is key to your long-term success, whether it’s a trainer at the gym or marketing professionals for your business. Make sure you are working out all your muscles so you get the full benefits of exercise. And be consistent with it. You can’t go to the gym for 10 hours one day a year and expect any results at all, expect maybe one seriously painful recovery period. It takes regular, consistent and well-directed exercise to reach your goal just like it takes a marketing plan, clear goals and multiple tactics to grow your firm. So what are you waiting for?

I’m off to the gym.

It was definitely a good day up until we got back from lunch. After lunch, I was asked to cut some posters for an ad campaign that Jim had been working on all day. He warned me over and over about being careful with the sharp exacto knife, but I just brushed it off. I mean who cuts themselves with an exacto knife? I was carelessly cutting the posters when I realized I had just cut half the tip of my finger off. Why it took me so long to notice… hmm I don’t know.  Lets just say never look away while using a sharp cutting instrument.

It looked like a murder scene. There was blood everywhere; all over the kitchen sink, the art table and I think I even bled on the posters. After Gregg, Ken and I tried to stop the bleeding we decided the best thing to do was to go to the hospital. Gregg drove me to DeKalb Medical Center – a MAX Advertising client – to get me all stitched up. Six stitches later, my finger was as good as new. Everyone in the hospital was very nice and it only took about 30 min, which is amazingly fast in an E.R.

Instead of a word of the week, I’m going to go with the lesson of the week: Always pay attention when using sharp objects.

Other than that the week was a great week. We focused on pushing our new brand on Facebook, Twitter, and to clients. We got up to 200 Facebook fans in about 48 hours, which is awesome! We are also gearing up for the 6^th annual Business Expo on October 28^th. We are excited to showcase our new image to the public and are encouraging everyone to go. Our own fearless leader, Tom “snap, crackle, pop” Matte, will be presenting Arthur Blank as the speaker and we will have a booth set up at the event – booth 113. It will definitely be a day full of information and fun, so check it out!

Until next week,

Adios!

This week the quote is “Snap, Crackle, Pop” said by our one and only boss man, Tom Matte. Tom tends to shout this in fits of excitement or if he is referring to Nathan, the account executive.

I know I said last week that I was a pro at making coffee, but I soon realized I had no idea what I was doing. The third day in the office I shoved about 3 filters and just about the whole bag of coffee into the coffee maker. Yes, I know many of you are thinking…are you an idiot?? And, well, maybe I am, but when I was learning, or more rather being “trained” by Ashley, the past intern, she made it clear that I could put whatever in the coffee maker and it would be fine. This, I soon found out to be completely false. I flooded the entire counter with scalding hot coffee. Luckily, Jim caught the mess before it got any worse. Yea, I’m 23 and I just learned how to make coffee…

This week we launched our new website! I got the opportunity to work on the website with the help and training of Ken. I wrote some excerpts, I had input on a few of the case studies, and I got to publish my blog on the site. It has taken us a while to perfect this new site and I am proud to say it is finished…and if you haven’t looked at the whole site yet, you should!

Even more exciting, everyone in the office got to have a little photo shoot with Doug Coulter. None of us are models so it was quite entertaining. I think most of us took at least 60 shots each…so thank you Doug for dealing with us. You’ll be able to see these beautiful pictures on our Facebook page as well as our website, so just another reason to check us out!

Since our new site is finished, we are officially announcing our new name and image: MAX Advertising. We have a new Facebook page, under the name Max Advertising, and a new Twitter account: @maxadv.

Right now, I want you to go to our Facebook page, “like us” and while you’re at it, go to our Twitter page and follow us! We are an entertaining group to keep up with, so this will definitely bring some laughs into your day.

Until next week,

Ciao!!

While reading the newly released Social Business Report by Netprospex (yes, I do that kind of stuff in my spare time), I was surprised to learn that, in rankings by industry of U.S. companies using social media for marketing purposes, hospitals and medical centers do not even make the top 50 on the list! Even hair salons ranked higher in social media usage than healthcare. (See the full report at Netprospex.com/np/social.) I also learned from this report that Atlanta ranked #10 among cities that are the top users of social marketing. This showed me that there is a prime opportunity for some enterprising Atlanta medical centers to get in the game ahead of the pack. Some already have. With Atlanta’s high use of social marketing, it’s really a no-brainer. It’s not if your organization will do social marketing, but when. Why not gain the advantage of being one of the first?

The meteoric rise in social media marketing over the past few years is a natural fit for some professions, such as information technology or marketing, and therefore easier to adopt. I can postulate several reasons why healthcare may be lagging behind; for one, many medical centers have organization-wide policies barring employee access to Facebook, YouTube and other social media sites. Originally considered time-wasters – and certainly they still are for some – the have quickly evolved into a valuable and very cost-effective marketing tool that hasn’t made the radar of many hospital administrators yet. It may be time for everyone to look at it from another angle.

The fact that hospitals and medical centers have been slow to embrace social marketing offers a huge advantage to the first few who do – you’ll be first and most visible; you’ll be leading the industry into what is most certainly a lasting and beneficial new form of marketing, while enjoying a ripe marketshare without competing with major competitors for attention. When other healthcare providers do arrive, you’ll have an established presence with the most visibility.

What can social marketing do for your healthcare center? You’ll not only attract more patients and see your bottom line rise, you’ll have timely, one-on-one access to your audience. Corporate Facebook pages quickly get “Like” clicks from people who know your organization, a group to whom you can communicate quickly and easily about your company’s news. On Twitter, you can get the word out instantly about a big development or link followers to a community outreach program. A blog on your website can position your organization as a leader in a certain service area such as OB, cancer or heart, or discuss your hospital’s research or leading technology. Drop in on a some chat rooms, and you’ll hear more valuable information and honest opinions than any Patient Satisfaction Survey can give you. Invariably, there will be some negative comments, but wouldn’t you rather know the community influences on your audience, good or bad?

One blog doesn’t allow space for me to describe all the ways you can use social media for your organization. But the opportunities are huge, they’re inexpensive, and a lot of corporations are using it with great success – it’s here to stay. In healthcare, the opportunity and potential pay off is twice as big right now for those who embrace the idea and take advantage of the open playing field while it’s still sparsely populated.

For a newcomer, there’s a lot to learn about using social media for marketing. In addition to PR and marketing staff, CEOs and other top administrators should take a class, talk to people using it, and see for yourself what others are doing online.

It will be worth your time!

— MAX

My how far we have come. I remember as a Creative Director for JWT back in 2007 talking to a marketing director for a very large company who had never even heard of Twitter, much less employed it as a marketing tool. Today, I find most clients know the lingo, but there’s still a basic understanding of what makes social media marketing different. This can play out in a variety of ways, so who gets invited to the social content planning table? You want the right mix of people without overloading the decision making table.

Bring the traditional advertising people, just make sure they know you can’t use your billboard headline for a Tweet

Some companies understand the need for integration. They know at a basic level that TV needs to play well with print and digital. A common problem lies in the assumption that social media should be treated similarly to outbound marketing efforts. “Isn’t social media just another way to push content?” asked one of my early clients.

Yes and no. Blogs, social networking sites and other digital properties where two way conversation takes place do provide opportunities to deliver content designed to further a company’s brand. They are also places where far too many brands end up poisoning their own well. The old adage “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” should be hung by the neck from the top of GM Headquarters. Remember the “create your own advert” campaign? The first of several social media blunders resulting from a desire to “push content” over “provide value.”

The traditional ad folks usually own the brand and thus are a very important part of making sure your social media strategy fits with the overall communication goals.

Make sure the media planners share their schedule.

If you’re planning a major Mother’s Day promotion while all the TV runs during Easter, the end result can be a very expensive lesson. Social media strategists need to be fed information regularly otherwise we get skinny and grumpy.

The social media team is usually a 2nd or 3rd level contractor and doesn’t always get the priority 1 information meant for the media team. Coordinating resources is a great way to make sure inbound and outbound marketing efforts make each other more effective. This is not to say there should be a media planner approving the social content strategy, but a copy of the media plan is a must.

The rise of PR and the confusion of roles.

Most PR firms do a tremendous job making media contacts and developing stories. Not all PR firms have strong digital chops. Many PR firms excel at integrating social media into the marketing mix, but most are held back by a simple lack of online experience in areas beyond blogger relations.

In a perfect world, the social media strategy team draws from the work of the PR team. Any story being told to magazines should, in a general sense, match that which you see on TV or on a specialized forum. Get the brief from the PR team as you would the media team.

Ignore web developers at your peril

Oftentimes the smartest guy in the room is the geek that rolled out your CMS so that it works brilliantly with your favorite designs. Your digital partner needs to be at the decision making table for your social strategy because they are usually the crew who ends up doing most of the implementation.

Yes, most social media resources either have or can find digital resources, but it’s usually smart to let the web vendor take first shot at making sure all the social plugins work properly or build the blog in a way that plays well with the other web properties. Commerce hath no fury like a developer scorned.

If the SEO guru is not at the meeting, reschedule

There is a lot of talk about whether or not social media responsibilities should fall under PR, branding or SEO. SEO makes a strong argument in that practitioners are well versed in the theory of inbound marketing, not more pushy outbound strategies. I personally think SEO companies make a great compliment to social media strategy, but they often need creative and marketing input to balance their technical prowess.

Still, the SEO people own the keyword lists, help developers built a site Google can actually see and understand the value of good content. My preference is to be joined at the hip with a client’s SEO vendor to ensure all is working properly.

Other players

Social media is increasingly being used for CRM, direct selling, product development and even research. There may be a host of other individuals that need to be a part of putting together your social strategy, it all depends on what you want to accomplish. The list above is what I consider to be the bare minimum for a successful effort. Not including the expertise of any of these specialties is asking for a turf war at best and a less successful effort at worst.

— MAX

Nearly a year ago, we wrote about how to leverage social media for search engine optimization purposes. That newsletter issue was well-received, but since much has changed since then, it’s time to update the list of worthwhile social media sites. While there are many good reasons to undertake social media for your business, we’re focusing here only on SEO benefits. To refresh your memory, there are two primary ones:

• Social media offers additional content that can be optimized and show up in the search engine results pages. We touched on this in our March newsletter, “Making the Most of the New Search Engine Results Pages.”
• Often, you can build links into your social media content that point back to your corporate site, potentially increasing its organic rankings. Note that all links are not created equally – links that redirect (such as on MySpace) don’t pass along any “link juice,” and links that are “nofollowed” pass along less link juice than regular links. Also note that when you can control the text of the link to use your keywords as the “anchor text,” that’s also a significant SEO bonus.

We focus here on the most popular social media sites. Everyone’s resources are stretched these days, so we generally don’t invest time in a site until it’s reached a critical mass of users. In our opinion, roughly in the order of priority, you should focus your attention on:

• Blogs. Believe it or not, blogs are still your best social media tool for SEO. Sure, there are plenty of shinier toys that have come along more recently, but blogs offer unlimited pages of content, unlimited keywords that you can target, you can put keywords in the anchor text of links that pass along full link juice, and search engines tend to rank blogs high due to their constantly updated content. (Related: Six Reasons SEOs Love Blogs)
• Social Media Press Releases. Optimizing press releases and distributing them using PR Web is also a tried-and-true technique. If you use their $200 level service, you can put keywords into the anchor text, and these links do pass link juice. You can also include images, audio files, tags, and plenty of other extras.
• YouTube. Links placed into the descriptions of YouTube videos are “nofollowed” so don’t pass along much link juice. But Google is showing more videos in the search engine results pages, and it pulls 85% of these videos from YouTube. Forrester found that it’s 53 times easier to get a video ranked high in Google than a regular web page (read the post). (Related: Watch our buddy Greg Jarboe talk about optimizing videos here, or read “Video SEO Opportunities With Google’s Recent Makeover.”)
• Social Networking Sites. Focus on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google Profiles here. LinkedIn still passes along full link juice, and you can put keywords in the anchor text of links on your personal profile (you can’t control the anchor text of links on your business profile, unfortunately). Facebook doesn’t pass along much link juice, but business pages can be indexed by search engines (although anything set to “private” won’t be). Google Profiles can be set up for companies, not just individuals, and these often show up in Google results.
• Twitter. Your Twitter profile will show up in the search engine results for your company name, so that’s worthwhile. However, Twitter links are “nofollowed”. That said, more search engines are starting to incorporate “real time” search results – that is, they’re displaying selected tweets for searches related to breaking news or current events. At this point in time, it appears that’s Twitter’s most promising SEO benefit, and we believe it’s going to become more important in the future. (We talked about this in our September issue. Also, see the recent “Twitter Search Revolution” article.)
• Content Sites. These sites allow you to create and upload unlimited content and articles, and they show up in search engine results pages. While you can put keywords into your links, there are limits as to how much link juice is passed along. Squidoo’s profile page does pass along link juice, although now its “lens” (content) pages don’t, so that limits you to one link per person. HubPages doesn’t offer any links on its profile pages, but its content pages do pass along juice, so it’s worth using. Google Knol’s profile pages allow links, but they are “nofollowed”. Here, too, content pages do pass along link juice, so Knol is worth using as well.
• Social Bookmarking. There are a number of reasons to use sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious, but SEO is not one of them. These pages rarely show up in search engine results, and the links are “nofollowed.”
• Foursquare. At this point, Foursquare profiles and content don’t seem to appear in search engine results, and there are no link-building opportunities. That said, this category of sites is still very much in its infancy, and who knows what kind of SEO (or other) benefits they’ll offer down the road. Keep an eye on Foursquare!

For more information about leveraging social media for SEO, view the “Prezi” presentation that Stacy gave to AiMA’s Search Marketing SIG earlier this month. Or read last year’s blog series, which goes into great detail (just note that a few things have changed, per the above).

— MAX

The Atlanta Film Festival has been a leading showcase for independent filmmakers in Atlanta and the southeast for over 30 years, and has been dubbed “the intersection of art, culture and commerce” for the region. When the organization came to MAX Advertising, it wanted to update the festival’s image to give it a more appealing, contemporary feel that would get attention and increase attendance.

Objectives

• Significantly increase attendance at the organization’s annual Atlanta Film Festival.
• Re-brand the festival to give it a more contemporary look and feel.
• Develop an integrated advertising campaign.

Strategy

MAX first developed a dynamic new logo for the festival that was unconventional, modern, and artistically appealing. With this new brand identity, MAX developed a multi-pronged marketing and advertising campaign that included television ads, print ads, banners, billboards and posters. The social media campaign increased grass roots “buzz” on Facebook and Twitter. The comprehensive brand launch was intended to increase awareness and develop interest by exposing the audience through different mediums over a period of time.

Results

When the “new” Atlanta Film Festival burst onto the scene, Facebook and Twitter came alive with talk about the festival – an important medium for spreading the word about the festival. The campaign was extremely successful – attendance doubled over the three-year span of the campaign. Today, the Atlanta Film Festival is a well-known part of Atlanta’s cultural landscape.

This morning, for whatever reason, I had the urge to make a dish with super thin potato slices. This was my “project,” you could say. I think I just wanted to use my newest kitchen gadget, a mandolin, to make something impressive and delicious.

Since it was morning, my initial concept was to make a fried potato nest for a poached egg. That would have been kind of cool, and my wife and I would have thoroughly enjoyed it.

But as I searched the fridge for available resources, I stumbled upon some Piedmont cheese and heavy cream from a local dairy. Suddenly creamy, cheesy potatoes sounded like a great way to take the project up a notch. As I began layering slices in a gratin dish, I decided I should up the complexity and went on a hunt for other on-hand ingredients: red onion, garlic, smoked paprika, green apple, red pepper, thyme and rosemary from the garden…and butter, of course.

With this increase in the scope of the project, the dish was not going to be ready for the initial “deadline,” breakfast, but luckily I was still able to deliver sunny-side up eggs with some leftover polenta to which I gave a quick pan-fry. So we had an easy, quick, but quite satisfying breakfast, while smelling the aroma from the potato project that was well underway in the oven. Though the end result took a little longer to deliver, the time allowed for the initial concept to blossom into something really spectacular. And it was ready for delivery by the next “deadline” — lunch.

The experience made me think about the parallels between cooking and our work for clients. When time is of the essence, I can whip up something tasty and fast as quickly as I need to. But when a dish – or a client project – has the time to fully come together, take shape, marinate or simmer – the results can be even more delicious than any of us imagined at the start.

I started this past Monday with my trainer and friend, Ashley helping me along the way. I was very nervous to start this internship because I love the advertising world and I want to do well. I get to have my own office, e-mail address and phone, which I didn’t get to have at my past internship-I feel like part of the group. I don’t just feel like a useless intern. So far, I’ve learned how to create job tickets, what goes into re-launching a brand and learned a little bit about HTML code…Oh, and I have finally learned how to make coffee

Cara (right) and Ashley (left)

I haven’t learned everything, but I’m sure I will eventually learn everything there is to know about working in an advertising agency. I want to see and experience a presentation to a client, I want to learn more about the computer programs used for design, and I also want to learn the ins and outs of the account executive position. Along with all of that, I also want to know:

• Why is Nathan obsessed with Snooki?
• Where does Tom shop?
• How much time does Tom spend on his hair every morning?
• How does Christie deal with Tom’s enormous personality?
• What’s the gender of Julie’s upcoming baby?
• Does anyone else have any more office paraphernalia I can steal to put in my office?
• Can Ken update my Illustrator on my computer?
• Why is the Internet so slow?
• Can you hire me when my internship is up?… I already don’t want to leave.
• WHO left the mug, filled with coffee, fermenting in the cabinet for 3 months? I didn’t appreciate the surprise shower of rotting coffee all over my white shirt… initiation? Not funny.

Whenever you start a new job you never really know the people you work with until you’ve been there for a while. Here are my first impressions of the people here and the agency…

• Agency-high energy, very creative, modern, genuine, professional, close with their clients, family
• Tom- boss man, high energy, funny, creative, has big ideas, people person
• Christie-boss woman, creative, hard-worker, holds the place together
• Ken-creative, web savvy and Photoshop savvy, Michael Jackson attire
• Nathan-crazy, artistic, flirty, tattooed, Snooki lover
• Jim-creative, busy, logo mastermind, Adobe Illustrator savvy, good with words
• Beth-knowledgeable, professional, intuitive, witty
• Julie-sweet, down to earth, smart, pregnant, good sense of humor
• Gregg-professional, hoarder, even tempered, kind

— MAX

So you can imagine my reluctance to begin a Facebook page. Gregg from MAX Advertising had mentioned it more than once to me and it was on my to-do list but was always being pushed aside by The Varsity’s usual hectic schedule.

Finally we took a deep breath and launch a simple Facebook page.

Gregg stopped by a few days later and asked how it was going. We had a few hundred people following us, which was good but nothing overwhelming. Within a few weeks it was easily into the thousands. To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.

Currently we are at about to break 60,000 followers. That’s a direct link to our most loyal customers. We’ve used it to offer special promotions to them, keep in touch, share photos and memories, and even allow them to vote on the recently redesigned to-go box.

It allows them to feel a connection with us and to spread the good word to their friends. From a marketing standpoint, you can’t ask for anything more than that, but we also do it because we really do believe they are our friends and with friends, you want to talk with them and share.

We are very excited about taking our social marketing to the next level. There are so many opportunities to improve the customer experience with these tools., but we also need to make sure that we do it within our 1930’s iconic brand.

Sometimes a little change can be a good thing.

— MAX

Troutman Sanders, an international law firm, needed to create a promotional piece for the Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting. While many law firms focus their promotional piece on number of attorneys and practice areas, Troutman Sanders wanted to distinguish their firm’s experience in corporate counsel issues from other firms.

Objectives

• Design a promotional piece to create an opportunity for firm attorneys to engage attendees in conversation.
• Drive attendees to Troutman Sanders website.
• Position the firm to reflect their experience and expertise in Corporate Counsel.

Strategy

MAX Advertising designed a two-fold brochure with a center CD pocket that featured a CD with timely and persuasive information on how Troutman Sanders could help with five prominent issues affecting corporate counsel. To track usage, the CD included a registration link that offered registrants the opportunity to win a free iPhone.

Results

Over 400 promotional pieces were put into the hands of ACC attendees, a key audience for Troutman Sanders and at least 10 % of all recipients viewed the CD-ROM, as triggered by the number of registrations received for the iPhone giveaway promotion. To date, Troutman Sanders’ attorneys also attribute four new client contracts to conversations held at the conference, which the promotional piece helped facilitate.

Two years following the merger that became McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP, the AmLaw 200 firm still had low name recognition, despite a new logo and tagline. The firm hired MAX Advertising to reinvigorate its image, bring consistency to its branding, and reposition itself among corporate counsel and executives of Fortune 500 companies.

Objectives

• Establish an identity to communicate the firm’s brand: “Proactively helping clients stay ahead of the curve.”
• Integrate the identity into all firm communications.
• Develop an ad campaign to strengthen awareness of the firm.

Strategy

MAX developed a bold, vibrant graphic look to convey the firm’s branding – a memorable look well outside the norm for a law firm.  Bold blue and orange colors with graphics of perpetual curves reinforce the brand message of staying ahead of the curve.  A color palette was designed to differentiate practice areas. Templates were provided to the marketing team to facilitate firm-wide consistency of usage.

With these compelling new graphics, MAX developed a national print advertising campaign designed to increase name recognition and image among its peers and potential clients. Competitive situations to depict the importance of “staying ahead of the curve” were represented in each ad —bicycle riders, Formula One race cars and jets streaking across the horizon. To drive home name recognition, the logo was very prominent while copy was intentionally spare.

The Results

The brand identity and print campaign were extended to all areas of communication – from the website to proposals, business papers and collateral. Awareness during the campaign reached an all-time high for the firm, as noted in a reader survey conducted by Corporate Counsel.

Going paperless saves trees while increasing efficiency for banks and customers alike. That was the thinking behind Sovereign Bank’s first-ever cause-related marketing campaign, “Go Paperless.” MAX Advertising collaborated with the bank to create a campaign that motivated customers to begin using the bank’s e-bill feature; in return, the bank donated $1 to the National Arbor Day Foundation for each new electronic bill a customer activated during the promotion. Sovereign Bank conducted the campaign in partnership with Fiserv Corporation, provider of its e-billing and payment service.

Objectives

• Increase consumer activated e-Bill services through Sovereign Bank.
• Educate consumers on the environmental benefits of replacing paper bills with e-Bills.

Strategy

MAX’s mission was to create an online campaign that would educate Sovereign Bank customers about the environmental benefits of receiving their bills online through their bank accounts (and paying them with a few clicks of the mouse), rather than receiving a pile of paper bills each month. Tactics of the campaign included banner ads and e-mail messages to customers describing the benefits of the service. As an incentive for customers to activate e-bills right away, every e-bill activation increased the bank’s pledged donation to the National Arbor Day Foundation, which would fund the planting of saplings in observance of Arbor Day.

A key element of the campaign was to promote it exclusively through electronic channels, avoiding paper-based direct-mail marketing, to align with the Arbor Day environmental theme and its message of conserving paper and trees.

Results

As a direct result of the “Go Paperless” campaign, over 12,000 saplings were planted at the Huron State Forest in Michigan.  After adjusting for all other factors, the campaign generated a hefty 32% lift in new consumer-activated e-bills for Sovereign Bank. Compared to the same two months the previous year, the bank more than doubled its e-bill activations during the promotion, with an increase of 135% the first month and 117% the next.

People who use electronic bill pay often find it a faster, more efficient method of paying bills – but motivating customers to make the change can be a challenge. Fiserv, a provider of electronic financial products and services, and its client, Fifth Third Bank, wanted to motivate the bank’s customers to increase their electronic bill payments through a clever association with a non-profit organization.

Objectives

• Increase the number of Fifth Third customers using the bank’s online bill pay service.
• Increase the number of electronic bill payments made by Fifth Third’s customers.
• Feature a cause-related incentive that would provide a significant donation to the American Cancer Society on behalf of Fifth Third customers.

Strategy

MAX Advertising designed a 9” x 6” direct mail postcard promoting the benefits of online bill pay and the campaign incentive – a contribution to the American Cancer Society for every customer who made three or more online bill payments. With a creative execution that visually linked bill pay to breast cancer research, the direct response promotion simultaneously introduced new users to the ease of online bill pay and developed at two-way collaboration with customers in supporting the American Cancer Society.

Results

In response to the campaign, customer use of online bill pay rose 5.31% during the promotional period. In addition, the campaign generated $27,285.00 for the American Cancer Society’s breast cancer efforts on behalf of Fifth Third Bank customers.

Atlanta accounting firm Bennett Thrasher’s executive team knew they had a special edge over other firms because of their highly collaborative approach and their strong corporate culture (where “culture trumps work any day”). But existing corporate identity elements were used inconsistently and their materials didn’t convey a cohesive message. The firm’s executive team asked Atlanta brand marketing firm, MAX Advertising to help them more clearly define and articulate the company’s branding.

Objectives

• Identify and clearly define Bennett Thrasher’s brand.
• Strengthen brand image by creating a new corporate identity package.
• Establish guidelines that would instill consistent use of identity elements.
• Extend the new brand identity to the firm’s website and enhance user experience with the site.

Strategy

Through comprehensive information gathering sessions with key executives plus the results of recently completed client research, MAX identified the firm’s claim of distinction: adding significant value to both client and employee relationships through a commitment to collaboration. MAX updated the existing Bennett Thrasher logo and created a new tagline and identity program for the firm. MAX also created an identity guidelines manual with detailed documentation on logo and tagline usage, as well as approved layout for all business paper elements. This manual also included the Bennett Thrasher brand definition and key messages.

After completing the re-branding process, MAX focused on extending the new identity to the firm’s Web presence, updating it with fresh, streamlined content and improved usability.

Results

Shareholders and associates report greater recognition of the firm’s values and differentiators in meetings with clients and prospects. In addition, employee morale reached a new high as processes were introduced that further fostered collaboration and teamwork. The new Bennett Thrasher brand identity and tagline (“Better Together”) won an award among professional service organizations.

In Atlanta’s very competitive hospital environment, DeKalb Medical was perceived as a community hospital. Most consumers had a low awareness of the hospital’s sophisticated technology and high caliber medical staff. In addition, overall public awareness of the hospital had declined from 31% to 27%.  MAX Advertising was hired to raise public awareness and improve consumer perception of DeKalb Medical as one of the area’s leading hospitals.

Objectives

• Increase consumer awareness of DeKalb Medical.
• Increase awareness of the hospital’s high-quality physicians and advanced technology.
• Increase volume in the hospital’s obstetrical and oncology services.

Strategy

MAX Advertising identified target markets and developed positioning statements and key messages.  Through internal and external focus groups, we determined that a testimonial, fact-based campaign would be most effective with consumers. The full-fledged campaign included marketing through television, radio and direct mail. Its focus was to promote the hospital’s overall image, as well as drive business specifically to its OB and oncology services.  Three distinct communities were targeted – north central DeKalb, south DeKalb, and south Gwinnett.  Additional media outlets were selected to reach key minority populations in these communities.

Results

During the initial eight-week campaign, both the Dekalb Medical Cancer Center and the OB department experienced a substantial increase in consumer inquiries. A follow-up research study determined that the two-month campaign drove consumer awareness from 27% to 37%, a ten-year high for the hospital.

Party City of Atlanta is the discount superstore’s largest franchisee with 23 metro-area stores. Lackluster sales prompted the company to approach MAX Advertising for new marketing ideas to supplement their corporate sales circulars and in store promotions.

Objectives

• Develop a six-week radio campaign to increase traffic and sales in Party City stores
• Promote significant party occasions during the spring, such as graduations, weddings, birthdays and backyard gatherings
• Introduce Party City’s new Party Pros to the Atlanta market

The Strategy

MAX Advertising recommended a 6-week advertising run on three Atlanta radio stations that target the Party City customer base.

We developed the concept of  “Party Anxiety” – the panic often experienced by party planners – and created four light-hearted: 60 spots that dramatize the convenience of shopping at Party City.

We enhanced the creative with live chat by on-air talent, weather sponsorships, and interchangeable promotional tags.

The Results

The campaign boosted Party City’s sales by 10 to 32% depending on store location over the previous year. By comparison, the Party City stores outside the Atlanta radio broadcast area saw only a 3% increase in sales.

Party City of Atlanta extended MAX Advertising’s successful campaign, continuing the radio advertising throughout the summer and then commissioning us to create a new set of holiday-themed “Party Anxiety” spots to air in November and December.

As the country’s only turnkey live event producer, Entertainment Design Group (EDG) had a problem. Prospects didn’t always believe company executives when they described EDG’s extensive capabilities, and who could blame them? There are not many live event production companies that will operate their own neon-fabricating unit or build a fiberglass studio just so quality can be controlled.

Objectives

• Wow EDG’s prospects with the company’s expertise and portfolio of completed work
• Create a leave-behind document that would have lasting appeal and would not be discarded

Strategy

MAX Advertising designed a memorable, oversized, colorful, foil stamped tactile brochure that illustrated EDG’s “out of the box” creativity and show-enhancing implementation. Definitely a showstopper itself, this brochure featured in-your-face photography and extensive original die-cuts that figuratively and literally demonstrate EDG’s spectacular live productions.

Results

The piece proved to be a highly effective confidence-booster, ensuring potential clients that EDG had the capabilities necessary to produce high-end events. Prospects and current clients have been delighted with the capabilities brochure. Recently, EDG hired a former Walt Disney executive who described the brochure as “more Disney than Disney.” EDG was so pleased with the attention the brochure has garnered for the company, that MAX was asked to create another, more cost-efficient version of the brochure to use as a higher-volume hand out at trade shows and events.

The Varsity, a well-known Atlanta icon, opened an additional location in Alpharetta. Due to strict zoning and signage laws, the Alpharetta location could not use billboards and street signage to advertise, limiting its visibility in the community and keeping sales flat. The restaurant turned to MAX for a strategic advertising campaign to let the community know their favorite Varsity food was available right around the corner.

Objective

• Develop an effective campaign to increase awareness for the Alpharetta location while complying with local signage laws.
• Increase traffic to the location and increase sales.

Strategy

MAX Advertising developed a year-long advertising campaign featuring bold, attention-getting visuals in the Varsity’s signature red color. The campaign included two wrapped buses, print ads in neighborhood newspapers, and a targeted direct mail campaign featuring discount coupons.

Results

The Varsity saw increased traffic and sales almost immediately. Over the next quarter, the Alpharetta-based Varsity restaurant increased sales by 30%. The restaurant’s corporate leadership was so pleased by this overwhelming success that the campaign was eventually expanded to all five Atlanta locations.

Mary Mac’s restaurant, the long-time Atlanta icon, wanted to update its image in the ever-changing Atlanta restaurant scene and develop a web presence with which they could modernize and expand their product offerings. Mary Mac’s wanted to develop a site that would reflect and build on the restaurant’s long heritage, be easy to update, and allow banquet and catering orders to be submitted online.

Objective

• Develop a website to reflect the updated brand identity
• Streamline content for improved readability
• Add function for placing catering and banquet orders online
• Allow registered users to access the site more efficiently

Strategy

MAX Advertising developed a website design that reflected Mary Mac’s long Atlanta tradition and southern values while incorporating a more modern and efficient format. The new site allowed the restaurant’s staff to easily update sections of the site, specifically menu items and prices. Customers can now easily place banquet and catering orders online as well as order items from the online gift shop.

Results

Mary Mac’s was pleased with the ability to streamline the catering and banquet section of their business while having a more verifiable, trackable way for customers to place orders. Staff time was put to better use when phone calls for events dropped from six to one per order as customers turned to the website to place orders. The website extended and complimented the restaurant’s new branding.