This morning I will be in a 2 hour planning session (between 9 and 11am) with my fellow organizers and leaders of the Upstate Entrepreneur’s Forum. We will be meeting at Port City Java near Fluor Field in the West end of Downtown Greenville. We will be setting our calendar for the next year and lining up speakers. What topics or special speakers would you like to see at a UEF meeting? Are you an entrepreneur or thinking about taking the plunge? What’s holding you back or frustrating you? How can we help you turn your visions into profitable realities? Feel free to leave a comment as I will be checking my e-mail and posts to this blog this morning.
I’ve been wanting to write something that is a bit off topic from the typical business talk of this site but on a subject that is of interest to me and will probably be to you as well.
One of my weekly activities is to go to my local library branch and see what movies, concerts, or TV shows are available to check out in the DVD format. You never know what you are going to find but I will have to admit most of the offerings are either old, serious or depressing. Yes, occasionally you will find a comedy or blockbuster film but for the most part I get the feeling they want to have things on hand that “teach us a lesson.” Yes, I know the library is not supposed to a great entertainment venue. It is supposed to be a storehouse of knowledge but many of the so called, “classics” don’t do it for me intellectually or inspire me.
Another thing that has me scratching my head is the odd assortment of choices between the different branches within my local library system. I find it sort of odd that one branch will have nothing but Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes which yet another branch will have nothing but Star Trek: Voyager episodes on DVD.
Is their a rhyme or reason to this? Do they study the local demographics and some wise sage in a back room who determines which parts of town will have access to certain DVD’s? I don’t know but for some reason the Berea Branch of the Greenville Library System has on Next Generation DVD’s while just a few miles to the north the Travelers Rest Branch has nothing but Star Trek: Voyager Episodes. Why can’t the library system rotate their collections among the branches instead of making me drive to different places to find new things to watch? Needless to say I have pretty much exhausted the offerings at the Berea Branch and I refuse to check out “serious films” especially in the winter months when I need an emotional pick up.
What are your library DVD experiences and thoughts? What do you wish the library stored more of? What do you wish the stored less of?
A planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.
This is the work of SpinningSilk Multimedia. We provide services and products with consistent branding using web, print, audio, video and other communications. Our core customer bases are small businesses and organizations and in particular churches, agencies and other organizations in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church* denomination. We have also done work with some fine local organizations in the Greenville, SC area. The for profit businesses that we have experiences with are construction contractor companies, business coaches and small business e-commerce stores.
Why is Integrated Marketing Communications so important to us and why should it be important to you? I don’t know about you but I hate having to run all over the place to get work done when it’s much better to have a central point of contact where you can be on the same page.
It’s incredibly easy to go the “free route” on so many things from restricted or ad supported free web services, do it yourself business cards or brochures,etc. Some of these solutions are just fine for certain situations and I have nothing against someone printing their own business cards on an ink jet printer when they need an emergency run but for the long term you need to think long term and develop a relationship with a company experienced in the skills of communications, branding and marketing.
If a business or organization is serious about meeting long-term sales or donor goals, having a consistent brand and a central resource of experts is crucial. Can you do the work of Integrated Marketing yourself? Maybe. Are you an expert in that area and how much time will it take away from what you are an expert in? Marketing and sales don’t have to be overly expensive but you don’t want to do it on the cheap either. You’re business or organization needs a consistent branding program. Here is a checklist of things to consider and ask when seeking out and Integrated Marketing, graphic design, web design, print shop, etc.;
Does the company have graphic designers who know the difference between optimizing your images for the web and print?
Does the company know how to craft your content in such a way to make it compelling and search engine friendly?
Is it evident the company is paying attention to the latest trends in technology and marketing?
Even if the company is specializing on one aspect of marketing communications do they partner easy with other companies to get the work done?
Are they about showing themselves off or showing you off?
If you would like to do some things for yourself does the company give you the tools like an easy web site content management system or files for printing short runs of business cards, etc?
Does the company practice what they preach? Do they have their own blog, professional business cards, etc?
Yes, I’m trying to “sell my companies services” in this post. This post describes what we do as a business and we would love to meet with you to talk about your communication and branding needs.
*We didn’t design the web site for the main denomination web site. That one is done in-house but we have developed sites and helped with other issues for several of the denominations agencies.
I recently saw that someone did a web search for “Greenville, SC Bumper Stickers” that lead them to our web site. Bumper stickers are one of the products we will produce for our clients to help get the word out about their business in a very passive way. I’m not sure if the searcher was looking for Bumper stickers to promote the town or bumper stickers that are produced in here but we can do both regardless.
Advertising on vehicles by bumper stickers, magnetic or vinyl sign is a very effective and passive way to let others know about your service as you drive around town, visit job sites and even go outside your local market on trips.
I tell people we provide web, print and portable media solutions for small businesses and organizations and this recent web search reminded me that I need do a better job of communicating that we can produce products like bumper stickers, magnetic, vinyl and other signs. Also while podcasting is considered “portable media” I will have to point out that vehicle advertising is very effective means of “portable marketing.”
I can’t even begin to count the number of business cars and trucks I see with logos, business addresses and hard to remember phone numbers yet an easy to remember web address is often left off! Are you a current customer of SpinningSilk Multimedia? We can work with you to get a clear marketing message on your vehicle. Do you have a product or service that other people would want to advertise your product or company? I know a lot of churches and church members would love the opportunity to promote a church and church web site via vehicle marketing.
One of my first branding experiences in my professional life involved helping a religious non-profit organization develop a consistent brand. I was not the official person in charge of this but I was doing a lot of the leg work including redesigning the logo, advising on a video production, etc. At the time I was working for Outreach North America, the church planting and revitalization agency of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. ONA had hired Jeff Hathcock to help ONA market itself better to the churches and presbyteries of the ARP. In fact it was probably Jeff who drilled into me the importance of consistent branding which became a core focus of my company when I went into business for myself.
The concepts of branding and marketing may seem like “worldly” or less than noble concerns to many churches and non-profits for a variety of reasons, many of which are based on myths or misunderstanding of branding and marketing. Some of those include;
It’s too expensive
It’s a “worldly method” and we need to trust in God or our mission is “noble enough”
If we focus too much on marketing we will look “showy” or our donors may think we are wasting their money.
They are many more but those are some of the most common objections and roadblocks to branding and marketing a church or non-profit organization. Sadly this attitude come across all to well. Jeff’s company, U-Turn, Inc. * specializes in church marketing among other things. One of the aspects of church branding and marketing he points out is the need project a clear message of what your church or organization is all about as opposed to how big of a noise you can make. You are probably thinking that church branding or marketing only involves signs, web sites, brochures, etc. but have you ever considered the building and grounds, Quality of the sunday school program or how visitors are greeted?
Maybe you are involved with a non-profit organization that is not a church. What are the concerns there? Often they are the exact same concerns. A limited budget, volunteer workers, perceived notion or worry about spending too much on “marketing”, etc. Having experience with some local non-profits groups I can tell you a lot of the concerns are the same. As a small business owner I am fascinated and encouraged that the concepts and skills of small business branding can apply to churches and non-profits as well. Including;
Focusing on a core mission and communicating it with focus
Taking advantage networking within the community at large, not just inside my “circle.” If you “preach to the choir” you may be facing the wrong way!
You don’t have to spend a lot of money, just a little time to have a consistent image
When people think of your church or non-profit do they have a clear image of who you are and what you stand for? Does your brochures, business cards and web site all have the same message, logo and look clean and professional or does it look like it has been done by different people at different times?
One of SpinningSilk Multimedia’s core client bases is churches and non-profits, Especially churches and ministries in the ARP Church. We are also involved with quite a few community non-profit organizations that help our community grow. How can we help we help you based on that experience? What questions do you have based on our experience with churches or groups?
*Disclaimer- U-Turn, Inc. is also a client of SpinningSilk Multimedia
