(Somerville, MA) June 24, 2010 -- Fuseideas has created and executed a successful Hispanic Affiliate trade campaign for Univision for creative delivery of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Via the landing page www.univisionshotatglory.com that was built, Univision was able to uniquely deliver the World Cup games on all three networks in HD, On Demand and Online. Those who registered on the website received promotional gifts (a soccer ball, while supplies last) from Univision Networks.
The interactive campaign named “The Highest Definition Of Glory,” referring to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was published in print and online, including Multichannel Merchant.
Our idea was to roadblock the entire site so we owned all the ads on the site. We are doing this on very finite days in the campaign and it has proven to be very effective.
The campaign will run through the World Cup and Univision has already garnered positive campaign results and notoriety in the business press.
6/29/10
Are Webinars effective marketing tools anymore?
The quick answer is "it depends." Depending on your company, business model, service or product, the key to a successful webinar is to offer valuable information to participants who are interested in giving up an hour of their work time to listen to you.
Before you choose to do a webinar, keep these tips in mind:
- Your target market will associate you with webinars quickly. If you decide to start hosting one webinar, you'll have to keep hosting them to become effective marketing tools and build a loyal following. Plan a series of topics and spread them accordingly over time to sustain interest.
- You must be willing and comfortable on a live web talking to a group of strangers you can't even see, hear them talk, or read their body language.
- Make sure your equipment works well so that the live feed is not interrupted. The last thing you want is technical issues interfering with your webinar.
- Be an authority of your subject matter. There are great webinars out there from self proclaimed gurus who know their topic well and offer quality tips to the participant. Stay on top of topics you can really develop a good Q&A at the end of your webinar, so that your audience can identify with you and your company should they need your services.
- Collect feedback. After the webinar, send a quick thank you email and find out from participants what they though. Offering a small incentive, such as a discount if you are charging a fee, can motivate participants to submit valuable feedback. Social media helps also, with Facebook and Twitter, especially.
Twitter @fuseideas
www.fuseideas.com
Before you choose to do a webinar, keep these tips in mind:
- Your target market will associate you with webinars quickly. If you decide to start hosting one webinar, you'll have to keep hosting them to become effective marketing tools and build a loyal following. Plan a series of topics and spread them accordingly over time to sustain interest.
- You must be willing and comfortable on a live web talking to a group of strangers you can't even see, hear them talk, or read their body language.
- Make sure your equipment works well so that the live feed is not interrupted. The last thing you want is technical issues interfering with your webinar.
- Be an authority of your subject matter. There are great webinars out there from self proclaimed gurus who know their topic well and offer quality tips to the participant. Stay on top of topics you can really develop a good Q&A at the end of your webinar, so that your audience can identify with you and your company should they need your services.
- Collect feedback. After the webinar, send a quick thank you email and find out from participants what they though. Offering a small incentive, such as a discount if you are charging a fee, can motivate participants to submit valuable feedback. Social media helps also, with Facebook and Twitter, especially.
Twitter @fuseideas
www.fuseideas.com
6/17/10
Making Email Marketing better
It's true that we've moved on from email marketing from the days of Constant Contact. While social media have revolutionized the marketing approach to email, not all is lost. Improvement is key. Here are some pointers:
- Go through your database regularly and comb the emails to find the best ones to reach out to.
- Learn to personalize emails as much as possible. Don't blind send emails to people, they get too much junk already.
- Use the KIS approach: keep it simple. Period.
- Use an easy call for action. Don't overload with rules and exceptions. Either you are offering good value that makes sense to your customers, or the email goes to trash
- Don't send too many emails. Once a month is plenty these days. It's enough to stay in touch and keep your brand in the front of your customers' minds.
- Reply personally. If you get a direct response from one of your mass emails, respond promptly and address questions efficiently. Part of successful marketing is assigning value in customer relationships.
At Fuseideas, we implement e-newsletters and e-blasts with a strategic approach that is part of our client's integrated marketing communications campaign. E-mail can only get your so far, but it is still worth adding to your mix.
www.fuseideas.com
- Go through your database regularly and comb the emails to find the best ones to reach out to.
- Learn to personalize emails as much as possible. Don't blind send emails to people, they get too much junk already.
- Use the KIS approach: keep it simple. Period.
- Use an easy call for action. Don't overload with rules and exceptions. Either you are offering good value that makes sense to your customers, or the email goes to trash
- Don't send too many emails. Once a month is plenty these days. It's enough to stay in touch and keep your brand in the front of your customers' minds.
- Reply personally. If you get a direct response from one of your mass emails, respond promptly and address questions efficiently. Part of successful marketing is assigning value in customer relationships.
At Fuseideas, we implement e-newsletters and e-blasts with a strategic approach that is part of our client's integrated marketing communications campaign. E-mail can only get your so far, but it is still worth adding to your mix.
www.fuseideas.com
6/9/10
FUSEIDEAS HIRES NEW VP OF CLIENT SERVICES
SOMERVILLE, MA – June 8, 2010 – Fuseideas, a premier full-service advertising, interactive and public relations agency, has added Traci Bergan-deBakker as a new member of the management team. As a VP of Client Services and Media Director, Bergan-deBakker is charged with overseeing all agency accounts and manage the interactive team on an array of projects.
Proficient in Spanish, Bergan-deBakker brings over a decade of experience in the integrated marketing communications in her new role at Fuseideas. She started her career at Deutsch Inc. in New York City, where she worked as a Media Planner for Mitsubishi and Reflect.com. She then accepted a position at Universal McCann in San Francisco as a Multi-National Media Planner for Microsoft. After moving to Boston in 2004, she joined The VIA Group, working with clients including HP Hood, TD Banknorth, WilmerHale, Silverstein Properties, and CBS Radio. Most recently, Bergan-deBakker lead the CoCo Key Water Resort marketing department as the in-house Director of Marketing, managing both their Boston and Fitchburg, MA locations, along with an array of portfolio-wide marketing initiatives.
“Traci’s client approach and media expertise is what we are looking for at Fuseideas, especially as we grow our agency in the face of a new decade. I am excited to bring her on board with the rest of our team as the VP of Client Services and Media Director.” said Dennis Franczak, CEO and founder of Fuseideas. “Her knowledge and experience with international brands provides our agency with a window to new opportunities for growth and new business.”
Bergan-deBakker holds as a Bachelor degree in Business Management and Spanish from Gettysburg College.
Twitter: @fuseideas / Facebook: Fusesideas1 / Blog:
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Proficient in Spanish, Bergan-deBakker brings over a decade of experience in the integrated marketing communications in her new role at Fuseideas. She started her career at Deutsch Inc. in New York City, where she worked as a Media Planner for Mitsubishi and Reflect.com. She then accepted a position at Universal McCann in San Francisco as a Multi-National Media Planner for Microsoft. After moving to Boston in 2004, she joined The VIA Group, working with clients including HP Hood, TD Banknorth, WilmerHale, Silverstein Properties, and CBS Radio. Most recently, Bergan-deBakker lead the CoCo Key Water Resort marketing department as the in-house Director of Marketing, managing both their Boston and Fitchburg, MA locations, along with an array of portfolio-wide marketing initiatives.
“Traci’s client approach and media expertise is what we are looking for at Fuseideas, especially as we grow our agency in the face of a new decade. I am excited to bring her on board with the rest of our team as the VP of Client Services and Media Director.” said Dennis Franczak, CEO and founder of Fuseideas. “Her knowledge and experience with international brands provides our agency with a window to new opportunities for growth and new business.”
Bergan-deBakker holds as a Bachelor degree in Business Management and Spanish from Gettysburg College.
Twitter: @fuseideas / Facebook: Fusesideas1 / Blog:
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6/7/10
Camp Waziyatah Welcomes Fuseideas as First Agency
Camp Waziyatah, located in Waterford, Maine, has selected Fuseideas as its first agency of record.
Fuseideas has been tasked to work on a variety of assignments including theater ads, print, online, social media and public relations for the Camp, which is located on 130 acres of beautiful woods and fields bordering a privately owned, spring-fed lake at the head of the Sebago Lake watershed in Maine.
Fuse is working with new Owners / Directors Greg and Mitch Parker, who host boys and girls from all over the world come to the grounds affectionately known as “Camp Wazi”. Camp Waziyatah, www.wazi.com, has been open for the past 89 summers, and offers campers over 40 activities.
“We are excited to be working with Fuseideas on this marketing communications initiative,” said the Parker Brothers. “We believe that an integrated approach with interactive and traditional media will provide us with the exposure we need for our potential campers at Wazi.”
About Camp Waziyatah
Summer lasts forever at Wazi! Since 1920, Camp Waziyatah has been helping kids ages 7-17 achieve personal growth and create positive peers relationships that last a lifetime. The camp offers the highest counselor-to-camper ratio in the country, and offers over 40 activities for kids, from archery to wakeboarding. www.wazi.com
Fuseideas has been tasked to work on a variety of assignments including theater ads, print, online, social media and public relations for the Camp, which is located on 130 acres of beautiful woods and fields bordering a privately owned, spring-fed lake at the head of the Sebago Lake watershed in Maine.
Fuse is working with new Owners / Directors Greg and Mitch Parker, who host boys and girls from all over the world come to the grounds affectionately known as “Camp Wazi”. Camp Waziyatah, www.wazi.com, has been open for the past 89 summers, and offers campers over 40 activities.
“We are excited to be working with Fuseideas on this marketing communications initiative,” said the Parker Brothers. “We believe that an integrated approach with interactive and traditional media will provide us with the exposure we need for our potential campers at Wazi.”
About Camp Waziyatah
Summer lasts forever at Wazi! Since 1920, Camp Waziyatah has been helping kids ages 7-17 achieve personal growth and create positive peers relationships that last a lifetime. The camp offers the highest counselor-to-camper ratio in the country, and offers over 40 activities for kids, from archery to wakeboarding. www.wazi.com
6/1/10
Agency of the Future
We're in a new decade and the emerging trend of social media are dictating how we market to audiences. The viral factor is directly influenced by the popularity of the mob social networks, which are still called the big three: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
As these evolve, so do marketing and advertising tactics. Responsiveness to the fickle nature of the new, rich media is just as important as creativity.
The agency of the future must be a strong force fighting along with the constant changes, adapting to new technologies and learning to continuously converge of digital media in traditional campaigns.
Once agencies learn how to maintain a balance between understanding emerging digital media and learning how to manipulate new applications, the big ideas and creativity will flow like water on a stream. We work in a digital world, but most of the marketing principles have not (and should not) change the process of producing good work for our clients.
www.fuseideas.com
www.twitter.com/fuseideas
www.facebook.com/fuseideas1
As these evolve, so do marketing and advertising tactics. Responsiveness to the fickle nature of the new, rich media is just as important as creativity.
The agency of the future must be a strong force fighting along with the constant changes, adapting to new technologies and learning to continuously converge of digital media in traditional campaigns.
Once agencies learn how to maintain a balance between understanding emerging digital media and learning how to manipulate new applications, the big ideas and creativity will flow like water on a stream. We work in a digital world, but most of the marketing principles have not (and should not) change the process of producing good work for our clients.
www.fuseideas.com
www.twitter.com/fuseideas
www.facebook.com/fuseideas1
5/17/10
SMM: Foursquare or Facebook?
Great article in today's Business Insider about Facebook and Foursquare. There are concerns about Facebook's privacy issues and how that affects potential advertisers. We think that it's still too early to know what will happen.
Foursquare's mere 1.2 million users (versus 450 million FB users) are becoming increasingly attractive to big companies, such as Pepsi, and even publishers are starting to circle around the mobile app to tap its viral marketing potential.
While we don't know yet what plans Facebook has for location, marketers increasingly have more options on where and how to advertise on social media and how to adjust their strategy.
Right now Foursquare is the next best thing, and definitely very popular with its "checkin" feature. It will be an interesting year monitoring how this will evolve... Should Facebook just buy Foursquare?
www.fuseideas.com
Facebook
Twitter
Foursquare's mere 1.2 million users (versus 450 million FB users) are becoming increasingly attractive to big companies, such as Pepsi, and even publishers are starting to circle around the mobile app to tap its viral marketing potential.
While we don't know yet what plans Facebook has for location, marketers increasingly have more options on where and how to advertise on social media and how to adjust their strategy.
Right now Foursquare is the next best thing, and definitely very popular with its "checkin" feature. It will be an interesting year monitoring how this will evolve... Should Facebook just buy Foursquare?
www.fuseideas.com
5/10/10
Staying productive while chasing new business
As a CEO of a small agency, the largest part of my focus is going after new business while ensuring that current clients are happy. We explored what it is like to keep a balance between operations, staffing needs, internal marketing, accounting, and of course, new business.
Since responding to RFPs, meeting deadlines, and attending prospect meetings require a lot of travel, how do you make sure that you are productive while on the road? Here are some thoughts:
- Be accessible. It's one thing to turn off your phone when you are in a meeting trying to land an account. But, your staff at the agency's headquarters will need to reach you at times to get your approval on things, or find you if a crisis breaks out. It's important to empower and trust your employees so that they can go above and beyond their job scope and get things done while you are away.
- Check email. We all get our emails on our smartphones nowadays, but learn to unclutter your inbox quickly. Remember, giving a short response is better than no response. If not responded right away, many emails get lost in the shuffle, and you may end up embarrassed in the long run. It's important to know what's going on.
- If you are going to be away for more than two days, definitely schedule a daily call - no more than ten minutes - with your headquarters. Have an assigned staff member to go through updates at your agency. It's a good way to stay connected, and to also answer any questions that need immediate attention.
- Post social media updates. Sure, why not? If you are a CEO and are connected to clients on Facebook or Twitter, why not post updates on what you are up to. Clients like to see you are staying active in your agency. In fact, social media are notorious for opening dialogue and possibly even impromptu meetings... if a client happens to be in the same town as you!
- Carve out time for other tasks. While you are on the road focusing on winning new business, it is still important to learn to make the time to attend to current client business. Remember, your current clients is the only reason you are in business. You can only expect your staff to handle so much while you are away. Besides, one of the reasons those clients came to you is because you offer their account a personal touch!
After all that's done... go out and see the sights!
Since responding to RFPs, meeting deadlines, and attending prospect meetings require a lot of travel, how do you make sure that you are productive while on the road? Here are some thoughts:
- Be accessible. It's one thing to turn off your phone when you are in a meeting trying to land an account. But, your staff at the agency's headquarters will need to reach you at times to get your approval on things, or find you if a crisis breaks out. It's important to empower and trust your employees so that they can go above and beyond their job scope and get things done while you are away.
- Check email. We all get our emails on our smartphones nowadays, but learn to unclutter your inbox quickly. Remember, giving a short response is better than no response. If not responded right away, many emails get lost in the shuffle, and you may end up embarrassed in the long run. It's important to know what's going on.
- If you are going to be away for more than two days, definitely schedule a daily call - no more than ten minutes - with your headquarters. Have an assigned staff member to go through updates at your agency. It's a good way to stay connected, and to also answer any questions that need immediate attention.
- Post social media updates. Sure, why not? If you are a CEO and are connected to clients on Facebook or Twitter, why not post updates on what you are up to. Clients like to see you are staying active in your agency. In fact, social media are notorious for opening dialogue and possibly even impromptu meetings... if a client happens to be in the same town as you!
- Carve out time for other tasks. While you are on the road focusing on winning new business, it is still important to learn to make the time to attend to current client business. Remember, your current clients is the only reason you are in business. You can only expect your staff to handle so much while you are away. Besides, one of the reasons those clients came to you is because you offer their account a personal touch!
After all that's done... go out and see the sights!
5/3/10
Fuseideas' client, YouFloral, makes it on the TODAY SHOW!
We're always excited when one of our clients, especially a new product launch, receives nationwide attention. Fuseideas is in the process of launching www.YouFloral.com, the only floral website that provides customers a unique, interactive experience of designing their own vase with a photo and message. Along with a huge variety of fresh flower arrangements, the VaseExpression (which is a waterproof liner) makes the message timeless and beautiful for the recipient.
This was the idea when Robyn Spizman presented YouFloral arrangements on the NBC'S TODAY SHOW this past Friday as part of her recommendations for Mother's Day!
Way to go!
Twitter@YouFloral
www.youfloral.com
This was the idea when Robyn Spizman presented YouFloral arrangements on the NBC'S TODAY SHOW this past Friday as part of her recommendations for Mother's Day!
Way to go!
Twitter@YouFloral
www.youfloral.com
4/20/10
Keeping it all Together: Running your agency and staying current
One of the biggest challenges that small agencies face in a digital world is having to stay current with new and emerging technologies and marketing communications trends.
In fact, interactive agencies have to be at the very cutting edge of new media.
How do you juggle, stay current and not drop the ball? Our CEO, Dennis Franczak suggests these techniques:
- Monitor the news environment. Staying informed means reading material that relates to your clients, your business, your field, and your competition. Subscribe to high quality content that will provide you with solid information, and keep you current on the new market trends. Reading good material is also a great source for conversation started at business meetings and networking events
- Write a blog is no longer enough... become a contributor. Let's face it, nearly every agency pens a blog these days. Whether your blog is good or not depends on how much you enjoy writing it, how often your write it, and how helpful are the tips and topics you blog about. That's not enough these days.
Becoming a contributor or guest blogger on a respected industry website is an excellent branding opportunity for your agency. Sharing insights and information from your own experience in a small agency through viral content is very competitive and well-appreciated from clients and others in the industry.
- Keep it all viral and connected. This one is self-explanatory, but naturally you want to maximize the impact of your agency's brand. Whether it's new work you want to show, a new campaign you are announcing, or a new client, using social media to virally connect with your contacts and friends is integral to your internal marketing effort
- Clients still want it all. You can't compromise the client's work. Period. Somehow, even with a million new things popping up at your agency, you still have to have your priorities straight. A happy client makes a happy agency. And vice versa.
- Mingle and network. While online relationships have taken over, there's still something about that first handshake and small talk that make face time much more personal and genuine to the business approach. Don't stop going to networking parties, industry award ceremonies and seminars. You don't know who you will meet and how that contact can turn into a client. Some things just don't change.
Twitter@fuseideas
Facebook
www.fuseideas.com
In fact, interactive agencies have to be at the very cutting edge of new media.
How do you juggle, stay current and not drop the ball? Our CEO, Dennis Franczak suggests these techniques:
- Monitor the news environment. Staying informed means reading material that relates to your clients, your business, your field, and your competition. Subscribe to high quality content that will provide you with solid information, and keep you current on the new market trends. Reading good material is also a great source for conversation started at business meetings and networking events
- Write a blog is no longer enough... become a contributor. Let's face it, nearly every agency pens a blog these days. Whether your blog is good or not depends on how much you enjoy writing it, how often your write it, and how helpful are the tips and topics you blog about. That's not enough these days.
Becoming a contributor or guest blogger on a respected industry website is an excellent branding opportunity for your agency. Sharing insights and information from your own experience in a small agency through viral content is very competitive and well-appreciated from clients and others in the industry.
- Keep it all viral and connected. This one is self-explanatory, but naturally you want to maximize the impact of your agency's brand. Whether it's new work you want to show, a new campaign you are announcing, or a new client, using social media to virally connect with your contacts and friends is integral to your internal marketing effort
- Clients still want it all. You can't compromise the client's work. Period. Somehow, even with a million new things popping up at your agency, you still have to have your priorities straight. A happy client makes a happy agency. And vice versa.
- Mingle and network. While online relationships have taken over, there's still something about that first handshake and small talk that make face time much more personal and genuine to the business approach. Don't stop going to networking parties, industry award ceremonies and seminars. You don't know who you will meet and how that contact can turn into a client. Some things just don't change.
Twitter@fuseideas
www.fuseideas.com
4/9/10
Fuseideas Launches YouFloral.com
Small Interactive Agency Spearheads Public Relations & Interactive Marketing Campaign for Innovative Floral Site
Our award winning small marketing and advertising agency has just launched YouFloral.com - a cutting edge floral website that is transforming the way customers send flowers in the industry!
Fuseideas is leading interactive marketing, social media and public relations efforts on behalf of www.YouFloral.com, a Mass based business that delivers the freshest flowers next day anywhere in the US, and is also the inventor of a unique personalization tool, called VaseExpressions™. A VaseExpression is a is a full-color, waterproof liner, which is secured inside an elegant glass vase. Customers can choose from a wide variety of attractive, seasonal vase designs, and then add a personal message, photo, or both, to send to their loved ones. The VaseExpression™ is timeless; once the recipient is finished with the flowers, the VaseExpression™ can be very easily removed from the vase. It then lies flat so it can be placed into a special frame, album, or scrapbook as a treasured keepsake.
Fuseideas’ CEO, Dennis Franczak anticipates great success with the YouFloral.com marketing campaign, “By harnessing the power of social media, along with utilizing traditional communication and public relations tactics, we believe that YouFloral’s message will spread virally far and wide, steadily building a loyal base of customers, while setting a cutting edge trend for true personalization in the flower buying experience,” said Mr. Franczak.
According to the agency, YouFloral will be utilizing social media extensively as part of its launch campaign, and will be publishing specials via Facebook, including an application to send free virtual flowers and VaseExpressions to friends. Already securing positive press by the agency, YouFloral is also expected to launch a blog on its website offering advice, seasonal tips, and exploring creative ways to enjoy flowers at their freshest.
About YouFloral
Massachusetts based YouFloral.com is the inventor and exclusive provider of VaseExpressions™, a new, patent-pending product that enables its customers to personalize and customize a floral vase. YouFloral emerges in the floral market and appeals to customers who want to fully personalize the traditional, thoughtful gesture of sending flowers to those who matter most by making their message timeless in a VaseExpression™. www.YouFloral.com Twitter@youfloral
Twitter@fuseideas / www.Facebook.com/fuseideas1
Our award winning small marketing and advertising agency has just launched YouFloral.com - a cutting edge floral website that is transforming the way customers send flowers in the industry!
Fuseideas is leading interactive marketing, social media and public relations efforts on behalf of www.YouFloral.com, a Mass based business that delivers the freshest flowers next day anywhere in the US, and is also the inventor of a unique personalization tool, called VaseExpressions™. A VaseExpression is a is a full-color, waterproof liner, which is secured inside an elegant glass vase. Customers can choose from a wide variety of attractive, seasonal vase designs, and then add a personal message, photo, or both, to send to their loved ones. The VaseExpression™ is timeless; once the recipient is finished with the flowers, the VaseExpression™ can be very easily removed from the vase. It then lies flat so it can be placed into a special frame, album, or scrapbook as a treasured keepsake.
Fuseideas’ CEO, Dennis Franczak anticipates great success with the YouFloral.com marketing campaign, “By harnessing the power of social media, along with utilizing traditional communication and public relations tactics, we believe that YouFloral’s message will spread virally far and wide, steadily building a loyal base of customers, while setting a cutting edge trend for true personalization in the flower buying experience,” said Mr. Franczak.
According to the agency, YouFloral will be utilizing social media extensively as part of its launch campaign, and will be publishing specials via Facebook, including an application to send free virtual flowers and VaseExpressions to friends. Already securing positive press by the agency, YouFloral is also expected to launch a blog on its website offering advice, seasonal tips, and exploring creative ways to enjoy flowers at their freshest.
About YouFloral
Massachusetts based YouFloral.com is the inventor and exclusive provider of VaseExpressions™, a new, patent-pending product that enables its customers to personalize and customize a floral vase. YouFloral emerges in the floral market and appeals to customers who want to fully personalize the traditional, thoughtful gesture of sending flowers to those who matter most by making their message timeless in a VaseExpression™. www.YouFloral.com Twitter@youfloral
Twitter@fuseideas / www.Facebook.com/fuseideas1
4/7/10
Beyond Economic Recovery and Brand Shakeout: Rebuilding Integrated Marketing Communications for the New Decade
The first decade of the new millennium taught us some very important lessons in integrated marketing communications (IMC). Many agencies made the leap to new media mainly by introducing new apps, cutting edge creative and capitalizing on short term strategies. Information Technology kept booming and the need to share information instantly was at the forefront of producing and delivering generally good marketing work.
Into the first decade, fueled by the growing technology and impact of tremendous world events, blogs exploded in an alarming rate, changing the face of publishing as we knew it. Suddenly, anyone could become a reporter, a self-proclaimed guru of something, the moderator of an online forum, or a podcast host. As a result, brand messaging was under siege; public opinions surged on the internet through a variety of venues, allowing for comments, conversations, both wanted (and lots of unwanted) feedback about any topic was available in just a few clicks.
Those were the early days of the brewing social media era, which eventually gave birth to networks that have now popularized the trend of sharing free information, in an instant, with few regulations hovering. The crisis of the publishing industry was peaking by the mid-2000’s, The MySpace revolution, which preceded the Facebook and Twitter craze started a trend that has essentially become a marketer’s dream.
The viral component of social media paired with an anemic economy that is, at best, struggling to recover, have become vital assets to most IMC campaigns for the next decade. Social media, just like any of the rest of the strategic IMC components (advertising, PR, direct mail, traditional marketing) are interdependent; they work well as part of a full integrated interactive campaign, and can also be successful on their own.
We have officially entered a new decade, filled with prospects, new beginnings and fresh outlooks on business. With new possibilities forming, small agencies have the unique opportunity to cultivate each of IMC’s strategic marketing components to service their clients the best they ever have. A fresh agency perspective and healthy client relationships will lead to exciting projects, great creative and award worthy campaigns. Quality work. Relationships. Credibility. Organic profitability. Those are keywords I am keeping in mind this decade for Fuse/ideas. I would like to share some of my own insights for 2010 and beyond, because I truly believe we are at a crossroads where the agency world has the real potential to become exciting, productive, and above all re-energized:
- What do you stand for? This is the biggest question of the decade, and it needs to be answered by both clients and agencies. Developing a brand positioning statement isn’t easy work. Reposition a brand to adjust to new times can be even more challenging. The key is to ask the right questions and have the right people help you answer them. Often times, we get caught up with little details of everyday operations and neglect to put an idea into perspective. If we can get better in keeping things simple for a brand, yet constantly engaging in new practices, then the higher the potential for success.
- Build a solid brand. This may be obvious, but it is a time consuming process. Building a solid brand takes a strategic approach to marketing and it’s not magic. It could even take years to build a solid brand, but the time spent will be well-worth it. Often times clients get frustrated because they expect results much sooner, while an agency keeps trying to lay the foundation to build the brand. As a result, they pull out their budget and start from scratch with another agency, and so on. Think of building your own home, where you want to raise your family. You want the safest and best materials so that your home will be a solid, strong and fun place to live. The same notion applies to the brand. Clients must hold agencies accountable in expecting progress, but need to be patient in the process of building the brand, especially in the early stages.
- Learn new apps/skills. Agencies will continue to utilize new applications and understand how to use them to serve their clients’ needs best. Whether it’s new social media apps that prove to be great marketing tools or brushing up on Internet writing, agencies and clients must work together to create and execute campaigns that will stand out from the rest
- Everyone is a critic, so be your own. And be the best. This one reflects my own personal philosophy in business and life. There’s no one out there that knows your business better than you, or at least, there shouldn’t be. You have to stay disciplined through the tough business cycles and learn to adapt in harsh times. The same applies to the work we produce here at Fuse/ideas. If we are not happy with creative or a PR campaign, we immediately rethink it and make changes as necessary. If you learn how to become your own constructive critic, it will pay dividends with your clients, your staff and above all it will benefit your business.
- Engage and participate. This is a powerful keyword that marks the beginning of this decade. Social media are at the forefront of engaging in new ideas and participating in conversations. Relationships have shifted to online rather than the traditional face to face communication. Online relationship matter and they can bring business through networking more than ever. For that matter, we need to learn to ask questions on those networks, and when we are done, keep asking more to understand the dynamic of social media, and continuously monitor their evolving nature.
A long time ago, I read somewhere a quote that stayed with me: "There are three types of people, those who watch things happen, those who make things happen and those who wonder what happened." It’s clear that agencies should make things happen in a growing digital world, but we have to look within our business and develop a structure that will help us work through this economic crisis and beyond. By looking in and setting strategic goals for our business and our clients, the agency world will eventually, once again, hail and prevail. In the end, appreciating the lessons from the last ten years not only help us gain a solid understanding of how we got here, but also empower us to create the path for the new decade.
Dennis Franczak, CEO of Fuseideas
www.fuseideas.com
Facebook
Twitter
Into the first decade, fueled by the growing technology and impact of tremendous world events, blogs exploded in an alarming rate, changing the face of publishing as we knew it. Suddenly, anyone could become a reporter, a self-proclaimed guru of something, the moderator of an online forum, or a podcast host. As a result, brand messaging was under siege; public opinions surged on the internet through a variety of venues, allowing for comments, conversations, both wanted (and lots of unwanted) feedback about any topic was available in just a few clicks.
Those were the early days of the brewing social media era, which eventually gave birth to networks that have now popularized the trend of sharing free information, in an instant, with few regulations hovering. The crisis of the publishing industry was peaking by the mid-2000’s, The MySpace revolution, which preceded the Facebook and Twitter craze started a trend that has essentially become a marketer’s dream.
The viral component of social media paired with an anemic economy that is, at best, struggling to recover, have become vital assets to most IMC campaigns for the next decade. Social media, just like any of the rest of the strategic IMC components (advertising, PR, direct mail, traditional marketing) are interdependent; they work well as part of a full integrated interactive campaign, and can also be successful on their own.
We have officially entered a new decade, filled with prospects, new beginnings and fresh outlooks on business. With new possibilities forming, small agencies have the unique opportunity to cultivate each of IMC’s strategic marketing components to service their clients the best they ever have. A fresh agency perspective and healthy client relationships will lead to exciting projects, great creative and award worthy campaigns. Quality work. Relationships. Credibility. Organic profitability. Those are keywords I am keeping in mind this decade for Fuse/ideas. I would like to share some of my own insights for 2010 and beyond, because I truly believe we are at a crossroads where the agency world has the real potential to become exciting, productive, and above all re-energized:
- What do you stand for? This is the biggest question of the decade, and it needs to be answered by both clients and agencies. Developing a brand positioning statement isn’t easy work. Reposition a brand to adjust to new times can be even more challenging. The key is to ask the right questions and have the right people help you answer them. Often times, we get caught up with little details of everyday operations and neglect to put an idea into perspective. If we can get better in keeping things simple for a brand, yet constantly engaging in new practices, then the higher the potential for success.
- Build a solid brand. This may be obvious, but it is a time consuming process. Building a solid brand takes a strategic approach to marketing and it’s not magic. It could even take years to build a solid brand, but the time spent will be well-worth it. Often times clients get frustrated because they expect results much sooner, while an agency keeps trying to lay the foundation to build the brand. As a result, they pull out their budget and start from scratch with another agency, and so on. Think of building your own home, where you want to raise your family. You want the safest and best materials so that your home will be a solid, strong and fun place to live. The same notion applies to the brand. Clients must hold agencies accountable in expecting progress, but need to be patient in the process of building the brand, especially in the early stages.
- Learn new apps/skills. Agencies will continue to utilize new applications and understand how to use them to serve their clients’ needs best. Whether it’s new social media apps that prove to be great marketing tools or brushing up on Internet writing, agencies and clients must work together to create and execute campaigns that will stand out from the rest
- Everyone is a critic, so be your own. And be the best. This one reflects my own personal philosophy in business and life. There’s no one out there that knows your business better than you, or at least, there shouldn’t be. You have to stay disciplined through the tough business cycles and learn to adapt in harsh times. The same applies to the work we produce here at Fuse/ideas. If we are not happy with creative or a PR campaign, we immediately rethink it and make changes as necessary. If you learn how to become your own constructive critic, it will pay dividends with your clients, your staff and above all it will benefit your business.
- Engage and participate. This is a powerful keyword that marks the beginning of this decade. Social media are at the forefront of engaging in new ideas and participating in conversations. Relationships have shifted to online rather than the traditional face to face communication. Online relationship matter and they can bring business through networking more than ever. For that matter, we need to learn to ask questions on those networks, and when we are done, keep asking more to understand the dynamic of social media, and continuously monitor their evolving nature.
A long time ago, I read somewhere a quote that stayed with me: "There are three types of people, those who watch things happen, those who make things happen and those who wonder what happened." It’s clear that agencies should make things happen in a growing digital world, but we have to look within our business and develop a structure that will help us work through this economic crisis and beyond. By looking in and setting strategic goals for our business and our clients, the agency world will eventually, once again, hail and prevail. In the end, appreciating the lessons from the last ten years not only help us gain a solid understanding of how we got here, but also empower us to create the path for the new decade.
Dennis Franczak, CEO of Fuseideas
www.fuseideas.com
3/29/10
Will Foursquare become the next marketer's dream?
Believe it or not we have entered the post-Twitter era. Just a year after its boom, experts are wondering: what will be the next popular social media network?
There are several that have crept up, such as Google Buzz, which is basically a copycat of Twitter, but it hasn't caught on as well as expected. I have been reading more and more about Foursquare - the uber creative interactive app that offers digital crowd-sourcing and has the potential to revolutionize peer-to-peer marketing.
Foursquare has been signing on big marketing contracts left and right, and is becoming popular by the day. From a marketing point of view, it's an excellent way to promote a business by getting Foursquare folks to digitally "check-in" to their location, offer special deals and promotions to "mayors" of places (mayor= a person who "checks-in" the most over others).
It's an incredible and adaptable social media application that is already transforming the way people connect and share information about places they go and experience. At Fuseideas, we vote YES to Foursquare!
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There are several that have crept up, such as Google Buzz, which is basically a copycat of Twitter, but it hasn't caught on as well as expected. I have been reading more and more about Foursquare - the uber creative interactive app that offers digital crowd-sourcing and has the potential to revolutionize peer-to-peer marketing.
Foursquare has been signing on big marketing contracts left and right, and is becoming popular by the day. From a marketing point of view, it's an excellent way to promote a business by getting Foursquare folks to digitally "check-in" to their location, offer special deals and promotions to "mayors" of places (mayor= a person who "checks-in" the most over others).
It's an incredible and adaptable social media application that is already transforming the way people connect and share information about places they go and experience. At Fuseideas, we vote YES to Foursquare!
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3/23/10
Five key challenges small ad agencies face today
Sometimes challenges feel endless for small business owners, but overcoming the obstacles is part of identifying them. As a small business CEO, here are the top five challenges I tackle every day to make sure my business grows and thrives!
1.) Commitment to new business. It's a juggling act of time, creativity, work, cash, and staffing, but going after new business is just as vital as maintaining your accounts, streamlining good work for clients, and keeping the pipeline full of new opportunities for them.
2.) Moving up the food chain to compete with larger agencies on bigger pieces of business. Small agencies shouldn't be afraid of going after massive projects or large accounts. There are concrete benefits in being serviced by small ad agencies, but it is a challenge to compete with big fish agencies. Internal agency branding is important as well - showcase expertise and project work and make it viral with social media.
3.) Being stereotyped as a particular type of agency. While hyperfocusing is already challenging, specialization can backfire and leave you out of big RFPs your agency can service. Try to avoid being the hi-tech agency, or the lifestyle only agency. Capitalizing on your expertise can help you leverage and win new business without being sterotyped.
4.) Getting the attention of agency search consultants who only pick from their regular flock of agencies. I face this challenge very often. It benefits businesses to look outside their list of regulars and be open to fresh new ideas, especially in today's ever changing environment. Getting your agency's name and message out there requires dedication, persistence and time well spent.
5.) The normal small business operations issues. Cash flow, staffing, time lags, client management, reporting, accounting are required daily operations that must be handled and managed well. Time management skills are put to the test with this challenge; for any machine to work, it must be well oiled and maintained!
As a business owner, finding a balance within the load of all the responsibility is key. It isn't easy, and there are always setbacks I have to manage. But, I keep thinking that by tackling challenges head on, I take the first step in overtaking them.
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www.fuseideas.com
1.) Commitment to new business. It's a juggling act of time, creativity, work, cash, and staffing, but going after new business is just as vital as maintaining your accounts, streamlining good work for clients, and keeping the pipeline full of new opportunities for them.
2.) Moving up the food chain to compete with larger agencies on bigger pieces of business. Small agencies shouldn't be afraid of going after massive projects or large accounts. There are concrete benefits in being serviced by small ad agencies, but it is a challenge to compete with big fish agencies. Internal agency branding is important as well - showcase expertise and project work and make it viral with social media.
3.) Being stereotyped as a particular type of agency. While hyperfocusing is already challenging, specialization can backfire and leave you out of big RFPs your agency can service. Try to avoid being the hi-tech agency, or the lifestyle only agency. Capitalizing on your expertise can help you leverage and win new business without being sterotyped.
4.) Getting the attention of agency search consultants who only pick from their regular flock of agencies. I face this challenge very often. It benefits businesses to look outside their list of regulars and be open to fresh new ideas, especially in today's ever changing environment. Getting your agency's name and message out there requires dedication, persistence and time well spent.
5.) The normal small business operations issues. Cash flow, staffing, time lags, client management, reporting, accounting are required daily operations that must be handled and managed well. Time management skills are put to the test with this challenge; for any machine to work, it must be well oiled and maintained!
As a business owner, finding a balance within the load of all the responsibility is key. It isn't easy, and there are always setbacks I have to manage. But, I keep thinking that by tackling challenges head on, I take the first step in overtaking them.
Join our conversation on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
www.fuseideas.com
3/18/10
Find inspiration in little things and meet challenges head on
A case study by Fuseideas CEO, Dennis Franczak
Every agency owner goes through a day, a week, or even longer where things don’t go your way. You might now win some new business, a client might decide to stop spending money, your employees might start feeling down, or someone might even decide they don’t need your services anymore…you get the picture. Having been in this business long enough, Dennis Franczak, our CEO at Fuseideas, realized that doing this is a marathon, not a sprint, and nothing always is perfect and how you deal with it tells a lot about your character, but also your agency.
As a small agency owner, you have to deal with the wide variety of emotions that it takes to run a successful business. When things don’t go your way, are you pouting in the corner, blaming factors beyond your control, blaming the client, or taking a real look at how you can make your business better for not only you, but your entire company? Dennis thought it would be beneficial to other small agency owners to share how met a recent challenge he faced at Fuseideas during the crisis:
“Last spring/summer, Fuseideas faced a real crisis. The economy was imploding, staff morale was down, our rent payments were too high and we weren’t winning any new business. Things seemed very bleak for us indeed. I remember the day when I bottomed out and finally decided I was going to do something about it. I had gone out the night before to commiserate with some friends about my plight and needless to say, had a little too much to drink. The next day, my wife and her neighborhood friends decided to go out for a day of shopping (of all things!) and I was left to not only try and watch my kids and the neighbor’s kids (10 of them) with a hangover, but also have to deal with the stress of being in a huge slump in my business.
As I laid out on the back porch with a splitting headache pitying myself, watching happy children beat me over the head with nerf bats and shoot me with squirt guns, I realized I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself and thank God for the positive things I had. My kids were laughing, happy, carrying on and I realized it that I owed it to them to do something about it.
I called my partner Rich over in Prague and talked about what we needed to do. He agreed. He had been having similar thoughts and that we needed to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of what we could control.
So what did we do? We did the OPPOSITE of what people thought we would do. We stopped chasing tons of new business and focused on our current clients. We visited each and every client and told them how important their business was to us and how our partnership with them was helping us survive. During those conversations, they told us what they liked about us, what more they wanted from us and how we could help them. Those conversations turned into new projects which carried us through the summer and resulted in a profitable 2009.
We also fired clients. Yes. We fired clients. As a small agency, you need to focus on your good relationships and partnerships, not focus on trying to work with clients that don’t appreciate your efforts, or try to make you do work at the lowest prices, and in short, treat you like a vendor. In a struggling economy, you need to work with people that appreciate what you bring to the table. To that end, we made a concerted effort to prune our client list and focus our company on servicing the clients that we felt were true partners with us.
It was the best decision we ever made. Clients were re-energized with us, morale improved, profitability increased and all of the sudden the clouds cleared and we started winning new business again.
Not every single day is going to go your way. There are always going to be ups and downs. But I learned a lesson last summer that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Take stock of the good things in your life, let them give you strength, so that you can make the tough decisions that need to be made to run a successful business so that you can provide for your family, your staff, and yourself.”
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Every agency owner goes through a day, a week, or even longer where things don’t go your way. You might now win some new business, a client might decide to stop spending money, your employees might start feeling down, or someone might even decide they don’t need your services anymore…you get the picture. Having been in this business long enough, Dennis Franczak, our CEO at Fuseideas, realized that doing this is a marathon, not a sprint, and nothing always is perfect and how you deal with it tells a lot about your character, but also your agency.
As a small agency owner, you have to deal with the wide variety of emotions that it takes to run a successful business. When things don’t go your way, are you pouting in the corner, blaming factors beyond your control, blaming the client, or taking a real look at how you can make your business better for not only you, but your entire company? Dennis thought it would be beneficial to other small agency owners to share how met a recent challenge he faced at Fuseideas during the crisis:
“Last spring/summer, Fuseideas faced a real crisis. The economy was imploding, staff morale was down, our rent payments were too high and we weren’t winning any new business. Things seemed very bleak for us indeed. I remember the day when I bottomed out and finally decided I was going to do something about it. I had gone out the night before to commiserate with some friends about my plight and needless to say, had a little too much to drink. The next day, my wife and her neighborhood friends decided to go out for a day of shopping (of all things!) and I was left to not only try and watch my kids and the neighbor’s kids (10 of them) with a hangover, but also have to deal with the stress of being in a huge slump in my business.
As I laid out on the back porch with a splitting headache pitying myself, watching happy children beat me over the head with nerf bats and shoot me with squirt guns, I realized I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself and thank God for the positive things I had. My kids were laughing, happy, carrying on and I realized it that I owed it to them to do something about it.
I called my partner Rich over in Prague and talked about what we needed to do. He agreed. He had been having similar thoughts and that we needed to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of what we could control.
So what did we do? We did the OPPOSITE of what people thought we would do. We stopped chasing tons of new business and focused on our current clients. We visited each and every client and told them how important their business was to us and how our partnership with them was helping us survive. During those conversations, they told us what they liked about us, what more they wanted from us and how we could help them. Those conversations turned into new projects which carried us through the summer and resulted in a profitable 2009.
We also fired clients. Yes. We fired clients. As a small agency, you need to focus on your good relationships and partnerships, not focus on trying to work with clients that don’t appreciate your efforts, or try to make you do work at the lowest prices, and in short, treat you like a vendor. In a struggling economy, you need to work with people that appreciate what you bring to the table. To that end, we made a concerted effort to prune our client list and focus our company on servicing the clients that we felt were true partners with us.
It was the best decision we ever made. Clients were re-energized with us, morale improved, profitability increased and all of the sudden the clouds cleared and we started winning new business again.
Not every single day is going to go your way. There are always going to be ups and downs. But I learned a lesson last summer that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Take stock of the good things in your life, let them give you strength, so that you can make the tough decisions that need to be made to run a successful business so that you can provide for your family, your staff, and yourself.”
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