Williams Group Marketing + Design was named the EDC’s 2012 Small Business of the Year.

We’re very pleased and proud to have been named Thurston County’s 2012 Small Business of the Year by the Economic Development Council.

We were proud to be included as finalists alongside Ice Chips Candy (famous now for having been featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank”) and Meconi’s Italian Subs.  It was particularly gratifying to see Meconi’s being recognized as they are a terrific client of ours, and we are extremely proud to have designed their new branding and marketing materials this year.

To have our name announced as the winner was a thrill.  We appreciate and support the EDC so much for their efforts to recruit businesses to our area, retain current businesses and help others expand.  It’s nice to reflect on the fact that one of the first things we did when starting Williams Group 20 years ago was receive counseling for our start-up from the EDC small business resource center staff.

Our staff at Williams Group (and at TAGS, too) is the big reason for our success.  Their skill and creativity are what make us a great agency, and they also make this a fun place to work.  Brenda and I enjoy coming to work every day because of them.

But of course none of this would be possible without our clients.  We appreciate the opportunities we have to help them be successful in their marketing efforts, and we’ll do everything we possibly can to make that happen.  We have had so many great clients through the years…thank you to each of you.

Here’s a link to the video from the awards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU8b7fKbejs

When we initiate a branding process, clients are sometimes surprised to see that logo design isn’t the first thing we start with, nor is it often the critical element.  What do we do first?  Reasearch, and lots of it.

During the research phase, our designers typically “hang around” the business or organization and work diligently to gather information in a number of areas, including:

• Business/Organization History
• Brand History
• Target Audiences
• Audience Demographics
• Unique Qualities
• Mission, Vision, Values

Sometimes this info comes from a primary client contact or from a committee tasked to work on the project, but many times we have to dig deeper, asking questions of key staff, other stakeholders, or even customers.

It is this commitment to research that generates a true reflection of who the organization truly is, and as we all know, a brand is really the outward reflection of this true identity.

One of my favorite examples is the work we did for the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Olympia.  In meeting with the Sages (their group of dedicated seniors), we learned that the church sprouted from one initial building on the grounds, and that building (which still stands) included some vertically stacked rectangles of stained glass.

Using this element as a key feature of the new brand, our design team crafted a stylized representation of this important historic window treatment, and updated it to reflect the forward-moving nature of the church’s “modern day” congregation.  The result was a central element of the brand that was true and meaningful to virtually everyone in the church.

It wasn’t too long ago that businesses were judging their social media (mostly Facebook) on the number of “Likes” or “Fans” of their page.  Numbers are still important, after all, if no one sees your messaging, what’s the point?  However, social media successes are really found when the people in your network actually care about what you’re posting.  Wow! What a concept.

We’ve been telling clients for years to be careful about using social media purely to “push” their marketing messages.  What do your customers really care about?  If you own a pet supply store, do they care more about your new product line, or would they rather post a picture of their dog on your site?  Remember to filter all your social media ideas through one simple rule:  ”What do my customers want to see, comment on, tag themselves in, etc.”

Some marketing gurus are starting to predict the demise of Facebook, just one more reason to work on engagement with your customers since they’ll likely stay with you regardless of Facebook’s success or failure.  Our prediction is that Facebook will be around for quite a while.  We’ll see.

Want to run your social media questions by someone?  Give us a call!

At a recent Thurston Chamber of Commerce luncheon, one of our favorite clients joined us at the podium as we outlined how we helped the jolly guy update his look.  That’s right, Santa hired us for a rebranding job, and the results were fantastic!

Before we got involved, Santa complained of an outdated image and declining sales, but with his new logo, website, and collateral, things have really turned around!

What can we do for you?  Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn’t know?!?

It’s been interesting to be part of the marketing revolution we’ve seen over the past 30 years. We’ve witnessed wholesale changes in the way businesses promote themselves, and it’s clear that even more changes are coming in the future.

In the “old days,” businesses hired an ad agency to handle their promotional efforts. Often, that meant designing/producing advertising for newspapers, direct mail, radio and television.

But as the internet and other technologies began to dominate our society, everything changed. The number of options for listening to radio and television programming multiplied greatly, weakening the impact any single media outlet, and the near demise of print advertising is well documented. Search engine optimization, internet marketing and social media are now staple products of any media plan, and the complexities can be overwhelming.

Yet with all that said, sometimes “traditional” radio, television and print advertising are still appropriate for a product or service.

So, how does a small business proceed?

It turns out that working with a local marketing agency is still the answer. Local marketing professionals make it their job to stay on top of all the changes we have and will continue to see. Business owners and managers can’t possibly keep up with all the new options at their disposal, and they often find themselves frustrated and inefficient in their attempts to “go it alone.”

When your business works with an agency, the
result is a consistent, well-conceived execution
of your brand identity and your key messaging.

Furthermore, when a business handles their own marketing and advertising, owners and managers are often faced with sorting through time-consuming sales pitches from a host of media sales people, and too often make their choices according to the effectiveness of the sales pitch, instead of whether that particular medium is the best choice for that their marketing needs. Understandably, a sales person doesn’t usually represent your options for other media.

One of the most important roles an agency fills is taking an objective approach to your marketing plan, without regard to how convincing a media sales person might be. A quality local agency keeps its finger on the pulse of the marketing world and knows the local media inside and out. An agency understands the best ways to utilize new and emerging media. And perhaps most important of all, when your business works with an agency, the result is a consistent, well-conceived execution of your brand identity and your key messaging.

It’s a new world for advertising and marketing. Ironically, the best way to stay in the game and succeed is to work with the one option that has been at your disposal all along…a local marketing agency.

You’ve seen those funny square shapes by now, but you may not have figured them out yet.  They’re called QR Codes, or “Tags”, and any smartphone can scan them and connect the user to your website, map, email, contact information or other information in an instant.

Basically, anything on which you put an address, phone number, email and/or URL is a perfect candidate for a QR code. Promotional items, business cards, advertisements, and more!  We put one in front of TAGS Awards & Specialties to link people directly to the TAGS online ordering system.  Here are a number of other ways to consider using QR Codes.

1. QR code on side and rear of company vehicles. People use their handy smart phone to shoot the code & are taken to your company website. (I can see QR codes eventually augmenting DMV license plates, giving law enforcement information about the car and its owner with one click).
2. Do you offer coupons? Put a QR code on coupons for extra special offers to those who can “crack the code.”
3. Save space on your packaging by embedding recipes and/or serving suggestions into your QR code.
4. Does your product require installation directions or assembly instructions? Save paper by placing a QR code on the box.
5. Want more Facebook friends, fans or Twitter followers? Let them join you by shooting your QR code.
6. Do your customers demand proof that your product is Fair Trade, certified organic, or otherwise authentic? Trace the product’s origin using QR code. In Japan, you can see where your head of lettuce came from by scanning the code.
7. Want to show customers how your food product fits in with their diet program? Let them click the code to get nutritional info.
8. Including a catalog or product brochure with each new purchase? Save paper and printing costs by including a code that takes customers to an online catalog. You can even tailor the code to show products related to their recent purchase, making it easier for them to buy.
9. If your customers are like me, they’ve lost an owner’s manual or two. Include a business card with the code that will take them to an online manual.
10. Your code doesn’t have to lead to a static website. Use it to take people to a welcome video, a short commercial, or to a testimonial video.
11. Use them on your ad visuals in lieu of all that contact information they won’t write down anyway.
12. Place a product-specific code on your retail shelves to give people more info on your products. Look for these “shelf talkers” in grocery stores and big box stores soon.
13. Do you host expos or conferences? Put a QR code on each attendee’s name badge so fellow attendees and exhibitors can easily grab contact information. (Just in case this isn’t being done, print a code containing your LinkedIn profile info on a sheet of small mailing labels. Cut these out and stick them on your badge. It will definitely be a conversation starter!)
14. Put a code on the first and last slide of your next Powerpoint presentation, making it easier for viewers to capture your contact information.
15. Include a QR code in your YellowPages, newspaper or magazine ad to lead to a YouTube video, testimonials, related products, or even the fine print (think pharmaceutical ads).

Adapted from thebulletproofbusiness.com.

In a recent study of end-buyers, the Advertising Specialties Industry found that 75% of promotional products were kept by the recipient because they were considered useful. And most (60%) did business with the advertiser on a product after receiving it.

Among wearables, bags and caps were reported to be kept the longest – on average a little over 6 months. In fact, bags deliver the most impressions, with an average of 1,078 impressions per month. For more information on our most commonly-owned promotional products, click HERE.

The study concluded that the average cost-per-impression of an advertising specialty item is $0.005, making it less expensive per impression than nearly any other media. Click here to learn more about how promotional products have a more favorable return on investment compared to other popular media.

You’ve had a website for years, and by now, you’ve probably dabbled in social media. But, is your social media working for you? What are you really getting out of the time you spend (or don’t spend) on Facebook? You’re not alone — most companies are struggling to make their website and Facebook page work together.

We can create a unique Facebook application for your business which can be completely customized for your service or products. Visitors to your Facebook page will not only interact with your Facebook page and your website, they’ll then share their results on their Facebook news feed, and in turn notify all their Facebook friends about your business.

The Thurston Chamber of Commerce asked us to help them brand a new 5K/10K Run/Walk event. As the date was scheduled for November, we saw the opportunity to use the Northwest weather as a rallying point. Our result? PuddleJump! The PuddleJump name and visual identity were tied in with the Chamber and its WorkWell Healthy Workplace program, and the rest became history. The first-ever PuddleJump took place on November 6, and the brand took off right from the start. Over 300 runners/walkers took part, and the event was a huge success.