Marketing

Today I am headed to SocialSouth, a social media conference in Birmingham, AL, and I am excited to learn a thing or two while I’m there:

• How can a national brand’s social strategy translate to regional/local businesses?
• How can traditional agencies make the transition to the social space?
• Is Twitter here for the long-term? What’s their revenue model?
• How can an employee of a business keep up with all of the latest in the social space but still be a productive asset. -OR- How can a business outsource their social strategy and implementation while also being authentic?

Follow me on Twitter for updates at the conference and let me know if there are any questions you want me to investigate while gathering with other leaders in social media.

Social in Lexington

Are you in the Central Kentucky area? Join me and Whitney Pannell at the Women Leading Kentucky September luncheon leading a discussion: Internet, Twitter, Facebook & More: A Waste of Time or Useful Business Tool?

Advertising & graphic design agency, Serif Group, has office space available. The office is located on the second floor of 207 East Reynolds Road, Suite 210—between Nicholasville Road and Lansdowne Drive.

Amenities include: conference room, contemporary décor, utilities included, convenient location, a spacious, free parking lot, lots of sunlight, kitchen area, and a private office space. See photos on our Facebook page.

It would be an ideal location for an independent professional looking to move out of their home. Rent is affordable and includes utilities. For more information, contact Jackie or call 859-271-0701.

I’m amazed at how my TV-viewing habits have changed over the years. Our first TiVo box opened up new life for us in a way that was more fulfilling than our current cable provider-issued DVR box, but that’s another story. We can now watch Survivor in 40 minutes instead of 1 hour. The Office in just over 20 minutes instead of 30. That’s a lot of extra minutes gained for housework, reading, or more realistically, surfing the web.

But what does this say about people who are supposed to watch TV for the commercials? We’re advertising agency owners, ferpetesake! However, the other night we spotted a commercial that was actually worth stopping for: the new H&R Block “Second Look” spot. The guy with one eye was too “eye-catching” to pass up.

Upon devoting 30 seconds of our lives to it, Bill and I agreed that it was great. Just what is needed these days to cut through the clutter of TV advertising. It’s not enough to sound intriguing, you must have intriguing visuals to get viewers to stop fast-forwarding.

What do you think about that spot? Disgusted like these folks? Or did it get your attention, too?

One of our favorite platforms is website design. The internet is an interactive, 24/7, living and changing extension of your brand. Personally, almost every buying decision I make involves a web search for reviews, pricing, coupons or location. A business without a web presence is rarely considered an option.

Our small group can build your brand and a cohesive image from the ground up—carrying it through from print to website design—start to finish.

The sites designed by Serif Group consider the user experience and are easy to update. We put the tools in your hands to do that. No more nickel and dime billing to update a phone number, photo or calendar. Unless you’d prefer to avoid the hassle, of course. We maintain several client sites and social media campaigns.

There are tricks of the trade to get a website to appear high in rankings when people search the web. This is called SEO (search engine optimization). The Serif Group has these skills, and the efforts to optimize your website can be as simple or vast as your budget allows.

Sample website design

Check out some of the sites we’ve done both branding and website design for, and let us know in the comments what you think.

• Shaun Ring Photography
• Atchison Heller Construction Company
• Metaformers Enterprise Software Solutions
• East of Elm Real Estate

Ready to move forward? Give us a shout!

Yesterday, we happened across this great video featuring Michael Bierut of Pentagram—designers of some of the world’s most famous brands. I enjoyed the way he breaks down the four different types of logos

1. Wordmark
2. Pictoral
3. Abstract iconography
4. Logo system

And his comparison of a logo design to a swimming contest instead of a diving competition? Pretty brilliant.

It’s not what kind of splash you make when you hit the water. It’s how long you keep your head above that water. —Michael Bierut

Now if only we could design another swoosh and find a client to invest in marketing it the way Nike did. Though the $35 was probably nice for a student’s budget, and the Tiffany ring was undoubtedly beautiful, I’m glad she eventually received something more as a token of their appreciation.