Elements Design

We’ve been busy here at Elements and have been taking meetings with many potential new clients! Meeting with a prospective client can be exciting but also requires us to do our homework – we want to be sure a client is the right fit for us, just as they want to be sure we are the right fit for them.

Although projects may vary from client to client, here are 5 important questions to ask before you begin working with them on any new project.

1. What is the big-picture goal of this project?
It’s important to understand the client’s thoughts and ideas and gauge exactly what they are looking for. Whether it’s building a website, creating a social media plan or designing a catalog, be sure there is a clear understanding of the client’s vision.

2. Do you have a marketing or business plan for this product?
It is extremely helpful to know if a marketing or business plan is already in place for the client’s product. These plans would outline information such as the target audience, project specifications, budget, timeline and perhaps a competitive research report. Having this information already mapped out will benefit both parties and will allow more time to be focused on the project at hand.

3. Who is the target audience/market for your product?
In order to successfully market any product, a target audience needs to be established. The client needs to be able to clearly define their audience so that an effective strategy can be put into place for their product.

4. What are the goals and/or core messages you want to get across?
Both long and short term goals should be established for the product. Even if a client isn’t completely sure of all of their goals, gather as much information as possible and jot down some key words or phrases that they use throughout the meeting – these will be useful in creating a targeted plan or strategy for them.

5. How will you measure the success of this project?
Each client will measure the success of their project differently. Whether it’s increasing website traffic, generating a certain number of sales or sales leads, garnering national media attention or increasing social media interaction – make sure that the goals and expectations for the project are made upfront. Knowing how the client will measure the success of their project will help keep both parties on track.

Photo by Pessoahele

There is much controversy surrounding this issue — and we’ve had clients ask us: “Should I have a Facebook Group or a Facebook Page?”. The knee-jerk reaction might be to say “If you’re using social media for business, you need a Facebook Page.” Well, we’re here to tell you that it isn’t always as straight forward as that. The most important factor in a social media presence is engagement. Do you have the right audience? Is that audience interested and participating in the conversation? Are they taking action because of those conversations? We’re currently working with a client to create a two-pronged Facebook strategy which includes two networks – a Page (for the public and other interested parties to learn about the organzation, its purpose, goals, events and more) and a Group (for individuals close to the organization to stay connected with each other although they are located across the nation and in other countries.)

Here’s how Facebook wants you to see it (very surface-level):

Pages allow real organizations, businesses, celebrities and brands to communicate broadly with people who like them. Pages may only be created and managed by official representatives.

Groups provide a closed space for small Groups of people to communicate about shared interests. Groups can be created by anyone.

That said, a Facebook Page might – or might not – be the best place for your organization’s audience to engage with you and with each other. For guidance, revisit your main objective for your social media presence. Is the objective to spread news from your organization to its constituent (top down mentality) or for members of your organization to connect and communicate with each other under your umbrella (bottom up mentality)? If a top down strategy is yours, a Facebook Page is probably best. If it’s a bottom up you’re after, a Group is the way to go.

You might remember the old Groups format on Facebook from about 5 years ago where people congregated in groups with titles like “Flip Flops All Year Round” or “I Love New Haven”. In those circles, often the main point was declaring one’s alliance with a group of like-minded individuals by clicking the “Join Group” button, but that’s where the involvement ended. These days, Groups have been totally refreshed and are quite functional. As part of a Group, members can group chat, upload and edit documents, share links, photos, videos and more. Groups can be open or closed and even secret (only members can see the group and what members post.) However, they are less customizable than Pages and Groups do not have the fantastic metrics to measure engagement that Pages do have.

Read on for some more tips and detailed background information on whether a Group or Page is right for your organization. And, maybe for you, it’s a combination of the two!

Facebook Pages allow real organizations, businesses, celebrities and brands to communicate broadly with people who like them. Pages may only be created and managed by official representatives.

• Privacy: Page information and posts are public and generally available to everyone on Facebook.
• Audience: Anyone can like a Page to become connected with it and get News Feed updates. There is no limit to how many people can like a Page.
• Communication: Page admins can share posts under the Page’s name. Page posts appear in the News Feed of people who like the Page. Page admins can also create customized tabs for their Pages and check Page Insights to track the Page’s growth and activity.]
• Metrics: Facebook currently offers metrics to Facebook page admins in the form of Insights and Analytics. Insights provides Page owners and Facebook Platform developers with metrics around their content.
• Applications: Applications enable Facebook Page administrators to extensively customize their Pages. For example, the Static FBML application lets Pages administrators create custom page tabs. Some Facebook Page administrators have opted to use more interactive applications. For example, Einstein Bagels is giving away bagels to users that become fans of their Facebook Page. A BMW dealer in Minnesota published their entire lot inventory on their Facebook Page.
• Website Integration: Facebook provides page widgets, allowing for easy conversion of website visitors to fans, without leaving your own website.

Facebook Groups provide a closed space for small Groups of people to communicate about shared interests. Groups can be created by anyone.

• Privacy: In addition to an open setting, more privacy settings are available for Group.
Secret: Only members can see the group and what members post.
Closed: Everyone can see the group. Only members see posts.
Open (public): Everyone can see the group and what members posts.
• Audience: Group members must be approved or added by other members. When a Group reaches a certain size, some features are limited (5,000+ fans = no messaging). The most useful Groups tend to be the ones you create with smaller Groups of people you know.
• Communication: In Groups, members receive notifications by default when any member posts in the group. Group members can post updates, (visible only in Group members newsfeeds and on the page itself) participate in chats (unavailable when the Group exceeds 250 members), upload photos to shared albums, collaborate on Group docs, invite all members to Group events and send posts to the Group wall using a custom email address.
• Messaging: When a post is made, members are notified on Facebook and by email, and they can respond with comments. Members can change their notification settings (so it’s possible they may not be emailed directly) but they will always see new posts when they visit the Group. Group admins can’t send private messages to all members of a Group. The best way to reach all members at once and start a discussion is to make a post in the Group.
• Administration:
  • Admins can edit the Group information, add, remove or ban current members and other admins and edit (remove) wall posts
  • Admins can set up a custom email address for Groups.
• NOTE: Joining a Group does not expose the content of your profile to any Group members who would not normally be able to see that information. The privacy settings for your account control the openness of your profile, regardless of the groups you join.

Disclaimer: This post was compiled using information from AllFacebook and Facebook’s help section, two excellent resources for more specific information on how to configure Groups and Pages.

If you know me, you know that I love a great deal. Who doesn’t? I recently purchased over $200 worth of clothing for $50, based on mobile coupons that I presented via my cell phone in the mall last month. I love to find discounts – for me, 15% doesn’t cut it. I love those $50 dollar off coupons, or, as one retailer emailed around the holidays, 70% off! It’s music to my ears. I’m even one of those rare oddballs who enjoys clipping coupons. It’s not even really about the dollars saved (although that’s a bonus) but rather the thrill of the chase after the best discount. (I’m truly my mother’s daughter.)

So, when I saw a recent New York Times article about emerging technology in mobile coupon marketing, my ears perked up. (Thanks Amy, for the tip.) Online coupons aren’t new – in fact, Coupons.com was founded in 1998. But consumers have to be at a computer, visit to the site, search through the piles of coupons they aren’t interested in to get to the good stuff. Then, they have to print the coupons out, remember to bring them into to the store from the car and sort through the piles while they shop. Even if you have them handy on your smartphone, it’s a bit of a hassle.

Well, new technology may end all that fuss. What if coupons could – in essence – tap your potential customers on shoulder as they fill their shopping carts? Researchers are hard at work developing mobile technology that will enable manufacturers to provide coupons to shoppers on their smartphones as they walk up and down the aisles. It’s a smart combination of GPS-like geotagging technology and AutoCAD, which would help map out aisles in major retail outlets. Basically, shoppers’ location would be tracked in grocery stores and big-box retailers along with their shopping habits – and, voila – a coupon alert shows up on their phone for a product they might purchase anyway – just giving them that extra nudge and in-store conversion from shelf to cart.

Helping our clients gain customer attention in stores is something Elements has been doing for years through packaging design and point of purchase displays. However, this new wave of hyper-hyper local marketing is something that has us excited about. What about you? Have you used coupons for your brands before? How do you think this will change the landscape of the in-store experience? Let us know in the comments.

~Chelsea

{Photo courtesy of JessicaRalph}

Think about your email inbox in the morning. Even if you opted in to receive email marketing from a particular company, there are probably just a handful of emails that you actually want to, and actually DO open. That’s not surprising, considering that, according to Jupiter Research, the average person recieves 41 emails per day, and those in the email marketing field receive easily three times that number (so, take some pity on MY inbox!)

How do you make your company’s emails stand out amongst the competition? Here are a few tips:

1.Write a quality, enticing subject line. Think about it – the first contact you have with your customer is in the subject line. The offer must be compelling enough to speak louder than the other 40 emails alongside it. Not sure which ones are working? Run a test. A good email distribution program will offer metrics – so, create two versions of the same email, each with a different subject line, and see which one comes out on top.

2. Link to landing pages that make sense. Driving website traffic is one main goal of email marketing – but it’s not enough to land your users on the homepage. Be sure that links make sense – for example, if your offer is for 50% off holiday decor, be sure the accompanying link directs right to that page. It’s important that users not feel lost or confused, so give them the shortest path possible!

3. Ask for subscribers. Industry experts suggest that you should grow your email marketing list by 2 – 5% each month to offset any unsubscribes. Be sure that your newsletter sign-up form is prominently displayed on your website, in your email signature, on your social media channels and anyplace else that customers might be looking for offers or information.

4. Use your “thanks for subscribing” email for something other than “welcome!” It’s great to thank people for signing up for your e-newsletter, but why not provide them even more helpful content to create a sense of loyalty and value from the first point of contact? Suggest relevant products or services they might be interested in, or better yet, valuable content related to your product or service (i.e. “Top Three Connecticut Wine Pairings for our Goat Cheese”) or a blog post featuring a recent interview featuring you as the expert. The key word here is relevance.

5. Check how your emails appear across different email clients/mobile platforms – and whether they’re making it past spam filters. No matter how beautifully your email is designed, or how great the subject line is, if your audience can’t view the email properly, or if it’s not making it past their spam filters, your email campaign will be rendered useless. CampaignMonitor and Litmus are good options to help you with this.

There are hundreds of tips I could share with you today, but hopefully the ones I’ve outlined above will help improve your email campaigns starting today. For more tips, please give us a call. We’d be happy to meet with your team to discuss how we can assist your with your e-marketing initiatives.