Website and Video for Healthcare Design & Construction Company

If you’ve ever lived through a home improvement project, you know how dirty, noisy, and disruptive construction work can be. Imagine what it’s like for a hospital or surgery center to undergo renovations—without shutting down their clinical operations and without contaminating the sterile environment.

Consolidated Medical Services, Inc. (CMSI), based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, excels in these kinds of projects as a specialty contractor for healthcare facilities. They needed a way to quickly demonstrate to prospective clients what sets them apart—how well they accommodate the demands of an occupied, clinical environment. This was a challenge because CMSI’s finished work can be inaccessible once the hospital starts using the renovated space.

How could we help CMSI show their expertise in the medical construction field?

Wider Reach

We wanted to present compelling stories of their project work—and we used a variety of methods to do so. We took photos. We wrote case studies. And we produced videos. This full marketing package has the potential to captivate a wider audience. For example, if you don’t like to read a lot of text online, you can just sit back and watch the video. Listening to project managers describe their work and show the details engages customers with a personal touch.

CMSI SurgCenter Towson case study

Behind the Scenes

The video takes you into spaces that would otherwise be inaccessible—like the clean room environment of an operating room, or behind the door of a high voltage area. Our team even put on bunny suits to get special footage of CMSI’s finished work. We captured the details inside and also flew a drone outside to get context shots of the project’s locale.

Show Your Story

Now CMSI has a renovated website that features their renovation expertise.

“The videos are one of our favorite things about the new website,” says Mark Kendrick, CMSI’s Vice President. “We realize they have great potential to help us with business development.”

Potential clients who want to learn more about CMSI’s work can conveniently access the videos from the home page, the video gallery page, or the respective project’s page.

CMSI website homepage

CMSI Video webpage

Interested in using video to highlight your company’s work? Let’s tell your story.

Learn more about our video production.

CMIT Solutions Marketing Excellence Award

Winner of National Award for Marketing Excellence

CMIT Solutions Marketing Excellence Award
Rick Staton and Ken Kinard

Congratulations to Rick Staton and Dave Warnick of CMIT Solutions for winning their franchise’s 2019 Marketing Excellence Award.

We were delighted to see our client honored for their commitment to marketing excellence. In our conversation with Rick Station, he talked about the significance of the award.

Top Out of 180 Franchises

We understand that CMIT Solutions has over 180 different franchises throughout North America. Many of them have been established for decades, whereas yours has only been in business for nine months. How did you earn the top marketing award?

Every year, the CMIT Solutions home office hosts a national conference. During that time, they present various awards, and one of them is for marketing excellence. The staff looks at all the franchises and asks, “Who is displaying the highest level of marketing skills? Who is worthy of this award and why?”

My success coach at CMIT nominated us. He said, “They market everywhere.” We have a marketing presence in multiple channels—creative brochures, print ads, social media, telemarketing, direct mail, and sophisticated email marketing campaigns. No other franchise is in that many channels. We’re coming at things from a new, disruptive perspective. The award validates the effort we’ve been putting into our marketing work.

CMIT Solutions Marketing Excellence Award

Why Accent Interactive?

We’ve had the pleasure of creating several creative brochures and print ads for you. Why did you choose to partner with Accent Interactive?

Ken and I developed a relationship through our local networking group. In little Hunt Valley, Maryland, I found a world-class marketing team. Your work is recognized around the country. When I show it to the rest of my franchise during a convention, not one of the other 180 owners has any negative feedback. Their response is, “Stunning! Beautiful! Where can I get one of these?” Now at least 12 franchises across the US have continued to purchase marketing materials that Accent Interactive created.

CMIT Solutions brochure
Front and back of bi-fold
CMIT Solutions brochure
Inside of bi-fold
CMIT Solutions brochure
Front of cross-shaped brochure
CMIT Solutions brochure
Spread 1 of cross-shaped brochure
CMIT Solutions brochure
Spread 2 of cross-shaped brochure
CMIT Solutions brochure
Spread 3 of cross-shaped brochure
CMIT Solutions brochure
Cross-shaped brochure fully open

Marketing ROI

Instead of relying only on the franchise’s ready-made marketing materials, you decided to invest in creating new ones. How has that helped your business?

It gives me a lot more confidence when I meet with a prospect. When I give them a brochure, they understand immediately what we are about. People remember the material, and they keep it. We haven’t produced stuff that people throw out. Some of my partners who refer customers are now happy to include my marketing material in with theirs. But before, that wouldn’t have happened.

Considering your deep commitment to marketing and the value it brings back to your business, what advice would you give to other business owners?

Marketing generates leads. And it’s up to us business owners to turn the leads into sales. The more leads and opportunities we have, the more sales we’re going to have. At CMIT we are investing across the board in marketing because we have a fundamental understanding that not all customers respond to the same kind of marketing. It’s important to be at the forefront of the customer’s mind and to be findable when a need arises.

CMIT Solutions brochure

Creative Brochures for Managed IT Services Company

When Rick Staton started the CMIT Solutions of Upper Chesapeake franchise in 2018, he knew he wanted to invest in strategic marketing.

“Marketing generates leads,” he says, “And the more leads we have, the more sales we’re going to have.”

Rick decided to establish a marketing presence in multiple channels, including creative brochures, print ads, and direct mail. His commitment to marketing was so outstanding that his franchise won CMIT’s national Marketing Excellence Award in 2019.

Thinking Outside the Trifold

Although his franchise had ready-made brochures available, Rick wanted something more contemporary and unique. He asked us to unleash our creativity to create a series of print materials for him:

  • A general brochure describing the managed IT services
  • A family of brochure and postcards targeting the healthcare industry

It’s true that conventional trifolds have some advantages. They fold into a compact size, and they fit perfectly into those standard brochure boxes. But in the forest of trifolds, they can get easily passed over. So, we brainstormed other designs that would really stand out.

Bifold Brochure

For the general brochure, we decided to go with a large bifold that opens up to 8.5 x 14”. This majestic size helps prospects understand the big picture at a glance.

  • CMIT Solutions brochure
    Front and back of bifold
  • CMIT Solutions brochure
    Inside of bifold

We curated information on CMIT’s key services and featured them with corresponding graphics in a customized business setting. We also created a map to show the scope of the franchise throughout North America.

Cross Brochure

For the healthcare-targeted brochure, we chose a design that starts as a square and unfolds into a cross—a symbol that is common in the medical field.

  • CMIT Solutions brochure
    Front of cross brochure
  • CMIT Solutions brochure
    Cross brochure fully open

We played with language and chose images that blended the IT and healthcare industries. What better way to show this than with a stethoscope on a laptop?

As the cross unfolds, each pair of squares reveals a new message and addresses a felt need. This brochure encourages prospects to interactively engage with the content and absorb it one question at a time.

  • CMIT Solutions brochure
    Spread 1 of cross brochure
  • CMIT Solutions brochure
    Spread 2 of cross brochure
  • CMIT Solutions brochure
    Spread 3 of cross brochure

Postcards Based on Cross Brochure

To round out the family of healthcare-targeted print ads, we also created a series of postcards to be mailed out in succession. This cohesive campaign combined a highly customized cross brochure with simpler, economical postcards that all carried the same branded design.

  • CMIT postcard downtime
  • CMIT postcard ready
  • CMIT postcard security

Nationwide Demand for the Brochures

Rick loves the new print materials. “It gives me a lot more confidence when I meet with a prospect,” he says. “When I give them a brochure, they understand immediately what we are about. People remember the material, and they keep it.”

Rick was so impressed by the brochures that he showed them to the other 180 owners in the CMIT Solutions franchise.

“Their response was, ‘Stunning! Beautiful! Where can I get one of these?’” says Rick. “Now at least 12 franchises across the US have continued to purchase marketing materials that Accent Interactive created.”

Creativity Camp 2019

Creativity Camp 2019

Every summer since 2014, we’ve let the next generation of creatives take over our studio for a week of Creativity Camp.

Best and Biggest Ever

This year’s Creativity Camp was the largest one we’ve ever had, with 19 campers. For the first time, we had to create a waiting list because we reached our maximum capacity.

Applying the theme of storytelling with music video, the campers got to experience a real-life work environment. They utilized professional equipment and collaborated to meet a five-day project deadline. This year’s campers were very committed to working together as a team and producing high-quality work.

What They Created

Each of the four teams created their own storyline, selected their own music, and produced their own short films.

Music Video: Hope in Front of Me

Trailer: Hacked

Romantic Comedy: A Good Time?

Drama: Breaking Point

What They Learned

The creative process

As with every Creativity Camp, we taught the four roles of the creative process. The campers then immediately applied the process to their team project.

Teams debuted their projects to friends and family on the final night.

Seeing new perspectives

One of the campers, Bethany Rathert, shares, “Creativity Camp helps me see the world with a more creative perspective. Instead of taking something for what it is, I think about how to make something creative out of it.”

Another camper, Teleri Wilt, shares “My favorite part of Creativity Camp is seeing what’s possible. My team and I sat down on the first day with no plan and no experience. By the end of the week, we had completed a music video.”

Teamwork and leadership

This year we appointed team leaders for the first time. A peer camper was in charge of their team of 4–5 people.

This was a learning opportunity for Teleri, who was one of the team leaders. “I was constantly evaluating, are we getting things done? Are we all having fun?” she says.

A second-time camper, Grace Hogsten, shares, “My favorite part of Creativity Camp is learning how to work with different personalities and skillsets on a team. The teamwork aspect of camp is helpful because I do other activities, like student government, where I need skills like that.”

Another camper, Judah Almengor, had never really gotten a chance to work on creative projects with others before. “I enjoyed stretching my boundaries and going outside my comfort zone to work with other people,” he says.

Getting past stuck

“Creativity Camp has helped me go past what I thought I could with my creative limits. When I thought there was no way I could come up with more ideas, I was presented a situation that forced me to come up with more ideas—and I did,” says Judah.

“Creativity Camp taught me when to think and plan and when to actually start doing,” says Teleri. “When you’re creating and practicing, you’re doing it over and over, instead of thinking it over and over. And that’s what makes you more creative.”

Awards

High-achieving campers earned awards for the way they embodied the roles in the creative process.

Award winners from left to right: Luke (Explorer), Maddie (Artist), Teleri (Judge), Judah (Warrior). Synergy award for integration of all roles: Benjamin and Oliver

Join Us in 2020

After the resounding success of this year’s camp, we’re looking forward to our 8th annual Creativity Camp next year. Feel free to share the Creativity Camp 2019 video with your young creatives and would-be campers. Check out the website for details on Creativity Camp 2020.

Coach approach to marketing

The Coach Approach to Marketing

There is nothing worse than dragging your audience through bad marketing copy. It actually hurts your brand.

Good marketing copy excites your audience. It shows how working with you brings value to their life and work.

But, as any project manager can tell you, it’s hard to carve out time for focused writing. The daily demands of work and the usual distractions in the office can derail you from making good progress.

Bridging the Gap

That’s where we come in. We embrace the challenge of bridging the gap between what you know and what your customers need to hear. We specialize in getting your expertise onto the page to boost your brand.

Coach approach to marketing

Coaching Out the Content

One way we are unique as a creative agency is that our writers are also certified coaches. We leverage our coaching skills to draw out content from our clients—by asking questions that lead to insights, by listening attentively to catch the details, by helping you process what’s happening to get to the heart of the story.

Here are a few examples of our proven results. (Note: Names and project specifics have been changed to protect the clients’ identities.)

  1. Finding the story.
    Ryan is a project manager at a local construction company. He wanted to feature a school renovation project on their website. When we met with him to get the information, he easily rattled off the specs—what materials they used, how many square feet they built, how long it took them.
    However, we wanted to uncover the story in the project. To coach Ryan out of the mindset of technical details, we asked him powerful questions, which led to interesting discoveries. We learned how Ryan’s team built a new ramp to the cafeteria, which made it easier for the five students in wheelchairs to join their friends during lunchtime. Our approach enabled Ryan to confidently show the value that he and his company brought to the school community.

  2. Making the abstract concrete.
    Susan is the president of a consulting company that provides training throughout the US. She often travels to train teams of executives on conflict management skills and reconciliation methods. But she couldn’t reveal who her clients were or what problems they were facing. How could we show the value of her training when the results were confidential and hard to measure?
    By asking Susan strategic questions about her observations and experiences, we helped her describe the value of her work without revealing specifics and compromising her clients’ confidentiality. Now her marketing communications are clear, concise, and memorable, and her organization’s budget has grown 300% in just 5 years.

  3. Engaging the audience.
    Andrew is a successful agent at a real estate company. The company’s owner wanted us to create marketing videos, featuring different agents and properties. When we met Andrew at one of the houses for a video shoot, we were delighted by his natural charisma.
    However, once the cameras were rolling, Andrew became nervous. All of a sudden, he wasn’t sure what to say or where to look. Through our empathetic encouragement and coach-style support, we helped this camera-shy real estate agent become a burgeoning YouTube star. Now his company has marketing videos that really engage their audience and show their real estate expertise. The videos even got picked up by a national real estate newsletter and distributed throughout the US.

Crafting Your Marketing Message

If you want customers to immediately understand the value you add, and appreciate the story you are trying to tell, then let us come alongside you. We’ll coach you through it.

Maryland Sanitary Landfill layered states

Video for Environmental Linings Company

Have you ever wondered what keeps the waste from seeping into the soil at landfills? Or what keeps the drinking water clean at reservoirs? Thanks to companies that install lining systems in these kinds of containments, our environment is protected—and all of us who live in it.

Hallaton Environmental Linings, Inc., based in Sparks, Maryland, specializes in installing these lining systems. They needed a way to show their audience the details of their work, instead of just telling them about it. One of their challenges was collaborating with engineers who rarely came onsite to understand the nuances of their work. Another challenge was helping clients understand how Hallaton’s expertise distinguishes them from other environmental lining installers.

Big Screen Media for Big Impact

To fully demonstrate Hallaton’s skillful work, we used a combination of photography and videography:

  • Still photography
  • Steadicam video
  • Drone video & photography
  • 360 video camera

The videos provided Hallaton with benefits like these:

Developing rapport

We featured different Hallaton personnel in the videos. As you see key staff at the jobsite and hear them talk about it in their own voice, the projects and company come to life. This personal approach helps Hallaton build credibility with their audience.
Video Hallaton Kennedy Garber thumbnail 800

Bringing customers into inaccessible places.

It’s not always easy to bring clients into a live construction site. And once Hallaton’s lining systems have been covered by waste, soil, or water, you can’t see their work anymore. So we rolled the cameras as Hallaton rolled out their liners, capturing their work while it was still visible. This enables Hallaton to showcase their expertise at anytime to anyone.

Showing a bigger perspective.

Hallaton’s jobsites can be as expansive as 15–40 acres. Properly showing such an expanse is challenging, or sometimes impossible, using a conventional camera. By using a drone we revealed the full breadth of their projects. We also added overlaying labels to educate the audience about the entire lining installation process in a single view. Hallaton now has assets that demonstrate their scope of work, in ways that only aerial footage can provide. Maryland Sanitary Landfill layered states

Get Rolling

Now Hallaton has videos they can show to their engineers, collaborators, and customers that demonstrate exactly how lining systems get installed in the field. These videos provide the attention to detail that sets Hallaton apart from their competitors.

Putting Your Best Photos Forward

Her pictures were worth a thousand wows. As a photographer, Cricket had captured the earthiness of Africa and the emotions of its people. And with those photos, she hoped to show the compelling needs in that majestic land. How could these photo gems best promote her cause? The way we incorporated them into their website reveals a marketing lesson for us all.

Everyone Matters

Cricket and her husband John founded a non-profit ministry called God’s Economy in 2002. They partner with organizations in Africa and the United States to bring hope and life to the poorest of the poor. Their philosophy is that in God’s Economy, everyone matters. And they want that message to reach potential supporters for their mission.

Montage for African Ministry

When God’s Economy came to us, they had an old website with outdated content. Cricket’s photos were displayed simply as a slider on the homepage.

Old website:

Old Website

They needed a website that demonstrated their value of individual care. And they needed their photos to reach their fullest potential, so they could tell the story of the people they’re helping.

With our artist’s eye and personal touch, we stylized the photos with detailed attention. We enhanced their rich tones for warmth. We added texture for dimension. Then we combined them into a captivating montage. The result is a visually stunning website that showcases God’s Economy’s vision: that the world is a majestic, broken place in need of redemption.

New website:

New Website

The new website helps God’s Economy communicate their mission with heart. It shows that they care about what they do at every level, from their website design to providing education for African girls.

Be Yourself: Your Strengths Will Shine

“Often when people set out to market their company,” says Ken Kinard, “they think they have to appear better than they really are. But we find that the best marketing leverages the strengths you already have. Good marketing starts with tapping into your core beliefs, the reason you are serving the market, and the uniqueness you already possess.”

Whether you come to us with words, images, or ideas, we figure out how to leverage your assets to communicate your mission. We help you put your best work forward, to work the best for you. That’s how creativity means business.

Dual Branding

If your business has ever expanded to the point where you’ve wondered, “Should we create a new brand for this segment of our business?” this article is for you.

We’ve had this kind of conversation with many customers, and there are pros and cons either way. Here are the four factors we consider when making this strategic decision.

Deciding Factors

  1. Nature of the service or product
    How different is this service from the other services you offer? The more different the service is, the more it lends itself to becoming its own brand.
  2. Clientele
    Look at your audience. If your services are catering to different kinds of consumers, then that’s another indication for a different brand.
  3. Customer experience

    Consider what it’s like for your clients to consume this product or service. The more different the experience is, the better it is to separate the brands.
  4. Customer mindset

    How connected are the different services in the mind of the consumer? For example, if a carpet store offers the services of carpet sales and installation, as well as carpet cleaning, how related are sales and installation with cleaning? One of them is a once-and-done kind of deal. The other has to do with scheduled maintenance. This question can be hard to answer. You might need to ask customers about their mindset because you may not be objective about this.

Benefits

After considering these factors, is at least one of them different enough to justify a separate brand? If so, there are several advantages to launching the new identity.

  • Focused marketing

    In general, marketing is more powerful when it’s concise and focused tightly on a niche. It’s easier to resonate with a simple targeted message, and customers can find exactly what they’re looking for without wading through unrelated stuff.
  • Unique branding

    Establishing a new customized brand lets it have more personality, reflecting specifically what it is. No more generic, one-size-fits-all branding.
  • Improved search engine results

    If you’re not trying to cram seemingly unrelated things onto one website, then it’s easier to be successful with search engine marketing. The range of search terms is narrower.

Sub-Brands: Four Stories

Here are examples of Accent Interactive customers that decided to create a new brand or new website for some of their services.

  1. Sea King: Same Surf, Different Turf

    If you want delicious seafood from Sea King Seafood Markets, you can enjoy it from either their take-out market or dine-in restaurant. This was a case of the same service/product and clientele but different customer experience and mindset.

    Sea King was running a successful take-out seafood market and decided to expand with a nice dine-in experience. So they renovated their warehouse into an adjacent restaurant. Sea King offered similar menus (but not exactly the same) in both the market and the restaurant. Their audience was very similar—the same local seafood lovers. The market and restaurant were even located in the same building, but had separate entrances. The customer experience and mindset is where the main difference was. Their customers choose whether they want to carry the food home and eat it there, or to dine in and have someone else do the dishes.The strategic decision for Sea King was to market the restaurant as a new brand, with its own name (Sea King Crab House) and website. This decision leveraged what customers already knew and loved about Sea King; and yet a Sea King customer who just wants the take-out market menu doesn’t have to bother with the restaurant’s daily special.

  2. Employee Assistance Program (EAP): The Power of Audience

    Many large corporations today have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which offers counseling and assistance to employees dealing with life’s ups and downs. Most of the factors here suggested that one brand could be sufficient. But this case study demonstrates how a difference in clientele can trump everything.

    EAP provides the same counseling services by the same staff to all of their clients. However, they are the designated service provider group for two different organizations. When it came time to decide how to brand themselves, we considered the options. One option was to create just one brand and one website for all the organizations they serve. Another option was to create all new brands and new websites for each organization client.The final solution is a balance between those two extremes. We feature a different logo and URL for each organization to give it a unique identity. But the customer experience is the same for each organization, and there is no need to create new content for each website. So we just mirror the content on both sites. This honors each organization with its own dedicated platform, while saving effort in content development.

  3. RMB Consulting: Get Your Own Bed

    This was a case of a service being embedded into a company when it deserves its own brand. The only question for this one was why we didn’t do it sooner.

    Nigel Jones specializes in embedded technology products. In addition to creating new products, he also uses his expertise to serve as an expert witness. All of those services were branded under RMB Consulting.He realized, however, that the service of testifying before court is quite different from embedded systems design and consulting. The audiences were different too. As an expert witness, he was offering his services to lawyers. As an embedded systems design consultant, he was marketing to technology companies, manufacturing companies, and engineering teams. The customer experiences were also different. His expert witness clients were trying to prove a case in court, whereas his engineering clients were collaborating on creating new technology.

    Considering all the differences, it was an easy decision to create a second brand for Nigel Jones as an expert witness. We created a new website and customized the content to the audience. Each service is featured in its best light, without the distraction of a seemingly unrelated service on the same website.

  4. Lead NYC: Fruit Salad on a Tree

    In this case, a non-profit had already branched out to the point of bearing different fruit. They had one brand for their parent company and another brand for their marketplace services. The parent company was getting rebranded as Lead NYC, and in that process, we reassessed if the marketplace services brand should still be its own entity. Were the kinds of fruit different enough from each other to justify separate brands?

    Lead NYC was known for catering to an audience of non-profit and church leaders through conferences and training programs. The marketplace services, however, was targeting a different audience—business people. The mission was to help them vocationally through coaching and executive round-table groups. Thus, the services and clientele were very different from each other.The customer experience and mindset were also different. Charitable people are used to reaching for their wallets to make an impact through non-profits. However, the marketplace services wanted to focus on serving these career-oriented people, not getting donations from them.

    So it was an easy decision to keep the marketplace services as a separate entity. The next step was to rebrand it, to fit with the new Lead NYC parent brand. To come up with a new name, we asked the founder, Dr. Chip Roper, a series of clarifying questions. This helped him get to the heart of what he wanted to communicate and represent with the marketplace services.

    The result was a new name: VOCA Center, and a tagline “find and follow your calling.” The logo was designed to give the VOCA brand a family resemblance with the parent organization.

    Establishing the new VOCA name and tagline gives Chip the key he needs to instantly open up conversations with prospective clients. The name VOCA is memorable and compelling. “People never forget VOCA,” said Chip. “It’s life-giving. It’s got zing. And it lets me tell people in one sentence that what I do is about them.”

    We also created a video for Voca Center, consulted on their program design, and facilitated team creativity coaching.

    After working with us on branding VOCA, Chip can clearly and enthusiastically explain to people what he does now. As he reflected on the branding experience, he shared advice for other business leaders preparing for that process. “It’s important to have self-awareness about what you’re trying to communicate. Be ready to have your assumptions challenged and to have humility,” he said. “It’s hard to tell the forest from the trees on your own. Accent Interactive figured this out much better than I could have. And at the end of the day, I’m really happy.”

Like Launching an Emerging Adult

We understand that your business is like your child. If your company has grown up, and it’s time for one of its distinct services to become an autonomous person, we’re ready to help it take that step of maturity.

Let Your Voice Be Heard: Podcasting for Marketing


Have you considered creating your own podcast? It’s a fun and effective way to regularly reach an audience with your message.

Podcasts can be audio or video. The advantage of audio is that listeners can be doing something else with their eyes and bodies while enjoying the podcast. The advantage of video podcasts is their ability to illustrate and show what they are talking about.

Benefits

  • Conversational
    The nice thing about a podcast is that you can keep it casual in tone, and that makes it different from other kinds of marketing. You can make it feel like people get to eavesdrop on your coffee conversation. They can learn from your business expertise—and hopefully laugh at your jokes. The dialogue is what makes the message engaging and accessible.“Conversational” describes the tone of our own podcast, WorkWise. Most episodes are a dialogue with Ken and Mike, but sometimes we mix it up with a guest.
  • Fresh content automatically
    Subscribers conveniently get your podcast right on their phones, and they can listen whenever they want. This is your chance to get in front of them on a regular basis. They want to hear from you.
  • Redeem time
    What do people usually do while they’re driving, exercising, or doing chores? Chances are they’re listening to something. With audio content, you’re giving them the opportunity to enrich their time with your message.
  • Cost-effective
    The production cost for a podcast is relatively low because you’re just recording a conversation. All you need are standard tools like computers and microphones, and you can self-publish a podcast. One of our clients produces Leading in the City by just getting a few people in a room with some microphones.
  • Repurpose other content
    There’s no need to create something from scratch for a podcast. For example, you could make a podcast from audio versions of your articles, like we did for Clinical Laboratory Sales Training. Or you can use recordings from events, like STORY Podcast does.
  • Unique style
    A podcast gives you a platform to get your unique voice heard. As with any form of marketing communication, think about what style is best to connect with your audience. Make sure your podcast feels like you.

Uses

  • Marketing
    According to Naresh Vissa, author of Podcastnomics, “Podcasting is now entering into its true golden age of mass adoption.” Many companies, such as our client Maroon PR, use podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. Similar to blogging, podcasting is another way to regularly create fresh, value-added content. You can make it available on your website and/or other platforms like iTunes to reach more people.

    • Later this year, Apple’s iTunes will be making it easier to track analytics for your podcast, so you can tell how many people are listening and how much of each episode they played.

  • Education
    Some companies are using podcasts primarily for internal purposes, to educate their own team. It can be hard to schedule time for the experts in the company to train other staff. But if you record a series of their presentations or interviews, then you can use it to educate anyone at any time. For example, our client Inolex is creating an internally published podcast to educate their sales team on their technologies and sales strategies.

Speak Up

If you’re interested in starting a podcast, get in touch with us. We have the professional equipment and experience, and we can help you craft a podcast that projects your unique style.

Facebook: Personal Connections for Your Business

Business is all about connecting well with the people you serve. While nothing can truly replace those face-to-face chats, Facebook can help keep you top of mind with clients and prospects.

Since you need a personal account before setting up a business page, it emphasizes the Facebook way: it’s all about individuals. Here are some tips to promote your company and connect with some of the 1.2 billion people who use Facebook every day.

The Anatomy of a Good Business Page

  • Profile Photo
    Your company logo works well here. It’s recognizable and it’s the thumbnail image that is displayed with all your updates.
  • Cover Photo
    This is one of the first things people will see on your business page, so make sure it hooks them in. Feature an engaging image that sends a message, and make sure it’s optimized for the right dimensions. We can help you polish your business page profile and design a snazzy cover photo. If we’ve already done design work for you, we can even repurpose it for Facebook, like we did for this managed IT services company:
  • Call to Action
    Take advantage of Facebook’s call-to-action button. Choose an option that will drive people to do something important for your business. For example, with one click, people can easily contact you, sign up for something, or even make a donation.
  • Posts
    To be effective on Facebook, you need to engage with your network on a regular basis. This is how you keep the marketing conversation going. Think of posts as tidbits that highlight your company’s services and results. Show what you do through photos and videos. And did you know you can pin your posts to feature the most successful ones? We’ll work with you to create compelling images that pique interest. Leave it up to us to schedule posts so you don’t have to worry about it. Here’s an example of what we’ve created for a power wash company:
  • Ads
    Investing a bit of marketing budget into Facebook ads will increase your reach. You can pay to boost a post or create an ad that targets an audience by criteria, including:

      • Location such as country, state, city, and zip code.
      • Demographics such as age, gender, language, education, work, ethnic affinity, and more.
      • Interests based on their hobbies and pages they like on Facebook.
      • Behaviors such as what they purchase or where they travel.


    Are you curious about paid ads on Facebook but aren’t sure how to go about doing it? We can help you figure out the best strategy for your budget.

If you are looking to get more business using social media, especially if you market directly to consumers, ask us to help you connect your business using Facebook.