BACKGROUND

GotVMail Communications was founded in 2003 as a virtual business phone (PBX / VOIP) telecommunications product/service company to help smaller businesses give the appearance of being much larger than they really were. They were a strong, smaller company looking to grow.

CHALLENGE

In May 2009, the executive team decided to go through a re-branding initiative to help explain to the world their new mix of advanced services and position themselves as a universal resource committed to the advancement of entrepreneurs.

OPPORTUNITY

The company founders realized that they could leverage the re-branding process and use it as an opportunity to create large scale awareness through a national, viral plan.

CAMPAIGN

The integrated print+online marketing campaign consisted of the following elements:

1. Branding, Design & Programming

Naming, design, print, programming and social media elements were all universally aligned around the company’s new core values of inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs. The name “Grasshopper” was chosen to exemplify the forward motion and leap ahead advantage that the company aims to provide for its emerging entrepreneur target audience.

2. Video & YouTube

Creating a public service-like animated motion graphic video rather than a traditional corporate promotion ensured that the commitment to entrepreneurial excellence was clearly demonstrated and felt prior to revealing the source of the video. The final screen read: “See how Grasshopper empowers entrepreneurs to succeed.” The video was launched May 4, 2009 and timed to match the official re-branding announcement (PR) with placement on YouTube and the company’s new website.

3. Direct Mail Design, Printing & Fulfillment

Knowing that most standard direct mail pieces get stuck at the gatekeeper, Grasshopper took several precautionary tactics to ensure the right person got the right promotion at the right time. First, they carefully identified a list of the right reporters, journalists, TV anchors, bloggers, celebrities, politicians, entrepreneurs and CEOs. After three months of very careful list scrubbing, they culled their list down to the perfect group of 5,000 key influentials. Second, they created a compelling piece consisting of: a box, minimal branding consisting of their logo and url, chocolate-covered grasshoppers and a message of: “You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper.” The bag of grasshoppers had a tag with a final call to action, “ Entrepreneurs Can Change the World. Join the Movement Now!” with the URL for the video posted on the company’s website. Finally, the target audience received the piece via FedEx (not USPS) to ensure the true recipient actually received it in time…not the gatekeeper.

4. Sales Follow Up & Social Media Interaction

Employees from the company followed up with every blogger and key influential to make sure they received the package safely and that it had indeed been opened. Next, they began responding to online questions posted on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks. Conversations were not aimed at promoting the company brand, but rather encouraging recipients to create and submit their own photos or videos for placement on the Grasshopper.com website.

RESULTS

Video

In the first month after the campaign launched, the video on their website received over 47,000 unique page views with their video on YouTube generating around 130,000 views with 400+ 5-star ratings and over 160 comments.

Twitter

The most successful channel of all the social media tools, the campaign was mentioned in 1,461 tweets by key influentials including: Guy Kawasaki, Alltop Founder; Kevin Rose, Digg Founder, and Jason Calacanis, Mahalo, CEO – influencers with a reach of more than one million followers.

Blog/PR

The campaign was also mentioned within 119 blog posts and news articles, with features appearing on seven major tv network broadcasts.

Website

Traffic to their website increased significantly in the first month, with a 93% conversion of viewers clicking on the “How it works” section to learn more about their services. In addition, the company has seen a 4,911% increase in visitors from Twitter and a 3,286% increase in visitors from Facebook plus 30,000 referrals from StumbleUpon alone.

REVERSE ENGINEER THE CAMPAIGN

Crafting a buzz-worthy campaign is no small feat and several key components were integral to ensuring a viral campaign that generated more buzz than the company had received in the previous 6 years of business combined.

Curiosity

Grasshopper.com’s well-designed direct mail piece was unexpected, non-traditional and unique. Minimal branding combined with a unique leave behind and a well-scrubbed list ensured that 95% of recipients went to the URL and almost unheard-of response compared to the traditional 2-5% standard direct mail response rate of a basic postcard.

Inspiration

The animated motion graphic video was focused squarely on celebrating the potential of entrepreneurs to change the world and celebrating them as an important, exciting part of our lives. By de-emphasizing their branding relationship to the video, the founders ensured the viral-ability of the video and it has now been seen at many entrepreneurial-focused conferences ensuring it continues to have longevity long after the initial campaign is over.

Integration

By integrating multiple print+online marketing components in a careful and well-thought out manner ensured that each tool performed at its highest potential and leveraged one another for optimal success. Careful list scrubbing, direct mail design, website/video + social media integration guaranteed a viral, unparalleled result that to date has been unmatched.

By,
Angela Hill
President

Incitrio
http://www.incitrio.com
Visit Incitrio on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Watch on YouTube

I keep hearing that old song by David Bowie, or Vanilla Ice for you younger folks. Man, are marketing directors under some serious pressure these days! With all the hype going on around social media, CEOs are pushing harder than ever for marketing departments to implement online marketing strategies. Here’s what I keep hearing: “Everybody’s doing it.” “I just went to a (blank) industry conference and the keynote said it’s critical to my sales growth.” “Let’s make sure we’re not the last one on the bandwagon.” “Just throw something up there.” “I want it done within the month, no excuses.” “I don’t care if it’s a Facebook Group, a corporate Twitter personality or if we start blogging…just get it done!”

The Problem is…

Once again, like website design , email marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC or Google Adwords), we have key decision makers and well-meaning marketing managers being pushed into new technology and strategies they don’t completely understand. I mean if Twitter is free and takes less than 5 minutes to setup, why can’t I have my corporate Twitter account within a month? Or, if Facebook is free and I could use the Causes page to raise money for my non-profit, why can’t you get it done right away?

And the Answer is…

You can. You can get it done in 15 minutes or less. But…if you don’t do the work to assess your in-house resources for a disciplined, rigorous maintenance routine or train your staff regarding online etiquette or analyze your customer base to see if they even want (or will use) the dang social media strategy – then, it’s a complete and total WASTE OF TIME.

The Gobbledy-Gook Factor

I know I’m being harsh here, but seriously, you can’t just throw something up and expect it to perform. Think about your corporate brochure, if you just put gobbledy-gook for the content would someone actually call you and hire you? What if you designed a gorgeous tradeshow booth but went to a tradeshow where none of the attendees were interested or had the budget to purchase your product/services? Would that be the best use of your company’s marketing budget and monetary resources? Would it produce the requisite ROI demanded by your CFO? Nope, it would be a complete and total WASTE OF TIME.

What Should You Do?

Well, first of all, pat yourself on the back that your entrepreneurial and cutting edge enough to consider a social media strategy. Way to go, you are a frontrunner and innovator. Seriously, that’s awesome. So, now let’s roll up our sleeves and figure out if social media makes sense for you.

How Do You Know if You’re On the Right Path?

Well, cricket… One: Do you have anything interesting to talk about? Product updates, new technology, new service offerings, demonstrating expertise in an area, resources your competitors don’t have, etc. As in, what makes your organization so darn special? We’re talking Point of Differentiation here. Two: What problem are you trying to solve? Increase customers, increase sales, increase average sale, increase sales from existing customers, establish presence as industry leader, reposition brand, demonstrate expertise, share unique resources, etc. As in, what is your metric for measuring success? It’s all about ROI, baby. Three: Who cares? Your C-suite, your marketing department, your outsourced vendors, your distribution channel, your customers, etc. As in, if you write it will they come? Everyone has to be fully vested or it won’t work, really it can’t be a one man or one woman initiative. (Funny side note: I had a vendor give me a quote for “man hours.” I thanked him and asked him what would the project cost if it was “woman hours?” He said: Oh, a lot more. That was the right response!)

If You Answered Yes, Then Social Media is for You!

Sensei says: Congratulations!! Now, you’re ready to start thinking about People, Objective, Strategy, Technology (POST per the Forrester folks who came up with this great methodology) and your Process, Implementation, Discipline and Measurement (PIDM per me, I made it up but when you think about it really makes sense to ensure successful implementation).

Th-th-that’s All Folks!

Well, that’s all for today. In my next post, we’ll talk about what you need to do next in your never-ending quest for Social Media enlightenment to ensure your efforts are not a complete and total WASTE OF TIME. Be sure to sign up for our RSS feed (top right orange button thingy on our blog), so you can get notified when we post next and stay update with the latest industry content. Good night and good luck.

By,
Angela Hill
President

Incitrio
http://www.incitrio.com
Visit Incitrio on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Watch on YouTube

• Onsite SEO
• Onsite Blog
• Pay Per Click Campaign
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• YouTube Videos
• Offsite SEO

Instructions:

Part 1: Onsite SEO

Step 1: Website Analysis

To begin any onsite SEO, you must first start with a website analysis. An analysis will provide a snapshot of where your website is at and what needs to change to reach your goals. I recommend using www.websitegrader.com. Website Grader is a great tool because it not only provides a snapshot of your website, but also allows you to compare your website to competitors. The report will provide you with a score from 1-100 of your current onsite SEO strength. From there, you can create a plan to allocate your time and effort in the areas that need the most work. The report will also provide you with the amount of indexed pages and inbound links of your website vs. your competitors. This information will be invaluable when creating your online marketing strategy.

Step 2: Keyword Research

After performing a website analysis, the next step for most will be to start keyword research. This is a process where you select a cluster of keywords to optimize each page of your website around. You can use Google Keyword Tool to research keywords and their monthly search results. From here you can decide which keywords to use as the foundation of your onsite SEO.

Step 3: Keyword Execution

Once your keywords are selected, execution can begin. This is where things can become a little bit more complicated. There are many different ways to leverage your keywords throughout your website content and coding, and many of these steps will require a programmer to complete. Here is a list of the different places to leverage your keywords:

• Website url
• Title tags
• Meta tags
• H1 tags
• Alt tags
• Website content

And Voila!  Your onsite SEO is in place and its time to move on to Part 2: Onsite Blog. (This topic will be covered in the next post. Each bullet in Ingredients will become its own post.)

By,
Blake Gantney
Online Marketing Specialist

Incitrio
http://www.incitrio.com
Visit Incitrio on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Watch on YouTube

In today’s marketing environment, “social media” has become an all-encompassing buzzword that excites and terrifies professionals everywhere. What is it exactly? Why do I need it? And, most importantly, what exactly can social media do for me without eating up all of my valuable time?
In this workshop, Angela Hill from Incitrio will teach you the basics of social media as well as share cutting edge techniques to help you kick-start your online marketing campaign. Listen to non-profit case studies, large and small, to discover fascinating ways your peers are using social media to leverage their internal teams. Learn how to create your own social media plan that is scalable and attainable. Discover best practices for training your staff and volunteers to communicate online. Discuss how social media can leverage and augment your existing content. And, lastly, use social media as a powerful tool to manage ongoing donor relationships, engage your volunteers and attract new funding.

What Attendees Will Learn:

o      Social Media – terminology, tactics and tools

o      Best practices case studies from small and large non-profit organizations

o      How to create your own social media plan

o      Best practices for training staff/volunteers to communicate online

o      How to leverage existing content across multiple platforms to create “buzz”

o      Tips for managing ongoing donor relationships, volunteer engagement and fundraising online

About the Presenter
Angela Hill is the President and Creative Director of Incitrio, a boutique graphic design and branding agency. Incitrio specializes in brand strategy and brand implementation via design for print, design for web, and fully integrated marketing campaigns.

Since 1992, Ms. Hill has worked in the graphic design, branding and marketing industry within in-house agencies, advertising, marketing, and design firms in St. Louis, San Francisco, and San Diego.  In 2008, she received the YWCA’s TWIN Award. The Tribute to Women of Influence (TWIN) Awards Program honors not only women who demonstrate excellence and top leadership within their companies, but also the companies that employ these women.

Ms. Hill has experience creating and implementing brand strategy for organizations located throughout the world. Prior to starting her current firm, Ms. Hill’s national clients included: Hallmark, Williams Sonoma, Mars Candy, Energizer, Ford, Intel, Pepsi, Foster Farms, Sega, Merrill Lynch, Visa, and PG&E.

Ms. Hill currently provides brand analysis, strategy and implementation to such corporations as: 3ECompany, The American Council on Exercise, Barney&Barney, Capstone, California Center for Sustainable Energy, Claritas (a division of Nielsen), Open Energy, Marsh, Nanogen, and the Veterinary Specialty Hospital.

Presentation Download
Click here to download the Social Media for Non Profits presentation or view online. For additional questions, please contact startfresh at incitrio dot com or call 858-202-1822.

Qualifications

Must have – expert level design, production and software skills, multi-page layout, identity, branding, and web design, hard-work ethic, mellow personality, sense of humor, ability to follow directions, AIGA membership

Like to have – packaging design, sustainability and cause marketing experience, understanding of social media, seo, ppc and online marketing

Great to have, but not required – ability to speak/write in Chinese, ability to program in html

Corporate Culture

We work hard and play hard. Office hours are 8am-6pm M-Th and 8am-12pm Fri. Our goal is to give 110% at work so you have the freedom to recharge with your family, friends in your off hours. We believe balance is critical and almost never work late and absolutely do not work weekends. We create award-winning work and so attention to detail is vital as well as an ability to spell. If you love typography and color theory, you’ll love it here. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and we have a very family-like environment.

To Apply

Please send a cover letter, resumé and business card via the mail (yes, snail mail) to Angela Hill, President of Incitrio. Include the answers to the following questions: 1. I started my design career… 2. I’m still in design because I love… 3. My favorite font is… 4. My favorite pantone is… 5. The most challenging project I ever worked on was…

Incitrio
10951 Sorrento Valley Road, Suite 2c
San Diego, CA 92121 

Thanks and we look forward to receiving your resumés!

Just claiming my Technorati blog!

In today’s economy, a marketing plan that’s not performing is unacceptable. No longer can you afford to leave any aspect of your budget unexamined. If you’re spending any money whatsoever on online marketing vehicles such as: your website, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC or paid search) or email marketing, it is absolutely vital that your sales team and more importantly, your bottomline, are seeing results. The following are 5 must-read online marketing secrets that are 100% guaranteed to radically increase your sales funnel, revenue and profitability. 

1. ESTABLISH YOUR BASELINE
Behind every great business is a strong business plan. Equally true, behind every great online marketing campaign is a strong marketing plan and performance metrics. Establish your baseline with regular monthly analytic reports from your marketing dept. or vendor.

Websites: Setup a Google Analytics account (free) to measure and analyze site traffic. Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Review reports from your Google Adwords account (free) to measure campaign performance. Email Marketing: Request reports from your email dashboard (free) to review click thru and open rates. Use the information to optimize your online efforts and ensure your marketing dollars are working hard for you.

2. DETECT BUDGET LEAKS
Challenge: Your website analytics show a bounce rate higher than 50%. Visitors are leaving (aka bounce-ing) because they are not finding what they need. Solution: Rewrite your content or alter your website design to ensure they find exactly what they are looking for…immediately.

Challenge: Your keyword traffic or terms don’t make sense and you are repeating the wrong words over and over on your site. Solution: Align keywords with the pages visitors are visiting the most. Determine new keywords based on relevant terms and rewrite that page’s content.

Challenge: Your email newsletters are not delivering (aka going through) at least 90% of the time. You’re likely using an email provider that is blacklisted because they allow other clients to send spam. Solution: Switch email service providers. Make sure they are whitelisted and can send your emails in html and text versions to guarantee a much higher delivery rate.

Challenge: Your website is not converting (prospects are not contacting you). Solution: Determine a measurable conversion point (what does sales need as a signal that a viewer is a qualified prospect) and make sure it’s easy to find – request a demo, download a white paper, etc.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR SITE
Challenge: Sales prospects are not contacting you. Solution: Look at ways to redesign your site, check to make sure relevant content falls into a “Z” or “F” pattern – it has been scientifically proven that this is how visitors interact with sites. Integrate a strong call to action – 800#, request a quote, etc. on every page.

Challenge: Potential prospects are not qualified appropriately before contacting you. Solution: Develop optimized landing pages (a hybrid between: about, features/benefits and your contact form). Perform A-B testing (different variations) based on design, content and time of day to discover the best performers and tie them to your PPC campaign to increase conversions.

4. INCREASE YOUR SALES BY 480%
Maximize your online efforts by determining your cost per customer acquisition (how much you’re willing to pay for a sales lead from your site). When you optimize this expense, you can actually predict performance and determine which variables need to be modified for optimal efficiency. 

Radical sales growth begins when you factor in your cost per customer acquisition with your sales team’s close rate and your pay-per-click campaign to generate incredible results within 6 months or less.

How does it work? Review Company Z case study for the formula.

By inputting your own variables, you can accurately project the amount of revenue you will generate from your online sales efforts. (Results may vary.)

5. REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
After all of the steps are complete, go back to Step #1 and begin again. Through careful evaluation, like a car’s engine, you can tune-up your online marketing efforts to guarantee that they are producing optimal results. 

If your acquisition cost is too high simply because your keywords are expensive or your site is not converting, then it is absolutely vital to re-assess your online marketing efforts and push your marketing department or vendors to improve results. Use your monthly reports as a means to drive that discussion and find budget leaks.

Lastly, remember the golden rule: If prospects are not buying from you or your competitors online, then don’t waste your money on online marketing. Save it for whatever vehicle works best for you – tradeshows, advertising, brochures, pr, etc. to ensure your sales team is converting every prospect and building long-term revenue.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For the past 17 years, Angela Hill has worked with global business and consumer brands. Today, as president of the award-winning graphic design and branding agency Incitrio, she partners with clients to build and grow strong, innovative brands that consistently outperform their competition.

Incitrio
10951 Sorrento Valley Road, Suite 2C
San Diego, California 92121

858.202.1822 tel
startfresh@incitrio.com email
incitrio.com web

This article was originally written for Smart Business magazine in April 2009. 
Click here to request the PDF version of this article.

Successful networking is basically the same thing as personal branding, and at the end of the day…it’s all about developing a good strategy. Think of your networking strategy in terms of a two-pronged approach: 1. events where your target audience or circle of influencers are most likely to be and 2. events that match your personal interests. 

For the business networking events, make sure to pick a time of day when you’re at your peak. For example, if you’re a morning person, only go to breakfast events. If you’re a night owl, go to evening socials and dinners. By choosing a time of day when you’re at your best, you’re guaranteed to reduce the nervousness factor and make it easier for yourself to meet new contacts.

For the personal events, make sure to pick topics that are really interesting to you. If you love wine, join a wine club. If you love swimming, get on a masters swim team at your gym. When you share common interests, it’s easy to break the ice and talk about what you do from a non-threatening perspective.

People buy from people they: like, know and trust. Great sales, and therefore networking, is all about building long-term relationships. So, if you think about networking like dating, the rules are fairly straightforward: be a good listener, make eye contact, don’t act desperate, don’t have a triple espresso before you show up, shower, dress nice and smile.

Another tip is to strategically control the conversation. People love to talk about themselves and the more they talk, the more they feel good about you. So, start the conversation by asking them questions about themselves and be genuinely interested. Find ways to connect what they’re saying to what you do or how you can help them. Eventually, they’ll get tired of talking about themselves and ask what you do. That’s your golden opportunity to modify your elevator pitch and integrate key points that came up earlier into what you say so that it shows your actively listening and you can customize/integrate what you do into a problem they’re trying to solve or a value-added benefit to their client list.

Finally, be sure to follow up! If you think about sales as having 8-10 touch points, then networking and following up each count as one. Send an email or a personal note after an event, ideally the next day. Connect with them via LinkedIn while you’re still top of mind. Follow them on Twitter or ask them to follow you. If it’s a really good potential contact, suggest a coffee or lunch meeting in 2-3 weeks so that it’s non-threatening but keeps the momentum going. If it’s a good potential referral source, connect them with someone you know that could be a good potential client for them. The more you do, the closer you get to closing the sale.

Angela Hill is the president and owner of Incitrio, a sustainably-minded branding agency located in San Diego, CA.

“We’re aware that the brand owner and designer communities are being inundated with sustainability claims, awards, certification schemes and environmental logos from suppliers, certifying bodies and even the media,” said Dave Lunati, Marketing Director for Monadnock, “We wanted to determine the perceptions of the importance these and the other factors that influence sustainable print and packaging design and determine which information is viewed as credible versus marketing hype from the individuals on the front lines of the green design movement.” The study was conducted online during the fourth quarter of 2008 through banner advertisements on print and packaging websites and through designer user groups and blogs. Respondents were motivated to take the survey by a donation to the Nature Conservancy by the study sponsor for each completed survey.

Angela Hill is the president and owner of Incitrio, a sustainably-minded branding agency located in San Diego, CA.