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volume 1 :: april issue :: 2010

marketing planning

make it fun and think big! page 3

Spring is just around the corner, and I’m feeling antsy...more than ready to make the transition from winter to summer!

I’m also feeling antsy in our business...more than ready to implement our plans!

I know from having started 5 small businesses in the past 12 years that without planning you’re doomed in business. Planning is almost as important as having a great idea that meets a need in the marketplace. Like Cassie, I LOVE strategy and have some pretty grand visions for our business!

I’m sure you have great ideas for your business, too! Have you blocked off any time this year to plan? If you have, sweet! Rock on! If not, I hope you’ll schedule a half day soon to figure out how you’re going to reach your business goals!

Regular planning is critical...make it fun and let yourself think big while you’re planning! Then get out there and integrate!

helping you integrate social media into your marketing

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Marketing planning is one of the things I love the most about my “job.” I love getting into the nitty gritty of what I am considering, why I am considering it and nailing down the details of what I want to accomplish–and how I want to accomplish it. Implementation is also fun, but it just doesn’t have the same appeal to me as the planning phase.

This month’s issue of The Savvy is all about things to consider when doing your marketing planning–whether it involves social media or not! Are you familiar with your target audience? How are you considering reaching out to them to build a relationship? At what pace will you execute? And more importantly, are you giving yourself the time and the resources to properly plan?

We’ve added in some great articles, tips and things to consider when doing your planning phase. Have even more suggestions? Hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. Most importantly–enjoy!

Courses + TrainingSocial Media Courses, Social Media Bootcamps, + Private Coaching

We are excited to offer our three new courses on social media and marketing! The first round of courses are being held in Denver at the Community College of Denver’s Auraria Campus. We’re offering a 3-class package–12 FUN hours of savvy with a small group of businesses (classes can also be purchased individually)!

Package price for all 3 classes: only $900–save $100! Limit of 11 students per class. Individual pricing below.

Overview of Social Media ($100)Thursday, May 6 choice of 9-11am or 1-3pmThis 2-hour course will help you understand the leading social networking sites and how consumers and businesses are using them.• See how savvy businesses are using these sites!• Leave with an understanding of which sites to utilize in your marketing

strategy!

Facebook Marketing Intensive Workshop ($500)Tuesday, April 6 or Thursday, May 20 9am-4pmThis 6-hour hands-on workshop (1 hour break for lunch) will help you get a jump start on Facebook for your business.• Set up Facebook the “right way” + customize for your brand!• Leave with quick & effective methods to begin marketing YOUR

business on Facebook right away!

Twitter Marketing Intensive Workshop ($400)Tuesday, April 20 or Thursday, May 27 10am-3pmThis 4-hour hands-on workshop (1 hour break for lunch) will help you understand the complexities of Twitter and how to start using it for your business.• Set up Twitter the “right way” + customize for your brand!• Leave with quick & effective methods to begin marketing YOUR

business on Twitter right away!

Can’t make it to Denver? Contact us about bringing these classes directly to your location!

Questions? Contact us today!Cassie: 720.244.3503 ■ info@thecollectivesavvy.com

Ready to get started with the FUN? Visit our site to register!

Other training options in the works:Social Media Bootcamps! Ready to get started on Facebook and Twitter? Wish you could spend a weekend with experts who would help you set up your accounts the “right way” and teach you how to use it effectively for business? Join one of our bootcamp weekends and spend two intense days with us! You’ll learn:• How to set up Facebook Fan Pages and Groups and build a fan base• How to set up Twitter and build followers• How to understand everything that’s happening on Twitter so you can begin to

see patterns and effectively use this amazing tool in your marketing efforts• How to customize Twitter and Facebook to carry your brand through• How to link these sites together to maximize your time while using these sites• Plus: leave the weekend with your accounts fully set up and operational, armed

with a specific, ready-to-implement-right-away strategy for using both sites effectively in YOUR business!

Contact us today for more information about these incredible weekends! Investment: $3000.

Get Savvy Over Lunch! Don’t have much time, but want some quick-hit strategies for integrating social media into your marketing? We’re in the prep stage for these training sessions and would love your feedback regarding best day(s) of the week for lunch with The Collective Savvy.

Private coaching now available at an hourly rate of $200, 2-hour minimum.2

Fun + Big thinking = Marketing Planning? I believe the keys to successful marketing planning are 1) knowing where you want to go, 2) inviting the appropriate people to brainstorm with you, and 3) organizing the resulting thoughts and IMPLEMENTING them in an integrated fashion.

We often assume that planning equals a BORING, more-work-generating activity.

It doesn’t have to be! Here are a few simple ways to make your planning sessions fun!

1. Invite creative, brainstormer types to attend the meeting in addition to the business’ decision makers. Both groups are equally vital to the planning process!

2. Meet in a physical space you don’t normally associate with work activities. This value of this important tip is often overlooked. Have you become conditioned to thinking about your business in a singular way while in your physical workspace? Often just holding your planning session in a very different location can jostle the brain and allow you to be more creative. Some places I’ve done marketing planning include a local microbrewery, a boutique hotel, and outside in a park.

3. Bring your business plan goals to the meeting and put them on the wall, on a flipchart, or on a whiteboard as a constant, visual reminder of what you’re trying to accomplish with your marketing. Why is this so important? Well, as the Cheshire Cat told Alice in Lewis Carroll’s tale:Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get toAlice: I don’t much care where.The Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.Alice: …so long as I get somewhere.The Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

4. Give yourself and those planning with you psychological permission to think big. While it may not be practical (or in the budget!) to consider blanketing the country with outdoor video ads featuring “the world’s most mysterious man,” that idea alone may spark more resourceful and creative methods for marketing nationally, when you might otherwise have considered advertising only within your own town.

5. Ensure that someone records the important breakthroughs and preferred action steps from the event. It’s critical to save these items saved so that you can refer to them as you begin to structure and then implement your plan. Consider

also making a tickler file for next year and store some of the unused but potentially future-relevant ideas for the next time.

What if you’re a solopreneur? Invite a few of your marketing savvy colleagues and friends to brainstorm with you and offer to buy them lunch in return. There is nothing so daunting as sitting down to plan your marketing all by yourself. But with your goals at hand, a few creative people with vested interest in seeing you reach those goals, and an unusual, interesting place to meet, suddenly the act of planning itself becomes much more interesting! Just make sure you have a good agenda so it doesn’t turn into a gabfest.

In my three most recent businesses, I have done these five things and have found them to be extraordinarily effective and rewarding. Each time I have come away with a renewed excitement about my business!

Many times we operate under this mantra: “Fire, Ready, Aim!”. However, today’s marketplace with its often razor-thin edges of competitiveness and profit margins now requires thoughtful consideration of your marketing efforts and nimble execution.

We love to help entrepreneurs reach their goals–and we’d love to help you achieve yours! Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and our website and contact us when you’re ready to plan and implement. 3

marketing

make it fun and think big!by Candy Rice

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where will social media take you? insert some savvy.

Cook Images Photography is relatively new to social media as a marketing tool but certainly not new to the world of photography! Jeremy and Hara Cook are in high demand for their modern wedding and portrait photography. When we asked why they decided to integrate social media into their traditional marketing efforts, they told us they “went on a hunch.”

Their demographic consisted mainly of people just like them: “20-35 years old and ‘plugged in,’ technologically speaking.” The Cooks spend much of their time connected to the internet in some fashion. The idea of a new type of “word of mouth” marketing appealed to them. In their words, social marketing “would give our clients a chance to tell in their own words the experience they enjoyed with Cook Images Photography.”

Social media marketing seemed to be a natural next step in their business. The Cooks contacted TCS last month to do a custom Facebook profile image and custom tab, as well as a custom Twitter background. We enjoyed working with the Cooks on their branding and love what our designer “cooked up!” Check out their integration efforts live at facebook.com/cookimagesphotography and twitter.com/cookimages.

Since the topic of The Savvy this month is marketing preparation and planning, we asked the Cooks how they built their fans on Facebook. They started with their clients and before they knew it, people were regularly fanning them. We think many company fan pages launch that way, and most don’t get as lucky or have success such as the Cooks’. Clearly they are rocking it out, based on their fan page activity!

When asked about their marketing planning process, they freely admit they are way too busy to do much marketing planning–but they do take every opportunity that comes their way, and the benefits of being open to new ideas are showing in their overall marketing efforts.

The Cooks think social media integration is vital. As Hara said, “Connecting with people online has become a very comfortable way for most people to meet. Plus, and most importantly for any business, you have to go where the people are...they’re online!” Jeremy and Hara have taken the free tools available through Facebook and Twitter to continue to build brand awareness with existing and potential customers!

When asked what one thing they would recommend to people considering social media and traditional marketing planning, the Cooks responded with savvy advice: determine who your target is and what you are trying to say to them. In their words, “What message is coming across, or more importantly, NOT coming across?” And we at TCS concur! The value of clear, concise messaging should be appreciated in all marketing activities.

And what do Jeremy and Hara think so far about their social media integration? Hara says, “LOVE it! I love to hear people talk about us...if it’s not good, we know what to change. If it is good...we book more weddings!!”

Wow. We wish more brands thought about social media this way!

We’re providing Cook Images Photography with:• Facebook and Twitter

customization (final choices above).

• Graphic design services for FB/Twitter.

• Graphic design services for a custom electronic newsletter.

by Cassie

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Savvy Case StudyCook Images Photography, FloridaHow savvy wedding photographers are integrating.

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2 color wordmarks

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The Collective Savvy has a fabulous Savvy Social Media Starter Package perfect for launching a social media initiative or for those businesses seeking to integrate current marketing activities!

Integration and planning are the focus for April, and we’d love to meet with you to go over your specific needs and ideas for your business. Then we’ll get busy helping you implement them!

Contact us at info@thecollectivesavvy.com or call Candy at 303.947.5527 to get started today!

Offer good through April 30, 2010. Regularly price at $500.

Social Media Starter Package $450• 30-minute consultation• Facebook Fan Page Setup

• Custom profile graphic• Custom welcome tab graphic• One additional custom tab

• Twitter Setup• Custom background graphic

*FB ad creation for an additional fee

Featured OfferSavvy Social Media Starter PackageCustom package for getting your business going on Facebook + Twitter!

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Check out our Facebook Fan Page to see what kind of custom tabs are possible!

Email or call us today to take advantage of this starter package!

“Fast and cheap [ways of grow ing]

doesn’t mean chintzy or short-

term. It just mean s you make your

mistakes quickly and inexpen sively and get them over

w ith.”-Zagat’s

25 Signs You’ve Got a Strong SM Consultant or AgencyExcerpt of an article by Beth Harteat www.theharteofmarketing.com

TCS note: Even though this article is more than a year old, we think it has great relevance even today!

Geoff Livingston’s and my original post “Top 25 Ways to Tell if Your Social Me-dia Expert Is a Carpetbagger” was really meant as a silly riff in reaction to the sudden rush of folks offering social me-dia services in the wake of the economic crisis. The post was never meant to be anything more than half rant/half humor, but the 180+ comments on both of our blogs indicate that we touched a much bigger nerve. Since it’s a prescient topic, we’d like to offer a more serious, posi-tive post to help marketers make a good choice in consultants

1. Believes in the generous web and practices cross-linking in their blog (example: Kami Huyse)

2. Highlights others’ work in their blog (example: Chris Brogan)

3. Integrates social media as part of larger marketing strategy (example: Razorfish)

4. Doesn’t pretend to be an expert in all

things digital; instead simply focuses on what he/she/they do best (exam-ple: Common Craft)

5. Gives away best practices in an ef-fort to educate, grow social media in general (example: Todd Defren/SHIFT Communications)

6. Understands that Radian6 and other monitoring tools are vastly superior tracking tools in comparison to Tech-norati (example: Fleishman’s Matt Dickman)

7. Will tell you that there is no magic bullet for determining social media ROI and that you need to go further to accurately monitor, measure and determine the effectiveness of social media (example: K.D. Paine)

8. Understands that social media is an important part of the larger word of mouth marketing principles (example: Ogilvy’s John Bell)

9. Others cite this person/agency’s work (example: see the many here)

10. Realizes that search engine optimiza-tion represents an absolutely crucial part of social media (example: To-pRank’s Lee Odden)

11. Understands that social media ex-pands beyond search engine optimiza-tion tactics that lead to Diggs, Stum-bleUpon and link baiting (example: Key Relevance’s Li Evans)

12. Integrates brick and mortar events with social media activity (example: Voce’s Josh Hallet)

13. Has and continues to work on notable social media projects (example: Andy Sernovitz)

14. Understands that conversations are the starting place and not the end game. And though ROI is critical, knows that without conversation you’re not going anywhere (example: Paul Chaney)...read the rest of the article

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Marketing Article

A Small Business Using Social Media Brilliantly With No BudgetExcerpt of an article by Niall Harbison at www.simplyzesty.com

A small local restaurant in rural Ireland [is] making tremendous use of social media to help grow their business and build their brand. Rather than highlighting what we think they are doing right and looking at it from the outside we decided to ask Lorraine Fanneran who is behind all their social media activity to give us a run through of what is and what isn’t working for them.

Tell us a little about your business?We have a small Italian cafe and takeaway in Limerick. It’s very casual, seating 18 people serving home-made Italian food all cooked from scratch using family recipes.

When and why did you start using social media?I started my social media campaign by accident really. I was on maternity leave 3 years ago and stumbled across a food blog while surfing the net. I had never even heard of a blog before and decided I’d start one myself as I had a bit of time on my hands at home for a few months. I won best food blog in 2007 and was in the final in 2008 also. I progressed to Twitter last year and finally after much persuasion from friends signed up to Facebook in May. Our business is very small and we are in Limerick which doesn’t get much media attention so it’s up to me to get our name out there and I find social media the best method to do this. Advertising in local media is very expensive

for a business of our size and I never see any benefit from any ads that we have done so I put a lot of effort into making our social media campaign effective.

How have you used Facebook?Setting up a facebook page is probably the best thing we have ever done for the business. I started it in May and we had our busiest month of the year just after that. I find it fantastic for tapping into our local market and communicating directly with our customers. We have nearly 2000 friends in 10 months and the majority of those would be in Limerick. I keep the page as active as I can and try not to sell the business all the time. I keep it personal as people want to know about “you” the owner and the more personal it is the better. I put a food question on nearly everyday to find out the likes and food preferences people have and always get great feedback. I often find the more simple or random the question is the more responses I get. My most popular question was “pineapple on pizza?” and I got over 60 comments. I think people like to talk about food so I find it easy to interact and post popular topics. The Munster team eat in with us a lot so when I started I posted photos of them in the shop and had a huge reaction to it, everyone was talking about it. Some of the team left a lot of comments on each others photos which was fantastic as the public got to see the more personal side of them and there was a great buzz around it.

I also do give-aways, the most popular one is “tag the pizza” and... read the rest of the article

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Social Media Article

“If you ignore the deeper issues, you may not know the nature of your call ing, and if you don’t do work that connects with your deep soul, you may always be dissatisfied, not only in your choice of work but in all other areas of l ife.”

-Thomas Moore

All about Facebook

Want to use Facebook for more than just connecting with Friends? Check out these great Facebook Fan Pages and Facebook Applications to maximize your Facebook experience!

Facebook Fan Page–Become a fan and learn about upcoming Facebook changes, great pages to check out, pages for non-profits, and more!

Facebook Securi ty–Worr ied about phishing schemes and other annoyances that may jeopardize your account? Become a fan of Facebook Security to learn about the latest security threats on Facebook!

Facebook Pages–Want to see what other Facebook pages are out there? Take a look around! Wondering what Facebook Fan Page takes the cake above all others? Texas Hold ‘Em!

Facebook White House Channel–Watch live stream from the White House and/or participate in commentary on what’s happening.

Non-Profits on Facebook–Do you work or volunteer for a non-profit? Check out Non-Profits on Facebook to learn how to harness the power of Facebook for your good deeds!

Facebook Ads–Become a fan of Facebook Ads to discover how to maximize Facebook Ads for your own purposes!

Facebook Mobile–Get Facebook on your smart phone!

There are many, many more apps and pages that you may use to integrate your marketing efforts on Facebook. Check out the search feature on Facebook and see what comes up when you simply type in “Facebook.”

And don’t forget to visit www.facebook.com/collectivesavvy and check out our “Favorite Pages.” Become a fan to get regular updates on Facebook for your marketing efforts! Oh, and if you like what you see, Suggest us to your Friends!

Savvy Tip

Learn more about us online!www.thecollectivesavvy.com

Candy: 303.947.5527Cassie: 720.244.3503

info@thecollectivesavvy.com

facebook.com/collectivesavvytwitter.com/collectivesavvy

linkedin.com/companies/collective-savvy

How can we help you?• Marketing + Social Media Strategy• Marketing + Social Media Management• Marketing + Social Media Newsletter• Design + Photography + Copy Writing• Marketing + Social Media Training9

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