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Transformation Marketing Proudly Accepts 3 AMA Merit Awards

Posted on: May 11th, 2012 by Lacy No Comments

Every year, the AMA – Lincoln (American Marketing Association – Lincoln Chapter) honors outstanding achievements in Marketing throughout Lincoln and Central Nebraska. The awards are given as “Prism” and “Merit” awards. Categories include Consumer Marketing, Social Media, Corporate Identity, Special Events, Consumer Marketing, and many more. A Prism Award is given to the best in category and the Merit is given to the runner-up.

For the first time this year, we entered some of our work to be judged for these awards. Yesterday, the Awards took place at the Embassy Suites in Lincoln, Nebraska and we proudly came home with three AMA Merit Awards.

Transformation Marketing received the following awards:

Merit Award for Marketing Campaign – Consumer Marketing in Small Business for efforts on the Utopia Salon & Day Spa’s Holiday Campaign in 2011.

Merit Award for Corporate Identity in Small Business for efforts on the Bella Vita logo and branding package.

Merit Award for Social Media in Small Business for efforts on the British Parts Northwest social media campaign.

Hackers are the Problem. We have a Solution!

Posted on: May 4th, 2012 by Lacy No Comments

I know… I know… We just did a blog on hackers. But we cannot stress enough the importance of this issue. We are seeing more and more websites being hacked lately. We can fix the issue after the fact, but it’s less hassle and less expensive for the client if we take measures to ahead of time to prepare for such an event.

Let’s put it this way… it’s like the plans you have at home or work in case of a fire or in case of a tornado. You make the plans, prepare for the situation and then hope like hell you’ll never need it. But unfortunately, the difference is that you have a better chance of your website being hacked than your home or business being destroyed by a tornado or a fire.

When we, at Transformation Marketing, began to see this happening more and more, we wanted to be sure we had a way to help our clients protect themselves. So, we put together our healthy website package. Call today and ask how our healthy website package can help you prepare for the emergency of your website being hacked!

Ads Gone Unconventional

Posted on: April 16th, 2012 by Melissa No Comments

Unconventional… Different… Strange… Borderline… Just Plain Weird. These might be terms you use to describe the following ads. But does that make them bad? We don’t think so! There’s a fine line between strange and inappropriate, and we say as long as you stay on the strange side of the line, go for it!

One of our most successful blogs we’ve written to date was our “If these ads don’t catch your eye, we don’t know what will!” blog about Guerrilla Marketing. Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional method of marketing where you think outside of the box, take marketing to the next level, and try things that haven’t been done before. We’ve done this with a few of our clients, and we’ve found that it’s one of the most fun and successful ways to market your business. So, although Guerrilla Marketing is normally a whole new way of marketing, we consider these print ads to borderline that title.

Welcome to Ads Gone Unconventional!

Yowsa! This Listerine ad sure catches your eye. Did you laugh a little? Us too. You’ll remember this one, won’t you?

This is obviously an exaggeration for these “fast acting laxatives”, but it’s certainly funnier than heck, too. Another one that will stick with you!

You looked twice, didn’t you? Then this ad was a success.

We thought this would be a good one to end on. Words do not describe. This ad says it all.

Now, we just want to end by saying: Again, there is a fine line between unconventional and inappropriate. These ads stay on the safe side of that line, but there is a point where although you might be catching the viewers’ eye, you might also be turning them off of your product with your message. (See Ads Gone Inappropriate)

We hope you have enjoyed this installment of Ads Gone Bad. If you would like to report of an Ad Gone Bad, please contact us at info@transformationmarketing.com.

Note: We are a marketing firm, not a law firm. We are not aware of any copyright laws we may be violating by posting pictures of advertisements that are in the public domain to this blog. This site is just for fun. If you own the rights to any of the pictures or ads posted and feel that violated your copyright, please contact me and we will remove it. If you want us to fix your marketing mishap we can do that too.

Preparing for Your New Website

Posted on: March 21st, 2012 by Lacy No Comments

You want a new website and you probably want it as soon as possible. Luckily, we want to deliver you your website as soon as possible. So, we’re going to quote Jerry Maguire when we say, “Help Us Help You!” We understand that many clients may not know the process of building a website. So, today we’re going to go through that to help you understand how you can help us get your site up and running in a timely manner. Here are the steps you should be prepared to take when planning for a new site:

1. Know that you want a new site.
This may seem like a “well duh” comment, but it happens!

2. Have a reasonable expectation of when your site can be done.
If you call us today, your site will not be done tomorrow. The whole process takes at least 4-5 weeks and that’s IF everything goes smoothly and the client gets us everything we need in a timely manner.

3. Know what you want from your site.
Know the major functions you want your website to have (and go ahead and tell us the minor functions too). It’s much easier, quicker and more cost effective to know these things off the bat instead of trying to add them later.

4. Know what you like in design.
Check out some other sites and know what you like and what you dislike in how they look. Know colors you’d like to incorporate and any other design specifics that are important to you. (Note: it is important to know this BEFORE we start the design process.)

5. Gather all pictures, links, logo files, etc. you would like to use in the main design of your site.
We will need these BEFORE we begin designing the home page, which after the bid and research, is our first step in the design process. If you do not have a logo and would like us to design one for you, know that you will need to add time to your projected website launch date to allow us to add this extra step in our process.

6. Compile Other Content
While we get started on your template design (or even before would be great), make sure you have ALL content compiled. This means: The verbiage you would like to use on each one of your sub pages, any product, staff or other pictures you would like to use on your sub pages, links, maps or product information you want on any of your sub pages and any forms you want on your site. Also, make sure we are clear on where all of this content is going.

7. Approve Template Design
Once we have all the information we need to begin the design on your site, we will first design the home page. The home page will serve as a template for the rest of your site, so it’s important to look at all aspects of this page when approving it. Once you approve it, and we move on to your sub pages, all the main aspects of the page will be the same on your sub pages. Now, that being said we CAN change these things once we’ve started on the sub pages We understand that there might be something you do not notice until the end, and so we will work with you on this, but know that this takes time, since it will now have to be changed on every page and could slow the process down.

8. Approve sub pages and double check template design
Approve the sub pages and give the template design one last good look. While content can always be changed on your site to keep it current, once your site goes live, making any major template changes will cost you more time and money.

9. Allow a week or two for coding

10. Approve Functioning Site
After it goes to code, your site will be a functioning site rather than just a flat design. It will not yet be live, which gives us time to make sure everything is functioning properly and work out any kinks. Once this is approved, you will need to redirect your servers. This could take up to 24 hours, but once this part of the process is complete, your website will be live!

11. Last but not least…
Please keep in mind that once your site goes live, there is the potential of a few more minor kinks that need to be worked out. We will correct these as quickly as possible.

Using Coupons For Online Marketing

Posted on: March 9th, 2012 by Transformation Marketing No Comments

If you’ve bought something online you’ve likely seen that blank box at the end of a checkout process asking for a promotion code. It’s always wonderful to have the magic numbers to activate a discount right before checkout. It feels like you are getting a leg up on everyone else with your small discount.

Discount shopping is nothing new online, but many people misunderstand the value of coupons. In today’s blog post we will give you two very good reasons why one group of shoppers should not be using coupons and the others should be.

1. Online coupons should be for new buyers. We’ve seen many companies using coupons for the purpose of driving people to their website, but the strategy should be more specific than that. You want the coupon users to be new customers. Increasing your customer base is the primary goal of an online campaign and if you have returning customers using coupons it can make a dent in your profits.

2. Your returning customers should not be using coupons. Branded, loyal customers don’t need another reason to purchase something from your site. You’ve already paid a sum of money to get that customer, why would you then spend even more money to get them back to your site when they have proven loyal to your brand?

Coupons are great for enticing searchers to click on your ad and purchase a product, but don’t let your profits lose out by misuse of a coupon campaign. If you want to offer something to bring up your sales volume try these methods:

- Offer discounts on specific products. This will keep those bargain hunters from leeching your profits.

- Use coupons to get rid of excess inventory. Instead of clearance items, offer a deep discount using a coupon. The shopper will feel even more success at getting an exclusive, discounted deal.

Looking for more advice on how to increase your profits online? At Transformation Marketing we can help with your coupon strategy and in many other avenues. Give us a call. We can help!

Importance of Reputation Management

Posted on: March 5th, 2012 by Lacy No Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog on customer service based on my experience at both Bryan LGH and St. Elizabeth when choosing a birthing center. (Click Here to see that Blog) This blog went into detail about how disappointed I was with my experience in attempting to tour Bryan LGH.

I have to be honest, part of the reason I wanted to post this blog was to see if I could get a response from them. I wanted to see if they at least kept on eye out on what was being said about them and if they would take measures to make things right. Sure enough, I posted the blog on Wednesday and on Friday, I got my response. Not only did they apologize, but also offered us a personal tour.

Now, I must say that we are still going to go with St. Elizabeth. However, if I hadn’t been so impressed by the facilities or the excellent and friendly service we received at St. E’s (on top of hearing countless wonderful things about their services there), we probably would have taken Bryan up on their offer.

What Bryan LGH did is called reputation management, as service we provide here at Transformation Marketing. Any time you have an upset customer or an upset potential customer, you have a chance to mend that relationship. However, unless that customer comes to you to let you know they’re upset, which is rarely the case, you know nothing of this without reputation management.

There are countless ways you can spread the word about a positive or negative experience with the web so readily available. Word can get out much further because of this. Keeping an eye on what people are saying about you online can be vital to your company. It can make the difference between loosing a great deal of business or mending a relationship and gaining new business as well.

If you would like a report on what’s being said about your company to see if reputation management might be right for your company as well as what all our reputation management packages entail, give us a call at Transformation Marketing, today! We would be happy to give you insight to what we could do to further your business relationships.

Does Your Landing Page Answer The Basic Questions?

Posted on: February 17th, 2012 by Transformation Marketing No Comments

When someone clicks on a paid ad or even a natural search result there are a series of questions that run through their head about the webpage they are viewing.

“Am I in the correct place?”- In about 3 seconds your visitor will determine if your website is offering an answer to what they are searching.
“Is this what I expected?” – If the ad or description of your website is properly attuned to your product or service, the visitor will quickly recognize what they are looking at. But if not, they will likely leave your website.
“Do I trust this site?” – Establishing some kind of trust with your visitors is key to keeping them on your website. Testimonies and affiliations are great ways to do this.
“How long will this take?” – A long intimidating form or several dense paragraphs of text will often lead the person to leave your website. Most visitors don’t want to invest the time in reading or researching.
“What should I do next?” – Marketers answer this question by using a call to action. Perhaps you know that big red button is supposed to be clicked, but does your website visitor know that?
“Where should I go next?” – Presenting too many options could be a deterrent to your visitors. A page full of links, icons, and text could confuse the next steps of your sales funnel.
“Should I click the back button?” – The back button is everyone’s favorite tool. If any of the questions above are not answered, you will have a higher risk of losing your latest visitor.

Before you check off this little list, we have one more bit of of advice to share with you. You are a bad judge of your own website. You know exactly how to signup for your own newsletter and you know exactly where your company contact info is listed, but is it obvious to others? Ask a five people to perform a specific task on your website and you will get five different answers.

At Transformation Marketing we work with you to create highly optimized landing pages for your paid search marketing campaigns. We work to create a tightly themed correlation between your keywords, ads, and landing page to achieve a high quality score and high conversion rates.

Customer Service… Where’s the Love?

Posted on: February 15th, 2012 by Lacy 8 Comments

Well, many of our clients know this now, and it’s by no means a secret, so I’m going to share some news… I (Lacy) am expecting a baby in May this year! For any of you who have gone through the trials and joys of having a child, know all the wondrous things that come with it. One of those things being, choosing a hospital.

We began this process not really knowing what to expect or where to go. We got some great advice from friends and family, but the best advice we got was from my aunt and from our doctor. They said: go tour the hospitals. See what each has to offer, and then you can make an educated decision based on that. Well… I’m sure glad we did!

We picked a night that worked around both of our busy schedules, made sure we were avoiding the time the staff changed over and we started at Bryan LGH. To our disappointment, when we got there, we didn’t get any further than the front desk. They didn’t even direct us to the maternity unit. All we were told was, “We only give group tours twice a week. Come back on Tuesdays at 5:30 pm or Saturdays at 3 pm.” This worried me. We had taken time out of our busy schedules to do this and I was told (by my aunt, who works at a hospital and has toured many) that we could drop by any time and that someone would give us a tour.

Well, we decided to take a risk and head to the next place anyway. We had already taken the night to do this, we just as well give it a shot. When we got to St. Elizabeth’s, the gal at the front desk was on the phone, but someone else saw us and asked to help us right away. They gal said she wasn’t sure if they could give us a tour tonight, but that we were more than welcome to go up to the maternity unit and ask. So, we did. The gal at the desk there informed us that they had been very busy all night, but that if there was anyone they could spare for a bit, they would be happy to give us a tour. And guess what… They didn’t just spare us anyone. They spared us the charge nurse.

This gal was so wonderful to us, showing us everything we could possibly need to know, answering all our questions, and though she had to take a quick call in the middle of the tour (they were busy, so we understood, of course) she gave us the full tour and made us feel right at home, personalizing everything to our specific needs. The rooms were beautiful, they had so much to offer and we could not have possibly asked for anything more. By the time we left, there was absolutely no question to where we were going when our son (oh yeah… We’re having a boy, by the way) came along.

Now, I’ll never know if Bryan LGH is actually even more beautiful and fabulous than St. Elizabeth because I’ll never go back. How much do you think a hospital makes off of a delivery? This is our first and probably not our last, so how about 2 or 3 deliveries? Oh, and of course I told all of my friends of our poor experience so how about all the rest of my 20-something friends and family. (For the sake of numbers let’s just say we’re up to 30 deliveries.) The last kick in the pants for Bryan… I work for a marketing company and write for their blog. They just lost a pretty significant number of potential customers. All because the person at the front desk wouldn’t give us the time of day.

Moral of the story: When someone comes to your front desk… What do you want their first customer service experience at your company to be?

When Superbowl Ads Go Bad

Posted on: February 6th, 2012 by Lacy No Comments

Now, before I even get started on this let me say one thing: Compared to what we usually post on the “When Ads Go Bad” blog series, were the ads during the Superbowl bad? NO! Not even close. However, when you get the chance to be advertised during the the most viewed ANYTHING of the year, we’re not talking regular advertising. You have GOT to stand out above and beyond the rest. Especially when you know it’s a time where many people watch just for the ads.

This year, those ads left much to be desired. As I said, they weren’t necessarily terrible, but most were forgettable at best. So, today, instead of picking on the bad ads like we normally do, we are going to commend the ads we thought were the most successful of the Superbowl. (We’d rather not give the mediocre ads any more publicity, because A) They’re not quite bad enough to make fun of, B) They’re not funny to begin with and C) We can’t remember half of them, anyway because they were boring.)

3rd Funniest Superbowl Commercial of 2012:

Doritos – Man’s Best Friend

2nd Funniest Superbowl Commercial of 2012:

Bud Lite – Here We Go

Funniest Superbowl Commercial of 2012:

M&M’s – Sexy and I Know It

Now, do all Superbowl Ads have to be funny? Not necessarily. But they do seem to be the ones we remember the longest. But, just to show that we’re not being bias, here’s one more “not funny” yet good ad from the 2012 Superbowl:

Budweiser – Prohibition

If you would like to report of an Ad Gone Bad, please contact us at info@transformationmarketing.com.

The SOPA is Bad for Business

Posted on: January 18th, 2012 by Transformation Marketing No Comments

At Transformation Marketing we are all about using the internet as a tool for businesses to grow, gather new clients, and reach out to their current customers. However, because some people use the internet for illegal uses, the government has come up with a way to try and curb this activity.

While we applaud the use of laws to punish people and keep them from breaking the law, the SOPA is not the answer to this problem. If you’ve never heard of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) here’s a brief description of what it would do.

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who requests the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for 10 pieces of music or movies within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

If you read that carefully you will see the flaws in the process. Bascially it is giving power to the wrong kind of people. And even if you trust the government, how to can trust big media companies to keep the American people in mind when they decide to cut funding to a specific website or business.

This is not the answer to the problem and thousands of people have spoken out against the act. If the SOPA becomes law, it could stifle the innovation (and jobs) that the technology industry creates. That’s why Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla, Google, Yahoo, eBay, AOL, LinkedIn, and Zynga all oppose SOPA.

At Transformation Marketing we use the internet to bring business to our clients. The potential for abuse of power is one of the most insidious threats to democracy in the internet age. We encourage you to learn more about the SOPA and how it can effect businesses like yours.