Inbound and
Digital Marketing Insights

When we think of presentations, we think of slide after slide of text and images. 10 years ago, slide transitions and effects made these slides attention-grabbing but, presently, they’re not much source of “power” for Powerpoints.

So how do we come up with the right presentation aid for today’s distracted and ever pre-occupied audiences?

Posters, business cards, billboards, social media pages, letters, sms campaigns, and white papers -- all companies need some type of marketing collateral regardless of the industry they belong. The development of marketing collateral falls under the category of creative communications -- a function that allows a company to effectively connect with its employees, customers and all other stakeholders.

Social media marketing has been growing steadily and has come a long way since its first days with BBS (Bulletin Board System), CompuServe, and AOL. It started with milestones like the birth of Friendster that was adopted by 3 million users within it’s first few months. And now, we have social media juggernauts like LinkedIn (200 million users as of January 2013), Twitter (500 million users as of 2012), and Facebook (1 billion users as of September 2012).

Using social media has become so popular and even necessary that all kinds of businesses, from small bicycle shops to multi-national corporations, are pouring money, time, and effort just to figure it out for business communications.

Many of us have heard it: it’s more fun in the Philippines! The Philippine government’s campaign to attract visitors to the country is based on the experiences of pleasantly surprised tourists who have been here in the past. But outside of the beach scene, the natural wonders and the nightlife, does the Philippines have anything to offer to the global entrepreneur?

Especially if you’re an agency looking for an offshore partner to help you cut down costs, multiply production output and add creative talent, the answer is a resounding yes! Backed by research, the Philippines is a sweet spot for creative process outsourcing.

Share-friendly content encourages a business’ direct network to share and repost on their personal networks making online social media efforts more effective and extensive.

While there are many ways to create online efforts i.e. blog posts, podcasts, webinars, short videos and more, social media content must be smart, fun and relevant - otherwise a business will fail to keep their visitors or prospective clients hooked and coming back for more.

In short, communication efforts must be directed and strategized. A framework for content creation, delivery and governance must be established. Also, it is ideal to set a baseline for core messages, tone and priority around what your business’ target audience is interested in. Development of posting plans and management of fan and community pages are both a must.

Below are five strategies that can help your business build better relationships and results on the social web:

1. Be your brand; represent it! – Infuse your brand’s social media activity with your business personality. What you say and post on the social web should not only promote and sell; it should send the message of who you are and what your business stands for.
2. Know your audience and what they need – Your audiences turn to you for help. Let them know how you can be of service and that you have the answer and/or information to help them with their problems. Don’t forget to back your claims with fact so as not to fall short.

One of the most challenging things about offering creative services to clients is pricing creative work. On one hand, we need to price profitably considering all the time and effort we spend on completing creative projects, and the peaks and valleys in demand for what we do. On the other hand, we want to price fairly and encourage repeat business.

Ad agencies and creative studios that have been around for a few years learn from experience and usually develop a system for generating cost estimates that is based on: 1) The time it takes to close job orders and 2) Their best guess of what clients are willing to pay. But for creatives who do not have the benefit of experience and are unsure about how to tackle the pricing challenge, here are 8 simple steps you might want to take to come-up with a defensible price:

1. Understand exactly what needs to be delivered - Before bidding on a project or sending in a proposal for your services, be sure to understand exactly what your client needs from you and how you are expected to deliver the work. If you’re being asked to deliver a poster design, for example, check to see your client’s expectation of the format for your file delivery, image resolution requirements, whether you need to provide color and print guides, and whether you should make paper stock recommendations or not. Ask questions so you can accurately determine the scope of the project: some clients do not have enough experience in managing creative work to know what they need at each phase of their project.