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Faith Seekings Articles

Guest post by: Faith Seekings

Does Your Marketing Plan Live in a Drawer? - Click To Read Article
Your marketing plan was created for a reason. The motivation being to meet revenue targets, increase market share, attract more ideal clients. How can you help make sure the plan gets put into action? Click here for tipa on turning plans into action.

Project Turn-around Time: What to Expect - Click To Read Article
The answer to ‘how long do projects take’ depends on the type of project and any unique elements – especially website design and development. The key is to discuss with your marketing firm, at the outset of a project, and make sure both sides agree to comfortable schedules. A one-year action plan can be a great tool for both sides.

How Tech Firms Miss Marketing Opportunities - Click To Read Article
Many tech firms put a lot of emphasis on their technology and not enough on the service that goes with it. By doing this they’re missing out on a chance to differentiate themselves and including sales-talk that’s meaningful to the end-user.

Creating a Toronto Tagline - Click To Read Article
Rapport is invited to submit one clever statement to sum up Toronto’s DNA. Though rushed and free, a fun exercise and good exposure, we agreed. Read the full article to find out how we arrived at ‘Toronto... It’s Where the World is Going.’

Your Project Plan for Re-branding - Click To Read Article
You’ve decided to rebrand. What now? In this article, I outline a 5 step process describing what to look for and what to expect from your design firm during a re-brand.

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Unite! - Click To Read Article
Many companies want search engine optimization in their websites, but are turned off once they see what it takes to really make a go of it, to compete for first page, and the cost. Here’s how to turn your clients into SEO converts.

Separating Personal and Business in Social Media - Click To Read Article
How do you keep business and personal separate in social media? A recent panel discussion on social media for SugarCRM observed that whether used for business or personal, as a salesperson or an employee, remember that it's there forever so be careful, professional and aware. A more advanced way to keep them separate is to go in with a plan and share it with all company participants. Give them the tools and guidance needed to be successful in this new arena.

Fully Integrated Websites... - Click To Read Article
Web site visitors expect more interaction than traditional 'brochure-ware' sites offer. Fully integrated sites marry that with practical needs. In this article I discuss how to manage your content quickly and easily and keeping your site fresh for both visitors and Google.

Integrating Social Media into Website Strategy - Part I - Click To Read Article
At what time should a company develop their website strategy? When participating in social media or does an updated/new site lead to social media participation? In this article I outline still important, ‘back to basic marketing’ questions; website strategy for web 3.0; tips on how to integrate social media into your site; and ideas on how to include social media in the overall marketing plan.

Integrating Social Media into Website Strategy - Part II - Click To Read Article
Should website strategy be driven by social media? In Integrating Social Media Part I, the answer was no. Read Part II to find out why the answer has changed.

Web Design & Development - Why the Huge Range in Pricing? - Click To Read Article
As in any industry where people specialize, the specialists can be costly and the freelancers generally cheaper. This holds true for the web development industry. Unfortunately, paying a higher price is no guarantee that your web site will be developed with the traditional creative and writing skills required for the design portion of the site. On the reverse side, using a freelancer because ‘it’s a great deal’ may get you great design but also a site that hasn’t been developed for user functionality and vice a versa. Design and web development are two distinct skill sets.

Does Social Media Effect your Brand Value? - Click To Read Article
Social media inundates people with so many brands, the playing field is diluted and consumers are much harder to impress. Thus, creating a huge difference between the way consumers and financial markets value brands. Plus, the landscape and the rules of PR and marketing have changed to the point that, it’s been said, ‘you no longer own your brand’. So many people are participating in public dialogues about brands creating this split in valuing. Advertisers used to tell us what to buy. Now we use the internet to research before we buy and find thousands of real people’s opinions and feedback. Regarding the discrepancy – perhaps the people behind ‘financial market valuing’ aren’t paying enough attention to the public or simply using outmoded metrics.

Asking for Feedback - Click To Read Article
It is always wise to encourage clients to ask for feedback from an advisory board or their ideal clients when delivering new creative, be it for a web site, a brochure, a new logo or even a rebrand. It is also important that the client provide the creative team with background re who their audience is, how the piece will be used and what they are trying to achieve. In this article, I include tips on how to get useful client/peer input on everything from logos to web design, to content.

Finding Your Essential Message is Crucial to a Strong Branding - Click To Read Article
Essential Message is a well-developed process that I realized was a perfect fit for Rapport to use with our clients. I decided to become an Essential Message Consoachant and discovered that most people don’t dig very deep when asked to describe their ‘differentiator’. Essential Message taught me how to uncover our clients core value and their ‘specialness’. I’ve had great results using some of the exercises from the program and excited to see how the results will inspire our creative team.

Incorporating Social Media into Traditional Marketing - Click To Read Article
It has been suggested by social media enthusiasts that by using it, businesses no longer need what is known as traditional marketing tools, i.e. business cards, web sites, etc. I believe incorporating social media into traditional marketing will enhance the ‘brick and mortar’ of traditional marketing. People still need business cards for face-to-face meetings, web sites provide essential company information and services provided. People want/expect more than a sales pitch in a tweet to encourage them to use your services.

When is the Right Time to Rebrand? - Click To Read Article
Rebranding is much like the caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly evolution. After time in a cocoon your business has matured, your competitive advantage is becoming apparent, you know who your favourite clients are – the ones you want more of. Once you’ve been in business long enough and have some experience under your belt, you can seriously tackle your competitive advantage. From these experiences, processes and case studies you can draw a true differentiator. How you do what you say makes you different, often becomes what makes you different. If you figure this out, it should become the basis of all your messaging and marketing tools.

Don’t Just Move. Review Too. - Click To Read Article
Moving into new office space suggests something has changed for the company. As well as updating your stationery, signage, etc. now is the time to review how you market yourself. Does your logo still make you proud? Is the website effective? Have your client needs changed? Have you added new services, expanded to another region or country? These are just some of the questions that need to be addressed when moving location. Think about what you want to accomplish over the next year and evaluate your existing marketing tools against your stated goals, target audience and in light of company changes.

Creating a Brand Message - Where Do I Start? - Click To Read Article
Start by literally looking at what is and isn’t working – ex: this email got more response than the other version. Ask members of your target audience to review different pieces, noting which item’s design and language resonates most and why. The why is important to start identifying specific characteristics. Are the graphics really impactful, the headlines compelling, etc. Then, ask them to tell you the opposite – what they were least attracted to and why. From the responses you get, create a checklist of these basic characteristics and note opportunities to make changes based on the well-received characteristics and recognize use of the disliked ones.

Brand Positioning Sessions = Clarity - Click To Read Article
Brand positioning sessions are important steps in providing clarity when creating a Positioning Statement. The client is asked a number of questions about what they actually do, their ideal clients, how they find them, their goals, what makes them different. It reflects goals to strive for and is the bedrock of everything going forward – the website, all design and marketing tools. Lists of words that describe the client turn into a bunch of tag lines, present both the agency and client with several options and an opportunity to collaborate on their branding. Client and agency collaboration in branding sessions brings clarity to the client as to what their positioning statement should be and how to brand it.

How Many Points of Contact Does it Take to Make a Sale? - Click To Read Article
Points-of-contact represent all your marketing tools and generally every way in which people come in contact with your company. It usually takes many touch-points to make a sale – the old average was seven. Today we are inundated with so many sales messages it takes more. Having a wide variety of different tools increases your chance of being in front of your ideal client at the moment they want to buy, or have someone to refer you to. Employing a mix of big and splashy, or small and direct vs. en mass and automatic make it easier to cover more bases in man power and budget.

A Case for Traditional Websites - Click To Read Article
Getting involved in social media is a great marketing tactic to add to the overall strategy, plus engage with clients and your community. However, it's not a good idea to completely replace a traditional website with all social media, all the time. One, your public still needs a place to easily find basic information about your company and products or services. Think of your site as home base and integrate social media with it. Two, this approach is confusing to the visitor and defies all the basics of usability and conversion.





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