Of the many new endeavors that CommunityLink has taken on in 2010, the MarketWise toolbox of free marketing materials that we’ve created for the industry has topped the list in terms of generating an interoffice stir. The task of developing ideas and spreading the word about MarketWise seems to have touched all of us here in some way or another, but it’s Josh Mueller and the CommunityLink design team that have been at the heart of the project from the beginning.

With over 90 designs available thus far and over 500 design requests fulfilled for chambers across the country, we think it’s time you heard from some of the people behind the scenes who have made all of this possible. Below is a Q&A with designers Josh Mueller, Amanda White, Joseph Goetting, Kacey Wolters, Kelly Friederich, and Matt Price about their MarketWise experience.

How does the group keep coming up with ideas for new MarketWise designs?

Josh: At first it was about trying to cover all of the bases in terms of our three main categories, and we were trying to come up with a lot of pop culture references and things like that. Once we kind of exhausted our initial ideas that way, we did a lot of interoffice brainstorming. Now that it’s in heavy use, we’re also getting a lot of good suggestions from the users.

What’s the creative process for coming up with ideas? Do you start with a visual image and then decide how to use it, or do you look for an image to fit an idea?

Kacey: I was finding quotes or coming up with ideas in my head and then trying to find images to fit that. For example, “Follow the Yellow Brick Road.” That was an idea that someone had said and then I had to find an image to fit that without copyright infringement or those kinds of things. That’s been my process, but it definitely goes both ways.

Joseph: Since we’re coming up with a lot of these ideas out of the blue, there are times that I’ll just search through photos and then come up with a marketing scheme for a whole postcard based on an image that I found. Everything ties together pretty well that way, too, so it can start with either an image or an idea.

Have you tried to balance the styles of the designs to be sure there’s something for every taste, or have the ideas just naturally lent themselves toward variety?

Josh: I think at first the focus was definitely on humor, cleverness, and being catchy, but as we’re getting feedback from people it’s molding our thinking about the new designs. Some clients may feel that the funny ones don’t reflect the image they want to project, so they want the more professional looking messages. We’re finding more balance between the catchy ones and the professional ones because the goal is to appeal to everybody. You don’t want to push anyone away.

Matt: The point behind MarketWise originally was to show chambers an alternative to what they’ve always used in the past, or at least what’s possible beyond just a plain letter or an email. So what started off as an example of a clever new approach is now becoming a big, big thing.

What are your personal favorites out of the designs so far?

Joseph: My favorite one that I did was “Offer You Can’t Refuse” – the mafia one.

Kacey: I like the “Come on Down” one. One chamber executive actually asked me about it on the phone and I wanted to say, “Yeah, I designed that!” A lot of them also like the “Yellow Brick Road” ones. I think they’re catchy but not too far out of the box.

Matt: I love the ticket design for events because they can use all of those if they host each of those events annually. Then, when the postcards get sent out over the course of the year, it starts creating an identity and a branding effect. The people who receive them will know right away that it’s a chamber event invitation.

Kelly: My favorite design that I worked on would have to be “Strength in Numbers.” It turned out a lot better than I originally thought it would. I also like the Take a Spin” templates. They seem to be one of the crowd favorites and most people can identify the “BEST GAME SHOW EVER!” That’s my opinion, of course.

Amanda: “Killer App” and “Green is Greener” are probably the most popular among clients. I would say the “Chicken Soup” one is my own favorite.

And now, friends and ChamberCentric followers, we’d like to hear from you. Which MarketWise design is your favorite? What’s your idea for a snazzy new MarketWise message? Brainstorm with us by commenting on this post. Who knows, someday you may be able to send a free, professionally designed message to all of your members and tell your board, “That was my idea.”

design, designers, marketwise

Once you decide where you’re going, the next thing you need to know is how to get there. That said, it stands to reason that one of the earliest introductions of your town to visitors and newcomers is made through a map. Plus, a map that proves useful is “trash can resistant” – it’s kept and referred to again and again – helping consumers find member businesses when they need them and creating repeat exposure for advertisers.

As part of our suite of non-dues revenue products, CommunityLink prides itself on providing accurate, eye-catching community maps, both printed and online. In this post, CommunityLink director of GIS Aimee Wheatley shares some insights on what it takes to create quality maps that the end-user will benefit from. Aimee has a bachelor of arts degree in geography, a post graduate certificate in GIS, cartographic specialist, and has been a professional cartographer since 2003.

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There are a lot of important factors to keep in mind when creating a map, but the three most important ones are intuitiveness, accuracy, and readability.

When I speak of the intuitiveness of a map, what I mean is that the reader should be able to instinctively understand what they are seeing. Many map users refer to a map, rather than reading it intensely, so we want them to be able to gain understanding at a glance. One of the ways we do this is by using our own creatively designed, self-explanatory icons to represent the major points of interest. Our road styles are also instantly recognizable, so the reader can immediately identify major roads, interstates, and so forth. It’s easy to take these things for granted when you pick up a map and unfold it, but we put a lot of thought into the overall graphic style of our maps because it greatly influences the user’s understanding.

It almost goes without saying that a map needs to be accurate, because an incorrect map can lead to wrong turns and a lot of frustration. Readers need to be able to trust that they have the most up-to-date and accurate map available. In order to provide this, our process includes obtaining local GIS resources from city and county governmental departments, which assures us that we are able to map the newest subdivisions and roads. We look at each street to confirm that it matches the given local resource, match the city boundary, include any additional points of interest the resource might have, and match all features on the resource to our basemap. Finally, the map goes through an intensive proofing process with a fresh pair of eyes and is indexed according to the map grid before going to print.

Of course, it does no good to create an accurate map if it isn’t legible. Maps need to maximize space while still allowing for readable fonts and annotation spacing. Again, this is something that the end user may take for granted, but it takes forethought and effort to create a proper balance between the two. By placing each annotation on the map, we are able to maximize the readability of every label.

cartographer, cartography, GIS, maps

There’s no getting around it – the national economy is facing tough times right now. In such times, our instincts often advise us to hunker down and cut back, whether we’re budgeting for our families or for our businesses. And business owners may quickly decide that the best way to save is by cutting back on advertising – after all, nobody’s buying right now anyway, right?

Actually, according to market data and economic experts, cutting back on advertising may be one case in which instincts can steer business owners wrong.

McGraw-Hill Research analyzed sales figures from 600 companies over a five-year period that included a two-year recession. Their findings showed that, during the recession, businesses that maintained or increased their advertising spending (dubbed “Aggressive Recession Advertisers” by the study authors) showed significantly higher sales growth than those businesses that cut their advertising expenditure. Indeed, Aggressive Recession Advertisers not only enjoyed higher sales growth during the recession, but also for the following three years. By the final year of the study, sales of Aggressive Recession Advertisers had risen more than 250 percent over those businesses that didn’t keep up their advertising.

Why did this happen? Economic experts say that consumers don’t stop spending during a recession; they just become more selective. Studies have shown that over the course of an economic downturn, the level of total customer spending usually only drops a few percentage points. The key is to make sure that the dollars that are being spent are being spent at your business.

Need more convincing? Experts cite several recession advertising incentives:

- Since many other businesses will cut back on their advertising, your message suddenly becomes much more visible. With fewer voices speaking, you’re a lot more likely to be heard.

- You can steal market share from competitors who have cut back.

- You’ll maintain your identity and the confidence of your current customers. Rebuilding your image is more costly and difficult than maintaining it. “Advertising has a cumulative effect,” one expert remarked. “Cutting back at any time means losing ground gained.”

- In a survey conducted by Yankelovich Partners and Harris Interactive, a majority of business executives agreed that seeing a company advertise during economic downturns made them feel more positive about that company’s commitment to its products and services.

Since 1854, the U.S. economy has experienced a recession approximately once every four to five years. The question is not whether recessions will come; but who will still be standing when the recession ends. Keeping your message in front of your customers’ eyes gives your business a better chance to not only survive, but thrive.

In an upcoming blog, we’ll explore marketing experts’ suggestions on the best venues and strategies for advertising during an economic downturn.

advertising, marketing, recession

Our March 5 post “Helping Members with Online Marketing” offered suggestions on how chambers could help small businesses with their web strategy through social networking, grassroots online ad cooperatives, and local search engine optimization. We followed that up on March 12 with a post on how to avoid pitfalls in business-related social network communications. This post, which is excerpted from an article by CommunityLink CEO Craig Williams and director of online strategy Brad Redfearn, discusses how inbound links affect web site traffic for chambers and businesses:

Inbound links to your web site are extremely important for generating traffic and good search engine ranking. A link provides a way for Web surfers to get from one web site to another. Search engines use links to find your site as well, employing programs called “spiders” to continuously index the information on the Web.

Inbound links are more than just a way to find your website; they are an indicator to search engines that your site is important. Think of each inbound link as a “vote” for your website as a trusted source of information. However, not all votes are treated equally. From a search engine’s perspective, the relevance of the referring website will affect the quality of an inbound link. Thus, if your site is about computer hardware, a link from a site about personal computing is going to be more valuable than a link from a web site about fishing. Links from sites that rank highly themselves are also more valuable.

Another indicator of link quality is the link text itself. You’ve likely encountered many sites with links that say, “click here.” This is better than no link at all, but “click here” doesn’t relate to the subject matter. “Computer hardware” would be much better. The more descriptive your link text is, the easier a search engine can interpret what your web site’s area of expertise is.

One-way links are links that lead to your web site from somewhere that your web site does not link back to in return. One-way links from authoritative websites in the same general category as yours, with descriptive link text, are the best possible type of link. The value of two-way links is lower, but they can still result in increased traffic to your site by referral.

links, search engines, web site

Everyone knows that the World Wide Web provides a platform where large businesses can market goods and services globally, but its capability as a local marketing tool is often underutilized by small businesses. For many of these business owners, it isn’t a failure to recognize the need for an online presence that holds them back, it’s a lack of knowledge in how to get started. With that in mind, chambers that are looking for “low hanging fruit” to add value for members may want to consider including localized online marketing help to their list of member benefits. Here are some ideas to think about.

Social Networking
The continuing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube indicates that they aren’t going away any time soon, and their success hasn’t gone unnoticed by marketers. Both Nielson.com and Advertisespace.com have listed social networking commercialization and advertising as one of the top online advertising trends for 2010. And this isn’t just for the big national brands. A Borrell Associates study released in 2009 found that nearly 20 percent of all ad spending on social networks was by local businesses. Clearly, both social network pages and ads have the potential to help small businesses catch the attention of a local market.

So why aren’t more companies jumping into low-expense social media marketing? According to a Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law report released last year, 51 percent of respondent businesses not utilizing social network marketing indicated that they didn’t know enough about it. Could chamber-sponsored seminars that explain how to take advantage of social networking add value to membership for these companies?

Chamber Online Advertising Co-op
Another part of the online local advertising equation is finding places to be seen by hometown internet users. Typical advertising cooperatives are about sharing the cost of advertising space in third party media, but why not develop a grassroots system in which small-business members can swap or lease web site “shout outs” or widgets amongst each other? One of the great selling points of a chamber is the networking opportunities it creates, and this benefit could be extended into the realm of online marketing through a simple program that connects members who have busy web sites with others who desire more local visibility. A mutually beneficial relationship, with the chamber making the introduction, is always a good scenario.

Local Search Engine Optimization
A complete discussion about the science of search engine optimization could fill volumes, but there are very simple steps local businesses can take that will enhance their chances of being found. Getting listed in the local directories of big-name search engines is not only effective, it’s typically free. Members who are less than tech-savvy may not be aware of how important these listings can be, and a chamber program offering advice on how and where to get listed – or simply creating the listings for members as part of the value proposition – could be an easy way to remind them that you’re there to help them grow.

These are just a few thoughts on how you could help members stay up with the times and get noticed online. Watch for more information on this topic in upcoming ChamberCentric posts. To find out about the growing number of advanced tools that CommunityLink and our partners can provide to enhance the online presence of your chamber, members, and community, call our business development group at 866-455-5600 ext. 1211.

advertising co-op, online marketing, search engines, social networks