Successful Marketing Communications for Profits Today

Marketing Communications, when done right, engages with the minds, hearts and budgets of your prospects. It communicates persuasively because it is other-centered -- it is about SERVING the customers and creating an opportunity that fits their needs and wants.

Here, by special invitation, to talk with us today on the ideal context for effectively engaging with our target audience, is Sandy Gluckman PhD.. Her book, "Who's In the Drivers Seat" distinguishes between ego-driven marketing communications that disengage and spirited communications that attract the kind of results you want in your business. Let's watch her show how this vital element has everything to do with profitability today:

Espeiclaly in Social Media Marketing, we see that authenticity trumps overly-polished presentations. We see that openness and service-orientation creates trust that is necessary to attract a new business relationship. We see the prospects are looking for real opportunities. We see that customers only want to engage with you when they get how you can benefit them; and if they detect you are merely trying to sell them, they quickly leave you for greener business pastures.

In today's world of options (increased by the Web and New Media) those who serve and give will attract the best customers and profits. We know how to use today's leading tools to present your value

We at Promise Productions Strategic Marketing Communications invite you to engage with us, to help take your business into kinds of results you want. We welcome your call today at  972-822-3587.

Social Media Is The Key To Powerful Word-Of-Mouth Marketing

"Social Media" is THE buzzword of 2010, friends, and every professional is wondering if it's here to help, or here to destroy, their business. Some practitioners say that all social media is good for is wasting time on the internet, while others swear by its potential.

Everyone agrees, however, that it changes all the rules about getting new business. The New Marketing is here, and here to stay. So the answer to is Social Media Marketing good or bad for you is it depends:

• Are You using social media to market in a strategic way?
• Are You integrating multiple social media sites to amplify their effectiveness?
• Are You reaching your prospects with value that is meaningful to them?
• Are You learning from their likes and dislikes?

Question: What's better than great word-of-mouth for your business?
Answer: great word of mouth ONLINE -- where it can spread to thousands, circulating on business directories and social media sites to prospects both locally and worldwide.

Social Media Marketing is key to enjoying these rewards. Every month, millions of people discover new products and services and share their experiences and opinions on them. People are already talking about your marketplace and your brand. Are you engaging with them? Are you joining the conversation, helpfully steering them to the benefits and value your company provides?

If your business does not have an effective strategy to do this, you are increasingly losing the listening of your prospects. And, sooner or later, that will spell the death of any business.

However, the reverse is also true: customers love to have the company interact with them. It makes them feel important and listened to. It can resurrect that near-dead holy grail of marketing -- brand loyalty. There are many more benefits (including Positive PR) and we will be happy to discuss them with you when you call 972-822-3587 for a strategic marketing consultation.

Happy New Year, fellow business owners, and here's to a bright 2010 for all of us!

Warmest regards,
Promise Productions Marketing Communications • 972-822-3587
Los Angeles  |  Dallas  |  Las Vegas  |  Houston

More Effective Social Media Marketing for Your Business

Social Marketing is a very powerful way to create massive online visibility, drive traffic and build prospects and sales leads. The challenge for many companies is how do you find the time to do what you need to do to be effective on each social media asset – and to do it in a way that does not take hours each day.

The good news is there are many ways to both automate and integrate your Social Media Marketing. Promise Productiosn provides social media marketing strategies to make the most of your time and still get powerful results. We offer full social media marketing consultation and social media marketing campaigns that support your:
• Business Objectives
• Public Relations Initiatives
• Integrates with your Traditional and Online Marketing

Social Media Marketing Automation - There are actions on each of the Social Marketing tools that can be set up to be done automatically for you, so you do not have to be there to take each action.

Social Media Marketing Integration – Many of the main Social Marketing tools can be set up so that an action (a marketing message) taken on one site will result in an action (other marketing messages) taken on one or more other sites.

Here are brief examples of Automation and Integration with 5 of the major Social Media Marketing sites.

Video Marketing – one of the smartest things you can be doing right now, because of the enormous amount traffic generated by sites like YouTube. But how do you get traffic to your videos?

Great question, here is a part of the answer: set up your YouTube account so that each time you upload a new video an announcement automatically shows up on Twitter and Facebook.

Strategic Blogging - In Social Media, your company blog is the hub of your system. From your hub you can reach out to Twitter and Facebook when you set it up so that each new blog post is also automatically announced on these two Social Marketing sites.

These two examples above of automation and integration means you take one action and get 3 results.

Twitter - Your tweets can be automatically sent to Facebook. Some people set it up to have every tweet sent. I recommend using the "Selective Twitter Status" app so that not every tweet is automatically sent. I've seen some companies who tweet dozens of times a day get their account suspended because of too many tweets or too many similar tweets being sent.

Facebook - When you update your Facebook status you can set it up to be automatically sent to Twitter. One action, two results.

EzineArticles - Set it up so that each time you have a new article published it is "auto-tweeted" to Twitter. The title of the article is displayed in your Twitter stream along with the link to your article.

For specific applications to best forward your business needs, contact Promise Productions for social media consultation and campaigns at 972-822-3587.

Converse with your Customers and Prospects for Long-Term Survival

Today’s companies are going to have to create a dialogue with their customers in order to survive long term. Capturing customers' loyalty and business dollars in the process of that dialogue depends on how well their marketing campaign strategy is.

Increasingly, if consumers don’t have a chance to have a conversation with a company that will listen and respond to their needs, a responsive competitor will arise and take all the money with them.

This is where our professional social media marketing services comes in. The right business strategy to your Social Media Marketing will provide that dialogue, customer service, responsiveness as well as two other keys to long-term profits: (1) a pulse on your industry and what it wants, (2) promoting your brand, products and services to thousands of extra prospects!

Let our social media marketing consultation set your business up with the right strategy for smarter marketing. Call 972-822-3587 today.

Strategic Social Media Marketing Management

Applying Strategic Skills for Successful Social Media Marketing Campaigns

Learn how Promise Productions successfully manages your company's social media marketing campaign by harnessing our insight and strategy with the goals of your business. With the exploding growth of social media, 
the need to apply strategic thinking to your public relations and
communications campaigns has never been more critical. Join with Promise Productions and learn how to join forces to create ultimate
social media success.

Our Social Media Campaign Management Services will provide:

• A clear cultural understanding needed to communicate with social media tools.
• A framework for using social media in business continuity planning.
• An overview of how we choose the right social media tools to meet your objectives.
• A plan of attack for incorporating social media in your marketing, communications and business growth plans.
• Knowledge of how to transition your communications experience and know-how to social media.
• The additional skills you’ll need to manage a successful social media campaign.

Contact Promise Productions MarPromise Productions Marketing Communications at 972-822-3587 to get on the road to results!

Social Media Marketing - 4 Reasons to Launch Now

Friends, this is such a relevant article, we are re-posting Chris' material on our blog.

4 Reasons to Launch Your Social Web Campaign Now!

By Chris J Marentis

Social media marketing is the hottest "business reality-show" that's generating leads for businesses of all sizes. As every business owner knows, leads are the lifeblood of their companies. Getting a consistent flow of profitable leads today is hard.

At a time when customers use social networking to search, discuss and explore new ideas and opportunities, "Companies have no choice. This is where their customers are going," reported USA Today on August 27, 2009.

Advice on how to implement various social media marketing opportunities like Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and others abound. However, like any media campaign, you need to make sure your social media program is strategic, measurable and encompasses the entire spectrums of opportunities that are right for your business.

Four key reasons social marketing will lift your business prospects are:

1. You can easily dominate your market at little to no cost. Because social media marketing is SEO on steroids, it has the ability to reach across all the important places for your niche on the Internet.
2. Using the right content distribution and management strategy will get you a consistent flow of quality leads.
3. You have control and can literally get started within hours if you want. Even better, you don't need to go through a sales rep or purchase process.
4. You can leverage expertise and become an authority in your niche with "followers" in social media groups. You business will be the "first call" when customers want to learn about products and services in your niche.

Never in the history of consumer selling have companies, from one-person shops to multi-national corporations, been handed such an effective, low-cost opportunity to carry out promotional efforts. Learn how to leverage this effective new tool for your business or you will soon be left behind.

~~~

Bravo, Chris. We could not agree more. For smarter Dallas Marketing, call the firm of Promise Productions at 972-822-3587.

Social Media Marketing - Dallas Case Study - Update

As an update to the previous post, it has now been 48 hours since we launched our video + blog social media release for our client providing Dallas Bar Mitzvah Photography. Let's see how the Google rankings have changed:

• Google Position #1 remains.
• Google position #1 has spawned a second link at spot #2
• Google Position #4 has become #20 as the video's newness quickly fades to other video uploads.
• Google Position #5 has moved down to #6 losing one place due to other's website activity.
• Google Position #9 has moved down to #10. That is a good thing as last on the page gets more attention then next to last.

We still have 4 great links, functioning as signposts to our client on the first page. Overall, an improvement in positioning to get more responses.

The client website? It still ranks at #18, towards the bottom of page 2, which is not enough to get much traction even though it is in the top percentile of the 118,000 competitors.

We will keep you updated with continued results and we welcome your inquiries for successful marketing communications and social media marketing at Promise Productions -- 972-822-3587.

Dallas Social Media Marketing Communications

Friends, past forms of advertising are still with us, but are losing ground every day to the emerging power of Social Media Marketing. As a marketing communications firm, Promise Productions is all about connecting businesses with the clients/customers they need to be most profitable.

That is why we made this very basic video to discuss how a business can effectively engage with social media as a communications and marketing goldmine:



Social Media Marketing is the NEW ADVERTISING, but not by interrupting or pushing your message at prospects. Rather it is entering into the already existing online conversation areas discussing your industry, your services, your brand and your products.

We are quick to emphasize that Social Media Marketing MUST be done with a smart strategy in a highly-integrated way in order to be effective. Given all the ways a company could waste their time and efforts in this new form of self-promotion, we encourage your business to consult with us to create the best structures and practices for social media marketing and to outsource your social media marketing to Promise Productions.

Advertising is no longer the same, and will never be the same. Don't be left behind in the new marketing, call Promise Productions Strategic Marketing today at 972-822-3587.

The Evolution Of SEO

Search Engine Optimization is the science (and art) of making a company web site, not just pleasing to the users, but pleasing to the search engines so it ranks higher than the competition for specific terms connected to your products and services.

Higher ranking means more visibility, traffic and thus profits. Search Engine Optimization used to be an insider term, with only those practicing it really knowing what it entailed and how it boosted a website's relevant traffic.


EVOLVING SEO AWARENESS
Today, most people have some idea of what SEO is. It has gained awareness because businesses have come to understand that qualified traffic means everything to ongoing business profits. People know what keywords are, what metatags are and a few other of the more obvious aspects of SEO.

This can be both good and bad -- meaning that people can assume they know SEO when they are only scratching the surface. Those that truly value their web site's visibility understand that search engine page rank is a moving target and that outstanding results only come from dedicated expertise.

These people "get it" that SEO directly ties to their business' bottom line and hire a full-time in house staff. Others, outsource it to professional search marketing companies such as Promise Productions. Either approach can work, but the common understanding is the same -- top performance requires dedicated expertise.

Another evolution in SEO has to do with the emerging dominance of Google over the other A-list search engines such as Yahoo, MSN and AOL. In most demographics, Yahoo, MSN and AOL have become B-List engines in every practical sense.

Given that every search engine has different rules as how they rank what it relevant for a given search, and given that any single HTML page can only best meet the rules for one search engine, SEO is evolving to be geared almost exclusively for Google. 



When Google speaks, SEO consultants listen and if your business is not being found on Google, it's almost certain it's not being found at all - around 70% of user searches are done using Google.


KEY WORDS ARE KING

There are more tools and techniques coming out every day, but I will not digress to them. The most important thing is still key words. Key words must be in your site's verbiage, metatags and so forth.

The biggest mistake I see companies make is in SEO for the WRONG key words. It is not enough to know that key words are important. It is crucial to know which keywords are MOST important, and to prioritize those. So many times I see SEO in place for either:

(a) words that are so general, obvious and competitive, that there is little hope of the golden TOP THREE ranking in Google.

or (b) words that the owner FELT were the main words because that is how he thinks of his own business, but not the main way his customers think about his business.

The importance of accurate keyword search data cannot be overemphasized.

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SEO
The Third way to increase a website's organic ranking is not with the site itself, but with creating a buzz and forming lots of links that act like signposts back to the site. This has traditionally been called link popularity. But the method of generating valuable links has evolved.

Social Media Marketing can now be strategically used to boost the company's main website in the search engines. Through strategic blogs, articles, customer reviews and Tweets -- the more conversation around you, the more attention you get.

Social media such as Facebook and Twitter are educating people to communicate in entirely new ways, and business owners should be engaging these people in order to attract a whole new audience. More details can be found on this very blog and our own website.

Given that search engines are evolving, the business landscape is changing, and customers are turning to social media in ever-increasing numbers, your SEO also has to evolve.

Today, businesses cannot afford to be without up-to-date SEO. Yes we can work with budgets both big and small, BUT that is not the right issue. The real value for your company lies in defining and enacting the right strategy to deliver optimum results and profits.

If your company needs expert help with optimum results and profits, Promise Productions is a call away at 972-822-3587.


How to Convince Your CEO to Embrace Social Media Marketing

Let's get straight to it:

1. Tell your CEO that the way people research purchases has changed. Tradeshows, Direct Mail, TV, Billboards, Newspapers are all going down fast. Email marketing is becoming less effective, and cold calling is becoming more difficult. People have more tools for blocking out this interruption marketing (spam filters, caller ID) and even governments are helping customers block this marketing (CAN Spam Act, National Do Not Call lists). You might need to include some definitions and explanations of SEO, PPC, strategic business blogging, social media, etc.

2. Discuss how the company's marketing needs to change in response. If the way people research purchases has changed, doesn't it make sense that marketing needs to evolve as well? Talk to the CEO about how there are new, more effective techniques to get found by more qualified prospects and convert more of them to paying customers, and to stop wasting money on interruption marketing programs that continue to be less and less effective. Move where your customers are -- online, responding to video, responding to social media.

3. Show a current analysis of your company's Internet marketing effectiveness. Show some data about your company being able to "get found" by prospects in
(a) search engines,
(b) the blogosphere and
(c) social media.
To get the data specific to your company, do some keyword research using Website Grader and Overture Keyword Tool, search on Technoratifor blogs in your industry, then search on social media sites relevant to your industry (Facebook or Delicious or Digg or LinkedIn or others). Finally, use the Website Grader free marketing tool to prepare a report for your company in 1 minute. This will show how good or bad you are doing on the web in terms of marketing. Use the data from the report to show how you are missing large opportunities to reach customers that are looking for the products and services you buy.

4. Present a plan for transforming your company's marketing strategy to embrace the 21st century. You need to transform your marketing from being "outbound" (you broadcast your message to thousands of people and only 1-3% are actually interested) to being more "inbound" (people find you when they want to buy something - much more targeted and effective). In other words through ATTRACTION instead of PUSHING. This means you need to do SEO, PPC, embrace blogging and the blogosphere and participate in social media.

5. Bonus Tip: Having executives read the book "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" can also be helpful. Sometimes CEOs just need an established author to tell them something, rather than an employee.

Want to know more? We offer marketing communications services and consultation, including social media marketing and innovative strategies to make the most of your corporation's time and budget. Call Promise Productions at 972-822-3587.

How I Captured 5 of Google's Top Ten Positions in 10 hours

A Strategic Social Media Marketing Strategy Case Study.

Now first of all, you don't really expect me to tell you EXACTLY how I did it, but I did. Here's what I can reveal:

I have been developing powerful social media marketing strategies for Promise Productions and I tested my latest one out last night. This morning I check the results on Google, and happy news, I had dominated the first page (just 10 hours later) - capturing 5 out of 10 organic positions.

This would not be possible without strategic social media marketing. The power our strategies give you for virtually instantaneous visibility is unlike anything I have ever seen or used. OK, in my excitement, I might sound like a commercial, but it works and I have proof!

Oh, and I should mention, all this is ABOVE and BEYOND the company web page. Meaning that these additional coveted rankings on Google are in addition to where your corporate web site ranks through traditional SEO services or through Pay-Per-Click search engine marketing.

I am all the more excited about real proof of value because there is a whole SWARM of bogus companies literally preying on your desire to put your company's products and services in high-visibility positions (like the Holy Grail of Internet Marketing -- First Page Google Results). But they all lack when it comes to delivering results. Well I did it not just once but 5 times, read on...

START WITH YOUR VIDEO MESSAGE
First I practiced what we have been "preaching" here at Covenant Designs -- the magic of using video to power your marketing. I made a fairly simple video. I put it on YouTube. (see our Dallas video production services here)

USING STRATEGIC BLOGGING
OK, then I referenced the video on a strategic blog I built for that purpose. Then I referenced the blog post on another strategic business blog. I am building a "chain" of social media posts, all referring and referencing the other link UP the chain. (see our strategic blogging services here)

STRATEGIC SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRIBUTION
Now I have these blogs all integrated with Other Social Media distribution systems (the secret sauce) to AMPLIFY their reach and effectiveness. The key is a smart network of automated re-broadcasters who are happy to promote you, so your own voice is distributed and amplified through a crowd as it were.

THE RESULTS
A mere 10 hours later, the rewards started coming in. Keep in mind that this is for a specific business product or service (I am not saying I can get this for you on something crazy like "Brittany Spears" in 10 hours). Our of 182,000 competitors, here are the first fruits on Google's First Page:

• 5th place with the Social Media Distribution system.
• 6th place with the YouTube video.
• 8th place from a 3rd party well-established web site that referenced my service (not the official company web site)
• 9th place from one strategic blog
• 10th place with the other strategic blog

NEXT NEXT LEVEL UP FROM HERE
You'd think I'd be thrilled, yes but I want more. The beauty is that this will ONLY BUILD. As other sites reference, view, forward and share the information, more links will build from a growing mass of positive PR. My next steps are to leverage our Twitter Marketing and Online Video Distribtion services.

Did I achieve this by "going viral"? No, that is not necessary. In fact, the YouTube video has been viewed less than 10 times thus far! No matter what anyone else might try to tell you; you can never control if something is going to "go viral" or not. Going viral is a nice intention, and it can be encouraged by certain strategies, but it is too unpredictable and never an element in our Social Media Marketing Strategy for corporations.

I achieved this through smart strategy. A social media strategy designed to create a CASCADE of links rippling out from my initial action. Call it leverage: get the biggest results from your marketing efforts. With a social media megaphone in place, even when you whisper, it still shouts.

What am I going to do next? I am going to Tweet about it and build the buzz momentum. So do I wish you luck in your marketing? No, I wish you "strategy."

COME AND GET IT
Covenant Designs is a Dallas-based Strategic Marketing Communications firm, catering to successful companies that are ready to enjoy greater success. We believe that success is designed. We believe in dominating your marketplace to enjoy the lion's share of the profits. We believe in working smarter for sweet success.

We're not here to hoard our success; we are here to share it with like-minded businesses. If you beleive what we believe and want any aspects of your Advertising, Marketing and Business Development goals amplified (Print, Web, Video, New Media, Social Media, etc.) call us today at 972-822-3587.

8 Ways We Boost The Value Of Your Corporate Blog

At Covenant Designs we make your blog mean business. We utilize all the vital skill sets that corporate blogging requires –  marketing communications, professional writing, public relations, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and rich media + video to blog in a strategic way to promote your profits.

1 • Focus on what's important: we keep your blog on track with positive Public Relations pieces, responsiveness to Market Trends and Industry Changes.

2 • Blogging For Search: that means elevating the visibility of your business web site in Google and Yahoo. You cannot attract the right new business unless you are found by your ideal prospects.

3 • Social Networking: we orchestrate your social media marketing campaign so that all elements (including your corporate blog) is integrated. The synergy of a mass of signposts, articles and testimonials delivers the message of a unified voice promoting your products and services.

4 • Content and Volume: Search engines look at your content, so we optimize your social media marketing campaign to amass a growing number of positive key terms, words and phrases. That in turn attracts your most interested business prospects.

5 • Keyword Awareness: In keeping with the above, we blog in a keyword-aware way to make you "king" of the best terms for your marketplace.

6 • Keep It Simple: we deliver clear and concise corporate messaging. You audience will receive, understand and be motivated to trust and respond to your strategic message.

7 • Widespread employee blogging: we provide a focus point for all your employees' blogs. Think integrated social media for optimum impact.

8 • Measurable Results: we can track your reputation online, your visibility in search engines, the number of subscribers, viewers of your videos, etc. This way we can intelligently steer your social media marketing campaign to keep it on track for your best interests.

Conclusion

One additional tactic for effective corporate blogs is the promotion of your blog. We have strategies to automate and syndicate your blog  - spreading it where it makes the most difference. Putting your content in other places allows it to multiply and amplify the value of your content.

Your prospects already rely on Social Media for the real scoop on their products and services. For real results in today's marketplace, contact Promise Productions as your corporate Social Media Marketing source. Call 972-822-3587.

Social Media Marketing for Corporations

Fellas, let me say this one more time: ignore social media marketing and you ignore your market.

Corporations of all sizes need to face the fact that their customers have already been using social media (Twitter, Facebook, Strategic Blogging, etc.) for some time where they readily discuss their experiences with companies of all kinds (their dry cleaners, their local fast food, their bank...).

These social media conversations have a rapidly GROWING influence that a corporation is blind to at its own peril. Your company, your brand, your market and your industry is already being talked about through social media -- I guarantee. 

Serious Statistics

A word about the "Growing" statement above. Did you know that Facebook alone grew over 550% in 2009. Did you know that 30% of all human beings on the planet use social media regularly (in all age brackets) and the numbers only continue to grow at ever-faster rates?

If you are not actively involved in that online conversation, or hiring social media marketing experts (like us of course) to extract the benefits for you, then it is like a ship with no one at the wheel. Your reputation is at the mercy of the wind and waves and sometimes they are flat out cruel. Sooner or later you are going to shipwreck. 

I can say with all certainty that the companies that are prosperous come 4th quarter 2009 are the same companies that took hold of the wheel of social media marketing (in a strategic way) and steered their ship towards profits, social media responsiveness, and a positive online reputation. 

Let me switch analogies on you: the other day I watched a video on how science has recently learned that bacteria in our bodies communicate through a complex set of chemicals with each other. They are surprisingly social creatures. 

An average human body has a trillion cells and a bacterium is just one cell. So no matter how pathogenic it is, it will have basically no effect on the body all by itself. 

In fact, science has recently learned that disease-causing bacteria are able to communicate with each other to learn when their numbers in our bodies are of sufficient mass such that when they launch their attack on our immune system (in significant numbers) they will succeed. Amazing little buggers! 

Your company's PR and reputation in the body of social media is a lot like that. One complaint (like one bacterium) is not very dangerous to the health of your business. But complaints have a way being shared and a way of snowballing. If unchecked by positive social media (ask us more about how we do this), the social media complaints can, and have, taken down entire companies.

Example: social media was recently used to show how to simply disable a Kryptonite brand lock with a mere ballpoint pen. This proves that Kryptonite could defeat even Superman, but not the power of social media. Talk about a disaster for the brand -- they had no one steering their social media and now the company, for all its 50 years of work and building a successful reputation, is in the toilet nearly overnight. 

The word on the street: "They're worthless. I don't trust them anymore." (full story) In fact, a video demonstration sits right next to the corporate web site on Google! Your company is equally vulnerable to rogue social media but it does not have to be.

Friends, colleagues and CEO's, don't be the next corporate disaster story. You know blogs get read; you're reading mine! Proactively embrace a strategic business approach to your social media marketing campaign starting with strategic blogging. 

A little action goes a lot further than massive good intentions. Let Promise Productions Marketing Communications put social media to work FOR your company. Our experts can be reached at 972-822-3587.

Social Media Marketing - Who Feels They Know Your Company

This is an interesting TV report on Social Media Marketing.



When a corporation demonstrates that it is open and willing to listen, to respond, and to engage -- customers FEEL like they care. And that goes a long long way to the ever more rare holy grail of marketing - brand loyalty.

In the marketplace of a generation ago, it was all about who you knew. That was the insider connection that got you the job or the sale or the promotion that made all the difference.

People have recently commented that it is no longer so much about who you knew as who knows you. But what do they know you as? What is your image, your reputation, your brand -- from the individual level to the corporate level.

I am here to say that in just the past 2 months, things have gone to a whole new level. Now, with Social Media Marketing it is really about who FEELS that they know you.

It is this new kind of interaction that Social Media provides that can link you with like-minded prospects down the street just as easily as across the globe. It is said that Twitter is kind of like a giant cocktail party with light banter and many rapid interactions. This kind of dynamic socialization through computers and cell phones makes many new things possible at a speed that leaves traditional media in the dust.

Let me ask you, are you IN on the conversation? If you are like many corporations, the answer is "no." Well, if you are not in then you are on your way to being OUT.

We understand that social media marketing presents a whole new communications paradigm to companies used to messaging their customary way. Well the time is now to adapt or perish.

We understand. We also understand that companies have to squeeze efficiency like never before. And that often means there is no time or expert team put in place to stay on top of the rapidly evolving world of Social Media.

Your marketplace, your industry and your brand is already being talked about online. You need a dedicated advocate who can focus on managing that conversation -- so you can attend to the daily operation needs your corporation has.

That is where Covenant Designs comes in. We are on top of strategic ways to maximize your messaging through Social Media. So, whether it is brand management, strategic blogging, customer service, community outreach, public relations, product feedback, press releases, video distribution online or search engine visibility goals, we have programs customized to address your needs.

It is time to thrive: Call a Promise Productions brand advocate at 972-822-3587.

Strategic Blogging - Give Your Business An Edge with Social Media Marketing

Strategic Business Blogging is one of the most important things your company can do to be and stay relevant to your marketplace. It is the essential first step in successful Social Media Marketing.

Sadly, many bloggers receive little-to-no benefits from all their investment of blogging time and effort. That is because they are not thinking like a marketing firm and lack the strategic distinctions that produce results like these:

• blogging that raises the visibility of your company's main web site
• blogging that stimulates new business inquiries
• blogging that doubles the value of your Public Relations efforts
• blogging that maximizes the results from Press Releases
• blogging that facilitates customer service
• blogging that does not distract from your focus on day-to-day business operations

The above benefits are exactly what our "Blogging For Business" service provides. By blogging for you, you can rest assured that your blog is providing the maximum value to your business, giving it an approachable and professional image, facilitating positive PR, and helping your web site be found by more prospects.

"Your business blog is the perfect opportunity to speak to the community about your company, about your industry, and to respond to issues / questions that arise. Your blog is your opportunity to shine by being the good guy -- sharing, generous, and customer-service oriented. In turn, that creates the trust that paves the way for the best business deals." -- Marcus, president of Blogging 4 Business

Here are some free tips towards effective business blogging:

• Have one employee be the main company liason for the blog. That person can oversee it, take pride in it, and receive content from others within and outside the company

• Make sure your blog has its own domain name and unique IP address

• Make sure your company's other social media assets all link to the blog (Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, You Tube, CareerBuilder, BusinessWeek, Flickr, Wikipedia, etc.)

• Not every blog should be about you. Blog about related issues, marketplace developments, similar technologies, and interests that your prospects share in common.

• Re-post your press releases to your Blog.

~~~

We hope this whets your appetite for the benefits a properly setup and managed blog can provide your business. Would you like us to set the stage for propsects to trust you and want to do business with you?

Promise Productions welcomes your inquiries on effectively promoting your business through marketing communications, including blogging, video blogging and social media marketing. Call our Dallas headquarters at 972-822-3587.

Dallas Video Production - Equipped for Results

When it comes to Dallas Video Production, Promise Productions is equipped for success. To get professional results from your video communications -- be it training, promotion, webcasting or advertising -- it requires a combination of specific skills.

It is this full-featured set of video production skills and equipment that sets Promise Productions apart from would-be-professionals. Not all video projects require all these skills. Your project is unique. We are equipped to serve you with truly professional results in all of the following:

• Pre Production: script writing, planning, casting, location scouting, budgeting

• Video Production: professional cameras, lighting, sound, teleprompter, green screen and more.

• Post Production: video editing, audio sweetening and motion graphics. Then we output your video for your purposes (broadcast, DVD, web, etc.)

One of the most exciting uses of video today is online. Your message can be rapidly distributed through video over the web in many ways:

• Training Video Production: Now your training goes to them instead of the time and expense of them coming to you. You can also control and update your training content with speed and precision.

• Social Media Marketing: informing, interacting and promoting has never been more powerful and cost-effective as through Social Media Marketing, Your videos can go on your web site, company blog as well as hundreds of social media video promotion channels.

There are many more exciting ways to harness the latest digital technology to turn video into serious profits, but I will keep this brief. Just know that you are free to call Promise Productions Media Communications and ask how our marketing-savvy video production can put your business out front at 972-822-3587.

Social Media Marketing for Corporatations - Avoiding Tar Pits

As a strategic marketing communications firm, Promise Productions is a leader in applying the advances in Social Media to corporate America. Now, more than ever, businesses need to adapt to the communications revolution that Social Media continues to be. More than every they need to get the most results from their budgets (their PR, Sales, Marketing, and Business Development budgets).

In that light, our next critical message to corporate America is how to successfully apply Social Media Marketing Campaigns by avoiding Tar Pits. Corporations are particularly susceptible to these 3 Tar Pits that will trap them into a quick extinction.




TAR PIT #1: Assigning your corporate social media to an existing internal department that lacks the the full array of communications and media skill sets that social media campaign success requires. Social Media success requires close integration with IT, PR, Marketing, Video and Writing skillsets. As such, you either need to form your own full-time social media department of 5-10 full-time professionals, or outsource it to a reliable expert firm such as Covenant Designs.

TAR PIT #2: Ignoring social media as a fad. Denial is a sure fire tar pit that will sink your business into extinction. Social Media marketing is big. It is here to stay. It is evolving so fast that it requires full-time attention.

Our next post will address The Third Major Tar Pit. Stay tuned!

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At our core, we are about attracting the business profits you want. Let us position you so that your customers want to do business with you and rave about you afterwards!

Promise Productions provides strategic social media campaign services so corporations can successfully outsource their social media knowing it is optimized to benefit them the most. For details call 972-822-3587.

Social Media Marketing For Corporations - Intro

Let me introduce this series of Successful Corporate Social Media Marketing posts with the recent profound shifts that have caused the urgent need for large corporations to embrace a strategic approach to social media and social media marketing.

EVERYTHING AT STAKE
Corporations tend to be the most out of sync with social media. In 2008, social media was a significant, emerging new kind of media. But as of Spring 2009 it has now oficially fully overtaken all other forms of marketing communications combined.
As soon as 4th quarter 2009, many successful corporations of 2008 will go extinct -- primarily because they did not adapt successfully to social media and did not recognize they were already in a Tar Pit.
The problem is that corporations tend to be big and slow. Persuasion Power has already shifted thoroughly into the camp of Social Media. Will your corporation be one of the stuck elephants that realizes this too late?
Here are some of the Tar Pits many corporations are in today:

• they continuing marketing and online communications as usual, in denial that Social Media is already bigger than CNN, your sales force and website combined.

• they dabble in social media, but maintain the same typical corporate communication style (talking AT instead of talking WITH -- selling instead of attracting.

• they are haphazard without a genius strategy to pull it all together for optimum impact

• they make a stab at social media but box it into an existing department (IT, marketing, sales, Public Relations, Customer Service) when it encompasses all of these. Their results are frustratingly imbalanced and without power just as trying to run an 8-cylinder car on one cylinder would be.

Friends, everything is at stake. You prospects and current customers are ALREADY on social media, talking about relevant issues, market developments, products and services.

Are you IN on that conversation or is your business adrift at at the mercy of the loudest voices in social media?

Would you like to be effective in the art of social media persuasion where your voice and message will attract your customers from this moment forward?
BOTTOM LINE
If you are in business -- any business -- your customers and prospective customers are ALREADY using social media to tune into your reputation, your marketplace, and conversations closely relates to your services. If you are not harnessing Social Media, your business is committing slow suicide by targeting where your prospects used to be, not where they are today and tomorrow.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY
Our upcoming posts will address critical issues to effective Social Media Marketing such as:

• Avoiding Tar Pits
• Learning to engage with your prospect and attract them instead of talking at them

We invite you to outsource your social media marketing to us. We can orchestrate it for maximum positive effect because we possess and integrate the many skill sets that success requires. Learn more by calling Promise Productiosn at 972-822-3587.

Tap The Profits Of Effective Social Media Marketing

Covenant Designs is a marketing communications firm with 17 years of success. A year ago we offered Social Media Campaigns as the third leg in the stool of SEO and PPC for business online visibility. Social Media was emerging, and evolving rapidly. Today it is outright exploding and continues to evolve at an incredible pace, outstripping many previously-effective forms of marketing.

Social Media Defined
When we say "Social Media" we are talking about the online conversation on computers and smart phones about products, services and trends. Prospects increasingly check the "online wisdom" before signing up for ANY service/product. That means comments, reviews, personal testimonies, etc.. Today, this extends to such pervasive levels as checking out the corner dry cleaners' reputation online before driving 1/4 mile to visit them.

A good example is Amazon.com which was early to see the value of putting personal reviews of a product beside it to overcome the distrust factor. They were also a leader in showing what % of the customers buy that product, and if not, what product they buy instead.

While your business may or may not offer e-commerce, the Amazon example shows the value of veering away from the "official hype" a company might make about its own product and referencing what the man-on-the-street said about it. By including social commentary, Amazon boosted the validity and trust factor and increased their "yes" sales responses.

Where & When of Social Media

This online social conversation happens in chat rooms, in blogs and microblogs (i.e. Twitter). It happens on laptops and cell phones -- on-the-go and in-the-moment.

You will want to note that video is the most powerful form of communication we have apart from speaking face-to-face. Social Media is quickly moving to video and the more your business utilizes video at all levels of promotion, the more visibility and credibility leverage you will enjoy.

In today's information age, where the timing of decisions is increasingly important to capitalize on opportunity or gain an edge over your competition, information cannot wait for the evening news or even for a web site to report on the next day; it is already being exchanged in REAL TIME via Social Media. That is exactly where your business needs to be – in the real time conversation where decisions happen.

Just How Much Does Social Media Really Matter?
When there is significant money on the table or significant visibility to be gained, yes it matters a lot. Social Media goes a long way to overcome the trust hurdle it takes any human being or business to do something new.

In many ways, Social Media is giving power to the man on the street to voice his opinion and have that opinion actually make a difference. Let Covenant Designs put Social Media to work, creating positive first impressions for your business. Printing presses and TV stations can no longer filter, constrain or spin information because Social Media has just made an end run around them! Social Media is the new Public Relations Golden Egg and more.

Reach All Your Demographic's Segments
In order to be marketed to most effectively, each must be spoken to on their terms -- by "one of their own."

I mention this foundational marketing principle of communicating to each significant segment of prospects because your Social Media needs to do exactly that!

Why Should You Outsoure Your Social Media Marketing?
1 • Because Covenant Designs can focus and stay on top of this cutting edge media. The fact is that just in the past 2 weeks, new abilities and technologies have emerged that will take blogging and twittering to new levels. It just changes too fast to not have a dedicated Social Media expert working for your business.

2 • Because Covenant Designs has all the ingredients for the recipe for success. We have writing skills, visual communication skills, technical skill, and most rare of all -- cutting edge strategy!

Blog strategy is also evolving and the rules from 2 months ago are minuscule compared to the advantages today. Likewise, the unforeseeable evolution 2 months from now means you will miss significant new advantages unless you have dedicated attention in this area.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change." (Charles Darwin)

This applies to any business as you require responsiveness where it happens most (social media) to be profitable for the long haul.

In this day and age, the person with the best strategy wins. Promise Productions provides marketing-savvy strategy that is responsive to your immediate ongoing business communication needs.

CONCLUSION
While there is more that could be said, the bottom line is that as of April 2009, not to mention traditional media, Social Media has already eclipsed many previously "forward online" kinds of activity. Your prospects are already online – making them ripe to be reached. Augment social media with video and you have pure dynamite!

Look, many people go to the gym, but few get outstanding results. Why? They lack the expert distinctions and follow through to seize those results. Likewise, while anyone can blog, most do not blog WELL, and those that do can blog more powerfully with what Covenant Designs offers.

If you are like most businesses you have very little social media and even that is haphazard and unfocused. That means no results. But on the other hand the right social media marketing strategy translates into significant market share and enormous profits.

It makes sense to put Promise Productions on a retainer to focus on Social Media strategy for your business. We are excited about forwarding your goals. Call today at 972-822-3587.


Learn More:
• Social Media Marketing Strategy

• Strategic Business Blogging

• Our Social Media Marketing Blog Posts

Get A Social Media Marketing Specialist For Top Results

Does Your Business Need a SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALIST?
Some fascinating statistics were just released on April 16th from Nielsen Online. It confirms the hyper-explosive growth of social media that is overshadowing conventional web site use and conventional online marketing results.

According to the latest data, the average American Internet-user viewed over 2,554 web pages in March. As you look at the Internet trends and usage of users below, you can see the detail of what is really happening online today: (* and why you must embrace social media marketing!)

MARCH 2009 STATISTICS
* The average person visited 111 internet domains.
* They visited an average of 2,554 web pages.
* Average time spent on a web page was 56 seconds.
* More than 137 million people used at least one Google-owned site or application
* Facebook users spent an average of 3 hours and 16 minutes grooming their sites

In this light we see that Americans are online more than ever (over 40 hours per month), however they are flipping through web pages like magazine pages, spending less than a minute per pages. Tell me, do your website visitors stick to your website for more than 56 seconds?

• Is your value proposition so clear that anyone can grasp it in under a minute?
• Are you getting the results you need from those who spend less than a minute on your site?• Do your prospects get the right impression of your company at first glance?
• How can you track the effectiveness of your investment in the Internet?
• How can you change clicks into customers?

It behooves every business that is serious about staying in business to devote the manpower and skilled talent to suddenly manage the growing maze of social media points of distribution. Larger corporations have already started hiring social media specialists. Major universities are now beginning to offer courses for Social Media Marketing. But the problem for the "rest of us" is this: how can you maximize your Internet results using social media marketing in a time of tighter budgets?

This is where a "Social Media Strategy Expert" comes in. He or she or "they" are the trained conductors who drive today's high-speed marketing train – adjusting and promulgating your key content in real-time to the masses who populate the social media sphere. This practice of feeding a consistent, professionally crafted and search-engine-enhanced delivery of your key content has been coined "Never Stop Marketing." Like a river that never stops flowing, Social Media Marketing never stops.


You can rest assured of these three key factors:

1 • A Social Media Marketing Expert possesses the know-how to manage and orchestrate the myriad of social media destinations. The specialist understands video production on the fly, instant blog blasts that virally syndicate to hundreds if not thousands of lateral and vertical marketing points to bring your business site more quantified and qualified traffic.

2 • The Social Media Marketing Expert is a professional copy editor/writer who understands the power of the pen and how to write attention-grabbing content.

3 • The Social Media Marketing Expert is a seasoned web designer, who understands and has experience with the many social media tools and site applications.

Sure, you could hire a new employee to your team. For a truly qualified applicant, that approach will cost you easily $50,000-85,000 plus vacations, benefits, insurance and other employee costs. Another problem is that if he or she doesn't possess all the skills and expertise needed, he or she may have to be trained. Further, you face the larger issue of even finding the right talent!

Colleges and Universities have not trained social media specialists. This industry is new and growing at exponential rates. The typical Ad Agency is not the answer there either as they are behind the times.

The fact is, only seasoned web professionals who understand both the technology and the marketing sides of the Internet are currently filling the first wave of jobs needed by big business.

With the advent of social media marketing and the 17 years of commercial web building experience, now you can outsource your trained, experienced and dedicated team of Social Media Specialists who are ready to forward your goals in less time and money than getting "up to speed" internally.

The value of their expertise and practical on-the-job experience means you are guaranteed a mearurable return on investment that you cannot achieve with a younger, inexperienced beginner.

Moreover, you don't have the increase your payroll or invest in more computers and systems to be successful with social media marketing. In fact, retaining your Social Media Marketing team is as easy as leasing a new car or truck for your business. Your investment is for only that you actually need. No long term contracts. No OSHA issues. No benefits to drain your business of more profits. Instead, retaining a professional team of Social Media Specialists insures that you have a creative and experienced team, directing your content through the maze of social media Web 2.0 site targets with dependable and measurable results.

During an average one-year contract, a team of specialists will manage your social media professionally, effectively and efficiently. The team approach will save you thousands in employee costs, give your business a true, hyper-marketing push by insuring that you have a professional team delivering social media success for your business.

The bottom line: the more exposure to your customers, more interaction with your customers and more dialog you have with your customers, the greater the probability that clicks will become clients.

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If you need professional, creative social media help, let the professionals of Promise Productions Marketing Communications show you how easy and affordable Social Media Strategic Orchestration really is. We have offered web design and marketing expertise since 1992. Promise Productions offers effective Marketing, Video Production, Podcasting, Multimedia, Web Site Development, Strategic Blogging and Search Engine Marketing. Call 972-822-3587 to speak to a live person now.