Forget ribbons, we cut burgers!
Here are just two TV features of many we garnered for Smashburger’s second restaurant opening here in the Sacramento region. We opened the first in March 2010 in Citrus Heights and a second recently in Folsom. Be on the lookout for a third opening soon in Roseville! Meanwhile, these video clips should wet your appetite.
KCRA 3/31/10:
Fox40 3/29/10:
Friday, June 4, 2010
Target your social media efforts by going for quality over quantity
Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond, Contributing writer, Marketing
Dunkin’ Donuts has 80 percent fewer Facebook and Twitter followers than Starbucks. So it is losing the social media game, right? Well, it depends on your definition of social media success.
If your goal is to be like Ashton Kutcher (he was the first to reach the 1 million “follower” mark on Twitter, even before CNN), then I guess you could consider your social media program a success. However, my recommendation is to focus on quality over quantity.
Besides, what do those 1 million followers really represent for a celebrity? More movies? More money? Or was it simply a bunch of people experimenting with a new medium who now have inactive accounts?
After all, according to a recent Nielsen Online data study, 60 percent of Twitter users quit after a month.
From a business perspective, the question you want to ask yourself is, does having more “followers/friends” equate to having more business and more brand equity? If you want to use social media effectively, then stop “selling” and be more “social.”
Be authentic
The biggest mistake marketers and small businesses make when trying to market their businesses is trying to use social media the same way they do traditional media. Social media is not traditional media and should not be treated the same way.
Television and radio use a “hard sell” approach. It’s one way and directional: “buy me” now. Social media is “social,” meaning people need to be engaged to want and to learn about your product, service or other information. You can, and in most cases, should, use it as an integral part of your marketing campaign, but don’t treat it as a traditional marketing tool.
Social media is about engagement. It’s bi-directional. It’s about providing value. It’s about being authentic. If all you do is tweet about what’s on sale, promotions and the number of “friends/followers” you want, buy an ad because social media is not the place for the “hard sell.”
You want followers that want to follow you. You want followers who are truly engaged in your brand and are following you because of the value you bring to their lives. If you’re wondering what kind of social media marketer you are, take this brief quiz (answer yes or no): See article at the Sacramento Business Journal (more…)
The Sacramento Business Journal received close to 400 entries, narrowed it down to 100 finalists and named its 2010 class of 40 Under 40 leading business professionals.
A judging panel selected the 40 honorees based on their leadership, entrepreneurship, creativity, accomplishments and community involvement. The event, held at one of Sacramento’s newest eateries - Cafeteria - was sold out. I was humbled to be named among so many talented “young” people. So who are these talented and driven individuals?
Get the Entrepreneur’s Edge at NAWBO’s premier educational symposium for Business Owners and potential Business Owners scheduled for Wednesday, February 10, 2010 from 3 – 7:30 pm at IKEA in West Sacramento. Afternoon includes hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and networking (3 pm), two sets of break-out sessions, and interview panel during dinner buffet with wine 6 – 7:30 pm.
Scheduled Breakout Sessions
* Social Media 101: What is it and What Does it Mean to My Business
-presentation by Debi Hammond, Founder/CEO, Merlot Marketing, Inc.
* Social Media 201 Learn how to Use LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter effectively for Business
* Redesign Your Life to Step into Balance, Power, and Success
* Online Security Savvy — Protecting Your Business Assets
* Preparing and Interpreting your Financial Reports from a Banker’s Perspective
* Texting to Twitter — Understanding and Effectively Relating to Generation X and Y
* Channeling: Establish Your Business Future Through Pre-Sold Referrals
Plus “Women Who Built Their Business from the Ground Up”
Introducing NAWBO’s Expert Speakers
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Time: 3:00-7:30 pm
Place: IKEA West Sacramento, 700 IKEA Court (I-80 & Reed Ave)
Price: $39/member, $49/non-members by February 6, 2010; $10 more at the door.
For more info, click here
I am almost finished with “Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust,” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith and although it does get a bit, well, deep into the techie scene and their inner circle of social media gurus, it’s a great book on how to approach social media successfully. In a nut shell, when it comes to social media, keep it helpful and keep it real.
As marketers (and clients as salespeople), we tend to get aggressive with our messages - wanting responses and ROI immediately, but the fact of the matter is, that’s just not how social media works. Personal relationships and connections take time and some giving of yourself. So before you expect to get, start to give first. Want to build influence and earn trust? I’d recommend picking up a copy of this book: Trust Agents.
Friday, December 04, 2009
Strategy often overlooked in social media
Set your goals from the start to avoid having to clean up a mess
Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond, Contributing writer, Marketing
Social media, the marketing buzz phrase of 2009, finally is being embraced by small and large companies alike. But for some companies, their late entry into the social media space has left them trying to clean up messes created by their “wait and see” mentality.
What they didn’t realize is that while they were “waiting to see” what this social media “thing” was all about, their brands were being altered, and in some cases, stolen, online.
We have spent the past few months flying all across the country taking clients through an in-depth social media training that is focused, not on the tools, but rather on the strategy behind the utilization of those tools. The difference between strategy and usage is extremely important.
Companies spend a fortune in both time and money hiring advertising and public relations professionals to manage their brands, yet when it comes to social media, they tend to pass those responsibilities on to the first intern or GenY employee who has a MySpace or Facebook account — thinking that the ability to use social media tools is the same as the ability to use them strategically.
Stay in control
So, what can really go wrong in the social media space by having just anyone manage it for you? A lot. Here are just two examples.
First, and probably most important, someone else will own your profile names. This means, for example, that your official business name on Facebook or Twitter could be tied to an intern’s e-mail address and when that intern is gone, so is your ability to manage (or own) that account, or the name on it. A huge loss for your business and your brand.
Second, you can lose control of your brand message. Every tweet, post and comment counts when it comes to your brand. What is really being said about, and by, your brand online? Something as important as your brand should be managed by those who truly understand it.
How can you avoid having to clean up a social media mess? Review these guidelines before ever starting a social media campaign.
Create a strategic plan
When you launch a new advertising campaign, you have a well thought-out strategic plan. When you launch a PR program, you develop a strategic plan. Yet, somehow, when companies launch a social media program, they do it without a plan. You know the old saying: “Fail to plan and you plan to fail.”
Develop guidelines
A lot of large companies are grappling with the fact that their own employees are talking about, representing and in some cases “owning” the company’s brand online. They’ve created fan pages and blogs dedicated to the company. They tweet on behalf of themselves and the company, using logos, branding elements and messaging that is often out of context and off message.
It’s not that they are doing anything wrong intentionally. In fact, if anything, you want to encourage their enthusiasm.
So how is it that the company can lose control online, even to its best brand fanatics? It’s because the company did not provide the guidelines needed to harness the enthusiasm from the beginning.
A simple set of social media guidelines can go a long way in unifying your brand online and/or saving you the time and heartache of trying to reel in and rebrand what 10 or 10,000 employees already have created online.
Hire or assign a strategist
Once again, almost anyone can use social media tools or teach you how to create a Twitter account. However, what’s important is that they understand how to use a Twitter account (or any other social media tool) strategically for the benefit of your brand and business. It’s imperative that the person who manages your social media program understands the traditional principles of marketing while fully embracing the untraditional principles of the Web.
Hire a social media strategist and watch your brand grow online.
Provide human capital, resources
Most people think social media is free, when, in fact, it’s quite expensive when done right. Yes, the tools are free, but what you need to implement a successful social media campaign is a team with time, resources and a strategic approach. It takes time, dedication and resources to create rich content, engage in meaningful conversation and monitor your brand online.
Without a social media team, you’re without the resources necessary to do it right.
Put social media in its place
Many elements fall under the marketing umbrella including advertising, public relations and creative development. Yet, somehow, social media is often considered an add-on — a free marketing element that doesn’t deserve the same time, planning and strategy as the other disciplines. Well, social media is an integrated discipline and needs to be elevated and positioned equally to all other disciplines under the marketing umbrella in order to use it successfully.
So, whether you’ve already implemented a social media program or plan to in the near future, be sure to follow the guidelines outlined above so that the buzz you create online supports your brand and your business.
Debi Hammond is president and chief executive officer of Sacramento-based Merlot Marketing Inc. Reach her at debi@merlotmarketing.com . Click here for original article.
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
Don’t miss the National Latina Business Women’s Association’s 4th Annual Helping Build the Latina Woman Business Conference today at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel. The conference starts at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m. The afternoon session (starting at 2:00 p.m.) includes a panel of three marketing professionals who will share insight and information on “How to get Explosive Results from the Use of Social Media.” The panel includes:
Lindsay Myers, Senior SEO Consultant/METRO SEO
Tammy Burleson, President & CEO/Why Not Web
Debi Hammond, President & CEO/Merlot Marketing
Want more information or interested in attending?
Click on Agenda or Registration for more information.
With winter right around the corner, the Today Show featured a segment on ‘How to update your fire place,’ and of course, we had the perfect product for the segment! Our client, Eldorado Stone was the featured highlight with a hearth as the backdrop for Meredith and George. The segment shared some great ideas for updating that old fire place. Our favorite? The architectural stone veneer, of course!
Watch the segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33653115#33653115
Need more inspiration? Check out the images below or visit Eldorado Stone’s Walkthrough.
This story is taken from Sacbee / Business / Bob Shallit: Published Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Sacramento’s Merlot Marketing continues to rake in contracts to promote upscale home products. The latest deal: an agreement to represent PR-111, a Brazilian manufacturer of exotic and sustainable hardwood flooring.
Merlot execs recently flew to Miami to pitch their ideas for the account and apparently wowed BR-111’s president with proposals to stage product showcases in crowded venues such as Times Square - and to build “floating” glass ceilings above the displays that visitors could walk on and then gaze down at the flooring.
As company president Debi Hammond recalls it, BR-111’s Ricardo Moraes at first found the ideas a little, uh, wild.
In a heavy accent, he inquired: “So exactly what do you guys ‘grow’ in Sacramento?” Implying that the Merlot team might be smoking what it was growing.
Hammond replied that wine sometimes stimulates ideas at the company. Never anything stronger.
The team left on a high note, so to speak, with what Hammond calls a “very big account.”
For the Original Story: http://www.sacbee.com/shallit/story/2300988.html or back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit
Don't be a Jesse James
It seems as though, if given the opportunity, marketers will try to blur the line between fact and fiction and this holds true no where better than the ‘wild wild Web.’ Since the first blog was posted, marketers have been seeking ways to capitalize on those blogs with significant audiences, and at times (shocking!), they have forgone transparency for the sake of the sale.
A perfect example is Wal-mart’s Walmarting Across America blog (no longer active). Basically the premise was about a couple who just “happened” to drive their RV around the United States, parking in Wal-Mart parking lots as they went and blogging about their great Wal-mart experiences. The problem was it was billed as authentic when, in fact, it was a carefully scripted (and paid) campaign by Edelman (a well-regarded worldwide PR agency) for Wal-mart.
There are many examples of the misuse of blogs and bloggers by companies marketing their products and services as well as a blatant disregard for disclosure and as such, the FTC has stepped in with guidelines to help keep unethical marketers (and companies) at bay.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued final changes to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. While advisory in nature, the new guidelines will reset standards of behavior that public relations, marketing and advertising professionals should adopt to avoid violating underlying laws against unfair competition and false advertising.
As outlined in a notice provided by The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the FTC Guidelines make three key departures from previous guidelines that could impact marketing professional’s practices:
While the FTC will approach each potential violation on a case-by-case basis, the new guidelines will impact how professionals should approach some common practice scenarios. Here are some applications of the guidelines:
A note to marketers, we owe it to ourselves and our profession to do what’s right by, not only our clients, but by the general public as well. Consumers are already wary of advertising, so let’s not ruin it in the online community too. Just because it’s the ‘wild wild Web’ doesn’t mean we need to act like Jesse James.
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Please note: The opinions and positions expressed within this blog are my own (or of those who contribute) and don't necessarily reflect those of Merlot Marketing, Inc.
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