Get To The Grapes

Campaigns should be organized, engaging, meaningful and fun

Thinking about launching a social media program?

Start with a plan.

We’ve all heard the saying, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Yet that is exactly what most companies do when it comes to social media: They fail to plan.

You wouldn’t launch an advertising campaign without planning. And you certainly wouldn’t launch a public relations program without planning. Yet somehow many businesses, especially small businesses, launch social media programs without a plan. So, before you ask your intern or simply the person on your staff with the most free time, to start posting, blogging and tweeting on your behalf, follow these guidelines to get your program off to a successful start. Read the rest of this entry »

Merlot Marketing raises a glass to its own Julie Fraga in celebration of her promotion to Senior Account Manager.  In her new role, Fraga will lead a team of Merlot Marketing’s top account executives, PR professionals and social media strategists as well as serve as a key contributor on the New Business Development Team.

“Julie’s leadership and talent have been an integral part of Merlot’s success and I’m thrilled to announce her well-deserved promotion,” said Debi Hammond, President/CEO of Merlot Marketing.

As Senior Account Manager, Fraga will be directly involved with a broad base of national and local clientele.  She will spearhead strategic planning and oversee the day-to-day activities of the account and PR team she manages.

Fraga joined Merlot Marketing in 2008 as a Public Relations Account Executive.  She quickly proved to be an essential component of Merlot’s success and achievement.  A Roseville resident, Fraga has more than nine years of experience and has worked with a wide spectrum of clients from kitchen and bath appliance manufacturers and luxury stone and tile makers to solar power companies, restaurants and retail chains.  Her career highlights include securing client coverage within publications such as House Beautiful and Better Homes and Gardens and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on NBC’s “TODAY Show” and CNN.  She has also developed national marketing campaigns for clients and served as a key strategist in areas such as internet marketing and in-depth research studies.

McDonald’s is making an interesting move with its brand – shunning bright red roofs and yellow table and chairs for a more muted and sophisticated look and feel. First, they launched McCafe’s to compete with Starbucks and now they want to compete further by designing their chains to keep their customers around awhile.  McDonald’s business model has always been to get as many people in and OUT as possible. However, their new design is meant to keep their customers comfortable and cozy – think Starbuck’s and the Apple store. I know, as odd as it sounds, that is exactly who they are trying to emulate.   It will be interesting to see how this new approach resonates with its customers and its brand.

See article, video and pictures via @USATODAYmoney here.

Merlot Marketing is a growing and dynamic agency offering opportunities to work on local and national client campaigns. As an award-winning, full-service agency, we specialize in brand strategy, advertising, public relations, social media, media planning and buying, and events and promotions.

The Social Media Strategist is responsible for helping our clients map out Social Media strategies and initiatives to participate in the conversation, engage in meaningful exchanges and create lasting relationships and communities with clients’ customers.  Our ideal candidate will be resourceful and detail-oriented.  Any employee may be required to perform other duties which may be necessary or desirable to support the agency business.

Responsibilities

This person will be responsible for senior level leadership/guidance to key accounts and will serve as the primary point of contact for client social media programs and campaigns. They will spearhead ideation and strategy formulation to ensure strategy recommendations are in alignment with the client’s goals and brand positions. Read the rest of this entry »

If Twitter is to survive it needs to pick up more mainstream users, so it’s looking at ways to provide more relevance to the average user.  We see numerous areas of opportunities for businesses and marketers, but for moms (those without blogs, of course), dads (in non-marketing jobs) and tweens (who prefer texting), it will be interesting to see where Twitter goes next. For now, I’m off to send another tweet!

See full article via the Wall Street Journal:  Twitter Tries to Widen Appeal to More Users

It’s time to raise a glass to a new addition to Merlot Marketing!  Merlot Marketing has hired Stephanie Macon as an Account Executive to manage several of the agency’s existing and new client accounts.

In her role as Account Executive at Merlot Marketing, Macon will be responsible for the project management of accounts including media buying and strategy development.  Prior to Merlot Marketing, Macon was a Project Manager at Express Media LLC and worked with a wide variety of clients from the health and beauty industry to exercise and home products in every stage of development from an idea on a napkin to a package on a shelf.  During her time at the previous agency, she went from serving as a Media Buying Assistant to heading up an entire marketing team.

“We are thrilled to welcome Stephanie to the Merlot Marketing’ team,” says Debi Hammond, President/CEO of Merlot Marketing.  “With the addition of this new member combined with our established team, we are more prepared than ever to take on the new clients and exciting projects coming our way.”

Merlot Marketing is a growing and dynamic agency offering opportunities to work on local and national client projects and campaigns. We are an award-winning, full-service agency specializing in advertising, public relations, brand strategy, media planning and buying, and events and promotions.

Merlot Marketing is currently looking for a Part-time Graphic Designer to support its creative team.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Ability to work in fast-paced agency environment – juggling multiple projects and requests
• Strong time management skills and the ability to multi task
• Ability to conceptualize and provide original ideas within established brand themes and standards
• Strong sense of design composition and typography
• Intuitive understanding of what makes a truly great interactive experience
• Mastery in the Adobe Creative Suite applications and other industry tools
• Mastery of HTML and CSS/table-less layouts  (actionscripting & javascript a plus)
• Experience with content management systems (CMS), and SEO techniques
• Understanding of web technologies and how designs are implemented
• Experience working alongside and collaborating with developers and project managers
• Excellent verbal and presentation skills
• Develop and manage projects from creative concept and production through final execution
• Work independently as well as with the team
• Strong production knowledge, from basic file handling to color space and special processes
• Support concepts and designs and produce creative for agency and agency’s clients
• Work within defined (and aggressive) timelines and budgets
• Organized and detailed oriented
• A positive attitude required and sense of humor a definite plus!

Should be proficient in all current design programs:

• InDesign CS2/3
• Illustrator CS233
• Photoshop CS2/3
• Acrobat 8 (PDF work flow)
• Flash CS2-CS3
• Strong Knowledge of HTML/CSS
• WordPress
• Dreamweaver CS2/3
• PHP/JAVASCRIPT/SQL a plus

Other requirements/experience:

• BA or BS in graphic design, marketing, advertising or related field
• 3+ years AGENCY experience in print AND interactive design
• Website administration experience a plus
• Local candidates ONLY

This is a part-time position (approximately 20 hours per week to start) with opportunity to move into full-time work. Salary is based on experience and qualifications.  Qualified candidates please email a cover letter, link to online portfolio and resume to creative@merlotmarketing.com.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond, Contributing writer, Marketing

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are all great options for small companies

Many companies view social media as a way to create connections with customers. But social networks also can help you reach a broader audience.

If you’re not using social media to enhance your public relations efforts, you’re missing out. Every major — and not so major — news outlet now uses social media to uncover leads and reach readers, viewers and listeners.

CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Fox News all have Facebook and Twitter accounts. Locally, The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Magazine, Sacramento Business Journal and Comstock’s magazine (which just launched an iPad app) all engage in social media for business use.

Here are few tips to help get your public relations program more “social.”

• Follow: Start following editors and reporters who cover news important to your business. You never know, they just might start “following” you, too. Get to know what they cover and share appropriate information with them.

• Friend: A lot of media are surprisingly open with their Facebook accounts. This is a great place to learn more about them, both personally and professionally. If you’re not actually “friends,” this is not the place to try and become one. It’s a place to connect and learn, but leave the pitching to the appropriate venues and business hours.

• Connect: LinkedIn is a great tool for creating business connections, and the media is no different. Media outlets use it too for their own professional career connections as well as company information and news. LinkedIn is a powerful tool for doing preliminary research on media outlets and journalists. If you don’t have an account, sign up! And if you’re not currently using it to connect with the media, you should start. Read the rest of this entry »

We are thrilled to announce that we took home six CAPPIE awards at this year’s SPRA CAPPIE Awards.  The ‘wins’ included:

GOLD AWARD:

• Client: River City Bank
• Category: New Media (Viral Video)
• Project: River City Bank “Ask Steve” Video Series

BRONZE AWARD

• Client: Dave & Buster’s
• Category: Promotional Device
• Project: Dave & Buster’s Smart Car Promotion

Photo: Tim Engle

SILVER AWARD

• Client: Everpure
• Category: Media Kit
• Project: Press Kit Packaging

BRONZE AWARD

• Client: Smashburger
• Category: Social Media Campaign
• Project: Sacramento Social Media Campaign

BRONZE AWARD

• Client: Dave & Buster’s
• Category: Short-term Public Relations Campaign
• Project: Dave & Buster’s Grand Opening Campaign

Fox40's Bethany Crouch, with Dave & Buster's general manager Brandon Ball, gets some practice before going live to the Sacramento Area.

GOLD AWARD

• Client: Eldorado Stone
• Category: Continuing Public Relations Campaign
• Project: Eldorado Stone PR Program

Eldorado Stone's VinoWall featured in Sunset magazine's headquarters in Menlo Park, CA.

Congratulations to the entire Merlot team for all of their amazing work!

Recent data provided by Skillpath shows:

• 350 Million: Number of Facebook users
• 60 Million: Number of LinkedIn users
• 50 Million: Number of Tweets created each day (scary that Charlie Sheen is now tweeting… And no, I’m not following.)
• 2.5 Billion: Number of visits Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn together received in one month
• 133 Million: Number of active blogs
• 5 Million: Number of users on the online bookmarking service Delicious (the one I use…)