Archive for October, 2011

October 31st, 2011

Are professional services firms afraid of social media?

After speaking with professional services firms across the country, I can tell you… the fears of social media are very real. tweet-o-lantern

I had the opportunity to co-host a professional services tweet chat with Taryn Erickson at SoMeffect, to discuss “Fears of Social Media.” (You can find our original questions, see: Do you FEAR Social Media?)

During our chat, we conjured up many of the fears that commonly haunt professional services firms.

What are the typical fears?
“Is social media marketing a waste of time?”
“How can you control what is being said?”
“How do we show ROI to our partners?”
“How do we know where to begin?”

Where do these fears come from? How can we learn to overcome them?

In November, we’ll be hosting a special webinar for professional services firms to help uncover some of these fears, and learn what you can do as a firm to master them. Sign up here for: The Five Fears of Social Media.

Five Fears Webinar

Have you overcome your fears of social media? What worked for you and your firm?

Happy Halloween!

October 18th, 2011

Get Disruptive: How could you put yourself out of business?

Have you ever brainstormed ways to put your company out of business? For most of us, probably not.
Where is the future headed? Is your business model shifting? Is something coming that could erode your customer base? How can you improve communications?

Thinking about business in this way identifies threats, but more importantly, opportunities.

During a recent panel discussion, one of our clients noted a new technology that he “took a chance on” about eight years ago. Looking back he noted, it’s easy to see he “guessed right.” By staying on the cutting edge of this technology, his firm has enjoyed a “disruptive, competitive advantage.”

So what does it take to “guess right?”

Continue Reading on the Delivra blog:

October 10th, 2011

2011 Heartland Film Festival Campaign

We’re excited to share some of our design, branding, and advertising work for the 2011 Heartland Film Festival.

We were hired to brand this year’s festival look, language, and advertising vehicles across the entire campaign. Below are a few examples of our design work including television commercials, t-shirts, postcards, and a really great souvenir letterpress poster.

The brand voice and identity were based on the line, “The films you watch can change the way you see.”

Television Commercials
All of the photography and video used in the campaign are shots of “unseen” places in Indianapolis. We sought to find beauty in locations that you might not think of at first glance as “beautiful.”

Heartland Film Festival Postcard Design

Postcards
The postcards are being distributed by all of the event sponsors and partners. You can find these sets of four designs at most Marsh locations, and other participating sponsors.

Heartland Film Festival T-shirts
T-shirt Design
The gray and blue shirts will be offered for sale during the festival.

Heartland Film Festival Poster
Letterpress Poster
This 18×24″ letterpress poster was first imprinted with the four-color logo on a traditional press, then the large “blind” 20th seal and headline were printed via letterpress. These will be autographed by the filmmakers and presented to the sponsors and partners. 110# Pearl White Crane Lettra. Mmmm… letterpress.

Heartland Letterpress Poster - detail
Letterpress Poster (detail)
Check out just how much texture these have up close. The blind emboss of the 20th seal was done on the letterpress as well, minus the ink.

Stay tuned for more Heartland Film Festival Samples…

October 4th, 2011

B2B Content Marketing Guide by Eloqua

What is Content Marketing, and why should your professional services firm care? Content Marketing, according to this guide “…is the art of creating, curating and distributing valuable content, combined with the science of measuring its impact on awareness, lead generation and customer acquisition.”
This ebook from Eloqua, written by Joe Pulizzi, Joe Chernov, CC Chapman and Ann Handley, is a great primer on Content Marketing, and will get you thinking about Content Marketing in a whole new way.
Sound like something you should be exploring in your business? Read on: