Five years ago, I knew that I wanted to run my own company and do PR, Marketing and Events….and so I did it. Four years ago, I had a feeling about blogs, knew nothing, went to a seminar, knew a tad more, and worked until I understood the blog world and how business could fit in. With the fun and the effectiveness of blogs, I knew we needed to expand into social networking (myspace, facebook and others) and online videos…and so we did it and have helped our clients increase sales and win awards.

This is a great story but the question to ask today is, with all that Creative Concepts offers, can we withstand a recession…more importantly can we help our clients through a period of flat or declining sales. The first answer is we are in great shape and the second answer is yes, we can help our clients not only muster through a possible recession but we can help them come out on top by using PR and social media as a way to reach new customers.

Taking the recession element away for the moment, there have been many studies that say advertising is not as effective as it once was. ZenithOptmedia says that ad spend growth is predicted to be up by 2.5% only for 2008 compared to 3.3% in 2007. Traditional PR still works but based on who you are trying to reach, you need to hit many channels before you get a customer’s attention. Channels would include print, radio and TV, events, and the word of mouth (WOM) sectors. WOM spending which includes social networks, blogs, videos and more is expected to increase 30.4% annually through 2011 to $3.70 billion as noted by Keller Fay Group which means that the corporate world has recognized that working the internet is an effective and successful way to reach your present and new customers.

Now putting the possibility of a recession back into the mix, the next question is where do you, a business, put your money so you get the biggest bang for the buck? Well I can give you the answer but you probably have already figured it out. Talking and sharing information within the online social networks or creating a new community for your customer is easier on the budget than paying for a TV spot or a glossy ad in a magazine!

Common sense will guide you (and so will Forrester Research as reported by Mark Walsh here) to wise spending for future PR and Marketing campaigns…a recession may just force the hand sooner rather than later.

Had a great time speaking at HVDMA (Hudson Valley Direct Marketing Association) yesterday. They had a President’s panel where Joe Feigenbaum from TDO, Fern Galperin, independent web consultant, and Matt Staudt from interactive marketing group and myself sat on a podium and answered questions about the web…everything from social media (big topic) to print, email marketing, direct marketing and more.

Interesting format. We met prior to the meeting and chatted and then were thrown lots of questions which for sure kept us on our toes…I was in very good company because Joe, Fern and Matt were confident and knowledgeable about their experiences on the web and how they have been innovators for their clients!

To sum up, we all agreed that the web/internet marketing is one of many powerful channels to use when reaching out to your customers.

Get a good rundown here from Tim Parry of multichannel merchant.

Hey is anyone out there listening to AM Radio anymore? Hope so because we were just featured on Greg Skidmore’s radio show and blog Business Catalyst on WGCH in Greenwich, CT. Here the podcast here.

Enjoy!

I just saw a great article in Wired about how Second Life isn’t adding up for the corporate sector. Coke and the NBA have been in there trying and while Second Life may have the cool factor, the cash register isn’t ringing for the marketers and their bosses!

Interesting because I have been saying this from day one. As one who advises clients on new/social media options, I checked out the blogging when it first got hot (loved it and saw great value), I checked out the podcasts (good for commuters but not everyone will have an IPod so it isn’t the perfect solution), I checked out video on Youtube and other sites (so cool and viral), I checked out Linkedin (great value but high maintenance) and MySpace (interesting but have to weed through a lot of riff raff) and Facebook (wild frontier with endless possibilities) and of course Second Life which, when asked, I said from day one it was cool but had no long term value (translates to sales) for the corporate sector.

Now at the Business Smart Tools conference in May, I invited Greg Verdino, then of Digitas, to give a demo of Second Life. With every conference, I want to present something that is way out there for those who aren’t messing around with the latest latest. He was great and it was interesting but many in the audience just didn’t see how they could use it to get their message out to their present and future customers. I agreed with them.

As Wired has mentioned, the concept of Avatars in an online community may evolve into something truly worthwhile for business, but until then, stick to the hundreds of other marketing options that exist online!

Say it isn’t so, I just heard that my favorite magazine of all time, Business 2.0 may be done. How can that be? The content is awesome, the ideas great…I always learn something!

Well I heard that Facebook has a group supporting it, and so I have joined and the group is getting larger by the minute.

One of the questions posed on the wall: will social media save Business 2.0?

Only time will tell!

Well, I would like to say that for this very brief moment, we at Creative Concepts can take a breath. We have caught up from the Business Smart Tools Conference which was very exciting, we have reached out to many present and future clients, and we are sitting back and watching a bit to see where we are going and how we are getting there…summer is good for that.

One trend or direction for us started with blogging and is now moving towards social networks. In my mind, they are one in the same with a slight technical difference. I am a huge fan of blogging as many of your know. It is a place where the corporate sector can provide solid content for their fans, they can control the messaging which is a big deal for the more dated mind set of managing the image every step of the way, and the walls are removed between management and the customer through the comment section. So cool…a web tool with legs to stand on!

I believe social networks have the similiar mindset. Now when I say social networks, I mean like myspace, facebook, linkedin and such and when I refer to “working” social networks, I don’t mean posting an ad on the homepage and hoping people get it although many ads on the homepage of myspace are pretty cool. What I mean by “working” social networks, I mean reaching out to new friends/contacts, I mean entering the forums and speaking for the company we represent (with full disclosure of course). We submit questions and answers in a low key way, we are part of the group…we aren’t out selling, we are truly making friends. It takes a lot of work and attention to detail but in my mind, it is the best way to reach out to a whole new generation and a whole new group of people period.

Many of the conferences I have attended don’t talk about this stuff (I have heard a lot about viral marketing and digital ads) but our clients are very interested in the concept of online communities. Business wants to talk to their people, and our clients (and potential clients) want to be a part of a group much like the people on the social networks already.

It’s all very interesting and it keeps us on our toes.

I am off now to visit with TheNewsMarket which is a video distribution channel that in my mind, so far anyway, makes sense!

Until next time!!

Well, the conference is over and I am finally at the point of catch up…I think.  I have great clients who ask for more…more than a blog, more than myspace, more than meebo…let’s go…can I ask for anything more?  It is a dream come true to have a client say they want to continue to move forward in the world of online communities where what a company says matters and how you do business matters even more.  Great stuff…I need to start writing my case studies.

Until then, here is something to ponder.  When the Business Smart Tools Conference was completed, we sent out a thank you to all attendees, speakers and demos along with some questions for each to answer.  How did you like the conference, did it meet your expectations…you know what I mean.  One thing that came back many times was, “where were the women?”  The only women involved were from Creative Concepts. 

As presenter of the conference, I tried to get some women involved and was very aware that there was no female participation from the podium except for myself.  I tried to contact 7-8 women and for various reasons, none could make the conference.  Some didn’t return my call, some didn’t follow up, one was going on her honeymoon (Ok that was a good one).   Maybe there aren’t that many women in the social media/corporate arena, maybe there aren’t many women who are up for the task of public speaking, maybe the women don’t see the value of getting out of the office and into the public eye…I wish someone could explain it because I don’t understand it.

Tonight I happened to be looking at info about the new markeing agency Crayon who has their offices in Second Life.  It is a mash up of talent and information….cool stuff…lots of chatter about them but where are the women? 

I know women for ages have been saying that they don’t have the same opportunities that men do…women aren’t getting paid as much…is that because women aren’t putting themselves out there in the same way?  Are they afraid?  Is it because women have families (please don’t use that one…I have 4 kids and one of them plays AAU basketball where I have literally seen every corner of CT for the last couple of months!)  Are women the innovators?  Are women the leading edge entrepreneurs who have a vision and follow up no matter what anyone says?  There is no excuse for a woman not to succeed in this new online world where the playing field has been leveled and the ones who win are the ones who get it vs. the guys who play golf and talk shop and make deals over a whiskey.

This is the biggest reason I love social media and this new online world…there is no seniority…everyone is scrambling to find the buck and make this work.  The most creative, and I mean creative in the sense of melding the business and online worlds, wins the prize.  Women have an unbelievable chance to make it here.  Where are they?  I guess you will have to come to Creative Concepts to find the perfect mix of female talent and social media know how!

Well, Sabine and I are getting excited about attending and speaking at Podcamp NYC.  They are now up to 1100 people attending which is amazing…quite a gathering in NYC for the Saturday before a major holiday (Easter)!!  Michelle, our sales maven, is heading to the networking party tonight, Friday, at Slate…Sabine, our emerging technology maven, and I are heading in tomorrow to hear what we can hear and to speak.

Now what is interesting about our workshop is that in a sea of passionate podcasters (and I hope to learn a lot from them), we are talking about “Blogging for Business!”  We were convinced to do so by John Havens one of the organziers (and great guy by the way!)  We will either have a near empty room or a room overflowing…this is the joy of doing an unconference…no one knows these things and there is no overplanning and everyone attending and planning the event contribute together…it is very cool!

If you are a second life fan, this link will lead you to some workshops that are taking place in real life at The New Yorker Hotel.

I haven’t checked the latest list of workshops but I do know that Greg Verdino will be working a panel on Saturday morning and Reena Jana from BusinessWeek will be speaking as well!  I do believe that Mike Dunn, podcaster extraordinaire, is thrown into the mix too (as long as there is no snow on a mountain somewhere :))

Ok then, see you all there…this is going to be a good time!

Steve Rubel over at Micropersuasion writes about Disney’s new website.  I can’t believe that I have been ranting and raving about Disney’s choices here and here cause, well, you know, I have kids and they have loved Disney everything but here I go again…I can’t help myself.

Disney’s site has no Web 2.0, states Steve, no way of reaching out to their loyal fans or hearing back from them and no way for site supporters to grab a widget to put on their site (a disney element that can spiffy up a site both on the front and back end).

Well, all I can say is that this seems very much in line with Disney.  They don’t get a lot of things and in my mind have become not only dated but dangerous because they are big and powerful and yet ignorant at the same time…not a good combination!

Well this week and last have been bustling and fun!  Here are some of the projects and visits with present and potential clients:

First we did a major hustle and got the Cruise Resort & World Travel blog up and running.  We announced an award and posted a press release while Nancy, the blog owner was traveling in Viet Nam, Bangkok and Singapore and posted her observations.  We have information about Nancy, contact information for booking a luxury travel vacation and a press page with links.  We have a blog roll that supports the visitors’ need for travel information from flight stats to where to work out in the US when traveling.  Look for more to come with this exciting blog from an luxury travel agency owner who knows and experiences the world!

For a site that I thought was maintaining status quo, one of the principals called with vim and vigor and wanted to rev things up…letters out to customers, expand the topics of the blog posts, reach out to peers….it has been easy to support The Orthodontic Center, a site that supports 2 blogs where both blogs have a different agenda and different readers.

Next I was on to visit Ruth Ridgeway whose site is about to go live next week so check back on this link.  Ruth is a hard working feisty event designer who knows how to please her clients and make something out of nothing when it comes to a party.  Her site is awesome…we are about to add some video so bookmark her site for future visits.

I then worked through the details of two more sites that are going to be awesome…both have blogs, both communicate well with potential site visitors…stay tuned…you know I will tell you something when there is something to show.

And to add to all of this, I went this week to visit a potential client.  The principal is bright, energetic and creative but still afraid of what a blog is and can do (search engine optimization, crisis management, networking to name a few!).  Many in the corporate arena think a blog is dangerous and out of control.  Dangerous, no, out of control, yes, in a great way. 

Take a look at the Bigelow Blog.  This is a prime example of a corporate blog hard at work and working well for the company (500% increase in visitors from last month).  The President (Cindi), the VP Sales (Bob) and the VP of manufacturing (Dean) all contribute to the blog plus we back them up with studies and web finds on the benefits and facts of tea.  They have a strong community outreach plus they were a featured weightloss team on ABC Primetime live…all fodder for the blog.  The fact that Joe Torre, Phil and Chris Simms drink Green Tea doesn’t hurt either…Bob blogs about them especially when they came to headquarters recently for a visit.  A corporate blog requires the CEO or head of the organization to be open with a sense of adventure and dedication and that is Cindi Bigelow to a TEA!  She is ready to head out the door to bring on new customers…stay tuned for more exciting developments from Bigelow Tea.

All of this coupled with the excitement of the Business Smart Tools conference which is coming in May.  Amazing and knowledgeable speakers plus demo companies (tech startups that are geared toward business) and the BST angel award where judges award the one start up that shows the most promise with consulting time from management and tech gurus…it is truly a show to behold and one that has solid content where you walk away satisifed and well fed with information that can change how you work today.  Check out the Business Smart Tools Blog for updates.

We at Creative Concepts have been busy with the best yet to come…look for more adventures in the not so far future.