So quick to cut? (original photo by klynslis)

Yes, okay, I’m biased. I work for an advertising and marketing agency. You might think, since the welfare of my company depends on the advertising budgets of our clients, I’d say whatever I needed to in order to convince people to advertise. Clearly an inherent conflict of interest, right?

But consider: as such an agency, we’re intimately familiar with the workings of many businesses across multiple industries, and in our role as business partners we share a common goal with each of our clients. Our job is to keep them healthy and growing with the skills and knowledge we bring to the table. So it wouldn’t make much sense to push more advertising if we knew it would hurt a client’s business. (more…)

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Though people have been finding ways to market on the Internet for years, its broad marketing potential is still pretty new.

In my experience, most small business owners aren’t yet familiar with what internet marketing is and how it differs from/relates to traditional marketing media. I hope to answer some fundamental questions, or at least paint a clearer picture with this post.

Since we are talking about the world wide web, there are many advertising and marketing possibilities.  But what’s best for your business?  Well, that depends on your desired outcome (and budget). I’ll highlight three of the most common ways to market on the internet.

In addition to a company’s website, search engine marketing, social media marketing, and banner ads have proven to be highly effective in generating both web and foot traffic.  All of these are useful marketing elements that enhance a company’s internet presence to promote offline business and online sales. (more…)

Designer's rendering of the playground

The Vickie Powers Memorial Park Playground Project gets underway today.  It’s an exciting event - 5 days of building by hundreds of volunteers, and in the end the community will have a brand new playground in the park.

What’s cool about this playground is that it was designed with the help of children, so you know they’re going to love it. As part of a “community design, community build” concept, Rapid City’s Parks & Recreation Department teamed up with Leather’s & Associates, out of New York, to make this project happen.

The concept of this park’s “community design, community build” is classic and essential.  Whether it be by getting involved in social media, encouraging higher levels of customer and community service,  relationship building, or by hosting/contributing to community events, the community theme has been a common thread for many of our clients lately.  Sort of as a way to get back to the basics.  Back to the human connection.  Working together toward a common goal.

It’s encouraging to see so many people give so much to such a cause as this park, even in the midst of a recession. This generosity, this sense of community, is now more important than ever. I hope this playground and park will benefit the community by/for which it was built, and perhaps serve as a way to grow our sense of community in the days ahead.

The RSA Interactive team recently presented, “Hands on Social Media” during the South Dakota Telecommunications Association’s (SDTA) annual meeting in Deadwood, SD.

Our focus was to demonstrate the use of various social tools and spaces - Google Reader, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and iGoogle - as well as show our audience how to integrate these social spaces and streamline their online efforts for both business and personal use. Though most of the presentation was “hands-on,” here are a few takeaways: (more…)

“I want to be on the first page of Google”…the request we hear the most from clients when discussing Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is then closely followed by “When will I see results?” and “How much will it cost?”

Well, to be honest, SEO is a strategy, not a “quick fix” or a “one-time deal”. It will take time and it will be an investment. Generally, for low to moderately competitive areas, it may take 3 - 6 months to begin seeing results.  If the area of focus is highly competitive, results can take 6 months to a year.

Here are a few basic factors we consider when forming an effective SEO strategy: (more…)

Social media is all the rage these days. It is no longer just the interest of your 16 year old daughter or the chronicles of life on a college campus. These past couple of weeks, I have had several people (outside of work) ask me about social media - what it is, how to do it, how it works, etc.

Meet Mr. Social. He’s practical, sensible and sensitive.

(Image credit: Allied Newspapers Limited | via letslookupandsmile)

From my cousin asking about Twitter or my boyfriend’s mother about Facebook, to random people I meet that gripe about social media being a waste of time, it seems to be everywhere I turn.

But why?

What makes social media so special?

Whether you look at it from a marketing perspective or simply as a way to stay connected to friends, family and the rest of the world, social media is quite practical in our modern, speed-of-the-web society. Here are 14 practical uses for social media.

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We're not supposed to talk about how great we are. (photo by JSolomon)

Time to take a step back.

Time to take a good look at what we’re doing here at RSA. The economy is down - way down, and people are cutting advertising and marketing budgets, big time. Looks like 2009 is shaping up to be a “building year,” right?

Maybe not. The problem is, we’re still as busy as ever, and I guess that’s less of a problem and more a relief. Some might call it good luck; I call it hard work and a passion for what we do. And a passion for having food to eat, there’s also that.

And yet we have been building as well. Since late last year we’ve added new departments, new staff, and new teams. We’ve got a new website on deck, and are partnering with new clients weekly. (more…)

Why LinkedIn? (photo by tj scenes)

Despite the mass of “What Is LinkedIn?” articles out there on the web, LinkedIn still remains a mystery to many. The main question seems to be “why is it useful?” And that’s not surprising. Our free time is limited, and we hardly want to spend hours on yet another website that offers little value.

The value of a website can be measured by what we each get out of our time spent on that website. So for some people LinkedIn will be a waste of time. For others, it will be the most valuable website they ever used. So how can you find value in it?

LinkedIn is a professional networking destination. If Twitter is the cocktail party and Facebook business casual, LinkedIn is the business suit (h/t @paulchaney). Here are a few brief reasons (more…)

Definition: Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post updates (called Tweets) as often as they want (and limited to 140 characters). When you follow other people on Twitter, you see their tweets. When they follow you, they see your tweets.

According to the Twitter website, ‘Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?’

Relatively new to the ‘twittersphere’, my first reaction to this question ( just as the video ‘Trouble with Twitters’ comically conveys) was a simple answer:  ‘Does anyone care?’…

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Previously I wrote about understanding social media, and explained how it is equalizing global communication and interaction, with specific consequences for business. I want to expand on this idea a bit and talk specifically about ‘marketing‘ on the social web.

Social web?
Yeah, that’s my term du jour. I’ve been slap-fighting a little bit with the whole concept of “social media,” and the fact that this commonly-used phrase just doesn’t work as a definition. It’s too broad; misleading, even. “Social web” is broad as well, certainly, but more specific in scope. It’s made up of spaces across the internet where people can interact with one another - we’re all familiar with some of the more popular technologies that facilitate this communication. The point is that conversations are happening here.

What’s that got to do with business and marketing?
Quite a bit, potentially. A business that approaches the social web the right way can benefit greatly, while providing value for their customers or prospects. Vague enough for you? (more…)