Fusework Studios has played a major role in the new marketing for the American Advertising Federation of East Central Indiana (AAF ECI). Specifically, Fusework Studios Project Manager, Laurie Foster, recently completed a new website for AAF ECI (www.aafeci.org), which launched just before the 2010 ADDY Awards Banquet. The timing was great! The community saw not only the new face of the organization at the Awards Banquet, but also were reminded of Fusework Studios' offerings in Muncie as a website design company.

In addition, we volunteered to create the mainstage presentation for this year's ADDY Awards ceremony. This was a great opportunity to support several of the advertising agencies in Indiana, and the work they have done for their clients. We started months in advance, and I personally enjoyed working with Executive Director, Anne Condran, and Addy Chair, Christy Jones, in crafting the detailed presentation.

The presentation of the 2010 Addy Award Winners is on the new website for all to see, but I have also included it in my post below, so you can take a quick look.


A third-party service called SlideShare facilitates the display of PowerPoint presentations on any website in a very user-friendly format.

As a social media marketing company, we encouraged AAF ECI to alert their fans and followers of their new online presence, which they did on Facebook. Now the organization is setup online to further fulfill their mission to:

• CONNECT members to other advertising industry professionals and resources;
• Encourage, support, and recognize members in their quest to CREATE the very best in advertising; and
• INSPIRE young professionals to enter the advertising profession.

Many thanks to the Board Members of AAF ECI for selecting Fusework Studios to partner with for their recent marketing needs. Best wishes for continued success.

We are in the midst of executing an internet marketing branding campaign for one of our long time clients, Jay-Crew Landscape, Inc.  This campaign combines social media advertising, email marketing and other internet marketing efforts to help increase Jay-Crew's online brand awareness.  The campaign also allows Jay-Crew to expand its list of contacts for further internet marketing efforts.   

While social media internet marketing tools can be very effective, there must be a core idea behind the campaign to ensure our clients will enjoy all of the interent marketing benefits they deserve.  As an interactive advertising agency, it is our job to develop these ideas and strategies to help make these online campaigns successful. 

Here is an overview of the Green for Green Sweepstakes promotion we developed for Jay-Crew:

Basic Idea: Entering this sweepstakes will give you a chance at winning a $1,000.00 landscaping upgrade.  You may pick from services that will meet your needs up to $1,000.00 in value. 

Theme: Green (Money) for Green (Landscaping) Sweepstakes

Goal: To increase the internet marketing branding awareness for Jay-Crew Landscape, Inc. while developing a list of contacts interested in landscape services for future follow-up efforts.

How to Register: We set up GreenForGreenSweepstakes.com to redirect to a page on Jay-Crew's site asking for basic contact information via a web form.  This form was designed to be as straight forward as possible, promoting the ease of registration.  We also ask that all registrants give a brief, creative explanation on why they deserve the $1,000.00.  This is a key element in capturing all of the internet marketing benefits from this campaign.  Now Jay-Crew has background information to add to their contact list for further follow up.

Getting the Word Out: Email marketing allowed us to jump start this campaign.  We have worked with Jay-Crew over the past year or so to develop a high quality, opt-in, email list.  This helped get the word out immediately and encouraged existing contacts to tell others. 

We have also used social media marketing tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIN to share word about this promotion.  Several employees at Fusework and Jay-Crew have posted the GreenForGreenSweepstakes.com link on their personal profiles in addition to posting on our company profiles.  This allows everyone involved to share the word with our personal and business network as anyone within 60 miles of Muncie, Indiana can enter this sweepstakes.

Blogging has also played a role in driving people to the site to register.  Several employees here are Fusework Studios maintain personal blogs.  Some have taken it upon themselves to do a blog entry there as well.  A blog post was also added to SmallerIndiana, the niche social network for Indiana  And of course, we have posted on the company blog which you are reading right now.

Covering the Basics:  Updating the Web site itself has also played into our web based strategy.   Creating a new graphic for this campaign has given us the ability to use and repurpose it across all of the online outlets above, including the main page of the web site.  This graphic has also been a key part to the success of this campaign and increasing the internet marketing branding awareness. 

Check out the graphic below and click on it to register!

The Wikipedia definition of interactive advertising agencies is an interesting one. It discusses the nearly meteoric rise of these types of businesses due to the explosion of technology and social networking. It explains these companies differentiate themselves by use of web design/development, search engine marketing, internet advertising/marketing or e-business/commerce consulting.

Just as any business would have a board of advisors such as accountants, attorneys and other business professionals to help them make decisions, consider employing the services of an interactive advertising agency or social media agency to help develop an interactive strategy, brand awareness and online reputation management plan that will help give your business a meteoric rise and turn web conversions into a return on your investment.

Ways to identify a strong interactive agency:

• Ask for references;
• Ask for a portfolio/case studies;
• They lead with ideas and follow up with steps to turn those ideas to reality;
• Look up their social media presence;
• And do they practice what they preach?

I'm thankful for my co-workers!  Today I was on the wrong side of an argument and they graciously helped me to see the light.  Here was the debate:

Do we use our own proprietary Content Management System (CMS) and custom tools to build a web site that highlights our Video Production skills, or do we rely upon a third party tool that already has much of the functionality we need built in?

I was arguing that we need to build the new site using our internal tool set.  Why?

• We are expert software developers so we should be able to tweak our tools to meet this new need.  (We don't need no stinkin 3rd party tool)
• The additional functionality that this would bring will expand our ability to retain customers and service our clients.
• We could sell the new tool and it would result in more revenue for us
• We should just do it because I want to. (PRIDE)

Well, although these reasons may sound right and good (except for the last one) my colleagues gently and graciously reminded me that we're not in the business of building tools.  That's for the VC backed Web 2.0 companies to do. 

Fusework is a creative house specializing as an Interactive Advertising Agency / Social Media Agency.  Our value isn't our tools it's in our creative prowess, our Internet marketing and branding expertise and our ability to use the tools to create creative and strategic ideas that engage with consumers!  (That's sound interactive strategy.)

I frequently tell clients, "Internet Marketing Success isn't in the tools you use, it's how you use them."  If I'm so good at telling other people this why did I fail so miserably today?  Live and learn I suppose.  There's always tomorrow.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Although this oft overlooked holiday is usually just an occasion to throw back a few beers, one strategic thinking web company in New York launched a new social community that is specifically hoping to take advantage of the Irish themed web traffic that will be taking place this week.  IrishCentral.com.

With the majority of the growth in social media taking place in niche communities, it's not a surprise that this new social media community was launched.  However, despite this one intelligent move, I fear that IrishCentral.com somehow missed the Web2.0 revolution while they were developing their new interactive strategy.   All Irishness aside, IrishCentral.com has a long way to go.  Although built upon the Clickability platform, the site is plagued by a Web 1.0 design, poor navigation, and very few real social tools.  When it comes down to it, Irish Central is more of a news portal for Irish related content than a social media community. 

So, are you considering the launch of your own niche social community?  Here are some practical tips to take into account as you consider your own social media Internet marketing path:

• Target a real niche

• Evaluate registration

• Integrate tools and Allow widgets

• Develop content

• Blog