Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past month, you’ve probably heard about the oil spill that had caused a fair amount of damage to the Gulf of Mexico and to British Petroleum’s reputation. In order to “rectify” the situation, BP has released a number of press statements over the past couple of weeks that have not satisfied an overwhelmingly disgruntled public. In response to BP’s lackluster statements, a man, who has dubbed himself as Leroy Stick, decided to take matters into his own hands; he created a Twitter account, cleverly named @BPGlobalPR, which pokes fun at how BP executives are dealing with the current situation. According to Stick, he started @BPGlobalPR because he believed that BP did not offer anything to ease the nation’s concerns. As a result, @BPGlobalPR has already accumulated over 150,000 followers since May 19, and it continues to grow on a daily basis. Leroy also supports the campaign that sells “bp cares” t-shirts to fund the activities of the Gulf Restoration Network, and his team recently made a $10,000 donation to the charity. All in all, he has become a celebrity within the social media community overnight and has molded BP’s brand into the punch line of his own joke.

His popularity or humor, however, is not what has captured my attention; it’s his message. Leroy Stick felt the need to create an entire web based strategy with @BPGlobalPR because BP wasn’t responding to the general public with urgency, sincerity, or solutions. Instead, Leroy argues that BP has been doing whatever it can to maintain a positive image and to keep making money. In other words, the executives are paying Internet marketing and PR representatives to promote a positive brand image that has been destroyed by employees of the company instead of trying to fix the problems at hand!

“So what is the point of all this?” Leroy asks. “The point is, FORGET YOUR BRAND. You don’t own it because it is literally nothing. You can spend all sorts of time and money trying to manufacture public opinion, but ultimately, that’s up to the public, now isn’t it?”

This is exactly what marketers do not want to hear, but it’s the truth. Companies can pay agencies tons of money to create marketing campaigns that represent integrity, quality, service, etc. But at the end of the day, none of this matters unless the client perceives the company (or the point of contact) as such.

So what does this have to do with me? Well, as a project manager for Fusework Studios, I am charged with providing my clients with the best service possible in order to create a positive brand image for the company. I will be a point of contact for clients, and I have to face the truth that Leroy Stick presents. Despite this challenge, I am excited to take on the responsibility of embodying the brand of Fusework Studios while maintaining my own values. Regardless of whether it is a global, multibillion dollar company or a small Internet Marketing and Website Design Company (with offices in Indianapolis and Muncie, Indiana), the point is to represent your values by making ethical business decisions and providing your clients with the best possible solutions; something that both the public and Leroy Stick feel BP is lacking.

As a result, I am even more motivated to practice what I preach in response to Leroy's skepticism. So, thank you, Leroy Stick, for encouraging me to face this challenge.

Jenn Lisak is a new Project Manager for Fusework Studios, and obviously, we're excited to have her join our team! Look for more posts from Jenn soon.

Want to learn more about Internet marketing? Do you have burning questions about how to use social media and blogging tools effectively for your business?  If so, join us for some great food and a short presentation from 11:30am to 1:00pm on Thursday, April 8 at Scotty's Brewhouse downtown.

Sign up now for the Lunch and Learn!

Fusework Studios' President, Bruce McClain, will start off with an overview of Internet marketing, discussing the importance of strategy in your marketing objectives. He'll cover a range of tools and tips in social media, business blogging and much more.  Then the CEO of Compendium Blogware, Chris Baggott, will share how to use corporate blogging to change your business and search results....for the better!

Feel free to bring along a friend or two and spend your lunch break learning information that you need to know!  We promise you'll leave with a new found knowledge of what Internet marketing can do for your bottom line.

Your ticket price includes your lunch at Scotty's Brewhouse!

• Search engines are the number one resource for people to find websites
• Targeted search engine marketing can have a high conversion rate
• Search engine marketing can be completely free (do not have to use pay per click)
• You win search by writing about what people are looking for

• Title your pages with keywords in mind
• Use keywords in your links
• Use keywords early in your content (first or second paragraph)
• Use keywords in header tags
• Create inbound marketing by generating buzz or links to your content (preferrably with keywords) by utilizing your social media community tools
• Utilize business blogging to drive traffic to your site

Original article by Indiana University Kokomo: http://www.iuk.edu/news/?naid=19&ncid=.

Kokomo, Ind. - Indiana University Kokomo has launched a new and improved Web site, www.iuk.edu, featuring easier navigation, online video, vibrant flash images, and socia media integration.

"The new site will allow us to share IU Kokomo in a more engaging and dynamic way. It brings with it a content management system that allows us to better manage updates and changes, as well as the ability to implement analytics that measure site usage and give us the tools to make constant improvements that better serve our users," said Katrina Janes, director of the Office of Communications and Marketing at IU Kokomo. "The redesign and launch of a new university Web site is a huge undertaking, and we are very excited to unveil this new Web presence to the students, campus and community that we serve."

The site, developed by Indianapolis-based Fusework Studios, provides easier navigation for the user, improved search functions, and a consistent look, design, and feel. The first step in the redesign was an audit of the old Web site that included an evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses. This evaluation enforced the need for IU Kokomo to clearly indentify and match target audiences with specific marketing objectives, as well as the need to transform the site from a static information source to a dynamic and engaging marketing tool.

This direction is supported by a recent TeensTALK®survey of high school sophomores which found that 74 percent of the respondents conducted general college research on the Web, and 67 percent visited a specific college Web site. It is clear that higher education institutions are positioning their Web sites as a primary marketing tool and relying more on electronic communication tools. The average Web user today is highly skilled and able to communicate through many technological formats, from text messaging to IM to Twitter. This is particularly true for prospective and current college students.

"This was a huge project and encompassed two years from vendor selection to launch. Every unit on campus participated," said Paul Nowak, vice chancellor for external relations. "A special recognition is due to our marketing and IT departments, and especially Rudy Kizer, our campus Web manager, and Katrina Janes."

Indiana University Kokomo serves a seven county, primary service area in north central Indiana. The campus offers more than 40 academic programs including four graduate degrees.
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Fusework Studios provides service in Business Blogging, IT Services, SEO Indianapolis, Indiana Website Design, Indiana Website Development, Web Based Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Indiana Video Production, Email Marketing Strategy, Corporate Blog, Internet Marketing Indianapolis, and much more.
 

• Learn more about your business (history, products, process, etc.)
• Hear testimonials from your customers about how great your product/service is
• See step-by step how your product works, so customers will buy it themselves
• Follow how-to instructions for accomplishing a certain task
• Be inspired and empowered to donate to your cause
• Be entertained by a different type of advertising
• Advertise for you by sharing your video across their social media networks
• And the list goes on....

Corporate video production techniques have changed.  Let's face it.  Businesses are no longer hiring production companies to produce the token "Eight to Ten Minute Corporate Video."

In this new digital age of Internet marketing and fast-paced "get in and get out" media delivery, corporate video production is being looked at in a very different way.

Don't get me wrong, corporate video production is still VERY important to a company's marketing strategy, but now, media can be delivered in a whole new way.

Here are some pointers to remember when looking in to what makes a good corporate video.

1. Cut, cut, cut.
To be a good (aka successful) corporate video, we're looking at no more than three minutes of total running time.  And recently, the trend has been even shorter.

2. Conversion is key.
The old standby has always been to have a closing billboard or graphic on your video that includes your business' website address and phone number, but that doesn't help determine how successful your corporate video was for you. 

Now, you have got to put in some sort of point of conversion. In other words, the video should end with "Go to our website, and sign up for our seminar, using our VID3O discount code." This is completely measurable and will definitely let you in on how many people saw your video AND then were compelled to do something -- which is the whole point of creating the video in the first place.

3. Take advantage of the medium.
Video is still a viable marketing tool because it does something that print, stills and websites cannot do.  It brings images and graphics to life through animation and image movement.  Wouldn't you appreciate a client testimonial much more if you saw and heard a person delivering kind words instead of just reading those same words on a page? The impact of Audio/Visual is still very good.

If you're looking for an Indiana video production company to produce a corporate video, make sure this company is discussing these three points with you.  This will ensure that your corporate video strategy is "in sync" with the rest of your marketing objectives.
 

• Domain Name - The value of a great keyword domain name is huge.  Consider registering a domain name that includes keywords for the services you provide and putting a microsite behind that domain name.  We recently employed this strategy with one of our microsites which can be found at InternetMarketingIndianapolis.com.
  
   
• Title Tags - The page title or title tag absolutely cannot be overlooked.  This is a chance to include keywords relevant to the content on that specific page in one of the areas that search engines are looking at as a top priority.  Using the same title tag for every page or only including one word (such as "About") is not going to help.  Take some time when assigning a title to your new page.  We recently changed our title tag on the Fusework Studios TV website and are now ranking very high for Indiana film and video production.   
  
   
• Headings - Pay attention to the headings used at the top of your web pages.  Avoid the standard "Welcome" to our website trap.  Instead, use this heading to include keywords related to your services.  When launching our new Fuseworkstudios.com website, we were able to include Internet marketing within our heading.  This is much better than "Welcome to our new web site."
  
   

1. Set a schedule to blog. Or, if you're not a fan of structure, promise yourself you will write a certain number of blogs every week. We have blogging lunches which helps increase our business blogging. 
    
2. Take notes with blogging ideas. Not a day goes by that don't I come up with some good idea for a blog post, but I don't always write them down. Carry a notepad, use your phone or create a draft blog post with your idea. Just write the title and a sentence or two. Then, come back to turn it into a real blog post. If you know you have ideas ready to develop, it can motivate you to finish them and end up with more frequent blog posts.
    
3. Turn your emails into business blogs. There are those projects, those quotes, those conversations where you spent hours selling why you are the best. You worked hard, it sounded good and hopefully got you the sale. Use that content in a blog post, just copy and paste! Don't feel like blogging? Find an email!
    
4. Blog about another blog post. Giving links to another website with a similar topic can be good for your search engine optimization. Quote a paragraph of theirs and then give a paragraph of your own thoughts. Easy peasy!
    
5. Embed a Youtube video and then comment about it. The video can be from a competitor, a partner or a customer. Add content with keywords, make it interesting, and off you are to the blogging for search races. Yee Haw!
    
6. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). It doesn't have to be a thesis, or brain science, or rocket surgery ... it just has to be interesting and provide some kind of value. Don't sweat over it; maybe your next blog post will be better.
    
7. Blog about employees, corporate events, industry news. The business blogging ideas are endless.