AcrobatAnt's Blog

One of our ants, Hal Collins, was a judge for the St. Louis ADDY awards. Hal said he had a great time judging some fantastic and creative work that was submitted. Hal said, “It was exciting to be able to look at the creative work from the outside with no preconceived notion of who submitted the work. Since we all know each other in Tulsa, it gave me insight into how others judge our work as well. Great time and was certainly a lot of fun.”

A total of 48 ADDY awards and 116 Certificates of Excellence were presented at the annual ADDY Awards Celebration hosted by AAF-Ad Club in St. Louis on Thursday, February 16, 2012 at Copia Restaurant and Wine Garden. The ADDY awards are a celebration and recognition of creative excellence in the advertising industry.

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Let’s define Internet Presence Management: IPM is the process of controlling your Web-based channels to increase your online presence and overall Internet efficiency. Companies or organizations trying to connect with target audiences online use IPM to reduce the costs of customer acquisition and customer service.

But what if you’re an owner who struggles to keep the business running from month to month? Where do you find time for IPM? Answer: You make the time. Or look for outside help.

If you’re uncomfortable with terms such as websites, micro sites, landing pages, Google Adwords marketing, SEO, SEM, email, e-newsletters, Facebook pages, tweets or posts, it may be time to choose an outside firm to help with your IPM marketing strategy.

How to find a firm for help with IPM.
Step one is to find the right type of agency.
Q. Is that a PR firm? Advertising agency? Interactive agency? Social media firm?
A. Look at the history of the group you are thinking of hiring.

Here are some important questions to consider before choosing a potential IPM resource:

• Do they understand what IPM means?
• Do they have integrated marketing for other clients?
• Do you feel comfortable working with the people?
• Are you a partner or a paycheck to them?
• Do they understand your business and target audience?
• Can they help me break out of the pack?
• Can they make a difference in how my company presents itself to potential new clients?

When you can feel comfortable with the people and confident in their abilities, that’s the right IPM firm for your business.

We’ve written a little white paper to help you out with developing an SEM strategy. Oh, you don’t have to thank us. Just “Like” us to download.

And, because you’re a special friend, we’ll send you the next issue of The Ant Farm News. http://www.facebook.com/AcrobatAnt

A short discussion about brand architecture.

A brand isn’t a name. It isn’t a logo. It isn’t a creative style. It’s not a tagline.

Then, what is it? A brand is the meaning of what resides in the mind of the target audiences…the perception that comes from a complex set of images, emotions, thoughts, history, experiences and expectations.

As brand stewards, we try to own that little piece of the audience’s mind, so we can conjure up the brand’s desired perception with the right stimuli. So, building a brand is a contest of perceptions.

At AcrobatAnt, we build from the ground up, starting with the brand architecture process. We begin with a realistic and accurate assessment of the brand’s perception, and what we want audiences to think or believe about the brand. In that gap between what is and what should be lies an amazing opportunity for us to drive perceptions.

We examine the brand’s core values and attributes (what adjectives best describe the brand), brand segments and influencers—all to steer us to the master brand statement or brand promise (what it means to experience the brand).

It’s not a mission statement. A brand promise summarizes what the brand is and what it stands for. Aspirational, yet attainable. Emotional, yet rational. And built on truth—100% believable. 100% deliverable. Driving every communication. Relentlessly executed.

And then the fun begins. Want to know more?

If your business has multiple locations or multiple sub-brands, we have one word of advice for your marketing structure: Centralize. And here’s why:

•    Lower costs
Reduce or eliminate duplication, share development costs, use larger volume to gain negotiation leverage with vendors. 

•    Establish a cohesive marketing strategy and execution
Clear goals and accountability make it easier to report ROI and stick to long-term success strategies.

•    Maximize your company’s brand image and messaging
When everything you say or do is unified and consistent, you have greater control of your PR and media.

•    Enhance quality control
In every facet of business from compliance and legal to production, improving your quality control will increase the quality of promotional and printed materials.

•    Increase the technical expertise and experience of your core team
Best practices are shared from the top down to increase everyone’s knowledge and effectiveness.

One way to make this shift easier is to partner with an agency capable of managing all aspects of your brand(s) and marketing. AcrobatAnt is experienced at monitoring the brand promise and executing marketing effectively. When we’ve literally had a seat at the table with clients, we’ve met their unique needs, helped them with business relationships, understood their issues, and provided key guidance. The result has been long-term partnerships and success.

The Ants had a wonderful time at Jingle All the Way, the Christmas party at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis. The Ants had their picture with Santa and he said that he knows we’ve been good, so we will get our holiday wishes this year. Whew!