Tightening your business belt in a weak economy - Introduction

All indications are this will be a deep and long recession. A down economy is typically a time for many businesses to be more introspective, looking at ways to be more efficient with resources and budgets - Operations. It is also a time for guarding the base business and aggressively looking for low-cost new business - Marketing and Sales. The healthier your business is during this dip, the higher you come out on the upswing when the economy begins to improve.

On the bright side, the current economic conditions may present your business with new opportunities. An existing product or service may be more desirable in a budget-conscious economy. A new product or service may present a golden opportunity for clients to meet new, shrinking budgets. Your competitive set is showing signs of attrition, creating a window of opportunity to capture more market share. These opportunities require some level of marketing and sales to be successful.

A Marketing Plan should be a part of your strategic business planning process, which for many, is going on right now. It will help identify opportunities and strategies to get your products and services to market. Tactics, such as branding, collateral, direct mail, advertising, website, and email deliver on the overall marketing strategy. Whatever the tactic, an informed, focused, consistent, coordinated approach will yield the highest results.

Over the next few weeks, a series of posts will be updated with ideas to make your marketing dollars work harder, at the very least more measurable. Topics on the table include Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Email Marketing, Blogs, iBrochures (mini-sites), and Sales Presentations. Topics will include real world experiences and solutions for common business questions and problems. 

If you have a topic you're considering in your plan outside of the ones mentioned and would like our input, please contact Southbank Interactive.

PSI Group Recruits Southbank Interactive to Redesign Brand and Website

PSI Group is a Creative and IT Staffing and Recruiting firm with the main office in Cincinnati and additional offices in Cleveland, Raleigh, and Charlotte. PSI competes on a national level with large staffing and recruiting companies placing highly qualified resources in global companies for contract, contract-to-hire, and direct hire positions. PSI is unique in that they focus on developing and maintaining a pool of exceptional talent for placement with their clients. Most staffing agencies work just the opposite... searching for talent to fill existing openings.

Initially, the project began as a website refresh, making some updates and reworking the site organization to improve search engine ranking. It became evident that the brand was overextending it's life span requiring a redesign of identity, collateral, and website.

The new identity closely reflects their business with icons of people and one clearly rising above the other two. A contemporary containment device, color palette, and custom typeface work together to create a modern mark.

Once alignment on the brand identity was achieved, work began on interaction design. Information architecture was established, segregating clients from candidates. This approach was preferred by PSI due to the divergent needs and goals for clients and candidates.

A communication platform was created that reflected PSI's point of differentiation in the market -  Candidate-Centric Staffing. A framework for the website copy was created to describe business processes and tools. To help communicate the value of this model, phrases and terms were used such as "Active recruiting", "Best Book", and "Best meets Best".

The landing page includes a Flash animation that communicates concrete end results for each persona and the value of PSI's Candidate-Centric business model. A login for existing employees and clients provide direct access to Bullhorn, PSI's recruiting and staffing business management software. Active jobs are randomly pulled from Bullhorn and presented in the featured jobs area.

Site content includes information for both clients and candidates. Active job listings, interview preparation, and resume writing tips are available for candidates. They may also submit a resume directly to PSI, apply for a job, or email a job description to someone. For added efficiency, the system integrates directly with Bullhorn by adding submissions to an area frequently checked by PSI Recruiters. Prospective clients have access to information about the Candidate-Centric staffing model, methodology, and tools used. 

Search engine marketing was integrated throughout the process including information architecture, web page construction, and copywriting for maximum, natural optimization. Google Analytics was installed and a monthly PDF is sent to stakeholders for performance evaluation. A link building campaign included large search engines, local directories, business networks, and social networks. Weeks after launch, the website has made drastic improvements in search engine rankings, breaking into the first page results for many key phrases.

Visit the PSI Group website

Down Syndrome Assn. Launches New Website

As interactive agency of record for the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati (DSAGC), Southbank Interactive was called upon to roll out the new brand identity designed by Holland Communications on the website. This created an opportunity to revaluate the website organization and approach.
At the beginning of 2008, work began in identifying needs and goals from both the organization and its constituents. Immediately it was evident that the DSAGC was involved in far more programs and services than most audiences were aware. An inventory of offerings was created along with audiences subdivided by age range or role. Logical buckets of offerings were created that lead to broader organizational considerations. A paradigm shift from an organization information website to a constituent resource and support website became a fundamental goal.
The website design uses brand colors and rounded corners for a softer more approachable feel. Image and graphic treatments were designed to be unique but easily maintained. A custom content management system provides a process for staff and volunteers to enter programs on the website. Relevant information is then presented to the user based on selections such as family with a preschool aged child with Down syndrome.
The website also includes a fully functioning Resource Library, link management tools, email management, custom e-commerce, and the Friendship Network. The Friendship Network is a social website for adults with Down syndrome and was recently recognized by the National Down Syndrome Congress as best new development.
The website launched August 14th, 2008

Dunkin Ham

Sorry to stay on the same brand again, but I just saw this clever little ad online from Dunkin. When you roll over it, it changes from an iced coffee to a stack of cubed ham, I mean caramel squares. The concept is good, reminding me of the old tilt pens that reveal something when you flip them. The execution, however, is limited by the image quality after compression. Looks like I'm going to be making a pot of pintos and ham to me.

Yummy!

The Epitome of Laziness

I ran across this incredible product in a Father's Day ad online. Amazing! You don't even have to spin the wheel with your thumb. If you run out of batteries from so many nut size changes, you can still do it manually. They've thought of everything. And look, they've even branded it.

We've Moved!

Southbank Interactive has changed address. Please make a note of it.

Southbank Interactive
50 Linden Ave.
Fort Thomas, KY 41075

Russ Barrett

America Runs on Dunkin (Donuts???)

I saw the commercial running last night of the Dunkin Donuts promotional to get a free iced coffee May 15th. Curious about the image they have recently been trying to reinvent, I visited their website, dunkindonuts.com. I also wanted to find a close DD so I could stop in to try their coffee.

I was on my iPhone at the time and they appropriately deliver a flash-less site for the device. However, I was frustrated by a couple of things. The store locator, which should be a priority considering the promotion, was one of several tiny links in the global navigation. And, when DD comes to mind, I think of delicious donuts of all shapes, colors, and tastes. I could not find an image of a donut until two levels into the nutritional facts section of the site. I understand the popularity of health consciousness, but consider the brand. With the recent commercial spots, "America Runs on Dunkin", is DD purposely transitioning to a brand not focused on tasty pastries.

When I visited the site today on my computer, the experience was more rich and targeted with Flash and running one of the humorous spots they now have on air. Locate a store was front and center as well as the promotion. But again, no donuts. I was intrigued by the "RSVP on Facebook" and visited the link to find 130,000 confirmed guests for the event. Well done! Nice Social Network tie in.

So, are we in for a new brand identity, "Dunkin", similar to the FedEx change years ago? Although that was driven by consumers, not the other way around. I predict within 2 years, they will be "Dunkin". They risk alienating their existing consumers but could potentially steal market share from the king of coffee, Starbucks. I'd welcome a little competition in the market to help bring more realistic pricing to the consumer.

Doubled Traffic

Cengage Learning recently launched their first direct to consumer product with Professional Exam Review. The product is a customizable learning solution for individuals preparing for Level I of the CFA Exam. A variety of media include print, flash cards, sample exams, audio CDs and video DVDs. Southbank Interactive created the Online Product Tour which includes animation, video, and audio in a rich-media Flash application.

To promote the product, a banner ad was created for placement on AnalystForum, a site frequented by individuals searching for support and learning aids in preparation for the CFA exam. The first iteration was not attracting the clicks Cengage was anticipating so a quick revision was executed that included sale pricing and more feature copy. The click-through performance doubled immediately.
View the supporting advertising banners.

Southbank Interactive created the Flash application and animation, video editing and production, voice over recordings, and audio engineering for the Online Product Tour. Southbank demonstrated a breadth and depth of skills for this product launch including creating 14 CDs of audio book material, an entirely fabricated product line photo for collateral, and promotional banner ads

-Russ Barrett

It’s the Little Things

I ran into the VP of Marketing for Trauth Dairy this week and we were discussing some recent changes I had made to their website. In the conversation a previous edit came up with some positive results.

A few months ago, Trauth Dairy committed to producing milk free of Artificial Growth Hormones (rBGH) and wanted it published front and center on their website. This has become a growing concern with consumers and Trauth was fielding an increasingly large volume of calls concerning their position. 

Southbank Interactive placed a small banner on the home page along with a link for more information.

The results... Trauth now receives 85% fewer calls on the topic, allowing them to focus on what they do best, making great dairy products.

Top Performing Financial Website

I was reading some of Warren Buffett's latest statements for the current bear economy and decided to do some checking into his credentials. I've heard his name, synonymous with finance, frequently mentioned but knew very little about Buffett. Wikipedia had most of what I was interested to find. 3rd richest man in the world (until he gave $37 of his $52 billion to the Gates Foundation - a man's gotta live), CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and at 73, a respected financial genius.

Buffett has built Berkshire into its own micro economy, capable of rescuing some of the housing debacle with a rather large loan. Berkshire has it's tendrils into some of the top performing companies and brands in the world. It has returned 25% a year on average and has the largest stock price on the NYSE at $100k a share - which just so happens to be Buffett's salary.

All of this, and you would expect to see a beautiful website with marketing messages so distilled, they resonate with the human psyche. Interaction design so perfect and logically organized, that it seems to direct itself. Creative design so rich it politely reminds you that Berkshire is one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Then I clicked the link to Berkshire Hathaway.



I had to triple check the link! Now, I've been on the web since 56k was high speed. I still recall the digital grinding of the modem connecting to the web. This website took me back to that time.

Consider that Buffett still lives in the home he bought back in 1957. However, now it is worth $700k - the guy can't lose. He refuses to leave tremendous amounts of inheritance to his children and is considered to be frugal.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

Home Depot for Valentine

Don't mean to beat a dead horse, but this one showed up in my email box just after I had created my previous post about the misalignment of Home Depot's retail environment and online. Now it's glue!



Russ Barrett
Southbank Interactive

Brand Experience Misalignment

I just received my weekly email from Home Depot and after a recent retail visit, it became very clear that the retail experience and the online experience are misaligned.

The retail experience, while vastly improved from the 90s, is still very much contractor-grade. Maybe it's the bright orange color, but I always feel I should be wearing my tool belt when I visit my local store. I prefer the Lowes experience. Not because the product, availability, or assistance is superior, but because it is more friendly.

Depot's email is much more design sensitive and approachable than their retail. The experience is more engaging but also less garish with color usage. No bright, handwritten signs using a fat, felt-tipped marker. It speaks about environmental issues and promotional products in a soft-sell approach. Totally different.

The email communication is "Come and shop Home Depot because we care about the consumer and their needs". If the email is successful, the consumer arrives at the storefront and, beginning at the front entrance, it screams - "Welcome contractors". Kind of like telling my kids we're going to Toys R Us and then arriving at Kmart.

As Depot's readership and email subscriptions increase, they will need to consider the experience gap because the communications are not consistent. My two cents, risk alienating the contractors for a slightly more friendly retail experience. Something to take away for any email campaign and marketing program.