With all the media hype about a possible recession, a weaker dollar, and a downturn in the real estate market, a company’s first inclination may be to pull back on expenses and trim the marketing budget. Instead, a company should consider increasing their marketing spending or at least maintaining their current spend. Companies should look at this as a time to strengthen their competitive advantage. Boosting your spend while your competitors are cutting back, can improve your market share and increase your return on investment at a lower cost. If you have to cut your spend then try to maintain the same advertising frequency. Consider switching to radio ads instead of TV, place :15 second spots instead of :30 second spots, or utilize direct mail or interactive marketing such as social networking sites for a more immediate impact. But whatever decision you make, always stay consistent and true to your message and brand. In times like these, consumers find comfort in the familiar.

Jennifer, Jessica and I just got back from a week in Denver and I think I have found a second career. While in Denver, Jessica and I dined twice at the Delectable Egg. It is truly a little piece of heaven on earth! For a breakfast food lover like myself, it had everything from omelets to a healthy french toast made with egg whites and apple juice. I decided on the trip back that Charleston MUST have it’s own Delectable Egg. So, anyone reading this who would like to invest in a restaurant, I am ready to take on a second career. And I am happy to approach Delectable Egg regarding franchise opportunities. As a marketing professional, I understand the importance of keeping your brand consistent. Therefore there is only one thing I would change for the Charleston location…we must add grits to the menu! Bon appetit!

Our worst nightmare came true! Our server crashed (thanks to the storms on Sat. night) and our back-up system doesn’t appear to have worked like we planned. We thought we had our bases covered (nightly backups, surge protectors, external hard drives, etc.) but with all the glory technology bestows on us; it is the biggest ordeal when it doesn’t work. We are all hard at work to recreate the files and to ensure little to no downtime for our clients. We are rebuilding our library - file by file - thanks to e-mail attachments. In the meantime, let’s hope the miracle workers at Data Recovery Specialists in California can deliver on their mission. As for a long-term plan, Trio is going to have a security and data management system tighter than Fort Knox. For other small businesses out there, here’s a good article about data recovery planning. I highly recommend you set your plan in place before you experience the pain.

I read an interesting article on editorialemergency.com that really hit home. I’ve seen this type of behavior on many Web site development projects that I have been involved with:

http://www.editorialemergency.com/content/view/181/51

The premise of the article is that people often come to marketers (print, Web, whatever) and say that they want to stand out, do something different, and capture people’s attention. So the creative team goes off and produces a design or copy that is edgy, unique, or different in some way, and often when presented with it, the client will shy away from moving forward and wants to revert back to what they see everyone else in their industry doing.

When organizations do something different, there is often the fear that they will turn someone off, or perhaps that they will not appeal to a broad enough audience. It’s that fear that produces bland designs and jargon-laden copy. If you are using the same style as everyone else, why would a customer choose you over your competitors? If you are willing to stake your business on luck, then go with that approach.

I believe the key is to first identify your target audience (everyone is not a target audience) and then find out what makes them tick. What do they respond to? Once you know that, don’t be afraid to get creative. There are too many other voices out there, and you can’t afford for yours not to stand out.

A little over a year ago, Trio began discussing the importance of nonprofits communicating and sharing with one another. Specifically, we felt that the three areas of Web, marketing and event planning are all important topics for nonprofits to share their successes, concerns and questions. From our discussions was born the Nonprofit Nook. Although the Web site is still in development, we have begun hosting monthly workshops at our office. The workshops are being lead by our incredibly talented VPs, Krista, Jen and Brian, and they have been a huge success! I can’t say enough good things about the presenters or tell them enough how proud I am of them. It takes a lot to speak in front of an audience. Especially one of eager nonprofits wanting you to share all your wisdom! But their hardwork has been worth it. This is just another way that Trio continues to give back to nonprofits. We truly do live out our mission- Work hard. Enjoy life. Make a Difference.

Recently, our client MedExpress, a retail health care clinic in Augusta, Georgia, learned that after nine months of branding themselves in the community, they would have to change their name. It seemed that another health care company in West Virginia already had the trademark on the usage. Initially, we all gasped and thought the world had ended. But after thinking things over we decided to turn this negative into a positive. We took this as an opportunity to find a new name that could better represent their mission and image already established in the community. ExpressHealth Inc. would be the new name. Slowly the changed occurred. The Web site, marketing collateral and advertising all began using the new name. By keeping with the same look and feel as well as message, the re-branding effort which was almost invisible to the general public, went very smooth. Business has steadily increased and the switch doesn’t appear to have been a major setback. It’s just business as usual for ExpressHealth.