Get out the donuts, the coffee and the toothpicks…it’s CreateAthon time. Each year, the crew at Trio Solutions Inc. stays up for 24 hour straight (for the record it’s actually more like 36 hours) for five deserving Lowcountry nonprofits. The annual event is part of Trio’s commitment to the community and an extension of our philosophy to make a difference through our time and talent. Over the years, we have provided pro-bono services to organizations like My Sister’s House, Palmetto Medical Initiative, Camp Good Times, Liza’s Lifeline, Love Inc., Charleston Community Sailing and many, many others. It’s always an adventure and each year proves that the 24-hour creative work blitz provides more benefits than eight hours of sleep could ever provide. This year’s applications are in and being reviewed. This year’s winners will be announced on Aug. 15. Stay tuned.

As do many agencies and marketing companies, we get calls all the time for businesses that ‘need a brochure’ or ‘want to send out a postcard or e-newsletter.’ That’s great that these businesses are even thinking about marketing their businesses. However, it is so important that businesses have a marketing plan in place before spending any marketing dollars. By not having a plan, not only are you doing an injustice to the business you are also doing an injustice to the entire marketing industry. You probably won’t see results and you’ll become disgruntled with marketing in general.

The way marketing works best is to have a strategic business plan and then follow that plan up with a marketing plan that outlines exactly how marketing efforts will help you achieve your business goals. Your marketing plan may or may not include a brochure. It may not include doing an e-newsletter. There are a ton of variables that we have to look at before determining what’s a fit for your business. Some of those include your target market, demographics, historical data, competitions, etc.

All this aside, the key point is that in order for any business to really see a return on every marketing dollar spent, a plan should be in place. This plan should have buy-in from everyone on the team and it should be revisited every few months. It’s fluid and may require adjustments but the important thing is that there is a plan and all of your marketing efforts are moving together in a unified and consistent fashion. If done correctly, it works!

Trio Solutions has partnered with Dr. Bernard Maria and the staff at MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center to produce an online monthly newsletter called Georgia Kids First. The first edition launched on January 14 and has already received very positive feedback. This e-newsletter is geared toward keeping the patients, families, employees and health care professionals at MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center informed and connected.

Each month, Georgia Kids First will highlight inspirational patient and family stories and will give updates from the hospital’s leadership staff and medical teams. This month, we’re profiling C.J. Dube, a former cancer patient who has found ways to give back to other children battling the disease.

I speak for everyone at Trio when I say that we are thrilled to be a part of this project and that we look forward to working with everyone at MCGHealth. To learn more or to sign up for the newsletter, visit www.mcghealth.org/kids.

In 2010, Disney is offering a free admission to one of their theme parks if you give a day of volunteering to a nonprofit organization. This past year they gave the general public an opportunity to celebrate their birthday at one of the parks for free through their What Are You Celebrating marketing campaign. They continue to raise the bar in the marketing industry. The Give A Day. Get A Disney Day. program is a unique opportunity to engage more volunteers in service through your organization and celebrate their good deeds. Any organization that is meeting a community need can collaborate with HandsOn Network in the Give A Day. Get A Disney Day. program.

Getting about that time…presentations to the amazing organizations we are helping. Seriously, if you take a minute and reflect on what these groups are doing for our community and the world, it is so impressive. These are people that spend they lives focusing on the goodwill of others. Godspeed to all of you! You are a true blessing to the world and remember on those days when things seem tough that your efforts don’t go unnoticed and WE APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU DO!

Everyone at Trio Solutions Inc. is looking forward to helping out our 2009 Createathon Winners: Charleston Area Children’s Garden Project, Good Neighbor Center, Charleston Community Sailing, Palmetto Medical Initiative and Liza’s Lifeline! It was very difficult to narrow our selection to these five. Every organization that applied should be commended for the work they are doing in our community. We would love to be able to help them all. Createathon will begin on Thursday, Sept. 18. Be sure to follow our progress on Twitter.

Do you feel your blood pressure rise just before you hit send on your e-mail campaign? Relax. The kind folks over at Vertical Response just provided a handy, dandy checklist for those of you utilizing e-marketing campaign tools. This should help keep your health in check and your e-mails too.

A good friend just shared this with me. I think it’s worth posting to share with others.

McGraw-Hill Research: Research shows that maintaining, and even increasing, your marketing investment during an economic downturn is one of the best investments you can make. McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies from 1980-1985. The results showed that business-to-business firms that maintained or increased their marketing expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession realized significantly higher sales growth, both during the recession and for the following three years, than those that eliminated or decreased marketing. By 1985, sales for companies that were aggressively marketing during the recession years had risen 275%. Those companies that didn’t keep up their marketing grew just 19% in this same period. This fact has held true for all post-World War II recessions, starting in 1949, as studied by The American Business Press.

Finally, someone agrees with what I have been thinking for years. Stop with the acronyms! Bill Sweetland with Ragan.com outlined it perfectly. Read this article and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

October has arrived. Do you know what that means? Yes, crisp fall weather is on its way and it’s time to start thinking about how you’ll top last year’s Halloween costume. But more importantly, The Nonprofit Nook’s October workshop is just around the corner!

Join us on October 15 from 5:30 until 7 p.m. for our workshop on the benefits of setting up an annual marketing budget and how to measure your results. Great economy or horrible economy - these benefits are important to realize and put into action. Jessica Munday, president of Trio Solutions Inc., will be hosting the workshop and will discuss not only the benefits of a budget, but will also show how to measure your return on investment dollars, as well as how to monitor your budget. Visit The Nonprofit Nook to register or call us at (843) 216-0442 for more information.