Everyone at Trio is very excited to announce that this week we are gearing up for CreateAthon. In anticipation of the event we wanted to make everyone aware that Trio Solutions Inc. will be closed on Thursday and Friday, September 18 & 19 for CreateAthon 2008. During this time we will be providing free marketing services to five area nonprofits as part of our annual CreateAthon, 24-hour, work-around-the-clock creative blitz. This year’s recipients include Camp Good Times, Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, Family Resource Center for Disabilities and Special Needs, Fields to Families and Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP). If you have an urgent need during this time, please feel free to let us know, however if you have a non-urgent matter we will be available on Monday, September 22. Be sure to follow our creative blitz progress on our blog. We would also like to give special thanks to our creative partners, who have graciously agreed to donate their services to our CreateAthon recipients - Kristen and Catherine at Cultigraphics, Brian Dadin and Brad Caricofe.
 

May 12, 2008 marked the beginning of another postage increase through the United States Postal Service. Across the board on all postage the increase was over 2%. Of course this will have a slight effect on direct mailing efforts. Trio Solutions has a mix of for profit and nonprofit clients with both types of clients relying on direct mail efforts to get their message out to the public. Keep in mind, that direct mail is a relatively inexpensive way to advertise, even after the increase in postage. With the growth of the Internet and Web based services many individuals and companies strive to be as “paper-less” as possible. In the past this has caused the USPS to cut back on cost and raise rates. It is very likely that the postage rates will continue to increase over time. On a good note, they are allowed to increase the rate only once per year and are required to give a 90-day notice to the public. Remember that direct mail remains an effective and cost-wise way to advertise, postage increase or not…

NOTE: If you have nonprofit status make sure you are a registered nonprofit organization through the USPS. It could save you a significant amount on postage when doing direct mailings.

Well, after much deliberation, we have selected the winners for this year’s CreatAthon! It was a tough decision considering all of the worthwhile nonprofits in the area but we finally narrowed it down to five groups that we’re thrilled to be working with!

The organizations selected as CreatAthon recipients this year include:

• Camp Good Times
• Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy
• Family Resource Center for Disabilities and Special Needs
• Fields to Families
• Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP)

The five beneficiaries will receive free marketing services provided by Trio during a 24-hour, work around-the-clock effort designed to help local nonprofits with little or no marketing budgets. The staff at Trio, along with a few generous vendors and freelancers will lock ourselves in the office starting at 8 a.m. on Thursday, September 18, and work all day and through the night until Friday morning at 8 a.m. It’s a creative extravaganza - lots of work, fun, and what we value the most…giving back to the community!

Trio Solutions - working hard, enjoying life, and making a difference. You know how we do!

Trio recently joined the world of Twitter. With Facebook updates, and now Twitter, it appears that society really wants to know our business. Gone are the days of being private and keeping to yourself. I’m very interested to watch how Twitter transforms the marketing communication industry. For those of you still wondering what the buzz is all about, I recommend you check out my friend, Lee Lefever’s video about Twitter. He and his lovely wife do a great job of producing educational video about things that are oftentimes complex and difficult to understand. Their specialty? They explain it in plain English.

After coming across some interesting statistics about newspaper audiences from Journalism.org. I thought I would share one in particular that really stood out to me. Take a look at this graph of “Daily Newspaper Readership by Age Group.” This graph represents the percentage of individuals reading newspapers in an average week from 1999-2005 (editor’s note: in walks the Internet and Web 2.0).

Check out my recent profile on Palmetto PR Divas, a fun and informative public relations blog created by Kim Banks of Simko Communications and Liza Jones of Payne Jones Public Relations. These girls really know the meaning of paying it forward. Once you are profiled you get to nominate a fellow PR professional to be the next profile. Keep up the great work, ladies!

Yes, it’s that time again. Trio Solutions will join the ranks of the sleep deprived as we host CreateAthon 2008. During this 24-hour, work-around the clock creative blitz, Trio will provide free marketing and creative services to nonprofits. CreateAthon will be held from at 8 a.m. on Thursday, September 18 to 8 a.m. on Friday, September 19 and five lucky applicants will get to assist in turning the staff at Trio into caffeine-addicted zombies for a 24-hour period. Although this is the second year Trio will participate, CreateAthon is in its 11th year and has benefited 1,008 nonprofit organizations nationally with 2,143 projects valued at $8.5 million. So help us keep the energy alive and fill out the application on Trio’s site. The deadline to apply is July 28, 2008. Who knows…you could be on of the lucky five!

Getting business owners to understand the true value of marketing is tough much less during economic hard times. The ironic thing about having weak sales or dealing with a not-so-wonderful economy is it’s really your opportunity to make the most of your marketing dollars. When the going gets tough, don’t cut your marketing budget! This is your chance to increase market share, shine above the rest (because you’re competition has probably cut their budget) and have a great market presence.

A fellow, local marketeer, David Rawle did a great job of comparing his experience with a bike race and marketing in a weak economy in his column in the Charleston Regional Business Journal - Marketing Matters: Ten marketing tips in a weak economy.

As marketing professionals, we know business owners have to think about the bottom line - but here’s the bottom line: Don’t cut your marketing budget. Get smarter about your marketing dollars. View them as an investment not an expense. If you cut your marketing efforts then you cut your lifeline to your target market and future growth.

Researchers at Penn State University said it best in 2005 after surveying more than 150 senior marketing executives from a variety of industries. “For well-positioned companies, an economic recession should not prompt marketing cutbacks, but rather an aggressive increase in marketing spending to achieve superior business performance.” Read journal excerpt.

This past Thursday, Trio Solutions Inc. launched our latest service to the nonprofit world at the 11th annual SCANPO conference - The Nonprofit Nook. We signed up an enthusiastic group of nonprofit professionals to help serve as our launch focus group. We look forward to receiving their feedback and making this site the best resource it can be. Our goal is that The Nonprofit Nook will offer a special section on the World Wide Web for nonprofits to gather free information, resources and support for their marketing needs. A place for nonprofits to make the most of their marketing, event and Web efforts. We have lofty plans for The Nonprofit Nook and look forward to providing quality, useful and innovative services for our nonprofit members. Check it out!

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.