Copywriting: Still a Powerful Tool

Posted on November 12, 2013 by admin

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Monday Morning Coffee with the National Military Heritage Museum

Posted on November 11, 2013 by admin

NMHM_headerThe stories of service across all military branches are part of our nation’s legacy, passed down from generation to generation. Today we honor the hundreds of stories shared and preserved by the National Military Heritage Museum of St. Joseph, Mo.

msueum

National Military Heritage Museum, St. Joseph, Mo. Photo: St. Joseph News Press

Operated by the National Military Heritage Society, a non-profit organization, the Museum depicts these important stories in thousands of article clippings, books and videos related to the heritage of our U.S. military. Many are in the process of being cataloged by Missouri Western State University to increase accessibility and research. Across four buildings near downtown St. Joseph, members of the National Military Heritage Society have collected more than 20,000 artifacts, including military vehicles, uniforms and medals from all branches, combat equipment, models, and detailed dioramas that explain first-hand how battles and maneuvers were carried out across the decades. A helicopter, weapon carriers, an ambulance and water carrier vehicles along with several military trucks are also housed on the grounds.

Perhaps most important are the personal accounts of the veterans and volunteers who have helped keep the Museum’s doors open, even with challenging funding resources. Many times, visitors to the Museum can interact with veterans as they work on exhibits and promote the cause together. A group of “regular” volunteers, including men and women veterans, can be found almost daily at the Museum. Each veteran and volunteer can be considered part of the Library of Congress Oral History program’s “Leave a Legacy” Program, with the Museum being designated as one of the nation’s repositories for oral histories. Recently, a new exhibit was prepared to showcase officer uniforms and models of naval and tank battles, including artifacts spanning from World War I to the Iraq War. Area residents donated the items to the collection.

Originally designed as the first police station for St. Joseph, the impressive and architecturally-significant brick structure at 7th and Messanie was built in 1890 and served as a former U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Training Center following WWII. In 1950, the structure was used to activate marines to serve in Korea.

School groups and honorary events are held at the National Military Heritage Museum, as well as meetings from area service groups. In recent years, community interest and donations have become an even more critical endeavor to the Museum’s future, helping with everything from building maintenance, collections and more.

Today, SJC honors and recognizes the efforts of all Veterans and volunteers who are continuing to share their stories through the National Military History Museum, and the voices they provide to this critical element of American history through collections and service.  Make plans to visit this local treasure with your family today.

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Ramp up Your Holiday Email Marketing Campaigns

Posted on November 8, 2013 by admin

Holiday Marketing 1It’s never too early to start planning Christmas promotions. With Halloween just around the corner, now is actually the perfect time to start developing marketing strategies, which should include email marketing campaigns.

The Christmas campaign should look different than your normal email template. Make it pop with a new design that will attract attention. Christmas themes are easy to come up with and there so many possibilities, from Christian-based to Santa Clause and reindeer.

Once you’ve got the attention of your audience, keep them interested with something that adds value. Perhaps a free voucher code or a discount on items that only they can take advantage of? Many campaigns have had success with voucher codes. These need to be sent out prior to the commencement of shopping season, but most campaigns limit the code validity to about a week or a little longer.

Consider sending your audience a guide to the gifts you’re offering this season. This is a way for you to highlight some of the newest products that you want to push. On top of that, you’re giving your audience ideas for what to gift their loved ones this Christmas. Some people are difficult to buy for, but with a gift guide at their fingertips, the task becomes less burdensome.

The goal of email marketing campaigns is to make money. Sometimes it takes giving stuff away for free to reach that goal. Christmas competitions are a perfect avenue for highlighting your products/services while getting your audience excited about the chance of winning something. Campaigns that give away one very large item and campaigns that give away a large number of small items seem to attract the most attention.

For many more ideas about how to bring attention to your business, contact Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions. The full-service marketing communications and content company is uniquely suited to handle your needs.

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Blog Writing Tips That Keep Your Audience Coming Back

Posted on November 7, 2013 by admin

Building an audience that will return to your blog takes a focused effort to engage the audience with content that keeps them coming back. With consistent creations over a period of time, the audience will grow and they will keep coming back.

There is a difference between blogs that have strong and weak audiences. The 18140769_mstrong audience might be smaller, but they return often. The weak audience is one attracted enough to visit once, but likely won’t return. If your goal is simply to get a large number of page views in any given week, you probably don’t want to put any effort on building a strong audience. There are a number of blog writing tips you can focus on if you want that audience to get stronger.

The most obvious method in building an audience is through focusing on excellent content. Building a blog around strong content is probably the most important blog writing tip anyone could give. Nobody will establish any sense of loyalty to a blog where quality is absent. With quality comes a return audience that wants to know what you have to share on your page.

Your blog is your brand. It can also be approached like you approach your email address.  Bloggers often miss an opportunity to promote their blog site. Simply use your URL anywhere you would use your email address, like on business cards, correspondence, PowerPoint slides and newsletters.

Social media is a viable medium in developing an audience. Don’t discount LinkedIn as an avenue to success in building an audience for your blog. Millions of people are linked-in to LinkedIn Groups, so activate one for your blog. Twitter is also a great channel for building an audience quickly. Getting familiar with Twitter chats and Twitter lists can help in your efforts with this channel.

Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions is backed by professionals with experience in developing excellent content for company blogs. Contact them today and start hitting your target audience and establishing loyalty to your brand.

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Marketing Trends and the Direction They are Headed in 2014

Posted on November 6, 2013 by admin

In the marketing world, it is always important to know what direction we are going to be heading in the coming months. Being aware of what is new and what we need to be ready for is vital to the success of our business, and thus the success of yours!

11304978_mSocial media has become increasingly popular in the past couple years and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. According to Forbes, there are four social media trends we need to be ready for in 2014.

  1. Social media will be necessary, not a suggestion.

We’ve mentioned this above but it is worth repeating, social media isn’t going anywhere. Businesses are gradually coming around to the idea that social media needs to be combined with their traditional marketing efforts. We’ve seen referral traffic, lead generation, improved SEO, company branding and brand awareness, increased customer loyalty, and greater audience reach, just to name a few. Social media has become a vital player in current marketing trends.

  1. Visual content networks will continue to rise in popularity.

In 2013, we have seen the trend toward sharing visual content over text-based content (just look at the heightened love of infographics, images, and videos). Pinterest has the reputation of being dominated by girls, but the love of images and the concept has crept its way into other sites. The ability to share photos from and to brands is going to continue to be a benefit for marketing.

  1. Micro-videos will become something worth… making a video about!

This whole concept of taking the time to type 140 characters is just becoming harder; creating a minute long video even more so! Vine and Instagram have thankfully come to the rescue, providing the opportunity to produce three to 15 second videos. This allows users to interact in a very powerful way with brands as well.

  1. LinkedIn will help B2B.

It is the number one networking site for professionals. It continues to grow as the largest source for content creation for professionals. This kind of growth will provide an even larger opportunity for B2B marketing and those interested in that business.

Facebook and Twitter are staying steady, if not growing. Facebook is probably the oldest social networking site that is still vibrant and alive. LinkedIn is doing some amazing things on the professional side of the coin. Things will be interesting in 2014 and we’re ready to walk down these new and exciting paths with the latest marketing trends. Want someone to come alongside you in 2014? Contact us today and find out how we can be a helping hand.

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Facebook: Where Traffic is a Good Thing

Posted on November 5, 2013 by admin

We all know that traffic is typically a word that causes the blood pressure to rise and the desire to throw something increases. However, for Facebook, traffic is a wonderful thing and we love to see those numbers rise.

According to research done by the Facebook VP of Partnerships and Global Operations getting traffic is as simple as posting more frequently. Really, it’s that simple!

Facebook worked with almost 30 partner media sites and throughout a week, saw that it really is that simple. Here are some of the numbers they saw over the course of seven days when these companies, on average, posted to their pages 57 percent more than before the study began:

–          They saw an average of an 89 percent outbound clicks increase WOW 1

–          Likes per posts jumped by over 10 percent

–          Followers and fans went up by 49 percent.

The buzz word in this post by VP Justin Osofsky is “media.” Don’t worry, though, he does admit that they were selective during their study. In his report of this study, he mentions that every person has a different relationship with the pages they are connected to. Osofsky provided some impressive numbers from 2012 to 2013, Time saw a 208 percent increase in referral traffic. BuzzFeed saw an 855 percent increase. Wow!

While we can’t promise that you will see numbers like BuzzFeed (though we would love to help get you moving in that direction), we can mention some things that you can learn from these successful sites.

We’ve mentioned it before, but it does come down to content. Are you producing interesting content for your readers? While you may think the information you’re posting is great, if your reader isn’t interested it doesn’t matter. It’s important to know who your audience is on Facebook (and other social media platforms). From there, you’re able to provide quality content for them, which increases your interaction with them!

If you’re feeling unsure about the content you’re posting on your Facebook, contact us today and find out how we can help you increase your traffic!

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Monday Morning Coffee with Superstars for Kids Awards

Posted on November 4, 2013 by admin

Superstars

So many people work diligently behind the scenes across northwest Missouri, quietly providing leadership, inspiration and hands-on hard work for the future of our children. This morning, we have the opportunity to bring one of these individuals into the limelight.

Each year, the St. Joseph Youth Alliance holds their Superstars for Kids Awards Luncheon. The Superstars for Kids award goes to an individual who has been instrumental in improving lives for children and youth in the St. Joseph community. For 2013, we are proud to say that our very own Susan Campbell received this award!

While it’s difficult enough to start a successful business, Susan founded her company in 2005 and has remained heavily involved in the community as she manages its continual growth. She serves on the board of Hillcrest Transitional Housing, the Missouri Western State University Craig School of Business Council, the United Way Marketing Committee, Eastside Rotary, Youth Alliance Resource Development Committee, and the Mid-Buchanan Booster Club.

Susan also is significantly involved in Royal Family Kids Camp, a special summer camp experience for neglected and abused children. Each year she plans and organizes all the camp’s meals, not only making sure that local groups are invited to cook and serve, but cheerfully putting in a tremendous amount of her own time and talent.

As Susan lends her leadership and vision to these activities within the community, she also continues to create an amazing atmosphere within SJC. She strives to encourage and enhance the professional and personal lives of her employees. Susan is a constant inspiration to her team, reminding us to give our everything to the work put in front of us — but to also find new ways to contribute to the community.

We at SJC agree with Youth Alliance when they say, “We thank you, Susan, for your hard work and dedication to our youth … We thank you, Susan, for encouraging others through your actions and selfless service.”

Thank you, St. Joseph Youth Alliance, for the honoring Susan Campbell with the Superstars for Kids Award. We are proud of Susan and her continued work within the community. Join us in wishing her a congratulations today!

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Branding Strategies Learned from LEGO

Posted on November 1, 2013 by admin

How did a company with a foundation in simple plastic building blocks survive the digital age? The LEGO brand certainly took its knocks, but through innovative branding strategies, it has managed to thrive.

LEGO was nearly bankrupt in 2003 after its market shares began to dwindle in the late 1990s. LEGO had lost its cool factor long before, being replaced by video games and a variety of other more technologically advanced toys. By 2003, the administrators at LEGO knew they had to shake things up if the LEGO legacy would remain in tact.

Their first attempts were fairly disastrous and didn’t produce the desired results. LEGO finally began pulling it together when they began to focus on goals, the right ones. One major goal was quality. They began to listen to the LEGO community andLego 1 find out what they wanted.  They focused on concepts, community and execution. Through this approach they were able to establish a new generation of products that sparked interest in consumers.

LEGO found out that a branding strategy doesn’t have to stray from past successes. LEGO was able to make minor adjustments to existing products, some of them being core products that were the foundation of the company.

LEGO even embraced the hackers that altered the LEGO community software. This happened with Mindstorm, a LEGO community product involving software. After the company embraced the community that was thriving because of the hack, the product’s popularity grew.

Making branding strategies stick comes with a lot of trial and error. Fortunately, the team at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions have plenty of experience in developing branding strategies that work with a growing list of clients. Contact the team today and get started on a solution that will bring you more success.

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Social Media Statistics and How They Influence Marketing

Posted on October 31, 2013 by admin

Social Media 2We are all aware of the growth in social media and there are several different reasons to pay attention to this growth. Today, we want to provide a few statistics from 2013 about social media.

Facebook isn’t shy about promoting their nearly one billion strong user base. The interesting fact comes when we find out that about 200 million users are mobile-only. This gives us an idea of the importance of mobile friendly content. More and more people are moving away from computers, in the traditional sense. They are using smartphones and tablets more often and thus creating the need to provide an app on each of the major platforms, such as Android, iOS, and Windows based smartphones.

Did you know that YouTube has now become more popular than cable television? We know that sounds a little bit shocking, but numbers don’t lie. Those who watch YouTube on a regular basis has now grown beyond the number of people who watch television. Online video consumption is rising, and quickly. This lends itself to the opportunity to use sites like YouTube and other online video resources to promote your business.

We all know that when it comes to social media platforms, there are favorites. Facebook has always been the top-dog and research states that more than 95 percent of Facebook users log in every single day. Twitter sits at 60 percent and LinkedIn at a lowly 30 percent. This doesn’t mean that these platforms are not useful and beneficial to your business; it just means that you have to be aware of the best times to post your content in order to receive the biggest impact.

International Facebook users are triple the population of the United States. The phenomenon of globalization has only grown with sites like Facebook and Twitter. Companies can expand their reach through the use of social media. This opens up the target market opportunity and means that organizations can reach out to their customers directly through the internet.

This is just the beginning of the growth of social media. Imagine how it will continue to grow and the possibilities that will come with it. It might sound overwhelming, but that’s where Susan J. Campbell can step in. We are happy to utilize the various social media platforms to help your business grow.

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Focus on Content Marketing to Build Your Blog Audience and Drive Sales

Posted on October 30, 2013 by admin

Are you committed to a business blog but not certain what value it’s bringing to your brand? Take a more serious look at what you’re writing to ensure that you’re getting everything you can out of the process.

You can take your blog and turn it into a content marketing focal point. Why, you Blog 11ask? First off, it’s all yours. You can say what you want in as many words without restrictions you’ll find in social media site channels that limit what you can say. Furthermore, blogs serve as your sounding board every hour of every day. If you’re looking for a crisis management tool that allows you to get your information out to the public, your blog can do just that.

Think about cost. Blogs serve as a streamlined content marketing system that requires little to no IT management, they’re easy to use and extremely low cost compared to other content systems.

Blogs are an excellent social media tools where sharing can take any form you wish. Do you want to provide a regular guest column? You’re the architect of your blog, which can be used any way you wish to help build your target audience. When it comes to building an audience, studies show that blogs are the most effective social media channel in achieving that.

Use your blog to link to your products. For instance, if you have a product that you want to highlight, write a blog about how that product is used and put a link in your blog to the page where your audience can purchase that item. Blogs have proven themselves as a sales driver.

The professionals at Susan J. Campbell Copywriting Solutions know the power of blogging and work with clients to develop content-heavy blogs that add value to your site and to your brand.

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