Let's Get It On When it comes to your marketing agency, love best be in the air The relationship between client and marketing agency is not lust, not like, not indifference. It's whole-hearted, tried-and-true love. Read More The A-Train Update A case study: Quantum West, Inc. Read More Integration Salvation Unifying your marketing materials with an oh-so-sweet campaign When it comes to grabbing attention, nothing says "don't throw me away" like an integrated campaign. Read More Friends, Tweets and Contacts, oh my! Living in the real world and networking in the virtual world Tired of face-to-face interaction? Find respite in cyberspace. Put a breath of fresh air into your networking habits by getting social online. Read More

ture. From there, it's all about getting and giving information. You select people/organizations/businesses/etc to "follow" - meaning you will see all the messages they post, which are called Tweets - and soon people will begin following your tweets. You can reply to people's tweets or send direct messages.

Why you should join: Twitter is not necessarily about connecting with people you already know. It's about finding the right people - those who can provide you with new and useful information. It's the sort of place where you learn stuff before anyone else.

Warning: It takes awhile to find the right people to follow (after your screen fills with useless tweets of unfamiliar symbols and abbreviations you'll see what we mean). Twitter takes a good amount of time and effort. If you truly want to connect with the right people, you have to work at it.

LinkedIn

Who you'll meet: Your boss, your former boss and your future boss

Business or pleasure: Business as usual.

How does it work: LinkedIn is kind of like an online resume. Your profile contains your education, work experience and a biography. You can connect with business associates from past and present to create a network of business contacts.

Why you should join: First and for most, why not? As the No. 1 business social networking platform, LinkedIn has more than 35 million members in more than 200 countries and territories around the world, including executives from all Fortune 500 companies.

Tips of the trade: According to Fort Collins-based LinkedIn expert Viveka von Rosen, General Manager of The Executive Center, there are some ways to use LinkedIn to boost it as a business/networking tool. She suggests:

• Integrate a business blog using the Wordpress or BlogLink tools available for LinkedIn
• Create and populate a group for your business, and then use it to post events, blogs, news articles, etc.
• Make sure to use the "What are you doing now" update tool weekly
• Make sure to fill out your company profile

Warnings: Again, be careful what you share. This is primarily a business tool, so make sure it's all about the bottom line.



In The Know
Integration Salvation
Unifying your marketing materials with an oh-so-sweet campaign
Comedian Mitch Hedberg once said, "When someone hands you a flier, it's like they're saying, 'Here, you throw this away.'"

That's not how any marketing agency, event coordinator or company wants to think about their many hours of planning, promoting and distributing materials. But the scenario apparently occurs frequently enough to be used as comedic fodder. Surely, Hedberg is likely not the only person to trash fliers, coupons, pamphlets and leaflets (anyone who's been to Vegas can certainly wax neurotic about the unending streams of handouts flowing from unending rivers of hands).

So, why do we fear the flier?

It's likely not because the event or promotion is boring or inappropriate. And it's likely not because the "flier guy" looks like he's jonesing for a fix... well, maybe that.

Our guess is that generally it's a mix of people's busy schedules and short attention spans. It also has something to do with trust and engagement. We find that a strong, consistent brand and the design used to represent that brand may be the difference between a well-fed recycle bin or a well- attended event. Design - everything from logos and letterhead to web sites and fliers - helps to create recognition of what a brand represents. And consistency is what holds the campaign together.

An integrated campaign combines various elements to convey and promote the brand - using print materials, website, swag, packaging, etc. - by employing the same theme, imagery and voice. It's about sending out consistent messages and imagery through different channels.

Needless to say, if your brand is strong and you've successfully integrated your materials, you will garner some attention. And your customers, supporters, stakeholders and friends will dig how bold, sexy and smart your marketing has become. But before you start brainstorming your soon-to-be- brilliant campaign, there are some potential challenges to be aware of.

Keeping both a consistent message and uniform identity within a variety of tools and materials may seem like a challenge, but visual repetition and creativity are key to aesthetic integration.

If you're not sure your materials are integrated, look at them collectively and notice which pieces don't match or fit into the desired look. Then view them separately and ask yourself if the piece is recognizable as part of the same campaign. This doesn't mean that all materials need to look identical, but by building the brand into the design, the same idea can be communicated throughout the campaign, while a unique identity can be achieved. In the end, your pieces may vary in form, but their connection to each other will be obvious.

For example, Northern Colorado AIDS Project hosts an annual dessert-themed event called Sweet Indulgence. Of course we were inspired by the sweets but wanted to keep NCAP's brand in mind. So, the goal was to mold Sweet Indulgence's brand with strong graphic elements, dessert-inspired packaging and flirtatious copy - all while relating it to NCAP and its mission.

The project required a variety of materials including invitations, programs and an assortment of sponsor solicitation brochures. The layouts of the packaging repeat the same colors, textures and font treatments on all pieces, and the dessert-oriented theme was utilized in every piece of collateral. The invitation itself is a chocolate bar. The sponsor solicitation program is fashioned to look like a dessert menu. The dessert competition invitation was served up in a baking pan.

However, it does take more than a recipe for layout strategy to communicate the purpose of your materials. There must also be function. People don't want things they don't need or to spend time on things that they can't relate to immediately. The images and overall feel of any design piece should relate the feel of what it's promoting - even before consumers get a chance to read it for themselves.

So remember, if you don't want your fliers to end up in the trash, make sure your materials represent your brand and have strong visual unification. Hand your target audence a piece of treasure -- not a piece of trash