Approximate read time: 3 minutes

I hardly ever read the newspaper anymore, but occasionally I’ll pick one up just to read something different. Maybe it was just the day, but there were a few articles about using the web for business, social media, and online security that were interesting and timely. How ironic. There was also a column discussing the logo and tagline for a local town with the initials PP. You can imagine what wordplay ran through the article.

I came away with a different take than the author. While she found humor in the situation, she also recognized that the town “slogan” was a complete snooze. She announced that the town was running an online contest for a new logo, with a prize of $500.

While I would agree that the logo isn’t great (it’s kind of a non-logo), and neither is the tagline, there was little mention in the article about the business drivers behind the effort. What are they trying to achieve? Who are they targeting? What design preferences do they have?

We’re an advertising agency, so let me first go on record about how logo contests devalue a legitimate profession. You would never find a roomful of lawyers developing opinions in hopes that theirs might be selected, with only the winner getting paid a paltry wage. Before you object, many would argue that the law is much more succinct, and lawyers cost more (which, if you think about it, should make them cost less). Well, nobody should have to work for free.  Artists are certainly not worth less. And there is nothing subjective about the value of Ford’s blue oval, or Nike’s swoosh, which were not designed by lawyers. What’s the future of your business worth?

That being said, we get lots of calls from folks who would like a new logo. The goal is often fuzzy, like “something that looks more professional”. Well, that’s a start. There are a lot of businesses with bad amateur logos. After all, most start small, and do a logo on a shoestring. When you’re starting, you’re more concerned with building cash flow.

However, businesses that have been around a while, especially successful ones, get it. They know a logo does many things for a company- sends a message, evokes a response, links all of their products and intellectual property. Over time a logo can become famously valuable, recognized to the point that you don’t have to show the name, but everybody still knows. It becomes part of the brand. That’s why they won’t change them very often, and when they do, it’s a real business decision.

That’s what I didn’t see in the article. There’s no reason why the town, even with a $500 budget, can’t put together a “creative brief”. It tells the designer why you’re doing this, what you’re trying to communicate, any design preferences or ideas you have, and what you don’t want the logo to be. In the instance of this town, the driver could be attracting businesses, or tourism. They may have a point of differentiation- great soil, a beautiful lake, terrific transportation options. And certainly, with only $500 to spend, they could tell the designer what the logo shouldn’t be. For instance, it shouldn’t look like any of the nearby town logos. Maybe they don’t want it to say “PP”.

It should look good in black and white, because logos will see significant use that way. Beginning designers often make the mistake of relying on color, instead of going for the core design. If you really start thinking about it, there are a lot of clues that would help deliver a design with a better chance of doing the job. And the review committee would actually have business points to consider when looking at potential designs. Tagline creation should follow the same process.

The town is using a Web contest site that enables design contests be held on a world-wide basis. $500 will buy you a lot of interest, especially from designers from countries where that is a princely sum. There’s that whole idea we don’t like about people working for free, in hopes they might win. However, you will get a lot of designs, including many that are way off the mark (all over the map?), even with a well-written creative brief, because the brief may not translate well, and some just ignore it.

Many participants plagiarize existing designs without hesitation, and it’s on the contest holders to protect themselves from infringing. And ideally, you’ll still pass your winning idea to a professional artist to ensure that the logo is ultimately reproducible, and doesn’t put you in a corner from an image or message perspective.

Magic does happen. Nike paid $35 for their swoosh. DFW Airport paid something north of $30,000 for theirs, possibly one of the worst logos on earth. I wonder about that creative brief. There are many happy points in between those two extremes that will deliver a good, professional logo for just about any business- or municipality. It helps tremendously to have business drivers and a solid brief behind it all.

And, I would think that a municipality potentially sending work overseas in the midst of our own economic challenges may not be the best political thinking.

What do you think?

One thing to remember, you cannot use the FSC Certified logo on your finished piece if you do not use an FSC Certified printer. You can, however, use the Recycled logo regardless of the printer. For more information on FSC Certification check out this link: http://www.fsc.org/about-fsc.html

What Does FSC Certified Paper Mean?

What’s The Difference Between FSC Certified and Recycled Paper and Which is Better to Use?

I’ve been asked this question hundreds of times, so here’s the answer:

FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council. They are a third party certification organization who assess those who manage the care of forests. They look at how those managing the care of a forest are complying with federal law and international agreements relating to the rights of indigenous peoples, enhancing the long-term social and economic well being of workers and surrounding communities, and conserving the biological diversity, water, soil and ecosystems surrounding the forest. The FSC also requires a management plan. It must describe the scale and intensity of logging and renewal operations as well as the long-term objectives and monitoring of the forest, making sure that what is cut down is being replanted. If all the criteria of the FSC are met by the management of the forest, then the forest will receive an FSC Certification. Paper made from wood taken from FSC certified trees is given the FSC Certification as well. FSC Certified paper does NOT have anything to do with the paper being recycled, but that it was derived from trees from a well managed forest.

Recycled paper is made from either 100% discarded (post-consumer) paper, or a mix of post-consumer and pre-consumer paper (paper that is discarded during the paper-making process, but never gets used by consumers), or a mix of post-consumer and either FSC Certified or just regular, non certified paper.

So which one is better? There is a lot of debate about this in the paper industry. Paper made directly from trees still requires the trees be cut down, (although they are replanted). Large tractors and logging machinery are used, adding pollution and noise to the surrounding environments, as well as chemicals and water waste used in the paper-making process. On the other hand, chemicals are still used in the making of recycled paper, because the fibers have to be broken down and de-inked (although most recycled papers no longer use toxic bleach in the de-inking process). I always use recycled paper. Although both types unfortunately use chemicals in the process, you are at least not adding to the landfills or harming ecosystems during the logging process. I encourage everyone to use recycled paper, even if it is only 30% or 50% recycled. If you choose to use non-recycled paper, make sure it is FSC Certified. At least you can feel confident that the wood was harvested with the utmost care and concern for the forest and its surrounding ecosystem.

Katrina Davis

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/printing-articles/whats-the-difference-between-fsc-certified-and-recycled-paper-and-which-is-better-to-use-1430532.htm

Approximate read time: 3 minutes

I’ve read a couple of articles lately on search that were eye-openers for me, because I realized that I was more on target with my keyword development process than I may have been getting credit for. The difference is that I started out in marketing before there were search engines. I am used to looking for solutions to marketing problems without relying on search results. To do this, I had to understand the business, talk to people, and ask the right questions. Then I would hit the search tools.

Devoid of this same background, some are just coming to this realization. Better late than never. The point is, you can’t just guess what your keyword strategy should be, based on assumptions of what your audience might search for, or rely solely on electronic search findings. This doesn’t tell you the thought process behind their search, and how you might have to adjust the electronic results to accommodate the strategy of the business. Here’s my process:

Step 1- Determine the most important things the business does. This could be because it’s the biggest moneymaker, or it could be the loss leader for other parts of the business, but it’s the reason everybody calls. You also need to know what they may want to focus on because it is part of a strategy for future business extensions, regional programs, legal considerations, and more. “We do everything” is not a recommended direction, at least as far as search performance.

Step 2- Find out what the most unique things are, vs. the common things the business does. You may get much better traffic from unique terms, and then connect them quickly to more common related subjects through the design of the web site.

Step 3- Understand who are the influencers and decision makers.  Consumer marketing is a little simpler in this respect- the searcher is usually the buyer. In the case of b-to-b, the inquiry process changes from the initial search (influencers) to the actual time of purchase (decision makers). At what point are they involved, and what are their search habits?

Step 4- You wouldn’t have gotten any of this without talking to company personnel. But, don’t forget to ask customers. Another resource I like to use is third parties like governing bodies, trade associations or magazine writers, and sometimes complimentary companies that align themselves with your client. They’ll give you unique perspective, and tell you things the actual provider or customer set may not say about why they go to your company for (fill in the blank).

Ideally, if you can, watch the search process when you talk to these people. Do they do what they say they do? How far down the page will they scroll? Do they pay attention to maps? Paid listings?

Step 5- Do a web-based competitive analysis. You’ll have to verify the real competitors, but it’s pretty easy to tell who’s done their homework as you read through their site. Look for alignment in terms with actual content, and alignment with your company. Keep in mind long tail vs. individual component keywords. If you can nail the exact search term as a two or three word string, these can be valuable.

Step 6- Now you’re ready to start testing keywords, based upon the business priority, competitive positioning, and customer decision process. Prioritize your findings, utilize your results and start testing. Use your test results to refine your terms, and then go back to your article content- words you select should also appear in articles, headlines, tags, blog and social media copy. You may decide a microsite is in order to take advantage of domain search.

With this complete understanding of their business, you will be able to do a much better job of positioning the company for more of the right kind of search results.

I finally got around to reading GlobalSpec’s report on industry trends for industrial marketers – for 2009. OK, a little late, but it’s not like any epiphanies happened in industrial marketing during that banner year. I don’t think the 2010 version is out yet, so I’m in under the wire. For those who don’t know, GlobalSpec targets engineering and industrial markets with a number of online services, including the granddaddy of specification search engines.

I’ll agree with many of the points. The economy is changing manufacturers’ marketing approach. Measurement of marketing efforts is important, and the web makes measurement easier. Marketers are looking for high quality leads, and tracking efforts is easier online. Continue to market, even in a downturn. From there, however, everything shifts to “spend all your marketing money online”.

Let’s take trade magazine advertising. Their chart says about 45% will continue to spend what they did, about 17% will spend more, and about 38% will spend less. So, over 60% are going to continue or expand their trade magazine ads. Yet, it is presented as 38% are reducing spend, in a down economy, so you should move your money to the web.  Questions: For the 38%, why was spend reduced? What are the leaders in your respective niche doing? One flip through the trade magazines will tell you, they are not dropping out of print. Only the weaker competitors are.

For more on that, refer to my post on HVAC advertising trends, courtesy of Clear Seas research, or this post about the validity of print.

The GlobalSpec report is all about mechanism. It’s what they offer, so it makes sense. But it doesn’t cover message or the strategies for an integrated marketing effort, and this is where most marketers fall down. After reading the report, marketers may be convinced that they should rebuild their website to improve SEO, add analytics, get their specs and Revit models in there, and start sending emails. Well, yes, we would recommend those, too, as part of your effort. They are essentials to be considered viable.

But before that, it’s what and how you market that will drive people to your website- not the simple fact of being there and being findable. Sure that helps, but I still see manufacturers that only appear once or twice a year in print, never in shows or local ASHRAE meetings, have outdated web sites, and still declaring themselves the “leader”. That’s when you know they don’t know how to be relevant anymore.

To win today, you have to provide value in your presence. Engage, provide different knowledge, discuss differentiators, introduce products (they don’t have to be new) that solve problems, challenge thinking, challenge benefits, challenge competitors. You have everything to gain by being on the offensive. This is “offsite SEO”- doing the things that draw attention, making potential customers WANT to look for you (and your website). Just being another widget provider that can be found will not help you gain share.

Once you have this approach dialed in, it’s time to start thinking about delivery, and while the web is a critical piece, for the year 2010 and the immediate future, despite what GlobalSpec says, what they offer is not everything. It’s just part of an integrated strategy.

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Lest you wonder, the web is still a wild place. On one side of the coin, my pet peeve, squatters, still exist. Why is unauthorized use of a registered trade name allowed when squatters claim addresses on the web, including venues like Twitter and Facebook?

For the coin’s other side, a well-known agency recently launched a new Web site for a car company, essentially aggregating the content from individual user posts on blogs and social sites, and got slapped by the aggregated individuals for using content without permission. The car company elected to contact many of the parties involved for, as an example, unauthorized use of a rights-reserved photograph. It’s unknown if apologies were all that was required, or if this is going to go legal- the agency has since redesigned the site at the request of their client.

If the information is already public, and you don’t try to hide the original author’s identity or change the content, and you remain in the same space (social media- in other words, nobody took an individual’s post and made a print ad or TV commercial out of it) what kind of a transgression is it?

Is it because the social content might be used for commercial gain? So is the aggregation premise of web 2.0 really useable?

So again, it’s OK for individual opportunists to claim an address on Twitter as General Motors or Sears without rebuke, but let one of those companies show you some things others have publicly posted about them, good or bad, and it’s grounds for suit. Quite the double standard. What do you think?

A few months ago I posted some articles on social media, with a promise of more to come as the smoke cleared. What I did in the meantime was watch and wait, as social media continued to garner tremendous attention, along with a tremendous amount of hype. Many marketers have pumped up the medium much like they did (erroneously) in the lead-up to the dot-bomb era, announcing the inevitable doom of retail showrooms everywhere. The reality, at least for now and the immediate future, is that social media will live on as a facet (or perhaps two) of an overall marketing strategy, but nobody is replacing traditional media with Twitter. Yet.

Part of the problem is that many social media promoters don’t seem to understand much about business marketing. Not everything is a simple consumer purchase, where simply announcing a well-known and highly consumed product’s availability or approval by crowds seals the deal. Fortunately, the current myths being propagated by some regarding the demise of traditional media at the hands of social are pretty easy to counter.

Social Media is a two-way conversation: Maybe a little. Check out any Linkedin groups and you’ll see the vast majority are broadcasts of blog postings that never elicit a conversation (with this exception- “Social media sucks”- the most successful post I have ever seen.) Most use it for link casting. Posting to multiple venues at the same time increases the inbound links to your site and you rank higher on natural search.

Blogs? The most common recommendation is to review and approve comments before posting- pretty darn controlled for a two-way conversation. At this point, social media is more a pre-programmed venue for a lot more people to speak what they think, whether it has value or not, than a true value-added conversation. It’s really broadcast with a controlled response option, and for now, a way to fool the search engines. But, there is potential value in what’s being said.

Traditional Media is dead: Absolutely not. Since 1996, digital media spend has gone from 0% to 10% of total advertising both in the US and globally (according to ZenithOptimedia). Forgetting the bloop that is the current economic downturn, TV has increased (see below), and print (magazines) is relatively stable, as are outdoor and radio advertising. Newspapers in print have seen their better days, but the value of their editorial is again proving itself and the best ones will live on, online. Direct mail volume has declined slightly per this report by The Winterberry Group, in part because better data integration has enabled more targeted strategies. So yes, there’s a shift. But the net result is traditional media will continue to exist and be part of an overall marketing strategy for years to come.

Broadcast is dead: Hardly. Speaking for TV, not only is there growth in the number of channels, which is actually great for advertising because you can target more effectively; there is overall growth in viewers! According to this NY Times article, some networks have experienced viewer growth of up to 20% in certain age groups and times, much of the growth powered by the dreaded DVR that now exists  in more than 30% of U.S. households.

Originally feared to be the bain of advertisers, not only does the DVR extend the viewing audience, but more than half of the people recording shows still view the ads! The reason cited- TV is still a passive activity, requiring no effort from the viewer. Imagine that. The couch potato still exists, and he’s eating something he saw on TV as you read this.

Brand Advertising is dead: Nope. There are a lot of reasons businesses advertise. Some are aiming for a direct response (Call now! Operators are waiting!), but many are introducing new products hoping demand will build, and working hard to create a feel and sense of trust around their product, or as importantly, their brand. This includes both consumer and business to business advertising.

Both groups respond to brands they like and trust. Many marketers have to deal with longer, more complex selling cycles, and the creation of demand that is built over time. Some may also be advertising simply for retention, in the case of renewable services. In all of these cases, brand familiarity and trust will help the sales cycle. It will make any direct response advertising that is done more effective, and the sales people will have something else to sell besides simply price and availability.

Brand advertising will only die when there is only one vendor for any product or service. Until then, there are still choices to be influenced.

In closing…

Social media is here to stay, although it will morph over the next few years into something different than what we are using now. It has become one of the facets of an integrated marketing plan, and an integrated plan will always have greater reach than any single channel. Social is just one of those channels, albeit the cheapest one (unless you are counting your time), and the exact use depends upon your product or service, your audience, and many other factors. There is enough evidence that social can improve SEO, and some that are predicting the end of traditional SEO entirely. It is possible to be ranked first in a Google search without having a web site- just a good social presence with a strong, consistent message.

Keep your traditional advertising or marketing in place, but do not ignore social. Per this previous article, if you’re that far behind the curve, at least protect your name, monitor your presence, and respond. If you have the opportunity to engage proactively, do so. It may be one of the right things to do for building your brand. If it’s all you can afford, then there you go. Something is always better than nothing; do it right, and enough, and you can get your business noticed.

What a great discussion! I think everybody has valid points, but I am going to jump in with Alan Clark here- blog platforms are beautifully optimized for search, and if the content is on target, including appropriate use of keywords throughout, you can rank high quickly. It’s because the platform coding isn’t an issue.

Part of the typical SEO time delay is usually because with standard site designs (not built on a blog or CMS platform), correcting bad code, navigation, redirects, titles and the whole list is almost always step one to ensuring the site can be indexed effectively (assuming you are coming in to an existing site done “pre-SEO”). Many agencies recommend clients utilize blog platforms for new sites for this very reason, as well as they can help hold the cost down.

In my book, the number one item to getting ranked quickly and naturally is domain name. If you know your audience and their search habits well, and can find a domain that reflects their search, you can be ranked on the first page almost immediately. Use these “search optimized domains” in conjunction with a landing page strategy that redirects them to your main company site.

However, once they find you, without effective graphic design and the right content, they may not see what you want them to, or keep them interested long enough to make a conversion.

To Pete’s original question, I agree SEO is the foundation of web site promotion on the web, because without it, you’re unknown. Even big brand names get pushed down the list by little guys that understand search. Build on that foundation with off-line promotion and you’ve got your traffic.

Cheers!

As a small agency, we deal with generally small to mid-size clients, where they may have an in-house staff for producing much of their creative. These companies sometimes stretch internal resources beyond their competency, in an effort to hold costs down. A very common scenario is when the company web designer gets pushed into doing print. The mediums are as different as the reactions we get when we explain why their print looks really bad- everything from “Thanks” to “Print is for neanderthals”.

This article was originally written by someone else- my apologies for not retaining the name of the original author. This is all solid guidance, which we have updated a bit. If you are the original author, we are happy to give you credit.

RGB vs. CMYK

Monitors (TV and computers) merge the colors of Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) to create color. Printing presses use cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (4/color) to create color. Since offset presses use CMYK, all graphics must be converted from RGB to CMYK in order for them to print correctly. This conversion should be done before the graphic is placed into the page file.

Total Area Coverage (TAC)

TAC defines the amount of ink that will be applied to a given area on the printed page. It is calculated by adding the percentages of C, M, Y, and K colors. The acceptable upper limit falls between 260 and 300, depending on considerations like paper stock and layout content. All graphic elements should be checked carefully during the design phase because heavy ink amounts can result in quality problems on press, such as blistering, trapping difficulties, and poor ink transfer. The best way to avoid problems is to check all dark color areas to make sure they are within the acceptable limit. Preflight programs offer automatic functions to check many graphic elements, although images must be checked manually in Photoshop.

4/c Black Text

Small black text should always be formatted as one-color black. This means it is built of 100% black and not a combination of the other process colors. This will ensure that the type appears clean and crisp. Avoid using “Registration” or “Auto” black and instead using only the preset “Black” swatch color. Text pasted into layouts from other documents should be checked for color consistency.

Missing or Corrupted Fonts

To avoid text that reflows or defaults to a courier type face, make sure the system fonts used to create the page are included with the page file. And, please, you are supposed to buy the fonts you use.

Missing Graphics

When submitting ‘Native’ page-layout files, include all graphics (placed ‘source’ files) with your document. In addition, always use the ‘place’ command when inserting images into your page rather than the ‘cut-and-paste’ function.

Incorrectly Formatted Images

Avoid GIF, CT, BMP, WMF, and PICT files when furnishing files for print production. These file formats work fine for screen or Internet display, but should not be placed in a page layout. When preparing a color file, convert these graphics to CMYK TIFF format and carefully assess the image quality. If you are using JPEG images, examine them in Photoshop for artifacts—telltale signs of a low-quality compression. These files may be unsuitable for offset printing. If you must include poor-quality images in your layout, you should alert your publisher/printer in order to avoid potential production delays.

Low Resolution

Image resolution refers to the density of color pixels present in a given image file. Optimal resolution for color and grayscale images (halftones) is 300dpi at the final printed size. This resolution is measured in pixels-per-inch. Low-resolution images (under 300 dpi) will exhibit a ‘pixelated’ look, compromising the quality of your project. This is why images imported from the web (72 dpi) look terrible when you print them.

Incorrect Page Settings

Trim size is the final cut size of the finished printed piece. Check with your printer/publisher and build your page using the specified trim size. Do not use a default setting. Incorrectly sized files can result in the cropping being off and possibly live matter trimmed.

Short Bleeds

For any graphic in your layout that extends off the page on all four sides, the graphic should be opened to extend 1/8″ in order to ‘bleed’ off the page. The reason for this is to avoid unsightly white edges that can result from minor variations in page trimming. Adhering to the ‘bleed’ and ‘safety area’ rules ensures that these minor variations will not be noticeable.

Gutter and Trim

The safe area for your content is at least ¼” away from the final trim. Placing content far enough away from the trim will minimize the chance of the image getting cut off when the final piece is trimmed. In perfect bound books, live matter on the inside, next to the gutter, should be placed 3/8” from the center fold. This eliminates the potential for images getting lost in the spine of the book.

Narrow Borders

When designing full-page borders, it is important to follow the guidelines for bleeds and the safety area for live matter. It is also important to remember that variation on press and binding equipment does not occur uniformly to all sides of the page. With standard variation, a thin border can appear crooked or uneven. For this reason, we discourage using borders of 3/8” width or less along the edges of the page.

Missing Laser or Color Proof

The best way to ensure that your file is produced correctly is to furnish a color or BW proof of the page that is 100% to size. Furnished color proofs built to SWOP standards are preferable because they can be used on press to make sure the final production of the page meets your expectations. All SWOP proofs should include color bars.

Final Word

Agencies and print shops use two primary software packages for developing print collateral- Adobe InDesign, and Quark. Anything else is a novelty. If you have to develop print, get one of those two software packages. Then, at least, when you can’t figure out why it’s behaving the way it is, there are plenty of folks that can help.

Late in 2009, I received some phone calls and emails from people I had never met, yet they were all universally mad at me. They blamed our company for sending out unsolicited emails that turned out to be the worst kind of spam. A few of them forwarded the emails to me at my request.

The email had our company name in the body copy. Any link in the email (including the “unsubscribe” link) connected with a Web site featuring male enhancement products that was a “phishing” site looking for credit card numbers.

This was such a blatant example of spam. The subject line of the email was a dead giveaway that this was not a legitimate business email. The “From” address was that of the recipient, and the body of the email and the Web site were both grammatically challenged. In violation of the Can-Spam Act, there was no company name or address. The clues were endless, yet folks were opening the email, and following the links!

The scammers collected real company names, addresses and contact information from the web, and randomly combined them, including the various combinations in the body of the email, to lend some legitimacy to the scam. After communicating with a couple of the other companies whose info had been combined with ours, it was apparent that all of us had been victimized the same way.

We figured a scam like this would go away almost as fast as it arrived on the scene, and we were right. The calls and emails stopped after about two weeks.

So, what do you do if something like this happens to you? Here’s what we did: First, we lodged complaints with the authorities. This included the IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center) and the local office of the FBI. IC3 takes their complaints over the web; the FBI likes to talk to you, which is nice. We never heard back, as they probably hear this stuff on a minute-by-minute basis. But we had set up part of our “defensive line”.

We searched social media to ensure that our name was not being hauled over the rocks. Amazingly enough, the subject of the email was found verbatim on a number of sites, but these quickly disappeared from public view because nobody cared. A couple of sites allowed us to report a posting as spam, which we did.

We did not try to contact the owner of the phishing web site in question, because not only was the information likely false, we did not want to fuel the fire. We kept checking our own web site and firewall, as well as user computers, and found no issues.

Most importantly, we responded to anyone who contacted us with an email explaining what had happened. Everyone in our organization knew how to respond if someone called or emailed them. Here’s what our response said:

“We appreciate your forwarding the spam mail you received, that used our company name. We have added it to our evidence folder, as we have filed complaints with the FBI and the IC3 Internet Crime Complaint Center.

We do not send spam email. We know our company name is being used illegally by others in conjunction with spam campaigns. In the examples we have reviewed, these conditions exist:

1)      The email is not “From” us, but the “From” field shows the recipient’s name, same as the “To” field. This is called “spoofing”, where the real sender’s name is concealed, a common spam trait.

2)      The physical address shown is not ours, it is the address of another unrelated business. They are randomly combining our company name with the addresses of other companies.

3)      If you click links within the email (like “Unsubscribe”) you will link to an inappropriate web site (with a .cn suffix, registered for China) that is a “phishing” site for credit card numbers. There is no company name, physical address or other contact information on the site.

If you received the email on a corporate network, please advise your IT department of the email. It may be an indication that your spam filters are not working properly, since the email contains many common spam characteristics, and should have been stopped before reaching you.

For the future, be wary about the email you open. If you don’t recognize the sender, the sender is you, or the subject matter is highly questionable as all these have been, chances are high that it’s spam. And, keep your computer’s security software up-to-date and operating.”

We escaped relatively unharmed from this event. We received a few “thank you” emails for our positive handling of the issue and for making folks aware of how to recognize spam.

That’s how we handled it. Question or comments? Let me know your thoughts.

The response was fairly positive. We all agreed that many competitors pull back from marketing efforts in these low times to preserve funds, and any advertising that you do becomes more prevalent in their absence. Many design and engineering firms are taking this time to sharpen their knowledge and processes, including learning new techniques and new products, so it’s a good time to get in front of them.

With ad revenues down, you can also bargain for better placement, some web exposure, and other incentives. Plus, many of the industry publications are extending deeper discounts for multiple placements.

I just came across a study done by Clear Seas Research, where they surveyed members of their Buildings Materials Panel. They describe the Panel as a cross-section of construction pros who read BNP Media trade publications (like Engineered Systems), to learn their 2009 marketing strategies.

The survey garnered responses from 184 people regarding marketing, advertising, organization membership and employee motivation. The results substantiate our thinking, in spades. Clear Seas asked, “In 2009, what new marketing/advertising techniques has your company implemented or planned to implement to improve sales?”

Of the 73% who said they were still aggressively marketing (!), Print Advertising was at the top, tying with Launched/Enhanced Company Web site as the number one selection by 34% of respondents.

Next came Enhanced Customer Retention Programs (28%), Internet Advertising (27%), Direct Mail Advertising (25%), E-mail Advertising (24%), Yellow Page Advertising (23%), Radio Advertising (10%), Cable/Local TV Advertising (9%), and Telemarketing (9%). Multiple answers were allowed, which is why these totals exceed 100%.

There were obviously a good number of contractors in the survey, since the broad-based alternatives like Yellow Pages, Radio, TV, and Telemarketing figured as high as they did. I would have thought that Launching/Enhancing Web site, and E-mail would generate higher responses, but apparently, the “high availability” of print still carries a lot of weight.

The follow-up question “Which techniques have been most successful?” put a slightly different spin on the results, pushing Enhanced Customer Service Retention Programs to the top. Print Advertising and Internet Advertising then tied for second at 22%, followed by Launched/Enhanced Web site (19%), E-mail Advertising (15%), and the other categories.

So is print still an important medium? Yes, it is. Many believe it’s still easier to point out details in specifications, performance tables and images across the desk between co-workers than it is to gather around the laptop. From many angles, print still represents the ultimate in “high availability”- anytime, anywhere.

If you would like to view the report in its entirety, visit http://www.advertisingforhvac.com/, and view the “Is print still an important medium?” pdf in the Toolbag section. The report was provided courtesy of Clear Seas Research.