What is relationship marketing?

I could be here all day coming up with different ideas on the subject. Making use of visuals and writing that personally appeal to a specific demographic; using individuals, symbols, and colors that represent a segment of a certain culture; crafting messages that reach an intended audience to encourage long term, positive relationships between brands and customers. These are just a few elements that I think should go into any marketing and/or design project. Obviously, there are many others.

Andy has demonstrated some of these very components in his work with Boston-based MacTribe Magazine, where he’s doing more than just building its layout in print; he’s building relationship marketing. His involvement has been an ongoing venture for quite some time now. From his days in Cambridge, he has maintained a relationship with the owner and writers throughout his travels. For whatever reason, these pieces really stood out to me as excellent relationship marketing pieces. They speak to a young, artistic, musically oriented group, and they make use of actual people. Really, I just wanted to share this as an example of the design work Andy has done for MacTribe, and I can assure you there will be more featured once the magazine goes live. The shots I chose show some sketches he did for promoting a feature in the magazine. As I mentioned, it uses actual musicians for the piece to depict garage and indie bands who use MySpace.com as a virtual demo for their audiences, rapidly taking place of the age old “demo tape.” The article is sure to be as interesting as the design scheme. Stay tuned for more on MacTribe.

We just went live with Cellofourte’s new site. Head on over to check it out at www.cellofourte.net to see how awesome they are - and to check out the type of work we can do for bands.

It was great to meet this talented group, and we avidly became fans within minutes of hearing their CD, Usung. Since then, we’ve seen them live, and will for sure do so again on June 2nd. Do yourself a favor, and listen to the clips on their site - it’s some amazing stuff.

Inspired by the engagement of one of Dark Oak’s favorite individuals, I’m on a new creative venture to eliminate the whole “ugh, another wedding to attend this summer” feeling that plagues singlefolk everywhere. This friend, a fellow integrated marketing communications theorist, inspired the launching of an all out marketing campaign for his wedding, themed 5.31.08, to keep the date top of mind among all invitees. I want the look and feel of this wedding to be apparent, well before the walk down the aisle, making it look so great that it will be a major anticipated event of the year. If you really think about it, marketing your wedding is a great concept. It’s the one day that you can do whatever you want, and you want everyone to know about it… ahead of time… and you want them to remember it. Taking strategic steps to assure this is brilliant, through corresponding ’save the date’ cards to invitations, email correspondence, web pages, and the wedding day attire and decor - all with a common voice. Who knows, it just might gain some positive return on investment and score some better gifts, too. It’s IMC all the way.

While browsing around as I tend to do, like, all of the time, I came across a site, brands of the world. It contains a horde of brand campaigns that, with the apparent permission of their powers that be, allow for vector graphics of logos to be downloaded for people like us to use. Low and behold, the Steelers logo is second on the home page list. Yet another “world wide wicked” (we’re allowed to say wicked, Andy lived in Boston).

Visual, technical, editorial: the trinity of web marketing. I’ve been thinking a lot about the latter of the three, so I’m going to write about writing. I stumbled upon this insight from Susannah Ross: “I argue that making Web sites is just as much an editorial job as it is a visual job: at least I would like never to be presented with a pilot site where all the important decisions about content, layout, organization, and navigation have already been taken, and then to be asked to write the copy—in effect, to fill in boxes.”

Right on, sister. While Andy’s working away at design, I’m constantly thinking, “What do we have to say? How are we going to say it? Where are we going to put it?” I’ve come up with a few tactics when writing for the Web. I’m feeling generous, so I’ll share. I start by telling a story. I go for descriptives, verbs, and a conversational style. I aim to break up the information by doing exactly what I just mentioned. This is my newest thing: I try to anticipate users’ questions - in a sense, I don’t pose the question at all, yet I answer it before someone has to even ask. A bit of function comes in to play, too, of course. I always, always, always write with search engines in mind… which brings me to — use a blog! The value of relevant, updated information is huge. Contact Dark Oak Studios for more of this stimulating informational wisdom.

P.S. Speaking of great writing — Fresh Ink (those quirky cards from Hallmark) has it down! It’s like they had us in mind when they wrote this one. It came in the form of the perfect birthday card for Andy, which I gave him over the weekend, reading something to the effect of “you’re always on the right side of the fine line between cool and dorky,” boasting a kid in a faux-Superman suit. Priceless.

Readers flipping through the newest edition of O, The Oprah Magazine might stumble upon an ad headline that reads, “Whatever you do, don’t come to West Virginia!”

If you’re a Mountaineer, don’t be offended. The West Virginia Division of Tourism and Charles Ryan Associates are trying a new marketing technique. The ads are meant to lure vacationers to the Mountain State. Officials say standard travel ads, such as a picture of a mountainside and a message to “Visit West Virginia,” don’t really do the trick anymore.

Since I promised I’d give you the answers I got, here they are. Enjoy!

Hooters Responses:

Chosen people choose Hooters. (Jif)
The Un-kosher (7Up, “The Un-cola”)
Hooters, We answer to a higher authority. (Hebrew National Hot Dogs)
Silly Rabbi, Hooters is for kids! (Trix)
Hooters, serving one mensch at a time. (Morgan Stanley)
How do you handle a hungry kvetsh? Hooters. (Campbell’s soup)
Noshing is job one. (Ford)
There’s No Beef?! (Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef”)
You Deserve a Steak Today (McDonald’s, “You Deserve a Break Today”)

Viagra Responses:

Viagra, All Day Strong All Day Long (Aleeve)
Viagra, Breakfast of Champions (Wheaties)
Good to the Last Drop (Maxwell House)
There’s Always Room for Viagra (Jello)
Be All That You Can Be With Viagra (ARMY)
Viagra, Your Way Right Away (Burger King)
Viagra Keeps You Going and Going and Going… (Energizer)
Takes a Licking and Keeps on Kicking (Timex)
Viagra, The Ultimate Driving Machine (BMW)

I was doing a little reading over at the American Marketing Association’s new blog (see, I told you, everybody’s using blogs for marketing these days). I came across the following post by one of their writers and found it creatively hilarious.

Let’s have a litte fun with creative strategy, too. I dare you to take on either one of the challenges presented below. Email me with your clever taglines and I’ll post the best on the Dark Oak blog if I get a decent response. Of course, you’ll have to read it first to know what I’m even talking about, so here ya go…

–

I recently received an e-mail from a colleague about how a Madison Avenue ad agency boss called a spontaneous staff meeting right in the middle of a stressful week. Once everyone had been gathered, the boss, understanding the benefits to be gained by having a little fun in the midst of all this stress, challenged his staff to a quick contest. The contest theme: Viagra advertising slogans. The caveat: Only use ad slogans originally written for other products. The list the group generated became quite a clever and hilarious Top Ten list as I’m sure you can probably imagine.
So I was thinking, with Atlanta-based Hooters of America Inc. announcing earlier this week that it would be setting up shop in Israel, why not create a little contest of my own? Come up with an ad slogan for the new Israel-based Hooters. The caveat: Again, only use ad slogans originally written for other products. Here’s something to start you off: “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Hooters.” (from the late 60s Levy’s Rye Bread ads). If I gather enough responses, I’ll gladly post the Top Ten on next week’s blog.
-Nikki, American Marketing Association

Identity these days is huge. From ID required to buy a bottle of your favorite white merlot; to credit card companies and the endless threat of identity theft; to employee ID badges, we see it everywhere. Don’t think business management is left behind. Corporate identity has become essential in our culture’s saturated state of media abundance. I know you’ve heard about it, but do you really know what it is? It’s far more than a pretty logo design. It’s everything you do and say to represent your brand and secure its own identity. It’s assuring that, at a glance, prospects not only know who you are, but know what you stand for. How is it done?

First, we break it down. Corporate Identity is composed of three parts: Corporate Design (logos, colors, fonts, etc.), Corporate Communication (integration, public relations, advertisements, information, etc.), and Corporate Behavior (internal values, norms, etc.)

A well-designed corporate identity combines elements of each and can serve as an organization’s “persona” which is designed in accord with business objectives, and is executed by way of branding. Generally, this is created with a strategic logo design, along with supporting marketing collateral that is assembled and communicated within the parameters of the original design scheme. This, let’s call it creative strategy, exists as a set of guidelines to govern how the identity is presented to the world by means of consistent, designated color palettes, fonts, page layouts, copy writing, and any other feasible methods for maintaining visual continuity and brand recognition across all physical manifestations of the brand.In other words, the creative strategy amounts to this: eat, sleep, breathe, think, and live it in everything you do. (For instance, I want the leaf of approval tattooed on my forearm - now that’s love!)

The point is this: a great logo is a must have… solid information is crucial… but if you can’t tie it all together to communicate your message with synergy, then you may be missing the boat.

You’ve got it, so flaunt it… you know what you’ve got, but you need to let others know. Ask of your brand, “who are we, where do we want to go, and how do we want to get there?” Then find a way to make people recognize it. Isn’t it nice to have someone tell you that it’s ok to show off a little?!

I posted this article over at digg.com. Blogs aren’t just for fun and games anymore (as if you didn’t already notice). Google is changing to introduce the marketing power of blogs and other online PR ventures, so reading this would be a great idea! Blogging is essential. If you don’t have a blog, you need one. Contact us if you want one. Dark Oak Studios loves blogs and we’ll tell you why you should too.