Ignore Social Media At Your Own Risk 2008 may go down in history as the year businesses woke up and realized that social media was more than a distraction for bored teenagers, and could be the biggest new opportunity for customer relationship-building since the invention of the telephone. And if you haven't started learning about how to put social media to work for your business, there's no time like now to get your feet wet. View full article Notes From The Right Brain Tips From Our Creative Director Meg Hoppe Creative Director | Principal I'm sure I'm not alone in my disdain for PowerPoint, but despite my constant whining about its numerous flaws it's still the leader in business presentation software. You can limit how unprofessional these presentations look by following a few guidelines. 1. Take it easy on the copy. Restrain your urge to cram every single solitary fact you want to share onto the page; you can't bore people into buying something. Each slide should serve only as an overview - no more than 5 bullets per page, and each of those containing a limited number of words. Avoid long sentences. Strive for simple ideas that the presenter can expand on. View more tips here Next Issue: Mark your calendars - it's Vertical Type and Unnecessary Quote Marks! How much fun can a person have in one sitting? 6 Reasons Why Small Businesses Should Be Blogging Everyday we search the blogosphere looking for articles and information beneficial to our clients. Due to our emphasis on social media and PR in this issue, today's feature is blogging. Go here for the benefits of corporate blogging from our friends at HubSpot. What Can PR Do For Me? One question we're often asked is why public relations (PR) should play a major role in a marketing plan. The answer is simple. In the context of an integrated plan, PR is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your company, product, or service. Especially in the economic conditions we're facing today, it's important to continue allocating a portion of your marketing budget to PR to realize the impact that's possible. Many decision-makers struggle with funding PR efforts because of their limited understanding about the scope and dimensions of PR. In fact, one common misconception we often hear is that PR is primarily about media relations. It's a whole lot more than distributing press releases and hounding editors. Viewed broadly, PR is about managing the public perception of your image to a wide range of interested parties, starting with current and potential customers and extending to shareholders, vendors, community leaders, industry observers, employees and prospective employees. View full article With No Relief In Sight, Now's Time To Take Control Featured In: The Post Crescent 12/29/08 Greg Linnemanstons President | Principal It's almost time to pop the champagne and say a quick prayer that 2009 is an improvement over 2008. Unfortunately nobody really believes we're going to see conditions improve quickly, with most predictions saying it could get worse before it gets better. So instead of waiting for a rising tide to raise all ships, the end of 2008 is the right time to put your business in position to control its own destiny through the right marketing moves. Regardless of the conditions you face in the year ahead, the following steps will give you the best chance to succeed. Go here to read more at postcrescent.com Trend Watch: Yammer Haven't heard of it yet? Well, if you haven't, you will now. Yammer, also known as "the Twitter for businesses," has started gaining momentum among organizations as an effective intra-company communication tool.  According to a short description found on the Yammer web site, this new online tool was created to make companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short, frequent answers to one simple question: "What are you working on?" As employees post their own answers, a feed is created allowing co-workers to respond to updates, post news, ask questions, and share links and other information. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and a platform where they can easily access past conversations. View full article