First, where are the addresses coming from?

• The best way to compile email addresses is to get them from existing customers. You can do this with something as simple as a sign up sheet next to a cash register, or an email sign up feature on your website.

• Another way to acquire addresses is by purchasing a list or working through a third party to gain email addresses they have. Our general recommendation is to send an emailer through a company that customers already hear from (for example, pay a fee to send an emailer through Penton Media to reach people in the agriculture industry) – recipients have already agreed to receive emails from this source and are more likely to open and read the information.

Second, what should the emailer look like?

• Your email should be a mix of graphics and text. The graphics add visual interest, but recipients usually have to do something (click on a box) in order to see them – and many won’t. So it is best to include text that people will be able to see immediately without clicking anything.

• You have options in the format of your email. It could be a newsletter that goes out once a week, once a month, or once a quarter – some companies even send out a smaller message every day. Another options

• We suggest keeping the message fairly simple and not too long (a special offer is different and would be much shorter than a newsletter, of course). Some people will read your whole message, but most won’t – so plan to get your point across in the first few sentences.

Third, when should I send the emails?

• Tuesday has been found to be the best day to send emailers based on response (get stats). It is less likely that 8-5 workers will check their email and respond to offers during the evening or on the weekends. We usually recomment mid morning or early afternoon (after people have gotten to their barrage of emails) as a good time to send.

Finally, where do I start?

• Many companies choose to use a service that provides email templates and step by step instructions to send them out. Another useful service to consider is a website like Campaign Monitor, which can provide statistics for your review after an email has been sent including how many people opened it, how many clicked through, and more.

• Make sure to review your website analytics on the days emilers are sent out. You will usually find a large spike in visits to your site. Emailers can give you a cehicle to provide coupons and special offers to your customers, event information, product info and more, for a smaller investment than many other media.

One thing to keep in mind is that people who receive emails from your business must have agreed to do so. You will need to send an “opt in” message that people can click on to let them confirm they want to receive your messages. And, in each email you send, you must include an option for people to unsubscribe and stop receieving emails from you.

Look around when you are out at a major event like a sporting event or a concert.  What is evident is that people now more than ever are not only using their phones but connected to them 24/7.  Checking info, texting, calling people, phones have become an extension of us and nothing is going to change.

We are a connected society and DCC Marketing is embracing this fact to “plug in” the Decatur Celebration with the creation of the Decatur Celebration Street Team.  Starting this year, by following the Celebration at Facebook or Twitter a person will have a totally immersive experience at the event.  Followers and fans will find great information and interactive activities including where to park, the best foods to try, the shortest lines and other secret activities, we will give UP TO THE MINUTE information on all the things you need to make your weekend the best it can be.  No more aggravation or guessing games, all of our followers will literally have all the info needed at their fingertips.

It won’t be all business though; the Decatur Celebration Street Team is going to have a lot of fun that weekend. Videos, interview, giveaways, contests and more will be posted throughout the Celebration. Talk to us through Facebook and Twitter and we will show you some love or find our Street Team members roaming the Celebration for some giveaways or help/assistance.

How can you help DCC Marketing make Decatur’s biggest and best party of the year even better?  Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook and we will have a great time that weekend.  We will be giving away parking passes, wristbands, food and carnival tickets, meet and greet with headliners and more so wouldn’t you be a bad friend if you didn’t tell all of your friends? So share our page with everyone, comment, tweet us and keep the conversation going.   Don’t wait to like us, do it today and start trying to win and keep checking our pages throughout the Celebration to be in the know.

DECATUR, IL – DCC Marketing, a Decatur based interactive marketing and communications agency, was presented with the 2012 Micro Business of the Year Award at the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce Awards and Installation of Officers Ceremony, Wednesday May 23 at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel.  The award is given to a local for-profit business that has 24 employees or less.

“DCC has been an active part of the Decatur community for more than 12 years, serving area businesses as well as working with local organizations to help strengthen the community in which we live and work,” DCC Marketing President Kara Demirjian Huss said.  “The reason for our success at all levels is our staff at DCC. It is because of their hard work and dedication to their clients and their community that DCC has evolved into an award winning business.”

DCC Marketing was by established Kara Demirjian Huss and Katherine Smith in March, 2000 and over the last 12 years has have increased business units to become a full service agency that includes marketing, advertising, public relations, web and digital strategy services. DCC has grown to almost $3M in annual revenues and currently have 16 employees.  We went from servicing clients in and around the community to representing national brands from around the world. We have built strong brand programs that can be seen in such places as Von Maur, Target, Target Australia, Petco, ASDA, Walmart, Sears, Kroger, JC Penney, Lord & Taylor, on Rachel Ray, The Doctors, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Fox Sports, Golf Channel and countless National Trade Publications. In 2011 alone, DCC added 18 new clients to our family and launched over 20 new websites.

The Micro Business award is one of 10 in a variety of categories given each year by the Chamber to honor businesses and individuals in the Decatur/Macon County area. The awards are selected by the Small Business Executive Council from a pool of nominations received by the Chamber membership. Awards recognize various outstanding business efforts including Outstanding Development, Entrepreneur of the Year and the Business Achievement of the Year Award.

DCC Marketing, LLC is a full-service agency providing marketing, public relations, advertising, branding, strategic planning, social media, viral marketing, and event planning among other services. DCC has developed its business based on a mission to fuse business strategies and creative design to develop and implement full-service marketing initiatives.  Over the last twelve years, DCC has serviced a diverse client base with national and international boundaries, providing strategic planning, national and international market analysis, new product development, branding, creative design, governmental relations, sales training, employee communication and incentive programs.

With the ever-changing demands of the design world, it seems as though some things become after thoughts. Being a graphic designer requires discipline, diligence and the driven attitude to evolve with the new trends of today’s market. One piece of the puzzle is designing for the web.

Web design isn’t just a cookie cutter template anymore. It has become a major part of designer’s day to day responsibility. With a great IT and Interactive Media department, there are VERY few limitations to what can be achieved. In a world filled with competition, it is optimal to elevate yourself and/or your product/service above the rest. The attention span is becoming shorter and shorter. The general public can decide within the first 8-10 seconds if they want to pursue your service. Sometimes it’s faster than that.

Being able to make an impact within a short time frame is not an impossible task…difficult, but NOT impossible. So, what is it that people want to see and what am I rambling about?……Product. Presence. Placement. Simply stated, less is more. Being able to open a site that has been effectively designed and structured is key for success.

Gorgeous without the garbage. Keeping things simple does not mean, as a designer, that quality and detail have to be sacrificed. Depth of field is a great way to draw attention to what you’re presenting (ie, drop shadowing, layers, etc… essentially making something simple seem like a little more, without being over bearing). Pulling the viewer in and keeping them reading is the name of the game. Web design is not a fly-by-night operation and takes a great deal of thought/planning to achieve the best possible outcome for your client. Put your best foot forward and design around the strengths of your client (Placement of their main product/service) and accentuate them with clean, effective design.

Open your creative flood gates and take a minute to think about just how UN-tapped the world of designing for web really is. Tables and rectangles are a thing of the past, as it relates to web design. Clean, beautiful layout is where it’s at! DCC Marketing not only produces beautiful site layouts, but we are very fortunate to work with a fantastic IT team that makes our website designs refined and fully functional.

Web design is a whole new ball game and it’s within your reach to hit a grand slam every time (cheesy baseball reference, but it works).

Amanda Drain- e-marketing & Communications Specialist

When developing an advertising campaign, consider Out-of-Home advertising as it offers a variety of different media products, schedules that will fit almost any budget.

Out-of-Home advertising is advertising that targets consumers when they are out of the house. This can include non-traditional advertising media, such as: Outdoor Billboards, Transit (Buses/Trains/Taxi Toppers), displays in retail locations, such as in a mall or displays in waiting areas, such as a doctor’s office.

Benefits of Out-of-Home Advertising

Out-of-Home Advertising is an affordable way to reach consumers by having an on-going, consistent presence in the marketplace. In the case of bus/transit advertising, this offers an advertiser their own mobile billboard (with eye-catching creative) that can be seen around town, including residential and commercial areas.

Compared to traditional media of Television, Radio, and Newspaper, Out-of-Home Advertising also offers more exposure for dollars invested. Outdoor billboards are a common, popular form of out-of-home advertising and some tips are outlined below for choosing a location and for messaging.

Considerations for Choosing an Outdoor Billboard Location

High Traffic Area – this is an area that is traveled on frequently which means more people will see and act on your message.  Please do not confuse high traffic areas with very busy/congested intersections. These busy areas are not always a good place for your message as people will be focusing on other things (hopefully their driving) and your message could get lost or not be seen.

Easy to see – select a location with unobstructed views

Tips for Outdoor Billboards and Transit Advertising Messages/Creative

• Short, to the point/Well-targeted messages
• Easy to Read
• Use Big Letters and Few Words
• Having a Call-to-Action or free offer will help boost response rates
• Large Powerful Graphics
• Include website address or phone number – your customers need a way to reach you.

If Out-of-Home is considered Non-Traditional Advertising, what is Traditional Advertising, stay tuned for my next blog post…

 Let me try to paint you a picture.

Starting at 8:00 a.m. each morning my phone begins to ring. We have six account executives and five graphic designers. Each of these executives wants a designer, and it is my responsibility to act as the proverbial gatekeeper. For each account executive there is a client who needs an ad, flyer, emailer, logo, poster, or website design, and I must ensure all these tasks find their way onto the day’s “to-do” list. On any given day there can be as many as 30 projects on that list, so my job as agency coordinator is to sort out what is truly urgent and relay it to the graphics team. The list is constantly evolving, even after a designer receives it. The ability to communicate effectively is essential.

You will figure out something very fast when working as an agency coordinator. If you do your job well and handle work flow smoothly, then no one will ever know. Projects will be completed, work will be timely delivered, and clients will be satisfied—all is right in the world. However, if you don’t communicate effectively, then work will begin to slip through the cracks, and everyone will take notice. Again, communication is imperative.

The job of the agency coordinator is to make everyone else’s job easier and when that happens we can push more work through and satisfy more clients.  When you treat every client like they are the only client, keeping things in priority order is imperative. 

The scariest part of being an agency coordinator? Sending out the project list each morning to have an account executive see that their item is a little further down the list than they think it should be. I’m starting to understand why my phone came without Caller I.D…

In this Adobe InDesign CS5 workshop, you’ll learn how to use this popular page layout software to design and create professional-quality layouts. Learn basic to intermediate lessons, tips and even a few tricks to keep your skills up-to-date, and to improve your overall capabilities and workflow.  Learn to employ master pages, style sheets, layers, color usage, typography, and more to help keep your layouts and collateral consistent and easier to manage.

You are encouraged to bring your laptop with InDesign software loaded as it makes learning the program more effective if you are able to work through the lessons along with the trainer.

InDesign Workshop
$150/pp
Monday, April 23, 2012
9a-12pm
DemirCo Place-225 N. Water Street
Decatur, IL  62523
2nd Floor Conference Room

To reserve your space:
Call 217-421-7580 or email contact@dccmarketing.com

Jeniffer Stump -Graphic Designer

When the Internet started to really take off, I was in college and working part time in retail. I remember at that time there was lots of speculation and worry about online merchants. Many predicted that technology would eliminate the need to “go” shopping in-store altogether and the days of the “brick and mortar” storefront were limited, while others thought it was all a just a fad that would slowly fade away. Now it’s true that some storefronts did close, and some cyber concepts did fade away, but the profitable retailers of today were able to take their goods online and run with them while also remaining successful on the mall level.  What is the secret?  I would say partly it’s the ability to embrace today’s constantly evolving technology and grow with it, but most importantly, a good old solid and consistent brand.

Businessdictionary.com defines the term branding as “The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumer’s mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.”

I love this definition because it simple, yet so true. Now, I know this term isn’t a new one – but some out there might ask what exactly constitutes a brand. Some would answer that it’s the color scheme, design or logo, perhaps a tagline of a product or company, and that is true. Logos, color palettes, design direction – those are, in a big sense, the main foundation of a brand. But a brand is really about that all around experience. It’s the feeling generated by the company, product or service – the perception of its value.  It is that unique identifier that makes a consumer choose it over something similar.

The successful brand takes those unique ideals and exemplifies them for consumers to learn and love. One of the best ways to make that happen successfully is through consistency. The more unified the approach in getting a presence or product known, the more productive it can be. This is where new technology can come into play as well. No more relying on just that “SALE” sign in the window – now there are tons of ways to grab that shopper’s attention.  I think that’s why the retailers that have thrived and continue to grow even in these tumultuous economic times have been able to do so. They have taken the feel and experience that was once only found in their stores to a whole new level. Now their niche in the market isn’t limited to one geographic location or even demographic, but even new shoppers can feel at ease because they KNOW the brand. They’ve not only shopped the store or catalog, they’ve seen the logo, heard the ads, watched the YouTube video, gotten the e-newsletter, seen the products on Pinterest, read a blog about it… They know where to go and what to look for because one big ball of brand has just been thrown at them.

What’s exciting to me is that is that this can be followed on any level – whether your business is a Fortune 500 or a mom & pop doing craft shows. Anyone and everyone can benefit from creating a brand and making it known. The best way to achieve that is with one solid and consistent brand identity – so that that consumers know it’s your product or service before even opening the email. If you don’t know where to start, there are a lot of resources out there that can help. In fact…I know of this really good agency with one stellar graphic design team…  

Kendall Briscoe-Senior Account Executive

Before DCC, I worked as the marketing and public relations director for two different community colleges over a five year time span.  During that time I had agencies call on me but I never understood why I needed them. If I hired an agency, why did the organization I was working for need me? I thought I was hired to do the marketing and PR and using an agency was an expense I couldn’t justify. Awwww….was I wrong!

Having an agency is a great way for an organization to expand their marketing and PR efforts. Instead of hiring one staff person with an advanced skill set in one area of marketing/PR, a company can hire an agency with multiple individuals that hold varying skill sets. Organizations that get the best bang for their buck by using an agency have an internal marketing team that works directly with the agency. The best agencies ingrain themselves into the company they are working for – learning what makes that company profitable/successful! Gone are the days that an agency is able to JUST create pretty pictures – now agencies have to help drive the strategic marketing initiatives that directly impact that company’s bottom line.

I have adjusted my mantra a bit as I have learned that not all agencies are created equal. Look for an agency that is high touch and business minded. Make sure they spend the time learning your organization inside and out and that they know how to create and execute a marketing strategy – get references and make phone calls to verify!

The next time a marketing agency representative calls or emails you, follow-up with them and find out if they have the desire to commit to your organization and become an extension of your team!