VLG Dialog Marketing

What's that all about? Well, while trying to build a mission statement, we realized it would be better just to find three words that would describe what we do and what we're all about. Call it a mantra, not a mission statement–those are boring.

We fight boredom.

We build high touch, engaging, dimensional, personalized campaigns that compliment stale corporate websites. We do (and plan to always do) all we can to fight boring marketing efforts to create memorable brands one microsite at a time.

The cool thing about a mantra is that you, you marketing leaders of the world, can adopt it as your very own. Go ahead and wage your own battle against boredom–your's and your customers'.

Our friends at the USPS (Deliver) suggest using the “white” space on your invoices to deliver messaging related to new products or services, but will that kind of exposure really help? Is the invoice a negative space you don't want tied to your marcom efforts? How far should we go to get our message out?

I guess it depends on a number of factors. It is likely your customers' A/P folks will give that invoice closer scrutiny than the day-to-day decision maker. But, hey, if you have all that white space, then you might as well give it a shot. No doubt invoices get opened by the customer, but why not put some messaging on your outbound checks (we know those get opened)?

Sounds like it's time for us to start offering PURLs on our customers' invoices. Maybe we can direct them to a website that helps the A/P folks communicate with the A/R folks to resolve issues faster, or maybe it's a thank you page that allows you to build a list for gifts at year-end. If you send your customers” A/P person a thank you gift, do you think your day-to-day contacts will hear about it? Maybe, who knows?

Interesting thought. Pretty innovative insight for an organization started in 1775.

If social media is the cause, then personal brands are the effect. When it's all said and done, our networks, blogs, viral communication and online engagement all lead to one thing. Your personal brand is who you are, what you believe, and how you achieve your goals.

Are you building equity in your brand? If not, it's time to start.

We suggest you start here. Grow your personal and professional networks with LinkedIN or Facebook, write a blog or micro-blog using Twitter, and do more to develop your personal brand within professional or non-profit organizations.

Companies, titles, and jobs all come and go. Your brand stays with you.

Nicole and Sandra (our interns) found a good 12-step primer on social media over on Larry Chase's blog. It may not be right for all of our readers, but certainly goes through the basics and will help many of us that struggle to wrap our arms around social media on the marketing front. When you have 5 minutes scroll through these tidbits and you”ll learn something. Here's my Cliff’’s Notes version (for those with only 2 minutes):

People gravitate toward other people just like them, but if you build a social media site and you're popular, the system will crash. Marketing should look at social media like a new challenge, but the rules change almost daily so you must also. If you're not cool, or your company is not what you'd call cool, or you don't know the places to see and be seen this is going to be tough. Get over your social or techno phobias and don”t be afraid to make a mistake, because though the form may change, social media's function is here to stay.

These guys at 37signals could paint a bulls-eye on us. We use Basecamp for project management internally and client facing to save time (and time is money). Heck, we even use Basecamp for POs, as a digital file cabinet for contracts and creative brainstorming. It's cool.

Highrise is where we store all our contact information for customers, vendors, prospects, employees, friends and family. We use tags to identify our biggest fans and brand evangelists so we know who to thank first for our success. It also allows us to build more lasting, personal relationships with our customers.

Do you use either of these? If you do, the first 37 comments will get a set of our soon-to-be-world-famous VLG flash cards.