Recent News and Updates

Yammer vs. Twitter

posted by McKenna @ December 12th, 2008

A colleague and I recently argued over the best way to micro-blog. I had recently signed up for Yammer for work, but my friend claimed that Twitter was perfectly fine for both personal and professional use.

Then two coworkers looked at us like we were, well, pointlessly twittering and yammering. And I realized that our argument was relevant only if our coworkers – and our vendors, clients and bosses – knew what we were talking about.

In case you have been too busy updating your Facebook status working, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows you to send and read other users’ updates (a.k.a., tweets), which are text-based posts limited to 140 characters. It encompasses a huge audience: Twitter had a fivefold increase in visitors during September 2008, increasing its users to 5 million.

On the other hand, there’s Yammer – Twitter for the workplace. The company launched in September 2008, and more than 70,000 people have already signed up for accounts. Proponents like Yammer because it generally contains less frivolous information than Twitter, and can help coworkers keep up with important, ever-changing conversations.

So, what do you think: Is Yammer better for the office? Or is Twitter OK? If you have these accounts, how often do you update them? Or is all of this a moot point because both systems are useless?

Let us know what you think.

Related tags: social networking • Twitter • Yammer

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Recent News and Updates

Corporate Blogging: The Sequel

posted by Jason Fleck @ December 11th, 2008

I noticed Greg just posted an entry about corporate blogging and how only 16% of online consumers trust corporate blogs.  This topic has been heavily tweeted all day and has generated some excellent chatter.

Here’s a link to the original blog post by Josh Bernoff that started all the commotion (includes a graph from the study).

I think it’s a good topic to cover, but is it really THAT surprising?  Corporate blogs, as a whole, have fallen away from good blogging techniques.  Even I have to slap my wrists on this one.  For blogs to succeed, you must listen and give your readers what they want not something you think they want.

Read your comments.  Provide feedback.  Engage your readers.  Provide them with a call to action.

Max Kalehoff wrote an excellent blog post in reply to Josh’s post I linked above.  He defends corporate blogging by saying:

Blogs are a both a communications channel AND a medium. Their value are not proxied well by prompted survey questions among general consumer populations.

…and I couldn’t agree more.

What do you think?  Do you trust corporate blogs?  Did you like the content of this post?  Do you want to see more like it?  Let me know by commenting below.

Related tags: corporate blogging • trust

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Recent News and Updates

Are you a Tweeter?

posted by Jason Fleck @ November 25th, 2008

Practically every article or blog post I read relating to social media always mentions Twitter in some fashion or another. What’s Twitter you say? Wikipedia.org defines twitter as this:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

So in other words, a website based solely on what people are doing?

Yep.

Warren Whitlock, Co-Author of The Twitter Revolution, was part of the 2008 PubCon panel and talked about the two stages of twitter:

1. Denial: Why would anyone care what I ate for breakfast?
2. Reluctant Acceptance: I have a Twitter account but haven’t seen any traffic

Whitlock also stated:

The Twitter Revolution really is about making meaningful connections. Let people know what you are up to, because contrary to some beliefs, people do care.

The vastness of the internet creates false personas — individuals hiding behind a message board or chat room. Twitter takes its users and makes them human. In business terms, it’s much more beneficial for you if your customers can directly relate to you and vice versa. Furthermore, Twitter allows you to keep tabs on what’s being said about your company.

Comcast portrayed this perfectly after they noticed a customer had posted a tweet on how he noticed a blemish in his HD television’s reception quality. Minutes later, Comcast replied to his tweet and sent a technician to his house within 24 hours. The customer was astonished with the quality of their customer service and was transformed from a disgruntled customer to believing customer.

At Avicom, we take our Twitter campaigns in two directions:

1. Serving the customers the same way Comcast did
2. Humanizing the workforce so every worker can relate to everyone else.

Twitter is here and it’s here to stay. So what are you waiting for? Become a tweeter and tweet away!

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Recent News and Updates

Six words – is that enough? Yep.

posted by McKenna @ August 18th, 2008

Sum up your life in six words. That’s what hundreds of SMITH storytelling magazine readers did in 2006, and some of those insightful phrases were recently turned into a book.

Think it’s easy to boil down the essence of a one’s experiences into a few pithy words? It’s not. Just ask any company trying to develop a killer tagline. And if you think six words is short, consider some of the most successful taglines:

Just do it.

Got milk?

Drivers wanted.

Makes six words look like War & Peace.

A perfect tagline’s beauty lies in its simplicity and brevity. But developing something short and sweet can turn sour pretty fast. For something so simple, the process can require a significant amount of time and effort.

Here at Avicom, we’ve written a few taglines in our day. One thing we’ve learned is that it takes the perfect union of research, strategy and creativity to develop a phrase worthy of becoming a tagline. When short and sweet meets strategically sound, we know we’ve found a winner.

In honor of the six-word biography, here are six things to remember when developing a tagline:

1. Determine the key message you want potential customers to remember.
2. Use a common language your audience will understand.
3. Be honest – say something about your company that’s undeniably true.
4. Use words that evoke a positive feeling about your brand.
5. Keep it simple.
6. Be original.

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Recent News and Updates • Trends

If It’s Green, Is It Still A Tchotchke?

posted by Mad Mags @ August 1st, 2008

It seems like we’re all trying to think green these days. At least many of us at Avicom are since the morning one of our earthy account execs circulated a link to a slide show of animals choking on plastic bags.

(Thanks, Lisa. The image of the turtle still haunts us.)

The plastic bag images reminded me of a recent pitch we made to a client to offer reusable shopping bags as a promotional giveaway. While the client wasn’t quite ready for the idea months ago, the reusable bag concept seemed incredibly appropriate now. It spurred me to contact our promotional director Tom Scheel, to learn of trends in the “giveaway” industry. more »

Related tags: green • promotional materials

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Recent News and Updates

What should we call it, anyway?

posted by rraiche @ July 31st, 2008

Six cold, hard facts about the naming process

On the surface, it looks like a fairly straightforward assignment: naming a new company or product. How difficult can that be, right? Just let those creative juices flow and you’ll be at the finish line in no time.

It’s just not that easy. That’s why some very large companies – devoted exclusively to naming – charge very good money. And even they don’t always get it right.

So you’re facing an especially difficult naming assignment. And a client with a very limited budget. What to do?

Well … start with what NOT to do. A quick way to get into the right frame of mind: The Ten Worst Naming Blunders for a Company or Product.

Then, take advantage of the tools and resources on the Web. Two good sites are Igor International and Brand Channel.

Finally, be prepared to face these cold, hard facts:

FACT ONE: To be successful, a product or company name must be grounded in market positioning.
O.K., this is Advertising 101. Market positioning must precede the naming process.

FACT TWO: Naming a company or a product is not as easy as it looks.
It’s not unusual for companies to exhaust hundreds – in some cases thousands – of potential names before striking gold.

FACT THREE: Naming a company can be a costly endeavor.
While some organizations minimize costs through an internal process, final selection – and securing the trademark and Web domain – can involve significant expenditure.

FACT FOUR: Naming is a process backed by research.
Although different agencies have slightly different processes, the effective ones all include research at key points in the process. Beg for budget dollars.

FACT FIVE: A successful naming process is objective, not subjective.
Whether or not you like a name isn’t important – whether it helps you build the brand is.

FACT SIX: Despite what you may think, a name will never appear without contextual support.
Don’t fall into the “it has to describe what we do” trap.

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Recent News and Updates

Avicom Hires Promotional Merchandise Director

posted by Erika Duelge @ July 1st, 2008

Waukesha, Wis. (July 1, 2008) – Avicom Marketing Communications has hired Tom Scheel as promotional merchandise director to help grow and lead their existing promotional department.

“We feel very privileged to have someone with Tom’s background and knowledge at Avicom,” said Tim Kubina, partner at Avicom. “He has a strategic understanding of how the integration of marketing and merchandising programs will meet our clients’ business objectives.”

Scheel comes to Avicom with over 30 years of experience in the marketing services industry, most recently with a local promotional marketing services firm, as vice president of sales and new business development. He also spent 25 years at Tenneco Automotive in various sales and marketing positions including director of performance products culminating his tenure there as the director of program group distribution.

“I’ve been very fortunate in this business to have developed the solid relationships needed in order to establish a thriving department,” said Scheel. “I plan on contributing to Avicom from day one, and will start building the department into the region’s premier merchandising partner.”

Avicom’s promotional department currently provides merchandising programs and products for some of the area’s and nation’s largest companies including GE Healthcare, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Kleen Test Products, Signicast, Building Advantage, Bayer HealthCare and Schneider National.

Related tags: Add new tag

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Recent News and Updates • Special Events

Avicom’s Open House

posted by Greg Batiansila @ July 1st, 2008

In case you missed it, Avicom had an open house at its Waukesha office on June 5. Many of the visitors were amazed to see just how much we’ve grown and all the services we offer.

If you did miss the opportunity to visit, please let us know and we’ll be happy to give you your own tour.

Some pictures of visitors on June 5:

Chris Richardson from GE gets a tour through the new Avicom website.

Mike and Alex from Gustave Larson said hi.

Steve from Johnson Controls talked about Johnson Controls Green Initiatives.

Related tags: open house

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Awards • Recent News and Updates

MMAC Future 50 Award Winner

posted by Erika Duelge @ June 11th, 2008

We have done it again. I am proud to announce that we have been selected as a winner of the MMAC Future 50 Award. The Future 50 list will be printed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and will also include a feature story about us in the Small Business Times - our second such story in this publication.

Milwaukee’s Future 50 Program recognizes privately-owned companies in the seven county region that have been in business for at least three years and haveshown significant revenue and employment growth.

This award is a testament to everyone’s hard work and dedication in being the best in our field.

Related tags: avicom • award

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Awards • Recent News and Updates

2008 Top Ten Small Business Award

posted by Erika Duelge @ June 4th, 2008

We are proud to announce that Avicom has been selected as one of the winners for the 2008 Top Ten Small Business Awards presented by the Waukesha County Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Times. Avicom will be a guest speaker at the upcoming luncheon on June 12th at the Country Springs Hotel and will also be featured in the June 13th issue of the Small Business Times.

This is the second time Avicom has won the award in the past five years. Congratulations goes out to each team member for making Avicom such a success!

(FYI: The criteria for the awards includes: 250 employees or less; minimum of two years in business; corporate headquarters based in southeastern Wisconsin; financial growth or consistency; history of good employee relations/benefits; strong customer focus; and community service involvement.)

Related tags: avicom • award

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