ORLANDO, FLA. (February 21, 2012) — Technetium, an Orlando-based brand marketing agency, was recently recognized with a Silver ADDY® at the 2012 AAF-Orlando ADDY® Awards for their work on the SOUL by Ludacris package design.

Technetium’s work on the SOUL by Ludacris brand included consumer package design, a global marketing campaign and all support materials for the 2011 U.S. product launch. Technetium’s leadership in the design and development of the branding campaign has led to international success and a very excited consumer base.

“We’re honored to be recognized by our peers for our work with SOUL by Ludacris. Technetium was thrilled to help SOUL Electronics introduce their amazing headphones to the world,” ” said Joe Forgét, president and CEO.   “The work was exciting and the creative direction led to an industry leading package design recognized as one of the best in years by many consumer electronics reviewers and the ADDY judges alike. Still, the ultimate praise is product sell-through and how SOUL is taking the world by storm.”

This latest honor for Technetium’s award-winning creative continues a tradition of excellence demonstrated by the firm’s previous ADDY® awards including work for Boyz II Men (www.boyziimen.com) for the Remedy and Winter Reflections albums. Over the years Technetium has developed brand marketing materials for a wide range of global brands including Audiovox (www.audiovox.com), BOGO Printing (www.bogoprinting.com), Contrax Furnishings (www.contrax.com), Dual (www.dualav.com), JENSEN (www.jensen.com), RCA (www.rca.com), and Ubisoft (www.ubisoft.com).

About Technetium:

Technetium is a brand marketing agency in Orlando, Florida. Technetium offers a full range of services necessary to effectively reach your target market. Services include advertising, brand marketing, consumer package design, print design, digital marketing and website design. Since its inception in 2003, clients have included members of the consumer products, professional services, non-profit and sports industries among others. For more information, or to see samples of client work, please visit www.technetium.com.

About the ADDY® Awards:

Attracting nearly 60,000 entries each year nationwide, the ADDY® awards have become the nation’s largest and most comprehensive advertising competition. The ADDY® awards originated in the 4th District in 1960 and became a three-tiered National competition in 1968.

Sponsored by the AAF, the awards honor excellence in advertising and cultivate the highest creative standards in the industry. Each fall, the competition begins with contests in the nation’s 200+ AAF member clubs, where entries must be submitted and judged to be eligible for the ADDY® process. Local winners proceed to 15 regional competitions, and those winners, to the national finals.

Proceeds from the ADDY® Awards program on all levels of competition go back into the industry through the work of the AAF and its members, especially in the areas of advertising education and public service advertising.

For more details on the local ADDY® competition in your area, and for important entry deadlines, contact your local Advertising Federation.

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Media Contact:

Joe Forgét
Technetium
407.826.1990

What really excited all of us here at Technetium was the impact the game had on Social Media and Smart Phone users. A record breaking 111.3 million viewed the game on TV and this led to less traffic on the Internet. For example, traffic to Netflix dropped up to 40% during the game according to network policy company Sandvine. Users that were online were using Smart Phones, which accounted for 41% of searches for Super Bowl TV ads during the game. This is a sign that gives credence to a growing trend called “second screen viewing”. A Nielsen study shows that half of all Smartphone and tablet users employ their device while watching TV.

What does this mean for you? TV viewing is at an all time high of 151 hours a month according to Nielson. People are watching more TV than ever but they are also using their Smart Phones more than ever during this time. So, for you smart business owners out there, you need a marketing strategy of how to reach potential customers effectively, and you need to make sure that your businesses mobile platform is performing in a way that draws Smart Phone users to your company.

Next, did anyone else notice a #hashtag during the Super Bowl?? They were literally on everything! In fact, the main purpose of the 38 national advertisers was to drive consumers to share the different ads with friends, generate buzz for their company and brand, and hopefully have viewers try to find out more about their product. Smart advertisers understand that TV watching has become more interactional with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Viewers were using both Facebook and Twitter in abundance during the game via their Smart Phone device.  The results are staggering. For example, Super Bowl commercials generated more than 985,000 social media comments according to Bluefin, and during the last three minutes of the game, consumers were sending out 10,000 tweets per second!!

What does this mean to you? Top companies are making sure that their marketing plan is sound across all platforms. A good example of this was Doritos. They started by driving traffic to their site by offering $1 million dollars prize to the fan who made the best ad. Next they aired the ad that over a hundred million people viewed. The ad then drove people to share and buzz about it via Facebook and Twitter. When it comes to your business have a plan. Obviously these top advertisers spend a massive amount of money towards advertising, but that does not mean that you have to have millions of dollars to market your business effectively. If you watched the game you know Hail Mary’s don’t work…put together a smart and planned drive and your chances of scoring a touchdown vastly improve! The experts at Technetium will help you score that touchdown just like Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning.

In the line for a cab I decided to count how many people were on their smart phone and tallied 57. These people were not interacting with their fellow man, not looking at the beautiful woman, definitely not minding their luggage, and most importantly were neglecting to move forward when they should, thus holding up the line! These people were so out of touch with their surroundings and engrossed in what they were doing that they literally were tripping over their luggage. What a funny sight to see. When I shared my observations with my boss he replied “Huh, what?” as he looked up from his smart phone. I said “Never mind”.

The point is that more and more Americans are using smart phones each and every day, and the ones that aren’t using them wish they were. Thus, they desire this digital crack and inevitably get one. And what are we doing on these addictive devices? Anything and everything! We are looking for any excuse to use these devices to maximizing every dull minute of our existence! These dull minutes are very common in our society as we wait in line at the bank, post office, airport, check out line, deli, fast food line, etc. Is anybody guilty of using their smart phone while waiting to make that left turn? How about in morning traffic? I know I am.

So as a smart business owner, you are observing these societal trends, right? You are always looking for ways to reach the masses, right? Have you done all you can to reach these smart phone users? Have you thought about how an app might drive more clients/customers through your doors? Have you considered that getting smart with smart phones might impact our bottom line in 2012?  If you haven’t than you should.

As the current TV commercial says “How smart is your smart phone?” There is a multitude of ways to implement smart phone technology and apps into your marketing plan for 2012. For example, Outback Steakhouse has an app that uses your phones GPS to pinpoint your exact location and send you the distance, phone number, and directions to their nearest restaurant. The Redbox app shows you the nearest Redbox to your location, and lets you reserve and pay for your movie all on your phone. These are just two example of how smart businesses are implementing smart phone technology. You too can be innovative and implement smart phone technology into your marketing plan for 2012! At Technetium we have worked with a variety of companies on their mobile strategy and would be glad to answer any questions you may have.

In 2012 everything is moving at light speed and at the click of a mouse. As such, search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! can be your businesses best friend. If you’re anything like us you’re using your iPhone, iPad or Android to “google” it when you need an answer. That’s why listing at the top of these search engines has the potential to bring significantly more customers to your site than many other forms of media. Just think, how much more profitable would your business be if your website was seen first and that traffic translated into actual customers? Unfortunately, getting your business to the top listing is not as simple as it may seem and can be a daunting task to say the least.

Before we go any further let’s take a quick look at how profitable a high ranking on Google would be for your business. Think of the last time you searched for a plane ticket, or any kind of tickets for that matter? A movie? Concert? Ball Game? You used a search engine, and we’re willing to bet that you didn’t click much further from the top few spots to find what you needed. Those top few spots are taking your business! What’s worse is that some people may be searching for your business and can’t even find it. THE HORROR! Do you think that a potential buyer will have any faith in your company if they type in your name on Google and can’t even find you…we don’t think so. You as a business owner must recognize that where you rank on these search engines can make or break your profit margins in 2012.

How do you rank high on Google? What’s the method to the madness?

The most important thing to understand is that search engines have a specific way of ranking your site that has a multitude of different factors. For a business owner to take on this challenge alone would be like King Leonidas fighting the Persians…an honorable fight but in the end overwhelmed and crushed! That is why when it comes to SEO (search engine optimization) it is best to leave it to the professionals. If you care about people finding you business and your website actually translating visitors into clients/customers you probably need the assistance of SEO professionals.  Be very careful of the “guarantee” to get you to #1 on Google. Obtaining the #1 position is only relevant if that’s a term people are searching for and the friendly staff at Technetium are more than capable to help you achieve these goals.

That being said, getting your listing to the top, where it’s most likely to be seen is not always easy. You need to understand search engines’ idiosyncratic ways of registering sites. You need to know how to optimize your own site to make it show up when consumers are combing the Net for targets. You need to understand when and why competitors might outrank you.

Maintaining a top search listing as thousands of new Web sites hit the Net every week is like clambering up a hill that keeps getting steeper. Don’t be left behind. Make it a goal to improve your search engine rankings. This will increase your business.

He spoke of what an exciting time this is in the life of a college grad and how they are free to do whatever they would like with their lives. You know, typical commencement speech stuff. However, at the end of a very motivating speech Mayor Dyer pulled out his smart phone, and asked if the graduating students could please pose for a picture. He stated ‘I am trying to get more involved with this social media and would appreciate if I could take a picture of you all to post to my Tumblr account.”

Wow! First off I would like to address any readers from “The City Beautiful”.  First, Mayor Buddy Dyer is a very prestigious figure in Orlando. To have him recognize, and utilize, the power of social media is very exciting. Social Media is the biggest thing going on right now! Don’t be left behind! Your Mayor is utilizing it…are you? Next, just think…you have over 50,000 students from UCF alone that are in your marketplace. Have you taken the right steps to reach them? These students are smart consumers. With their knowledge of the Internet and their low budgets they are better than you may think at shopping around. That is why you want to make sure that you have some products, initiatives, or special deals geared towards our college students. They represent a big demographic here and if you are not reaching out to them than you should be, and social media is one of the best and inexpensive ways to do it.

Next, to all other readers, who live in Orlando or not, I would like to emphasize how important utilizing social media can be. If a city mayor recognizes its importance, than that is saying a lot. Do not be left behind in 2012! Do not fail to recognize that social media is the BIGGEST THING since the internet itself. Please recognize that your top competitors are either using social media or are taking steps to implement it into their 2012 marketing plan. Having a “plan” is essential to organization, commitment, implementation, and finally the success of your business.  Do not underestimate the power of an organized and strategic plan for using social media. If you are just “winging it”, or having your 8th grade daughter run your social media you might as well not be using it at all. Please take social media seriously, please take your business seriously.  When you paint your house do you just “wing it?” When you paint your house do you hire your 8th grade daughter and her friends to do the job? No! Why? Because you take pride in your home and the fact that if your house has an unprofessional and lousy paint job its value and appeal is significantly lower! Why would you do the same to your business? 2012 is going to be huge and make sure you have yourself geared up to completely crush it! Best of luck to all of you in 2012! Happy New Year!

To quote a very wise man,

“Why do we love our parents so much?….Because our parents love us first.”

-Gary Vaynerchuck

Why not show our customers the same love. There are many B2C companies out there that are wondering about social media and how to implement it correctly. They think one of three things.

a)      They don’t need it
b)      They need it but don’t have the time or knowledge to implement it effectively
c)      They are using it to push unwanted content or promotions onto consumers.

Social media is not “Push” marketing. It is not anything that we have seen in the last 100 years. Social media is “hey let me hold your hand marketing” and “let you know everything will be alright” marketing. If you want loyal customers do not over flow your customers inbox’s with unwanted coupons or specials that prompt the consumer to “buy it now” or “come in today for this limited time offer.” That customer will likely not appreciate the spam, and even worse may tell their friends how annoying your company is which can go viral in a hurry.

Take a moment to think on the kinds of “push emails” you get in a given day, week, or month. How often do you find the emails are relevant? Do you find them bothersome? Do you find them helpful? How about when you look on your Facebook news feed and see a company trying to sell you a cruise? Annoyed? That is why smart business owners are innovating. They are no longer bothering their customers but engaging them. They are actually implementing strategies that flip from “push” to “pull”. They are implementing strategies that make the customer want to come to them!

So you are probably asking yourself “what the heck do I do with these different social media platforms.” One way is to offer information. Supply interested consumers with relevant information. If you are a beer company and you find that most of your fans watch sports or play video games put articles up that might catch their eye. This builds trust, and credibility. This makes that consumer your friend. This makes your brand “human”. This is how friends interact. Now you are not just another company pushing your product you are simply suggesting an article that a friend might like.

Our advice to you is to make yourself become like a “parent”. Offer advice. Be a source of comfort. Be a source of trust. Be a source of understanding and you will “feel the love”!

Happy Holidays!

“But with Google’s stranglehold on search and everyone clamoring over themselves to make sure their sites are optimized to the hilt, how is this possible,” you ask?

Well, Google is still the current prom queen of SEO, and it will be a vital web marketing tactic for the foreseeable future.  However, we would assert that Google’s hold on the only slightly less desirable “homecoming crown” of local search/recommendation is very much in jeopardy as Siri is and others will likely begin to bypass search altogether in favor of social sites like Urbanspoon, Foursquare and Yelp to create recommendations.

It’s one of many advertised features of the Siri app but likely not the first one users will rely on.  Still once they become accustomed to Siri handling the mundane tasks of their lives like reminders and text message transcription, they’ll begin to trust for Siri for recommendations on the best hotels, restaurants or the hottest new boutiques in town.  And, currently, Google can only give you the best optimized sites, not the best businesses.

So now, you have to consider a few new tactics to make sure your internet marketing is able to cross those clique boundaries and be the kid who can eat with anyone in the lunchroom.  Here’s how:

Make variety the spice of your life.  With Siri ignoring Google and focusing on your location data and sites like Yelp to make recommendations, businesses need to become (more) active on the social ratings and community sites to ensure Siri even notices you. Word is, Yelp recommendations are integrated into Siri so if you’re not there, you should be.

Imagine a world with less PPC.  Since she’ll be bypassing search, Pay-per Click ads (PPC) will be irrelevant to Siri.  Yet, like traditional SEO, PPC won’t go the way of the dodo for quite some time as not everyone (gasp) has or even likes the iPhone.

Think check-ins and don’t check-out.  If you’re not an ecommerce site and you need traffic through your door, you need to spend time getting yourself known and regularly recommended on apps and sites like Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla.  The more popular you are there, the more Siri will take notice and include you in her recommendations.

Be more social than ever.  Having a Facebook page and lots of helpful tips on Foursquare are great.  But if Siri is only looking at Yelp or Urbanspoon, you are no better off than a business with no social media presence at all.

Feeling overwhelmed yet?  That’s where we come in.  Technetium has been helping clients optimize their sites for nearly a decade and we also help brands create and grow their presence in social media.  With both of these skills sets under one roof, we are able to craft a truly integrated digital marketing plan that helps you be the kid that can travel between the lunchroom cliques and still have everyone like you.  So when is your lunch period?

So I went to the retailer’s web site and, strangely, there was no content on the page.

I reloaded the page again, thinking maybe the connection didn’t render the content.  Boom, still no content on the page.

Thinking there might be a problem with Firefox, I opened Internet Explorer and there it was, the site loaded. I was shocked, mystified and flabbergasted that a major global brand’s site wouldn’t work on Firefox. This issue raised the question, is browser cross-compatibility not a necessary piece of this retailer’s digital marketing strategy?  And if it’s not for them, is it for your business?

As an experienced digital marketing and web development company, we regularly discuss browser compatibility issues and ensuring that the code we write works in the major browsers on the major platforms. Unlike typical water cooler chatter, the conversations in our break room often include phrases like “does this script work in Safari” or “I wonder how this site renders on an iPad?”

Does browser cross-compatibility really matter?

Many still believe Internet Explorer on Windows is 85% of the browsing market right? WRONG, it’s closer to 39% as of September 2011. Now more than ever we’re seeing browser and platform variety as users realize there are safer, more stable options to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Interestingly enough, one of the sites that we manage had over 50,000 hits last month and the browser and OS report was shocking. Can you believe that their leading browser and OS combo was Chrome / Windows at 23%? Here is a snapshot of the stats…

Yes, you read that right! Safari/Macintosh was #2 and Sarari/iPhone was #5. Thanks to not only more browser options for PC, the proliferation of Apple laptops AND mobile devices makes browser cross-compatibility continuously more complicated and dramatically more fragmented than just a few years ago.   Which leads us to ask:

• Based on the experience I just described, what do your consumers see when they visit your site in a browser other than Internet Explorer?
• As the browser market continues its rapid fragmentation, what’s your digital strategy to keep up with these changes?
• With over 250 million iPhones and iPads sold to date, are you ready for Safari to garner an even greater portion of mobile browser market share than its current leading position of 23%?
• Given Apple’s longstanding refusal to include compatibility for Flash on their mobile devices, will you deliver the same content via Java, HTML5 or some other means in the future?

The mobile revolution has created a plethora of new challenges companies must address when developing a web site. Those that simply rely on traditional development paradigms will see that traffic, brand engagement and, ultimately, sales will not be sustainable. Can you afford to ignore these shifts in the browser market while your competition attacks them head on?

If you answered no, but can’t or aren’t sure how to create or adapt your digital marketing strategy, give us a call.

Tony loves surfing with a cardboard box full of Frosted Flakes

Another thought we had, beyond how many bowls of sugar-coated corn we’ve ingested over the years, was how Tony and his bosses at Kellogg’s actually convinced us eat them.   As a child of the 80s or an earlier decade, you might remember the company’s focus was squarely on kids.  The message was, “Hey kids, this cereal is fun, tastes grrrreat (sorry, couldn’t resist) and helps you elicit your ‘inner tiger’ to excel at [insert sport here].”

This strategy worked wonders for most of the 20^thcentury creating millions of young fans that became adult fans who, in turn, helped Tony create new consumers of their own children.  But as political correctness and food regulation began to creep into advertising in the 1990s, Tony was no longer allowed to talk directly to kids and so he began talking to their moms.  After all, moms buy the groceries and moms had nostalgia for Frosted Flakes, so why not encourage them to share a bowl with their kids?  That new strategy worked for nearly two decades and had Tony clocking in as the fourth best-selling cereal in America in 2008.

Then the recession hit and, all of a sudden, husbands were laid off and wives were still at (or went back to) work.  Adding that to the fact Gen X and Millennial men were already taking a more active role in traditionally “maternal” chores of the home and you get a survey from earlier this year saying 51% of men age 18-64 (50% of them fathers) consider themselves the primary grocery shopper.  While even the survey’s designers admit that men might be somewhat overestimating their role, clearly Kellogg’s sees the same trend in their data, because they launched a new commercial campaign squarely targeting the “man of the house” in this new ad that was also shot using various ethnicities for different markets.

So what can your company and marketing plans for 2012 take from all this?  For starters, it shows that even the largest, most recognizable and well-established brands must occasionally shift strategy or focus to maintain their leadership positions and relevancy.  Just because Tony has been on or near the top for two thirds of a century, doesn’t mean he is guaranteed to stay there and he has Kellogg’s deep pockets to help him maintain that position.  Do you have Kellogg’s marketing budget? Not many do, so that means you have to be more creative to keep up with your customers’ ever evolving needs and perspectives.  Whether it’s a change in how they buy groceries or what type of packaging best sells your product to them, you need to be able to move with the tides not try to resist or direct them.

Technetium works with both young companies and established brands to monitor and respond to the ever-changing market conditions so that our clients are riding the wave instead of being crushed by it.  Is your current marketing partner or team giving you a surfboard or a life raft?  If it’s the latter you should definitely head over to the contact page and let us know a good time to speak with you.  Until next time, hang ten!

So how do you create a successful marketing strategy in an economy where running a business is usually less about long term growth and more about how you keep the doors open and the lights on?  For starters, you can’t do it alone.  Look at it this way…

What if you had to have your gall bladder removed?  Would you watch a few videos online or read a couple of books on the procedure and then feel comfortable doing the surgery yourself?  Of course not!  You would find the best gall bladder surgeon you can afford and ask him for help.  This way, you ensure a trained professional does the job and your body is healthier in the long run.

Still, many entrepreneurs look at marketing as less like a major medical procedure and more like a facial scrub.  They reason that, because they are able to make a few sales (what’s that old line about blind pigs and truffles?) and they “know their business better than anyone else,” they can manage their marketing on their own.  When, if they had seen marketing as a significant health issue, they would have sought out an affordable marketing agency to help them through a complicated process and, ultimately, made their business healthier in the long term.

But how do you know if the money you’re spending on an agency or a strategy is providing the biggest bang for the buck?  Many advertising or creative agencies will tell you that as long as you keep paying for ads that win THEM awards or increase the number of “likes” you have on Facebook, then your money was well spent.  But if your sales don’t increase, how can that be true?

That’s why Technetium came up with the concept of the 4A model.  When we develop a marketing strategy or advertising campaign for one of our clients, we look at ways to Build Awareness of your Brand, Create Affinity for your Brand, Generate Action from Current and Potential Customers and Develop Analytics to Measure Success and Develop Strategies.  You can learn more about the 4A model here.  It’s the one time, with the exception of NASCAR, that going in circles isn’t a bad thing.  Without all four elements working in harmony, you’ll never be sure if your money is well spent.  So ask yourself, can you afford NOT to have a team of marketing experts working tirelessly to help you manage the health of your business?

If not, call us.  If you’re not sure, call us.  (Don’t worry, we’ll give you an honest assessment, not a sales pitch).