All Points Connect Blog

Facebook is one of the most popular, fast growing and new ways for a business to advertise.  Many companies often find themselves at a crossroad of how to utilize these new trends to grow and increase awareness about their business.  Those that jump on board and do it right, see great results.  As we take a deeper look at Facebook, one may see how successful established companies have best utilized this unique social network.   

Proctor & Gamble Co. has now taken a stance utilizing Facebook to market many of its most popular brands (http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=141733.) P & G has taken the opportunity to create fan pages for particular brands owned by the company.  This can immediately create a captivated audience with a vested interest in a given product.  On Facebook, companies are also given the opportunity to place advertisements on main pages visited by individuals who frequent the website.  

The different ways one might advertise through this social network is never-ending. In addition to traditional advertising on Facebook, many companies are utilizing their Facebook page to showcase what they offer. This can be an invaluable source of advertisement. However, another opportunity to utilize this valuable space on a company page may be even a little more ‘old fashioned.’ The opportunity to demonstrate not just information to a prospective consumer but instead an outline of some of the things your company is currently offering!

As businesses post pictures of events or promotions that have taken place, it’s always helpful to think of more creative ways to utilize this space on their page. Opportunities such as photo marketing will allow a business to connect photos from an event to people’s profiles. By becoming a fan of your product they can acquire their photos and share it with other people.  This massive all encompassing tactic could really pump up not only awareness at a given location, but could hit countless other individuals in a digital format! The possibilities are truly endless and the scope or target audience can be completely left up to the business.

Visit http://www.allpointsconnect.com/PictureMarketing.page to read how you can use photos to connect with customers!

-Matt P

Leave it to Oprah to unleash something spectacular in the biggest way!  This time it was a new form of guerilla marketing called Flash Mob.   There have been a few videos online showing people using Flash Mobs for publicity but none have been as large as Oprah’s.   To launch her 24^th season, 21,000 people staged a Flash Mob to the Black Eyed Peas performing “I’ve Gotta Feelin” live on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, IL on September 8, 2009.  

A flash mob starts with one person and gradually ripples to 100’s and even thousands more.  They suddenly assemble in a public place to perform an unusual, eye catching action for a brief amount of time, usually dispersing quickly at the end.    It’s an incredible way to create awareness, buzz and excitement.   To view Oprah’s flash mob, you can visit her website at: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090908-tows-flash-mob-dance

Let us know what you think about this new marketing and PR tactic!

    Recess was a “favorite” to many during their childhood years.  The 20-minute interval each day gave everyone a break from the, well what we thought of it as back then, “rigorous” school day.  As soon as the recess bell rang, kids sprinted out of the back doors of the school building as if they were about to hit the finish line of a 10-mile race, running towards that one playground toy they just couldn’t wait to come across; for many, it was the tire swing, but for me, the rope ladder.

     The rope ladder, although a child’s toy back then, is actually built a lot like some things we see in life today: The numerous rope squares the figure makes for one’s feet to go into and one’s hands to grasp onto give the climber many choices of direction, and although almost falling from the shakiness on the way up, the climber can always find a way to make it to the top, no matter which direction he or she chooses.

     Many of you may be confused as to how this whole rope ladder concept plays a part in our everyday lives.  It’s somewhat puzzling to think how a simple playground toy can exhibit actual life entities, but that’s when your customers come in.  Think of your consumers as the rope-ladder climbers. Today, these climbers are buying and using those products that will “get them to the top”, and more importantly, at an affordable cost.  With a most current and very popular trend, the Free Love trend, you don’t have to wait for that 20-minute bell to ring for a break in order to draw consumers’ attention, instead you can easily use it to become that rope ladder for many of your consumers, giving each and every one of them a break, a simple “recess”, from this overly-exhausting and most definitely, “rigorous”, recession.

     The Free Love trend is most popular in retail and advertising and proves very successful in both departments as it rewards customers with other offers in addition to the actual product.  In short, it is known as the “freebie” trend, as those companies that utilize this trend attach coupons and discounts with those most popular items that consumers buy.

     A store familiar to many, FedEx Office (once known as Kinko’s) adapted easily to this new, generous trend.  Because of the overwhelming number of people seeking employment, FedEx Office offered free resume printing, where customers had the ability to print up to 25 black-and-white copies of their resume at any of the store’s locations.
     According to springwise.com, a marketing/advertising website, “FreePaperCups works with advertisers to provide the cups to companies for free in exchange for branding them with sponsors’ messages.”  The result is as good as one can imagine: “Advertisers get their brands in front of consumers and business decision makers in offices, conference rooms, break rooms and corporate dining facilities across the nation; companies get to eliminate the expense of buying the cups themselves; and participating coffee services get to offer more competitive pricing.”  Free Love is a winner for all.

     Even though a “recess” from the recession will never compare to the childhood recesses we shared when we were younger, the Free Love trend utilized around the world helps give consumers a break, no matter how long it lasts, from the “rigorous” day-to-day expenses.  It is not only beneficial for your company, but it is also morally good to know that through this trend you are helping your customers “get to the top” even if it’s not on a school’s playground.  So spread the love, after all, it is free.

-Liz Gravier

     “One Goal”.   Since April of 2009, that motto has been painted, worn, written, spoken and chanted across the city of Cleveland.

     I have become one of these thousands of fans; I have painted my face red, blue and gold; I have worn the infamous #23 jersey; I have written banners and signs to cover the stadium and the court’s entireties; I have spoken of championship promises, and I have chanted along with the thousands of other voices surrounding the Q on game night—a night when you don’t want to mess with Cleveland Cavalier fans unless you’re a diehard fan yourself.

     But I have learned more from my experience as a Cavs Crew Member besides just the hype, enthusiasm and anticipation that you can nearly see, hear, smell, taste and even touch from a mile away if walking in the heart of downtown Cleveland.  As game time approached closer and closer, more and more fans strolled onto Gateway Plaza, the field of grass that lies between Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena, to get a taste for themselves of what exactly creates that Cleveland Cavalier smile so commonly worn.  And this is where I, myself, learned the most, for I finally discovered why Gateway Plaza had been dubbed the perfect name.

     Gateway Plaza is beautiful in nature with its bright, green grass, but often, there is a time when the color green is difficult to spot.  Hundreds and hundreds of Cavs fans showed up for the Fan Fests whose activities were managed by many members of All Points Connect’s (APC) Cavs Crew Team.  From basketball shooting games, to face paint and tattoos, to hairspray and designing banners and signs, anyone and everyone got to feel the thrill and excitement that filled the Cleveland air that warm, with or without a ticket to the game.  Regardless if families or couples were attending the game or not, they shared the same passionate ecstasy as those other families or couples who carried with them floor tickets.  The Fan Fest served as a literal “gateway” for those fans that were unable to attend, yet still wanted to feel and take a part in all of the excitement that the Cavaliers bring to the city of Cleveland.

     Not only was Gateway Plaza a perfect name for what it held, but it was also ideal in creating the perfect night of success for the Cavaliers, APC and all of Cleveland.  Along with the dozens of fans whom walked away with their hair painted the color of a Cavs jersey were the hundreds and hundreds of tattoos that APC Connectors (Cavs Crew) had reported giving out that night, yet still my most favorite memory and indication of a successful night happened at the end when the clock struck 8:30.  It was closing time, “game time”, and the field had cleared out almost completely, yet there were still some young children who didn’t quite get the “gate” closed on them because it happened to be that they were still getting their entire faces painted red, blue and gold; there is always time to display your Cavs spirit.

     I have joined the thousands of other Clevelanders in painting, wearing, writing, speaking and chanting the “One Goal” motto from my own Solon home, to the streets of downtown Cleveland, to the Q home court, all in love for those Cleveland Cavaliers. But the ironic part about these playoffs is that all Clevelanders have already reached the “One Goal”.  We’ve all painted, we’ve all worn, we’ve all written, we’ve all spoken and we’ve all chanted; we have all been “witnesses” of an amazing team.

-Liz Gravier