Susan Green, Author at Paperkite

Marketing During a Crisis

Susan Green — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 13:57:43 +0000

Here we are working from home, teaching homeschool, sitting in on endless ZOOM meetings and losing our ever loving minds.

The last thing we want to think about is marketing. Well not me, obviously, because I own a marketing agency – but for the average business owner, now feels like the time to pump the breaks on promoting your brand. And while I don’t disagree completely, I think you have to ask yourself one simple question: do I offer something that people need or want right now? If the answer is yes, then there is no shame in marketing your business.

I’ll offer a story – when my husband and I were first married, we went to a social function with some of my co-workers at the time. Much to my husband’s dismay none of them knew he was an attorney, rather they knew he was a musician who played the bass. He asked me about it on the way home. “You never told anyone at work I was an attorney?” I replied, “Well I didn’t want them to feel like I was trying to sell them something and since you are so passionate about music, we always talked about that.” His response? “Susan, what if they NEED an attorney?”

Marketing really is just communication. Yes, the goal is to SELL you something – a service, a product, an experience – but people have needs. This crisis will resolve and we will get back to our regularly scheduled programming eventually. So while you may not want to launch a huge splashy campaign, you don’t want to disappear completely either.

So, if you offer something, especially a product or service that aligns with what people want and need right now, it’s okay to still connect with marketing.

So DO market yourself, just don’t be a jerk about it. Which I will talk about tomorrow.

How can we help your business through Covid-19 and beyond? Contact hello@hellopaperkite.com to see how our experienced team can help you navigate the rough times to better days ahead.

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Hotels and Resorts – are you running out of ideas for your social media?

Susan Green — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 20:20:34 +0000

Are you a marketing director for a resort or hotel and just plain running out of ideas for social media posts?

You are not alone! Social media is a hungry beast; even when you think you have fed it enough to last a lifetime – it still wants MORE, leaving you to feel like you are on a hamster wheel. Instead of sharing what makes your property unique, you end up defaulting to overly sales-y messaging and uninspired content or even worse you rarely post and the property starts feeling like a ghost town.

Have no fear Paperkite is here with some social inspiration to get you amped up about creating great content that shares your experience and your value! Below are some ideas to jump start your creativity and make you the superhero for your property:

Feast Your Eyes: Highlight your talented Chef, holding a signature dish from your menu.
Shake It Up: Take a short video of your bartender mixing up a signature drink. Be sure to include a simple recipe and show off a beautiful garnish.
My Mouth is Watering: Everyone loves a decadent dessert, so share a photo of your sweetest treat.
Can’t Miss: What is your city’s must-try local cuisine? Present your chef’s take on this signature dish, or showcase a local restaurant who does it well!
Relax: What’s better than lounging by the pool in an oversized hat and sunglasses, with a branded hotel towel and deliciously refreshing beverage in hand?
You Have to See This: Show off beautiful or interesting views out of a guest room window, whether it’s a scenic landscape or the skyline of your city.
Get Out and Have Fun: Offer your guests complimentary tickets to a local attraction with their stay and share a short video of a family enjoying their outing.
Check Out That View: Share a photo from a local landscape photographer to show off the destination and setting.
Read All About it: Encourage guests to explore all that your location has to offer with an image of someone reading an area guide for your city.
Work it: Showcase your fitness center or any other recreational activities you have available for your guests.
For Your Enjoyment: Share all of the wonderful recreational activities your resort has to offer; golf, bike rides, firepits, walking trail, watersports, etc.
Good Dog: Is your resort pet-friendly? Inform your guests with a photo of a dog lounging on the property.
Thank You, Come Again: Share a positive review from Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor, etc. Do you have a family that visits every year for Thanksgiving or Summer break? Get a picture (with their permission) and maybe even a quote about what keeps them coming back year after year.
For the Kids: It’s not just about perks for adults…highlight what your littlest guests can expect, too! Free cookies? Show a little hand grabbing for one, or even a chocolatey smile. Game room? Show kids having a blast!
Survey Says: What are your guests’ favorite amenities? Menu items? Local attractions? Send out a survey to past guests and post the results, or draw upon your staff’s knowledge of FAQs.

I hope we have sparked some creative ideas for your social content to inspire visitors to stay with you! And if you feel like you need more help – you could always call Paperkite!

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The Questions I Always Get Asked

Susan Green — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 15:03:23 +0000

Owning a marketing agency that works with travel, food and beverage brands is a blast, for the obvious reason that all three make people HAPPY! How often can a marketing company say that? As said agency owner, I am always glad to pay it forward and share advice with startups and small businesses. Here are a few FAQs that always come up during a consultation:

1. How much should we budget for marketing?

This is the number one question I get asked! There really is no exact formula, but as a general rule I recommend clients spend between 1-5% of their top line revenue. There are so many factors to consider – like how competitive your market is – but that is a good place to start. This budget should include your media budget, vendors, and your agency cost.

2. Should we spend our money on traditional media (print, broadcast, radio) or go all digital?

So…I’m not an all-or-nothing gal when it comes to media planning. You really need to look at your consumers and see where they’re active to determine how you allocate funds. Any agency worth their salt will help you determine the best way to get the most out of your budget. That being said – Digital Marketing Channels (social, programmatic, SMS, GPS – the list goes on!) allow us to target consumers based on their interests, demographics, intent and behavior (just to name a few). It also gives us trackable metrics that we can interpret for future marketing campaigns.

So does that mean you should cut the cord with traditional media? NO WAY! But if you have a “petite” budget you may want to focus on digital tactics that can return measurable data about your customers.

3. What can we do in house?

Nothing. You need an agency to do 100% of everything

Many of our clients hire us to do the lion share of their marketing, creative and content creation; however, there are many models that work, including a hybrid of in-house + agency. One of our clients has an amazing in-house social media manager (looking at you Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum) and they use us to create their website and marketing materials. I have also seen this go very very very wrong when it was brought in-house. You just have to make sure your team is equipped and has the time and resources they need.

When we develop a website, we make sure that our clients’ in-house team is prepared to manage the site’s content. In my opinion, website management isn’t the best use of our time and is something that can easily be managed in-house.

4. What is better left to an agency?

Your branding and creative direction should DEFINITELY be an outside job – but done in collaboration with your team. Many times, an in-house team can be too close to see how others perceive it – which can lead to tone deaf branding that doesn’t connect with consumers. Once the brand is developed and the look and messaging established, your team can and should help implement it; but that outside perspective is so critical in the development phase.

ALSO – Digital marketing is a deep puddle with many tactics (and opportunities), but without a solid strategy and skilled team it can be easy to waste a lot of money without much effect! Unless you have a dedicated and skilled digital marketer on staff, I wouldn’t have someone “dabble” in marketing, in addition to their other responsibilities.

5. Do we need to “do” social media?

Yep.

Ok, I’ll elaborate. A lot of brands aren’t thrilled about churning out social content and flirt with the idea of a barely-there social media presence. Much like consumers go to your website to see if you are reputable and relevant, they will do the same on your social media feeds. If they check you out and see a meager number of posts, your brand will feel dated, and look like a virtual ghost town.

Have a question that you don’t see here? Let us shoulder the load of your marketing and you can get back to doing what you do best. Schedule a consultation with Paperkite here.

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Why would someone come to your tourism website?

Susan Green — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 20:23:53 +0000

I am in my second decade of developing websites and while a lot has changed, the questions you need to ask to make your website useful and successful are the same:

Why would someone go to your site? What are they looking for?

These may seem like obvious questions, but you would be surprised how many times during the consultation phase of a new website project the conversation is dominated by the needs of the internal team rather than the end-user, the consumer. And this is something that’s consistent across the board, regardless of industry.

It’s not that your website shouldn’t be a tool to solve problems for your team; it absolutely should, but that’s not your website’s first job.

So let’s get back to the WHY of a tourism website. When a traveler is researching a destination or attraction, using your website means they are pretty far down the path of conversion to visitor. They are interested in you, yay! So, they’re going to book their trip, right? Nope. They’re going to find a restaurant and navigate the destination? Nope. That’s what Yelp, Google, and other apps are for.

So why do they come to your site?

They want to be convinced. They want to know you’re a good fit, that your destination will deliver what they’re looking for. They want to be sold on the experience first, then move forward with planning their trip.

So how do you inspire them? How do you deliver them from website visitor to destination visitor?

1. Lead with your strengths.

You can’t be all things to all people – maybe gastronomy is a red-hot visitor draw but your destination is loaded with historical sites. Use your strongest visitor themes – just like your mother said, there are plenty of people who will like you for who you are! (You do you, Portland.)

2. Offer what other sites cannot! Your story! Your exclusive content!

Tripadvisor and Yelp can’t tell a visitor what the hidden gems are, the “MUST DOs” for a destination. Focus on sharing content that they can’t get anywhere else. (This goes for social content too!)

3. When sharing your story, do it visually!

Visual content outperforms all other content – that means images and videos – so prioritize your time and resources toward gathering (from partners and visitors) and creating this kind of content. Bonus – you can use it on social too!

4. Bring your destination to life on the page.

Stop being just a warehouse for listings and start sharing your tourism assets in context of the visitor experience with itineraries, events, stories, and news of your destination.

5. Make sure visitors can picture themselves in the destination.

Evaluate your content. Do you see diversity and a broad spectrum of the human experience represented? You want all visitors to feel welcomed and included!

This also means ensuring your website content is accessible to visitors with disabilities (learn more). Again, it’s about inclusion!

Too busy to put these strategies into place? Contact me at susan@hellopaperkite.com to see how Paperkite can connect you with travelers seeking new adventures.

Don’t be the best kept secret…be the next big thing!

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The Secret Sauce for Your Food Brand’s Social

Susan Green — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 17:48:50 +0000

They say you should never write a food blog when hungry, but I’m making an exception.

Being a marketing agency that works with food and beverage brands, I see a lot of the industry social channels: the inspiring, the why God why? – and another category I will call tumbleweed, because it’s all but deserted. This applies to any industry’s social content, though.

For now, let’s hang out with the “inspiring” social channels and see what they do to make us hungry and keep themselves part of the social conversation.

1. They know who they are!

Just because health-conscious and performance brands are popular now, doesn’t mean you have to be that too! If your product is a pricey indulgence or even a straight-up guilty pleasure (I’m looking at you, Doritos), embrace who you are! Consumers crave authenticity, and you’ll find more engagement when you stick to who you are and why people love your product, rather than chasing trends!

Two recent Cheetos Instagram posts illustrate this idea (yes, I really just said that!): Which one feels more real?

2. They show people how to use their product!

Share recipes, mixed drinks, serving and pairing suggestions – let consumers see all the ways they can use your products. So you’re a single serve jerky brand? Show people “out in the wild” getting powered up for a hike, or even before an epic shopping trip. It’s all about helping the consumer envision how your product fits in with their lifestyle.

3. They play!

Social media is… social. Some of the best moments happen when food brands have entered into playful banter with each other, joining the larger conversation with their customers.

4. They have really sweet product demos and imagery!

Food photography and video isn’t easy to produce, but it’s TOTALLY worth the effort and resources for beautiful imagery that features your products. Our current crush is LARABAR’s Instagram feed. Check it out – a mix of stop motion, product beauties, pairings, and inspirational quotes all in a bright and lovely color palette.

So, while this inspiration may leave you hungry (or hangry, no judgement) for more, finding the right style and voice for your brand’s social media is a crucial step toward connecting with your audience. If you need help turning those tumbleweeds into followers, contact Paperkite!

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Announcing Paperkite’s New Office in Troy

Susan Green — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 22:06:30 +0000

Pictured above: Creative Director of Paperkite Susan Green (left) and Troy Innovation Garage Community Manager Michelle Schroll (right)

Since Paperkite’s beginnings in Cooperstown, we’ve been looking for a way to reach out to even more businesses in different areas of New York State. One route was to explore the capital region and it’s diverse economy, a unique area due to it also being the seat of the state government. Finding an opportunity to spend more time in such an important region was a long-term goal for our company’s founder, Susan Green.

“We are so fortunate to work in Otsego County, it’s an inspiring community to be a part of; but it was time for Paperkite to grow and see where else we could make a difference.” – Susan Green

Enter the Troy Innovation Garage, a modern, creative take on the traditional office workspace. Their philosophy reads, “(The) Troy Innovation Garage is an entrepreneurial ecosystem for creative companies where ideas run free and people have the resources they need to fully tap their potential. We understand the importance of both focus and fun, and realize that a co-working environment is the best place for driven entrepreneurs to succeed.”

What better place for a creative company such as Paperkite could there be? It seemed a perfect fit, and we moved into our new office suite this month. “As soon as I was approached to join the Innovation Garage, it just clicked and I am thrilled to extend Paperkite and our services to Troy” Susan explains.

Paperkite’s new office at the Troy Innovation Garage

Troy, NY is a vibrant city with a rich cultural history. Nestled between the start of the Erie Canal and the banks of the Hudson River, Troy became one of the most successful cities in the state during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The Innovation Garage itself sits in a building downtown rebuilt after “Troy’s Great Fire” in 1862. It provides us access to one of the most dynamic regions in the state and expands our reach for potential businesses to work with.

We’re excited to be a part of another spirited and vital town in upstate New York. Our successes in Cooperstown stemmed from our understanding of the region: it’s businesses, culture and people who made up our clients. We look forward to exploring Troy: exploring its culture, learning more about its history and most importantly, meeting its people. Spending more time in Troy will help us continue to craft creative solutions to problems and challenges faced by businesses there.

Troy Innovation Garage’s Co-Working space

“Opening the office in Troy has been invigorating for our team, and we’re so happy to be apart of this creative community at the Innovation Garage. The people of the Capital region have really been welcoming too. Paperkite’s model is to understand our clients and how they stand apart — it’s exciting and inspiring to have a whole new landscape to explore.”

So give us a call and let us put our knowledge to work for your business!

Come visit Paperkite’s Creative Director Susan Green at our new Troy office!

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ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A STYLE GUIDE

Susan Green — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 17:34:41 +0000

A few weeks ago, in our post on maximizing the benefits of your branding efforts, we touched on the importance of creating a set of guidelines after a brand has been established. To maintain consistency of brand and strengthen customer recognition, it’s important that all the decisions that your company and your branding team spent weeks deliberating—colors, typography, logo—be “set in stone” in a brand style guide, accessible anyone who may be responsible for creating or updating any brand-related content.

What should those guidelines contain? Here’s our list of the most important components of any brand style guide.

LOGO AND LOGO USAGE

This section of the guide should spell out very clearly how the logo should be utilized, any alternate versions, and how those versions should be used. It should provide examples for the user of which versions of the logo are used in full-color printing, which in black-and-white, which on the web, which in first usage (like on the front page of a booklet), and which ones thereafter. This can include any small icon versions of the logo, such as those used for social media accounts. It should also specify any placement restrictions for the logo—for example, if a logo needs 20 pixels of “free” or “clear” space, should always be bled off the page, needs to be placed on a specific background color, etc. Many guides also provide “don’ts”—examples of incorrect uses of the logo.

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COLOR PALETTE

TYPOGRAPHY

Your branding team, and your designer, chose your typeface (the style of text or font family) and your font (the text weight and size) for a reason: to communicate a certain feel or personality about your brand. The typefaces were also chosen because they interacted well together—whether it’s a serif and sans serif, a slab and a script, or any other combination. That’s why it’s important to keep the typefaces consistent. Your brand style guide should include all typefaces and fonts used and notes on how they’re used. It’s also helpful to indicate where the typeface can be accessed or purchased, in case another design team does work on the project down the line.

TAGLINE USAGE

Your tagline, also known as a “slogan,” is an integral part of the way your company presents itself to the public. Your brand style guide should include all acceptable uses of your tagline, including capitalization, punctuation, color, and placement specifications.

STYLE GUIDE FOR WRITTEN CONTENT

There are two parts of a written content style guide. The first is a guide to the more technical aspects of written content, much like a copyeditor or a publishing house might develop. This includes things like capitalization, abbreviations, punctuations, and unusual or brand-specific spellings.

The second part is a bit more subjective—the “tone” of your brand’s written content. We discussed about this in our post on maximizing the benefits of your branding efforts, but it’s very helpful for these things to be written out in a clear way, especially as written content may be contributed by anyone from a professional copywriter to the company’s CEO to an intern on social media. Your style guide should include some description of the type of voice that’s appropriate to your brand (for example, light and fun vs. formal and elegant), plus a brief list of “don’ts,” like “no swearing” or “no technical jargon.”

OTHER VISUAL COMPONENTS

You’ll also want to include a guide to using any related visuals, such as shapes, graphic elements, illustrations, and photographs, to ensure that all future designs effectively communicate the core values of your brand. This ensures that the brand you’ve established will be maintained throughout any future campaigns for years to come.

SOURCES

Logo Design Love
Web Designer Depot
Creative Bloq

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MAXIMIZING YOUR BRANDING EFFORT

Susan Green — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 16:29:02 +0000

You’ve spent months working with a branding firm to identify and develop a visual identity, a color palette, a logo, messaging, and more. Decisions have been made and final files have been sent. Now what?

Implementing your new identity in the right way is one of the most essential parts of establishing and cementing your brand. Remember that repetition of your visuals and messaging leads to the association of your company with the ideals that your brand messaging eschews. Familiarity with your brand can also foster trust and confidence in customers—consistency is key. But your focus should also be on adaptability; in a world with such a variety of platforms (print, web, social media, non-traditional advertising), creating versions of your messaging that fits each medium is equally important.

Follow these seven steps to ensure that your branding efforts aren’t going to waste.

1. UPDATE ALL CHANNELS WITH YOUR NEW VISUALS.

One of the simplest, and yet most often overlooked, steps to creating a recognizable and memorable brand is to update your visual identity—including logo, colors, and typography—across all mediums. If you don’t, you risk muddling your brand image, confusing your customers, and missing an important opportunity to cement your company in the public’s mind. Plus, the old visuals will quickly look outdated in comparison to your refreshed company image!

Update everything that features your logo or visual identity— that means letterhead, website, signage, business cards, contracts, uniforms, packaging, e-mail correspondence, ads, etc. Don’t forget social media—we’ll delve into this more later.

2. DETERMINE YOUR BRAND “VOICE.”

The “voice” or “tone” of your written content is just as important to your branding efforts as your visuals. Your brand messaging is a good example of tone: is your tagline cheeky and cute, bold and brash, classic and refined? Keeping this tone consistent throughout mediums is essential to cementing your brand. Think of this as the “personality” or “attitude” of your company.

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Examples of written content that should adhere to the same voice include web copy, advertising copy, blog posts, television and radio commercials, newsletters and e-mail blasts, and social media updates.

3. CREATE A STYLE GUIDE FOR ALL COLLABORATORS

Once visual identity and tone are established, creating a written guide accessible to anyone who might be involved in your company’s marketing is extremely important. Staff or roles may change, so in order for your brand to stay consistent, a concrete set of parameters for visual and written content is necessary.

This guide would ideally include your company’s typefaces and color palette (down to exact hex codes!), which versions of your logo are appropriate for specific applications, how you prefer to format content for print and for the web, your exact tagline including appropriate punctuation, what styles of photography or graphic design are on-brand for your company, etc. Then share this with everyone from the intern who updates your Twitter account to the apparel designer who’s working on your company sweatshirts.

4. DON’T BE AFRAID TO ADAPT

While consistency is essential, it’s important to remember that repetition doesn’t need to mean using the exact same content across all channels. With so many different platforms and mediums available for advertising today, it’s important to stay flexible and adapt your content to each channel’s audience.

It’s also excellent to be surprising or playful with your brand identity. How can you create season- or holiday-specific messaging while retaining your brand’s tone and style? How would you go about creating an ad that congratulates another organization—while tying in the key benefits of your own company? As Smashing Magazine points out, “the ideal balance stems from the ability to be flexible while keeping intact the core principles and attributes that formed the brand in the first place.”

5. DON’T FORGET SOCIAL MEDIA!

Although the earlier steps apply to social media as well, we wanted to include a specific reminder not to let social media fall by the wayside. In today’s day and age, social media is—along with your website—the primary public face of your company. It’s how people will communicate with or about your brand, so the importance of taking an active role in that process of communication cannot be understated. Plus, social media offers an excellent opportunity to connect with potential customers in a way that feels organic, if done correctly.

Social media accounts, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, offer a myriad of ways to customize their appearance, and it’s wise to take advantage of these options. Use your visual identity, including color palette and logo, across all social media platforms. Use a tone that’s consistent with your brand, but adapted slightly—for example, a Tweet might be a bit more playful than a post on LinkedIn, which has a business-focused audience. And make sure that you—or whoever will be maintaining your social media presence—is well versed in best practices for engaging with an audience online.

6. ALIGN YOUR SUB-BRANDS AND SUB-CAMPAIGNS.

Creating similar logos, using the same or similar color palette, and using a similar tone or tagline are all excellent ways to connect your sub-brands or individual marketing campaigns to your larger brand. But don’t forget, the key is to find a balance between consistency and adapting your brand components to the audience, so don’t be afraid to make customizations.

7. UPDATE AND ENGAGE.

You may have a great brand—and, if you follow these steps, a consistent, adaptable, and well established brand!—but that won’t do all the work for you. You’ll also need to engage with your customers (and potential customers) regularly, in a way that enforces your brand identity.

This engagement can take many forms—responding to complaints or comments privately and publicly, sharing customer-generated content such as photos or blog posts, and imparting industry-specific information via blogs and articles (like this one) are all excellent ways to engage your audience. But don’t be afraid to get creative. Host events or classes, offer exclusive perks to loyal customers—just don’t forget to adhere to the core values of the brand.

Sources

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