Complete Media Inc Blog | Sioux Falls Marketing Advertising Design Web

May 23: Website Builder part three – come with questions!

2013-05-20T14:31:00Z

Open Forum with a Purpose

We've covered the basics of Website Builder and then we worked on upping the ante with tips and techniques to turn you into a more advanced user. All it takes is some time, some practice and a little help along the way.

If you take the time to practice, we can provide the help. Not only do we provide 24/7 tech support that can you walk you through everything, we’re going to dedicate the next CMI 360 Boot Camp to answering all of your questions in person. Come prepared to get some info.

Stop down at Complete Media on May 23rd at noon. Bring your binder and your laptops. $10 for the general public, free for the Complete Media Circle.

CMI is Hiring a Marketing/PR Position

2013-05-15T14:36:21Z

Complete Media is looking to fill a full-time Marketing/PR position on our team. Must have AMAZING phone skills and an outgoing personality. We are experiencing growth, and that's why we're always looking for talented professionals to be a part of our agency. We have a really fun team and the position includes great benefits! Call Matt @ 605.360.2259 x 101 for more information.

May 16: 5 things you can do now to wow your web!

2013-05-13T14:29:00Z

Impressing People with Impressive Webs

This is actually a presentation we’ve given on occasion before. It’s been asked for multiple times by many different organizations, so we thought we’d go ahead and bring it back one more time. But then, it’s come out of retirement as many times as Michael Jordan and Brett Favre combined.

There are some simple steps you can take, right now, to start making users impressed with your website. Impressed users become phone calls, emails, stops in the store, online sales, whatever you need them to be to then turn them into paying customers.

What are these steps? Come down to find out on May 16th, noon, at Complete Media. $10 for the general public, free for the Complete Media Circle.

May 9: CMI 360.com Open Forum

2013-05-07T15:12:00Z

Keep It Coming

We always get great feedback from clients who attend the open forum sessions. That’s why we keep bringing them back! We’re opening the doors and inviting anyone to come learn how to enhance their web marketing strategy, get the most out of their campaigns and capitalize on their success.

Come with specific questions or come just to listen and learn. Meet other members of the circle and walk away with some new ideas!

Noon on July 17th at Complete Media. Margaritas may be present!

Award Winning Results... or What's the Point?

2013-05-06T20:52:53Z

Marketing and advertising is supposed to be about increasing sales and providing a return on investment. Lately, I have come across many business owners who worked with other agencies and are unhappy because they did not see positive results. They mentioned the materials that were produced look nice, but they didn't work. This is really frustrating to me at it makes our industry look bad.

Agencies, designers and marketers need to be held accountable for providing results to their clients…tangible results.

The worst situation recently, was an Addy Award Winning Campaign that lost the client $30,000. This makes no sense. The truly award-winning campaigns should provide the clients with award-winning results, or what’s the point?

May 3: Fiesta Fantastica! (4:30 - ???)

2013-04-30T16:11:00Z

You're Invited!

Complete Media clients and friends take center stage at Fiesta Fantastica on May 3, 2013. This marks the 5th annual Fiesta Fanstastica held at Complete Media and will feature local music legends, The Cartwright Brothers.

“On May 3rd, we’re going to do it again with a little guac and a little roll featuring the Cartwright Brothers,” said Outreach Director Dan Farris. “It’s been a groovy ride, and now it’s time again for us to say thank you to our clients for riding with us through the years.”

Fans of Complete Media and Fiesta Fantastica are also chiming in. Joan Jett exclaimed, “Guac & roll? I love guac & roll!” Huey Lewis commented, “Fiesta Fantasica…it’s the heart of guac & roll!”

To view more on Facebook, click here!

May 3 from 4:30 - ??? @ Complete Media

Tall Drinks, Spicy Music, Free Food!

April 25: Know what your visitors do on your website with Site Analytics

2013-04-23T13:56:00Z

Turn Your Hits into Cash

It’s like having the ultimate secret shopper program. They don’t even know they’re helping you out! With Site Analytics, you can determine what exactly the users who access your website are doing – what pages are they visiting, how long are they staying, what part of the world are they from, and how they are getting to your website in the first place!

All this information is key when developing your ongoing strategies for your web marketing campaign. It provides a fuller picture of just who exactly your users are and where they are in the sales pipeline. It helps to determine how to transition them from just a click on the web to a sale on your sheet.

Learn how Site Analytics can help accomplish these goals on April 25th at noon, only at Complete Media. $10 for the general public, free for the Complete Media Circle.

Y’all Come Back Now Ya Hear!

2013-04-22T19:33:00Z

While visiting with a client recently, he mentioned he’d like to do something to stay in touch with people who have done business with him. I asked what he’d done in the past. He replied, “Nothing really, guess I’m just too busy or (chuckling) too lazy.”

As most business owners know, it’s generally easier and more cost effective to up-sell recent/current clients than it is to find new ones. It can be something as simple as a quick follow up phone call to say thanks again, or a “We really appreciate your business” thank you card. Thousands of companies have well mapped out, year-round campaigns focused entirely on customer retention. Most retention plans can be put in place with little effort and, generally speaking, little dollars.

While all businesses differ in size, culture, product, service, etc., they can all benefit by implementing and executing a solid customer retention strategy. Like any relationship, if you stop inviting folks in, they’ll stop dropping by.

April 18: Website Builder…Tips & Techniques

2013-04-16T14:33:00Z

Make it Easier and Quicker

As we covered earlier, our content management system (CMS) is one of the most user friendly out there. It’s also one of the most powerful and it strikes a wonderful balance between the two. It is easy enough for first time users to get done what they need, but strong enough that the more advanced can tackle the updates they want to.

We can make using Website Builder an easy and exciting process with just a few tips and techniques we've developed over the years. Sometimes it just takes that little guidance to go from beginner to advanced. That’s what we’ll be giving.

Come down to Complete Media at noon on April 18th to start beefing up your Website Builder skills. $10 for the general public, free for the Complete Media Circle.

Do you know how to use social media to drive traffic to your business?

2013-04-15T17:20:00Z

Social media marketing overwhelms most small business owners. They don't know where to start, how it works, or how to track if it is working. But, social media is a powerful marketing tool that is inexpensive (most accounts you can setup for FREE) and when done right can boost sales.

When you write you social posts, they need to be engaging. Make your customers what to follow you and share your content. When you do that, the world of social media does the rest. The key is finding that perfect medium of relationship building and "salesy" information.

Still don't want to tackle social media yourself? Let Complete Media help! Because when you have engaged customers, your business grows... making you more money.

April 11: CMI 360.com Open Forum

2013-04-09T14:19:00Z

Just Like Foosball

Last month, we challenged all comers in a foosball tournament. This month, we’re challenging our comers who want questions answered regarding their web marketing campaign. We believe in giving our client’s as much information as possible to help grow our partnership together. Our favorite kinds of clients are those that are informed, active and engaged. This is how we help you get to that point!

It’s easier to do any one of those when you have all three of them. We’ll do what we can to help you on that path.

Stop down on April 11th at noon, of course, at Complete Media. $10 for the general public, free for the Complete Media Circle.

There's An App For That...

2013-04-08T15:18:00Z

How much of your child’s education comes from marketing, advertising or the media? Could children be interested in the same subjects as adults if they understood them? Parents read newspapers, magazines and have discussions about detailed and current events. Children miss out on this type of educational input. No worries, now there is an app which will allow your child to access these extra types stimulus.

It is an ‘augmented-reality’ app which translates grown up newspapers for children. Here is the skinny, with the use of a smart phone, the child holds the active camera over the newspaper and the article comes to life. Animations and pictures help to describe each story making a difficult topic, interesting and understandable to children. You can check out the full story with video here.

This has the opportunity to breathe life back into printed media like newspapers and magazines. This spills over into marketing and advertising in very logical ways. Neither of these sources spend any time or money advertising to children but that could all change. Technology is always changing and always evolving, stay on top of it by keeping both your children and yourself educated.

April 4: Yes, you can edit your Website

2013-04-02T13:55:00Z

Not as Hard as You Would Think

Website Builder is one of the most user friendly and powerful Content Management Systems out there. Changing text is as easy as typing in Word. Swapping photos are a breeze. Even more advanced operations like editing navigation and editing site structure is laid out in a simple and easy to understand fashion.

Having the understanding of how to do even simple text edits on your website would allow you to do as many updates as you’d like. The more frequent, the more reason for users to come back and it makes it more search engine friendly, too. Keep your content fresh and up to date by understanding some basic things with this CMS.

Want to get started? April 4th, noon at Complete Media. $10 for the general public, free for the Complete Media Circle.

How to Meet With an Agency 101

2013-04-01T17:45:04Z

As a small business owner, it’s really intimidating, and probably quite scary, to invest your money toward a group of people that you don’t quite know, other than their job is to ‘make things look pretty’. I can assure you, there’s a lot more to it than just that. We focus on not only building an honest relationship with you, we want to treat you more than just a client. You have stress, you work more than just a full-time job, this is potentially your life’s work if it isn't already. I, along with everyone else at Complete Media, can honestly say that we love working with our clients. We’re constantly look for ways to meet personal and professional goals as well as looking for ways to reach out to help others along the way.

I have bestowed upon you a kind list of ways to be prepared for working with us. This will work great for current clients, prospective clients, and hopefully just ease some of the unfamiliar territory.

1. Know what the project and meeting is about.

Before meeting with us, try to have an understanding on what your goals are and what you want to get out of the meeting. Bring a list of questions, ideas and goals. I think we can all agree that it can be really frustrating going into a meeting, taking notes, and leaving still feeling like you still don’t understand what was just talked about.

We’ll be there for you to answer any and all questions that you may have, as well as walk you through our entire process from marketing, design, analytics and even video/audio production. We not only want to show you some really awesome ideas, we want you to help us be informed on our decisions. No one really knows your clients better than you do.

2. Talk to your peers and talk to us.

Practice brainstorming ideas. It’s a strange practice if it’s something that you’re not familiar with, but even the most bizarre ideas can lead to the best ones. Let us know what this project is for. What’s the purpose? What’s the main information? This helps out in the design process by making the end result more clear and we can spend less time on multiple changes.

3. Let us know what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong.

This can be touchy and it can create some unpleasant conversations at times. Feedback is probably the most important phase in the process. As amazing as it would be, we are not mind readers which makes for a super sad panda. Unless you can tell us in an effective way what you’re looking for, we can’t really help you reach your goal. Don’t get me wrong, we will work our a**es off to try and give you the best product that we feel fits your needs. But if we don’t have a direction, everyone will be sad panda’s, and that’s really sad.

Also - if there are going to be a number of people giving feedback, please collaborate beforehand. Otherwise it will be a whirlwind of a ride with a whole lot of confusion of ‘but he said red, and she said pink!’.

4. CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT.

Content is SO very important. It is vital (insert dooming noise). If it’s one sentence, great! We can fill the rest with some awesome aesthetic elements... but if it’s 3 paragraphs - that changes eeeevvveerrryyyttthhhiiinnnnggggggggg. And most of the time, it’s not a ‘Well, just do it in photoshop’ thing. Sometimes, it can take up to a half hour to redesign the entire layout. No lie. I can’t stress how important content along with it’s presentation is. I promise that every little detail does not need to be included and that you will not hurt your dog’s feelings if you don’t include every cute little adorable spot on his body. He will wag his tail, greet you with kisses and still play fetch with you.

5. Don’t forget to have fun.

Here at Complete Media, we invest in you as much as you invest in us. It’s such a huge compliment to know that our clients trust us with their budget to push their business to new heights never seen before. Creating things is loads of fun! Best of all - it doesn't have to be on just a rainy day! Not only is it rewarding, but it’s quite the feeling to be able to look at a finished project and be excited to show it to everyone else saying ‘Lookie what I made!’. Everyone will be super jelly (jealous). Embrace the journey and just have fun!

Best of luck on your voyage and if we haven’t already, I hope that we can cross paths at some point!

From your friendly designer,

Miss Carly Z.

April 3: Leads Club (please RSVP)

2013-03-29T14:11:00Z

It’s Raining Sales

Sorry, that was a bad one. It was sort of a cross between a reference to the weather and to the Weather Girls. Although, did you know “It’s Raining Men” was written by Paul Schaffer of The Tonight Show fame?

What’s good, though, is the Complete Media Leads Club. Be there, make connections and money. Contact Outreach Director Dan Farris at dan@completemediainc.com to RSVP.

May 1: Leads Club

2013-03-28T14:22:00Z

Still Expanding

We have a few spaces still left to join our Complete Media Leads Club. This is a great way to meet new people, forge new connections and build some strategic business alliances. It’s also just a fun group of people to hang out with.

To get involved, contact Outreach Director Dan Farris at dan@completemediainc.com (please RSVP)

April 2 - 13: Client Strategy Meetings

2013-03-28T14:05:00Z

2nd Quarter Strategery Meeting

Since we are committed to our client’s success, and because the best way for us to achieve their goals is by working together, we want to encourage everyone to come in for their 2nd quarter meetings. It’s worth taking a few minutes to sit down together and talk about how we can make the most out of your web marketing campaign.

Your campaign coach has already, or is about to, call you to schedule a time. Once again, this is the best way to increase the effectiveness of your web marketing campaign. This is what helps make things happen.

If you have not scheduled your meeting for April, make sure to contact a Campaign Coach @ 605.360.2259 x 3.

March 29: Beer & Foosball Tournament

2013-03-27T14:02:00Z

Just Like College

We’re taking on all comers in a foosball tournament. Single elimination, straight to the top. Show us your mad foosball skills you got by hanging out at the corner pub all through college. Had to have learned something, right?

No skills at foosball? That’s cool, too. Just come hang out and crack a few beers. We’ll be here!

March 29th, 4:30 pm, only at Complete Media. Just late enough to not make it back to the office.

March 28: Learn how we keep your website safe and secure

2013-03-26T14:25:00Z

Like Chuck Norris Secure

It’s important to keep all of your data as safe and secure as possible, both digitally safe and physically safe. You entrust us with that task and we take it seriously. A downed website and or a hacked website can result in the loss of personal identity, business sales, or possibly worse.

That’s why we take it so serious. Learn about the lengths we go through to protect our clients on March 28th at noon. Be prepared to be impressed.

Shooting the Pipeline

2013-03-25T18:16:00Z

With the Easter season coming up, I've been thinking about the whole "walk a mile in another man's shoes" thing. It's an overused and tired saying, but there is legitimacy in it. In fact, many of my clients spend our time together doing just that - walking in their customer's shoes. Understanding your sales pipeline from the perspective of those going through it offers insight and understanding that can both save time and improve your closing ratio! You just need to know how to approach it and what changes to make.

The first item is walking through your pipeline step by step. What is the most common way someone learns about your company first? Sales person? Word of mouth? Internet search? Then what do they do? Knowing how that pipeline works gives you an understanding of the customer experience and what their mindsets may be along the way. Then comes the second part...

Know every point of access to information they have and gear information at that touch point to that phase of the pipeline. Salesperson first (give them enough to make them want to check the website), website second (information on benefits for them to want to schedule a meeting), then web banner ads to stay in front of them, a scheduled follow up phone call from the salesperson, whatever makes sense next. It's easy to overwhelm with details and pricing options and specifics way too early. It's always the question of "what's in it for me?" Once they understand that, then they can justify the price.

Help your customer through the pipeline, don't fight it. The more you understand about the experience you are providing along with your product or service, the stronger your approach will be. Increased sales, saving time and an easier pipeline. Sounds perfect.

If you want to learn more about how we can help accomplish these things for you, give us a call. We're here to help!