1st Strategic Marketing Beach Bash
The date is Final: Friday, July 11, 2008
Begins at High Noon and lasts until…there is no reason to stay anymore.
Salisbury Beach in Salisbury, MA (at the beach below the intersection of Ocean and Railroad Streets…Beach Path #2)

Bring all that you need to enjoy a day at the beach. You should include beach chair, blankets, food, drink, and SUN SCREEN, at the very least.

Don’t forget your “Burning” Question” or “Great” story to share with the group.

Whatever is a ‘Strategic Marketing Beach Bash” you may ask. Magicomm came up with this idea and is organizing this event for three reasons: (1) The second quarter was extremely busy for us and we got the opportunity to work in some new areas and learn new things. It was fun, but many questions were raised as we drove ahead with developing interactive components and strategies of a direct marketing campaign using viral techniques, variable data print, dynamic emails, personalized url’s and variable video’s. We would like to meet others that are working or interested in these areas and technologies that work out of the Boston/Southern New Hampshire. (2) Meeting on a beach, feeling the sand in your toes, and enjoying the warmth of the sun on your body, would not present an enormous burden on any of us, and (3) We all deserve a break from the normal, day to day chaos of work and life. Besides, it’s summer time and most of us work inside all day and only get to look at the sun through of windows, if we have windows at all (We are lucky at Magicomm because we are in an old Mill building, with HUGE windows that look over the Pow Wow River. It’s not so shabby!)

Therefore, we decided to organize such an event for the good of mankind (or should I say “person”kind?). This is a “BYOE” event (Bring Your Own Everything). We are going to set up our beach chairs, blankets, food, drinks, and umbrellas on the beach in Salisbury, MA. We will be set up near the boardwalk, just outside the reservation beach. Go into town and park near the beach, would provide you the closest parking. If you go into the beach reservation to park, you may have to walk a little way on the beach towards the town center to meet up with us.

Salisbury is on the Atlantic coast between Newburyport, MA and Seabrook, NH. We will be on the beach by noon time. Once we all set up our “best spot”, we can begin our discussions with you on YOUR (or Ours) burning question. Oops, I forgot to tell you that you had to bring a “burning” question or a great story to share with the group. All topics relating to marketing and media are on the table for discussion. I expect a lot of discussion on personalized communications, integrated marketing, viral marketing, and social media. Of course, leveraging the internet while not completely abandoning the traditional mass media and print will be looked at from all angles.

But, you may ask yourself “What day is it going to be?”. Legitimate question, but that is the tricky part. We are planning to have it sometime the week of July 7th. But, we will not finalize the date until we are SURE that the weather will be good for a superior beach experience. Therefore, we will continue to watch the weather and will make the call when the weather picture becomes clearer. At this time, it appears that the end of the week is going to best the best weather. So keep an eye on our calendar page for the final determination. We will update daily, at least, as we watch The Weather Channel. Right now, Friday, July 11th looks like the best day. Definitely not promising for the first of the week.

Looking forward to it and I hope to see you there.

Now is the time to crank up your marketing efforts. The ONLY way to work (which is the key word here) our way out of a down cycle is to increase marketing efforts for your business This will help threefold: (1) You will get more leads into your sales pipeline, (2) You will enhance your relationship with your existing clients, and (3) You will refocus on defining your “REAL” value-add and develop ways to maximize their value in the minds of your audience. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to expand your business into new accounts/.markets or you get more business (share of wallet) from you existing clients. I know that this is all easier said than done, but we all have to try if we want to grow now.

Magicomm is doing it by enhancing our web site landing page (if this is the first time you visited, you won’t know this) and we are “beefing” up our demo platforms, interactivity, and high value content such as samples and case studies. We have some pretty good stories that we are going to share. You will see many changes over of the next couple months. It’s a rolling effort, because we have more ideas then resources and we still have to continue to service our existing clients to “keep the lights on.” Additionally, we are evaluating new markets, products, and services that we can “quickly” expand our business with. Opportunities are everywhere, just sometimes they are not out in the open.

It’s easy to cut marketing budgets to save costs. The proof of that thought process is everywhere around us. But maybe we should look at the competitive and economic environment around us to find where growth exists. It does exist, you know. Learn how marketing techniques and tools have changed. The “traditional” ways of marketing are being challenged. The shift is towards leveraging the internet (web site, email, and personalized url’s), integrating the web with print and communicating more relevantly. Databases, personalized communications, social media strategies, and the ability to have measurable results are becoming increasingly important. Real time feedback to our prospects and them having “instant” access to information has high value. Time IS money. Cross media marketing strategies, including use of viral techniques, are coming to the forefront in our marketing thought process. Mass marketing is becoming less important. Finding the right person and communicating with them in the way they want is the game we are in now. The consumer of the information is increasingly able to control the conversation with corporations. It’s becoming more of a “pull” communication process than a push the message out to them process. Deal with this new reality. Don’t delay.

The sands are shifting and we cannot deny it! Why would we (The truth is a defense)? It’s summer time and it’s fun to play in the sand and the sun (equating sun with new business opportunities…I wanted to make sure that you got that connection. LOL). It’s more fun trying to grow business than it is trying to cut costs to profitability (or oblivion?). Don’t be a stay at home couch potato when all the fun is outside. Come on in and join the fun. What’s the worse that can happen? Getting a sunburn? That doesn’t seem so bad, now does it?

When thinking about want do I do for my first blog, I wandered into reviewing my career (or is it my life?) experiences and how I got to this place and time. I think that I am going to share some of it with you, so that you can have a better understanding of how my thoughts have been influenced and developed over these many years. Let me start with high school and that you through my initial years of getting my education and starting my first job in the industry. Then I will get to my point…Which I am sure that you will be ready for!

When I graduated high school in the summer of ‘70, I “knew” that I wanted to be an engineer like my grandfather. Seemed like it was the family thing to do and it would be fun designing and building “stuff”. And I decided going away to college would be an even better thing. So, I decided to go to engineering school at Southern Methodist University. I was way over my head very quickly and decided it was better to spend my time playing pool and cards while learning the finer points of night life in Dallas. Fun times, but my grades suffered. In the summer of 1971, after my first year at college, I got my draft number…#1! The only thing that I won, had to be the first slot in the military draft during a time of war (Vietnam). I didn’t like anything about that so I joined the Air Force to take back control of my life. Little did I know that I would never get control of my life, at least this far into it. The USAF guaranteed me that I would get into electronics and that would reduce the changes of me to going the war zone.

I ended up working on air-to-ground nukes…30 feet long, range of 600 miles and only used for in case of “the s&#t hitting the fan”. It was during this time that I got the “tech bug” while I was working on the nukes, troubleshooting them and maintaining them. Fun stuff as long as I didn’t think about their purpose. And the military gave me a focus and discipline that I needed at that time. Being told what to do is a good thing some times! I was in the Air Force 3 years, 2 months, and 24 days…Not that I was counting or anything.

Now I had to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. What a load of crap, asking an 24 year old that question. I still don’t know to this day, but I do know one thing…I’m having fun at what I am doing now!

Anyway, I wanted to be an architecture. I wanted to design and build cool buildings. So, I decided that I wanted to go to the University of Kentucky (Yes, I do bleed blue!), because they had a good architecture program there. There was one problem and that was they only accepted new students to the program in the fall semester and I got out of the Air Force in October, which was too late. Then plan B would have to be go to Eastern Kentucky University (20 miles south in Richmond, KY) to take their Industrial Technology program and all the credits would transfer when the time comes.

That is where I was introduce to graphic arts…made my own business cards, shot and developed my own pictures, silk screen t-shirts and other fun printing stuff. I was hooked, but still focused on becoming an architect. Took the entry exam with over 200 others for entry in the upcoming Fall session. I scored in the top 15…BUT, they only accepted 9! I now had to wait another year before trying again. I’m getting too old to wait (a ripe old age of 24!). I have to decide Plan C. What else would I like to do? I remember sitting in my living room and looking around me. Printed “stuff” everywhere. Newspaper, magazines, wall paper, napkins, t-shirts, and the list went on and on. There’s so much opportunity, I just have to make the decision to enter the “graphic arts” trade and see where it took me.

NOW WE GET TO THE POINT…Times have changed again. My journey is changing again. Print is still an important part of the “communications food chain”, but there are many more options to use then ever before. Each new media offers a different experience that is uniquely for the individual. No longer are we limited by mere physical restraints. Our reach can go worldwide in nanoseconds. It’s a remarkable thought that you can linger on for awhile. The roll of print has changed and the communication streams can now “time shift” and “space shift”. No longer is time and location a limitation (for the most part). Those that recognize that there will never again be “just one way to communicate” will come out ahead. Print IS part of Cross Media food chain and we need to learn to change our communications style based on how the recipient wants to receive the information. Print is Cross Media and Cross Media is Print…I like that thought.

Bottom Line…Print services have changed. It now includes other media creation and manufacturing processes. Video, Audio, Web Pages, Flash animations, and email…The options are widening and the requirements to support multiple design and production flows is increasingly important for a companies success. Therefore…Are you going to be a printer in the future OR a communications company? Your decision could make the difference between growth or…Need I say more?