Griffin & Associates Named in Inc. 5000
Griffin & Associates is a public relations, marketing, and advertising firm that serves small to medium-size businesses and government agencies in the American Southwest.
Town of Taos to Renew Marketing Contract
The Taos Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday (May 10) to renew the town’s marketing contract with Griffin and Associates.
The Albuquerque-based firm has been doing marketing for the town for four years. Ten companies responded to the town’s recent request for proposals, which procurement officer Tina Torres said will not be made public until a contract with Griffin is signed, likely later this month.
The Tourism Plateau
Most conversations about economic development in Taos are grounded in the same basic premise: “Taos is a tourism-based economy.”
But Taos economist Bill Stevens says the emphasis on tourist dollars is overblown — and he has the numbers to prove it.
Griffin’s Tried & True Marketing Tips
DON’T
- Discount (okay if it’s used as a trial device)
- Delegate (don’t just pass it off to a secretary to do and hope it turns out okay)
- Try to be all things to all people (Be a specialist. People are willing to pay more for specialists
- Use too much copy. Trying to say it all in one ad. Try to get it down to one 9-word thought.
DO include in all ads and marketing materials:
- Awareness about you and your firm
- A main idea
- A decision they need to make
- A call to action
Marketing a Professional Services Firm
Marketing a professional service firm requires different strategies and tactics than marketing a product. When looking back at the source of new business, most service firms will find that approximately 85 percent of their new business is generated from referrals. Those referrals will largely come from existing clients as well as business contacts and other professionals.
What this means to you is that the majority of your marketing effort should be placed on relationship building – both with existing clients and those people that are in a position to refer work to your firm. You’ll need to put some effort into other marketing/business development activities as well. And with a systematic, scheduled approach to marketing, you’ll keep the pipeline full with new prospects.
The Power of Viral Marketing
Viral marketing is a relatively new term, meaning that an idea, product or service gets spread, like a virus – without or with little effort. Like a flu or a cold, it keeps spreading. It is the ultimate in word of mouth advertising – although in today’s world, it’s more likely to be word of email or text message than word of mouth.
With the advent of the internet and email, its possible and probable to spread the word on a new service around the world in literally days. The possibilities are limitless for utilizing the internet to spread the word of a company’s services and products.
Other effective means of viral marketing include public relations (creating a media buzz), special events, direct marketing.
Email Marketing is HOT!
E-mail marketing done correctly can create customer loyalty, referrals and increase sales. The key is to do it correctly, so that you’re not spamming people or over e-mailing and creating unhappy customers.
E-mail marketing allows the advertiser to do several things that traditional direct marketing won’t. For instance, some e-mail marketing software will update the users’ database automatically. If a message is forwarded to friend then that friend’s e-mail address is automatically entered into the database. Additionally, if an e-mail address is incorrect then the software will automatically make that address inactive.
Another benefit of e-mail marketing is the cost. Thousands of e-mails can be sent out for less than half the cost to mail out 1,000 direct mail pieces and there are no additional printing and handling costs.
The Power of Social Media
Unless you’re living under a rock, you’re inundated every day with Twitter, Facebook & Google Ad Word requests. And if you’re in the Over 50 crowd, you probably think you’re too old for Social Media. Think Again.
These statistics may shock you:
- Facebook added 100 million viewers in less than nine months
- If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest
- The fastest growing segment on Facebook is women 55 to 65
- There are over 200,000,000 blogs
- 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
- Only 14% trust advertising
- We no longer search for the news, the news finds us
Watch this You Tube video to continue being shocked.
