Branding continuity creates a powerful tool

          Twitter recently added a large masthead.

          As a result of working with that, we started to play with the images used in our branding.

          We ended up pulling the logo out of the inset and uploaded one of the website photos to our Facebook page. 

          We also uploaded that photo to the profile for LinkedIn and other social media.

          This small change gave the brand a huge lift emotionally.  

          We often tweak our brand to keep up with social media changes and to make it better.

          Because it is so important, every business should have a document that spells out all details of the graphic art used for the brand. 

          That means the PMS color for every part of the logo and masthead, including the background color.

          Lay-out choices, font, font colors and sizes—including print choices such as card stock and color—also need to be part of the guidelines.  

          Branding continuity helps create a recognizable and powerful image that is essential in today's world.   

          For more information, visit our website: www.dellrichards.com.  

PR is not dead

With so much emphasis on new media, some people don’t think that “old media” works anymore.

People forget that traditional media not only drives sales, but social media—as the publicity campaign of one of our current clients shows.   

When the Sacramento nonprofit, Destinations Mobility, started a contest for a wheelchair-accessible van and shuttle bus, Destinations had a Facebook reach of less than 150 people.

When our firm got a major local columnist to write about the giveaway, Facebook reach jumped to 8,162.

Less than a week later, when we placed three segments with two teasers on a local morning show and its news affiliate, reach zoomed to 12,244 people. 

When the division manager was on a talk radio show that runs on five local stations, social media hit 22,419.  

Since then, Facebook has remained constant, staying above 20,000.

With old and new media kicking in, entries for the contest not only picked up, but reached the campaign goals.   

For more information, call us at (916) 455-4790 or visit Dell Richards Publicity at  www.dellrichards.com.

The Internet for research and fun...

How long has it been since you picked up a Yellow Pages to find a phone number or used an encyclopedia to do research?

If it’s been more than a year, join the club.

Wikipedia’s main search page had nearly 280 million hits in December 2012 and that’s not counting people like me who google the subject, scan what’s available and usually click the Wikipedia page.

In fact, there are nearly 700,000 Google searches every minute.

Which is nothing compared to, 2.8 million emails sent every second.

But more than 10.5 million pictures uploaded to Facebook every hour.

When you say that of the 2.4 billion Internet users every day, 172 million of them visit Facebook, it sounds like a lot, but it’s a small percentage.  

Still, 400 million people post tweets on Twitter, every day, the most-read ones being about entertainment.

It’s been less than 20 years since the Internet took off.

In the next 20, maybe the phone book dropped at the door will be just a memory.     

For more information, contact Dell Richards Publicity at (916) 455-4790 or visit our website at www.dellrichards.com.

Give great word-of-mouth

We are currently doing publicity for a local event—pitching stories to editors and producers of print, television and radio as well as handling advertising content and a special supplement for the local weekly.

Due to budget constraints, we chose not to handle the social media, but we are involved with most of the media content.

On Wednesday at 4:15 p.m., a Facebook event page went out to 18 people, who shared it with 2,000 friends.

By 7:05 p.m., we got invited to the event, completing the circle.

On Thursday morning, a little more than 12 hours after, 194 people had responded “yes,” they were attending.

Twenty-four hours later, more than 3,000 people had been contacted with 400 responding “yes” or “maybe”, 114 saying “no” and nearly 2,500 awaiting response.

Less than one week later, the contact numbers were up to 4,000 with more than 1,000 replies.

With a usual event attendance of 8,000, it will be interesting to see what the Facebook numbers are by the event six weeks from now.

When an social media takes off, inviting guests and checking on responses creates word-of-mouth that reinforces interest and excitement.

While Facebook does not necessarily work as well for issues such as credibility, it can be a very useful tool if people get involved.

For more information, call us at 916.455.4790 or visit us online at www.dellrichards.com.