Plan for Success

Posted May 16, 2013, by Sean Stead

I was talking with PR phenomenon Tom Crawford last week. As we casually discussed business practice and strategy, he dropped the phrase “fail to plan, plan to fail.”

As the day progressed, I continued to recognize the truth in this simple statement.

Of course, in rare instances failures end up becoming monumental successes. However, assuming you’re not the next Leaning Tower of Pisa, the following should be of some use.

Planning is one of the cornerstones of success, both on the micro and macro level. Any successful person will likely tell you that one of the first things they do to begin their day is jot down a quick list of tasks to accomplish, ideally in order of importance. One such example is our very own uber-planner Lisa Twenter, who knows this better than most. Planning out one’s day allows for better time management, efficiency and a way for the more absent-minded among us to stay on top of various projects.

While beginning a day with a game plan in mind often results in a more productive day, the same can be said for any business in the long term. With options for communicating brand messaging appearing left and right, it can be easy to get lost in the mix and begin firing blindly with a spread shot approach a la 90’s Schwarzenegger (excluding “Junior”). However, this equates to going through a day without having first established priorities and measurable goals. While it may seem as though much is being done, it is likely that a handful of important aspects are being neglected. As such, we here at M3 Group stress the value of assembling a research based, strategic communications plan before embarking on the all-important implementation phase.

For any marketing and communications plan to be successful, factors such as main goals, target audience, proper media mix, cost-effectiveness and more must be considered. For “maximum impact,” integration is a huge component. Reaching the target audience through a variety of their most used media increases the odds that the message will resonate and leave an impression, particularly in today’s era of constant clutter. Once these building blocks have been established, the fun part ensues. All that’s left to do is put the plan into action and watch the results speak for themselves.

For a free consultation on how your business can build a strong foundation for a high impact, integrated communications plan; contact me (sean@m3group.biz) or one of the many other capable members of M3 Group. Until then, Brand Forward.

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Facebook Edgerank: The Newsfeed Algorithm

Posted May 9, 2013, by Jake Paquin

To start this blog off, I’ll share two little-known Facebook facts.

Users spend more than a quarter of their time on Facebook scrolling through their newsfeed.
Most fans of a brand will never return to that brand’s page after an initial Like.

So what do these two facts mean?

The newsfeed is the best opportunity for brands to reach their fans. Since users spend so much time scrolling up and down the newsfeed checking out all the latest happenings in the “Facebook world,” it is important for brand’s posts to show up in their fans’ newsfeed.

Unfortunately, but understandably, not every single post is seen by every single fan, much like you won’t see every one of your 500 plus friend’s posts.

So, how is it determined what shows up in whose newsfeed? It’s determined by something called Edgerank. Edgerank is the algorithm used by Facebook to determine where and what posts appear on each individual user’s newsfeed. The three variables that make up this algorithm are affinity, weight and time-decay.

AFFINITY
Affinity measures the relationship between the viewing user and the creator of the post. The closer the relationship, the higher the score of the post. It’s important to note that affinity is one-way. For example, if user 1 interacts often with user 2, but not with user 3, user 2’s posts are more likely to appear in user 1’s newsfeed.

WEIGHT
Different types of posts hold different weights. The higher the weight, the higher the score of the post. Photos and videos rank the highest, followed by links, followed by plain text updates. It is important to note that engagement from other users also determines the post’s weight. Which means, a plain text update has the possibility of holding more weight than a photo or video.

TIME-DECAY
As a post ages, it begins to lose value, keeping your newsfeed fresh with recent news.

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Marketing Yourself: Interviewing 101

Posted May 2, 2013, by Manny Garcia

‘Tis the season. It is getting warmer, school is coming to a close and summer will be here in one month. Students, college graduates in particular, will be going on interviews and starting down their career path. Working as an account executive, and prior to that, a property manager I have been in sales for the better part of a decade, meeting with a prospective client/resident is similar to being interviewed, you always want to place your best foot forward.

Below are a few tips/life experiences I hope will help to prep and overcome those interview butterflies.

1) Appearance: An opinion will be formed of you before you even open your mouth to say “Hello I am…” The first thing I do before walking in to meet with a prospective client is check my teeth, pop a mint (preferably enroute to the meeting, no gum, no need to show off your chewing skills), check clothes and hair. Walk in with a confident smile no matter how hard your knees are knocking.

2) Preparation/Presentation: Knowledge is power: never a truer statement. Have you done your homework on the company? For all prospective clients there is research to be done prior to meeting. In order to sell them a product I need to know how it will benefit them. In order to land the job, you need to know how you will benefit the company. Make sure you have all the necessary tools at your disposal, a note pad, pen and updated resume will be helpful, no cell phone, leave that in the car. The person in front of you deserves your undivided attention.

3) Communication/Speech: Be sure to annunciate all words, making sure to use yes and no in place of yeah or naw. I am not suggesting that you sound like a robot by any means, but you do want to be aware of your audience. Practice with a friend and if you are able tape yourself, we are our own worst critic. You will be able to see if you are fidgeting or generally look uncomfortable. Proper speech and confident body language speak volumes, no pun intended.

4) Follow up/Follow through: There is a debate on whether you should send a thank you card, or a thank you email. I am more old fashion and prefer to send thank you cards to my prospective clients. I think it is great to receive items in the mail and I feel others have that same opinion. Although convenient and more utilized, a thank you email does not give you the same warm fuzziness as a card.

5) Social media: As a professional who wishes to be taken seriously that is the image I wish to project. Make sure your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn accounts are all family appropriate. Most employers are going to Google you to see what pops up and most likely it will be prior to your meeting, what image are they are going to see?

I hope these items are helpful and keep in mind a rejection isn’t finite, it just means not at this moment. If a prospect tells me “no,” I follow up with them in a couple months. Situations change and there may be an opportunity at a later date.

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Facebook Ad Targeting Options

Posted April 30, 2013, by Jake Paquin

With more than one billion users, Facebook has become a platform for many businesses to advertise on. And with so many different users on Facebook, it is important to make sure your ad is reaching the right audience.

Facebook offers marketers the ability to target their audience very thoroughly. The following is a list of exactly how detailed the targeting of a Facebook ad can be.

LOCATION
Choose between ‘Country,’ ‘State/Province,’ ‘Zip Code’ and ‘City.’ If you choose to target as detailed as city, you are then given the option to target with ’10,’ ’25′ or ’50′ miles of that city.

AGE
Choose an age group from ’13′ to ‘No Max.’ You can also check a box that requires exact age matching. If you leave the box unchecked, your ad may be shown to users slightly outside of the selected age range.

GENDER
Choose ‘all,’ ‘men’ or ‘women.’

PRECISE INTEREST
Choose your audience based on what users have listed as an interest on their personal timeline.

BROAD CATEGORIES
Target your audience by reaching groups of people who share similar interests and traits.

CONNECTIONS
Choose to have your ad shown to anyone or only to users who are not already connected to your page.

INTERESTED IN
Choose ‘all’ unless you want your ad to be shown to users who are interested in a specific gender for dating, networking, friendship or a relationship.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS
Choose your audience based on people’s current relationship status. Choose between ‘all,’ ‘single,’ ‘ in a relationship,’ ‘married,’ ‘engaged’ and ‘not specified.’

LANGUAGES
If the audience you are targeting uses a language not common to the location you chose, you can then add additional languages.

EDUCATION
Choose between ‘anyone,’ ‘in high school,’ ‘in college’ and ‘college grad.’

WORKPLACES
Enter a specific company or organization to target those who work for that business.

If you need any help determining the right audience and setting up a Facebook ad for your business, give us a shout!

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Intern-al Affairs

Posted April 23, 2013, by Devon Coates

Internships can provide invaluable real-world experience to anyone looking for a head start on their career path.

Going into the first day of my internship at M3 Group, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My older brother gave me one piece of advice for the first day, “Don’t mess anything up,” he said. After four years of college and two years of graduate school, that is the advice he gives me. But he was right–for the first day all you can do is soak everything in and hope to not step on any toes.

That is how to survive the first day, but to get the most out of the rest of an internship; here are a few do’s and don’ts.

Branch out
When you have time, ask around the office if someone needs your assistance. It can be nerve racking to talk to someone you do not often work with, but you never know who will assign you a task that can help you grow as a person or in your career. Branching out will also help you find out activities you do or do not like and introduce you to things you have never tried before.

Keep organized

A day in the office can be chaotic, especially if you don’t stay on top of things. Staying organized will help keep you focused and productive when you need it.

Network

Shake hands with as many people as possible while you have the opportunity. An internship is a chance to get your name out in the world and make positive impressions on possible future employers.

Dress the part

Like football legend Deion Sanders said, “Look good, feel good, play good.” The same goes for an internship. Always dress for the job you want and someday you’ll have it.

Don’t

Be afraid to make mistakes

An internship should be a learning experience, so treat it like one. There is no harm in answering a question wrong in class, so don’t take it too hard if you make a mistake. Focus on never making the same mistake twice.

Be forgotten

Flying under the radar will not land you many jobs in the future. Even if you may only be remembered for restoring a flaky printer to its former glory (like me), people in the office will have something to remember you by. Think about this, if you are forgotten soon after your internship, how can they hire you for a job?

Forget to ask questions

If you don’t ask your supervisor questions, they will not know what it is you want or need to learn. Asking more questions will always be better than asking none at all.

Give up

Often in an internship, you will be assigned menial tasks. But they aren’t pointless, these jobs need to get done and they make other people’s lives easier.

Follow these tips to avoid having an internship horror story.

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Happy 40th Mobile Phone

Posted April 18, 2013, by Peter-Ruffing

Happy 40^th Birthday to the now ubiquitous mobile phone. Actually, it’s a belated birthday by two weeks, April 3^rd 1973. According to Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman in their book, “Networked: The New Social Operating System” Motorola engineer Martin Cooper wandered the streets of Manhattan calling a longtime rival from Bell Labs, John Engel. The phone weighed in at a whopping two pounds and it took a year for the battery to recharge.

Needless to say, we’ve come a long way in those forty years, a truly mobile society. The statistics from the Pew Internet and American Life Project underway by the Pew Research Center back that premise up. Here are just a few findings from their surveys:

87% of American adults have a cell phone, along with 78% of American teenagers ages 12 to 17
44% of adult cell owners have slept with their phone next to their bed
67% find themselves checking their phone for messages, alerts, or calls even when they don’t notice it ringing or vibrating
29% describe their cell phone as “something they can’t imagine living without”

Although, as ground breaking as those first phone calls were to Martin Cooper, little did he know that in today’s world, talking on the phone isn’t even the most used function. Photo taking, texting, accessing emails and searching the internet all rank above having a conversation on a mobile device. See there, most of the time we don’t refer to them as a “phone” but rather a “device”.

And these devices are changing how people conduct their business, here’s an example:

Last week here at M3 Group we had a conference room filled with some clients. One of the topics we had to cover was a new logo design we had created for their organization. After presenting the group with a handful of options it was narrowed down to one logo, but the client wanted a slight color change. While the meeting continued on with the multiple topics, a text was sent to our graphic artist sitting one floor above us. Direction was given for the color change and the revised logo was presented to the client while the meeting was still in progress. That’s one of many examples of how the world is doing business today with mobile devices.

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What the Font App Review

Posted April 16, 2013, by Jake Paquin

As a designer, I know that a font choice can make or break any project. It’s important to constantly be expanding your font knowledge, but with so many fonts available, it’s nearly impossible to know every font off the top of your head.

There have been many times where I have come across a font that I was unable to identify. However, since I have downloaded the free mobile app What the Font, I have not had that problem.

I recommend this app to any designer that has a smart phone.

Check out the video below to see how it works!

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Heeb! Wood Road

Posted April 11, 2013, by Julia Kloeckner

Welcome to the north side of Lansing by way of a north to south journey down Wood Road. To the north, Wood Road starts at Round Lake Road and ends south at East Grand River Avenue. Nowadays, I have a beautiful home off of Round Lake Road and Grand River Ave. takes me west to downtown Lansing working for the best employer on the planet, M3 Group.

In 1974, my family moved from Mason, Mich. to the north side of Lansing, Mich. on Boichot Road near what was once the Erberhard supermarket (currently The Mega Mall). Our tri-county neighbors remember Boichot Concrete.

A new home meant attending a new school and it was huge (come on, to a little girl it was huge). Gunnisonville Elementary School (at present Gunnisonville Meadows) is west of Wood Road. Congratulations to the Gunnisonville Historical Community Preservation for voting on a Mission Statement.

A mission statement is to guide the actions of the company and articulate the purpose for which it exists. M3 Group knows the sky’s the limit in solidifying a mission statement and we can assist you with creating one for your business.

On the southeast corner of Wood and Clark Roads is the Gunnisonville Historical Site with its southern neighbor the Gunnisonville Cemetery. Heeb is a resident in this burial ground. He was truly loved by his family; he must have been, he has the most unique gravestone front and center to three family members. He is forever marked with a statue of himself. Heeb is a dog! Heeb rides down Wood Road, in my mine of course, everyday as I drive in to work. Here’s our daily drive.

Heeb and I pass the Woodside Golf Course on the west, a Gunnisonville childhood friend’s father started building his 9-hole golf course. Congratulations Hawk Hollow Golf Properties on their latest acquisition of this course. Three additional holes are currently under construction and slated to open Fall 2013. This will make Woodside one of only a handful of 12-hole courses in the country.

Then a cob’s throw to the east is the Reese Farms. Sweet corn, need I say more – hello summer grilling. Michigan loves its corn growers.

We slow down for the adorable farm house on the west selling fresh eggs, honey and maple syrup.

Over the hill to more hills, to the west is the beautifully landscaped entrance to Granger Meadows Park. Granger built and donated a 76-acre recreational facility in 2005 and is open year-round. Right beside the park is Granger, family-owned and operated since 1960s. I love the aesthetics of the boulders, pine trees and old fashion lampposts that scape the property. M3 Group assisted Granger in their rebrand and logo conversion. I love Granger and all they do for the community. Congratulations Granger on your rebrand.

Speaking of boulders, Schlegel Sand and Gravel, north of Granger, and positioned on the east side of Wood, recently reshaped the front of their ingress with a stunning rock wall. I saw the entire project to completion – nice work Schlegel. I see the most stunning sun rises over this property.

Without question, the mention of the Eyde development throughout Eastwood Towne Center. I cannot wait for their summer music series every Tuesday in the early evenings from June 18 to August 20.

Crank your bridezilla noggin back to the west and all brides drop their jaws, Fantastic Finds. Congratulations on their massive building expansion.

The fabulous Groesbeck Municipal Golf Course swanks its difficult 18-hole game. Designed by Jerry Matthews, with whom I had the pleasure of being his office manager for six years.

Living in the Lansing area for 40 years and proudly working in Lansing for 30 years, Lansing has provided me with a grateful, supportive and healthy mission statement of my own. When I need the guidance of decisions and activities, I simply say aloud “Heeb.” As I grow and live my life branded in Lansing so too has Wood Road. If just one country road can make a difference in one human life, and one dog life, I know Wood Road is branded in hundreds of live-long residents as well.

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