Our Blog Has Moved

We have launched our new website and have moved our blog to our site.

Check it out here: thebynegroup.com/blog

How to Get Out of Our Comfort Zone and Move Past the Guilt Excuse!

I always read about great conferences, I save the emails and brochures and then tell myself that next time I’ll have the time to attend. So when a good business friend generously offered a ticket to the sold out Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, I jumped at the chance. Easy, end of story, right? I then spent the next week totally torturing myself. Should I go, shouldn’t I go, too busy at work, too much coordination, too much money and then the walapalusa for all women, my family might need me, aaargh! But alas here I am at my lovely and quiet hotel room typing away. There are adorable little soaps and shampoo and I get to have a very well appointed king size bed all to myself (sorry Eric, I really will miss you).

Why should we push ourselves to attend these kinds of events when the opportunities arise and why is it so difficult for women to make time for ourselves? The answer to the first question is easy, throw hundreds of like-minded people in a room and you’re bound to get something good out of it. Conversation is the inspiration for innovation and who doesn’t need a little inspiration. The second question “guilt” is much more complicated. Sometimes I think it’s a perfect excuse for not moving out of our comfort zones. As a wise friend told me, “You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable.”

So all I have to decide now is which out of three seminars to attend, Understanding Social Networks, Dealing With Difficult People or The Female Vision, hmmmmm. Room service, please!

–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

They're Grrrreat! : Everything Old is New Again

I was watching one of my favorite shows, “Sunday Morning” a few weeks back and learned some interesting new things about the advertising icon Leo Burnett (1891–1971). Many of you probably have no idea who Leo Burnett was, heck I barely knew the name. But I bet everyone knows the Pillsbury Doughboy, Tony the Tiger, The Jolly Green Giant, Morris the Cat, Charlie the Tuna and the unemployed Maytag repairman. As a baby boomer my childhood was filled with many of those characters and Leo Burnett and his agency created them all.

Some of these characters have never gone away, they’ve been tweaked and modernized through the years. Tony first came to life in 1952 and has been going strong ever since. [http://adage.com/century/icon09.html] Others were living on a dusty shelf somewhere in my memory and are now being reintroduced and revved up to engage the next generation. Leo Burnett's genius lives on in these iconic brands

I Googled Leo Burnett to find out more about this advertising giant and yes, although Leo is long gone, his agency, which is now worldwide is going strong. What I found most interesting was just like the iconic characters he created, Leo’s philosophy is also timeless! Here are just a few of his famous quotes about advertising.

“Regardless of the moral issue, dishonesty in advertising has proved very unprofitable.”

“Advertising is the ability to sense, interpret… to put the very heart throbs of a business into type, paper and ink.”

“Anyone who thinks that people can be fooled or pushed around has an inaccurate and pretty low estimate of people – and he won’t do very well in advertising.”

And my favorite, which proves “that everything old is new again."

“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” Hey! I thought I came up with that!

Leo Burnett (1891–1971)

–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

Please Talk Back (The Perfect Mantra for Social Media Marketing!)

Social media offers marketers an opportunity to engage in conversation about their brand. So, how did this baby boomer get to know anything about the benefits of social media? Isn't that a young person's game?

Well, once upon a time, a young woman (that was me), wielded my best marketing and design tools – Pantone markers, letraset – to provide clients with the kind of perfect layouts and marketing messages that assumed people were listening. For the most part, they were. It was a less cynical world. Marketers weren’t competing with the Internet, or YouTube or video on demand or online ratings. Consumers didn’t register for "do not call" lists, use DVRs to tape TV shows so they could “skip” the commercials, or Google clients to see how some of its previous customers felt about their service or product. When we talked to consumers the last thing we wanted was for them to talk back.

Fast forward 25 years, the design and advertising landscape has drastically changed. My markers and paper have long since been retired and replaced with a computer that allows my agency to create marketing materials in less than one twentieth the time. The newspapers of our day are fighting for their lives, the post office is gasping for breath and the youngest members of our population are determined to "opt-in" for marketing.

The times have changed, and good marketers must change with them. For me, that often means educating clients on the latest tools in the marketing toolbox. In some cases, it means pushing them online to listen to the conversation that's taking place right now about their brand. Better yet, I counsel them to encourage the conversation, to ask for feedback in order to do a better job of giving their customers what they're telling them they want.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the subject!


–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

A Guest Post : 7 Steps to Building Successful LinkedIn Relationships

Our guest blogger, Anthony Fasano, P.E., ACC.

I am frequently invited to give 60 minute seminars on how to use LinkedIn effectively. In an effort to keep these seminars simple and useful, I developed the following 7 steps to guide individuals and organizations through building LinkedIn relationships that will be impactful to their business, which I will share with you through the following post.

1. Build a Complete Profile
a. Make sure your profile is 100 % complete – include education, awards, etc., the more robust, the higher your Google ranking
b. Use a professional picture, preferably one that you use on other sites
c. Use the specialties box to add keywords that will help with LinkedIn and Google searches
d. Update your status regularly with articles, desires, quotes, etc.
e. Change your profile when your professional title changes
f. Include your website and blog under “Websites”
g. Do not block incoming e-mails from LinkedIn

2. Connect with people you know. This includes clients, co-workers, colleagues, college friends, etc. There are so many people on LinkedIn that you may feel overwhelmed at times. Start by connecting to your ‘warm market’. You can use LinkedIn’s webmail importer (under Contacts) to find your contacts through your e-mail who are already on LinkedIn. Once you start building up ‘warm market’ connections, request recommendations (under Profile) from those that you have worked for or with in the past.

3. Determine your target market! You will not build successful relationships on LinkedIn unless you define your target market. There are millions and millions of people on LinkedIn, if you don’t have a clear idea of whom you want to talk to, you will waste a lot of time. Once you have identified your target market, then you can start to really focus your efforts on LinkedIn and social media in general.

4. Join Groups focused on your target market. Joining these LinkedIn groups will give you access to large numbers of people. This gives you an avenue to communicate with and relay information to your target market.

5. Participate in discussions in your groups. Participating in group discussions will help you to establish yourself as an expert in your field and build your credibility within your target market.

6. Through the discussions and groups, connect with people in your target market or industry. Once you join these groups and start to participate in them, you will have the ability to start to connect with people in your target market. I like to call these “strategic” connections, as they can be very impactful to your business.

7. Start building professional relationships with these “strategic” connections that will have an impact on your business, whether they become clients, partners, etc. To build successful relationships on LinkedIn, you have to take the relationships further than just connecting. Start speaking with these people whether by direct message, e-mail, telephone or even in-person meetings, once you get to know them.

All right, now you have a road map to start building successful LinkedIn relationships, get to work!!

Anthony Fasano is a professional coach, speaker, and author specializing in career and business growth and development. He uses his highly effective coaching and speaking techniques to help helps individuals and organizations sustain, grow and expand! He is the author of a Daily Boost From Your Professional Partner, a popular (and free!) daily e-mail service available to professionals interested in staying focused and inspired in their career and leadership endeavors. Anthony is also the Founder & CEO of Powerful Purpose Associates; you can visit his website at www.powerfulpurpose.com. Click to Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn and Facebook for valuable career and business growth information.

The Gift of Giving

It’s that time of the year again. Enchanting sounds, colorful lights and warm wishes from friends and family are a friendly reminder that it’s the season for giving. Tara Parker-Pope says, “…giving gifts is a surprisingly complex and important part of human interaction, helping to define relationships and strengthen bonds with family and friends. Indeed, psychologists say it is often the giver, rather than the recipient, who reaps the biggest psychological gains from a gift.”

This year at The Byne Group we’ve decided to give the gift of a flock of chicks through Heifer International. In past years we’ve purchased a goat and honey bees. And the giving continues throughout 2011. For every new client we’ll be purchasing a flock of chicks in their name!




Network for Good is all about giving and making it easy for people to give. Imagine that every time you became inspired to help someone or something that you could do it with just a click of your mouse. How about the gift of a “good card?” You can purchase this card online at www1.networkforgood.org/good-card and then give it as a gift to whomever. The recipient can use this card to donate to any of their favorite causes; a charity fighting a disease that’s touched your family; the homeless shelter around the corner; or the school you love.

Giving made simple! What are you “giving” this holiday season?

–Melissa Behrens, Art Director, The Byne Group

(source: A Gift That Gives Right Back? The Giving Itself. New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/health/11well.html)

A Guest Post : Ethics in Graphic Design

Our Guest blogger and friend, Eileen MacAvery Kane, shares her insights on a topic close to my heart.

Ethics is a hot topic in many fields of study these days. Business majors, law students, and those entering the health field are usually required to take courses in ethics. My son, an undergraduate business major, recently took a course on environmental law. The required text was “The Ethics of Climate Change” with a sub-title of “right and wrong in a warming world.” While the term “ethics” often conjures up a visual image of “purity” and seeing things in “black and white,”as my son discovered, ethics is a grey area where right and wrong aren’t always clearly defined.

I’ve worked as a graphic designer for over 25 years and recently completed my MFA in graphic design with a thesis focusing on ethics in graphic design. Since writing a paper, creating a blog, and publishing a field guide on the topic, I’ve had friends and colleagues call me “the ethics lady” and imply that I walk on higher ground because of it. On the contrary, I’m no more (or less) ethical than the rest of us, just a bit more informed as a result of my research.

When I started working with this topic I thought because of my extensive industry experience I would know most topics dealing ethics in graphic design. As I began to talk to industry professionals, educators, and students I soon discovered topics that I hadn’t even considered. Graphic designers deal with all kinds of ethical issues on a daily basis—crowd sourcing, cronyism, sustainability, photo manipulation, copyright, cultural influence, corporate sponsorships, font licensing, and responsibility to their clients are just a few.

Informed and responsible graphic design firms can help their clients navigate through these issues and create branding and marketing materials that are ethical on all fronts.

Read more here: http://www.ethicsingraphicdesign.org/?page_id=31

–Eileen MacAvery Kane

Nyack Hospital : Give and Grow

When we heard about the Give and Grow Program through The Journal News we knew we wanted to be involved. Knowing this ad was going to run in September and October and that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month we chose to highlight The Breast Center at Nyack Hospital for one of our submissions.

We did research on breast cancer in women to inspire us, we wanted to have a real impact on the readers and felt the ad should be a public announcement reminding women to get their yearly mammograms. This is where we pulled in the headline, "1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with cancer," a statistic that certainly got my attention. The body copy supports and reinforces the headline message, "By the time you can feel a lump in the breast it is often 0.4 inches, or one centimeter, in size and contains roughly a million cells. It is estimated that a tumor of this size may take one to five years to develop. During that time, the cancer may metastasize, or spread by lymphatics or blood to areas elsewhere in your body."

Once we had the headline and copy down we needed a visual. After some different visual ideas I came up with the perfect image, a simple pink string around a woman’s finger. Using Dana, our Junior Designer’s index finger we took lots of shots and with a little photo retouching we added the image into the layout. We chose to create the ad in black and white to show the bold importance of having a mammogram while keeping the ribbon pink as a focal point and because the pink ribbon is so iconic.



I hope the ad we created reminded women to the importance of making their yearly mammogram appointments.

–Melissa Behrens, Art Director, The Byne Group



SPCA of Westchester : Give and Grow

The Give and Grow program sponsored by The Journal News was really the perfect fit for us. We always try to give back, not only to our clients, but to our community as well. Now we could give back with a 10"x10" pro bono ad for a charity of our choice that would run in The Journal News for free.

We chose SPCA of Westchester as one of the organizations to create an ad for because of their stellar reputation for providing care and permanent placements for animals in need. They are also involved in countless community programs revolving around animals. I’m a huge animal person and these organizations give all of our communities and friends hope.

We met with Lisa Bonanno, Development Associate at SPCA of Westchester, and took a brief tour of the large facilities in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Lisa wanted to focus the ad on "The Lonely Hearts Club" – a new program at SPCA of Westchester that is dedicated to placing animals who are older or have special needs – both socially and physically.

After thorough research of regional shelter and animal service ads, we decided to take a surprisingly brighter and hopeful approach rather than focus on the negative. We decided to make the ad entirely from a dog's point of view.

Zach is the pooch we decided to feature. He's a 2 year old handsome fella who’s part of The Lonely Hearts Club program. So cute, he surely deserves a forever family of his own and think he would have much to say if he could, so we decided to become his voice.

The ad’s headline gives you the big story – Zach is lonely without a family and the supporting copy is his brief story of coming to SPCA of Westchester, how great they’ve been to him, how he would love to move onto his forever family, and that you should come visit him and his friends. The remaining copy tells you more about the organization, it's importance to the community, and highlights contact information for you to take further action. The SPCA of Westchester has a photographer they use on a regular basis who provided the photo. [snootydog.com] We decided to silo the dog out of the photograph and set him on a warm yellow background for high color impact in a newspaper that is mainly black and white.


We believe the ad was successful and are grateful to have been a part of the Give and Grow Program. The SPCA of Westchester loved the ad as well. It is currently on display at the front desk for everyone to see.

–Amanda Holt, Creative Director, The Byne Group

I'm Not Much of a Traveler, I Don't Go on Guilt Trips, or Do I?

I just read a really fascinating article a client forwarded to me from the NY Times today. The article makes the point that it isn't financial incentives or more information that drives consumers, but guilt. The article focuses on the secret to turning consumers green with some amazing examples on how and why a little bit of guilt works. [http://bit.ly/Green-Consumers]

I have always felt the goal of marketing and advertising should be to create an emotional connection with the viewers, and when done right it works. We love to share an experience that make us laugh, feel inspired and proud. But what about guilt, should that ever be part of the equation? I was raised in the middle, middle child, middle boomer, middle grades, sandwiched between the guilt my parents fostered in me and my kids knowing how to manipulate it. Think about how marketers have tuned in to this powerful “guilt” weapon. I read a study that when boxed cake mixes introduced the idea that customers had to add their own egg to the mix the sale of the product spiked. The study explains that people felt less guilty about not baking from scratch!

There are tons of consumer research papers on this subject. According to a 2009 paper, Measuring Existential Guilt Appeals on Donation Intention [http://bit.ly/awOsQ1] "When the audience feels existential guilt they will attempt to minimize the feeling by possibly donating to charity. But that highly intensive guilt appeals evoked anger, irritation and annoyance."

I’m happy to say that I am getting better in managing my own guilt. After all it's just a substitute emotion when you're unwilling to feel what you're really feeling and serves no useful purpose at all. Now please, tell my kids!

What are your thoughts on the subject, please share.


–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

Don't Shout at Me

When it comes to marketing it’s not how loud you shout it’s how well you make the connection.

I’m spending a week helping out with my 3 year and 3 month old grandkids and I realize the same is true in influencing people in our personal lives. I forgot the morning fights I had when my kids were 3, you know waking them up, what they will or won’t wear to school, how full the cereal bowl has to be, etc. It would be easy to shout and demand they do what I want but to what end. In a book about parenting to inspire values titled, Children Learn What They Live, the focus is the way things are said. If you shout one day how much louder will you need to shout the next to be heard. Any of us who have raised children know eventually they will tune us out completely. The ideal way, listen and understand the motives for the behavior and gently but clearly motivate.

Motivating clients is very much the same. First you have to understand your marketplace and find meaningful connections. Next you need to be consistent in your message. And last remember we live in a media cluttered world, delivering communications with simplicity and clarity makes all the difference.

–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

Calmness, a Goal at the Workplace

When was the last time you thought of yourself as being calm. For most of us these are anything but tranquil times. We’re inundated with information, overwhelmed with daily tasks and asked to keep pace with technology that keeps moving faster and faster. Personally I can’t tell you how often I have responded to email from clients without thinking through the correctness of my answer and even worse the flippant way I might have handled an issue with staff saying words that can never be taken back (if anyone reading this ever felt bruised, I'm really trying to do better).

A favorite quote of mine by James Allen an English poet from the early 1900s said it well. “The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”

What to do! A possible suggestion, lets continue to have the conversations, (either on- or offline) but lets give ourselves some breathing room before and after. Take time to take stock, breathe and yes be calm!

Any ideas on how you find calmness during your workday, please share.

-Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

Adventures of The Byne Group Intern

Hi everyone,

Guess what? I'm a finalist in the Chiquita Banana new label contest! The contest was to design a new fun label that will be featured on the bananas, without using any text. So I made the top 50… although the designs won't be officially posted on eatachiquita.com until August 23, 2010.


When it's up I am going to need everyone to vote for me. Top 18 designs get to be printed on the bananas!!!

–Dana Tandoi, Intern, The Byne Group

Adventures of The Byne Group Intern

Hello everyone! I'm back!

Since I last blogged The Byne Group has kept me very busy. I've worked on such a wide array of different projects. Over the last few days I have been working on flyers for a local charity, made a few changes on a logo I've designed for an insurance company, designed a whole invitation package for a banquet event, and was on the set of a photo shoot.

Being on the set of a photo shoot is so exciting! There is so much that goes into taking a picture it's insane. All the equipment has to be set up just right, the model has to be sitting at the right angle, and the weather needs to be cooperating to get that "picture perfect" picture. It was really interesting to see the process of making that perfect picture.


This photo is from one of the shoots I was on for United Hospice of Rockland.

Back to work!
Dana

–Dana Tandoi, Intern, The Byne Group

The "KEY" to Keywords

10 Tips to Maximize Your SEO Using Keywords

Our clients are always asking us for ways to improve traffic to their websites. “One of the 'KEYS' to improving their SEO” we tell them, "is to use keywords correctly.” Here are 10 tips to help you unlock the keyword puzzle:

1: When setting up your website, make sure you have descriptive content on your home page that will be recognized by search engines. This means using words and ALSO phrases that pertain to your particular service or product.

2: A little research could be the KEY! Make a list of words and phrases that describe your service or product. Now go to your competitor’s site or a comparable service present online and see how they are or aren't utilizing keywords. Looking at comparable sites (if designed wisely!) is a great way to see if you're missing an important phrase or keyword.

3: Do a bit of research about how your customers or users might describe your service or product. You might be surprised that your definition and theirs contain different descriptions AND different keywords or phrases you may want to incorporate.

4: DON'T use slang or "industry" terms unless you provide an industry service or product. Use keywords that the general public would likely be using to find you.

5: If your service or product is contained to a "location," make sure that location is stated somewhere on your home page. We all hate when we pull up a service thinking it's local and it's halfway across the country. If your service is national or international... well, you should state that too!

6: Is your copy live? Images of text are not going to help your SEO. Make sure your keywords are not images but live text, including your menus.

7: A good way to "ADD" keywords to your existing home page is to put an additional list of keyword links at the bottom of your page that are descriptive and bring users to subsequent areas of your site. This is also a useful tool for your SEO when designing a new site.

8: DON'T over do it! In this case, less is more. Cramming as many keywords or phrases that are not relevant to your service or product can actually lower your rankings. Choose wisely, and if you are unsure, you can get help from experts (like The Byne Group), to guide you.

9: Now, make sure your hierarchy of web pages in your site also follow these rules and contain keywords and relevant phrases for your service or product. Follow all the same general guidelines as for the home page.

10: And finally, if this all baffles you, just call us at The Byne Group and we’ll help you unlock the keyword puzzle!

–Amanda Holt, Creative Director, The Byne Group

Giving Back is Good for Business

I’m a big believer in giving back to the communities we do business in, but is it also good for our small businesses bottom lines? I believe so! Giving back to the community can raise your business' profile and even bring you more customers or clients.

According to Umair Haque's article from Harvard Business Review, Why Betterness is Good Business. “Striving to do more good is associated with greater profitability, equity and asset returns, and shareholder value creation.” And he believes these new business models will help build companies with a purpose, and a mission that is truly understood by their customers.

And as successful members of the community, we have a responsibility to help those that are less fortunate and contribute to the common good. I really enjoy the intangible benefit of giving. Giving back to the community gives me a wonderful feeling of connectedness and the satisfaction of at least trying to make my small corner of the world a better place.

I think customers like patronizing businesses that give back and I believe that giving back has helped my firm move forward!

Have you found ways to give back, would love to hear from you.

–Ann Byne, Principal, The Byne Group

Yes, I Collect

The Power of “Nostalgic” Marketing Inspired by Collecting

I’m not sure why, but I collect flower frogs and doorknobs. I don’t arrange flowers frequently and I really don’t need the doorknobs, but I just can’t stop. It’s the emotional connection I have that compels me to collect. I have other collections as well. Crate labels, coins, and of course as a designer, I collect bits and pieces of art, wood type, advertising and designs I find interesting and inspiring.

For me, the items I collect are points of inspiration. I tend to surround myself with these items as constant visual stimulation. Others may display collections in their homes as décor. In most instances though, our collections are nostalgic ties to our past. We have memories connected to these objects.

Today I find myself even collecting people. Yes, people. With the invention of Facebook, I’m finding myself wrapped up in nostalgia. Connecting (and collecting) people from my past. Each new connection brings back a memory. Sometimes not so great, but overall memories that are positive, and make me feel good inside. Don’t think the people running Facebook and other social media applications haven’t picked up on this. It’s a form of Nostalgic Marketing, and it’s working!

Creating an emotional connection with your audience is one of the most important objectives when trying to get and keep ones attention. We strive to make these connections with our design strategies at The Byne Group with each project we work on. Many times I look to my collections for inspiration or try to find out what others collect, both physical and emotional, to come up with an idea. Using a certain font or color combination may be all it takes to evoke a nostalgic, emotional response from a particular audience.

Some companies are re-introducing the nostalgic product itself as a marketing strategy such as Ford’s re-launch of the Mustang, and Coca-Cola’s vintage glass bottle packaging. Other companies, like VISA, are banking on your nostalgic connection to visual stimuli by using vintage footage in their recent Olympics sponsorship commercials. Then there are the companies that want you to start collecting products. How many times can you remember the end of a commercial yelling, “Collect them all!”

Take a look at what you collect. What is your particular audience collecting or have a nostalgic (emotional collection) attachment to? Video games, barbed wire, milk glass, Facebook friends? Whatever it is, it can become a powerful tool in your marketing and design strategy.


-Amanda Holt, Art Director, The Byne Group

Cultivating Your Brand in the New Economy: How Social Media Becomes a Trust Agent

I don’t believe social media will ever replace the need for business development people or traditional marketing but in the new economy it definitely needs to be a part of your marketing arsenal.

Traditional branding is a top down approach with companies, both profit and non-profits defining their own brand. The difference today, brands are being defined by conversations, by what people say both good or bad about your firm. Is this how your firm is engaging clients?

Promise + Experience = Brand

Core values of a firm are created internally, but the branding of the promise happens outside by how clients experience you. In today’s environment where every firm offers “quality services, on time and under budget,” it is difficult to differentiate. Difficult unless you have built trust and relationships in the market place. “Look at it this way: "Traditional marketing was like taking a sledge hammer and hitting your prospects and clients over the head with it. It was almost like, “Believe me, or else.”

Branding today is like a magnet that draws clients to the company a “trust agent." This is the real value and purpose of social media in a business context.

Facebook and LinkedIn are already well established. And your firms’ employees and clients under the age of 40 use Twitter and text messaging as a part of life. So, this is definitely not a fad. Social media is the place where you cultivate your brand in the new economy and where ambient awareness is a way of life. And yes like everything else worth doing it takes thoughtful strategy and a real commitment of time to do it right.

–Ann Byne, Creative Director/Principal of The Byne Group

Parts excerpted from: engineeringdaily.net

Building Relationships: Pleasing Your Existing Customer Base

How are you getting through this tough economic time?

Last year during our regular Monday morning meeting I broached the subject about the economy with my team. Lets talk about our future? None of us knew exactly how things would play out and yes I was more than a little nervous. What I did know and shared with them was, now more than ever, our clients needed to know how valued they were and we needed to approach their assignments no matter how small, as if it was our first and only chance to prove ourselves. We’ve worked very hard this year and we’ve been lucky, our clients are all still in business and happily, not one of them has gone elsewhere.

While a growing business needs to constantly have new customers, the focus must be on pleasing your existing customer base. From my experience companies that fail to nurture and retain their clients ultimately fail. I remember when the dot com was all the rage in the 80’s (ok, so I’ve been around awhile). Firms I knew were dropping their clients pursuing the glitzy new kid on the block! Sadly when it all went bust many of those firms went out of business.

According to an article in Harvard Business Review “Building Relationships” shows where many companies are headed, and all must inevitably go if they hope to remain competitive. The key distinction between a traditional and a customer-cultivating company is that one is organized to push products and brands whereas the other is designed to serve customers...”

–Ann Byne, Creative Director/Principal of The Byne Group

Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/2010/01/rethinking-marketing/ar/1

A Guest Post : Taking on Social Media – How One Non-Profit Took on the Challenge

Our Guest blogger and friend, Amy Stern, Director of United Hospice of Rockland shares her personal story.

On a fairly regular basis, Ann Byne, a member of our board of directors and principal of The Byne Group, encourages us to rethink how we are approaching our branding and marketing efforts. She suggested that we needed to start using social media to “get our name out there” as well as to develop and strengthen relationships with our supporters. My initial reaction was, “You’ve got to be kidding.” The resistance came from two areas of resistance: (1) This fifty-something was somewhat apprehensive about stepping into an area with which I was not familiar and (2) With everything we already had our plate, how would we make time for this? I’m sure many of you can sympathize.

Ann encouraged us to start small but to start. We agreed that we would publish an e-newsletter every other month. This seemed manageable to us. The first task was to begin to gather email addresses.They were gleaned from a variety of sources throughout the organization and are now added to on a regular basis so that the list will grow over time. Leadership staff has been asked to collect business cards with email addresses when they attend meetings. Donor envelopes allow for email addresses to be provided. Directories of local membership organizations were sources for the list. Responsibility for writing the newsletter was assigned to a staff member. The Byne Group taught us how to use the mass mailing software, Emma, into which we regularly download new email addresses. They also created a template into which we place our newsletter text. Their skilled eyes review and polish it before we distribute it. We just completed our fourth issue. Feedback has been positive and few addressees have asked to be omitted from the list. The challenge has been to write assorted snippets of news that encourage readers to: migrate to our website, open a link, answer a question or engage with us in some way. I can’t miss this blogging opportunity to share the most recent edition of our newsletter, click here.

Ann became quite the taskmaster and informed us that we were not yet done! The next step in the process was to identify a social media site on which we would create a presence. With trepidation, I volunteered to learn about Facebook. In order to become an administrator of a Facebook page, you must first sign on as an individual user. I spent a few weeks trying to learn some of the ins and outs. The Byne Group created our page and then like coaching a child to jump into the pool to learn how to swim, they sent us out on our own providing feedback along the way.

We soon learned that in order to make an impact, you need to gather fans. We didn’t want just any fans but rather fans of substance. For starters, we wanted individuals who lived in Rockland, supported our work, would believe in our mission, and would help us to spread the word about what we do.

In mid-November, I arbitrarily decided we should set a goal of 1000 fans by year end (we had 130 fans at the time). New Year’s came and went, our goal was so close, then by January 4 we hit 1000 fans. As of today we are at 1,196 fans. Success feels very sweet! Yes, It took a little work but we think it was worth it. We post something on our page several times a week. Examples of postings on our page are (1) unsolicited testimonials from fans about the services we provide (2) upcoming events and (3) a request for help with sign language translation that yielded a volunteer. Soon, we will post a survey and use its results to shape some of our advertising efforts. We are sold on the impact that social media can make. My recommendations, don’t miss this opportunity, start slowly, but start!

Oh and please join my list of fans, who knows 2,000 by the spring? [click here to visit The United Hospice of Rockland Facebook Page]

–Amy Stern, Director of United Hospice of Rockland

Case Study : How Did We Do That?

Every Thanksgiving The Byne Group tries to have some fun putting together unusual cards for our clients. This year Ann Byne was inspired by the most amazing aprons her mother-in-law recently gave her (her mom's mom had made them in the 50s). Through the magic of Photoshop we happily gathered wearing the aprons in a 50s kitchen preparing a Thanksgiving meal with attitude!

So how was I able to do this you may ask. On Halloween we all dressed up as 50s house wives. We then all took photos of one another against a white wall. As you can see some of us really got into character.




After the photos were taken, I downloaded them onto my computer. Using Photoshop I cut away the background so just a silo of each person remained. Since we didn't have a turkey laying around I also had to add a photo of a turkey in my hands.




Once everyone was cut out, I added them into the kitchen photo I had found. I re-sized each appropriately, people in the front were larger and people in the back were smaller to give the illusion of depth.

All of us had a lot of fun with this year's Thanksgiving card. It's always great when each of us can bring an idea to the table and incorporate it all. We have gotten amazing feedback from those who have received the card. Look for our upcoming issue of Freshly Squeezed where we'll have a downloadable PDF of drink recipes of the top 6 mixed drinks from the 50s and favorites of the MadMen characters.


-Melissa Behrens, Senior Graphic Designer, The Byne Group