WINTER 2017 IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

▲
▲ ▲▲
▲ ▲▲
▲ ▲▲▲
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲▲ ▲ ▲ ▲

PANTONE®
Greenery

MORE...
We LOVE the 2017
Pantone Color of the Year!
Is Influencer Marketing
the Next Big Thing for You?
How Many Hats Can a
Marketer Wear? (When
outsourcing makes sense.)
 Meet Our Winning
Guest Designer:
Don Carter
Don Carter, Adams & Knight
Don Carter is an award-winning art/creative director based in West Hartford, Connecticut.
A graduate of Paier College of Art (Hamden, CT), Don has over thirty five years of experience creating
and designing campaigns with Connecticut ad agencies. For the past fifteen years, he has been a creative
director at Adams & Knight in Avon, Connecticut. Carter is the author/illustrator of seven picture books for
children. He also is the creator of two Disney animated short-form series, Happy Monster Band and Dance-
A-Lot-Robot.

Most recently, a life-long love of birds and illustration have come together in recreating Audubon’s Birds of
America series in a simplified, modern art style (under the name Edgar Allan Slothman). You can see more of
Don’s illustration work at cargocollective.com/doncarter.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ANNE
OUR OTHER FINALISTS! FENTON,
Courtney Moore, Owner YOU’RE ALSO
CMB Creative Group
Courtney Moore has been a part of the New London WINTER 2017 IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS
A WINNER!
County business community for many years. She was greenery Thank you to everyone who
educated at Southern Connecticut State University; voted for their favorite cover
worked in the newspaper industry, the pre-press
magazine industry and served as a grant writer for a non-profit nature
design! One lucky name
center in Colorado. In 2006, Courtney partnered with Maura Blaney to was drawn from those who
found CMB Creative Group. Prior to starting the company, Courtney MORE...
We LOVE the 2017 voted, and we’re excited to
Pantone Color of

managed the sales and administration side of business for a local agency
the Year!

announce that Anne Fenton

Is Influencer Marketing
the Next Big Thing
for You?

in Mystic. Courtney serves as the public relations liaison for multiple How Many Hats Can a
Marketer Wear? (When

has also won an Apple Watch!

outsourcing makes sense.)

clients assisting with press releases, print design, marketing, sales and
event planning. Congratulations!

Caleb Prue
Goodwin College
As Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications WINTER 2017 IDEAS FOR MARKETING AND CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS

for Goodwin College, I lead the creative team,

coordinate project schedules, plan recruitment GREENERY
marketing campaigns with the marketing team and
manage day-to-day operations for the department. The creative team
MORE...
serves the graphic design needs of the rapidly-growing private non- We LOVE the 2017
Pantone Color of
the Year!
Is Influencer Marketing

profit career-focused Goodwin College located in East Hartford, CT.

the Next Big Thing
for You?
How Many Hats Can a
Marketer Wear? (When
outsourcing makes sense.)

I am a thoughtful and analytic graphic designer who is always looking

for new and interesting people to collaborate with on fun and
meaningful projects.

Thank you to all of our guest designers who

sent entries for our cover design contest!
Thank you to our readers for voting!
 WELCOME Winter 2017 01

EXPERT OPINION
Read insights from the following
Welcome to a New Year of #amplify! contributors in this issue:

Marketing in the “Micro-Moment”.
You have two minutes while waiting for the barista to
steam your latte. What are you going to do? Browse
social media, decide on lunch via coupon inspiration, or
“accidentally” one-click purchase those shoes you’ve
been “needing.” We are living in an era of accessibility and
speedy satisfaction. And thanks to mobile marketing and
micro-moment experiences, our insatiable appetite for
instant gratification is satisfied. After you read our article
on page 2, be sure to check out Google’s Micro-Moments
Guide for great examples of marketing in-the-moment.
Pantone’s 2017 Color of the Year… Should it Affect
Your Marketing?
How does color make or break your mood, influence your
decision-making process and even affect your health? It
depends on the context, but the intense power of color is
undeniable. Pantone’s 2017 Color of the Year is decided
after months of research and debate. So...does this mean
you should drop everything and re-vamp your brand’s
color scheme? Not necessarily. Let Dr. Lauren Labrecque
be your guide into the strategic art
of marketing with color.
Influencer Marketing’s
Newest Stars.
You know that 23-year-old girl with
a million followers on Instagram?
What about the mom who blogs
about 15 minute meals and kids
crafts? It’s no longer necessary to
pay pro athletes and celebrities Ed Perry
President & CEO,
to market products. Influencer Joseph Merritt & Company
marketing has been around forever, yet recently it has
been reinvented. Social media influencers have the power
to broadcast with their personal style - and their followers
respond. This article gives you the tools to discover and
powerfully utilize the shifting landscape of influencer
marketing.
Dan Evans
How Many Hats Can One Marketer Wear? Marine Corps veteran Dan Evans learned
just how powerful social media and personal
What would you do if you had an extra hour every day? branding can be, for both the Marine Corps
Could outsourcing selected marketing tasks offer this and his own personal career. (Page 12)
to you? The constant flow of information and strategies
can lead to excellence or unfortunate shabbiness in the
execution of marketing. Being a “Super Marketer” is
more difficult than ever given the dozens of channels and
disciplines. There is hope! If you keep your mind open
to outsourcing, you could possibly see your marketing
success skyrocket! (Page 10).
Lessons in Brand Building and Storytelling from a Lynzee Jablonka
Marine Corps Veteran.
Marine Corps veteran Dan Evans began blogging,
motivated by the need to share his ex-
periences with active duty. He noticed
a pattern - his peers were struggling to
transition back to civilian life because
they “didn’t have the street cred of
showing what they’d done.” His inspir-
John Melican
ing social media presence quickly grew,
simultaneously kickstarting a struggling Lynzee Jablonka Influencer Marketing Manager
Marine Corps recruiting effort. Social at Everywhere Agency (Atlanta, GA). and
media is full of opportunities to share John Melican, President of Kinetek Sports
stories and start conversations—which (San Diego, CA), share influencer marketing
success stories and insight on why this
in turn can create positive change. could be the next big thing for your
marketing strategy. (Page 6)

Follow us online facebook.com/merrittgraphics @merrittgraphics linkedin.com/company/joseph-merritt-&-company /user/JosephMerrittCompany

01 Welcome 10 Outsourcing Your Marketing

#amplify is a publication of
Merritt Graphics Print Solutions
for the customers and colleagues of
Joseph Merritt & Company, Inc.
#amplify is printed on an
HP Indigo 7800 digital press using
Blazer 80# Silk Cover &
100# Silk Text.
Letter from the President, plus a
selection of the key contributors
writing in this issue.
02 Insights
Ideas, opinions, news, and trends.
06 Influencer Marketing
Two influencer marketing experts share
their wisdom and experiences, and why you
should consider this trending marketing tactic.
We explore the idea of outsourcing parts of your
marketing to help you focus on key marketing strategies. Executive Editor
Cindy Woods
12 Lessons in Brand Building
Marine Corps veteran Dan Evans shares how he built a Contributing Writers
strong social media presence for Marine Corps recruiting by Carro Ford, Tim Sweeney, Cindy Woods
sharing compelling stories and creating personal brands. Design Production Design
Designlogix Diann Durham
16 My Working Day ©2017 All Rights Reserved
Carey Bradshaw delivers workshops and one-on-one
coaching for C-suite executives, nonprofits, and start-ups Printed and distributed by Merritt Graphics
in presentation-delivery skills. www.merrittprintsolutions.com
Winter 2017
INSIGHTS
SOCIAL MEDIA »
Marketing in the
“Micro-Moment”
We live in a world of micro-
moments. The life of an average
tweet is about 18 minutes. We
make decisions in milliseconds,
from speed dating to deciding what’s
for lunch. According to Google, we
check our phones 150 times per day,
spending an average of 177 minutes
on mobile sessions that average
1 minute and 10 seconds each.
Yes, we’re speed dating with stores,
restaurants, online merchants,
exercise-tracking sites, and even
our doctor’s office and health
records, all on our phones. And
we’re doing it in micro-moment
bursts, at the moment of need.
Author Malcolm Gladwell, in Blink,
noted that we only use a few
seconds to make most decisions,
even important ones. He calls
it “thin-slicing”—using limited
information from a very narrow
period of experience to come to a
conclusion. Marketers, take note.
Sometimes it only takes a moment
to market, too.
Micro-moment marketing can
refer to the size of an audience, the
size of a message, or the length
of the marketable moment. As a
micro-engagement, it targets the
very specific, focused interest of a
buyer, or a moment in time that has
meaning for that one person. Think
of small moments that carry a big
impact. For example, Red Roof Inn
used mobile location targeting and
NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |
customized creative to reach travelers
with canceled flights.
These people needed last-minute
lodging, and Red Roof stepped
into the moment faster than their
competitors, resulting in a 375
percent increase in conversion rates.
TINY SCREENS.
TINY MOMENTS.
BIG OPPORTUNITIES?
Mobile devices have created a wider
stage for micro-moment marketing.
“Because people have a computer in
their hands at any given second, the
individual moment they’re in is now
the most important part of the
customer journey,” says David
Edelman of McKinsey & Company.
GEO-TARGETING: APPS AND MAPS IN MICRO-MOMENT MARKETING
The growing use and benefits of
geo-targeting, personalized maps, and
customized offers in micro-moment
marketing can be extremely useful for
businesses that depend on walk-ins or
other physical action from customers.
“Consumers are comfortable with
visual formats—they translate well
into different media—and the call to
action occurs in milliseconds. Readers
understand what to do right away,”
explains Randy Hardy, North American
Representative of LOCR Maps.
•R
 etail: Draw retail customers into
a store for flash sales, demos, and
special events.
Micro-moment marketing is
about helping people accomplish
what they want to in that particular
moment. Maybe you are planning
to check into your hotel. Starwood
Hotels has an app that recognizes
you through the use of beacons the
moment you enter the property.
After verifying your identity on your
mobile device, the app assigns your
room number, and you can even use
your phone to gain access to your
room.
Whether it’s insight, knowledge,
offers, discounts, maps and
directions, real-time updates, or
exclusive user experiences, the
moment of engagement needs to
have value for the consumer. n
•T  rade shows and conferences: Provide
news and updates, instant offers, schedule
reminders, and exclusive invitations.
• Hospitality: Search for a local
restaurant or hotel and make
last-minute reservations.
• Health care: Communicate
up-to-the-minute wait
times and nearby locations
of urgent care clinics.
WE GOOGLE’S
MICRO-MOMENTS
GUIDE!
Micro-moments can happen anytime,
anywhere. “The I-want-to-know
moments, I-want-to-go moments,
I-want-to-do moments, and I-want-
to-buy moments really matter,”
says Sridhar Ramaswamy of
Thinkwithgoogle.com, adding that
they’re game changers for both
consumers and brands. “They are
intent-rich moments, when decisions
are made and preferences shaped.”
We found several great examples
of micro-moment marketing in this
guide from Google.
Download today at:
merrittgraphics.com/print-solutions/
micromoments
• Insurance: Enhance the customer
experience when contacting, reporting,
and filing claims on the spot.
• Travel and tourism: Provide maps,
directions, booking, immediate help
w
 ith service problems,
open hours, reviews,
and recommendations.
 INSIGHTS Winter 2017 03

Pantone’s 2017 “Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that

evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens

Color of the Year. . . revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing

foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the
fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers
Should It Affect Your Marketing? to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.
Depends on What You Do. Greenery is nature’s neutral.” – Pantone

The 18th annual Pantone Color of
the Year has been announced—
Greenery #15-0343. It was decided
in a secret meeting held somewhere
in Europe, attended by anonymous
representatives from a number
of nations. They observed and
tracked trends and influences
across several industries (fashion,
film, technology, art, travel) for
months, presented and debated
the options, and finally, made their
choice. Although the Color of the
Year becomes more influential every
year in manufacturing, home, and
fashion, that secrecy doesn’t win
them much support with people
such as Lauren Labrecque, Ph.D.,
an associate professor of marketing
at Loyola University Chicago, who
has authored several papers on the
importance of color in marketing.
“I don’t put too much stock into it,
mainly due to the fact that there is
little transparency,” Labrecque says.
“That said, I think the color of the year
is important for some people and
industries—those who follow trends.”
Labrecque’s extensive research
has led her to conclude that color is
crucial in marketing and that it can
be used strategically to help craft
and reinforce brand personalities—
a set of human characteristics
that are attributed to a brand name
and allow the consumer to better
relate with the brand. There are five
main dimensions of brand personality
that are commonly used: sincerity,
excitement, competence,
sophistication, and ruggedness.
Labrecque’s research examined the
relationship between these brand
personality perceptions and color—
specifically hues, saturation, and
value. She found that they are all
important for communicating
brand personality.
Colors, in fact, influence us
all on a daily basis. We’re just not
always aware of it. “Color tells us
if a strawberry is ripe, if food has
gone bad, or if something may
be poisonous, such as snakes,”
Labrecque says. “Some of the early
color work in psychology examined
physiological effects and found
certain colors can raise or lower
blood pressure or brain activity.”
She cites an article detailing how
some railway stations in Japan
have changed their lights to a
more calming blue in an effort
to curb suicides, and saw an
84 percent decline.
With all this research on colors,
why might a designer or creative
director look at what an anonymous
committee says is the “it” color?
For Bryan Torgerson, a freelance
creative director who has worked
on brands such as CVS/pharmacy
and Bose, “the Pantone selection is
interesting, but I also look for color
trends, specifically on Behance,
Pinterest, or Coolors.”
Behance.net is a website
to showcase and discover
creative work, and Coolors.co
is an online color-scheme
generator. Both Labrecque and
Torgerson say knowing your
audience is the first step to
deciding how “trendy” you
can be with your brand
colors. “If you are going
to be the designer who
brings the 80s color
palette back, that
product or brand
better be known as
cutting-edge, or your decision
to go with those colors will be
perceived as old and dated,”
Torgerson says.
Labrecque also authored
a paper examining color norms
for various product categories
and found that whether a brand
should be distinct or follow
category trends really depends
on the category and whether
there is a dominant leader.
“If a brand already has a strong
color identity, I wouldn’t let it be
impacted by the Color of the
Year,” she advises. “While a brand
may choose to offer bags or
packaging or product variations
in the trending color, I wouldn’t
change anything at the core.”
So if you aren’t sold on
adopting the Pantone Color of
the Year into your brand profile,
C-5
1
R-1 M-9 Y-
36 88
G-1
76 B K-0
-75
what steps should you take to
decide on a color scheme?
Start with competitor analysis
within the industry, and don’t be
a follower. You can also peruse
one of the many studies that explain
the physiological meaning of colors
and how people feel when they
see them.
“I think creatives should
be aware of it, but it shouldn’t
overtake other factors,” Labrecque
says of Pantone’s yearly choice.
“I also believe that its importance
varies on the context. The Color of
the Year is much more important
for hedonic categories, such
as fashion, than for utilitarian
categories, such as cars or
kitchen appliances.” n
Winter 2017
INSIGHTS NEWS | REVIEWS | IDEAS | OPINION |

outdoor-sports brand such as Salomon uses writers

TRENDING » who are outdoors lovers, mountain guides, and former
athletes with strong copywriting or journalism skills.

The Consumer Journey

Soon enough, that language may be even
more personal. Bonhomme—who previously
worked in digital marketing in Patagonia’s European

Redefines Email Marketing office—believes that it won’t be long before

Like the rest of the marketing landscape, the
world of email communications is evolving rapidly.
It’s no longer enough to deliver commercially
focused emails judged solely on sales, open rates,
and click-throughs. For starters, today’s consumers
seek stories, which means brands are challenged
to deliver emails and newsletters that provide
content of value around their products and to
do so when consumers want to receive it.
The right copywriter, a tone that is
“on-brand,” and relevant content are merely
the baseline. “We are all trying to provide
authenticity and content around our products
that our consumers will continue to enjoy,” says
Jocelyn Bonhomme, Global CRM Manager at
Salomon. Speaking the same language as your
customers, especially when it comes to technical
or specific content, is essential. That’s why an
hyper-personalized emails will be the primary
way companies communicate. The reason? Data
management tools are changing how brands create,
target, and deliver their message. “We are living in a
hyperconnected world managed by data,” Bonhomme
says. “I wouldn’t say that it’s easy, because it’s more and
more complex to analyze this amount of data and to
track customer behavior. But one result is that we, as
brands, care very much about not overcommunicating
or being too intrusive.” With more and more data
available, companies can create solution architecture
that is increasingly global, which sounds great, except
that privacy policies are becoming increasingly
stringent and less global.
Regardless of the constraints, the goal should be
to support the consumer journey at the right moment
with the right service, whether that consumer is sitting
at their computer, looking at their tablet on the
subway, or standing in a store aisle, looking for more
info on their mobile phone. Digital insights on where a
consumer
is browsing and when he or she is close to making a
purchase allow brands to interact with consumers
and provide them with the most appropriate message
at the best time. “A strong digital relationship is
very similar to the person serving you in the store,”
Bonhomme says. “A good salesperson can read the
consumer in the store, see his or her body language,

Interactive and 1. POLLS INSIDE AN EMAIL

Ticketmaster sent an interactive email with a poll
2. CUSTOMIZE A PRODUCT
WITHIN AN EMAIL
Animated Emails asking subscribers who they thought would win Burberry sent a very sophisticated
in certain categories in the upcoming MTV Video and personalized email that let
PERSONALIZATION AND Music Awards. Subscribers could vote directly in subscribers design their own
AUTOMATION ASIDE, the email. After voting, they were redirected to a scarf from within the email in
results page to see the live voting being tallied. a three-step process. First, they
INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS This email experienced 182 percent more opens selected the type of scarf, then
AND ANIMATION COULD than Ticketmaster’s average email. they selected the scarf pattern,
and lastly, they were able to view
BE THE NEXT BIG THING
their monogram on the scarf
FOR YOUR EMAILS. prior to purchasing it.

and respond to their needs. When it comes to
sending an email to a consumer, we now know
when to send it. It’s a matter of building a
relationship so that we converse with them
when they want to converse with us.”
As you’ve likely noticed, brands are also
becoming very good at merging social media and
email marketing on the consumer journey. In fact,
Bonhomme regularly has calls with both social
media and email marketing experts, something a
job like his might not have entailed just a few years
ago. “From an on boarding journey, we advertise on
Facebook to register for our newsletter, welcome
them with an email, and then send them one or
two additional emails with content on our website
and consumer events in their area,” he says.
In the future, Bonhomme says that brands
might be less inclined to influence consumers to
buy one way over another and instead will try to
support consumers with the best, most well-timed
service, whether online or at retail. “We are already
there in terms of people checking online for prices,
comparing product offers, checking opening hours,
and looking to see if a product is available in a store
merrittgraphics.com/print-solutions/2017USPSpromos
nearby,” he says. These are just a few ways that
micro-moment marketing is influencing email
marketing and consumer journeys.
The consensus among marketers is that these
same practices will translate into other industries
outside of retail, such as fundraising, conference
attendance, or recruitment for colleges and
universities. We will be taken beyond the traditional
experience of triggers and automated emails into
hyperpersonalization of content, offers, and timing. n
3. ANIMATED GIFS IN EMAILS
ModCloth used animation to illustrate how the same
clothing items could be combined to form different
trendy outfits by autorotating the clothing items to
show multiple collections, all within the email itself.
INSIGHTS Winter 2017 05
Check out the 2017 USPS
Mailing Promotions and download
our quick-reference guide.
2017 MAILING PROMOTIONS OVERVIEW
merrittprintsolutions.com
1 Tactile, Sensory and Interactive Mailpiece Engagement
Incentive: Upfront 2% postage discount during the promotional period
Registration Period
December 15, 2016 – June 30, 2017
Promotional Period
February 1 – July 31, 2017
Leverages some of the latest technological advances within the print industry, providing marketers with exciting new ways to enhance and encourage sensory engagement with a mailpiece.
The print industry has been actively innovative not only in print production equipment, but the fundamental elements of the mail itself through new developments in papers/stocks, substrates,
finishing techniques and inks. These elements can be incorporated to engage a multi-sensory experience through special visual effects, sound, scent, texture/tactile treatments and even taste.
2 Emerging and Advanced Technology
Incentive: 2% discount at time of mailing
Registration Period
January 15 – August 31, 2017
Promotional Period
March 1 – August 31, 2017
Encourage mailers to integrate direct mail with advances in mobile technology using NFC technology, Video in Print (ViP), Beacon technology, “Enhanced” Augmented Reality, Virtual reality or a Digital
to Direct Mail experience to allow the recipient to engage in innovative digital experiences triggered from their mailpiece. New for this year is the inclusion of Virtual Reality to generate opportunities
to immerse consumers by creating interactivity and harnessing a first-hand engagement experience. We have also added Digital to Direct Mail to this years promotion to elicit a higher response from
consumers by using dynamically printed, personalized messaging that is automatically triggered based on a digital interaction.
3 Direct Mail Starter
Incentive: 5% discount at time of mailing for up to 10,000 mailpieces
during the length of the promotion
Registration Period
March 15 – July 31, 2017
Promotional Period
May 1 – July 31, 2017
Opportunities for the small and medium market segments to grow and attract new mailers. This promotion is offered to first time mailers to promote events and offers that incorporate the use of
print-mobile technology on up to 10,000 mailpieces during the length of the promotion. Any print-mobile technologies, such as (QR codes, barcode tracking technology, enhanced augmented reality
(AR), Near Field Communications (NFC), or other print-mobile technologies currently approved in our promotions can be used to qualify for this promotion.
4 Personalized Color Transpromo
Incentive: Upfront 2% postage discount during the promotional period
Registration Period
May 15 – December 31, 2017
Promotional Period
July 1 – December 31, 2017
Since 2014, the USPS has provided this promotion to continue to increase the value of First-Class Mail by encouraging mailers of bills and statements to leverage new color print technology. In doing
so, a better connection and response from consumers is intended to occur.
5 Mobile Shopping
Incentive: This promotion offers a 2% discount at the time of mailing for
Standard Mail letters and flats that include qualifying technology (i.e., QR codes,
Registration Period
June 15 – December 31, 2017
Promotional Period
August 1 – December 31, 2017
snap tags, watermarks) inside or on the mailpiece that facilitates consumer
purchases through a mobile-friendly website or social media “Buy Now” features
Encourage mailers to adopt and invest in technologies that create consumer excitement and highlight the connection between the mailpiece and the digital
shopping experience. It is designed to enable customers to conveniently go from the mailpiece, directly to a mobile optimized online shopping experience
using technology platforms such as Quick Response (QR) Codes, Snap Tags, Watermarks and other advanced technologies.
The USPS has released their mailing promotions for
calendar year 2017. DOWNLOAD a complimentary
USPS Quick Reference Guide here:
06 Winter 2017 COVER STORY
INFLUENCER
MARKETING
by Tim Sweeney
nfluencer marketing has
I been around forever, really.
From sports-marketing
pioneers such as Arnold Palmer,
to celebrity endorsements for presidential
candidates, the idea of using people with
influence to promote products is not a new
concept. Thanks to social media and the
proliferation of content marketing, today’s
influencers can come in a variety of formats,
with social media bubbling to the top as a
leader. Sure, with the right budget, you can
still turn to NFL quarterback Tom Brady in
his UGGs, but nowadays, your influencer
can even be a mom with a blog.
“Those are influencers!” says
Lynzee Jablonka, Influencer Marketing
Manager at Everywhere Agency, a social
media agency in Atlanta. “Influencers can
be someone with hundreds of followers
or someone with a million. If people are
listening to what they have to say, they
are social media influencers.”
It should not be a news flash that,
according to research, consumers trust a
referral from their personal network at
a 90 percent rate. Eighty-one percent of
referrals are found online. What’s more,
92 percent of consumers also say they rely on
referrals from people they know above all else.
And the power of influence doesn’t end with
B2C relationships. According to LinkedIn,
Lynzee Jablonka
84 percent of B2B buyers begin the process of
Influencer Marketing Manager
making a purchase with a referral. Jablonka says Everywhere Agency
influencer marketing is the modern-day word
of mouth. “Influencer marketing campaigns
involve a select group of individuals who have
a certain influence over their community,”
she explains. “When used correctly, these
influencers can help a brand drive sales,
encourage conversations, and build awareness/
loyalty. Today, we see advertisements
everywhere; it’s such a saturated market. With
influencers, it feels like we’re sitting in a coffee
John Melican
shop having a casual conversation with friends.
President
It’s authentic and refreshing.” Kinetek Sports, Inc.
 Winter 2017 07

But what is it exactly, and how can influencers

help you? Influencer marketing involves partnering
with people who have an audience and influence within
Today, we see advertisements everywhere; it’s such a
a specific segment of consumers. They can help you saturated market. With influencers, it feels like we’re
—usually via the content they create—reach and
sitting in a coffee shop having a casual conversation
engage with audience members that your brand
might not reach normally. Often, they are experts with friends. It’s authentic and refreshing.
on a particular subject matter. They can be bloggers,
speakers, or authors with an audience that values their
opinion on their subject matter of expertise. And they
can be at their most effective during new product
with consumers and in their sport,” he says. he explains. “Hopefully, that interest will lead to
launches and store openings, in building new
“We partnered with them to show how our trial and then adoption. What I learned at Nike
followers for your brand, and even as an advocate
products are authentic to that sport, while also was that putting the athlete first is key to the
for you in the event of a public relations crisis.
driving emotional attachment.” equation. Once you have the right influencers
If you’re reading this thinking: “Yeah, all that
When Melican went to a small sport- using your product, this leads to gaining
sounds great, but what if I can’t afford to get a ‘real
technology start-up company that specialized in awareness, which leads to trial. Once you have
housewife’ to use my product?” there’s good news.
connecting everyday golfers to their own statistics trial, you usually gain acceptance and use of
Influencer marketing is a table just about anyone can
via their phone, he called on a different type of your product.”
get a seat at. “It all depends on what you’re looking
influencer. In the golf landscape, there is a certain If you’re ready to dive into the deep end
for. If you want to work the Kim Kardashians of the
pyramid of influence in which advice trickles down of influencer marketing, or at least dip your
world, of course that’s going to require a big budget,”
to the masses from teaching professionals and even toes in the water, Jablonka says to start with
she says. With a smaller budget, you simply have to
the best players at a country club. “If the influencer identifying your goals. Specific ones. Start with
be a little more strategic. She cites the work that
in a regular foursome uses the product, the students your area of interest, location, and the voice
Everywhere Agency is doing with OshKosh B’gosh.
or other foursome members will have an interest,” you want to portray. “Do you need fitness
“We don’t have bottomless budgets—everything
we do is very thought out,” she explains. “We
choose micro-influencers—influencers with more
targeted audiences who will generate more
meaningful conversations around your
brand—to take photos of their kids wearing
OshKosh. It’s as simple as that.” The
campaign was so successful that the
agency just won a PRSA Georgia Phoenix
Award for excellence in PR.
For John Melican, who held sales
and marketing leadership roles at
Nike and then Callaway Golf,
what he learned by using
athlete influencers to drive
brand and product
awareness was still quite
applicable when he went to
work for a small start-up brand.
“At Nike and Callaway, we used
these big athletes, schools, and
endorsers as visible signs of
the brand, because it gave us
broad visibility and awareness
08 Winter 2017 COVER STORY
HOW TO FIND YOUR INFLUENCERS
Lynzee Jablonka’s advice for finding the influencer that’s right for your brand.
1 Know your audience: If your
audience is down-to-earth and
fascinated with DIY tips, look for bloggers
who speak to those topics. Maybe it’s a
mother of three who writes about easy
life hacks or someone who frequents
the crafts store and writes about
various projects.
2 Determine your goals: Need to
drive coupon sales? Find a blogger
who talks about deals and giveaways.
Looking for strong graphics? Find an
Instagrammer whose pictures are Nat Geo
worthy. There are influencers out there for
every benchmark you’re trying to reach.
The key: knowing what success looks like
to you.
3 Invest in software: A number of
platforms can help you find the right
influencer for your brand. We sometimes
use GroupHigh when we’re looking for
a very niche group of people. These
enthusiasts nationwide, or do you just need
fitness enthusiasts in Denver, Colorado?”
she asks. “If you’ve established a quirky
voice, working with someone who takes
themselves very seriously probably won’t
be the best option. Do you want influencers
with amazing photography or someone
who can push a coupon? The list goes on
and on, but it all comes back to what your
end goal is.” You should also have a
thorough understanding of your own social
strengths and weaknesses. What channels
are your followers or potential customers
using? Perhaps you want to step up your
game on Instagram or reach a slightly older
demographic on Facebook. It sounds
simple, but deciding what channels you
want to be seen on is critical. Whether it’s
only one or two, or many of them, that will
influence whom you recruit to influence.
platforms often allow you to search with
parameters such as location, blog topics,
keywords, etc.
4 Determine your budget: Social
media is pay to play, so you’ll have
to spend some money to get results. In this
day and age, influencers who will work for
free or solely for product are hard to come
by. Figure out what you have to spend, then
base your search off of that allowance.
Consider outsourcing: Can you
5 source influencers on your own?
Sure. Do you have the time to dig into each
one of them and make sure they’re a good
fit? Maybe, or maybe not. It doesn’t cost
anything to talk to the experts about your
needs and budget. Contact a reputable
agency, learn about their process, and ask
about successes they have had with
clients similar to you. What we do,
in short, is basically like Match.com,
but for brands and bloggers!
Once we talk social media marketing, the
natural next question is how you might measure
success if you decide to rely on influencers. The
answer: it depends. Jablonka says the way
influencer marketing campaigns have been
measured at Everywhere Agency has depended
greatly on the client’s needs, and yours should,
too. “With OshKosh, we were tasked with
tracking the sales associated with a specific
coupon,” she explains. “With Macy’s, they track
traffic in the store at specific events. No matter
what the goals, the agency always tracks number
of social media posts published, engagement
rates, sentiment of the conversation, locations of
interactions, and total number of impressions.”
Melican and his team at the small start-up
company had a slightly different goal. They were
attempting to rely on coaches to help introduce
the product to golf students who wanted to get
better. It was a different approach than, say, using
a big-name professional golfer to promote the
product so it gains visibility. Of course, at a start-up,
budget has a way of shaping strategy. “Hopefully,
an approach like this leads to content that we can
build and then push out via social media and in
videos,” Melican says. They also found influencers to
be helpful in another manner—product
development. “We did a beta test panel of golfers,
teaching pros and other influencers, and we learned
a ton. We took the information we received and put
it back into the product.”
The difference between a brand spokesperson
and an influencer can often be found in the way they
tell the story. Using your influencers creatively
means avoiding leaving the bad “sales” taste in a
consumer’s mouth. In short, that means letting them
tell their own stories. Language, pictures, and posts
that are too “salesy” in tone—as opposed to
delivering value to the reader/viewer/listener/
follower—can have a detrimental outcome. “With
our OshKosh campaign, we are ultimately driven by
sales from a coupon, but does that mean that our
messaging is purely promotional? Absolutely not,”
says Jablonka. “In fact, it’s the opposite. We weave
intricate story prompts for the influencers to create
their posts off of.”
In a back-to-school shopping campaign in
2016, they challenged the influencers to create
five outfits from OshKosh using one staple piece.
Within their post, influencers touched on points
of affordability, quality, and the trendiness of the
brand’s clothing. “We let the influencers tell their
own story in a way that would be relatable to their
It sounds simple,
but deciding what
channels you want to
be seen on is critical.
Whether it’s only
one or two, or many
of them, that will
influence whom you
recruit to influence.
 Winter 2017 09

6 Influencer
Marketing Facts:
1
On average, for every $1 spent on
influencer marketing, brands are
making back an average of $6.50
in earned media value.

2
Consumers under the age of 32
spend 30% of their social time
digesting peer-written content.

3
90% of consumers trust peer
recommendations: 33% trust ads.

4
Marketers rated influencer
marketing as the fastest-growing
online customer-acquisition tactic.

5
Giveaways and sweepstakes earn
higher earned media value and
engagement than any other tactic
in influencer marketing.

readers, so as to encourage them to visit OshKosh
and purchase clothes for their own kids, using the
coupon our influencer provided,” Jablonka explains.
If, based on your audience, you’ve chosen the
right channels to be active on, it’s a good idea to
allow your influencers to post on your branded
channels, too. Jablonka sees great opportunity in
allowing influencers to be part of the brand for a
campaign. She points to a Gap campaign called
“styld.by” in which influencers created outfits for
the everyday person, which were then displayed
across Gap’s social media channels. She says the
influencer program that www.LIKEToKNOW.it uses
is another innovative approach. “They allow
self-proclaimed fashionistas to create an account
and send their followers to the stores where they
purchased their clothes from,” she explains. “If
their readers make a purchase, the influencer gets
a cut of it. It’s basically an affiliate program, and it
seems to really be working because it doesn’t
seem ‘salesy.’ Rather, it’s like shopping through
your friend’s closet.”
Unfortunately, just having a great product is
hardly ever enough, especially if nobody ever
hears about it. Melican falls back on the original
universal truth—people believe one another. People want things from people they trust.” n
6
The most effective platform for
influencer marketing is blogs,
followed by Facebook.
“Even if you have a great product, you need
these types of people to test, use, and
promote your product,” he says. “Word-of-
mouth influence is huge for most people.
Learning about something from someone you
trust opens up the possibility for consideration.
For a small company, this is especially true.

Find out what’s REALLY going on in influencer marketing

Thanks to Jay Baer and the Convince & Convert team for introducing a new podcast series
called Influence Pros. Influence Pros is the weekly show where professionals learn about case
studies and success stories in the fast-growing world of influencer and advocate marketing.
Learn how B2C and B2B companies are working with online influencers and customer
advocates to grow reach, engagement, and conversions.
Check it out at: convinceandconvert.com/podcasts/shows/influence-pros-podcast
10 Winter 2017 FEATURE

HOW MANY HATS CAN

ONE MARKETER WEAR? by Carro Ford

he days of having one, two, or even three

T marketers on staff and feeling like your

bases are covered may be gone. The
exciting new reality is that marketing disciplines
have evolved beyond what many marketers will
admit they can learn, implement, and manage.
We have new platforms, new technologies, new
apps, new software, and the advanced use of data.
We’re seeing no slowdown in mobile, augmented,
digital, Internet, social, print, and even virtual
marketing technology. Every day across the globe,
communication and engagement ideas are being
developed into apps and software platforms at an
unprecedented rate. They may not all be in it for the
long haul (e.g., Twitter’s recent shutdown of Vine),
but part of demystifying marketing is trying to figure
out which new disciplines and technologies will
be effective and should be included in your own
marketing strategy and how you’ll execute on them.
The flip side of this exciting new reality is
this—an overloaded marketing group or solo
marketer with little time to take on more initiatives
or learn new skills. You fall behind on techniques
and updates. You can’t thoroughly research
new strategies and opportunities. And the
resulting scenario is that attention is divided
across your marketing initiatives, with limited
effectiveness and frequent fire drills. If this
sounds familiar, it may be time to consider
outsourcing certain marketing tasks.
Outsourcing opens immediate doors for
skills, platforms, and programs you can’t easily
ramp up internally. Whether it’s testing new
channels with less risk, improving your content
strategy, or implementing an email marketing
campaign, partnering with a professional can
deliver immediate and better results.
 Winter 2017 11

GOING HYBRID: FUEL MARKETING Kay Kienast, head of marketing operations

SUCCESS WITH THE RIGHT
OUTSOURCING FORMULA
“You don’t always have to choose between
all-internal marketing or all-external marketing,”
says Jayson DeMers, contributing writer to Forbes.
for GE Power Digital, has led hybrid marketing
teams at a variety of technology firms and THREE BENEFITS
frequently outsources. “If you choose the right
partner, you may get to market with good results
OF OUTSOURCING
faster,” she notes. “I’ve found marketing outsource

1
“In fact, hybrid marketing strategies are becoming partners mostly through word of mouth from
other marketers whom I trust and who’ve Access to top-tier talent in
more and more common, especially in small- to
successfully used the people they recommend.” competitive markets where
medium-sized growing companies. And while a
small- or mid-size business might not justify opportunities are plentiful.
a full-service agency, many good boutique WHO GETS YOUR BUSINESS?
firms and freelancers are readily available.”
Only you can decide if outsourcing is right for The luxury of time to learn
In a recent Hoover’s study, it was revealed

2
your organization. Nobody knows your company, and operate with a more
that an estimated 44 percent of small- to medium-
product, or services as well as you do, and there is focused and leaner team
sized B2C companies are now outsourcing part of
always a learning curve with any new partnership. initially, and the option to
their marketing tasks in an effort to gain outside
Start with an assessment of your workload. Ask build an in-house team
expertise. Still, it’s a big decision to outsource even
your marketing team how they spend their time, at your pace.
one function. You may feel you’re losing control,
how those tasks rank for value to the business,
that your boss may question your performance,
and their level of expertise in each task. Going

or that the cost cannot be justified. Think again.
Today, you can find every level of marketing
assistance, including virtual marketing assistants!
A wide array of talent and services can be found that
can fit within every budget and complement any
marketing team, filling gaps in areas where skills are
lacking or where time constraints limit productivity.
THINKING OF
OUTSOURCING?
Here are 7 signs that it may be
time to look at outsourcing some
of your marketing tasks:
1. Your revenue isn’t growing fast enough.
2. Your marketing staff is overworked.
3. You always seem to be running behind.
through this exercise identifies where your time
is being spent versus where it would best be
spent. It may make sense to outsource simple
tasks such as scheduling your posts across your
social platforms or entering data into databases.
Outsourced marketing has traditionally been
thought of in terms of big-ticket items such
as SEO and link building, telemarketing, or
lead generation. While these are commonly
outsourced services, clearing your plate of smaller,
nontraditional marketing admin tasks can return
valuable time to your day as well.
IN ADDITION, KIENAST SUGGESTS
WORKING WITH A PARTNER WHO:
• Supports your work hours and is available
for emergencies.
• Has sufficient technical talent to assess and
correct issues between systems.
3
Flexibility to quickly scale
up or down based on your
current requirements, without
long-term commitments.
Keep an open mind about outsourcing.
You might find it offers the space you need to
grow and the edge you need to compete. Lack
of marketing bandwidth turns serious when the
missing skills are critical to a revenue-generating
initiative or a new market opportunity. Then it’s
not just about an overloaded team. It’s about
loss of customers and revenue. However you
look at it, outsourcing can be an important
strategy for marketers. n

4. Your marketing strategies are
thrown together.
5. You’re limited to a handful of channels.
6. You focus too much on tasks and
not enough on strategy.
7. You’re disappointed with your
marketing results.
Source: (as published by Jayson DeMers in Forbes)
• Can hone reports to correspond with your
key performance indicators daily, weekly, Keep an open mind
monthly, and quarterly. about outsourcing.
• Wants your business and works to improve You might find it offers
it. “Remember, it never goes right for the first
few months,” she adds. the space you need to
At some point, you’ll need to justify the grow and the edge you
expense, so ask for proposals showing what need to compete.
the outsourcing would look like, cost breakdowns,
expected outcomes, goals, and success milestones.
 12 Winter 2017 BRAND BUILDING

Lessons in Brand Building

and Storytelling from a
Marine Corps Veteran
Building a personal brand and learning to tell stories is not easy.
Marine Corps veteran Dan Evans taught himself to do both. The lessons he
learned along the way might help your brand—even if that brand is YOU.
by Tim Sweeney

hile serving as a social media director Brooke, Brighton, and Boston—and he recently to civilian life. “It wasn’t that they didn’t have

W for the US Marines for the last few

years, Dan Evans also had an eye toward
the future. He had joined the Marine Reserves in
2003 as an infantry rifleman and in 2005 was
asked to work as a recruiter. He took the leap and
was augmented to active duty, serving in various
escalating recruiting roles until transitioning to
civilian life in late 2016 so he could spend more time
with his family. Today, Evans lives in Texas with his
wife Stephanie and their three young children—
accepted a position as Director of Social Business
Strategy for USAA Bank. “Oddly enough, what I was
doing in the Marines was social business, weaving
social media into culture for employees as well as
customers,” he says. “This role is exactly what
I’ve been doing, and I have an opportunity to grow
and be challenged in a similar line of work.”
As a Marine, Evans saw the importance of
establishing a personal brand firsthand when some
of his peers struggled to transition professionally
relevant experience,” he says. “They didn’t have the
street cred of showing what they’d done.” To avoid
experiencing the same fate, he bought a domain
name (danevansonline.com) and started to create
content. He also recognized, “If I wasn’t Google-
able, I was nobody,” and he set about becoming just
that. His brand awareness increased greatly when
he wrote an article about how the Marines used
21st-century media for recruiting. The article was a
hit online and on LinkedIn, which led to a podcast
 Winter 2017 13

and speaking engagements. To tie his growing
content together, Evans hired a web designer to
help improve his “horribly ugly” website.
“At first, I was just talking about my social
media work, and then I realized I was on to
something,” Evans says. On his final day of active
duty in October 2016, Evans posted a photo with
his family on LinkedIn, saying he was transitioning
to civilian life and looking for his next opportunity,
and thanked his supporters and mentors. The post
was shared 250 times and received more than
23,000 Likes and 3,000 comments. It also drove
people to his website and LinkedIn profile.
He had done the legwork up front, starting his
podcast, getting recommendations on LinkedIn,
and producing quality content that made people
willing to vouch for him. “You are saying and doing
all of these things, but how do you prove it?” he
asks, rhetorically. “By using online tools such as
blogs and podcasts. Showing, not telling, that you
have the skills to do these things. I proved that I
know how to do online marketing by doing it not
just for the Marines, but also for my own brand,
earning trust with professionals outside of the
military.”
In 2013, Evans was offered the chance to run
Storytelling played a large part in the training
the recruiting efforts for the Western U.S. region,
he administered. He urged recruiters to think
and he and his family were off to San Diego.
like a skilled marketer by asking, “What is the
Recognizing that it was important to tie metrics
story?” Small things, such as posting a Facebook
to the social media efforts he had implemented
photo of a new recruit who was heading off to
previously, and knowing that the most feasible way
boot camp (and tagging that individual), could
to do so was to create clarity around where posts
lead to more conversations. “The fact is, many of
were to be published, his team created Facebook
them weren’t telling people about their decision
Pages for each of their 180 recruiting sites in the
to join,” he says. The swearing-in photo became
Western region, each with three to seven recruiters
a way to activate the sphere of influence around
creating meaningful content around the local
that individual by drawing a relevant customer
citizens who had chosen the Marine Corps. “It was
base, because people who click the Like button
one way we could associate the brand message
are more interested in joining. “It creates
with local people and make an impression we
conversation that otherwise wouldn’t have
couldn’t from a national standpoint,” Evans says.
been had,” Evans says.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

Evans learned many of these skills while recruiting
for the Marines. Early in his career, he worked
in Provo, Utah, a notoriously difficult place for
the Marines to recruit. He and other recruiters
found themselves visiting high schools with only
the phone numbers of potential recruits, which
were becoming increasingly useless. “We built a
Facebook business Page and took a couple photos
of new Marines that had come back from boot
camp,” Evans explains, “and I saw an opportunity to
start a recruiting conversation around that.”
Soon, Evans was training recruiters on
presentation and consultative selling skills. Along
the way, he noticed that a number of them were
using social media, just not to its full potential.
He saw an opportunity to use social media to tell
each recruit’s story and to use that as a catalyst
to start a recruiting conversation. “I built and
implemented training for recruiters to move these
conversations from online to offline and turn them
into recruiting business,” Evans explains. “It was
also an opportunity to showcase the young men
On his final day of active duty in October 2016, Evans posted a photo with his family on LinkedIn, saying he
and women who made the decision to serve, share
was transitioning to civilian life and looking for his next opportunity. The post was shared 250 times and
these stories with their spheres of influence, and
received more than 23,000 Likes and 3,000 comments. It also drove people to his website and LinkedIn profile.
garner support for their decision to serve.”
 14 Winter 2017 BRAND BUILDING
He also empowered recruiters to publish on
media channels owned by the Marine Corps, on
behalf of the Marines brand, which took some getting
used to by leadership who were concerned over what
recruiters were posting and felt communications
should be vetted through PR. “That wasn’t realistic,”
he explains. “Most recruiters had been using social
media for recruiting, but they were doing it solely
from personal profiles.” Even now, Evans looks at
brands and sees a missed opportunity to leverage
employees and customers in their marketing. Most,
he believes, are afraid of letting employees create
content around what they do, despite the reality that
they are already talking about the brand. “We saw it
with our recruiters and thought, ‘Let’s train them and
show them how to do it,’” he says. “As long as there
are systems and training in place for people to post
on behalf of the brand, I’d say to put it on an owned
media channel, where it can be tracked and you can
see the effectiveness. People trust human-to-human
interaction; they don’t necessarily trust brands.”
“In one three-month stretch, we had 600
recruiters generate 2,800 posts, which generated 50
million impressions on Facebook,” Evans adds.
“If you do that on a Facebook business Page, it’s
really hard to get that kind of reach. By setting
up lists and adjusting your privacy settings on
Facebook, you have a lot of power over who can
see your stuff. The secret to that organic reach is to
make it personal, like being able to tag individuals
on a business Page. For us, using ambassadors was
a great way to contact like-minded talent.”
Creating these personal and local stories
led to conversations and, ultimately, advocacy
and trust. Recruiters were then taught to monitor
these advocates and conversations and take
them offline through a phone call or by reaching
out via a mutual connection for an introduction.
“The people we are bringing in today are smarter
and know exactly what they are getting into,”
Evans says. “Social media has helped us create
transparency like never before, so I believe this
helps us bring in the right types of people.”
A major lesson Evans learned from this, and
something he later used to build his own personal
brand, was that having a great product and
advertising on big media channels doesn’t mean a
thing if your online personality doesn’t match who
you are offline when you reach out to someone.
“My point to recruiters was that when people sign
up, they are buying you. They see something in
you that they like,” he says. “I don’t think there is any
secret—you repel the people who don’t want to be
like you and attract the ones who do. Being your
authentic self is important. Being honest and
transparent sells more than anything else.”
Evans would later apply the same lessons
he taught to recruiters when he launched his own
personal brand, understanding that if people felt
comfortable when they viewed his profile, they’d feel
comfortable reaching out with other opportunities.
His podcast—interviews with military veterans who
took the leap into entrepreneurship—is a prime
example. When he realized it could be difficult to get
interviewees on the phone for a conversation, Evans
created a product that would help build his guest’s
brand and name through the interviews they’d do with
him. “I created value for the mentor to potentially help
other veterans who listened to our interview, and I
gave them a venue to promote their product or service
as well,” he explains. “Not to mention building a great
relationship with them, too!” n
 Winter 2017 15

Evans would later

apply the same
lessons he taught to
recruiters when he
launched his own
personal brand,
understanding
that if people felt
comfortable when
they viewed his
profile, they’d
feel comfortable
reaching out with
other opportunities.

BEDTIME READING

As you might have figured by now, The 4-Hour Workweek

Dan Evans is pretty interested in learning. (Timothy Ferriss)
Since books are generally considered a This book drastically impacted
tried-and-true way to educate oneself, my life by helping me understand
we asked him to recommend a few. the importance of using
technology to scale time.

The Start-Up of You (Reid Hoffman) Your Brand, the Next Media
and Crush It! (Gary Vaynerchuk) Company (Michael Brito)
These books taught me the importance and This book reinforced the
how-to of developing relationships and a power of online advocacy
personal brand by using employees and
around a service, consumers to help tell a
then telling the meaningful story and earn
story. At the end trust with stakeholders.
of the day, people Each of these books had a drastic impact
are investing in on shaping the training for the Marines and
people, and people helping me shape my personal narrative
make up companies and my unique selling proposition while
and brands. leaving military service.
 16 Winter 2017 MY WORKING DAY

My Working Day
Carey Bradshaw

Creative Butter, Workshop and One-on-One

Coach for C-Suite Execs, Nonprofits, and
Start-ups in Presentation Delivery Skills

Connect with Carey at: linkedin.com/in/careybradshaw

Read Carey’s blogs at: creativebutter.com/blog

Bringing the Secret Sauce
to Presentation Delivery
Carey Bradshaw is president and
co-founder of Creative Butter, a
marketing agency that brings on
the “secret sauce.” Among many
other hats, she’s on a mission to
eradicate bad PowerPoint by
coaching executives on
presentation delivery skills.
Q: You work with C-levels,
nonprofits, and start-ups
to perfect their pitches to
saying. Having a poor deck is
bad, but it can be overcome
with a stellar presentation style.
Unfortunately, I rarely see this.
It’s all too common for presenters
to rely too heavily on their deck
or (gasp!) notes. By the way,
notes are strictly verboten when
presenting in my coaching sessions.
Q: There are so many
ways presentations can
go wrong. What mistakes
do you frequently see?
Q: Content overload just seems
to be getting worse, in spite of
it being an acknowledged bad
presentation practice. How
do you convince people not
to cram so much into
their slides?
CB: I abide by the 5x5 rule—no
more than five bullets per slide and
no more than five words per bullet.
There are lots of versions of this rule,
but I find that this allows enough
information to impart the meaning
CB: I have to see a commitment
to the process. I tend to work
with executives, and I cover the
process and time commitment
in the initial meeting with them.
Presenting in public is a huge fear
for so many people. I like to think
my process is a fun and effective
way to overcome any fears or bad
habits to become a more effective,
credible, and authentic presenter.
Q: What does a good
coaching process look like?

The 5 x 5 Rule—no more than five bullet points per slide or five words per bullet point.
VCs and angel investors.
Those are pretty important
moments. What are the
risks for executives
who deliver average to
awful presentations?
CB: Loss of credibility, for one
thing. And it’s not just about the
physical presentation deck. How
you say it is just (if not more)
important than what you are
CB: Too many to count!
Death by PowerPoint is a big
one. There’s nothing worse
than watching a presenter
read slides to the audience.
Usually this also involves lots
of text or graphs that are too
small for the audience to read.
Another pet peeve is when
presenters go crazy with
transitions and fly-ins.
of the slide, while not overwhelming
the audience. A well-chosen graphic
with a few words, combined with eye
contact, confidence, and a rehearsed
message, are much more impactful
than watching someone read their
notes to the room.
Q: How do you evaluate a
client before you start
working with them?
CB: With me, there’s homework
involved, and I really push clients out
of their comfort zones. I use a number
of tools and activities, and many are
uncomfortable for executives. I’ve
been known to use everything from
improv to children’s books to move
people away from their habits into
becoming effective presenters. I am
a big fan of TED Talks and use them
often as examples.

ADVICE FROM A PRESENTATION EXPERT Tip: Keep Frankenstein

Tip: Above all else, brand
that presentation.
There’s one thing people should
start doing with their decks, and
I go back to branding with this
one. Decks should have consistent
branding. This includes logo
placement, color choices, and
fonts. Most decks are a hot mess,
when this is such an easy way to
look more professional. As both a
marketer and a presentation
delivery skills coach, I say
presentations should be branded.
This means each and every slide
has a similar look and feel.
away from your slides.
I often see the “Frankenstein”
approach to deck building.
Presentations are hacked together
by pulling slides from other
presentations. The result is disjointed
and has an unprofessional look that’s
all over the map. My advice: start
from scratch and have your agenda
outlined prior to development.
Tell your audience what you are
going to tell them, then tell them,
then recap by telling them what
you told them. Great presentations
are typically built to support and
deliver no more than three high-
level key points. If you do this in
a creative and authentic way, you
will have an engaging presentation.
 Every business has a story to tell.
Tell Your Story with Print.
Programs that Hit the Mark:
Direct Mail Marketing:
Direct mail advertising gives a business a 13 to 1 ROI*
* Direct Marketing Association
Custom Web2Print Portals:
24/7/365 Online Ordering

Kitting & Fulfillment:

On Demand Distribution

Cross Media Marketing:

Combine Digital Media with Print

Contact Us With Your

Next Project Requirements!
Kathleen Milazzo Swahn, Director, Print Solutions Group
860.296.2500 x 1119 | kmilazzoswahn@merrittgraphics.com

860.296.2500 | printsolutions@merrittgraphics.com Our New HP Indigo Press:

Expanded Possibilities. Infinite Solutions.
merrittprintsolutions.com
 Merritt Graphics
650 Franklin Avenue
Hartford, Connecticut 06114

Direct Mail Marketing: Direct mail advertising gives a business a 13 to 1 ROI

Custom Web2Print Portals: 24/7/365 Online Ordering
Kitting & Fulfillment: On Demand Distribution
Cross Media Marketing: Combine Digital Media with Print

Ph: 800.344.4477
merrittprintsolutions.com

7 Best Social Media Channels for Business Marketing:

1 Facebook
• More than 1.79 billion users
• 80/20 rule: 80% of your content should be for
your audience, 20% for your business (sales,
2 Twitter
• Great way to promote new products,
offers, events
• People retweeting your content will grow
marketing, promotions, etc.) your following
• Tweets should have CTAs: retweet, download,
call, register, etc.

3 LinkedIn
• 76% of B2B buyers
prefer to work with
recommendations from
4 Instagram
• Great for events,
trade shows, launches
• Posts can include
5 Pinterest
• Great visual marketing
of products
• Around 5% of all referral
their professional network
infographics, image traffic to websites comes
• 433 million users; quotes, graphic coupons, from Pinterest
40% check the platform behind-the-scenes images • 2/3 of content saved
every day
• Consumers can snap a on Pinterest come
• 49% of key decision- photo and tag your location, from businesses
makers use LinkedIn for becoming marketers of
business purposes your business

6 YouTube
• Second-largest search engine
• Extensive analytics and
7 Yelp
• 142 million users per month
• Business-critical social channel allows you to
user statistics engage in conversations with your reviewers
• Broad range of uses, from tutorials • Considered to be one of the most influential channels
to product demos and uses due to authentic, organic consumer reviews
Sources: Hootsuite, LinkedIn, Shareaholic,
Social Media Examiner, Ahalogy, Sprout Social