Archive for category AC News

I feel the need to share this inspirational site with everyone. Stunning Artwork: Famous Personalities & Scenes Recreated from Tape & Paper

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Competition. Ingenuity. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.  All of this and more was experienced by the Appleton Creative team on Friday the 13th, August 2010.  The Appleton team participated in a teambuilding event that put our creative skills to the test.  We were split into groups and instructed to design a product to protect an egg to be dropped from our second-story window, along with a product name and advertising pitch.

The solutions ran the gamut from inventive to inspired.  After the one-time-only showdown, a winner was announced.  The Appleton team had a blast working together for this event, and will likely never look at eggs the same way again.

When you’re experiencing periods of time when inspiration just doesn’t seem to be flowing, don’t panic! As a podcast producer, there will surely be times when you fall victim to lulls when coming up with fresh ideas (or the drive to finish pre-existing projects) seems incredibly difficult, if not impossible. Fortunately, such times pass and your natural creative drive returns, often with more force than before.

If you feel like you’re stuck in a rut with what to do or discuss on your next podcast, there are a few great sources of inspiration that can kick-start your creative juices.

1. The Radio

This may seem like an obvious example since traditional radio programs are still incredibly popular. Nevertheless, this “podcast predecessor can give you ideas for tried-and-tested methods to give your next podcast the impact it needs. The next time you’re listening to your favorite radio program, try for a moment to analyze the progression of the show and ask yourself what makes it interesting, funny, or entertaining. Often, just determining the reasons why you enjoy listening to a specific radio show can cause a chain reaction of excellent ideas you can incorporate into your own broadcasts.

2. Audience Participation

This is quite simple – just ask your listeners what they would like to hear about in upcoming shows. Spice things up by making a poll or offering a prize for the best topic suggestions. This is a great opportunity to involve your listeners in the production of your podcast and you’ll likely be surprised at the many creative and interesting ideas you may never have thought of yourself.

3. Current Events

Sometimes, it is easy to get wrapped up in your own ideas and projects. Often, though, the best way to keep things fresh for your regular listeners is to take a look at current events happening in your niche or area of discussion. Knowing that current events often keep people talking, you can even encourage your listeners to participate in your podcast discussions by asking them to send in audio clips of their thoughts and opinions on a subject matter. Doing this will not only help you generate fresh podcast content but also further solidify your connection with your listeners.

4. Guest Co-Hosts

Invite someone else to be a guest co-host on your podcast. This accomplishes a surprisingly large number of tasks in one go. First, you’ll have someone to collaborate with. Together, you can come up with interesting topics and concepts. This can easily cut your “work” in half or more, and you won’t have to carry the show alone. Secondly, having a guest co-host adds variety to your show and allows you to give your listeners a fresh perspective on topics they find interesting. Furthermore, there is the obvious benefit of the co-host’s listeners downloading your podcast which, in one show, can greatly increase the size of your listener base. All these great benefits are also true for your guest, which makes this a truly win-win scenario.

These are just a few simple ideas that can help you come up with continuously fresh ideas for your podcast. Whenever you’re experiencing a creativity dry spell, try following these tips and see what concepts you can come up with for your next broadcast.

Experts and analytics-driven marketers chase sales at any opportunity while direct marketers refine their entire processes in order to boost returns. On the other hand, social media marketers carefully monitor their efforts to ensure that their processes – while being completely free – are worth the time invested.

In an environment as competitive and difficult as social media marketing, oftentimes, the results gain is just not worth the time invested. There are thousands of marketers out there, many of whom could be competing directly with you and cutting into your potential revenues. While there are hundreds of reasons to invest in social media, there are also a growing number of reasons to quit marketing in such platforms. Some of them are discussed below:

The Term “Free Media” is Deceptive

Yes, social media is completely free. There are no hidden costs, subscription charges, or upfront payments to be made when marketing on such platforms. However, thinking that any effort is free is quite deceptive and illusionary. Any amount of time invested in social media is time that could be spent elsewhere, perhaps on a more profitable or important marketing action.

Invest time in social media, and measure results not in terms of mere profit, but in terms of profit-to-time ratio. If you’re making much less per hour on social media sites than you are from your other sales or marketing efforts, you should think twice about keeping your social network marketing campaigns running.

Social Media Can Hurt Your Other Marketing Efforts

When social media marketing is pursued in isolation, it is very easy to gain perspective on how effective it can be. When used alongside a pay-per-click campaign, a dedicated SEO effort, or a direct offline sales strategy, it can become a difficult activity to monitor.

Whenever you invest in social media, do it in a measurable way. Minimize ambiguity and ensure that all leads and sales are tracked. Doing so will allow you to check whether it’s worth maintaining a social media presence or whether it is best to discard it.

Social Media Creates PR Expectations

Businesses without an investment in social media are often at an advantage. When a negative story breaks, they have every opportunity to ignore it and hope for its disappearance. While social media experts constantly speak of the responsive power that a dedicated presence provides, they pass over one important detail: that a social media presence also gives the expectation of a response, no matter how inflammatory or inaccurate a story may be.

So, carefully think about having a dedicated social media presence. If you are in an industry that often attracts complaints, controversy, and potentially damaging accusations, it might be worth eliminating your social media presence. Doing so is even more important if you do not have the resources to run a full-scale PR campaign through your social media presences.

Social Media Needs Adequate Management

Outsource your social media presence and you will inevitably run into issues – poor public remarks, unintentionally controversial statements, or an unprofessional approach to public conduct. Everyone has seen it happen with celebrities, politicians, and public figures – an inexperienced assistant causes a stir due to poor judgement or pure mistake.

If you outsource your social media presence without care, it can easily become a liability. The best way to do it right is to monitor and maintain your social media presence yourself. However, doing so will surely keep you away from your other business responsibilities. If you can’t do it yourself and you can’t find a reliable and professional entity to outsource it to, it’s time to discard your social media presence and focus on other channels that will surely generate revenues.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APPLETON CREATIVE KICKS OFF 2010 CREW ORLANDO PARTNERSHIP
Redesigned Website Offers Members Expanded Features, Fresh Look

(ORLANDO, February 3, 2010) In its role as the 2010 Marketing and Technology Partner of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Orlando, Appleton Creative has redesigned the organization’s website, www.creworlando.org, which now features a contemporary look and new usability features.

“CREW Orlando’s membership has grown progressively more web savvy,” said Diana La Rue, president of Appleton Creative. “Our redesign reflects this sophistication with advanced features, interactivity, and useful tools.”
New website elements include an events gallery, an exportable monthly calendar, membership demographics, board listings, a newsroom, and expanded “members only” features.
Appleton Creative is an award winning boutique advertising agency located in downtown Orlando. Since 1987 the firm has been known for its holistic, strategic approach to advertising. Appleton is the only area firm offering a professional video department, social media expertise, and full service web, print and branding ~ all in house.
CREW Orlando is a business development organization representing key decision makers in nearly every discipline of commercial real estate. The organization was formed in 1987 and is part of CREW Network, an international organization comprised of more than 8,000 members in 67 chapters.

The Appleton Creative Crew was delighted as punch and pleased as pie when this client testimonial jewel rolled in. Happy Holidays to all! We appreciate you, too!

Team AC,

You continually make us look good,
Like nobody else ever could,

Emails are returned in a flash,
Changes are made in a dash,

There’s never a worry about it getting done,
As you always find a way to make it fun,

Thank you all for what you do,
Without you we wouldn’t have a clue!

Thank you all for your hard work, it is much appreciated!!

Chris

Chris Eckert
Referral Relations Manager
Pasadena Villa Network of Services

Paxton Cain, daughter of our Lead Designer Stephanie, and lead graphics department gofor girl cutiepie, will be heading to the Pop Warner National Cheer and Dance Championships next Monday at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.

Let’s give a hand and our support to these dedicated girls and their parents. The path to nationals is paved with hard work, tears, a few broken bones, and loads of smiles.

Paxton, your Appleton Creative Family couldn’t be prouder! We also want to shout out to Stephanie for creating the winning dance mix.

http://www.popwarner.com/superbowl/CheerChampionships.asp

Gimme a P! Gimme an AXTON! What's that spell? Awesome.

Thanks for all the calls and emails today regarding Appleton Creative being named the 14th largest advertising agency in town. We are proud to be a boutique agency and still listed. We’re hopeful for our industry friends as we gear up for a strong 2010.

Please enjoy this picture of the new Mrs. Stuart!