Steve Cook, Mayor of the city of Hutchinson began inquiries about advertising and marketing the strong assets the city has to offer businesses. Assets such as Shovel-Ready building sites, experienced workforce, strong educational foundation, and Hutchinson’s hometown lifestyle would make Hutchinson an attractive option for new businesses.  His heartfelt question was

 “How do we let other people know about us?”

After many meetings – with the Miles Seppelt (Hutchinson EDA), Bill Corby (Chamber of Commerce), Mayor Steve Cook (City of Hutchinson), Steve Gasser (Vivid Images) and me, Ellen Dickie (Moxie Media) – we have received approval from the Hutchinson EDA board and the Hutchinson City Council to proceed with a comprehensive marketing plan to “sell” the city of Hutchinson. No, I do not mean we are selling the city to the highest bidder – we are marketing to potential new business owners, business owners looking to expand their operations whether local, regional or national as well as businesses looking to relocate.  Hutchinson has so much to offer to businesses like these and we need to get the attention of these businesses.

Developing a brand is one of the first steps to successful marketing.

Moxie Media will be taking the lead in working alongside the committee in developing a branded logo and guidelines for the brand of this campaign.  Additionally we will be developing a professional printed piece to send to interested businesses.  Vivid Images will lead the social media and website portion of the campaign.  Integrated into all aspects of the campaign will be the new logo and tagline for the campaign giving it a cohesive, unified look that is easily recognized and remembered by the target audience – businesses and the community of Hutchinson.

Progress like this is exciting!  Moxie is proud to be a part of this new chapter of success for the city of Hutchinson. Be watching for the rollout of the campaign.

Take a quick look at MoxiePrintShop.com

You can design, upload and receive most printing in 4-5 days – delivered right to your business or home office.  Full color flyers, brochures, postcards, business cards are especially good offers through MoxiePrintShop.com Another great value are banners found under the tab called large format printing. The prices are low; the printing on high quality 13 oz. matte or gloss vinyl is exceptional!

Watch for weekly special discounts posted on facebook.com/moxie and our website moxiemediamn.com

Need customer service??? Or help in ordering? Feel free to call us 320-587-0587 and we can walk you through the ordering process.  We won’t print something “as is” unless it meets our printing specifications. Once your files are uploaded, we will do a complete check to make sure they are ready for printing.

order your next print project from moxieprintshop.com

Over 35,000 potential customers walk through the gates over a 3 day period. My mission for the day was to work the booth with one of my clients, listen to the conversations, watch the reactions to their new product roll-out in order to be able to advertise their product the best way possible. Oh, and to see how they looked in their new shirts from Moxie Media. It was an exciting day watching the steady stream of customers walk up to the booth on a mission to find out as much about this product as possible and to place their orders right at the show. What was more amazing was to see their direct competitor across the road, just feet away, and the traffic was just not there. It felt like, “yeah, what we did was right” for this client – May Wes Mfg. in Hutchinson, MN.

I would like to say that it was totally because of our advertising efforts, but I cannot. But it did play a huge part in their success. This success story has taken place over a two year period and it was for a product they have had in their catalog for 25 plus years – The May Wes Stalk Stomper. Let me tell you what happen. Because this could be how we can help write your success story.

When working with the May Wes team as their advertising and marketing consultant, we have always had close communication. I feel strongly that in order to advertise the product, we need to know the product, the targeted audience, the industry climate. And that is what happened. The sales manager received a fax from one of their dealers. It was a brochure from a tire manufacturer that had the warranty information in the body copy. In summary it said that if the farmer did not have a stubble or stalk stomper mounted onto their tractor or combine, it would could invalidate their warranty. The cost of one of those tires is $2,000+. The May Wes Stalk Stomper runs $650 per row. I know this is farm talk, but if you just do the math, it is a no brainer that it is less expensive to add protect your tires from damage than to replace one. I happen to be in their office that day.

Do you know what we could do with this information?

This is what I asked her. Then proceeded to discuss a marketing blitz with her and the owner. We knew we had something big.

The first year we did a postcard mailing to 10,000 current customers, a direct mail campaign to all of the dealers with information explaining the situation, press releases to all the major farming publications and ran a series of ads in multiple publications and attended 6-7 farm shows to show case the product. As a result, the farming magazines wrote articles about the problem of stalks damaging tires, it was newsworthy. We created a buzz in the farming industry. At the end of the harvest season, we reviewed sales numbers and found that the money and time we (the client and Moxie Media as a team) invested was profitable. Sales were tripled from the previous year. So when it came time to set the budget for year too, the owner said one thing to me.

We want to do everything we did last year plus more!

Now other manufacturers have jumped into the market, and now there is competition. Knowing this, we ramped up the marketing efforts. They included everything we did last year plus adding one more show, a direct mail campaign to 50,000 combine owners in the United States and more ads. Another significant action was to make product changes to meet the wants of the target audience. They listened to what the farmer needed and wanted from their product – which we in turn used to get more press in the publications as a product update release. To date, all indications point that their sales will exceed last year’s sales.

I love it when it works, when things come together for success. There was a need in the industry, a product to fill that need at the right price and a marketing effort to to the targeted audience. These are the 4 P’s of marketing. Place. Product. Price. Promotion.

But perhaps the greatest pleasure is knowing that May Wes and Moxie Media are on the same team, share common goals with the client and understand the direction they want to go. As an advertising agency, what could be better than that.

Thank you May Wes.

If you want to purchase a t-shirt, can cooler, window cling, or button follow this link zimmerman.promoshop.com

Be a small part of a BIG THING!

Always Focus on Your Target Audience

Think like a trade show visitor and keep your target audience in mind while designing your booth and crafting its main marketing message. With just a quick glance, a show attendee should be able to ascertain what products and services you are offer — and what makes you unique from the competition.

Create Visual Appeal

Limit the colors you use in your booth design to three or less. The same goes for textures you use in your booth such as vinyl, plastic, and metal. Exhibit displays that use too many colors and textures look cluttered and thus tend to get overlooked. Use multimedia to create an engaging, interactive booth. Audio, video, and animation are highly effective at grabbing the attention of passerby.

Use Memorable Graphics and Text

Make sure the graphics you use are consistent with those in your promotional literature in order to create a memorable display. If you need to display a lot of information, consider the size of your overall exhibit space and graphics. Small displays should only focus on one strong point so as not to be overwhelming. No matter the size of your booth, too much text on your signs and displays can make your booth look cluttered and even dissuade visitors from stopping. Keep the text as concise as possible and make sure that it is visible from a distance. Text should be placed in the upper half of your trade show display so people in front of your booth don’t block it and prevent others from seeing it. To ensure that text is easy to read, avoid placing it over textured backgrounds.

More people will be attracted to your trade show booth if you implement a simple, yet powerful design, use minimal text, and select coordinated colors that complement your brand image.

PR Optimization Segment #1: SEO

In order for news to be effective, it must be discoverable by those who are interested. Optimizing your news so that it can be found in the search engines for strategic keywords provides a powerful way to reach highly targeted customers and influencers.

Title Optimization: The most heavily weighted factor that determines for which keywords a press release will rank is its title. Placing your primary keyword phrase toward the beginning of the title tends to have the strongest impact on ranking for those keywords. However, the title needs to reflect the news angle and be written with clickthrough in mind, and not only keywords.

Summary Optimization: The second-most heavily weighted SEO factor is the summary. The summary is an ideal place to introduce one or two additional keyword phrases while elaborating on the news angle introduced by the title. Within a well-optimized press release distribution site or news site, the title becomes the title tag and the summary becomes the meta description. The same technical rules apply to optimizing a title tag and meta description in terms of keywords as they do when optimizing a press release title and summary.

Keyword Anchor Text Linking: The ability to build strategic anchor text backlinks from trusted sources is one of the SEO’s most exciting reasons for publishing press releases. Because some press release distribution sites push full-page reprints of your press release out to additional partner sites, a single press release can net a significant number of backlinks using your chosen keyword phrases.

PR Optimization Segment #2: Clickthrough Optimization

The purpose of a press release is to hook the reader with the news release and then direct traffic to your website. Online press releases are essentially landing pages for your business designed to drive traffic. Optimizing for clickthrough helps you achieve that conversion goal.

Make Use of Multimedia Features: Including images, videos, logos, file downloads and links to other Web properties and assets allows readers to become immersed in your message through a variety of senses. When given the opportunity, make use of as many multimedia options as your press release distribution site allows.

Embedded Website Navigation via iFrame: If you have the option to add an iFrame in your release, choose to link to a page that is a natural extension of the message announced in your press release. For example, if announcing a new product, display the product page in the iFrame instead of the sites’ homepage.

Include a Call-to-Action: A press release is a tool used to entice readers to visit your site — give them clear direction on how and why to do so. Some ideas are to send them to your website to download a free ebook, or to read full details about the product, or to subscribe to your mailing list for tips and information related to the announcement.

PR Optimization Segment #3: Editorial Optimization

Press release sites are news sites and they take their role seriously in order to stay in good graces with Google. Submitting a press release that risks falling outside of the criteria of a press release in Google’s virtual eyes is likely to get kicked back for further editing.

In order for your press release to pass the human editing process, it should adhere to the following three critical editorial points:

A Valid And Clearly Stated News Angle from Within Your Company: The purpose of a press release is to announce something new and timely such as a new product or service, limited time sale or contest, participation in an upcoming event, etc. That news also needs to originate from the company announcing the news. Writing about another company’s news is an article. The reader should be able to determine exactly what the press release is announcing by reading the title and summary.

Written in Third-Person: Aside from a direct attributed quote, a press release is written in third person and does not use causal language such as referring to the reader as “you” or the author as “I” or “we.”

Attribution of Claims: Claims that could be interpreted as opinions should be attributed in a press release. For example, instead of opinions like “…the best real estate software on the market,” present attributable facts such as “…deemed the best real estate software on the market by XYZ magazine.”

Done correctly, press releases can be a powerful part of your online marketing and visibility mix. The release itself ranks well in the search engines — few other types of user-generated content can rank almost instantly upon publication. Furthermore, optimized backlinks within the release work to build link value for your site for years to come.

Christine O’Kelly is an SEO content marketing strategist specializing in optimized press releases. She is the co-founder of OnlinePRMedia.com, an SEO and multimedia press release distribution resource.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that in order to lead a community in the right direction, you need to know where it has come from and what how it will impact its future.  In fact, I think it is no accident that Moxie Media has found its home in Hutchinson, Minnesota.  It just feels right. And it feels like home, a place where we can build our future.

Fundraising letter challenge: limited funds, running out of stock, time, and energy

Scott Newman came to Moxie Media seeking help with a daunting task he and his wife, Ginny, were undertaking for his District 18 Senate fundraising campaign.  They were manually printing and addressing a letter that included a remittance form insert to their strong GOP address list.  They would process about 60-80 per day, completed over 600, and had about 7000 more to go!  Needless to say, they were overwhelmed and questioning if this was a good use of their limited time.  By this time, Scott was getting down on supply of his preprinted letterhead, remittance envelopes, and mailing envelopes.  Time was running out because Scott needed all the remaining 7000 letters sent within 2 weeks. Scott also had to guard the limited funds he had to work with for this and other election campaigns. Scott knew he needed help but wasn’t sure what could be done to work through these issues.

The Creative and Practical Solution

Our team came up with the proposal to take Scotts existing 3-piece mailer and combine it all into a single 2-color 8.5” X 14” self-mailing folded layout.  This approach cut the cost down considerably.  We re-purposed Scott’s letter content so the key points caught the reader’s attention. We pulled the right resources together to confidently get the job done. We worked with Ginny to produce an address list for the remaining targeted addressees and that was formatted suitable for the mail house’s requirements. The job was completed within 2 weeks of Scott coming to our office and we stayed within Scott’s limited budget constraints!

I have chosen to interject my thoughts into this post about a person who has left indelible fingerprints on my life and the rest of the moxie media staff.  Susan Sanders has been an account manager for moxie media  for the last year and a half.  She has nurtured relationships with customers and her peers and touched our lives in so many positive ways.  She and her husband Rob are following the path that has been set before them and will be moving to St. Paul. Today is her last day in the office.  She has moved accounts over to a very capable person, LuAnn Drazkowski who recently joined our staff.  I wanted to write something about her and share my thoughts with you about what she has left behind for moxie and brings forward to her new adventure.  Perhaps our paths will cross again and she will be working for moxie – in St. Paul.  So read on…..

Fingerprints are a nearly invisible impression that says, “I was here.” The person is gone (but not too far – St. Paul is only and hour away), but they have left traces of themselves behind.

Figuratively speaking, fingerprints also symbolize your legacy – evidence that represents what you did and the impact you had while you were at someplace. This could include a company - moxie media, relationship - moxie staff, church - faith lutheran, community - hutchinson, or life in general.

So Susan, where have you left your fingerprints? What evidence did you leave behind to show that you were guilty of doing something great?
LOTS, fingerprints of compassion, fun, hard work, timeliness, detail oriented, creativity, professionalism, faith, passion, family.

Can a case be built to show that her life positively impacted others? ABSOLUTELY!

As you think about her “legacy-in-process”, here are some questions to ask about the evidence of Susan’s  impact:

Will moxie media be better after Susan leaves than before she arrived?  
Yes, besides the fact that she added 30+ accounts to the moxie account list, she has become a good friend to all of us.

Will  Susan leave her current relationships better than when she arrived? 
Yes, Susan has nurtured  customers relationships by listening and interpreting their needs to the moxie staff enabling them to do their job better and help provide marketing solutions for her customers.

 How is she developing the people around her now to carry forth her vision? 
Meticulously, Susan went through every customer file and explained to LuAnn who they were as people and as customers. She showed LuAnn the jobs she had done for them in the past and what the possibilites for the future held for each one.  Then she took LuAnn to meet them in person. She wanted to make sure they were well taken care of.

Whom has she led in the past that is now leading well? 
I am positive as Susan’s successor, that LuAnn has the knowledge base about her customers to continue the excellent job Susan has done her customers.

How has she equipped the people around her for their future success? 
Susan has been able to connect with people and see their talents and direct them in ways that they can most benefit from those talents.  While doing so, she has provided moxie customers with the expertise and talent needed to accomplish their marketing goals.

What is she building that people will be benefitting from 10 or 20 years from now? 
Susan will continue to look beyond …look outside the box, and provide creative and practical ideas to use in everyday life and in her business aspirations.  It’s all about relationships.

Everyday is an opportunity to build evidence that your life matters because of your positive influence and impact.  Don’t miss your opportunity to be found guilty of doing something great in someone else’s life!  
Susan – you are guilty as charged! You have learned more and shared so much in the last year and half that we will be forever touched by your compassion for people and outstanding work ethic.  This is your next step in walking the path laid before you, and it will have many twists and turns, ups and downs, and even some nice times to just coast. I hope that moxie has left some indelible finger prints in your life that will help you navigate your path. And perhaps that path will lead back here.

Ellen Dickie, Moxie Media, Vice President