Okay, maybe that’s not how the saying goes; but ask Wimmer’s Diamonds, and they’ll attest to a jewelry giveaway’s clout in gaining Facebook friends.
The situation
The company is a fourth-generation, family-owned business that has been serving the Fargo, N.D., area for over 92 years. Wimmer’s Diamonds had been working with Flint for many years, and, after launching their Facebook page last July, came to us wanting to build their fan base.
The solution
Flint Communications partnered with Wimmer’s Diamonds to help them acquire more “likes” through a jewelry promotion on the company’s Facebook page.
The contest was simple, which we’ve found is optimal for maximizing user interaction within social media platforms. New fans were greeted by a landing page instructing them to “like” the page to enter a contest to win a pair of diamond earrings valued at $700.
Having “liked” Wimmer’s Diamonds’ Facebook page, both new and existing fans clicked a side tab to sign up for the contest. Each participant was required to supply their name and email address and answer the question, ‘What is the best jewelry gift you’ve ever given or received?’
The creative
The Flint creative team designed a number of pieces to promote the contest on the Wimmer’s Diamonds Facebook page, including a landing page for new fans, a side tab through which both new and existing fans entered the contest, and a new profile image highlighting the contest.
We also created posters that were hung in West Acres Shopping Center, one of two Wimmer’s Diamond store locations, and designed table tents displayed in the mall’s food court. Finally, our team prepared ads that ran in a number of newspapers, including The Forum, The NDSU Spectrum, MSUM Advocate and The Concordian.
Implementation
With the Facebook collateral and printed pieces in place, Wimmer’s Diamonds launched the contest on November 1 with a wall post.
The contest continued for a month, during which Wimmer’s Diamonds periodically posted announcements about the promotion on their wall, in addition to advertising the giveaway through the posters, table tents and newspaper ads.
Wimmer’s Diamonds announced the giveaway winner on November 30.
Results that sparkled
At the start of the promotion, Wimmer’s Diamonds had 146 fans. Their goal was to reach 500.
Through the contest, Wimmer’s Diamonds gained 368 new fans, amounting to an overall increase of 352 percent and surpassing their goal by 14 fans.
The moral of the story?
Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but Wimmer’s Diamonds makes a great Facebook friend.
They say the holidays are the most wonderful time of year, but we all know the season can also be chaotic, tense and downright maniacal.
It’s easy to get wrapped up (oops, unintentional reference to the gifts you have yet to wrap) in the fast-paced frenzy that we forget about the subtle joys of the holiday season—the smells of holiday baking, watching Linus explain the true meaning of Christmas, family heirloom ornaments, the search for that elusive “perfect gift,” and of course, eggnog—magical moments we look forward to all year.
This year, the Flint Group made an effort to intentionally take notice and embrace every part of the holiday season.
Each Flint office took its own decorative approach to get in the holiday spirit. Creative director Ken Zakovich helped his coworkers at WestmorelandFlint “get in the mood” with a festive ornament on the office Christmas tree.
Amid our parading and decorating, we’ve also been rebranding the North Pole, helping Santa establish a social media presence, copyrighting Rudolph red, and creating a PR plan to help Frosty launch his spring campaign against global warming.
With the success of these holiday festivities, we thought it fitting to create a short video to capture our enriching approach of taking time to appreciate this season—to fully experience this holiday and truly savor its subtle joys and moments of wonder.
Take a minute and enjoy, won’t you?
So this holiday season, when you’re at your breaking point—when you don’t think you can take another bite of your aunt’s fruitcake, or when you find yourself wandering the aisles of Target at 11 p.m. on December 23—remember, there’s beauty in everything.
All you have to do is find it.
Happy Holidays from the Flint family. May your holiday season be filled with beauty.
Harnessing the latest buzz is smart marketing, and we have the Queen Bee.
Debbie Morrison, who is based in our St. Cloud office, strategizes proven communications for a broad range of clients. Away from the office, she and her husband Jim live on and operate Sapsucker Farms, their Minnesota-based certified organic farm, which includes 12 bee hives, chickens, sugar maple trees, a vegetable garden and an apple orchard. She also contributes to the Simple Good and Tasty blog.
Sweet rewards
You know the colleagues who bring the best treats to the office? That’s Debbie.
Her passion for organic agriculture yields sweet results, especially honey and organic maple syrup. Besides our offices and homes, Sapsucker Farms products are enjoyed all over the world. Debbie ships anywhere: Just order here.
Debbie’s syrup in Jerusalem
Accidental farmers
“We got into organic farming accidentally,” Debbie explains. “We bought 172 acres of land near Mora, Minn., in 1997, then built our house and moved in 2000. Our original goal was to restore the land to natural habitat. We started by restoring 40 acres of hayfields into native prairie. All of the prairie flowers inspired me to start beekeeping. A friend from Vermont saw our maple trees and suggested we tap them, so we did. Then we planted the organic apple orchard, which is 60 trees in 30 varieties, and I started learning about organic agriculture. The chickens were added last year. We’ve been certified organic since 2006.”
Jim and Debbie during maple syrup harvest
Do you know where your food comes from?
Watch how Debbie bottles Sapsucker Farms pure, organic maple syrup:
At the office, Debbie is, as she describes, “Director of Strategy and Lots of Other Stuff.” She consults and strategizes for various clients and industries, in part lending experience she gained while working for large Minneapolis-based agencies earlier in her career.
Get to know a Flintster: Q + A with Debbie
How does your passion outside of work fuel your career?
My passion for the farm stimulates my thinking in so many ways. Farming requires constant problem-solving, strategizing, creating, building, and continually forcing me to push beyond my boundaries and work outside my comfort zones. All of this helps me be a much more creative thinker, strategizer, analyzer, problem-solver, and leader in the work place.
What do you do on a typical night or weekend?
It depends on the season. This time of year, our farm chores are feeding, watering the chickens and collecting eggs, plus filling our outside wood boiler twice per day with firewood. In the summer, we feed and water the chickens, and collect all of the fresh, organic free-range eggs – about one dozen a day. On weekends, we inspect the 12 bee hives, weed the garden, cut firewood and basically spend about 12 hours per day of hard labor on the farm. We get dirty, get sore muscles and go to bed exhausted every night. And we love every minute of it. Autumn is harvest time and hunting season. I do as much as I can after work and indulge in both on the weekends. In the spring, during the maple syrup season (usually starting in March), after work I go out into the woods to collect sap, then on the weekends the sap is boiled to perfection to create maple syrup. Also in the spring, I start vegetable seeds in our greenhouse for the garden.
What’s your dream job?
I have it already: I’m an organic farmer.
What was your first job?
In the kitchen at a nursing home, where I served food in the dining room and washed dishes.
What is one thing you’d be willing to practice for an hour a day?
Target shooting with a bow, pistol or rifle.
What’s the best advice you ever got?
Empower the people who work with you and for you.
What sound do you love?
Frogs croaking, especially spring peepers in our pond.
What scent do you love?
The sweet scent of honey inside the honeybee hives.
Making a difference
“Obviously, I’m passionate about growing and producing fresh, safe, organic food, reading and learning everything I can about the food industry, agriculture, and organic practices.
“The earth is in peril, and needs help. By being a good steward of the earth’s resources, I believe I am making a difference,” Debbie says.
A bit more about bees
“Our farm is USDA certified organic, certified by MOSA. Organic certification is a LOT of work, with lots of paperwork, but it’s worth the effort. The only thing that is NOT certified organic is the honey. While I do manage the bees organically, it is nearly impossible to have honey certified organic here in the lower 48 states. The reason why is because bees will forage up to four miles away, and if there are any conventional farm fields, golf courses or other landscapes that have been sprayed or planted with GMOs within that radius, a beekeeper cannot prevent the bees from foraging in those areas,” Debbie says.
“We are also expanding the farm considerably in 2012. We will be putting out 1,000 taps for maple syrup, and have opened up a new one-acre field for vegetable growing. Plus we have qualified for an NRCS (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) grant to add a high tunnel for vegetable growing. It will be 30’ x 100’ and will extend our growing season. Also in 2012, we will start a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) offering subscriptions to people in our local area,” she explains.
Balloons, presents and pointed party hats. Who doesn’t love birthdays?
Flint does, which is why we were so excited when Moore Engineering Inc. (MEI) came to us for help in planning its 50th anniversary celebration in summer 2010.
Cake and candles aside, the goal was to use MEI’s 50th anniversary as a platform to demonstrate and showcase the firm’s expertise and commitment to clients by highlighting a number of key projects, clients and the employees of the past 50 years.
Party planning
In preparation for the celebration, Flint redeveloped MEI’s website, established the company’s blog, redesigned the MEI logo and created a special anniversary icon.
Our creative team also crafted new ad messaging and designed a number of fresh print ads to be released as part of MEI’s anniversary.
While Flint’s interactive and creative teams were fully immersed in rebranding MEI, our public relations team was preparing materials for a 50th anniversary media kit. Pieces included local, regional, national and trade versions of news releases; a portfolio featuring high-profile projects, founders, distinguished alumni and current staff; and a timeline of the company’s history.
The guest list
When the big day came, MEI was greatly impressed with the dignitaries and guests that turned out for the event. Attendees included West Fargo Mayor Rich Mattern, Lee Sprague (the firm’s first employee) and MEI cofounder Marshall Moore. The celebration also featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce.
MEI has been headquartered in West Fargo, N.D., since 1964, but it also has a branch office in Fergus Falls, Minn., and recently opened a third office in Minot, N.D.
The after party
Nothing marks success more than an engaging after party.
Since MEI’s anniversary last year, Flint has been working with the company on a variety of marketing and advertising ventures, including creating and placing print ads, assisting with public relations, maintaining the website and editing blog posts.
With MEI’s 50th anniversary behind us, we’re already looking ahead to the company’s 100th. Hey, it’s never too early to start planning, right?
Maybe it’s just a Flint thing; but, like I said, we love birthdays.
How does your company celebrate its anniversaries? Share with us in the comment section below.
Brittney’s passion for food began as a goal familiar to many women—to prove her husband wrong.
“It started when my husband told me that healthy food doesn’t taste good. All his meals consisted of broiled tilapia seasoned with pepper alone, plain brown rice and steamed veggies straight from the freezer. It’s been my mission ever since to prove him wrong.”
A woman on a mission
When she’s not managing accounts and preparing press releases in our Duluth Office, Brittney, a PR assistant and account coordinator at WestmorelandFlint, enjoys cooking a variety of experimental, healthy meals.
In fact, she cooks a five-course meal every night.
Okay, okay… the five-course part might be a stretch, but she does cook delicious, inventive meals most nights of the week. Just ask her husband, who, by the way, openly admits that Brittney has proven healthy food does not have to be bland and boring.
“I love Brittney’s cooking,” says her husband Eric. “We are both active people, so we want food that is good for our bodies as well as our taste buds. Brittney somehow manages to accomplish this with every meal she cooks.”
His current favorite? A flank steak sandwich with roasted bell peppers, balsamic onions, arugula and a variety of other veggies, all sautéed and placed into a pita pocket.
Her current favorites? Venison steak stir-fry with fresh veggies and jasmine rice, homemade black bean burgers with roasted sweet potato fries, and falafel sandwiches with yogurt dill sauce.
“I really like cooking because you can experiment with mixing different ingredients together, and you can never really mess it up,” says Brittney, proudly noting that she’s finally mastered the art of falafel. (And yes, falafel is an art.)
From food to fitness
Brittney’s love of food goes hand-in-hand with her devotion to fitness.
“I want to set a great example for my children, when we have them, and I want to be healthy myself,” she says.
Her passion for fitness began with her discovery of kettlebells, a workout that uses cast-iron weights to build functional muscle and core strength.
“I like to try new things and take on new challenges,” says Brittney. “When you’re working with kettlebells, you have to give it your all the whole time, and that’s a great thing to take with you out of the gym.”
Brittney and Eric began training at a local kettlebell gym, and loved it so much that they soon invested in their own kettlebells to train at home.
One tough couple
The two fitness enthusiasts are currently using kettlebells as part their training for a Tough Mudder race—a hardcore 10- to 12-mile obstacle course that tests strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie.
“It’s kind of like a Warrior Dash, except it’s a 10- to 12-mile race, rather than a 5k race, through mud and up, over, under and through different obstacles,” says Brittney, noting that one such obstacle is running through live electric wires.
Brittney says, “We thought it looked super challenging, exciting, maybe a little fun, but mostly it looked badass and would give us something to work toward. Honestly, the Tough Mudder terrifies me, and that’s part of the reason I’m doing it!”
Get to know a Flintster: Q + A with Brittney
What’s your dream job?
Anything that allows me to grow as a person and as a professional. Oh, and has amazing vacation time.
Which job would you not want to have?
President of the United States.
What was your first job?
I worked at Dairy Queen in Grafton, N.D. It dropped the franchise, so if you’re driving through Grafton, N.D., it’s now the Ice Box—stop and grab some fried pickles!
What did it teach you?
Teamwork and self-discipline.
What is one thing you’d be willing to practice for an hour a day?
Active listening.
What’s the best advice you ever got?
Be yourself.
What sound do you love?
Two sounds: water/waves and laughter (not necessarily together).
Where you travel and what you do depends a lot on what you know. And what you know greatly hinges on your ability to find information.
But for a tourism bureau, it’s more than simply providing information, or even providing the right information; it’s providing information in the format and medium people want.
The Greater Grand Forks CVB knows the best way to fulfill its mission is to meet and greet travelers where they are most comfortable getting information, whether in a brochure, through a phone call, on a website or (drum roll please…) via social media.
Enter, Flint Social Media Gurus
That’s why the Greater Grand Forks CVB partnered with Flint—to seize the untapped power of social media to tell visitors about all there is to do in the Greater Grand Forks area.
Our team took the reins, providing social media strategy and training to guide the Greater Grand Forks CVB staff in establishing a blog, Facebook page, Twitter feed and other targeted social media outposts.
We also helped them understand best practices for managing and updating social media outlets, responding to comments, and encouraging reviews and online interactions.
With these social media tactics in place, the Greater Grand Forks CVB had Flint redesign its website to incorporate its blog and Facebook posts on the homepage.
The organization now uses its learned social media skills to provide frequently updated and relevant information, reviews and real-time advice to new and returning visitors of the Greater Grand Forks area.
“Simply Grand” Results
The result has been an ever-growing fan base of visitors, potential visitors, locals and community businesses connected by a common purpose of exchanging information about the best spots to shop, dine, play and stay. And for the Greater Grand Forks CVB, these results are, of course, “simply grand.”
Kaia explains, “Six years ago a colleague attended the Special Olympics Summer Games and noticed there wasn’t any media coverage of the event. We reached out to SOND and offered to help and the rest, as they say, is history.”
In 2007, she started as chair of the Public Relations Committee for State Summer Games.
Since, she has assisted with the group’s marketing and public relations for the World’s Largest Truck Convoy and the send-off of the ND delegation to the national games, where she gathered close to 100 fans to cheer on athletes as they loaded the bus. Kaia and the Flint Group work to capture the media’s attention for these events, creating a larger awareness and visibility of SOND.
Kaia was honored for her ongoing dedication to the mission of Special Olympics at the SOND State Awards Banquet in early November, where she was recognized with the Outstanding State Volunteer Award!
Seeing the world differently
“Helping with Special Olympics lets you see the world differently,” explains Kaia. “The athletes have such an honest and genuine enthusiasm for life. Preparing for the events can be a lot of work, but watching the special athletes compete like any other typical athlete makes it all worth it.”
“There’s one athlete who competes in track and field every year, and he always comes in dead last in his event,” Kaia describes. “But every year he has the biggest smile you’ll ever see as he makes his way toward the finish line. The crowd cheers louder for him than for anyone out there, and when he finally crosses that line, his friends, family and competitors go absolutely nuts! It’s an amazing sight and by far my favorite event every year.”
Get to know a Flintster: Q + A with Kaia
What’s your dream job?
Product tester for Apple, Inc.
Which job would you not want to have?
Product tester for Microsoft.
What was your first job?
Sales associate at OfficeMax.
What did it teach you?
A job is what you make of it. Retail isn’t fun, but keep a positive attitude and work hard and you’ll have a blast. Everyone should have to work at least one retail job in his or her life.
What is one thing you’d be willing to practice for an hour a day?
Any musical instrument.
What’s the best advice you ever got?
If you work hard, things will come easy.
What sound do you love?
The silence when you go outside on a calm winter night.
What scent do you love?
Freshly cut grass.
Interested in seeing the world differently with Kaia and the SOND athletes? Become a volunteer.
Back in July, when West Acres food court had a vacant space to fill, the Flint team suggested something interactive, a place where customers could freely voice their suggestions. A chalkboard barricade graphic did the trick!
The artwork asked people what restaurant they’d like to see in the space. When it went live on July 12, it filled up in less than two hours. After recording the suggestions, West Acres staff erased the chalkboard nightly, allowing people to start over the next day.
The first day it was up, West Acres also reached out to its Facebook fans, crowdsourcing the same question. Over 100 responses appeared (and most with multiple restaurant requests).
Traditional media also tuned in—specifically, Mike McFeely of KFGO AM thought it would make a fun radio topic. He interviewed West Acres on his show and asked callers to phone in their suggestions.
The people spoke: just last week Qdoba Mexican Grill opened in the West Acres food court. The nearly 80,000 Black Friday shoppers had the opportunity to enjoy lunch (err… breakfast?) at the new food court restaurant, chosen specifically by shoppers.
We all know word of mouth is powerful. Sometimes people just need a little nudge to talk—and sometimes it’s as simple as a food court chalkboard.
In a campaign to distribute free lesson kits to North Dakota educators, changing a few areas of an email significantly increased responses.
The Flint Group client, ND Switch, is built on the premise that small changes create a big impact. An energy efficiency program sponsored by the North Dakota Department of Commerce, ND Switch is a statewide effort to enlighten residents about small actions that make a major difference when it comes to saving energy.
This part of ND Switch encourages state educators to teach students about energy efficient behaviors. The audience for this phase of the campaign was the 603 administrators, superintendents and principals at N.D. elementary and middle schools.
The offer
Here was the deal: Educators could reserve a FREE ‘Comparing Light Bulbs’ lesson kit (complete with all materials), and pick up the kit at ND Switch’s booth at the N.D. Educators Association (NDEA) conference. (We mailed the kit to people who didn’t attend the conference, but they had to reserve one online.) The kit included a box complete with:
A compact florescent light bulb
A florescent light bulb
Thermometer
Detailed lesson plan
National teaching/education standards met
Key chains and light switch cover stickers for each student (up to 40 per kit)
Recycled blue tote bag
ND Switch wanted to drive traffic to its NDEA booth, and position itself as a partner in energy efficiency education to state educators.
The plan
We planned to use email, direct mail and Facebook ads, targeted to those interested in teaching and education. The call to action was to visit a landing page and reserve their free lesson kit. The landing page allowed us to gather a little extra information, such as number of students in the classroom and whether or not the educator was planning to attend the conference. (As it turned out, only four were attending, and the majority of kits were mailed.) The Facebook ads were cancelled due to high demand for the lesson kits.
First, we sent an email to our target audience. Five lesson kits were reserved. Response rate: 0.829%. Next, we sent this direct mail postcard:
Six more lesson kits were reserved. Response rate: 1%. That’s about the industry average for direct mail.
Pull the plug?
We had 100 kits prepared, and we’d all counted on stronger responses. To our client’s credit, they didn’t pull the plug. They allowed us to change these three items on the email:
First email subject line: An Easy Way to Teach Students about Energy Usage
Second email subject line: Complimentary Lesson Kits Still Available
New lead-in copy on email: Complimentary lesson kit for the first 100 who respond!
Move the ‘Reserve your lesson kit’ button closer to the top of the second email
Results increase by 20x
Lesson kits reserved: 94! Response rate: 16%.
We now had 105 lesson kits reserved. Because of continued demand through landing page visits, we changed the message to: “We’re sorry, but all 100 lesson kits have been reserved.”
Lessons learned
ND Switch teaches that small changes yield big results. We’re proud they approved small tweaks to generate nearly 20 times more response in a second email. It also shed additional light on email subject line and actual email content. Obviously, “complimentary” is a powerful word. (It’s also another word for ‘free,’ which is a loaded word and sometimes marked as spam when used in email subject lines.) And, creating a sense of urgency with “first 100 who respond” also boosted our response.
ix more lesson kits were reserved. Response rate: 1%. That’s about the industry average for direct mail.
Pull the plug?
We had 100 kits prepared, and we’d all counted on stronger responses. To our client’s credit, they didn’t pull the plug. They allowed us to change these three items on the email:
1.First email subject line: An Easy Way to Teach Students about Energy Usage
Second email subject line: Complimentary Lesson Kits Still Available
2.New lead-in copy on email: Complimentary lesson kit for the first 100 who
respond!
3.Move the ‘Reserve your lesson kit’ button closer to the top of the second email
Results increase by 20x
Lesson kits reserved: 94! Response rate: 16%
We now had 105 lesson kits reserved. Because of continued demand through landing page visits, we changed the message to: “We’re sorry, but all 100 lesson kits have been reserved.”
Lessons learned
ND Switch teaches that small changes yield big results. We’re proud they approved small tweaks to generate nearly 20 times more response in a second email. It also shed additional light on email subject line and actual email content. Obviously, “complimentary” is a powerful word. (It’s also another word for ‘free,’ which is a loaded word and sometimes caught in spam when used in email subject lines.) And, creating a sense of urgency with “first 100 who respond” also boosted our response.
President of HatlingFlint, Bill Hatling lives and breathes enthusiasm. Both professionally and personally, Bill wears many hats, and he does it with gusto.
In our St. Cloud office, Bill is a certified brand strategist, but he does everything from managing accounts to finding new business to washing the dishes (it is a small office, after all!). Outside of work, Bill’s zest for life continues. Two nights a week, he teaches upperclassmen at St. Could State University about the ins and outs of advertising and integrated brand promotion. He’s also an avid windsurfer, enjoying the thrill of cruising across the lake at 40 miles per hour. But, if Bill had to choose his biggest passion of all, it would be music, hands down.
Since age eight, music has played a significant role in Bill’s life. Like many kids, he started with piano lessons, but eventually turned his focus to drums. During high school and college, Bill played in several jazz bands and, while at St. Cloud State, toured Europe with the University Jazz Band. He also played in a number of variety bands during that time, both country and western, but soon discovered that rock and roll was his preferred style.
“I’m the kind of drummer who likes to play with enthusiasm,” Bill explains. “I was given the nickname ‘Crash Bang’ by a former bass player because I play loudly. I have mellowed a bit over the years.”
Bill’s current band, The Receders, has been together for almost 15 years. Widely known throughout St. Cloud as a favorite dance band, The Receders play a combo of originals and cover tunes, and even created an original CD in 2008 (with hopes to record an encore release soon).
See The Receders in action:
(If you like what you hear, become a fan on Facebook.)
The band, composed of four busy professionals, performs about once a month. One of their larger gigs was in August 2011, when they played to a crowd of roughly 5,000 at Summertime by George, an outdoor concert festival in downtown St. Cloud.
Bill is proudly passing on his love for music to his kids. Son Max is a drummer too, playing occasionally in a rock band. Daughter Hannah has already informed the family that “she will be famous doing something with music,” as she plays piano, drums and sings.
Describing his musical side as the “artist in him getting out,” Bill loves the creative opportunity to express himself. Plus, pounding the drums is a huge stress reliever—perfect for the president of HatlingFlint.
What’s your favorite way to relieve built-up stress from work or life in general?
The professionals at Flint Communications are always hungry for new marketing trends, techniques or hot topics that we can share with friends and clients. Watch for a regular stream of insightful information – or join in the conversation.
