Sep 02, 2010
This summer we ventured into video direction with a new initiative for NIH’s National Center on Complementary and Alternative Medicine. These folks look at treatments outside the usual scope of Western medicine. Graves Fowler has worked with the Center’s dedicated staff for several years to spread the word about how to evaluate alternative treatments and make wise decisions based on both science and personal experience. The shoot was an inspiration. Just wait till you see the video. More to come!
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Aug 31, 2010
The Pew Research Center (love these folks!) have just released a new report on older adults and social media. It’s no surprise to me that the study shows use of Facebook and Twitter is mushrooming with this group. They’re talking about my people!
This past summer I traveled with a bunch of 60+ folks on a cross continent bicycle adventure. No matter how many miles we covered or how tired the riders were, at the end of the day there was always time for Facebook. That’s the way we kept up with family back home and posted how we were doing.
I’m amazed how Facebook is spreading. Just got a new Friend invitation from Frances. She’s 87. Looks like Generations X and Y will have to skootch over for their elders once again.
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Aug 30, 2010
A new website launched this summer for John Thompson III and his foundation. The Graves Fowler team designed and developed this new tool to help the Thompson family expand their work for children and families our Washington DC community. Go John and Monica! Go Hoyas!
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Jun 30, 2010
Global Impact, a nonprofit organization that assures help for the world’s most vulnerable people, has received honors from the Washington Post as a finalist in the 2010 Excellence in Nonprofit Management Awards. We’re proud of them, and proud also to be working with them for a second year on the Combined Federal Campaign for the National Capital Area. Congratulations to all the Global Impact staff! Award announcement details.
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Jun 30, 2010
Our technology partner, Blue Atlas Interactive, has just posted a handy article to help us all open the door and welcome the new world of mobile technology on the doorstep. If you are interested and don’t know where to start, read this!
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Jun 21, 2010
Have I told you how hard it is to work from a motor home, traveling across country with a bike tour? We’ve been on the road for a little over three weeks now and staying in towns so small they often don’t show on the map. I’m writing and driving, driving and writing. But if I didn’t have Internet access, my goose would be cooked, sliced and eaten!
That’s where my mifi comes in. I bought it just before the trip and the Verizon guy promised me it would save my job. True! It’s hardly bigger than a credit card, has one simple on/off button and works every time. All four of us in the motor home can log on and blog or whatever without a wireless care. I love my mifi! (You’re welcome, Verizon.)
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Jun 03, 2010
When my husband decided to ride his bicycle across the country to raise money for our local food bank, I jumped in to volunteer as the support vehicle. Of course I planned to continue to work as we traveled 70 miles a day from San Francisco to Maine. How hard could it be to take my laptop and keep on writing?
The answer is HARD. I’m in a motor home with electricity. I have a MiFi, portable printer, iMac Pro and iPhone. But just sorting out the wires and cables is a nightmare! There are four of us living in this traveling “office.” In the evening, we all log on for blogging, email, photo downloads, etc. The motor home is sucking juice like crazy. And did I mention what access to cell towers is like in Eureka, Nevada?
The upside is that I am working with a view of snow covered mountains and desert wildflowers. So I won’t complain too much. Learn more about the ride.
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May 26, 2010
From our marketing partners Kleimann Communication Group — You’ve spent time and money designing a new communication piece to convey important information to your consumers. The question you need to answer now is― does it work? Often organizations spend time and energy making sure their information looks good while ignoring whether it works: can consumers understand it? Use it? Act upon it? The only way to answer these questions is through consumer testing. Read their insights in this article >> KleimannComm_article
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May 25, 2010
The short answer is yes. But the more complicated answer that gets into “why” and “how” is just beginning to unfold here at Graves Fowler. Setting up a page on Flickr, Twitter and Facebook takes almost no time. Making these tools a valuable part of an organization’s marketing and outreach is more complicated. Here are a few things we’ve learned so far.
1. Take social media seriously. This isn’t a fad that will go away. While the tools may change, this kind of communication is only going to become more important all the time. I recently heard at the Social Media Summit that mobile applications today are where the Internet was in the late 1990s, and they are poised to have just as much impact.
2. Social media is part of smart marketing strategy. The key word here is “strategy.” Almost anyone can set up a Twitter page and start using it. But making it a valuable tool in your overall marketing mix is more complicated. With the right planning and execution, however, you can set goals and expect measurable results.
3. Social media doesn’t manage itself. It’s less expensive and more labor intensive than other kinds of marketing. Social media is social. It’s relevant only when there is active, two-way communication that finds current and potential supporters or customers and builds a relationship with them. That takes dedicated daily time.
So come on board. Get a feel for how the social media sites work on a small-scale personal level, then get serious and let the marketing folks put it to work for you.
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May 19, 2010
Recently Mariann Seriff, our Creative Director, spent the day with a classroom full of elementary school students trying to explain just what we do. (See her blog entry “The Big Draw” for the full story.) She came back glowing, and apparently the kids had the same response. Their thank you notes were a treat to receive.
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