Working with HamiltonBerchman Design Group, DBA was able to create a simple, clean company portfolio available to clients via the Internet. The objective was to create a website that presented their work in an aesthetically pleasing way without getting in the way of the work.

About Davis Brown Architecture
Davis Brown Architecture is a boutique design firm with offices in Ojai and Venice, California.

Its diverse portfolio reflects a profound engagement of the work with the natural setting.  Climate, solar orientation, soil, and local weather patterns – including fire and flood cycles – are critical to the firm’s understanding of the environment and inform its long- standing embrace of sustainable strategies.

The practice is defined by its commitment to a collaborative design process that encourages the contributions of the client, consultants and builders; at its core is an ability to address the client’s practical and aesthetic needs while fully responding to the contextual matrix.

About HamiltonBerchman
HamiltonBerchman Design Group helps organizations increase their relevance by designing and developing custom web-based communications and is dedicated to developing a personal and responsive relationship with every client. HamiltonBerchman was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Ojai, CA with their team of professionals positioned in Portland, San Diego, and Poland. www.hamiltonberchman.com

Ojai, CA – February 09, 2009 – Dennison+Wolfe Internet Group, a web communications agency for budget-conscious businesses wanting to do it right, today announced the company launch and a new website at www.DennisonWolfe.com.

Dedicated to providing affordable, professional web and marketing services, Dennison+Wolfe was co-founded by two internet veterans who together bring decades of experience in web development, internet strategy, online communities, technology and media.

Bert Mahoney, Chief Creative Officer, has developed a refined sense of effective design focused on usability, architecture and simplicity. He is also President/Creative Director of HamiltonBerchman Design Group, Inc. and Director of Internet Strategy and Services for AIGA Santa Barbara.

Tyler Suchman, Chief Strategy Officer, has built a thriving internet strategy consultancy over the last seven years, helping a wide variety of clients effectively build their business and do business online under the Tribal Core banner. He is the founder of The Ojai Post, the largest community website in the Ojai Valley, and was named to the 2007 Top 40 Under 40 by the Pacific Coast Business Times.

“We believe that it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to put your web strategy in place, with the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted by people who care about your business,” stated Suchman. “We believe that on a modest budget, we can make your web presence remarkable, and exceed your expectations.”

Dennison+Wolfe offers professional, personalized web packages that are ideal for a company looking for a fresh look or just starting up. From just $999, services include a personalized look-and-feel, marketing services and simplified content management giving clients the ability to edit and add web content from any computer or cell phone.

The partners are committed to the double bottom-line, and have ambitious plans to donate web packages and web hosting to non-profits and other socially responsible organizations on a regular basis.

For more information, visit www.DennisonWolfe.com.

About Dennison+Wolfe Internet Group
D+W is a web communications agency for budget conscious businesses wanting to do it right. The company offers a suite of professional and affordable services accessible to the smallest of companies with the biggest of dreams. Web Packages start at only $999, and include personalization, marketing services, including email newsletter marketing, and a leading content management system.

Media Contact:
Leslie Davis
leslie@neuhouse.com
(805) 272-5410

This is part 2 of a 6 part series.

Something we all do in the modern business world is email. It is a staple to getting things done. Are you using email marketing as a tool in your marketing mix? If not you are missing a high-return opportunity. Email is something you already do every day and, if done correctly, can be one of the most effective forms of marketing you undertake.

So, why get into email marketing?

1. You already know how to do it
   You email clients and prospects constantly. Being able to create email content should be relatively simple.
2. It compliments other marketing initiatives
   For those people who may not visit your web site regularly,  see your printed advertising, or be in constant contact, email is the most cost efficient and effective way to stay in touch.
3. It’s a new and recurring revenue stream
   Your email marketing will be organic and change over time. You can offer different content, a new offer, or have a design tweak to make the email more effective. It will improve your relationship with customers and prospects and inject new and recurring sales.
4. It does work
   Based on data from EmailStatCenter email is proven to return your investment.
   1. Cost Effective
      Once the initial cost of setting up an email publishing system is done (design and programming) the cost of publishing is much cheaper than anything printed.
   2. Feedback Is Immediate
      Once you publish you will begin to see feedback data with most data coming back in 24-48 hours.
   3. It’s Relevant and Personable
      Not only can you segment your market and target specific groups of people, you can personalize the message with a “Dear Joe” greeting AND deliver different content to “Joe” than everyone else on the list.
   4. It’s Measurable
      You can review actionable data from every email you send. You can see how many people opened the email and what links were popular by seeing what links are being clicked.
5. Email Marketing can take different forms
   1. Quick Announcements
      For when you have something quick to share. Think of it as a postcard email. A simple note or piece of information works well in this format.
   2. Email Newsletters
      These should build upon relationships you have with existing clients and other business relationships. The focus should be on providing relevant content to your readers. Often the content doesn’t necessarily relate to your products or services, but rather highlights information, knowledge, or expertise you have. For example a grocer may send out an email newsletter that shares recipes and the benefits of organic produce. See my DesignDetails email newsletter as an example.
   3. Catalog Emails
      As the name implies this is an email highlighting content from a catalog of offerings that are typically in print or online. The purpose of this type of email is to encourage readers to purchase.
   4. Press Releases
      If you have a list of media contacts you can certainly share the latest company information in an email press release format and can be a great way to attract coverage.

Conclusions

Know that one email marketing solution may not do everything you need. You may need more than one type of email solution to get the job done. The one item I cannot stress enough is that email newsletters are measurable. You get concrete data on:

• successful deliveries
• unsuccessful deliveries (email addresses that are not working)
• number of people who opened your email
• number of people who clicked on any links in your email

…and many other parameters. For the cost, email marketing cannot be beat as a form of marketing communication.

Let us know if you have any questions, or want to get started with your own email newsletter.

I’ve begun reading the The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual and it struck me, “is anybody out there?” I’m looking for you—the person reading these words right now. I’m interested in knowing what you think. I’m looking for interaction, conversation, feedback. I send this email every month but haven’t heard from you lately.

The power of the Internet is that we all have the ability to communicate with one another on a one-to-one basis, or in groups. We have the power of our voices. The Internet is really not about marketing or commerce although it is very convenient to research and buy things. We can have conversations, share ideas, debate the merits of one thing over another. The power is in the communication and that is a 2 way street. The Internet is about expressing ideas, sharing knowledge, and having conversations and relationships with real people. And that is what I am doing with my company blog and my e-newsletter.

What I love to do is help people find the best way to use the Internet to communicate. Not everyone is trying to say the same thing and everyone listening is not necessarily doing it the same way.

So, the format of my e-newsletters has changed to find out what you think.

All my previous e-newsletter issues were sent to you in their entirety. Sometimes they were weighty emails. Now my e-newsletter provides you with a table of contents and then each piece of content takes you over here to my website to read more and allow you to engage in the conversation. Please share your ideas and opinions… I want to hear what you think!

What is the most powerful thing you ‘get’ from the Internet?

• Information?
• Communication?
• Relationships?
• Business?

I want to know, comment below.

How do you get people engaged with your business, product, or service in the digital space?

The great opportunity available to everyone using the Internet to communicate their message is the chance to innovate and create. A myriad of ways exist to engage people using the Internet. Depending on what you are communicating, what your defined goals and objectives are, and what strategies you employ will determine what type of success you will encounter.

Many of these experiences are based on tried and tested techniques, and people experience them on a daily basis. For example blogs, online forums, and email newsletters have all evolved in their own ways to give people a reason to engage with your message and the value you can provide them. The best ideas and practices bubble up to the top and are continuously refined to deliver the results people are after. You only need to go and look at the blogosphere to see the endless discussion on an ever-expanding range of topics about making things better, faster, and more effective.

Why should someone care about what you have to say? Why should they engage with you? What about innovation and invention in ‘giving people a reason?’ What are the ideas and techniques that have yet to be invented? These are new paradigms that interest and engage people on a mass scale in ways never thought of before. I do run across new examples of this from time to time.

An Example, Or Two.
There are two recent examples of this type of innovation from the music world. As some of you may know the music industry and their distribution model have been brought to the Internet in a haphazard and less-than-elegant way. Had music companies been innovative and not resisted change, their fate today might be different–but we digress. Our  two examples come from the band Radiohead. The band earlier this year released their latest album “In Rainbows” first, and only, on the Internet. Other bands have done this before, but what Radiohead did was to allow people name their own price, and then download the entire album. Many people thought they were crazy to do this. Would people actually pay? Or would they just run off with a freebie? The feedback that I read reported that, on average, people paid what would be considered the price for a new CD. So, overall the experiment worked. Some people paid little or nothing, others paid a bit more and the result was proof of a new way to release an album for a major music artist. Radiohead then went to release the album on a traditional CD a few months later.

The second experiment involves remixing a song from their new album–the song is called “Nude.” This is not the first time an artist has done this on the Internet, but this time Radiohead is charging 99 cents per track to download. People then remix them to create a variety of new versions of the song. People can then upload their mixes and the public then votes on these mixes to arrive at the most popular version.  To date there are over 1600 remixes submitted to the website.

It will be interesting to see what the final results are from this second experiment. What ways can you engage your prospects, clients, fans using digital technology? What examples do you see within your industry or others that get you thinking of ways you can give people a reason to engage?