Our 2012 promotional campaign for the Wyndham Championship is officially underway with a photoshoot at Sedgefield Country Club depicting spectators in various vacation attire. Photographer John Walsh is aiding WilsonMcGuire Creative in this effort as we retouch our 2011 champion into this photograph in hopes of inspiring everyone in the Triad to ESCAPE TO THE WYNDHAM this year. Look for the finished product to appear in outdoor boards, print ads and online display banners.

My stomach hurt. We had turned this 12-page book around in less than six weeks from creation to production – an almost impossible feat. It was leather bound and beautiful. It should have been perfect. We had proofed the book – more than once. My client and his team had proofed the book. None of us saw the typo. And, now, it was the only thing we saw on the page.

It’s human nature to be imperfect. We all make mistakes. When you produce as many pieces of communication as we do, you get pretty good at identifying errors before the presses run. In our nine years of doing business, we’ve only made a couple of typos like this.

What struck me in this situation, however, was not the error, but the way my client handled it. Yes, he was disappointed. He was looking forward to unveiling this perfect piece at his meeting the next day. But he did not yell or scream or even blame.

“Don’t beat yourself up about this,” he said, “We missed it, too.”

Wow. How understanding! All I wanted to do was fix this for him. After testing a few options, my team and I figured out a way to replace the imperfect pages by hand. And while we couldn’t fix all of them in a single day, we drove to his office and fixed enough of them to get him through his meeting.

He was grateful for our efforts. And we were grateful to have such a reasonable and understanding client.

It’s easy to be nice when things are going well. But it’s how you treat others when things are going wrong that reveals your true character. What would it reveal about you?

We can now follow people in our industry on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Google+ and Pinterest among others. Their tweets, posts and pins give us glimpses not just into their business lives, but into their personal lives as well as. And this is where things get tricky.

Both businesses and employees are using these tools for self promotion, networking and information gathering. Many businesses, however, are asking to see potential employees’ Facebook pages before they hire them. This is an invasion of their privacy. Facebook is outraged at the thought. Meanwhile, employees are being fired for posting negative comments about their employers and/or coworkers.

That’s defamatory. (Not to mention, incredibly stupid.)

Once you post something, it’s immediately visible and, possibly, even “shared.” It’s ironic that things we WANT to go viral never do. But put something up that you’re going to regret and it’s all over the place.

Then there’s the question of productivity. When employees check their Facebook or other social media sites during office hours, does productivity suffer? Opinions vary. But if you’ve ever spent a minute on a YouTube channel, you know how quickly that minute turns into an hour. Using these sites at work is a lot like taking a smoking break. It’s a privilege that can easily be abused.

Pinterest has managed to add an entirely new level of legal chaos to businesses. While individuals can use it fairly harmlessly, companies who “pin” must be very careful or they’ll find themselves on the wrong side of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

So what is a business to do?

The answer lies in policies.

It’s becoming increasingly important for companies to establish guidelines on employees’ use of social media sites during business hours. Even when social media is part of what your business does, like it is for us, you owe it to your employees to be clear about what is and is not acceptable.

Sixty years ago, employers had issues with their employees taking too many personal calls. The telephone was an employee’s biggest distraction. These days, employees email, text, use chatrooms, instant message, Facebook and Skype before they ever consider picking up a phone. And that wild wild west of the world wide web holds more distractions than BellSouth had phone numbers. So while you don’t want to cut your employees off from the world during office hours, you do want them to focus on your business. After all, that’s what they’re being paid to do.

So do some research, think about your company’s culture and define your parameters on the use of social media in the workplace. Write them out clearly for your employees to make sure they’re understood. Because that ever-blurring line between business and personal is only as defined as you make it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m at work right now. And it feels like just another Wednesday to me.

If I have an extra day in my life, I’d like to get to choose how to use this valuable time. I’d like a vacation day. I’d like to spend this day writing or drawing or sitting on a beach somewhere.

Shouldn’t we vote on this or something? This is America after all.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think this is something you can build a political campaign around. Newt, are you listening? This could be the topic you’ve been waiting for! Taking Back Leap Day! (Take that as free advice. Sorry, we don’t do advertising for political candidates.)

DATE:  2.24.12

USGA HIRES WILSONMcGUIRE CREATIVE

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – WilsonMcGuire Creative has been retained by the United States Golf Association to develop and establish a video and collateral piece promoting the 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open Championships to be held at Pinehurst Resort.

WilsonMcGuire has worked with the USGA for a number of years, most recently on print, online and television advertising for the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland. The 2014 event will be unprecedented in that it marks the first time in its century-old history that the USGA has held both the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open at a single venue in two consecutive weeks.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” says LeAnn Wilson McGuire, president of WilsonMcGuire Creative. “It’s a great opportunity to spotlight our state. And it’s an exciting opportunity for North Carolina businesses. We’re creating materials to inspire companies to treat their customers and promote their brands by sponsoring the 2014 events with corporate hospitality.”

The U.S. Open will be played June 12-15, 2014 and the U.S. Women’s Open will follow, June 19-22, 2014.

“Pinehurst is unique in that it’s not only America’s most historic golf resort, but it’s one of the few locations that could even handle two events of this magnitude consecutively,” says Wilson McGuire. “The relationship between the resort and the USGA goes back 100 years. We’re really excited to be a part of this historic event.”

DATE: 2.6.12

VILLAGE OF PINEHURST RETAINS WILSONMcGUIRE CREATIVE

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – WilsonMcGuire Creative has been retained by the Village of Pinehurst to develop and establish a brand positioning for the charming municipality.

The Village of Pinehurst, population 15,000, is located in Moore County, about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. Founded in 1895 by James Walker Tufts, the Village was developed along with and surrounding Pinehurst Resort. It was planned with assistance from Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of New York’s famed Central Park. With its historic homes, manicured grounds and curvilinear streets, the Village spans approximately 14 square miles and resembles a New England style parish.

WilsonMcGuire Creative is an integrated advertising, social media and digital marketing firm located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The company specializes in travel/tourism/hospitality and sports/event marketing and has served as agency of record for Pinehurst Resort since 2003 and the Wyndham Championship since 2008.

The best thing WilsonMcGuire Creative did in 2011 was the website for the launch of the restoration of Pinehurst No. 2 (PinehurstNumber2.com) and the print, broadcast and online campaign for 2012. The good news is, Pinehurst is the client that (1) we worked hardest for and (2) paid us the most. So we got THAT part right.

We did some other things right as well. We changed our business model. With online work steadily increasing at the expense of direct mail and collateral, in 2011 we finally restructured our processes, pricing and job codes accordingly. So now we can charge appropriately for all that time we’re spending on content, social media, banner ads, HTML emails, in-stream videos and Google Adwords search campaigns. With all the changes in media, marketing and retail in the past 5 years, if your business model hasn’t changed, it probably should.

We created and launched a new website (http://www.wilsonmcguire.com/) for ourselves. (This is a massive undertaking for an agency because when you make your living doing marketing and websites for others, you rarely find the time to do it well for yourself.) And we wrote, designed and built the whole thing in less than two months! Now we just have to change out the content regularly. All of the sites we build these days allow for the clients to change their content themselves. If your site doesn’t, maybe you need a new one, too.

We sent our artists and writers to a creative conference on interactive design. We were exposed to the best speakers and practices in the field. We picked up a few new tricks. And we all came away newly inspired and invigorated about what we do for a living. Our strategists went to an internet summit as well. It was a little on the dry side. But one speaker, Gary Vaynerchuk (Thank You Economy), gave an hour-long talk on social media that made it all worthwhile. I can’t show you the exact presentation, but THIS ONE he did at another presentation is close. (FF to the 9:30 mark. Warning: explicit language). It’s amazing how a single person can change the mood of an entire summit. We should bear that in mind at the next dull meeting we attend.

We got our Google certification. When you’ve spent as much time and money as we have on Google Search and Display campaigns for the past five years, you might as well get credit for it. So Kathryn got tested and Google approved. And we can now officially claim that Google thinks we know what we’re doing.

We added a couple of new faces to our creative team. Chris Bormann brought some solid design skills and a get-it-done attitude to our team. And Darwin Hadley, a coder and self-proclaimed technology geek, became our official “go to” programmer. By adding Darwin to our already strong rolodex of talented programmers, we’re able to offer clients a consistently high level of quality and service while keeping costs to a minimum.

We created a Google+ page (another day, another business page). And, more importantly, we separated my personal WilsonMcGuire Twitter account (@LWilsonMcGuire) from our WilsonMcGuire company account (@WilsonMcGuire). This provides the double benefit of (1) allowing other WilsonMcGuire team members to tweet for the company and (2) keeping my 19-year-old son and his profane friends’ tweets off our corporate page. (Good idea).

We signed a 3-year contract with The Wyndham Championship (thanks, Mark!). Last year, we re-designed their website (so they can update all the content themselves). They had a great year in 2011 with some of the biggest names in the game participating. And, for the first time, technology allowed us to create digital outdoor boards which changed regularly with updated scores, standings, etc. Who knows what we’ll be able to do by this summer? But with Webb Simpson returning to defend his title, we’re hoping for an even better 2012.

We were hired to conduct a membership survey, photo shoot and branding campaign for Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. The home of the SAS Championship, Prestonwood really is “where Cary comes to play.” And if you live anywhere near the Triad, it’s worth a visit (and a membership). This membership drive was a great success largely because local print ads were supported by a Google Search and Display campaign.

So what did you try in 2011? What will you try in 2012? Every business has to do something. Because when the whole world is moving forward, you can’t afford to stand still.

It all starts innocently enough. You build a website. You have to — it’s your digital front door. However, to get folks to return to your website, you need to freshen it repeatedly with new content. Daunting, but you can commit to that.

A blog will help freshen your site. This is where you write SOMETHING every week – it almost doesn’t matter what as long as you populate the page. This is called content. And content, we all know, is king.

Then, you sign up for a Facebook page. It can be a more casual spot than your website, you think. A conversation area. A “behind the scenes” look. You can get folks to “like” your business and, Wa-La, you have a captive audience at your disposal. FREE. You can get opinions, share yours, etc. It’s great. But then they start offering “Fan Gate Pages” and “Tabs.” Suddenly it’s turning into a mini-website that needs to be fed.

Then, along comes Twitter. This serves as your megaphone to shout out your latest news to the masses (or the few) who follow you. It’s kind of like posting your Facebook status, but it has hash tags and stuff that make it easier to start, follow and get in on conversations. Plus, if you’re under 21, Twitter is new and cool and Facebook is so yesterday. It’s all about followers now.

Of course, you’re also on LinkedIn. You can’t neglect to build your network. It’s a great place for sales leads and job seekers. And, you can monitor not only who knows whom, but also who exaggerates the most on their resumes.

Enter Google+. It’s not really filling a void. It’s kind of like Facebook. Actually, it’s EXACTLY like Facebook. It’s part of Google’s World Domination Plan. Kill Facebook with “circles” instead of “groups.” They already OWN you with their search engine, “places” and gmail accounts. So you can’t ignore them. You NEED a Google+ page. What if it becomes “the place to be” and your business isn’t there?

Then, there’s the “about.me” page. Have you done yours? It’s a place where you can post what you are all “about,” including all your links to all the other pages you’ve created. Which brings us to your Klout score.

Do you have one? A Klout score? At Klout.com? This site takes into account how many followers, friends and people there are in your network and uses your social media activity to measure your social “influence.” It’s absolutely addictive. When I first checked my Klout score, it was a 12. Downright depressing. (By comparison, my teenage son’s was a 39.) Once I dialed in, I quickly reached 40 (thereby achieving my goal of surpassing my Twitter-loving son). Thus far, that’s the only benefit I’ve derived from this. (Duh! We know how influential we are (or not). We don’t need a score for that.)

Which brings us back to the new business page offering on Twitter. I think I’ll skip that one as a Christmas gift to myself. I’ll continue to monitor the social media landscape as it evolves. Eventually, we’ll see if Facebook becomes passé, if Google+ survives, if Twitter continues to gain followers and if Klout scores ever gain traction. But this holiday season, I’ll spend a day or two visiting with friends and family in person instead of checking in, tweeting or posting. Facetime, if you will – without the technology. Now that’s what I call a happy holiday!

While I agree that content is certainly what draws people to a site, I happen to believe good design can keep them there. In a way, online design is still like the wild, wild west. Unlike traditional media, you have limited control of how your website will appear. Browsers, software, and hardware-types all work slightly differently and affect what the end user sees. Your site design might appear one way in Microsoft Explorer and altogether differently in Safari or Chrome. It might perform perfectly on a Mac and go haywire on a PC. In short, there’s a whole lot more to go wrong.

In web design, a site’s functionality (the user’s experience) is first and foremost in importance. Even content is irrelevant if it’s not delivering. This means a huge shift in thinking for us creative types.

We have to be more than artists and writers. We have to be students of human behavior. We have to become increasingly “in tune” and intuitive. It’s not enough to come up with pleasing designs. We have to get into the heads of our target audience and understand how they use the web before we sketch out the first idea. Copy can no longer just be “well-written.” It must be gathered, analyzed, organized, grouped and appropriately crafted for online consumption.

Interactive design is not about a “look.” It’s about an experience. It’s about engaging your customers and inspiring interaction.

Google.com may not look like much. But I would argue that it is beautifully designed in its simplicity. There are no extra bells and whistles. And the user knows exactly how to use it upon sight. The more utilitarian a site is, the less important the design may be. But it’s human nature to be attracted to good design. If we weren’t, fashion wouldn’t exist. Galleries would be out of business. And Rosanne Barr would be just as attractive to men as Halle Berry.

It takes time, but we eventually improve the design of even the most utilitarian items. Stoves and refrigerators are now stainless steel. Baby pacifiers are designed to look like lips. Cell phone covers come in a million different designs. Even televisions, which were simple black boxes for more than 50 years, are now flat screened works of art. Even the most functional websites will benefit from good design.

In marketing, we’re just beginning to push the limits of what we can do online. Design may not drive interactive advertising, but as an integral part of the user experience, it can determine whether that experience inspires and engages your customers – or drives them away.

A creative’s primary job is to sell – online or off. So bring us your ugly websites. And let us turn them into selling machines.