This past December Go West Design Group donated their 20+ years of expertise in marketing to the Women Helping Women clothing initiative for the residents of the Victoria Women's Transition House.

Spearheaded by Breathe Athletic on Fort Street, owner Stephanie Hinton donated from a selection of Karma jackets, pants & capris to the women living at the emergency shelter.

To add more to the initiative, Hinton brought Bikram Yoga Studios on board and all proceeds from their December "karma classes" were also donated to the shelter.

The initiative was a great success, with lots of visitors to the centre getting some great Christmas goodies to help them out over the holiday and some great Karmic vibes to ring in the New Year.

1. A successfully integrated social media strategy is a surefire way to open up a two-way communication channel and get real time feedback from your audience or customer base. Although it takes time to build your connections, you will eventually find out whether or not your brand or message is getting through.

2. You can pick and choose from the vast array of social media tools to suit your business and your needs. For example, Amazon.com gains excellent insights into their target market by encouraging customer created content in reviews. Currently, the top channels used for business are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube but not every channel is right for every business. There may be niche/industry specific social networks worth your time or emerging networks that are a good fit for your product or service.

3. If your social media matches the branding aesthetic and message of your traditional media, it becomes a natural complimentary extension of your whole marketing program. Expect to make a consistent effort for 6-12 months to achieve maximum results and, once in place, remember that a social media strategy is an ongoing program.

Integration of social media and traditional marketing is a powerful force no business can afford to ignore. Don't forget to keep your social media brand consistent with your traditional marketing. And above all, have fun with it!

For us, a great website has to do these jobs:

• Let visitors know, clearly, what we do
• Tell the success stories of our clients
• Give multiple ways for people to connect with us
• Provide new and relevant information for people who visit, so they will want to know more, and come back.

In fact, that’s what every successful business website should do!

With our new design, the improvement to our online marketing has been immediate.  We are using Facebook and Twitter regularly to keep in touch with our clients and friends, and those updates refresh our site. In addition, when we post news updates on our site, those updates get sent automatically to Facebook and Twitter. We’re more productive, our site is more useful, and we are engaging online with not only our clients, but people who are new to Go West Group.

“From the first meeting, I was made to feel that my business was important, I wasn’t just another client; my rebranding and new website was something Melinda took very seriously and personally. She learned all about my business, how we’re different from the competition and how to capitalize on that and stand out in big sea.”

“This was amazing to me, especially considering we had just finished a bunch of branding work with another firm. I literally didn’t know what I didn’t know. But Go West Group did, and I learned fast.”

“When the branding was all done, I received a comprehensive, very informative package of information pertaining to Island Home Care, our competition and how to continue to showcase our new brand. I have found this service to be an extreme value for Island Home Care. Based on the expertise of Go West Design Group, I have already begun to see growth and I can’t thank them enough!”

That’s why we’re very proud to contribute to the Hospital Activity Book for Children, a publication that eases hospital stays for kids nationwide.

According to the Hospital Activity Book for Children website, “…the activities in the book are not only fun for the children but are specifically designed for professionals to communicate with children about their thoughts, fears and feelings. The activities range from simple dot to dot colouring to more advanced puzzles.”

This resource is provided free to Victoria children thanks to the support of local businesses, whose ads appear below the activities and fund production and distribution.  As parents, designers and believers in the power of print media, supporting this worthwhile cause makes great sense.  We hope you’ll join us in making the Hospital Activity Book for Children one of your charitable causes!

We have nobody on staff named “Admin”.  Lorraine “Raincoaster” Murphy reminded me of this as we chatted in the speaker’s lounge at Social Media Camp, held June 3rd and 4th here in Victoria.  I know that when I visit someone’s website and read a piece of news, I want to know who put the post together.  That name and identity gives me a human to relate to – and isn’t that what all this “social media” is about?  Our brand tag line is that we “Engage, Inform, Inspire”… sounds like what happens when one person talks to another, doesn’t it?

In fact, if there was an overall theme to Social Media Camp, it’s that people come first.  Whether you are a marketer, a community builder, a techno-geek or a socializer, we prefer to interact with people than to be passive “consumers” of information.  We depend on each other to help filter the great from the not-so-hot.  And when we find something we have an opinion on, good or bad, we pass it on… to our friends!

This information is neither new nor difficult – the difference is that companies, governments and other “institutions” can now see this process happening, and they must figure out a way to take part in these conversations.  They are doing so by putting their people into the conversation.  People, not companies, build communities.  People, not brands, add value to customer service.  People, not governments, make real change happen.   Whatever you want to do, connections with people are what will help you get there.

Elise Butterfield at Island Home Care came to us with a branding problem: the home care services she’d offered for several years were being overtaken by the hugely successful Clean Team, also offered under the “Island Homecare” brand.  Should she rename her businesses and perhaps start a whole new company?  Or might there be a way to show exactly how the home care and house cleaning businesses work together, and strengthen the brand as a whole?

We opted for an update to the Island Home Care brand to something that tells the “whole story”, emphasizing the care and attention to detail in every aspect of their work.  The new visual identity also conveys the versatility of the business and the reach of their market, which extends beyond seniors to families and busy professionals as well.

Elise and the rest of the staff at Island Home Care are thrilled with their new identity and marketing materials, from email signatures and social media, to website and print materials. Elise says “the impact on their bottom line incorporating strategic marketing with consistent messaging has been amazing.”

Starting in 2009 and continuing through to the present, the CRD has been using Social Media to spread the message of reducing pollution at its source.

Their aim has been to reach groups that are typically not engaged in sustainable practices, and educate them on better ways to manage their waste products. Young men aged 18-35 was a key group the CRD wanted to engage, so Sustainble U was born on the Internet, and publicized through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and at live community events such as sports and university orientation.

One year in, it was time to look at how the CRD implemented the campaign, and find ways to improve both the effectiveness of the social media strategy, and the productivity of CRD staff assigned to this task. They called on Go West Design Group to analyze their efforts to date, and make recommendations to carry the campaign forward.  Here are three key recommendations we made:

1. Increase visibility on social networking sites
Using Facebook and Twitter just a couple of times a day can mean that an organzation’s overall visibility remains quite low.  By posting more often, often by making minor changes to tasks staff already does, an organization can move from 1-2 posts a day up to 10 or more. That is a 10x greater opportunity to be seen.

2. Remember that social media is a place for conversation, not just content
A very common mistake that corporate organizations make is to use social media mainly as another “broadcast” medium. But by conversing on a consistent basis with an audience on a variety of topics, CRD staff can build important social capital, and cultivate an audience that will both listen and respond because reciprocity has already been established.

3. Keep “calls to action” simple to accomplish
The original social media campaign requested video responses to an interactive series of YouTube videos.  In fact, the actual response would have taken more effort than it would for the target audience to make actual source control changes, such as storing fats in a disposable container until solid. Future campaigns can get the message across, and encourage easy sharing using Facebook “likes”, retweets on Twitter, and ratings on YouTube.

Melinda and Dr. Kris Tangri with one of his art works

Last fall, the Saanich Volunteer Services Society held a very successful silent bid art auction, called “Art from the Heart”.  The exquisite pieces were donated exclusively from Dr. Kris Tangri, a Saanich resident and prolific artist.

While his career was as a research scientist for the mining industry, his passion has clearly been painting.  Over the years he has painted in India, the USA, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, Spain and Canada, and has created  both figurative and abstract work in oils, acrylic and water colour.

As an avid supporter of SVSS, I was thrilled to participate.  And I’m excited to announce that I now have two of his pieces gracing my home.

I feel quite blessed to have met Dr. Tangri and able to call him and his wife friends.  They are truly inspirational people with a wealth of experience, creativity and community spirit.

It is interesting to reflect that, having donated their services as voluneeters and donors over the years, Dr. and Mrs. Tangri are now clients of SVSS. Thanks to the service they receive from the society, the Tangris continue to live active and full lives in the Saanich community.

The latest SVSS newsletter highlights this fundraising event and other updates from the society – please check this organization out, and if you have either some money or some time, consider making a contribution.  My life has been enriched in many ways from associating with SVSS, and yours could be as well.

With warmth in my heart,

Melinda Harris