Campbell, Harrington & Brear

August 9th, 2011
Posted By: Mel Campbell, Jr.

Now we are down to the final chapter … if “advertising” in the phone directories is not the way to go what should you do?

Here are the steps to a better advertising approach while spending your companies money more effectively and efficiently.

1. Drop all of your phonebook directory advertising.  All of it.
2. Do not enter into the phone directory company’s new on-line services.
3. Take your existing directory commitment budget and put it all on red in Vegas.  Just kidding.
4. Take your existing directory commitment budget and develop a strategic new media plan of your own that includes a well thought out website, a social media component, e-blast marketing, and support it with a strong SEO program and possibly an SEM program.
5. It must start with a strategic plan first.
6. It must be supported by a strong SEO commitment.
7. Everything must be executed by well qualified, new media experts with at least five solid years of experience.  Find a good company, they are out there.  Try 717-846-2947.
8. If you can’t do it all in one year, build it over a number of years.  Website with SEO first.
9. Embrace your program and commit time to it.  It will pay off with business results much better than your yellow page advertising ever did.

The good news is by reassigning your phone directory dollars you can move into the new interactive media world without additional expense.

THE END.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: For the record.  Over the past thirty-four years or so, none of the companies who followed our recommendation to drop yellow page advertising ever went out of business.  Nor did they lose business.  They all survived and in many cases flourished because they put those phone directory promotional dollars into alternate media that really did advance their business.

Filed in CHB Posts, CHBlog, Say No to Yellow Page Ads, The Know-How Exchange - 0 comments

August 1st, 2011
Posted By: Allan Pettit

The York Builders Insurance Trust needed some marketing jiu-jitsu.

The Trust has been serving the insurance needs of York Builders Association members for nearly half a century. It seemed as if their marketing plan had been around about that long, too.

“Association members had been seeing and hearing the same message over several years,” says CH&B’s Director New Business Development Angela Wenner, herself an active member of the York Builders Association. “Members were either becoming bored with it or ignoring it altogether. We thought it was time they updated their look and message and joined the electronic age.”

At the center of our recommendation was our plan to rebuild an existing website on a new content-managed, SEO-friendly platform, allowing better search engine visibility. The content was also revised to more effectively sell the Trust and provide SEO advantages.

To drive traffic to the site, we crafted a 12-month advertising schedule around three fresh print ads and three new digital ads that are rotating throughout the year in various York Builders Association vehicles.

We also provided an email marketing package that includes a custom email sending tool, as well as an email template design that carries the new brand look. Combined with a user friendly list management component, the Trust can now create and send regular targeted messages that inform existing customers and/or prospects.

“What we have done for them is create discipline and consistency within an easy-to-use platform that allows them to manage their own marketing on a very small budget,” says Angela. “And they’ve embraced it whole-heartedly.”

Filed in CHB Posts, CHBlog, The Know-How Exchange - 0 comments

July 19th, 2011
Posted By: Mel Campbell, Jr.

Over a year ago, I wrote an article called Beware The Digital Age.  I felt there was so much material written about the good news side of new media – and there is a good side – that people needed to be made aware of the negative side and all the many hidden traps that accompany this new advertising medium.

The major warning I wrote was, “… they are dying industries.  Industries who have felt it coming for years but are now at the Pearly Gates.  For newspapers, the Yellow Pages, many printers, and some publishers, it’s over.  The big danger to you is they are quickly reinventing themselves and now marketing themselves as experts in fields they know nothing about.  Newspapers are web developers, web advertisers, your digital expert source.  Yellow Pages is selling SEO and SEM services.   Even printers are entering the SEO, SEM business.  Desperate industries do desperate things.  They know nothing about these things.  Avoid being a victim in their decline.” Continue reading “Part IV: Resist! Don’t Be Assimilated into the NEW On-line Directory Companies’ Programs.” »

Filed in CHB Posts, CHBlog, Say No to Yellow Page Ads, The Know-How Exchange - 0 comments

July 18th, 2011
Posted By: Mel Campbell, Jr.

When New York Wire Company spun off its consumer insect screening line last year, it also sold the New York Wire brand name and its unicorn logo.

The company was now free to specialize in its true competencies: the design and production of engineered industrial open mesh and light wire material for a strong group of core customers – as well as for a yet-unknown, untapped universe of potential customers.

Continue reading “Making Marketing Mesh for a Re-Wired Company” »

Filed in CHB Posts, CHBlog, The Know-How Exchange - 0 comments

January 11th, 2011
Posted By: Allan Pettit

We’ve done it. After months of creative give and take (and, yeah, a bit of push and shove), we’ve launched our new website, www.chbadv.com.

The result? A site that better communicates our brand, more effectively displays our work, and more accurately conveys our command of contemporary New Media.

“I couldn’t be more proud of my people and their accomplishment in designing and building this outstanding reflection of our many capabilities,” said Mel Campbell, president and founder of Campbell, Harrington & Brear. “Since 1978, we have distinguished ourselves by helping clients cut through the confusion and stand out in the crowd. This website does precisely the same thing for us as an agency.” Continue reading “Campbell, Harrington & Brear Launches New Website” »

Filed in CHB Posts, CHBlog, Self Promotion - 0 comments

October 28th, 2010
Posted By: Angela Wenner

Being located in downtown York, PA, has its advantages. We can walk to our beautiful downtown farmers’ markets for lunch several days a week. We are part of a vibrant business community committed to improving the downtown environment. And every year, on a Friday in late September, we become “Harley folks” in more ways than one.

Continue reading “York Bike Night 2010, A Celebration of All Things Harley!” »

Filed in CHB Posts - 0 comments

August 24th, 2009
Posted By: Allan Pettit

Calling it “a real game-changer,” Mel Campbell, president of Campbell, Harrington & Brear Advertising Agency, has announced a new partnership with Joseph Szala, one of the region’s leading experts in new media and web development.

Szala, who has been in web development since 1999, started Vigor, a branding, interactive and marketing firm, in 2002. More recently, he launched Blabberbug.com, a restaurant referral and members reward site.

Joseph offers the ability to code a robust website, design brands on a Madison Avenue level, and implement new media into an effective strategy.

More importantly, Mel says, Joseph has the ability to strategize in ways that turn social media tools into website traffic.

“We now have an inhouse expert who is second-to-none in new media, web development and anything else on the bleeding edge of 21st century communication technology,” says Mel.

Continue reading “New Partnership Puts CH&B “On Bleeding Edge” of New Media” »

Filed in CHB Posts, CHBlog - 0 comments