May7

Del Oro Award Recipient

By: Ashleigh

Each year the San Antonio chapter of PRSA hosts the Del Oro Awards, an evening to recognize noteworthy public relations campaigns and tactics. With all of the talented Public Relations professionals throughout San Antonio, having my two submissions receive an Award of Excellence was truly overwhelming!

La Plata Award of Excellence (2010) – Marketing Consumer Product
Campaign: Maihar Design Product Launch

Maihar Design, a small start-up with limited funds, crafts niche luxury wedding accessories. Ashford Davis determined a national campaign was needed to capture sufficient exposure to drive sales. To that end Ashford Davis used Social Media to build relationships nationwide and launched a national campaign in conjunction with sales exposure on Etsy.com.

Maihar Design’s products launched last August with the support of an Internet campaign focused on savvy brides and wedding planners. Today, Maihar Design is a vendor for a nationwide bridesmaid boutique, is sold internationally and has been featured in national publications including BRIDES Magazine and Elegant Bride.

>> Read the Entire Case Study

El Bronce Award of Excellence (2010) – Web Design
Project: The Event Center at Plaza Lecea, Web Redesign

The Event Center at Plaza Lecea brought Ashford Davis on board to determine how their website could be redesigned to attract weekday event clientele. Ashford Davis’ established three main goals: increase functionality, establish conversion ratio goals and increase search engine visibility.

With a web launch date of January 1, all goals have been met and exceeded. Functionality has increased by 26% while new visitor traffic has grown by 140%. Considering all other marketing activities have remained constant from the prior year, this growth can be attributed to website optimization and clear message positioning toward previously untapped publics.

>> Read the Entire Case Study

Thank you so much to PRSA and the judging panel from the Dayton, Ohio PRSA chapter. I am so honored to have my work recognized after only one year in business.

Springing forth as an entrepreneur on your own can be a bit daunting and stressful, but receiving praise from my peers not only inspires me, but challenges me to strive to achieve much more in the many years to come.

Posted in: Entrepreneurship, Featured3 comments

May3

FourSquare: Business Tools

By: Ashleigh

FourSquare has now launched their business tools and analytics. These tools had been in development for a while, and business owners now have the opportunity to claim their listings and begin taking advantage of the many exciting opportunities offered by FourSquare.

So what does this mean for business owners and managers? In a nutshell, you can now offer unique incentives for your customers, as well as track traffic patterns from locals who have been checking-in at your venue.

With a plethora of data with regard to who is checking in and when, it only makes sense that businesses would have access to data regarding who has been checking into their location, how often and what days are the most popular. These analytics will allow them to monitor patterns across the social media platform and potentially develop specials on nights that may be a bit slower – great opportunity to build incentives on days that typically don’t attract crowds.

Additionally, when users check into your location, your special incentives will pop-up as they arrive. For instance, FourSquare currently allows business owners and managers to specify the following types of specials:

Mayor Specials: unlocked only by the Mayor of your venue. Who’s the Mayor?  It’s your single most loyal customer!

Check-in Specials: unlocked when a user checks in to your venue a certain number of times.Frequency-based Specials: are unlocked every X check-ins.

Wildcard Specials: always unlocked, but your staff has to verify some extra conditions before awarding the Special.

And more to come!

For those of you who haven’t ever seen the mobile application, below is a screenshot from the iPhone, courtesy FourSquare. As the user finds their particular location, they select the check-in button. Once they’ve checked in, your incentive will pop-up.

Marketing continues to become more interactive as mobile applications grow in popularity. If you haven’t figured it out by now, mobile marketing is the new frontier.

So claim that business listing and be sure to ask for your FourSquare window cling – you just might be the hippest business on your street…for now.

Posted in: Social Media0 comments

April26

Inspired Thought: Childlike Faith

By: Ashleigh

Life is incredible – so much to do and so much to see in one’s lifetime. However, it’s often the childlike faith and innocence that we miss when our personal lives and work lives get complicated. The peace that comes with naivete is something for which we often yearn when deadlines approach us – and sometimes pass us without project completion.

This morning I wrote a blog post for my other company, Maihar Design, spotlighting the incredible beauty captured by newborn photographer Kelley Ryden. The smirk of the little ones as they sleep got me thinking, “What do they know that I don’t?”

Such wonder and amazement as the tiny human sleeps in complete comfort and contentment. If we only could have an ounce of this serenity in our life’s toughest moments. I would love a glimpse at this happiness every time life’s stresses hit me and the weight of the world comes crashing down.

Then I realized, I do have this glimpse; A reminder of the wholeness we were meant to encompass. These inspired thoughts are summed up below by one perfect click of the camera, capturing the essence of life.

Children get it. Why did we ever lose it?

Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. – Matthew 19:14

Posted in: Inspired Thoughts0 comments

April7

Texas Young Professionals, San Antonio

By: Ashleigh

Do you find yourself struggling to find young entrepreneurs and professionals with whom to network? Or are you tired of networking groups that end up turning into sales pitches from dozens of different salespeople?

You are definitely not alone!

Fortunately, there’s a new group of young professionals in San Antonio, the Texas Young Professionals. With chapters in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin, TYP is rapidly growing across the entire state. Their purpose? To foster relationship-building, career development, entrepreneurial endeavors and civic involvement among young professionals.

Right now, TYP San Antonio is hosting professional networking mixers on the first Wednesday of every month. Tonight’s is at Brasserie Pavil and begins at 5:30 p.m. The event is complimentary, but donations will be accepted for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an extremely worthwhile non-profit organization.

So, if you’re like me and you’ve been looking for professional people your age, be sure to stop by Brasserie Pavil. Don’t forget to RSVP and view the growing guest list!

Posted in: Entrepreneurship0 comments

April6

PetSMART Email Marketing

By: Ashleigh

Pet owners are notorious for spoiling their four-legged children. I am no exception to that rule – my little kitties follow me everywhere and keep me company in the office all day. PetSmart understands the owner-pet bond, and capitalizes on this relationship with seasonal events such as Halloween costume contests and photos with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

The seasonal timeliness even extends to birthdays….yes, pets have birthdays, too! Imagine my excitement when I opened an email today with the following:

Now, little Elena has no clue it’s her birthday and she surely wouldn’t be upset if she didn’t get a gift this year. However, PetSmart knows I am a responsible pet owner, and surely I need more cat food, litter, litter deodorizer or hairball paste. Ellie’s birthday is simply one more opportunity for PetSmart to reach out to me and to get me in the store.

PetSmart understands the power of communication and the power of customer databases. They regularly distribute promotional coupons and incentives to encourage repeat customer purchases. It’s these databases that allow them to target customers based on historical purchase patterns.

How are you talking to your customers? How could you be using your database more effectively? Are you capturing data via your website, or only relying on traditional forms of communication? It might be a good opportunity to re-evaluate your current communication strategy in favor of a more efficient means of reaching out to your consumers.

Posted in: Online Marketing0 comments

© Copyright Ashford Davis. All Rights Reserved.