Flatland Studios Marketing and Public Relations Agency of Wichita, Kansas today announced the signing of its newest client, Martin Leadership & Management Development, LLC.  Flatland Studios plans to assist Martin LMD with expanding its brand awareness by supplementing their existing marketing efforts with consulting in the areas of lead generation, email marketing, social media marketing, and effective content creation.

“We are extremely excited to partner with Greg and his team at Martin LMD. He is a dynamic individual who offers a great amount of management and leadership insight. He is passing along knowledge that is critical for businesses struggling to overcome these tough economic times.” said Brock Brown, Marketing Consultant and Co-Founder.

Martin Leadership & Management Development partners with small and medium size business owners to provide quality leadership and managerial development through coaching, teaching, mentoring and training.  Martin LMD helps these businesses identify opportunities to stimulate growth and create sound results that are key to success in an increasingly competitive business world.  Martin LMD provides affordable leadership and management development services that exceed our customer’s expectations.

“Our vision is to be a company known nationally to develop leaders and managers that drive success.” said Greg Martin, CEO of Martin LMD

About Flatland Studios
Flatland Studios is a Wichita based unified marketing agency founded by James Barfield and Brock Brown to provide cohesive marketing strategies for businesses that incorporate all elements of the evolving marketing landscape to maximize customer acquisition, brand recognition, and customer experience for their clients while providing superlative service. Flatland Studios offers free monthly marketing workshops to small businesses and organizations. For more information, visit www.flatlandstudios.com or call 866.544.0503.

About James Barfield
James C. Barfield is passionate about being the voice for organizations: from businesses to nonprofits. Nearly a decade working intensively in the family business, Wichita women’s clothing store Barfield’s Boutique, has provided the hands-on training to turn him into a small business veteran. James has worked as the marketing coordinator for the prestigious non-profit organization The Kansas African American Museum and is active in several Wichita organizations including: Prince Hall Freemasons, American Marketing Association, Young Professionals of Wichita, and the Rotaract Club of Wichita. James balances his hands-on business savvy with formal education, currently majoring in business management with a minor in marketing. James is also trained in project management, negotiation, and he is a certified green belt in Six Sigma. James is the co-founder of Liberate Humanity, Inc., a humanitarian organization dedicated to sending aide to families of natural disasters across the world.

About Brock Brown
Brock Brown studied and graduated from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas with a B.S. in Business Information Systems. He also holds a Masters Degree in Management Information Systems from Friends University of Wichita, KS. Since then Brock has become a content management expert working as a Content Management Project Manager and Implementation Specialist at Cessna Aircraft and the Textron Corporation. He has also filled the roles of Solutions Consultant and Business Development Manager at the Hannon Hill Corporation who has produced the award winning Cascade Server Content Management System used by respected organizations such as Duke University, British Petroleum, China Mobile, and the US Department of Justice. Since then Brock has lead several companies of his own while assisting others in utilization of modern marketing concepts by implementing low cost marketing tools and modern marketing concepts to reduce the cost of new customer acquisition and increase brand recognition.

The designation of Certified Instructor has been given to Rachel Tate who is employeed by Flatland Studios Marketing and Public Relations in Wichita, Kansas.  Rachel completed the Presenter Training for ‘The Power of Email Marketing’ through the Constant Contact Experts Program for the designation.  With over 10 years experience in marketing, public relations and business management, Rachel has been trained to conduct seminars and workshops designed for small businesses on the subject in the area.  Rachel serves as the Director of Business Development for Flatland Studios.

About Flatland Studios

1. Quality regular content builds trust. There are undeniable SEO benefits of persistently talking about the same topics. But it’s at the human interaction level, rather than technical level, where the benefits of content marketing are most interesting. Talking frequently and in  detail about particular topics creates credibility which leads to you being trusted. Trust is the first step on the path to transaction.
2. Companies need to use people to tell stories that resonate. People do business with people they trust and like. Shared and personal experiences can underpin relationships and can be effectively used to build engagement. Advertising in the 1960′s looked to profile particular people and sell them solutions to their problems and this has largely remained the same in marketing today.
3. Broadcast PR is dead. All communication needs to be two-way. It’s not enough to tell all the time, you need to listen, react and respond. Social has spread right through all facets of modern business and modern marketing. In CRM, companies like Salesforce.com have bought into social media with outfits like Radian6, whilst the latest version of Google throws back recommendations from your contacts in amongst your search results.
4. The web finds liars out, quickly. Social media has balanced the playing field and created an outlet for disaffected customers. Whilst great viral commentary can make a business, one bad experience can destroy it as let-down customers realise they are not alone. Best to be open and transparent from the start.
5. Content converts. Most business to business products and services are conceived to solve a problem for a particular type of customer. Addressing the problems and offering ways to solve them, minimise their impact and disruption and actually remove them from the equation is a powerful way to drive trust and transaction. In B2B, there isn’t a transaction as such, but white papers, downloadable content and subscriptions emails are great ways to obtain data which can be followed up later.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding social media these days. If you still haven’t jumped on the bandwagon and aren’t sure why so many people are making such a big deal about it, here are several benefits of social media for your business.

Establish a brand and raise awareness…
Since the majority of the population is already visiting social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, getting your brand name all over those networks can help let people know that you’re around. If you have yet to create a company image online, social networks are the place to do it. Create a fun YouTube video that entertains and informs. Funny videos tend to make their way around the Internet a lot faster than any other kind, so when making a video, keep in mind that you want it to be interesting enough for your target audience to want to share. Using Facebook and Twitter to create a fun online community that your customers will want to visit will increase brand loyalty and drive traffic to your Website, allowing you the chance to make more online sales.

Spy on the competition…
Follow your competitors on Twitter and Facebook and you’ll be able to see what they have up their sleeve. Just make sure to offer a better deal than whatever they have going on.

Pitch products in a more human, interactive way…
Since people visit social media sites to get personal rather than be bombarded with ads, discuss your business in a fun way and engage your customers with questions. Ask their opinions and entice them to respond back. This way you’re making a valuable connection that will help increase your number of return customers.

Bring attention to your products…
Featuring a product on a social media site is one of the fastest ways to bring attention to it. Offer a promotion along with it for your online community members and watch your sales skyrocket.

Increase customer loyalty and trust…
Speaking to your customers in a personal way will make them feel like their talking to a friend, not a company. This will help increase their trust in you, which will make them do business with you rather than your competition. It will also increase the chances of customer recommendations.

Listen to your customer’s opinion…
Social media sites are an awesome way to see what your target audience is saying about your company or your products. Take their constructive criticism and use it to enhance your product to better meet their needs.

Conduct market research…
Listen to what your customers say about your products and track what links they click on and you’ll begin to see what your customers like and respond to. People love to express their opinions on social media sites, which will allow you to hear the truth. Then you can use your new-found information to tweak your product or service to please them as well as continue to post more information and links that they will enjoy.

Increase customer service…
Social media networks allow your company to answer your customers’ questions and concerns directly in a timely manner. This will improve customer satisfaction and also save you money on long distance customer service phone calls.

As a small business owner you know you should use email marketing to spread the word and grow your business, but maybe you just haven’t quite found the time, the energy or the resources to do it. Well, have no fear because Flatland Studios has everything you need to make your small business look like a GIANT.

Here are 8 BIG reasons why email marketing is GREAT for your small businesses.

1. Email Marketing is Quick and Easy:  As a small business owner the thought of adding another task to your to-do list is daunting; however, with Flatland Studios , creating and sending email is simple.
2. Email Marketing is Affordable:  Email marketing is one of the most affordable forms of marketing today. With Flatland Studios  we can. And because it’s so affordable and effective, many of our customers tell us that email marketing is the most profitable form of marketing they do.
3. Email Marketing is Transparent:  If you’re currently sending your marketing emails through your old-fashioned regular email (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, etc.), you have no way of knowing how your emails are performing or who is looking at them. With Flatland Studios , we will let you know who is receiving, opening, and clicking on your emails in addition to how much traffic you are getting to your website from your email.
4. Email Marketing is Measurable:  One of the greatest things about email marketing through Flatland Studios is that we can actually track how much money you make from the emails (we call it the Return On Investment or ROI) you’re sending out. So now, not only can you see how your emails are performing but you can also see how many sales each email is generating.
5. Email Marketing Gets Noticed and Read by Your Customers:  Flatland Studios can greatly increase the likelihood that your email will be received and read by your customers. This is because we have a dedicated team that works with the Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail’s of the world to make sure your email gets delivered. This enables you to focus on what’s important – building relationships with your customers.
6. Email Marketing Builds Relationships:  Speaking of building relationships, email marketing does just that! Email marketing allows you to easily and non- intrusively maintain relationships with your customers. Although your customers may not need your product or service right now, they will eventually – and by staying engaged with them on a regular basis you can ensure they’ll come to you first.
7. Email Marketing Works:  The Direct Marketing Association stated that on average, email marketing makes you $42 for every $1 you spend.
8. Email Marketing Expands Your Reach:  Email Marketing is the new “Word of Mouth.” When sending out an email you not only reach the people on your customer list, but you reach their friends, family and colleagues when they forward your email. Also, with our new social sharing feature, now you can share your emails on Facebook and Twitter – allowing you to broadcast your emails to more than just your email list. Instead of just communicating one-to many, you can now communicate many-to-many.

Now that you know the 8 BIG reasons to use email marketing, get started today and experience the benefits first hand. You’ll be amazed at how quickly and easily we can grow your business!

Recently we have been asked what Brand immersion is. In a sentence, Brand Immersion is the act of integrating your brand into your customer’s lifestyle – sort of what we are doing here with blogs.

Over the past couple of years it has become evident that consumers show preference for brands that engage them on an emotional level. The overarching construct of brand immersion is creating content that people choose to experience. Provide your customers with the kinds of content that they find useful, stimulating or entertaining. By providing this sort of content, you are encouraging your audience to interact with your brand on their own terms. This process allows a connection to form on a real level unparalleled by traditional advertising. One of the best ways to immerse your customer in your brand is to create two-way communication. Encourage participation in the form of feedback, game play, viral marketing and word of mouth marketing.

Immersive campaigns are designed around your customers life patterns. This means that you encourage user participation on an ongoing basis, through multiple platforms in many scenarios. This might mean incorporating mobile, web, print and in-store interactions that all function as integral parts of the same campaign. Create a continuous flow of information from your brand to your audience and back again. Today’s audiences are hungry for great content, and they have a deep need to feel that they belong. An intelligently designed immersive campaign offers them both of these things. And what the brands who provide it get in return is of enormous value. They get a consumer who believes in their brand. This generates word of mouth ambassadors, viral marketing effects, positive buzz surrounding the brand, and reapeated and prolonged brand exposure.