If you were anywhere near the Internet on Wednesday, you saw our website and thousands of other sites including Wikipedia and Google participate in a blackout protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its corresponding bill, the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

If you’re not up to speed on SOPA and PIPA, here’s the deal. The bills seek to block the illegal use of copyrighted content online.

Now, as an ad agency whose bread and butter relies on the creation of ideas, you’d think we’d be for SOPA and PIPA. You’d be wrong. No, we don’t want to see our stuff get ripped off. But, even more than that, we don’t want to see these bills fall into the wrong hands. And, they undoubtably will. Think McCarthy in the 1950s. That’s the level of abuse we’re talking about here.

These bills give people the power to blacklist and shutdown websites based on the smallest perceived infraction. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), “rightsholders, ISPs, or the government could shut down sites with accusations of infringement, and without real due process.”

So, what happens if your site is blacklisted (deservedly or not)? Well, as you’d expect with any blacklist, other online companies have to shut you out. If you’re advertising through ad networks such as Google AdWords, using Paypal on your site or running an SEO campaign, all that’s over. Under the law, other sites will have to stop linking to your site and search engines will be forced to forget your site exists. Once you’re blacklisted, you turn into persona non grata. No one online will want to associate with you for fear they’ll be blacklisted too.

If you manage to escape being blacklisted, the bills still come with negative consequences. The EFF states that SOPA and PIPA will cost the private sector millions of dollars and reduce online security. Most importantly, the bills will do nothing when it comes to stopping online piracy. The tools outlined by these bills aren’t anywhere near sophisticated enough to keep tech-saavy users, the people doing most of the online pirating, from using content illegally.

Thankfully, we’re making progress. Due to the massive protest from the American public this week, many supporters of SOPA and PIPA have jumped ship. Even the White House has come out against the two bills. With so many against SOPA and PIPA, leaders in the House and Senate have decided to put off voting until some agreement can be reached. What that agreement is or how long it takes remains to be seen. In the meantime, you can help by writing to your representatives in Washington and letting them know just how bad these bills are for you and your business.

“The medium is the message.” When media theorist Marshall McLuhan made that statement, he believed the medium was more important than the content it presented. While I don’t agree with McLuhan, I do think the media you choose is just as important as the content presented. Media is what gets your message out to your target audience. Choose the wrong media and your campaign’s dead in the water, no matter how creative it is.

But, how do you create an effective media strategy?

1) Define your target audience.
Before you do anything, you need to figure out who you want to reach. Targeting people based on age, gender and marital status is a start but it doesn’t tell you anything about these people: the activities they enjoy, what they like to read, where they like to go. Your goal is to know your target so well that you can talk about them like they’re your best friends.

2) Research your target audience’s media habits.
Find out what media they use and how often. Are there industry publications that are popular with the demographic you’re targeting? Are there events or places they frequent? Once you’ve answered these questions, you can start looking for media vehicles that match your audience’s interests. 

3) Decide if you want reach or frequency.
Ideally, you want to reach as many people as possible as many times as possible. But, if you don’t have a huge marketing budget, you usually have to choose one over the other. To me, it depends on what you’re offering. For instance, if you’re selling pizza, you’d opt for reach. Most people like pizza so mailing out coupons all over the city will probably translate into more pizzas delivered. However, if you’re selling energy-efficient technology, you’d be better off opting for frequency. Your goal is to build relationships over time with the people interested in that type of technology. That means you’ll advertise in places that engage your target audience instead of trying to reach the widest audience possible. 

4) Get creative.
Sometimes the best way to reach an audience isn’t through traditional channels like radio, print or direct mail. Alternative methods can often be cheaper and more effective. Think Facebook contests, mobile apps and blogging. Think advertising on pizza boxes, bar coasters, public bathroom mirrors and urinals. Think vehicle wraps, bike jerseys and golf balls. Think street teams and sponsoring community events. There are a million ways to get your message out, you just have to think creatively.

5) Let the pros handle your media buy.
Hate to be biased here but agencies have long-standing relationships with the media and can get discounts regular people can’t. You’ll get more for your money going through an agency.

Follow these tips and you’re well on your way to a successful media plan that gets the right message to the right people.

We’re happy to announce that Echo-Factory has become the agency of record for Allied Anesthesia, an Orange County group of 42 highly respected anesthesiologists.  We pitched the medical group in July, and were selected through a competitive agency review.  The pitch was against other Southern California advertising agencies and Echo-Factory was chosen to be Allied’s new agency of record.

We’ve already started on several projects for Allied, including an initial rebranding.  You can expect to see some of that here in the future.  In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more, check out our press release on our newest client. 

Echo-Factory is happy to call NALMCO, interNational Association of Lighting Management Companies, our newest client. We got to know NALMCO through our involvement with PEERS and our relationships with [P2] and other lighting industry clients. In June, NALMCO put out a RFP for a PR campaign and some advertising materials.  We put together our pitch, and when the dust settled, we were their new agency. 

Our work started out with a rebranding project.  NALMCO has a reputation for offering the most respected certifications in the lighting industry, so we created a logo that compliments that reputation.

NALMCO launched its new logo in July, and we’re currently in the middle of a three part PR campaign, so keep your eyes peeled for more from our new lighting buddies.

The association’s president, Jim Frank, was nice enough to give Echo a shout out in its monthly magazine, LM&M: 

“One of NALMCO’s initiatives is to increase awareness of our association in the energy market.  [...] For this reason, we are in the early stages of image branding and media campaigns.  We contracted with Echo-Factory of Rancho Cucamonga, California, to consult with NALMCO on matters of image and media.  [...]  Some might ask, ‘What was wrong with the old NALMCO logo?’ Or, ‘Why do we need to hire an outside consultant to handle NALMCO media campaigns?’ The answer is that we need to elevate and maintain a stronger and more visible presence in today’s market.  And today’s market needs NALMCO.”

Thanks Jim, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. 

Friday, we launched a brand new site for one of our clients, Tricia Hill from Articulations Pilates Studio in Riverside.  You should check it out.

Beyond the fact that it’s beautiful and intuitive, there are a few neat things about Tricia’s site. 

Neat Things:



• It’s Easy To Update — Tricia’s a very hands-on business owner, willing to invest the time to regularly update her site.  We think this is a good thing, so we built her site so that any time she wants to change content, or even add new content, she can do that.
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• It Looks Better Than The Competition — Before we started the Articulations project, we did quite a bit of research on the competition.  What we found was a lack of well-designed Pilates studio sites for studios of any-size - which means that Tricia has a site for a local studio that could standout on a national scale.

 
• It Uses Custom Photography — Tricia realized that she didn’t want her site to be filled with the same stock-photos as her competition, so at the project’s outset she had Mike (our photographer) out to the studio for a photo session.  Ergo, every picture you see on her site is of her, her clients and her actual studio, something not too many local businesses can say.

So, Tricia - you’ve been a pleasure to work with.  Thanks for letting us build a site for you.  And to the rest of you, take a look at the new Articulations site and let us know what you think.