by Nathan Greenberg, CEO

We begin our celebration with words of thanks.

Those that have invested in our company have given us the financial security to make necessary decisions.
Those that have trusted us with their marketing have given us the relationships we value and seek to build in a unique and dynamic way.
Those who have referred their friends, family, and associates to us have given us the trust and support to grow.
Those in the media who have partnered with us and delivered amazing results to our clients have given us the tools to make marketing and advertising exciting and profitable.
Those friends and family who have supported our decisions, helped us avoid pitfalls, and let us toil away at odd hours and miss other moments.

To all of you I give a personal “thank you”.

Four years is only our beginning. This year, in particular, has been so radically and positively different from the first three. I humbly admit that every decision has not been right. Nevertheless, I remain committed to my foundation of giving the best customer service and building relationships with clients, the media, and our fans who have helped us grow.

I have more exciting plans for this year including new services for our clients, new opportunities for our clients and partners to network with each other, and bringing on new talent to further expand our well of services and abilities.

The years ahead are bright and I look forward to sharing them with all of you.

–Nathan Greenberg, CEO
Arkside Marketing, Inc.

Cardinal sin of advertising: racism.

Divine blessing of advertising: a good ad agency.

The law firm of McCutcheon & Hammer seems to be the unfortunate victims of advertising that they didn’t want. According to them, they didn’t even pay for it. Or ask for it. A commercial production company created the offensive ad below using a horrible Asian stereotype character and it was uploaded to the firm’s YouTube channel. Check it out below (on the production company’s YouTube channel) and then scroll down for updates since the video was discovered last week.

Things got weird once the video went viral. The law firm claimed that it never commissioned the video and that their YouTube channel was hacked. It is a fair assumption that a local TV production company doesn’t have the ability to “hack” YouTube (which is owned and secured by Google). So let’s assume the law firm is using some legalese and hinging the accuracy of their statement on the first part of the statement. They never commissioned this particular video and, therefore, never authorized it being uploaded to YouTube.

Since both sides make opposing claims and the ad involves a very derogatory portrayal of Asians, the Natiaonl Asian Pacific American Bar Association has looked into the situation and made some odd discoveries:

1) Neither party is willing to produce documentation to support their claim.
2) Neither party is eliminating the idea that someone pretending to work for the law firm is responsible. (If this is true, the production company is disastrously negligent in their client authorization process!)
3) The video is still online.
4) The law firm has not followed through with any threat to sue the production company.
5) This is still very bad PR for the law firm and production company.

All that said, the judgment on this one is bad all the way around. The production company makes junk, and racist junk at that. The law firm has done terrible damage control. If this were professionally handled at the onset, it would have been cleanly wrapped up and the reputation of the firm would still be in tact. Such is not the case today.

It isn’t a rumor, nor is it a conspiracy. Facebook organic reach has been slashed. Facebook has admitted to changing its algorithm so businesses (or anyone else with a Page) are forced to pay if they want their posts to be seen. While most businesses saw a decline to about 15-20% organic reach last year, many are now reaching only 2%. In the case of the Arkside Marketing Facebook Page, we are seeing 5-8% consistently.

Facebook has become the bridge troll with a pay-to-play model.

General Motors Called Facebook’s Bluff

The origin of this change reaches back about a year and a half. Facebook had one billion users and was the place to be. Many Fortune 500 companies were clamoring to get on the bandwagon but still hadn’t figured out how. Even at the end of 2012, only 66% of the F500 were on Facebook, let alone using it effectively.

But in May 2012, General Motors’ firebrand CMO, Joel Ewanick, made the decision to fire their social media agency of record and stop all advertising on Facebook. Quick way to save $10 million. The stated reasoning was that they didn’t see any substantial return on their investment so they would stop advertising and continue with their organic Facebook Page fan base of a few million followers.

Even with Facebook making it impossible for brands to reach 100% of their followers, most were still seeing what you posted. Why advertise? Faceb0ok was cannibalizing itself. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

Not only did they just eliminate themselves as a top Facebook advertiser (and revenue source), but they did this the week Facebook had their IPO. Ouch.

We believe Joel was right.

Ewanick and General Motors exposed the flaw in Facebook’s plan. Spending wasn’t necessary because people were organically finding, Liking, and sharing brand content.

Facebook had to fix the giant hole in the ship. Now you have to pay to get on board.

Effect on the Facebook Page for Business

Post-IPO, Facebook has been under immense public pressure (especially from our own Founder who has had issues with the platform). They have been busy addressing their failure on mobile devices and an unfriendly ad platform. Organic results were odd also. For many years, it has been frustrating for businesses on Facebook because they are treated badly. Even when a customer says they “Like” a business, Facebook doesn’t see that as permission to show your content. In their belief, just because a customer says they “Like” something, that doesn’t really mean they want to see anything from it.

In high school, guys wanted “no” to mean “yes”.
On Facebook, “yes” actually means “no”.

Now, “yes” actually means “no way in hell”. So what is a business to do? According to Facebook, a business is to pay for ads.
“Your brand can fully benefit from having fans when most of your ads show social context, which increases advertising effectiveness and efficiency“.

Perhaps the most offensive and glaring admission is this:
“We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.“

If someone tells you they like something and you block them from seeing it, how does that equal a meaningful experience?

Social Media Sharing Options

1) Save Money and Reach Fewer People
There are many social media agencies and managers that we have spoken to whom have told us they will be focusing less of their time (and their client’s money) on Facebook Pages. In their view, the task of reaching a fan base is so time consuming and expensive that better results can be found on other social media or even traditional media.

2) Spend Money and Reach More People
Other social media agencies and managers have said they will pay, if necessary. Facebook wants to command paid media and may be a force that is too large to ignore. For those companies with substantial followings in the thousands or hundreds of thousands, a marketing investment may be a wise decision.

At Arkside Marketing, we have  saying, “advertising is an investment. If it is only an expense, you are doing it wrong.”

3) Leave Facebook
Yes, we’re serious. For some businesses, the Facebook Page organic reach may have provided a nice bump in social interaction, but their new model decreases the return that could possibly be achieved. Could that time be better spent on other social platforms such as Twitter or the SEO-friendly Google+?

In the spirit of full disclosure, we have not recommended that any of our clients abandon Facebook. Each of them can continue to successfully reach their audience, but to a smaller degree. We also plan to continue our own Facebook presence, but will reduce our advertising to large announcements.

Facebook In The Future

Although we agree with his decision, we blame Joel Ewanick for this. Ultimately, it would have occurred anyway. Facebook had to realize their shortcoming. But now that it is here, what will your business choose? The pay-to-play model is here to stay, mainly because it doesn’t seriously infringe on Facebook’s main product: its users.

Contact Us

If you would like an objective evaluation of your social media presence and strategy, contact our office.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2013

From: Arkside Marketing
Media Contact:  951.444.1237
info@arksidemarketing.com

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AD AGENCY BRINGS ON NEW MARKETING TALENT

Growing Southern California ad agency brings on specialized talent for highly regulated industries.

(Moreno Valley, CA)  Arkside Marketing has retained the services of Cyndi Lemke, formerly of Soboba Casino, Target, and Kenneth Cole, to further strengthen their efforts and expertise in highly regulated industries such as law, casinos, automotive, healthcare, and education. Ms. Lemke brings a wealth of experience from her previous positions with large and small business entities.

“At Ms. Lemke’s first contact with us, I was excited at the opportunity to bring her on board,” said Nathan Greenberg, Founder of Arkside Marketing. “Our clients expect a high level of knowledge gained through experience in complex marketing strategies. Ms. Lemke’s background makes our team much stronger in that regard.”

She has spent the last 18 years working in retail management and marketing.  Her professional passion of helping others succeed aligns well with the mission of Arkside Marketing: to solve their clients’ business challenges. Ms. Lemke said joining a company like Arkside will, “give me opportunities and a professional atmosphere not commonly found in this industry. I’m looking forward to this journey.”

Arkside Marketing is a full service advertising and marketing agency serving industries with high levels of government oversight. Arkside’s foundation is built on the harmony between traditional and digital mediums while providing the highest levels of customer service. Offered services include traditional media buying, campaign strategy, brand development, digital ad campaigns, graphic design, website development, social media, reputation monitoring, and market research.

#END#

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ad Agency Brings on New Sales Talent

Full service ad agency in Southern California expands and deepens experience base with multifaceted sales and management veteran.

Moreno Valley, CA (September 20, 2013) – Arkside Marketing has retained the services of Richard Aguayo to contribute a new dimension to their sales and consultation efforts. Mr. Aguayo has demonstrated an accomplished sales career over the last six years as well as managing a variety of businesses for many years before that.

“Richard was referred to me as someone with a positive attitude and deep desire to help others succeed,” said Nathan Greenberg, Founder of Arkside Marketing. “Whether it is for our clients or the other members of the Arkside team, that is the kind of attitude that I’m looking for.”

He has spent the last four years working in digital and print media, specializing in multi-media integration. He has an exceptional record of great customer service and is committed to solving clients’ marketing challenges. On his own goals and accomplishments, Mr. Aguayo had this to say, “I have a passion for assisting small to large business reach their goals through a consultant approach.”

Arkside Marketing is a full service advertising and marketing agency serving a variety of industries since 2010. Arkside’s foundation is built on the harmony between traditional and digital mediums while providing the highest levels of customer service. Offered services include media buying, campaign strategy, brand development, digital ad campaigns, graphic design, website development, social media and reputation monitoring, and market research.

It was recently reported by Searchmetrics that Google is strongly prioritizing social media activities in their ranking algorithm. This knowledge should have profound implications in the SEO strategy of your company and how you include social media in your overall online plans. The SEO strategy you have built with your Arkside consultants incorporates this information already and we encourage you to utilize these best practices in your social media efforts.

Social Media Factors for Google SEO

Seven of the top 10 factors in a website’s rank involve social media. They are:

1) Google +1
2) Facebook Shares
4) Facebook Total
5) Facebook Comments
6) Facebook Likes
7) Pinterest
8) Tweets

The importance of social media elements has been a growing trend in Google’s SEO algorithm and 2013 seems to reinforce that notion. Although backlinks continue to remain vital, there are other factors which have decreased in importance such as keywords links and domains. It is interesting to note that Google is specifically including Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, while ignoring LinkedIn which is a hub of deep knowledge on nearly every possible industry. We’ll have to see how or if this evolves over time. When sharing your content on social media, remember that people don’t want to see you talk about yourself all day. For every 7-10 social media posts you make, one should be about you.

Content is Still King for On-Site Google SEO

Also of note in the report are the on-site elements Google is looking for. It is no surprise that “content is still king” and Google wants websites to create unique content that is valuable to the intended audience. As a contrary example, the Arkside Marketing blog is filled with information about the company, areas of marketing, best practices, and client profiles. If we suddenly began blogging about fishing or the latest updates to IRS tax code, Google might devalue our site for being grossly off-topic. Ensure your website has fresh, unique, and quality content in order to build your authority on your topic(s). These are the on-site factors examined by Google:

1. Number of internal links
2. HTML length
3. Keywords in body
4. Keywords in external links
5. Text character length
6. Internal link is self-referential
7. Keyword in internal link
8. Number of external links
9. Image count
10. Keyword in H2

Backlinks Required, But Remain Cautious

Missing from the first list in this blog post is #3 – Number of backlinks. Google still considers this to be a critical metric of your authority on a particular subject. If you have good content, Google assumes people will like it, link to it, and share it publicly via their own site or social media channels.  This does not mean you should implement any “black hat” SEO techniques and create blog farms filled with backlinks to your site. White hat techniques are still the unarguably best way to achieve Google SEO success.

Summary

While Google hasn’t made many dramatic shifts in their ranking priority from last year to this year, social media has climbed in importance and must remain a key factor in your online strategies. Use social media to promote the high-quality, unique content on your site and encourage people to distribute that content via backlinks and social media sharing. This is how you will achieve digital success.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Southern California Marketing Veteran Launches Advertising Agency

Nathan Greenberg departs his role with Moss Bros. Auto Group to create a new ad agency with a diverse team and focus on specific industries.

Moreno Valley, CA (August 26, 2013) – Regional advertising veteran Nathan Greenberg has recently resigned his position as Director of Marketing for Moss Bros. Auto Group and is launching a full-service advertising agency. The official launch date is September 9, 2013.

“I have sold media, worked at advertising agencies, and run an in-house agency for a large Auto Group. I’m very excited to finally realize my entrepreneurial dream,” said Nathan Greenberg, the founder of Arkside Marketing. With the help of startup investment and an experienced sales and design staff, Greenberg says he is optimistic about the timing of the endeavor. He cites a rebounding economy and businesses having a renewed vigor to improve their market share and become more competitive.

The first position to be filled was Senior Account Manager and that duty has been accepted by Eric Moore, of Lake Elsinore. He brings with him extensive experience in digital advertising, sales leadership, and client consultation. Of his new job, Moore said, “I am excited to work with someone that values clients as much as I do, in regards to customer service and retention. This is a great opportunity with excellent potential.” Personnel for other roles have already been found including website development and graphic design.

Clients have already signed on. “We are honored to have companies such as Precision Instrumentation and the Law Offices of Gary A. Bemis begin a relationship so early in our existence,” Greenberg said.  “We appreciate their trust and optimism and the support of our investors.”

Arkside Marketing is a full service advertising and marketing agency based in the Inland Empire and serving a nationwide clientele. Offered services include website and social media development, brand development, market research, public relations, crisis management, online marketing, radio, television, print, and outdoor advertising, promotional products, custom apparel, photography, and video. They can be found online at www.ArksideMarketing.com or on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Instagram.

We are very excited to offer environmentally friendly options on most of our printed products. As we look for new choices that benefit your business, we hope these paper and ink options provide a unique value. Now you can let your customers know that your company is a responsible steward of the Earth.

SOY & RENEWABLE INK

Look no further for “go green” environmentally friendly ink. The ink we use for both 4-color and 1 & 2-color offset printing are formulated with soy and other renewable agriculturally-derived materials. The Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are kept low and any leftovers are responsibly recycled. Our 4-color digital inks have zero VOCs and meet the demands of European regulation EN71, part 3. Our large format rigid inks have extremely low VOCs and are compliant with South Coast Air Quality Management District regulations. Coming soon, we look forward to announcing LED curing to further reduce our carbon footprint.

RECYCLED PAPER

Same great quality at no additional cost! Every one of our “go green” paper options is available at no extra cost on most of our products. Our “go green” paper is a composite of recycled paper, post consumer fiber, and virgin pulp (saved from a volcano sacrifice) derived from managed sustainable forests. These forests help clean our air, control erosion, and provide environmentally friendly jobs.

PRODUCTION MATERIAL RECYCLING

The materials that make our paper and ink are not the only recycled parts of our printing process. All paper waste, used metal printing plates, waste inks, and solvents are also recycled on a regular basis. Taking these steps helps reduce local air pollution, improve our employee safety and are vital elements of our commitment to sustainability.

WHY CHOOSING RECYCLED IS IMPORTANT

The number of forests around the world is dwindling. Billions of gallons of ink are used in the United States and every American uses 749 pounds of paper per year. By offering recycled and environmentally friendly printing products, we hope to reduce our footprint on our natural resources and keep our pricing amongst the lowest in the industry.

Here is a great perspective on the positive impact of using recycled paper: one ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 350 pounds of limestone, 60,000 gallons of water, 9,000 pounds of steam, 275 pounds of sulfur, 225 kilowatt hours and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

Contact us today to learn more about your environmentally friendly printing choices with Arkside.