What’s a marketing guru like Proctor & Gamble to do when an astonishing ad budget leads to cost-cutting strategies and laying off over a thousand employees?

According to this article from Business Insider, P&G CEO Robert McDonald realized it was time to find a cost effective way to increase business prospects after seeing a mere 6 percent increase in sales from ad-spend.

How do they plan to solve this problem? By moving some advertising efforts to the digital world.

Much like traditional media, social media has a plethora of avenues and audiences for advertisers to target. Sites like Facebook and Google have proved to be efficient on return of investment – causing many businesses to go digital.

Although P&G hasn’t completely lost sight of traditional ads, current social media efforts are sizzling success. After starting a campaign for Old Spice, the company saw 1.8 billion impressions. An article from the Acquisition Engine says more people watched Old Spice videos online in 24 hours than those who watched Obama’s presidential victory speech.

Does your business plan need to go digital? In order to properly design a Facebook page, business owners are smart to consider upkeep and dedication to the tool. According to McDonald, “Return on investment of the advertising when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient.”

Are you interested in cost-effective ways to increase your business prospects? Let Appleton Creative show you how!

The well-attended annual event, which is a celebration of friendship among leaders at both UCF and in the Orlando community, allowed Dr. Walters the opportunity to share the great conservation work by UCF in harvesting new oyster reefs to eradicate damage cause to the reefs by recreational boat wakes.

Guests had the opportunity to participate in creating oyster mats for placement in destroyed reef locations. The hands-on demonstration allowed participants to be part of the solution in this declining ecological situation. Without viable oyster reefs, the entire marine eco-system would be destroyed. This is especially important in Florida’s nutrient-rich estuaries.

Thanks goes to Dr. Walters and her biology students as well as UCF’s Town & Gown Council for making this year’s Friendship Luncheon educational yet fun!

The new feature allows users highlight photos, posts and life events. Many believe this will cause a haunting return of moments one would like to forget.

Yet there are many exciting benefits to this redesign as well. Companies including Spotify, Pinterest, Nike and Ticketmaster are part of an eclectic group of companies releasing Timeline apps this year.

According to an article on Mashable.com, the Open Graph developer platform will allow users to customize their Timeline with select apps. The frictionless sharing feature will post online activity directly to your profile without a “like” or “share” button.

While many are still concerned over Timeline, businesses may be excited to hear feature statistics. A study conducted by EyeTrackShop found that Facebook ads get noticed more in Timeline than in the old profile format.

Despite being a new social media tool for businesses, it’s something to consider as more users become acquainted with the format. Timeline may be a great way for your company or brand to become a part of user history.

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority services both the Orlando International Airport (OIA) and Orlando Executive Airport (OEA).

With the award, Appleton will continue to promote Orlando as a premier gateway for global commerce as well as to distinguish the airport as a one-stop coordinator of Orlando aviation facilities and a leader in national and international global transportation.

Appleton Creative’s in-depth knowledge on the history of the airports will be an asset to the project. Orlando International Airport has one of the largest records of international passenger traffic with over three million passengers in 2010. Plans for 2012 include newly rebranded promotional, collateral and advertising materials for the Authority with high passenger appeal. Advertisements will pinpoint the airport as notable players in global transportation.

Recently celebrating 30 years of business, the airport commemorated the anniversary with a Community Breakfast featuring Congressman Lou Frey. Appleton Creative’s involvement in the celebration included creating a campaign to include logo, promotional print collateral and a showcase video of the history.

Global leader Tavistock, a privately held investment company with over 200 holdings, recently tasked Appleton Creative to design and develop a new website for their web headquarters and for their Albany, Bahamas property owned by Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Joe Lewis.

The Challenge: Highlight the investment group’s growth and diversity while making the sites information resources for current and potential investors through intuitive design and functionality.

The new sites are a success. Albany’s new website saw over 10,000 visitors during the two-day Tavistock Cup event shortly after launching. The 2011 Tavistock Cup Journal and event collateral, also produced by Appleton Creative, drove additional web traffic to the family of Tavistock sites.

Appleton Creative has additionally partnered with Tavistock to create sites for Stockworth Realty and Isleworth Realty. This initiative will debut later this quarter with an MLS feed for Stockworth Realty properties and interactive features showcasing Isleworth as the premiere luxury community in Central Florida.

Appleton Creative is honored to partner with Tavistock and appreciates the trust they put in us to represent their valued brand, now and in the future.

Is 2012 the year of extreme couponing? The phenomenon continues to gain popularity; with coupon junkies getting fast coupon fixes on Facebook and Twitter. But if you are a coupon extremist, don’t bother with Google+; the site is coupon-less by design.

Although company accounts are welcome on Google+, the site has strict policies against businesses leveraging the social network for promotions. In fact, according to Google+ policies: brands and businesses “may not run contests, sweepstakes, offers, coupons or other such promotions” directly on their Google+ page.

A bit of a risky move for the social scene newcomer as top consumer brands such as McDonald’s, Starbucks and Disney utilize social sites Facebook and Twitter to provide discounts and coupons to fans. A study recently found that 77% of US media respondents liked when companies and brands offered incentives such as free products, services, coupons or discounts.

Is Google+ a social bomb for businesses? Not quite. Let’s use Android’s Google+ site as an example. The popular mobile company has a Google+ page with over 360,000 followers. Instead of using the space as a discount page, Android’s focuses on providing content to their followers such as video and announcements.

If you’re a promotion fiend, Google+ is not your social friend – Facebook and Twitter are the best bets for your discounted fixes. But if it’s content you are looking for, Google+ may just be your perfect match.

• The design is too simple and makes our company look sub-par
• The site doesn’t function
• He has disappeared
• Our business has outgrown its paint-by-numbers website

With 148 million US consumers aged 14 and older making one or more on-line purchases (eMarketer) and 78% of the US population using the Internet as a tool, it becomes clear that simply having a website is no longer enough. If you are going to compete in the cyber marketplace, you need to treat your website as if it’s a corporate headquarters.

So what does a good website do for you?

1. Leaves an impression: If someone with no prior knowledge of your company was to visit your site would they have a positive experience?

2. Clearly explains what the company does: Prospective customers have a limited attention span and don’t want to work to figure out what your group actually does.

3. Keeps it clean and simple: In the web world, it’s easy to lose focus on what truly matters by adding clutter and over information.

4. Functions: It’s amazing how many non-functioning websites exist – it’s like owning a taxi service with only half of the fleet working.

5. Responds: Your website is a face for your business – and it’s also a customer service rep. It’s through a website that a business can get leads, engage customers and interact.

6. Adds some flare: Don’t misconstrue the need for simplicity with the inability to be creative – adding truly usable, functioning and purposeful flare items such as a quiz, game or avatar can add to your customer experience. But beware, it can also clog your site and take away from your mission.

7. Keep you at the top of the Search: The term SEO has warped into an all-encompassing term, but don’t lose site on what it stands for: Search Engine Optimization. With 92% of computer users using search engines (Pew Internet Reports), a good site works to keep you near the top of the list through keywords, updated information and some back-end elbow grease.

8. Utilizes video: A report from University of Mass/Dartmouth reports that although only 33% of INC 500 companies use video, it is 93% successful (the highest of all medias). If you don’t have video on your site, you’re missing out on the #1 influencing source.

Want more information about the benefits of an effective website? Let Appleton Creative show you how it’s done!

During the month of December, Appleton ran a Facebook campaign to raise funds for the group and are proud to announce a total donation of $250 to help our four-legged companions. Just because the holiday season has come to an end and 2012 is here doesn’t mean that man’s best friend should be forgotten – do your part and check out Pet Rescue by Judy at http://www.petrescuebyjudy.com.

Here are a few of our 2011 Faves

Golf Channel – Environmental Branding

Anyone up for a round of golf? When Golf Channel chose Appleton Creative as their agency for environmental branding, we were thrilled. The opportunity allowed us to thread the Golf Channel brand throughout the new space at their Orlando headquarters.

TBS Factoring Service – Unique Client

What does Appleton know about trucking? Quite a bit, actually! TBS proved to be our most unique new client, and we loved testing our blue-collar design grit. They liked our original illustrations so much that it inspired the company to rebrand!

Hilton Grand Vacations – Getaways

Did someone say vacation? Our relationship with Hilton has been very dear to us here at Appleton. The best part? Our web team gets the chance to design functional sites with clean design and great interactive features, such as vacation personality profiles for club members.

Dean Mead – Orlando-based professional service

Order in the court! Appleton is known for being a fun place, but we enjoy putting on our big-kid clothes too. A redesign for Orlando-headquartered Dean Mead had us in a well-polished mindset.

Tavistock – Long-term Partnership

Tiger Woods returned! It’s always a thrill to be involved in the world-famous Tavistock Cup as well as any of our other Tavistock projects – from Isleworth Living Magazine to website designs for Albany Bahamas, Stockworth Realty, Tavistock Group and Isleworth Realty, we welcome any Tavistock challenge.