Reach Beyond Your Network on West Virginia Day

Continuing on this creative tradition, Jason Keeling is leading WV bloggers and social media mavens on another exciting project aimed at helping to build a better West Virginia. What better occasion than the state's 147th birthday to harness the power of social networks to do something good for the Mountain State! We've all been invited to submit a request. I look forward to seeing what everyone needs and helping out in any way I can.

So here's my request: I need to get connected to Ivanka Trump or her publicist for an opportunity / idea related to my recently published book that I co-authored with Emily Bennington. I believe our book can really fit with and fill a need on "The Celebrity Apprentice."

West Virginia Day (June 20) provides an ideal time to celebrate the Mountain State’s many unique qualities, but it also offers us the opportunity to do something for the state’s betterment.

The online community is invited to join this year’s “a Better West Virginia Network” effort, intended to help connect organizations, businesses, and individuals according to their need(s).

For the most part, everyone has some need or challenge that can be solved through networking, and the Internet is an excellent medium for publicizing such needs and generating worthwhile connections.

Maybe your nonprofit needs more volunteers. Maybe your business needs new clients and/or employees. Perhaps you need a new job. Maybe you’re looking for someone with specialized knowledge to complete a project. Perhaps your community has a specific need.

In some cases, making local connection(s) could suffice, while other instances may require help from outside of the state. Think locally, nationally, or globally, whichever applies best to your circumstances.

Here’s how to participate within the “a Better West Virginia Network.”

First, identify and describe the need(s) of your organization, business,
community, or individual circumstance.

Second, publish this information on your blog or website, and forward the link to me via email: jason(at)keelingstrategic(dot)com.

Third, return to this blog on West Virginia Day, where a list of the various submissions will be posted.

Lastly, visitors will be encouraged to peruse the compiled list and help make any connections.

Hop on over to A Better WV for full details.

Maple Marketing Campaign for Fairmont Federal Credit Union Grabs National Honors

As we've stated before, it is fine to win awards within our industry. Back in the early days at Maple Creative, we would get a big boost from Crystal Awards and Addys. As time goes by, however, it seems much more gratifying when our clients win awards for marketing within their professional groups and trade associations.
Such was the case again recently when Fairmont Federal Credit Union picked up a pair of Merit Awards in the Diamond Awards Competition at the 2010 CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference in Washington, DC.

Fairmont Federal Credit Union won one Merit Award for its direct-mailer and another for its TV advertising series (campaign), both designed by Maple Creative. The direct-mail piece and the TV ad campaign were but two tactical elements in an integrated marketing campaign for FFCU's Rewards Checking. The campaign was remarkably successful during an unquestionably challenging national and local economic times. In just over a year, FFCU increased membership by 30% and increased deposits to record levels.

The keys to success were a strong service offering (Rewards Checking offered great rates and low/no fees for new members), a tightly integrated creative campaign and outstanding coordination between FFCU management and the Maple team. The awards are a nice verification of outstanding success in financial services marketing. But at Maple Creative, nothing is more gratifying than results--especially when those results are of the record-breaking magnitude that our client achieved!