Make 2010 the year you “do some good.” Whether it’s donating to victims of the earthquake in Haiti or bowling for your local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters — social media platforms have leveled the playing ground, making it just as easy for a small entrepreneur or multimillion-dollar conglomerate to play a philanthropic role in the community.

Why should you expend energy on “giving?” Besides the obvious answer — because you can make a difference — there are some business advantages. Remember, “community” no longer defines a geographical region just outside your door. It represents a larger, virtual online community populated by your fans, customers and prospective customers. People talk about you in these virtual communities. And they share your links, events, white papers and postings.

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The Women’s Community is now on Facebook, and to jumpstart their fan base, Thomas Marks and Associates and Peritus Design (TMA+Peritus) are hosting their semi-annual social networking event to benefit the non-profit organization during Domestic Violence Awareness month.

TMA+Peritus’ Fall Ice Maker will be held on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at the RedEye Brewery in Wausau. But you won’t see invitations in the mail. TMA+Peritus and The Women’s Community are using the power of social networking to generate awareness for the event.

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Full disclosure.  I like newspapers, especially on Sundays.  What’s better than seeing your hands black with newsprint after reading the New York Times, and yes the Wausau Daily Herald.  The problem is, I’m in the minority; and it’s not just newspapers — toss in local television and radio stations and you’ve got yourself three relics heading for the endangered species list.
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Local interactive design and marketing agency to grow sales of state’s potatoes

The Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) has partnered with Thomas Marks & Associates and Peritus Design (TMA+Peritus) to increase awareness of the Wisconsin Potato and Healthy Grown® potato brand among consumers and retailers nationwide.

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Getting a Grip on Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing and Social Media from a Real, Live Geek

Presented by: Jim Carlson, Director of Internet Strategies for TMA+Peritus

Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 7:30 a.m. at the Portage County Business Council office
5501 Vern Holmes Drive, Stevens Point
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Madison, WI — The Wisconsin State Capitol will be bathed in blue on Monday, August 3, and will stay that color for seven days, all to raise awareness for the prevention of child abuse and neglect. The Exchange Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse, a non-profit organization committed to child abuse prevention in Dane County, recently launched a yearlong awareness and fundraising initiative — Paint the Town Blue – to raise community awareness and funds to prevent physical child abuse and neglect, and also to honor, in part, The Exchange Center’s 25 years of service in Dane County.
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Thomas Marks & Associates and Peritus Design (TMA+Peritus), a strategic interaction agency specializing in the interaction between businesses and customers through branding, public relations, print, web 2.0 and social media marketing, will be presenting recession-appropriate marketing strategies to the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in Madison. The presentation, “What is Strategic Interaction and How Can It Drive Sales and Business Relationships,” will be given by Tom Marks, President and Managing Partner of TMA+Peritus, and Dave Neelsen, Senior Business Strategist at TMA+Peritus.

“Despite the economy, we’ve had an upswing in the number of new clients,” notes Marks. “Businesses need to stay in front of their customers — no matter the economic climate —  and they’re looking to us to help them do so in a cost-effective manner. This presentation will focus on how businesses can better come to understand their customers and how they can use that understanding to interact with them to grow sales and prospects.”

IABC Madison is a network of business communication professionals, including public/community relations and public affairs, corporate communications, investor relations, advertising/marketing communications, and human resources personnel. IABC’s mission is to facilitate successful communications and to provide professionals with opportunities to learn from each other and experts in their field.

The presentation and luncheon will take place at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. Interested parties can register via email at iabcmadison@verizon.net. The deadline for registration is Friday, June 19. Cost is $17 for IABC members, $23 friends and guests, $12 student members.

Everywhere you look – it’s all about building community. On TV, American Express is telling me there’s a “date on my card” and there’s the “date when you realized it’s more than a card.” And then I’m asked, “Are you a member?” In the world of Facebook, I’m welcomed to a wide variety of groups and causes by friends who understand my idea of community. On the Internet, I see companies like Zappos and Threadless who build their brand by building a community. Now top that with the genius behind Barack Obama’s grass roots funding campaign that created an impassioned community and I have to wonder — is grass roots the new way to grow funding for community-based organizations? No longer, it seems, must public service entities chase the large cash cows. Instead, by building an online presence that engenders an interest-based community, it seems the real power in raising funds is by realizing, quite simply, that every dollar counts.

Does grass roots have new life?

It seems that everywhere I look, there are news reports of people cutting back during this recession, yet, as I travel to the shopping centers, carts are full.

I’ve had conversations with people who say since gas prices have dropped, that they are less concerned with their holiday shopping budget. Other people are clearly sharpening their pencils and watching every penny.

So where do you fit into this mix? Are you spending more, less or about the same this holiday season? What tips do you have for stretching the power of your dollars?

Perhaps I should just turn off my computer. Day after day, the stock market, economic news and world events have made it hard for me to get out of bed with a positive attitude. So I put my laptop aside on Thanksgiving and after a good night’s rest ventured out to see how the local economy was handling Black Friday.
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