Sun Prairie business excels through real-life social media

Nearly every professional has been to some sort of a networking event or conference. After just a few times at these sorts of gatherings you start to see familiar faces and can feel comfortable in this situation. But what about the first time you set foot into one of these events? Why is that such a different and uncomfortable occasion?

The issue that first timers are dealing with is a lack of brand awareness. Simply put, no one knows who the heck you are! A local company is tackling its own brand awareness problem with a very bright and creative solution.

Brian Euclide and Scott Eganhouse of TEC Mailing Solutions LLC, a cloud-based mailing software company in Sun Prairie, decided to purchase cloud suits to wear to their trade shows and other events. These suits are — no joke — bright blue with white, fluffy clouds floating across the material.

When asked why they were wearing such unique suits, Eganhouse, vice president of business development, explains, “The issue we were trying to solve was a brand awareness problem — the community we serve didn’t know TEC or what we did. We’ve since dovetailed off of our trade show strategy, which was creating noise at the show with the cloud suits, [because it] gave us a ton a media exposure and imagery consistent with our brand.”

What started as a clever conversation starter turned into a fantastic branding example, both in person and on social media.

You may be thinking, I understand that the cloud suits are memorable branding for a cloud-based mailing software company, but how does that translate to social media branding?

Here’s how: TEC used another play on words to express how its service gives clients the freedom to be wherever they want and still have access to their tools for direct mailing.

“We decided to create a campaign of being wherever you want — a kind of travelogue. We spent another $250 on lights, a green screen, and software to create our content,” Eganhouse says.

This imaginative concept has since been deployed on social media with a consistent message that no matter where you are, TEC Mailing Solutions can simplify your direct mailing campaigns. They post at all their trade shows around the country, and also at any relevant, large-scale event going on worldwide with the help of their green screen. Something else you’ll always see on these social media posts is the hashtag, #CloudMailingGuys.

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Euclide and Eganhouse came up with an incredibly appropriate and witty way to help with their brand awareness problem, but that doesn’t mean that you need to stop what you’re doing to find a suit with your business on it. Use the principles that they’re implementing to build your own brand-awareness campaign. Here is a high level overview with help from the TEC guys:

• Branding: Keep the story consistent throughout your social media and advertising. This allows people to see any of the pieces in the campaign and associate it with your company.
• Community: “We focused heavily on the audience we serve, and in particular the analyst and thought leaders in the segment that can carry your water,” says Eganhouse.
• Consistency: Publish content on a regular basis and think about using a unique tagline or hashtag that you’d like people to recognize.
• Effort: Nothing is going to magically happen because you start posting on social media channels. Personally reaching out to industry leaders and other members in your field is the only way to build followers. Only when you have built your followership will you be able to drive engagement.
• Acknowledge other people and their successes: Whenever you have the chance to pump someone else up on social media, do it! If you get a chance to take a picture at a trade show or event, make sure you tag everyone in the photo. People love when other people give them credit, and the best part is it doesn’t cost a thing.
• Don’t depend solely on social media: While social media is a great and powerful tool to gain brand awareness, do not think that you can depend on it alone. Using other forms of contact (direct mailers, drip marketing email campaigns, and other communication) is equally important in gaining brand recognition.

If I say, “Just Do It” you immediately think Nike. Companies like this spend millions of dollars perfecting and projecting these taglines and sayings. One of the best qualities of social media is that anything can gain traction for zero dollars and zero cents. Using social media as a branding tool is something that companies didn’t have at their disposal 15 years ago. Use it effectively and you could become a household name. What is your cloud suit?

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