When planning your next customer facing communication tool, be sure to ask yourself an important question – “How can I maximize my investment?”

Even though your initial project might have a targeted message, it doesn’t mean your visuals can’t reach beyond that one piece into a range of communications vehicles. When working with clients on a project, we often discover for them opportunities to re-use the “marketecture” graphics and solution diagrams we create. When the opportunity is identified, we create these visuals with the flexibility to be used in web sites, presentations, HTML emails, white papers — you get the idea.

This can save you budget dollars that are difficult to come by in today’s economy. One of our long-standing clients, Iron Mountain, has seen the value in this approach. Throughout the years they have seen CGI as a valuable online marketing resource – providing writing, design and development for over 244 Powerpoint presentations and 46 Flash product demonstrations

The takeaway — It’s easy to maximize on an investment if you spend a little time upfront to plan for it.

Last night I attended the Hill Holiday panel discussion “Integrating Social Media Across the Big Brand: The Harmony of Cross-Channel Marketing.” The panel was pulled together by the director of integrated marketing Mike Proulx and featured panel members Terry Lozoff, Sean Corcoran, Mike Spataro, Ken Peters, and Vicki Rellas. Each member of the panel discussed cross-channel marketing case studies from Best Buy and GM to Feld Entertainment and Chili’s.

Integrating social media into cross-channel marketing is not something new. Companies started doing limited campaigns to augment their larger marketing plans on Facebook and MySpace since before 2007. However, big brands are becoming more strategic in their approach to community building and using social media as a larger part of their marketing strategies.

As the panel discussed, when integrating social media strategies into your wider marketing plan, it is not just about splashing your brand across the networks, but really thinking about your consumers and the conversations you want to create. Here are a few points to keep in mind:

1. What are my goals with integrating social media into this campaign: Although there have been many arguments that social media can’t be measured, it can. When developing a plan, develop it as any other marketing strategy with benchmarks in order to gauge its success. These measurements may not be as quantitative as traditional marketing campaigns. It is important to understand that much of social media is dependent on the conversation, so qualitative measures become essential to gauging success.

2. How is traditional media supporting online efforts: New media (aka social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Blogs) cannot live without old media (aka TV, radio, and print), at least not yet. Understanding how the two mediums can compliment each other leads to greater success. Consistent branding throughout the channels gives customers a way to connect their engagement online and the advertising they see offline.

3. <!–[endif]–>New media can extend traditional media plans: Suggestion, don’t get on twitter only for a campaign. The content that goes online lives online forever. This means that your customers can access it long after the commercials or billboards come down. Think about integrated social media components as a long-term community instead of a “limited life” campaign.

4. Don’t just talk, listen: Unlike traditional media buys, social media cannot simply be used as a broadcast channel. Platforms are set up to suggest engagement and conversation. Utilize this as an opportunity to not only send out messages, but also to understand how your consumers think and understand your brand.

Most of all, give people a reason to come back. If you are not finding success with social media, don’t give up. Think about your approach, tweak it, and try again. People want to talk about what they think about your product, so finding a way to allow them a space to do that can be hugely rewarding for both your marketing team and your customers.

I’m finding as I navigate & learn about the social media landscape that I have pre-conceived boundaries for what I post and where. I am enjoying using facebook to connect with friends and even some clients. Facebook feels natural and fancy free to me. I’m using it as a “friends & family” LIST of sorts.

I’m imposing some boundaries with Twitter though. I’m feeling like I need to post more business worthy info there, although it can still be fun & snappy….it feels more techy & formal than facebook. I have a little bit of twitter envy for those who are tweeting freely…maybe I’ll get there.

Blogs…well I guess I’m figuring it out now…with my first blog entry that I started vs. commenting on someone else’s post.