Merry Christmas!

Wishing you every happiness this Holiday Season and prosperity throughout the coming year!

National Association of Women’s Business Owners

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Our CEO Ruth Johnson is a member of the Wichita chapter of NAWBO, the National Association of Women’s Business Owners.

The National Association of Women Business Owners strengthens the capacity of members and promotes economic development, creates innovative and effective changes in the business culture, builds strategic alliances, coalitions, and affiliations, transforms public policy and influences opinion makers.

In November NAWBO Wichita hosted a presentation on personal branding with national renowned speaker and author JuliAnn Static.

Targeted toward entrepreneurs and small business owners, JuliAnn spoke on attracting, connecting and converting new clients and how in today’s fast-paced marketplace, there is increased value in bridging personal brand elements, company culture, and customer experience.

 Ruth, in her signature pink brand, with JuliAnn at the professional development event.

To learn more about NAWBO Wichita, visit www.nawbowichita.com. For more on building your brand, contact Nye & Associates at 316-263-5878.

Twilight Tour at Tanganyika Wildlife Park

We attended the seventh Twilight Tour event at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard over the weekend.

The annual Twilight Tour at Tanganyika is an exclusive benefit event featuring a behind-the-scenes look inside Tanganyika Wildlife Park and the Park's conservation mission to preserve endangered species.

This intimate evening included wine and beer samplings, hors d’oeuvres from local restaurants around the park, free interactive animal feeding stations, visits with animal keepers, a plated dinner, open bar and desserts.

Including a wildlife art auction and silent auction, including work created by the Park’s own animals, like this painting by a resident anteater!

We so enjoyed planning, promoting and working on this wonderful event. Visit twpark.com for more info and event photos.



Leadership Training at The Kansas Leadership Center

We got to attend leadership training at The Kansas Leadership Center this week as part of our legislative, advocacy and communications work with a state-wide coalition.

The KLC is committed to fostering leadership for stronger, healthier and more prosperous Kansas communities.

We learned KLC leadership principles and got to practice applying them. We cant wait to take these skills back to the business world of marketing and share them with our clients and partners.

Digital + Traditional + Sales

I'm excited to share that our agency turns 40 this year! While I would like to say that I'm the agency's founder, I'm afraid the gray hairs on my head, although multiplying at an alarming rate, would serve as evidence to the contrary. My business partner, Ruth Johnson, and I have both been a part of the agency for many years and we took the helm as co-owners five years ago.

During the agency's history we developed many comprehensive strategic marketing programs designed to achieve very specific goals (part of our Smarter Marketing methodology) for our clients. Based on those goals and the audiences we sought to educate and ultimately influence, we used a variety of tactics. Some digital. Some traditional. Many today will boast digital is the only way to go and some agencies commit to digital-only. In our experience however, there are still those occasions where customers prefer something tangible. Something they can hold in their hands. To this end, we pay close attention to the needs and desires of the folks who have shown interest in consuming our client’s products and services, and we carefully analyze how they do so.

As our agency continues to evolve through, we’ve made some very interesting and noticeable observations. For example, even with the largest manufacturers, in many cases a singular driving strategic plan designed to create an influx of incremental and new sales revenue and build brand notoriety and a loyal customer base, doesn't exist. Rather, more often than not, there is one thing that the manufacturer is interested in. This one thing can be a driving force in planning the direction of the company for the next 12 months, or the next 60 months. Just recently in fact I met with the head of a very large global manufacturer. While I was interested in talking short and long term strategy, his focus was on one thing: research. Another example: I met with a $300+ million regional manufacturer recently and again there's the one thing, which in his case was marketing automation. With me, as a creature of habit, my first instinct is to immediately talk strategy. Recently I've been reminded to take a step back, listen, and realize that strategy may not be of interest to every client. They might just need one tool. And that we can provide.

We have also learned over the years that in many cases the one thing that our customers need is a better way to effectively communicate and engage the B2B partners who sell their products or promote their services on their behalf. As a result, we have developed compelling sales tools that far exceed the boundaries of digital, or traditional marketing. They are outside the scope of services offered by your average agency. To us however, they are a staple and commonplace, and an absolute necessity in any conversation with manufacturing clients. Our manufacturing clients are seeking to accomplish several things:

    •    Engage
    •    Educate
    •    Influence
    •    Build loyalty

The sales tools and processes we have developed have been field-tested and dealer-approved. We have had the pleasure of creating tools like custom iPad and Droid sales presentations for some of the nation's leading manufacturers. Other tools include online universities, where tutorial-based learning helps capture the attention, and loyalty of your B2B partners, including authorized dealer networks. What's new? Custom mobile app development. Imagine: A way for manufacturers to send instant notifications to a vast network of dealers and sales reps without having to inundate their email. Yep! It's happening. Right now.

We do digital. We also do traditional. And yes, we do sales. Want to learn more? Give me a ring at 316- 263-5878 or email me at lee@nyeandassociates.com. And remember, “You never know how far you can go, until you've gone as far as you can." - Albert Einstein.

By Lee Clark, President
Nye & Associates, Inc.