JUly 29, 2011 VOl. 3 ISSUE 35 - SEMO TIMES

Business
page 6
Marketing Campaigns
Liz Ellis
Reporter
Running a successful marketing
campaign is tricky, and can walk a fine
line between innovative and disastrous,
between creative and annoying.
Tabitha Thomas of Relentless Media
Productions said that traditional thinking
and time-tested techniques may not
always be the best way to go.
“Think outside of the box,” Thomas
said. “When you’re thinking about
marketing, don’t think of the business
in your terms. Put yourself in your
customer’s shoes, your client’s shoes.
Don’t think about it the way you do,
think about it the way they will.” That,
she said, is the essential first part of
successful marketing.
The second step, she said, is knowing
what the brand of your business is,
and then fostering it to create the proper
feel and technique for the marketing
campaign.
“Your brand is not your color scheme,
it’s not your logo,” Thomas said. “Your
brand is the spirit of your business.
If someone were to say three words
about your business, what would they
be? Really understand your brand and
business, because until you do, they
[your customers] won’t.”
To establish what the brand of a company
should be, Thomas said that the
first step is to ask a ton of questions.
Figure out what you want others to
see in your business, how you perform
your business and
what your character
as a business
is. The important
thing is to just get
to brain storming,
and know what
you want.
“There is no
such thing as a
dumb idea, because
dumb ideas
spark good ones,”
Thomas said.
Another tip for
the contemporary
business owner
is to use social
media to market
products.
“It’s free and it’s the best thing you
can do,” Thomas said. “It’s the best
way to communicate with your clients
on their terms.”
Thomas has been doing marketing at
Relentless Media for three years, and
does a little bit of everything from account
managing to script writing.
“You come up with these ideas and
Photo by Liz Ellis
Tabitha Thomas is the chief financial officer for Relentless
Media Productions in Poplar Bluff. She has been doing advertising
at the company for three years.
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you pitch them to a client and they’re
like, ‘I love it!’ and it’s the best high
in the world,” Thomas said. “It’s really
exciting when you think of these new
ideas and they get it… writing commercials
is my favorite.”
And she writes a lot of them. Relentless
Media specializes in video production,
but they also offer a wide variety
of marketing services including branding,
websites, photography and graphic
design. They are based in Poplar Bluff,
but also have an office in Jackson.
However, they aren’t limited to just
Missouri. They travel all over.
In Poplar Bluff, they have worked
with Gamma HealthCare, Popular
Bluff Credit Union, Black River Coliseum
and Three Rivers College.
“I do it because it’s fun,” Thomas
said. “It’s different every single day
and it’s challenging because somebody
is placing their business in your hands
to help you promote them. Everybody’s
business is their baby and there’s a lot
of trust there.”
Liz Ellis can be reached by email at
lizellis@semotimes.com
www.semotImes.com