We are pleased to announce that Precision Plating Company (of Chicago) has signed on with Billups Design to redesign their current web site property for 2011. We will be revamping several key components of the site to better serve their customers, including a new and improved precious metal pricing module, plant photo galleries and v360 tours. We could go on, but we'll wait until the new site is live to show you more.

As we enter our 8^th year as a digital agency, everyone here has been hard at work examining our DNA and looking at ways we can improve our organization, our products and our processes to earn even better results for our clients. The end product has been a near overhaul of the way we calibrate our creative and technology resources in order to exceed our clients’ business goals. We now offer Dynamic Digital Advertising, mobile app development, software development and a host of related services, including strategic consult and www. We hope the new web site demonstrates the rapid evolution that’s occurring every day at Billups Design. We definitely had an all out blast making it! Thank you to everyone who has helped re-engineer this agency for 2011 and beyond!

The lynchpin of any successful engagement for an agency is client communication. That's why we are very excited to announce that we have two outstanding business development professionals joining the Billups Design team for 2011. Courtney Kurland and Pam Volpe Jelaca bring a wealth of experience and expertise to our new business efforts. Both are acutely focused on identifying opportunities for our clients and prospects, then mapping out a successful digital plan for capitalizing on them. Courtney has over 20 years experience in the advertising industry and comes to us from The Weather Channel and The Oxygen Network where she was a Senior Account Manager, handling accounts for brands like Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Best Buy and Walgreen's. Pam also boasts over 20 years experience in the industry and comes to us from Turner Broadcasting and United Airlines, where she operated as a Senior Account Executive and Senior Business Development Manager respectively.

We’re suiting up to take the (digital) field for this year’s USA Football College Signing Day and USA vs. World Football Game. In conjunction with HighSchoolSports.net, we’re producing a national web site that will feature the country’s most outstanding young football players, offer live streaming video of the February 2^nd signing day breakfast and the big game to follow. The site will be engineered to handle multiple sponsors and allow users to share published videos across various networks. Look for the site to go live in mid-January!

Campaigns that involve Creative, Technology and Media working closely together - finishing each other's thoughts - are much more likely to produce considerably better results. Creative and Technology develop the message and the devices to deliver the message, but media enables them to measure and optimize those messages. Magical things like Sequential Messaging and Creative Retargeting become real tools to reach the right person with the right message.

Over time the Creatives and Technologists acquire a healthy appetite for measurable results for their hard and insightful work. So, treat yourself in your next campaign and find an agency that can deliver this type of integrated team and results-driven campaigns. You'll never look back!

We are thrilled to welcome our newest team member to Billups Design! Christine Stiely joins us from Livemercial where she was an Executive Project Manager. She has over 5 years of experience managing digital marketing programs for organizations selling products and services nationwide. She also has an impressive track record of helping clients with SEO/SEM initiatives, social media tactics and web development that have paid handsome dividends over time. Christine will be working closely with some of our clients in the hospitality, sports marketing and professional services industries. We’re excited to add her leadership and expertise to our growing team in 2011.

What's rolling down The Stairwell? This week we examine how marketers can economically demonstrate how their products work and provide interaction to boost sales, instead of just telling potential customers about benefits. Read more here.

Excerpt: Companies spend a lot of effort trying to get people aware of what they offer and then converting those people into consumers. This can be extremely tricky. A relationship is delicate at the very beginning and this makes it difficult to start asking folks for something. Lots of finesse is required in getting people to part with their personal time, privacy, and money. Since there is very little room for error at this stage, you’ll want to minimize any type of negative experience with your pitch.

In The Stairwell this week, we examine the emerging 2011 strategies for maximizing holiday sales in several market segments.

Excerpt: Fall is in the air and department stores are already scrambling to get their Christmas displays up. It’s time to start holiday shopping and that means stores are looking for new ways to get their customer’s Christmas dollars. Hopefully you’ve been cultivating your Facebook and Twitter presence all year so that now it can really pay off. The average retail store makes 40% of their yearly sales between October and December and more and more people are looking at stores and products on social media sites. There are a few steps you can take to make sure you get a piece of that action.

Read more >

The brand new Milk / All American Games / High School Sports National Cheer Contest is live! Teams from high schools all over the country can upload videos of their best routines and win a trip to San Antonio, TX and work the sidelines of this year’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl! The game will be televised on NBC, January 8th, 2011 - so don’t miss it. We’d like to thank everyone who made this contest hum just in time for cheer squads all around the country to participate! Thanks, TM, CS, CW, RN, SM, GV, TT, SR, TB and FG at All American Games.

In The Stairwell this week, we are looking at how Flash Sales can make a big impact on a company's bottom line during cyclically slow periods. If you've never considered the benefits before, then visit The Stairwell and read more.

Excerpt:  In a nutshell a Flash Sale is when you post a coupon on Facebook, Twitter, or a mobile app that expires in days or hours (Sometimes even minutes if you want to see who is really paying attention.) They can be a great way to drum up business in non-peak hours if you are a restaurant or slow days if you’re a retail store. All you do is post something like “Mention this ad for half priced appetizers by 4:00 PM,” or something similar. Some companies have even turned it into a game. If you do it right, it can drum up business and get people hooked on your Facebook and twitter pages.