Last week we introduced you to Kelsey, a high school freshman who had the opportunity to shadow fellow Willow Shrubs during a week in July. Today we continue her journey where she dives deep into understanding copy writing and all the responsibilities that our account management team has.

Wednesday was my favorite day this week. I love writing; so getting to work with Katie in Public Relations was amazing. Before I got to work with her, I completely frowned upon Public Relations but only because I knew nothing about it. Katie and I talked about writing and then she showed me how to write a press release. She gave me one that was already written and told me to add a paragraph and change it a little bit. I finished it up and gave it to her to proofread and she said she really liked it! To be honest, I even enjoyed writing that paragraph.

After that, she gave me the task of writing an entire press release, which was a challenge, but exciting to work on.

Katie was really helpful, really fun to work with and she taught me several things about writing that I had no idea about. After this week, I knew I would definitely love a job in Public Relations.

Thursday I got the chance to work with Andrew, who was quite fun. That afternoon, Andrew was going to take me to visit one of Willow’s clients. Unfortunately I couldn’t go with him because my Aunt Becky was coming to pick me up early since Uncle Brad had a meeting that night. But I did get to help out a lot and learn a few new things while he was there. One of the first things I got to do was search for a PDF file in a pile of CD drives for his meeting tomorrow. It didn’t take me that long and I felt really proud of myself for finding it that fast. After that we sat in his office while he finished getting ready for his meeting tomorrow and I proofread some papers.

Can’t get enough of Kelsey’s adventures? Next week, she’ll wrap up her journey by exploring video production at Willow.

Today, it seems like every advertiser and organization wants to be on Facebook. They want to reach millions of users with their message. It’s understandable; the investment to create a Facebook page is minimal and the results are easily tracked. You know almost immediately how many people you’ve reached and if they “like” you.  If you are advertising on Facebook, can you convey your brand promise in 135 characters or less with an image the size of a postage stamp?

Recently, I’ve been tasked with creating Facebook ads for several of our clients, and I must say, it’s not a simple task. Fortunately, these ads were in conjunction with a print campaign that allowed space for more than 135 characters and the luxury of large, bold images to create and express our client’s brand promise.

I contend that the relationship a person has with a print piece is different than that of online advertising. Print is a more sensory media. Print can activate each of the five senses; think of a scented perfume ad, die-cuts and varied paper textures and even embedded sound devices. A print piece can be designed to contain as much or as little copy as you require. You can have big bold images and subtle graphics to enhance your message. In short, a print piece can create and embody your brand message.

Now, I’m not saying one medium is better than the other, they are both integral components to an effective campaign. Print is a strong driver of online behavior. It wets the reader’s appetite for a complementary web experience. I believe, the process of engaging a consumer doesn’t start on a mobile device, it starts in print. Electronic media is just another tool to communicate with your audience. Each avenue has its strengths and limitations—but print was the first interactive medium, and is a powerful and effective part of any media mix.

Kelsey Price will be a freshman this fall at Salem High School in Salem, Indiana. Last month she spent a week of her summer vacation shadowing the Willow Shrubs. Each day she spent time with a different shrub, giving her the opportunity to learn a little (or sometimes a lot) about the various departments here at Willow and the people that make them up. After four and a half days of torture we bestowed her with the highest Willow honor possible – a spot on the Willow blog. (We decided she had earned it.) So if you’re wondering what it would be like to be a fly on the Willow wall, read Kelsey’s recount of her experience. She noticed more than we expected….

Before job shadowing at Willow Marketing I knew absolutely nothing about marketing. To me Willow was always the business that Uncle Brad and Aunt Becky worked at, until I had to start thinking about my high school classes and my future. I had already set my eyes on going to college for a Fine Arts degree. Then my mom looked at my career survey I had done in school and said to me, “Kelsey, you’ve got more options out there. You just have to look. See this? You scored the highest in creativity, technology, writing and arts. Why don’t you call your Uncle and talk to him about interning or something at Willow Marketing?” After that short conversation in May, it didn’t take long until I was all set to intern in June.

My week started off on Tuesday with Kaloni in the Graphic Design department then a few minutes with Marizka in Web. Wednesday I worked with Katie in Public Relations, Thursday I worked with Andrew in Account Services and Friday I worked with Doug in Video.

On Tuesday Kaloni and I sat down at her desk and she guided me through her typical morning. I watched as she did her “quickie” projects and then started in on the projects that took more time to do. It was very interesting seeing all the different things that graphic designers can do. Then I got to proofread some menus for her, after that she set me up to view a client’s website and write down three things that I could tell from just looking at the site. After that I wrote a review for the website and made a collage of photos representing the things that I identified in my review.

When all work I had with Kaloni was done she took me over to Marizka. I really enjoyed my time with her because I’ve never seen a website being made. I was really impressed with the way she would code something and then refresh the page and there would be a border or words that I saw her input on the page. Sadly after some time with her, my day was then done and it was time to go home but I was really looking forward to the next day.

Stay tuned next week to hear about Kelsey’s adventures with some of our writing and account management team members.

Blogs have quickly become one of the top tools for individuals to express their opinions and share their knowledge. They are great forums for reaching new audiences and expanding your reach. Many folks that I know have started their blog and then get stuck, not knowing how to keep the momentum going and how to engage readers. Well…here’s a few helpful tips that can make your blog be bloggerific!

• We always recommend that you should have 3-6 months of posts “in the can”. This will keep you from getting stuck and not having any content to post.
• We also recommend creating an editorial calendar with the “topics”, assignments and bloggers. Someone should “own” this. Again, keeps from not having relevant and timely posts…the whole point of a blog.
• Not only should you announce that you have a blog on your Facebook and Twitter, you should also make posts on your followers’ pages and feeds. Additionally, you should share this information on other relevant blogs, follow other blogs and ask these bloggers to follow you.
• You can also set up your Facebook page to have your blog RSS feed pulled in directly (like we do for Willow). There is an app to do this within Facebook.
• You should make sure that your blog has an easy to use RSS option and encourage people to sign up to receive these feeds.
• Use your blog to link to other blogs or people, to draw on their traffic and encourage them to come follow your blog.
• Your posts should be search-engine-friendly, and this is more than just incorporating keywords into your content. Your posts’ URLs should be natural-language, keyword-rich: “/your-blog-directory/the-title-of-this-post-keywords/”, not “/your-blog-directory/?p=123″ (in WordPress, use “Permalinks” to accomplish this)
• Register your blog on relevant blog search engines like Technorati, Google Blog Search, Bloglines, and other Blog search engines. Here’s a list of some other great places to register.

According to Web Design Ledger, “Parallax is a difference in the in the apparent position of an object viewed along different lines of sight. The term derives from the Greek word parallaxis, meaning alteration. In web design, the parallax effect is a relatively new trend. The parallax effect or parallax scrolling in web design is the technique that features layered images that move around the website in different speeds/perspectives creating a nice and interesting 3D illusion.”

Vertical parallax for web design isn’t something seen often, although the effect has been around awhile. It may not be a site suggested for your everyday client, but with clients willing to push the envelope, this would be a great direction to go. One clean-cut example to show what I’m talking about is http://unfold.no/.

Although the jQuery and CSS jargon is above my head to make parallax effects happen, it is important for designers to understand sprites and other components needed for developers to “make it go”.  A great website detailing what is needed to recreate this effect is Tutorial Shock.

This topic may merit more research, but understanding the up and coming trend will prove beneficial. Whether you have the freedom to go crazy and design a full parallax website or simply use small elements within a design to add some flare and uniqueness, it is a great way to position yourself, or in this case, ourselves, on top of trending topics and pushing for the best websites for clients.