Advertising and Marketing Professionals
3615 Canyon Lake Drive Ste. 1
Rapid City, SD 57702
ph (605) 341-5226
fx (605) 341-7390
By Kyle McCabe | August 26, 2011
hah
We just got added to the Alltop site, which is awesome. Apparently they’re letting just anyone in these days! I mean, nevermind that it took months of pleading and multiple bribes consisting of first-born children and/or large quantities of alcohol (note: we do not condone the use of children as currency).
In all seriousness, though, this is pretty cool! We’re all pretty excited to be included.
You can look up the RSA Blog in the marketing topic.
By Ben Lippert | August 1, 2011
Robert Sharp & Associates was fortunate to attend the first annual MarketPlace event in Huron, SD.
The event, which is scheduled to take place the next two years, was hosted by the Center for Rural Affairs and the South Dakota Farmers Union.
The purposes of MarketPlace is to unite local business owners and entrepreneurs in South Dakota and provide them with insight, education and a chance to network and learn about other resources from across the state.
We had several good conversations with people from all walks of life and all areas of the state.
One of our most unique encounters was with a woman from a small town north of Phillip; she owns a bed and breakfast called Missile Inn. As the name suggests, Missile Inn is located near an old missile silo. Sadly, however, guests do not stay in the abandoned shaft. The B & B has six different rooms, all decked with paintings, trinkets and artifacts the owner and her family have collected over time.
We also attended several breakout sessions and seminars. Through these experiences we learned helpful advice from industry leaders. One of the sessions, “20 Killer Marketing Ideas That Will Build Your Business,” was especially helpful.
From all the speakers, discussions and networking with South Dakota business owners, here are three most important things we took away.
1) Business is alive and well in South Dakota – what recession? SD business owners are fighting through the difficult financial times facing our country and most of them are coming out successful. This doesn’t just include established businesses, many small businesses are opening and finding a way to make it work.
2) The feeling of community is strong – even though we knew many of the vendors and business owners, there were still some new faces. The friendliness and love we received from total strangers was astounding. This wasn’t an event where businesses pushed their products at other people. There were no sales pitches or contracts – just an open environment to learn and grow.
3) Technology is at the forefront of business – the degree of attendees tech skills ranged from very advanced to complete novice but one thing was consistent in the minds of everyone who attended: technology is essential to marketing your business and product. Many of the session talked about social media’s influence on business. It was neat to see the openness and reception to technology that many people aren’t native to, or necessarily familiar with.
If you would like to join us at the 2012 South Dakota MarketPlace event, check the Center for Rural Affairs website or contact the South Dakota Farmers Union.
By Kyle McCabe | July 21, 2011
We’ve come a long way since 2007, with incredible growth in the SEO/social media portion of our business. It didn’t come without a healthy dose of challenges, but that’s what we’re all about and we’re still going strong.
What we do isn’t easy in this changing world of Pandas and Zaarly’s; each new update or piece of technology brings a fresh challenge to our doorstep. Our task is to stay on top of it all *and* bring our clients with us. So we’re always reading, always experimenting, forming new strategies, brainstorming with the rest of RSA, attending seminars, trying to figure out the best approach, the reason for that traffic spike, or how to turn an apparent failure into a success or at least a lesson.
What we hear more and more often from clients themselves are things like, “I know it’s important and I have to do it at some point…,” or, “I noticed a drop in traffic when I stopped SEO,” or, “Every website should be optimized for search engines,” are becoming more common. Business owners and marketers are getting it – an invisible website is an invisible business.
So what’s the hang-up? Usually it’s budget. No one wants to throw thousands of dollars at something they don’t understand the mechanics of – even if SEO seems necessary it can still look like a bunch of voodoo.
That’s why we try to take the mystery out of it all. We tell you exactly what we’re doing and why, and show you the results.
By Justin Mather | June 20, 2011
RSA’s print department is like a well-oiled machine, a machine that runs on variety and creativity. Our passion is providing clients with top-notch designs and superb customer service. We thrive on the day-to-day challenge of conjuring fresh ideas for effective graphic design. No two projects are ever the same – and we love that! Here are some of our latest endeavors:
Our expert team truly enjoys helping clients keep their print projects and brands consistent, yet fresh. Far too many times we see brands using a variety of fonts, colors and logos from one design to the next, making for an inconsistent design and confusing brand. We know it’s tempting to try designing everything on the cheap, but realize when you hire us you are hiring a team of professionals who eat, sleep and breathe design every day.
Ask our clients, then become one. We’ll make sure your product or service is highlighted in a uniquely creative way.
- Justin Mather, Print Production Director
By Tony Dodd | May 25, 2011
The RSA web development team has been hard at work creating highly optimized, effective websites. We have many exciting sites we’re currently working on:
Also, coming very soon to the web, fresh from our team’s creative fingers:
We are also excited to announce our newest service offering: mobile websites! We’ve been creating mobile sites since early 2010, and would now like to offer it as a standard service. RSA can produce the mobile version of your website, which usually contains fewer graphics and more text, quickly and inexpensively.
We’re currently working on mobile sites for the Ramada Tropics Resort, Des Moines, and Ramada Sioux Falls, having just completed our own mobile website.
We’re always developing new, effective solutions in our creative and interactive departments, and our business is always growing and evolving. We have our clients to thank for that. Keep up the good work, everyone, and thanks for your business!
- Tony
By Jack Sitch | April 20, 2011
In March we welcomed Rodrick Feggins as the newest member of our video production department. An accomplished motion graphics professional from San Antonio, Texas, Rodrick brings knowledge and skill in 3-D graphics, compositing and motion graphics that bolsters and expands RSA’s capabilities and quality of work.
Another addition to our team includes the Canon 5D mkII HDSLR camera, recently used in two pieces for the South Dakota Lottery and the Downtown Association. Videos shot with the Canon have the cinematic look and feel of Hollywood, and the camera’s depth of field draws the viewer’s attention to the most important images in the production.
On the creative side, we produced outstanding television commercials such as the Black Hills Stock Show’s “2011 Generic“. As you’ll see, this graphics-intensive piece captures the depth and excitement of the Stock Show.
RSA’s production team recently traveled to Gillette to produce a commercial for Casey Peterson and Associates’ new Gillette office called “Trust.” In this commercial, you’ll meet the Gillette staff and hear some of the most common reasons CPA’s clients trust them to help with their businesses and personal finances. You’ll notice here, as well, that when shot with the Canon 5D, the images bring a simple beauty to the commercial not usually seen in local television.
As our video production department takes on new and exciting projects, we invite you to stop by and meet Rodrick or see some of their outstanding work. And maybe while you’re here, you can quiz us on how we can help grow your business with a new video and our other creative services. From television and radio commercials to training and long-form videos to simple web videos, we have the experience and the team to take your current messaging to the next level.
- Jack
By Nancy Marshall | March 16, 2011
[This guest post from Nancy Marshall Communications in Augusta, Maine, was written by Matt Rideout, Internet Account Coordinator and Social Media Strategist, and originally posted on the Alliance of Marketing Communications Agencies blog.]
Ever seen the movie “Hackers”? Computer programmers can be “different” sometimes, and their terminology for computer stuff can reflect that. Today we’ll be looking at different sorts of search engine optimization “hats,” as they are called, specifically black hat and white hat search engine optimization. Call them yin and yang or good vs. evil. Each hat has its own culture of followers, code of ethics, as well as its plusses and minuses.
One of the most important factors affecting the ranking of your website in search engine results is the number of links that point from other websites to your website. The more high quality links pointing to your site, the higher your site will show up in search engine rankings. Google will assume that because all of these websites are linking to you, that your site must be a great authority on its subject. Nancy Marshall likes to say that it’s like a person in real life. If a person has a lot of important and popular friends, then people will assume that person is also important and popular.
Chances are you have seen an advertisement or received an innocent-looking email from someone promising …Read more »
By Justin Mather | March 3, 2011
[When asked to write a post for the RSA blog I thought, hey I'm not a writer - and what was I even going to write about? Think Justin....think! Then it happened, my WDT intern Pierre (his name has been changed to protect his innocence) walked in and said "what's goin’ on?" And just like that I had a topic. I tried to get Pierre to write this, but he's lazy and doesn't prioritize very well. You know, he puts school and his job before his internship. Silly intern. Anyway, here's my masterpiece…]
Don't forget my coffee
We love us some interns!
Each year many brave souls apply for various internship positions here at Robert Sharp & Associates, and each year we select a few candidates who show us they want to learn and are excited about what they can do. When they show up for work, we show them what an ad agency is all about: sex, drugs and Facebook!
An internship at RSA starts with you getting me coffee and a Taco John’s breakfast burrito (relax, I’ll pay every third time) and ends with …Read more »
By Molly Albrecht | February 16, 2011
Analytics? Bounce rate?
What language are they speaking?
I have to admit, I thought I might need a passport and a pocket dictionary on my first day at RSA. That day I attended several meetings with the search engine marketing team, and most of the words buzzing around me sounded like a foreign language.
I’m the first to admit, I’m a search engine marketing (SEM) newbie.
I applied for the interactive marketing specialist job at RSA because writing skill was included in the job description. That sounded ideal, since I love writing and studied journalism in college. Little did I know the job encompassed so much more, and I’d be grasping to understand parts of it.
I’ll let you in on a few of the secrets I’ve learned.
Luckily for me, I’ve discovered …Read more »
By Kyle McCabe | November 9, 2010
Have a nice cup of ANGRY BADGER!
Change is hard. How many times have we heard that? Change is hard because it involves risk, effort, and some level of emotional investment. We don’t like that stuff – it’s uncomfortable. We fear it (This is one case where “it’s more scared of you than you are of it” doesn’t apply).
The status quo is predictable. It’s controllable. It doesn’t involve any new or extra effort. We like that stuff – it lets us coast and enjoy what we have. It’s all warm and fuzzy. Curl up by the fire with a good book and a cup of status quo. Oh yeah.
But the status quo can change. And when it does …Read more »
