Christian Interactive

Lots of folks are paying attention to social media these days, and a fair chunk of change is being dumped into social media marketing efforts.  As we discuss social media with our clients and potential clients, the question that always arises is, "How does it help grow our business?"  This is actually a great question.  And the answer?  It depends...

Not a concise answer, to be sure, but truthful, which in my opinion counts for everything.  The last thing that a client wants is for their agency to "sell them".  Honestly, it depends on the client's goals.  Keep in mind that followers or fans for the sake of large numbers does nothing, in the same way that large volumes of traffic to a website without a call to action accomplishes very little. 

The other important piece to note is that one of the primary goals is to move folks from social media sites to the client site.  There must be a strategy to accomplish this.  Once moved from the social site to the website, the results of social media can be measured. 

Currently most CMO's measure success from social media marketing by increase in site traffic.  Site traffic is good, and easily measurable from social websites to client websites. 

What is the action you want visitors to take once on the website?  And how will you track who is doing what from where?  This is where the fun begins... Strategy session to be continued...

About Edge Media:  Edge Media is a leading interactive Christian advertising agency specializing in cutting edge technologies that deliver exceptional results for our clients.  Our cutting edge technologies include SMS marketing software that gives our clients access to bulk SMS services, optimized blogging delivering exceptional results in the SEO realm, social media, and a myriad of other services, which is of course why we are a leading interactive Christian advertising agency!

We have several clients who are expanding their use of our SMS marketing software to live events, and we are very excited about it!  Just recently the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family launched into live use of the Edge Mobile SMS marketing software.  In the case of FRC, Tony Perkins invited the audience to text in if they wanted more information.  The system captured the mobile number for ongoing communication, then delivered a message with info and a URL link for more information. 

Focus on the Family is using the SMS marketing software to allow attendees at a conference the ability to text their question in to the speaker.  Our SMS marketing software receives the question, and then forwards it on to the speaker's cell phone.  The speaker then decides which questions to take, greatly enhancing the opportunity for interaction.  The system again captures the cell phone number for further communication, and Focus on the Family has the opportunity to maintain a dialogue with the conference participants.    

In addition to text to cell phone, the Edge Mobile SMS platform also has text to screen capabilities for live events.  The text message comes in to the system, the computer operator screens the message, and if appropriate, moves it over to the screen, Jumbotron, etc. using our computer interface software.  This function greatly enhances the interactivity of any live event.

About Edge Mobile SMS marketing software:  The SMS marketing software is web based, highly sophisticated, and connects to all major US carriers and most international carriers as well.  It has tremendous functionality, with text to cell phone and text to screen just a few of the capabilities.  For more information, go to http://www.edgemedia.biz/index-3.html.

About Edge Media: Edge Media is a Christian full service leading interactive agency serving broadcast, ministry, non-profit, and for profit organizations.  As a Christian advertising agency we are committed to the highest ethical standards and client service, while offering cutting edge technological solutions that deliver exceptional results.

We are excited about NRB 2010!  Looking forward to connecting with colleagues, old friends, and colleagues who are old friends!  We are meeting with a number of Christian broadcast networks, Christian ministries and non-profits, and Christian agencies who want to discuss our SMS marketing software.  If you are attending and interested, call us, we would love to visit!

The ability to communicate through the delivery of bulk SMS services to listeners, viewers, donors, and organization supporters is rapidly becoming a critical component of effective communications platforms.   For example, one of our clients, the Family Research Council has been using text messaging to mobilize their supporters to take urgent action in the healthcare debate.  Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council, just used the Edge Mobile platform during a live speaking engagement. While he was speaking, he invited the audience to text in if they would like more information about Family Research Council.  The audience responded well, the system captured the cell phone number of the person who texted in, and FRC delivered back a message about Family Research Council and a URL link in the text message for more information.  Family Research Council now has the ability to remain in communication with the folks who responded during the speaking engagement. 

About the Edge Media Mobile platform: Edge Mobile is SMS marketing software that increases interactivity and communication for our clients.  For more information on mobile marketing, go to http://www.edgemedia.biz/index-3.html

About Edge Media:  Edge Media is a leading Christian interactive advertising agency that uses cutting edge technology to deliver exceptional results for our clients.

We are looking forward to our time at NRB to meet new friends and visit with long time friends.  We are exciting about the launch of ChurchLink Communications, which will be a tremendous blessing to ministries, Christian broadcast, and churches around the world.  We will be discussing our SMS marketing software, our optimized blogging systems, and of course our leading interactive agency strategies including web design, search engine optimization, media research, media buying, and much more that integrated together have helped our clients meet and exceed their goals.  If you are going to NRB and want to schedule some time to visit, send me an e-mail!

Vickie Isaac
President/Owner
ChurchLink Communications, a division of Edge Media

About ChurchLink Communications & Edge Media: We are a leading Christian advertising agency specializing in interactive strategies and cutting edge technologies.

We are pleased to announce a new division of Edge Media - ChurchLink Communications!  ChurchLink Communications will offer all of the services that Edge Media offers, and make them available to churches, ministries, and Christian broadcast organizations. 

As a Christian advertising agency, we are pleased to bring a full array of marketing services to the Church, and ChurchLink Communications will quickly become a Christian interactive marketing leader.  It is our strong belief that the numerous services and technological solutions we offer will be of tremendous value to the Church, and it is our desire to help the Church maximize every communication opportunity.

With over three decades of marketing experience in the Christian marketplace, we believe our cutting edge technologies will make a dramatic difference for the clients we serve.  On the mobile advertising front, we are already serving Christian organizations like the Family Research Council and Cornerstone Festival who are utilizing our bulk SMS services.   We are excited to support these wonderful ministries with technology that increases their abiity to communicate!

For a free month's trial of ChurchLink Mobile, visit our landing page at: web.mac.com/edge.media/iWeb/ChurchLink%20Mobile/ChurchLink.html

For more about SMS marketing software, bulk SMS services, or Edge Media, a leading interactive agency, go to: www.edgemedia.biz

Edge Media is a Christian advertising agency located in Phoenix, AZ offering full service marketing solutions for local and national clients.

Edge Media has always been a Christian agency, but with the launch of our new division,  ChurchLink Communications, we have been very pleased with the response from churches, ministries, parachurch organizations, and Christian broadcast companies.  Many Christian organizations are aware of the need to integrate new marketing approaches into their strategies but are just uncertain how to begin the process.

As a Christian marketing company, we are confident that we understand the goals of our clients, and blessed that we have the resources to help them reach their goals.  Vickie Isaac, President and Owner of Edge Media, has over thirty years of ministry experience, global missionary experience, and church experience to bring to work for our clients.   There are very few Christian interactive agencies with both the ministry and marketing experience combined, and we believe that we can put this expertise to work to benefit the Church.

We have a full menu of services for our clients and are looking forward to being a blessing to our new ones. While the ChurchLink Communications site is under construction, please visit the Edge Media site for a full description of our products and services.
www.edgemedia.biz/index-2.html

ChurchLink Communications is a division of Edge Media, LLC, a full service leading interactive agency located in Phoenix, AZ.

Edge Media, a leading interactive agency located in Phoenix, AZ is pleased to announce the addition of ChurchLink Communications, a full service division of Edge Media, designed to help ministries and churches move forward to utilize all of the benefits of emerging technologies.

As a Christian interactive agency, we are confident that our clients will benefit from three decades of experience meeting the needs of Christian broadcast companies, ministries, parachurch, and church organizations. 

Product offerings for ChurchLink will include:

ChurchLink Mobile:   Subscription based, online SMS marketing software system with wonderful applications for non-profits, churches and ministries using text messaging including fundraising, action alerts, prayer alerts, devotionals, security, connecting groups within churches and ministries, text to screen, etc.  We can also connect text to Twitter!

ChurchLink Apps: We can develop apps for I-Phones & Blackberrys for non-profits, ministries, churches, political candidates, etc.

ChurchLink Mobile Web:  We can develop mobile websites  (example: ESPN tripled website traffic when they added their .mobi site!)

ChurchLink Social Media: We create social media sites and then connect them so that content automatically flows across all sites - this helps busy people communicate!

ChurchLink Blog Systems: We use blog optimization software based on keyword research, so when a blog is written, it is keyword optimized (for example 10 keywords), the system parses the blog into 10 blogs instead of one, publishes to the internet, and then pings the search engines.  This system takes up internet real estate very rapidly, and is a great tool for search engine optimization.  We can integrate this into your website and autoflow content from your social media sites as well.

ChurchLink also offers e-mail marketing, e-fundraising, pay-per-click advertising management, & search engine optimization, graphic & web design, market research & strategy, media planning and buying.

Our ChurchLink Communications site is currently under construction, so please visit the Edge Media website to gain a full understanding of the expertise of our marketing and advertising consultants, as well as the experience our Christian agency is ready to put to work for you!
www.edgemedia.biz

"ChurchLink is a wonderful source of encouragement, connection, and communication for our congregation. The system instantly transmits urgent prayer requests, allowing us to immediately pray for one another.  I also use it to send out a Scripture, word of encouragement, or prayer daily.  It is an essential communication tool for every church in today's technological age."

  ChurchLink is mobile marketing software that sends and receives text messages instantly, and has numerous applications for the church, including prayer, security, events, devotionals, intergroup communiciation, and much more.  Edge Media is waiving set up fees and offering one month's free subscription to churches to help them get started implementingthis great communication tool.  E-mail Edge Media today to take advantage of this offer! info@edgemedia.biz

Americans now use text messaging more often than phone calling, and text messages get better response than e-mail communications. As a Christian interactive advertising agency, Edge Media has long believed that the Church should take advantage of emerging technology to increase communication within the Church as well as an outreach tool.  Edge Media's advertising and marketing consultants have years of experience working with churches and ministries in Phoenix, AZ, nationally, and internationally on many levels, not just their SMS marketing software that delivers bulk SMS services.  Call or e-mail today to find out more! 

One of the greatest challenges for churches today is staying connected with members of their congregations.  As a pastor's wife with over two decades of ministry experience, I can tell you that this is one of the primary reasons we developed ChurchLink.  As a Christian marketing company, Edge Media is committed to providing tools of VALUE to our clients that make a difference in day to day life.  We believe ChurchLink is one of those tools.

Text messaging is now a primary means of communication for Americans, with the use of texting growing across all age demographics.  The primary demos are the 12-54 year old categories, which are perfect for churches.  The applications are really endless, from church wide communication from the pastor, including daily Scripture or a devotional, event invitations and reminders, church wide prayer alerts, and so much more.  There is also tremendous value to creating subgroups per ministry within the church - for example the youth group where the youth pastor can text out reminders, encouragement, etc. to his or her youth group.  The SMS marketing software can also be used for security purposes, nursery and childcare, etc. 

ChurchLink Mobile is SMS marketing software and is a product of Edge Media, a full service Christian interactive agency located in Phoenix, AZ, serving both local and national clients. 

According to the National Council of Nonprofits, overall charitable donations have decreased dramatically in 2009, while demands for critical services non-profits provide have increased proportionally  (National Council of Nonprofits, 2009).  Nonprofits around country are examining what programs to cut, and racking their brains to figure out what fundraising strategies might help.

There are no magic cures, but there are certainly fundraising strategies that can help increase revenues for nonprofits.   This is exactly where the strength of an interactive web agency can help.  We are committed to making every dollar work harder and smarter. We believe that an integrated approach is strongest, and thus create an strategy that utilizes several media channels to move the potential donor from response to a message in one medium into an ongoing relationship with our clients to involve them in the work and mission of the organization.   We utilize e-fundraising strategies that deliver an average ROI of at least times the return on our clients' investment.  As an interactive web agency, we have integrated optimized blogging strategies to increase search results and drive more traffic to our clients' websites.  We also use our SMS marketing software to deliver an opportunity for an immediate response  to an appeal to give on radio or television.  We then move the respondent through the process from a text response to a website landing page for additional data capture and then a strategic communications campaign begins to develop the relationship with the potential donor.  We work closely with the organization's advertising and marketing consultants if they have them in house, or we can create the entire campaign from start to finish, delivering results, accountability, and detailed reporting at the end of the campaign 

Edge Media is a Christian agency, and we serve Christian ministries, churches, and Christian media.  As a Christian marketing company, we have partnered with Christian ministries and non-profit organizations to help them continue to provide the invaluable services needed to help people both in the U.S. and internationally. We also serve non-profits without religious affiliations and bring our commitment to integrity into whatever business relationship we enter into. 

I am pleased to report that we are getting wonderful results for our clients using optimized blogging.  Within three weeks time, we have gained a top 10 Google listing, as well as 9 other listings for keyword optimized blogs, most of them starting out being ranked on pages 2 and 3 of Google.  Fast results!

Optimized blogging is a relatively new strategy that advertising and marketing consultants need to be navigating towards because of the results the system delivers.  Our advertising and marketing consultants visit with the client to make sure we understand the terms that are most important to the client.  We then conduct extensive keyword research to determine the competitiveness of the terms.  We choose our keywords using a variety of filtering factors, and finally choose the winners. 

After keyword research is completed, the graphic design, coding, installing, etc. are all done, and then the blog is ready to go live.  The blog writer then starts blogging, and is careful to insert the keywords that were chosen based on research into the copy.  Once the blog reaches the acceptable keyword density, the system gives the writer the green light to post.  The ecstatic author then presses the green submit button and magic!  The system parses the ONE blog into many, according to keywords, and then pings the search engines to recognize the content.   It is beautiful...

The Edge Media blog is an example of the optimized blogging system, because we believe that as advertising and marketing consultants, we have to practice what we preach!  Many Phoenix marketing companies are discovering and implementing social media, and I believe the next integration should be optimized blogging.   Honestly, as far as I can tell, right now we are one of the few advertising agencies in Phoenix AZ, as well as in the non-profit and Christian marketing company arenas to use such an extensive process!  Our promise to our clients is that as a Christian interactive agency, we will handle our client's campaigns with integrity, and will do a great job getting important messages maximum exposure, starting with the optimized blog and then flowing across social media.