McVey Marketing Inc. is pleased to announce that it has been selected by James Tower, a successful marketing firm based in Minnesota, to provide marketing and communications services. The firm will work with James Tower to provide marketing and key messaging strategies, as well as copywriting and communications content, to further expand key sectors of its business.

James Tower is a full-service Internet marketing company specializing in Internet strategy, research and branding, website design, search engine marketing, email marketing and Web content management solutions. James Tower has been developing successful Internet marketing strategies for companies and organizations across the globe since 1993.

McVey Marketing Inc. is excited about its new partnership with James Tower and is looking forward to working with the company to further expand and develop its business.

McVey Marketing Inc. recently completed a successful consulting engagement with the Independent Colleges of Washington, a consortium based in Seattle that represents 10 colleges and universities throughout Washington state. The firm completed a market research study of Washington legislators, as well as Washington business and philanthropy leaders.

Based on the research findings, the firm assisted ICW with evaluating many of its current communications, government relations and fund- raising activities. In addition, the firm developed strategic recommendations for enhancing these efforts in the future, assisting ICW with providing additional returns on investments for its member colleges and universities.

Here's what Violet Boyer, president of the Independent Colleges of Washington, had to say about the organization's work with McVey Marketing:

"The quality of the research findings and recommendations that Gary McVey provided to us, his depth of knowledge, and his experience, exceeded our expectations. The work impressed our board and helped us focus the conversation in areas of greatest return. I believe the work we've done together will help our organization achieve even greater results for our 10 member colleges and their students. I highly recommend Gary McVey and his firm to others, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with him in the future."

Firm President Gary McVey has been selected to serve on a new Vision Task Force formed by the Kitsap Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau in western Washington. The task force, which includes bureau board members and other business and community leaders from the Kitsap Peninsula, has been asked to develop a three-year strategic plan for the organization.

The scenic Kitsap Peninsula lies northwest of Seattle in the heart of Puget Sound surrounded by over 300 miles of saltwater shoreline and located between the Olympic and Cascade Mountain ranges. The visitor and convention bureau promotes economic growth and development by effectively marketing the Kitsap Peninsula as a desirable tourism destination.

The Law of the Mind in Marketing
Everyday it seems there are dozens of new books published about marketing and branding. And while these latest volumes can be helpful, periodically it's good to go back and read some of the standards of the industry. One of these is The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout, first published in 1993. A personal favorite is Law No. 3, the Law of the Mind. This law emphasizes the importance of positioning and being first in the mind of prospective customers.

According to Ries and Trout, "Being first in the mind is everything in marketing. Being first in the marketplace is important only to the extent that it allows you to get in the mind first. The law of the mind follows from the law of perception. If marketing is a battle of perception, not product, than the mind takes precedence over the marketplace. Once a mind is made up, it rarely, if ever, changes. The single most wasteful thing you can do in marketing is try to change a mind." Ask yourself what position you want to hold in the minds of your prospects, and how you can get there first.

New Era for Media and Media Relations
The Internet and Web 2.0 advances have driven tremendous change in the way people get their news, the methods journalists use to gather and report news, and how media relations professionals develop and place stories about their organizations. Is your organization effectively leveraging the Internet, Web 2.0 tools and social networking sites to expand its traditional media relations efforts and better tell its story?

A recent Seattle Times opinion article written by journalism professors David Domke at the University of Washington and Elisabeth Blanks Hindman at Washington State University, effectively describes this era of new journalism and how the mainstream media must change their ways. It should also serve as a call to action for all media relations professionals.

The professors write: " At (our universities) we are beginning to see students who have known and used the Internet all their lives, and they treat news very differently even than people 10 years older. They expect interactive news -- they want information, but also demand the ability to comment on it themselves, and to experience other, nonofficial perspective. They want both the expertise of the newsroom and the "outsider" view at the same time.

"Online news provides opportunities for the mix of insider and outsider, for journalist-created and citizen- created perspectives on democracy. The top-down, voice-on-high model of knowledge is dead, in journalism as well as in higher education; that's a good thing." Make sure you're meeting the changing needs of journalists and their customers by providing story tips, news releases and other communications about your organization in web-friendly formats (taking advantage of links to audio and video feeds, social networking tools, etc.).