Scott’s career has taken her from Madison Avenue to Maine. She has a strong background marketing national brands on a global level. While working in New York City, she received the CLIO Award, an international award recognizing innovative & creative excellence in advertising and communications, for an outstanding television commercial for a jeans company.

In 1998, Scott moved to Maine to help re-brand the Hathaway Shirt Company, America’s oldest shirtmaking business. While under Scott’s direction, Hathaway targeted a younger customer base, added a women’s line and received national recognition for their marketing program, including being named one of the “best collections of dress and sport shirts on the web.”

Most recently, Scott has worked as the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development in Augusta. While there, she helped market the state for business development & job growth. Scott was part of the team that helped win Maine a $15 million Federal grant to market the boating and composites industry within the state. In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Commerce, she led a delegation of local boat builders to attend the 2007 China Boat Show in Shanghai to market Maine’s boats to a worldwide audience. Results of this work have been featured in the New York Times, Fortune magazine and by the National Economic Council as an example of what states and regions need to do to compete.

For further information, contact:
Perry & Banks Integrated Sales & Marketing
Suzanne Hodgson
207-761-5957 ext 306
shodgson@perrybanks.com

The “Northeast Youth Regatta” is co-sponsored by SailMaine and the Portland Yacht Club, of which Ann and her family are members. Ann has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this year’s event a success, including getting excellent coverage in the local media.

Our kudos to Ann, and to all the young sailors benefitting from this great program!

1. “I expect you to be smarter. Faster. Better.”
The bar is set pretty high thanks to our ability to do research and comparison shop online. Consumers expect you to be smart at every turn; smart about complaints (which can turn into another sale), about customer needs (which can create new products), and innovative thinking (which can keep consumers engaged).

2. “I don’t trust you – yet.”
But the opportunity is there. Consumers want authentic experiences with people who know their product.  These days, trust in many companies has eroded and today’s consumer is wary to a fault. Honestly engaging with your customers means a lot to them, as long as you pay close attention to the next bullet.

3. “I want you to listen.”
The new consumer perspective is uncompromising. “I’m an individual and I’m smart. I know what I want…and what I don’t want.  If you want to make a sale, do a little research and tell me what you can do to help solve my problem. Be realistic – I am.”

4. “I am self-directed. ”
Consumers want to do business on their own time, in their own comfort zone and with the tools they like the best.  Yet when they get stuck they want knowledgeable, courteous help at their fingertips. Use all the tools you can afford – product guides, on-line chat, and a real person who answers the phone without putting customers through “many of our options have changed – press 1” hell.

5. “I’m ready to spend money and be loyal – provided you give me the ‘best’ customer experience.”
Here are the brands that consumers rated the best  – and the worst – in the nation for customer experience, according to the Forrester Customer Experience Index 2011.

Most of the brands rated “excellent” are in the retail sector. Nine of the ten brands that earned “excellent” ratings were retailers. Bookstores Borders and Barnes & Noble took the top two spots. Behind them were department stores Kohl’s and JCPenney, warehouse stores Costco and BJ’s, discounter Target, online retailer Amazon.com, and Walgreens. The one nonretailer in the group was USAA’s credit card business.

“Very poor” rankings were dominated by companies in the health insurance, TV service provider, and ISP industries. The two lowest scores went to Medicaid and Anthem BlueCross Blue Shield.

Loyalty, trust, gratitude and sales can all be yours – if you simply understand the consumer’s perspective. I believe that’s what my grandfather meant when he told me to “Walk a mile in another’s shoes.” Seems to work for Zappo’s!

Recently, Suzanne has also been putting her abilities to the test as an occasional reporter for Seacoast Media’s York County Coast Star, further honing her journalism skills on a variety of entertainment, human interest and nature-related stories.

“We’re proud to see Suzanne’s byline out there,” says PB President Laurie Banks, “and know this kind of experience will only strengthen her ability to provide our clients with the outstanding work they expect.”

Portland, ME — April 6, 2011 — Suzanne Hodgson, 25, former daily news writer for The Kennebunk Post and the South Portland Sentry is now an Account Coordinator at Perry & Banks in Portland, Maine. Hodgson (pronounced Hod-son) joined the firm in 2010 and is now responsible for coordinating the work for clients like Wright Express, Androscoggin Bank, Invata Intralogistics, and the Maine Real Estate Development Association (MEREDA). She plays a key role in the day-to-day account work at Perry & Banks.

“Suzanne has quickly become an essential part of the account team. We welcome her experience as a journalist, her perspective on the timeliness and relevance of news, and her clear writing style,” said, Laurie Banks, President, Perry & Banks.

About Perry & Banks Integrated Sales & Marketing

Founded in 1989, Perry & Banks Integrated Sales & Marketing is located in Portland, Maine. The company works with B2B and B2C clients in a variety of industries. Perry & Banks helps clients achieve their goals with strategic marketing and communications, public relations and digital media programs to increase sales, accelerate speed-to-market, and generate growth.

To learn more, visit www.perrybanks.com, or call Laurie Banks at 207-761-5957.

For further information, contact:
Perry & Banks Integrated Sales & Marketing
Suzanne Hodgson
207-761-5957
shodgson@perrybanks.com

In all the hype that I read on-line, I’m reminded of the 80’s Wendy’s advertising campaign, “where’s the beef”? All too often as an agency, we’re seeing companies careening headlong down the social media path without considering WHY they need a social media strategy or constructing a clear strategy and framework – where they are today, how social media can “interoperate” as a channel, and how the investment in social media relates to achieving company goals and objectives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aISkVvi5iI8

Finding the Beef – Building a Successful Social Media Channel

From our perspective, the starting point is pretty clear. And one of the most important things to understand is that mobile, social media and on-line channels are becoming almost inseparable. But what we find consistently is that companies are engaging in a social media strategy without having a fully baked (or even partially baked) strategy and understanding of the medium and, what is required to be successful. Or perhaps they are paralyzed because they lack understanding of this new channel and don’t know how to assess cost or viability. So for those wondering what the next steps are, or who are feeling left behind and not sure how to proceed, we have the following tips. It’s really just another business case….

Start by asking some basic questions:

 What are the elements that will ultimately support a social media strategy? A basic SWOT analysis. An inventory of products and services; features and benefits; your value proposition. Market position assessment (versus your competition). Stakeholder messaging.

 What do you want to accomplish with a social media strategy? Do you want to build a sales pipeline (awareness, interest, evaluation). Do you want to drive sales? Drive traffic to your web site or sales micro sites? Is your goal to develop a stronger brand? Or do you want to build a loyal community of users? Followers?

 Who are your customers? Prospects? Other stakeholders? Where do they go to get their information? How do they make decisions? Are they on-line? What are they searching for? Who are the industry influencers?

 How are your products and services segmented today? How are they differentiated? Do you have an ongoing source of product development, market intelligence and customer service feedback? With traditional communities? Using on-line communities?

 What do your sales channels look like? Affiliates of agents? Direct sales? Call Centers? E-Commerce?

 How will you measure success of your social media plan? And how will it fit into your overall channel strategy and work with other tactics? SEO. SEM. Public Relations. Sales. Demand Generation. Web. Etc. And if you are driving traffic to websites or a call center – how do you measure the source of that traffic today? And how will it change by adding a social media channel?

 Do you have an active or potentially active user community? Customer service opportunity?

 And probably most important… Do you have a rich source of content today? Experts? Buyers Guides? White Papers? Checklists? PR Forum and blog topics? Published articles? Educational articles? Pictures? Multi-media PowerPoint, Keynote, Video, Animation? Viral content?

If you can answer these questions you’ll be well informed to take the next step in building a successful social media strategy that compliments your other marketing channels, with a budget that is tailored to meet your goals and objectives.

In order to know Lee, first you have to picture him – five foot seven, prematurely grey hair (and sometimes beard), average build, with a volcanic attitude toward life, family and “PB.”  For a small guy, he carried a lot of fire… and you never knew exactly what he might say. During one of our early sales calls he asked the client how far he was leaning over his desk when he paid for his current logo. Thank God the client laughed!

It was December of ’88 when Lee blew back into my life like the whirlwind he was – convinced that we should start a business-to-business ad agency – only taking yes for an answer. Back then, running a retail agency meant creating a lot of ads, which also meant artists, copywriters and office supplies (like rubylith overlays for ad paste-ups, colored markers, tissue paper… well, you get the picture). We didn’t have much start-up money, so we thought that focusing on B2B meant more strategy and fewer ads. More money for us and less cost of goods sold. So you see, it wasn’t vision, it was math. Three weeks later we were up and running.

As the country climbed out of the recession, we added clients, mainly through Lee’s tenacious attitude toward cold calling. He had a small box of index cards, separated by month, and was diligent about making every one of those calls (encircled by an ever-present cloud of cigarette smoke). He crowned himself “the Cold Call King” and was never put off by the word “no.”  Lee understood, more than any of us then, that new business is the lifeblood of small business.

Lee also understood that agencies needed to be tightly bonded – like the scrum in a rugby game.   Moving as a group made us stronger and gave us the confidence to make creative leaps. Fridays at 4 were reserved for beer and pretzels and a review of the week’s events. He insisted that everyone attend… often turning off computers in the middle of a layout. I said he was tenacious.

Lee was one of those creatures that you either loved, or didn’t… there wasn’t a middle ground. I will confess to swinging from one side to the other – often several times a day. But he did teach me many tenets of running a successful company and I do miss those lessons.

Lee died in 1997 – Monday, August 25^th at 4:15 AM – from a massive heart attack. Every once in a while he visits me in a dream – still the same – feisty, jumpy, excitable and yes, still smoking cigarettes.

I guess that’s acceptable in heaven.