If you’re a fisherman then you know what I’m talking about. The Florida Keys are like no other place on earth for fishing, be it with a pole, a fly rod, or a spear gun.

The underwater typography lends itself to some of the best and most diverse fishing found anywhere. All in one day and within a few miles of each other one can fish the flats by silently poling along, stalking a trophy permit or bone fish in just a few inches of water . . . to anchoring on the 100’ ledge and spear fishing for grouper and snapper . . .  to going of shore just a few miles and trolling ballyhoo baits in 500 to a 1,000 feet of crystal clear gulf stream water.

My family and I have been vacationing in the Florida Keys for over 20 years. We’ve had our kids snorkeling the shallow reefs since they were three. The family memories that we’ve made fishing and spending time in and on the water are priceless. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to spend time enjoying Gods wonderful creation.

Pursuing an ambitious expansion plan, P/B client CenterState Bank has grown to 55 branches, including entries into many new markets in the Central Florida region. CenterState Bank asked us for ideas to quickly establish the bank in its new markets and create heavy foot traffic in both new and existing branches.

We had just the solution: a brand new 2012 Mustang Convertible, the coveted prize in the “Life’s A Breeze” Contest we created for CenterState Bank. Through print, radio, online, social media and in-branch advertising we spread the word, inviting qualified persons to drop by their nearest CenterState Bank branch and enter the contest.

We also hosted on-site events at each branch where the Mustang convertible was on display, along with food, refreshments and other enticements. To help convert contest entrants into customers, we offered a “Three Free” package including free checking, free debit card and a free gift to people who opened new accounts at CenterState Bank.

The contest took off like a Mustang on the open road—the four-month promotional campaign drove more than 15,000 entrants to CenterState Bank branches, one of whom whisked off with the beautiful Mustang convertible. CenterState Bank management was so pleased with the results of the “Life’s A Breeze” Contest that they have us busy planning another customer acquisition promotion.

Kudos to CenterState Bank for the huge success of the “Life’s A Breeze” Contest!

Interested in running a sweepstakes, contest or marketing campaign for your company? Email tim@pat-bach.com to learn more!

P/B Welcomes Hannah Smith, a senior at the University of Central Florida as our newest Graphic Arts Intern. We couldn’t have asked for a more talented and professional student to spend the Fall with us.

Hannah is already working closely with Greg Trippe, our art director and Dan McDonald, our creative director to dive head first into the animated world of graphic arts. We’re excited to have Hannah in the office where we can learn from each other.

Hannah is not only hard at work studying at UCF and learning at PB, she’s recently engaged and planning a wedding! Somehow, with such a full plate, she still is able to lend herself to learning more about her craft and the business world behind graphic arts.

Interested in the Patterson/Bach Intern Program? Know a student who wants to intern in public relations, marketing, advertising or graphic arts? Email hannah@pat-bach.com (Hannah DeBevoise, Assistant Account Executive) to learn more!

In the past few months, social networks have been vamping up the opportunities for business on their platforms. Just after Facebook’s IPO bust, they launched “Promoted Posts.” Business on Twitter have the opportunity to promote their Tweets. If your business uses Tumblr, you can “pin down” your posts. What does it all mean?

The basic idea behind these features is to allow more of your followers to see your content – guaranteed. Put up a little cash and a larger percent of your fans or followers will see the post you want them to. Guaranteeing customers will see more of your content seems like a great thing, even if you have to pay for it. But is it worth it?

Facebook’s Promoted Posts cost as low as $5, but go higher depending on the amount of fans you have. They stay promoted for up to 3 days after the purchase date. Purchasing this promotion ensures that more fans will see your post – and when they like or share it, more of their friends will see it to. The post is highlighted and labeled, so fans and followers know that it has been promoted.

Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, Trends and Accounts work in a similar fashion. Labeled as “Promoted,” these Tweets, Trends and Accounts reach a  wider audience – even those who aren’t originally following the brand. The Tweets appear at the top of all search results pages, home Timelines and enhanced profile pages. These promoted posts appear to those who are likely to find the content interesting based on current Twitter accounts being followed.

Pros:

1. The promoted post option on Facebook allows you to target specific audiences by geographical location and language. The promoted Tweet options allow you to create your own audience by choosing targeting options as well.
2. Sponsored Tweets take users off Twitter and onto your desired landing page when clicked.
3. It’s easy. Promoting a Facebook Post is as easy as posting a picture or regular status. The tools are all at the tip of your cursor.
4. Analytic functions are available. You can easily see how many people have seen the post and if they took further steps, i.e. click-throughs.
5. Twitter’s Promoted Tweets are priced on a Cost-per-Engagement (CPE) basis, so you only pay when someone engages with your Tweet.

Cons:

1. All audiences know you’ve paid for them to see the post.
2. There are already too many ads on Facebook. The ads on the right hand sidebar of Facebook is crowded with adverts directed at Facebook users, and they are more than often ignored. There is a likely chance that your promoted post may get visually jumbled with these ads, and annoy users.
3. For Facebook Promoted Posts, the more fans you have, the more it costs.
4. Promoted Tweets are currently in beta selection. You have to sign up for the waiting list.
5. You can spend a lot and receive small results. You may be able to guarantee that a customer sees your content, but you cannot guarantee that they will be interested enough to pursue it.
6. There are more meaningful ways to engage your customers on free platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Why pay for something that you are currently using for free?

Facebook and Twitter are exceptional ways to promote your business and engage with clientele. They are free tools that reach a wide, diverse audience in an engaging way. Your fans and followers are already on Facebook and Twitter because they either enjoy using it, or they’re looking for content like yours. Yes, there are upsides to promoting a post, but in moderation. Use your content and creativity to engage fans and followers. Sincerity in social networking goes a long way!

Northern Italy was our destination – Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy. What a gorgeous area! My husband Kevin and I were invited by our friend Sally to come along on her house trade to stay in an apartment in Toscolano-Maderno, a small town on the hillside with views of the lake and the Alps.

Even though we did not speak or read much Italian, we managed to eat and drink well. The pizza (same in English and Italian) was delicious – but sometimes our meals were a surprise!

Our first trip out and about was to travel around the lake, going north to the town of Trento, traveling through lots of tunnels. After checking out the old town of Trento, we traveled south to the town of Torri del Benaco on the other side of the lake, where our GPS told us to take the ferry – for the faster time “home.” What a delight! The ½-hour car ferry went straight to our town. We took the ferry many times.

We dressed in evening attire for our next trip to Verona Arena, one of the best-preserved ancient structures and third largest Roman amphitheatre (built in 30 AD). The opera Aida, a complicated love story with an extravagant Egyptian set and cast of hundreds, was being presented during their Festival season. Our seats were on the stone steps way up top (and the stones retain their heat from the daytime) – but we also rented thick padded cushions for a little more comfort. Candles were distributed to the audience to light after sunset around the arena – what a sight to behold! The acoustics were amazing – even from the top of the arena steps! The performers were spectacular in voice and in costume.

Our next visit was on the charming island commune of Venice, one of most beautiful cities built by man – the City of Canals. We arrived by car to park outside the city and took the water taxi through the Grand Canal to our destination of the famous San Marco Square. We awed at the spectacular piazza and visited the Basilica where the golden mosaics graced the walls and ceiling, then climbed the steps to the terrace to view the city. Venice is the world’s only pedestrian city and easily “walkable” – a very pleasant experience, especially if you “get lost” on purpose in the back alleyways away from the tourist-filled square. By exploring on our own, we discovered superb architecture in empty palaces and many quaint bridges across smaller canals, and watched many gondolas gliding slowly in the many waterways. We found our way finally to a restaurant on the Grand Canal at the base of the famous Rialto Bridge. Our dinner was delicious and the canal view at sunset was very romantic.

Other trips included the ancient walled town of Bergamo, the towns of Mantua and Lodi, and the charming town of Sirmione on the southern peninsula of Lake Garda.

You too should plan a trip to the wonderful northern area of Italy – and especially to “get lost” in the City of Canals. We plan to go back to visit other famous areas of Italy. See you there. Arrivederci.

There’s no law that says a government website has to be dull and stodgy—especially when that site is for sunny, beautiful Sarasota County. Sarasota County Government (SCG), a new P/B client, recently asked us to redesign its website, and in doing so:

• Create a more effective way to communicate with multiple audiences (residents, visitors, business, government).

• Maximize the site’s integration into the County’s Intranet site.

• Allow for seamless use on multiple devices.

• Improve the ease of navigation.

• Maintain a strong graphic link to the Sarasota brand.

• Establish a visually appealing graphic “look” that departs from the traditional “plain vanilla” look of a government agency website.

We began our assignment at the beginning, with a thorough review of County research conducted online and in focus groups. This information gave us a good picture of what we needed to do to meet SCG’s objectives—along with the expectations of visitors to the site.

To make the SCG website as warm and inviting as Sarasota County, we featured iconic Sarasota photography as rotating-GIF images on the homepage. We also added a current weather and beach-cam link as a friendly reminder of Sarasota’s coastal climate and charm. Other improvements included a navigation bar that allowed users to find information in three simple steps, a dynamic search bar at the top of the screen, and tabs that led users to the areas of greatest interest as determined by our research.

But enough talk—for the results of our web redesign click here.

The folks at SCG are thrilled about their new site. And we’re thrilled to work for a client that challenged us to rethink the look, feel and user appeal of a government website.

Kudos to you, Sarasota County Government.

Want to spruce up your company’s website? Email tim@pat-bach.com to learn more!

Chat speak, message board shorthand that distills comprehensible words and phrases into bits of alphabet soup (LOL, BTW, FWIW, etc., etc.), is, broadly speaking, either acceptable—or abominable. Which view you take depends on a host of factors, the most telling of which, alas, may be your age. Me personally, I find chat speak abominable … except when I use it.

I imagine I’m not the only person born before 1990 (okay, 1970) who is conflicted in this matter. As a writer, I love the English language and believe it should be used wisely and thoughtfully, treating it with the same care a musician would bestow on an exquisite violin or guitar. Chat speak, it seems to me, sucks the vitality out of our language, replacing the expressive, descriptive power of words with a lifeless Morse code of letters. That’s okay for ship-to-shore chatter or the blabber and banter of much of today’s electronic communication, but it’s entirely inadequate for more substantial expressions of thought, which can only be conveyed by the power of the written or spoken word.

On the other hand, the English language (as it’s spoken here in the U.S.) is perhaps the most flexible, adaptable language on the planet—as you’d expect from a nation whose fundamental principles include freedom of speech. Our language is a thing in perpetual transition, changing with the times to reflect the times we live in. Chat speak is, for better or worse, an example of the adaptability of our language and our ability to shape it to our times and needs. Heck, even the erudite Oxford English Dictionary has initialisms such as OMG, LOL and BFF in its latest edition.

So, then … is chat speak acceptable in the language of advertising? My answer: absolutely maybe. There’s no reason not to use it in advertising directed to Gen Chat Speak, and little reason to employ it in advertising directed to non-chat speakers. Advertisers love to portray themselves as truly understanding their markets, and appropriate language is one way to communicate this sympatico persona. Chat speak, then, like every other device at the marketer’s disposal, is permissible when it is appropriate and makes senses. EIC* as they say.

*EIC—Everything In Context. That’s my humble contribution to the lexicon of chat speak.

I love to read. From biographies to science fiction to classic novels, I have spent my free time over the years reading and reading and reading. I like the feeling of being drawn into a story – walking alongside main characters and giving villains a piece of my mind. How has my pastime changed in the past few years? I bought a Nook.

At first I felt like I was betraying centuries of literary geniuses, the spines of written masterpieces crumbling under my electronic page-turner. Slowly, as I finished my first eBook, I realized reading from an electronic reader was not that different than reading a “real book.”

There has been a bit of a social argument – which is better, eBooks or paper books? Dedicated readers and literary fanatics may lean towards their tried-and-true, bound novels, but technologically savvy individuals swear by their e-readers. I’ve discovered there is beauty in both sides.

E-readers, in particular my Nook, have made reading in public, at nighttime, and while traveling much easier for me. Slim, light, and backlit, the e-reader is much less complicated than a hardcover book. Instead of purchasing physical books, which I read only once and then end up cluttering my living room, quick reads stay stored away in digital files. Many local libraries offer e-reader borrowing. The option allows you to rent a book for a set amount of time, and not have to worry about physically bringing it back to the library – no more late fees.

But, then of course, there is the timeless aesthetic appeal of a hardback novel that outweighs the slick appearance of an e-reader. I like the way the classics look on my bookshelf. There is no denying the tactile experience of reading a print book is important to many readers. I believe there is certain literature that simply must be read from a bound book.

I’ve come to the conclusion there is time, place, and reason for both e-readers and books. Both are wonderful, and both encourage reading. Everyone can benefit from picking up a good book – whether it requires turning pages or pressing next.

On the University of Florida campus it is a widely known fact that as an undergraduate you should have at least two internships under your belt before graduation. In March 2012, with this fact ingrained in my mind, I set out to find the perfect second internship. Shortly after my research efforts began I received an email from the Dean of the College of Journalism and Communications announcing Patterson/Bach Communications was looking for an intern. Not only was P/B close to home, but after perusing the website I felt it was the best environment to continue my public relations education.

Working as a full-time intern at P/B this summer has provided me with experience I never dreamed I would have before graduation. Over the past few months, I helped conduct extensive primary research for a new client, seeing firsthand how important surveys and focus groups can be. On the media relations side, I learned you cannot send a press release out and expect to get coverage without any effort. It takes hours of updating media lists and making phone calls to make sure the release is reaching the right contact. I was also able to experience just how difficult social media management can be. It is not as simple as throwing a status on your company’s Facebook page and calling it a day. You have to develop a strategy with metrics for evaluation to ensure success with your target audiences. Honestly, if I sat here and typed out everything I have learned this summer I’d be typing for hours— and it would be quite a lengthy read!

This time next year, I will hopefully be a few months in to my first post-graduation job. I can say with 100 percent certainty that P/B has helped prepare me to be part of that world. In interviews, I will be able to go on at length about the skills I have acquired and honed and the tasks I accomplished. I feel that WHEN—not if—I get a job it will be in large part due to the three-and-a-half months I have spent here. While getting an excellent education is first and foremost, there is nothing like putting the information you’ve learned from a textbook into a real-world environment. And P/B was the perfect place to get that experience.

My dad was recently cleaning out some old filing cabinets when he came across his game day program from the 1965 Orange Bowl Classic. Alabama (YEAH!) vs. Texas (booo).

Not only is it incredibly interesting from the view of this Alabama fan, seeing the old legends of the game, but the graphics and designs in the book are absolutely CLASSIC! The ads are simple, direct, and easy to understand. Car ads are the best. What appealed to readers nearly 50 years ago, still hooks people today – style, power, and dependability. And the white space in the design is used to draw the eye to the product. Today, it’s “white space? I’m not paying for white space.”

And the illustrations in the ads and the program are awesome! Obviously no computer-generated garbage. Everything was illustrated by hand with traditional media – BY REAL ARTISTS! It is certainly refreshing to see what some talented artists can do.

Look at the attached ad from Florida Power & Light promoting Florida. No stock photography, no Photoshop. Just pure talent and time, from people who put their hearts and soul into their work. It may be hokey by today’s standards, but still it’s – CLASSIC!