Building a foundation means not only designing and building a website, but replicating the charisma in you, with content development.

Think you’ve got momentum? Our team has built communities of hundreds of thousands, and brought them together in joined efforts. We rev well.

One truth: Email marketing is still one of the most preferred outlets for candidacy, grassroots organizations, and nonprofits. IWS can check that box with confidence. Consistent donor success? Web applications? iPhone Apps? Check, check, and check.

Above all though, one of the most fun and attractive things IWS is fortunate enough to own is our 12 foot tall, 18 foot deep green screen. You can create whatever and be whoever you want with it!

Naturally, online video viewership has been growing exponentially year after year – just over 66 percent of users engage with video content online, and is projected to be just shy of 80 percent by 2014.

“This shift will be propelled by a combination of technology integration, demographics and a growing comfort level with the idea of watching video hosted on Websites,” says eMarketer’s senior analyst.

Our editorial and production team members are fantastically proficient at what they do, and will tailor it to you. Our gift is a backstage pass. Enjoy.

With unemployment and poverty at all time highs, IWS took to Twitter during the holidays to help raise awareness of the demand placed upon food banks during the past particularly trying year. The holiday campaign, dubbed “Tweets of Hope,” inspired Twitter users to retweet a simple message and $2 would be donated to the Association of Arizona Food Banks (AAFB) and Share Our Strength.

The campaign generated over 2,000 retweets, and has generated close to 200,000 impressions. Despite being slightly shy of reaching the goal of 2,500 tweets, IWS delivered a $5,000 check to both AAFB and Share Our Strength. The $10,000 donation to the two charities will help provide 240 tons of food, or 140,000 meals in Arizona and the Washington, D.C area.

At IWS, we’ve always strongly believed that we all have a responsibility to do more good. Max Fose, president, says he believes that, “…We all have a responsibility to give back. We’re fortunate enough to be in a position that we can, but even if we weren’t, we would do whatever we could.”

While social media is still somewhat in it’s infancy, is an excellent platform for charitable contribution campaigns. Social media, as a platform, is a lot more effective in generating widespread exposure and motivating the masses to participate, since activity is generally more visible. When people recognize that a large group is pushing an initiative forward, they become even more likely to participate. As opposed to ads and email marketing, it has the ability to showcase in a much more meaningful fashion just who is behind this cause and how many people are supporting it.

Want to be a part of future campaigns? Be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Kelly Watson delivering another $5,000 check to Share Our Strength in Washington, D.C.

Starting off the new year on the right foot, our own Max Fose was featured on the cover of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce’s Impact Magazine. In the article about three successful valley entrepreneurs, Fose tells the story of how IWS was born.

After working with Senator John McCain throughout the 1990’s, Fose, who had inherited an entrepreneurial spirit from his father, took a gamble on entering the political arena, specifically creating and mobilizing advocates and supporters all within the online realm.

When asked what kept him motivated to forge his own path, he says, “I’ve always loved setting my own pace, betting on myself, investing in myself.” And, it’s definitely paid off. Marking the new year, IWS has hired five new employees and expanded into a new office. In his own words, he says that, “there’s a direct correlation between the harder you work, the greater your success.” And, anyone who knows him will tell you that he’s one of the hardest working people that he’s met. And as a true beacon for the right kind of entrepreneurship, he’s incredibly passionate about what he does and securing record-breaking results for clients. If you ask him, he’ll tell you that, “For the past 10 years I’ve never thought of going into the office as a job.”

To learn more about IWS and to read the full article, check out Impact Magazine.

The Association of Arizona Food Banks (AAFB)
Established in 1984, the AAFB  is a non-profit organization serving five regional food bank warehouses and a network of nearly 1,700 food pantries and agencies. As one of the first state food bank associations in the nation, AAFB was instrumental in the development of a statewide gleaning project, and their advocacy efforts have brought about beneficial state and federal legislation for their member food banks and the people they serve.

Share Our Strength
Also founded in 1984, Share Our Strength is a national organization committed to making sure, “no kid in America grows up hungry.”  With its beginnings in the basement of a row house on Capitol Hill, Bill and Debbie Shore began an organization with great influence on the global efforts to end hunger and poverty – and especially end childhood hunger in America.   Share Our Strength has raised over $265 million since its inception and has provided support to more than 1,000 nonprofits around the world who are working to end hunger. Its strong community of groups, partners, activists and national events such as, “The Great American Dine-Out” and “Taste of a Nation”, are all dedicated to helping the nearly 17 million children in America who face hunger today.

Please help support these two organizations by participating in our Tweets of Hope campaign [http://workwithiws.com]. For every retweet, we will donate $2 to these organizations, giving up to $10,000, or 140,000 meals this holiday season.

Thank you and Happy Holidays from IWS!

“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result.” – Ghandi

The Reasoners, a now family of five, have much to be thankful for this holiday season. You see, a few months ago, Craig and his wife, Leeann, were entrenched in the Columbian legal system, attempting to adopt twelve-year-old Nanci Parra.

They met the young girl at an orphanage in Columbia while visiting the children they were adopting – Brayan, age 13, and his little sister, Tatiana, age 8. The adoption process, should have lasted only a month, but due to special circumstances, Craig had to stay in Columbia for four months, allowing him and the family to bond with the shy and sweet, yet blossoming young girl. Both Brayan and Tatiana made it safe and sound to the Reasoners’ home in Phoenix, Arizona. But the thought of Nanci could not escape the new family.

Working with IWS on a pro-bono basis, the Reasoners decided to create an online village that could help pay for the expenses to give Nanci a home and a better life. The generous supporters helped Craig and Leeann bring her home, and they recently finished up the final stages of paperwork and they have all safely made it back to Nanci’s new home. Their adoption costs for all three children was expensive, but thanks to supporters, they were provided with some relief in the cost to give Nanci a home.

At IWS, we’ve always strongly believed that we all have a responsibility to do more good. Max Fose says he often takes on pro bono work because he believes that, “…We all have a responsibility to give back. We’re fortunate enough to be in a position that we can, but even if we weren’t, we would do whatever we could.”

To find out more please visit the Nanci Fund. To find out what we else we’re doing to help the community this holiday season, be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Just yesterday, The Huffington Post reported on the hunger issue in America and the growing number of people participating in the food stamp program. Shockingly, the US Department of Agriculture documented that there are approximately 49 million Americans struggling to put food on the table, including 17 million children.

Share Our Strength released a survey of 740 K-8 public school teachers conducted by Lake Research Partners finding that 62 percent of teachers see kids who are hungry because they do not get enough to eat at home, and an equal percentage of teachers use personal funds from their own teacher salaries to regularly buy food for the kids to eat in class or take home for weekends.

Generally speaking, the holiday season is a time when we – citizens as a whole – recognize the hungry, and try to reach out to them. That’s precisely what we here at Integrated Web Strategy plan to do.  IWS will generously be donating 240 tons of food to the Association of Arizona Food Banks, and Share Our Strength in D.C. through our Tweets of Hope campaign.

We need YOUR help.

For every retweet sent with our message, we will donate $2, totaling up to $10,000 to both of the food banks! Share this message with your friends and family, for we know that in this economy and with everyone being on a tight budget, putting food on the table shouldn’t be a burden. Tweet a little hope this year. We promise it won’t take you more than 5 minutes.

So for anyone who is on Twitter, head over to the Tweets of Hope page and retweet the message. Not on Twitter? We’d appreciate a sign up! It’s easy:

Got to http://twitter.com/signup
Enter your information & pick a username and password
To set up your profile information and enter a bio, click the ‘Settings’ tab to the right
Upload a picture and don’t forget to save your settings!

Thank You to everyone who has already or plans to participate! Happy holidays and happy tweeting!

The Experian Marketing Services posted The 2009 holiday marketer: Benchmark and trend report that includes a review of the email marketing industry’s holiday performance. It also includes a plethora of tips to help us stay ahead of the emailing frenzy that occurs in our inboxes each year. So, what will prevent your company’s emails from getting lost in this year’s messaging madness? Let’s explore.

‘Tis the Holiday Hints:

Don’t hold back. “Don’t be afraid to increase email frequency and deliver relevant messages a few times a week. Customers expect to hear from you more during the holiday season.”

Keep messaging familiar. “Use your company name or email address in the “from” label and be consistent, so your customers know what to expect. Don’t repeat the “from” label in the subject line — space is too valuable.”

Keep subject lines short and sweet. “According to the Q2 2009 Experian CheetahMail Benchmark report, all industries with the exception of consumer products and services experienced the highest open rates when using subject lines of 25 characters or less last year. Longer subject lines of 75 characters or more had the second strongest performance for all businesses except those in the retail, travel and entertainment industries.”

Send a survey. “On average, surveys and polls produce a 30 percent lift in open, click and transaction rates. Link your emails to surveys this season —they are powerful tools for fostering better relationships with your customers and gaining deeper insight into their demographics, opinions, and service and product-satisfaction rates.”

In summary, your email recipients are comfortable with their inboxes looking like the mall on Black Friday. So, keep your messaging active and take advantage of the extra attention people pay to their emails during the holiday season. Merry email marketing!

Kelly joins the IWS account team and brings with her a great knowledge of email best practices and campaign execution. With IWS delivering over 150 million emails a year her experience will serve our clients well!

Previous to IWS, Kelly worked as an Account Executive at Fishbowl, an Alexandria, VA based agency and email marketing provider to the restaurant industry. In her role she managed loyalty marketing and frequency-based email programs for a variety of national restaurant chains.  

Kelly holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame.  She is originally from outside Philadelphia, PA and now resides in Alexandria, VA with her recently wedded husband, Brian. 

When asked what she does when not working she replied “cheering for her beloved Philly sports teams or picking out paint colors for her new home.” 

Kelly can be reached at Kelly@workwithiws.com.