J. Scott Sparks joins Leverage Marketing Agency LLC as General Manager

Austin, Texas – April 14, 2011 – Leverage Marketing Agency LLC is pleased to announce the appointment of J. Scott Sparks as their new General Manager. For the past several months, Leverage Marketing Agency LLC, a top 20 Search Marketing Company based in Austin, Texas, has been searching for their next leader of the agency, and today that search is over.

Mr. Sparks brings nearly 20 years experience in the marketing and advertising business, having worked on both the client and agency sides of the business focusing on strategic planning, brand positioning, account management, new business development, online marketing counsel, and more. His career includes working on national brands such as Capital One, Career Builder, Carfax, Virginia Tourism Corporation, Louisiana Office of Tourism, Palm Beach County, Florida Convention & Visitors Bureau, Fairfax County Convention and Visitors Corporation, Bon Secours Health System, and the Greater Washington Initiative.

Over the last 3 years, he has provided Online Marketing Consulting & Management services to eBrains, Inc., Alchemy, LLC, Spurrier Media Group, BeSprout SEO, and NetSearch Direct. He came to Leverage Marketing as an Online Marketing Consultant last November to help the company with process redesign, re-engineering, and strategic planning.

Bedros Bedrosian, President of the agency’s parent company, Evolurem Corporation, had been serving as the interim General Manager until a suitable replacement was found. “Scott is exactly the type of person I was hoping to find to lead this organization. His time here as a Consultant has allowed me to develop complete confidence that I can fade into the backdrop while he moves into the forefront to lead the company to new heights, and I'm excited about seeing that come together.”

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About Leverage Marketing Agency LLC

Leverage Marketing has been a pioneer in helping businesses succeed on the Internet since 1996 and has successfully grown to become a top 20 Search Marketing Company in the Austin, Texas metro area. It’s 30+ person team is organized to assess and create search marketing solutions across search disciplines to include: Paid Search (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Local Search, and Online Reputation Management (ORM). Leverage Marketing's extensive, time-earned experience coupled with a commitment to quality and innovation has allowed Leverage Marketing to consistently exceed client expectations.

About Evolurem Corporation

Evolurem Corporation was formed in late 2009 evolving a trusted ten year relationship between two companies, Birdview Technologies and eBrains, Inc. The company was formed to bring together marketing and technology competencies and assemble a family of experienced brands which possess the competencies to provide integrated online marketing solutions fueled by powerful and effective technology to bring measurable high yielding ROI solutions to its clients’ marketing investments. The company is evolving turn-key Internet marketing and technology solutions that guarantees sales.

Evolurem is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and it’s current family of brands include Birdview Technologies, Chicago, Illinois; eBrains, Inc., McLean, Virginia (Washington, DC); and Leverage Marketing Agency, Austin, Texas.

Getting to Know the Real Me

A couple years ago, I had a vision pop in my head which would not go away. I became so obsessed with it that I pulled out a blank piece of white paper from my printer along with a box of colored pencils and drew this design.

I shared this design with colleagues, friends, and family. One colleague told me it was my interpretation of my “family crest”. Another said, “It looks like the result of a 2 week Indian-sweat retreat.” Another close friend took this design as well as the meaning to me behind it, and created the logo below, which I use to this day for my marketing consulting practice, Sparks Ouroboros, http://www.sparksouroboros.com/.

So, as my way of allowing you all to better understand who and what Scott Sparks is all about, here are my beliefs in the meaning and purpose for my design and existence.

With regard to the design, the snake eating its tail is Ouroboros, which has been used to represent many things over the ages, but it most generally symbolizes ideas of cyclicality, unity, or infinity. More recently, it has been interpreted by psychologists, such as Carl Jung, as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche. It's also my Chinese Sign and is part of my fraternity logo at Sigma Nu. Talk about coincidences.

The purple and bright yellow in the center of the design, represents sparks igniting an idea or thought. After all, scientists have said the universe was created by a single spark of energy.

The orange diamond represents my favorite number - 4, which is my birthday and also my Numerology Life Path number. And the diamond itself depicts an inward focus to being the spark to ignite ideas and create unity full-circle. As you see the orange lines run inward towards the snake, each of those lines represent my immediate family members (Mother, Father, Sister,
and Brother). The diamond also represents my passion for building relationships and helping others improve what they want to achieve. The first orange line starting from the bottom and going up to the right represents Trust, from the right to the upper middle represents Needs, from middle to left represents Help, and from left to lower middle represents Support. These are all four vital things people need when building and maintaining relationships.

The 2 red lines outside represent my astrological Sun Sign - Gemini, and further demonstrate my duality and desire for balance in my life with work and play.

The outside ring in purple keeps it all together and balanced symmetrically.

As for the color scheme, the green/yellow snake represents my passion for nature and being
down-to-earth. The purple and yellow in the middle and purple outside is the positive energy within the nucleus and outer edge of my being. The orange is inspiration and motivation to deliver on my life's mission. The red is for keeping me balanced to achieve, perform and deliver results. And lastly, the blue represents desire for peace and serenity within me.

I guess what I have learned over the past several years is that we all have questions and are in search of answers to better understand our identify or true meaning of life and purpose. And it does not happen automatically or instantaneously, but by connecting with the right people at the right place and right time, we eventually discover our true essence that fortifies our being mentally, physically and spiritually.

I am a Sparks, it is within my being, so why not take my being and put it to good use for the betterment of the world. Just like Nike, Google, Twitter, Apple, etc., Scott Sparks has always been a distinct brand unto himself, but it just took me time to finally have a few "Eureka" moments to really begin sharing and leveraging my existence and purpose in this world.

So, there you have it. What do you think of the real me now?

Spark on!

Why You Should Incorporate Online Social Site Outreach In Your Marketing Mix

Online social marketing provides businesses and organizations a way to engage more with online communities to generate additional exposure, opportunities, and sales. On social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, people are opting-in to follow sources most relevant to them and their interests in real-time, as it happens, from breaking news to updates from friends.

Based on a survey among 880 responding marketers, a Social Media Marketing Industry Report was published in March of 2009 entitled “How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Business”.
http://www.whitepapersource.com/socialmediamarketing/

Below are key findings and associated highlights within the report.

1. Top Benefits of Social Marketing (Ranked in Order of Highest % Response)

Generate Exposure – 81%
Nearly all marketers who've been doing social media marketing for years report it generates exposure for their business and a significant 65% strongly agree.

Increase Traffic and Growing Opt-In List – 61%
At least 2 in 3 participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours a week invested in social media marketing.

Establish New Business Partnerships – 56%
62% of people who have only invested a few months in their social media marketing report new partnerships were gained.

Improve/Enhance Search Engine Rankings – 52%
A rise in search engine rankings was reported by more than half of participants. Improved search engine rankings were most prevalent among those who've been using social media for years with nearly 80% reporting a rise (and most reporting a strong improvement).

Generate Qualified Leads – 48%
After only a few months and with as few as 6 hours a week, more than half of marketers have generated qualified leads with social media marketing.

Reduced Marketing Expenses – 45%
The only financial cost of social media marketing is the time it takes to gain success.

Helped Close Business – 35%
It takes time to develop relationships that lead to actual business. However, a large percent of marketers who take the time find great results. For example, 62% of marketers who have been using social media for years report it has helped them close business. More than half who spend 16 or more hours per week find the same results.

2. Top Social Marketing Tools Used

Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were the top four social media tools used by marketers, with Twitter leading the pack.

Another interesting finding was that men were significantly more likely to use YouTube or other video marketing than women (52.4% of all men compared to only 31.7% of women).

3. Time Commitment for Social Media Marketing

A significant 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week, and 39% for 10 or more hours weekly. It is interesting to note that about 10% spend more than 20 hours each week with social media.

Sparks Ouroboros Takeaways

Based on the findings in this report, I believe the real key to achieving success and connecting with a following through Social Marketing is to reach the right people on a frequent basis with relevant content for them and their interests on a consistent basis. It does take time to build a following, but once you invest in the time and achieve a solid group of people following your business through this medium, there will be opportunities to monetize and build upon their lifetime value as customers.

Some verbs to consider utilizing and maximizing to achieve success for your buisness through online social sites, in no particular order, are…
· Educate,
· Inform,
· Entertain,
· Share,
· Touch,
· Connect,
· Network,
· Participate,
· Engage,
· Learn,
· Guide,
· Explore,
· Nurture,
· and Evolve.

In closing, I find one of the most famous quotations coming from Shakespeare’s Hamlet quite applicable to social site outreach.

“To be, or not to be: that is the question.”

But what should you be?

I say “Be There, Be Real, Be Genuine, and Be Yourself!”

Spark on!

What I Have Experienced Lately

Last night, I attended the Richmond, Virginia Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform hosted by our 3rd District Representative, Robert C. “Bobby” Scott.

I decided to attend, keep my mouth shut, and merely observe, listen, and orient myself on an issue that has divided our country. Over the past several weeks, I have seen posts, messages, and notes by friends on Facebook, watched the news coverage from several sources to include CNN, MSNBC, Fox, CBS, and ABC, and discussed the issue with my family and friends face-to-face. My goal is to gather information from a variety of sources and review all options before making a decision and acting upon it.

The meeting was set to start at 7:00 p.m. I arrived at 6:45 p.m., went through the security check, signed in, and just as I was about to enter House Room D, an officer put up his hand to stop like they do when directing street traffic, and said the room was at full capacity, so I’d have to wait until people came out before being allowed to enter. Certainly acceptable to me as I did not want to violate any fire regulation codes that may put people’s lives in jeopardy should there be an emergency of some sorts.

As I stood there waiting for my turn, several others were pouring into this waiting area and within a few minutes, approximately 50 people were behind me and more were coming in only to discover their need to form a line and wait like the rest of us. Pretty soon, the line began to resemble those waiting their turn for a roller coaster ride.

At 6:55, we were cleared to go in with the understanding that we needed to enter and go to the left because it was standing room only. Standing didn’t bother me, I was just happy to get in to listen and observe.

I made my way to a standing spot against the back wall of the room and immediately saw a room packed with people. My guess is 400 + people were there.

Before the meeting started, several people were milling and mingling through the crowds and creating flurries of discussion about the bill, H.R. 3200. Here’s a link to the bill. Who has read it? http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf

Some people had handouts to convey their points, others mumbled and fumbled their words and thoughts about abortion, transgender operations, states’ rights, and constitutional versus unconstitutional.

There was a man to my left and he continuously mumbled words trying to invoke fear among those around him. I had a notebook, and was writing down things I was observing, and one of the things I wrote and intended for him to see was “This dude next to me needs to STFU!”

I also felt that this man was sent there by people, who want just to do that in these types of forums, which I believe is not the way to go. But that type of behavior was prevalent throughout the meeting. Some people in the audience could not keep their mouths shut while others had the floor to speak. I guess none of them are familiar with “Robert’s Rules of Order”. www.robertsrules.com/

There was disrespect and neglect to allow the elected officials and others at the head table to say anything without some brief interruptive outburst like “Maybe you should get out then!” which was directed to Rep. Scott while he was trying to review the components of H.R. 3200.

After Rep. Scott’s presentation, a couple others sitting at the head table were given time to convey their thoughts and stories about Health Care Reform.

One woman was a doctor who had been practicing for 29 years as a small business owner. She has experienced the challenges with the current health care system as a doctor as well as a small business owner dealing with rising costs to provide her employees with affordable health care coverage.

The other was a woman who had worked as a CNA and MedTech, but now was providing Home Care Services making a whopping $8 per hour. This woman also had to get an operation which cost her more than $120,000, which she acknowledged she can’t repay even though she wants to, but can only do what many others face and must do when medical expenses are so more than their hourly wages or annual salary – declare bankruptcy.

After each woman finished what they had to say, some in the audience clapped while others did the hiss and boo. My “bud” next to me continuously mumbled away, as they spoke, saying things to the affect of “that’s your problem, not mine”, “states’ rights”, “reform is unconstitutional”, “I think I hear a violin playing”. By now, I believe totally in my initial thoughts of his presence at this meeting as one to instigate and instill anger and fear. I did take a moment to turn to my left and give him a look of disgust with his tactics. But that’s all I did. I kept my cool, took the high road, and refrained from getting into it with him. Diplomacy was in me.

The floor was then open for questions and comments from the audience. People who wanted to have the opportunity to address the meeting were given blue tickets, and the numbers were called at random by Rep. Scott. Even the way this process was handled disturbed and disgruntled some in the audience.

Initially, few questions were asked. Most were comments or declarations in support of or against H.R. 3200. And the comments ranged from bringing up IMAC and the death panel to others sharing their horror stories with the current health care system.

Overall, my experience at this meeting was worthwhile. I did get to hear thoughts, ideas and comments from a variety of sides and angles.

So, what do I think about it all now?

I think I need to read H.R. 3200 to its entirety. I have downloaded the bill to my desktop and intend over the next several days to review and read all 1,017 pages, start to finish. I’m also going to continue observing and orienting myself before making any decision or taking action.

However, I do believe our country needs to be more open-minded, collaborative and respectful to one another regarding this issue and many others.

And I do believe, we can come together to create a plan that will lower the costs, provide more choices, and allow quality health care that’s affordable and accessible to all.

But, we need to have healthier conversations.

“Information is the currency of democracy.” - Thomas Jefferson

Almost Forgot How Good It Feels

Throughout my life, I have in one way or another been involved with community service.

Whether it was in my early days visiting retirement communities with my church youth group, Saturday morning clean up with the Key Club in high school after a Friday night football game, serving as a Big Brother in college, maintaining hiking trails with the local chapter of the Sierra Club, taking the kids at the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls out for a funtertaining event, facilitating a warm meal and place to stay overnight for the homeless at the Carpenter’s Shelter, volunteering and working to help Gallery 5 Arts in Jackson Ward, or playing in a golf tournament to help raise funds for a young child needing brain surgery, I’ve been giving back.

However, I now feel it’s time to give back more than I have been giving, and I am acting upon it with full conviction of this purpose.

My latest community service outing was working in the warehouse for the Central Virginia Food Bank last week. Our task was to sort and filter the various types of food donated from a common bin, organize, and place the items in a bin designated for them. For example, tomato soup has its own bin, as does chicken noodle soup, and green beans, and corn, and beets, and potatoes, spaghetti, peanut butter, etc. While I was working away, a feeling came to me that had been missing for some time. It was a feeling of accomplishment in serving a greater good for my fellow man and community. And just as the feeling came to me, I said to the other volunteers around me “I almost forgot how good this feels. I could do this every day.”

I am neither a saint nor a savior. I am merely a humble servant in this world with my flaws and imperfections, but I am finding great comfort and peace within that I now choose to serve more. And as I write this message and share with you all, I hope that you too will want to serve more because our world needs it.

My reaffirmation to serve did not come from myself alone. It also manifested through the example of others like Deona volunteering with Meals on Wheels, Mark and Shelli working with the kids at Mind Games, Wayne feeding the homeless in Monroe Park every Sunday, Tom and Amanda providing a place to transcend artistic boundaries in the Richmond community, and Stan going to Guatemala on a mission to help improve living conditions for families there.

These are just a handful of examples I have witnessed and encountered recently. I know there are many more, so I encourage you to share with me and others reading, your stories of serving and giving back to the community.

In closing, I believe the quote below compliments my note rather appropriately.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” - Albert Schweitzer

Here’s to you all who have lighten and will continue to light the flame in me and others. Spark on!

They must be joking, right?

As many of us know who are in the marketing and communications industry, part of our duties and essential to our livelihood is to look for, cultivate and win new business opportunities. And with the way things are in today’s economic climate, it’s been very challenging to say the least.

About 2 weeks ago, I ran across an ad posted on a job listing board as follows.
=====================================================================================
Internet Marketing Person (Richmond VA)
Looking for part-time person with professional marketing experience to work a few hours a week with an upscale florist in Richmond VA. Must have internet marketing and search engine knowledge to be able to work with the web site and search engine optimization. Position is flexible for some of the work to be done from home.
====================================================================================

As I read this post, I immediately began to think this could be a good opportunity/project for me. Then, I looked “below the fold” and saw the compensation was $12 per hour.

$12 PER HOUR???? ARE YOU !@#*+-! KIDDING ME???!!!

Obviously, by my tone, you can see that did not bode too well with me. And it still doesn’t. I find the audacity, disrespect and ignorance of the person/”upscale florist” owner to be appalling and disgusting. I guess they do not know or appreciate the true knowledge and skill sets required for web site and search engine optimization work, especially if they want results that will drive the bottom line for their business.

Perhaps, they might understand from where I’m coming if I equate their compensation for such work to their business.

Let’s say this “upscale florist” sells a dozen red roses for $15, and that price is considered the average market value for such a purchase in today’s “undervalued” world.

A quick reference check at www.indeed.com to determine the average salary for a person doing web site and SEO work in the Richmond, VA market is about $42,000, which comes out to $21 per hour. In fact, I calculated this salary by seeing an Internet Marketing Specialist salary of $39,000 and an SEO Specialist salary of $45,000, so I split the difference. And these salaries are on the low-end for this type of work, as well as 6% lower than average salaries for job postings nationwide.

So, $12 divided by $21 results in a 43% devaluation of market value.

So “upscale florist”, to put it in your language, I’m only willing to pay you $8.55 for those dozen red roses.

Kinda’ hits you in the gut doesn’t it?

Well, I hope it does.

And in your pocket too!

With All Your Might

I recently had the pleasure of going to my local DMV office to get a copy of my driving record.

Now, I know some of you will think, “Why in the world would you do that when you can get it from their website?” It’s true, you can, but you need a PIN to log in and if you don’t have one and I did not, you have to sign up and then they will snail mail it to you, which will take 3-4 days if you are lucky.

Just writing that exasperates me on how their processes, as well as many other local, state, and federal government entities operate. If you want my list, let me know. I’m happy to share, but I hope you will have time because it’s quite a list. >>>> Oye vey!

Now back to this story, my apologies for my digression.

While I’m sitting there after I went to the “Customer Service” front desk to get my ticket, which was E637, I see I have some time on my hands because they just announced “Now serving E631 at window number 5”. All I could do was laugh about it and smile to keep my head from exploding.

So, what did I do with this time while waiting to hear the intercom announce my ticket? I checked my emails and sent a few text messages on my mobile, but that only took 10-15 minutes, and by that time, they had just announced “Now serving E632 at window number 5” as I sent my last text.

A quick scan around the room, which was nearly full with people eagerly awaiting their calling to one of the two, and I repeat two windows utilized by this fine establishment, which is another story unto itself, when they have 10 windows and several employees in the back room just hanging and chatting away like people do at work standing by the water coolers. Breath in, breath out, I’ll get through this, I know.

I had taken a seat in the back of the waiting room next to the restrooms and water fountain. I typically like to sit in the rear because there is always something to see and experience in front of me that may bring a smile to my face or a quiet chuckle inside. And today was no exception.

There was a woman waiting there just like me and I watched her walk across the room and head in my direction. She had been standing to wait for her ticket to be called, and there were a few open seats next to me, so I thought maybe she was coming to occupy one of those seats.

Nope, not the case. She was going to the restroom. But wait, she couldn’t open the door. And there was a sign next to the door stating “Please lock restroom while using.” Apparently, someone else was in there. So, she waited for that door to open.

Several minutes passed and the door remained closed. I then heard her ask another woman who was standing in the back of the room if she had seen anyone go in there. The woman said no, and she had been there for about 15 minutes and had not seen anyone come or go. So, this woman decides to tap on the door. No response, no reply, nada. She waits a few more minutes and taps again. Same result, no word or sounds to be heard.

By now, she is really getting concerned because she has to “go”. She asks the same woman if she would mind watching the door if she slips into the men’s restroom to take care of her biological needs. The woman complies with her request, but before taking such a drastic measure, she decides to go to one of the windows and ask if someone can come open the door. She heads back over my way from the window exuding more confidence and relief knowing the door will be opening soon so she can empty her bladder.

Then I hear “Now serving E635 at window number 5.” Sweet, this will all be over soon.

Several minutes pass since she went to the window, and the door still remains closed. So, I decided to try and help her by going to the front desk where you get the little ticket and see if the woman there can be of assistance. As I approach that desk, I see 5 people standing in line to get their ticket, but there is no one behind the desk to help. All I could think was “Absolutely ridiculous”. Hey, I gave it a shot, but to prevent myself from having an aneurism, I had to go back to my seat. Not to mention fear of missing my ticket being called resulting in having to get another ticket and wait even longer. Not going to happen.

I head back to my seat and the woman is still there standing next to the restroom, and she’s doing those body motions indicating she’s about to bust or something. I think we may all know that feeling and get the picture, so I won’t elaborate any further on that.

So, what’s it going to take to get that door open?

The woman goes up to the other window to see if perhaps that customer service person can help get the door open. The rep looks at her and grins, then leans toward her and responds. The woman immediately turns and heads back to the women’s restroom, and tells the other woman standing there, “She told me…With all your might, push the door as hard as you can.” So, she did, and vualah, the door opened.

And then I hear “Now serving E637 at window number 5.” :-) :-) :-)