MACmar
MAC Group has its own in-house advertising and public relations agency, called MACmar. It operates as an independent agency, but with an advantage of a long-term in-house partnership: extensive product knowledge, single-client focus, sense of immediacy and the ability to react quickly. Print ads, Web ads, brochures, point-of-sale displays, banners, Web sites, videos and interactive media are produced for each brand individually. We have our own in-house creative directors, copywriters, web designers, photographers, videographers and editors, marketing managers, education specialists, event coordinators, and production personnel. By having this capability, the content can be custom-tailored for the brand's unique, individual needs, and executed aggressively.
Educational, testimonial, and inspirational promotional content is created at our main facility's in-house studios in New York, including product photography and video shoots. Location photography and footage continues to be shot around the country, particularly when featuring well-known photographers in their own studios, for example.
Point-of-purchase displays and materials, posters, brochures, catalogs, trade show signage, hang cards, box design and other print-based media are created for each brand at MACmar, giving product lines a uniformly-branded consistency.
Advertising efforts can not only be designed and implemented on a brand-specific basis, but the agency can also track results and modify or change strategies at any point during their execution.
Most significantly, MAC Group excels at designing and implementing a sales, marketing and distribution plan. We focus sharply on the hundreds of critical factors for that brand and that brand alone. We do not treat one brand like the next. We don't have a one-size-fits-all attitude or philosophy about any aspect of our business.
However, each brand draws strength in being part of the MAC Group team, both with respect to their 500-plus dealer network and long-standing relationships with major national photo magazines in which they advertise. That's leverage. That's success.
Information for a Technically-savvy Audience
Our Internet efforts are both deep and wide. A rich and varied source of information about MAC Group products is available on our brand-specific blogs. Last year, three were ranked in a list of top 100 photography blogs. As photographers ourselves, we're always looking to share experiences of our users, whatever they're shooting. We frequently run magazine-style in-depth profiles, brief announcements of new shooters we find interesting, product notifications and reviews, how-to analyzations, behind-the-scenes pieces, and other articles on activities photographers around the world are taking part in.
With thoughtful execution, we inform our customers by email campaigns of various special offers, new releases, and useful resources they may wish to be aware of. These are fully voluntary, with recipients able to opt out quickly and easily should they wish to not receive this information. As per our privacy policy, we never trade, share, or sell our email contact information with other parties.
Webinars are another way we bring value-added content to the world of photographers. These live seminars are held regularly by our staff, guests and prominent photographers. Subjects covered range from color calibration to retouching tips to HDR workflow and beyond. Hosts answer questions submitted by attendants, and new products are frequently given away. Free to the public, Webinar educational experiences are typically archived for further viewing at later dates.
Social media efforts are substantial at MAC Group on behalf of our brands. Each product line is represented on Twitter and Facebook, with daily updates posted to tens of thousands of followers. All blog posts are pointed to, along with special promotions, local seminars, and product announcements. Reader comments are posted and replied to publicly. Maximum consumer awareness of our content is our major focus with these continued dialogs between photographers and people who promote great photography gear.
Analytics of Web traffic, responses to email campaigns, search engine marketing results, search engine optimization findings, and other e-commerce efforts are constantly culminated and evaluated against previous performances, enabling us to refine current marketing efforts with the utmost precision while maintaining website visitors' right to privacy.
Tremendous effort is made to communicate directly with people who want to communicate with us. Through these Internet resources, we assure potential customers they can get the information they require regarding any brand we represent.
