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Welcome | Strategic Communications | Public Involvement | Featured Experience | About Eydo | Contact Us

Welcome

At Eydo, our goal is to create clear, concise and purposeful communication concerning your project, service or product. We'll identify your message, develop the best strategy to reach your audience, and then create the components to get the job done.

Specializing in comprehensive Strategic Communications and Public Involvement, we bring over 30 years of combined experience to meet your needs. Whether you require complete strategy development and implementation, or simply copywriting and editing, Eydo is here to help.

No matter the project, we have one purpose:
To help you say the right thing.

 

Strategic Communications

Strategic Communications Defined

Strategic Communications is the intentional planning and execution of all your communications activities. Basically, it's taking a big-picture look at what you're saying, how you're saying it, and to whom you're talking. After all, to know where you're going, you need the whole map.

But once your route is planned, you've got to take action (the right roads) to get there. These are the tactical elements of strategic communications - the customer touch points, the websites, the brochures, the news releases, the magazine articles. 

Eydo delivers on both the big picture and the details. We help our clients decide the optimum destination for their specific marketing goals, and then create and implement the best route to get there. And we believe that the best route is usually the most direct...precisely written articles placed in publications read by your potential clients, websites that are concise and user-friendly, brochures that highlight your services and products in the best light for you (not us).

Your road is unique, your strategy distinctively yours. Eydo is here to help you define your route and execute each step along the way.

Identify Your Message

What do you want people to know about you? More importantly, what do you want them to feel and believe And to whom, exactly, do you want to convey that message?

Your specific marketing message must be clear and concise - and be presented in a way that will be remembered. And depending on your audience, as you could have multiple audiences, you may require a slightly different message to reach these respective groups. After all, the right message to the wrong audience is actually worse than saying nothing at all. Eydo will work with you to identify and define your message. Maybe you need a new logo design, a refreshing tagline, or a refined product or service definition - maybe all of them (brand development).

Eydo can help you decipher which medium will best speak to your audience and then we'll work with you to get the right mix, the right avenue and the right delivery. 

Simply, we'll help you "Say the Right Thing".

Develop Your Strategy

Strategy is one of those business buzzwords that sound intimidating. It often conjures up images of smoky boardrooms, spider-web graphs and complex statistics. Even as these may have their place in the strategy development process, we think it can be much simpler.

At Eydo, we'll work to truly understand your target and find more effective ways to reach them. To us, strategy is about thinking a bit differently, looking at the relationship you have with your clients - or would like to have - and discovering ways to strengthen that tie.

Together, we'll build your strategy based upon your client: what they read, what they watch, what they listen to, who they know, etc.  Think of it as a strategy built upon a network, a relationship. It's that kind of strategy that works.

Execute Your Plan

This is the fun part! Once you know who you are and what you have to offer (your Message), and you've developed a strategy (Marketing/Public Relations Plan), it's time to take action.

Eydo can partner with you to create and implement whatever action steps you choose - a new or updated website, marketing collateral, multimedia PR, and advertising. Whether you need one component or all, Eydo will design and develop tangible communications that get results.

Website Design and Development

• Unique designs, not templates
• From basic corporate brochures to full flash designs
• Copywriting and editing

Marketing

• Print collateral - brochures, newsletters
• Direct mail
• Video/DVD
• Radio

Public Relations

• Strategic communications plans - crisis communications, relationship management, visibility enhancement
• Mainstream and trade media relations - articles, releases, training
• Outreach - management, materials, maintenance

Copywriting

• Original articles, brochure and web copy, newsletters, etc.
• Editing or finessing of existing copy (marketing, annual reports, internal communications, etc.)

Advertising

• Print ad design and copy
• Headlines and attention-grabbing tags
• Media buying and placement

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Public Involvement

Public Matters

Public involvement and community outreach are not what they used to be...today's successful efforts are no longer just about cookies and coffee in a room at the local community center. 

In today's world, project teams cannot afford to view the public as a secondary ingredient to success. Neighborhood organizations, CAC's, grassroots groups and concerned citizens are more vocal than ever, and have become an integral part of every major project - whether it's a planning study, a visioning plan, a NEPA process, a construction project or a transportation improvement project. 

At Eydo, we understand this. With extensive experience and expertise, our public involvement team can provide your firm with a relevant, cohesive and comprehensive outreach strategy and its associated activities.

By letting Eydo do what we do best, you can focus on what you do best.

PR-PE-PI...What's the Difference?

PR: Public Relations - Positioning information so that it relates to a specific public

PE: Public Education - Disseminating information to educate a specific public

PI: Public Involvement - Collaborating with a specific public to involve them in a decision process

Each of these three activities is a distinct entity, and each has a unique role in the overall success of a community outreach program. Confusing them, or assuming they are the same, can hinder the effectiveness of your plan and impede your desired outcome.

Eydo will work with you to clarify your goals and determine the best strategy for successful outreach - employing the right approach, at the right time. Together, we'll design and implement an outreach strategy that will encompass, and proportionally emphasize, PR, PE and PI.

And because Eydo is a full-service communications and marketing firm, we're able to partner with your team to address these activities through a proactive, comprehensive approach - all from a single source.

Eydo PR-PE-PI Activities and Services

Initial Project Communications - branding, marketing, promotion
Issue/Project Education - web design, writing/editing, project brochures
Stakeholder Relations and Partnering - facilitation, public affairs, media relations, graphic design
Community Outreach and Engagement Activities - canvassing, email blasts, direct mail, database management
Public Meetings, Charettes, Listening Sessions, Workshops - facilitation, event management, graphic design and production, technical consultation, record keeping
Construction Impact Mitigation Plans - detour plans, service interruption notifications, contractor liaison, crisis communications planning, spokesperson training)

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Featured Experience

Background

The diverse backgrounds of our principals allow us first-hand experience in a variety of industries. Over our combined 30 years of professional history, some of the industries and clients for which we have executed marketing, PR and training activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Transportation/Transit Planning - VDOT, NCDOT, CDOT, RTD (Denver), GRTC (Richmond), Springs Transit (Colorado Springs), Transfort (Ft. Collins, CO), Triangle Transit Authority (Raleigh)
Construction/Engineering - McKim and Creed (for Signal, Inc.), DMJM-Harris, BHA, PBS and J, Parsons-Brinkerhoff, URS, UrbanTrans, Wilson and Company, Carter-Burgess, Felsberg-Holt-Ullevig, SAIC, Kewitt Western, SEMA Contractors, Hammers Construction (for Crystal Peak Design)
Pharmaceutical/Medical - GlaxoSmithKline (for NuArt Video), qShift Travel Nurses (for Crystal Peak Design), various hospitals and medical practitioners
Real Estate/Land Development - Logan Homes (for Signal, Inc.), Firefly Cove (for Signal, Inc.), Boca Bay (for Signal, Inc.)
Government - City and County of Denver, State of Colorado, Larimer County (CO), El Paso County (CO), State of Virginia, City of Williamsburg, Local Government Entities (VA), Department of Defense

Clients

Eydo has provided strategic communications services for clients in a variety of industries. Here are some of our most recent clients...

• North Carolina Railroad Company - PSA for rail crossing safety featuring NASCAR driver
  
• Society for Marketing Professional Services - Research Triangle Chapter - Website
  
• The Medical Park of Cary - Logo design, website development
  
• Gurlitz Architectural Group - Publicity campaign, trade publication feature article
  
• Worship Facilities Magazine - Contributing writer
  
• Life Community Church - Logo design, brochure development
  
• Cary Living/Midtown/Pinehurst Magazines - Contributing writer, member of editorial board
  
• Cary Community Foundation - Pro Bono communications, marketing and PR activities
  
• Joshua Path, Inc. - Website
  
• Order In The House - Website
  
• RDUIT - Copywriting, marketing consulting

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About Eydo

Eydo (i-doe): To turn the eyes, the mind, the attention to something; to understand, to perceive.

Isn't this all you really want from your communications and marketing activities? For your audience to turn their eyes to you, to pay attention to your services, your products - not all the others?

With over 30 years of combined experience in communications, Eydo is able to offer a wide scope of expertise to help you build and nurture your business relationships.

Specializing in Project Communications, as well as Marketing and PR Strategy and Execution, Eydo's relational approach will be a refreshing change to the typical. We'll work hard to get your name, your company and your project "out there"...not our own. If our client is getting good press and desired communications results, that's all the acclaim we need.

Why Eydo

We believe that your organization can greatly benefit from implementing the right strategic communications activities. At Eydo, we have the skills, experience and passion to give you the right words and make the most of all your business relationships. Our goal is impact - on your clients, your staff, your bottom-line.

So, why Eydo? We think you should choose us because we really do have a lot to offer - inspired vision, fresh ideas, authentic results. Need another reason? When you do business with Eydo, you will not just benefit from positive impact...you'll be making one.

In fact, Eydo is all about impact. The foundation of our company - even the basis of our name - stems from our desire to influence people and create change. On one level, we are passionate about inspiring your audience on your behalf. Yet there's another vision we have which motivates us to do what we do: We want to impact the world.

When you choose to trust Eydo with your business, a portion of every dollar you spend goes to local and global missions projects aimed at relieving human suffering. Be it with food, shelter, medical care, or simply the message of Hope, you will be impacting people in need. Forsaken orphans in the Central African Republic, burdened families in Kyrgyzstan, the hungry on the streets of Raleigh.

Let Eydo impact your organization...and make an impact on your world.

Key Staff Profiles

Julianne Winkler Smith
President/Creative Director

Before co-founding Eydo, Julianne worked as a freelance copywriter and editor for ten years, primarily partnering with design firms around the country to create marketing and advertising copy, as well as provide creative direction, for a wide range of clients. She also writes feature articles for several regional and national publications.

In addition to producing persuasive copy and creative concepts, Julianne has a solid background in corporate training and development. She spent eight years in corporate health promotion, designing, promoting and implementing disease prevention and wellness programming for employees in both the public and private sector. Julianne has also developed and facilitated myriad staff development programs, including classroom and experiential courses for team building, management training and character/integrity skills.

Julianne earned her Master's Degree from the University of Richmond and her Bachelor's from The College of William and Mary. <br>

Garold D. Smith III
Vice-President/Marketing and Public Involvement Director

Before Eydo, Garold spent the majority of his career in communications and public involvement for transportation and transit projects in Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina.  He has played key roles in the strategic design and implementation of cohesive and engaging communications programs for major transportation improvements, including interstate, highway, transit and rail projects. His polished public, community and media relations skills have allowed him to reach and engage diverse publics on social, environmental and economic issues and strive to reach constructive solutions.   

Garold is the consummate PR professional, able to see eye to eye with the "person-on-the-street" and with high-ranking government officials - he can discern the needs of every side of a project's challenges, and work to successfully determine a solution and get the project delivered.  

Garold received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Colorado and is certified in Public Dispute Resolution.

Colleen Cambre Liley
Art Director

Colleen joined the Eydo team in 2007, after graduating from the prestigious North Carolina State University College of Design. Bringing a fresh art perspective, innovative ideas, and exceptional print and web design proficiency, Colleen plays an integral creative role in producing quality strategic communications solutions for Eydo clients.  

Prior to joining Eydo, Colleen provided design services for a number of clients in the Triangle and in South Carolina. As part of the UNC-TV Broadcast Design Department team, Colleen earned two Mid-south Regional Emmy Awards for her work on statewide public service announcement campaigns.

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Contact Us

919.616.0595
info@eydo-nc.com

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