Explore topics, techniques, and tools for improving creativity, clarity and communications.
How a Style Guide Can Boost Your Brand and Save You Money
Can one little document really have such an impact? A well-crafted style guide can absolutely boost your brand, save you money and so much more. Just what is a style guide? Simply put, it is a glossary of your brand's core elements and how they are to be used. Some...
Create Some Great Marketing Ideas!
You've just been asked to put together some marketing ideas by the end of the day to increase product sales. It's Tuesday. After a big lunch. It's raining. And that blank document on your screen feels like it's sucking you in to the depths of hell. Not exactly the...
The Hidden Branding of Notification Letters
We often think about credit union branding as the sexy and exciting part of marketing and advertising: logos, corporate culture, retail environments, colors, advertising design and so on. Have you thought about the impact your credit union's notification letters have...
Is it OK to use that image off the internet?
So you have a new product or service offering and you're anxious to get marketing materials out to your potential customers. Other businesses across the country might be selling it so there are quite a few photos popping up when you do an internet search. Feeling the...
Marketing United 2016 Takeaways
I’m a true believer in continuous learning, both on a personal and professional level. Shelling out for a conference fee is a big decision though, so I wanted to make sure the time and money would be well worth it. After the high I felt from last year’s Marketing...
Is Marketing to Millennials the Right Approach for You?
Millennials, Sha-mennials Lately, I've been hearing lots of talk about Millennials from some of our clients. And I'm also seeing more and more articles on the subject being shared, tweeted and liked within my networks. And while I think...
Four Tips for Getting the Most from Your Agency or Freelancers
So you're thinking about sending work out. Your marketing group just doesn't have the time or maybe the talents needed to get the work done. Or maybe you're already working with a hired gun. Here are a few tips for making that relationship more effective. Research the...
Using imagery to stand out in advertising
Go beyond the happy family (and I don't mean chinese take out). Ah the happy family. It's a red-blooded American aspiration to be part of a happy family, which makes the image such a powerful one for advertisers. "You can be this happy if you only use our (insurance,...
How to engage employees and boost your brand
Some days it just seems impossible to engage your employees - I don't know, maybe Mondays for instance? But what if you could get them more engaged AND boost your company's brand at the same time? Yes, it can be done. There are all sorts of surveys and studies showing...
5 Branding Lessons from SEC Football Coaches
One of the first items to explore in my new client relationships is the business' brand. It's important to study both what the institution touts as their brand and what the average customer or member sees as the brand. You can imagine - those two perceptions are often...
Increase your reach across multimedia
I admit it, I'm one of the many consumers who use more than one screen at a time, a true user of multimedia. Heck, I might have three or four devices going, especially while I'm watching sports! Take a look around your own family room this evening and you might find...
What your farmer’s market can teach you about local marketing
Summertime and the produce is coming in like crazy! So many wonderful local farmer's markets offer that wonderful produce for sale as well as a place to get to know your neighbors. Buying local is really catching on. Is your company ready to ride the "Buy Local" wave?...
6 tips to stretch your marketing and advertising resources
Let's face it, companies large and small are always looking for more marketing and advertising efforts. The reasons holding you back are usually centered around a tight budget or a full schedule - or both right?! I've been in both situations. As the creative services...
Why your small business needs a dynamic website
It's tough for small businesses. You've got tight budgets, a million things to do and no time to do them, so I understand how some marketing efforts could get overlooked. But these days having a dynamic website should be the key element in every small business'...
How to buy print, TV and radio advertising
More and more small businesses are buying their own advertising or using consultants, realizing some nice cost savings over using traditional advertising agencies. In fact in my local market of Huntsville, Alabama, we've seen the traditional advertising agency fall by...
Remember the “why” behind the design
Have you ever noticed that as soon as someone presents work they've created, opinions come out of the woodwork? But are those opinions rooted in facts or fancy? The next time you are given the opportunity to review a creative project, whether it be a logo for your...
Marketing Basics vs Trend-spotting
Many of the small businesses I work with have certainly been trying to keep up with the marketing trends. I hear it in the bits of digital jargon they throw out in our initial meetings and their attempts to test out whatever is hot this year. But underneath the...