This is all over the news and so i figure that it is a good thing to discuss. Twitter, like facebook or other Social Networks, is merely another way for people to communicate. Twitter allows you to put in 140 characters to say your latest thoughts and then people “follow” you so they can get a constant stream of your latest posts. This sounds a little journal-like and not-so-business-like at first glance.

Admittedly, i still have my doubts as to the marketing benefit of using twitter. Partly because it seems like this would be hard to translate into actual business and partly because this seems like a lack on continuity between thoughts that you share to the world (remember that you can only use 140 characters per post).

That being said, this may also be another tool for reaching an audience. This will allow you to have direct access to an audience, and therefore, to either a potential market or a peer group. This means that this may not effect sales directly, but over time, this could lead to your expertise in a field which would translate to sales, finding competent employees or problem-solving through twitter. I am current checking twitter out myself to see it this holds any weight. Feel free to check out my page. http://twitter.com/jeremywold

Try it out, but try this with the expectation that is a very small avenue for getting your marketing message out in a very ADHD sort of way. This is still it in its baby stages.

jeremy

We have just completed our first site that is completely web 2.0 (user generated material based on permission levels at logins). This has been an exciting project that was based on the need to have a website that could be added onto by users as well as expandable by administrators as time goes on. This is a wiki with CMS (content management system) that we custom-made to match their needs.

In other words, they have a framework that can be expanded, refined and added to by users with ease.

A couple of the major goals that we addressed through the creation of this site included creating an online knowledge center for their medical-rich content as well as create something that will help them in the recruiting process for the neurology department at the University of Utah.

Because this does deal with sensitive medial information, all of the site is password protected with the exception of the homepage. Check it out at www.neuroresident.com

We recently completed a website for a law firm in Salt Lake City, the Law Office of Ben W. Lieberman. While focusing on effective design, we also incorporated contact forms, dynamically fed news as well as increased SEO standings through text and html links, titles, meta information and a XML site map (all standard within every website we produce).

Click below to visit the site…

We recently completed a logo for an organization in the Bay Area (CA) that is a spanish-speaking church. In addition to the spanish language website that we will be putting together for them, we have come up with this logo to start their branding off on solid footing. Personally, i don’t speak spanish (jesse does though), and that just goes to show that language does not need to be a barrier for a working on marketing, design or websites. 

make sure to get out there. it is more than a right, it is our responsibility…and you get a sticker too.

Business cards are seemingly innocuous. Everyone has one and they all want to give them to you. They don’t have to fade into the woodwork, you just have to be creative about how they are done in order to get noticed and to be effective.

Here are a couple of tips that i think should be standard in this day and age of printing business cards:

1. All business cards should be double-sided. The back could simply be a solid color with your website listed but the point is that this is a mini billboard that could be utilized and should not be left blank.

2. Full color, full bleed. Larger businesses may not need to run at full color since their large quantities can justify printing at 2-color on the press. For most companies though, each card is going to be a shorter run since the contact information will change and thus printing these process (4 color) is definitely more affordable. Plus, having full color gives you some options for potential unique design work. Full bleed in printing is where you print off the edge of the paper. I personally like using this on cards so that design elements can be incorporated within the design that do not take away from the branding and contact info.

3. Simple is okay. An example that i like is actually within the movie Ocean’s Eleven where Daniel Ocean gave a card to Linus that was blank except for his name, “Daniel Ocean” in the center of the card. It is amazing that, with simplicity comes complexity and sophistication within design. 

4. They must fit the branding. Because business cards are an extension of your business, they must be consistent with the branding of your business. Just like every other marketing initiative, business cards have to drive the consistency of your brand which includes your logo and current design elements.

Here is an example that we have recently completed for the Fantis Group. As Realtors, they needed certain items on the card, i.e. photo, RE/MAX logo, but this doesn’t mean that their cards had to be standard or uninteresting. In fact, we are printing these cards with a silk laminate with a spot gloss coating on the logo which is quite unique within their industry.

We have recently finished a complete site re-design for Powder Mountain. With dynamic, yet searchable, content throughout the site, we have created a website where data is automatically fed through databases  and can be changed very easily everywhere else throughout the site. In other words, instead of having a very static 100+ page website, we have created the site to be agile in order to adapt to the changing seasons.

In order to have this fit within the marketing strategies we have going for Powder Mountain, we have provided copyrighting, photography, graphic design, development and strategic direction for the new website.

We also think that it looks cool too.

Click here to check it out.

Working with Powder Mountain, Wolf Creek Utah, Ogden Convention and Visitor Bureau and Utah Tourism, we have come up with a full-page ad that will be running within Backcountry Magazine. This is a comprehensive campaign that will include a few runs of this full-page print ad, online banner ads, partner ads that will run in Telemark Magazine and a landing webpage to capture contact info.  

We have just completed the logo (brand) for the Refugee Outreach Partnership. This is a California-based organization that brings together like-minded non-profit organizations to assist refugee placement, housing and jobs. In my opinion, this organization is cutting-edge in the fact that it crosses normal organizational boundaries to focus on the greater good that no individual organization could handle on their own. We are proud to be a part of it.

With any logo, their brand needs to properly represent who they are as an organization as well as incite confidence/trust of that organization. The Refugee Outreach Partnership incorporates the idea of being connected around the world with a sense of movement. In order to give the perception of movement, we purposefully designed outside of the lines. In other words, the people holding hands extend outside their own borders and, thus, fulfill the idea of movement and life beyond their country’s borders.

This summer, Powder Mountain is offering off-road tours of the mountain with its Summer Safari. After riding on this beast myself, it is easy to see why the 4×4 open-air off-road vehicle is affectionately called the “powzilla”. It is a chance to do some real off-roading while touring one of the best ski areas.

To help drive traffic to this new summer attraction, we were called in to develop environmental prints as well as online campaign. After creating the photography, attached posters, online Flash banners as well as its own page on their website, they immediately started getting reservations. What do you know…i guess strategic implementation of a cross-media marketing campaign really works!

Enjoy.