Here's what we're talking about.

The most important conversation you’ll ever have

Happy clients with their new logo

Sitting here late at night working on a name for a new product for a small business client, which got me to thinking about the meeting that led to this late night activity…

I call it the kickoff and it is the most important meeting I have with a client. Just like in football, the stronger and more accurate the kick, the better. So it is true for this meeting.

I get the client to tell me what we’re doing.

In brand development, it’s important to know what the brand actually stands for. A logo with pretty colors is nice, but in order to get real meaning behind a brand, I get my clients to do this little exercise:

I/the company/product/service add(s) value because/by ______________________. I get the client to complete that sentence as many times as possible. I am always surprised what comes out after they warm up a little.

What are three (and only three) adjectives that describe your business/product/service?

If your customers could only remember one thing about you, what would it be?

How do you want your customers to feel after they have interacted with you? (Those answers tend to get pretty standard, so I usually re-direct them back to their values sentences)

And we’re done! We turn those value statements into benefits when we flip them around and look at them from the user’s point of view and that becomes the brand proposition. Turn that into prose, and you have the brand story. Demonstrate how the business/product/service achieves those benefits and you have your proof points.

Works like a charm and gets the creative juices flowing and makes the client feel heard and invested in the success of the project. It’s a great way to solidify the brand, communications and creative strategies.

Definitely try this at home.

Facebook microtargeting

One of the goals of marketers is to create a message that the viewer believes is meant solely for him/her. Considerable time, money and effort is spent developing the right message for the right audience. The smaller the audience, the more specific and compelling the marketing message can be. The practice of delivering messages to… More

Book Review: About Face: The Secrets of Emotionally Effective Advertising by Dan Hill

I am an avid reader of design and advertising books. As geeky as it sounds, I read those types of books as my pleasure reading. I always want to know more about how to excel at my craft. Every so often there comes along a book that completely changes the way that I think about… More

I’m givin’ it all she’s got, Cap’n!

You remember when Scotty, the engineer on the Enterprise always came up with a solution to catastrophic damage to the ship in a third the time he told Kirk it would take? Or that he was “givin’ it all she’s got” when Kirk asked for more power and found just enough to save the day?… More

I couldn’t have done it without you

I am addicted to Facebook. Twitter, not so much, in that the opportunities for feedback are limited and a tweet is just that-a short little burst that gets lost in the cacophony of other tweets. I like having followers, no doubt about that, but I think that in the social sphere, my money is on… More

Comcast Direct Response Television is here

Check out this article: It’s about Comcast Direct Response TV. Direct Response TV allows the viewer to use their remote control to interact with or take an action suggested by the content and I just saw a DRTV ad for the Ford Focus this evening. DRTV is in the Philly/Wilmington media market! I am familiar… More

Another gem of an article. http://lnkd.in/dgHftfK

a little something interesting I found: http://lnkd.in/dgHftfK from LinkedIn via IFTTT

new logo

Heya guys! Here’s a logo that was just approved for a massage therapist client. In my research, I found lots of massage logos to be a little on the heavy side. This logo is meant to convey health, cleanliness and serenity. Tell us what you think.

How close is too close?

So here is a client relations issue that many of us small business-facing creatives have: Getting too close to your client. Generally, my small business clients are usually run by a single person. That person usually has the chops to run a business and sell him/herself to the general public. One of the reasons that… More

The mee goreng principle

A lot has been said about User Experience and how critical it is to the success of any web site. I couldn’t agree more. Here is an example of what I mean: I’m in an Asian restaurant for the first time today. I’ve been past it, looked at the menu in the window but never… More

rules of the road

You know what’s fun? Brand guidelines. Seriously. It’s cool to take a design and develop a system around it. Right now, I am working on brand guidelines for a client that is undergoing a complete rebrand. It started innocently enough…”Hey, can you whip up a sales video for us?” “We need a new white paper… More

Help me help you

I had a fascinating kick-off conversation with a new client today, Jim Israel formerly of Culinary Concepts in Philadelphia, PA. He is starting a new consulting company aimed at the hospitality industry. Usually, my clients struggle with their identities, their mission and their unique selling points. Jim had all of that in spades. I was… More

Let’s Dance

New client meeting tonight in Bear, and it is a dance of peacocks, preening, spitting and strutting their accomplishments. Each person trying to one-up the other and demonstrate their knowledge of the best way to promote the business in question. Enter the owner, who has spent months or years in the trenches. Enter the marketer,… More

Shock and aww

So I was engaged in a conversation earlier today about User Experience, UX for short. This, along with User Interface (UI) design, are the hot button topics of web design now. Suddenly, companies care about their users now that the web has evolved and flattened so that users have a say in how they interact… More

This is a must read for everyone in the design field and those that work with designers. It’s not a power struggle unless you make it one. http://lnkd.in/dhABgnu

a little something interesting I found: http://lnkd.in/dhABgnu from LinkedIn via IFTTT

Understanding culture

Part of my goings-on about the user experience include knowing your audience and understanding what makes them tick. A huge part of the behavioral information that you can glean about a particular audience segment is culture. I came across an article on Business Insider that represents visually how cultures around the world negotiate. Why should… More

First Contact

This one’s for my creative brothers and sisters, but the small business community can use this one too. I got a call out of the blue from a prospective client that found us on The Google. I love it when that happens. One of the most important conversations you will have with a client is… More

strike up a conversation

I saw this article that may be of interest to you: it’s premise is that user like it when companies answer their questions on Twitter. This is also a great opportunity to demonstrate your expertise in your field and make the person who asked the question feel heard. Here’s the crux of their research: “Eight… More