There are strengths and weaknesses with all options available to use for advertising your product or services.
Radio is intrusive and local, it offers mobility and low production costs. You can target your message by station format and/or time-of-day or day-of-week. One weakness of radio is that it offers no visual but with the right copy, the listener can create their own “theatre of the mind” image. Radio is looked upon as a frequency medium, however, it can be quite expensive to build reach without purchasing a number of stations.
Maximize radio dollars by looking at all dayparts and obtaining guarantees on rotation throughout days of the week and hours within each daypart. Look at stations other than the leader and leverage one station’s delivery against others you are considering.
Don’t forget about added value. It can come in many forms including no charge spots, billboards, and sponsorships or streaming exposure to catch those who listen on their computers while at work.
So with the Super Bowl (the pinnacle of advertising) around the corner I thought I'd pass along two ads that will be joining the Vikings on the sidelines and WON'T be seen during the big game. The first spot is from infamous "banned" ad brand GoDaddy.com and the second is from Mancrunch.com both ads got the nix from CBS.
While the cost of an ad in the Super Bowl fell from $3 million last year to $2.7 million this year it's still no small investment. With that said, these brands are are getting HUGE viral exposure without spending a dime on media. To date these ads have gotten almost 500,000 online views. So, you make the call! Shameless marketing ploy OR shrewd marketing move?
Technology can be daunting to say the least but for businesses new and old it opens new doors to advertising and marketing. Part of our job is to be up-to-date on technology to come since advertising will be part of all new technology, whether it be directly for it or incorporated into it. The future for advertising is looking exciting...possibly reaching people as they walk by your store or advertising a cheaper price for an item that someone is scanning at that exact moment. There are so many possibilities that will come alive in 2010, they really are endless. Here’s a good read that I stumbled across in my current search on what’s to come in the new year and I don’t mean to be cliche but, I’m like a kid in a candy store.
Last week I get a call from one of our favorite clients and their vendor is asking for a logo in a dst format. So I ask, “do you think they meant eps format?” “no, they requested a dst file.” he says. So, after a little google research, sure enough there really is a .dst file format. Turns out it is an embroidery format, a CAM (computer aided manufacturing) file that contains instructions for creating embroideries or other stitched decorations with a sewing machine; including codes such as "stop," "jump," and "trim" that tell the machine how to move the needle.
On the creative side of the advertising arena, we get a lot of different file type requests but it seems that there are more and more each day: jpeg, gif, pdf, eps, wav, etc. But a dst? OK, so now we’ve heard it all, right?
If you are wondering what a specific file format stands for, there is a very helpful and thorough website that explains file formats in detail as well as listing programs that can open or create these files. The site is called fileinfo.com
So, the next time you get a call from someone asking for a dst file, simply visit http://www.fileinfo.com/ for a simple explanation.
Black Friday is almost upon us and that means retail craziness for many businesses. So are you ready? In a recent Consumer Reports Holiday Poll, 66 percent of shoppers will be buying something for themselves in addition to holiday shopping for friends and family.
So what are the categories most likely to benefit from self-shoppers? Food, wine, electronics and clothing are at the top of the list with clothing in the far lead. An estimated 46 percent of shoppers planning on buying clothing are also projected to pick up a little something for their very own closet. Gender can also be a factor in self-purchases. Guys will typically be the buyers of video games/electronics while the gals will splurge on the food, wine and clothing.
If you’re in the retail business hopefully you’ve put the word out that your products and services should be first in line as consumers make the mad rush for Black Friday bargains. To learn more about how our agency can help your business push sales in the right direction, drop us a line. We’re here to help!
For this week I thought it would be nice to give a quick Photoshop tutorial with a free downloadable file. I know, we’re giving away our secrets and free things....what’s wrong with us? What better to give away free than a few quick glossy buttons. Here is the final image.
I’ll give you a quick rundown of how to get there or you can cheat and just download the file at the end of this post. First, make a new Photoshop document (file>new). The document I made was 500px X 450px at 72 pixels/inch, color mode of RGB. Click the advanced tab and use the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color profile (this is the recommended color setting for web images) then click “ok”.
The size of your file depends on what you’re using it for so you’ll have to be the judge but if you’re trying to follow along grab the rounded rectangle tool and make your box roughly 370px X 90px because these settings could change if your button is a different size. I also put a 20px corner radius on the button.
Double click the layer in your layers palette (don’t double click the box on the left of the layer or the name, try the far right side) and apply the following layer styles:
Drop Shadow:
Gradient Overlay:
For gradient overlay you’ll have to click on the gradient bar to adjust the gradient. You can play with the colors but for this tutorial I used a lighter gray at the bottom (left side), then a darker gray at a location of 47%, then the same gray as the first at a location of 51% and then finally a lighter gray at the top (right side).
Inner Glow:
For inner glow I used roughly the same color as the darkest part of the gradient overlay.
Stroke:
This is what you should have after all these layer syles are applied.
Now just add a little text to your button. The font I used is Trade Gothic Bold Condensed 20. Add a light drop shadow like before, just a little smaller and add a gradient overlay with a fade from light gray to white. Voila! You have a fancy, new web button. You can adjust the colors as you want. Below are a few versions that I made quickly.
That is a question that is asked of me at times. Would you tell your family how great the client’s services are and that they should go and frequent their establishment? Would you go on tv and have your head shaved? Well the latter was recently asked of me. Our client, the Blue Plate Restaurant Company, needed just that. Someone to go on TV and have their head shaved for a promotion that they did for National Bald Day and for the Operation Uplink charity, so I stepped up and did it. Not only was it an easy decision, I mean who wants hair anyways, but it was a chance to do something for a client that was out of the ordinary. We do all that you would expect from a full service advertising agency, such as creating eye catching ads, developing and maintaining websites and creating brand awareness with our unique and innovative ways of reaching the targeted consumer. And we also like to be as involved with our clients as we can. Weather it is eating at one of the restaurants that Blue Plate has, visiting Severs Corn Maze, going to the Twin Cities Auto Show that is put on by GMADA or getting your head shaved on TV. It all comes down to the clients needs.
See our clients are more than just clients, they are our family. Without them we would not be here and wouldn’t you do anything for your family?
In the coming years it is estimated that Internet users who consume user generated content will grow dramatically.
The internet is becoming more and more social and interactive. We need to work hard to publish useful content that customers and search engines will like. We can meet a lot of marketing and business objectives by adding user generated content. Letting people “have a say” about the brands and topics they like will drive traffic to a website.
The way in which consumer generated content works within a particular company’s search marketing mix depends on a variety of factors including: content contribution and sharing needs of the audience, ability to create or update content management systems that support user content creation and moderation, a promotion of keyword inspired content.
Integrated Advertising Network works hard to optimize content. We are currently making the change to make our websites more social and interactive.
Local television stations provide plenty of choices for reaching consumers from local news and sporting events to syndicated and network programming. Cable networks also provide a wide-variety of programming (and many are award-winning) but the number of households you’re reaching can be vastly different. Be sure you understand the difference between reaching 1% of television households and 1% of cable households. Cable is subscriber based and therefore does not reach all television households in a market.
Cable targets a desired audience demographically and geographically. Most system operators offer zones within their coverage area which provide the ability to reach your primary marketing area rather than the entire television market. Cable viewers are perceived to be more upscale and the Cable Advertising Bureau reports that cable viewers are above average consumers of most products and services. Most cable operators provide no-charge, bonus spots (autofill) which provides your business with added exposure at no additional cost.
The single most-watched telecast in cable history occurred October 5 where 21.8 million viewers tuned to ESPN’s Monday Night Football and witnessed Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings defeat the Green Bay Packers. TBS recently delivered a 33-year ratings high with Major League Baseball playoff coverage. The October 6 playoff game between the Twins and Tigers drew 6.54 million viewers! Total viewers for games 1, 2 & 3 of the Twins-Yankees Division Series averaged 6.63 million viewers. All offered exceptional exposure for your business at minimal cost.
There are pros and cons to both cable and television (as there are to all media options). It’s important to define and understand what your needs are to determine which (or both) will best deliver your message to your target consumer.
The intent of this blog is not to prove a point or to attempt to give any kind of design lecture but more so it is an opportunity to remind myself and others of an important design principle that I learned way back when in design school and am often guilty of forgetting. The general principle is that white space or absence of content (pictures or copy) can be effective in advertising.
As advertising producers, trying to make the most of our clients’ budgets, we’re constantly looking for ways to maximize our impact within the confines of premium advertising space. So why would we consider leaving any unoccupied space within a 15 second television ad or in an expensive magazine space? Because white (negative) space can draw a reader in and create hierarchy while enhancing the imagery and copy within its space. As general rule of thumb, when creating a layout, I was taught to use one-third copy, a third photo/image and a third negative space.
White space should not be considered merely 'blank' space — it is an important element of design that enables objects in it to exist. Balancing figure and ground is key to the overall aesthetic and can make the perceived image more clear.
A page crammed full of text or graphics with very little white space runs the risk of appearing busy, cluttered, and is typically difficult to read. Strategic use of empty space can create powerful contrast and give a layout important breathing room which ultimately gives headlines and text better readability. In today’s era of information bombardment... with streaming web content on the iPod Touch, BlackBerrys and Kindles, a resting spot for a reader becomes ever-so refreshing… we could all use a spot to rest our weary eyes from content overload.
It’s true, building a brand successfully can take some time. Creating brand loyalty is more than just convincing the consumer into buying a product. It’s about gaining the consumer’s trust and the trust of their family and peers. It’s about return business.
Many advertisers can spike sales temporarily with fly by night campaigns offering, “Once in a Lifetime Discounts” but this can actually work against their brand in the long run. Over discounting can skew the perception of a given product or service and once the product stops flying off the shelf or the phone stops ringing, it’s back to square one … only now the product or service may be viewed as the “cheap” option.
Communicate to your potential buyers that your product or service is their best choice for VALUE. Letting someone else be the “cheap” option will be rewarding in the long run.
You all know the old saying “Time is money.” It’s been engrained in all of our heads from our parents, grandparents and friends and we’ve all heard it in numerous movies and shows. And when someone’s designing, it couldn’t be more accurate. So you need something designed, who do you choose?
Experience is knowledge #1 – When you work in an area with so many needs you get to experience a lot. As an advertising agency designer you get the chance to do so many different design jobs that it exponentially expands your bag of tricks. Now you’re asking yourself “what does that have to do with me?” As an example, if you’ve ever used the program Adobe Photoshop, or even if you haven’t, there are so many options that it can be quite mind boggling. There are filters, layer effects, adjustments, adjustment layers, layer masks, quick keys; the list goes on and on and on. We fake in shadows, adjust colors, replace items, add items, cut hair and get rid of wrinkles. So when you come with a project, we don’t get stuck on “how do I do that”. We’ve done it, and probably a couple times and a couple different ways. We know how to do it again, and fast.
Experience is knowledge #2 – With so much time spent in programs that are made for design, you learn a few things, you get better, and you get faster. You’ve probably heard of the term quick keys. Well what do you know, they are quick. There are hundreds of them and they make your work fly by when you know what they are and how to use them. It’s like learning a remote, the first time you get it in your hands you fumble around with the thing looking at where each button is trying to learn each one and the quickest way to get to it. In a month you can grab the remote and make the screen blur because you’re moving so fast with your newly memorized buttons and then poof, you’re at the channel you want to be. Multiply the buttons by about a hundred and add years of experience and you get a designer who can make the screen blur and get you’re design to where you want it to be.
Experience is knowledge #3 – We look at design every day. We see good designs, we see bad ones and, because I love old cartoons, knowing is half the battle (I know you watched G.I. Joe as a kid). An eye for design is the second half of that battle. You can’t be taught to have an eye for design but, come on, we wouldn’t have the title if we didn’t have one and it gets better with every design challenge.
Put all this together and you have a design you want that looks good, is done right and is done as fast as it can be....or Photoshopping a remote control in a G.I. Joe cartoon, your choice.
With the new capabilities of the Internet it has become a whole new ballgame. We are in the first game of a seven game series when it comes to advertising on the Internet.
How do I advertise? Where are my target customers going online to try and find me? What of my products or services are being searched for the most? Those are some of the questions that you may have. But the most important question that you should be asking now … Where do I advertise on the Internet?
Web Banner advertising on the sites your customers visit is one option. If you have a target demographic that is mainly men, then perhaps a local media site’s sports page would be a viable option for you to target. But think of web banners as digital tv ads, where the click thru is a bonus. Web Banners are impression based media first and foremost.
Another place to advertise online of course is Google and it’s the one online stop where most people go every day. Running a Google Adwords campaign has the ability to reach your customers every time they do a search on Google. The best thing about it is you don’t pay unless they play. In other words you pay when they click your ad and visit your site, which results in increased site traffic and increased awareness for you products and services. The best thing about it is that you don’t pay for an impression so it is like free advertising!
Running a successful Google Adwords campaign isn’t as easy as some might think. It takes a lot of analysis. And with a Google Adwords Certified Professional you know that your campaign will perform the way you expect.
As ian prepares to become a Google Adwords Certified we are learning even more of the ins and outs of the Adwords program so we can deliver the best possible service and results to all of our clients.
In today’s current economic environment many advertising agencies have been forced to cut costs and find new streams of revenue in order to survive. It’s times like these that agencies need to look within and cultivate their current client roster, instead of spending fruitless hours seeking external new business gains. My advice -- grow your clients business and your agency billings will follow suit.
The number one reason your clients have hired you is to bring value to their company. In correlation, a lack of fresh ideas is also the number one reason why accounts are lost by agencies. It is our job to ask the right questions, to challenge the norm and to move the needle. A clients goals can rarely be accomplished by taking the path of least resistance, as trusted advisors we must always make sure we are working with our clients best interests in mind and bringing new and effective ideas to the table.
By investing extra time and energy into a clients work and improving their business, organic agency growth will certainly come in tandem. This fact is proving to be especially true in today’s current economic environment of shrinking corporate marketing departments. With the loss in internal bandwidth, proven and trusted agency partners are now being asked to increase their roles and responsibilities for clients, making themselves full-service marketing confidants versus being simply just another vendor.
So always remember, if your clients aren’t successful your agency won’t be successful. It should always be about quality over quantity. Go the extra mile for your clients and a mutual success will be born, earning you a bigger piece of the marketing pie, client longevity and quite possibly that ringing endorsement that may earn your agency its next new business win. To learn more about some of our current client partners and how we have grown their businesses, check out the client section of our website.
A guideline used for many years and in today’s economy, probably never truer. Few, if any, media outlets are achieving “sold out” status these days. With a bucket of perishable inventory, media outlets are constantly balancing the need to sell as much as possible at the highest rate possible and at the same time, not letting any inventory go unsold at some price.
Our clients deserve the most we can get them for their ad budgets, 100% of the time.
So we listen to needs and do our best to understand challenges. Defining the target audience, establishing reach and frequency goals as well as how many weeks to advertise all help in establishing a budget. We treat media budgets as if they are our own to get the most exposure for even the smallest of budgets.
In most cases, media plans focus on dominating in one medium before moving on to another while fully understanding that a mix of two or more increases reach & frequency because light users of one tend to be heavier users of another. Consumers tend to be loyal to specific media vehicles (specific television stations for news or favorite programs, radio stations, online sites, etc). Leverage one station’s ability to deliver the target audience against the other thru multi-station negotiations instead of single station. We don’t consider the number one station as a “must buy” and look to radio audience duplication provided by Arbitron for guidance. Using more dayparts in radio and/or television increases reach and extends budget.
Is your primary marketing area within a specific radius of your location? Then zoned cable or newspaper may be the best medium to use. Do you have multiple locations throughout the market? If so, utilizing mass-reaching mediums such as radio or broadcast television may be the best vehicle to reach a larger concentration of consumers. Value-added opportunities are always sought and can take the form of increased ad size or color in print, no charge radio and/or television spots and additional website impressions.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each media vehicle. It’s important to evaluate all to determine which will most effectively deliver the message within a limited budget.
and now more then ever, there is always a better deal, and a harder bargain to be driven. Working with IAN ensures that you always get the most targeted mediums at the lowest possible cost
