What’s up with Firefox and why can’t we get a browser to work without issues? or is it us and we need new computers every year? Well, that’s not going to happen so what to do?
It all started about a year or so ago when Safari on my Apple computers didn’t work properly. I can open them if I need to see a site and how it looks via that browser, but it cannot be my browser of choice anymore. This is because technology is rapidly advancing and faster than I can buy new computers. So, I downloaded Firefox and started using that browser on both Macs. But in the last few months, if I have more than a few windows open or are visiting sites that get a lot of traffic, I am looking at a spinning wheel or I get a pop up message telling the page has timed out.
I have also used both IE and Firefox on the Dell PC and have the same issues.
So, what to do?
I just came across a Troubleshooting article for those that might need help and will pass it along.
Yesterday I was walking through Hoboken, NJ doing some weekly shopping and noticed the line outside Carlo’s Bakery (known for the Cake Boss TV show) is still just about as long as it was when he first became known. In the newspapers I learned about Hoboken turning down a Jersey Shore TV show spin-off with Snooki (Nicole Snooki Polizzi) and the entourage being filmed there and my own Jersey City welcomed it. I’ll be sure to watch that first episode and see what develops.
So what do these two “icons” and I use that term a bit loosely, have in common other than NJ? Very strong “branding!” Yes, you guessed where I was going with this.
They both seem like pretty regular people with regular businesses/careers, but what separated them from the pack was their originality. I remember when Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss first started his TV show and there was a great bus stop poster advertisement in Hoboken, Buddy covered in flour and no copy at all except the name of the show. I thought this ad was marketing genius. The visual was so powerful I wasn’t surprised to later see it in Time’s Square.
Having an original idea, building a strong brand and marketing it in just the right way is what sells the public. But consistency is what keeps that line on the street forming everyday and people watching the shows. If Buddy or Snooki had only done one or a few shows and left the scene, the public would have forgotten them over time. But they keep those episodes coming and the networks knew that had something different and spent the money to sell them.
Most small businesses don’t have the budgets that these shows had, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do something unique to market your products and services. Think about what marketing concept you could do that would offer something new and if your brand isn’t memorable then start thinking about how you can rebrand or change your game. Be consistent, update your website often, add new videos, audio, blog posts and more.
Each Valentine’s Day we show our love for friends and family, but today I’d like to thank Whitney Houston who helped me through a difficult time in my life.
In 1993 my Mother was diagnosed with Pancreatic and Liver Cancer and was struggling for her life. She was 72 years old, and just getting started on enjoying her retirement. Each weekend I would drive down to the Jersey Shore from Hoboken to Point Pleasant. I wanted to be with them and help them in any way I could. I was very close with my parents, as the baby in the family and the last to leave, so we shared so much and I trusted them and their guidance.
As I would drive on the turnpike and Garden State, the flocks of birds would swirl and soar around and Whitney’s song, “I Will Always Love You” would play on the radio. The combination of the birds soaring and Whitney’s amazing and powerful voice would fill me up and I would cry as I was driving. She helped me release the frustration and it was a way to grieve before and after being with my parents.
This past weekend when I heard about Whitney’s passing, it brought me back to that song and that time, and all the memories came flooding back. (…of course all those 9″ LPs, which I still have and would sing along to, like most.)
She had one of the most amazing voices of our time and I’m sorry she won’t be thrilling us all with what was coming next. I appreciate her gift to us all and especially for helping me when I needed it so badly.
My heartfelt condolences to her family and friends. May the outpouring of love from the world and gratitude help you through this very difficult time.
In the last few months I have been thinking quite a bit about the new Starbucks coffee bag packaging designs. When they first changed the designs, I couldn’t find the Sumatra bag and wondered if I was buying the right one. The more I looked at them over the weeks, the more it started to bother me that they had “dumbed down” the packaging.
Before, each type of roast had such a beautiful, interesting bag design, and they were quite unique. Even the Christmas blend was a welcome sight when it would appear at holiday time, or if they introduced a special roast from some exotic land. My favorite blend and packaging was Casi Cielo!
So these new bags have told me something about how Starbucks the company feels about their brand. Now that all the bags look the same except for the type of roast (the typographic part and perhaps a slight graphic that is almost invisible), that also tells me something about them. They changed their logo last year and perhaps chose not to spend the money to adjust all the different packages, and just went with the easier, cost effective way. Now, I can’t be sure that they didn’t want to spend the money, it’s just what I think when I see these new plain bags. With all the stores and all the traffic, they couldn’t afford to create new bags?
Another way of thinking might be that they wanted to solidify their brand even more and a way to do that is with repackaging all the coffee bags. But does Starbucks need a stronger brand? Who doesn’t know their brand and logo?
And yet a third option might be environmental. It’s possible that they close an environmentally friendly packaging choice? Less ink, better material?
I came across this article while looking for Starbucks packaging images for this post, and read what the Senior Designer at Starbucks says about the new packaging.
“The original coffee bag art lives on in updated icons that not only make it easy to navigate among the other bags, but are direct descendants of some of the original stamp art seen on our bags for many years. Yes, the Sumatra tiger is still a tiger and the smiling sun on Breakfast Blend is still the same. But if you look closely at these coffee icons, you see echoes of the past versions in each of them,” says Jeff Wilkson, Senior Designer at Starbucks Coffee, on the company’s blog.
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Dunkin Donuts, has always had their coffee bag packaging with the same designs, so I’m not expecting anything more than what I have already seen and purchased. Their coffee is just fine, but it just isn’t the flavor I like. Just not strong enough for my taste.
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The reason I bring this up is to emphasize that every step in branding and design a company takes, is noticed and commented on by customers and bloggers. Whatever your motive, be prepared for how it will be received.
I work each day for my businesses, but I would never dream of doing everything myself.
I receive email after email telling me about a new webinar that’s going to teach me this or that and to Do It Myself, but really, who has the time? To watch all those webinars and to Do It Myself! Now, I will say that I’m totally for empowering business owners by giving them the knowledge so they know the possibilities, and I too watch as many webinars as I can fit in.
I love to learn and teach others also, which is why I create written and video tutorials, so those that want to gain more insight, can. But I also have set time frames and schedules each day for work, managing social media and marketing. Which doesn’t leave much extra time for DIY training, and just because I could, should I?… learn to build shelves, fix a sink, or should I hire an expert who surely would do a great job, since they know what they’re doing.
As much as I love to take photographs, I certainly wouldn’t showcase them in a gallery. When I step in front of a video camera, I’m still a beginner and just getting used to it and learning how the camera works. Even writing blog posts is something I have been playing with.
So why lately do I see Do It Yourself everywhere and why is everyone trying to teach us to do everything ourselves, from building our own website, publicity campaign, social media posts and more?
The answer is that everybody’s wallet is tight with the struggling economy and instead of hiring experts, everybody is learning to do it themselves. But how well? And isn’t it a poor reflection on a company and their “brand” when something is off or crudely done?
Instead of pitching for us all to learn everything, each small business owner needs to hire one professional and help that business grow. This is what would jump start the economy, because it builds confidence and spending and the circle continues to grow. We also need to face the reality that we each have our own gifts and talents and that’s what we should be doing. If we continue to focus on that we’ll be happier as well. I’ve seen so many businesses fail in the last few years and it’s for this very reason. We all think, I’ll just do-it-myself. Frame a picture, paint the house, cook gourmet food and yes learn to be a graphic or web designer overnight.
To run a business smartly and effectively is knowing what needs to be done and delegating the work to those that know what they are doing. If we all did that we’d get this economy moving forward in the right direction. Each business supporting another and then sharing that business with others.
How long has your company been in business? Please tell us a bit about your company, its mission, goals…
Circle Marketing was started in 2010 as a way to help the hurting small business community. Small businesses usually have problems with one-person-armies having to work in their business as well as on their business. We provide the services and expertise of an entire 12-person marketing team for a fraction of the cost. We can easily increase most businesses 5-25% within 6-12 months, minimum. Depending on the scope of needs and commitment level from the small business, we can even double the business within 2 years.
Our goal is to take on about 20-30 small businesses every year and work with them exclusively in our tight-knit group.
Do you donate to charities? Tell us about that also and why.
I personally donate my time and energy at some downtown L.A. shelters, but Circle Marketing has not yet had a charitable contribution. That will change in 2012, though, as we will look to make donations to help put unemployed Americans back to work, help the homeless, and look into charities which help disadvantaged/abused women and children find new avenues to a better life.
How did you know what typeface (font) would be right for your company wordmark or logo? If your logo has an illustration, describe why that art was the right thing, animal, place, object, etc…
We chose the Circle Marketing typefaces based on a combination of things. First, we wanted a sans serif font, because we felt that visual style conveyed a more modern and more legible feel. We enhanced the typeface and used two different fonts we had in stock to create a custom face. We chose to have a large, bold and red “CIRCLE” because that’s the basic concept of the company, appearing in many of our promotional materials, like the “Circle of Marketing” and such.
The “Marketing” font is thinner, but still all caps. So, while it is smaller and thinner, it’s not “wimpier.” Also, the “Marketing” word changes in our animated logo which helps the first-time viewer understand a little bit more of what we do.
The circle itself, is more like an eclipse than a perfect circle with a perfect border. This is to add some weight and balance to the entire logo. The sides of the circle are thinnest near the type, and heaviest where there is an absence of type. This varying thickness also helps create a more interesting visual and negative balance, than just a standard circle with a thick border would.
How did you decide on the right color palette to fit your company look and feel?
We wanted to be known for professional and clean marketing. That’s been a personal trait of mine ever since I was a graphic designer in the 90′s. I always felt that a clean look will always trump a busy look. It’s also better for small businesses to look more “professional” when they have a clean and balanced look, as opposed to collages and who-knows-what that the average bargain-basement designer will offer their competitors.
We chose red, because we wanted a POP color. My personal favorite color is green, and I love orange as well, but this company isn’t about me. It’s about our clients, customers and partners. We thought orange would be a great color, because it’s fresh, new, and is an “action” color, but so many companies out there are using orange because of that very reason, that we wanted to stand out from the crowd (like we tell our customers to do). We went with a deep red, because it still has the visual pop we’re looking for, is close to a “lighter burgundy” but not as stuffy and boring, and is striking but not alarming or forewarning like a brighter red would be. When you have a clean and white brand, that could look plain with a plain accent color. Therefore, the red helps add some punch and pop which also helps balance the brand’s essence and communicates our messaging through our visuals.
How did you decide which type of designer to work with, or did you design your own identity and web presence?
Being a former designer, I did the logo and website myself. I prefer to work on my business rather than in my business, because that’s what we encourage our clients to do. However, at the beginning there was only one big client so I had the time before sales kicked into high gear. Our 12 person team, trusted colleagues and designer friends all helped with feedback and suggestions, though, because this is not a dictatorship by any means. I find myself asking more questions to my team and hearing their solutions than I do asking them to “accomplish tasks.” We are truly a “team” environment. I’m just “head coach.”
To your question of how do we decide what designers to work with, we choose our team very carefully on a combination of talent, attitude, and ideas. We want to hire the best of the best, because we want to over-deliver on everything we do. We want only those with that “Can Do!” attitude and those who look for solutions instead of problems, and actively look to discover the best resolutions as opposed to just being told what to do. We want collaborative and creative thinkers, because that makes the company stronger, better, and more able to follow through on our goal over over-delivering.
Best-of-the-Best to us also means that we are looking to find the most talented people with the best mindsets who think creatively, positively, and challenge themselves to a higher standard than anyone else could ever expect of them. I like to know we have a team fully capable of backing up our promise to keep our track record of success to 100% of our clients.
In what order did you present your company to the world? Did you start with marketing and products, or website, blog and social media?
We actually started (like most companies do) with one big client who I already had a relationship with from working with two other companies. We also started with in-person networking through local Los Angeles and Orange County mastermind groups. Since we wanted to help boost small businesses, we went to where the small business owners were going and gave away a bunch of free advice and helped everyone and anyone. Through those efforts, we were able to get our first few clients.
Facebook was the next step. Through our grass-roots Facebook efforts, we were able to acquire a few more clients to stabilize the company and have some great examples for our final step’s Case Studies.
Our final step, and this might be a little backwards, but hey, it worked for us. hahaha. Is to release our full-feature site a few months after we launched. We had only a splash page up in the meantime, however, we did change that splash page as our work portfolio became more impressive. Our work is more about the business and revenue increases than just the visuals. You can show me the prettiest website in the world, but if it doesn’t convert or work on all browers and devices then I would still not be as impressed. To us, “working” is increasing brands and businesses through higher conversion, retention, and repeat-business rates.
How long after the launch of your company did you start pitching in social media?
Almost right away, because it is such a large part of what we do. You can’t do effective and cost-efficient marketing these days without a proper social media strategy and road map. We have had great success with our clients from day one with social media. So far, we have increased client Likes and interaction on Facebook and Twitter by triple figure percentages on average.
Did you do research or study any software, take webinars, teleclasses, before approaching any area of your marketing or web presence?
Generally speaking, we are constantly doing research, and constantly educating ourselves to stay up to date with the latest strategies, tactics and techniques. I personally allocate weekly (sometimes daily) time to check up on news, updates, watch webinars, visit some one-day events, etc.
For individual clients, we obviously must do heavy research on their particular area of the marketplace, do competitive and comparative analyses, and combine those discoveries with our usual process and strategies to create the optimal marketing road map possible for their continued growth in any economy.
Do you advertise locally in newspapers and/or nationally in magazines? Are they effective?
We do not do any print advertising at all. We have found (and advise our clients) that online Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is much more effective and efficient than print advertising. We like to use targeted PPC campaigns which feature extensive split-testing strategies with constant metrics analysis and ad reconfigurations.
There are a few basic rules of thumb for PPC and some of those are: keep the ads varied, split test, and direct Facebook Ads to Fan Pages and not external websites for better ROI. For Search Engine ads, you want to direct to a landing page which has the offer announced in the advertisement, and (in most cases) never direct a search engine PPC to your home page.
Do you advertise online using Google, Facebook or on other company sites? Are they effective?
We currently are doing pay-per-click (PPC) ads, which are highly targeted towards our specific niches, so we are getting maximum “bang for our bucks.” We use a whole slew of Google advertising platforms, as well as Yahoo/Bing and especially Facebook.
Please see answer above for how to make your PPC ads more effective, depending on the platform. Since I have more space here, I’ll throw in another rule of thumb for online advertising, which is actually different from standard statistics philosophy: When you start an ad campaign and come up with sufficient split test ads, make sure you are not spending a large portion of your budget at first. On the contrary, spend something small, like $50 and watch your clicks and conversion rates like a hawk. Once you figure out which ads work best with which landing pages, and optimize your PPC ROI, then you can unleash the proverbial Kraken and enjoy a much more efficient campaign.
When you printed your products, packaging, business cards and other print marketing did you choose an online printer or visit a local vendor?
If the budget allows, we would prefer a local vendor who we’ve worked with before and who can personally advise our printing. However, in the case of business cards and quick trade show flyers, we found that it is much more cost-effective to use online printers. We try not to use too many “cheap” vendors unless the quality is comparable to local printers, or it’s a “throw away” item like a trade show flyer.
Some friendly advice for your readers who are thinking about using online printers: Usually online printers use a printing technique called “gang running,” which means they will paginate many print jobs on the same sheets of paper, and print them all at the same time. This saves time and money, because they can print multiple jobs at once. However, there is no individual control over any one job, which is why it’s very hit-or-miss with half of the online printers out there. Your best bet when using online printers is to use standard CMYK colors which are still acceptable if they slightly shift hues, because they will most likely not be exactly as you see on your screen or print out. Unless absolutely necessary, stay away from the hard to print colors to reduce the possibility of extreme variance from file to finished product.
Did you know anything about different types of papers, when you wanted to print your marketing materials?
Yes, I am well versed in pretty much everything about printing, because I started my design career in a pre-press house (when they existed in the early 90′s) and did my time at various print shops before elevating my career to strictly creative, and then expanding it over the years to be more business development and marketing-centric. I even worked at Kinko’s in the early 90′s, then Sir Speedy Printing, and personally vended out all of my print jobs while working in the film business in the mid-2000′s.
When it came to Circle Marketing, though, we didn’t need anything too extravagant. We are mostly an online business since most effective marketing these days is done through websites, SEO, Social Media, and web video. We don’t have a great need for spending extra money on specialty stocks.
Have you ever used “green” technology in printing, using FSC certified papers or recycled paper and if not, how likely are you at trying this on a next project?
Our business cards are 100% recycled paper, and we do 90% of our invoicing and filing electronically, so that’s kind of a “yes!” We are absolutely in favor of using green technology whenever possible, and some of our clients are hosted on servers powered 100% by green technology.
If you sell products, are they produced in the USA or abroad?
We don’t sell products, but our team is in the United States. We have only worked with American workers right now, as we are very supportive of this nation, and trying to put our country back to work. It’s the call we have made as both business owners as well as proud and caring Americans.
Is there anything you haven’t yet tackled, but will want to do soon?
We have just started to offer Mobile Apps. We are doing both iPhone Apps and iPad Apps. We have a few clients who are asking for those, so we picked up a mobile app designer/developer, and are looking to increase our abilities in that area. Mobile devices are fast becoming the standard for all communications, and owning a company allows me to also be the navigator. I am constantly going to navigate this company to where things are going, not just where things are. There’s a famous quote from the greatest hockey player to ever live, Wayne Gretsky. When a reporter asked him “Why are you so good?” Gretsky replied, after humbly thanking him for the compliment, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it is.”
That’s what all business owners, especially small business owners, should be thinking about. When you only focus on what you’re currently offering, and just try to tread water, then you’re going to get swept away with the tide and your business will at best plateau, or worse, be left behind. However, if you keep moving, keep improving, and keep changing (something only a small percentage of your competitors are doing), then you’re positioning yourself to have a good look at the goal…all you have to do is slap-shot that baby in the net!
Circle Marketing Marketing Video:
To learn more about Louis Tanguay, and Circle Marketing, visit the links below:
