design thinking

biznik article of the week

| heather parlato

How To Create Relevant SEO Content by Alexander Valencia

since more and more of my clients are adding wordpress web sites to their identity packages and writing a lot of their own content, here’s another great article on how to make sure everything you post is SEO-effective. you already have a highly search-friendly site with wordpress, so keep these things in mind when uploading new copy: provide well written, engaging and relevant information about your business, and use industry-specific keywords that anyone searching for someone like you might put into their search engines. valencia outlines the basics on how to collect clues from your target audience and how to best write to their specific interests & needs.

the process of a rebrand

| heather parlato

new york public library logos

if you’ve ever wondered what goes into updating a widely-known brand, under consideration’s brand new blog has a great article, an iconic lion for an iconic institution detailing the objectives, showing the original & final logos with brand touchpoint applications, and all the sketches, notes & iterations in between.

biznik article of the week

| heather parlato

well, it’s a triple-header this week with a spotlight on helpful web advice.

Flash Is For Famous People — Not New Businesses by Lucy Beer

this isn’t exactly cutting-edge advice, but there are still a great many people out there who either want flash because it’s flash, or because of the design control and multimedia advantage flash can have over traditional web design. the main problem with this is that flash has such limited searchability that, unless you’re already famous, you’re literally hiding from the people who might want to find something just like you based on criteria searches. using flash sparingly, embedded in a site using a more search-friendly framework is the way to go. beer breaks down the pros & cons for you!

Organic S-E-O Spelled Out by Erin Wiles

i get this question often, “what exactly is SEO and how does it work?” it’s simple really, despite what we’ve made it into, the web was invented as a simple wide-area-network indexing system, and it’s still based on searching for relevant text under hierarchical tags. SEO = search engine optimization, and what that means for you is, gearing the page titles and text on your web site to be as relevant as possible to people who might be searching for you. and organic SEO is just that–when the organic text you put on your web site is so geared to what you’re doing and what people might search on, the search engine can organically find it on your site and deliver your results to those searching for it. get a more in-depth explanation from wiles by clicking the link.

What’s Stopping Your Website Visitors from Buying?: FAQ Page Lessons from the Encyclopedia Man by Judy Dunn

after reading enough of her engaging articles, i’ll say it–i love judy dunn! she weaves in a good amount of prose with great advice. in the vein of building out your site with lots of information about you & how you work, she sets out 5 steps to improving your FAQ section to better target the people you’re trying to work with. getting inside their heads and gearing your questions toward solutions they’re looking for helps them really know you’re thinking of them. set aside some time to review your site and see if you can implement some of these suggestions.

biznik article of the week

| heather parlato

Social Media: Is Your Brand Talking or Listening by Matthew B. Olson

more good info on how to create personal interactions for your business in social media. olson gives good advice on listening to your customers and their participation online, creating rapport, and ways you can turn them into brand evangelists on your behalf through solid customer relations. still think social media won’t benefit your business? he also addresses 2 common excuses for why businesses don’t think they need to be participating online.

biznik article of the week

| heather parlato

Collaborate & Conquer: Finding Success At The Intersection Of Business And Design by Ken Peters

peters does it again with an excellent article about what happens when great business ideas join forces with accomplished brand designers. one of the main reasons i focus on identity development is the challenge of effective storytelling that sheds new light on someone else’s vision & passion. if the quotes from leading authors in forward-thinking marketing don’t have you convinced of how much more value is added to your efforts with good design, this article puts forth a case study of how fedex worked with landor associates to become a household name. enjoy!

biznik article of the week

| heather parlato

Twittetiquette: Twitter dos and don’ts for business success by Arden Clise

i mix in a lot of different circles, some of which are all over social media, while others are still asking themselves “why would anyone want to read what i’m doing every minute and how/why would it help my business?” i try to give the twitter run-down anytime i can, because there is so much to the various social media networks out there, and i think very little of it is ever mundane play-by-play reportage on daily events. if you still need the basic primer of what twitter is, how to approach it and how to seamlessly integrate, follow the steps in clise’s article and you’ll be well on your way. and while you’re at it: add me!

color check!

| heather parlato

one of my design communities just posted this article, all the colours of the internet, exploring how different colors can really affect the mood of a web site. i think this is a great resource for clients who might want to experiment with how different colors can add or subtract from their messaging. take a spin through the examples and see what you think!

biznik article of the week

| heather parlato

Hey, October is Self Promotion Month! by Rebecca West

maybe you’ve started to notice a little surge in business activity once the season changed? october is the beginning of the 4th quarter and the big lead-in to the holidays, so it’s time to start those year-end pushes in the promo department. west outlines 6 points of self-promotion you can use at all these mixers and networking events that keep popping up on the calendar.

how to plan your holiday mailing

| heather parlato

earthlink holiday card

it may seem that the last heat wave just left, but the change of the season is upon us and it’s time to start planning holiday gifts & mailings. The year-end holidays are a great time to take a minute out of the daily grind to show your appreciation and send something special to your partners, vendors and clients to acknowledge how much you appreciate working with them. in the grand scheme of your brand, client appreciation is an opportunity to expand your brand personality and strengthen relationships by showing people that you value them beyond the work you do together.

the best way to make sure this all goes off without a hitch is to plan ahead so you can strategize what you want to send, work with the designers and vendors you want, and avoid rush charges with vendors that are overloaded with the holiday onslaught. to make it easy, use this guide to consider your approach, decide what to send and source people who can make it happen.

1: define your recipient list
since the number of recipients will determine which items or print processes make the most sense, the first thing to do is sit down with your client & vendor list and determine how many pieces you’ll be sending. some of us have 20, while others will have 2000 and beyond. you’ll also want to determine if there are tiered groups within your list, such as clients and partners above a certain dollar amount or who comprise a majority of your business and time vs. contacts you wish to keep in touch with. if you have a long list of names, this will help you decide how to break it down and find solutions for each group of recipients at each level.

2. give yourself enough time
consider that printing and mailing alone will take about 3 weeks on a standard turnaround, and that you’ll want to beat the rush and mail by the first week of december. if you’re working with a designer on a print piece, you’ll want to allow at least a month for the design process [this is a rough estimate, but to insure you can get the results you want with the designer of your choice, over-estimate here]. similarly, if you are ordering cards or branded gifts, you’ll want to build in time to research the ideal gift and time to have it customized. the turnaround will vary from vendor to vendor, but again, plan on about a month. that means, yes, it’s time to get the ball rolling in early october.

3: consider the type of communication best suited to your brand
i’ll get it out of the way upfront: a few options i’m not going to focus on here are pre-packaged gift baskets or branded gifts that involve putting your logo on a gift item. there are endless resources for going that route, and if those are avenues you want to take, my only advice is to customize it as much as possible. send your baskets with a personalized card, and if you brand a gift with a logo, make it a useful & relevant item to your target market. there is also the choice to donate to a the charity of your choice, which is what earthlink did in the sample above, detailing the contribution in an insert with the card. since there are so many worthwhile organizations out there, my advice is to choose the one that’s right for you and send a little information about them to your recipients to raise awareness.

there are a few levels of personalized communications that i think are key for holiday mailings. the most universal is a designed card that shows your branding with a thoughtful message, something that can be sent to all levels of clients & contacts. if it isn’t in your budget to hire a designer and print a card, or if your quantity of recipients makes printing cost-prohibitive, before you run off to a big card company, consider shopping around in your design community or on a craft site like etsy for designers who do packs of original art for screen-printed or letter press cards in the quantity you need. look for something you identify with that will also communicate well to your clients.

if a holiday card was already in the budget and you want to go a bit bigger with a branded gift, consider some sort of holiday kit that will be useful, helpful & memorable with your clients. i have seen some really nice packages where companies partner to create joint gifts they can send to both company’s holiday lists. a great example was something we received from the department of graphic sciences last year, which included a branded coffee mug, a set of illustrated cards by the designers, and a pack of artisan brittle by morning glory confections. this gift was a great combination of something we could use with their logo, artistic objects we could send to our own colleagues, and some really unique sweets to enjoy, all of which promoted & introduced each partner in the process [and here i am talking about it nearly a year later]. check with your favorite neighborhood shops, local farmer’s market vendors, or contacts in your chamber or industry organization for artisan food or specialty item vendors you might click with. or leave it to us–your designer will be able to come up with some great suggestions.

this is really the branding part of the project, considering your constituents and finding that special mix of what sends the right message from your company and what hits your recipients in a way they’ll remember and appreciate. if you’re stuck on how to brainstorm on this, ask your employees. they often have relationships with your clients that you don’t, and can have great insight about gift ideas. if you want a more strategic approach, talk to your designer or brand strategist about how to extend your brand to your holiday gifts. we’ll be able to take your goals and corporate voice and personal connection to your clients, and create a memorable communication with everyone on your list.

4: get to work
if you have your list together and have some idea of where you’re ready to start, it’s time to get moving. if you have a designer on staff or on hand for these projects, make the call and put a production schedule on the calendar. if you need help finding the right designer, i have helpful information on how to find the right one for your business. or hey, you’re talking to one right now, ask away!