DPro Blue is an article rich, content driven, entertaining way to educate and inform our clients, prospects and basically anybody who is interested in marketing, design, web development and whatever other random stuff we feel like posting. We plan on updating this site daily with new quotes, new articles, and new random stuff to keep our viewers on their toes. Read more.
I didn't get into design to be an artist. To me, an artist creates things to evoke emotion. Being a designer goes a step further than that, not only trying to evoke emotion but trying to make a reaction. It is very objective-driven, and that's what makes it interesting.
-Mike Davidson
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
-Mark Twain
A magazine is simply a device to induce people to read advertising.
-James Collins
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
- Steve Jobs
When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.
If you’re looking to turn SWAG (stuff we all get) into SYGO (stuff you give out), this is the article for you.Figuring out how to make SWAG work for your business is an important marketing technique that should not be overlooked.Simply throwing a pencil with your logo on it at your potential customer will not do any longer.Not only may you poke someone’s eye out (if the pencil is pre-sharpened), you risk being thrown in with the millions upon millions of pencils and pens already out there.Some tips for SWAG to work for you:
*Be creative.Think beyond a pencil.
*Be attractive.Ugly is not good.
*Link it back to your product or service.If you are a microwave company handing out oven mitts, something is wrong.
*Size Matters.What was that you ask?Size matters.Make sure your logo stands out.
*Avoid stickers.Stickers are cool…when you’re six.Is your potential clientele six?Awesome-then spring for the sticker!The exception to this rule is if your sticker has convenient information on it that needs to be handy at any given time.
*Remember the web.When people see your company logo, they will go online and search for you.If your waterbottle reads “Hydra Blast” and your logo in reality reads HyDrAbLaSt!, your client may be confused.Plan accordingly.Oh, and while you’re at it, make sure you took down all those drunk HyDrAbLaSt!,weekend excursion pictures…yeah, you know what I’m talking about.
Ahhh….the economy. I don’t think we can go a single post without some sort of mention or reference to the lovely Recession that we are in right now. Of course, there are silver linings to every cloud, and the Recession is no exception. Today’s silver lining: Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is simple. An obvious play on the dreaded outsourcing that helped land us in the Recession, crowdsourcing is utilizing the undiscovered talents of amateurs at minimal to no cost. People of today are especially willing to work for free if it means getting their name out their on a worthy product. So next time you need a fresh look or new idea, put the word out there. Start a contest with the winner receiving credit for his or her work. If need be, you can throw in a small cash prize as well. Undiscovered talent is your best untapped resource-use it!
As a follow-up to last week’s “You’ve Got Mail”, I decided to research the best times of the day/week to send out email blasts. The results, as expected, were inconclusive. After all, it’s next to impossible to analyze the email habits of millions of people and define a “good” time to email anyone! A good second, however, is to read up on the theories that people have. Here’s a good place to start: New Insights on Time of Day for Email
In order to be a good blogger, I’ll add a few of my own ideas as well.
*Monday is always a bad idea: Mondays, just like any first day back in the office, are a horrid time to send anyone anything, particularly an email blast. The first thing I do when I see that my inbox has 120 messages is figure out which 100 can be deleted without even glancing at. We live in a world filled with SPAM, plan accordingly!
*Lunchtime is probably not a good idea: Lunchtime, while it seems like a good time to send an email, is probably not. Most people are going to be using that 30 minutes to Facebook or MySpace and do not want to be bothered with anything remotely resembling work that they are not on the clock for. The exception is, however, if you are sending an advertisement for something that I would actually care about reading about in my free time (such as a Swedish Massage or something of the sort). Just keep in mind that people like their free time. Plus, if they don’t check their email during lunch, they are most likely to return to a full inbox much like a Monday.
These are just a couple of my own ideas. Feel free to post your own. Whatever time of day or day of the week you decide to send that email out, just remember it does matter!
One of the most effective marketing techniques on the web in today’s world is email marketing. Email marketing is simple: obtain a list of prospective or current clientele and send them an email (duh) with current special product features. Such emails can include links to websites or contain exclusive offers. There was a time when you could send anyone anything without consequences (ah, the glory old days of the internet) but that time is long gone. SPAM, thank God, is being reduced by law. Therefore, it is important that you follow the strict guidelines set by the government in regards to spam. To read more about email marketing and the laws to abide by, click here: Intro to Email Marketing.
Keep in mind the following tips when creating an email “blast”:
*Short and sweet
*Don’t overload your email with graphics; many people have them turned off on their email
*Be conscious of what time of day you are sending the blast out at. Different times of days will affect if your blast is immediately deleted or not.
Lastly, it is important to use a professional company when sending out email blasts. If you’re going to put a lot of time and effort into this form of advertising, it’s best to use someone who knows what they’re doing so you can maximize the success of your campaign.
When building your company’s first website, it’s important to keep the old KISS in mind…keep it simple stupid. The reason? The answer: The economy, of course!
Now, we both know that your company is going to take off with flying colors and sell more products/services than ever…but in today’s lovely unpredictable economy, it’s important that you stay based in reality and not sink all of your money into a website that no one will ever see besides your mother. It’s of course important to build a website, but remember, websites can always be expanded upon in the future. Build a simple, professional website. It’s a good base to have. In the future when you sell a million of those legged blankets, you can have the all-out site that sings and dances and even emits smells from the screen….but for now you don’t need that much!
For your simple website, just make sure you have the basics. The basics would include:
*A clean, attractive homepage
*Working links/navigation throughout the site
*Enough information regarding your company to entice potential clientele
*Contact info
That’s it! That’s all you really need!! Just get your product/company out there and see if you have the stuff to move forward (alright, I know you do, see if people have the intelligence to recognize this…better?). Once your website takes off and you’re rolling in money, THEN you can shell it out to build the amazing website. But WAIT until this moment has arrived for you.
DPro has a good program for starting a basic website: BizWebMachine. It allows for the quick and simple creation of a website that is not necessarily customized to the tee, but rather designed in a general manner allowing for the look and feel of your company but still allowing minimal cost. In short: it’s easy to build, but still looks amazing.
