As customers rely more on the internet to find out information about products or services and to make their purchases – it’s more important than ever for a Small Business to have a website that will help build credibility and convert a higher percentage of visitors to customers. Therefore website redesign is one of the most important things a small business can do to help succeed in business.

Building a website that converts users into leads is much harder. Ryan Landis, the owner of KitchenBuilders.net, came to us wanting just that a new website that brought in more leads. Fast forward two months and we ended up building a site that increased leads upwards of 57%. Thats over twice as many leads monthly that they receive all because of a website redesign.

The one thing you’ll notice when you visit the KitchenBuilders.net contact page is that we kept the form as simple as possible. The only two mandatory form fields are the name and email. We even made each service a check box to save the user from having to write it out. The reason why we did this is because research has found that there is an inverse correlation to the amount of form fields and conversion rate. The less fields you have, the higher your conversions will be.

When designing your new site’s forms, think about only the information that is absolutely necessary for you to collect the moment the user becomes a lead. Remember, you can always collect additional information later on.

Read The Full Story Here

Website redesign can be the most effective way to increase brand awareness, online sales and new customer acquisition. Simply following a few of the most successful improvement tips can mean the difference between success and failure.

1. Create a brand.
2. Simplify your forms.
3. Create very clear call to actions.
4. Make sure it loads fast.
5. Make the content easy to read.

Lastly, remember to seek the help and guidance from a professional web designer and enjoy the journey. Working with the right professional can lead to more customers and better brand awareness for your Small Business.

I recently had lunch with an old friend. During the conversation he begin to talk about a new business he was starting. He was excited about the process of establishing his business and the process he and his team had to undertake to get started.

The conversation soon turned to the cost associated with starting a new business– business license, certifications, office space and more. All total he had, very willing invested over $20,000.

After hearing all he had done I asked, “Do you have a budget for marketing or a logo design?” Of course, like most business owners he had not and wanted to know how much a logo design would cost?

It’s subjective… like how much does it cost to build a new house? Or how long is the string? Where are you in your business and brand journey? Are you just starting out, making decisions, changes, and revisions? Or are you solidly established and in need of a complete logo redesign or brand update? The answers to these questions will help you decide on a budget, and select from the logo design options below.

You could run a contest, ask a friend or relative, or contact a local school with a design department and propose a class project. I don’t recommend any of these, but I know it happens, and sometimes people get decent results. But more often than not, the quality of the results is reflected by the price. This type of request is often called spec work, where logo design submissions are requested with no guarantee of compensation. Most professional graphic designers refuse to do spec work. Can you blame them?

Read the full story here

How Much Should I Spend on a Logo Design?

So what’s the answer to “How Much To Spend On A Logo Design?” The budget should be in line with the industry you are in or entering and the image you want for your company and only you can determine that.

My advice, seek help from a graphic design professional. One with a proven track record and work with them to create the desired image for your company. Set a budget, a reasonable budget, for your industry and expectations. You may even want to look for any logo design you like and reach out to them to see if you can determine what their budget was.

The bottom-line, set a budget that you can be comfortable with, work with the best possible resource for that budget and be comfortable with that. And keep in mind, as your business grows or the industry changes you can always have it redesigned.

With few constants we find ourselves dependent on simple things that give us a sense of stability. Even though the average person is exposed to upwards of 5,000 brand messages per day, the consistency of those brands give us a sense of normalcy. So when that changes too, we don’t like it.

Last week Google unveiled its redesigned, mobile-friendly logo, which updates the font from a crisp, sharply defined san serif wordmark, to a blockier, rounded sans-serif. Despite its cutesy introductory animation on Google’s homepage, the new logo made me uneasy. On some days it’s my one constant, and while that sad fact should probably unsettle me more than the subtle logo alteration, Googles move threw me nonetheless.

Despite its cutesy introductory animation on Google’s homepage, the new logo made me uneasy. Both at work and outside it, I’m dependent on Google’s search-engine. On some days it’s my one constant, and while that sad fact should probably unsettle me more than the subtle logo alteration, Google’s move threw me nonetheless. I wasn’t alone. “I hate it,” my friend announced over Gchat. “It looks like the scribbling of a child.”

An informal Ad Age poll showed that most readers were also against the shift, and the reaction on social media – which, to be fair, tilts toward negative reviews – was decidedly underwhelmed.

Check out the full story here…

Ahh, change. It’s often a four letter word (Actually it’s six letters, but work with me). Unless someone is a seasoned designer, experienced marketer or advertising pro chances are they won’t be able to express exactly why they do or don’t like a new logo design. They just know how they feel when they see it. More correctly stated, “When they don’t see the logo they have become accustomed to seeing.”

Need a New Logo or Logo Redesign?

If you are looking to have a new logo created – or perhaps just want to update your existing logo – consider working with someone who specializes in logo design or logo redesigns. They will be able to help you avoid many of the pitfalls that come with branding or re-branding your company or product.

However, even working with someone to create a professional logo design is not a guarantee that everyone will immediately like the new design. They may even write articles or blogs about just how much they and their friends “Hate it!”

But don’t worry, with one more ingredient, “Time”, change will begin to shift in your direction as your logo begins to be accepted as the norm and starts working in your favor.

Snickers Replaces Brand Name with Friendly Insults in Creative Packaging Roll-out

Popular candy brand Snickers continues the trend of personalization by actually replacing it’s very own brand name with new creative packaging that features 21 humorous hunger symptoms.  Continuing with it’s current “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign – these “Hunger Bars” are meant to be shared with friends who are not quite acting like themselves because they haven’t eaten.

While some bars will retain it’s original packaging, here are some of the names you’ll see emblazoned on the wrapper instead of the familiar “Snickers” logo:

• Drama Mama

• Curmudgeon

• Ornery

• Whiny

• Testy

• Grouchy

• Irritable

• Complainer

• Feisty

• Rebellious

• Princess

• Goofball

• Confused

• Snippy

• Cranky

• Loopy

• Spacey

• Forgetful

• Sleepy

Oh, the hilarity that will ensue when you give one of personalized Snicker bars to someone who really deserves it! Or when someone gives one to you!

Read more via Adweek:

As part of the campaign, the brand has released this online spot from BBDO New York, starring a loopy goofball of a hotline operator who takes calls and dispatches bike messengers to deliver the insulting candy to those in need. A percentage of bars will remain in the original packaging. Print advertising for the campaign launches later this month.

“We believe the new bars will inspire people to not only quickly identify their own symptoms and satisfy their hunger, but give them a new, fun way to call-out friends and family on who they become when they’re hungry, too,” says Snickers brand director Allison Miazga-Bedrick.

https://youtu.be/pT6PlWjuXw0

Extending Your Brand Through Creative Packaging

Bravo to the team at Snickers for taking their marketing strategy and creatively extending it to their packaging in order to better engage consumers. That’s a bold move that many may assume is not possible in their own situations. In reality, there are all kind of ways to achieve similar results – that may or may not involve changing your packaging.

First – Like Snickers, you must partner with a creative marketing company that will take the time to truly understand you, your brand, and your targeted customers. They should also have proven experience; perhaps with brands even larger than yours – to know exactly how to market your product to create the buzz, excitement, and measurable results your brand deserves.

In a brilliant bit of branding coup, Oscar Mayer has created and released an actual dating mobile app that aims to bring together like-minded people who share a deep and abiding love for…bacon!

Proving once again that “there’s an app for that” – this free iOS app called “Sizzl” aims to give dating apps like Tinder a run for their money and match up people nearby based on your preferences.  This is how it works:

Via adweek.com

You download the app, specify your bacon preferences in a customizable profile, upload photos and start swiping your greasy digits through pics of local fellow bacon lovers. Depending on how “Sizzl-ing” they are, you can message and meet up with other Sizzl users, based on a mutual-matching system, for what Oscar Mayer is calling “bacon-wrapped dates.”

“In love, as it is in bacon, it’s important to be discerning when selecting your perfect match and to never settle for less than the best,” Eric Dahmer, marketing director at Oscar Mayer, says in a statement. “We passionately cure our bacon for 12 hours, and lovingly smoke-house it for another 12, making it the true bacon for bacon lovers. With the launch of Sizzl, we’re thrilled to give our true bacon lovers the chance to find each other and potentially meet their soulmates, in life and in bacon.”

https://youtu.be/Vh3RuV-xoZc

This Sizzl app from Oscar Mayer is a great example of what you get when you take a pinch of strategy, mix in 3 parts creativity, add a bit of branding – and package it all in a custom developed mobile app cleverly designed to engage your core and desired target audience and generate buzz.

Very clever indeed!

If you want to check out the Sizzl app for yourself – it’s only available for download for the next 6 months – and exclusively on iOS, for iPhone 5 and up (sorry Android and Windows users).

Branding is critically important to any product and company. We know this instinctively – either as advertising and marketing professionals – or as consumers in the marketplace. Done well, effective branding creates true corporate value and an emotional connection that can be worth billions.

Names Those Brands…In 60 Seconds

[responsive_vimeo 122829909]

Via adweek.com

“Even if you change the most important thing of every brand—the name—if all other elements are strong enough—color, typography—you will still be able to recognize the brand in a second,” Inetdesign partner Martin Rickmann tells AdFreak.

That’s because the clip uses famous logos to explain the importance of branding. Sort of. The colors, dimensions and basic design elements of the corporate marks are unchanged, but the company names have been replaced by words from the video’s story. For example, “design” is rendered in the fashion of Disney’s monochrome logo, “future” follows Facebook’s blocky minimalist model, and perhaps best of all, “loud and clear” glows against a starry background, like an affirmation from a Jedi knight setting off on some celestial crusade. (And there are many more to sample.)

Even though this video cleverly shows the power of a well-recognized brand, every one of these have undergone a logo redesign over the years.

Redesigning a logo successfully is a delicate balance of honoring the brand equity and consumer recognition that has already been achieved – and then strategically and visually transitioning the brand identity to a new place in the hearts and minds of the consumer.

…But it’s not just fans. Madison Avenue and fellow marketers are watching closely as well:

Why American Pharoah May Be the Most Brand-Friendly Horse Ever | Adweek

If American Pharoah wins the Triple Crown, sponsors will reap a publicity jackpot. Photo: Getty Images

The last time a horse won the Triple Crown—1978, when Affirmed did it—the sports marketing world was a very different place.

In those days, the height of sophistication in sports-centric advertising was watching Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and manager Billy Martin argue about whether Miller Lite was less-filling or tasted great.

In the decades since, omnichannel ad deals, inescapable brand logos, product placements and social media plugs have become the norm, and all are likely to be on tap if American Pharoah wins the Belmont Stakes tomorrow, which would give the two-year-old thoroughbred the elusive-but-coveted Triple Crown distinction

Yesterday, it was revealed that private jet service Wheels Up and beverages brand Monster Energy had inked exclusive deals with American Pharoah’s team: Egyptian-American owner Ahmed Zayat; Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert; and legendary jockey Victory Espinoza.

“Our brand is less than two years old,” Bill Allard, co-founder of Wheels Up, told Adweek. “This was an opportunity for us to seed [our brand] and enabled us to preempt anyone else that was looking to do the same.”

The Triple Crown has become all business.

If American Pharoah wins, it may be marketing gold that sponsors cash in on well beyond the appearances during NBC’s broadcast. The video clips will undoubtedly be played and shared on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube millions of times.

“Thirty-seven years ago, there wasn’t social media,” Allard said. “You can imagine what [a win] will be like on a global basis. It’s an opportunity of lifetime for us.”

The last time a horse won the Triple Crown1978, when Affirmed did it the sports marketing world was a very different place. In those days, the height of sophistication in sports-centric advertising was watching Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and manager Billy Martin argue about whether Miller Lite was less-filling or tasted great.  Via adweek.com

That’s why both the National Basketball Association and the Golden State Warriors must be ecstatic about the fact that they are getting huge worldwide publicity right now, even in countries where basketball is not a huge deal, practically for free, thanks to 2015 MVP Stephen Curry’s two year old daughter Riley Curry.

For days she’s been the top basketball trending tag on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vine. She’s helped make the Golden State Warriors an internationally known name in places where no one had a clue who they were, something that certainly isn’t hurting merchandise sales ahead of the NBA Finals.

And thanks to content like this it’s not hard to see why:

And advertisers are certainly not above cashing right in on Riley’s new found fame as well.

Maker of the cool Curry One kicks, Under Armour knows how to recognize stars early. (The company locked up Steph before anybody figured he’d take home MVP hardware.) Turns out that Under Armour recognized the star power in Riley even before she grabbed the microphone, too. Read the full story right here… |

Is it OK to use a two year old as a marketing tool? Well, that may be a debate for another time. Although she doesn’t really seem to mind, Riley is a great example of Opportunity Marketing.

No doubt the NBA, the Golden State Warriors and even Under Armour all had very set marketing plans for the Western Conference Finals – but once Riley came along why not make the most of it? They all even got a hand from ESPN ‘bad guy’ Skip Bayliss who criticized Steph allowing his daughter on-stage and disrupting the ‘serious business’ of the  press conference which of course only made the public love her even more!

Sometimes marketing opportunities just present themselves, as was the case here, and the key to making the most of them is a willingness to deviate from the set plan, however long it’s been in place.

This is something that we discuss with our clients all the time, learning how to think outside-the-box of established marketing wisdom and use what works for you – not what some text book says should. And while you may not have an uber cute and sassy toddler to help you market your brand you may have a selling point that is just as unique right under your nose.

You simply have to be willing  to take the time to look for it.