Graphic Design | Web Design & Marketing | Emphasis Designs call 604.345.9086

Make Sure it’s a Merry Christmas

emphasisdesign — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:11:12 +0000

Christmas is a great time to help your community. There are many agencies out there who have a credible and organized approach. Please consider giving to your local foodback, shelter, church or other program. One that I'm found of is the Langley Christmas Bureau, http://www.langleychristmasbureau.com/ it's a great way to help families have a great Christmas!

One Fish, Two Fish…Red Fish, Blue Fish

emphasisdesign — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:02:51 +0000

If you're like me you like to have choices. You don't want someone telling you to do something you don't understand or buy something you haven't done any research on. However, there are so many choices out there. There is a down-side to having free-will, you could make a mistake, what if you make the wrong choice and others suffer?

Well, before I get too overly dramatic let me tell you what I'm talking about first. I'm talking about picking a marketing and design company to do your website, ads, promos and messaging for your business.

Common Pitfalls and Problems...and I'm only scratching the surface:

In an effort to save money you go for the cheapest deal and if you're lucky you'll end up with a website that works but absolutely no business generated from it
You opt for the "You get what you pay for" motto but don't do your research and find that when a bigger client comes along your marketing firm forgets who you are and opts for staaling tactics to placate you. If you have difficulty meeting them in person or talking on the phone regularly you're in trouble
Your marketing manager doesn't "get you" or your business, in fact they've never been by to see the place and you find yourself going around in circles going over the same design, project, or content over and over again
Deadlines are missed, messages aren't returned, they've overpromised and underdelivered yet again and now you've wasted time, wasted money and lost the opportunity to get your messaging out when your demographic is the most receptive
You've never met the graphic designer or copywriter who's creating your stuff and you feel mis-represented

These are just a few I could go on and on but I'm starting to get depressed. You see sometimes stuff happens and certain expectatons are not met but if any of these things are happening consistantly you know you've made a mistake.

What can you do beforehand?

Do your research: Meet with these people, in person, make sure you like them
Check their work: Call some of their clients, get it straight from the source, don't rely on the manicured testimonials on their site, everyone does that
Make sure you click: If you don't feel any kind of connection, walk away, run away, flee!
Go through your list of expectations before you sign anything: You want to know up front if they're willing to meet your expectations like - Who's responsible for proofing, what if a deadline is missed?, what if I have a question about the billing?, what if there's a mistake and it's not your fault?, what if a campaign falls flat?, what kind of response time they have?, how long of a timeframe can they commit to you?

What if you're already too far in to get out?

Meet face-to-face: No matter what it takes you need to have a meeting of the minds. If you are having a hard time getting an appointment you may have to play hard-ball.
Sometimes it's a simple lack of communication: Assuming that they want to keep you as a client, and most marketing agencies would like to keep their clients, give them the benefit of the doubt and have an open discussion with them and express why you think your needs aren't being met.
Tie up loose ends: Before continuing with any new projects make sure you complete the most urgent ones. Then you'll be in a better position to evaluate whether or not you should continue with the agency.
Ask around: If you're not sure if maybe you're the problem or expecting too much call other agencies and ask about their processes and services and of course ask your friends or other local businesses.

Email Marketing – It’ s All in the Content

emphasisdesign — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:16:16 +0000

Deliver truly engaging content that serves your audience

This is probably the most important component to getting your emails opened. This has been proven more important than a crafty subject line. If you can get your prospects and customers to anticipate your emails, it doesn’t matter where it’s coming from or what the subject line says, they’ll open it. Take a conversational non-salesy approach. If your content is 95% educational and 5% pitch and your email says things like, “I was working on this today and learned this powerful lesson…” at the end of the explanation of the lesson you offer one of your products that complements the lesson learned. This process of serving your prospects and customers creates that anticipated content you need and encourages consumption and engagement with your list. This trend also supports the notion of being conversational in email matters. People like that.

Know Who You’re Dealing With

emphasisdesign — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:38:09 +0000

When you're just starting out in business what you learned in school is only half the battle. Dealing with different types of clients can be the biggest hindrance to a successful project, so you need to know who you're dealing with. In my experience there are two types of clients I try and stay away from: The Passive Aggressive and The Family Friend. When I first started out I'll admit I was very eager for clients so I took on whoever contacted me without asking too many questions. Well I found out the hard way that the Passive Aggressive took up too much of my time and I wasted a lot of really great work on this person and money. I think the most disappointing thing about the passive aggressive client is that you don't really know if they ever intend to pay because they're not up-front with you about anything. The other type of client I would recommend staying away from is the 'family friend' if you do want to do work for them then treat it like a volunteer project. Family friends expect a great deal, and great service. Meaning if they want to call you late Saturday night and discuss the project then that's what they're going to do. I would suggest recommending them to another colleague but again if you want to help them expect to spend a lot of time on an unprofitable project. Even if you do charge them close to your normal rate, watch out, this could be a point of contention as well. In addition they may also expect to pay you 'under the table' which is illegal and won't help you much if you ever get audited. However, every once in a while you come across The Dream Client. I'm telling you if you find this person or company always, always do work for them. You may even want to downplay your busyness and put off other projects to hold on to this one, believe me it will be worth it. The Dream Client This client, widely dismissed as a myth, does in fact exist and understands the full scope and artistry of your work. They value your role and creative contributions and want you in the driver’s seat as soon as the project gets underway. They are timely with responses and payments… payments that they did not “negotiate” but rather accepted for what they are. They reflect on your suggestions and have confidence in your capabilities.

Identifying Characteristics

Is enthusiastic about the project and your involvement in it.
Communication shows awareness of and respect for your role.
Makes such statements as:
- “Here’s the brief we prepared. The rest is pretty much up to you.”
- “We like what we’ve seen and trust you’ll do great things for us.”

How to Deal

Don’t brag! Just enjoy the ride and hold on to them for as long as you possibly can! __________________________________________________________________________________________________ See below and excerpt and the full article link to Smashing Magazine's article on "How to Identify and Deal with Different Types of Clients" Read the entire article at Smashing Magazine In business, being able to read people and quickly get a sense of who you’re dealing with is an invaluable skill. It turns your encounter with a client into an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the upcoming project and how it will need to be handled. It is one of the building blocks of a professional relationship. In today’s digital age, the arena has shifted to the Web, and the online office space that most freelancers inhabit limits personal interaction. Though sussing out a client’s personality via online communication is difficult, it still remains an invaluable tool in your arsenal. In the freelancing field, you will encounter a range of client types. Being able to identify which you are dealing with allows you to develop the right strategy to maximize your interactions with them, and it could save your sanity. Below is a list of the most common personality types and the tell-tale signs that will tip you off. This is the client who is very passive when you ask for initial input, but when you submit the finished product, they aggressively attack it, demanding a lot of detailed changes, both major and minor. They had an idea of what they wanted all along but kept it mostly to themselves. Even though they showed appreciation of certain ideas and elements throughout the development process, do not expect the passive-aggressive client to keep any of them as they send revisions your way.

Passive Aggressive

Identifying Characteristics

Communication is mostly one-sided and unhelpful during project development.
Makes statements such as:
- “I’m not really sure what we’re looking for.”
- “Just do something that would appeal to us generally.”
- “You totally missed the point of what we wanted.”

How to Deal

Patience is the key. Expecting the last-minute requests for revisions may soften the blow of the client’s aggressive behavior. Keep your original layered design intact so that you can easily refine and change it later (not that you wouldn’t, but it does happen). Also, make sure your contract specifies a limited number of revisions. The Family Friend This is the client whom you have known for years either through personal or family interaction, and this connection has landed you the job. The relationship will be tested and perhaps marred forever by what could very well be a nightmare of a project. This family friend believes he deserves a “special” price and unbridled access to your work. They will sometimes unwittingly belittle your work or not take it seriously because of their personal connection to you.

Identifying Characteristics

These clients are easy to identify because… well, you know them.
Makes such statements as:
- “Could you just throw something together for me?”
- “I don’t want you to think that just because I know you I want you to cut me a deal.”
- “You’re going to charge me what?! But we go way back!”

How to Deal

The way to deal with this client depends on how well you know them and how much you value your relationship with them. But remember that anyone who would take advantage of such a relationship is not truly a friend, so respond accordingly. An honest approach could end up saving the relationship. But start off with a professional, not personal, tone, and they may follow your lead. Of course, if you truly value the relationship, you may want to pass on the job altogether.

SEO Actually Works

emphasisdesign — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:26:34 +0000

Search Engine Optimization has been an important part of website development for some time now, to the point where it's expected that your new website has SEO without even having to ask for it. I must say I've created all my websites with SEO and some sites have taken longer than others to see results but it actually works. For my site in particular I knew that it would take a while. Firstly becausee I did little to no advertising and the market I'm in is saturated to say the least so I really thought that SEO may not work in my case. But I googled some keywords for my site and there it is with the rest of them. So my encouragement is to not be discouraged if your site hasn't climbed to the top yet eventually if you have good SEO you'll be there.

Coding be gone

emphasisdesign — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:30:43 +0000

Yes! Finally it is here, no more being hampered by code I don't understand and don't want to learn. I can now build interactive dynamic websites with freedom from contacting programmers or trying to tame plug-ins and their innumerable updates.

Build dynamic websites without programming

Business Catalyst empowers you to build highly functional dynamic websites without backend programming or complicated configuration. Using only HTML and CSS, you can build online stores, database-driven web forms and more — all from your familiar Dreamweaver workspace.

Easily build interactive, database-driven apps

Business Catalyst's powerful "Web Apps" feature enables web designers like you to build web applications with a point and click approach. From real estate listings to business directories, you can define mini-databases of "items" and allow your clients to add new items from an easy to use interface

Built-in Search
All BC Web Apps have an automatically created search function to search the database — without any programming required.
User Generated Content
Your client's visitors can submit, manage and delete their own items directly on the website and into the database. Your clients can even charge for submissions.
Customize Look and Feel
Every BC Web App's look and feel — including their layout, CSS and more — is completely customizable to suit your client

The Lost Art of Creating Hype – Going Viral

emphasisdesign — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:41:02 +0000

"After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting." Spock It seems that in our age of instant gratification businesses are figuring out that the hype generated for a product may actually be more valuable than the product itself. The key to success on the internet is to go 'viral', meaning generate a tremendous amount of visitors, users, friends, tweets about your business, product, event or even you. The trick is though is that you need to be interesting enough to go viral. What are you offering that's so great and worth talking about and spreading the word? If you can answer that question and you guess right then you'll have a viral movement on your hands. Also, if you plan on launching a new product, event or whatever then try building some hype first by creating a launch page and getting people to sign up to one of the first to find out your little secret. Things to think about and then read http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/09/01/elements-of-a-viral-launch-page/

Is what I'm doing making a difference in the local or global community?
What service am I offering that will really help people?
Do I have interesting stories that I can share?
Am I easily accessible on all the popular social networks?
Do I respond to comments or inquiries in a timely manner?
Do I make regular updates to my website, blog, twitter, fb, etc?
Can I summarize what I offer in one sentence?

What’s so bad about failure?

emphasisdesign — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:16:04 +0000

“My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” – Abraham Lincoln We're all aware of the four letter word that makes your stomach drop, your skin tingle and makes your eyes dart for the closest exit...F A I L. Everyone hates failure, it's not a good feeling and it tends to bring up a lot of past not so good feelings so our natural instict is to avoid failure. However, I'm starting to learn that failing isn't such a bad thing. In fact I've learned far more for my failures than anything I've done right. Most of the time if I've done something right I have no idea what I actually did that was so 'right' I just did it. The problem with failure is that it can become so unpleasant, so disappointing and could effect those closest to you that your desire to give up may win out over your desire to try again. My encouragement to you is not to give up and look at the list below of the so called failures of others:

Post-it notes ( was originally glue that didn't work)
Viagra ( was supposed to be a blood pressure pill, but it didn't work but had an interesting side-affect)
Walt Disney: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn't last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked
Albert Einstein: Most of us take Einstein's name as synonymous with genius, but he didn't always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bit longer, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics
Winston Churchill: This Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom wasn't always as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After school he faced many years of political failures, as he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62
Steven Spielberg: While today Spielberg's name is synonymous with big budget, he was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three times. He eventually attended school at another location, only to drop out to become a director before finishing. Thirty-five years after starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete his work and earn his BA.

In Smashing Magazines article How to Become a Web Design Expert I believe they are right on when they say 'Obessive Passion' will get you through your failures and onto your next success and probably your next glorious failure.

"The definition of an expert is someone who knows what not to do." Charles Winston

Is Your Website Post-PC Ready?

emphasisdesign — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:30:17 +0000

Test here to see how your site looks on a mobile device. Go here and input your website now. You may need to load Java if your computer does not have it. Click on this link if it is not loaded onto your computer (Windows). http://www.opera.com/mobile/demo Written by Jenny Wilmshurst – Tweet Twins Social Media – Social Media Speaker – Social Media Trainer – Social Media Consultant Mobile Marketing and it is on the brink of an absolute boom globally – 2011. NZ searches using mobile are somewhat slower – with maybe a year to catch up with US activity. In the USA it looks like website owners, Social Media Managers and business owner need to “get in now!” In one NZ sector I researched that about 1% of its potential keyworded traffic was by mobile phone. You can bet that this uptake will rise significantly in 2011 & 2012. Would you like to be ahead of the curve for this change? What is Local Social Mobile Marketing? It’s about your (local) business having a conversation with prospects and clients on their mobile phones and smart phones. Benefits are that you can provide relevant, valuable information directly to people who are interested in your products and services (with their permission)

The global mobile stats in 2011:

it was anticipated that by the end of 2010, there would be approximately 5 billion cell phone subscriptions. It’s a staggering number – there are 7 billion people in the world.

There are only about 2 billion internet users. Imagine the impact of this!?
World wide email use is around 1.3 billion. Text messaging is around 3 billion.
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and mobile work together. Facebook has reported that about a quarter of their users (around 100 million) access their site via mobile devices. This number is rapidly rising.
Google has publicly stated that all their future activitywill be based on mobile-ready platforms FIRST!

You are already involved with mobile marketing if you have a website or a social media presence. How? When a potential customer using their iPhone, Smartphone or Android finds you on Facebook and then clicks through to your webpage. If your site is not mobile optimized (optimised for the UK/Australia/NZ market) they get a useless result at best. That means one less sale for you every time that happens. Can you afford that? Test here to see how your site looks on a mobile device. Go here and input your website now. You may need to load Java if your computer does not have it. Click on this link if it is no loaded onto your computer (Windows). http://www.opera.com/mobile/demo Painful? This is fixable! Written by Jenny Wilmshurst – Tweet Twins Social Media – Social Media Speaker – Social Media Trainer – Social Media Consultant

Promoting Your Music

emphasisdesign — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:06:27 +0000

Your musical profile is all about you, your music and your style.

In a media saturated world how do you stand out?

That's easy be yourself...your greatest advantage is that you are unqiue, there is no one else like you!

Online Promotion: Get an online profile for less that $1,000 with a CMS (content management system) that allows you to do your own updates. In addition to this get found on:

MySpace Music - MySpace is one of the biggest social networking sites for people who live for music, providing a remarkable opportunity for musicians to gain online exposure.Using a MySpace Music profile, musicians are free to upload their music for their fans to discover and download.Essentially, MySpace Music creates a gateway for music to spread virally throughout its social network, where other MySpace members can explore the music videos, featured playlists and top artists of the MySpace community. Having a presence on MySpace is a great way for musicians to make a name for themselves and can open a number of doors to the heart of the music industry.
Facebook - Musicians can literally advertise themselves on Facebook by making their own band page and having fans join their page as "Facebook fans."This popular method of self-promotion helps musicians reach over 200 million active Facebook users by creating a presence that connects and engages fans through downloadable music.A Facebook page is a public profile enabling musicians to upload and share their songs with a growing online community that works in conjunction with Facebook Ads to spread the word even further.This is definitely a powerful tool for online promotion.
MP3.com - MP3.com is a tremendously popular place for musicians to promote their music online, where the chances of artists getting loads of traffic directed towards their music are always in their favor.Musicians who upload their albums and songs to MP3.com attract tons of new fans looking for a free outlet to their favorite artists and bands.Word spreads rather quickly throughout this online source for digital music, opening a number of doors for any musician seeking recognition.

Graphic Design | Web Design & Marketing | Emphasis Designs call 604.345.9086

Make Sure it’s a Merry Christmas

One Fish, Two Fish…Red Fish, Blue Fish

Email Marketing – It’ s All in the Content

Deliver truly engaging content that serves your audience

Know Who You’re Dealing With

Identifying Characteristics

How to Deal

Passive Aggressive

Identifying Characteristics

How to Deal

Identifying Characteristics

How to Deal

SEO Actually Works

Coding be gone

Yes! Finally it is here, no more being hampered by code I don't understand and don't want to learn. I can now build interactive dynamic websites with freedom from contacting programmers or trying to tame plug-ins and their innumerable updates.

Build dynamic websites without programming

Easily build interactive, database-driven apps

Built-in Search

User Generated Content

Customize Look and Feel

The Lost Art of Creating Hype – Going Viral

What’s so bad about failure?

Is Your Website Post-PC Ready?

Promoting Your Music