MicroArts Creative Agency

Go-To-Market Strategy 101: Own a Product Category Through Invention

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:35:00 +0000

Objective: Position Todi Shoes to be the "Apres Athletic Footwear" product category.

Most often to own a product category, the brand has to invent the market category itself. Red Bull is a case in point for the "energy drink" category. Reebok launched its brand with "aerobics footwear". Lululemon Athletica is identifiable as a "yoga-inspired" brand in athletic apparel.

We are positioning the Todi brand to own the product category "Après Athletic Footwear" for aggressive, hard charging athletes. It's the brand you wear in to and out of the locker room.

Just as Lululemon's "yogo-inspired" apparel product category was unclaimed, the "Après Athletic Footwear" product category is not owned by a competitive brand. It is a market niche for the Todi brand to stake its claim and, more importantly, own in the minds of today's athletes.

The practice is not without precedence. For example, Rand Sperry invented the computer; IBM didn't. But IBM entered the market, raised awareness, and became identified as another label for computers, ultimately claiming the category. The closest success of an athlete shoe being known as an Après Athletic shoe is exclusively with soccer players. This two-decade long success is the Adidas Samba shoe and the Adidas Soccer Flip Flop.

Our go-to-market strategy to build the Todi brand is to narrow the focus and to actually invent, define and claim the "Après Athletic Footwear" product category. This strongly positions Todi to be the brand name people equate to the product category. [e.g., Kleenex, FedEx, J&J Baby Shampoo, Coke, Xerox, IBM and iPod].

To accomplish this, we must initially focus on a word or concept Todi can truly own in our athlete-consumers' minds. Specifically, this word is what we want to come to mind when people utter the Todi brand. Moreover, it is the reason our market will buy Todi over our competitors. [For example, for a long time, Volvo equaled "safety" in the minds of car buyers. And safety was the reason people bought Volvos.]

Owning a word

In our case, we can invent and own a new product category for Todi.

Aggressive Athlete™

If we set the standard, a shoe can only be called Todi if an Aggressive Athlete is wearing it.

What's more, if everything we do with our product and our brand messaging vehemently pays off the concept of "Todi. Exclusively for Aggressive Athletes", then over time, the Aggressive attribute will become an inherent part of the Todi identity and therefore will be shortened to simply Athlete.

Hence: Todi = Athlete

A prime example of this is when FedEx invented the category, "guaranteed overnight delivery" and delivered on its promise. The result now is that the brand name FedEx is synonymous with "Overnight."

A laser focus today will allow us to build meaning behind the brand itself and the brand strategy will allow us to effectively extend the Todi brand equities into new product categories. An adjacent and valuable brand extension from footwear is into apparel, "Après Athletic" apparel of course.

At this point, it is clear we are launching more than a footwear company and expanding into an apparel company. We are creating a valuable brand ™ a global brand aimed at owning a valuable concept of "I am a aggressive athlete" in the minds of our consumers.

Our go-to-market strategy aggressively focuses on building this valuable perception around the Todi brand. Initially, we are implementing a combination of guerilla tactics, Internet PR, social media, street teams and "exclusivity tactics" to effectively bring our brand message to market.

Our team is fired up to own this category and deliver success on behalf of the Todi brand.

Retail Package Design

noreply@blogger.com (MicroArts Creative Agency) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:37:00 +0000

Retail Package Designs: 6 Tips to be your consumer's first pick:

+How do you stand out on a crowded store shelf? With consumer sophistication growing along with the number of packages on the shelf, it is important that your consumer brand grab the attention of consumers walking by - and quickly! Consumers are becoming more and more weary of false claims and it's important to create believable brand positioning that can quickly resonate with consumers. Six tips to help your brand differentiate in the minds of consumers:

1. Simplify
a. The point is to let consumers know why they should buy your product and why it's superior to the competition, keep this simple to reduce the amount of confusion. Also, overly complex designs may be perceived as too expensive.
2. Differentiate
a. Be sure that your retail package design stands out on the shelf. If your package doesn't differ from the competitors, you'll be lost in a sea of similar designs and messaging. Build a brand that differentiates your retail package design in the mind of the consumers. Also, if your design and messaging is too close to that of the competition, you'll cause confusion in the market.
3. Clearly communicate
a. It is important to communicate clearly and quickly to consumers. Pay attention to the appropriate hierarchy and allow the most important information to be displayed on the front of the package clearly. The messaging should be understood easily and it should be clear to the consumer why your brand is different and superior to the competitors.
4. Communicate to your target market
a. Are you targeting the right person? Understand your target market and communicate the appropriate messaging and graphics. Make sure your communication to your target market makes sense visually, differentiates from the competitor's offerings, is linguistically correct and appropriate for the culture it's being sold in.
5. Grab attention
a. Color, type, iconography, imagery and the physical structure of your packaging, used effectively, will help you stand out on the shelf. It is important to use these attention grabbers, along with clear, targeted messaging to stand out on the shelf and quickly grab the attention of consumers to make the sale.
6. Own your retail package design
a. Your package design needs to meet both government and regulatory standards, understanding these regulations early in the process will save a lot of time and money. It is imperative to make sure you've trademarked everything you're using on your package (logo, name, color, symbol, shapes, etc) to ensure that your competition can not use your intellectual property and to make sure you're not infringing on someone else's trademark. See more about trademarks at: http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm

SEO Strategy: Adding value with every link.

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:31:00 +0000

Gaining links from other sites to help promote your business and improve your SEO is no secret. In fact, some people choose to do this in the form of trading links- which is one of the most widely known, yet unsound, SEO tactics out there. Most overlook the fact that simply adding links doesn't necessarily add value. It's even ill advised according to Google and other search engines when it's done solely to try to increase search engine ranking. So how do you truly add value by linking?

What Google, and other search engines, want you to do is to approach the situation as if search engines didn't exist. For example, if you have a partner who has a website who wants to link to you, then you should first ask yourself a few questions. Think about your answers from a strategic perspective and remember a true link should add value to the user experience on both sides of the click.

Does your partner's site complement your site?

What reasons do people have to visit my partner's site?

Would those people, as part of their experience on that site, be likely to follow a link back to my own site?

Does the link relate to your site? This can be categorically, horizontally or vertically as long as an intuitive connection exists.

Can you identify a piece of content or place on the site that your link could exist as part of it and make sense/add value to the user experience?

Is the site professional and would you like to be associated with it?
Is the site credible and doesn't practice any black-hat or malicious SEO strategies and tactics?

If you have a hard time answering any of these questions, you may want to re-consider and possibly avoid getting linked with the site in question.

If, on the other hand, the answers lead in a positive direction, make sure your partner uses a descriptive hyperlink--something more than "click here"--and make sure the link is to a relevant portion of the site. (It might make sense for to link directly to a product page, for example.) If you do get linked, and think you should link back, you should perform the same exercise. Don't link back to someone just because they linked to you! Only link if it adds value.

Our approach

MicroArts has had proven success following these guidelines with our own network of partners. As a company specializing in aligning brand design, positioning and development and seeding it online as part of our clients' websites, it is not uncommon for site visitors to ask themselves, "Who made this?" So oftentimes, our clients will include a single hyperlink to our website with a label along the lines of "Website Design by MicroArts Creative Agency" or "Brand Design by MicroArts." This example of a descriptive hyperlink sends curious and interested visitors in an intuitive and linear manner to our website. This has three primary benefits:

We get a relevant traffic flow of potential prospects, who have already seen our work and are interested to learn more.

Search engines naturally recognize these links and assign us higher ranking on results pages

We can ask our partners to change terms and tweak terms within each descriptive link as we evolve, our work evolves and search engines evolve. This flexibility provides a great way to test certain relevant link descriptions within different spaces to see what works best.

To find out how we can develop and deliver value adding SEO strategies and tactics to boost your online presence and drive traffic to your site, please call 603.430.1110 to learn more.

Brand Development: The Little Things Count

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:20:00 +0000

This morning our Principal Brand Director, Peter Getman shared a quote with our team and provided some thought food as his breakfast offering. Here is the quote that he shared with us written by Tom Peters.

"Branding is the hard-earned certification of True & Cool Distinction
within the organization's sphere of influence, enormous or minuscule." -Tom Peters

Why did this quote catch his attention? Here is the additional insight he shared with us...

"The miniscule portion of that quote is the special insight he offers. The proper execution & delivery of a brand's miniscule 'communication' and brand's miniscule 'customer experiences' imparts a believability to a brand's enormous claims of value. A simple concept that too many brands are 'too busy' to pay attention too. Individual's... People*, should consider this as well in their own behaviors, as they too are 'brands'.

*Every brands communication plan should have a part called "the little things" where the execution is laser focused and results are tracked. These miniscule measures of experience can have a majorscale impact on your long-term success. The makeup of a brand extends far beyond its traditional assets, it is walking, talking, and possibly sitting next to you right now. It is the devoted listener of the iPod on the train, the guy reading the paper every morning in your cafe or even the person taking the time to share your idea with world like me.

At MicroArts our Communications team dials into every level of brand communication and has the eyes, ears and senses to be a part of the experience of the people it touches in the world surrounding us. Call us to learn how the "People" can work on behalf of your brand.

603-430-1110.

The rise of Social Media: Top Brands in the Conversation Bubble

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:35:00 +0000

There are hundreds,thousands and millions of new, user-generated conversations happening online every single day. Individuals are joining social networks, posting comments on a blogs and forums, adding their thoughts to a wiki or sharing media with others through various content sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr. The rise of conversationally oriented content and collaborative hosting environments has grown so rapidly that according to Datamonitor, in just three years time 70% of online content will be user generated. Even Technorati the mammoth of blog monitoring covers less than half of the estimated amount of blogs worldwide of 171 million.

So amidst this growing user driven conversation bubble what Brand's are truly making a splash? We recently stumbled across an excellent study called "The Top 100 Brands" by Immediate Future. They did a comprehensive study to find out what brands have the most "share of voice" within popular social networking sites and other social media mediums.

Here are some of the specifics on how they performed the analysis as written by Immediate Future.

Social network group sentiment analysis
To gain a measure of the overall sentiment of brand-focused groups set up on Social networks, brand name searches were conducted across three major social network sites Facebook, Flickr and MySpace. All groups focused primarily upon a brand were recorded and split in accordance to whether the overall tone was positive, negative or neutral.

Brands share of voice in social media
Discovering share of voice provides a snapshot of brand mentions in social media. It does not take into account the influence of the mentions and therefore measure the impact of the conversations. It is the first step in the discovery and mapping of a brand's social media landscape and it enables brands to identify the noise or buzz about them online.

By measuring the number of times the Interbrand top 100 global brands are mentioned across the most prominent social media sites, it is possible to determine which brands are the most talked about. The bigger the noise, the more important it is for brands to examine who is talking about them, what they are saying and if they are influential. It is the first step in engaging with social media and participating in the conversation." (Immediate Future)

Here are the top 25 brands in Social Media and their Share of Voice in popular Social Mediums.

As you can see the majority of the top brands operate within the online technology and include search giants Google and Yahoo! No surprise they get a significant amount of conversation and content sharing occuring within YouTube as well as have a large blog swell surrounding them. What is kind of interesting is that the two leaders Google and Yahoo! have a relatively small share of voice within MySpace when compared to that of Cannon, Disney, Ford, Samsung, Gap, MTV and many others. Exactly why is this occurring? Here are two possible reasons for this occurrence..any to add?

Technical communities vs. evangelism groups- Google and Yahoo! are surrounded by very focused conversations and topics about search strategies and specific inquiries. MySpace is comprised of typically unfocused activities and conversations about a particular thread....

Producer vs. Aggregator: As search destinations, not product "producers" Google and Yahoo! are widely adopted and therefore don't have an "elite" group of supporters around them. Users assume that Google and Yahoo! are the staple of search already so why bother joining a group about it? On the other hand organizations producing multiple products can garner early adopters through a social mediums like MySpace.

Why is it important to know your share of conversation in the Social Media sphere?

Knowing where relative conversations around your brand are occurring can not only tell you a lot about your online presence it can be a personality check regarding your actual brand. Is it being perceived as conversational, engaging and shareable? Why is it only showing up in certain places? How does its current perception and online dispersion possibly affect future social media initiatives? If you haven"t taken a "deep" dive into the conversations currently surrounding your brand we strongly recommend in doing so. Let our social media and online PR division "Umunngo" show you how to create and be a part of the online conversations occurring around your brand.

The Real Essence of SEO: Effective Communication

noreply@blogger.com (Walter Elly) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:16:00 +0000

MicroArts' approach to search engine optimization (SEO) isn't about complicated terms or hype about beating the search engines at their game, instead it's all about good communication. This is because, in the end, search engine optimization techniques are actually just a subset of good online communications techniques.

Since SEO is only a part of good communications techniques we never apply it solely for the sake of ranking higher in the search engines' organic listings. This is especially true if it's at the expense of good writing and communication. Why not? Well, let's say for argument sake that "your widgets are the best widgets anyone in the widget market could hope for in a widget." And let's say that sheer repetition gets you the recognition you want from people searching for "widgets." The fact remains that your message is weak and you're not going to compel anyone to buy widgets from you. Besides, trying to game the system like that just doesn't work.

Google and other search engines dedicate large portions of their budget to make their engines behave and classify information more and more like a person would every day. Therefore, trying to trick the system would require Google-eqsue budgets and constant vigilance as the algorithms change. So it's a risky and expensive move at best to try to play that game.

Further, Google's own guidelines for SEO say to do what you would if search engines did not exist. They say that if you are effectively communicating with your users then you are effectively communicating with search engines and this is the best way to increase your search engine results page rankings.

What are effective communications on the web?

To truly communicate effectively online, you need to reach all users-regardless of their technical savvy, practices, and equipment. That means you have to accommodate all types of browsers and all types of user abilities. It means graphics and flash have appropriate text-based representations backing them up. And it means you always connect with the lowest denominator of technology while reaching for the highest. Some examples of how to do so include:

Make sure everything is labeled
Complete all labels in a way that is most relevant to the user-telling them where they are and where they can go.
Act like a newspaper; put the most important things at the top of the page and make the most important information on the page stand out with larger text.

If you do all that, and create great content to boot, then you are on the path to great success. The next step is to tell the world about your website, which we'll cover in a future blog post.

In conclusion, concentrate on your story rather than search engine spiders. Reach out to your audience and engage your users. Make sure you are clearly communicating with all types and all technologies. At MicroArts Creative Agency, we know how to develop websites that effectively tell your brand story and enhance your brand experience. And as it turns out, that's the way to draw users in and achieve a higher ranking.

Give us a call. And let's get started!

Nine no-nonsense attributes of a kick-ass creative agency

noreply@blogger.com (michaleen craig) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:13:00 +0000

Besides healthy debates of "Pirates vs. Ninjas," there are a few things that enhance and improve the culture of creativity here at MicroArts Creative Agency:

1. Intimacy. There is no behemoth Madison-Avenue bureaucracy here. MicroArts is a small and nimble creative brand agency. The designers and developers sit together in one room. No cubicles. No walls. No secrets! Everyone knows what the other is doing. And because of this, our people truly get to know each other personally.

2. Collaboration. A creative agency our size needs to practice teamwork. We complement each other. We need each other. We nurture creativity by making ourselves available to bounce ideas off, pitch in, and take on new tasks. More than a practice, this is an ideology. Teamwork defines us. And when everyone pitches in, everyone takes greater pride in all creative and online projects.

3. Focus. Everyone concentrates on common goals and deadlines. We share a collective purpose to create tangible deliverables and success for our clients.

4. Commitment. We are as dedicated to our creative agency as we are to our clients. We understand that if the company wins, the individuals win.

5. Empathy. Creative teams are made up of diverse personalities. We need to respect other's opinions and points of view. With that understanding in place, we all can be comfortable speaking our mind.

6. Accountability. This is a two-way street. Be accountable for your actions. And hold other's accountable for theirs. Do the right thing all the time.

7. Derring-do. OK, this is a blatant shout out to the pirates out there. But a creative agency can't be afraid of changing seascapes. We must face the future with courage and self-confidence.

8. Optimism. Negativity is a toxin that can destroy any organization. On the other hand (and although it's often described as "contagious"), a positive attitude is a strong panacea that heals, strengthens, and invigorates entire projects or companies.

9. Trust. Believe in your skills. Believe in the team. And when it comes to a pirate versus a ninja, believe what you want. ... But a Viking could kick their drunken and stealthy butts eight ways to Sunday.

Brand Positioning

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Brand Positioning is the process of crafting the message and voice that support a company's desired marketing position. At MicroArts Creative Agency, it starts with an idea-a seed planted in your target customer's mind that grows into a full-bloomed and-hopefully-most valued perception. To do this, we develop a strategy that includes a:
> Byline
> Big Idea
> Slogan
> Brand Story

The Byline (you might call it a "tagline") is the line that captures the business you're in, your difference, and why your market should care. It's typically placed beneath the company logo and provides the foundation for most marketing communications. It should also be paired with the company logo consistently across all marketing initiatives.

The Big Idea is the concept that becomes the common thread throughout all company programs. It metaphorically communicates your company's value in a clear, concise, and memorable way. Often, The Big Idea is not the most obvious one. That's why it's important to partner with a creative agency to dig, plant, and nurture this concept-an ultimately launch and sell The Big Idea through appropriate media and channels.

The Slogan is a statement that fuses with the big idea to capture the essence of its message. The best statements tug on the emotions and present themselves in a punchy and memorable manner. At MicroArts Creative Agency, we believe an effective slogan should work in ways in which it does not necessarily need to be displayed with the logo, yet still enhances the company's brand experience. "Think Different" or "Just Do It" are great examples of how a slogan can stand on its own—and yet say so much about a company is so few words.

The Brand Story is a short, readable statement consisting of two to three paragraphs. Your story should describe your company's history, how it arrived at its current position, and your vision for future excellence. As such, it validates your ability to deliver on the claims you make in your byline, slogan, and any promise you make. And as with your byline, a creative agency uses this story to base much of your content-especially in proposals, backgrounders, the "About Us" section of your web site, press releases, and company collateral.

As branding strategy experts, we believe the combination of the above ingredients will lead to successful, effective-and sustainable-brand positioning. This positioning acts as the solid foundation on which your brand experience will be built.

To see it for yourself, check out the brands MicroArts Creative Agency has launched over the years. It's tried and true.

Driving Awareness with Vehicle Branding

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:17:00 +0000

There is no question about it, one of the best promotional investment any business can make is branding its vehicles. Each car and truck on active duty is exposed to millions of public impressions every year. As a result, nothing in business makes more sense and is more economical than creating a rolling brand identity and strategy.

How cost-effective is it? Consider the impact of reaching over ten million adults in just one year for less than the cost of one single black-and-white half-page ad in any of the leading metro newspapers. A billboard can reach a broad number of people in a specific area (at a high cost, by the way). Whereas a company car or truck acts as a moving billboard, taking your message to the people, where they work and live-and everywhere in between.

A branded vehicle communicates with customers on a daily basis-often several times a day. And it can perpetuate your corporate identity throughout a large geographic area.

With the development of many material applications, vehicle branding has also grown far beyond simply putting a logo on the doors. Full vehicle wraps open up great opportunity for your branding strategy. With larger and more visually appealing design applications, your vehicles can shout and echo your brand's voice in increasingly memorable ways.

Keeping in mind that your vehicles will often be moving at high speeds, it's important to create strong graphics that get to the point quickly.

And as your cars and trucks drive down the highway, they can also help you drive the message home.

As long as you get it right, that is, and your vehicles drive your message home.

Logo Design: The Face and Voice of Your Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:25:00 +0000

Your logo design is the face and voice of your brand. Whether in an abstract form or more literal interpretation, it must clearly communicate what your company does and-more importantly-what it stands for. Often the first impression your company gives, your logo conveys an immediate and emotional message, making it one of the most crucial tools in your branding strategy woodshed.

Your logo must speak directly to your customers. It can be friendly, approachable, and trustworthy. Or it can be aggressively in your face. But the key attributes of your company should be evident.

Many successful logos, for example, are done simply with type. This can convey a straightforward approach within the entire organization without having to shout, "Hey, we're a pretty straightforward company!" On the other hand, by creating custom typography or manipulating classic typography, you can say a great deal about your company's creativity and attitude.

To be sure, creating a memorable logo is no small feat. With today's graphic explosion in both printed material and through online branding, today's consumer is subjected to hundreds of logos every day. Each of those brands adds its voice to a cacophony of messages. Making your brand stand out from all the noise is a huge undertaking that takes as much critical thought as it does creative flair.

Designers must be brand strategists and artists alike. Every sketch becomes an interpretation of a single outstanding value proposition-of what the company can offer now and in the future. It may take several dozen sketches to develop one single cohesive thought that showcases a form and feeling that nails down the essence of the company itself.

In that respect, creating logos with pen and paper is by far the most effective way to attack this endeavor. Limiting the design to known computer fonts, programs, and techniques can stifle creativity and-ultimately-the unique nature of a logo. Once the cream of the concepts has worked its way to the top on paper, designers can finesse forms to work well digitally.

As branding experts, we weigh and ply the aesthetic and technological trends of the trade. But beware of trends (a subject for a later discussion, no doubt) at the risk of blending into the landscape. In the end, a logo is representative of both an organization's personality and a designer's concise thought, state of mind, and attitude.

If you're putting your logo on your letterhead, signage, products, advertising, web site, packaging, and baby's forehead (just seeing if you're paying attention), make sure the designers working on your logo are savvy, forward thinking, and positive.

In the end, your brand will be, too.

Graphical User Interface (GUI) Design

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:39:00 +0000

The key to GUI design is consistency, consistency, consistency. When thinking about your online branding strategy, consider that users look for things that are familiar to them--something they can count on to perform the same function. They respond to recognizable buttons, hyperlinks, typefaces, icons, and design elements. Through consistency, you provide the user with direction and an easy flow of information. When consistency is lost, the designer also risks losing the user, as well.

Of course, it's not always that easy. The trick to successful GUI design is to be able to find the right balance between familiar design and really interesting stuff! Effective online branding engages the user. The last thing you want to do is to become bland and boring in the name of almighty consistency.

Using a certain shape, but varying the color or vice versa is a very subtle way to engage users, distinguish between different design elements but still be consistent with functionality. We see it all the time in everyday life-a stop light, for example, where each light is the same size circle, yet conveys a different message.

This same idea can be applied as a directional sense in GUI design to direct users where to go. It can be as simple as using a red button to go back and a green button to go forward. Each circle represents an action to GO somewhere; the color provides the direction WHERE.

Not only is consistency important for the design of an object, it's a crucial factor in location. Buttons, warnings, news flashes, results, and directional text should always appear in consistent locations. When a user, for example, enters information that is going to yield results, it's important the results always appear in the same manor and same location to avoid confusion. This directs users to look in familiar places. In fact, they expect to. If the location changes, users may become frustrated searching for information and leave the site altogether.

GUI design as an element of brand design
This brings up one other important element of the GUI design: human behavior. Remember, a brand is more than a design; it's an experience. So how can you use GUI design to enhance the customers' experience? We won't say that Internet users are lazy; but they don't want to work hard. The more clicks it takes to get somewhere, the greater the risk of losing users to another site. To avoid a lot of clicks, designers need to create the most efficient use of space without overcrowding the page.

In the end, good GUI design makes the online experience as comfortable as possible. The Holy Grail remains a design that remains digestible, directional and yet still engaging. When you find that, you've enhanced your online branding greatly.

Color Theory in Brand Design

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:08:00 +0000

The element of color is something that can single-handedly take the symbolism of an object from one direction to another. That's because colors have meaning. And that meaning can change from culture to culture, depending on the context in which it's used.

Take red, for example. Red is commonly known as a power color. Red is bold. Red is forward. In Western society, it symbolizes passion, power, and blood. In one context it can mean love; in another-anger. And of course, we all know red means, "Stop!" In business, red means losses. In China, however, red is symbolic of luck and prosperity. With so many different meanings for so many different people, red is a great example of why color theory and color use is so important in brand design.

Your brand design represents your company. Making a mistake in color can completely convey the wrong message to your audience. And it's not just the colors you choose, but how you use them, as well.

Successful use of color can range from using complimentary to analogous colors to different levels of just one single color. Many successful logos use a subtle color that is offset by an accent color, one that has a much stronger appeal to the eye. But when the accent color is used very subtly to emphasis a certain part of the logo, it can capture the very essence of what you are trying to convey.

It's also important to consider color when thinking of how your brand is going to be used. How will it translate to print? To online branding? To merchandise? How will it look when it's printed small on a business card or huge on a sign? (Considering size and visibility is a whole other element of brand design worthy of discussion.)

Learning Branding through color:
One of the most helpful ways to learn how to use color within branding is by simply observing the world around you. Pay close attention to art. See how other people use color to entertain, cajole, persuade, soothe or incite.

For instance, McDonalds' yellow arches are a good example of how to integrate successful color theory; yellow is a color that induces hunger (probably because we humans have grown accustomed to starchy-and satisfying-foods that are yellow or brownish.)

Conversely, blue is a color that is not often used for branding food, because it's been known to suppress appetites rather than stimulate them. (Maybe because, aside from blueberries, you'll be hard pressed to find many foods that are naturally blue in color.)

So if you're thinking of re-tooling your brand design, pay close attention the emotional appeal of color. And remember that not all arguments are black and white. Finding the right print and online branding solution takes research, insight, and a keen eye.

Are you fired up (red)? Feeling creative (orange)? Feeling smart (dark blue)? Get going. A spectrum of possibilities waits.

How To: Blog Writing for Social Media Marketing Success. Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:18:00 +0000

Are blogs used to share your opinions, expertise and have some fun? Yes. Can blogs be an integral part of search marketing efforts and generate real value for your online
brand? Absolutely!A blog is more than a digital space to share your thoughts, it is an opportunity to create an additional content management system for your website while at the same time providing interactive and social functionality for your visitors.

We would like to share some tips and strategies on how to create blog content that is,
-Engaging
-Informative
-Value Adding: (ex. increase in return visitors, increased time on site, SEO
enhancing etc.)

In this piece we will share some tips and strategies for writing effective headlines.

Part I:HEADLINES

Why Care?

Search Visibility: like search engine results, readers need incentive to click through to land on your site. Since blog content is picked up by major search engines it in not impossible to have your entry appear within search results for certain keywords or phrases contained in your content. Your blog

Blog Sharing : other readers might hear about your post on another blog and it is likely they might only see the Headline used in your post. If it is interesting they might click it, if it is not they will keep reading.

Social Bookmarking(ex. Digg, Delicious, Reddit) The Social Media aspect of blogging is huge. Every post has the potential to drive traffic to your site. For sites If the headline attracts their attention. When/if your post gets submitted to social bookmarking sites like the above, they will be thrown in with thousands of other posts. Only entries with attention grabbing headlines will get clicks.

Here are some guidelines for writing quality blog headlines.

Convey the Central Point: tell a mini-story within your headline. Dont give away your special sauce, but let readers know what's cooking.

Give Purpose: why should I read your story? What is the added value? Give readers a sense of purpose within your headline.

Make Them Catchy: headlines are the first things users see; if not the only things they see before they click through to your post. It is imperative to write catchy headlines to make your story stand out. You may only have one shot.

Succinct: keep your headlines to 10 words or less. You want the reader to "get it" in the first couple of words they read.

Create Curiosity: great titles leave readers wanting to learn more. Ask yourself why you wanted to write about something and try to capture the curiosity you experienced within your headline.

Blog Scan: there is no better way to learn what headlines grab attention then taking a look yourself. Do your research. Go to well-known thought leadership blogs and use sites like Digg, Technorati, Reddit and others to see what headlines have had great success in the past.

Use the Right Set-UP: if you are giving advice, providing instructions, or creating a tutorial, consider using the words "How To". If you are looking to discuss something, write about controversial issues, or looking to simply stir up reader opinions, consider having a headline ending with a "?" . If you are creating multiple entries about a particular subject don't be afraid to include numbers or letters to denote the different parts of your work.

The Launch of Umungo: Socia Media and iPR

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:00:00 +0000

We are excited to announce the launch of our new Social Media site; "Umungo", a new Microarts Brand company focusing on internet Public Relations(iPR) and Social Media Marketing (SMM).

Please explore this new are of our site, Umungo! We feel there is a lot of fresh, fun and engaging content about the rise of Social Media and how it is impacting how successful digital communications are conducted in today’s online world. It is a great way to learn more about Social Media and see examples of its use first-hand.

We have a lot of content already up on this new area of the site and still have more to add! We will be using the "Social Media Influence Marketing" area of the blog to let you know when we are posting new content, as well as discussing various aspects of iPR and Social Media as we continue to follow along with them closely!

-HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Brand Typography: Your brand's type.

noreply@blogger.com (michaleen craig) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:22:00 +0000

Design your brand's copy for greater readership. Damn it.

There seems to be endless studies done on what typography viewers "read" more so than other typography. I feel like I've read most of them over the 20 years in this brand design agency. I retain most of it, share it with our design team, and direct our brand design work to leverage it.

Here is a snap shot of this foundation we consider when designing your brand's typography and fonts communicating your brand's superior value proposition.

Offline, what do people read most? Books. Magazines. Newspapers. The common denominator here is Serif fonts. Our minds are trained to read Serif typography. The little feet on the letters connect together and lead the eye across the page. Therefore, it only makes sense that your brand's print advertisement design should consider what those publication's reader's are trained to read when designing your ad. Some brand's use Sans Serif fonts in headlines because they are bold and we do this from time to time. Most often, I prefer Serif in a print headline, although not necessarily on the Web. O&M too swears by this in their writings. When in doubt, learn from the best.

Ever notice that the first block of copy in a book, newspaper or magazine using either a drop capital typeset style? It's been determined that this typesetting design strategy leads you into the body copy of the article. Lead your reader into the body copy of your brand's advertisement.

Your brand's print advertisement will run in a magazine or newspaper most likely. The copy is typeset in 3 columns most often, averaging 7 words long. This is simply because copy that is typeset in columns is easier for human's to digest quickly. Design your brand advertisement to be read. Most brands will typeset their copy blocks too wide to be quickly read. Not a good design strategy for increasing readability and thus readership.

Web technology's liquid layout doesn't allow you to manage columns easily so this isn't a viable design option just yet. Web 2.0 technology does however enable navigation through copy more efficiently then ever before, and many of these copy block rules are still viable. For example...

Leverage subhead lines! A headline that is supported by a 7 to 10 word subhead line will further create reader engagement. Every time. The subhead needs entice that reader to take the next big step in engagement, either to actually read the first paragraph of body copy in an advertisement or brochure, or to click "learn more" on your brand's website.

So now that you have the reader into your first paragraph of body copy, keep them reading. Keep that first paragraph of body copy no longer than 10 to 13 words in total. Keep them reading.

In brochures or on websites, whereby you have longer blocks of copy, it is a vital to continue to insert mini headlines to break up the copy blocks. For the best readership, insert a mini headline in typeset in BOLD type before every 3rd paragraph.

Line spacing! Study Google's line spacing between sentences to maximize your readership. They have invested into the studies to determine "ease of readership" — I guarantee it. Wikipedia is another good example of easy to read line spacing Leverage this design strategy for your most important body copy that you desire the highest readership. It will work. One study by O&M, found that if you use leading between paragraphs, your readership increases by 12 percent.

O&M's leader David, loved using the Caslon font claiming those ads always outperformed other fonts. Love the details followed by our great brand strategists. He is the master.

Create Brand Engagement Appeal

noreply@blogger.com (michaleen craig) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:19:00 +0000

To design Brand Websites and Brand Advertisements, leverage the rule of headline-visual combinations into your brand design strategy.

The headline-visual combination in a brand advertisement or a webpage's primary visual all have the same primary responsibility. That is to pique interest and engage the reader in the subhead line then the body copy culminating at the call to action. Yet only the best brand agencies get it. It amazes me that when a web design agency does not have a brand creative expert on their team, the headline-visual combinations on their home page design / landing page design lack the valuable magic of engaging appeal.

Engaging appeal is when the headline-visual combination begins to tell the story. The headline-visual messaging that creates the most viewer engagement are those that pique viewer's curiosity. So it is vitally important that these combinations simply start to tell the story, yet not tell the entire story leaving the viewer wondering what happens next. This creative concept strategy will always create engaging appeal - leading the viewer into your subhead and body copy of your web billboard, brand advertisement or direct response communication.

A headline that says, "We bend over backwards" with a visual showing a "killer shot of a yoga person in a pretzel" might get mistaken as effective creative, but it sucks. It tells the entire story and carries no incentive to read on into the body copy.

The headline must have a word in it that says to the viewer, "hey, I'm talking directly to you." For example, "Soccer Mom's free time is an oxy moron" is clearly talking to mother about their busy lives and beginning to introduce a solution to this reality.

Take this one-step further by putting the brand name in the headline, and you've just increased your brand presence significantly in the publication. If not the brand name in the headline, consider the product itself as the visual crux of the story. At minimum, square it up in a product shot and pair-it-up with the brand name itself.

Some people get hung up on short and clever headlines. I don't prefer short headlines over long headlines or vice versa. It's more important that it fulfills the headline-visual combination rule.

There is a fine line between creating engagement appeal for a headline-visual combination and creating confusion. Capture the reader in the headline. Don't be too cute, they have to know you are talking to their demographic and what pain-point you are solving. Create engagement with the visual execution. The combination of these two wins the viewer's interest and leads them into the body copy or clicks to learn more online.

Before and after headline-visual combinations are perhaps clique, but they are effective. They always have been and will remain so. You buy things because they promise some change in your life that is relevant and valuable to you.

A statistic, customer quotation or recent news worthy fact are all great candidates for headline strategies. They introduce a believability and tangibility in to your message in a moments glance.

Business-to-Business Branding

noreply@blogger.com (michaleen craig) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:21:00 +0000

Business-to-Business Branding
[also called B2B Brand Positioning]

There are key brand positioning drivers common to B2B brands ...
along with a few must have strategies in your brand communications arsenal.

To paraphrase Sherman, B2B marketing is hell. Your target market is bombarded by competing messages. Campaigns are waged daily. And when the smoke clears, you are either a winner or a loser.

Brands can live and die based on the communication strategies and tactics you choose. In this arena, there are a few key weapons you should keep in your foxhole-defensible, bulletproof messages and media that pack the greatest bang for the buck.

Typically with early-stage companies, it's easy to figure out what your brand's best value proposition is to its target market. In these heady days, a new brand usually represents a whiz bang way to fix a problem or capture an opportunity - something better, faster, and/ or cheaper. Always powerful messages.

Soon, however, the competition starts working on closing the value-prop gap. With alarming speed and tenacity, your product can become commoditized, with no distinguishable benefits between brands.

So clearly, even startups need to brand a sustainable difference - something B2B buyers value enough to drive sales. [See top 25 questions to consider when positioning a brand on http://www.microarts.com/weLaunchBrands/questions.php ]

To start, flank the competition by positioning your brand's sustainable differences in a pinpoint public relations outreach program (including Internet public relations and blog postings). Meanwhile, organize a crack creative team and task them with making this message enticing, compelling, and memorable.

(Dreaming up and executing big ideas that make your brand soar is all the death-or-glory motivation we need here at MicroArts - we few, we happy few, we band of brothers and sisters who live and die for the chance to create killer creative. Grrrr!)

With PR and Creative poised, come out with your guns blazing, swaying a skeptical B2B market with:

Video-based customer testimonials

Printed case studies

Customer testimonials

Industry news that validates the need for your brand position

Research that highlights the need for your brand position

A 90-second sales presentation

A valid social media strategy

A demonstration of product value

A tight proposal

And here's the kicker, do this within the first 120 days of your brand launch. By blitzing the market with such clear and persuasive communications, you'll create a tangible, sustainable brand that will wield a powerful punch throughout your product's entire lifecycle.

Peter Getman, Principal Brand Director

Internet Traffic Generation Strategy for Brands

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:15:00 +0000

By: Peter Getman, Principal Brand Director

Google results are the dominating manners in which your potential customers feast on your facts, other's opinions and the media's hubbub about your brand. Clearly, it's a powerful brand awareness advantage if your search results placement yields 100% or 1000% more readership than your competition about your brand's promise of superior value. Not to mention, revenues.

Soon...conversations in highly specialized social communities, the Technorati-like blog-o-spheres, will be leveraging more sophisticated Digg-like taxonomies to deliver the most relevant facts, opinions, videos and media noise around your brand and the search terms surrounding your brand. You'll come to call it "participatory media and content." It's happening. Count on it. (Yeah, that sentence hurts my head too.)

We know the Internet is constantly changing and evolving. For the better. All searches queried by your potential customers will be yielding more personally-relevant results to them. How great is that?

A key to being a dominating brand in generating free online traffic, boiled down to almost nothing:

Offer free, personally-relevant content to your brand's potential customers on the web.

Content that must somehow directly exude or indirectly illustrate your brand's ability to deliver its differentiating value proposition in a manner that is tangible and believable.

That's it. Go do it.

This basic content creation discipline on behalf of your brand must be ongoing. In other words, your brand's supporting content must evolve at the same break neck speed as your business itself. Do this, and no matter how the Internet search result's taxonomy technology improves, your brand will be positioned for traffic generation dominance.

To me, this really requires nothing more than Internet Public Relations, or what we lazily call iPR.

iPR is simply the combination of your Old School Public Relations [OSPR] content creation, your Search Engine Optimization [SEO] and Social Media Optimization [SMO] strategies into one dovetailed effort. It's sensible, since at their core they are both based upon - you guessed it,

'Offering free, personally-relevant content to your brand's potential customers and followers to consume both online and offline.'

It's not necessarily sensible that you have 3 different agencies working on developing this content.The job of managing message consistency makes my head hurt.

Success in OSPR, SEO & SMO nets the same success for your brand's website, your business. Whereby, the start of your sales process is initiated:

> More brand awareness of your superior difference
> More web traffic
> More qualified traffic
> More customers
> More revenues
> More brand knowledge
> Bigger EBITDA multiple
> Get one step closer to brand ubiquity

Sure, OSPR content creates is clear, concise, bulletproofed and validated announcements for editors to consume. And of course, SEO strategies are employed to digitally influence algorithmic machines so to speak [Google, etc.] for higher-ranking results. Lastly, SMO strategies are employed to digitally influence web people in communities et-al.

Yet, the end result for both is the same. More web traffic...

To make your brand's differentiating value proposition more tangible, more believable, "package" its personally-relevant content in as many forms the web empowers us to do so:
> Brand success case studies in download print
> Brand success case studies in video
> Blogs, forums, white papers, silver papers {what's this?}
> Viral videos
> Emailed "spoon fed" pitches to analysts and media
> Optimized PR pitch stories
> Optimized PR releases
> Internet PR [iPR]
> Digital sales collateral
> Webinars
> E-Newsletters
> A creative social media program

There is more, but I don't want to bore you. The point is, go craft a ton of meat and potato content and then give it your iPR and creative team to package it into outreach programs for your brand.

It works. [Google: Brand Launch Agency or Creative Agency, what comes up? ;)

If you don't have the time or expertise, team up with a disciplined, progressive rand creative agency to dive into your head and deliver.

Nielsen Study: 66% Of Consumers Trust Consumer Generated Media

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:47:00 +0000

A new Neilsen Study that polled over 26,000 people from all the world confirmed that Word of Mouth is still the number 1 trusted source of adverstising. Coming in third to direct recommendations from consumers and newspapers, was consumer opinions posted online with 68% believing it to be a trusted source of information.

In North America 66% of the population polled believed that citizen created content online is a trustworthy source of information.

This study reaffirms the need to focus remains on building brand evangelist's and providing them the means to create content and share opinions in the online world. Doing so can create higher levels of awarness, trust, and increase purchase consideration.

Social Media and Digital Evangelists

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:24:00 +0000

Evangelism: a super strong connection that naturally incites action towards a common purpose. Evangelism is the result of an undivided focus on the customer, and the fervent wish to communicate an IDEA to them. It is not so much a marketing strategy as a frame of mind, and when successful it results in a network of p e o p l e where the lines of communication are open and everyone is out to improve the world for the sake of OTHERS.

Customer evangelists are people who advertise for your product without (monetary) compensation. They are key for a company's true success, for they represent satisfied and devoted customers. To evangelize your own product, or create customer evangelists, you must (a) create an idea, (b) differentiate from the market, and (c) construct a model whose base is the customer.

Why is this so important to do today? Web 2.0 mediums and applications enable evangelists to easily create content around your brand and share it with the world in a matter of minutes. Digital Evangelism is where traditional word-of-mouth hits the web running and spreads via the creation of unique content within a highly connected world. It is essential for all online companies to provide the right mix of tools an spaces to capture the energy of brand evangelists. Using tools such as blogs, wikis, and forums as well as creating a presence in existing mediums can help businesses leverage the power of and create digital evangelists for their brand.

noreply@blogger.com (Drew Schulthess) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:25:00 +0000

3-D Web Browsers; Eye Candy or the future of Search?

Recently I stumbled across a new 3-D web browsing technology called "Space Time Beta" . Powered by a 3-D interface, this browser enables users to retrieve a visual stack of search engine results and quickly scroll through them with the click of a mouse. As I continued to try out this new engine, one big question came to mind. Is 3-D browsing technology is simply a flashy search enhancement, or is it the future of search?

First of all, traditional metrics that have been the backbone of SEO strategies for engines like Google and Yahoo still are still the rule in this new "visual world" of search. A SpaceTime Google search still relies on the same factors that have controlled the traditional algorithm of search such as keyword placement, link-ability, and content structure. So how does this new search technology stand apart? 3-D web searching essentially over-rides the traditional post search selection process where browsers click forward and backwards, into and out of sites in search of the content they are seeking.

A visual search however, enables users to see the home page immediately after they type in their search term and hit enter. So Instead of making a site selection based primarily on the chronological order of search results and relevant keywords used, the user evaluates a site on its visual design and content structure; an evaluation process that typically follows a two click process can now happen with one click.

So, although many of the traditional measures of SEO still apply; developers and designers need to place more emphasis on creating sites that are visually appealing and contain relevant content. In the visual world of browsing, it will be imperative to create eye catching page designs that have a clear "Why to Buy Statement" in order to maximize site traffic. Within 3-D web browsers, companies without well structured and appealing sites will no longer be able to hide behind chronological search results that play a large part in driving users to their page.

To answer the larger question at hand, it is hard to determine if 3-D engines will play a large role in the future of search. Yes, they are fun and easy to use, but will they be widely adopted? Only time can tell. In any event, building a visually appealing difference will be the ultimate driver for success in the potential new era of search.

Excited to announce launch of Microart's Online PR division!

noreply@blogger.com (Walter Elly) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:21:00 +0000

We are very excited to be launching a new online PR division here at Microarts during the first quarter of 2008. The focus of our new division will be the creation of digital influence for online brands. What exactly is digital influence? Digital Influence is the fusion of public relations and interactive marketing strategies to attain high levels of engagement and influence within the online world. Using digital influence we will be leveraging different Social Media tools and applications to help our clients understand the nature of and become part of digital activities relative to their brand.

We would like to take the next couple of months leading up to the launch of our new division to share some of the research associated with this effort! Please join us as we dedicate the rest of this pre-launch time to share some unique Social Media and Online PR insights right here on our blog. Just look for any post under the Online PR and Social media tag.

We'd also like to introduce Drew Schulthess, MicroArts' Digital Influence Strategist- he will be joining us here and blogging about this topic as well!

Strategic Creative-How do you know your creative for your new brand launch is strategically sound?

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Getman) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 20:57:00 +0000

Playfully I wrote in one of our website's billboards, "Strategic Creative Is When Cool Meets Revenue." It's true, if your brand is positioned to make future-history, it is based on sound strategic creative.

The strategic part is the science behind your marketing communications. It's the structure for your argument that is ultimately captured and uttered creatively.

To laser focus the creative for your communications, carefully answer these questions with bulletproof answers:

What business is your brand in?
What makes your brand obviously different?
Why should your target customer give a shit about this difference? In other words, what superior value does your brand's difference enable it to deliver?
Does your target customer value this superior value most? Second most? For example, does this superior value intrinsically position your brand to "own" 3rd place or enjoy a 1st place ranking in its category?
Is this difference sustainable? What are you doing today, as a company, to insure this difference is protected, advancing and sustainable next year and in years to come?
What competitor can threaten the value of your difference? What is their strategic creative based on? [Apply steps 1-5 to their brand].
What idea is this competitive brand trying to own in your target customer's mind?
What is this competitive brand's Achilles heel?

The answers to these simple questions establish a no-nonsense foundation to base your creative upon. To be fancy, call it a strategic message foundation if you need to.

If the creative concept captures this foundation at its core and communicates it in a clear, concise, enticing and memorable way, I'd consider it strategic creative. More importantly, you are probably on your way to positioning your brand to be a cash farm for your shareholders.

- Peter pgetman@microarts.com

PS: Don't let fancy-pants creative types present any ideas that don't address these strategic drivers. If it's really good creative, you may be enticed to launch it even though it doesn't perfectly pay off these strategic drivers. Besides, the world is filled with enough really cool creative that doesn't sell anything.

www.microarts.com: The 5th Generation.

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Getman) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:32:00 +0000

We're live. Well obviously we're live. www.microarts.com is our new website supporting our new brand identity, user experience design and content management system. Although we don't have the same look, we hope we've captured and maintained the approachable attitude, personality and appeal of the previous 4 generations of microarts.com. We're proud of it and feel it captured who we are in a sincere manner. I encourage you to explore the site by clicking on icons tucked in corners, there are some fun trap doors that take you to cool pages purposely buried in the site. This fifth generation site is designed to be alive and as such is very dynamic with new content and sections coming and going all the time. We'd value your feedback pgetman@microarts.com

Team MicroArts, thank you for being in my foxhole throughout the creation of this website. I appreciate the spirit and dedication. This site took 850 hours to create and certainly the vast majority of this time happened on Saturdays and Sundays, at night or before sunrise. Taylor, Walter, thank you for your way over the top dedication surrounding the creation of www.microarts.com.

When Should I Hire A Brand Launch Agency?

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Getman) — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 05:36:00 +0000

I promise, this is not a job security ploy. Well, not directly so.

It would be a good idea to hire a brand launch agency when:

You're positioning to go public in the next year and your brand should exude the confidence of a new successful NASDAQ company.
You need to raise millions in a series B round and its time to shed the startup perception and start behaving like a young successful brand.
You've developed a new product that pushes your current brand too far and you're smart to realize that launching a new brand may actually be a less risky way to go.
You've merged divisions, companies or product lines and your want to clarify your message and the synergistic rationale for doing so to customers, prospects, and shareholders.
You bought a company or product line and need to fold it into your family of brands – somehow.
Your brand's collateral system isn't a system. Every division and/or product looks like they are from different companies. You're on your way to being a national or international company but your inconsistency sends the perception you are a regional company.
Your brand identity systems, starting with the logo itself is highly recognizable but is stuck in 60's and you're not a retro brand. How do you leverage the equity of your brand's recognition and recall, but launch into today's world. UPS has done a wonderful job with this assignment in the past few years.
Your communications are not clear, concise and memorable.
Your market opportunities have changed and you need to reposition an existing brand to capture these new revenues.
Your revenue success is driven by your sales team's efforts alone. Your market has no idea who you are, why you are different, and why they should care about this difference.
Your stock price is lower than your balance sheet deserves.
Your brand's success is booming one social demographic but you need to elevate your brand's perception to appeal a more plutocratic market.
Your brand name doesn't utter your value or conceptually package your difference. Or you can't own your brand name, or it carries a negative vibe or hoodwinks your value.
The business concept that you launched the company on is no longer the business you're in.
You've been selling direct successfully and now you're opening new channels for your brand.
And of course, the most obvious time is when you're launching a new company, product or service.

Have a great day,

Peter